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Category: Fr. Mario Masangcay, CSsR

  • PARENTING 101

    PARENTING 101

    December 29, 2024 – Feast of the Holy Family

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122924.cfm)

    In every Wednesday novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, one intention we pray is that we may learn to adapt to our growing children. Parenthood, as we all know, is not only about raising children but also adjusting to our growing children. Thus to parent a child is more than just caring for the growth of the children; it is also adjusting and learning in the process, as children grow in maturity and age.

    As Redemptorist missionary involved in parish, retreat, mission and migrant ministry. For many years, though not a parent myself, I came to be aware of the difficulties of parenthood. In as much as adapting to life-changes is difficult, how much more adapting to growing children. In confessions and counseling sessions with faithful people, I become conscious of the hurts & pains suffered by both parents and children alike in their difficulties with parenthood.

    Parents hurt by their children’s disobedience, i.e. going against their will; children blaming their parents for their misfortunes in life. All because of our limitations in parenthood. Parenthood indeed is not an easy task rightly so that we pray to OMPH that we may learn from our experiences of adapting to the growth of our growing children.

    Today, we honor the Holy Family, the family who parented the child Jesus. Our gospel tells us that like any other family, the Holy Family also experienced the difficulties of parenthood. Joseph and Mary followed the proper traditions of raising the child Jesus. They did their best. But as we all know, they also experience how Jesus became disobedient to them, going against their will.

    Surely parents here could relate with Joseph & Mary, and know the hurts, pains and anxieties they experience when children start to grow up and be on their own. Like my mother would say, when we, her children became independent from her, “Kung puede palang ibalik sa tiyan.” (If I could only bring you back in my womb…) It is the same way with the experience of a chicken hen that raises ducks as her chicks. When the duck-chicks, which by nature a swimmer, start to swim and float on a pond, the mother hen would be extremely worried because she cannot swim and she gets anxious that her chicks will get drowned.

    This is also what and how Joseph and Mary experienced parenting Jesus. When the child Jesus began to grow up in age & maturity, his parents also experienced the difficulties of parenthood. However, the Holy Family’s experience could teach us more about parenting, in view of adapting to our growing children.

    First, parenthood is a family matter, not only of parents. To parent a family is not only about the husband and wife tandem in raising their children but it is more on the dynamic teamwork between parents and children. If it was difficult for Mary and Joseph to raise and adjust with Jesus, it was also difficult for Jesus to grow up in his own family. In as much as being parent is difficult, we also know that growing up maturely (to be on our own) is difficult. If Jesus only obey his parents’ will,  we wonder: would we be able to benefit from and share with the salvation God has given us through Jesus, who did not remain a child of Mary and Joseph but become our Christ, our Savior? Surely Jesus had been an obedient Child to His parent, but above all, Jesus became an obedient adult Christ to our God, the Father.

    Second, parenthood is also about trusting in God’s way of raising and forming all of us His children. Inasmuch as we are tasked to parent to our little ones, raising and adapting to their growth, we must never forget that ultimately God is our Father – our ultimate Parent, and we are all His children. If we want the best for our children, God also knows, wants and does what is best for each one of us. God knows what was best for us when we were children, surely, he knows what is best for us when we become mature adult parent to His little ones. So trust and have faith in God’s will, in God’s way of parenting us.

    Photo from YoungCatholic.com

    To parent a child is to work together then with one another as family of parents and children as well as to work with and in deep faith and trust of God’s way of parenting us. Perhaps these days we consider:  “What kind of parent we have been? What is your parenting styles? Have you been a CARPENTER parent who designs, measures, builds up & wills what is best for your children? Or are you a GARDENER parent who prepares, tends, & cares for God’s child in you growing to be a blooming, budding & fruitful blessing for all, God intended our children to be? What need to be improved then, as we learn to adapt to our growing God’s children with us?

    Christmas challenges us Christian to be responsible parents of Jesus in our lives today. Parenting our growing children is also our way of being responsible to Jesus, God’s Word made flesh in us. As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, we pray that the Holy Family will continue to inspire all Christian families and communities in parenting our growing children. Amen.

  • BEING GIFTED

    BEING GIFTED

    December 22, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122224.cfm)

    Once I visited a sick bedridden elderly Lady in her home for the Sacrament of Anointing. She was crying overjoyed of my presence and visit since it has been awhile since she received Holy Communion and she really missed our Wednesday novena to OMPH. To lighten the circumstances, I asked her if she could still sing any Marian hymns, and readily she sang the whole, “O Birhen Maria”. As I was about to leave she asked me to also visit her sick neighbor nearby.

    My visit to her reminds me of our gospel today and of how Elizabeth responded to visit of Mary. As Mary visited her, Elizabeth felt great honor, blessing and happiness that made her praise the Lord, professed her faith and blessed Mary, that also moved Mary to sing the Magnificat. A simple visit made and can still make a lot of difference, influence and change in people’s life.

    In the same manner, in gift-giving, happy we would be whenever the gifts we give are gratefully received. And more joyfully it would be when our gifts are gratefully received and shared with others. Joyful it is then, when our gifts are thankfully received & shared with others. Elizabeth was so grateful for Mary’s gift of visitation.

    And more so, she acknowledged the blessedness of Mary for sharing her God’s offer of salvation for us. Both women joyful to receive & share God’s gift of a child for them & for all. Being GIFTED with simple visit, God’s gift of salvation for us in Jesus is gratefully received & joyfully shared with others by Mary & Elizabeth, and us, as God’s bearers & sharers of God’s gift of salvation for all.

    If we really come to think of it, salvation happens when the Lord comes for a visit. Meaning, our salvation happens with our personal encounters or experiences of the Lord in our lives. And such graces and blessings continue to happen as the Lord always GIFTED us with personal visits and as we welcome Him wholeheartedly into our lives. Thus, salvation occurs with a visit and a welcome. Whenever we welcome a visit as well as whenever in sharing we visit someone, we participate in the Lord’s way of transforming and renewing life.

    As we are nearing the Lord’s birthday, perhaps we ask ourselves: When is the last time we visit someone, and when is the last time we welcome a visitor? When is the last time we participate in God’s salvation by visiting another person and by welcoming a visitor? When is the last time we thankfully receive & bear Jesus into our lives? When is the last time we joyfully shared Him to others? Listen & Respond.

    Come Lord Jesus into our lives. Amen.

  • BEST Person

    BEST Person

    December 15, 2024 – Third Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121524.cfm)

    In a PTA meeting of the graduating class, the guidance counselor asked the parents: “What do you aspire for your child in life?” Some parents wants their children  to be happy. Others aspire for success. Others would hope for righteousness.

    How about us now? What would we aspire in life? What do we aspire for our children?

    Success, happiness, and righteousness are three great and nice aspirations in life. We all wish to have all these dreams in life, but we do also know that we cannot have always all these in life. That is why it is important for us to recognize our own dreams and aspirations in life, as well as what is proper for us, as Christians.

    To aspire for success in life today is never easy, because there are many options and standards. As a consequence, we are not easily contented with life. In order to succeed, we have to aspire for more and better than others. Thus, making others easily discouraged in life because they are not the dean’s lister, cum laude, boss, or millionaire, and hopeless because they are “not-yet but only a” from what they aspire to be. Others may have been already successful in life but done through corruption, lie and deception, and still not happy and still discontented in life.

    Nowadays, to aspire for happiness is also difficult because there are endless and unsatisfying possibilities. Like, a simple telephone or watch is not enough, it has to be a smartphone or smartwatch. Some would even be willing to lie and exploit others, just to keep up with Jonesses, with the latest and fashionable trends. That is why Gadgets are getting smarter while the people getting stupid. Others even may be enjoying a happy life now but at the expense of others by being a burden and dependent on others.

    Yes there are demands and shortcomings in life, but to aspire to be right and worthy before God and other has always been close and gentle in our hearts. To behave rightly before God and others is not only expected of us but also usually satisfy our hearts-desire.

    Thus, it is not our worldly success or happiness, but our worthiness before God and others is our deepest hearts-desire and God’s wish for us, and what should be proper aspiration for us Christians, as believers and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    When asked how to be and what to do before God’s offer of salvation, John the Baptist in our gospel today teaches the people then and us now to aspire and to be worthy and righteous as we are before God and others.

    What is required of us then in God’s salvation is our worthiness before God and others, and not our successes and happiness in life. He said, “If you are rich, share what you have. If you’re a tax-collector, don’t take advantage of others. If you’re a soldier, be fair and just with others”. In other words, Be worthy and righteous as you really are now before God and others.

    John the Baptist knows himself. He is not the Messiah Himself. He is only the voice and just the precursor to prepare the way of the Lord. But he also aspires to be a worthy friend of the bridegroom. He is not the Groom but the Best Man for the Groom. This is also what John wish for us – that We become the Best (worthy and righteous) Person for the groom before God and others.

    We may aspire to have a successful and Happy Christmas this year and Life next year, but may also not be righteous and worthy before the Lord. Or, we may have an unsuccessful and unhappy Christmas and Life ahead but still worthy and righteous before Him, as we behave rightly as we are called & lived to be Christians to others.

    Rejoicing at the Lord’s coming and being into our life now, is not because we being happy and successful in life, but rather because we behave and act rightly and worthily before God and others in life. To be worthy and righteous before God and others then is what we should and are we to do in life,  for us to once again and always openly received God’s continuing blessing of grace to us in life through His son, Jesus Christ.

    And so, healthy for us to perhaps ask ourselves nowadays: “what do we aspire for in life?” “Is our priority in life … happiness, success OR righteousness?

    Lord take away everything that distance us from you. Grant us everything that bring us close to you. Detach us from ourselves to bring our all to you. (Nicholas of Flue’s prayer) So May It Be. Amen

  • Operation: LINIS

    Operation: LINIS

    December 8, 2024 – Second Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120824.cfm)

    To clean the whole house : a family activity and exercise that should be done regularly but rarely done, because it is demanding & requires a lot of work. To do general house cleaning is difficult indeed, but if & when we do it occasionally, we can learn a lot of good things & may promise some changes in life. Simply because, we know that general house cleaning is not only about cleaning things in our home.

    General house cleaning could be our chance to treasure the treasures-found. As we go through daily lives, eventually we collect a lot of things received, bought, and possessed along the way. As we clean our house then, we got the chance to re-evaluate, i.e. to give value again & anew the treasures we have owned & collected, to declutter the surplus & let go of what we do not really need, & share these now with those who are in need. Through this, we may able to recognize, count and share our blessings, and may able to declog & make our lives easier & lighter from unnecessary burdens & concerns.

    General house cleaning may also be our chance to review our life. As we clean our things in the house, it could happen that we remember our past experiences & memories, become in touch once again with the spirit, values & principles-held in life, recognize our present realities & state of life (like, kids are not anymore kids but now teenagers, & teens are becoming adults), & realize the new changes & challenges required to adjust with our current status of life.

    General house cleaning may also be our change to rearrange our lives (not only our home). By responding & planning for the challenges of the new changing realities in life, we may update, upgrade, reconfigure or reformat our outdated systems & ways within the house that would best suit to our changing & growing family. In other words, Simply put, a chance to review our expectations & realistically align these with the new challenges & conditions.

    To re-evaluate, review & re-arrange may just be some of the good things & benefits of doing general house cleaning. Demanding it may be, but if & when we do it, it offers us ease & direction in living & improving our lives.

    During this 2nd Sunday of Advent, we are challenged to, through the witness of St. John the Baptism, from the words of Prophet Isaiah: “Prepare for the way of the Lord.” But we may ask: “What is more to prepare? What more we should prepare?

    Come to think of it, we are already prepared. As early as before October, we already decorated our house. Christmas trees & decors are already placed. Gifts to be given, food for celebrations are being prepared. Some have their parties & reunions already. Some were already tired & impatient waiting for their gifts & bonuses. What else is & should be prepared?

    The preparation we are challenged to by the Sacred Scripture is not our usual preparation of decorations, gifts, food, parties, bonuses & others. The expected preparation required of us is “to make straight His paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain & hill shall made low. The winding road shall be made straight & the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord.”

    Simply put, To do General House Cleaning – to clean our whole home, to make things right rightly for the Lord. What is asked of us then is – an update, upgrade, reconfiguration & reformatting of lifestyle suited for the Lord, us & others – to be better now & do improve our way of living our life.

    The Lord becoming one of us & being with us is not just a decoration in life where we only use when needed or where we only maximize when we wanted it. Christmas – the birth of the Lord, God’s incarnation into our lives should be the appropriate Center, Way, Guide & Direction of our Christian lives. Meaning, what preparation expected of us is not house decoration but general house cleaning.

    Now, when was the last time you had your general house cleaning? When is your general house cleaning?

    As the year about to end & we are now fast approaching Christmas, why not do your general house cleaning these days? Ask nobody to do it for you, but rather do it yourself, so that, you may have a new perspective, meaning, & purpose in life, and thus, may have carved a new space for God’s Word, Jesus Christ into your life.

    So May It Be. Amen.

    ———-

    n.b. Say a little prayer for me as it also happens I celebrate my birthday today. Much house-cleaning to do here. 😊

  • Faith-Bearing Witness

    Faith-Bearing Witness

    December 1, 2024 – First Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120124.cfm)

    Once a friend of mine shared with me his family problem. Particularly, it was about his sister who decided to change her religion. My friend and the whole family were very sad and hurt about his sister’s decision to change her religion from Catholic to Born-Again Christian. He still cannot understand why her sister, raised in a Catholic family, was educated in a Catholic school and an active youth leader of their parish, could bear herself to change her religion, totally different from their family’s Catholic faith.

    What really happens to my friend’s life only reflects the present crisis in our Christian faith. Though most of us, Filipinos are Catholic, we cannot deny that in our community and our church today, quite a number of our brothers and sisters have been influenced by other religious sects, already changed their beliefs, and even lost their faith in the Church. It is true, not only our nation is going through a political and economic crisis, but it is also alarming that our Catholic Church today is also facing a crisis in faith.

    However, if we reflect on our Gospel today, we realize that this crisis in faith we faced is a direct challenge for us to bear witness to our own Christian Catholic faith. We see that in the midst of this crisis in faith, our Lord Jesus Christ here in our gospel today calls us to make and strengthen our own faith-commitment, accepting Him as the coming Messiah and our Redeemer.

    Yes, it is true that like the apostles, our faith in Jesus was influenced by how our parents witness and our family practices our faith in Christ. But, as the faith of our family influenced and guides our own faith, eventually, one has to deepen and strengthen his own personal faith relationship with Christ, based on one’s recognition and acceptance of the person of Jesus, as our Lord Savior, Christ today, and of his Church.

    Just as Jesus in our Gospel challenged His disciples’ faith, “Stand erect for your liberation is near at hand,” he calls all of us today to a much deeper personal faith in His person and his salvation, and to hold on & remain steadfast in our Christian  faith, with his Church today. Though we sustain our faith with our own family, each and everyone of us need to make our own personal faith-commitment, as one’s own response to the challenge of faith and hope to God’s salvation, in the midst of this crisis of faith. In other words, “Pagmatinud-anon ug barugi ang imong gituohan, ayaw’g pagpalingpaling kay ang Gingharian sa Dios haduol na.”

    Our gospel then is Jesus’ announcement, not of the coming disaster and crisis but of God’s promise of salvation with our faith. Challenging realities of faith crises in our midst is also our very chance to give testimony to what believe & to God whom we believe, thus, our very own faith-bearing witness.  

    Remember, as the saying goes,  “Darkness gives the light of faith a chance to glow brightly.” True enough, in our darkness and life-crises, we start to rely in our faith in the Lord, to begin to believe, to have faith not in what we can see, but in what our hearts see, trying to see things in our eyes of faith. Life seems to be dark, hopeless and discouraging, but our persevering faith in the Lord, in the midst of these darkness can lead us to our complete healing and salvation.

    As we stand erect & raise our heads by our commitment and witnessing of our common & personal faith in Jesus as Christ of our lives, we are worthy to receive the dignity in being called as sons and daughters of God, in his Kingdom. Through God’s grace and our faith-response, we become worthy to receive and nurture our Christian dignity and God’s grace of salvation in our own lives at hand.

    As we celebrate today, the first Sunday of Advent, in the midst of crisis in Catholic faith we faced, the Lord Jesus Christ challenges us today, then to deepen our acceptance and recognition of his person and mission in the Church; and to strengthen our commitment and witnessing of our faith, trust and hope in His saving power in our lives.

    And so… Lord, take away everything that distance us from You. Grant us everything that bring us closer to you. Detach us from ourselves to give our all to you.Amen.