Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Season of Easter

  • The Lord Confronts our Unbelief and Hardness of Heart

    The Lord Confronts our Unbelief and Hardness of Heart

    April 15, 2023 – Saturday in the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041523.cfm)

    They could not believe it. They could not accept what has been reported by Mary Magdalene. They would not even accept the testimony of the two disciples who went to Emmaus and reported that the Lord appeared to them. The eleven disciples, who were the closest circle of Jesus, did not believe because their hearts were hardened.

    We could just imagine the very dispositions and attitudes of the eleven disciples. They must have been filled with guilt and shame for fleeing away and hiding when Jesus, their Lord and Teacher, was arrested, tortured and killed. Peter denied Jesus who previously said he won’t. The very experience and those days were just disheartening. They too must have felt that there was no more hope for them. Their courage was gone. Their spirits dampened.

    The terrible death of Jesus, killed in the most shameful and painful way, was beyond their expectation. Yet, it happened. The Lord told them that he would suffer and die and be raised on the third day, yet, they were all unprepared for that. They clearly did not understand what Jesus was teaching them at that time. And when Jesus was raised and appeared to other disciples, their minds and hearts were closed because they were too afraid. And they stayed in their grief and sorrow, nursing their fear and shame.

    However, the Lord appeared to them all and confronted them. As the Gospel of Mark told us, “Jesus appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.” Yes, the Lord confronted and challenged them by rebuking them. It was the Lord’s way of making them wake up and move forward. They have been staying in that disposition and attitude that was already unhealthy and unhelpful for them and for others.

    We too could find ourselves having such kind of disposition and attitude. When we are staying too much in our grief and sorrow, when we are already nurturing our own emotional wounds, and feeding our fears with our anxiety, then, such disposition of the heart and mind will only make us more submerged into fear and anxiety or into sin and darkness.

    Indeed, it is okay to grieve. It is okay to be afraid after a painful experience. It is okay to feel down and discouraged after a failure. It is okay to feel lonely and alone. It is okay to be sad and not feeling okay. However, when we are already staying too much in these human emotions and even reinforcing these emotions with our unhealthy coping and nursing them. Then, that is not okay. It is not alright because such attitudes would only lead us farther from others or even farther from our true selves and farther from the grace of God.

    We are rather called to confront ourselves, confront our friends and allow the Lord to confront us when we are going in that state just as Jesus rebuked the disciples whose hearts were hardened. This is the invitation for us today and that is to allow the grace of the resurrection to give us hope, courage and new way of looking at things and looking at our life. We move forward and move on, knowing that the grace of God is with us, and that the presence of Jesus assures us that there is life, that there is hope.

    As we allow the Lord to confront us, may our hearts be filled with confidence and gratitude to proclaim and share to our friends, families and communities the goodness that the Lord has done to us. Hinaut pa.

  • FINDING MEANING AND JOY

    FINDING MEANING AND JOY

    April 14, 2023 – Friday in the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041423.cfm)

    Do you also escape when you go through difficulties? Do you also hide and retreat when you experience failures and disappointments? Do you go back to your old and unhealthy coping or attitudes when you feel sad, angry, or broken hearted? These are some of our possible reactions when we face these realities in life because we don’t know what to do and where to go. This had been the situation of the disciples. Their hearts were filled with pain, disappointment, with frustrations and doubts.

    The arrest of Jesus, his suffering and his death were so shameful and terrifying that they also hid themselves for fear of the Jews. Because of these negative experiences, they believed that they have failed the Lord, and so they themselves were failures.

    Their immediate response was to go back their old self, to retreat and not to confront anymore what they were going through. Because they believed that they were failures, they succumbed to the temptation to go back to their old ways and that was to fish. They have been called from being fishermen to become fishers of people, yet, having a painful and horrible experience, they retreated, they were giving up.

    However, all night they caught nothing. The “night” in the Gospel is very symbolic because it reveals to us that the disciples were in darkness and they couldn’t find light. They were hopeless. They wanted to give up. But, at dawn a stranger appeared on the shore and said, “cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” And they did, they trusted that stranger and to their surprise, when they pulled the net they could barely pull it back because there were plenty of fish.

    Then, the “beloved disciple” recognized that it was the Lord Jesus. Jesus is alive and there waiting on the shore. This tells us too that once we have become intimate with Jesus, our heart will always desire for Jesus.

    This inspired Peter to respond immediately and to come near to Jesus. Again, this was symbolically done. Peter let go again of his boat, that is, his old self. He jumped confidently into the sea of his past failures and frustrations because he knew that Jesus was waiting for him.

    This reminds us that we might come to the point in our life when we feel hopeless and helpless because we have failed, because the situation is just too difficult, family problems are just depressing, our poverty is overwhelming, or our relationship with others have failed – and then, our immediate reaction is to retreat, to hide in our own failures and pain, to dwell so much on our problems, to go back to our old and bad habits, becoming fearful, anxious and mediocre – which means going into the darkness of depression, of sin rather into the light of hope and life.

    Yet, Jesus calls us to we find meaning and joy even in the midst of pain, of failures and difficulties. Hence, the Risen Lord invites us today.

    First, when we meet failures and difficulties, do not go back to the old unhealthy ways and old habits, which could only be our emotional reactions. Rather, pray and ask the Spirit of the Lord to give us courage and patience to confront what we are going through.

    Second, as we face them, never think that you can do everything alone. The journey is lighter when we are with somebody whom we can trust, whom we can share our story. Find and build lasting friendship, build a deeper family relationship, invest in your relationships. When we are told to cast our net, to change the course of our boat and to change our life – go for it and trust the Lord because it might be in that direction that we will find the abundance of love and life.

    Third, be always aware of God’s presence. Just like the beloved disciple let us always be intimate with Jesus. It is when we become more familiar with Jesus that we also become aware of his presence in everyone. Hinaut pa.

  • GRACE IN OUR SCARS

    GRACE IN OUR SCARS

    April 13, 2023 – Thursday within the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041323.cfm)

    What scars do you have in your body? And what scars do you have in your heart? What are the stories behind your scars? We both have physical and emotional scars. The physical scars in our bodies are perhaps because of accidents that happened to us in the past. Or other surgical operations that people went through. On one hand, our emotional scars cannot be seen but hidden within our memories which may be evident in the way we relate with others, or in the way we look at our life and the world, or in the way we express ourselves.

    Indeed, every scar would remind us of pain or even of joy. Some scars may become insignificant through time. Other scars especially the big and serious ones may remain bothersome to us even though the pains were gone. The trauma that we have been through in the past could sometimes still shaken us at present or even has shaped us to become who we are today.

    Emotional scars compared to the physical ones carry more weight and longer time to reconcile and heal. The stories behind our emotional scars can also sometimes bring back old memories of pain and sadness. Yet, it is also possible that those scars we have, whether physical and emotional, can become signs of victory, of growth, of wonder, of beauty and even of grace.

    Such possibility of turning our scars into grace is what has been told to us in today’s Gospel. Jesus appeared before his disciples. He greeted them with peace because their hearts were filled with fear and troubles. The very thought of the death of Jesus brought so much sadness and fear into the hearts of the disciples. Because of this, they could not believe that Jesus is alive and in front of them.

    In their disbelief, Jesus invited them, to look at his hands and feet. Jesus said, “touch me and see.” Jesus wanted the disciples to touch and see that indeed he bore the scars from the wounds he endured at his crucifixion. To touch and see the scars of Jesus, those signs of wounds and of his death, means to be able to behold the grace of God.

    This tells us that the resurrection of Jesus has made those scars, now, as signs of victory, of wonder and of grace. Those scars remind us that Jesus went through suffering and he knows very much the feeling of being in pain, being humiliated, being abused and being maltreated. Those scars revealed the cruelty of sin and evil, of human hatred and indifference. Yet, beyond those scars also is the grace of God that brings new life and new hope for all.

    Thus, as the disciples were invited by Jesus to touch and see the scars in his body, the Lord also calls us to look at our own scars. We do have our own scars. Do not deny or hide in forgetfulness those scars in us. The very scars we have, can become opportunities where God shall bring graces to us. Through our own scars, we shall also find healing and life, transformation and hope.

    Hiding in forgetfulness and denying that we are scarred and broken will not help us. These attitudes will only bring us into more fear and sadness. Our heart will remain fearful and troubled like the disciples who were in hiding.

    As we allow the Lord to work wonders in us and make his grace be revealed through our own scars, may we also experience today the grace of new life through his resurrection. Hinaut pa.

  • Witness in Person

    Witness in Person

    April 13, 2023 – Thursday in the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041323.cfm)

    To be a credible witness, one must have a on-hand experience of the incident. For a witness to be reliable, one must have a personal encounter of what was going on & had happened as the event unfolds.

    Our readings today are all about witnessing & being witness.

    People in our first reading in the Acts of the Apostles believe not only because of what Peter & John preached & proclaimed about the risen Lord Jesus Christ, whom they condemned & crucified in death but also because they themselves see for themselves the cured lame man & the miracle happened to him. People repented & believed because they witness for themselves God’s miracle in curing the lame man happened right in front of them.

    In the same way the disciples came to believe because they themselves experience the risen Lord appeared before them. It is the Lord in person, who showed himself to them – with His wounds, hungry for food, & whom they fed & listened to anew to His message & challenge of faith & repentance. Because of their first & on-hand experience of the risen Lord in person, they are now as the Lord says: “Witnesses of all these”. The people & the disciples believe because they witness in person for themselves & now become as personal believers and witnesses of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

    We cannot give what we do not have. We can only share what we have. In the same way, we cannot be credible witnesses if we have not witness for ourselves the incident. Through the witness & witnessing Peter & John, people came to believe in the risen Lord. By our testimony of our witness & witnessing of our faith, other people in effect will also believe & experience for themselves the risen Lord in our lives today.

    We now are witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection to the world. Since we are gifted now with the witness & faith in the risen Lord, we are now proclaimers & sharers of God’s salvation through the life & resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in our world today.

    May these Easter Season make us more aware of the appearances & revelations of our risen Lord in our lives now, so that we may share anew His messages & graces for our world today, especially during these pandemic times. So Help Us God. So May it Be. Amen.  

  • New Life and New Hope

    New Life and New Hope

    April 12, 2023 – Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041223.cfm)

    When we are faced with painful and traumatic experiences in life, these can bring so much confusion in us. The sudden death of a loved one, losing and failure in your job or business, broken relationships, family feud, experiences of abuse and maltreatment etc. are some experiences that can be terrifying and horrifying. And because such experiences can be overwhelming, they also make us very sad and depressed. We could blame ourselves, blame others, blame the world or blame God for making us suffer greatly.

    The story of the two disciples who were leaving the painful place of Jerusalem tells us of a reality in life. Like them who thought that Jerusalem was just a place of horror and death, of failure and pain, we too might want to escape from those painful memories of the past.

    Like them, we too could be in search of something just to make sense of those unexplainable and terrifying events in our life. Yet, we could not understand everything because the experience was just overwhelming.

    This was how the two disciples found themselves in that situation. The death of Jesus and the failure of their dreams now prevented them to see and recognize the presence of the Risen Jesus among them. They have not recognized immediately that Jesus was actually walking with them, and conversing with them. Their hearts were only filled with sadness and pain. Yet, the Lord continued to journey with them in their difficult moments despite the hardness of their hearts to believe and see the Lord among them.

    However, it was when they invited Jesus whom they thought was merely a stranger and started breaking and sharing with them the bread, that their eyes were opened. At last they have recognized that the Lord was with them all the time. At their lowest moment in life, when things seemed to be so dark and meaningless, the Lord was with them. Despite their many questions, the Lord was with them.

    This was how the two also found themselves and found the meaning of everything and of their life. This was how they immediately left Emmaus and went back to Jerusalem. The place of death and failure has become a place of new life and new hope.

    Thus, those moments of failures in us, those experiences of pain and death, those traumatic and terrifying events in our life can also become places of new life and new hope in us. The Lord indeed works marvels and moves in mysterious ways. God has made Jerusalem, now a life-giving and hope-inspiring place.

    This tells us too, that, as we allow the Lord to accompany us, the Lord shall also make wonders in us and shall make our failures and painful past to be a source of new life and new hope in us. These are the invitations for us now.

    First. Allow others to journey and accompany you in your difficulties. Allow your friends and family members to know the struggles within you. The journey towards healing and freedom can only be possible when we are with others. This was how the two disciples also allowed the stranger to be with them.

    Second. Never be afraid to ask questions because the Lord understands us. Jesus was very patient with the two disciples by listening to them. Moreover, allow also the Lord to teach us that we may be able to see another perspective in life. Allow other people to fill your mind and hearts with their wisdom. Allow the Holy Bible to speak to you and reveal God’s invitations.

    Third. Never be afraid of your Jerusalem, of those that you consider as your place of failure and pain, of sadness and trauma, sin and guilt. God also will bring wonders in our Jerusalem. As God has raised up His Son from death, God can also bring new hope and new life in our own Jerusalem. Kabay pa.