Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Sunday Homlies

  • What God Can Do with a “NOBODY”…

    What God Can Do with a “NOBODY”…

    July 9, 2023 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070923.cfm)

    Of all human vices, pride is the greatest and highest evil. Compared to selfishness, greed and lust, pride is more dangerous. For example, temper is what gets us into trouble, but pride is what keeps us in trouble. As what the man who caused a bad accident with road rage on others, said: “Good for him. He has been road-cutting & racing with me. See, who is the best of us, now?” (“Ahh, maayo ra pud. Sige man gud na siya’g mikiglumba nako. Na tagam. Unya kinsa may hawod nato ron, bi?)”

    Jesus in the Gospel gives praise to his Father for his love of the simple and the humble. After proclaiming the Good News to different towns & villages, and revealing Himself as the Son of God, Jesus was rejected & not recognized by most people except some few others. “I thank you Father,” he says, “that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to simple people.” He said these words because of his experience of pride that corrupts the proud-hearted, and also those who are pained & devastated due to the pride of others. Jesus did not condemn intelligence; what he condemns here is intellectual pride, that does not only cause people to sin & in the state of sinfulness, but above all, blocks people to receive & recognize the Good News being offered right in from of them.

    Due to pride, our hearts, minds, souls, & persons may be corrupted, closed, stony & even beyond redemption. And whenever we think or consider ourselves better, more, or superior than others, the sin and vice of pride are at work, and always dangerous. And so, be warned & beware of our Pride for it would take lots of humbling experiences for us to finally swallow or surrender our pride.

    That is why Jesus praised the humble & simple-hearted little ones, because they are open to recognize & receive God’s graces & blessings in their lives. Because they know that they don’t know & accept their ignorance & limits, the humble & meek ordinary people are wise-enough to be familiar with & to readily recognize the Messiah-with-us whom God reveals to us. God’s grace is really upon us & remains always with us, in humility, not pride; with the humble, not the proud.

    Jesus also challenges us here to be humble, simple & ordinary with our faith in Him. He calls us to deny ourselves, carry our crosses & follow Him. Meaning, he simply what us to live our lives with Him. He does not require us to study or understand, but to accept, recognize & believe in Him. Not to bear Him in our pride & sinfulness, but to take on the cross & responsibility for His mission of redemption for all. And we can only fulfill all these by means of our humble, simple, ordinary faith & life witness, & not through our pride.

    A biblical scholar once said, “Moses spent forty years thinking he was Somebody, then he spent another forty years in the desert realizing that he was Nobody; but finally, he spent the last forty year of his life, learning what God can do with a Nobody! 

    Remember, even the most uneducated or illiterate among us could understand and live with the mysteries of God’s kingdom, if we are simple and humble of heart and mind before God and others. 

    Lord, remove pride in our hearts & keep us always humble & simple, and Your better plans, ways & will be done in us always & forever. Amen.

  • Of Being Social-Distanced

    Of Being Social-Distanced

    July 2, 2023 – 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070223.cfm)

    During these past few years, we come to experience and be familiar with the term: “social distancing”. To protect ourselves from Corona Virus infection, nowadays we normally resort to social distancing. To avoid being infected by others or possibly infect others as well, we now set apart and maintain a safe distance from others as we assume that the world around us is still sick, and we can easily get sick. Safe and practical it is and would be, social distancing is never been that easy as observed and practiced. Simply because social distancing is particularly painful to us  for it requires of us not only the physical bodily distance but also the  experience of being and feeling isolated, lonely and cast-out/cast-off from one another. Being physically quarantined, isolated, set apart, distanced, marginalized, suspected, and monitored could make us also personally feel marginalized, segregated, ostrasized, stigmatized, outcasted, feared, unwelcome, abandoned, lost and forgotten. With or without viral pandemic, physical and social distancing has always been painful and difficult (even traumatic) experience for all of us for it deprives us of our need for personal intimacy, closeness and relationships. In other words, social distancing hurts because it is not only physical but also personal.

    It is but natural and life-giving for us to connect, relate and interact as persons. More just being social animals, social inter-actions and interpersonal relationships are very important dimension of our lives. And a song would insist, “No man is an island.. No one stands alone.” We are not just being with others but we are human PERSONS with others. We grow, live and thrive in life as community of persons: Persons related and relating with others personally. That is why to live life alone, distance, and isolated is difficult, painful and discouraging indeed.

    Our readings today reminds of the great value of our interpersonal relationships both in life and faith. Jesus in our gospel today appeals for us to “receive me”, “love me”, “follow me”. He invites us to have a personal intimate relationship with Him. Like any of us, he wants us to be close to Him as much as He wants to be close with us personally. Being Christian, as Paul emphasized, we are WITH Christ: personally related with Jesus in death, life and resurrection. And like in the first reading, to be personally welcoming  and hospitable host to our guests would blessed and graced us with the gifts of their person, to receive and love the person Jesus in our lives personally is to personally be with and share with His divine life with our Father.

    Personal intimacy, closeness and connected with Jesus and with one another as community is indeed promising and life-giving. While social distancing and isolation is sickening and life-threatening indeed.

    While we suffer physically and personally with social distancing  for safety and protection from infection, we may take this trying times as opportunity for us to review, reflect and renew the quality of our personal relationships with God, with our family and friends and our community. Just because we are physically constrained and apart, it does not mean we are not and cannot anymore be connected with one another personally. Distancing thus could also be a chance to improve the quality of our faith, personal life and inter-personal relationships.

    For instance, social distancing may had deprived of us then to celebrate Sunday Eucharist and worship as community of faith, but it could also make us improve the quality of our Spiritual Communion with Jesus and our participation as we hope and look forward to the coming opportune time for celebration. We also may find more quantity and quality time and improved lifestyle with our own selves and with our loved ones now, and thus be in touch with most essential and important in ones life.

    In other words, since social distancing is personal, so let us make it more personal, let us get more and Better Personal…. And improve the Quality of our personal, social and spiritual life during this time.

    On my fifty-ish age and have gone thru my silver years as Redemptorist missionary priests, perhaps my musings below could be of assistance in reflecting about our experience of social distancing nowadays:

    “Paradox of being with others”

    Along the way, we suffer two things being with others: too much & too little – of closeness and distance. Too much and too little Closeness & too much and too little Distance. Coping with these both blocks our growth in relationships as well as forms and sharpens us to be better person for and with others. Ultimately it moves us to be intimately independent as well as independently intimate with one another.

    As we are personally in faith with the Lord, may we communally not be separated from Him and one another,  and  may we not lose life but rather find Life meaningfully. Amen.

  • LORD, IN YOUR GREAT LOVE ANSWER ME

    LORD, IN YOUR GREAT LOVE ANSWER ME

    June 25, 2023 – 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062523.cfm)

    Have you been so angry with a person that you imagine how you would take your revenge? You thirst for justice, you seek for vengeance because you were so hurt, insulted or humiliated. Yet, you are powerless. You feel desperate because there seemed to be no justice. There seemed to be no one to stand and fight with you.

    Such was the feeling of Prophet Jeremiah. The first reading tells us about this kind of desperation. The prophet portrays to us a turbulent time in the City of Jerusalem because a powerful nation was about to invade them. Though there was a resistance to it but it was not enough. People were afraid.

    Thus, the Book of Jeremiah confirms that there was terror all around! People were aware of it but many chose to whisper it only. They did not want to stand up and fight. As people, they were afraid of this powerful nation. It was too overwhelming for them. This was perhaps the reason why they only whispered about it.

    This prophet among the people could not just stand and passively see it unfolding. Jeremiah stood up for them with all his might. However, at his back, his enemies were also plotting on how to bring him down. Even his friends betrayed him and wanted his destruction.

    These were the situations surrounding the life of Prophet Jeremiah, that is why, we also find his prayer quite aggressive. Jeremiah prayed for revenge to be delivered by God. He prayed for the destruction of the enemies. Jeremiah prayed, “let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause.” Indeed, this is a prayer born out of desperation and hunger for justice and freedom.

    The same plea we can also find in today’s Psalm, “Lord, in your great love, answer me.” There is so much terror in life. So much fear and anxiety that has caused our life to be disturbed. This is the same feeling that we too might be are experiencing now especially as we face conflicts and problems in our life. Thus, the Psalm, is indeed, our prayer also.

    In the midst of many threats in our life perpetrated by the those with wealth and in power, or by those who wished for our destruction and defamation, the words of Jeremiah in the first reading reechoes, “The Lord shall rescue the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.” This is hope, not an empty promise of God.

    Moreover, in the Letter of Paul to the Romans, the apostle reminds us of the great grace, a gift from God that we have received. The gracious gift is Jesus. Through Jesus, grace overflows for the many. He light in the midst of darkness. He is grace in the midst of sin. He is hope in the midst of desperation.

    Let that grace, then, to overflow from our heart to those in need. Let our devotion, our faith to overflow through our generous actions and words. The Gospel of Matthew speaks to us of this. “What I say to you in darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Meaning, as God comes to rescue us in our difficulties, as God gives us enough grace as we face our own battles whatever that be, as God reveals his presence in our desperate moments – we are called to share them to others too. As we encounter God in those dark moments of our life, let us also bring God with us in the light.

    Remember also, Jesus reminds us three times in the Gospel today not to be afraid. As we are called to translate our Christian faith in concrete ways, never hesitate and be afraid to stand up for what is right and just, to show your kindness to others and to express boldly your faith through your generosity to those in need. Hinaut pa.

  • GLOCAL

    GLOCAL

    June 18, 2023 – Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061823.cfm)

    In our gospel today, Jesus summoned his disciples, and gave them authority to heal every disease and sickness. He made his disciples share his authority and mission to preach the good news of salvation to all. He commissioned them and gave them the tasks to be preachers and evangelizers of God’s kingdom. Jesus added however that they should start, not elsewhere, but at home.

    Since then and until now, as followers of Christ, we share the same authority and commission with the disciples to preach and witness the reign of God’s kingdom to all in our world today. And in the same way, we are to establish & begin in our own homes, families, and communities.

    Start locally and then… globally. Or we may say…. Go GLOCAL.

    Considering that in doing our tasks and mission as evangelizers and preachers of God’s kingdom, there is always a tendency or even a temptation for us to blame the evil in the world on others, and to reach out for our poor brothers and sisters in need who are far-away from us. But as Jesus would insist, we start to live our faith and practice what we preach in our own homes, in our own neighborhood and communities. As he said to “go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…for the Kingdom of heaven IS AT HAND”, Jesus thus requires us to perform our mission to – our people nearby, rather than pagan territory, because the Kingdom – the Good News is up and coming available right here right now. In other words, Charity begins locally at home.

    For who are our neighbors? Our neighbor is the immediate person we live with, who needs our immediate attention and care. We don’t have to go out to help others far from us. We start with our kasambahay, kapamilya, family, relatives, friends & associates. We start to correct and clean the evils and sinfulness in our homes before we deal with our world outside. We try to witness our faith with people nearby by making our lives now better to live in.

    Remember it was only later, during Jesus’ ascension that the disciples were sent to all the nations of the world. Start locally and then globally. Begin in your own homes nearby and then, expand & extend into the world.

    Being called & sent to be His missionaries today, with Our Mother of Perpetual Help, let this be our prayer : “Lord, grant me the grace to be what You want me to be, and to do what You want me to do, not there & later, but here & now at this very moment.” Amen.

  • Banquet

    Banquet

    June 11, 2023 – Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061123.cfm)

    In almost all of Filipino houses there is a picture of Last Supper near their dining table. Have you ever wondered why in all places such picture of the Lord’s last supper is hanged near the dining table?

    This is because we, Filipinos love celebrations. We like to be part of big party or fiesta. Basically, we are meal-oriented people. We like to eat, and mealtimes are important and meaningful activity for us. Yes, we like to eat, but we like to eat together. We eat not only for nourishment but for companionship as well. For us, eating is not only a usual routine of nourishing our own physical body, but also a common activity of strengthening relationship and bonding. That is why we eat together not for the food, but for the companionship and covenant it brings. Mealtime for us is not only the time to eat, but also the opportunity to encounter – to experience one another.  This is why we don’t like to eat alone. We like to eat with companion, because for us, meals, eating, tables would mean celebrations, table-fellowship, sharing, bonding, rituals, and communion.

    The word ‘companion’ is a lovely word. It comes from two Latin words: cum which means “with”, and panis which means bread. So a ‘companion’ literally means someone whom I share bread with. And it is not everyone that you enjoy having meal with. There has to a bonding – a relationship first, which is deepened by the sharing of food and drink. Usually, by inviting a person to a meal, we seal our contracts, we show acceptance and approval. We know that once you are invited to take part in their table – to eat with them, it would mean that you are already accepted.  You become one of them. You belong to them.

    This is why we like the picture of the Last Supper hanging on near our dinner table because we want to be part of Lord’s celebration of life.  Taking our meals in front of the picture of the Last Supper, whatever the food is, whether lechon or bulad or ginamos, would mean we want to be a companion of Jesus and his disciples in their party celebration. Meaning, we like to renew and strength our faith-relationship with him. We want to be accepted and belong to His community. We like to be part of His family-banquet, His party. And All of these are greatly done and signified until now in our table-fellowship in the Lord’s Eucharist, in our celebration of the Holy Mass. 

    Today, we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. Today, we recognize and celebrate Christ’s continuing Presence and His binding promise of love and redemption to us, through His gift of Himself in a form of bread and wine.

    Our readings today remind us that as in life we feed ourselves with food, the Lord also feed us with His food, not only to nourish us but also to strengthen our covenant relationship with Him. Jesus in our gospel today specially has offered us His body and blood, as our inheritance of God’s manna in the Holy Eucharist. By sharing us Himself in body and blood, Jesus sealed us new covenant-relationship with God.

    And because of this, we are continually nourished by God’s graces and we are in communion with Christ’s eternal life. In other words, through His body and blood, Jesus is offering us not only God’s food for our faith-life journey but also a meal-time party (or a food trip) with God. That is why every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we are in covenant or in companionship with God, with Jesus, and with one another. Thus, through our table-fellowship as family and community in our celebrations of the Lord’s Eucharist every Sunday and also as Filipino in front of the picture of the Lord’s Supper, we are united with the Lord and we take part with His glory and work of redemption. 

    Perhaps if we say nowadays, “We are what we eat and who we eat with” (Anong kinain at sino ang kasama ay Tayo), in attending Eucharist, we as Christian proclaim that through the body and blood of Jesus we are having party-meal (food trip/ breaking bread) with God now and always.

    Today is a great celebration, a great salu-salo, kainan or fiesta party in the whole Church. This is the day that we, as Church renew and strengthen our covenant-relationship, our companionship with God by breaking and sharing God’s manna, the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ with one another. May we as community of Christ-believers always be nourished by God and remained bonded with God through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.