Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Sunday Homlies

  • EXPERIENCED LOVE

    EXPERIENCED LOVE

    October 31, 2021 – 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103121.cfm)

    It was once said that the Dalai Lama was invited as the keynote speaker to a gathering of world leaders. The world leaders were looking forward for this gathering to hear from the Dalai Lama about his message to the world today. They had heard and have known a lot about the Dalai Lama. Now they are excited to meet the Dalai Lama himself, and hoping that he could offer some perspectives and solutions on our world of present conflicts, strife, and divisions.

    When the Dalai Lama arrived, he was received with great honor and applause. As he stood at the podium before the world leaders, he said: “My simple message to you and to the world is “Love one another”. And then he went back to his seat and kept quiet. The world leaders were all shocked with the simplicity of his message. They commented: “That’s all. We just came to hear to such familiar message? We have heard it before. There is nothing new about his message. Does he think we don’t know about it?” They were so frustrated that some of them started to walk out and even to a point insulted the Dalai Lama and the organizer. Amidst the commotions suddenly the Dalai Lama stood up, went back to the podium and addressed the plenum. He said to them, “If you find it difficult to practice love, try not to hurt each other.”

    In our gospel today, Jesus gives us also a simple and direct message: “LOVE”. The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, your soul and mind. And to love one another as yourself.

    Like the Pharisees of his time and the world leaders in the story, we can say that we also have heard it before. There is nothing new about such message. Sad to say however Jesus has the same message for us now, especially now in the world of pandemic, division, conflicts, and political turmoil: LOVE. As it was from the beginning, now and always be, Jesus has the same message and challenge to us Christian and to the world today: LOVE.

    Be as it may nonetheless, for Jesus, to love is not just a commandment that we should be aware and conscious of. Love for Jesus is not a Concept or Idea but a Reality. Each of us have not only known about love but have experienced what and how it is to love. To love others and be loved by others then is not just a law that we should obey and observe in life, but a reality we experience and live through in life. As a song suggests, “we were born because of love”, therefore we must also live our lives in love. Because God loves us through others, we must also love God through others in return. Love is also an Action, meaning we must also do and practice love. It is not enough to just know and believe in love but we must put it into practice and proclaim love by our words and actions. To love God and loving others, then is a Decision. We love God and others because we are not commanded to do so, but because we choose to do so, we choose to love God and others.

    The commandment of Love asked of us is thus a real, active & decided Love for God and others, as experienced & lived out through our daily faith & life.

    Perhaps we ask ourselves: Do we love God with all our heart, soul and mind? Well, we might not be perfect in doing so, but that is what we are trying and resolve to do. But the best way to test our love of God is to ask, Do we love others and one another? The true measure and expression of our love for God is our love and loving others, as ourselves.  Do you love your cranky husband or wife? Do we still love our aging irritable parents? Can we still love our neighbor who cheated us, our friend who betrayed, our relative who hurt us?

    Yes, experience tells us that to love God in others is difficult. But for Jesus, in loving God, we must experience, put into practice, and choose Love in our lives and in our world today for when we do so, like the scribe who asks him, in loving we understand that we are not far from God’s kingdom.  As the Dalai Lama reminds us: “If you find it difficult to practice love, try not to hurt each other.” 

    Lord, as you have loved us, teach us also how to love you in return by choosing to loving others & one another. Amen.

  • Heart’s Desire

    Heart’s Desire

    October 24, 2021 – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102421.cfm)

    “What is your heart’s desire?” Surely we know and are familiar with the words: Your heart’s desire. It somehow describes the steering and longings of our heart directed towards something in the future or yet-to come. Its fulfillment or completion in our lives somehow drives us to move on and continue with life, as well as gives us hope and meaning to who we are now and who we will soon become. For our heart’s desire is ultimately the life we choose to be. Each of us has his/her own heart’s desire. For instance, the heart’s desire of blind Bartimaeus is to see. As well as, to speak is the heart’s desire of a dumb and mute. To walk is the heart’s desire of a lame. To be free again is the heart’s desire of a prisoner. To love is the heart’s desire of a lover. And, we do need to always be in touch, claim, and do something with our heart’s desire for this is what God also desires of us. And Bartimaeus has a lot to teach us about claiming, asserting, and working on our heart’s desire in faith.

    We hear in our gospel today not only how he was healed of his blindness, but above all, how Bartimaeus gained his sight through the mercy and miracle of Jesus. As Jesus was about to leave Jericho, Bartimaeus took his last chance for Jesus to hear his heart’s desire of gaining sight. Despite interruptions and hindrances of others, through the blind man’s insistent for His mercy, Jesus finally heard and asked him: “What do you want me to do for you?” Here then, Bartimaeus expressed before the Lord his deepest pleasure, his heart’s desire in life: to see, to gain sight. A great miracle happened indeed, a blind man can now see. And all of this happened also because of the blind man’s faith in Jesus as well as in His heart’s desire.

    From this, Bartimaeus may also teach us how to be faithful as well as to gain and receive our heart’s desire from our Lord.

    1. Be humble. Like Bartimaeus, we need to Learn to cry “Lord, have mercy” “Junim, jabirul bepusoso. O Dios, Ma-awa ka, Ginoo, Maluoy ka kanamo”. We do need to humbly recognize and believe Jesus as our Lord who grants us our heart’s desire – our life we want & choose to be. We cannot be and have such life on our own, we need the Lord. 
    2. Never allow others to stop you. Despite discouragements or hindrances from others, honor and claim your heart’s desire before the Lord, for as promised “whoever asks, receives, seeks finds, knocks and be opened”. Don’t let others dampen, constraint and gagged your heart’s desire because by the end of the day – it is your heart’s desire, the life you choose to be before the Lord. Pray and ask for it then, regardless of others, and above all commit to it.
    3. Let go of the past. Like Bartimaeus, we need to learn how to get up and move on in life. For us to live in and through our heart’s desire, we must learn how to let go of our past cloak – our past life of blindness, disabilities and limitations. If we are to live the life we want to be, we must also be willing to leave behind and be detached of our life as it is and as before, for with our heart’s desire, life will never be the same again, but now better than before.
    4. Follow the Lord. Gaining his sight, Bartimaeus went on not his way but followed the Lord’s way. Jesus gave him not only sight but also offered sacred life with God by following Jesus.  We can thus fully live our heart’s desire through our discipleship – by following the Lord, being Christian. Away and apart from Him, we lose our way, our life, and our desire.

    Indeed, as our Psalm proclaims “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy” since we are reminded today that our God is a hands-on God who never denies us our heart’s desire, and even continues until now to do miracles & get things in our life to offer us a life better than we desire. And such great blessing and opportunity require our faith in Jesus with humility, commitment, detachment and discipleship.

    Now, if & when the Lord asks you: “What do you want me to do for you?” in other words: “What is your heart’s desire?”, what would then be your response?

    Continue your miracles of great things in us, Lord. Make us own our heart’s desire before you, for as we follow you in life, we trust that You will what is better for us now and always. Amen.

  • WANTED: Responsible Leaders

    WANTED: Responsible Leaders

    October 17, 2021 – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101721.cfm)

    “Great power comes with great responsibility”. Surely you have heard of these words before. These are the very words of Peter Parker alias “Spiderman” and the very message of the movie “Spiderman 1”. Perhaps you may have only heard these words now, Stan Lee, the creator of the cartoon-animation “Spiderman” however is wise-enough to remind and teach us that indeed “Great power comes with great responsibility”. And the same message we can learn from our gospel today.

    In today’s gospel, we hear how the disciples were indignant and quarrelling about some members who were asking from the Lord for favor. Wanting to have a share in the coming Lord’s glory, all of them were into power-tripping and power-struggle as to who is and should be the greatest amongst them. Not giving in to their own hunger for power and greatness, Jesus instead reminds them of His mission and identity as “not to be served, but to serve and to lay down one’s life for the many”. He also warns them of the demands of following Him towards God’s glory and salvation. For Jesus, to have a share in God’s glory by means of following Him as His disciples, requires great responsibility, for it involves power and authority as well as coming persecutions and sufferings. To be disciple of Jesus – to be His follower towards God’s salvation and glory then is indeed not only a great honor and privilege but moreso, a great responsibility. Thus “Great power comes with great responsibility.”

    Like his disciples of old, we do wish to have a share and privilege in God’s glory. As we try our best to follow the Lord in our life now, we also do need to be great and to feel great in life. Normally we do need to be recognized, acknowledged, and rewarded for all our efforts and struggles in life. We do aspire for a place – a honorable seat or office in God’s glory. We do want to be credited and honored for ourselves at the Lord’s glory in God’s salvation. Be as it may, Jesus however teaches us a lot today about having our share in His glory and God’s greatness.

    First, to be in God’s greatness is not all about us, you and I, having a share but moreso about we having participated and involved in God’s work of salvation for all. Being in God’s greatness then is not all about we having honored, credited, and rewarded with God’s glory, but instead about how we allow ourselves to be instruments of God’s grace to and for others. In others words, our greatness in God’s glory is not about us – being great, but about how God’s glory and greatness are revealed in us and shared through us. Moreover, our greatness in God’s glory lies in our selfless service for God and others. To be great in God’s glory is possible then because we serve and can serve God and others. By our loving service for God others, we can be great. As Jesus reminds us, greatness is not about being first and lording over others, but instead about being servant of all. And above all, our greatness in God’s glory happens whenever we take responsibility for God and others.

    Having a share then in God’s glory aims at giving one’s life for many – i.e. to be responsible leaders for God and others than oneself.

    Simply said then, we may and can have a share of our own greatness & power in God’s glory if and whenever we allow ourselves to participate in God’s work of salvation now by our loving service and being responsible for God and others more than own selves. As a wise man once said, “Your gifts are not about you; your leadership is not about you; your purpose is not about you. A life of significance is about Serving those who need your gifts, your leadership and your purpose.” Greatness then comes not only with power but also responsibility and service for other than oneself.

    As nowadays election fever & politicking virus is in the air, beyond buying & selling power & greatness, at the end of the day, we don’t need great & powerful leaders but we want & choose Responsible Leaders for such political power & authority requires Responsibility.

    With these thoughts, we pray with St. Ignatius…

    Dearest Lord,

    Teach us to be generous, teach us to serve you as we should, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and ask not for reward, save that of knowing that I do you most Holy will. Amen. 

  • THE STORY OF US

    THE STORY OF US

    October 10, 2021 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101021.cfm)

    In a recent Facebook post, a young man named Seth Adam Smith who, after being married for a year and a half, realized, and said: “Marriage is not for me.” Why…? After all these months of marriage, eventually he comes to appreciate that his father’s advice before his wedding. Before wedding, His dad said to him: “Seth, Marriage is not for you. You don’t marry to make yourself happy. You marry to make someone else happy. More than that, marriage is not for yourself. You are marrying for a family and for your future children. Marriage is not for you. It is not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”

    Surely married couples could relate to such realization or advice. For marriage is indeed not really for the sake of oneself but for the sake of your lifetime partner. Eventually married couple has to learn along the way that marriage is not all about “I” or about “Me” but all about “US”. And surely such realization is a hard-learned lesson, for such wisdom only happens through trial-and-error experiences. To be selfless, i.e. to be not selfish and self-centered then is the very challenge of committed love we called marriage. For love is more than just a feeling or emotion but a commitment and decision to go beyond and give up oneself for the sake of the other.

    In other words, in marriage – in committed love, couples are to love their own spouse and children as much more than they love themselves and one another. Their love should be other-oriented than self-directed. A married life in committed love is thus, not for your own but for the sake of your loved ones and for the sake of loving them, same way as Jesus loved us. Love then should not be a story of I nor a story of me, but is & should be a story of us.

    In our gospel today, wanting more than just observing and obeying God’s commandments, the rich man asked Jesus for an advice as to how to inherit eternal life. As Jesus, with and in love, counselled and challenged him to give up and share everything to the poor and follow Jesus instead, the rich man however went away sad for he had many possessions. With this, we hear Jesus’ well-known words, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom” – harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. And sadly, we also unwittingly misquote & misuse these words as our usual excuse for our failures and shortcomings in life-commitment, as well as for thinking and even believing that God’s salvation and eternal life is difficult, impossible, and even exclusive only for the few.

    Nonetheless Jesus teaches us in our gospel today that Eternal life with God’s salvation is more than just our longing for sacredness and holiness in life, and our search for contentment and happiness in life. For Jesus, life with God is all about having and being in covenant & committed relationship with God. In other words, eternal life is all about being married to God, and also requires of us to have Marriage with God. No wonder why ordained, consecrated, and married life is sometimes described as: “a life married to God” for it is indeed a marriage – a loving commitment to God. And since eternal life is our Marriage to God, we may also say that our marriage to God is not FOR us, because committed life with God is not about us, and not for ourselves alone, but for the sake of, and all about God’s glory and salvation for all others than just us.

    Jesus also somehow teaches us today that like any marriages, our life with God involves detachment, charity, and discipleship. Same way as the rich man is asked to give up and share everything to the poor. To live life with God, we must also learn detachment, i.e. how to give up, even deny ourselves, and share what we have to other and for others. As married to-God people, our life: our time, talent, and treasure are not for us alone but for God and others than ourselves. Life with God also requires us to be and do everything with and for charity, i.e. not for a prize or reward, but for free and out of love, and in responsibility for others.

    And above all, life with God is to be a disciple – a follower of Jesus in life. As people married to God, we must also then learn to lead our lives same way as Jesus lives, serves, and loves God and others. Detachment, Charity, and Discipleship are somehow key ingredients in our Marriage to God, and as to any committed-relationship as well.

    As Jesus forewarned us, difficult and impossible for us it may be, such life in marriage to God is also possible, since “All things are possible For God”. In other words, Life with God is possible and meaningful, if and when we do things and have our being not for ourselves but for God’s sake, and for others than ourselves.

    Lord guide us continually in life for us to know God deeply, love Him dearly, and follow Him faithfully especially now, during these trying pandemic time & always. Amen.  

  • ANGELS WITH ONE WING

    ANGELS WITH ONE WING

    October 3, 2021 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100321.cfm)

    A wise man once said, “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.”

    Reflecting on these words, such wisdom somehow reflects our daily experience and journey of being human and Christian in this life. Human as we are, these words of wisdom affirm our being HOLY – our promise and desire to be holy and sacred in life. But Holy may we be, these words also reveal our being HUMAN – our limitations and constraints to become holy in life. “Angels with one wing” somehow describes our aspirations and our frustrations of being and becoming Human and Holy in this life, and highlights our experience of loneliness – of being alone in life, and our need for one another as well.

    However, as these words of wisdom suggest we can only fulfill our longing for sacredness in our human nature, by way of flying via embracing each other. This calls for us then not to be weighed down by our human limits, but to fly – that is to resolve and commit ourselves to rise up and respond to the occasion and chance to become angels in life. And also this calls us to do the flying together in relationship along and with one another. In other words, we are inter-related. Only by flying-journeying with others – not by walking alone, each and all of us can reach the destination we are promised and we longed for in life, as “angels with one wing.”

    Surely our readings today can teach us a lot of things about our life-experiences of being Holy & Human. But aside from the themes of creation, marriage, divorce, adultery, parents and children, our readings today are all about our human need to have a committed relationship in life, i.e. to be in covenant relationship with God and with one another.

    We are told in our first reading today that as God created us, He also sees our human need to have a partner in life for “It is not good for man to be alone” and even animals and pets are not enough for us. He ensures a suitable human partner for us in life, so that we can leave our parents and be with our God-given partner in life. God thus has created us not to be alone and/or be with our parents, but to be with our own God-given suitable partners, for us to live the life God has created us to be. Jesus in our gospel today reminds us not to block and be a hindrance in letting ourselves and others to come to God and live the life God has called us to be, and challenge us to remain faithful and steadfast in our relationship with one another as we live our life-mission God has called us to be as well.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/zencat/43327230/

    Both readings give importance to our human need to have and be in a committed relationship as God sees & wills it. More than just having a friendly, convenient, and secure relationship in life, God appreciates that we, human as we are, should be committed to the life God has chosen us to be, and to live such-committed life in relationship with our own suitable partner God has destined us to be with. In other words, though with one wing, we should be angels – flying, coming to God’s glory, rising up and committing to the occasion to live the life God has called us to be, and by means of interdependence, embracingly flying/journeying in relationship with our God-given suitable partners in life.

    Perhaps beyond our concern for our civil status or even FB Profile status, whether we are Single-Married, In relationship, in love or Complicated, we should moreso ask ourselves, “Am I committed to the life God has called me now to be? Am I also in a covenant-relationship with my God-given suitable partner in the journey?” Simply asked, “Am I committed and committing to where I am going and with-whom I am going with toward the life God has chosen me and us to be?”

    Nowadays we hear loud noises proclaiming “Walang Forever”, i.e. there is no promise of forever, eternity, constancy and always in life. True it may be for those who cannot commit, who refuse to rise to the occasion but be remain burdened by their limits and choose to be on their own and alone in their own life-struggles, still dependent on their own parents and others. But “There is forever, always, and eternal life”… for commit-able people, people who can commit, still committed and committing to live the life God has chosen them to be and to the partner they are to be with. We could say also that committed relationships are measured by faithfulness & not by success, for our journey in life is not about gaining heights but moreso about remaining steadfast/faithful in our efforts to fly & journey along with others.  

    Though not of this world but in this world, Christian and human as we are, we are Holy and Sacred for we are also God’s children and Jesus’ brothers and sisters. And difficult it may be, we can always be holy and sacred in this life, if and whenever we commit to the life God has called us to be and to the suitable partner God has given us to be with.

    Again as the saying goes:

    “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.” With these words, most especially during these trying pandemic times, may we learn and grow with holiness despite our human limits, in our Christian lives today. Amen.