Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Sunday Homlies

  • BELOVED

    BELOVED

    January 12, 2025 – Baptism of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011225.cfm)

    Not so long ago, I received an inquiry about Parish guidelines on child baptism in our parish office. They are particularly asking for a so-called “Special” Baptism. Doubtless the child must be very special to the family to request for a so-called “special” baptism. But later, I found out that what they wanted is an exclusive and private celebration of the Sacrament of Child Baptism since the child is born out of wedlock. I cannot help but question their motivation for a so-called special baptism. Is it because the child is very special to them despite the circumstances OR is it because they are ashamed of themselves to admit the child as unwanted by the parents and/or the whole family themselves?

    I think we need to clarify and direct some of these distorted and questionable but trending views about Baptism in the Church nowadays. First, there is no such thing as special, exclusive, or private celebration of sacrament of child baptism. The ordained and proper celebration of baptism is and should be in public church before the congregation of Catholic faithful. Except for emergency baptism where the child is at the risk or in danger of death, baptisms should be done in the church with a lot of children to be baptized and before many baptized Catholic faithful as witnesses.  Consider then, church liturgies and sacraments are communal public church prayer-worship, and never should be an exclusive, private family, organization, or office party-program or entertainment. Second, as the child is as well as we are all baptized, we become God’s children in Christ. In baptism, we are consecrated, identified, accepted, dignified and affirmed to be beloved Children of God, like Jesus. In baptism then, more than we become the child of the family, we become God’s child before God & His church.

    When he was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, Jesus needs to hear the words and confirmation from the Father Himself saying, “You are my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased”. Such words emphasize his very spiritual identity before God and the vision of God’s kingdom. Here, he is reminded in a deep, deep way of who He is, of his very being before God and people – that among anything else, He is God’s beloved Son. This is the very affirmation and confirmation of his being before God, as He is baptized in the river Jordan publicly – not privately, as witnessed before God’s people.

    In the same way, when he carried out his mission and public ministry, Jesus wants us also to hear the same message from the Father that not only Him, but also “You (& I & us)  are my Beloved Children, with  whom I am well pleased”. Jesus wants us to be aware and hear of the very reality & message that before God and His people, it is not only Jesus but we, you and I who believe in Jesus are also essentially God’s beloved sons and daughters. In God’s heart and eyes, we are His beloved children. And by virtue of our baptism, we are consecrated to be God’s children. We are His beloved, not because we did anything, not because we proved ourselves because of what we did and have achieved or not in life. God still and always loves us whatever we do or whatever happens in our life, whether born out of wedlock, adopted, unwanted, raised by irresponsible parents. And in our baptism or in the day of our baptism, regardless of the circumstances of our birth, we first hear God’s words saying to us all throughout our lives: “You are loved, you are beloved”. He even loves us more when while still in this world we also respond and proclaim to Him and all that, “Yes, Lord, I love you, too”, and love Him and others in return.

    Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today officially ends the Christmas season and we continue with the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year C. As we are now in this transition in liturgical moment, we are reminded of the Baptism of the Lord wherein Jesus publicly proclaims His identity and commitment with God’s affirmations of Him to be the Beloved Son of God. As baptized believers of Christ, we Christians today are also reminded of our identity and dignity as publicly proclaimed and acclaimed to be like Jesus, also sons and daughters – beloved Children of God ever since our baptism & always.

    As we continue on with our New Life-Year with the Lord this year, let us hear again and again, and never forget but instead be at rest always on God’s words to all of us baptized: “You are my Beloved Child with whom I am well pleased” as we claim for ourselves: “I am God’s Beloved, with whom He is well pleased.”

    So May It Be. Amen.

  • In HUMILITY

    In HUMILITY

    January 5, 2025 – Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010525.cfm)

    A man once asked a wise priest: “Father, how come unlike before God seems to be not talking or speaking to us anymore?” The priest replied: “It is not that God is not anymore talking or speaking to us. But rather it is that nowadays nobody are humble enough to stoop down to listen to Him. Nowadays…nobody… are humble enough… to stoop down … to listen to Him. Bihira nalang ngayong panahon ang mga tao na lumalapit sa Kanya na may pagpakumbaba upang marinig Siya at makinig sa Kanya. Niining panahon pipila nalang ang mapaubsanon nga nangaliyupo sa pagpaminaw Kaniya

    True enough that there are times in our lives that God seems to be silent and absent to us. But during those moments of our frustrations and hopelessness with God, perhaps it is better to consider not His seeming absence or silence, but rather perhaps that we have reach already too far and high in life that we don’t anymore get near and low enough to listen to Him. Siguro napakataas at napalayo na ng ating narating na hindi na tayo lumalapit at may pakumbabang makinig sa Kanya at marinig Siya.

    For the past Sundays, during Advent and these Christmas Seasons, we come to know a number of people who became involved in the birth story of Jesus and happened to encounter God and begun to know God’s will for them in life. Mary met God through angel Gabriel and became the mother of Jesus. Through a dream, Joseph became responsible foster-father of Jesus. Zecharias became the father of John, after meeting an angel in his old age. Elizabeth became pregnant with John also in her old age after his husband encounter with the angel. Shepherds saw and learned from an angel that God’s gift to all has been borne in Bethlehem and they became witnesses (godfathers’ or ninong) of baby Jesus. And now in our gospel, the three kings come to know where baby Jesus, God-promised they have been searching, through an omen of  bright-guiding star. All these people and their experiences are telling us that God had made Himself and His will know to them, and God will always continue to make manifest Himself and His will to us until now.

    Same way as before, we might experience once again God and His will for us now, if and when we honor our dreams, listen to God’s word and witness His works actions in us shown to us by his angels or messengers. God still continues to manifest or reveal to us in many ways through the faith and actions of our community and church as we share each other God’s word, good advice, kind and loving service with others, and responsible guidance and parenthood of our elders and leaders. Even in a special way for us Filipino Catholic, we sense God through our kalooban and pangdama. Kilala ko siya dahil dama ko Siya. Malapit ang loob ko sa kanyang salita at gawa.

    Today, in the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, marks the end of Christmas Season. Today is to remind us that more than about the three Kings, God is still making Himself and His will know to us. He is still reaching out and communicating to us in many many ways. He is still talking and speaking to us, like before. All we need to do is to be humble enough to stoop down to listen and be sensitive to Him and His ways of revealing Himself to us.

    Moreover, Epiphany also reminds us that once we become humble enough to sense, hear, and honor God and His will to us now, we must change our ways. After meeting the baby Jesus, the magi went back in their journey following different path. This would mean that once we listen and honor God’s will for us, life will never be the same again, for it has to change for the better. Simply, God’s revelations requires our humility to follow & obey His better plans for us.

    As we say goodbye to Christmas season, may we be more sensitive to God’s continuing revelations to us (His ways of making Himself and His will know to us) and be more humble & open enough to be changed and be responsible for the gift of life God is offering us now and always.

    So be it. Amen.

  • PARENTING 101

    PARENTING 101

    December 29, 2024 – Feast of the Holy Family

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122924.cfm)

    In every Wednesday novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, one intention we pray is that we may learn to adapt to our growing children. Parenthood, as we all know, is not only about raising children but also adjusting to our growing children. Thus to parent a child is more than just caring for the growth of the children; it is also adjusting and learning in the process, as children grow in maturity and age.

    As Redemptorist missionary involved in parish, retreat, mission and migrant ministry. For many years, though not a parent myself, I came to be aware of the difficulties of parenthood. In as much as adapting to life-changes is difficult, how much more adapting to growing children. In confessions and counseling sessions with faithful people, I become conscious of the hurts & pains suffered by both parents and children alike in their difficulties with parenthood.

    Parents hurt by their children’s disobedience, i.e. going against their will; children blaming their parents for their misfortunes in life. All because of our limitations in parenthood. Parenthood indeed is not an easy task rightly so that we pray to OMPH that we may learn from our experiences of adapting to the growth of our growing children.

    Today, we honor the Holy Family, the family who parented the child Jesus. Our gospel tells us that like any other family, the Holy Family also experienced the difficulties of parenthood. Joseph and Mary followed the proper traditions of raising the child Jesus. They did their best. But as we all know, they also experience how Jesus became disobedient to them, going against their will.

    Surely parents here could relate with Joseph & Mary, and know the hurts, pains and anxieties they experience when children start to grow up and be on their own. Like my mother would say, when we, her children became independent from her, “Kung puede palang ibalik sa tiyan.” (If I could only bring you back in my womb…) It is the same way with the experience of a chicken hen that raises ducks as her chicks. When the duck-chicks, which by nature a swimmer, start to swim and float on a pond, the mother hen would be extremely worried because she cannot swim and she gets anxious that her chicks will get drowned.

    This is also what and how Joseph and Mary experienced parenting Jesus. When the child Jesus began to grow up in age & maturity, his parents also experienced the difficulties of parenthood. However, the Holy Family’s experience could teach us more about parenting, in view of adapting to our growing children.

    First, parenthood is a family matter, not only of parents. To parent a family is not only about the husband and wife tandem in raising their children but it is more on the dynamic teamwork between parents and children. If it was difficult for Mary and Joseph to raise and adjust with Jesus, it was also difficult for Jesus to grow up in his own family. In as much as being parent is difficult, we also know that growing up maturely (to be on our own) is difficult. If Jesus only obey his parents’ will,  we wonder: would we be able to benefit from and share with the salvation God has given us through Jesus, who did not remain a child of Mary and Joseph but become our Christ, our Savior? Surely Jesus had been an obedient Child to His parent, but above all, Jesus became an obedient adult Christ to our God, the Father.

    Second, parenthood is also about trusting in God’s way of raising and forming all of us His children. Inasmuch as we are tasked to parent to our little ones, raising and adapting to their growth, we must never forget that ultimately God is our Father – our ultimate Parent, and we are all His children. If we want the best for our children, God also knows, wants and does what is best for each one of us. God knows what was best for us when we were children, surely, he knows what is best for us when we become mature adult parent to His little ones. So trust and have faith in God’s will, in God’s way of parenting us.

    Photo from YoungCatholic.com

    To parent a child is to work together then with one another as family of parents and children as well as to work with and in deep faith and trust of God’s way of parenting us. Perhaps these days we consider:  “What kind of parent we have been? What is your parenting styles? Have you been a CARPENTER parent who designs, measures, builds up & wills what is best for your children? Or are you a GARDENER parent who prepares, tends, & cares for God’s child in you growing to be a blooming, budding & fruitful blessing for all, God intended our children to be? What need to be improved then, as we learn to adapt to our growing God’s children with us?

    Christmas challenges us Christian to be responsible parents of Jesus in our lives today. Parenting our growing children is also our way of being responsible to Jesus, God’s Word made flesh in us. As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, we pray that the Holy Family will continue to inspire all Christian families and communities in parenting our growing children. Amen.

  • YOU ARE GREAT!

    YOU ARE GREAT!

    December 22, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Advent, 7th Day of Misa de Aguinaldo

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122224.cfm)

    I want you to tap the shoulder of the person beside you and tell that person, “You are great!” We are all great! But wait, what makes us really great? With all our weaknesses and sinfulness, how could we be great?

    By ourselves alone, we are never great, but because we have been chosen and loved, we are made great – each of us, no matter how we consider ourselves small and insignificant. Yet, what makes us great are not those things that we have achieved or accumulated in this life. We may boast ourselves because of the achievements in life and what we have reached, however, not one will make us truly great.

    Hence, let us revisit the readings on this final Sunday of Advent that wonderfully tell us how we have been made great by God and how we have been chosen and loved.

    Prophet Micah, in the first reading,  who is also called as the Prophet of Advent, proclaimed to us how God chose the insignificant town of Bethlehem to be the place of the birth of the Messiah. Bethlehem was small compared to other tribes of Judah. However, God chose the small and the humble, not the powerful and the arrogant. From Bethlehem, David was chosen to be king and where the Messiah shall also be born.

    This is how I shall offer you now a different perspective in looking and understanding today’s Gospel which is the same Gospel as yesterday. Indeed, God’s favor for the small and the humble reflects in that encounter of Mary and Elizabeth. Mary was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, a woman from a small town of Nazareth. Likewise, Elizabeth who was old and shamed for being barren, was chosen to be the mother of John who will prepare the way of the Lord.

    Neither of them were royalty, nor a daughter or wife of a governor. There were many women who would be more fitting than them if God would follow our worldly standard of greatness. However, God does not choose somebody because of a high status, or of popularity or fame or of wealth or power. God chooses the small and the humble, who are most welcoming of His invitations and most willing to respond to His call. Indeed, God looks at the greatness of each one of us because we are humble and unassuming of power and fame. We are made great because we are chosen and loved.

    Certainly, Mary and Elizabeth welcomed God fully in their life because they did not have many possessions. Power, or wealth, or fame, or any other forms of insecurities did not possess them; they were free and open to God.

    This reminds us too that when we are possessed by our insecurities, whatever they may be, we are being prevented from receiving the Lord in our life. But once, we make ourselves free from our insecurities, fears and anxieties, from our hatred and resentments, then, we make ourselves open to God’s invitations.

    Thus, on the part of Mary, who was greeted by Elizabeth as blessed among women, has made herself completely free for God. Her acceptance of Jesus made her life filled with love and blessings. Thus, we have lighted the fourth candle of Advent that reminds us of love.

    And because Mary was filled with love, this moved her to respond immediately to her needy cousin Elizabeth. Mary knew well that Elizabeth needed help and so she responded with willingness.

    And again, as we have reflected yesterday, this reminds us that when we are truly filled with love, love makes us more aware of the needs of others. True love and concern overflows from us and thus, making us free to share our love to those who are in need, to people around us. In this way, our way of loving will become free of pretentions and insecurities.

    What is more interesting was on how the two women greeted each other. Their encounter tells us the wonder and beauty of those who truly believed in God. Elizabeth was surprised and delighted by God’s visit through Mary. Mary’s willingness and openness to God made her the bearer of God’s loving presence to her cousin Elizabeth. Indeed, Mary’s visit, though simple, was a great gift for Elizabeth.

    Indeed, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, we are called to remain free and open to God so that we too shall receive Him fully in our life. And through that, then, hopefully, each of us will also become bearer of God’s presence to others. Never underestimate the gift of presence that you can give to your children, to your family, colleagues and friends even strangers. Be the “PRESENT” to people around you by being truly “PRESENT” in their life.  This may be simple, but our presence will be a powerful force of love and concern.

    And so, never deprive others of your presence. God has never deprived us of his presence. The Lord is never “paasa” to us because God is always faithful. God took the risk of meeting us even though it will cost him pain, suffering and even death, because each of us is a delight to him. We are so dear to God, remember this. Take also the risk to build deeper, healthier and stronger relationships, selfless and loving relationships.

    In these ways, we shall be able to respond to God’s invitation in this Season of Advent, by becoming ourselves LOVE for others, as Jesus is LOVE for us. That makes us great! Hinaut pa.

  • BEING GIFTED

    BEING GIFTED

    December 22, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122224.cfm)

    Once I visited a sick bedridden elderly Lady in her home for the Sacrament of Anointing. She was crying overjoyed of my presence and visit since it has been awhile since she received Holy Communion and she really missed our Wednesday novena to OMPH. To lighten the circumstances, I asked her if she could still sing any Marian hymns, and readily she sang the whole, “O Birhen Maria”. As I was about to leave she asked me to also visit her sick neighbor nearby.

    My visit to her reminds me of our gospel today and of how Elizabeth responded to visit of Mary. As Mary visited her, Elizabeth felt great honor, blessing and happiness that made her praise the Lord, professed her faith and blessed Mary, that also moved Mary to sing the Magnificat. A simple visit made and can still make a lot of difference, influence and change in people’s life.

    In the same manner, in gift-giving, happy we would be whenever the gifts we give are gratefully received. And more joyfully it would be when our gifts are gratefully received and shared with others. Joyful it is then, when our gifts are thankfully received & shared with others. Elizabeth was so grateful for Mary’s gift of visitation.

    And more so, she acknowledged the blessedness of Mary for sharing her God’s offer of salvation for us. Both women joyful to receive & share God’s gift of a child for them & for all. Being GIFTED with simple visit, God’s gift of salvation for us in Jesus is gratefully received & joyfully shared with others by Mary & Elizabeth, and us, as God’s bearers & sharers of God’s gift of salvation for all.

    If we really come to think of it, salvation happens when the Lord comes for a visit. Meaning, our salvation happens with our personal encounters or experiences of the Lord in our lives. And such graces and blessings continue to happen as the Lord always GIFTED us with personal visits and as we welcome Him wholeheartedly into our lives. Thus, salvation occurs with a visit and a welcome. Whenever we welcome a visit as well as whenever in sharing we visit someone, we participate in the Lord’s way of transforming and renewing life.

    As we are nearing the Lord’s birthday, perhaps we ask ourselves: When is the last time we visit someone, and when is the last time we welcome a visitor? When is the last time we participate in God’s salvation by visiting another person and by welcoming a visitor? When is the last time we thankfully receive & bear Jesus into our lives? When is the last time we joyfully shared Him to others? Listen & Respond.

    Come Lord Jesus into our lives. Amen.