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Category: Fr. Mario Masangcay, CSsR

  • SENT to Do God’s Work

    SENT to Do God’s Work

    July 6, 2025 – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070625.cfm)

    To those who are in one way or another involved with apostolic work and in church ministry, a well-known Jesuit spiritual director Thomas Green once emphasized that there is a big difference between working for God and doing God’s work. Though working for God and doing God’s work are both noble and good as well as might mean the same, the difference lies on the doer, worker, or actor of the ministry.

    Working for God is based from OUR own initiative and creativity. It is service-done designed according to our own will so that God and others will be pleased with us. God and others then, becomes a passive recipient of our good works.

    However, doing God’s work is based (not on our own but) on God’s own initiative and creativity. It is service-done, patterned according (not to our own will but) to God’s will and done in partnership and collaboration with God. Here, God is the author and actor of the good works done. We become then mere participants and instruments of God’s work as well as all will be the beneficiaries of God’s work.

    Simply put, working for God is OUR work for God, whereas Doing God’s work is GOD’s work for us & done with Us.

    Our Gospel today highlights our identity & responsibilities as missionaries of Christ. Like his disciples, as today’s Christians, we are reminded that we are authorized, empowered & commissioned to “proclaim the Kingdom of God & to heal the sick”. It is our mission then to proclaim & give witness to our faith in the world. As faithfuls & followers of Christ, we are thus God’s missionaries & ministers to the world today.

    What is more significant in our mission as Christians is the specific instruction of Jesus of “take nothing (no money bag, no sack, no sandals) for the journey” – This would mean as we are sent, go, & do our mission of Proclaiming Christ & giving witness to God’s kingdom to the world today, we are come & go as we are (blessed & broken we may be, warts & all) for what we proclaim is not ourselves but God himself.

    We are to learn to trust, practice detachment & rely on God’s will, plans & ways – not on ourselves, for God’s offer of salvation is based on His graces & blessings rather than on our human endeavors & merits.

    In other words, we are sent (not only to work for God, but) to do God’s work in the world through us. Yes, in whatever vocation & profession we are in in this life, we are on-mission to the world, but not just to work for God, but to do God’s work & mission with us, for in Christ & with us Christians, God is still on mission & at work in world for our better lives.

    On this note, we consider that our Catholic bishops exhorts during 1991 2nd Plenary Council of the Philippines, that as today’s Filipino Catholics, we “need to retell the Jesus story to ourselves so that we can tell Him to other with authority”. Meaning, it is our mission as Filipino Catholics now to tell the Jesus’ story again & again, and  anew to ourselves so that we can proclaim & minister Him to others. It is for God then, not for us to change & save the world & others. It is for us to strengthen our faith in Jesus now & so others here at home and abroad may come to know & witness Jesus in us, who believes & follows Him.

    As we do our part in God’s work, our day-to-day life in faith with Christ challenges us to be more in sync & at tune with God’s will, plan, & ways of leading & guiding us, rather than insist our own plans, will & ways for what is best for us in our lives nowadays.

    May we grow in our missionary life & be worthy of our missionary identity as Filipino Catholics.

    So Help us God. So may It be. Amen.

  • Our CHOICE to be Christian

    Our CHOICE to be Christian

    June 29, 2025 – Solemnity of Saint Peter and Paul

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062925-Mass.cfm)

    Perhaps we may raise the questions: “How come only few people nowadays wanting to join priesthood and religious life? How come a number of people nowadays are not getting married & just opt for cohabitation (if not, getting married in the church)? How come being stay-home single for life is on the rise?” Or in other words, “how come wanting to be true disciples of Christ are dwindling in numbers?”

    Regardless of specific circumstances, perhaps this is caused by the requirements-entail of being a disciple. Yes, Jesus once said: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross & follow me”. With this, easy for us to think & excuse ourselves readily as to how difficult self-denial, sacrifice & obedience that Christian discipleship demands of us.

    However, before we think of the requirements & demands of discipleship, we must consider that to be disciple of Jesus is first and foremost, a CHOICE. Jesus said: “Whoever wishes to come after me….” Meaning, Christian discipleship – to follow Jesus is a Choice. Demanding & difficult it may be, being disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ is never implied and enforced to us. It is our Choice & Option to be Christian & what kind of Christian we are to be.

    When he asked the disciples in our gospel today: “Who do you say I am?”, Jesus is asking them then & us now not to recite a formula or creed, or to laud the formal title or doing lip-services to Him, but Jesus is asking us to make a choice, to choose & claim Jesus as our personal Christ, and to what kind of Christian we choose to be. And for Peter to claim Jesus as Christ, he has to experience Jesus first as person as well as to decide eventually for himself that Jesus is his Christ as well as to choose himself to be a disciple of Jesus, & what kind of disciple of Jesus he choose to be.

    Meaning, by choosing Jesus as his CHRIST, Peter becomes a Christian disciple & commissioned to be the rock-based of our church & the key-holder to God’s kingdom of heaven. So also, Paul kept his faith & through him the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it. In other words, with & by their choice to be  follows their mission to be Christian.

    Yes, we may at times use the excuse that Jesus even said, “Many are called, but few are chosen”. But “few are chosen” because even when we are all called,  few must HAVE Chosen to be and remains to be His worthy disciple. Meaning, wanting to be true disciples of Christ are dwindling in numbers because few have chosen to be, while being called & invited. Again to know Christ & be a Christian is Our Choice. Without our choice to be, there is no clear mission & direction to be & do in faith & life.

    Nevertheless, the Lord will always continue to call us again & anew to be His disciple, however we choose & respond to Him. And it is up to us then what kind of Christian or not we choose to be.

    Today we honor Peter & Paul. Two great men of our faith who personally chose Jesus to be their Christ. By their choice, they become Christians. And we come to know & choose Jesus as our Christ & be His disciples through Peter & Paul.

    In whatever life we live now, like Peter & Paul may we be worthy & true disciples to the kind of Christian life we choose to be, for we know that to choose Jesus we will be in grace. And not making any choice for Jesus & not growing as His disciples, we will be disgraced towards oblivion.

    So, by our choice we pray that may be blessed worthy to be disciples of Christ in faith & life now & always.

    So Be It. Amen

  • Eucharist-Gifted

    Eucharist-Gifted

    June 22, 2025 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062225.cfm)

    There was once a man who desired to know the difference between heaven and hell. He went through a lot of painstaking investigation as to the distinction between heaven and hell. But in vain, because all he got were some descriptions, pictures and stories depicting about heaven and hell.

    One night in his sleep, he dreamed that he found himself in front of the Lord. The Lord asked him, “What is it that you desire?” He replied, “Lord, I like to experience the difference between heaven and hell.” So, the Lord said, “Go into that room.” So, he went into a room filled with sad, hungry, sick, weak and malnourished people. While observing around, he noticed that at the center of the room, there is a big pot of steaming delicious rice soup (arrozcaldo).

    However, he realized people could not enjoy the food because they are using spoons with long handle. He thought, “to eat your food using spoon with long handle must surely be hell.” Outside he told the Lord, “Now I know what hell is. How about heaven?” The Lord directed him to another room. Upon entering, he met happy, healthy and alive people, and he said to himself : “This must be heaven”. He also observed that at the center of the room lies a big pot of steaming hot delicious arrozcaldo, and also people were using spoons with long handle.

    Coming out from the room more confused, he then asked the Lord: “Now what’s the difference? Both are in the room with delicious food in their midst while using spoons with long handles to feed. How come people in hell are s and people in heaven are healthy?” The Lord replied, “Sadly people in hell never learned to use their spoons properly. Their long-handle spoons are meant to feed others than themselves. In heaven, people enjoys instead the food together by feeding each other and one another in kindness and communion.

    Our gospel today reminded us of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves. Although caused by Jesus, the miracle-happened is not only the multiplication of food and the feeding of multitudes but more so on the agape or communion: food-blessings shared and enjoyed by all.

    Same as today, people then must had bought their own meal for themselves to attend the big meeting and gathering. But as the people witnessed what Jesus did with the little bread kindly offered, blessed, distributed and shared with others, they were also inspired and move to offer, pray, and share in kindness the small food-baon they have with others.

    The real miracle then is the Agape-Communion, i.e. food-shared and the sharing in kindness of the food. Thus heaven be-like and miracles do happen whenever people share whatever little blessings that we have with one another & others in loving kindness.

    For the past three Sundays, we put value to the treasures the risen Lord has gifted us to sustain in our Christian daily lives. Jesus once said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.

    Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we come to believe and proclaim the TRUTH that our Lord Jesus is the Son of God, who makes us know and call our God as our Father, and thus we are God’s children. With the gift of the Holy Trinity, we learn the WAY to aspire for God’s love and life by glorifying our Father through the witness of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

    As shown to us by our Lord, the gift of His Body and Blood offers us the LIFE to nourish, sustain and direct our faith-life journey toward our heaven – God’s life and glory.

    Today the whole Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi: the Body and Blood of Christ. This is to remind us that we are Eucharist-gifted, i.e. the Lord has given and left us the gift of Eucharist as life to live and follow as Christian.

    Our readings today reminded us that God has continually nourished us in Life. Through the Body and Blood of Christ, God offers us Jesus as our food to nourish and sustain us in daily faith-life journey. However, for miracles to happen and a taste of heaven be enjoyed in life, the Eucharist as food for our journey are meant to be shared in kindness with others and one another.

    In other words, food and graces given to us are not only meant for ourselves but must be blessed and shared in communion and kindness with others & one another in life as community of faith. The food and life God offers us through the Most Holy Eucharist then are meant to be in agape and communion with others and one another, and not to be keep only for oneself.

    We might say nowadays: “You are what you eat, and who you eat with” or “The food you eat reflects your identity and your company to keep.” Like, a vegetarian eats vegetables with vegetarians. Meat-eater parties with meat-eaters. Drinkers hangs-out with drunkards.

    In the same way, Catholics who attend and receive Eucharist regularly are spiritually healthy, happy, more kind and generous to share with others. Catholics however who rarely attend and receive Communion (as some would even prefer just to attend via live-streaming mass nowadays) tends to be spiritually weak, usually sad, stingy and selfish to share with others.

    Again for miracles to happen and for us to have a glimpse and taste of heaven in life, we must learn to properly receive our blessings by attending, taking and sharing Holy Eucharist with others and one another in community.

    As we are continually nourished by God through the Eucharist, the Life of the Body and Blood of Christ, may we be more inspired, nourished, and moved to share our faith and blessings in kindness and communion with others & one another.

    Hinaut pa unta. So May It Be. Amen.

  • Holy Trinity-Gifted

    Holy Trinity-Gifted

    June 15, 2025 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061525.cfm)

    Being gifted by someone special person in life is usually for us a joyous & meaningful experience. Because as we all know, the gift-received is not only about the importance of the gift-given, but also the giver of the gift, and the thought & ways of giving us itself the gift. And so, not only the gift, but also the giving & the giver matter most in our being gifted.

    As we have considered how it is to be gifted by the Holy Spirit last Sunday, this Sunday we reflect on our being gifted by the Holy Trinity.

    Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. We proclaim our faith in God as the Holy Trinity. In our faith in Christ, we believe in God who is the persons & dynamics of Father, Son & Holy Spirit. We fully trust in the God made known to us by our Lord Jesus as community of persons at work together for recreation & renewal of our lives for the better.

    And today, as always once again, we joyfully celebrate our being gifted by the Holy Trinity in our Christian faith & life.

    To appreciate our being gifted by the Holy Trinity, we must understand that the communal presence & actions of the Holy Trinity are considerably implied in the Holy Scriptures. And somehow this is articulated at its best in the word: “Behold” in the gospels.

    We remember here that “Behold” is said during the Annunciation (Mt 1:23) when it was foretold of Mary’s conceiving God’s child, during Jesus’ public ministry (Jn 1:29) when he is recognized as the Lamb of God, also on the cross (Jn 19:26-27) when Jesus endorsed Mary & the disciples to one another, and above all at the ascension when Jesus assured them of His presence forever as He commissioned His disciples to continue in with His mission (Mt 28:20).

    In all these instances in the Jesus story, especially when the word: “Behold” is said, we come to recognize the presence & dynamics of the Holy Trinity are at work on-mission (on-the-go), in tandem with one another, & in collaboration with us, believers & followers of Christ for the grace of our salvation & blessings.

    And so as our response for such a great gift, what are we to do as being gifted by Holy Trinity? Again, we consider the word “Behold” challenging us to respond to the presence & dynamics of the community of the Holy Trinity in us.

    In the gospel when he was saying on the cross: “Woman, behold your son”…”Son, behold your mother” (Jn 19:25-27)*** Jesus is more than just presenting & endorsing  Mary, his mother & the beloved disciple to one another, but rather call each other’s attention to give care to each other’s presence, and give importance to what is happening & about to happen in their lives.

    Here, we are reminded that in the scriptures, to behold signifies drawing attention to something significant, often revelations, event or divine message, to happen.

    Meaning, “Behold” in the scriptures is a “call to attention”, “a call to order” for us to recognize the significance of the present moment.  To behold then is more than just an expression of being present but more so to acknowledge the significance of the moment happening before us. The challenge for us to “Behold” is thus somehow calling us out that “There is something greater going on and better happening here. So, be aware & conscious of the great importance of the moment.”

    For us to behold then is to  be aware & be awed of the presence & dynamics of the Holy Trinity in our very lives. In other words, beholding for us Christians is to look significantly to our trinitarian God in our lives so that we may see, observe, discern & comprehend His presence & actions in our ordinary daily faith-life journey. Behold, then, for God’s salvation is upon us.

    As we continue on with our pilgrimage of faith, we pray that we may grow in great appreciation & significance of our being gifted by the Holy Trinity in our faith, as we behold God’s ever-present & dynamic blessings at work happening now in our present moment.

    With Mary, our Mother of perpetual Help, through Jesus Christ our Lord, now and always.

    Amen.

    *** We distinctively used this Gospel today since here in our parish church we are also celebrating the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, as our parish patroness here in Cebu, Philippines – which happen to come also on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity this year.

  • Holy Spirit-GIFTED

    Holy Spirit-GIFTED

    June 8, 2025 – Pentecost Sunday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060825-Day.cfm)

    We do know how it feels to receive gifts from someone special. Receiving a simple token of gift and/or few words of call or posts from someone special could really make our day and even help us get through the day. Because we know that behind each gift-received is not only the given-gift but also the giver of the gift, and the act of giving itself. Meaning, significant in receiving gifts is more than just what we received but also the one who gave it and how it was given  (Gift-Giver-Giving). We really appreciate then even just the simple thought and action of gift-giving from someone special in our life. Such gift-receiving given by someone special could surely promises us inspiration, love and faith in our day to day life.

    During these coming three Sundays we will come to appreciate and value the Gifts of the Risen Lord to us His disciples. Today, the gift of the Holy Spirit, next Sunday is the gift of the Most Holy Trinity, and the Sunday after next is the gift of the His Body and Blood. These are His special gifts to us to live through and inheritances for us to persevere with our faith-life journey in our day to day lives as we are being sent to be His witnesses to the world.

    In the gospels, we hear our risen Lord Jesus saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Church tradition has it that fifty days after His resurrection (ten day after His ascension), on the day of Pentecost, His disciples received the promised gift of Holy Spirit to the church, and inspired them to speak in different languages to proclaim the Good News of God’s salvation. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, faithful people from different cultures then and until now are able to speak, hear and understand each other’s faith through our very own native tongues. Because of such experience, today marks the birthday of the Church – the day of birth, the day when the church becomes alive.

    The gift of the Holy Spirit is thus very essential in the life of the Church. Like a soul to a body, the church is dead without the movements of the spirit, as well as the spirit cannot inspire our faith-life without the church. We, the church needs the Holy Spirit to live & prosper as well as the Holy Spirit needs our Church to offer the world salvation, meaning and direction in life, through us.

    As we celebrate today Pentecost Sunday, the day when Lord has given us His gift of Holy Spirit & the birthday of our Church, we are invited as well to ponder on the meaning of the Lord’s offer and gift of Holy Spirit into our lives now. In other words, what does it mean for us in this day & age to receive & live with His Holy Spirit?

    Receiving the Holy Spirit, first of all, is to be IN the Spirit of Jesus, for through the Holy Spirit we acquire the Lord’s inspiration and we are now In the God’s mind. In the Holy Spirit, we are also motivated by the Lord – mindful and inspired (i.e. In-spirit) to believe and follow Him in our lives today. Blessed are we then for through the Holy Spirit, we are one in His Spirit, and His Spirit is one in us. Sa DIWA, tayo ay nasa kanya at Siya ay nasa atin. Diha sa diwa, kita Iya, ug ato Siya.

    Receiving the Holy Spirit is also to be WITH the Spirit of Jesus for through the Holy Spirit we enjoy the Lord’s love and we are now in the God’s heart. With Holy Spirit, we come to know love and to be in love, for He loves us in our lives. Beloved are we then for through the Holy Spirit, we are one in His Heart. Sa PUSO, tayo ay Kanyang kasama at siya ay kasama atin. Sa kasingkasing, kita Iyang Kauban, ug ato Siyang kauban.

    Receiving the Holy Spirit is to be FOR the Spirit of Jesus too, for through the Holy Spirit we partake in the Lord’s mission, and we are now in the God’s will and way. For the Holy Spirit, we come to be steadfast and faithful in our missions in life, for He appointed and sent us to be His witnesses in the world. Encouraged are we then for through the Holy Spirit, we are one in His Will. Sa KALOOBAN, tayo ay para kanya at siya ay para atin. Sa Kinaiya, kita alang Niya ug Siya alang nato.

    Like receiving a gift from special someone, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit offers us then inspiration, love and faith in our daily lives. Blessed, Beloved and Encouraged are we then to receive the Holy Spirit – as our Advocate whom Jesus of told us in the gospel “the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you”, for through the Holy Spirit, we are in one Spirit, Heart and Will of the Lord. Kaisa sa Diwa, Puso at Kalooban ng Panginoon. Usa sa diwa, kasingkasing ug kinaiya sa atong Ginoo.

    Our liturgy today reminds us that we are Holy Spirit-gifted, i.e. the Lord has already given and offered, as well as, will continually give and offer us His gift of Holy Spirit. The challenge for us now is to invite & receive the Holy Spirit into our daily lives these days. Same as way as Easter season calls us to invite the risen Lord to “Come and Stay with us” (Road to Emmaus), Pentecost challenges us to Invite and Be a Host to the Holy Spirit in our daily ordinary lives, and allow the Holy Spirit to bless, love and encourage us and in effect, Recreate, Renew and Recharge our lives always.

    As people of Lord’s resurrection and of the Holy Spirit, we now invoke and invite the Holy Spirit into our lives as we pray:

    Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.