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Category: Fr. Manoling Thomas, CSsR

  • Wider POV

    Wider POV

    March 15, 2026 – Fourth Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031526.cfm)

    By digging a hole underground, a story once told that a prisoner was able to escape prison. And it so happened that he came out through a playground few distances away from the prison. And so in his great joy, before a group of playing kids, he shouted at the top of his voice, “Yesssss. I’m free. I’m free”. Then a little girl approached him and said with confidence, “Oh, Mister that’s nothing, I’m four”. 😉😜😄

    Here is a prisoner, after long years of imprisonment, deprived of his freedom, now got a chance to be free: to do what he wants to do – to be what he wants to be. He finally now gains his freedom. However, here is a little girl, who witnessed the event differently because of her limited awareness. She is not concerned about her safety or his freedom at all, but only her being four years old.

    Same thing could be said about our gospel today. Here, a great miracle has happened. A man born-blind has been healed of blindness. After years in darkness, he can now see the light and become conscious of life – of everything. He can now see everything.

    However, despite of this great event, people around him still refuse to see, refuse to accept the reality that a miracle has happened. They refuse to admit that life & creation has dawned upon them. In the midst of life & creation, their reaction is rejection – refusal to see. They don’t want to see and accept that the blind man can now see. They deny his sight and awareness and prefer he remains sightless and cursed blind man, same way as the girl is more concerned about her age than the prisoner’s freedom.

    Freed from of his blindness, the man also viewed his healing differently. He said, “I don’t know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see”. He doesn’t care about sins & sinfulness, or whether he or Jesus is a sinner. All he cares about is that he was blind and now gains sight through Jesus. Consider for a blind man to be able now to see… is everything – just as for a prisoner his freedom and for a little girl her four years of age.

    For the blind man, it is his redemption from cursed life of darkness. But for the Pharisees and people, it is a violation of Sabbath. Life has been created, God’s glory has been revealed, a man born-blind can now see… but all they can think of is the regulation about the Sabbath. They still refuse to see and believe in God’s glory and power revealed through Jesus.

    With these, our readings today teach a number of lessons.

    First, whatever happens in our lives whether it is a creation or reaction depends on how we See (phonetically sound as letter “C”) it. Whether things are C-reation or reaC-tion depends on how you C it. Meaning, how we create life or how we react to life depends on how we view and see things.

    And most of the time, our own “ponte vista” – our point of views of reality hinder us to see a much wider perspective of things. Our limited biases and prejudices then can block or blind us to see a much wider picture of life or even to view life in the eyes of faith – based on how God sees it. Our readings today thus are all about awareness, about how limited and how limiting our perspectives can be, about how we can be blinded by our own biases and prejudices.

    Our readings remind us also that God’s perspective is different from our own and much wider and better than our own view. As He directed Samuel, the Lord judges life not on appearances but by our hearts. Like in our gospel today, Jesus also sees the blindness of the man differently – not as a sin or curse but as an opportunity for God’s grace to reveal and create life. For Jesus, the healing of the blind man is not (as commonly perceived) as curse but as God’s glory being revealed and happening before us now. He said, ‘so that works of God might be displayed in him’. For Jesus then, the blind man is not a sinner but a saint, because through his disability, God’s works and graces are made known in the miracle of gaining his sight.

    Through the miracle of his healing from blindness, Jesus also makes people aware of God’s blessings in our midst – that it is through Him God’s salvation comes & in Him whom we should believe.

    Lastly, we are challenged to widen our perspective of life, and try to see things, not only from our own eyes but also in the eyes of faith. As Christian, we are called today to go beyond our biases and prejudices, our own view of reality, and try to widen our perspective and try to see from God’s perspective, that is, to be more aware of God’s blessing, graces, miracles in our midst rather than only seeing our misfortunes, sinfulness & disgraces in life.

    We are invited thus to be like the blind man who after gaining his sight, now searches for his faith. Like him, we are to see not only physically but also spiritually. We are invited to change from blindness to sight toward faith, from being a cursed sinner to a staunch believer and loyal follower & promoter of Christ.

    May God, during this Lenten season, free us from darkness of sins & from the blindness of our limited sight, teach us to go beyond our perspective, and enlighten us to be creative, not reactive to the life-miracles He offers us in life now & always.

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • TO SEE JESUS IS TO BELIEVE IN JESUS

    TO SEE JESUS IS TO BELIEVE IN JESUS

    March 21, 2021 – Fifth Sunday of Lent

    by Fr. Manoling Thomas, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032121-YearB.cfm)

    Today’s Gospel begins with “some Greeks” approaching Philip with a request: “to see” Jesus! The Greek word used means: “to visit or to meet with.” But for John “to see Jesus” means “to believe in Jesus”! So these Greeks really wanted “to believe in Jesus”. The Gospel never told us whether they actually had the chance “to see” Jesus! But these two statements of Jesus in today’s Gospel provide us the answer. Jesus said:  1) “Very truly, I tell you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” [Jn. 12:24]; and 2) “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” [Jn. 12:32]

    “Very truly, I tell you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”

    From Grades One to Four, I studied at the public school in my hometown. To take a “short-cut” to and from the school, we had to pass through rice paddies! I remember being fascinated observing the cycle of growth of these rice planted there! First the palay seeds were sown in a small section of the rice field. When the rice seedlings had sprouted and grown up to a foot, these were carefully transplanted by rows to the rice paddies. As these seedlings continue to grow, they start to bear flowers, which turned into bunches of new grains. These green bunches of grains turn golden, and soon they are ready for harvest!

    Although Jesus’ imagery was about “the grain of wheat”, but I could imagine that the process of growth has some similarity to the rice! Jesus is the “grain of wheat”. Jesus is talking about himself: his dying, burial, and rising up again! Jesus’ death and resurrection brought about “the plentiful harvest of redemption” just like the grain of wheat, or rice! Jesus had to let go of his life and to die, before the rich harvest of salvation for humankind could take place!

    “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

    The phrase, “to be lifted up” in John has a double meaning! This phrase refers to both Jesus’ crucifixion, and resurrection! When Jesus was crucified, he was “lifted up” from the ground. At Jesus’ resurrection, the Father “lifted” him up from death, from the ground, and from the tomb!

    These two statements of Jesus answered the request of those Greeks to Philip: “to see or to believe in Jesus”! “Seeing or believing in Jesus” could only take place after Jesus’ death and resurrection! Only after Jesus was “lifted up” that Jesus was able “to draw all people” to himself! It was only after Easter that both Jews and non-Jews began to join Jesus’ new family, new community!

    But Jesus also invites and challenges all his followers to take part in “this process of dying and rising with him” so that the yielding of a rich harvest will continue on! True disciples of Jesus, must go through the process of growth of the “grain of wheat or rice”, by letting go and by losing one’s life for the sake of Jesus and his teaching! “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” [Jn. 12:25]. If the “grain of wheat or rice” does not let go of itself allowing itself to die and be buried in the soil, it will remain on its own. There will be no rich harvest to look forward to! If Jesus did not let go of his life, there would have been no salvation for humankind! Jesus modeled a life of total surrender to the Father’s Will, for a greater good and for the service of humanity. To this kind of life, Jesus invites and challenges all would-be followers!

    “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” [Jn.12:26]. Jesus promises, and assures us of the eternal life, that he received from the Father after his suffering and death! Jesus guarantees us that, living “the Jesus way”, will end up the way Jesus’ life ended up! Where Jesus is now, we will also be there! Just as the Father honored Jesus with his resurrection, so too will the Father honor us with that same gift!

    As we come to the end of our 40-day journey with Jesus, he asks us this question: “Do you want to continue your journey with me, until you reach your own “holy week”?  

  • OUR ONLY HOPE IS JESUS

    OUR ONLY HOPE IS JESUS

    March 14, 2021 – Fourth Sunday of Lent

    Fr. Manoling Thomas, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031421-YearB.cfm)

    Today’s Gospel begins with Jesus telling Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” [Jn. 13:14]. Jesus is referring to an experience of the Israelites while travelling through the desert, heading for the Promised Land. They were attacked by poisonous snakes or “fiery serpents” which killed many of them. The people asked Moses’ help, who also turned to Yahweh. Yahweh instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent, and mount it on a pole. Those bitten by the poisonous snakes were told to gaze at the bronze serpent. Those who did were healed and restored to life! [Num. 21:1-9].

    The Israelites must have brought along with them to the Promised Land that bronze serpent. Superstitions and practices of idolatry around that bronze serpent crept in, that during the reformation that King Hezekiah introduced, he broke into pieces that bronze serpent and destroyed it altogether! [2 Kgs. 18:1-5]. But why did Jesus refer to that incident and use that imagery?

    Jesus used that incident and imagery to symbolize his crucifixion and glorification [resurrection]! [Jn. 8:28]. Jesus draws a parallel between the bronze serpent incident and his own destiny. The bronze serpent was lifted up on a pole. Jesus was lifted up on the cross. To those bitten by the poisonous snakes, who looked up to the bronze serpent, their life was restored. Jesus is the source of life in this world and the eternal life after. In today’s Gospel, Jesus guaranteed with eternal life those who choose to believe in him. [Jn. 3:15].

    Like the Israelites who were victims of the fiery serpents, humankind too is a victim and is poisoned by sin: pride, greed, lust, envy, laziness, gluttony and other forms of sin! Sin is a poison within us that undermines our spiritual growth and well-being. Our only hope is Jesus, our Doctor and Healer! Jesus is the Suffering Servant of God [Is. 52:13-53:12] lifted up at his crucifixion!

    To be “lifted up” can mean physically, like with the case of the bronze serpent and with Jesus’ crucifixion. But the word has another meaning. In Latin, the word “exaltare” [to be raised up high], is reserved for a very special kind of elevation, like being elevated to a rank or dignity or to be praised highly!

    For the crucified Jesus being “elevated” above the ground was a very shameful experience not only for him, but also for his disciples and for all those who believed in him! Jesus was publicly exposed almost naked and with his wounds bleeding! While hanging on the cross, Jesus was publicly derided, and insulted by his enemies. But God used that shameful and humiliating experience of Jesus, to save us! That shameful and insulting “lifting up” of Jesus was transformed by God into Jesus’ ultimate and eternal “exaltation”, his glorious resurrection!

    What can we learn from today’s Gospel and from the history behind the bronze serpent?

    1. Believing and accepting Jesus’ offer is a free choice every person has to make. The gazing at the bronze serpent offered healing and life, but far more superior is what Jesus offers to those who freely choose to believe in him. Jesus offers eternal life!
    2. What Yahweh used as an instrument of healing, and restoration to life became a source of superstition and idolatry that King Hezekiah had to destroy it to save God’s people!

    We Catholics are often accused by non-Catholics of carving images and worshipping these, thus practicing idolatry! We Catholics do not worship these images but venerate them! There is a big difference between worshiping and venerating! If we Catholics worship these images then the accusations of idolatry, thrown at us is correct! But the truth is: we do not worship these images but venerate them! We honor and reverence these representations of God and of the saints like the way we respect the representations of people we love and hold with high regard!

    Just as God used that bronze serpent to bring about healing and restoration of life to the victims of the poisonous snakes, so too God can freely decide to use what we call “miraculous images” to bring about healing, conversion, and transformation in the lives of people. It is not the image itself that brings about these “miracles” but God and the powerful intercessions of the saints these images represent!

    We must therefore be very careful and definitely clear on how we regard the sacred images, so as not to give our non-Catholic brothers and sisters the opportunity to accuse us falsely of idolatry!

  • GOD’S SACRED PLACE

    GOD’S SACRED PLACE

    March 7, 2021 – Third Sunday of Lent

    Fr. Manoling Thomas, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030721-YearB.cfm)

    Commenting on today’s Gospel, Gerard Deighan writes: “The Lord needs a place, and the Lord needs a day; or rather we do, because we need the Lord.”

    SCRIPTURE IN CHURCH (Jan-Mar 2009 p.65)

    Today’s Gospel is about Jesus cleansing the Temple of vendors, an incident mentioned by all the four Gospel writers: Matthew [21:12-13], Mark [11:15-19], Luke [19:45-48], and John [2:13-25]. John however situates it right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

    The 1st Reading gives us the “Decalogue” or popularly called “The Ten Commandments”. The 3rd Commandment reads: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” [Ex. 20:8]. Are the 1st Reading and the Gospel related?

    The “Sabbath” is the “Lord’s Day” and we are commanded “to keep it holy”! To keep it holy means to set it apart and to consecrate that day and time exclusively for God! Ideally, we are to spend the Lord’s Day, differently from the way we spend the other six days of the week! Keeping the Lord’s Day, doesn’t only mean abstaining from hard work but also actively participating in the worship of the Lord! Keeping the Lord’s Day also entails sacrificing part of our time for the Lord, by doing nothing, but resting! When the members of the family or the community observe this day of rest for the Lord, the family, and the community usually benefit physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially! The family by spending time together can strengthen their relationships and their bonding with each other! So too with the community! Keeping the Lord’s Day, gives us the time to re-energize, and to refresh our body, mind, and spirit; after working for the past six days! When we take a rest on the Lord’s Day, we follow God’s example, Who rested on the 7th day after His work of creation! “And on the seventh day, God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.”[Genesis 2:2]

    How is this commandment related to Jesus’ violent behaviour in today’s Gospel? When Jesus went up to Jerusalem, he discovered that people were “selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables… ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house, a market-place!’”[Jn. 2:14-16]. Why that strong reaction?

    Jesus wanted to reclaim the Temple as a sacred place for God. Jesus insisted on observing a boundary between the sacred and the secular! Jesus is not against business trading or with people trying to have a decent livelihood! Those animals being sold there were needed for the prescribed temple sacrifice. The money-changers were needed to change Roman denarii and Attic drachmas into acceptable coins for the offerings. Jesus drove the sellers out because they not only crossed, but also encroached on the “sacred space of God” because of greed for money, profit, and selfish convenience! Jesus was angered by their turning his Father’s house into a market-place, into a commercial center! The boundary between the sacred and the secular was violated!

    As God’s people, we need a place for worship, a quiet place where we can have a quiet conversation with our Father in heaven; or take refuge even for a little while, to escape the noise and the rush in a world busy with endless activities and commerce!

    Just as we set aside a day exclusively for the Lord, so too must we set aside a special, decent, quiet, clean, and beautiful enough place worthy of God! Out of respect for that sacred place of God, we must observe proper decorum especially in the way we behave and dress! Remember, that when we are in church, to participate in the Eucharist, we are not attending a wild a party; or going for an excursion on a beach!

    Seeing Jesus’ reaction, his disciples “remembered that it was written: ‘zeal for your house will consume me.’” [Jn. 2: 17]. Jesus burned with zeal to keep and to reclaim his Father’s house as God’s sacred place!

    The Lord needs a respectable place, where God can interact and bond with God’s daughters and sons especially on the Lord’s Sabbath! How about you? Do you also have that need? Do you have the same burning zeal as Jesus had? How conscientiously are you in looking after God’s sacred place, in remembering, and in keeping holy the Lord’s Day? Do you really believe that: “The Lord needs a place, and the Lord needs a day; or rather we do, because we need the Lord”?

  • TOWARDS A MATURE RELATIONSHIP

    TOWARDS A MATURE RELATIONSHIP

    FEBRUARY 28, 2021 – Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

    by Fr. Manoling Thomas, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022821.cfm)

    As we mature and develop as persons, our relationship with others should also undergo change! An example is the way we relate now with our own parents. Surely our way of relating with them now, is different from the way we related with them when we were children or growing teenagers. They remain as our parents whom we continue to esteem and respect as they are entitled to.

    This too should be the case with our personal relationship with God. God wants that relationship; to grow, develop, and mature! Quietly go deep within yourself. Observe, and notice! Is there a difference now in the way God is relating with you from with the way God related with you when you were a child, or a growing teenager? How about from your side, has there been a change in the way you now relate with God?

    Our 1st Reading today, which is from Genesis 22, is an example of an adult to adult relationship: between God and Abraham! Compare this with the relationship between Abraham and his young son, Isaac. The 1st Reading is a very touching illustration of a relationship that has matured. On the one hand we have the relationship between a human father Abraham, and his only son, whom he loved so much. On the other hand, we have the relationship between God and Abraham. Observe the way God addressed Abraham in verse 1, when God commanded Abraham to do something that was very difficult! Look at verse 11, after Abraham proved to God that he was more than willing to do whatever God asks of him! Listen to this: “‘Abraham, Abraham!’. And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.’” [22:11-12]. Do you notice the terms of endearment behind the way God called Abraham and the way Abraham responded? The way God addressed Abraham and intervened shows God’s concern for Abraham and his son, Isaac!

    How did Abraham take God’s difficult command: that he sacrifice his only son whom Abraham loves so much? On those two occasions [vv. 1 & 11], Abraham’s response was the same:  “Here I am.” “Here I am”, shows us Abraham’s nature, as a person always totally available to God. From the time they first met, Abraham had trusted, believed; and was totally obedient to God!

    Did God really want a human sacrifice from Abraham? Of course not! The narrator of the story already made that clear to us! God only wished “to test” Abraham’s faith! In the opening verse we read: “After these things, God tested Abraham.” [v.1]. God’s demand of Abraham was not intended to be taken literally! But Abraham interpreted and understood it differently! Abraham took God’s command literally and seriously! Abraham was well prepared before embarking on that journey. Abraham’s willingness to undertake that long journey and follow a very difficult instruction shows us Abraham’s unwavering faith, firm trust, and total obedience to God!

    Probably, deep inside Abraham, God’s command was completely incomprehensible and even unreasonable. Before this, in their old age, God gifted Abraham and his wife with a son! God gave Abraham this promise: “your very own issue shall be your heir” [15:4]. Abraham totally cut himself off from his whole past [12:1ff] when he left his homeland to obey God and follow God’s call. And now this same God was asking him to give up his whole future? Does this make any sense? Is God aware and sensitive to the fact of how much Abraham loves his only son, Isaac? And God wants Abraham to sacrifice him?

    At this stage in your life, how would you describe the relationship between you and God? Has God ever asked you to do something very difficult and even painful; or do something incomprehensible and even seemingly unreasonable? How did you respond to God?

    Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son on the mountain of Moriah. God the Father gave up His Only Son on Mount Calvary. God was merciful to the father and son, Abraham and Isaac! Through the angel, God intervened and Isaac’s life was spared. But did you realize that God showed no mercy to Himself? God did not intervene to spare Jesus from a violent and cruel death! God allowed His Only Son, whom He loved so much to die…to die so that all of us may have life…the fullness of life! [Jn. 10:10]. This is the God, Who invites you and me to continue to grow and mature in our personal relationship with Him!