Category: Ordinary Time

June 14, 2019 – Friday 10^th Wk in OT

2 Cor 4:7-15; Mt 5:27-32

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away… if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” – Mt. 5: 29-30

Paul reminds us that each of us is mere earthen vessel or clay jar. Yet, as simple jars made of clay, God blesses us. This reminds us that we are vulnerable and can easily be broken. However, St. Paul also tells us that even though we are suffering, but we are not constrained, we remain free. We might have been persecuted and insulted but we are not abandoned because God remains faithful to us. We may be struck down by our failures and sins but not destroyed because God remains merciful to us.

Human as we are, we fail and sin. However, this is not an excuse not to desire perfection and holiness before God. In fact, the Gospel reminds us to be more aware of our selfish tendencies so that we will be able to respond to the temptations that may come to us.

What Jesus told us in the Gospel is not meant to be understood literally. “If your right eye causes you to sin, then, tear it out and throw it away,” or “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” – if this is to be understood literally, then, each of us here will have no eyes and hands or even more than that.

Remember, our bodies are also temples of the Holy Spirit, vulnerable like the clay jar but blessed and consecrated by the Holy Spirit. Jesus actually wants us to cut off sin from our system that only separates us from Him and from others.

Thus, if our thoughts are filled with lust and evil thoughts, then, Jesus wants us to stop that, and instead fill our thoughts with God’s word. Read the bible, then.

If our heart is filled with anger and hate, fill it with God’s forgiveness and peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

If our hands remain close to those who need our help, then, open them and express your gratefulness to God by extending help and kindness to people around us.

If our feet remain tangled with fear of taking risks, then, free your feet from fear and take the risk of building close and intimate relationship with others. Go and come nearer to your loved ones, spend more quality time with them.

If our eyes will only tend to see what is ugly, negative and imperfect, then, open our eyes wider to see and realize the beauty of others, the wonders of the world and the goodness of our neighbors.

In this way, then, we lessen our tendency to feed our insatiable desire for self-gratification. We begin to see others rather than ourselves alone. We become more self-giving rather than self-serving.

This will allow us to deepen our relationships, whether in marriage, or in the context of a family with children, or among friends and colleagues.

Indeed, Jesus calls us to become persons not driven by selfish desires, but to become persons driven by the desire to love and to give one self for others, like Mary, the mother of our Lord. Mary is a person who truly desires to love give herself for God and for others Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR

June 12, 2019 – Wednesday of the 10^th Week in OT

2 Cor 3:4-11; Mt 5:17-19

“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” – Mt 5:17b

What brings you to life? What drives you and keeps you everyday? What fulfills your day? Our answers might range from God, family, children, wife or husband, community, or our job and precious career. There is always a reason why we get up in the morning and continue to live on. We get inspirations from people around us, and that keep us going.

For most of us, it is very important that at the end of the day we feel fulfilled in our life. However, when we find ourselves unfulfilled, we feel disappointed and depressed.

That’s is why it is very important too that we are aware of the things that motivate and inspire us. By being able to know the reason why we do things, do sacrifices and make decisions, we become grounded and mature in our relationships.

In the Gospel, we have heard an argument between the Jewish leaders and Jesus. They thought that Jesus abolished the Law and Prophets, which composed the whole tradition of their people. For them, the Law and the Prophets, and all those teachings were the fundamentals of their faith. The commandments written in the scriptures motivated them to live as faithful Jews.

However, Jesus himself denied that he abolished the law and the teachings of the prophets and the whole tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is actually the fulfillment of the promises in the whole Hebrew Scriptures. The person of Jesus is the very inspiration of the scriptures.

But then, the Jewish leaders missed the whole point. They were not able to recognize Jesus, the true inspiration. They focused more on themselves, on what they can gain and on their privileged status.

This will happen also to us when we think that our achievements, awards, and titles are our main inspiration. Or when we believe that pleasing people around us will make us fulfilled. But, these will only make us anxious, fearful and unsatisfied.

We are rather called to anchor ourselves to the most important part in our life, and that is, our relationships. These include our relationship with God and with one another, with our family and friends.

Be grounded then with your relationship with God. The Bible will help us to have a good foundation of our relationship with Jesus. The Bible is truly alive with Jesus. Now, when we open our bible and pray with it, be aware that Jesus is certainly present in those words. Hopefully, we will be animated by Jesus who will give us life and fulfill our life. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR

June 10, 2019 – Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

 

“Behold your mother.” – Jn. 19:27

Today’s Gospel makes us confident because there on the cross, Jesus assured us that we have a mother. We are not orphaned and alone because Mary is our mother and we, all of us, are her sons and daughters. The presence of Mary becomes the presence of Jesus.

As Mary stands at the foot of the cross, she becomes a model of faith and discipleship. Her presence and her maternal role keep us and protect us. This is the reason why we, the Church, would always seek guidance and inspiration from Mary because we feel the identity of being her children in faith. The intercession of Mary as a mother, becomes a bridge of faith. It is to lead us to her risen Son, Jesus Christ.

Through her example of faith and obedience to God, she shows us the direction. By her confidence and prayer, she assures all of us. This is the very reason too why we are celebrating this feast of Mary, Mother of the Church right after the Solemnity of the Pentecost. In the words of Pope Francis, “through the person of Mary, as a mother, the Church learns the langugae of tenderness, knows the language of such wisdom of caresses, of silence, of the gaze that knows compassion, that knows silence,” (Pope Francis, May 21, 2018).

Personally, Mary as a mother, she cares and loves all the believers of Christ not just in a general sense. Mary cares and loves every believer. And I truly believe in this. She carries and leads every person to gaze and recognize at the true source of light and life, her Lord and God. And by her loving care, no one will be lost. St. Alphonsus would say, “a true child of Mary will never be lost.”

This feast that we celebrate today does not point at all to Mary but rather to Jesus who commissioned Mary and gave her the grace to be our mother, and thus, to be my Mother, my own Nanay.

What is it to you and to me now who are devoted to Mary, our Mother? How do we express now our act of thanksgiving for all the graces that we have received? You and I are called now to become God’s sign of help and compassion. It means that as a Church, our devotion should not only remain a mere devotional practice but must also flow into our actions and words, into our decision and choices.

Thus, I would like to invite you to extend your help to someone who is most in need, perhaps your friend, co-worker, relative or even a stranger. Console and give comfort to those who are in pain. Support and promote life and oppose those who destroy it because these are the ways that we will truly become a Church that shows compassion and tenderness.

Mary, our mother, would have a lot to teach us to us. Let us come closer to her, then, belive in her maternal love and tenderness because she will surely brings us closer to her Son, Jesus. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR