Maymay sa Magbalantay

“Today the Word of God shows us a very quiet, very subtle spiritual danger — one that can happen to anyone, even to good people, even to believers.

It is the danger of slowly making life about ourselves… and no longer about God.

In the first reading, King David orders a census. Now, counting people is not a sin. Governments do it. Parishes do it. Even families do it.

But the problem was not the counting.

The problem was the intention behind the counting.

David wanted to measure how strong he had become. How big his kingdom was. How many fighting men he had.

Without noticing it, David shifted his trust.

From God… to numbers.

From grace… to statistics.

From dependence on the Lord… to confidence in himself.

And that is where the sin was.

Because the strength of Israel was never in numbers. It was always in God.

And brothers and sisters, this happens to us more often than we realize.

We begin to measure our life by numbers:

How much we earn.

How many achievements we have.

How many followers, how much recognition, how much success.

We begin to say, even silently,

“I built this.”

“I worked for this.”

“I made this happen.”

And slowly — very slowly — God is no longer at the center.

In the Gospel, Jesus returns to His hometown, Nazareth. The people hear Him speak. They see His wisdom. They hear about His miracles.

But instead of believing, they say,

“Is this not the carpenter?”

“Is this not the son of Mary?”

They thought they knew Him too well.

They reduced Jesus to something ordinary. Familiar. Predictable.

And the Gospel says something very sad: Jesus could not perform many miracles there. Not because He had no power — but because they had no faith.

You see, the problem in both readings is the same.

David trusted his own strength more than God. Nazareth trusted their own judgment more than God. And we… we can fall into the same trap.

We become self-sufficient. We become too familiar with God. We think we already know how faith works. We stop being amazed. We stop depending on Him.

And when that happens, miracles quietly stop in our life. Not because God stops working — but because our hearts are already full of ourselves. We leave no more space for Him.

That is why David, when he realizes his mistake, says a very beautiful line: “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great.”

David remembered again: security is not in numbers. Security is in God’s mercy.

Brothers and sisters, this is the invitation of the readings today.

Do not measure your life by numbers.

Do not reduce God to something familiar.

Do not let self-confidence replace trust in Him.

Instead, return to humility. Return to a heart that says every day, “Lord, without You, I have nothing.”

Because God is still performing miracles today. He is still working in our lives. But only in hearts that make room for Him.

So today, let us ask ourselves a very simple question: Is my heart counting on myself… or counting on God?

Because when we start counting on God again, that is when miracles begin to happen.”