Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Season of Lent

  • Let God be God in your life

    Let God be God in your life

    March 29, 2020 – 5th Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032920.cfm)

    Homily

    There was once a seminarian, who wished to leave the seminary because he was so angry, disappointed and frustrated with God  for letting his mother get seriously sick. He prayed to God, “Lord, I have been your obedient follower. I’ve taken care of your people, but how could you let my mother get seriously sick?” And when God replied to him, he heard “Son, I know how you love your mother, it’s good that you have been so concerned about your mother’s health. But can you please give me a chance to heal her? She is also my concern. Did I not tell you to have faith? My plans for her are much better than yours, same as my plans for you are much better than yours.”

    How much of us here, have not been frustrated with God? Yes, in one way of another, we have sometimes experienced how it is to be frustrated with God. Like these past few days of lockdowns and social distancing, there are times or moments in our lives that we have felt angry, disappointed or frustrated with God, especially at times when we were helpless in life, needing his presence but instead we experience his absence and seeming darkness or dryness in life. Yes, like sometimes we are disappointed and frustrated with our parent, sometimes we are also disappointed and frustrated with God, even has some resentments with God, whether we like it or not.

    Like here in our gospel today, people were disappointed with our Lord Jesus. Mary and Martha, his friends were also frustrated with Jesus, saying “Lord, if you have been here, my brother could have been saved”. Days before Lazarus died; they have already informed Jesus how sickly his friend Lazarus, who just lived nearby, has been. But Jesus seemingly did not respond or did not care. Only four days after Lazarus death, that Jesus went to visit. Who would not be disappointed and frustrated with Jesus for not able to respond to a family and friend crisis. 

    The people might have been disappointed or frustrated with Jesus, like we might have been disappointed or frustrated with God. However our gospel today reminds us again that God has a different view of life than the way we see things. For God, our experiences, perceptions and understanding of sufferings, death, problems and crises in life – frustrating and painful it might be, plays a great part or role in God’s plans. Jesus seeming passivity or insensitivity toward Lazarus was his way of teaching us to let God be God in our lives. 

    When he learned that Lazarus was sick, Jesus said: “This sickness will end not in death but in God’s glory”. And when he performed the miracle of resuscitating Lazarus, he said: “so that they may believe it was you who sent.” Meaning, for Jesus, there is more to sickness and dying or more to illness and death. For Jesus, sickness and health, life in its greatness and sufferings are opportunities for us to witness God’s graces working in us – a chance for God to heal us or revive us not only from physical but also spiritual sickness or spiritual death, and to offer us fullness of life with Him. It is a chance for God to show us His divine Glory and Mercy and for us to benefit from it, and to know that He is the Lord.

    As one wise guru would say, “Being sick is an opportunity to experience yourself and God in a new way. It is the chance to teach the mind and the soul to remain independent from the body and so connect with your inner resources of peace and silence in God.”

    So whenever we get sick or have experienced death in our family, or is frustrated with God, let Him say to you and let His words reminds you…”Give up, Surrender, Let me Be God to You. Give me a chance to be God, not as you want me to be but as I choose to be. My plans, my ways, my glory are much greater than yours. So that you may have not only life, but life to its fullness with Me.”

    May our prayers these days: THY WILL BE DONE. Amen.

    shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

  • Called to recognize God’s signs and wonders

    Called to recognize God’s signs and wonders

    March 28, 2020 – Saturday 4th Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032820.cfm)

    Homily

    People were arguing to discredit the identity of Jesus. Jesus showed them signs that he indeed was sent by the Father. He is the Christ!

    However, people began to make reasons in order not to believe in him. The officers of the Temple and Nicodemus, a Pharisee were one of the few who seemingly were inclined to listen more to Jesus, yet, they too were discredited.

    As there were many signs that pointed Jesus as the Christ, the more the people also created reasons not to believe. Instead of looking at Jesus to find the truth, “they all went home,” as the Gospel ended today.

    These people went home, not because of the “community quarantine.” They went home and settled with their own beliefs, unwilling to give up their personal agenda, unwilling to allow God to be their God, unwilling to allow Jesus to challenge them and to transform them in the way God desires them to be.

    Thus, instead of going to the Temple or to the synagogue to pray and dialogue with God, they did not. However, the Gospel invites us today to refocus our gaze on the officers of the Temple and with Nicodemus who allowed themselves to be encountered by Jesus. It is through them that we are being asked also today to see Jesus clearly, to recognize him better.

    As there were many signs before that pointed to Jesus, let us also be more aware of the many signs God has given us today. There are many, every day, perhaps we just lack that awareness and keenness to recognize those signs of wonders and everyday miracles. 

    Thus, as we are being asked to stay at home these days, may we never fail to recognize those signs and wonders that God made for us and so to be encountered by God through them. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Understanding the ways of Jesus

    Understanding the ways of Jesus

    March 27, 2020 – Friday 4th week of Lent 

    Click here for the the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032720.cfm)

    Homily

    The Gospel tells us how Jesus was rejected by his own people. Jesus has to go to Jerusalem in secret in order to protect himself from those who were trying to kill him. Yet, even though he knew that he was in danger if seen in public, Jesus still took the risk to be there among his people. Jesus took the risk to speak the truth and make the truth known to all even though it may cause him his life. Indeed, this is God’s way of making himself revealed to us.

                The identity of Jesus of being a Galilean, was not really the issue. It was more than that. Jesus caused turmoil among the powerful leaders in the Jewish society.

    Jesus was unconventional who ate and drank with sinners, forgiven them and freed them. He healed the sick and touched the unclean. He preached about a loving and forgiving God the Father. And as Jesus gained popularity among the ordinary people, the leaders were threatened at his knowledge and wisdom because Jesus was not a well-known intellectual and did not come from a rich and powerful family.

     Jesus himself and all that he did threatened the status quo of the powerful people who were contented with their comfort, with the power and influence that they were enjoying. These “Jews” who in the Gospel of John were referred as the powerful religious leaders of the Jewish society, preferred a strict and vengeful God because it was on that belief that they could advance their self-interest. They too can use their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor.

                Thus, they were against Jesus because he was changing their ways. Their hearts were filled with bitterness, hate, anger and the desire to have more; in other words, they were filled of themselves, worshipping their very selves. This is idolatry!

                These were the reasons why they could not accept Jesus or even recognize the presence of God in Jesus.  Because of their blindness and the hardness of their hearts, they did not understand the ways of God. Thus, they wanted to kill him, to silence Jesus. 

                As we continue our journey in this season of Lent, may this Gospel remind us of our tendency to worship ourselves and our own ideas and beliefs. Let us also make our “home quarantine” days as opportunities to humble ourselves in recognizing areas of our lives where we have become complacent, too comfortable and arrogant. And so in this kind of attitude, we may also come to understand the ways of Jesus and recognize him who is within us and among us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Reconnect with Jesus each day

    Reconnect with Jesus each day

    March 26, 2020 – Thursday of the 4th Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032620.cfm)

    Homily

    The Hebrew people were looking for a “god” to worship, to lean on from their desperation. They were in the desert for many years since their liberation from the Egyptians. They felt hopeless and directionless.

    When Moses was nowhere to be found, they made themselves the “golden calf” and worship it instead of the TRUE GOD who brought them out of Egypt. The people had very short memory. That in times of great difficulty, they turned to a false god believing to find security in it. Indeed, the people forgot God’s promise to them and God’s faithfulness in them.

    We are not also far from these people in the bible. We might have our own false gods too that offer false hopes. We may ask, who and what is our golden calf that we worship? Is it to our addiction and loneliness? Is it to ourselves or some others other than the Lord God? When we become desperate our minds and hearts may become crowded that we tend not to recognize the Lord who is at work in us.

    Thus, in times of difficulties in life we may develop some forms of attachments to compensate and appease our anxieties and the emptiness that feel from within. And so, a person who felt unloved by a mother may seek affection to many women. Or a woman who is rejected by a loved one, may retreat to loneliness and depression. A child who lacks the security of love and affection at home from the parents may succumbed to drugs or alcohol addiction. A child who has been deprived of material things in the past may become a hoarder of things or worst a thief.

    These are forms of unhealthy attachments that only bring us to greater and deeper despair and misery. Consequently, there is a need for us to reconnect ourselves to God who gives us true hope and freedom.

    Thus, like the Hebrew people, we may doubt God’s action and intervention and reject God in the long run. This is what happened also with the Jewish leaders who continually rejected Jesus.

    They have doubted the person of Jesus even though there had been many signs that he performed as invitations for them to believe. The presence of the Father at work in Jesus was already the moment of recognizing Jesus. Yet, these people were full of themselves that their eyes and ears and hearts had become closed and rigid.

    They chose to be disconnected with God because they did not want God’s way and direction of life. Jesus showed to them the many discomforts and risks that they have to undergo once they accept Jesus. What they wanted was that God will act according to what they desire, to what they think and to what they only believed. They were more after of their comfort and privileges that they will enjoy as leaders. Thus, what they worship was not God but their comfort, their influence, their privileges, their very selves.

    However, despite this kind of attitude God would always have a reason not to give up on us. Like what Moses did who intercede to God to forgive the people, Jesus also did that to us on the cross. Jesus wants us to recognize him because in him we find our true hope.

    As we continue our Lenten journey in the midst of corona virus, let us once more claim Jesus, to accept sincerely God in our hearts that we may find our true hope. Reconnect each day with Jesus as we all face our individual burdens and problems, concerns and difficulties and the crisis that our community is facing today. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • God’s promise of salvation and restoration is fulfilled through our participation

    God’s promise of salvation and restoration is fulfilled through our participation

    March 25, 2020 – Wednesday – Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032520.cfm)

    Homily

    The first reading relates to us a story of a person who refused God’s offer. Ahaz who was King of Judah was told to ask a sign from God. Yet, Ahaz refused. Why? He was asked so that he may believe in God’s faithfulness and salvation. This refusal of Ahaz was a show of not believing in God and a refusal to trust the Lord. Rather, Ahaz sought help whom he thought was another god, the King of Assyria. 

    Assyria at that time was politically and militarily powerful. Ahaz thought that by going to Assyria then he will have the certainty of protection and salvation. Judah at that time was threatened by other nations. Ahaz feared that his kingdom will end and his people will perish.

    However, despite the refusal of Ahaz, God still promised a sign of salvation. This will be through the participation of a virgin who shall conceive a son, who shall be called, Emmanuel, meaning, God is with us.

    This is tells now that even in our unbelief or refusal to believe and indifference to the Lord’s invitation, God is still in our midst. God remains faithful to us. 

    This is a message to us as we celebrate this Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, to take comfort. Yes, take comfort, brothers and sisters, no matter how much fear, sadness, depression, worries, desperation and anxiety we are feeling at this very moment, God is with us!

    Moreover, this prophecy in the Book of Isaiah was fulfilled through the participation of a young woman who took the risk of trusting God despite the confusion, fear and suffering that she was to undergo. 

    The angel Gabriel, whose name means, “God is powerful,” assured this young woman not to fear for God is with her. The very presence of Gabriel was an assurance to Mary that God was working powerfully and wonderfully with her.

    This encounter has become the space for Mary to receive God’s invitation for her, to be that virgin who shall conceive a son, the greatest sign of God’s promise. The refusal of king Ahaz to God’s invitation was now being countered and redeemed through the acceptance of a simple young woman.

    Mary’s response saying, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word,” was her full expression to participate in God’s action to become closer physically with the whole creation. 

    And indeed, through the generous response and participation of Mary, the promise was fulfilled. God is truly with us!

    This tells us now that our participation is very important for God to fulfill the promise of salvation and restoration, of healing and freedom. Without our participation, God cannot also work with us and through us. God cannot just impose even though God is powerful. God is not an imposing God. This has been shown to us throughout the history of salvation. God always seeks and desires a human response so that the Divine Plan will be fulfilled.

    On this Solemnity of the Annunciation, through the person of Mary and her participation, each of us too is called to respond to God’s invitation, to participate in God’s action of fulfilling the promise of salvation, of healing and restoration particularly in these times of great crisis with the pandemic corona virus that has plagued our communities.

    This is the invitation for us today. We may ask ourselves, how is God calling me now to participate in God’s plan of healing and bringing salvation to all? We do not have to think of big things or big projects. As we stay at home at this moment, in what way I could help to control the spread of the virus? In what way I could be of help for others or bring blessings to those who are most in need particularly those who have lost their jobs, the hungry and the homeless? Or in what way I could inspire hope and give comfort to those who are afflicted, to those who sick, those who are grieving, depressed and lonely?

    These are the questions that I would like you to dwell for today and like Mary, let us also ponder and keep in our hearts God’s invitation so that we too will be able to participate in our own capacities in bringing healing and blessings to others. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR