Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Liturgical Year A

  • Time-check. When are we in life Now?

    Time-check. When are we in life Now?

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    May 10, 2020 – Fifth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051020.cfm)

    Not only we are already almost half way through the month but also already half way through the year. And we are yet far from what we have initially planned early for this year 2020. Our global reality of viral pandemic has rendered our initial plans and programs for this year on-hold, hanging and at the verge of scrapping down the drain. Worse, nowadays ours is confusing and ground-shaking times since we find our “life-givens” – our basic presumptions and systems now unreliable (if not crashed).

    Moreover we find ourselves in a situation where and when “no possible way to know what is going to happen tomorrow, we never know”. During these trying times in our lives, as we struggle daily with the “What’s now? What’s next” of our limited, constricted, and uncertain reality, we grapple also for the “Why? How come? What for?”, that could somehow provide us some sense, meaning, and direction to our lives today.

    Corrie ten Boom once said in her book, The Hiding Place: “Every experience God gives us, every person He puts into our lives is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see.” Somehow these words of wisdom could provide us a perspective as to how we can view what we are going through and happening to us these days.

    These words are based on Corrie’s experience of being a Dutch Christian survivor of the horrors of Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. In her experience of the worse of human disaster and cruelty as well as the best of Christian faith, Corrie came to realize and believe that as Christian believers, our LIFE now is and can be  God’s preparation of us for the New Life He promised us. Understanding then our present Now as God’s preparation may provide us a much-wider perspective, allow us to go beyond and find meaning to what is happening and we are going through now.  

    Based  on her experiences of the challenges of living life in faith, here she is counselling us now that whatever happens and is happening to us, what we have gone and going through (however it may be) are just but mere  God’s PREPARATIONS for His promise of our much better tomorrow than what we envision to be. In other words, there is more to life than just what we have Now, for Now is just but a preparation for God’s promise of more abundant and better life ahead and anew for us. And we are now just being prepared by God, and God is preparing us for something greater than these things we have now.

    Somehow Jesus has the same message for us in our gospel today. In admitting that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus is preparing us His disciples for the coming life ahead. Jesus said: “I am going now to prepare a place for you”. He is preparing us and we are being prepared by Him. And this is not just about the place prepared for us out “there and after”, but all about ourselves, (you and I, here & now) being prepared for a role, task and mission – a responsibility in God’s plan of more abundant life for all.

    In Jesus, God thus is  preparing us according to His plans and purpose for us. In Jesus, God is calling, forming, training, retooling, and redesigning us now to be suited for the promise of our new life with Him.  

    Jesus as our “Way, Truth and Life” is God’s signs, guidelines, and means of preparing us. The witness of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection with us prepared and still preparing us for the promise of eternal life. And as we, believers of Jesus and our Father are being prepared, the challenges of living life in faith we Christians are going through now may be lived, not as it is, but as a preparation to a witness of better future for the world now and beyond.

    In other words, our experience of Christian life now is and should be lived same way as in holding pre-departure areas in airports and terminal or bus stops’ waiting sheds  in preparation for a journey to a better future destination God is offering us anew, along with the conviction that God and Jesus is not finish with us yet. The journey is not yet over. There is more yet to come for us with God.

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    So for now, take heed Jesus’ advice: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and in Me also”, since we are being PREPARED for something anew. BRACE ourselves  therefore, for we are part of the preparation in God’s grand plan of things in life.

    May we have the patience and faith to endure and persevere more with what we are going through Now, so that we may be worthy and  better prepared for our responsibility to a much better world ahead, God offering us now. Amen. 

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

  • BE PATIENT IN SUFFERING AS WE DO WHAT IS RIGHT

    BE PATIENT IN SUFFERING AS WE DO WHAT IS RIGHT

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    May 3, 2020 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/050320.cfm)

    The Jewish converts asked Peter and other apostles in our first reading, “What are we to do, brothers?”

    As today’s Easter people – baptized, repenting and receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we Christian find ourselves confronted still with the same question: “what should we do?” especially now in today’s pandemic times. We do wonder what would be our Christian forefathers advice and say to us now as we deal with our life in today’s changing world.

    Somehow St. Peter offers us words of wisdom and guidance as to how we can and should adjust and adapt with our changing realities. He said to us today: “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God”. Meaning, “Grace before God” is what we seek in life, as well as what God offers us in life. Jesus in our gospel today reminded us that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly before God. In Jesus, God thus promises us and wills for us betterment and well being in life. And for St. Paul then, we as God’s children and followers of Christ, to share with God’s grace, we must be PATIENT IN SUFFERING AS WE DO WHAT IS GOOD.

    In other words, as we navigate with our changing world of pandemic, distancing and quarantine along with God’s grace and our Christian faith, our forefathers in faith would advice us today to:

    First, continue to DO GOOD and BE GOOD before God. Jesus in describing us the good shepherd implicitly inviting us to be His good sheep who hears and recognizes His voice, follows Him obediently as He dearly calls us by our name. As Good shepherd, Jesus knows His sheep and we, His sheep knows (should know) Him. Goodness is thus reflected in our intimate, respectful, and responsible relationship with our risen Lord. Same as, Good trees are known by its fruits, Good parents, teachers, coaches, doctors and pastors are also known through their good children, students, players, patients, and faithful. So, do good and be a good Christian, citizen, God’s child, and person before the Lord. 

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    Second, do right and be right in SUFFERING before others.  In today’s high tech, globalized, fast-pacing world, we tend to do things haphazardly. We want things done instantly, rendering us chronically living a stressful, high-strunged & addictive life-style. However, we do need to do right things rightly. This would mean we don’t just do THINGS right, but we have to do the RIGHT things. Here we need to prioritize what is RIGHT essential things and learn to do away with non-essential things in life. And in doing so, we need to contend with the natural painstaking slow-pacing process of things. Meaning, go back to and learn the basics of things, no more shortcuts, palakas, excuses, and to non-essentials. In other words, do RIGHT things rightly and suffer along with it.

    And again, BE PATIENT with Oneself and Others. Nowadays, we suffer a lot in patience. As our world today stood still, slowed-down, and quarantined, we are painstakingly waiting back for our normal active life. But our situation now might be teaching us to learn again and anew how to be and why we need to be patient with ourselves and others in life. In better and worse times, we do need to learn to be patiently waiting in life.

    Why? Because God is not finished with us yet. As promised, Jesus has more abundant life in store for us. God prepares everything for us … in His own pace and timing (not ours). This might entail us a lot of patience and deep faith, BUT God’s life-offer is worth the WAIT.

    So, what can, should, are we to do, during these trying times? BE PATIENT IN SUFFERING AS WE DO WHAT IS RIGHT…. For God is not finished with us YET as well as God’s promise of abundant life is worth OUR WAIT.

    May we always have a patiently waiting and faith-filled Easter-resolved during these pandemic times. Amen.  

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

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  • RECOGNIZING JESUS IN THE MANY BREAKING OF THE BREAD TODAY

    RECOGNIZING JESUS IN THE MANY BREAKING OF THE BREAD TODAY

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    April 26, 2020 – Third Sunday of April

    Shared by Rev. Deacon Jose Lemuel Nadorra, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042620.cfm)

    One of the great Italian painters of the Baroque period is Michaelangelo Mirisi Caravaggio. He is one of the masters of realism and foreshortening technique, and the painting style called chiaroscuro, that uses the contrast of light and darkness to create and bring out the emotion and drama of the whole painting. What you see here is one of his famous painting, Supper at Emmaus. This is the second version of the same theme that Caravaggio painted about the Emmaus story. 

    SUPPER AT EMMAUS

    Most paintings of the Emmaus story, which we heard in the gospel of Luke today, portray Jesus and the two disciples in deep conversation while walking together on a road in a beautiful scenery. But Caravaggio’s take on the Emmaus story focused on the crucial moment of the story. It focused on the very moment when Jesus broke the bread and the eyes of the two disciples were opened in amazed recognition that it is the Lord. Notice the contrast of expressions on the faces of the figures in the composition. The innkeeper and the servant at the back look confused and are oblivious of what is happening, while the two disciples on the foreground were shocked in utter recognition of the Lord’s presence. Caravaggio somehow froze that split-second moment just before Jesus vanished from their sight. Yet the center of interest of the painting is the hand of Jesus and the broken bread. What Caravaggio was trying to tell us was that it was the very act of the breaking of the bread that allowed the disciples to recognize the risen Jesus. Jesus, the bread of life, broken and shared for humanity’s redemption.

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    The Emmaus story we have heard in the gospel today is one of the apparition stories of Jesus, eyewitness accounts of the disciples, aside from the empty tomb, that cemented the faith of early Christians that indeed Jesus is risen and alive. We are told that these two disciples of Jesus were on the road going to the village of Emmaus, walking away from Jerusalem. They were sad, grief-stricken, and frustrated, of the events that transpired a few days ago in Jerusalem. Jesus, their hoped-for Messiah, was crucified and now dead.

    Then, this “stranger” suddenly appears and joins them in their walk. They did not recognize that it was Jesus perhaps because, like Mary Magdalene, sadness and grief blinded them. Yet Jesus walked along with them, and engaged them in deep conversation about the Messiah in the Scriptures. Out of hospitality, they asked the “stranger” to join and stay with them for it was almost night time. And it was while he was at table with them, that the very act of Jesus in taking, blessing, and breaking the bread, that they recognized Him. It was the risen Lord! And then he vanished from their sight.

    Brothers and sisters, the Emmaus story reminds us that in our life journey, in whatever circumstance we are in, Jesus walks along with us. In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite our sadness, fears, frustrations and anxieties, that may blind and numb us, Jesus is there journeying with us. He meets and encounters us where we are. And like the two disciples who acted with hospitality in inviting Jesus with them, despite them not recognizing him, we, too are called to be hospitable to His presence, to invite Him to walk along with us, even though at times we may not recognize Him at the moment.

    When the two disciples finally recognized the presence of Jesus through the breaking of the bread, and despite him vanishing from their sight, this brought them such great joy and remembered how their hearts burned when Jesus walked along with them. They left with such haste and returned to Jerusalem to announce that yes, Jesus is risen! It is also the same invitation to all of us my brothers and sisters. That as we celebrate this and every Eucharist, as we witness the taking, blessing, and breaking of the bread, we may also recognize with such great joy the presence of the risen Lord in our lives. Through this act, may our hearts also burn as we remember and look back at the many blessings, moments of grace, glimpses of God’s loving and mysterious presence in our life journey. Yes, all along he was there, walking with us. Encountering us. Journeying with us. But wait, there’s more!

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    The Emmaus story also invites us not only to look and recognize Jesus at the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist, but more so to look and recognize him at the many “breakings of the bread” that is happening all around us. Especially at this moment of the COVID pandemic, we see the examples of our front-liners who are risking their lives in order to help stem the spread of this virus. Or the many acts of generosity of people, individuals, local and church groups, who reached out to people in need despite the lockdown and community quarantine, etc. etc. Acts of generosity. Acts of love. Acts that bring hope. Yes, despite Jesus’ physical absence, the very act itself makes Him present. The act of the breaking of the bread in the Emmaus story strengthened the faith and brought hope to the two disciples. We are likewise invited to find strength and hope, as we recognize Jesus in the many “breakings of the bread” happening around us.

    It is good to note that archaeologists and Biblical scholars would attest that the location of the village of Emmaus is still disputed and unknown, this somehow tells us, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had said, that the Emmaus story is also our Emmaus story.

    Caravaggio’s genius in foreshortening technique found in his paintings, creates an illusion that parts of the figures are coming out of the canvas. This allows and invites the viewer to become part of the whole drama of the painting. As we become part of it, we are also invited to look at our own Emmaus stories. To look back at how Jesus journeyed with us, guided us, and manifested His presence in various and different ways in our lives.

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    Like the two disciples who, at the beginning journeyed blinded by grief and fear, went back and announced with great joy their encounter with the risen Lord. We, too are asked to allow the risen Lord to encounter us, in the breaking or the breakings of the bread happening around us, we will become like Peter in our first reading, who boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus.

    In Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus painting, we see that subtle light coming in bringing light to the figure of Jesus and the broken bread. It symbolizes the new light, that transforming light, brought by Jesus upon His disciples. Jesus, the risen Lord, is the light of hope. As our psalms today exhorts, “Keep me safe O God, you are my hope!” And so are we, if we are truly believers of the risen Christ, must also bring the light of hope to others through our actions and deeds. Indeed, it is through our actions that the risen Christ is made present.

    And so I leave you my brothers and sisters with this parting question for all of us to reflect upon: In what ways are we encountering Christ today? As Christians, is the risen Christ made present in our actions and deeds especially in these trying times? 

    May Jesus, the Risen Lord, bless us all. Alleluia!

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  • When the Divine Mercy pierces through LOCKDOWN-HEARTS

    When the Divine Mercy pierces through LOCKDOWN-HEARTS

    April 19, 2020 – Second Sunday Easter and Sunday of Divine Mercy

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041920.cfm)

    The word LOCKDOWN has become popular today given the situation we are in. At the outbreak of the virus that originated in Wuhan, China which has spread to many countries today, “lockdowns” have been imposed. This procedure is imposed to control and to minimize the spread of the virus to the public. As countries, regions, provinces, cities adopted such measure,  now even small sitios or purok (a village) have their own version of lockdown.

    We understand lockdown as a situation in which people are not allowed to enter or even to leave a building, or a property or an area freely because of an emergency (Cambridge Dictionary).

    As this has been highly recommended by medical experts, then, our government leaders have to impose it for the sake of the citizens. Thus, its main reason is not to limit the freedom of the individuals but to control the virus, to slow down the transmission and infection and save lives. It is a defensive mechanism that we have developed today which we also realized as necessary. This, indeed, is a lockdown that protects, saves and even gives life.

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    However, there is another form of lockdown that is different from protecting, saving and giving life. It is the opposite. It is the “lockdown imposed by the disciples upon themselves” that we have heard from the Gospel today.

    This is defensive mechanism of a heart that is hurt and bruised. It is a form of withdrawal from others and from God because of “fear.”

    In a way, experiencing pain in our relationships also makes us more defensive the next time we relate with others. We become defensive and even withdrawn with others because we fear of being hurt again. Thus, we “lockdown” ourselves from any possible pain or hurt, because we are afraid of what others can do to us.

    This happened to the disciples of Jesus. They lockdown themselves in a room because of fear. They locked the door to make sure that no stranger could enter. It was their way of protecting themselves because they were afraid that what happened to Jesus may also happen to them.

    As a consequence, their fear prevented them to believe what Mary Magdalene proclaimed to them, that Jesus has been raised from the dead. They couldn’t believe her because they were too afraid. However, what was more interesting in the Gospel was on how Jesus appeared in their midst even though they made sure that the doors were locked. Jesus appeared to them and brought peace to the hearts of these fearful disciples.

    Yet, we also find Thomas who was not there at that time of Jesus’ appearance, still holding on to his fears and doubts. Although all the other disciples have testified that they have seen the Lord, Thomas couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t believe, and because of that, his heart was more locked than the door. Thomas personally lockdown his heart.

    That is why, Thomas, set a condition before he would believe that Jesus is alive. He said, “unless I will see and touch him, I will not believe.” Because of so much fear and doubts, Thomas insisted that condition in order to protect himself.

    Just as Jesus met the other disciples in their own hiding place and so he did it also to Thomas. Jesus appeared once again and asked Thomas to touch his wounds so that he may believe. Jesus submitted to the condition of Thomas.

    This is what the Gospel is telling us today – the Lord meets us wherever we are and he takes us seriously in all our fears, anxieties and doubts. When God meets us in our own hiding places and closed doors, He brings us peace to our troubled hearts. This is an assurance that in God’s presence we find peace and without Him we will always be disturbed and insecure.

    This is the mystery of the Divine Mercy which we celebrate on this Second Sunday of Easter, the God of Mercy who brings peace into our troubled and fearful hearts, and who pierces through our lockdown-hearts.

    In God’s Mercy, Jesus indeed meets us  where we are at the moment especially when we decide to retreat to our own cocoons of self-centeredness, to our old bad habits and addictions, to our defensive mechanisms and self-imposed lockdowns from other people, and into our angry and irritable response to people around us. God meets us there and he wants us to know that He is with us and He brings us peace.

    It is when we recognize God in those moments that Jesus invites us to touch his wounds just like Thomas. Being aware of the wounds and touching the wounds of Jesus means that Jesus feels our own pain and suffering, our fears and anxieties, questions and doubts. Hopefully, that experience will lead us to proclaim like Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” This is again an assurance to us that our God is alive and at work in our lives.

    I would like to invite you now to be aware and recognize those attitudes, beliefs and experiencesthat continue to lock us away from others and from God. Be aware of those that hold us from fully relating to others and from freely expressing goodness, and those that make us withdrawn and indifferent to people around us.

    Hopefully, our encounter with the risen Christ, the image of the Divine Mercy will make our locked and defensive hearts to open up as He brings us peace and send us to others. This may move us  to go out to touch the lives of those who are in need by sharing what we have experienced with God, his goodness and generosity, faithfulness and mercy. Thus, even during lockdowns we can still show our kindness and generosity to those in need. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Believe the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ

    Believe the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ

    April 19, 2020 – Second Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy Sunday

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041920.cfm)

    Homily shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

    A young man once said, “I will never believe until I have an experience of Jesus Christ.” But a Catholic missionary replied, “Unless you believe, you will never experience Jesus in His Church”. 

    Nowadays, it is not easy for us to believe. We ask usually for signs, proofs or evidence in order to trust somebody. We need some credentials in order for us to believe someone. We say: “To see is to believe.” Many times we claim, “We will never believe until we see it”. Others would say, “Show me the money first before I trust you”. Like Thomas in our Gospel today, we say: “Unless there are evidences (see and touch the nail marks on the Lord’s sides), I will not believe”.

    The opposite of Faith is doubt. Doubt has indeed been a great stumbling block or hindrance in the growth of our Christian faith. Even Jesus had difficulty in preaching the Good News because of the people’s doubt and unbelief. And the same doubt and unbelief have caused the Lords’ suffering, crucifixion and death.  

    Usually we doubt by certain truths in our life because they are beyond our comprehension. Because we don’t understand them – they don’t make sense- that we doubt if what is presented before us is really true and sincere. That is why, many at times in life, we struggle to find God in our signs and evidences, in our darkness and loneliness, in our comprehension and understanding that usually leads us nowhere but doubt and unbelief. But actually doubt and unbelief happen whenever and because we are just asleep – not aware or not awake and present enough to recognize what has been presented right before us.

    This is what Jesus is trying to reveal and teach his apostles then and us now in our Gospel today: Be Present in order to Believe. Believe in order to be in His Presence.

    As the community of disciples hid themselves asleep in fear for the authority, in shame for abandoning their master, and in hopelessness and defeat for the death of the Lord, Jesus, now the Risen Lord came and shown Himself to them, saying: “Peace Be with you”. Take note, Jesus appeared and presented Himself – make Himself known to them, in order to tell them: “Do Not be unbelieving, but Believe”, that is to wake them up from doubt, and to wake up their faith in Him again. The Risen Lord thus presents Himself before and in the Church to wake up our Faith in Him anew so that we may experience God’s glory being offered to us once again. 

    And He continues to reveal Himself again and always to us in our Church and whenever we are present in our Christian faith-community. Remember, Thomas doubted the risen Lord because he was absent – not there but somewhere else – when the Lord revealed Himself for the first time. So also whenever we are absent with ourselves and with our community, we don’t experience and don’t believe Easter. But whenever we are present with ourselves and our community, we experience and believe in the Resurrection of our Lord.    

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    “Believe the Gospel, believe in Him, Believe in Jesus Christ” has always been the core message of the Gospel. For us to always experience the Good News of God’s glory in our lives, all we are asked to do is not to look for evidences, signs or proofs but just to believe in Him who reveals Himself right before and in us, our community of faith. Without faith, we cannot comprehend and benefit from the greatness of God’s graces offered and can offer us now by the Risen Lord, as he makes Himself present in our church and community. 

    As Joan Chittister, a known lady-theologian once said: “It takes a lifetime to really understand that God is in what is standing in front of us. Most of our lives are spent looking, straining to see the God in the cloud, behind the mist, beyond the dark. It is when we face God in one another, in creation, in the moment that the real spiritual journey begins”. Very true, indeed. We do tend to look for something else while searching for God who is already right before and in front of us. In other words, Easter – the Lord’s resurrection only happens, makes sense and becomes meaningful to us, if and when we are present enough to acknowledge and believe in the Risen Lord as He reveals to us face to face, in front of us, in our Church, our community of believers.So, Don’t doubt but Believe the Gospel being and yet to appear to us in our community of faith. May we present as the Lord is present in our Christian Church even in the midst of our social distancing world.  So be it. Amen.