Do you have friends who speaks bluntly and tactlessly to you? Are they not annoying sometimes? Oh, yes, they do. My friends would feel that towards me. But I am more tactless than blunt.
However, our young man here, Gideon, is plainly honest, blunt and also tactless. Gideon was not used to flattery and flowery words that only seek recognition and praise. He was never after that. He speaks his mind and expresses himself even if reality would surely offend the person.
Thus, when the angel of the Lord greeted him, “The Lord be with you, you mighty warrior.”
“What? What did you say? How could you say that the Lord is with us, when we are suffering?” that was the unashamed reply of Gideon to the angel. If I was that angel, I would be taken aback at his words!
Gideon freely expressed himself, of what he thought about particularly of the present context, of the reality he was in. The people were oppressed. They were forced to worship alien gods. They were made slaves to the Medians. All of this, Gideon brought to the angel who said to him, The Lord is with you!
However, God was never offended by this blunt and seemingly tactless expressions of Gideon. God was even delighted by this because Gideon was honest and was aware of the present reality. He was not sugar-coating or making flattery words.
As young people, the Lord invites us also to stand and speak like Gideon not to fear because the Lord is truly with us. Thus, recognize your present reality not just the reality within yourself but recognize the reality that surrounds you. Speak up and stand like Gideon. Do not remain silent in the midst of injustice and oppression! As young persons, the Lord calls us too in our own capacity.
October 31, 2019 – Thursday 30th Week in Ordinary Time
(In this reflection, a young professional shares his experiences and affirms the power of the Holy Rosary that changed his life.)
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans (8:31b-39)
Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written:
For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (13:31-35)
Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned. But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Homily
“If God is for us, who can be against us?… What will separate us from the love of God?”
In fact, nothing outside ourselves can separate us from God. St. Paul affirms this to us today. Not the difficulties in our life, not those people who have hurt us, not those abuses, not those emotional hurts, not our sickness, not calamities and not even death. The love of God is so great that we are bound to him. God’s love is not something that is merely on the head but shown to us in most concrete ways in our life.
This tells us how persistent God’s love is because he reveals himself in every moment of our life. That is why, Jesus’ love for you and for me is not merely a memory of a distant past, but his love is so alive and active. God is loving us now. Hopefully, we too will be able to realize and feel that even in the midst of so much mess we may have in our life at this very moment. God is wanting us to live and be alive in his presence.
Truly, nothing outside ourselves can separate us from God, but God does not control us. Because God does not impose himself on us, we remain free in our response to Him. If there is one things that can separate us, it is ourselves. When we decide to separate from God and hide ourselves from him, then, we are certainly distancing from his love. When this is done consciously, then, we surely separate ourselves from the very presence of God
This is what we have heard from the Gospel today. Jesus was told to go away and leave because Herod planned to kill him. Many people in Jerusalem especially those in authority rejected him. Jesus was unwelcomed. This was a conscious rejection of God.
Yet, even though Jesus was rejected, still Jesus persistently called them back. This tells us that even God is so persistent in inviting us.
Today, we also culminate the Rosary Crusade that our Redemptorist Youth Ministry since October 1. Every night we have been in one house to another to visit families in our communities in the parish. Thus, I would like you to listen to our youth sharer on how the Lord invites him to come closer through the Holy Rosary that we have been doing in the past month. Let us welcome Engr. Jun Paul Mamac Inocellas.
In culminating this year Rosary Crusade by the Redemptorist Youth Ministry, let me share to you how the Rosary helps me in my life now as a young professional.
Way back in the year 2012 when the Rosary Crusade started, I was part of the Parish Youth Coordinating Council and a working student as well. I was a second-year college at that moment taking up my second course, the Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. I was struggling being a student and as an active youth member of the Parish.
I was emotionally and spiritually weak at that moment, gani dali ra ko madani sa mga temptation atong panahuna. At that time first semester and first term, I got my second failing grade and told myself “undang nalang kaya ko ug eskwela? Lisud naman kaayo ug maka luya!”. When I was about to tell my mother about my grades, na-unhan ko niya ug istorya “Dong! Ana imong papa gikapoy na daw siya ug pangitag kwarta” upat pami gi paeswkela ato nila. Nag padayon si mama, “Mao na Dong paning kamot jud sa pag eskwela samtang kaya sa imong papa bahalag lisud,” knowing that papa didn’t finished his elementaryi was moved at what Mama told me.
First Semester was about to end and it was October already syempre month of the rosary na. October 1, 2012 the Rosary Crusade started with a Holy Eucharist before we transferred it to the first Chapel. Before the rosary started, the prayer leader asked, “kinsa tong naay petition diha kay atong include sa rosary.” I wondered and asked, “is that possible?” I did not know that, kani laging October ra mo ampo ug rosary sauna unya painit ra ang apas.
So, I told the prayer leader about my petitions. First, was for more strength and healthy body to my parents. Second, I asked for the perseverance and endurance in my studies. After that, every time I felt sadness, emptiness, and got worried, I would pray the rosary and felt at peace and comfortable.
Since then, as I prayed the holy rosary more often, many things changed in my life. All my needs have been answered by God. And I appreciated the many things God gave to me. I am always protected, even when I do not specifically ask for it. The enemy flees the moment I call Mama Mary’s name. My outlook in life has changed and now I truly believed that anything is possible in Him.
I finished my degree in 7 years with five failing grades, passed the licensure exam and currently working on a real estate developer as a Civil Engineer. Thanks to Mama Mary for her intercession and praise God who has given me strength to conquer all failures in my life.
I encourage you now to start your own journey. The Holy Rosary has changed my life, I hope it changes yours too. To end my Rosary Crusade story let me leave this to you as St. Josemaría Escrivá “The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.”
What Jun Paul shared to us is a manifestation how God could be so subtle in bringing us back. God is subtle and gentle yet so persistent. God’s love for us is indeed so great and tremendous that he would do everything to bring us closer to him.
Difficult situations are turned into graces. Failures are turned into opportunities. Friendships are turned into doors of conversion. Prayers are turned into blessings.
Whatever difficulty we are experiencing at this moment, never lose hope with yourself or with God because God never loses his hope in us. Let God call you back, and let Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help to bring you closer to Jesus. Hinaut pa.
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ “I see how stiff-necked this people is, ” continued the LORD to Moses. Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.”
But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, “Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’” So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.
A reading from the First Letter of Paul to Timothy (1:12-17)
Beloved: I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (15:1-32)
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Homily
A friend of mine once posted of his Facebook account his thoughts, he said, “I am so tired of searching for God.” From his post, I seemed to feel that God seemed not to be found. He was searching for God as he said he felt empty within, he felt that he could not find joy. And God seemed to have lost his way!
How could that be possible? That was what I thought when he said that God seemed not to be found! It seems that we have this belief that it is us who are searching for God, it is us who has been looking for Him, yet, at the end, we surrender because we have never found God in our life.
The difficulty is when we are looking and searching for something or someone that has never been lost. It is very true with God. God has never lost his way. God stays with us and is always with us. Yet, a point in our life we claim that we were looking for him and did not find him.
Yes, we naturally look and search for something or someone that we have lost. But how could we find something if it is not lost after all? In fact, our search for God is useless because we tend to search God outside instead of recognizing Him in our very life.
Before I would proceed with my reflection, I would like to invite you first to listen to our Youth sharer today. Lovely Greganais an active member of our Redemptorist Youth Ministry who also volunteers as one of our members of the Youth Mission Team here in the Parish. So, let us welcome Lovely as she shares to us her experiences of God.
Sharing of Lovely
Since I was a little child, I & my siblings used to tease each other, throw things and make faces until the other one cries and be scolded by our mom over it. These scenarios are very common in most households today. My childhood was really awesome and memorable because from those experiences I become who I am today. Indeed, I am a product of Flores De Mayo, Sunday schools, Catechesis, being a Youth President, and now as a member of the Youth Mission Team.
Yet, as I grew up too, the relationship that I & my older sister developed has become colder and farther. There seemed to be a barrier that kept us away from each other. I noticed that we tend to forget the pieces of those memorable past that made us who we are today. We have become busy to the point of not minding each other. We have even forgotten to stop and thank God for the many blessings.
Thus, as years passed by, misunderstandings, feelings of being unloved, and fighting over small things were the reasons why I see the world as a burden and not as a blessing. I took for granted the gifts that God has given to me. These are the gifts of life, friends and most importantly the gift of family.
The bond that I & my sister built vanished gradually. I would describe it as a lamp that flickered in the dark and suddenly it turned off. Perhaps, I just saw the struggles that she encountered and not doing anything to help her. Maybe, I was just used to pretend that everything was perfectly fine even if it was not. But I realized, I have taken her for granted to the point of becoming indifferent towards my sister.
Little did I know, my sister felt alone and helpless. There were days that Ate would just want to sleep and wish that she would never wake up. It was a nightmare for my family. I was devastated as a sister. I thought that I would lose her at any time. But, I just knew that it was a wake-up call from God, that I should reflect on things for me to learn & grow. I felt sorry for not being good enough as a sister, daughter, and a friend. I also felt sorry for growing indifferent towards her.
And by acknowledging my own indifference and hurtful attitude towards those whom I love, I realized that I am in need of mercy and forgiveness. This is where I find God most merciful to me. I realized too, that deep within me, I love my sister and have been longing for her. With this realization, it moved me to surrender to God all the burdens that we carry as a family. As I leaned on God, I found my strength.
And being active in the Youth Ministry helped me a lot by making myself grounded in my faith and in touch with my own reality. This is how I discovered how Jesus’ love, acceptance, and forgiveness for me has freed me from every chain of anger, doubts, self-pity & brokenness. I am just filled with gratitude to God for the wonder he had done in our family and in my life. The trials and the failures I had were in fact opportunities for me to be found by God.
Now I have understood that some mistakes take us to places that God had already prepared, not to hurt us but to teach us that His plans are greater than anything else. It’s never been too late to start again nor too late to let God reach us. He listens and waits 24/7.
What we have just heard is a personal testimony of the power of God working in our troubled and wounded relationships. Indeed, those times of trials in the family make us realize and value more the presence of each one. And as Lovely shared to us, it is when we decide to lean on God that we also find our strength. Yes, it is when we allow God to touch us that we are being healed, and allowing God to search us that we are found.
St. Paul recalls this story of his life. His past life of being a blasphemer, persecutor and arrogant made him so lost. It was a denial of God. Yet, God continued to search for Paul until they had an encounter. Paul’s encounter with Jesus turned Paul’s life completely because when Jesus found him, the Lord was so merciful to him.
That experience of mercy led Paul to gratitude. And that gratitude inspired him to give glory to God by becoming a minister and servant of the Gospel.
Moreover, in the parable, Jesus also tells us of the shepherd who sought the lost until he found the lost sheep and a woman who lost her coin and searched for it until she found it.
This image of God tells us of a God who searches for the lost. Thus, God never lost His way. In fact, it is us who will be lost. We are the sheep in the stories who are driven by our selfish desires.
Is it not that we tend to be unmindful and unconscious of many things in life except for our personal desires and wants, except with those that will give us comfort and pleasure? This has been the experience of Lovely when relationships are taken for granted.
We might be full of ourselves, of what others can give us and of what is only beneficial to us without minding the needs of others. Like the sheep, we might also drift to the other side thinking that there is more security in addictions and vices, in depression and loneliness. So, we stray away from the comfort of our brothers and sisters, and from the very presence of God.
These attitudes of ours are basically refusal of God’s invitation. And our reasons? We have other priorities. Thus, this reminds us of our passive, complacent and indifferent attitudes towards our relationships and the many invitations of God.
Nevertheless, God never tires to invite us again. God invites us to be with Him, to join with Him and enjoy His abiding presence in our sacraments, in our liturgy and in our daily prayers, and in our community.
Jesus teaches us of a God who invites us and searches for us not just once but in every opportunity in our life. And this is the truth; it is God who has been searching and inviting us. He has been looking for us and he patiently waits for us to allow him to find us. God takes the risk of being rejected. But though he has been rejected many times he never lost his confidence to invite us again and again.
Thus, let us allow God to search for us and to allow him to find us. It is in this attitude that we will be able to listen to his many invitations and will inspire us to say YES to him. To say Yes and to affirm his invitation to recognize his presence in our life and with others. And when we are able to recognize him, then we will truly be joyful; our hearts will be filled with love of God, as St. Paul says to us. Hinaut pa.
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary – August 22
A Reading from the Gospel of Luke (1:26-38)
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Reflection
Today we celebrate the Queenship of Mary, 8 days after we celebrate the Solemnity of her Assumption to heaven. This feast was formally placed in the calendar in 1954 although the title Queen of Heaven has been used since the fourth century.
Just like the image of queens and royalties in Europe, many of us might also imagine and think that Mary as a queen is adorned with gold and precious jewels. Many of us might be imagining her seating on a golden throne, dressed in a golden dress with a golden crown on her head surrounded by a royal army inside a golden palace.
Well, I believe that Mary is none of those golden imaginations. Mary rather would prefer a simple one and an ordinary one as she was used to. Thus, her queenship is not about gold and jewels, throne and army, but rather, of attitudes of generosity, love and faith.
Our Gospel today reveals something to us as we celebrate her as our queen. Thus, in her simplicity and being an ordinary woman, she accepted God’s invitation extra-ordinarily because ‘she believed’. In her simplicity, Mary felt the trouble of being honored as favored by God. I am sure that Mary with her human emotions felt confused and afraid when the angel appeared before her. The revelation of the angel was difficult to understand, thus, she pondered in her heart the meaning of those.
These troubles, confusion and fear led her to ask in all honesty, “how can it be?” It was neither a question of defiance nor of doubts but of concern on how she would go about it. The answer she got was God’s promise, that God is with her.
This promise from God inspired Mary and motivated her to give her consent, her big YES to God. Mary was called by God to be the Mother of Jesus, and Mary responded with joy and confidence. Her response is out of gratitude to God for being good to her and out of love and kindness for that was her experience with God. Everything became possible with God because Mary believed. Remember, God cannot and will not work wonders with us unless we give our consent and believe.
This is the invitation today for us, TO BELIEVE, because God reveals His presence in the events of our ordinary life. That day for Mary seemed to be just an ordinary day, but the revelation from the Angel just made the day anew.
TO BELIEVE, then, is to be constantly aware of God’s many revelations every single moment of our life. TO BELIEVE is to trust in the Lord’s Words despite our troubles and questions, worries and anxieties. Mary pondered in her heart what had been revealed to her.
TO BELIEVE in the Lord also means to be aware of the needs of others. Mary responded to God because her participation is vital for our salvation.TO BELIEVE is to listen to God’s invitation that through our life, God can make wonders, that through Mary’s simplicity, God brings forth creation.
TO BELIEVE also means being pregnant with God’s presence. Yes, God invites us today that our life, our words and actions, and our relationships with one another will become pregnant with His loving and compassionate presence.
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’”
He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through [the] eye of [a] needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”
Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come…”
Are you lost what to do next?
Are you restless about yourself, about your job, about your meaning and purpose?
The story of the rich man is a story of a searching person. The rich man though he is “rich” but was still in search of something that would truly satisfy him and give him true joy.
He must have surely felt that emptiness within him because despite being materially rich, where he lived a comfortable life, yet, he was restless about his life. This restlessness in him moved him to run up to Jesus, kneel before him and in all honesty asked the Lord, “What must I do to inherit Eternal Life?”
The comforts that he was enjoying, the influence that he had, the riches that he possessed did not give him the true assurance of joy and confidence. Hence, the man remained insecure in his life despite the many things he had.
Each of us too, might be also restless in our life. Despite the things that we are enjoying, we, in some way or another are in search of something that will make us truly happy.
It reveals something to us then that, material possessions, earthly achievements, titles, influence, job promotions etc. are not assurances to us that will give us a life filled with joy.
Each of us has our own riches. Riches here are not just limited with material possessions but to whatever that possessed us. Yes, what is it that possessed me? What are those that kept me? These could be our relationships, personal issues and needs, experiences traumatic or a happy one – which could prevent us from truly reaching out to what will give us freedom, joy and contentment with Jesus.
We believe that what gives us true satisfaction, freedom, joy and contentment is a life with God. This is what the rich man was after. He knew it and so he asked what he should do then.
The Call of Jesus
When the rich man asked Jesus, the Lord looked at him with love and affection. Jesus loved this man and wanted the him to experience such freedom and joy with God.
In the same way, Jesus also looks at us lovingly. Individually, he looks at our eyes, calling us by our name. The gaze of Jesus is an assurance to us that we are not judged and we are not condemned. Even though we consider ourselves as unworthy and useless, yet, Jesus would never point his finger on us condemning us for being sinful and unfaithful. Rather, Jesus looks at us with affection and love, wanting us to be with him.
Indeed, God desires that we become free by discovering our full potentials, by living our lives to the fullest, and making our lives meaningful with God and with others.
Thus, we too can ask, what is it that is lacking in my life? The rich man asked the same question, what is it that I must do to inherit eternal life? He had been a good Jew. He followed the commandments, gave alms to the poor, went to the temple to offer sacrifices and showed respect to people. In the eyes of the Jews, he was in fact a righteous man. However, what he was used to do were not enough. There was more that he could do.
Jesus called him to follow him. He was called to let go of his possessions and to whatever that possessed him and to follow Jesus.
In the same way, Jesus calls us too, wherever we are and whatever is our situation at the moment. Jesus calls us to follow him. We can only follow him when we also let go of the things that hold us and of those things that possessed us.
These may include our dreams and hopes, our family and friends, our successes and achievements, our comforts and riches, but also our failures and sins, our weaknesses and painful experiences. These areas in our life may prevent us from following Jesus. The Lord asks us too, to let them go and to follow him.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 