Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Season of Easter

  • Witnessing Resurrection

    Witnessing Resurrection

    May 4, 2025 – Third Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050425.cfm)

    In this day and age it is unavoidable to meet people who maintain: “To see is to believe”, i.e. to base their faith on facts, sciences and evidences. In other words, they only trust and have confidence on what are sensible, logical, and scientific. Nowadays, it is not easy for others (& even ourselves) to believe. We ask usually for signs, proofs, or evidences in order to trust and have faith on others. We need some credentials first in order for us to believe. Many at times we claim, “We will never believe until we see it”. Others would even say, “Show me the money first before I believe & trust you”.

    However, signs, facts, proofs and evidences are not the basis of our Christian faith – not even on the empty tomb of Jesus, but on the testimony and faith of the disciples and of us who experience & witness the risen Lord as He reveals Himself in our normal ordinary lives and such witness has totally transformed us.

    Like the disciples in our first reading, faith in the risen Lord makes us experience the risen Lord in our lives, and make us witnesses (sharers of the Lord’s presence) to others. Such Christian faith and witnessing of our risen Lord make us Christian different & unique from other religions.

    Now, what does it entail, to witness Jesus and to be witnesses of Jesus today? What does it mean, and how it is to be today’s Christian witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection? How do we believers witness the risen Lord to others?

    Same way as being a witness in the court, Christian witnessing entails and requires us:

    1st, to experience the events, or what is going on or happening, as it happens or unfolds in our ordinary day-to-day life. This would mean we should Be there present, and not absent like Thomas, at the moment when Jesus reveals Himself to us.

    2nd, Be conscious or aware of what is going on. Physical presence is not enough. We must pay attention to ordinary miracles that are happening in our midst. Thus, our total self must be present and sensitive with His revelations.

    3rd, Let the events happen in its own course. Let things be and happen as it unfolds. Savor the moment without controlling and programming. Don’t interfere or else we become accessory & not anymore a witness.

    4th, be affected by the event – be transformed by the events. Be moved, surprised, amazed, awed, inspired, and shaken by the experience.

    5th, share and testify our faith- encounters with others, as we have experienced and been affected by the encounter.

    How to witness then our Christian faith? Be present, Be aware, Savor the moment, Be affected & Share your story with others.

    The same process of witnessing happened with the apostles in our gospel today.

    1st, while going back to their ordinary lives of fishing and catching nothing, a man appeared and suggested them to fish in the other side of the boat.

    2nd, having a great catch, they eventually recognized and became aware that the man is the risen Lord Jesus Himself.

    3rd, as no one dared to ask: “who are You?”, they let Jesus invite and serve them a breakfast.

    4th, with their first breakfast with the Lord, once again they are moved, transformed, and inspired to continue with their faith and mission.

    5th, their very meeting and sharing bread and fish with the risen Lord inspired them to follow Him and in serving the Lord’s lambs and sheep in faith and life. In other words, we witness the risen Lord to others, by our being present and conscious of the Lord’s appearances in our ordinary life, meeting him naturally and intimately, and passionately share to others our stories of faith-encounters of the risen Lord in our daily lives

    Again, Easter is all about the risen Lord continuously meeting us in life – appearing and making himself known to us. As the Lord meets us in our day to day lives, our experience of Him challenges us to believe, i.e. to recognize and trust Him and His ways, as well as to witness Him, i.e. to taste and see (savor) His being with and acting in us, as well as to share our experience of Him with others.

    Easter season also reminds us not only of Eucharist as our last supper, but moreso, as our usual first breakfast with the risen Lord in our day to day witnessing of our Christian faith and life. The Lord’s resurrection is thus God’s offer of life and meaning to the whole world – appealing us to believe, witness and share His son Jesus Christ, as we meet Him in our ordinary daily lives. May our Christian faith and celebration of Eucharist, as community continually inspire us to believe, witness & share the risen Lord to ourselves, others and to all in our lives, now & always.

    So May it be. Amen.

  • FREEDOM FROM OUR OWN PRISON CELLS

    FREEDOM FROM OUR OWN PRISON CELLS

    April 30, 2025 – Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/043025.cfm)

    When I was a novice, there would be a day in a week when we would visit the city jail. In our weekly visits, as I have become comfortable making friends with the inmates, now called as, Persons Deprived of Liberty, I asked one of them who have become a close friend of mine. I asked how was he and his life inside the City Jail. Great was his dismay for the crime he did. He violated the law and so deserved to be punished. Because of this, he felt deep longing and loneliness. He had many fears but for him, he said, he had to face them because he had to pay the crime he did. He, together with the others, have been deprived of liberty because of a crime committed or suspected to have done a crime.

    Peter and John, as told to us by the Acts of the Apostles, were also deprived of liberty. This was, in fact, the second time that both were brought to the prison. They were deprived of liberty because of the jealousy of some leaders at that time. They were jealous of the many good things the apostles did. They were jealous because people believed more to Peter and John rather than to them.

    The Apostles preached Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. They too healed the sick. They helped the poor and the needy around them. They responded with generosity to those who needed their help. What the Apostles did were concrete expressions of what they believed and held in their hearts.  Their faith in the person of the Risen Jesus became their way of life.

    As both were imprisoned, surely, they too were afraid and worried on what will happen to them. However, this time, they had enough trust and faith in God. The constant invitation of Jesus, “Do not be afraid! Peace be with you!” has grown in their hearts.

    These are just two kinds of physical imprisonment. One is imprisoned because of a crime committed and the other because those in authorities were just filled with jealousy and malice towards those who did good and preached the Gospel.

    However, there is also another form of imprisonment which is not physical. This was the case of the authorities. The chief priest, Sadducees and Pharisees who continued to persecute the Apostles and felt jealous towards them, were truly imprisoned by their blindness and hardness of heart. They were imprisoned by their greed and envy, by their fear and doubts and by their refusal to believe in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

    Thus, it was self-imprisoned caused by their own jealousy and unbelief. The Gospel portrays these kinds of people with those who preferred darkness than light, because their works were evil.

    We too examine ourselves today. In what way am I also being imprisoned? Or what is it that imprisons me today? What keeps and prevents me from bring free and to be truly I am? What are those that I consider as my prison cells that suffocate and limit the person I am called to be?

    Let us be more reflective and discerning of these things. Ask the grace from the Risen Christ to enlighten and to free us from our own prison cells.

    Pray, that we may be able to see and recognize areas of our life where we are being imprisoned.

    Pray, that we may be free and become the person and community that we are called to be, and that is to be a “light.”

    Hence, believe in the Risen Christ who brings us light. Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem us and not to condemn us to death. Let us also join our prayers to Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help so that she may help us in recognizing better ourselves and to see the light of the face of her Son, Jesus. Hinaut pa.

  • ONE HEART AND MIND

    ONE HEART AND MIND

    April 29, 2025 –  Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042925.cfm)

    The joy of Easter caught the heart of the disciples of Jesus. The community of faith truly believe in the Risen Jesus and in God’s power that defeated death and darkness, forgiven sin and shame.  This is the liberating power of God’s mercy that gives freedom and peace to many hearts and minds.

    This was the very life of the early Christians. Their fears, guilt and shame were all replaced with joy, concern for one another, and hope. In fact, the joy and wonder of Easter was transformed into concrete resolutions and actions in living as a Christian community.

    The Acts of the Apostles showed to us Christians today how the gift of joy in the Resurrection of Christ could radically change the way we live our life. This is even manifested on how each one treated one another with fraternal concern, trust and charity. We have heard how the disciples of Jesus felt God’s assurance and security that went beyond material wealth. This was the reason why the disciples began to share generously their material wealth with those who have none and who were needy. Each member of the church had enough because each one contributed and shared.

    The apostles, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, distributed what had been shared “to each according to need.” Selfishness and self-interest were gone. Greed and corruption have no more space. Abuse of power vanished. Indeed, as the Acts of Apostles reminded us, “the community of believers was of one heart and mind.”

    This is the spirit of Easter that tells us how the Christians believed in Christ’s presence among them. Faith in the Risen Jesus when truly lived and manifested in our words and actions would transform us, our community inside and out.

    However, this kind of attitude and culture of sharing and letting go of possessions did not last long. We realize that selfishness and insecurities came into the picture again. People began to advance their personal interest over the others and have taken advantage at the expense of the needy and the poor. We are indeed fickle and can be easily tempted and driven away from God and from others. Yet, despite the life that we live now as Christians of the 21st Century we are still called to re-live the way the first Christian lived out their faith.

    Certainly, as a Christian community today, we are still called to live the spirit of Easter by generously sharing what we have to those who are in need. Letting go of all our material wealth at this present age would be next impossible. Yet, to joyfully give and share our resources, talents, our presence and capacities are what the Risen Jesus calls us today.

    And again, we gain the courage to live out such faith in us when we too welcome and embrace the Spirit of God. This is what Jesus expressed to Nicodemus in today’s Gospel. “To be born from above” or “to be born of the Spirit” is to allow the Lord to transform us from within. A heart that is gripped with hatred or resentment, or with selfishness and greed, with shame and guilt – is not hopeless at all. God’s mercy and offer of the fullness of life bring freedom and life to us.

    Let our hearts, then, be filled with the joy and wonder of Easter. Let our hearts be filled with gratitude to God who has been so good to us. And may the peace the Christ brings to us this Easter, make us joyful and generous givers in our community. Hinaut pa.

  • HIS Kind of Love

    HIS Kind of Love

    May 5, 2024 – Sixth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050524.cfm)

    “They said if you love someone, you set them free. If they come back again, till the end, you are meant to be.” Does it ring a bell? Sounds familiar?

    That’s a line from a popular song sung by Barbara Streisand and Barry Manilow called “Some good things never last.” Such line tells us more about love. It also tells us about growing up in life. Because we all know, big part of life is GROWING UP. We ourselves grow up – hopefully. And we help others to grow up as well. And surely we have witnessed how we and others have grown up. Growing up is really about helping oneself and others to help each other grow in maturity.

    And the commandment of Jesus to love one another has a lot of thing to do with growing up. To love means to help oneself and others to grow up in life. Loving would involve giving oneself and each other a chance to GROW, i.e. a chance to stand in one’s feet, and be responsible for one another’s growth in life.

    Meaning, loving yourself means not only pampering and taking care of yourself but letting go of your securities, taking risks and giving yourself a chance to grow. Loving someone also would also mean trusting someone enough to be on their own so that they can make a stand for his life. That’s why, in loving someone, set them free.

    This is very true in a Parent – Child relationship, especially the mother and child relationship. Because and out of her love to her children, a parent must learn how to stand back, (not to abandon or reject them) but in order to help and give her children a chance – an opportunity to stand on their own and be responsible for their own growth.

    Just like, a child cannot stand in his own two feet and walk, if the parent does not allow the child to stand up and walk. Mothers’ Day is thus all about honoring our mothers who loved us dearly even to the point of letting us go & grow in life.

    Experiences of standing back, letting go, saying goodbye, setting free have never been an easy part of growing up as well as loving an-other. Imagine how hard it was for you and your parent when you had your first step, your first day in school, your first jeepney ride on your own, your first camping, your first date, your first boyfriend/girlfriend, your first job, your wedding day, as well as your first child.

    But we all know that we have to be given a chance and to go through those experiences in order for us to grow up and learn how to live life and love life.

    This is the kind of Jesus is trying to teach us in our gospel today. As part of his Panamilit, last farewell, mi ultimo adios to his apostles, Jesus is trying to tell them that because of God’s love & His love for them, he has to leave them, not to forsake them, but to give them a chance to practice the love he has taught them and to experience for themselves the Father’s love he had preached them.

    In other words, as he goes back to the Father, Jesus has given us the opportunity to grow in our faith and to witness and share that faith to others. His commandment of love to us is His kind of loving, that we are to be set free from our kind of loving so that we may grow in Our Father’s love. Out of love and in order for us to grow in that love, Jesus, as parent, guide, leader, good Shepherd, himself has to step back, let go, say goodbye, set us free to love God for ourselves and help others love God for themselves.

    It is just like Jesus is saying to us now, “Guys, I have already taught you, guided you what to do. I have already done my part. Now is your time to do your part. Just carry on what I have told & taught you: Love God with all your heart and love one another as yourself, same as I have loved you. By the way, don’t worry. I will abandon you. I will be always with you in the Holy Spirit.”

    The popular song raised the question: “Why good things never last?” Good things never lasts… because we love as Jesus & God loves & in love, we grow in love as well. When we love, we thus not aspire & settle only for some good things but for BETTER life with God & one another.

    As we do now our part in glorifying & serving God’s kingdom by our love as God & Jesus loves us, may we learn to say goodbye to the good things we had, but rather aspire, grow & be mature enough for the better version of ourselves amid life-after pandemic has challenged & in store for us now & forever.

    So Help us God, So May it Be. Amen.  

  • BE PRESENT TO BELIEVE

    BE PRESENT TO BELIEVE

    April 7, 2024 – Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040724.cfm)

    Once a Catholic missionary tried to convince a young atheist to believe & accept God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ through the Church. But the young man just said, “I will never believe until I have an experience of Christ.” And the missionary replied, “But you will never have an experience of Jesus in His Church until you believe in Him.”

    Nowadays, it is difficult for us to believe. We ask usually for signs, proofs, or evidences in order to trust somebody. We need some credentials in order for us to believe someone. We even say: “To see is to believe.” Many times, we claim, “We will never believe until we see it”. Others would say, “Show me the money first before I trust you”. Like Thomas in our Gospel today, we say: “Unless there are evidences (see and touch the nailmarks on the Lord’s sides), I will not believe”.

    The opposite of Belief is doubt. Doubt and distrust have indeed been a great stumbling block or hindrance in the growth of our Christian faith. Even Jesus had difficulty in preaching the Good News because of the people’s doubt and unbelief. And the same doubt and unbelief have caused the Lords’

    suffering, crucifixion and death.

    Usually we doubt by certain truths in our life because they are beyond our comprehension. Because we don’t understand them – they don’t make sense- that we doubt if what is presented before us is really true and sincere. So also, many at time in life, we struggle to find God in our signs and evidences, in our darkness and loneliness, in our comprehension and understanding that usually leads us nowhere but doubt and unbelief. But actually, doubt and unbelief happen whenever and because we are just asleep – not aware or not awake and present enough to recognize what has been presented right before us.

    This is what Jesus is trying to reveal and teach his apostles then and us now in our gospel today. As the community of disciples hid themselves asleep in fear for the authority, in shame for abandoning their master, and in hopelessness and defeat for the death of the Lord, Jesus, now the Risen Lord came and shown Himself to them, saying: “Peace Be with you”. Take note, Jesus reveals and presents Himself – make Himself known to them in order to tell them: “Not doubt but believe Him”, that is to wake them up from doubt, and to wake up their faith in Him again. The Risen Lord thus presents Himself before and in the Church to wake up our faith in Him anew so that we may experience God’s glory being offered to us once again.

    And He continues to reveal Himself again and always to us in our Church and whenever we are PRESENT in our Christian faith-community. Remember, Thomas doubted the risen Lord because he was absent – not there but somewhere else – when the Lord revealed Himself for the first time. In the same way, whenever we are absent with ourselves and with our community, we doubt and don’t experience Easter. But whenever we are present with ourselves and our community, we experience and believe in the Resurrection of our Lord.

    TURIN, ITALY – MARCH 13, 2017: The The painting The Doubt of St. Thomas in Church Chiesa di Santo Tomaso by unknown artist of 18. cent.

    “Believe the Gospel, believe in Him, Believe in Jesus Christ” has always been the core message of the Gospel. For us to experience the Good News of God’s glory in our lives always, all we are asked to do is not to look for evidences, signs or proofs but just to believe in Him who reveals Himself right before and in us, our community of faith.

    Without faith, we cannot comprehend and benefit from the greatness of God’s graces offered and can offer us now by the Risen Lord, as he makes Himself present in our Church and community.

    Remember Easter – the resurrection of the Lord happens to us that we.  “may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief we may have life in his name”. Faith in him, not fear, is what is required of us. Believe in Him, not Doubt is what is expected of us. Our repentance is not enough for God’s mercy is more about His healing, love, caregiving, peace, joy, & fullness of sacred life with God – far beyond His forgiveness of our sin. And for those who have believed the risen Lord here & now, much will be revealed.

    Joan Chittister, a known lady-theologian once said: “It takes a lifetime to really understand that God is in what is standing in front of us. Most of our lives are spent looking straining to see the God in the cloud, behind the mist, beyond the dark. It is when we face God in one another, in creation, in the moment that the real spiritual journey begins”. Very true, indeed, we do tend to look for something else while searching for God who is already right before and in front of us. In other words, Easter – the Lord’s resurrection only happens, makes sense and becomes meaningful to us, if and when we are present enough to acknowledge and believe in the Risen Lord as He reveals to us face to face, in front of us, in our Church, our community of believers.

    So, Don’t doubt but Believe the Gospel being and yet to be revealed to us in our community of faith. Be present as the Lord presents Himself & is present in our Church.

    So be it. Amen.