Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: LiturgIcal Year B

  • Pruned yet Producing

    Pruned yet Producing

    April 28, 2024 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm)

    Plant-lovers – (plantitos & plantitas) know that for a banana shrub to grow and bear much fruit, it has to go against the natural process of growth through pruning or trimming. Meaning, for new shoots to bud and sprout, and more fruits to bear, planters have to prune, i.e., cut-off dried leaves, trim, or peel off the dried skins of the banana shrub. Otherwise, we got more dried leaves and skins, but undernourished sprouting shoots and bud, and in effect little or no fruit at all.

    Jesus in our gospel today describes our faith relationship with Him, akin to relationship of plant’s vine & branches. He reminds us that while He is the vine and we are His Branches, Our Vine grower – our plantito, “the father takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does, he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”

    In other words, for us to be His good disciples we must not only remain connected, loyal and steadfast in Jesus, but we also have to experience & go through pruning & trimming in life for us to bear much fruit.

    Spiritually, sometimes that is what God our Father does to us. Sometimes God prunes or trims us, make us experience suffering, sickness and trials not for its own sake but for us to grow and bear much fruits. Sometimes we do need to experience our limits so that we may be open to receive God’s abounding blessing.

    Why? Because sometimes somehow we grow comfortable and complacent in our spiritual life that we become naturally content with our routine of personal prayers, devotions, personal salvation – trying to lead healthy spiritual life, but we fail to bear fruits of spiritual life for others. Remember: A healthy branch, plant or tree is useless – is nothing, if it does not bear flowers and fruits for others to taste and see.

    So often we view religion as merely our personal relationship with God that exists as though a plant in a vacuum. Yes, we acknowledge a connection with others and the need for community, but so often we see the community merely as a support to have a healthy relationship with God.

    There is something critically missing here. Where is the fruit? The Lord wants us to build up the community by producing more and more Christians followers & believers, i.e. how we can increase the Christian population & the spiritual life of the world. Our goal in life then is to bear and produce fruit, His fruits – fruit for our lives now & His Kingdom.

    In one way or another, pandemic times made us experience sufferings then with a lot of trials, problems, restrictions, and difficulties in life. Somehow God was unusually & especially pruning us then. Perhaps we have been pruned or trimmed by God not only to be healthy in our spiritual life but for us also to bear much fruit for others & for our life now.

    Definitely we experienced a lot of losses during pandemic that still affects & hurting us. But perhaps at this stage, hopefully new buds are getting to sprout, new flowers are starting to bloom & some signs are growing of life in us.

    Saint Teresa of Calcutta is wise enough to remind & advice us that “God did not call us to be successful in life, but rather calls us to be faithful & fruitful in life.” Thus, the Lord places upon us the mission & responsibility for the growth of the kingdom of God. He uses us to call & invite other people to Himself.

    And above all, He longs not for our success, but for our faith & fruits in life. Consider then, at the end of our lives we have to stand before the Lord showing him what our lives produced. He is not going to be interested in our bank accounts, our homes, our athletic, intellectual, or artistic exploits & accomplishments. He is going to consider how well we loved others. He is going to count fruits of our faithfulness. He is going to look to see if we did all we could to bear & produce the fruits of His salvation to everyone.

    Remember, Jesus is concerned not only with the plant but also with good fruits. He wants us His disciples not only to be healthy plants but moreso to become fruit-bearing & producing plant for life & God’s Kingdom.

    And so, if we want to do our best in bearing fruit for Him, we need to stay united to the vine, united to Christ. We need to have His Life flowing through us – which at times needs the Father’s pruning. We received His life at baptism, but if we cut ourselves off & distance from His life by ignoring the vine, by slacking off from our worship of God, by allowing ourselves to be untended & unpruned, then we will have no fruit to bring before God’s presence. It is not enough to say we are people of faith, to say we are Catholic. We ought to practice our faith. We ought to stay united to the vine. We ought to bear & produce fruits for God’s kingdom in our lives.

    Being Christian, being Filipino Catholics is indeed not easy vocation & mission. It means dedication, sacrifice, determination to live as Christ called us. It demands being pruned by God & having to produce for the Kingdom – something to show & contribute for our lives. But we can do this, and we will do this, as long as we are stay connected & united to the Lord, to the vine whose life flows in us & through us.

    In this mass, we pray then that as the Lord’s branches being pruned & trimmed by God, we Christians may all have the spiritual courage & perseverance to remain united and connected onto Christ, our true Vine Jesus, so that we may bear fruit for our life & His kingdom now & forever.

    So Help Us God, So May it Be. Amen.

  • Gut-Felt Sense Recognition

    Gut-Felt Sense Recognition

    April 21, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042124.cfm)

    Once while giving a graduation speech, the Late-Philippine lady senator Miriam Santiago made a joke. She said… Beside the swimming pool, two girls are having this following conversation. G1 said to G2: Know what? You are going to float (Alam mo. Lulutang ka). G2 to G1: Why? Is it because I’m slim, light & sexy? (Bakit? Dahil ba, magaan, slim at sexy ako? G1 replied: No, it’s because you are Plastic (Dahil plastic ka).

    Funny & rude it maybe, but it tells a lot how do we distinguish a GOOD parent, teacher, friend, politician, leader, mentor or coach from a BAD one? How do we know if that person is real, true, authentic, deep, honest & trustworthy? How do we know that person is fake, shallow, liar & unreliable?

    Nowadays it is normal for us to suspect things simply because it is not easy to know whether it is real or fake. Because it is difficult to detect the authentic from artificial or plastic, the durable from disposable, nowadays we do tend to be suspicious of things & even of one another. Same way with our relationships with others. We rather suspect, doubt, and distrust one another, than believe and trust others because it is more challenging to distinguish who are real or fake, honest or deceitful, smart or shrewd.

    Jesus in our gospel today introduced and made Himself known to us as The Good Shepherd who knows His sheep and His Sheep knows Him, and who will lay down His Life for His sheep. As Jesus distinguished Himself from a Hired Worker who work only for pay and no concern for the sheep, he reminds us here that as OUR good shepherd He is a hands-on and committed caretaker/caregiver of His sheep who maintains a personal intimate relation with His sheep, and will commit His life to live and work with His fold in life.

    Be reminded the risen Lord reveals Himself In FLESH. In last Sunday gospel, as the risen Lord reveals Himself in the midst of the disciples, he showed and asked them to touch and see His wounded hands and feet.  The risen Lord then reveals Himself not as ghost but in flesh and bones with wounds.  The Lord has made Himself known to us as “Jesus with a Cross” – a risen Lord in wounded flesh and bones who struggles and sacrifices painfully yet victoriously in life who understands & feels with our own daily crosses in life. He is then our seasoned/experienced life-hero who, by letting us touch and see His wounds in Life -not His glorified body or His spirit, is now willing to shepherd, coach and journey us in & thru life.

    In other words, the risen Lord is Our Good Shepherd because He is hand-on and committed in making known Himself to us, journeying with us and feels  with & for us in our day-to-day humanity and struggles with joys, pains, and wounds of life. And We Christians proclaim that our risen Lord Jesus Christ is OUR good shepherd. We believe that He is our Shepherd, who knows and loves us personally. We also believe that we know Him personally for we His sheep know His voice & recognize His presence among us.

    Christ Holding a lamb.

    Particularly For us Filipino Catholic, we do have special or unique take in knowing our Good Shepherd. We know Him not only because Kilala  natin siya (Kaila ta niya) but because Dama natin siya (Bati nato Siya). Culturally gut-felt recognition is important to us. Like,… I may know you, but I may not feel you. I may feel you though I may not know you. (Kilala kita, pero di kita ramdam. Ramdam kita kahit di kita kilala). (Kaila ta, pero Koy pagbati nimo/ Bati ta ka, bisan dila ta Kaila) This is how we distinguish real from fake & how we discern good & bad.

    Same way as we Filipinos have this natural felt-instinct to recognize & felt-sense to distinguish the real from fake, to discern the good from evil, we also come to be familiar with & know more the shepherd’s voice through our gut-sense and feelings. We do come to know the risen Lord as our true Good Shepherd in life not only by our volition, consent & reasonings, but most of all through our sense & feeling perception (damdamin, pagbati at kalooban).

    By our sense-perception & gut-feeling insights, we come to know the risen Lord with us – in person & in flesh. Knowing the Shepherd is thus not only for us an intellectual or cognitive familiarity but more so a deep felt-sense knowledge and insight of His presence, love & blessing.

    We pray then that the Easter Season this year be our moment to enhance and improve our special felt-sense of knowing our True &Good Shepherd, so that we may not be gone astray from His fold but rather have a much deeper relationship with Him, and be always attuned with His will & plan for us now, especially during this Easter season.

    So Help Us, God. So May it Be. Amen.

  • BE PRESENT TO BELIEVE

    BE PRESENT TO BELIEVE

    April 7, 2024 – Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040724.cfm)

    Once a Catholic missionary tried to convince a young atheist to believe & accept God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ through the Church. But the young man just said, “I will never believe until I have an experience of Christ.” And the missionary replied, “But you will never have an experience of Jesus in His Church until you believe in Him.”

    Nowadays, it is difficult for us to believe. We ask usually for signs, proofs, or evidences in order to trust somebody. We need some credentials in order for us to believe someone. We even 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 nailmarks on the Lord’s sides), I will not believe”.

    The opposite of Belief is doubt. Doubt and distrust have 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. So also, many at time 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. 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 reveals and presents Himself – make Himself known to them in order to tell them: “Not doubt but believe Him”, 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. In the same way, whenever we are absent with ourselves and with our community, we doubt and don’t experience Easter. But whenever we are present with ourselves and our community, we experience and believe in the Resurrection of our Lord.

    TURIN, ITALY – MARCH 13, 2017: The The painting The Doubt of St. Thomas in Church Chiesa di Santo Tomaso by unknown artist of 18. cent.

    “Believe the Gospel, believe in Him, Believe in Jesus Christ” has always been the core message of the Gospel. For us to experience the Good News of God’s glory in our lives always, 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.

    Remember Easter – the resurrection of the Lord happens to us that we.  “may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief we may have life in his name”. Faith in him, not fear, is what is required of us. Believe in Him, not Doubt is what is expected of us. Our repentance is not enough for God’s mercy is more about His healing, love, caregiving, peace, joy, & fullness of sacred life with God – far beyond His forgiveness of our sin. And for those who have believed the risen Lord here & now, much will be revealed.

    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 be revealed to us in our community of faith. Be present as the Lord presents Himself & is present in our Church.

    So be it. Amen.

  • EASTER’s WITNESSes

    EASTER’s WITNESSes

    March 31, 2024 – Easter Sunday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033124.cfm)

    Today Christians proclaim to the whole world: “Alleluia, the Lord has risen, indeed. Alleluia.”

    Our gospel today proclaims that on that Easter morning, the apostles found the tomb where Jesus was buried, open and empty. Inside the burial tomb, though the burial cloths are still around, the dead body of Jesus is not there and nowhere to be found.  Strange it may be, finding the tomb open and empty, for the apostles it means that what Jesus preached them are true indeed: “Jesus Christ has risen”.

    On that very Easter morning, they gladly witness for themselves the Lord’s resurrection. There and then, they have seen and believed in Jesus’ promise and message of Hope to Life with God. On that day, they became dedicated believers and migrant missionary messengers of God’s offer of resurrection to life.  In effect, their very lives and our lives now change for the better.

    Easter always announces to the whole world a message of hope in life. Through the resurrection of our Lord, God has given and offers us anew Holiness of LIFE with Him. Easter proclaims that our life in the world today is and can be better and meaningful as we believe in the Good News that our Lord Jesus Christ has risen again into our lives today and always.

    There is hope then for a much better and meaningful life for the world now, as we Christians live our lives in faith with the risen Lord.

    Also for this message of Hope in Life to grow and flourish in our lives today, we Christians are challenged to bear witness and share our faith in the risen Lord to all nations. Like the disciples, our Christian witness of faith in the risen Lord makes us also migrant sharers and messengers of resurrection in life with God to all.

    As Peter proclaims, our witness of faith compels us Christians as chosen and commissioned by God to preach and testify to all nations God’s offer of new risen life with Him through Christ.  By our Christian faith-witness, we offer and share to our world today a message of hope for life with our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

    In one of his early homilies, Pope Francis once said: “Today’s world stands in great need of witnesses. It is not so much about speaking but rather speaking with our whole lives”. Here our Holy Father Pope Francis gives importance for us today’s Christians to be witnesses and messengers of Christ’s resurrection to today’s world.

    While in the midst of the world’s widespread culture of despair & death, we, Christians are blessed to have our faith in the resurrection of the Lord for us to share and offer to the world as alternative better way for the world and people’s life. Thus, it is our moral mandate and responsibility as Christian witness to share God’s offer of hope to life in our world today. 

    To be and have Migrant Filipino Catholics here & abroad today brings great opportunity for the world to witness (to taste and see) God’s offer of life with the risen Lord. While others may perceived it as social issue or concern, the reality of migrants and refugees in the world can be the chance for us Filipino Catholics to do our part in proclaiming and sharing our faith in the Lord’s resurrection to our world today.

    Same way as church persecution brought the Lord’s disciples to become migrant missionary messengers of Lord’s good news of salvation to all nations, our experience of migrations and refugees in today’s world gives us Christians also a chance to share our Christian faith to the world and with one another.

    Again Pope Francis appreciates the great potential of having and being migrants in our midst may offer to our world today. He said: “We ourselves need to see, and then to enable others to see that migrants and refugees do not represent a problem to be solved, but brothers and sisters to be welcomed, respected and loved.” Instead of dealing the reality as social concern or problem, Pope Francis invites us here to realize that having and being migrants and refugees with our lives can bring about a time of grace for inculturation and evangelization – for exchanging our faith with one another and sharing such Christian faith with others and to the whole world.

    Thus, having migrants and refugees with us obliges us to make Christ known to them by our welcome, love, and concern through our unique life of faith & culture. As well as being Christian migrants and refugees in a foreign culture calls for testifying and sharing one’s unique Christian faith to the new culture. And such sharing of faith and life-witness among us Christian both migrant and resident, make other non-Christians also witness (taste and see) the risen Lord in their own lives and our world today.

    Brothers and Sister, Christians as we are – resident or migrant we may be, we have a message of hope to share to the whole world. We proclaim to the whole world today: “Alleluia. The Lord has risen, indeed. Alleluia.

    May we never grow tired but be inspired and empowered to become migrant missionary messengers of God’s offer of meaningful life to our world today with the risen Lord. Amen.

  • Me vis-à-vis Christ’s Passion

    Me vis-à-vis Christ’s Passion

    March 24, 2024 – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032424.cfm)

    Four newly-ordained priests were summoned by the bishop for their first Assignment. The bishop said, “Now, my sons, after all your theological studies and ordination as well as few months’ vacation, I am sure, you are all ready and excited for your new assignment. But before I give you your parish assignment, I would like to put you into a simple test. Choose one item from this table”. First one chose a pebble, the next, a ball of cotton, the other, a clay, and the last, a cube of sugar. Then the bishop said: “put your item into a glass of water and observe”.

    The pebble gets wet and making the water increases its volume. The cotton ball absorbs the water thus, lessen the water volume. The clay dissolves but polluted the water. The sugar dissolves in the water. The bishop then told them, “this simple exercise is a plain illustration of what kind of pastor may you will be in your new assigned parish. You can be like a pebble, except for being a new member; your presence adds nothing to you and the community. Your indifference does not help the faith and growth of the community, as well as yours.

    You may also become cotton, who joins in the community but your presence absorbs the community. Your selfishness and self-centeredness weaken and lessen the faith-life of the community. You may also become clay, where you easily dissolve in the community but you contaminate the community with your negative pessimistic evil and sinful ways.

    But you may also become a sugar in the community, who easily fits in and with your gentle presence, one could not distinguish you from the community, except when tasted, you make the community sweet and drinkable. So what kind of priest will you be in the community?

    Perhaps, the question is also true with us: what kind of church member are we? Are we like the indifferent stone, who does not care? Are we the self-absorbing cotton, who sucks all the energy of the community? Are we the dirty-clay who contaminates the community with my negative attitude? Or are we a sugar who makes the community sweet and drinkable?

    Again, in our rather long gospel today, we have heard the drama of the last days of Jesus. We are again reminded of the sufferings Jesus had gone through so that we may live and be saved. Jesus suffered a lot to the point of giving up his life so that we may live and realized God’s great love for each one of us.

    However, the suffering of Jesus did not begin on the cross or in the garden of our Gethsemane. More than the thorns and nails were the sufferings of abandonment, rejection and betrayal of his community and His friends. The fact that these are psychological pains & sufferings does not make them any less real.

    In today’s Gospel reading of the passion of the Lord, we have the Lord at table with His closest friends, with His community, His Church. There were the ones with whom He shared everything He was and hoped for.

    Yet even from them, one would rise and leave to betray Him. We cannot help but feel that pangs of sadness, which stabbed the heart of Jesus when He heard the door close and heard the steps of His betrayer hurry on their mission. More than any physical pain, the rejection and refusal of people, his Community to accept His love was hurting to the Lord.

    We have no reason to believe that such pain in the Lord is over. He has indeed risen and no thorn or nail can harm His risen and transformed body. But the pains of refusal and rejection of Jesus remain through our own refusal, rejection, sinfulness, indifferences, and insensitivity for other, within our community. Jesus also is still experiencing the suffering we have encountered in our relationship within the community.

    In this sense, the passion of Christ continues in our own day. Who are we then in the passion of Christ? Are we the heartless stone who does not care? Or the self-absorbed cotton who cares only about ourselves? Or the contaminated clay who infects virus to others? Or the self-dissolving sugar who contributes to make our life better and meaningful?

    May we have a fruitful and meaningful celebration of Holy Week this year.

    So Help us God. So May it Be. Amen.