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Category: AUTHORS

  • Building and Making Life-Giving Encounters

    Building and Making Life-Giving Encounters

    June 14, 2024 – Friday 10th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061424.cfm)

    Just like many of you, I was also excited to join and participate in this youth leadership training. This is not the first for me to have such kind of training, but my first in DOPIM. Some might have been surprised when they knew that a Youth Director joined and become a participant in this training. Harlyn, one of my groupmates, whom we fondly also call as Belinda, said, she could not believe that I was a priest. On the first night, she excitedly greeted us and exchanged conversation with us. But when she knew, she became extra respectful to me.

    I actually have my own reasons why I joined and become a participant just like you. And these reasons reveal the priorities that I have now as a youth minister and of what I want to impart to the Young Ministers in particular of the Prelature of Marawi. I canceled parish schedules and told my mother I couldn’t be home for her 60th Birthday last Tuesday because of a youth gathering that I have to attend – just to make way for this event. But more than these reasons, there are more important ones (three reasons) that I want to share with you all and not just for the Youth Ministers of the Prelature of Marawi.

    First, a youth leader is a youth minister. Let us remind ourselves that though we are leaders exercising authority, but our first vocation is to be a minister, in giving service for others so that we may journey together to bring each one closer to Christ. In this ministry, I remind myself that I am called to learn and unlearn with you and from you. It does not diminish the direction of a team or youth leader, or pastor or youth minister but it rather enhances the process of learning and unlearning things. This helps the ministry to slowly discover the gifts and talents of the young, affirm and correct one another so that we bring ourselves closer to Christ. This makes the ministry to be Christ-Centered.

    Second, as a youth minister, I am friend. This calls me that to be a friend I also need to develop a listening ear, to have an understanding heart, and to learn the art of a welcoming embrace. This is also the reason why I want to be identified as a friend rather than as an authority figure. Being a friend is a gift that I can offer to the young, a grace that I ask from the Lord so that my presence will be a non-threatening and non-intimidating presence. I am aware that I am a youth minister and not a police who checks youth activities and would just give a mouthful of curses when something wrong happens in the program. The gift of my presence means my ability to feel what others feel, to accompany and journey those who feel afraid and confused. And a presence that builds life-giving friendships (healthy relationships), not romantic relationships, neither a master-slave relationship with the youth nor a manager-staff relationship. This makes the ministry to be Human-Oriented.

    Third, as a youth director, I am a companion and a mentor by inculcating to you the value of building and creating relationships. We, indeed, need companions, friends and mentors who will assure our co-young people that they are not alone. Today, one of the biggest difficulties of the young is the tendency to be lonely and alone. Let our co-young people know and feel that they are not alone and that God and our community are much bigger than their problems and struggles. Each of us is called to be a companion and a mentor of the young and of one another so that we may be able to go out from our own comfort zones, accompanying the young to be more self-giving, reaching out to others with much love and understanding. Meaning, being a companion and a mentor calls me to journey with you so that we may be able to go out together, to meet and encounter more young people. This makes the ministry to be Mission-Directed.

    This is what we discover in the story of Prophet Elijah. God himself whom he discovered in a “tiny whispering sound,” meaning in a non-threatening and non-intimidating presence, ministered to him, became his friend, companion and mentor in his life as a prophet who was overwhelmed with fear, anxiety and doubts.

    We also remind ourselves that for us to become true, effective and compassionate young leaders and ministers, we also need to cut off anything that is unhealthy in our ministry to the young. This is how Jesus reminds us today in the Gospel, “cut off and throw away” anything that separates us from the grace of God and from one another.

    We may have the tendency to be controlling and manipulating in our ministry, stop and cut off those attitudes. We may be emotionally driven and highly sensitive of comments and suggestions from others, learn to be more objective and rational. We may be self-centered and image-conscious, then, cut them off and bring Jesus to the ministry rather than ourselves. We may also become merely activity-oriented and output-driven to the point that we overwork ourselves and our co-young people with so much programs, but forgetting how to talk with them personally and lovingly.

    Friends, my co-youth ministers, as leaders, we are called to build and make life-giving encounters with our co-young people in this transition of life of the young so that we may be able to encounter Christ in all things and in everything. And it is through these life-giving encounters, no matter how insignificant they can be to others, that we can make significant impact to a struggling young person, in the hope of a transformed-self according to God’s desire for us. Hinaut pa.

  • BEWARE of Bad Thoughts : (Stinking-Thinking)

    BEWARE of Bad Thoughts : (Stinking-Thinking)

    June 9, 2024 – 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060924.cfm)

    As observed, there is a tendency among penitents in confession to highlight their faults & sins that somehow could undervalue God’s forgiveness thru absolution. For instance, penitents confessing again their past sins that has been absolved already & have seized to commit such sin again. This is not healthy & counter-productive behavior because even though they are already forgiven & blessed but they still judged themselves as unclean & condemned themselves as unforgiven. What a sad & wasteful situation, already blessed yet still behave as condemned unclean sinner. This is simply called stinking-thinking.

    In our gospel, Jesus made reference about forgiveable & unforgivable sins. To counter the bad thoughts of the scribes & in judging him as of unclean spirits, Jesus highlights that God forgives & can forgive all our sins. He said: “Truly, I tell you people will be forgiven for their sins & whatever blasphemies they will utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of eternal sin.”

    Meaning, God always forgives, but those who rejects God’s forgiveness is already condemned. Those who have already judged themselves unclean & does not allow God’s grace of mercy &  forgiveness to happen to them is unforgivable. Those who does not recognize, believe & trust in God’s blessings in Jesus is guilty of eternal sin & eternal damnation

    In other words, being unforgivable, condemned, & on eternal sin are of our own doing – not of God. Constant looking only on our sins & others’ faults – not trusting on God’s grace & mercy through the Holy Spirit, makes us a hopeless case & leads us to our demise & cursed life – not eternal life.

    Actually behind this stinking-thinking of being unworthy and unclean sinner is the sin of pride – the pride that their own sins are much greater than God’s grace. Or simply put, it is about the pride that their own is much greater than God’s. Jesus is also a victim of this pride, because they have judged him as of unclean spirits – of Beelzebul or Satan, that blinds them to see that Jesus is of God.

    And so, whenever we find ourselves stinking-thinking, beware of our Pride lurking in us that make us distrust & reject God’s grace. Pride makes ourselves unforgivable, unclean & condemned.

    Related to this is stinking-thinking that God’s salvation is only for the few deserving faithful & the rest are all condemned. We remember here that we are also to pray for Christian Unity. But why so we pray for the unity of all Christians in the world?

    Although we are united in faith with our Lord Jesus Christ, but in reality as Christians we are divided & diverse in terms of culture, traditions, practices & doctrines. This is not only then about Protestants, Evangelical, Catholics & other Christians, but more so about our unity as fellow believers & followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. It begs then the question what makes us one united with Christ. In Christ, we come to know & believe that we are God’s children.

    By our faith in Jesus, we become part of God’s family. But faith in Christ has diverse manifestations & expressions that might be in contrast & can cause discourses & conflict with one another. What we pray then for is unity not in uniformity but unity in conformity. It is not about sameness or exclusiveness of Christian faith but more on our openness to match our beliefs, actions, attitudes & perceptions with what is common in & in sync with our faith in Jesus Christ.

    In our gospel today, Jesus is conscious of the diversity of people wanting to follow Him & vying for His attention. Even his own family & bloodlines are insisting their own agenda & importance on Jesus. However, for Jesus what makes us one & common in Him is not by bloodline, adoption, influences, history and seniority, but by our obedience to the father’s will. He said: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”.

    For Jesus then, our unity & commonality with Him is our obedience to God’s will. What makes us one with Jesus, makes us God’s children & common with one another in faith,  is our obedience to our Father,… same way as Jesus himself has always been obedient to the father’s will, regardless of how people believed in Him. Simply put, we cannot be God’s children,  of Jesus’ family (brother, sister, mother, relatives, church) if & when we do not recognize, believe & obey God our father & his will for us.

    Beyond our bad thoughts and stinking-thinking of condemning ourselves to sin with pride & of exclusively limiting God’s blessing to the few deserving, we pray that trusting more in God’s grace & plans for us, like Jesus & Mary Our Mother of Perpetual Help we may be one in common & in sync with our obedience to the Father’s will for us now & always.

    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.

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • MOVEMENTS LOVING AND SHARING LIFE

    MOVEMENTS LOVING AND SHARING LIFE

    June 2, 2024 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060224.cfm)

    The Barrio Fiesta we had last May 15 was truly moving and meaningful for me. The participation of every GKS (Gagmay’ng Kristohanong Simbahan) and Barrio Chapels and the presence of each one made so much impact for me. The spirit of sharing in that celebration no matter how simple the food we have shared, reminds us that we are a community.

    This is what we also find in many banquets that have happened in our friends and family celebrations. The gathering together of people and the sharing of gifts to one another brings us closer together.

    Yet, more than the Barrio Fiesta, the Eucharist that we now celebrate and partake is the very image of God’s invitation for us to share in his life where we are also invited the embrace and learn the movement of loving and sharing life.

    And so, on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, let us explore and discern the readings today and see how the Lord calls us to respond.

    The first reading from the Book of Exodus brought us back to people’s action of renewing the covenant they have with God. They recognized that they have transgressed against God. This acknowledgement of human sin, led them to ask pardon. The blood of the sacrificial animals symbolized the cleansing and renewal of the people’s heart.

    At the end of the reading, we were also reminded that it was God who made such covenant, meaning, it’s God’s initiative to be reconciled and be closer to the people. The response of the people who were being renewed must be understood then as an act of thanksgiving because the Lord remains merciful and faithful.

    This is reechoed in today’s Psalm, “To you O Lord, I will offer sacrifice of thanksgiving and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” This is certainly a song of praise and thanksgiving because of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Indeed, the “cup of salvation” is the assurance and promise of a blessed life.

    The Letter to the Hebrews gives more light to this. Christ as our High Priest offered the ultimate sacrifice. The sacrifice was not anymore of the blood of animals but his own blood shed on the cross. The oblation of the life of Christ paid off every transgression that we have done so that we will be able to share that blessed life with God, our eternal inheritance.

    This very act is again, God’s initiative. This is how God’s faithfulness and goodness are concretely shown to us as God’s beloved people. This tells us now that God never stops and never tires to bring us closer to God’s holy and loving presence. The Lord even initiated to offer his life for our sake. No matter how difficult it is to understand and illogical it may sound, but this is how love can move the heart of God.

    That is why, in the Gospel of Mark, he recounted how Jesus did that Last Supper. Jesus must have done it many times before this. Yet, this time it was made extra especial because of what he was about to offer for us.

    Jesus with his powerful words says to us, “This is my body; This is my blood of the new covenant.” The Lord shares to us now his very life. His body and his blood means his very life, the very life of God.

    And this is how we find it more interesting and meaningful. What Jesus offered to us was first being blessed, then, given thanks, then, broken and then shared. These are movements of loving and movements of sharing life to the fullest.

    This is what we also do now in this Eucharist, this Holy Mass. What we do is not merely rituals of the past. What we do is not just some sort of ancient actions. What we do is a celebration of life and continual sharing of love and life to us who are all invited by the Lord.

    And since it is common in our culture to brings something after the banquet, there are three things that I would like you to bring. These are your bring-house or take-aways.

    First, be nourished by this celebration. This nourishment is not just limited physically but in all aspects of our life. Remember, what is being shared to us is the very life of Jesus. Let this nourishment make us more aware of God’s presence in our life and in the lives of others. Let Jesus nourish us as well that our actions and words may become more like him.

    Second, move to love. God’s initiative to be closer to us is God’s movement of loving. Let us be always conscious that our actions and decisions in life be our ways of loving and not ways of destroying or hurting others.

    Third, move to share. Do not be afraid or have doubts to be truly generous of your time, presence, talents or resources. The Lord has given his life and blessings to us, may our actions and words be truly generous. Thus, share without “strings attached,” without expectations and without payment. May we always have the courage and the desire to share our life to our communities. Hinaut pa.

  • Meal-Fellowship

    Meal-Fellowship

    June 2, 2024 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060224.cfm)

    In almost every Filipino homes there is a picture of Last Supper near the dining table. Have you ever wondered why in all places such picture of the Lord’s last supper is hanged near the dining table?

    This is because we, Filipinos love celebrations. We like to be part of big party or fiesta. Basically, we are meal-oriented people. We like to eat, and mealtimes are important and meaningful activity for us. Yes, we like to eat, but we like to eat TOGETHER. We eat not only for nourishment but for the fellowship as well. For us, eating is not only a usual routine of nourishing our own physical body, but also a common activity of strengthening relationship and bonding.

    That is why we eat together not for the food, but for the companionship and covenant it brings. Mealtime for us is not only the time to eat, but also the opportunity to encounter – to experience one another. This is why we don’t like to eat alone. We like to eat with companion, because for us, meals, eating, tables would mean celebrations, table-fellowship, sharing, bonding, rituals, and communion.

    The word ‘companion’ is an interesting word. It comes from two Latin words: cum which means “with”, and panis which means “bread”. So a ‘companion’ literally means someone whom I share bread with. And it is only a few (not all) you enjoy having meal with. There has to a bonding – a relationship first, which is deepened by the sharing of food and drink.

    Usually, by inviting a person to a meal, we seal our contracts, we show acceptance and approval. We know that once you are invited to take part in their table – to eat with them, it would mean that you are already accepted. You become one of them. You belong to them.

    This is why we like the picture of the Last Supper hanging on near our dinner table because we want to be part of Lord’s celebration of life. Taking our meals in front of the picture of the Last Supper, whatever the food is, whether lechon   or bulad or ginamos, would mean we want to be a companion of Jesus and his disciples in their party celebration.

    This is why it is also particularly difficult for us to not able to attend Holy Mass during pandemic & how insufficient it is, just to take part of the Holy Mass through the live-streaming. This is also why it is grave sin for us to miss & not attend Sunday Eucharist. In other words, we do like to renew and strength our faith-relationship with Him.

    We want to be accepted and belong to His community. We like to be part of His family-banquet, His party. And all of these are greatly done and signified until now in our table-fellowship in the Lord’s Eucharist, in our celebration of the Holy Mass.

    Today, we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. Today, we recognize and celebrate Christ’s continuing Presence and His binding promise of love and redemption to us, through His gift of Himself in a form of bread and wine, and above all our taking part & our fellowship-party with Him in the banquet of our Christian faith & life.

    Our readings today remind us that as in life we feed ourselves with food, the Lord also feed us with His food, not only to nourish us but also to strengthen our covenant relationship with Him. Jesus in our gospel today especially has offered us His body and blood, as our inheritance of God’s manna in the Holy Eucharist.

    By sharing us Himself in body and blood, Jesus sealed us new covenant-relationship with God. And because of this, we are continually nourished by God’s graces and we are in communion with Christ’s eternal life. In other words, through His body and blood, Jesus is offering us not only God’s food for our faith-life journey but also a meal-time party (or a food trip) with God.

    That is why every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we are in covenant or in companionship with God, with Jesus, and with one another. Thus, through our table-fellowship as family and community in our celebrations of the Lord’s Eucharist every Sunday and also as Filipino in front of the picture of the Lord’s Supper, we are united with the Lord and we take part with His glory and work of redemption.

    Perhaps if we say nowadays, “We are what we eat and who we eat with” (Tayo ay Kong ano ang kinain at sino ang kasama), in attending Eucharist, we as Christian proclaim that through the body and blood of Jesus we are having party-meal (food trip/ breaking bread) with God now and always.

    For those who are not able to receive communion during live-stream Masses, nowadays they would pray Act of Spiritual Communion of St. Alphonsus, saying “I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart… Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.”

    Such words express our deep desire to be in communion with Jesus, to be part and companion of His eucharistic sacred life.

    We pray that we may always be in communion & in companion with our risen Lord, be nourished by His body & blood, and be always united & bonded, not separated from His love & mercy.

    So Help Us God, So May it be. Amen.

  • Three-fold ONE

    Three-fold ONE

    May 26, 2024 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052624.cfm)

    Once a team of mountain climbers were stranded almost near at the highest peak. As the air grew thin and weather got colder – that made them cold and weak, one of them made a fire. So, together they gather around the fire and contribute whatever they have to sustain the fire. As they started to enjoy the heat, they share food, as well as their stories and dreams with one another that in effect, sustain and inspire them again. One of them decided to be on his own. So, he took a fire of stick with him, and isolated himself from the group. Eventually, away from the group, his fire extinguished and he got sleepy and weak.

    With the team, we get strength and inspiration from one another. Away from the team, we get tired, weak, and dispirited.

    As Christians, we praise God in the name of  the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We give glory to God Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We proclaim our creed of faith, saying: “I believe in God, the Father…in Jesus Christ… in the Holy Spirit.” At its very core, our Christian faith is Trinitarian – i.e. unlike any other religions, we uniquely believe in God, the Father-Son-Holy Spirit.

    As we honor today the Holy Trinity, perhaps now we ask: What does it mean to believe in the Trinitarian God?

    First, the word covenant simply would mean, “coming together”. As God making covenant with us, God wants to “come together for us/with us/in us”. In God the Father of Easter, we come to believe a “God-FOR us” who chooses us to be His own people. In God the Son of Christmas, we come to believe Emmanuel Jesus, a “God-WITH us” who makes known to us God’s love for us, and how to love God in return. In God the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, we come to believe a “God-IN us”, who inspires, directs, and sustains us in life of faith.

    To believe in the Holy Trinity then is to be in covenant with God, much as God is in covenant with us. Meaning, as God is for us/with us/in us, we must also be People for God, with God, and in God.

    Second, in the Lord’s ascension, we are reminded that the risen Lord is not-finished yet. His mission of salvation for us is still a work-in progress, and is now a product of the concerted-effort, teamwork of the communion of the Holy Trinity. Our salvation is the teamwork and actions OF our God, the Father who chooses us to be His own, THROUGH God the Son who is loving us always, and WITH the God the Holy Spirit who inspires, directs, and sustains us in life.

    To believe in the Holy Trinity is thus to be IN Communion with God. As God acts and works as one for our salvation, so also we must be in sync, in tune with God’s concerted teamwork for our salvation. Thus we not only to give glory to them but also we are to be in sync & teamwork  with the works OF the Father, THROUGH the Son, WITH the Holy Spirit for our salvation.

    Third, as the Lord mandated us to proclaim our faith to all nations, in our gospel today, he particularly challenges us to make disciples in the name of the Holy Trinity. Making disciples while proclaiming our faith to all nations would mean helping ourselves and one another to be in constant covenant with God, and in partnership-communion with God’s work of salvation for us.

    To believe in the Holy Trinity then is to lead our lives and faith as Church, a Community of faith. As God is and works as Community, we too must also be and acts as Church – a community of Christian faith, living and witnessing God’s being and acting in our lives.

    The Holy Trinity shows us as Church how to be and act as God’s own People. As much as God be and acts together, to have a Trinitarian faith we too must be and act in covenant, in communion and in community with God and one another.

    As Church then, we must be faithful people for God, with God, and in God – witnessing our faith in sync with the labor of the Father, through the Son, with the Holy, and living our lives as church community making disciples and proclaiming our faith.

    Remember “the community is the bearer of God’s Salvation”. Salvation thus happens in the context of the church, faith-community, and not of individuals. We are God’s own chosen PEOPLE, not chosen individual. We all are to be in covenant, in communion and in community with Him and His church.

    With the church, we are strong and inspired. Without and away from the church, we are weak and dispirited. We are to be with His TRIUNE, (Threefold ONE). As Pentecost marks the birth of our Church, be reminded that the Holy Trinity articulates what is & what our church should be.

    May we, as God’s own, not be separated from the Holy Trinity and God’s church, but instead always be connected and involved with God’s life and labors of salvation for all nations and peoples, now and always.

    So Be It. Amen.