Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Author: A Dose of God Today

  • A Paralyzing Fear

    A Paralyzing Fear

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    November 15, 2020 – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111520.cfm)

    Homily

    I had a conversation among students and we were talking about self-confidence and talents. There was a good number among them who expressed that they were struggling because of low self-esteem. Most of them too tended to compare themselves a lot with others. They recognized more what was lacking in them and what others have. Such comparison seemed to become a habit that anything can become a subject of comparison and telling the self that he/she lacks and is unfortunate.

    As I let them talk about their experiences, most of them also expressed that it started at home. Their parents tend to compare them with their sibling, or cousin or neighbor or a classmate who seemed to be so much better, brighter and more talented than them. The constant nagging and comparing of their parents have made and molded their consciousness that they were less intelligent and less talented.

    Thus, when we tend to compare more ourselves from others, we also become harsher towards ourselves. By identifying what we don’t have and what others have would only make us more miserable in life. We become more miserable because we will not be contented with what we have. Moreover, we will become indifferent to our own talents and capacities, resources and potentials. This will develop then, into fear, into a paralyzing fear that prevents us to be fruitful, joyful and living life to the fullest.

    Now, this brings me into our Gospel today. Jesus tells us this wonderful story of the parable of the talents. There were three people being given talents from their master. The talents, here were the amount of money gifted to the three. And so the master, gave the talents according to the ability of each one. To the first, he gave five talents. To the second, he gave two talents. And the last one was given one talent.

    However, we were told that the third man was a fearful person. Unlike the two, he did not take the risk of investing the talent given to him because we was afraid of failure. He chose not to do anything because fear seemed to paralyze him.

    He must have pitied himself because he only received one talent unlike the two who had more. He must have compared himself a lot with them. Deep inside, he must be furious and angry why he only received one. It must have been so unfair for him. In his insecurity, he retreated to hide, to low self-esteem, to fear but bitter towards the gifts and blessings of others.

    These thoughts must have occupied his mind and heart to the point that he couldn’t do anything because fear crept it. He feared his master. He was afraid to fail. Yet, that fear in him did not also save him. The talent that he was hiding because of fear, was taken away from him. He lost it and lost the opportunity given to him to be fruitful in his own way. He lost the opportunity to enjoy that talent and to enjoy life.

    Moreover, this attitude is only one possible extreme reaction towards the talents, gifts, and potentials we have. Another possible reaction is its opposite and that is to accumulate what we believe to have been lacking in us and ignoring what we are actually capable of. When we tend to amass things that we were deprived of, we will also tend to be corrupt and abusive. Then, we begin to show arrogance, exercise power and control over others whom we think are lesser than us.

    We can be this person. We can be that man who was anxious and fearful, insecure and bitter. We can also be that person who will become self-entitled and corrupt but deep within, fearful and insecure.

    This is not what God wants us to be. God wants us to trust Him who has blessed us with gifts, talents and people. Trusting God means being faithful to the gifts that we have received which may include our intellectual and physical abilities, our ministry, roles and responsibilities in our community  and even our relationships as a parent, as a spouse, as a sibling or as a child. These are the areas where we are invited by the Lord to invest our heart and our life.

    The Lord gifted us, each according to our abilities. God is confident with our potentials. God knows very much what we are capable of. Yet, let us also remember, that we don’t have to make big and spectacular things to just seek praise and recognition from others. The Book of Proverbs in our first reading today tells us how a simple wife does her duties with grace and kindness. In that way, she developed her gifts as a wife and as a person by also reaching out to others and extending kindness to the needy.

    This is God’s invitation for us – to trust God who trusted us first, to trust his generosity and to be faithful to the many gifts and talents we have received from him. We are called to recognize and embrace what we have, to be grateful for those and invest time and effort. God wants us also to commit ourselves to those things.

    I would like now to leave three reminders for today.

    First, do not compare yourself to others. It will not help you. You will only become more miserable. Rather, begin to acknowledge what you have now – talents or abilities, roles or responsibilities and relationships. Identify also those areas where you think you are still weak and so need more investment from you, perhaps, you need more time, more attention, more practice, more focus, more presence and more confidence. When we are able to accept them and nurture them, then, we shall surely witness God’s wonder in making us productive and flourishing.

    Second, parents, please stop comparing your child to another. It does not help. Instead, discover their gifts and encourage them to develop them. But avoid pampering them to the point that they couldn’t do anything without you.

    Third, never be afraid of failure. If we fail, it could be painful and shameful but go on. It is not the end of your world. Never let fear prevent or paralyze you. Conquer fear by becoming more grateful to God who first loved us and also the first one to have confidence in us. Hinaut pa.

  • Pray without becoming Weary

    Pray without becoming Weary

    November 14, 2020 – Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111420.cfm)

    Homily

    As we are struggling until today with CoVid-19 Pandemic, the past few weeks have been a big disaster particularly with our brothers and sisters in Luzon area. From Super Typhoon Rolly, two more typhoons immediately followed and recently in the last few days, Typhoon Ulysses brought heavy rain that flooded many communities in the North.

    News and Social Media sites were filled with news of the people taking safety on their roof as the water rose and flooded their place. It must have been terrible to be so vulnerable and helpless. Children and old people must have suffered very much from cold. Food becomes scarce. Search and rescue teams were finding it difficult since there were more people to be rescued than the rescuers. Evacuation areas must have been crowded and difficult to manage due to the threat of Corona virus infection.

    These are the realities now that are affecting all of us. We could not just help but think of our brothers and sisters in that part of our country. Thus, today, let us pray with them and remember them. Let us also flood the heaven with our prayers for all those who are affected by the these calamities.

    Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary. In the same way, we too our invited today to pray like the widow in the parable. Let us bother God with our prayers. Let us pray not just for ourselves but especially for those who are in greatest need today. Pray without becoming weary and let this become an expression of our love for one another. Let our hearts cry out to God to come to our rescue, to aid our helpless and vulnerable brothers and sisters, especially the old, the sick and the children.

    As we pray with them and for them, let our prayer move our heart to extend help to them no matter how small it may be. There are credible and honest organizations who are already operating to respond to their immediate needs. Let us all join and express our love in a concrete way that our actions may become a true testimony of our love for the Church (3 Jn 6). Hinaut pa.

    You may refer to these photos below for those who would like to donate some amount through CARITAS MANILA or the Baclaran Church.

    https://www.facebook.com/OfficialCaritasManila

    https://www.facebook.com/omphbaclaran

  • Walking in the Truth

    Walking in the Truth

    November 13, 2020 – Friday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111320.cfm)

    Homily

    Every day, we do our personal routine and usual daily activities. We wake up. We take a bath and eat. We come to work or study. We take a rest and pause. Then, we sleep and end our day. The next day, we do, most probably, almost the same. Yet, is there anything beyond this in our life? Is there anything beyond to what is ordinary and routine?

    Doing what is routine is not bad. Yet, to be so engrossed with our usual daily affairs may distract us from becoming more aware of ourselves and of God’s daily invitations for us. Indeed, there is also a danger when we just make ourselves occupied with many things. For example, a person who works excessively, a workaholic, may experience fatigue physically and mentally. Moreover, a person who only fills himself or herself with what is only enjoyable and entertaining in life, may become indifferent with his or her personal issues and of people around.

    Certainly, such behaviors may make us ungrounded and indifferent. This will definitely affect our relationships and the way we live our life as Christians today. Jesus’ warning to the people echoes to us today. Jesus reminded us in today’s Gospel not to be so absorbed with our daily activities, with what only gives us comfort, with what only gives amusement and pleasure in life. Just like in the time of Noah, people became indifferent and were only concerned in eating, drinking and marrying, yet, they all perished because unlike Noah, the people rejected God’s call. Just like in the time of Lot also, people continued to do what they wanted in eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, and they too perished because they rejected God’s invitation to change and be renewed by God’s mercy.

    This is not what Jesus wanted for us. The Lord always would desire that we experience the fullness of life with God. And John’s letter gives us an advice on how we should live our lives today.

    John, in his Second Letter, expressed his gladness to a Lady, as he witnessed how her  young children were walking in the truth. These young people were not living out of impulse or did not make themselves occupied with what would just give them pleasure and comfort in life. As John recognized, they were walking in the truth. This means that aside from their daily activities, they too were in touch with Jesus, aware of God’s presence and of God’s invitation for them.

    In this way, John reminded them “to love one another.” This is not a new commandment but the one we have heard from the beginning, as John wrote. In love and in loving, we will never be lost and will never be wrong, “for this is love,” and this is of God’s. In love and in loving, this makes us grounded and fully aware of ourselves, of the presence of people around us, of God who constantly calls us to love. Thus, in everything we do and in everywhere we are, love. This will surely make our daily affairs and days ahead to be brighter and full of life. Hinaut pa.

    (To concretely show our love for each one today, many of our brothers and sisters in Luzon are affected seriously by the typhoons recently. First we had Super-Typhoon Rolly that hit the Bicol Region and followed by three typhoons and with Typhoon Ulysses bringing heavy rain and floods in many cities and communities. Let us remember them in our prayers these days and if we can, extend charitable help to them through the credible organizations working and helping for the affected families and individuals.)

  • Recognizing God in everything and in everyone

    Recognizing God in everything and in everyone

    November 12, 2020 – Thursday 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111220.cfm)

    Homily

    The Gospel tells us about the question of the Pharisees on the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus warns them not to look outside to search for the kingdom of God or to be deceived by people who claim to be god and to be Jesus. This warning of Jesus echoes until today. The kingdom of God, as Jesus affirms, is among us, as brothers and sisters. Thus, the presence of God can be felt and can be found in the very presence of our community.

    Thus, we need to be more alert and more conscious of God’s presence and discerning of God’s voice and ways. We need wisdom, then. Though wisdom cannot be achieved through diplomas, certificates or earned by any master’s and doctoral degrees but a gift given to us through our life experiences, through the relationships we have built with others and with God. To receive the gift of wisdom allows us to recognize God in the presence of our brothers and sisters and in all of God’s creation that surrounds us because wisdom does not discriminate. Certainly, to be wise makes us closer to God because we become friends of God.

    Recognizing God in everything and in everyone is a manifestation that the kingdom of God is being unfolded in our lives that is why Jesus said, the kingdom of God is among you because God is truly with us, in each of us and in everything.

    This is what Paul realized which he wanted to share to his friend, Philemon. Philemon was the master of the slave, Onesimus. Onesimus ran away from his master but Paul wanted him to return to Philemon. Moreover, Paul asked warmly Philemon to receive and embrace Onesimus as a brother and not as a slave. This, indeed, is a sign of the Kingdom of God where one is able to recognize and embrace others as a brothers or a sister in Christ. Paul, certainly, was a discerning man and a wise person.

    Hence, today let us ask God for the gift of wisdom, to make us wise so that we may be able to recognize God’s face and God’s plans for us in our daily lives. Seek for it and desire for it. Hinaut pa.

  • Awareness of God’s Grace calls us to gratitude and graciousness

    Awareness of God’s Grace calls us to gratitude and graciousness

    November 11, 2020 – Wednesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111120.cfm)

    Homily

    In a conversation with a friend, he told me that he was doing some form of sacrifices because he was asking God of something, to grant his prayer intentions. This really reminds me of our usual attitude in our prayers and in the way we relate to God. We make sacrifices so that God may grant our prayers for healing, for success or for material graces that we need. We also take time to light a candle, to offer a mass intention, to say our novenas and rosaries, even visit churches and shrines, and ask the intercession of our favorite saints so that God will grant our prayers and desires.

    This kind of action is also similar to that 10 lepers in today’s Gospel. They too begged Jesus. They cried out to the Lord to heal and grant them freedom from the curse they endured. Certainly, Jesus listened to them. As Jesus told them to make themselves appear before their priests, on their way, each of them was healed from leprosy and experienced freedom from the curse of that illness. However, out of ten healed lepers, only one leper came back to Jesus. This leper came back to thank and to praise the Lord. This leper may not be fully aware yet, that Jesus is Lord, but he was sure enough that God was working in Jesus.

    Hence, Jesus actually wondered on what happened to the nine lepers who were all Jews like him. The leper who came back was a Samaritan, considered as a foreigner by the Jews. And Jews considered Samaritans as enemies, worthless and good for nothing. Yet, it was this enemy of the Jews, this worthless and good for nothing person who became aware not just that he was healed but also of the grace of healing. Becoming aware of the grace he received, this made the Samaritan leper to also recognize the giver of the grace. His awareness of the grace filled him with joy and gratitude. He must have been running back to Jesus out of joy to thank the Lord.

    However, Jesus indeed wondered about the nine Jewish healed lepers. We would wonder and could also ask, “What could have prevented them to thank Jesus like the Samaritan?” Well, we can only suspect. The nine Jewish healed lepers might have become indignant that the Samaritan was also healed and was given the grace. For them, a Samaritan was not worthy of God’s grace because they were traitors. They might have not accepted that an enemy had been blessed and healed by God. That happy occasion of healing must have turned into bitterness. Instead that the nine should be grateful to God, their hearts turned bitter at the sight of someone whom they thought was not worthy, useless, a mere disturbance in their society, and would only bring nothing good but problems and crimes.

    Because of such attitude, they forgot that everything was a grace and so forgot to express their gratitude to God. God’s generosity is endless yet our memory can sometimes become very short especially when we are filled with bitterness. We always remember to ask, but we tend to forget to give thanks.

    Thus, we should be careful on this. We might tend to think that those who always go to Church are the only ones worthy of God’s grace of mercy. We might tend to believe that our enemies, people we hate, people we don’t like are useless and insignificant. Then, this kind of attitude will only cloud our heart with hate and bitterness instead of gratitude and graciousness.

    Thus, we are called not just to be grateful with what we have but also to be more grateful for others who are also blessed by God. This makes us gracious too. And this also was the attitude of the Samaritan who went back to Jesus to thank him, to praise God and also to follow the Lord.

    This healed leper’s action showed how grateful his faith was. Indeed, he was not just healed physically but also spiritually. Jesus told him, “Stand up and go, your faith has saved you!” This healed leper teaches us today to show our gratitude to God so that we may also become gracious.

    St. Paul’s letter to Titus reminds us about this, he said, “the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we have done but because of his mercy.” And because of this, Paul urges us to “exercise all graciousness towards everyone.”

    Indeed, by becoming more and more aware of God’s grace in us and in each of us, we may also grow not in bitterness but with a grateful and graceful heart. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR