Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Homilies

  • God’s Temple

    God’s Temple

    November 9, 2025 – Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110925.cfm)

    A story once told about a journalism student went to interview workers in a construction site. This is in line with her project regarding job motivations of common laborers. She asked the workers during their break time a simple question: “What are you doing?” The first worker replied, “I am carrying those heavy stones, hoping by the end of the day that I could earn some money to buy some food to eat”. The second one answered, “I am also carrying those heavy stones, so that I could have some savings for the education of my children and future of my family”. And the third worker, after wiping out some perspiration, happily replied: ‘Can you not see? I am building God’s church.”

    Three workers doing the same work but have different views and perspectives of their work. The first worked in order to earn a living; the second worked to save for the near future, while the third worked to build a church. These varied work-perspectives may also reflect on how we and others view life differently.

    We do have brothers and sisters today who are like the first laborer – trap in the rat race and vicious circle of earning a living. These people work in order to earn money in order to eat in order to work in order to earn in order to eat in order to work and so on and so forth. We might call this a futile and useless way of life, but we also know that some people today fell victim to this consumerist worldly life.

    Others may be like the second worker, who work hard for better days and for the benefit of others. We might call this a human and noble life, concern for the better tomorrow of oneself and others. Hopefully, most of us would view our life and work this noble way.

    However, we can also view our life and work like that of the third laborer, not just earning a living nor saving for the better days for others, but view his life and work both as participation in God’s work of salvation and as mission to build God’s church. This would simply mean that whatever work and endeavor we do in life and that whatever state of life we are in now, we can also regard our life-experiences now as our participation and mission with God’s work of salvation.

    This is what Jesus has in mind, when he said in our gospel today: “Destroy this temple and in three day I will raised it up”. For Him, raising the temple is not about destroy and build- scheme but it is all about fulfilling God’s salvation by establishing the Church of Jesus Christ with the collaboration of all of us, Christians His disciples.

    Meaning, we, the Church, the Christian community of Christ is a living temple of God. St. Paul reminds us we are God’s building….that you and I are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you and us. With Jesus, it is then our mission and participation to build, animate and make present God’s presence and salvation in the world today.

    Today, November 9, the whole universal church celebrates the Dedication of Lateran Basilica. This celebration is not just about the dedication of the Basilica of San John Lateran in Rome, which is the cathedral church of the pope. This celebration is all about us, Christians of the world today, united and continuing to participate in the mission of Christ of building God’s church here on earth by our Christian witness in words and deeds.

    We, Christian are indeed people of this world. We are in this world and live in this world. Everything that happens in this world affects us. But as Christians, we are not only concern with worldly affairs but we also are involved in building God’s temple here on earth today.

    Today is more than just about the cathedral – the structure, the building of the church because today is about our role & contribution in the project of building God’s people – the universal church.

    Like the Redemptorists humble beginnings in the church, may we not forget that the glory of the Church today comes from the humble beginnings & low-key efforts of us Christian faithful involve & participating in building our Mother Catholic since then, until now & will always be.

    Amen.

  • Till Death

    Till Death

    November 2, 2025 – The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110225.cfm)

    On  a burial ceremony, someone once  asked me : “Father, what happens to us when we die?”  After some thoughts, I answered, “I don’t know, I really have no idea. But all I know is that when I die, families, friends & acquaintances would come, gather & pray for me. Just like now, they would remember & talk about memories & encounters with me.

    Surely they would joke about our journeys together & say their goodbyes, but also they cherish how we love each other. Somehow in death, I will not be with them anymore, but still I am one of them in their faith-life journey. For us faithful, in death Life is  not ended, but has changed. Gone yet not forgotten.”

    When someone we love dies, we go through a whole range of emotions and conditions. However strong our faith might be, in our mourning & grief, we still wonder & ask questions, like: “How & where are they who have gone before us now? Without them, how are we going to cope & what else life got left to offer us now? How come others could not understand what we are going through?”

    Along with such questions we cannot escape but be thrown into the mystery of what life and death are all about, wondering: “Is there a life after death?” And even, asked: “Is there life before death?” We can even wonder about the existence of God, let alone a loving merciful God. Everything is hanging up in the air.

    All Souls Day or the commemoration of all departed souls today is celebrated to pray for all those who have gone before us to commend them all to God and to proclaim the nature of the Church. Like the communion of saints and the church here on earth, they are part of the church. We are separated now from them but not disconnected with them.

    So while today’s solemnity does not take away all our pains and solve all our questions and problems, it is a strong reminder of the truth of our connectedness, as followers of Christ on journey of faith & life.

    This connectedness happens, precisely and above all, through prayer. We pray for our faithful departed every day at Mass and in public and personal prayer. In charity today we pray especially for those who have no one to pray for them.

    We pray for those who have died, that their sins, faults & failures may be forgiven and that they might be on the way to the Lord. Our loved ones are not lost with us, and we can and do help them here on earth in & by our prayers.

    Today we are not burying our beloved dead but remembering them in this mass. Remembering them in prayers is our letting go of them – without losing them but  remembering them so that they become part of our lives in & thru the Spirit of Jesus Christ, whom we always believe as the Resurrection & the Life who lives and reigns forever & ever.

    So May It Be. Amen

  • Looking at Ourselves Closely

    Looking at Ourselves Closely

    October 26, 2025 – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102625.cfm)

    “Pigeonholing, labeling or putting a person into a box” – these are expressions that tell us how we have arrived into a conclusion about a person. It is usually in a negative sense and sometimes demeaning and insulting. We experience this when people around us only see and recognize the mistake or failure or sin that we have committed. Our friends, neighbors, colleagues or even family members could believe that we are hopeless and beyond redemption.

    It is devastating to be judged by people around. Such labels make us feel less human. They make us feel undeserving of love and existence. This is because of insulting, demeaning, and degrading labels applied to us. It is as if there is nothing more in us except our sins and failures in life.

    We can also be the one who points our judging finger. We do this because of the mistakes and failures of others in their life. We could also assume as the righteous individual who try scrutinize people, searching for their faults and failures. We could be that mean person. Our main intention is to bring other people down. We shame and gossip about their weaknesses to hide our own sins. And indeed, this happens in our circle of friends, communities and our workplaces.

    I had this classmate who seemed to be always untidy. He was always late and worst would fail in his tests. Yet, when we moved up to the next grade, something surprised us about him. Though he still looked untidy and came late for class, but, his exams got better results. Every time he passed a test, there was malice in our minds. We suspected him to be have been cheating.

    Our classroom adviser could not even believe that he had the potential. Some of us even felt bad whenever he got a higher score than those who usually got high scores.

    We judged him that he did not have the capacity. We judged him of his past behavior and failures. As a result, we failed to recognize that he had actually the capacity. We refused to believe in him because we felt insecure of his capacities and potentials.

    Our expressions like, “Bogo man na siya! Tanga man na siya! Burikat na siya! Kawatan na siya!” – somehow express our insecurity behind our self-righteous words.

    The Gospel of Luke this very Sunday conveys this conscience-disturbing message to us as a Christian Community. Jesus reminds us at the end of the Gospel today, “for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

     To become self-righteous blinds us. Thinking highly too much of ourselves prevents us from asking God to show his mercy upon us. Why? because we already think that we do not need God’s mercy.

    Thus, the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisee is basically a denial of God. It was a rejection of God’s mercy because we feel that we do not need God. This attitude leads us to build invisible thick walls that separate us from others.

    We might still have that idea of condemning our brothers and sisters who were considered terrible sinners.

    On this Sunday, Jesus invites us to look closely at ourselves – to examine better our intentions, thoughts and actions. By this awareness it may lead us to recognize as well our failures and sins.

    This was what the Tax Collector showed to us. This was  also the reason why he could not look up to heaven. When he saw himself, he felt disgusted for the sins and failures he had done against God and his neighbors. He must have cheated and stolen a lot of money.

    However, looking at himself, he realized his need of mercy and the need to be converted. That same realization will hopefully lead us to also join the tax collector in praying, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

    Such prayer and humility reaches the heart of God. The Book of Sirach in the first reading tells us that “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.”

    God, our Just Judge, will come to our rescue and show us his mercy when we also begin to honestly acknowledge our sins and failures. The God of Justice listens to our petitions especially when the Lord also finds the poverty in our heart. This means that our heart is empty of any self-righteousness, of any self-satisfaction and self-justification.

    As the Lord defends us and shows us mercy, we are called to be more understanding to those who failed and sinned. Not in the sense of condoning and tolerating such failures and sins. It is important that as we exercise understanding, we also need to confront each other of our mistakes and failures. We are invited to be merciful rather than to be condemning.

    Thus, to both the righteous and the sinners, God does not condemn. God rather desires our healing, reconciliation and fullness of life for all.

    This calls us to see more in the person of our brothers and sisters, to stop our harsh judgments and condemnation. We are called to stop our gossiping, image shaming, name-calling and bullying that only destroy the person of our brother or sister. Such ways of destroying a person is not God’s ways. It is of the devil.

    Today, I would like to invite you – to embrace a family member, a relative, a friend or a neighbor whom we know have sinned against us and those whom we have wronged because of our words and actions. This way, reconciliation and peace begins in us making us witnesses of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Hinaut pa.

  • CHAT with God

    CHAT with God

    October 26, 2025 – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102625.cfm)

    A story once told about two robbers were caught stealing. While trying to evade the chasing police and dogs, one of them said to the other: “Pray”. But the other snapped back in reply: “I don’t know how to pray”. Then, the first one persisted on: “Just pray any prayers you know, anyway, your God will listen”. The second wondered: “Any prayer will do?” The first pushed: “Ya, any prayer will do”. So the second prayed the only prayer he knows, this way: “Bless us, O Lord, for these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from your goodness through Christ’s our Lord. Amen”.

    Here, they are. Chased by the dogs and police. About to be apprehended and punished for stealing. And the only prayer, one could think of is the formula-Prayer before Meal. Well, nice words, but surely not the right & appropriate prayer for that very moment.

    Prayer is our Chat with God – our exchange of words with God. Praying then is more than just mumbling words from subscribed formula or – prayer-format, because it is the opportunity for us to be who we are before God’s presence and to express our hearts’ desires to our Father. Better then for us, in praying before God – to say what we mean, and mean what we say, than just reciting formulas which we don’t really mean and thus does not say who we really are and what we really mean before God. Meaning, pray your heart’s desire before the Lord in you own words.

    Somehow this is what Jesus is teaching us today about prayer. For the past Sundays, we have reflecting on our experience of prayer in our faith life. So far, we come to appreciate that prayer is our PISTIS – our expression of deep trust to our Lord, our loving response to bless others since we have been blessed & our LAMBING – our loving requests to our Father.

    And today, through the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus teaches us that in prayer, God listens to us. God hears our cries and satisfies our heart’s desires. What is required of us in praying, however, is our real selves humbly longing for Him – saying what we mean and meaning what we say to Him. Unlike the Pharisee, we should pray not for what we have done and what we have been doing, but pray instead in humility for what we need before God and for what God can do for us. Prayer is not our exhortations and exaltation of ourselves – of what we have done for God, but rather our humble supplication before God’s presence, crying for help – for what He can do to us better & further in life.

    We also hear in our gospel today, the simple humble prayer of the tax collector: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. This is the simple prayer-words that God as well as Jesus approves, for these words profoundly express who we humbly are before God, and what we mean, say, and desire from Him.

    “Lord, Have Mercy on me a sinner”. Perhaps the simplest yet most effective prayer words in our Christian life are these words: “Lord, Have Mercy on us” “Ginoo, kaluy-i kami”, “Panginoon, Maawa ka sa amin”. (In Korean) Junim, Jabirul Bepusoso.” These words, (traditionally also known as “Jesus prayer”) are not only prayed by the tax-collector in our gospel today, but also in the Scripture, as cried out in prayer by the ten lepers, the blind Lazarus, and others. These people were all healed, forgiven, and redeemed for they have prayed to Jesus: “Lord, Have Mercy.”

    To pray then the Jesus prayer: “Lord, have mercy on me” means and says a lot. It reveals our very identity of who-I-am or who-we-are before God.

    First, it is a Cry for God’s Help, that is, it is our way of saying: “I need God’s help”. To cry for help today is considered as weakness and dependence. To pray then for God’s mercy is to rely not on our own but to depend on God’s strength and power. Second, it is a declaration of faith, i.e. our way of saying: “I believe in God’s will and I trust in God’s way”.

    In our world of distrust and unbelief, and toppled with individualism, to pray for God’s mercy is to believe and trust in an-other greater authority/power than ourselves. And lastly, to pray, “Lord, have mercy” is our humble obedience to God, i.e. it is our way of saying: “Lord, I rest my case. I now listen to you. It’s now, not mine, but Your will be done. Bahala na. Hinaut pa unta. Kabay pa. Siya Nawa.” This means that finally, after all has been said and done, prayer leads us into total respect, trust and reverence to divine will & providence as well as peaceful silence before God’s presence.

    Remember then that God rejects the prayer of self-righteous persons, but listens to the prayer of sinners who are aware of their inner poverty. God hears the prayer of the humble who are aware of how poor they are before God for “the Lord hears the cry of the poor.”

    Perhaps we ask ourselves now, when was the last time we utter those words: “Lord, Have Mercy on Us” Panginoon, Maawa ka sa Amin; Ginoo, Kaluy-I kami; “Junim, chabirul bepusoso”? Did we say what we mean? Did we mean what we say? Are we saying those words, as a cry for His Help in our lives, as declaration of our faith and trust in Him, and as our humble obedience to His plans and will for our lives?….. OR we said those words, like any prescribed formula-prayer inappropriately and without meaning it? Before God then, to pray the simple words of Jesus prayer, said with meaning and humility – is but enough and appropriate at all times.

    Whatsoever then happened, is happening and will happen at every moments of our lives, we own up our humble poverty before Him, and pray with full consent and intent the Jesus prayer: – “Lord, have mercy on Us sinners.”

    Siya nawa. Hinaut pa unta. Kabay pa. Amen.

  • THE WONDER AND POWER OF PRAYING WITH OTHERS

    THE WONDER AND POWER OF PRAYING WITH OTHERS

    October 19, 2025 – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101925.cfm)

    Being with young people in the ministry, allowed me to witness and observe their difficulties as they try to live the faith. My generation, the millennial and even those who are younger than me, usually express the difficulty of consistency in praying.

    Despite the busy environment of the cities, the many distractions brought about by our gadgets, the internet and the need to socialize with others, young people also desire to have deeper grounding. This means that there is a deep desire among the young to connect with God – to be one with Him.

    Yet, the circumstances and particular situations that they are in would sometimes prevent them to be consistent in relating with God through prayer. There are also the personal struggles young people face, or problems in their relationships with their family and friends and demands from work or their studies.

    Thus, prayer is believed to be time-consuming and demanding. At times, it can be tiring. To pray can even be lonely especially when we feel alone and feel that nobody understands us.

    This Rosary Month, every night, our young people in the chaplaincy are visiting homes. And to the families who were visited, surely, you can attest to this. Sometimes they were many, sometimes few. Sometimes they were on time, sometimes late.

    Though I observe from a distance, what touched me deeply is the very presence of our young people. These students must have surely felt tired and exhausted from their academic demands. Yet, they would still make time. Sometimes after the family rosary, they would look broken and annoyed after being scolded and nagged by some elders during the Family Rosary.

    Yet, despite all these, they remained. Constantly reminding and inviting others to join in praying the rosary. Keeping the faith despite many odds.

    We may not realize, yet, prayer indeed moves us. Prayer helps us endure hardships and demands. Prayer gives us strength not to dwell on our weakness but to rely on the grace of God to work in us and with us.

    I find this a moving experience. Again, this reminds me that prayer changes people not just those who are praying but also those who are affected by the prayer in one way or another. What I find more interesting also is by witnessing how powerful prayer can be when we too are with others.

    This reminds me of the readings we have today. In the first reading, Moses raised up his hand in prayer to God. Moses prayed for Israel because an enemy waged war against them. The Book of Exodus recalls how Moses in the long run grew tired. Whenever he let his hands rest, the enemy, Amalek had the advantage of the battle.

    Yet, what is more interesting was the presence of Aaron and Hur. Seeing Moses growing tired in praying, the two helped him by supporting both hands of Moses. Through their support, Moses’ hands remained steady till sunset.

    This tells us that we find more strength in praying with others. When we too are with others even though we feel tired and lonely, the very presence of our dear friends and loved ones could uplift us and inspire us.

    The presence of Aaron and Hur reminded Moses that he was not alone in asking favor from God. Moses became persistent and consistent in praying because Aaron and Hur also joined with him.

    This story may sound primitive but there is wisdom behind here. We find it there the power of praying with our friends. Surely, praying can be tiring as Moses experienced it. It is also time-consuming. It can be emotionally exhausting especially when we are internally and externally troubled. Yet, praying with our friends is different. The company and the assurance that we are not alone, gives us hope.

    Jesus, in the Gospel, reminds us also of the need to pray always and never to give up. The parable of the persistent widow captures that message of Jesus. Moreover, Jesus also emphasized that character of God who pays attention to us and to our prayers. The dishonest judge who gave in to that persistent widow just highlighted the compassionate Father that we have. Indeed, God is most willing to listen to our prayers and grant the deepest desires of our hearts.

    Indeed, the parable is an invitation for all of us to realize the need to pray always without becoming weary or exhausted. But how do we not grow weary? Well, this is where we find the importance and significance of our friends, of our community.

    As this was addressed by Jesus to all the disciples, it is to be understood that prayer becomes our strength, source of comfort and growth in faith. Prayer also becomes our way of life as a community of disciples of Jesus. St. Paul reminds us of this in his 2nd Letter to Timothy, “be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient” – since to pray is also a means of proclaiming the Word of God.

    Now, these are the invitations for us today as well as your take-aways

    First, Pray with our friends. Do not be shy or hesitate to ask your friends to pray with you. Even if you are in a public place, pray with your friends. Even if that is through a simple meal that you share at Jollibee or Minute Burger or at a carenderia in ComCent, pray with your friends. Pray with your friends not just during bad and difficult times but also during celebrations and in times of gratitude.

    Second, Pray with the Holy Scriptures. As we pray with our friends, maximize also the gift of the Holy Bible because praying with the Holy Scriptures allows us to discover God’s wisdom and invitations. Maximize it because as St. Paul reminds us, “All Scripture is inspired by God.”

    Third, Pray to confront, to encourage and to embrace. Praying with others is not just about mumbling words or repeating memorized prayers. To pray also becomes our way of confronting ourselves of our sins and failures, to encourage one another through our presence and to embrace each one with love and affection despite our limitations and differences.

    In this way, we allow our faith to grow together as friends and as a community of believers. Hinaut pa.