But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? - Luke 18:8

Whenever I stand in front, seeing all of your happy faces, I feel blessed. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how, for all of my inadequacy, I’m chosen to be here. I have always put it upon myself that I am unworthy and I tend to think that I’d rather leave the task of proclaiming God’s goodness to other people, whom I think are capable and know better than me. I never thought I’d be strong enough to speak in front of you, let alone deliver my thoughts about God’s words in the Bible. Before getting my point across, I just wanted to say after all that, I’m just grateful. After everything that happened before the first semester came to a close, aren’t we glad that are here? I am happy to be here, with all of you, with God as the center of everything that we have pulled through before arriving in this moment.

From the start of the school year, or the onset of a career, or any new beginning we had, we became nourished by God’s word. Coming into this community, we are blessed to have each other and together we become united by the same belief in God. Just like in the first reading, as the youth, though how few or many we may be, we’ve accomplished much and faced struggles because God is on our side. Whether or not we fail, or sometimes forget what to do in our own realities during the passing circumstances, just the fact that we are here now, listening and praying to God, means that we have all went through a learning experience, one that we have started and ended with God. It is a cause to be thankful for, just as God’s message to us in last week’s readings. It feels good to stand up and say, Thank You Lord!

If only we continue to pray and seek God, we will continually feel Him in our lives. If only we prepare ourselves to do what we ought to, we will rise above any worry or doubt that may form against us. We can become consistent followers of Christ, we can spark a change, we can accomplish instead of failing, by always trying to be better; all because we have faith.

I was once told that when you don’t have faith in yourself, it is like doubting God because He lives in you and all you have to do is believe.

Every time we give praise to God, it is pleasing to His ears. When we say that we love Him and trust Him, he wants to stay with us. But what actually happens when you promise to change yourself for God and end up still doing the same mistake? If we sin, do we break the promise we had with God or is it okay to be who we are because He will always be there for us? Doubts will form in our minds when we give in, when we give up the fight, when we forget to pray, and when we don’t prepare ourselves to be stronger.

When we sin, we hurt God. When we don’t trust Him, we don’t appreciate His presence in our lives. But we shouldn’t be discouraged, or stop praying and return to doing the same mistakes because God is there. He sheds light on what is good and because we can turn to Him for guidance, we are saved by His love. Because we are accepted, there is a longing for us to please Him and worship Him. By making His presence known in us, we are called to be a person for others.

Maybe all it takes is patience to have self-control and discipline to practice all that we’ve learned. From there, we can become fit and responsible so we can hit the right buttons in life. In this tedious task of living, we must not forget that we have a God that we can lean on. He knows and owns your heart. He is someone you can really call your best friend.

“Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4: 2)

- Tessa Elizaga