Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: AUTHORS

  • REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

    REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

    December 15, 2024 – Third Sunday of Advent

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

    How joyful are you today? Do you find joy in things that you do and with those that you have? Are you joyful too with your relationships now? Do you find joy with what is going on with your life despite the struggles and problems you have?

    Each of us is gifted and blessed despite the problems and trials that we might be facing right now. This should be reasons for us to be joyful and grateful. This should hopefully lead us too in sharing our gratitude to God and joy to others.

    There is a particular gift also that we should be grateful and be more joyful. This is the Gift of God’s Self to us. God’s gift of Himself to us is what we have heard in the readings today on this Third Sunday of Advent, also called as Gaudete Sunday. And so let us explore together the sacred scriptures and discern how God invites us today.

    In the Book of Zephaniah, we were told that God is indeed with us. The prophet proclaimed, “The Lord is in your midst!” God has forgiven us and even blessed us with His presence.  Having this confidence, it calls us to rejoice.

    In the second reading, St. Paul reiterated the message of Zephaniah. Paul reminded the early Christians to rejoice and always be joyful because God is with us. In fact, Paul’s words echoes to us today, “Rejoice in the Lord always!”

    This joy is in fact TRANSFORMATIVE. This means that joy is life-changing and life-giving. John the Baptist told us about this, of the one mightier than him. When we accept the Lord in our life and allow him to be in us and with us, then, God leads us to change our bad old ways from being self-centered to life-giving, from being fearful to having faith, from being bitter to being better and grateful.

    This leads us to share what we have to those who are in need, to share our joy to those who are joyless and to share our life and presence who need friendship and company. These are all emphasized in the Gospel in the way the converts asked John the Baptist on what they should do after their baptism, like the tax collectors and even the soldiers.

    The response of giving and sharing is according to the way they should live their lives, in their daily affairs. Thus, each of us too is called to express joy in our life according to the state of our life now.

    Are you a student? Then, you are called to express joy in your studies and in your school. Are you working? Then, express joy at your workplace and with your co-workers. Are you out-of-school or still looking for a job yet? Then, express your joy in your neighborhood and to your friends. Are you a young parent? Then, express your joy to your child.

    Therefore, on this third Sunday of Advent, God invites us to be joyful because we are gifted and blessed. And because joy empowers us to express it, then, be free to be joyful and let not problems discourage you. Be free to communicate joy and let not fear and shame prevent you. Be free to accept joy from others too and let not bitterness, judgments and biases hold you back. Be free to draw joy from your surroundings and with nature. Be free to make your daily work, daily studies and daily responsibilities as your joyful recreation for yourself, your family and for your friends; let not complaints and ungratefulness hold you from being truly joyful everyday.

    Indeed, let joy make us young and free, alive and life-giving to others. We pray that as we make ourselves joyful, we may also welcome the Lord in our hearts with much joyful anticipation as He comes to us today so that we may “rejoice in the Lord always!” Hinaut pa.

  • 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

  • TO HAVE A HEART THAT IS FREE

    TO HAVE A HEART THAT IS FREE

    December 14, 2024 – Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121424.cfm)

    Have you ever experienced being opposed by others because you are different? Because you think and do things different from what many would think and do? Have you also experienced being rejected because you do not adhere to the status quo, to what they used to follow and live?

    Such opposition can be experienced within our organization, work or communities. And when we become a person who thinks, acts and believes to something different from the rest, we could become a threat to that “status quo.” We will be disliked and rejected by many.

    In Matthew’s Gospel today, it tells us how the arrival of Jesus was received with opposition by people around him particularly of those in the leadership. Despite the call of the prophets from the ancient times from Isaiah, Elijah and up to the person of John the Baptist, God’s coming was received with great opposition.

    Indeed, the prophets called the people to turn away from sin and selfishness, yet, because of this they also received violent condemnation from the powerful. This happened to John the Baptist who confronted King Herod for his immoral union with his brother’s wife. In consequence, John was silenced by beheading him. In the words of Jesus, he said, “they treated him as they pleased.”

    In spite of this , the Lord continued to reveal himself, yet the people refused to recognize him because their hearts were filled with malice and evil. These people who continually rejected and opposed Jesus had become so comfortable with life but trapped by their own selfishness.

    They held on to that comfort they enjoyed in their way of life that they neither want a change nor to be challenged. They were afraid to lose what they enjoyed. Herod and his mistress were also contented with their immoral life and did not want to be confronted. Thus, these people did not want God to change their life. What they seek was the preservation of that kind of life they were living. However, this was not what God wanted. Jesus wanted them that their hearts be free, that is why, he had to confront them.

    In this Season of Advent, we are reminded to also examine ourselves if we have become too comfortable with what we have been doing, with what we have been thinking and with what we are living for.

    The problem is not the comfort in itself, the issue is our attitude or way of life in choosing to be indifferent and unmoved with what is happening around us and with God’s self-revelations in our life. This also include our attitudes of not wanting to change, not wanting to be challenged, to be criticized and or to be corrected.

    And so, we are invited today to confront ourselves with those attitudes that do not lead us closer to others and closer to God. As the Responsorial Psalm proclaimed today, “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.”

    As we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus, may our hearts be free. Hinaut pa.

  • The Danger of Childish Attitudes

    The Danger of Childish Attitudes

    December 13, 2024 – Friday of the Second Week of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121324.cfm)

    Children are especially favored by God because of their vulnerability and dependence. The affection a child shows and the child’s capacity accept without judgment and pretension, makes a child more open and welcoming. In fact, Jesus would tell us that the Kingdom of God belongs to the children.

    Yet, in this particular Gospel today, we have heard another attitude of a child, that can also be present among us adult. This dark side of becoming “childish” endangers our relationships as well as our dependence to God.

    Indeed, being “childish” reveals our negative and selfish attitudes. For example, a child can throw up tantrums when displeased and does not get what he/she wanted. This attitude of a child is an unconscious form of control and manipulation.

    Being childish can develop into deep seated selfishness in the heart of a person that it would propel us to get what we want no matter how unfair that would be to others. This focuses on personal satisfaction and personal promotion even at the expense of others. Such attitude prevents us to believe and accept other ideas and perspectives because we are so convinced of our own judgments and beliefs. Thus, being childish is also characterized by being indifferent.

    This was the very attitude of those who rejected Jesus as well as John the Baptist. And they rejected Jesus because he was unconventional. He ate and drank with sinners. He touched and mingled with the sick and the unclean people. Jesus preached a loving and forgiving God the Father. He too was from Galilee, from an insignificant town called Nazareth. He was not a well-known Jewish scholar and did not come from a rich and influential family. And all of these Jesus became a threat to the status quo.

    The very people who were in power like the Chief Priests of the Temple and the Pharisees were already contented with the comfort that they had. They enjoyed power and influence. They too preferred a strict and unforgiving God because it was through that belief that they could advance their self-interest. They used their position in the society to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor.

    Thus, they were against Jesus because he was changing their ways. Their hearts were filled with bitterness, hate, anger and the desire to have more; in other words, they were filled with themselves, worshipping their very selves. This is idolatry.

    These were the reasons why they could not accept Jesus or even recognize the presence of God in Jesus. They rejected John the Baptist by accusing him of being possessed by a demon for being different and radical. They rejected and despised Jesus, accusing him for being a glutton and drunkard because Jesus ate and drank with sinners and the poor.

    And so when our heart is poisoned with selfishness makes us blind to what God shows us now, “blind” to what is happening around us today. We refuse to see the suffering of others because we tend to only see ourselves. This attitude would also make us deaf to what God is telling us now and deaf to the suffering of others.

    The very antidote to this, is the call to be become childlike and to turn away from childishness.  Indeed, the Lord invites us today that we may have the courage and the faith to become childlike who can see and hear God every day in our lives. Hinaut pa.

  • A Delightful Surprise

    A Delightful Surprise

    December 12, 2024 – Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121224.cfm)

    A surprise that is made especially to someone we love, has the very intention to bring joy. This makes our heart filled with affection and love. And this kind of surprise is what the Season of Advent is also characterized.

    Indeed, God comes to visit us is a big surprise. Imagine, God who is almighty and all-powerful comes and humbles Himself in order to reveal God’s Divine presence to humanity, in human form.

    This is what our Gospel tells to us today. Elizabeth was surprised by the visit of her cousin Mary. More than that, Elizabeth and the baby in her womb were more surprised of what Mary carried in her womb. They were surprised because God visited them. This prompted baby John to leap with joy because God has come through Mary.

    The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is also a manifestation on how God has visited us in our history. This visit of God through Mary to San Juan Diego is an expression of God’s loving concern for his oppressed people particularly in Latin America. God’s visit then, is a revelation that God is on the side of the poor and the oppressed, of the weak and powerless, the vulnerable and the insignificant.

    Both on this Season of Advent and feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are invited to allow God to surprise us. God calls us to be open and welcoming of His presence and of his surprise like Elizabeth and San Juan Diego.

    Thus, never lose the sense of being surprised. This means that we are challenged to put down our judgments and biases, indifferences and suspicions, our anxieties and fears.  

    God surprises us all the more when we begin to embrace our own failures and sins, and when we begin to accept that we are vulnerable and weak. And when God comes to surprise us, may it lead us to leap with joy. In hope, that experience will also move us to also surprise others with our own kindness and generosity.

    Certainly, God calls us to be sensitive enough to his presence in us particularly when life gets dark and difficult, when we are in the middle of fear and stress because in those vulnerable moments, God is closer to us. And this is hope for a delightful surprise. This is what the Season of Advent is all about. Hinaut pa.