Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Author: A Dose of God Today

  • SHARERS

    SHARERS

    September 14, 2025 – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091425.cfm)

    A story once told about a town which was badly devastated by severe flooding. In the process of rebuilding their lives in their town, they also worked together in building again their damaged church. But what worried them most in rebuilding their church was their old and antique statue of their Crucified Christ that damaged its hands and feet. A public consultation was made as to what should be done about their beloved but damaged Crucifix. Different ideas has been expressed and debated. For sentimental value, some are for restoring the statue; though others are against it, for fear that the restoration might 

    completely destroy the original statue. For practical reason, some are in favour of buying a new one, though most would prefer their original Crucifix. 

    Then, a respected old man made a suggestion to the plenum. After hearing and reflecting on the old man’s suggestion, everyone agreed that they will honor and implement what has been suggested. They never buy a new one nor restore the old one. But they just put again their old and original Crucifix, now with damaged hands and feet. And underneath the Crucifix, they put a sign: “This is Jesus Christ, who died so that we may live. He is now a PWD – Person with Disability, with damaged hands and feet. Will you now be His hands and feet for others?”

    Church tradition has it that during His crucifixion and death, the last words of Jesus was: “Natapos na. It is done. It is finished”. But, what has been done? What has ended? Yes, in the cross, His mission, suffering and life has ended and finished. He has already done the Father’s will. He has already done His work and part in bringing out life and mercy to all. His mission is now done and finished. He has already fulfilled the salvation that God has offered all. He has already revealed to us God’s great love for us, as we are reminded by our gospel today.

    But what is not done yet is the building God’s kingdom here on earth. What is not finished yet is the reign of God’s presence, love, justice, mercy and peace in our lives. While there are still people who are suffering from poverty and injustice due to our sins, insensitivity & corruption, the mission of Christ is already done… but our mission as Christian still lives and moves on. While there are still people who are poor, deprived and most abandoned, while there are still people who are imprisoned by greed for power, wealth and prestige, like our corrupt and manipulative politicians, contractors & capitalists, our Mission or Task is not yet done. 

    Remember on the cross, Jesus did not say: “I am finished” but said:  “It is finished”. Meaning, he is not finished yet. There is yet more to come, more yet happen for our salvation. And this time, His salvation lives on with us & through us, as His hands & feet to do what we are to do, and to be what we should be as Christians.

    So for Him to continue to shower us with God’s grace of salvation, Jesus still needs us. He still needs us to be His hands and feet for others. He has already saved us. God & Jesus have already done their part. Now it is in us & with us to transform our lives in our world today. It is now in our person – in our hands, feet, mouth and faith to be witnesses and sharers of God’s graces to others. Like Simon of Cyrene who helped carry the cross of Jesus, as Christians, it is now our tasks to carry, share, partake and witness the victory of Christ’s Cross to others. Time for us now, not to remain mere followers at the distance, but to take part in the mission of Jesus towards God’s salvation.

    Today, in the feast of the Triumph of the Cross, we honor Jesus and all Christians who participate in sharing and spreading God’s salvation to the world, because of them, the Cross of Christ continues now to be triumphant, and God’s grace reign in our lives.

    However, How about us, you & I now : Will you now be His hands and Feet for others?

    Hinaut pa unta. So May It Be. Amen

  • ABOVE ALL, PUT ON LOVE  

    ABOVE ALL, PUT ON LOVE  

    September 11, 2025 – Thursday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091125.cfm)

    Our interactions with one another, whether with friends, family members and other people around us create potential friction and conflicts in our relationships. Relationships are strained and broken apart when we also lose the patience to listen and understand one another. When we too are trapped in the temptation to take revenge and generate violence in whatever form, the more we are buried into pain.

    Yet, when selfishness and hatred slowly fade, then, we also begin to repair and reconcile damaged relationships.

    Paul in his Letter to the Colossians expressed thoughtfully and wonderfully how our relationships must be taken cared.  He said, “put on… heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”

    As a father and brother to the Christian Community in Colossae, Paul was very concerned how relationships among the Christians must be formed. Thus, Paul continued to remind them, “over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts.”

    The spirit of the relationship in our homes and communities, indeed, must be centered on love, of the love of Christ. This brings peace and healing into our heart troubled by hurts and pains, disappointments and frustrations.

    Jesus, in the Gospel, radically calls us as well, “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

    The call to love, to truly love, is first a transformation of our own hearts. This means that our heart, when centered on Christ and his peace, releases hatred and aggression. This heart embraces the courage to forgive and expresses kindness to those who have hurt us.

    This is truly difficult especially to a person bruised many times by others. Yet, true freedom lies in the heart that rests on Christ, for he is peace.

    And so we pray, “that in whatever we do, in word or in deed, we do everything in the name of Jesus our Lord, giving thanks to the Father through him.” Hinaut pa.

  • PUT ON THE NEW SELF         

    PUT ON THE NEW SELF         

    September 10, 2025 – Wednesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091025.cfm)

    Are we really convinced and feel truly blessed when we are poor and powerless? Are we truly happy when we are indeed hungry, weeping and hurting? Do we rejoice for being hated and rejected by others because we live honestly and justly?

    It would truly be difficult to reconcile these contrasting life situations. A student once shared to me a conversation she had with her grandmother. In her innocence and directness expressed her anguish, “Lola, why are we so poor? It is so tiring to be poor. Will we ever be rich?” The Lola responded to her, “It’s okay. God loves and favors the poor.”

    To a child who does not have the perks and privileges of being born in an affluent family would surely begin to question the difficult life of being poor and underprivileged. Such response is surely difficult to understand.

    Yet, the response of her Lola is certainly the message of the Gospel. God loves and favors the poor. This is the reason why the Beatitude of Jesus begins with “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.” This first line of the Beatitude already set the favor of God upon those who are less fortunate such as the hungry, those who are weeping and hurting, and those who are rejected and insulted because of living the faith truly.

    From the perspective of wealth, comfort and power, God seemed to be unfair because the Lord favors the other. Yet, it is not that way. The Lord favors the poor and the weak because of what lies in the heart. Only when we are weak, poor, and powerless that the heart recognizes the need for God. The heart truly longs for God’s presence.

    However, when the heart becomes rich, powerful and comfortable, it also becomes self-contained, arrogant and indifferent. Hence, the heart does not need God and even rejects God. No wonder why Jesus’ words bring warning to those who have become rich, powerful and comfortable, “woe to you.”

    In a country plagued by plunder and corruption, dishonesty in public works and blatant abuse of power and public office, Jesus’ warning echoes to every generation. Woe to you for you will go hungry! Woe to you for you will grieve and weep!

    Yet, Paul calls us in his Letter to the Colossians, “Put to death the parts that are earthly; immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed…as well as anger, fury, malice, slander,
    and obscene language.    ” All of these make us separate from God and from others. What Paul calls us is to “put on a new self” in Christ and leave the old self that corrupts.

    Putting this new self in Christ, as St. Paul tells us, requires us to “seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” To seek what is above is to seek the Kingdom of God. And now we realize that the Kingdom of God rests in those hearts that embraces humility and vulnerability, in recognizing our poverty and powerlessness.

    This is how God favors the poor and the week, those weeping and hurting because the Lord is already in their hearts. This calls us to indeed “rejoice and leap for joy.” Hinaut pa.

  • WALK IN HIM, ROOTED IN HIM, BUILT UPON HIM

    WALK IN HIM, ROOTED IN HIM, BUILT UPON HIM

    September 9, 2025 – Tuesday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090925.cfm)

    How do we make decisions? What are the things that we consider as we choose what is essential in life?

    Paul in his Letter to the Colossians, reminded the people not to be persuaded by selfish desires, “seductive philosophy” and perhaps appealing ideologies at that time. People might be tempted on impulse to choose and make decisions in their life based on what was popular and appealing to many.

    Hence, Paul said, “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

    To walk in him, be rooted in him and be built upon him is to make Jesus Christ at the very center of our life, of the decisions we make and the things that we do and we want to be. This is how we share in the fullness of Jesus’s humanity and divinity.

    And the Gospel today gives us the invitation on how we will be able to remain in Jesus and share in the fullness of God’s grace. This is shown himself by Jesus, and that is through the basics of prayer. As Jesus chose his closest disciples whom he also called apostles, Jesus spent a night in prayer to his Father in heaven.

    Jesus prayed. In fact, he spent the whole night in prayer as an act of communion with the Father, He listened to his Father’s voice speaking in him. This means that he did not choose the 12 just out of compulsion or feelings. Jesus chose each of them according to God’s desire. This was how Jesus also saw something in each of them, including Judas. Jesus saw something very good in Judas. Yet, Judas failed to see and recognize what the Lord had seen in him. As a result, Judas betrayed Jesus because Judas failed to recognize God in the person of Jesus.

    The Gospel also tells us that the people who were gathered around Jesus sought to touch the Lord. They realized that by mere touching him, they were healed. Power came forth from Jesus himself. And Jesus allowed them to touch him. This expressed God’s desire that indeed we are welcomed to share in the fullness of God’s grace that brings healing and gives life.

    We too are invited to touch God. Because it is in touching God that we will become grounded in whatever decision we will make. In touching the presence of Jesus in our sacraments, in the scriptures and in the lives of others that we too are able to walk with Jesus. When we become more aware of God in our life, then, the more we become sensitive to God’s desire for us and be rooted in Jesus. So, let us seek God’s desire in prayer and be built upon him. Hinaut pa.

  • TO AFFIRM, TO REJECT, TO BE ALONE

    TO AFFIRM, TO REJECT, TO BE ALONE

    I learned three things in my recent Youth Encounter Facilitators’ Training – To Affirm, To Reject, To be Alone is Good.

    Indeed, these three lessons are part of our life situations. Some of us may have avoided one or all the three. Some are afraid to face it. Some may not be able to recognize that they are doing something good. During our sessions, a question popped up in my head, “ Is it okay to not experience this or feel such emotions?”

    I used to struggle with receiving affirmations from others. When someone would complement me, I would easily downplay it or say ‘it’s nothing special.’ I would respond with ‘dili uy’ or ‘taka raman ka’  (It is not true) instead of simply acknowledging it and saying “thank you.”

    I felt uncomfortable receiving praise. I worried that people were just joking or being insincere. This made it hard for me to give affirmations too. I feel pressured to maintain a certain image and expectations. Even in expressing my faith like in simple praying, felt challenging. I struggle to acknowledge God’s blessings and goodness in my life.

    Yet, I was so touched with Simon’s story who became Peter after Jesus’ affirmation. That story inspired me. It challenged me to practice receiving and giving affirmations, genuinely. I want now to acknowledge others’ efforts and kindness, and express gratitude for God’s blessings. Though, it is still a work in progress, but I’m learning to embrace affirmations as a way to build connections and celebrate goodness.

    When we too are rejected or doing the rejection towards others, it can leave us feeling disappointed, hurt, and uncertain. However,  the story of the 2 blind men shows me a different perspective. They were rejected by the crowd, who saw them as helpless and dirty. The crowd judged them and got angry, but Jesus listened to their cries for help. Jesus stopped, called them over, and asked what they needed. At that moment, the blind men felt seen, heard, and valued. Jesus recognized their worth and importance, and they felt accepted.

    This story teaches me that even in rejection, we can find acceptance and love. Jesus’ actions show me now that everyone deserves to be heard, seen, and valued. I learned that I must offer kindness, compassion, acceptance. It is a call for me to listen to others and to recognize the worth and value in every person I encounter.

    I used also to fear being alone, left out, or not chosen. Many young people, including myself, dread silence, thinking that it means being alone. Yet, I’ve learned that being alone can also be good. To be alone, we can also sense God’s presence, recognize His work, and find peace. When we are feeling down, it’s okay to be alone because God is always with us.

    In silence, we can Hear God’s gentle voice, reflect on our thoughts and emotions, find calmness and peace and grow closer to God. I realized that being alone doesn’t mean being abandoned, it can also mean being with God. Embracing silence helps us trust in His presence and love.

    Is it okay to not experience this or feel such emotions? It can be yes or no. Yet, for me, this is necessary to be in touched with myself and be closer with God. It teaches me to  also rely on God’s strength in my weakness or darkest time

    A reflection by Joseph S. Funo-an, who was sent in Cebu City last August 17-22, 2025 for the Youth Encounter – Virac Model and YE-Facilitators Seminar Workshop (YE-FSW). He recently graduated at Mindanao State University, Main Campus, Marawi City, in Bachelor in Elementary Education.