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Category: Homilies

  • The Silence of Empty Tomb: An Invitation to seek your own Resurrection Story

    The Silence of Empty Tomb: An Invitation to seek your own Resurrection Story

    April 12, 2020 – Easter Sunday

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041220.cfm)

    Homily

    The Lord is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

    The word Alleluia is a Hebrew word that expresses rejoicing! 

    It is just right for us now to be joyful because the Lord is risen. Jesus is alive and did not abandon us at all. We might have felt fear and haunted by the anxiety brought by the Covid-19, but God remains truly faithful. He is with us and present among us. 

    Jesus’ resurrection is God’s ultimate declaration of God’s justice and mercy, for those who are oppressed, those who are in pain, for those who suffered and died.

    These past few days, we have been reflecting on the passion, suffering and death of our Lord. The Easter triduum that started on Holy Thursday prepared us to enter into the great suffering of Jesus on Good Friday. On that day, we were deeply touched as we remember the death of Jesus as God’s expression of love for us. 

    By Black Saturday, of which the Great Silence has been observed, we were invited also to continue to reflect on this great mystery of love. Last night, we anticipate the resurrection of the Lord. Today, on this Easter morn, Mary of Magdala brought the news of the empty tomb to Peter and to the beloved disciple. 

    It would be good for us then to look deeper on how these three received the resurrection of Jesus.

    Mary of Magdala was perhaps in great sadness as she came to the tomb of Jesus on that early morning. Perhaps, Mary was not able to sleep thinking that his master died and left her. What did she expect then when she went to the tomb, in that place of sorrow and pain? The Gospel tells us that Mary did not actually see the inner part of the tomb, but, she was sure that the Lord was not there. Mary brought this news to Peter and the beloved disciple that the Lord was taken away – Mary actually thought that Jesus’ body was taken away from them.

    The beloved disciple upon hearing the news ran faster than Peter and arrived first. Yet, he did not enter until Peter arrived. He just bent down and saw the linen cloths lying flat.

    When Peter arrived at the tomb, he entered and saw also the linen cloths lying flat. How will he explain this empty tomb now to the other disciples? He who denied the Lord three times might have been really confused and worried.

    There was no word being uttered as they saw the empty tomb and the linen cloths. There was only silence. And silence from the empty tomb. They were perhaps confused of that event. But what was interesting was the napkin that had been rolled up in its place. That napkin was used to wrap the head of Jesus.

    But when the beloved disciple entered also in the tomb, he saw and believed!

    Yes, the beloved disciple who was dear to Jesus saw the signs, the empty tomb, the folded linens and napkin. Those were the signs that indeed the Lord was risen. He is alive. However, to these three, they did not yet fully understand what had happened.

    This event triggered something in them and that is to seek their “own resurrection story.” Jesus did not appear to them immediately. Jesus allowed them to have doubts and to believe in him despite their own confusions and anxieties. Jesus permitted them to have a glimpse of his resurrection – a glimpse of the Easter joy.

    This is now the invitation for us– that is to recognize our own resurrection story with the Lord.

    We might find it difficult to find our own resurrection story because like Mary of Magdala and Peter, our hearts might still be clouded with despair and anxieties. Covid-19 has not yet left us until now despite the many weeks and even months for others of quarantine and lockdown. We have terribly missed by now the company of our friends and colleagues. Everyday the infection is rising and deaths are adding too.

    However, let us look again of that beloved disciple who was personally close to Jesus. It was him who saw and believed! 

    But take note of this, what the beloved disciple saw was beyond “physical.” He did not see Jesus rising. He did not witness that. What he only saw and witnessed was the silence of the empty tomb. And beyond that, the beloved disciple felt and realized that something glorious happened. Seeing that, he believed that God conquered death. God has taken away sadness and fear. Jesus is here and he is alive. This is what he believed.

    Therefore, let us come closer to Jesus because each one of us is dear to him too. In that way, we will be able to truly believe that the Lord has risen and has brought hope to all of us. This will help us to recognize the times where God has let us experience our own resurrection – in those times where we found ourselves in hopeless situation, yet we were given hope; in those times where we thought we were not valued, yet we were loved; in those times where we felt that we were abandoned, yet, after all we realized that we have friends and family members who treasured us.

    Recognizing our own resurrection stories will make us more open to God’s invitation to believe in the joyful resurrection of Jesus where God dared to be at the side of the oppressed and the suffering people.

    Let our faces now, be overwhelmed with our smiles and let it be translated into action by doing good things to others, by being more compassionate to your neighbor, by being considerate to those who are most in need, by being friendly and showing concern to people whom you will meet despite the “physical distancing.” Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Bringing Jesus into our tombs

    Bringing Jesus into our tombs

    April 11, 2020 – Easter Vigil Homily

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041120.cfm)

    Homily shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

    Alleluia. The Lord has risen. He has risen indeed, Alleluia.

    Our Christian faith makes us believe and proclaim that our Lord Jesus Christ has risen into our lives. But how real and meaningful is His resurrection now in our lives? Perhaps on this year’s Easter night, Pope Francis may help us discover the meaning of resurrection in our lives today. 

    In his homily last 5th Sunday of Lent 2017 while reflecting on the revival of Lazarus from death, Pope Francis shared a profoundly striking reflection about our faith and life as Christian. In a video posted by Catholic News Agency on Facebook, the Pope said first these words: “In front of the big “why” of life, we have two paths: to stay to watch gloomily the tombs of yesterday and today OR to bring Jesus into our tombs.” 

    If we really come to think of it, in our journey through life we are always confronted with big question “Why?” Since we were kids, we ask and also being asked with “Why?” – searching for answers, reasons and sense of everything in life. And as we struggle with the question “Why” and its answers along the way, we may choose to just on our own observing-sulking with our struggle and difficulties OR we could allow Jesus to be part in our search for answers. We have the option, as Pope Francis says: “to stay to watch gloomily the tombs of yesterday and today OR to bring Jesus into our tombs.”

    Then he said, “Yes, because each of us has a small tomb – some area that is a little bit dead inside the heart: a wound, an injury suffered or done, a bitterness that does not let up, a remorse that comes back and back (again and again), a sin that you cannot overcome.”…

     “Each of us has a small tomb”. Though still alive and breathing, we also know that somehow somewhere deep within us something is dead or dying. These are the small tombs – our dark caves or secret holes and sides, our hurts and pains, sufferings, failures, hate, anger, hopelessness, frustrations, fears and worries, addictions, sins and shadows that we usually bury and hide from ourselves and others in our lives.

    As for Pope Francis’ advice: “We identify these today – our little tombs we have inside, and there invite Jesus.”  With these tombs, the invitation is really for us not to hide and suppress, but to recognize and confront them with care. And most importantly, to invite Jesus into our tombs and allow Him to be part of our death and dying inside our tombs. He can only resurrect us and bring back to life again our death and dying if only we invite and allow the Lord to be part and be with our journey & struggles in life.

    But Pope Francis knows how hard it is to invite the Resurrected Jesus into our tombs, when he noticed, “It’s strange, but often we prefer to be alone in the dark caves we have inside. Instead of inviting Jesus, we are tempted to always look into ourselves, brooding and sinking in anguish. Licking our wounds rather than going to Him who says, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened”.

    The invitation and challenge of Easter – of the Lord’s resurrection in our lives is to invite the risen Lord into our own tombs. The empty tomb of Jesus reveals to us that the Lord has risen and out to offer us more than death but life and life eternal. He only wishes to be invited and partake into our own small tombs so that He can share to us New Life with Him. No more being alone – on our own in our own tombs. No more hiding, navel-gazing, just looking into oneself – licking wounds, brooding and sinking in anguish. Allow the risen Lord into our own tombs of grief, fear, sadness, anxiety, pains and sufferings for the He has something better and good to offer us – life eternal with Him.   

    To have a more real and meaningful celebration of Easter Season, though difficult it may be, invite the risen Lord into your own small tombs now. Let Him in and allow Him to be there and be part of everything. And perhaps ask yourself: What is the risen Lord offering me now here inside my tomb? What is it in TO me and what’s in FOR me? Healing, Forgiveness, Hope, Mercy, Love, Release, Liberation, New Life…..? 

    Again, as we celebrate Easter Season while even on quarantine, lockdown & social distancing, may we be reminded and be moved by the words of Pope Francis:

    “In front of the big “why” of life, we have two paths: to stay to watch gloomily the tombs of yesterday and today OR to bring Jesus to (into) our tombs. Yes, because each of us has a small tomb – some area that is a little bit dead inside the heart: a wound, an injury suffered or done, a bitterness that does not let up, a remorse that comes back and back (again and again), a sin that you cannot overcome. We identify these today – our little tombs we have inside, and there invite Jesus. It’s strange, but often we prefer to be alone in the dark caves we have inside. Instead of inviting Jesus, we are tempted to always look into ourselves, brooding and sinking in anguish. Licking our wounds rather than going to Him who says, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened”.

    May we have a graced-filled Easter with our risen Lord in our inner tombs. Amen.

  • Jesus thirsts

    Jesus thirsts

    April 10, 2020 – Good Friday, the Passion of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041020.cfm)

    Homily

    How would you feel when you are left alone to suffer? Could you imagine yourself, hanging on to your life, to every gasping of air? 

    I could imagine it when my papa was dying last year. I was not there when he died for I was assigned then in Iloilo at that time. But, I could hear how papa gasped for air until he departed. It was agonizing.I felt helpless as a son, listening from the phone knowing that my father was dying.  It must have been excruciating for papa even as he struggled for his last breath on earth.

    Same experience of pain and loss must have been felt too by those who have lost their loved ones and witnessed personally their passing. These days, we have been told also how the patients of covid-19 would struggle to breath as the virus attacks the respiratory system of the human body.

    Jesus who died on the cross must have felt more pain and struggle. There were no doctors and nurses around him to help him ease the pain for gasping for air. There was no medical help given to him by the people around him. An innocent man was left hanging on the cross to die with his lungs restrained together and his weight pulling him down. However, the nails that have pierced his hands stuck him to the wood of the cross.

    As he was dragged to be flogged, carried his cross and crucified, many people around him just looked at him. Many have shouted condemnation against him as if they were righteous and he was the sinner. Many others too remained indifferent to his cries, indifferent to his pain.

    Moreover, his friend betrayed him and sold him, another friend denied him three times and the rest of his friends run away and hid themselves, except for the youngest of them and few women. With all of these, Jesus endured everything. We did not hear him curse and even expressed dismay over those people who left him alone and those people around him who remained indifferent to his cries.

    However, what we have heard from him while on the cross that I find powerful was when Jesus said, “I thirst.”

    Physically, Jesus longed for something to drink, to quench his dry throat and lips. The loss of blood, the tensions in his bones and muscles and exposure to heat on that day generated loss of water in his body. The soldiers beneath the cross gave him a common wine to ease his suffering.

    This tells us how Jesus endured the suffering physically. The Lord has suffered and that statement, I thirst, conveys to us how the weight of human sin caused agony to Jesus.  

    But more than what was physical, this short statement of Jesus, I thirst, also tells us of God’s desire for us. Jesus thirsts for our presence with him, for our friendship. Imagine, how could he not be thirsty when people who are close to him run away and hid themselves? How could he not be thirsty when bystanders just looked at his pain and suffering? How could Jesus not be thirsty when many of those who gathered around him felt indifferent towards the suffering of God?

    As Jesus was publicly condemned by the crowd who merely believed in gossips and lacked the ability to be critical against their powerful leaders and wanted to kill him, Jesus thirsts. 

    As we remember solemnly today the passion and death of Jesus on that gruesome cross, may we also heed his call for us today. Let Jesus’ words reverberate into our hearts and move us to satiate the thirst of God.

    As the (Enhanced) Community Quarantine has been imposed for the safety of all, let it be an opportunity for us as Christians to be more sensitive of Jesus’ thirsts. The thirst of Jesus is also present through those brothers and sisters who need special attention and assistance. 

    Let the words of Jesus, I thirst, be heard from a neighbor who seek your help, from a friend who need your comfort because of anxiety, from a family member who is sick, from a colleague who is worried of his/her family at home, from a poor-homeless person who is being blamed for not observing “home quarantine.”

    As we respond to Jesus’ thirst, may we in return thirst for more of God’s presence. May that thirst bring us closer with one another and closer to the Lord. May that thirst for God too make us ever hopeful that suffering and death is not the end, but only the beginning of God’s ultimate sign of love and compassion. May our thirst for God bring us to experience as a community the gift of healing and restoration from sickness and pain, the grace of peace and reconciliation from sin and division, and the glory of resurrection that renews and transforms us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Making the Memory of Jesus ever alive in us

    Making the Memory of Jesus ever alive in us

    April 9, 2020 – Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Passion

    Click here for the readings (http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/040920-lord-s-supper.cfm)

    Homily

    This mass and in fact every time we celebrate the mass, it is so special because it has something to do with “our memory “that has been handed down to us from the first generation of disciples of Jesus. And not just “our memory” but also of “God’s memory of us.” 

    The Eucharist, which actually means “Thanksgiving,” was made by Jesus in order to celebrate friendship. He was with his disciples to eat the Passover Meal, a ritual that remembers and reenacts the ‘passing over of the Lord’ when the blood of the lamb was applied at the door posts of the Hebrews. Because of that blood, the Lord passed over the houses of His people and stroke down the oppressive Egyptians. 

    With this celebration which Jesus made his relationship with his disciples into a new and higher form of relationship. This was Jesus’ way of being more intimate with his friends by becoming food for them and now for us.

    There are three points that I would like to invite you to reflect on. Let us see and discern then, on how Jesus calls us on this celebration of the Last Supper.

    First, “what we eat is what we become.” It is the desire of Jesus that as we receive him as our food in word and flesh (in the form of bread and wine) that we become more like him. 

    Second, it is also the desire of Jesus that as he becomes part of us, and one in us, then, hopefully, each of us will recognize his presence among ourselves – that is, by being able to recognize in my sister and brother the person of Jesus.

    Third, it is also the desire of Jesus to make him not just a mere memory of a distant past but to make him a powerful memory that transforms our present. Jesus asks us, “Do this in memory of me!” or basically means, “Always do this to remember me.”

    Here is the power of memory or of our consciousness. As humans, we always treasure our memories. We take photos or videos of events in our life to preserve those important moments.

    Our memory is also what makes us more human and even on what makes us “who we are today.” My memory of the past, is what makes me ‘who I am today’ because my very identity, culture, belief, relationships and history are all there in the treasured memories. However, if I will lose my memory, then, I will also lose myself. I will be a madman who is detached from what is in the present because of a lost memory.

    However, more than our own human memory, we are also in God’s eternal memory. Indeed, by doing what Jesus asks us, God also remembers us. Yes, God remembers us as his people whom he loves and cherishes despite our failures and unfaithfulness. God remembers us because we are part of God and God is among and with us.

    These three desires of Jesus for us bring us into his invitation today and that is to be able to serve one another through a self-sacrificing, loving and generous service. This is symbolized in the washing of the feet where it was the master himself who washed the disciples’ feet. 

    Jesus showed to us that loving entails humility, by bending down towards the level of those whom we might think as lower than us. By washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus showed that loving is not “power-over.” Jesus tells us then, that in loving we do not take control over the other, not even to exercise manipulation. Jesus shows us that loving is a form of sacrifice where we need to strip ourselves with those things that might prevent us from truly relating with others.

    Jesus removed his outer garments and had a towel on his waist. We too are invited to let go of our biases, judgments and condemnations against others, whoever they may be – a family member, relative, friend, co-worker, employee or stranger.

    Thus, by washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus empowers them and us today to become his presence in the very context where we are at this very moment. It means that if you are a parent, husband or wife, a son or daughter, you are called to exercise such love and service in your family. Are you a professional or student? Then you too are called to love and serve others within your environment. Are you exercising authority or a leader in a company or community? Then, you too are called to become Jesus’ presence in your own sphere of influence.

    The very situation we are in now can be a wonderful opportunity for us to serve and love others. Thus, we commend and express also our gratitude to the many medical frontliners who have given their lives for others. There are already many doctors, nurses and other medical staff who lost their lives from fighting the virus. The many sacrifices of these people make the presence of Jesus alive in our community.

    Hopefully, by becoming the presence of Jesus to one another, then, we too shall be able to fulfill also the call of Jesus in his Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” In this way, we make Jesus ever alive in us by allowing the grace of Eucharist to transform us including our thoughts, words and actions, the very sign that God is with us because He himself always remembers us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • THE HOLY EUCHARIST

    THE HOLY EUCHARIST

    April 9, 2020 – Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

    Click here for the readings (http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/040920-lord-s-supper.cfm)

    Homily

    Typically, around four in the afternoon, I usually go to the kitchen. I customarily look and eat for a little bowl of rice as well as any dish left from our lunch. Yet, in this time of quarantine due to COVID 19, we have limited stocks. And, we rarely have leftover from lunch. It is quite a struggle for me, as I would feel hungry.  : )

    Nowadays, it is common to see in the news people cueing long lines just to buy food. Others are waiting to receive food packs from the ration. If not, they would go to their barangay halls and would ask their officials for it. Hence, this limitation to have sufficient food makes us realize its importance. Food is life, right?

    This situation also happens in our Eucharist. Our churches don’t have public masses due to COVID 19, a lot of people now realize its importance. A number of them crave for it, especially in this time of Holy Week. Recently, I become aware that some of my friends would set their notifications to know the schedules for our live streaming masses. (Kaya, wag na nating hintayin na tuluyang mawala pa para malaman mo na mahalaga pala. #hugot.) 

    Indeed, the Eucharist is food. It is our food for our soul. That is why, among the seven major sacraments, it is the only one that we celebrate daily. It is for the reason that it is the source of our Christian life. It energizes our mind and spirit. (So, Eucharist is lifer, diba?)

    Tonight we celebrate the Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. At this moment, we commemorate the mystery of the institution of the Eucharist.  We don’t only remember the tradition of the new Passover of Jesus, but we also make it a present reality. It is because, in the Eucharist, Jesus himself becomes the sacrificial Lamb. It is his own body and blood being offered for our salvation. Jesus also becomes the bread, as we have heard in the Second Reading, from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. He clearly said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 

    True enough, the Eucharist is Jesus Christ himself. So, every time we take the Eucharist, we received the source of life and grace. Every time we take the Eucharist, we received the source of our growth in faith, hope, and charity. Every time we take the Eucharist, we share the divinity of Christ Jesus, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. So, you and I become one with Jesus. We are in communion with Him.

    Yet, we don’t just stop there receiving Him. In today’s gospel, as Jesus instituted the Eucharist, He also instituted priesthood together His commandment of service and love. We have heard how Jesus humbled himself and washed the feet of the disciples. This act serves as a reminder for us to love and to serve one another, as he said: “I have given you a model to follow so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” 

    My brothers and sisters, we are commissioned by Jesus to become priests and servants for His people in His kingdom. By our baptism, we shared the office of the priesthood of Christ. It means you and I are called to pray, to serve, and to pastor others. In this trying times, Jesus invites us to pray for those afflicted with COVID disease that they may have hope and experience healing. We are also called to generously serve for those who are exhausted in helping others, such as medical frontliners and government workers. Further, we are called to pastor for those who have lost their faith because of suffering and of death of their loved ones.

    In this mass, we ask for the grace of becoming like Jesus, the Eucharist. We pray that we, like a little bowl of leftovers, may still become a nourishing sacrament that brings faith for those broken-hearted, brings hope for those who are sick, and brings charitable love for those living in darkness. Amen.

    Shared by Rev. Joey Valross Trillo, CSsR