Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Sunday Homlies

  • PRUNING

    PRUNING

    March 17, 2024 – 5th Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031724-YearB.cfm)

    Fruit-bearing process of Jackfruit tree is indeed amazing. Summertime during my childhood days, my parents used to ask me to strike with a bolo the trunk of the jackfruit tree, (we call langka), so that its tree would bear much fruits. It had always been a mystery to me why, if you scratch or peel off its trunk’s skin, thus, releasing white juices (in a way inflicting pain or wounds around its trunk), would a langka, jackfruit tree bears much fruit.

    Simply put, why would a jackfruit tree bear much fruit, if one cut and injure the jackfruit tree? Bakit ba namumunga ang puno nga langka pagsinugatan mo ito?“Nganong mamunga man ang punu-an sa langka kon imong samad-samaran ang lawas sa iyang punu-an?”

    For us Filipino, this has been a common practice – for jackfruit to bear much fruit, we cut or scratch the skin of its trunk.   And most of the time, our parents or elders could not explain why it happens. Usually, they would just rationalize that it has been done before and it worked, and it will be like that always. Well, it does work & we definitely enjoy its fruits.

    But if we try to observe closely the fruit-bearing process of a nangka tree, we realize that in order for it to bear much fruits, it is necessary for the nangka tree to undergo such painful process of scratching & peeling off some of its trunk’s skin. Because if you notice, a langka tree normally grows with a lot of leaves, leaves that usually blocks the sunlight to get in.

    We know then that less sunlight, there would be less chance of growing flowers, thus less chance of bearing fruits. For the sunlight to get in, thus letting flowers to grow and bear fruits, one need to lessen or trim down the volumes of leaves around the nangka tree without damaging its branches, by scratching off the trunk’s skin or inflicting wounds around the tree. Thus, when its leaves fall and sun then comes in, time will come new flowers will bloom and then will produce new fruits.

    Simply put, sometimes we do need to go through process of pruning thru legitimate sacrifices & sufferings for the promise of new life to flourish in our life again & anew.

    In the same manner, our readings today have the same message. The Lords says in our first reading, “the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with them where I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

    Meaning, the time is near for a personal covenant with God.  Jesus in our gospel today is proclaiming us that God’s glory is about to be revealed, “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” – the good news of God’s glory is near and our salvation is at hand.

    However, for God’s glory to be revealed and our salvation to realized, we must experience legitimate sacrifices and dying. Jesus said: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world, will preserve it for eternal life.

    St Paul said, Jesus himself experience sacrifices for he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears. He learned obedience from what he suffered. Like jackfruit tree, we must shed off our sins and be naked & properly exposed before the Lord, so that His glory and life will be revealed to us, & will be received by us. 

    The psychologist Karl Jung says that most mental sickness comes from the avoidance of legitimate suffering. The neurotic maneuvers we make to avoid the legitimate suffering that is part of our reality become much more painful than the original suffering would have been. Avoiding suffering & pains thus hinders us to grow fruitfully in life.

    For a woman to fully enjoy motherhood, she must go through and endure the sacrifice of childbearing, and suffering of childbirth. Just like the fruit-bearing process of the langka tree, our life must also undergo pain and shedding of sinful ways so that God’s light will ignite and prepare our faith for a new life. In all spheres of life, the secret of deeper joy is in delayed satisfaction and legitimate suffering.

    Season of Lent is usually the moment for our legitimate sufferings and necessary sacrifices to prepare ourselves once again to recognize and receive God’s glory into our live, that we may bloom and be fruitful anew in our Christian life.

    In review, Ash Wednesday calls us to repentance & faith, “Repent & Believe the Gospel”. 2nd Sunday of Lent, God challenges us to Listen to His Beloved Son. 3rd Sunday of Lent Jesus insists that we cleanse & consecrate our lives as God’s temple as we “stop to make His father’s house a marketplace”. 4th Sunday reminds us that we raise above ourselves to these Lenten challenges so that we may have Life eternal with God. A

    nd now on the 5th Sunday of Lent, through legitimate process life-sufferings & pains, we are to prepare & expose ourselves to openly receive & accept God’s gift of salvation for us here & now at this very juncture of our life.

    As we are now nearing towards our observance of Holy Week & celebration of Easter Triduum, may these challenges of Lent properly dispose us for the coming flower-blooming & fruit-bearing of the coming life-promises of Easter.

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

  • LISTEN TO BECOME A BLESSING 

    LISTEN TO BECOME A BLESSING 

    February 25, 2024 – Second Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm)

    There was once that I attended a meeting of a group of lay leaders in a parish. I was asked to sit down and listen. The meeting was called to resolve a conflict within them. As everyone sat down, it was very evident that the group was divided based on where they sat. Clearly, there was a division among the group. When the conversation began in order to hear both sides of the story, I also began to notice how many would speak at the same time. A certain group at the back would have their own conversation while a particular lay leader was telling the story.

    Others began to point their fingers and blame each other. Others showed on their facial expressions disdain and disrespect. The meeting hall sounded like a market place. Everyone was speaking and expressing their side. This attitude of the group only contributed to more tensions and conflicts.

    I did not wonder at all, why conflicts would easily arose in such group. People never really listen and so people cannot understand. For this Second Sunday of Lent, it is in this way that I would like to offer my reflections based on our readings and God’s invitations for us, to listen well.

    In any conversations or whenever a person speaks, teaches, tells a story or explains, we who are the listeners may actually show “bad listening practices[1].” This is done intently by us or  unaware that we are doing it already. Hence, I would like first to identify these bad listening practices so that we may become aware of them and challenge ourselves to become an effective listener.

    Types of Bad Listening Practices

    First is INTERRUPTING especially when it is done to dominate and overpower the one who is speaking. Though not all interruptions are bad, however, when our interruption causes confusion, distorted information and competition, then we lose real conversation and not able to listen well.

    Second is DISTORTED LISTENING. This happens in many ways like having a wrong story, or lacking information to a story that we communicate. Sometimes  also the real story has been added with other misleading information. This is the cause of more tensions and conflicts because when we begin to communicate we pass a distorted story and distorted information. This is actually common in many communities and even organizations. This breeds gossips, malicious attacks against another and defamation. People who listen to distorted stories tend to believe it and at times even add more distortions to it.

    Third is EAVESDROPPING that involves intentional and a planned attempt to secretly listen to a conversation. Like for example, we saw some people talking in a corner then we pretend to do something until we come near them in order to listen to what they are talking about. This is indeed a bad practice because this is a violation of a person’s privacy. Moreover, people who eavesdrop tend to get wrongful information as well. This also creates, when caught, damage to inter-personal relationships and causes hurtful feelings.

    Fourth is AGGRESSIVE LISTENING. A person really listen well, however, it has the intention to ambush and attack the one who is speaking. It criticizes another person’s ideas, personalities or the characteristics of the person. This usually happens to people who are already very familiar with like couples, friends and those who have been together in a group or organization for a very long time.

    Fifth is NARCISSISTIC LISTENING. It is a self-absorbed and self-centered form of listening. We pretend to listen to a person sharing a story, however, we interrupt and bring the conversation back to ourselves. It never respects and acknowledges the feelings of the one speaking, but rather, it tries to divert the attention towards ourselves. Like for example, “Your story is nothing compared to mine,” or “if I were you, I would do like this,” or “That remind me of the time when I was (at your age/the one in charge/there in your place…)

    Sixth is PSEUDO-LISTENING. You must be familiar with a family member or a friend or someone you know who repeats a story hundreds of times and you have already memorized it. In order not to offend the person, we pretend to listen well but not. We may nod our head or even complete the sentence. This “act” is pseudo-listening. Yet, when it becomes our habit this bad listening creates negative and even painful consequences in our relationships because we do not listen well at all.

    So, what kind of bad listening behavior do we have? We may have one or more bad listening practices actually. But be aware that having such bad listening practices in our relationships do not help us and do not help the community. What God wants of us is to listen well so that we may respond well.

    Biblical Significance

    Take for example the story of Abraham. Despite the risk that he had to take by sacrificing his own son, Isaac, Abraham listened to the Lord God and responded to him. As a father, Abraham must have a heavy heart. Yet, he listened well. That was done, as the Book of Genesis told us, to test Abraham’s capacity to trust in God. Indeed, God saw the faithful heart of Abraham and spared Isaac.

    By this capacity to listen well to God’s command, Abraham became a blessing to many. By listening well to God, Abraham became the father of faith to us.

    This is the very invitation that we find in the Gospel of Mark today. The voice of the Father in Heaven tells us, “This is my beloved son. Listen to him!”

    However, notice also how Peter responded to this mystery. He interrupted and suggested to Jesus to stay there, to build three tents.

    The Gospel told us that, “Peter hardly knew what to say because they were so terrified.” Yet, at that very moment what matters most was not to say anything, but TO LISTEN.

    To speak and to interrupt was actually an temptation. Not to fully listen to what was happening would deprive Peter to understand fully the mystery that was being unfolded before them.

    Hence, the invitation was “LISTEN TO HIM!” – to listen to Jesus, to his way of life, his challenges for us, to his heart and mind. This way of life of Jesus entails struggles, pain, sacrifices, suffering, and even death. Yet, it does not end there. There is also the glorious resurrection. This is the meaning why the cloths and face of Jesus was transfigured.

    Jesus’ capacity to listen well to the Father and to respond well to the Father brings transformation. Again, this was how Abraham was transformed into a blessing to all.

    For all of us today, listen well, listen to Jesus! Listen to Jesus’ heart and mind! Do not be tempted to listen to Satan’s deception and lies. Do not listen to distorted stories! Do not listen to gossips and malicious attacks against your neighbor that intend to bring division and pain! Because when we do that, we become children of the father of lies and evil.

    Listen to Jesus! Listen to the Gospel! – that we may be transformed and become a blessing to our families, friends and communities and not become a curse to many.

    As an assignment, make it your habit to read the Bible, reflect on it and pray over it that we may able to listen to Jesus. Hinaut pa!

    [1] According to https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/5-2-barriers-to-effective-listening/

  • PAMINAW

    PAMINAW

    February 25, 2024 – Second Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm)

    Once a man approached a priest and asked, “Father, how come God seems so absent and silent? Why we don’t feel and hear him listening to us anymore as He used to be? Why does God no longer speak to us His people?” The priest sadly replied, “It is not that God no longer speaks to His people. It is that no one these days can stoop down low & silent enough to listen. No one… can stoop down low & silent enough… to listen.”

    Occasionally (if not most often) we experience the absence and silence of God in Jesus. Though we trust and believe that God is with us – the Lord is with us, we live through moments in our life where God and Jesus seem distant and silent. But is God really no longer listening and talking to us? Has he really abandoned us? Or is it we become too noisy, self-preoccupied, or high and far enough to listen to Him?

    In our gospel today, we hear that the apostles heard God saying to them: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; LISTEN to Him.” Their experience of the Lord’s transfiguration has the same very simple message: Jesus is His beloved Son – God’s gift and word to us, so we must acknowledge and listen to Him intently.

    And we can only do this – acknowledge and listen to Jesus – like the apostle, not in noise, pre-occupation, and ambitions of our hearts, but in the shadow of God’s seeming silence and absence. Only by experiencing God’s silence that we recognize God’s glory in Lord’s transfiguration, transformation in our lives and hear intently God’s will for us now.

    Sound simple, but we do know how difficult for ourselves to be deprived of and abstained from words nowadays. With a lot of things happening & going on, both our world outside & our world inside ourselves are getting noisier & noisier to the point that we cannot anymore hear ourselves & don’t know anymore how to listen to others, much more to God. If we really come to think of it, sometimes we do truly need to fast from our words so that we may become silent in order to listen to God, others & ourselves.

    We do know the destructive ill-effects of miscommunication, misinformation, & fake news to our lives today, simply because of our irresponsible use of our words & our unwillingness to listen. At this time, we should be wise-enough to be careful to use our words, for it can make life Better OR Bitter. Learn to listen first before using our words.

    It is also interesting that if we happen to play with the letters in the word: LISTEN, we may realize different levels of meaning. Try to rearrange all the letters in the word: LISTEN, and form other words using all & same letters… Well, from the word, “Listen”, we can form the words “silent” & “enlist” & nothing else. From these words: listen, silent, enlist, we may form the challenge: “Enlist oneself to be silent in order to listen”, or “Be silent, enlist oneself to listen”, or “Listen, silently enlist oneself”. All of these reflects the need to for us to willingly be quiet ourselves in order to hear what is being said. In other words, to opt for silent listening amidst our noisy words & our noisy world.

    Simply put, “Be Quiet (Don’t be noisy) for the Lord is with us and He has something to say for us. Huwag kang maingay, Narito sya at may sasabihin sa atin. Ayaw’g saba. Ania siya ug naay ika-sulti nato. Di pag-gahud, Ari siya. May inug-hambal sa aton. Jesus is God’s word for us. So, LISTEN to Him. Makinig Sa kanya. Minaw Niya ba.

    Pope Francis also once said: “People listen to radio, to TV and to gossips throughout the day, but do we take a bit a time each day to listen to Jesus?” True, we spend a lot of time listening to and knowing about others. We also may spend some time listening to and knowing about ourselves. But do we spend some time to listen to and know Jesus?

    Listening to Jesus entails praying low enough in and with God’s silence. Only in silent prayer, we can recognize Him and listen to Him. Thus, we do need to fast from our words in order to be silent enough to listen to Him.

    So next time you find yourself restless and sleepless at night, stop counting sheep. Talk to the shepherd. Pray then silently and listen to Him, for the Lord has something to say and then you will hear what He got to say, especially during this Lenten Season these days.

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

  • CHOICE

    CHOICE

    February 18, 2024 – First Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm)

    What’s the difference between Judas & Peter? We know both are trusted disciples of Jesus (Peter as the coordinator, Judas as the treasurer). Both also have failed the Lord through Peter’s denial & Judas’ betrayal. But what’s the difference between them?

    After all things happened, Judas ended and gave up his life by killing himself thus giving the risen Lord NO chance to forgive and love him again & anew. Peter however despite what happened, humbly waited until the Lord resurrection, thus giving the risen Lord the chance to forgive and love Peter again and anew.

    In other words, Repentance and Faith made the difference. Unlike Judas, Peter repented and still believed in the risen Lord – which gives the Lord the chance to forgive and love Him again and anew.

    The very basic message Jesus always preaches us is that: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand”. This is the fullest expression of God’s covenant to us – that God is already near and always here with us through His Son Jesus & the Holy Spirit.

    And as response, this Gospel of God’s blessing challenges us “To Repent and Believe the Gospel”. Amid this Good news then, all we have to do, and what is required of us is to choose repentance and faith in Jesus as our response to the good news of God’s grace upon us always.

    By our repentance and faith then, we allow and give God’s gospel a chance to forgive and love us again and anew, and in effect change our lives now for the better.

    Remember Jesus commanded us not only to repent but “to repent and believe”. This means that as much as repentance is a choice, believing the Gospel is also a choice. Obeying the command to repent and believe then is a CHOICE. Requiring someone to repent and believe is thus useless, unless repenting and believing is their own choice.

    The Gospel has already always been preached to us: “The Kingdom of God is at hand”. All we have to do now is like Peter to choose “To repent and believe the Gospel”, as we were reminded last Ash Wednesday when we received the Ashes to begin Lenten Season this year 2024.

    Lord take away everything that distance us from You. Grant us everything that bring us closer to you. Detach us from ourselves to give our all to You. So Help us God. So May it Be. Amen.

  • THE LEPROSY OF THE HEART

    THE LEPROSY OF THE HEART

    February 11, 2024 – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021124.cfm)

    Leprosy is such a terrible and horrible illness in Biblical times. People would not dare touching a person who was stricken with leprosy. Because of the foul smell from the rotten flesh of a leper, one would ran away to avoid such person. The illness was gruesome that people in biblical times would separate lepers from the community. There was no cure of such illness except a miracle from heaven. Even in the past recent past, colonies of lepers were founded in order to contain them in one place.

    In fact, I have been into one of the colonies of lepers here in our country. During my college days in the seminary in Cebu, every weekend we would spend time with the lepers in their ward and spend a night in the community.

    Today, leprosy is curable. Lepers would not suffer the same alienation and discrimination as before anymore. The sanitariums especially build for this purpose were now converted to General Hospitals. This means that leprosy is no longer a threat to the population.

    However, what remained terrible and horrible, is not anymore the leprosy of the body, but the leprosy of the heart, that continually discriminates and condemns people, that plants hatred and fosters violence, that perpetrates abuse and corruption, that is unmoved and indifferent towards the sufferings of others, and that advances personal interest at the expense of the weak and the poor.

    Hence, this is what I want to share and expound on this Sunday based on the readings that have been revealed to us. Let us revisit again the readings and discover how the Lord invites us to make our hearts clean and free from the leprosy of the heart.

    In the Book of Leviticus, an instruction was given on how to treat a person with leprosy. And since, leprosy is believed to be also a form of punishment and condemnation, a person shall declare himself, “Unclean! “Unclean!” This will warn the people nearby that there was a leprous in the midst and so they can be away.

    This also means that leper cannot stay with his/her family and friends. They were designated outside the camp, outside the affairs of the community. They were removed from the life of the community. One could imagine then, the loneliness and condemnation they received from the community. No one will touch them not even talk to them.

    There was actually a medical explanation why they were separated from the community, and that was to protect the public from such medical threat. There was no cure for such illness before. However, such treatment fostered the culture of indifference, discrimination and hostility against the sick.

    These are signs of a more terrible illness, the leprosy of the heart. These culture prevailed up to the time Jesus. As the Lord preached the Kingdom of God manifested in his many miracles, Jesus also witnessed the leprosy of the heart of the people. Those who claimed to be upright, religious and clean, where the ones who treated the lepers in the worst manner. This kind of leprosy rejects the presence of God. This kind of heart knows no mercy.

    The indifference of the public and the lack of concern promoted a culture that pushes away the lepers to the fringes of the society. They were on their own, unaided and condemned to misery. These were the reasons why any Jew would not dare talking, being near or worst touching a leper. They were afraid that they might be contaminated and become unclean like the lepers.

    However, there was a turn of events, when Jesus was in their midst. Jesus, who healed many sick people, forgave the sinners, became a glimmer of hope of the lepers. Indeed, through Jesus, lepers found hope, healing and life. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus showed this hope, healing and life through his four life-giving movements.

    First, Jesus was moved with pity. The heart of Jesus belongs to them. His is only filled with love and compassion. No discrimination. No judgment.

    Second, Jesus stretched out his hand. An action that moves out to meet the other, to encounter a person.

    Third, Jesus touched him. Jesus did what was unimaginable and what was impossible, not to impress people but to express love.

    And fourth, Jesus said, “I will do it. Be made clean!” This is what love and compassion can do. After that, the leper was immediately cleaned and healed. He was given hope, healing and a new life. The person was liberated.

    This can only come from a heart that knows how to be moved with pity, love and compassion, a heart that knows how to love and how to bring healing and life.

    However, a heart that is stricken with leprosy, it stays distant from the Lord, rejecting love and compassion. This heart is truly lonely and sad, bitter and sick.

    That is why, let us listen to what Paul reminded us in his first letter to the Corinthians, he said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Let us strive that our heart may become like Jesus, that our heart will be free from the leprosy of indifference and hatred, of violence and bitterness.

    Thus, for this Sunday, let us pray together and ask the Lord to bless our hearts, to clean and heal our hearts. I want you now to place your right hand to your heart, close your eyes and repeat after me.

    “Lord Jesus fill my heart today with love and compassion. Make my heart gentle and humble. Free and heal my heart from the disease of indifference, violence, hatred, anger, resentment and bitterness.

    Renew my heart today and make it like yours that I may be moved with compassion when I am confronted with those in need, that my heart may have the courage to take action and initiative to show kindness and generosity without asking anything in return.

    Make my heart like yours, that I may also give hope and bring healing and life. Amen.”

    Hinaut pa.