Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Sunday Homlies

  • “What are your plans? What’s next?”

    “What are your plans? What’s next?”

    June 21, 2020 – 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062120.cfm)

    “What are your plans? What’s next?”

    Perhaps nowadays we find ourselves confronted quite frequently with these questions about our near future, as raised to us by others and/or even we ask personally ourselves. However, unlike before when it was easy to see opportunities ahead, today’s quarantined and lockdown world during pandemic times renders our foreseeable future bleak and unpredictable. Wherever, whatever, whenever and however we find ourselves now, to plan ahead for what we want to happen next is quite difficult and challenging. This is not only because possible opportunities for our future can be impossible to discern and predict, but also the normal lives we used to live with have to adjust and adapt to the new and unfamiliar realities of the pandemic world and times we now live in. Whether we like it or not, our life is changing. Our world is changing, We are changing. Challenging it is to deal with and manage our present realities, how much more difficult than it is to foresee and make  plans for the near future.

    And it is and would be difficult and challenging for everybody. Making plans would surely be difficult for people who know what they want, for they also see how limited and constricted they can now be, considering available resources, mobility, programs, systems and schedules. It would also be much challenging for people who does not know readily what they want because they have to tend first to the immediate needs of others. We think here of people who are in helping professions, those who are in the frontlines of public services, medical-mental-spiritual health, education, and above all our parents who have to postpone, numb and even forego their own personal plans just to accommodate and address other people’s needs while also worrying about available resources and possibilities. We could understand then that raising the question now about future plans can be difficult and challenging, if not, already distressing and depressing. How game-changing indeed our world  now we live in.

    Somehow however, we may also wander what would Jesus say about our plans. What would Jesus say about our difficult and challenging realities now and ahead?

    Like a teacher giving pointers to students before an exam or a coach giving advices to players during the game, we hear Jesus in our gospel today telling His disciples and us now words like: “Fear no one… do not be afraid… worry not… you are worthy… acknowledge me… have faith.” As we struggle with our present life and worry about our future, Jesus is saying us here words of assurance, encouragement, affirmation, faith and confidence on us, as His on-going guidance and directives for us. Moreover, Jeremiah & our Psalm today also reminded us how God protects and answers those who remain faithful and loyal to Him in the midst of life-adversities, same way as Paul wants us to recognize the promise of God’s grace and Christ’s gift that “overflow for the many”. What is very important here is that God has a plan in Jesus; and we are to acknowledge, believe and trust in it. Somehow in our game of life – stable or changing it might be, we need to believe and trust that “God got our backs for He has a plan for us”.

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    It is once said: “When we get what we want, that is God’s Direction. When we don’t get what we want, that is God’s Protection.” True indeed, when our wants and plans are in sync with God’s plan, we are being directed on the right track.  But when our plans and wants are not in sync with God’s plan, we are being protected for we are off the tracks. This is not about us  surrendering to fate or have an irresponsible “do or die, que sera sera” attitude towards life, but is all about doing our part, involving with and being responsible not only for our own actions and plans but moreso, in God’s grand plans and ways of being in life. Not getting what we want while also not knowing and unsure of what our next plans then is perhaps God’s way of protecting us from possible failure and death, and His constant invitation to believe in Him and trust in His plans for us.

    So, what’s the next plan?

    Since God got and has a plan for us in Christ, we abide and trust in His plans, His directions, and His protection…. That’s the Plan. In other words, Be part of God’s plan.

    And may this be our prayer to Him: “As we abide in Your plans during these trying times, Thanks you, Lord for protecting us from what we thought we wanted, and for blessing us with what we don’t know we needed.” Siya nawa. Hinaut pa unta. Kabay pa. Amen.

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

  • Body and Blood of Christ

    Body and Blood of Christ

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    June 14, 2020 – Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061420.cfm)

    If you wish to experience and appreciate the unique culture of other people, try their local cuisine. Aside from their usual cultural sights and sounds, literatures, routine & rituals, exploring the local common & exotic food offers us a taste of the local people’s culture. Local food industry & food tourism have been thriving businesses nowadays because we would like to have a taste and sense of local culture. We do know that there is more to food than just as a source and nourishment. Food mirrors the peculiar resources, quality, and meanings of the culture and lifestyle of the local families and community. For instance, the famous Korean Kimchi “pickled cabbage” has been a common substitute food in Korea to augment during scarce, difficult, icy-cold winter season. We only need to hear the stories behind those local exotic food and delicacies to understand the meaning behind the special taste those food can offer. In the same manner, we get to know people by the food they eat and the people they eat with. We might even say nowadays: “You are what you eat, and who you eat with” or “The food you eat reflects who you are and the company you keep.” Like, a vegetarian eats vegetables with vegetarians. Meat-eater parties with meat-eaters. Drinkers hangs-out with drunkards. We somehow tend to identify ourselves with our intakes and diet, and with those who share with our health lifestyle.

    Food has also been a unique faith expression and extension of our Catholic faith and culture. By our celebration of Eucharist, we come to articulate and others come to experience the value and meaning of the Consecrated Host we worship, share and partake. Since for us Catholic, the bread we partake in the Eucharist provides us not only spiritual sustenance and nourishment, but also the reason, meaning & mission to live, and the promise and hope for a better life with God.

    Our first reading today reminds us how God has taken care of us His people in our life-journey by providing and feeding us bread from heaven. This manna, the bread from heaven, is not our usual cuisine, but God’s special exotic food for us – “which neither you and your ancestors are acquainted”.  This food is not only for sustenance and nourishment but also as medicine “to humble you, to test you – to know what is in your heart & in the end to do you good.” God’s manna then is God’s health intervention and medication for our spiritual healing and well-being. It is God’s dietary food supplement to detoxify us and to boost our spiritual immune system that “let you afflicted with hunger, fed you with food unknown, in order to know that not by bread alone does on live, but in every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord”. And in our gospel today, Jesus proclaims that He is the manna, the bread of life from heaven. He is God’s food given to us to live our live now purposely and to the fullness. Our daily bread, food-consumptions is not enough and cannot sustain us in life apart from Jesus who is God’s word, God’s bread/food of life from heaven.

    This is how significant the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist for our Catholic culture and lifestyle. Jesus is God’s way of forming, nourishing, protecting, making us grow and healthy in our faith and life with God in the world. As Jesus wants us to “do this in memory of me”, following, celebrating, taking on God’s diet and Jesus’ lifestyle are somehow the way forward we can opt to live and we can share with others in life. We are Christians because we take on Christ. He is our food in our life journey. People come to see and “taste” our Catholic Christian faith by and in our communion of the Body and Blood in the Eucharistic celebration.

    The past few months of CoVID-19 pandemic has been particularly difficult for us Catholic. As our life has been abruptly interrupted and our world has ben partly changed (and still changing unpredictably), our physical, mental and spiritual health have been in distress and crisis. For quite sometime now, we are deprived of public celebration of Holy Eucharist due to social distancing, quarantine and lockdown. It has infected and affected also our spiritual nourishment. As we worry for our daily food and consumption, we do need also to take care of and nourish our spiritual hygiene, immune system and well-being.

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    As we celebrate today Corpus Christi Sunday, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, let our present spiritual malnourishment and deprivation to commune with Jesus our bread of life from heaven during the every Eucharistic celebration, make us hunger and long more for Him, and properly dispose us to receive Him once again & taste God’s food for our life, soon enough as allowed.

    Deprived of, set apart from and hungry now for the Body of Christ, with St. Aphonsus de Liguori, let this be our prayer of Spiritual Communion:

    “My, Jesus, I believe you are really present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion now, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me be drift away and separated from you. Amen.”

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

  • Relationship Status Update…

    Relationship Status Update…

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    June 7, 2020 – Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060720.cfm)

    What is your relationship status? The state of your relationships – your being with others? 

    Social media netizens nowadays have the option to post in public their own relationship status in their profile. This is more than just about their usual civil status of being single, married or separated, but more so about the description of the present state and quality of their relationship with an-other special person: be it in-love, complicated, available, committed and others. (perhaps same way as MU: mutual understanding and SS/DU: Sikit-Sikit/Dili Uyab, as we used to describe before).

    As others may concern about their relationship status, we might as well consider our relationship status at the time of social distancing in today’s pandemic world. Quarantine and social distancing have rendered us nowadays isolated and distance from others and with one another. And surely this has affected the quality of our relationships with others: be it too/less close or far; too/less deep or hollow, too/less presence or absence. Social distancing during pandemic has deeply and uniquely affected our social relationships. While it may have shaken and threatened our family, community and love life to possible break-up, dryness and dying, we could not deny also that our distance from and/or being “stuck” at-home with them may have also re-ignited, rekindled, renewed, and deepen our relationships with another. So also as we consider our relationship status during these times, healthy for us to consider our faith status – our relationship with our God: on how social distancing have affected the state and quality of our relationship with God.

    Today, first Sunday after Easter Season, is Solemnity of Most Holy Trinity or simply called Trinity Sunday. More than just a reminder of our Christian faith in the Triune (the three in one) nature of our God, our celebration today invites us to reconsider our relationship status with God. 

    In our gospel, (as the key text and core message of St. John’s gospel), Jesus gives us the description of the status and quality of God’s  relationship status with us. God is so in-love with us that He gives us His Son to believe and follow, for us not to be condemned in life but to have eternal life with Him. With these words, we can highlight here two points to describe the quality of God’s relationship status with us: God is in covenant with us and God is in collaboration with us. 

    The word covenant roughly  means “coming together”. To describe God’s relationship status with us as “in-covenant” would mean that God “comes together” with us – God is one, in community, in loving marital relationship with us, because He is so in love with us. Moreover, the word collaboration would also roughly mean “working together”.

    To describe then His relationship with us as “in-collaboration” would mean that God “works together” with us – God is in sync, tandem, partnership with us  by offering us to adopt and be co-responsible for His Son in our life and faith. By His Love for us, God is in relationship with us, and by giving us His Son, God is responsible for us and with us. This is how blessed we are and should be, for God is in covenant relationship and in collaborative commitment with us. 

    Now, what is and should be our relationship status with God? 

    Moses wished that though we may stiff-necked and wicked, God may “come along in our company” and “receive us as (His) own”. Paul prays that “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, BE with all of Us.” It is thus the hope and prayer of the forefathers of our faith, and still now, that we also may be “in covenant” and “in collaboration” with God – that our faith, our relationship status with God is in sync also with God’s status with us – however righteous, limited or stubborn we might be.

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    A wise man once said, “Each one of us are but angels with one wing. We can only fly by embracing one another.” True enough, this saying not only affirms our limited human nature of being one-winged, but more so highlights our spiritual nature of being angels. Our present life then is and should be in relation, in sync & in tandem with God and one another, so that we can sore and rise above to the occasion of living our lives to its fullness as we journey back to our heavenly home, and share in God’s offer of eternal life with Christ. 

    Ironically to protect and keep us safe, our pandemic world rendered us now limited, restricted, set apart and distanced from one another. However, our natural longing to be social – to be one and together with one another and God offers us breath, life, hope and support in the during these trying and difficult times. And putting value anew, upgrading and working out to improve the quality of our relationships status (our being with God and others) could somehow alleviate and bring more purpose and meaning to our present predicament.Though limited angels with one wing may be and due to pandemic realities now set apart from one another, may we always keep the faith, and come and work in one – together with our Triune God, as He is forever in covenant and collaboration with us. Amen. 

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

  • Look at God, and you will be at rest

    Look at God, and you will be at rest

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    May 31, 2020 – Pentecost Sunday

    Click here for the readings (http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/053120-day.cfm)

    Corrie ten Boom, a Nazi concentration camp Christian survivor of the Holocaust once said, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest”.

    Though her words was spoken of World War II’s genocide of European Jews, somehow these words also describe our present reality in today’s pandemic world. When we come to think of it, distressing it is to find that our world we live in now is sick, infected and under serious death-threat.  Worse, as we try to cope with its daily challenges, and as our leaders are doing what they can to protect us from this threat, there are still quite a number of people who are in denial, resorts to blame game and even do stupid acts at the expense of and putting others’ health in jeopardy.

    Also, not only mental health problems and concerns are of rise nowadays, depressing it is to find ourselves  isolated, limited and quarantined. In the midst of our challenging reality, we do find ourselves stressed, restless, and helpless.  From our perspective, distressing and depressing our life these days is and can be. However, as Corrie suggests, if when we go beyond our perspective & try to see it with God’s perspective, we will find consolation and meaning in what is happening in our lives and what we are going through now. Thus, “if you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”

    As our risen Lord made himself known to them in our gospel, Jesus gave His disciples three gifts. First, the gift of Peace: “Peace be with you” – as healing consolation for their troubled and anxious heart during difficult times. Then, the gift of mission “I send you” – as direction and mandate to be His living witnesses in present the world.  And above all, the gift of the Holy Spirit: “Receive the Holy Spirit” – as power, courage and guide to respond to the challenges of faith and life ahead. Peace, Mission & Holy Spirit are our risen Lord’s gifts he left behind for His disciples then & for us now His church, as necessary components to live out and practice our faith in our very lives as His living witnesses to the world today. And behind these gifts is the call to “Look at God”, that is, the challenge to go beyond ourselves, rise above the occasion, and be inspired.

    Meaning, “Looking at God” invites us to go beyond our views of things and discern God’s plan and will for our “is and can-be” distressing and depressing life. “Looking at God” provides us also with identity, meaning & authority to fulfill our very mission and tasks in this life – thus, rising for the occasion to share our unique gift we can offer in this life. And “Looking at God” is to be IN God’s spirit – to be in one spirit, mind and will with God, whenever, whatever, however, wherever life has in store for us.  

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    Moreover, we look at God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our first reading reminds us that on the day of Pentecost, as they receive the Lord’s gift of Holy Spirit, the frightened disciples of crucified Christ is now transformed into brave heralds of God’s mighty works. As St. Paul insisted, only inspired and empowered people who look at God can say and can go out and proclaim: “Jesus is Lord”.  Jesus thus moves us to look at God and inspire us to be His living faithful and practicing followers.  Interestingly, somehow nowadays many so-called “non-practicing Catholics” have updated their status into “practicing Catholics again” – even without (or with limited) avenue for public worship, not only as a reaction to the challenges of our trying times but more so because they “look at God in Jesus” again and anew for consolation, direction & inspiration in their own very lives.Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, which marks the birthday of the Holy Church, and the end of Easter Season for this year. Beyond the distressing and depressing challenges of our life ahead this time, may we be reminded that we are (& our church is) an inspired Church continually looking at God through our risen Lord Jesus. With  our risen Lord, may we go beyond our present predicament, rise for the occasion to be His living witnesses, and always be inspired to share our gifts and proclaim Jesus to our world today. Amen. 

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

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  • Absence makes the heart grows fonder

    Absence makes the heart grows fonder

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    May 24, 2020 – Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/052420-ascension.cfm)

    As the world we lived in these days is getting limited, sick and quarantined, we should not forget that what we are going through now is but particularly a constant daily struggle of migrants living and working abroad even before our COVID19 pandemic world today.

    For migrants living and working abroad away from our families and loved ones, separation, distancing, isolation and above all homesickness have been a usual constant struggle in their day to day lives. With or without COVID19 pandemic, migrant or resident we might be, nevertheless our experiences of distancing and homesickness (of not being at home, or of being away from home) are indeed never been easy to deal and content with in our journey through life. 

    Difficult as it may be,  but we also know that our day to day wrestling with separation and distancing could also provide us opportunities for growth in meaning and values in life. Because during these life-moments, we can and may become more in touch and conscious of who are most important people in our own life, and what, why and how are they valuable in one’s life.

    Separation and homesickness could be a chance for us to discover, claim and commit once again to what is important and essential in our own lives.

    Since, like “one cannot see the forest for the trees” at times, we need to detach, separate and be distant  (even worse, be deprived or quarantined) from our attachments in order to see and discover once again for ourselves the values, principles and meanings that are most dear to us now and in effect inspire us to move on forward with life. In other words, separation and homesickness can move us to be more appreciative, responsible and hopeful in life. Thus, “Absence makes the heart grows fonder”. Ang mawalay nakakabusog rin ng puso. Ang mahibulag makatambok pud sa kasingkasing. This can be the UPSIDE of life-separation and homesickness. 

    However, the DOWNSIDE of separation and homesickness is “Out of sight, out of mind”. Ang mawalay nakakawala ng landas at nakakasira ng ulo rin. Ang mahibulag makasaag ug makabuang pud. If you don’t see, you don’t mind, and you even don’t care. Separation and homesickness can also render us lost, directionless, meaningless and hopeless in life. 

    What is crucial then in our experience of isolation, distancing and homesickness is the once-again longing search, giving importance and making a promise again & anew to our values and missions in life.

    Today, we celebrate the 2nd Glorious Mystery, the Ascension of the Lord. Tradition has it that forty days after His appearances before his disciples, the Lord has ascended back to Our Father, leaving behind and separated away from us His disciples. This reminds us that the mystery of God’s glory is made known to us through Jesus’ departure from our lives.  This would mean then that in our life and faith, our  homesickness and separation share a part in the story of our normal life and salvation as well. Like the experience of the two disciples in Emmaus where the Lord appeared to them and then disappeared when they recognized Him, salvation also requires the Lord’s resurrection and departure (His coming and going into our own lives).

    Part and parcel of our faith and life story is the paradox of homecoming and separation, of the hellos and goodbyes. And during moments of departure and distance, separation and homesickness – though with a downside of pain, anguish, and lost, there could also be the upside and opportunity to discover and claim once again what is important and valuable in our life as well as what is our mission in life now, that is, our life-values and life-missions.

    Our readings remind us that in the Lord’s ascension, the Lord empowered and gave his disciples the task and mission to be His witnesses in the world, saying “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them” with the assurance “I am with you always forever.”

    This explains why the Lord’s ascension is more than just about the Lord’s departure, separation and disappearances but more so about ourselves Christians, once again and anew finding, claiming, committing and fulfilling our life-missions. In a way, the Lord’s Ascension is the day when the Jesus started to WORK FROM HOME… so also that we could do and fulfill, here and now OUR Work, Mission and responsibility in this life.

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    The Lord’s Ascension teaches us also a lot about Jesus Christ himself and us, being Christian. Like our risen Lord himself, we Christian, as Easter followers of the risen Lord, are both Migrant and Missionary in our faith and life.  As migrant, we are now IN this life but we are not OF this life for we are OF God’s home and life.

    Ours now is not our Home, we are just  but transient passersby – coming and going, on our way back to our Home with our Father. However, while still here, as missionary, we are on-mission. We have a special task to fulfill in life here and now. And through the Lord’s seeming departure and absence, and perhaps through periodic sickness and pandemic, at times we need to be detached, isolated, distanced, homesicked, and even deprived and quarantined in order to be reminded of our true identity and mission in this life now, and to more directed and committing in fulfilling our life-missions in our daily lives.

    Like the two disciples of Emmaus, we pray then that may our difficult experiences of distancing, detachment and deprivation in life now, and the usual Lord’s disappearance, distance and seeming absence from us, move and inspire us to recognize and go on discovering and upholding our values, principles, and meanings in life, as well as fondly reclaim and actively fulfill our hopes and missions in life, and above be assured that whatever happens, He will be with us always and evermore until the end of ages. Amen.  

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

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