Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Homilies

  • God Looks at the Heart

    God Looks at the Heart

    January 20, 2026 – Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012026.cfm)

    Jesus often made people uncomfortable, especially those who thought they were already right with God. In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees watched Him closely, not to learn, but to find fault. They complained because His disciples picked grain on the Sabbath. For them, the law mattered more than hunger, more than people, more than life itself.

    The Sabbath, which was meant to be a gift, had become a burden. Something meant to give rest had turned into a tool for control. A hungry person could not eat. A suffering person could not be helped. All because the “rule” had become more important than mercy. Jesus saw this clearly and said it plainly, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” God’s law is meant to give life, not to choke it.

    This same problem is already present in the First Reading from the First Book of Samuel. Samuel was sent to choose a new king among the sons of Jesse. Naturally, Samuel was impressed by the tall, strong, and confident sons. They looked like kings. But God stopped him and said something very important, “Not as man sees does God see; man looks at appearances, but the Lord looks at the heart.” In the end, God chose David, the youngest, the least noticed, and the one left tending the sheep.

    This brings into the realization that when we focus only on appearances, rules, and status, we miss the heart of God.

    The Pharisees saw a violation of the law but missed hungry men. Samuel saw strong bodies but almost missed a faithful heart. In ordinary life, we could fall into the same trap. We judge quickly. We complain easily. We focus on what is “wrong” rather than what is needed. We protect rules, routines, and even our religious practices, but sometimes forget compassion.

    You know, Jesus is not against the Sabbath. God is not against leadership or structure. What both reject is a faith that forgets people. If our religious practice makes us hard, judgmental, and bitter, then something is wrong. If our sacrifices prevent kindness, then they are no longer pleasing to God.

    God chose David not because he was perfect, but because his heart was open. Jesus defended His disciples not because rules do not matter, but because mercy matters more. God’s question is never, “Did you follow every rule?” but rather, “Have you given life?”

    This challenges us to look honestly at ourselves. We may ask, “What do we see first, rules or people? Faults or needs? Appearances or hearts? It also challenges us to ask, “What kind of God do I really worship? A God of love and mercy, or a god made of rules, pride, and status?”

    Jesus invites us back to the center. Faith is not about winning arguments or pointing out mistakes. Faith is about choosing what gives life. Like David, we may feel small or unnoticed, but God sees our heart. Like the disciples, we may be judged by others, but Jesus stands with those who choose life. Hinaut pa.

  • Listening Is Better Than Explaining

    Listening Is Better Than Explaining

    January 19, 2026 – Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011926.cfm)

    Most of us want a life that feels safe and predictable. We follow routines, hold on to habits, and protect traditions because they give us a sense of control. We know what to expect, and that feels comforting. But slowly, without noticing it, what once helped us can begin to trap us. We start doing things not because they give life, but simply because “this is how it has always been.”

    In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus uses simple images: old cloth, new cloth; old wineskins, new wine. He is not attacking tradition. He is pointing out something deeper. When God is doing something new, old containers may no longer be able to hold it. New wine needs fresh wineskins, not because the old ones are bad, but because they have become rigid.

    The same struggle appears clearly in the First Reading from the First Book of Samuel. King Saul follows God’s command only halfway. He defeats the enemy, but keeps what he personally considers useful. When confronted by the prophet Samuel, Saul explains himself, even claiming he did it “for God.” Samuel’s response is sharp and unforgettable, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” Indeed, God is not impressed by religious excuses. What the Lord desires is a listening heart.

    This makes us realize that God desires obedience that flows from a listening and open heart, not from rigid practices that protect our comfort.

    Saul thought sacrifice could cover disobedience. The people questioning Jesus thought fasting defined holiness. In both cases, the problem is the same. People believed and were more attached to their way of doing things than to what God was actually asking of them at that moment.

    This is where the message becomes very close to our daily life. Sometimes we are like Saul. We obey, but only up to the point where it does not disturb us too much. We pray, but avoid forgiveness. We serve, but refuse correction. We keep traditions, but resist change when God asks us to grow.

    Jesus does not come to destroy what is old. He comes to fulfill it. But fulfillment always involves change. New wine stretches us. It questions habits that no longer give life. It exposes excuses that sound religious but hide fear.

    God’s invitations often feel uncomfortable because they ask us to listen more deeply and let go of control. But this discomfort is not meant to break us. It is meant to renew us. Like fresh wineskins, we are called to remain flexible, humble, and attentive to God’s voice.

    The real question is not, “Am I doing religious things?” The real question is, “Am I truly listening to God today?” As Samuel reminds us, God prefers a heart that listens over hands that perform rituals.

    When we allow God to surprise us, we discover that His call, though challenging, always leads to life, healing, and deeper freedom. With that, I leave you two takeaways for today.

    First, pause and listen before acting. Ask daily, “Lord, what are You asking of me now, not yesterday?”

    Second, let go of one habit that no longer gives life. Replace it with one concrete act of obedience, however small, but begin today. Hinaut pa.

  • When God Chooses to Be Small    

    When God Chooses to Be Small    

    January 18, 2026 – Sunday, Feast of the Sto. Niño

    Is 9:1-6; Eph 1:3-6, 15-18; Mt 18:1-5,10

    Every year, around the Feast of the Sto. Niño, I remember a simple scene I once witnessed during a Sunday Mass. A young mother was struggling with her toddler who was restless, noisy, and clearly bored. Trying to control the child, she whispered, though loud enough for others to hear, “Behave. Stop it. Father will get angry. Look, he’s watching you.” The child suddenly froze, his eyes wide with fear, clutching his mother’s arm.

    I gently smiled at the boy and said, “That’s not true. I’m not angry. You can move, it’s okay.” Slowly, the fear left his face.

    That small moment stayed with me. Because without realizing it, many of us grow up learning to associate God, the Church, and faith with fear rather than love. We are taught to be quiet, to behave, to obey, but often through fear. In fact, a friend shared with me as well how she felt uncomfortable at first to bring their baby to the Church. She’s afraid that the grown-ups might stare harshly to her and her toddler when the boy would make some noise in the Church.

    And yet today, on the Feast of the Sto. Niño, God reminds us of something deeply important: God chose not to come to us as someone to be feared, but as a child to be loved.

    This is the heart of today’s feast. God chooses to be small so that no one will be afraid to come close.

    In the first reading from Isaiah, we hear a message spoken to a people who were living in darkness. This darkness was caused by suffering, injustice, violence, and fear. And into that darkness, the prophet proclaimed hope: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” But how does that light come? It comes not through power, not through force, and certainly not through fear. Isaiah said clearly: “For a child is born to us, a son is given us.”

    This is God’s surprising way. When the world expects strength, God gives a child. When the world uses violence, God responds with gentleness. When hearts are burdened by sin, guilt, and pain, God offers light, forgiveness, and peace. The Sto. Niño is God’s answer to our wounded world.

    Saint Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, deepened this message. He told us that we have been chosen and blessed by God in Christ even before we deserved it. God did not wait for us to be perfect. God chose us out of love. And Paul prayed that our hearts may be enlightened, that we may truly see the hope to which we are called.

    This is important. Many people today live with wounded hearts. Families are burdened by poverty, stress, anger, and fear. Children grow up not always feeling safe, sometimes even in their own homes. During the pandemic, studies showed a rise in violence against children, abuse, and deep emotional distress. Many suffered quietly, unseen and unheard.

    And this is where today’s Gospel becomes very concrete and very challenging.

    In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself brought a child in the midst of the disciples. Why? Because in that culture, children were considered unimportant, a disturbance, and a waste of time. They had no status, no voice, and no power.

    Moreover, in Mark’s Gospel Jesus also said, “Let the children come to me. Do not prevent them.” And more than that, Jesus embraced them blessed them and placed them at the center.

    This is not just a sweet scene. It is a strong message of the Lord for all his disciples. Jesus rejects a culture that ignores, silences, or hurts the small and the weak. He tells us clearly that if we want to understand God, we must look at a child. If we want to enter the Kingdom, we must learn the humility, trust, and openness of a child.

    This is why the Sto. Niño is so powerful for us Filipinos. The image of the Child Jesus reminds us that God stands with the weak, the forgotten, and the wounded. God condemns attitudes that reject, ignore, or abuse the small especially children.

    And we must be honest. Sometimes, even without intending it, we hurt children with our words, our anger, our indifference, or our silence. Sometimes, we use fear instead of love. Sometimes, we choose convenience over protection. And Jesus is very clear that this must not be so.

    Yet, today’s feast is not meant to condemn us. It is meant to call us back to light, to mercy, to hope.

    The world may be darkened by violence, corruption, abuse, torn by war and indifference. Our hearts may carry pain, guilt, and brokenness. But God still chooses to be born among us. God still chooses to come as a child. God still chooses to bring light.

    So what does this feast invite us to do as ordinary Christians? There are four takeaways you can bring at home.

    First, learn again how to see God not as someone who frightens, but as someone who embraces us. Remember, faith grows not through fear, but through love. Let us teach our children that God is safe, merciful, and close to us.

    Second, let us become protectors of the small and the weak. This is not optional. It is a Gospel demand for us. Every child deserves safety, dignity, and love. Every decision we make, you as parents, leaders, neighbors, and community members, must be measured by this question, “Does this protect and nurture life, especially the most vulnerable?”

    Third, never use fear to represent God. Use patience, understanding, and love. The Sto. Niño teaches us that God draws near gently.

    Fourth, be a light for a child today. Do this through listening, protecting, correcting with love, or simply being present. Indeed, small acts matter as well.

    Thus, today God reminds us that greatness is not found in power, but in love. Not in control, but in care. Not in fear, but in trust. May the Sto. Niño dispel the darkness in our hearts and teach us again how to live as children of light. Hinaut pa.

  • Great is the CHILD

    Great is the CHILD

    January 18, 2026 – Feast of the Sto. Niño

    In our Wednesday novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, we always ask our Mother to help us learn to adapt to our growing children. Praying this, we acknowledge before the Lord that as Christians and in particular as parents, we are imperfect. We recognize that we encounter problems and difficulties in parenting our growing children and that, at times we fail to love and respect our children as persons and as God’s children. And for this, we implore Our Mother’s guidance and assistance as we parent our children.

    We, Filipinos love the Sto. Nino, the child Jesus, and today – every third Sunday of January, here in the Philippines, we celebrate the Feast of Sto. Nino. Like the Sto. Nino, we honor our children as also God’s gifts and instrument of salvation for humanity. We acknowledge our children as God’s blessing and signs of hope for our Christian families and communities.

    As God’s gifts, children then must be accepted, love and provided with the love and care they need for their growth and well-being. As God’s expression & instrument of His grace, they must also be respected for what they are and will be, with talents and limitations, for in their own unique way children can contribute to the building up of Christian families, and communities, and of God’s kingdom as well.

    In our gospel today, we hear how Jesus emphasizes greatly the value of us being God’s children, and of being children in God’s kingdom. For Jesus, “great is the child”. Our being beloved children of God is thus our very dignity and rights as a persons in this life.

    As God’s beloved children, we enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus and the Kingdom of God. We have the right and duty to grow in faith, to grow in our own personal relationship with God. It is also our calling to be His disciple – to come and follow Jesus Christ and express our response, by our love and respect for others.

    Today, Jesus invites us to especially love and respect our children, as much as we demand respect from them. We are reminded that like us now adults Christians, our today’s children are also God’s beloved children, where the greatness of God’s kingdom is founded.

    Now if we wish to learn how to adapt to our growing children – to respect God’s beloved children, take a good look at the picture of Our Mother Perpetual Help, a portrait of Mary carrying her child Jesus. By merely looking at the picture of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, we readily notice the mother & child relationship between Jesus and Mary – Mary as the mother, the parent of child Jesus the Redeemer.

    As parent, Mary presents to us the child Jesus – a child who like any other child needs nourishment, love, guidance, protection and care of a parent. We see Mary as the model of Christian Parenthood for she teaches us how to love, care, protect and adapt to our growing children. The picture also shows us Jesus growing and gradually learning that in fulfilling his vocation in life, there will be coming great changes and suffering (as shown by angels at the side bearing cross & hyssop on spears).

    And Mary has to adapt gradually to the changes going in her growing son’s life. As Jesus grew up in life, so did Mary grow to respect and share the sacredness & giftedness of the growing Jesus, as God’s beloved child to others.

    As we honor today the Sto. Nino, Jesus want us to remember that our devotion to the Sto. Nino must reflect not only our deep joy and thanksgiving to God for sharing us the gift of His only Son, but also expresses our love and concern for our growing children – God’s ninos and ninas amongst us.

    And the most relevant and meaningful way of honoring the Sto. Nino is not by merrymaking, parades or street dancing, but by concretely expressing our Christian respect, love and concern to our growing children, especially the poor and abandoned little ones.

    Perhaps better for us to BE with & spend quality time with our growing God’s children these days. Listen to their stories, their concerns, and their hopes in life.

    Respect and learn from them for they are also God’s children and messengers, for as Jesus warns us in our gospel today, “unless you turn and become like children (of God), you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” In our children & our being children of God, we could find then answer & access to God’s love for us.

    As a popular Filipino folk song would advise: “Ikaw ba’y nalilito, Pag-iisip mo’y nagugulo. Sa buhay ng tao, Sa takbo ng buhay mo?…. Itanong mo sa mga bata, Ang buhay ay hawak nila. Masdan mo ang mga bata, Ang sagot ay ‘yong makikita. (Are you confused, are your minds troubled, Of man’s life, of the direction of one’s life. Ask the children, life is in their hand. Look closely at children, You will find the Answer)

    Like Mary, may we honor the greatness of God’s kingdom in our growing children, and by adapting with them, may we discern and respect God’s ways and plans for a better life now & ahead of us.

    So May it Be. Amen.

  • BELOVED CHILD

    BELOVED CHILD

    January 11, 2026 – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011126.cfm)

    As we all know nowadays, there is an updated way of praying the rosary. Instead of the usual joyful – sorrowful – glorious mysteries, there is an added mystery called the Luminous mystery or the Mystery of the Light to be prayed every Thursdays. This is to emphasize that the life of Jesus is not only Joyful, Sorrowful, & Glorious, but also Luminous.

    Meaning, our salvation thru Jesus does not happen only by means of his birth, suffering & death, and resurrection, but above through his public ministry & mission. Luminous Mystery of the rosary highlights then the evangelization & ministerial work of Jesus proclaiming & bringing above the Good News of God’s salvation to all. 

    Thus, it emphasizes that the mission and public ministry of Jesus wherein his life where not only joyful, sorrowful and glorious but also luminous, radiating God’s love to the all humanity and that Jesus have proclaimed, preached, and shared the Gospel of God’s love to all.

    And the first mystery of the Light – the first highlight of Jesus’ public ministry is his baptism, the Baptism of the Lord. Our gospel today, the Baptism of Jesus by the river Jordan marks the beginning of His public ministry. After thirty years of local ordinary life, Jesus now exposed & revealed himself to the world publicly that He is the long-awaited & anointed Messiah. In his baptism, Jesus knows Himself as God beloved Son, whom the world should listen.

    Meaning, the child Jesus did not remain a child, but grew up as a mature adult responsible person who is on mission, on-the-go & has a message to share for all of us in this life. He offers us not only joy, sorrow & glory but also Light, meaning, direction, guidance & illumination for our earthly & eternal life given to us by God through His Son. Here, Jesus is affirmed as God’s beloved and marked the beginning of his ministry, evangelization and mission.

    Consider then that when he was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, he needs to hear the words and confirmation from the Father, himself saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well please”. Such words emphasize his very spiritual identity before God and the vision of God’s kingdom.

    Here, he is reminded in a deep, deep way of who he is, of his very being before God and people – that among anything else, He is God’s beloved Son. This is the very affirmation and confirmation of his being before God.

    In the same way, when he carried out his mission and public ministry, Jesus wants us also to hear the same message from the Father that “You are my Beloved on whom my favor rests”. Jesus wants us to be aware and hear of the very reality that before God, it is not only Jesus but we, you and I who believe in Jesus are also essentially God’s beloved sons & daughters.

    In God’s heart and eyes, we are His beloved children. And by virtue of our baptism, we are consecrated to be God’s children. We are His beloved, not because of our merits – not because we did anything, not because we proved ourselves or not because of what we did and have achieved in life. God still loves us whatever we do or whatever happens in our life, and He would even love us more when while still in this world we also proclaim to Him and all that, “Yes, Lord, I love you, too”.

    Once in a dream a lady found herself at the heaven’s door. She confidently knocks at the door and demands “Let me in”.  But instead she heard God’s loud voice asking, “who are you?” She then replied, “You don’t know me. I am the mother of our town’s mayor. I have been known for my generosity, an elder of the church’s lay organization and have sponsored the education of your seminarians and ordination of your priests. I even spearheaded the renovation of your cathedral in our town”. “Sorry, I don’t know you”, God replied. Angry and disgusted with God, she just stayed outside, grumbling at the doorsteps, while seeing others being admitted inside. Coming to her senses, she once again knocks at the door and requests for admittance. She said, “Lord, actually, my life has been a failure. I am separated from my husband. My children have been involved with a lot of questionable & corrupt activities. I have been oppressive landlord, abusive lady and known gambler. I am a sinner and have caused other’s to sin. I am sorry, Lord”. God replied, “is that so? But still, who are you?” Confused and ashamed of herself, she again stayed outside and pondered who she really is before God. Then something dawned in her that made her stand, knocks at the door and humbly admits “Now I know who I am, Lord. Despite what happened to me in life, I am still your beloved child.” The door then opened widely and God’s voice joyfully proclaimed “Welcome back, my daughter. Come on in.”

    As Christmas is about to end and we are just starting the year, same way as Jesus grew up maturely in life & mission, let us not treat Him to remain as a child, but we allow Him to grow mature in our lives & let Him do his mission & ministry work for us now, so that we can fully benefit from the promise of Salvation he offers us, as God’s beloved children.

    Today we celebrate the feast of Lord’s Baptism for us to once anew hear from Him that we are God’s beloved and proclaim to other that God is also our Beloved. Let us now renew our baptismal consecration, as we profess our faith….