Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Ordinary Time

  • LAMBING

    LAMBING

    October 19, 2025 – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    (Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101925.cfm)

    There was once a funny story about a bully who was so envious about his poor neighbor’s faith and prayer life. Every time he met his elderly devoted neighbor, he would always test and insult her faith. Sometimes, he would discourage her, saying: “your prayers and devotion do not lead you anywhere but more frustrations”. The old neighbor would just smile and kept silent.

    One day, the bully overheard his neighbor while praying this way, “Lord Jesus, you taught us to ask for our daily bread. You know my food supply is just enough for this day. My hard-up son has not yet sent me something for tomorrow. I do believe you know what is best for me. If it is your will, Lord, grant me what I need as you have always provided for me. May your will be done. Amen.”

    After hearing this, the bully went to the grocery and bought some food supply. Then, next day, he went to his neighbor’s house, drop a bagful of grocery outside the door, hides somewhere near and waited for his neighbor’s reaction. When the neighbor found the bag outside, she was happy and all praise to God for the graces right before her.

    Suddenly, the man interfered and said, “Aha, got you. That bag of food is not from your God but from Me. See, your God doesn’t care for you”. The old lady neighbor just loudly prayed, “Lord, many thanks for these food You have given me today and….. for letting my good neighbor pay for it”.😁

    Praying to God has always been part of our life. And in our efforts to pray, there will always a discontent within us with the way we pray – that somehow there is something kulang, inadequate or missing in the way we pray, and we don’t know what and how. Yes, there is always a desire and longing for the best way of praying. Like His disciples, deep inside, we cry: “Lord, teach us how to pray”.

    Our readings today are all about prayer, and teaching us how to pray. In our first reading, we hear that Israel won the war against Amalekite as long as and because of Moses persistently raising up his hands to heaven to pray, with other’s help. St. Paul in the second reading appeals for constancy and never losing patience in proclaiming and sharing our faith to others.

    Jesus in our gospel today points out that the same kind of persistence of the widow to the judge moves God to respond to our pressing needs and concerns. Meaning, prayer is our humble and trusting but persistent & constant expressions of our appeals, requests – of our heart’s desire to God before His presence. In other words, our readings today are teaching us that prayer is basically our loving requests to God, our Father – LAMBING or “Pamaraig” to our Tatay.

    Here, we are also reminded that God always listens to our prayers. God as our parent chooses & wants to listen to our heart’s desire. He knows and understands our needs and concerns while he also wants us to come near Him and express our loving persistent requests (our lambing – “pamaraig) to Him.

    Also, God always answers our prayers in His own time and ways. Yes, sometimes we feel frustrated with God for not answering our prayers. But the same way we experience our own loving parents, God seems silent or passive with our prayers but actually He is discerning and planning what is best for us, better than what we expected & prayed for. We are only to express our prayers – our loving requests persistently, with patient waiting and trusting that not long for now we receive more and better than what we expected.

    Like what happened with our story above, God has His own ways and time to grant our prayers. God always listens and answers our prayer in His own time and ways. Consider then that for Jesus, what matters is not our desires, longings, needs, hungers and cravings but it is our persistency, patient waiting and trust and confidence in God, our Father. Remember in praying to God, it is not what we pray but how we pray it, not what we ask for but how we ask it from Him that matters. It is the manner of prayer, the pamaraig: the asking, seeking and knocking that is significant, and not the content or outcome what you ask and seek… it is said, “For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

    Be reminded Jesus told us today’s parable to teach us the need “to pray always without becoming weary”. Simply put – in praying, never give up & just trust God’s ways & will to do the best & the rest for us; for whatever God-given gift we received, some good or bad person might be paying for it.

    We pray then that may our usual prayer be from our persistent – “ never give up”, “without weary” expressions of our lambing, heart-desire, not for our desire of our wants and needs of the gifts but rather out of our love for God, the Giver of the gifts now & always.  

    Amen. So be it. Siya Nawa.

  • Blessed to Bless

    Blessed to Bless

    October 12, 2025 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101225.cfm)

    There was a man who never thought that he would donate blood in all of his life. Once, however, his child got very ill & hospitalized, and badly needed blood transfusion. Luckily, they were able to get a blood donor for his sick child. Now, as he watched the donated blood dripping through into his child’s veins, he suddenly realized that someone had shared & donated the blood that is keeping and helping his child alive. Straightaway he made up his mind to become a blood donor himself, and he was as good as his word –regularly as needed donating blood as thanksgiving for the gift.

    Last Sundays’ readings were all about `Faith’. Particularly, in last Sunday’s gospel, we heard the apostles’ request to increase their faith. But Jesus reprimanded them by pointing out to them that God has given them enough faith and no need to ask for more because it is already given. In a way, Jesus directed us now and his disciples then that we cannot demand God to grant us the gift of faith because faith is God’s grace. It is God’s free gift given to us voluntarily of His love, and not out of our requests, wants or needs, or even payment for our good deeds.

    Today’s readings are also about FAITH but faith not only as God’s gift but faith as our response in gratitude and thanksgiving to God’s blessing.

    Naaman in our first reading, having cured of his leprosy, in return comes to believe in the true God and commits himself to praise the God of Elisha. St. Paul in our second reading resolves to preach the Good News to others despite persecutions, oppositions, and hardship so “that they, too may obtain the salvation given to us in Christ Jesus and share eternal glory” – meaning, that others may also share what is given us. In our gospel, ten lepers were cured of their leprosy, because of their faith in Jesus. But only one Samaritan came back to thank him and praise God – only one is grateful enough for what God has done to his life.

    All of these would mean that inasmuch as faith is a gift from God, faith is also our commitment to respond in return to God’s generosity and goodness to us. Faith is then our personal decision to commit ourselves in resolving to give something back in gratitude to God’s love and goodness to us. Since we are blessed & have been blessed, now we choose to be a blessing to others. Thus, We are blessed to bless others.

    Like that of the blood donor & the healed Samaritan leper, our faith should compel us to do something in response to God’s love and grace-given us. Having faith may have saved us, healed us, cured us and… it thus also makes us acknowledge God’s grace in us anew, and challenges us to change our ways and be renewed in our relationship with God. Inasmuch as faith without action is useless, God’s blessings to us are also useless without our faith-response. It is not sufficient then to have more than enough faith. But as we receive God’s gifts & miracles of faith in our lives, we need also to express our faith as thanksgiving in return by blessing others with our blessings.

    To share in God’s grace then, it is not only a matter of having faith, but also a matter of how we live out and practice our faith in Christ as our response in gratitude to God’s gift. Rather than being worried about how we can avail of, how we can benefit more from & be entitled of God’s grace, we should be more concern on what return can we make to God in gratitude, and how can we reciprocate or “pay-forward” God’s goodness to us with others.

    But still, many would like most to avail of the generosity & benefit from the help of others, but few are willing to give something back in gratitude. Remember, out of ten lepers who were cured, only one came back to thank. Thus, gratitude is so important. Gratitude makes us want to give something back in grateful response for such great gift. Gratitude makes us help others and celebrate-exchange our gifts-received with others. Significantly influx of donation in cash & in kind for our earthquake-affected brothers & sisters in the North Cebu. And definitely such gestures is not only out of concern for others but in gratitude for our blessing-received that we rightly so want & choose to share with them.

    As followers of Christ, the Holy Eucharist is our expression and celebration of our faith-response in praise and thanksgiving to God for all the blessings he has given us through His Son Jesus, in life so-far. We are supposed to be a Eucharistic people, a people constantly grateful to God. So, don’t be so pre-occupied with the beautiful things God has given us that we forget to thank the Giver of the gifts, and fail to share such gifts with others. What matters most then is not the gifts but the Giver of the gifts, and how gifts are shared and celebrated – that is how it is freely given and gladly received by one another.

    So perhaps every time and next time you attend Mass, ask beforehand not for what gifts you need and want from God, but instead, ask how God has been generous and good to you lately that made you grateful to celebrate & share with others now here in our celebration of the Holy Eucharist & in our donation & relief-ministry for those who are needing at this time.

    And may our prayer now be: For all that has been… Thanks you Lord. For all that will be… Yes, Lord, I choose to bless & be a blessing to others now & always.  Amen.

  • PISTIS

    PISTIS

    October 5, 2025 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100525.cfm)

    Somehow easy for us to relate with the disciples in our gospel today who asked the Lord to increase our faith…., because we do experience inadequacy of faith in life. Yes, we do struggle with our faith in life. We do at times find ourselves limited  & limiting with our faith. Like the  disciples then, we find ourselves asking for more faith since we experience how lacking we are of faith in Him.

    Nevertheless our wanting & needing faith would recognize that faith is something given us & something we receive from God. Faith is God’s GIFT to us & such gift of faith gives & sustains us in life, though at times as disciples of Jesus, we do find ourselves struggling, lacking & wanting more faith in life.

    However in response to their & our request for more faith, Jesus gives emphasis to us that there is more to our faith than just being gift we receive from God, for he said: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Meaning, however small, lacking, limited & inadequate our God-given faith is, as long as we have faith that is enough for us, since the Lord once said  “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Here we are reminded of what really faith is & what it means to be gifted with faith in life.

    Consider that the Greek work for faith is “Pistis”. In Greek mythology, Pistis is the good faith, trust & reliability personified or in person. In Christianity, faith is translated with pistis which simply means trust in our Lord. Meaning, faith is more than just about our believing or consenting on something without any question, but moreso about trusting on someone completely. Pistis then is the kind of faith Jesus expect of us Christian. Whenever He says: “Have Faith. Have faith in Me”, what he meant is Pistis: “Have complete trust in me.” Having enough trust in the Lord then really matters before God, regardless of how much or less, many or few our faith may be. Since, faith is our complete TRUST in the person & power of  Jesus….

    And so, inasmuch as faith is God-given gift to us, our faith is also our RESPONSE of trusting Him in our lives, however small, lacking & limited  our faith be. Thus, in living our lives & in doing our mission of faith with Jesus, like the disciples, we are to come & go as we are ourselves in PISTIS – with full trust & faith in Jesus. We are to go empty-handed, inadequate, in weakness struggling with nothing except Pistis in Jesus. What we have to preach, share & partake with is our personification of our good faith – full trust & reliability on Jesus, in response to the gift of faith. What is to happen on us then depends on God’s providence & care. All we are commanded & obliged to do is to Trust in Him.

    Simply put, in faith with Jesus, we are just to do our part, for God will do the rest & the best in His grace & power. We are just to do what we are commanded & obliged to do since we are His servants, co-partners & coworker of Jesus’ mission in the vineyard of God’s Salvation. And as St. Paul exhorts: “in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus,  (may we) guard this (pistis) rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.”

    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 now & always.

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • Looking Glass

    Looking Glass

    September 28, 2025 – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092825.cfm)

    A very rich man once approached a priest for an advice. He said “Father, I have a problem that is bothering me a lot. You know how rich I am. I have everything I need. I get everything I want. But how come I feel I’m not fully satisfied? There is always that emptiness & missing in me that do not satisfy. I maybe rich outside, but I am actually poor inside. What do you think of my problem, Father?”

    The priest invited the rich man to a living room and brought him near the glass window. And the priest instructed him, “Look out into the window and tell me what you see.” He said, “I see people walking around the plaza.” Then, the priest brought him in front of a large mirror and said, “Look into the mirror and tell me what you see.” “I see myself,” he replied. Then the priest explains, “You know what… both the window and the mirror are made of glass. But their difference lies in the silver paint. As you may notice, the mirror is glass coated with silver paint & the window is just a plain see-through glass. So, whenever you look through a plain glass window, you see people – you see others. But whenever you look at silver-coated plain glass mirror, you will only see yourself – not others. With the mirror, you cannot see others & you even stop seeing others – but only yourself. So, whenever we start to only concern ourselves with wealth and riches, i.e. coating our plain glasses with silver-money, we start to become blind to see others but only see ourselves.”

    Reflecting on this story and our parable today, we can say that it somehow echoes our day-to-day life experiences. Conscious of the challenging times we are going through these days – not only in our country & in our world but with ourselves, sometimes we wonder what causes the great gap between rich and poor. What makes poor poorer or desolate? What makes rich wealthier? What makes life difficult nowadays? What makes us poor or rich? What makes our life difficult or easy these days?

    This is what Jesus is trying to teach and convey us today. First, Jesus describes us that our self-centeredness makes us blind, insensitive, & unconcerned to the needs of others. Just like the rich man in our parable today, he was too full of himself that he was  not concerned about the poor Lazarus at his doorsteps. He was too full of himself that even before God, he was more concerned with himself – his own thirst and salvation that he only perceived Lazarus as his errand to quench his thirst and to warn his own family about his fate in heaven. “Send him..” the rich man said. Imagine he has the nerve to command even God for Lazarus to do his wishes. So full of himself… Conceited, & self-centered.

    Here Jesus warns us of the consequence of our self-centeredness. It makes us only see our own selves, making us blind to the needs of others, most especially the poor. Jesus maintains also that our silver-coatings taints our plain glasses. Meaning, our material possessions, wealth, and riches make us self-centered and greedy. Like the rich men in our story and in our parable, money, and earthly possessions taint and distort our perceptions of others. Our materialism makes us selfish and blind to the needs of other people, making us only view life from our selfish mirrors.

    At the same time, Jesus is telling us today that all of these, our greed, self-centeredness, and earthly possessions does not give us meaning in life and promise us our salvation. For Jesus, God has endowed us with a lot of blessings, not only for own sake but also (if not all) for others. It would mean that we are not the sole owners but just stewards or mere managers of God’s graces. The blessing & graces we have now are meant not only for ourselves but to be shared with & to others.

    We are called therefore to be partakers & sharers of God’s blessings to others. In God’s Kingdom, sharing not hoarding is the name of the game, & the way forward. In a sense, God has already given us looking glasses to see. It is up to us then how we use our glasses – either as mirrors for our selfish interest or as windows for further growth in our relationship with God and concerns for others. In other words, our mirrors – our self-centeredness makes life poor, difficult & empty inside, as well as our windows – our other-centeredness makes our life with others rich, easy, & meaningful.

    May the Lord continue to grant us the wisdom and audacity to make use of our God-given blessings be shared with others for the sake, not of ours alone, but mostly for God’s glory & other’s good now & always.

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • Never will I forget a thing they have done!

    Never will I forget a thing they have done!

    September 21, 2025 – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092125.cfm)

    Corruption! When we come to think of it, it seems that such a word has become common. We often hear and read it on newspaper, TV, Social Media platforms and other literature. And because it is so common and even rampant in many aspects of our society. Somehow, corruption has become “part of the normal life of society,[1]” the late Pope Francis told us. Many have denounced corruption. Many have promised to fight against it. Yet, it seemed to be tolerable and acceptable in many instances.

    A friend who owned a restaurant in the city, once shared to me how a government office would ask a percentage from them outside the legal fees. Another friend shared how he became an outcast in their workplace after he had reported to the higher ups his officemate of the anomalous transactions that involved money. That co-worker was fired immediately, yet, my friend became unpopular and was blamed for being inconsiderate to a person who lost a job.

    Because such corrupt practices seemed to become normal (for others it is called as SOP – Standard Operating Procedure), this holds true among our government officials and public offices, companies and organizations, Churches and even down to small communities. Again Pope Francis warned us, “all corruption at the social level is simply the result of a corrupt heart.[2]”

    Today, the Church has called us to rise and demand accountability from our leaders in the country who have plagued the republic with corruption. The systemic dishonesty and plunder are so much overwhelming. Nakakasuka! Ngilngig! It has to stop because what is happening, is evil!

    With this unfortunate reality in the country, this reminds us that wealth and prosperity are not always God’s blessing. Influence and power to dominate are not signs of God’s presence. These material things when enjoyed by the few at the expense of the poor, of the people, have truly gripped the human heart with so much selfishness, apathy and evil.

    With such situation in our country, in our communities and even in our hearts, let us also turn our gaze into the readings today and realize how the Lord invites us in the face of so much corruption, of evil.

    We have actually a puzzling Gospel reading. The master in the story praised the dishonest steward. But does it mean that Jesus also praised those who are dishonest? Certainly, no! It was not the dishonesty of the steward that was praised neither by the master in the story nor by Jesus. Rather, what was praised was the ‘prudence’ of the steward.

    Let us look again how the steward acted prudently. The steward faced with a crisis, he was about to lose his job for being dishonest to his master. In his mind he couldn’t go on by becoming a laborer by digging or by begging. What he did, then, was to take away the commission that he would usually get from the debtors of his master. That is why he asked one debtor to make 50 for the one who owed 100 measures of oil and 80 for the other who owed 100 bushels of wheat.

    Those debtors would be very happy to lessen the burden of such debt. The steward had just thought about his future so that when he will be fired, there will be people who would hire him for a job out of gratitude (or utang kabubut-on) to him.

    This is what Jesus tells us today, that as Christians, we are challenged to be prudent enough. We are called particularly in using and spending our material possessions in the hope of making our relationships with other people to be better.

    For this reason, we are called to be careful that we may not be ‘possessed’ by our own possessions which will only bring us into the danger of indifference and oppression towards the lowly and the poor. This makes the heart to be plagued by that social illness of corruption in our dealings with others and professional practice.

    In this way, a heart that is being possessed by possession, by material wealth turning to be corrupt – has not just committed a crime, but idolatry. Money, material possession or a luxurious life has become the new god of these people. This is the meaning of the words of Jesus, “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

    There is also a stern warning that we have heard in the first reading from the Book of Prophet Amos. The merchants were extorting the poor. They hoarded the supplies and raised the prices of commodities. Yet, they too brought at the lowest price what they can buy. However, the Lord is not blind. The Lord has sworn, “Never will I forget a thing they have done!” The Lord shall remember evil done by the corrupt.

    Hence, as believers who have come to the knowledge of the truth, as Apostle Paul tells us in the second reading, we are also called to be fair and to be generous enough as we deal with those who are economically/financially struggling.

    It would be a big help to support local vendors and local businesses. Buy products from local peddlers and local farmers. Show fairness with our own business too. Our material possessions can be best employed also in reaching out to others especially the unfortunate.

    Indeed, these are ways of recognizing God as the generous giver of graces. By being grateful to Jesus our Lord, who has given himself as ransom for all, may it move us then to be generous to the needy. This is a way of building relationships with one another, building friendship and helping one another as a community of believers.

    And thus, being wise in investing to what lasts, to friendships and expressing true concern for others – is the spirit of the Kingdom of God.

    In this way, we will be able to guard our hearts from turning to be corrupt. Hinaut pa.

    [1] Pope Francis, The Way of Humility (Claretian Publication: Quezon City, 2014). 10.

    [2] Ibid., 18.