Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Liturgical Year C

  • INTO THE DEEP

    INTO THE DEEP

    February 9, 2025 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020925.cfm)

    Although he was despised by his own people in his own hometown, Jesus continues on to proclaim God’s presence in us. Rejection did not deter and discourage him to move on with His mission of making God known and share Good News of God’s kingdom to all. Instead we hear him now going to other villages and inviting people, calling them to follow and join him in his mission.

    Particularly we hear today how he called Peter. He challenged Peter: “Put out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch”. Now here is Jesus, an ordinary man – a carpenter himself, who knows God but nothing about fishing, telling Peter – a seasoned fisherman who is having a bad day, to go fishing again.

    Peter may have normally reply: “Naunsa ka? Ano ka, hilo? Been there, done that. Time to pack up and leave.” But still Jesus challenged him, “Go out into the deep”. Surely there is more to Jesus’ words than merely about fishing. It also means: “don’t give up/ sail on/ try anew/ please, give oneself, others and me anew chance/ go deeper”. These words also tell and teach Peter and us now about our life and faith as His followers & believers

    For why “go into the deep”? What is special about the deep? We don’t like deep waters because it is mysterious, dangerous, and risky. We rather go to shallow waters because we are safe, manageable and in our comfort zone. Shallow waters however are usually dirty and unclear, noisy, and loud, and above all, less possible catch, if none at all. Deep waters instead are usually clear and clean, calm, and soft, and above all, more possible catch. In other words, there is more life and faith in our deep than in our shallow fishing journey-expedition of life.

    Somehow Jesus challenges us here to explore three depths in our experience of life.

    First, we are invited to explore the depth of our poverty, hopelessness, and helplessness. Peter was in a crisis situation, “no catch”, and about to give up. But with Jesus’ challenge, he goes beyond his misery and dare to do the unusual and unknown: “go again and deeper”, because of this, he never missed but instead have witnessed another life-opportunity ahead and anew. In the same way, in our hopelessness, helplessness, misery and crisis-situation, we are called to go beyond our comfort zones, and dare to try the unusual and unknown, and see better opportunities and possibilities than before. Again the invitation is, “if and when given another chance, would you do it again or anew, as before or better than before?”

    Second, we are invited to go beyond the depth of our self-centeredness and explore the depth of our feeling and concern for others. Despite the possible threat of failure again and ridicule, Peter became self-less and still gave in to the somehow nonsense request and crazy challenge of Jesus. Along with that, he also selflessly shared his great catch with others as he called his partners to help him and Jesus. In the same way, whenever we consider ourselves less, we become aware of others.

    And third, we are called to go beyond our unworthiness, and discover the depth of our faith in God. After the miracle of great catch, Peter fell down at his knees and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”.

    Although we know how blessed we are, at times we cannot help but feel unworthy and undeserving of God. Even St. Paul and prophets felt the same way – that with God’s grace, we feel that we are weak, wrong, bad, unworthy, not fit or qualified and worthless. We may have felt this way, but we should also realize that all these blessings are not about us, you and me, but all about Him with us and us with Him. It is all about having faith in Him – being in relationship with Him for direction, resource and meaning.

    Yes, we may say: “I am not fit, unworthy, undeserving, and unqualified, BUT STILL I am called, invited, blessed and sent to be His fishing and life partner – “By God’s grace With Us, We are blessed and graced, undeserving we may be,” as St. Paul would say.

    Thus, there is more to our helplessness, self-centeredness, and unworthiness, but better opportunities, more concern for others and deeper faith in God. So now, whenever we hear Jesus’ word “Put out into the deep and lower your nets”, His message, call and challenge to you and us, is to TRY ANEW: go deeper and give faith and life another new chance, for a great catch and better life ahead for you and to all.

    Consider moreso that Jesus meets us half-way. He takes & choose us as we are now in our limits & potentials (not what we were & should be). But he also sees the better & best in us for there is more to us than what it seems. He recognizes Ours Gems deep within us – hidden, sinister, mysterious & obvious it maybe. All He wants from us is to follow Him into our depths within as our mission & contribution for God’s abundance catch of graces to happen before all.

    As we are beginning another New Year: a new chance again to make Life Better for You, for others and Him, may we be trusting and daring enough to heed Jesus’ challenge for us to: “Put out into the deep and lower our nets” to the great catch of blessing offered ahead of us.

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • Parenting Jesus

    Parenting Jesus

    January 19, 2024 – Sunday, Feast of the Sto. Niño de Cebu

    Two brothers went for school enrollment. The school registrar found out that both of them are eight years old. However, one of them was born April 8 & the other was born April 21. When asked to explained about this, the boys just smiled & said: “We also asked our parents about it. And they just replied to us, “We don’t mind anymore who is natural & who is adopted among you. But rest assured, that we love & choose both of you.”

    This story reminds us that parenthood is a choice, and the very first people who acknowledge  us by choice as their own are our parents. Yes, to parent children is a Choice. Parenthood happens when parents choose our children &  they have chosen us as their children. We cannot be children of everybody or anybody, but we are particularly chosen by our parents to be their own. Whether by birth or adoption, our parents choose & have chosen, & is always choosing us to be their very own & not somebody else’s. Because our parents choose us as their own, we are their children because of them. And they cannot be our parents, if they would not choose us to be their own children.

    This is also the story of our salvation. God chooses us to be His own. By sending us His son Jesus into our lives, God chooses to adopt & parent us to be His own, for us to be part of His sacred & eternal family. And so also God’s blessings continues to be with us, because We also adopted Jesus to be our own & choose to parent Jesus into our lives as started by Mary, our mother. Much as salvation is God’s choice to adopt & parent us to be His own, Our salvation then is also our choice to parent & accept responsibility for Jesus as our own.

    Mary choosing to be mother & parent of our Lord Jesus in our lives paved the way for God’s holiness be upon us. And we accepting Jesus as part of our family faith-life perpetuates God’s graces to be with us always into our lives. Because of God’s choice, we are His children. Because of Mary & Joseph choice for Jesus, we are Christian. Because of our Christian faith, Jesus is our Lord & Brother.

    We also know that parenthood & parenting a child is all about persevering faithfulness. From womb to tomb, challenging & demanding it may have been – as our gospel today reminds us, Mary endures the birth, life, mission, suffering & death of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the manger to the cross & tomb, Mary did not abandoned her choice & responsibility for her son Jesus.

    In the same way, by choosing to parent Jesus to be our own, like Mary we are called & challenged to always persevere in our Christian faith for God’s salvation to continue on to happen & flourish into our lives, as we choose to parent our Lord Jesus in our day to day faith & life with our own growing chosen children.

    We take account now that we are now on the 504 years of Filipino Christianity this year. And our Filipino Christianity started when we adopted & took care of the Sto. Nino into our Filipino culture. Even without knowing much about Jesus, we Filipinos accepted to adopt & parent the Sto. Nino into our life as family & community. Because of our choice to parent Sto. Nino to be own very own, we since then, until now, & will always be God’s beloved children & Filipino Catholic Christians here & abroad.

    Daghang Salamat Maria. Thank you Mary, because by your parenting Jesus, God’s blessings thrives in our lives. And through your example & help, we also choose to parent our Sto. Nino into our Filipino life & culture that in effect, we become persevering faithfuls & believers of Jesus Christ now & forever.

    May God continue to bless us to be a blessing of Jesus to ourselves & to others.

    And above all, we invite Jesus again & anew into our lives this year as we ….SangPit Señor. HaPit Señor. Pit Senor.

    So may it be. Amen.

  • BELOVED

    BELOVED

    January 12, 2025 – Baptism of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011225.cfm)

    Not so long ago, I received an inquiry about Parish guidelines on child baptism in our parish office. They are particularly asking for a so-called “Special” Baptism. Doubtless the child must be very special to the family to request for a so-called “special” baptism. But later, I found out that what they wanted is an exclusive and private celebration of the Sacrament of Child Baptism since the child is born out of wedlock. I cannot help but question their motivation for a so-called special baptism. Is it because the child is very special to them despite the circumstances OR is it because they are ashamed of themselves to admit the child as unwanted by the parents and/or the whole family themselves?

    I think we need to clarify and direct some of these distorted and questionable but trending views about Baptism in the Church nowadays. First, there is no such thing as special, exclusive, or private celebration of sacrament of child baptism. The ordained and proper celebration of baptism is and should be in public church before the congregation of Catholic faithful. Except for emergency baptism where the child is at the risk or in danger of death, baptisms should be done in the church with a lot of children to be baptized and before many baptized Catholic faithful as witnesses.  Consider then, church liturgies and sacraments are communal public church prayer-worship, and never should be an exclusive, private family, organization, or office party-program or entertainment. Second, as the child is as well as we are all baptized, we become God’s children in Christ. In baptism, we are consecrated, identified, accepted, dignified and affirmed to be beloved Children of God, like Jesus. In baptism then, more than we become the child of the family, we become God’s child before God & His church.

    When he was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, Jesus needs to hear the words and confirmation from the Father Himself saying, “You are my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased”. Such words emphasize his very spiritual identity before God and the vision of God’s kingdom. Here, he is reminded in a deep, deep way of who He is, of his very being before God and people – that among anything else, He is God’s beloved Son. This is the very affirmation and confirmation of his being before God, as He is baptized in the river Jordan publicly – not privately, as witnessed before God’s people.

    In the same way, when he carried out his mission and public ministry, Jesus wants us also to hear the same message from the Father that not only Him, but also “You (& I & us)  are my Beloved Children, with  whom I am well pleased”. Jesus wants us to be aware and hear of the very reality & message that before God and His people, it is not only Jesus but we, you and I who believe in Jesus are also essentially God’s beloved sons and daughters. In God’s heart and eyes, we are His beloved children. And by virtue of our baptism, we are consecrated to be God’s children. We are His beloved, not because we did anything, not because we proved ourselves because of what we did and have achieved or not in life. God still and always loves us whatever we do or whatever happens in our life, whether born out of wedlock, adopted, unwanted, raised by irresponsible parents. And in our baptism or in the day of our baptism, regardless of the circumstances of our birth, we first hear God’s words saying to us all throughout our lives: “You are loved, you are beloved”. He even loves us more when while still in this world we also respond and proclaim to Him and all that, “Yes, Lord, I love you, too”, and love Him and others in return.

    Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today officially ends the Christmas season and we continue with the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year C. As we are now in this transition in liturgical moment, we are reminded of the Baptism of the Lord wherein Jesus publicly proclaims His identity and commitment with God’s affirmations of Him to be the Beloved Son of God. As baptized believers of Christ, we Christians today are also reminded of our identity and dignity as publicly proclaimed and acclaimed to be like Jesus, also sons and daughters – beloved Children of God ever since our baptism & always.

    As we continue on with our New Life-Year with the Lord this year, let us hear again and again, and never forget but instead be at rest always on God’s words to all of us baptized: “You are my Beloved Child with whom I am well pleased” as we claim for ourselves: “I am God’s Beloved, with whom He is well pleased.”

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • In HUMILITY

    In HUMILITY

    January 5, 2025 – Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010525.cfm)

    A man once asked a wise priest: “Father, how come unlike before God seems to be not talking or speaking to us anymore?” The priest replied: “It is not that God is not anymore talking or speaking to us. But rather it is that nowadays nobody are humble enough to stoop down to listen to Him. Nowadays…nobody… are humble enough… to stoop down … to listen to Him. Bihira nalang ngayong panahon ang mga tao na lumalapit sa Kanya na may pagpakumbaba upang marinig Siya at makinig sa Kanya. Niining panahon pipila nalang ang mapaubsanon nga nangaliyupo sa pagpaminaw Kaniya

    True enough that there are times in our lives that God seems to be silent and absent to us. But during those moments of our frustrations and hopelessness with God, perhaps it is better to consider not His seeming absence or silence, but rather perhaps that we have reach already too far and high in life that we don’t anymore get near and low enough to listen to Him. Siguro napakataas at napalayo na ng ating narating na hindi na tayo lumalapit at may pakumbabang makinig sa Kanya at marinig Siya.

    For the past Sundays, during Advent and these Christmas Seasons, we come to know a number of people who became involved in the birth story of Jesus and happened to encounter God and begun to know God’s will for them in life. Mary met God through angel Gabriel and became the mother of Jesus. Through a dream, Joseph became responsible foster-father of Jesus. Zecharias became the father of John, after meeting an angel in his old age. Elizabeth became pregnant with John also in her old age after his husband encounter with the angel. Shepherds saw and learned from an angel that God’s gift to all has been borne in Bethlehem and they became witnesses (godfathers’ or ninong) of baby Jesus. And now in our gospel, the three kings come to know where baby Jesus, God-promised they have been searching, through an omen of  bright-guiding star. All these people and their experiences are telling us that God had made Himself and His will know to them, and God will always continue to make manifest Himself and His will to us until now.

    Same way as before, we might experience once again God and His will for us now, if and when we honor our dreams, listen to God’s word and witness His works actions in us shown to us by his angels or messengers. God still continues to manifest or reveal to us in many ways through the faith and actions of our community and church as we share each other God’s word, good advice, kind and loving service with others, and responsible guidance and parenthood of our elders and leaders. Even in a special way for us Filipino Catholic, we sense God through our kalooban and pangdama. Kilala ko siya dahil dama ko Siya. Malapit ang loob ko sa kanyang salita at gawa.

    Today, in the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, marks the end of Christmas Season. Today is to remind us that more than about the three Kings, God is still making Himself and His will know to us. He is still reaching out and communicating to us in many many ways. He is still talking and speaking to us, like before. All we need to do is to be humble enough to stoop down to listen and be sensitive to Him and His ways of revealing Himself to us.

    Moreover, Epiphany also reminds us that once we become humble enough to sense, hear, and honor God and His will to us now, we must change our ways. After meeting the baby Jesus, the magi went back in their journey following different path. This would mean that once we listen and honor God’s will for us, life will never be the same again, for it has to change for the better. Simply, God’s revelations requires our humility to follow & obey His better plans for us.

    As we say goodbye to Christmas season, may we be more sensitive to God’s continuing revelations to us (His ways of making Himself and His will know to us) and be more humble & open enough to be changed and be responsible for the gift of life God is offering us now and always.

    So be it. Amen.

  • YOU ARE GREAT!

    YOU ARE GREAT!

    December 22, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Advent, 7th Day of Misa de Aguinaldo

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122224.cfm)

    I want you to tap the shoulder of the person beside you and tell that person, “You are great!” We are all great! But wait, what makes us really great? With all our weaknesses and sinfulness, how could we be great?

    By ourselves alone, we are never great, but because we have been chosen and loved, we are made great – each of us, no matter how we consider ourselves small and insignificant. Yet, what makes us great are not those things that we have achieved or accumulated in this life. We may boast ourselves because of the achievements in life and what we have reached, however, not one will make us truly great.

    Hence, let us revisit the readings on this final Sunday of Advent that wonderfully tell us how we have been made great by God and how we have been chosen and loved.

    Prophet Micah, in the first reading,  who is also called as the Prophet of Advent, proclaimed to us how God chose the insignificant town of Bethlehem to be the place of the birth of the Messiah. Bethlehem was small compared to other tribes of Judah. However, God chose the small and the humble, not the powerful and the arrogant. From Bethlehem, David was chosen to be king and where the Messiah shall also be born.

    This is how I shall offer you now a different perspective in looking and understanding today’s Gospel which is the same Gospel as yesterday. Indeed, God’s favor for the small and the humble reflects in that encounter of Mary and Elizabeth. Mary was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, a woman from a small town of Nazareth. Likewise, Elizabeth who was old and shamed for being barren, was chosen to be the mother of John who will prepare the way of the Lord.

    Neither of them were royalty, nor a daughter or wife of a governor. There were many women who would be more fitting than them if God would follow our worldly standard of greatness. However, God does not choose somebody because of a high status, or of popularity or fame or of wealth or power. God chooses the small and the humble, who are most welcoming of His invitations and most willing to respond to His call. Indeed, God looks at the greatness of each one of us because we are humble and unassuming of power and fame. We are made great because we are chosen and loved.

    Certainly, Mary and Elizabeth welcomed God fully in their life because they did not have many possessions. Power, or wealth, or fame, or any other forms of insecurities did not possess them; they were free and open to God.

    This reminds us too that when we are possessed by our insecurities, whatever they may be, we are being prevented from receiving the Lord in our life. But once, we make ourselves free from our insecurities, fears and anxieties, from our hatred and resentments, then, we make ourselves open to God’s invitations.

    Thus, on the part of Mary, who was greeted by Elizabeth as blessed among women, has made herself completely free for God. Her acceptance of Jesus made her life filled with love and blessings. Thus, we have lighted the fourth candle of Advent that reminds us of love.

    And because Mary was filled with love, this moved her to respond immediately to her needy cousin Elizabeth. Mary knew well that Elizabeth needed help and so she responded with willingness.

    And again, as we have reflected yesterday, this reminds us that when we are truly filled with love, love makes us more aware of the needs of others. True love and concern overflows from us and thus, making us free to share our love to those who are in need, to people around us. In this way, our way of loving will become free of pretentions and insecurities.

    What is more interesting was on how the two women greeted each other. Their encounter tells us the wonder and beauty of those who truly believed in God. Elizabeth was surprised and delighted by God’s visit through Mary. Mary’s willingness and openness to God made her the bearer of God’s loving presence to her cousin Elizabeth. Indeed, Mary’s visit, though simple, was a great gift for Elizabeth.

    Indeed, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, we are called to remain free and open to God so that we too shall receive Him fully in our life. And through that, then, hopefully, each of us will also become bearer of God’s presence to others. Never underestimate the gift of presence that you can give to your children, to your family, colleagues and friends even strangers. Be the “PRESENT” to people around you by being truly “PRESENT” in their life.  This may be simple, but our presence will be a powerful force of love and concern.

    And so, never deprive others of your presence. God has never deprived us of his presence. The Lord is never “paasa” to us because God is always faithful. God took the risk of meeting us even though it will cost him pain, suffering and even death, because each of us is a delight to him. We are so dear to God, remember this. Take also the risk to build deeper, healthier and stronger relationships, selfless and loving relationships.

    In these ways, we shall be able to respond to God’s invitation in this Season of Advent, by becoming ourselves LOVE for others, as Jesus is LOVE for us. That makes us great! Hinaut pa.