Dearest Father, Thank You for being my Gardener, helping me receive and implement my One-year Success Plan. To do what You called me to do faithfully in one year so I could bear more fruit for You. As written in the Gospel today.
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Today's Readings
First Reading: Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
Second Reading: First Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12
Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 17
Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9
Reading 1, Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15
Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15 GNBDK
[1] One day while Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, he led the flock across the desert and came to Sinai, the holy mountain.
[2] There the angel of the LORD appeared to him as a flame coming from the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire but that it was not burning up.
[3] “This is strange,” he thought. “Why isn't the bush burning up? I will go closer and see.”
[4] When the LORD saw that Moses was coming closer, he called to him from the middle of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Yes, here I am.”
[5] God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.
[6] I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” So Moses covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
[7] Then the LORD said, “I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave-drivers. I know all about their sufferings,
[8] and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile and in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites now live.
[13] But Moses replied, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ So what can I tell them?”
[14] God said, “I am who I am. This is what you must say to them: ‘The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.’
[15] Tell the Israelites that I, the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name for ever; this is what all future generations are to call me.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills, He redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed. He has made known his ways to Moses, and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Reading 2, First Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 GNBDK
[1] I want you to remember, my brothers and sisters, what happened to our ancestors who followed Moses. They were all under the protection of the cloud, and all passed safely through the Red Sea.
[2] In the cloud and in the sea they were all baptized as followers of Moses.
[3] All ate the same spiritual bread
[4] and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself.
[5] But even then God was not pleased with most of them, and so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.
[6] Now, all this is an example for us, to warn us not to desire evil things, as they did,
[10] We must not complain, as some of them did — and they were destroyed by the Angel of Death.
[11] All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us. For we live at a time when the end is about to come.
[12] Those who think they are standing firm had better be careful that they do not fall.
Gospel, Luke 13:1-9
Luke 13:1-9 GNBDK
[1] At that time some people were there who told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices to God.
[2] Jesus answered them, “Because those Galileans were killed in that way, do you think it proves that they were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?
[3] No indeed! And I tell you that if you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did.
[4] What about those eighteen people in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell on them? Do you suppose this proves that they were worse than all the other people living in Jerusalem?
[5] No indeed! And I tell you that if you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did.”
[6] Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once a man who had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He went looking for figs on it but found none.
[7] So he said to his gardener, ‘Look, for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil?’
[8] But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig round it and put in some manure.
[9] Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’ ”
Dearest Father,
Thank You for being my Gardener, helping me receive and implement my One-year Success Plan. To do what You called me to do faithfully in one year so I could bear more fruit for You. As written in the Gospel today.
Luke 13:8-9 GNBDK
[8] But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig round it and put in some manure. [9] Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’ ”
When it comes to my habits, actions that I know will lead me to achieving a dream, I've never, I think, sustained doing something for a long time.
I'm the fast and furious then crash and burn type, the one who does something fast for a time and stops altogether after a while.
I'm always saying, I'll start this year. Then when I burn, I'll just say I'll start anew next year.
Or my family will always hear me say I'll do this tomorrow.
My family will chide me saying, you have endless tomorrows!
But I realized, we actually don't. Tomorrow may never come.
So early this year, I asked myself, what will happen if I just do something faithfully every day of this year? Without minding the results until after a year?
I think it all started on my birthday last November 2024 when I heard the Lord clearly say to me in my spirit, why not take daily Holy Communion this 49th year of your life?
So I did, just missing 1 or 2 days since I started, until now.
Then, when I was preparing for 2025 in December of 2024, I realized, I'm gonna be 50 this 2025 with nothing to show for it.
Yes, the Lord has done pretty amazing things in my life especially bringing me from a 9-5 job to being self-employed, working online with very flexible hours and earning 4x more than I was earning before.
But when it comes to my life goals like being financially free by 50 years old, what I consider my Jubilee Year, a year of freedom for the Israelites, which I also dreamt to be the time when I'm finally free from employment to start earning passively doing what I love and enjoy in an online business I can work on anytime, anywhere - nada. Nothing to show for it. Zilch.
I've had that dream since the Lord awakened that dream in me back in 2015 when I started dabbling online in blogging and self-publishing with the hope of building an audience who will buy my books, so in time, I can earn passive income online more than my monthly expenses and be financially free.
I don’t need much. If I can earn $7k/month, I’d be very happy.
Now it's 2025, 10 years after I started - and stopped, and started again and again - and still nothing.
So I resolved early this year, I will do every day what I can do towards my dreams this year, not looking at the results but just doing it daily.
I determined what I could do in every area of my life daily, my action goals.
I know I cannot control the results so I'm just not going to bother with those. I'm going to focus on action goals, little things I could do daily in the important areas of my life.
Financial -Build wealth for myself and His Kingdom using the 50-30-20% rule
Live on 50%, give and invest 30%, pay off debts for freedom, 20%
Spiritual - Receive God-inspired ideas to bless billions and produce trillions in profits
Seek God's Wisdom 4:30 am, journal
Daily Holy Communion
Physical - remain fit and strong in mind, body, soul, and spirit
Meditation 5 min
Prayer walk 30 min
Core and Yoga 25 min
Professional - build active income with my online jobs and passive online income by building my audience
Complete online job assignments excellently
Write and Publish Newsletter: Daily SpeakChrist Diaries (my journal), weekly SpeakChrist Lovenote
Post “Live the RichLife” in Christ short-form content on social media
Personal Development - grow in wisdom and favor with God and men
Listen to 1-2 educational and motivational videos
Relational - Grow close to my family
Spend meals with family
Sunday rest with family
Then the Lord inspired me to put them all on a Google sheet, my RichLife Playbook Worksheet so I could track my doing of these daily actions every month and I could see clearly my progress, giving myself 1 point for every action I did.
That helped me keep myself on track and mindful of my dreams and my actions toward those dreams every single day.
And then every Sunday, I evaluate what worked, what didn't work, what changes can I implement for next week for a quick weekly course correction.
That’s the One-year success plan that the Lord has shown me and that I've implemented this year, day in and day out.
These previous weeks, I was running late with deadlines, and I heard the Lord say to me: If you can't do everything in a day, just do these two MIT or Most Important Tasks:
Seek Me (4 am Prayer, journaling, and daily Communion)
Share my Message (Daily posting of short form to social media and publishing of my journal in newsletter)
Previously, it always felt like I was a failure before God Who is always looking for fruit in my life and me failing to bear fruit.
Like that fig tree in today’s Gospel.
Luke 13:6-7 GNBDK
[6] Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once a man who had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He went looking for figs on it but found none. [7] So he said to his gardener, ‘Look, for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil?’
But Jesus, my patient and diligent Gardener, has given me a one-year success plan for cultivation and fertilization for my being, dong, and, havng. So I could bear much fruit for the glory of God.
Luke 13:8-9 GNBDK
[8] But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig round it and put in some manure. [9] Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’ ”
I realized, I don't have to wait at the beginning of every year or every week to start anew. I can do it today.
Now is the first day of my new year. Now, I can do what needs to be done to move forward. Now, I can implement God-inspired ideas that bless billions of people and produce trillions in profits.
2 Corinthians 6:2 GNBDK
[2] Hear what God says: “When the time came for me to show you favour I heard you; when the day arrived for me to save you, I helped you.” Listen! This is the hour to receive God's favour; today is the day to be saved!
24-hour activation window to activate God's favor by doing what He says I should do, with a year-long outlook to fulfill a life vision.
One-year success plan to bear fruit, one-day action plan to implement.
One year to grow and bear fruit. One day to cultivate and fertilize.
Sounds like a plan.
If you want to know more how you can implement this One year success plan for yourself, join me in our SpeakChrist RichLife Club. We'll do it together. St. Katharine Drexel, pray for us.
Live the RichLife in Christ today
One-year success plan to bear fruit, one-day action plan to implement.
One year to grow and bear fruit. One day to cultivate and fertilize.
Sounds like a plan.
Free 🎁 gift for you. 👼
What’s your one-year success plan?
Luke 13:8-9 GNBDK
[8] But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig round it and put in some manure. [9] Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’ ”
Now Your Turn
(Questions to ask yourself when scripture journaling)
What verses spoke to me strongly and powerfully from the scripture readings?
What is God saying to me in these verse or verses?
What does God want me to do today?
Journal prompts of the day
What's your one-year success plan to achieve God's vision for your life?
Do you know God's vision for your life?
Have you asked God what He wants you to be, do, and have in your life?
Your Actionable Steps to Do This Week:
Give Your life to Jesus, Your patient and diligent Gardener
Ask Him what He wants you to be and do daily so you can have His best
Implement each day what God inspires you to do.
Let us pray:
If you want to live the rich life in Christ every day - bearing much fruit for the glory of God, doing each day what He wants done, give your life to Jesus.
That’s the first step.
Say this prayer with me:
Dearest Father,
Father, forgive me of my sins. I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for making me now Your child and heir, with power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory, and blessing. Thank You that in Jesus, Father, I can bear much fruit for Your greater glory and honor as I faithfully do what You call me to do each day.
In Jesus’ Name.
This is it for now. Until next time.
Vivo dives vitae in Christo. Live the RichLife in Christ.