Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Liturgical Year C

  • REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

    REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS

    December 15, 2024 – Third Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121524.cfm)

    How joyful are you today? Do you find joy in things that you do and with those that you have? Are you joyful too with your relationships now? Do you find joy with what is going on with your life despite the struggles and problems you have?

    Each of us is gifted and blessed despite the problems and trials that we might be facing right now. This should be reasons for us to be joyful and grateful. This should hopefully lead us too in sharing our gratitude to God and joy to others.

    There is a particular gift also that we should be grateful and be more joyful. This is the Gift of God’s Self to us. God’s gift of Himself to us is what we have heard in the readings today on this Third Sunday of Advent, also called as Gaudete Sunday. And so let us explore together the sacred scriptures and discern how God invites us today.

    In the Book of Zephaniah, we were told that God is indeed with us. The prophet proclaimed, “The Lord is in your midst!” God has forgiven us and even blessed us with His presence.  Having this confidence, it calls us to rejoice.

    In the second reading, St. Paul reiterated the message of Zephaniah. Paul reminded the early Christians to rejoice and always be joyful because God is with us. In fact, Paul’s words echoes to us today, “Rejoice in the Lord always!”

    This joy is in fact TRANSFORMATIVE. This means that joy is life-changing and life-giving. John the Baptist told us about this, of the one mightier than him. When we accept the Lord in our life and allow him to be in us and with us, then, God leads us to change our bad old ways from being self-centered to life-giving, from being fearful to having faith, from being bitter to being better and grateful.

    This leads us to share what we have to those who are in need, to share our joy to those who are joyless and to share our life and presence who need friendship and company. These are all emphasized in the Gospel in the way the converts asked John the Baptist on what they should do after their baptism, like the tax collectors and even the soldiers.

    The response of giving and sharing is according to the way they should live their lives, in their daily affairs. Thus, each of us too is called to express joy in our life according to the state of our life now.

    Are you a student? Then, you are called to express joy in your studies and in your school. Are you working? Then, express joy at your workplace and with your co-workers. Are you out-of-school or still looking for a job yet? Then, express your joy in your neighborhood and to your friends. Are you a young parent? Then, express your joy to your child.

    Therefore, on this third Sunday of Advent, God invites us to be joyful because we are gifted and blessed. And because joy empowers us to express it, then, be free to be joyful and let not problems discourage you. Be free to communicate joy and let not fear and shame prevent you. Be free to accept joy from others too and let not bitterness, judgments and biases hold you back. Be free to draw joy from your surroundings and with nature. Be free to make your daily work, daily studies and daily responsibilities as your joyful recreation for yourself, your family and for your friends; let not complaints and ungratefulness hold you from being truly joyful everyday.

    Indeed, let joy make us young and free, alive and life-giving to others. We pray that as we make ourselves joyful, we may also welcome the Lord in our hearts with much joyful anticipation as He comes to us today so that we may “rejoice in the Lord always!” Hinaut pa.

  • BEST Person

    BEST Person

    December 15, 2024 – Third Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121524.cfm)

    In a PTA meeting of the graduating class, the guidance counselor asked the parents: “What do you aspire for your child in life?” Some parents wants their children  to be happy. Others aspire for success. Others would hope for righteousness.

    How about us now? What would we aspire in life? What do we aspire for our children?

    Success, happiness, and righteousness are three great and nice aspirations in life. We all wish to have all these dreams in life, but we do also know that we cannot have always all these in life. That is why it is important for us to recognize our own dreams and aspirations in life, as well as what is proper for us, as Christians.

    To aspire for success in life today is never easy, because there are many options and standards. As a consequence, we are not easily contented with life. In order to succeed, we have to aspire for more and better than others. Thus, making others easily discouraged in life because they are not the dean’s lister, cum laude, boss, or millionaire, and hopeless because they are “not-yet but only a” from what they aspire to be. Others may have been already successful in life but done through corruption, lie and deception, and still not happy and still discontented in life.

    Nowadays, to aspire for happiness is also difficult because there are endless and unsatisfying possibilities. Like, a simple telephone or watch is not enough, it has to be a smartphone or smartwatch. Some would even be willing to lie and exploit others, just to keep up with Jonesses, with the latest and fashionable trends. That is why Gadgets are getting smarter while the people getting stupid. Others even may be enjoying a happy life now but at the expense of others by being a burden and dependent on others.

    Yes there are demands and shortcomings in life, but to aspire to be right and worthy before God and other has always been close and gentle in our hearts. To behave rightly before God and others is not only expected of us but also usually satisfy our hearts-desire.

    Thus, it is not our worldly success or happiness, but our worthiness before God and others is our deepest hearts-desire and God’s wish for us, and what should be proper aspiration for us Christians, as believers and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    When asked how to be and what to do before God’s offer of salvation, John the Baptist in our gospel today teaches the people then and us now to aspire and to be worthy and righteous as we are before God and others.

    What is required of us then in God’s salvation is our worthiness before God and others, and not our successes and happiness in life. He said, “If you are rich, share what you have. If you’re a tax-collector, don’t take advantage of others. If you’re a soldier, be fair and just with others”. In other words, Be worthy and righteous as you really are now before God and others.

    John the Baptist knows himself. He is not the Messiah Himself. He is only the voice and just the precursor to prepare the way of the Lord. But he also aspires to be a worthy friend of the bridegroom. He is not the Groom but the Best Man for the Groom. This is also what John wish for us – that We become the Best (worthy and righteous) Person for the groom before God and others.

    We may aspire to have a successful and Happy Christmas this year and Life next year, but may also not be righteous and worthy before the Lord. Or, we may have an unsuccessful and unhappy Christmas and Life ahead but still worthy and righteous before Him, as we behave rightly as we are called & lived to be Christians to others.

    Rejoicing at the Lord’s coming and being into our life now, is not because we being happy and successful in life, but rather because we behave and act rightly and worthily before God and others in life. To be worthy and righteous before God and others then is what we should and are we to do in life,  for us to once again and always openly received God’s continuing blessing of grace to us in life through His son, Jesus Christ.

    And so, healthy for us to perhaps ask ourselves nowadays: “what do we aspire for in life?” “Is our priority in life … happiness, success OR righteousness?

    Lord take away everything that distance us from you. Grant us everything that bring us close to you. Detach us from ourselves to bring our all to you. (Nicholas of Flue’s prayer) So May It Be. Amen

  • Faith-Bearing Witness

    Faith-Bearing Witness

    December 1, 2024 – First Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120124.cfm)

    Once a friend of mine shared with me his family problem. Particularly, it was about his sister who decided to change her religion. My friend and the whole family were very sad and hurt about his sister’s decision to change her religion from Catholic to Born-Again Christian. He still cannot understand why her sister, raised in a Catholic family, was educated in a Catholic school and an active youth leader of their parish, could bear herself to change her religion, totally different from their family’s Catholic faith.

    What really happens to my friend’s life only reflects the present crisis in our Christian faith. Though most of us, Filipinos are Catholic, we cannot deny that in our community and our church today, quite a number of our brothers and sisters have been influenced by other religious sects, already changed their beliefs, and even lost their faith in the Church. It is true, not only our nation is going through a political and economic crisis, but it is also alarming that our Catholic Church today is also facing a crisis in faith.

    However, if we reflect on our Gospel today, we realize that this crisis in faith we faced is a direct challenge for us to bear witness to our own Christian Catholic faith. We see that in the midst of this crisis in faith, our Lord Jesus Christ here in our gospel today calls us to make and strengthen our own faith-commitment, accepting Him as the coming Messiah and our Redeemer.

    Yes, it is true that like the apostles, our faith in Jesus was influenced by how our parents witness and our family practices our faith in Christ. But, as the faith of our family influenced and guides our own faith, eventually, one has to deepen and strengthen his own personal faith relationship with Christ, based on one’s recognition and acceptance of the person of Jesus, as our Lord Savior, Christ today, and of his Church.

    Just as Jesus in our Gospel challenged His disciples’ faith, “Stand erect for your liberation is near at hand,” he calls all of us today to a much deeper personal faith in His person and his salvation, and to hold on & remain steadfast in our Christian  faith, with his Church today. Though we sustain our faith with our own family, each and everyone of us need to make our own personal faith-commitment, as one’s own response to the challenge of faith and hope to God’s salvation, in the midst of this crisis of faith. In other words, “Pagmatinud-anon ug barugi ang imong gituohan, ayaw’g pagpalingpaling kay ang Gingharian sa Dios haduol na.”

    Our gospel then is Jesus’ announcement, not of the coming disaster and crisis but of God’s promise of salvation with our faith. Challenging realities of faith crises in our midst is also our very chance to give testimony to what believe & to God whom we believe, thus, our very own faith-bearing witness.  

    Remember, as the saying goes,  “Darkness gives the light of faith a chance to glow brightly.” True enough, in our darkness and life-crises, we start to rely in our faith in the Lord, to begin to believe, to have faith not in what we can see, but in what our hearts see, trying to see things in our eyes of faith. Life seems to be dark, hopeless and discouraging, but our persevering faith in the Lord, in the midst of these darkness can lead us to our complete healing and salvation.

    As we stand erect & raise our heads by our commitment and witnessing of our common & personal faith in Jesus as Christ of our lives, we are worthy to receive the dignity in being called as sons and daughters of God, in his Kingdom. Through God’s grace and our faith-response, we become worthy to receive and nurture our Christian dignity and God’s grace of salvation in our own lives at hand.

    As we celebrate today, the first Sunday of Advent, in the midst of crisis in Catholic faith we faced, the Lord Jesus Christ challenges us today, then to deepen our acceptance and recognition of his person and mission in the Church; and to strengthen our commitment and witnessing of our faith, trust and hope in His saving power in our lives.

    And so… Lord, take away everything that distance us from You. Grant us everything that bring us closer to you. Detach us from ourselves to give our all to you.Amen.

  • All-Ready LOVE

    All-Ready LOVE

    February 19, 2023 – Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021923.cfm)

    In the comedy film Evan Almighty, God said to Evan Baxter: “If you want to change the world, build an ARK.” Only later after the fuss of exactly building a big ark that Evan Baxter realized that an ark simply means: one single act of random kindness at a time, i.e. one single ARK (act of random kindness) at a time.

    Days after Valentine’s Day, with all the decorations around us, we could say that until now, love is still in the air or we still got valentines’ day hang-overs upon us. Valentine’s Day is the day we honor and celebrate LOVE as we experience it in Life.

    Human as we are, we know how it is to love and be loved by others. We celebrate Valentine’s Day because we live life with love, in love and out of love. We know that Life without love is worthless. Though it’s a constant challenge, living life then with love, in love and out of love make life more meaningful.

    In our gospel today, while preaching to His disciples His Sermon on the Mount, we get a glimpse of Jesus’ take on our experience of love in life. Here He invites us that in our loving, we must “love our enemies, go another mile, offer your cloak and other cheek as well and be perfect as our Father”. Surely, we are already familiar with these words, which are nice words to listen. But easily falls into deaf-ears and slogans because they are difficult to practice. The kind of love Jesus is asking us here are very unusual and demanding, and even Stupid Love, as Salbakuta (Filipino rap-band) would say.

    Jesus knows already that human as we are, we are loved and loving people. But now he requires us to go beyond with our human ways of loving and follow His and God’s way of loving, i.e. Christian Love: To love one another AS (like, same as) He and the Father has loved us. 

    But why is Christian Love, the love Jesus requires of us, is difficult and demanding in our experience of love in life? What makes LOVING AS JESUS LOVES, unusual, hard, and tough, and even stupid?

    Though we live life with love, in love and out of love, human as we are, we do have the tendency to place love at the distance both in place and time. We place love at the distance in time, because we are more willing to postpone doing good than do bad things right away. Easy for us to delay faith, hope and love but attend readily to fear, greed and anger. Why only during Valentine’s Day you remember and celebrate that you are loving and loved, and that you need love in life?  Yes, we do tend to postpone love, but we also know in our experience of love that love is for Now or Never.

    We also tend to place love at the distance in place. We rather love others from a distance and at a distance. Why is it that we have more virtual friends in Facebook and others social media than our actual intimate personal friends? Why is it that we are more open, chatty, and relax in Facebook and messengers but silent and awkward face to face with others? This is because we are afraid to love because love makes us vulnerable, exposed, and weak before others. However, if we are afraid to love then it is not Love but Fear.

    In other words, though we tend to distance from love, Love really is Here and Now, not There and Later.  

    For Jesus then, Christian love, to love and be loved like His and the Father’s, is Here and Now – not there and later, not at a distance and from a distance. Love for Jesus then is and should be an All-READY LOVE – an ARK, act of random kindness. This is the kind of Love Jesus requires us to live and practice in life in the here & now. If we want to change our world with Love, we must change our love into Christian love by building our love into ARK – by living in one simple Act of Random Kindness at a time.

    Unusual, difficult, tough, and stupid it maybe, Loving others same AS (like) Jesus and the Father love us in the here & now, & not there & later, leads us to our redemption towards God’s presence in our lives.

    May we be known as Christians, by our love here & now.  Amen.

  • A King at our side

    A King at our side

    November 20, 2022 – Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112022.cfm)

    What is your image of a king? How does he look like? What does he do? With so much influence from the cartoons, anime and movies that I watched since I was young, I would imagine a king who wears a golden crown, covered in a golden robe, sitting on a golden throne and living in a big palace. In fact, in the middle ages, a king is a powerful man who has thousands of armies, defeated countless enemies, or conquering other territories by waging bloody wars. Yet a king is untouchable. Commoners, slaves and servants cannot talk to him directly. Everyone serves him and pays tribute to him. His throne is too far from the ordinary people.

    Even up today, in other countries in the world some have kings, or emperors or sultans who give identity to their people and serve as a symbol of unity in their own kingdoms. They may not anymore engage in bloody wars unlike before, but still they have enormous wealth and riches. The royalties are reserved and ought to be served by the people.

    This is not far from how we imagine Jesus Christ our King. Influenced by the western culture of royalties, we also imagine Jesus Christ the king who wears a golden crown, wrapped in a golden robe and sits on a golden throne. However, this image, for me, seems to be a distant king who does not know the daily affairs of his people. A king who merely shows greatness, triumph and wealth, but has no concern and no close relationship with his own people.

    Indeed, the kingship of Jesus is not one who stays in a comfortable throne and pampered situation, but in a humiliating and humbling position, there on the cross. Yes, the Gospel speaks nothing of a king who is intoxicated with comfort and riches. What we have is a powerless king, crucified on the cross. This is Jesus’ statement that he is not an earthly king who only shows grandeur, control and domination over his subjects. He is a king who became like us, who lived with us and journeyed with us in every story of our life especially in those difficult and dark moments of our life. He is a king who knows your pain, who understands your struggle and who desires you and me, no matter what.

    He is not an unreachable king sitting there on the high golden throne but he is a God-with-us (Emmanuel). He is a king who knows us and our deepest secrets and desires. But he is a king who does not control and impose himself on us. He only calls and invites us to come to him. “Come to me and be embraced by my friendship,” this is the invitation of our King to us.

    This is the very reason why Jesus’ determination to call us and to gather us brought him into that difficult situation. Despite the danger and the suffering he would endure as king, he is always ready to take the risk to offer his life for our sake, that we may have freedom and healing. We find now his invitations for us through the three different people in the Gospel and their individual response to Jesus. So, let us look at them once more and discover how we are all called today, young and old alike.

    The first was the group of people such as the Jewish authorities and soldiers. These people refused to recognize Jesus as King and Messiah because he was a threat to them, a threat to their comfort, a threat to their influence and threat to their earthly power. Their hostile rejection of Jesus was a decision they made despite the invitations of Jesus for them to believe in Him. Jesus did not condemn them, he even asked forgiveness on their behalf. God’s offer of salvation and life is for all. Yet, our rejection of God’s friendship is our self-condemnation.

    The second was one of the criminals who insulted and reviled Jesus. He was actually confused and did not make any stand. He was lukewarm. He neither condemned Jesus nor accepted him as Lord, King and Redeemer. Despite the closeness of God in him on the cross, he did not recognize God in Jesus because he was still full of himself. He was unrepentant. Indeed, the Lord never imposes himself on us, but he waits for us.

    The third was the other man on the cross. He was the one who recognized God in Jesus and decided to accept Jesus as his Lord. This made him say, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Being powerless on that cross, he was able to recognize the face of the Lord, his king. This person felt a God who accompanied him in his suffering and even towards death. Through his very suffering, he found God to be so close to him. In his shame and guilt, he found God at his side forgiving him. Jesus indeed, is the image of the invisible God, as Paul told us in his letter to the Colossians.

    This tells us now of a king who is close to us. Jesus is not a king who is distant from our sufferings and fears but a king who patiently and lovingly walks with us. God, indeed, meets us where we are and he is ready to be at our side in order to encounter us in the saddest and darkest part of our life.

    Yet, let us also remember that Jesus requires our participation, our response. To every person that Jesus met, he gave them the chance to recognize him but the hardness of their hearts and because of their arrogance, they refused to see Jesus. But with this other man on the cross, in recognizing his sins and failures in life, that brought him into that realization that he was in need of God. This means that when we humbly recognize our weaknesses and sins we also recognize God’s love for us. This becomes, then, an opportunity for God to transform our life. And so let that redeeming love, that un-imposing and self-sacrificing love of our King who hangs upon the cross to embrace us, to renew us and to empower us as young people and as God’s people. Kabay pa.