Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Liturgical Year A

  • Look around, God is with us

    Look around, God is with us

    December 15, 2019 – 3rd Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121519.cfm

    Homily

    In the past few months, our brothers and sisters in some parts of Davao del Sur and Cotabato Provinces and Sultan Kudarat were struck with series of destructive earthquakes. According to NDRRMC, the earthquakes affected 29,349 families or 146, 745 people. There are also about 20, 635 persons displaced in 27 evacuation sites and about 6, 850 displaced outside evacuation sites.[1]

    This calamity traumatized the people and particularly the children. Many are in sorrow because of the properties they lost and others too are in grief for losing their loved one at the event of the earthquake. Thus, many of them were forced to leave the comforts of their homes and have to wait for the relief operations of the government and non-government organizations.

    Moreover, it is a very sad and tragic experience to think as we celebrate this joyful season of advent and the coming season of Christmas. Today is even called Gaudete Sunday which means, Rejoice. I have been reflecting, how can these families celebrate this season now with joy when their hearts are filled with frustration, and grief? Or even to us now present here especially those who are carrying heavy burdens, those of us who are also suffering from grief and sorrow or from anger and hate, are we able to celebrate this season with joy too? It would surely be difficult.

    They may ask and all of us too would surely ask, “Is there a reason now to be hopeful and joyful in this season despite the frustrations and grief of losing loved one, properties and homes, despite the painful, disappointing and difficult experiences we have now?”

    Such miserable and depressing experiences were also felt by the Hebrew people when they were exiled in Babylon. They were caught in a tension. They were confused and in despair because they were uprooted from their homeland and settled in a land where they were oppressed. They felt insignificant, felt abandoned by Yahweh. They had become hopeless. I am sure, they too have questioned, “Will God come to save us?”

    John the Baptist felt the same despair and disappointment while he was in prison. He had been preaching about the coming of the Messiah. He communicated that joyful expectation of the savior who will come to bring justice in the world and uplift the poor and the oppressed. Yet, when he was put into prison, he too had asked the Lord, “Are you really the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

    Again, we too who are in this church would also ask sometimes, “WILL YOU COME TO SAVE ME LORD? ARE YOU REALLY GOD? ARE YOU THERE AT ALL?” 

    Our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah describes to us a wonderful imagery of the coming of God. As this was addressed to the people exiled in Babylon, the prophet proclaimed, “when God comes, we will all rejoice for God brings justice and salvation.” God heals the sick and we will sing with gladness and joy while sorrow and grief flee away. 

    Through the prophet, God speaks to his people telling them, “I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU! AND I WILL NEVER ABANDON YOU!” The words in the first reading is God’s joyful promise to his people. God will come and the people will surely rejoice.

    God, indeed, has come, born into human flesh like us. HIS NAME IS JESUS. God fulfills his promise. This is something that we should be joyful about. Jesus responding indirectly to the question of John said, “Look around you, look at what’s happening – blind people seeing, lame people walking, deaf people hearing, lepers being cleansed, dead people are raised to life, poor people for a change, receiving good news.” This is the true Messiah – the one who comes to alleviate suffering, heal broken hearts, and gives hope to the hopeless. 

    Now, we too who are sometimes unhappy in life and in difficult situations, are being told by Jesus, “Look around you! I am here with you!”  

    Jesus becomes more present with us also and in our lives when we Christians become more like him. This means that when we ourselves become healers, promoters of reconciliation, generous givers and builders of the kingdom of God in our communities, we become the presence of Jesus in our community.

    As Jesus was moved with compassion, he heals the sick and restores life for those who are rejected and abandoned. Each of us and as a community is called to heal the sick, console the afflicted and announce to others that God has come and is our friend! Let us join then in the work of God in building His kingdom now! This is truly a good news! A reason to be joyful! Sana all.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

    [1] From https://www.rappler.com/nation/243972-dead-cotabato-earthquakes-november-2-2019

  • God desires nothing but our happiness

    God desires nothing but our happiness

    Third Sunday of Advent – GAUDETE SUNDAY – December 15, 2019

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121519.cfm

    Homily shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR (a Redemptorist Missionary based in South Korea)

    There was once a man who approached me before the mass and asked for advice. He said, “Father, my daughter is engaged to her boyfriend, but it seems that the guy’s family does not approve of their relationship because they have learned that I am now unemployed. They thought that I am lazy and irresponsible. You see, Father, I am a retired seaman. I subsist from my pension and time-deposit I’ve earned. I just wish to spend the rest of my life with my family after long years of absence from them. I really love my daughter and only wish for her happiness. What must I do, Father? Is it a sin not to work, to be unemployed, and enjoy my family?”

    Like that man and John’s disciples in the gospel, sometimes we become restless with life in anticipation for the Lord’s reign that we ask the practical question: “I believe that the Lord will come again, but what must I do, then?” Yes, we believe that God so loves us that he gave his only begotten Son for our salvation. He has been good to us and continually showers us his love and blessings. But as faith necessitates actions, “what is the right thing to do then? What does God requires and demands of us then?”

    If we reflect deeper on our readings today,

    we see that God desires nothing much from us but our happiness.

    He simply wished us happiness in our relationship with him. As what He said to restless disciples’ of John, “Go and report what you see and heard here,” Jesus wants us to see for ourselves and enjoy the great things happening and celebrate what God is doing here and now. As God shares us his life and salvation, he does not ask for our heroic acts or sacrifices but our whole being to enjoy, savor, and share his love and work to others. God does not demand of us “holy” extra-works of doing physical penances, or attending or organizing bible studies, miracle crusades, or prayer meetings but simply requires us to be as best Christian as we can be, that is, to love Him and our neighbor, follow His precepts, celebrate liturgies in worship, share responsibilities with our fellowmen, and make them feel and realize that we are God’s people. For God, then, what matters most are not our sacrifices but obedience, not commandments but faith, a loving relationship with Him, through Jesus Christ.

    Basically, God simply invites us not to be heroes, martyrs or saints. But like John the Baptist, and the farmer who joyfully anticipates for the fruits, Jesus wants us to be His living and willing witnesses of the revelation and unfolding of God’s work of salvation. Like a best man in a wedding ceremony, Jesus calls us to be a WITNESS, who first, let God’s work of salvation happen before our eyes, not controlling or programming, but simply experiencing the event. Second, a witness who let that event influence and affect our lives, for God’s work is good news to those who admits it. And a witness, who stand for and share what he experience and believe to others, for “Happy is the man who does not lose faith in me”.

    Through our faith-responses to God’s revelation and act of His love, by our encounter and acceptance of His son as Emmanuel “God-with-us”, by being affected and changed by the person of Jesus, by sharing our faith to others, in other words by being His living witnesses, God’s blessings begin and continue to prosper within us today and forever. In reply to that man’s questions, I said to him, “it is not a sin to unemployed. You are not what you have or what you have done. But you are who you are before God now.  Just Be the best and responsible father and husband you can be. Let God do the rest.”

    May we heartily rejoice this coming Christmas to witness divine life given us again and anew. Amen. 

  • God’s coming received with great opposition

    God’s coming received with great opposition

    December 14, 2019 – Saturday 2nd Week of Advent / Memorial of St John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121419.cfm

    Homily

    Have you been opposed by others just because you are different? Have you been rejected by people around you just because you do not adhere to the status quo, to what they do and to what they liked to believe?

    The Gospel today tells us that the arrival of Jesus was not received warmly by people around him particularly of those in the leadership, of those in the high position. Despite the call of the prophets from the ancient times from Isaiah, Elijah and up to the person of John the Baptist, God’s coming was received with great opposition. As the prophets called the people to turn away from sin and selfishness, the prophets also received violent condemnation from the powerful. This was what happened to John the Baptist who confronted King Herod for his immoral union with his brother’s wife. As a result, John was silenced by beheading him. In the words of Jesus, he said, “they treated him as they pleased.”

    Indeed, the Lord revealed himself, yet the people refused to recognize him because their hearts were filled with malice and full of themselves. These people who continually rejected and opposed Jesus had become so comfortable with their life but trapped by their own selfishness.

    The Pharisees, scribes, lawyers and priests of the temple were so comfortable with their way of life that they did not want a change and did not want to be challenged. They were afraid of losing what they were enjoying. Herod and his mistress were also contented with their immoral life and did not want to be confronted. Thus, these people did not want God to change their life. What they seek was the preservation of that kind of life they were living. However, this was not what God wanted. Jesus wanted them to be free, that is why, he had to confront them.

    In this Season of Advent, we are reminded to also examine ourselves if we have become too comfortable with what we have been doing, with what we have been thinking and with what we are living for. The problem is not the comfort in itself, the concern is our attitude or way of life in choosing to be indifferent and unmoved with what is happening around us and with God’s self-revelations in our life. This also include our attitudes of not wanting to change, to be challenged, to be criticized and to be corrected.

    Hence, this calls us to confront ourselves with those attitudes that do not lead us closer to others and closer to God. Jesus invites us today to be more welcoming of his presence by also letting go of those comforts that prevent us from coming closer to him, and attitudes that prevent God to enter into our life.

    As we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus, may our hearts and our whole life be more ready and more welcoming of God’s coming. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • By being grateful, we become welcoming of God’s invitation

    By being grateful, we become welcoming of God’s invitation

    December 13, 2019 – Friday 3rd Week of Advent / Memorial of St Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121319.cfm

    Homily

    Gratefulness makes us see what surrounds us, both the good and the bad. Gratefulness allows us to be embracing and accepting of the things and people around us. It is when we are grateful too that we become joyful persons and will tend to see the goodness and uniqueness of others. And when we become joyful, we also become generous of ourselves towards the people around us, no matter who they are, whether they are our friends or strangers.

    However, if our heart is without gratefulness but rather bitter, hateful and vengeful because of our personal failures and failures of others towards us, then, we become close-minded, rejecting, and vicious in the way we relate with one another and even in the way we relate with God.

    An ungrateful heart makes us belittle ourselves and belittle others, jealous of the success of our friends, but having low self-esteem. With this in mind, let us see again and explore our Gospel today and discern on how God invites us.

    Let us see the attitude of the Chief Priests and Pharisees towards Jesus. These two groups of people were very critical towards Jesus because Jesus challenged their comfort, their belief and practices.

    So, what was Jesus really doing?

    Jesus was very unconventional because he ate and drank with sinners. He touched and mingled with the sick and the unclean people. Jesus preached a loving and forgiving God the Father. He was from Galilee, from an insignificant town called Nazareth. He was not a well-known intellectual and did not come from a rich and influential family. And all that Jesus did was a threat to the status quo.

    Thus, the Chief Priests of the Temple and the Pharisees were already contented with the comfort that they have, with the power and influence that they were enjoying. They were privileged people and the ordinary ones would almost worship them. They also preferred a strict and unforgiving God because it was through that belief that they could advance their self-interest. They used their position in the society to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor.

    That is why, they were against Jesus because he was changing their ways. Their hearts were filled with bitterness, hate, anger and the desire to have more; in other words, they were filled with themselves, worshipping their very selves. This is idolatry.

    These were the reasons why they could not accept Jesus or even recognize the presence of God in Jesus. As they rejected John the Baptist by accusing him of being possessed by a demon for being different and radical, and so they too rejected and despised Jesus, accusing him for being a glutton and drunkard because Jesus ate and drank with sinners and the poor.

    This is the response of an ungrateful heart. The Chief Priests and Pharisees did not recognize at all the works of God. Thus, by being ungrateful they also reject what comes from God.

    This will also happen to us when we remain ungrateful and when we refuse to recognize that everything is from God. When we become ungrateful persons, we also become self-entitled. We become demanding in our relationships. We become critical of those people around us and we tend to only see what is wrong in the other person. We will become stingy of our time and energy and ungenerous of our resources and presence to those who are asking for our help. And most of all, we become indifferent to people around us and indifferent to God.

    Thus, God calls each of us today to be more aware of the gifts, blessings and graces that we have received each day. It would be good then to bring back to our memories the many gifts that we have received as we prepare ourselves for the birth of Jesus.

    Hopefully, by starting from there, then our consciousness will be heightened and sharpened in recognizing the presence of God present in our life and in the lives of others. By being grateful, we may become welcoming of God’s invitation. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Are you anxious and burdened? Come to Jesus today

    Are you anxious and burdened? Come to Jesus today

    December 11, 2019 – Wednesday 2nd Week of Advent   

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121119.cfm)

    Homily

    What burdens are you carrying now? What makes you worry at the moment? What are those that you are most afraid of? These questions are surely relevant to us. They tell us about our dispositions and even would tell us about what we are hoping for. We hope to be liberated from our burdens, to be free from worries and anxieties. And usually we want them to disappear immediately. 

    A survey from blaze.com reveals the top reasons most people pray to God. The first two reasons according to the survey are (first) family and friends and (second) personal problems and difficulties. These two concerns are very much related. In fact, these two reasons reveal our burdens, worries and fears at the moment.

    Thus, we ask God to help us in our problems and concerns. But, there is a danger around here. There is a temptation in us to think of a God who does magic and who can take away all those concerns that burden us.

    Contrary to what we usually think of God, our readings today reveal the true character of God. God does not offer us magic what God offers us rather, is his gentle, empowering and understanding kind of friendship. 

    This is what the first reading reveals to us. The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us of the everlasting God who does not grow tired or weary. God would even give us strength and life. Isaiah proclaimed this to the Hebrew people at that time when they had become hopeless because of the suffering they endured while at their exile in a foreign land. They displayed weariness and boredom because of the long wait of the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah reminded them of this God who never forgets for his knowledge is without limit. God is hope because God renews our strength.

    This is what Matthew proclaimed in the Gospel. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are tired and lonely!” Jesus invites us to come to him and to welcome him in our life that we may be liberated from our burdens and sins, to be free from worries and anxieties.  

    Jesus tells us that God does not terrorize us with his power nor subjects us with his influence nor does magic to remove all our difficulties at once. Jesus gives us a humble invitation to come to him as our friend – a true friend who is gentle, humble and compassionate, willing to walk with us. 

    Thus, when we come to Jesus and trust him to be our friend, then he offers us his yoke.  At the time of Jesus, the yoke was put on the necks of two animals to plow the field for planting. There were usually two cows so that the weight becomes lighter and the plowing easier and faster. The yoke that Jesus speaks about is from this image. That yoke symbolizes the Gospel that we receive today – and that Gospel is Jesus the Lord himself. 

     In this way that Jesus offers himself as our friend who is with us. He is not promising us to remove all troubles in life at once, as his life was also filled with pain and suffering. He tells us today that though life may be filled with problems, worries and anxieties, fears and self-doubt, failures and insecurities, with shame and guilt, yet, we will never be alone in our struggle for he renews and strengthens us.

     Jesus invites us to carry those troubles with him, to pull our burdens with him, to share our trials with him, to draw strength from him and to allow him to help us. In truth, the Lord does not do good things for us, but rather, he does great things with us. He does not do miracle for us but he does it with us. 

     Remember also, our experience with Jesus as our gentle and compassionate friend is not meant to be for us alone. Each of us who have experienced that friendship is called to be a friend to others. Yes, in return that experience with the Lord will allow us to become willing and generous friends – ready to cheer up a friend filled with doubts, ready to give comfort to a friend suffering from grief and sorrow, who has a listening heart to a friend who needs someone to talk to, so that we too will become God’s instrument of brining freedom and inner peace to our overburdened brothers and sisters in this Season of Advent and Christmas. Ok lang? Sana all.

    Jom Baring, CSsR