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Category: AUTHORS

  • Neighbors Among Us

    Neighbors Among Us

    July 10, 2022 – 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071022.cfm)

    Once a man happened to fell on a rather deep manhole. He really had a hard time to escape from his difficult situation. So he called for help. It happened that a lawyer passed by, so the man shouted out: ‘Help’. The lawyer replied: ‘Sorry I cannot help you now. I’m on a hurry for a court hearing. Here is my calling card. Call me later and we will sue the company who dug this pit – Pro bono/ for free.’ And so the lawyer took off. Then a doctor came by, but said, ‘Hey, I cannot help you now since I have a scheduled operation. Here are some prescriptions for your bruises. I will call for help. Surely I will help you at the hospital.’ And then the doctor left. A priest also came and said, ‘Sorry, so, I cannot help you right now. My mass is about to start. Here is a rosary, pray till the rescue arrived. We will pray for you also.’ And the priest rushed off.

    Now, the man got a lawyer’s calling card, a doctor’s prescription and a priest’s rosary, but still trapped in a manhole. Eventually his poor neighbor came, and right then and then, jumped into the pit. The man said to his neighbor, ‘How stupid you are. Now both of us are trapped in this pit’. Then replied the poor neighbor, ‘Yes, but I know a way out.’

    Once again we hear the Lord’s commandment to Love the Lord our God and our neighbor as we love ourselves. However, based on our experience, this commandment to Love… are nice words to hear but hard to follow, especially on loving our neighbor as ourselves.

    That is why, not satisfied knowing the commandment the teacher of the law raised the question: ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Like him, we know the commandment to love but we also like to know who is our neighbor worthy of our love.

    In response to this question, Jesus told us the parable of the Good Samaritan. For Jesus, the neighbor who is worthy of our love is our immediate neighbor. The very person  we are with – in the here and now, is the very neighbors in your midst who we should love. We don’t need for someone absent and far to be our neighbor to love. But the very persons before and with us now, who need our help and love is our very neighbor we ought to love.

    To help and love our neighbor, then, we don’t need to look for them somewhere. Just be aware and conscientious of the people around with you in the here and now, and respond lovingly as you can.

    Once in our Redemptorist parish in Dumaguete,  we had a program where we give Christmas gifts to poor parishioners. What makes this program unique is that we arranged the gift-giving wherein the donors themselves go and visit the home of the poor beneficiaries nearby, and give their gifts. A donor once told me: ‘Many Thanks, Father! It is only now I become fully aware of the poverty of our neighbors nearby, especially of Nong Berto’s family who used to drive me to school when I was a little girl.’ Our neighbors worthy of our love are the very people amongst us nearby we immediately see, smell, feel and hear.

    Through the parable, Jesus also teaches us the proper way to help our neighbor: Before we try to help others, we should immerse and be in solidarity with their difficult situation. In helping others, dole-outs, give-aways, and reaching-outs are not enough. We need to dive in, get wet or dirty along the way, and journey with them, to free one another from the situation.

    The Samaritan is good because he fully involved himself in helping the needy. He knew the best way to respond because perhaps he was also once needy and in such worse situation himself. Like, the poor neighbor of our story can help the man because he may have been in the same situation before, but he knows a way out. Others (lawyer, doctor, priest or levites) cannot and was not able to help because they don’t want to be involved and they cannot sympathize because they were not in that situation before, and don’t know a way out. In other words, only swimmers can rescue a drowning person. So, love your immediate neighbor in your midst as lovingly as you can.

    The Lord in our first reading however reminds us that: This command is not too mysterious and remote for you, not up in the sky nor across the sea. It is something near to you,  already in your mouths, and in your  hearts : you have only to carry it out.’ Meaning, we CAN love the Lord and our neighbor as ourselves because we are also loved by the Lord and our neighbor as ourselves.  We can love because we are loved by God and others. We can help and take care of our neighbor because we are also helped and taken care of by God and neighbor. We can rescue and save others because we are rescued and saved by God and others.

    For us to inherit eternal life, God directs us to do what needs to be done: “Love your God and your neighbor as you love yourself.” So, let us do our part in Loving Him and our Neighbor, as He and our neighbor loved us since before, until now & may always be as ourselves. So Be it. Siya Nawa. Kabay pa. Amen.

  • LIKE SERPENTS AND DOVES 

    LIKE SERPENTS AND DOVES 

    July 8, 2022 – Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time   

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070822.cfm)

    “Be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” This is what Jesus said to his disciples and now addressed also to us. What does Jesus really mean about this?  In biblical understanding, the serpent is an image of Satan or of the devil. We remember, that it was the serpent that tempted the humanity to commit sin as told to us in the Book of Genesis. However, there are also other characters that the serpent possesses. The serpent is also believed to be wise, resourceful, flexible, adaptable, observant and cunning.

    This means that a serpent adapts to its situation in order to survive. It finds ways as it observes its environment. It is in this way that Jesus invites us to be wise as the serpent, that is, to have the character in us that is wise, resourceful, has the quality to adjust to a given situation, observant and discerning. Like the serpent, Jesus invites us not to react immediately out of our emotions only, or to make decisions imprudently.

    The dove is also understood to have the characters of being innocent, gentle, relax, peaceful, understanding and meek. The dove also represents the Spirit of God that brings comfort and peace, enlightenment and freedom. The dove reminds us of the gentle presence of God, never intimidating yet powerful, never imposing yet forceful.

    It is in this way too that Jesus invites us to be as innocent and simple as the doves. Like the doves, we are called to keep calm and to always claim our peace so that we may be able to respond to life with wisdom. We are also called to be gentle and to be simple in order to bring encouragement and hope to others around who are already troubled and anxious. Kabay pa.

  • Start locally and then, globally.

    Start locally and then, globally.

    June 6, 2022 – Wednesday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070622.cfm)

    Here in our gospel today, Jesus summoned his disciples, gave them authority to heal every disease and sickness. He made his disciples share his authority and mission to preach the good news of salvation to all. He commissioned them and gave them the tasks to be preachers and evangelizers of God’s kingdom. Jesus added however that they should start, not elsewhere, but at home.

    Since then and until now, as followers of Christ, we share the same authority and commission with the disciples to preach and witness the reign of God’s kingdom to all in our world today. And in the same way, we are to begin in our own homes, families, and communities.

    In doing our tasks and mission as evangelizers and preachers of God’s kingdom, there is always a tendency or even a temptation for us to blame the evil in the world on others, and to reach out for our poor brothers and sisters in need who are far-away from us. But as Jesus would insist, we start to live our faith and practice what we preach in our own homes, in our own neighbors and communities. In other word. Charity begins at home.

    For who are our neighbors? Our neighbor is the immediate person we live with, who needs our immediate attention and care. We don’t have to go out to help others; we start with our kasambahay, kapamilya. We start to correct and clean the evils and sinfulness in our homes before we deal with our world outside. Remember it was only later, during Jesus’ ascension that the disciples where sent to all the nations of the world. Start locally and then globally. Begin in your own homes nearby and then, into the world.

    Being called & sent to be His missionaries today, with Our Mother of Perpetual Help, let this be our prayer : “Lord, grant me the grace to be what You want me to be, and to do what You want me to do, not there & later, but here & now at this very moment.” Amen.

  • Authority to Set Free and to Bring Healing

    Authority to Set Free and to Bring Healing

    July 6, 2022 – Wednesday 14th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070622.cfm)

    Exercising authority in our community gives us the opportunity and capacity to serve others. This is how we understand it in a Christian perspective. This means that when we have authority over other people, this does not give us the right to belittle or put people down just because we have power over them.

    Thus, in any community, organization or even in our workplaces, when we are given authority, it is rather meant to give us the ability in empowering others and facilitating others to be more productive, growing and maturing.

    The giving of authority is what we have also heard in today’s Gospel. Jesus gave authority to his Twelve disciples. This authority has two functions. First, to drive out unclean spirits that terrifies and imprisons people. Second, to cure every disease and every illness of the people to whom they were sent. Through the authority given by Jesus to the Twelve disciples, the Lord gave them the opportunity and capacity to serve others by setting people free and bringing healing to the sick.

    The Gospel tells us now that authority is a gift. It is given to us as an opportunity and giving us the capacity to serve others and not to serve ourselves or to serve those who are only close to us. Thus, exercising authority is a form of a loving-service. And we will know that it is a loving-service when in exercising authority it sets people free, inspires freedom, brings healing and creates a space for growth.

    However, when authority is also used as a means to serve oneself by manipulating and overpowering others, then, authority discourages and oppresses people just like unclean spirits or demons would do. Moreover, in this case, authority will also be the cause of divisions, wounds and toxicity in our community or organization just like a disease or illness would bring suffering to a person.

    Hence, Jesus calls us today that as we exercise authority in our own context and life-situations whether at home, at work or in our communities and organizations, we may always be able to inspire freedom, to allow others to be free and be agents of healing and growth. Kabay pa.

  • WHEN WE HAVE JESUS IN US AND WITH US

    WHEN WE HAVE JESUS IN US AND WITH US

    July 3, 2022 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time      

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070322.cfm)

    Is it not that we long for peace and prosperity for our family and for our community? Who would not want and hope for a peaceful home and a comfortable life? I am sure, each of us desire this kind of life. With all the troubles that we experience in life such as personal problems, failures and struggles; family demands, conflicts and grudges; crimes, disasters and corruption in the community, we want peace. If only we have peace within ourselves, in our homes and communities, then, our life would be very different. Life would surely be harmonious and more productive.

    The hope and dream of peace and abundance in life had been already imagine long time ago. In fact, this was prophesied by Isaiah. We have heard it from the first reading how Isaiah had seen the day when Jerusalem will be comforted with peace and prosperity. The people longed for this because of the suffering they went through. The people of Israel agonized so much from oppression and slavery. Wars had been waged left and right and the people suffered greatly from these devastations.

    Yet, God is not blind of our human suffering. In God’s goodness, peace and prosperity will be upon the suffering people. That is why, the message of Isaiah is to “rejoice and be glad.” God will see to it that He will comfort the grieving and suffering people. God’s comfort will surely bring joy, peace and contentment in the life of God’s people.

    This is what we also discover in the life of St. Paul in which God’s comfort was revealed to him. Indeed, Paul in his letter to the Galatians expressed his experience of peace and confidence in Jesus. Despite the many trials that he underwent, Paul found peace and confidence in Jesus. Even the conflicts within the Christian communities at the time of Paul can never destroy the peace that he received from the cross of Jesus. And Paul was boasting about it. Nothing will trouble Paul because he has Jesus with him.

    In that cross of Jesus, Paul experienced tremendous love and forgiveness. Because of this, Paul also found his true self and became a witness of Jesus. This moved Paul to preach the Gospel, and in fact, to preach to others the peace and confidence that he received from Jesus.

    Preaching and bringing peace to others was actually done even earlier. This is what we have heard in the Gospel. Jesus sent 72 people in pairs to bring peace to the many homes that they will visit. Jesus is, certainly, aware that our homes are in need of peace. This was the mission of the 72 people sent ahead, to bring peace and to bring Jesus himself to their homes.

    This is the promise fulfilled in Jesus as what has been prophesied by Isaiah. Jesus is the peace, the comfort and the confidence that God promised. This peace brings openness to God’s friendship and God’s healing.

    But let us remember, Jesus needed the help of his disciples to bring peace to many homes. This reveals to us now that preaching and being a witness of Jesus is not just limited to the closed group of the 12 apostles. This means that everyone of us is being sent by the Lord to preach, to bring peace and to bring healing wherever we are.

    Indeed, the promise of peace, confidence and prosperity are not fulfilled outside of us but, through us and within us. The confidence and peace that Paul was telling about was not an outside experience, but rather, Paul himself experienced it personally. It is through his personal encounter with the risen Jesus.

    The 72 people were able to bring peace to many homes, not because of an outside influence but it was coming from their personal relationship with Jesus. The presence of Jesus in their life allowed them to become agents of peace and healing.

    This is where we now find the invitations for us this Sunday.

    First, Jesus calls us and sends us to be part of that fulfillment of the promise of peace and abundance in our families and communities. The Lord, certainly, fulfills his promise through us and with us. Peace is achieved not outside of us. Confidence is attained not apart from us. This tells us again that God’s wonders are made through us and with us.

    Indeed, God desires that we become part in making and working wonderful things in this world. This involves bringing peace and healing to our troubled and wounded homes, relationships and communities.

    Second, Jesus reminds us too that by being part of God’s work, let not material things and our other insecurities trouble us, limit us and hinder us.Paul also did the same thing. He did not allow anyone and anything to trouble him and remove him from the peace that he experienced from Jesus. Let us not allow our complains and anger, hate and bitterness with one another and even our insecurities to steal from us the peace that Jesus has given to us. Let us rather allow the joy of having Jesus in our life to empower us in bringing peace and healing. Kabay pa.