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Category: Sunday Homlies

  • Let God be God in your life

    Let God be God in your life

    March 29, 2020 – 5th Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032920.cfm)

    Homily

    There was once a seminarian, who wished to leave the seminary because he was so angry, disappointed and frustrated with God  for letting his mother get seriously sick. He prayed to God, “Lord, I have been your obedient follower. I’ve taken care of your people, but how could you let my mother get seriously sick?” And when God replied to him, he heard “Son, I know how you love your mother, it’s good that you have been so concerned about your mother’s health. But can you please give me a chance to heal her? She is also my concern. Did I not tell you to have faith? My plans for her are much better than yours, same as my plans for you are much better than yours.”

    How much of us here, have not been frustrated with God? Yes, in one way of another, we have sometimes experienced how it is to be frustrated with God. Like these past few days of lockdowns and social distancing, there are times or moments in our lives that we have felt angry, disappointed or frustrated with God, especially at times when we were helpless in life, needing his presence but instead we experience his absence and seeming darkness or dryness in life. Yes, like sometimes we are disappointed and frustrated with our parent, sometimes we are also disappointed and frustrated with God, even has some resentments with God, whether we like it or not.

    Like here in our gospel today, people were disappointed with our Lord Jesus. Mary and Martha, his friends were also frustrated with Jesus, saying “Lord, if you have been here, my brother could have been saved”. Days before Lazarus died; they have already informed Jesus how sickly his friend Lazarus, who just lived nearby, has been. But Jesus seemingly did not respond or did not care. Only four days after Lazarus death, that Jesus went to visit. Who would not be disappointed and frustrated with Jesus for not able to respond to a family and friend crisis. 

    The people might have been disappointed or frustrated with Jesus, like we might have been disappointed or frustrated with God. However our gospel today reminds us again that God has a different view of life than the way we see things. For God, our experiences, perceptions and understanding of sufferings, death, problems and crises in life – frustrating and painful it might be, plays a great part or role in God’s plans. Jesus seeming passivity or insensitivity toward Lazarus was his way of teaching us to let God be God in our lives. 

    When he learned that Lazarus was sick, Jesus said: “This sickness will end not in death but in God’s glory”. And when he performed the miracle of resuscitating Lazarus, he said: “so that they may believe it was you who sent.” Meaning, for Jesus, there is more to sickness and dying or more to illness and death. For Jesus, sickness and health, life in its greatness and sufferings are opportunities for us to witness God’s graces working in us – a chance for God to heal us or revive us not only from physical but also spiritual sickness or spiritual death, and to offer us fullness of life with Him. It is a chance for God to show us His divine Glory and Mercy and for us to benefit from it, and to know that He is the Lord.

    As one wise guru would say, “Being sick is an opportunity to experience yourself and God in a new way. It is the chance to teach the mind and the soul to remain independent from the body and so connect with your inner resources of peace and silence in God.”

    So whenever we get sick or have experienced death in our family, or is frustrated with God, let Him say to you and let His words reminds you…”Give up, Surrender, Let me Be God to You. Give me a chance to be God, not as you want me to be but as I choose to be. My plans, my ways, my glory are much greater than yours. So that you may have not only life, but life to its fullness with Me.”

    May our prayers these days: THY WILL BE DONE. Amen.

    shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

  • To see as God sees in the time of COVID-19

    To see as God sees in the time of COVID-19

    March 22, 2020 – 4th Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday

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    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032220.cfm)

    Homily

    What do we see now as our global community or just our local community is facing the Pandemic Corona Virus? We are anxious, fearful, tensed and panicking. Medical practitioners are quite helpless as there is no vaccine yet to fight the virus. Government leaders are struggling on how to combat this enemy and to protect and bring to safety the population.

    However, despite the anxiety and the fear that we feel in these difficult times this should not prevent us from becoming positive about life and about our relationships with one another. This Fourth Sunday of Lent also known as Laetare Sunday means “Rejoice.” This calls us to hope and gives encouragement as we all face this crisis and at the same time praying for God’s mercy to deliver us from this pandemic and to bring us to celebrate fully the joy of Easter.

    Brothers and Sisters, may I invite you then that we discover together God’s invitation for us this Sunday, that we may be able to see as God sees in the time of COVID-19.

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    In the first reading from the Book of Samuel, the Prophet felt the responsibility of finding a new king for Israel. The people needed a leader and so Samuel carried this burden. However, in his search for the new king he was struggling to find the right one because God rejected those Samuel thought to be fitting. But then, God confronted Samuel of his tendency. In his search for the new king, Samuel was merely looking at human appearance, to what was only pleasing to human eyes, and to what was easy for human comfort. God told Samuel to see as God sees, to look into the heart of a person.

    This tells us that even Prophet Samuel was somehow blinded by his own preferences and biases. God had to confront Samuel so that he will be healed from that kind of blindness. Indeed, when Samuel saw as God saw, David was chosen as king, the unexpected young man.

    The Gospel story according to John tells us also this scenario of a blind man who was seen by Jesus as he was passing by. In this story, the blind man did not ask Jesus to heal him unlike the other miracle stories in the Gospels. It was the initiative of Jesus to heal this man who was blind since birth.

    Now, the common belief at that time was that when a person is stricken with some kind of illness, it must be a punishment for sins committed by the person or by his/her parents. This kind of belief adheres to that idea that God is a God of punishment, a terrifying and angry God. However, as Jesus said, God’s power will be manifested through the blindness of this man.

    And true enough, through Jesus’ concern and compassion towards this blind man, he healed him from his physical blindness. However, healing this blind man physically was just the beginning of another healing. The man now can see as other people see, but not yet as God sees. The physical healing of that man became the space where this man could encounter and meet Jesus. Indeed, through the man’s encounter with Jesus, the man saw and met God. There was spiritual insight, a spiritual healing  from spiritual blindness through Jesus’ invitation to the man to believe, meaning to have faith. This was an invitation to the man to see as God sees. 

    Certainly, the man believed! This was what made him different from the Pharisees who refused to believe. They have seen and met Jesus yet, their spiritual blindness was too great that their own eyes could not see God who was just in their midst.

    Hence, these people continued to reject Jesus, and so rejected God. Like Samuel at the beginning, the Pharisees saw what surrounds them in their own eyes only. They never heeded the call to see as God sees.

    Each of us now is also invited “to see as God sees.” We are called to look beyond imperfections, beyond ugliness, beyond sins and beyond crisis and see God and discover His invitations for us.

    This calls us for discernment, for a deeper reflection so that we will be able to see and recognize how God reveals himself even in difficult situations. As we are advised to stay home, this is a call, then, for us to see more and to appreciate better the gifts of our families, of your wife, of your husband, of your children, the gift of your friends and relatives, the gift of community, the gift of your work and profession. And because Public Masses and other Church activities are being suspended now, it is surely a call for us also to have a better appreciation and devotion to our sacraments that are physically deprived from the public. 

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    Yes, this very situation for us now calls us to discover the things, experiences, relationships and people that we have not seen before or we have not appreciated or we have just taken for granted.

    To see more by healing our blindness and expanding our vision, then, hopefully, the more we see Jesus in our life and in the lives of our brothers and sisters. In this way, this may generously move us to bring healing for others in whatever capacity we are capable of. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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  • I’m free, yes. I’m free

    I’m free, yes. I’m free

    March 22, 2020 – 4th Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032220.cfm)

    Homily

    A story once told about a prisoner who was able to escape prison by digging a hole underground. It so happens that he came out into a playground few distances away from the prison. And in his great joy, before a group of playing kids, he shouted at the top of his voice, “I’m free, yes. I’m free”. Then a little girl approached him and said, “Oh, mister that’s nothing, I’m four”.

    Here is a prisoner, after long years of imprisonment, deprived of his freedom, now got a chance to be free, to do what he wants to do, to be what he wants to be. He finally now gains his freedom. However, here is a little girl, who witnesses the event differently because of her limited awareness. She is not concerned about his freedom but only her being four years old. 

    We could say the same thing with our gospel today. Here, a great miracle has happened. A man born-blind has been healed of blindness. He can now see. After years in darkness, he can now see the light and become conscious of life, of everything. However, despite of this great event, people still refuse to see, refuse to accept the reality that a miracle has happened – they refuse to admit that life, creation has dawned upon them. In the midst of life, creation, their reaction is rejection, refusal to see. They don’t want to see and accept that the blind man can now see. They deny his sight and awareness and prefer he remains sightless and cursed blind man. 

    Freed from of his blindness, the man also viewed his healing differently. He said, “I don’t know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see”. He doesn’t care of sinfulness or whether he or Jesus is a sinner, all he cares about is that he was blind and now gains sight through Jesus. For a blind man to gain sight is everything, just as for a prisoner his freedom and for a little girl her four years of age. 

    For the blind man, it is his redemption from life of darkness. But for the Pharisees and people, it is a violation of Sabbath. Life has been created, God’s glory has been revealed, a man born-blind can now see but all they can think of is the regulation about the Sabbath. They still refuse to see and believe in God’s glory and power revealed right before their midst through Jesus. 

    Our readings today teach a number of lessons. First, whatever happens in our lives whether it is a creation or reaction depends on how we see it. (whether things are C-reation or reaC-tion depends on how you C it.) How we create life or how we react to life depends on how we view and see things. And most of the time, our own views of reality hinder us to see a much wider perspective of things. In other words, usually we don’t see things as THEY are, but we see things as WE are. Our limited perspectives, biases and prejudices then can block or blind us to see a much wider picture of life or even to view life in the eyes of faith, based on how God sees it. Our readings today are all about awareness, about how limited and how limiting our perspectives can be, about how we can be blinded by our own biases and prejudices. 

    Our readings remind us also that God’s perspective is different from us and much wider than our own view. He judges life not on appearances but on the heart. Like in our gospel today, Jesus sees the blindness of the man differently, not as a sin or curse but as an opportunity for God’s grace to reveal and create life. For Jesus, the healing of the blind man is not as commonly perceived as curse but as God’s glory being revealed. He said, ‘so that works of God might be displayed in him’. For Jesus, the blind man is not a sinner but a saint, because God’s works and graces are made know through the healing of the blind man. Through his healing, Jesus makes people aware of God’s blessings in our midst.

    Lastly, we are called to widen our perspective of life, and try to see things, not only from our own eyes but also in the eyes of faith. As Christian, we are called today to go beyond our biases and prejudices, our own view of reality, and try to widen our perspective and try to see from God’s perspective, i.e. to be aware of God’s blessing, graces, miracles in our midst. We are invited to be like the blind man who after gaining his sight, now searches for his faith. Like him, we are to see not only physically but also spiritually. We are invited to change from blindness to sight to faith, from being a cursed sinner to a staunch believer and loyal follower of Christ. 

    During this Lenten season, may God free us from darkness of sins, teach us to go beyond our perspective, and enlighten us to be creative, not reactive to the life-miracles He offers us everyday, and may we see God’s light amidst our reality today of viral pandemic. Amen.

    Shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

  • If and when the well runs dry, dig deeper

    If and when the well runs dry, dig deeper

    March 15, 2020 – Third Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031520.cfm)

    Homily

    Common rural village people teach us simple words of wisdom: “If and when the well runs dry, dig deeper. (Kon ang atabay mahubsan, palawoman: Pag ang balon natuyo, hukaying malalim.) If we reflect on it deeper, these practical words tell us more about waters or wells but also offers meaning and wisdom about life, relationships, and even faith in God. 

    We do know how important water is in our life. Water is our basic human need and our life-giving source itself. Our physical body as well as our world is mostly composed of water. Life without water is no life at all. Because of our need for water, wells and springs are also important in life as sources of life-giving water.  Unlike now in urban cities where it is enjoyed conveniently at home, usually in rural villages, people go and gather together in wells and spring to get and have water. In and through wells and springs, we get access to natural water that offers life not only to individuals but to community, as well. Water in the wells and springs brings us together before God’s life-giving water and with one another. 

    I find villages’ wells and spring as the best place to meet people in the village. Whenever I am on mission in rural areas, I usually go to the wells or springs in the village for meeting and integrating with people. Not only there where I could clean myself and drink water – satisfy my need, there I could also come to experience and know the people’s lives and faith more.  Simply put, water wells and springs bring about meeting, encounter, well-being, relationship, community, and communion. For us then, to have an access to and get in touch into God’s life-giving water, we must go and gather together before God’s wells and springs. 

    In life we also do experience dryness. Like wellsprings atabay, there are moments in our lives that we feel dry, thirsty in life and in our relationships with God, others and even oneself. There are periods in our life that like the Israelites, we grumble before the Lord about our life-miseries, challenges and problems, doubting “Is the really Lord with us or not?”  

    However, experiences of dryness in life and in our relationships could be an invitation and opportunity to go to and be connected with God himself, the source of life. As we experiences of life’s dryness and thirst, As the saying goes “If the well runs dry, dig deeper” “Kon ang atabay mahubsan, palawoman. Pag ang balon natuyo, hukaying malalim.  Thirst for God’s love and/or Dryness in our life and relationships could also be the opportunity to dig deeper, i.e. the right time and place to examine our life and relationship, be in touch with our realities and ideals, at the same time deepen our relationships and commitments. In other words, dryness in life are moments of encounters or meeting points where we can experience for ourselves our relationship and commitment with others and with God. 

    The gospel we have just heard is an account of Jesus’ meeting of Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. This is one of the most touching encounters in the gospels which pictures God’s love and human conversion – a story of God reaching out to us and us reaching back to God through the person of Jesus. At Jacob’s well, Jesus expressed God’s thirst for our faith and love for Him as well as offered us God’s life-giving or love-giving life.

    At Jacob’s well, the Samaritan woman became in touch with her own dryness and thirst, her need for God’s eternal life at the same time quenched her thirst in her encounter with Jesus. As she met Jesus at Jacob’s well, the Samaritan woman began to know and accept herself deeply (from being a Samaritan, descendant of Jacob, a divorcee to a believer) as well as she began to know and accept Jesus deeply (from a Jew, Sir, Prophet, Christ). At the Jacob’s well, Jesus recognized and satisfied the woman’s need for God’s love, and the woman recognized and fulfilled Jesus’ need for our faith in Him.  

    In dryness and abundance of water, there are a lot of positive things happens at wellsprings of life. Usually at the wellsprings of our life we experience, renew and deepen our life-commitments and relationships with one another and our faith in God through Jesus.  The season of Lent is also the wellsprings of our Christian life. It is the appropriate place and time to once again in encounter and experience God’s life-giving saving act through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. 

    So again, If and when the well runs dry, don’t look and dig for another hole. Just dig your hole deeper and be in touch and be quench once again with your first life-giving water. 

    Amidst today’s challenges of Corona Virus pandemic, Lord, grant us the grace to know you deeply, love you more dearly and follow you closely during this Lenten Season. Hinaut pa unta. Siya Nawa. Amen.

    Shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

  • Going deeper to dialogue with Jesus

    Going deeper to dialogue with Jesus

    March 15, 2020 – 3rd Sunday of Lent 

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031520.cfm)

    Homily

    In the Book of Exodus, the people became thirsty while they were in the desert. They became desperate. They began to complain and become bitter of their situation. They also began to blame Moses and God for bringing them out of Egypt. Moses had become desperate too and afraid of what the people might do to him. Moses pleaded with God.

    However, despite the ingratitude of the people to God for saving them from slavery in Egypt, the Lord responded generously to them. Striking the rock implied trust in God. The rock is hard and empty of water but out of that emptiness, God brings forth abundance, life and assurance of God’s love. There was flowing water.

    In the Gospel, the Samaritan Woman, who experienced deep thirst in her soul, had a dialogue with Jesus. This was something that was forbidden at that time. But then, this was the initiative of Jesus to meet the woman “where she was at that moment.” This tells us that God meets us where we are too.

    She had been with different men, and with this, people around her must had been condemning and judging her.

    “Give me a drink,” was an invitation of Jesus to allow him to dialogue with her and to know her deepest longing in her heart. Jesus wanted her to allow God to feel her thirst for love and acceptance. The woman was indeed thirsty for such love and acceptance.

    This encounter with Jesus allowed her to look deeper into her life, into her many experiences of thirst for love, for acceptance, for true friendship, for true and lasting intimacy with people whom she loved and loved her.

    Her dialogue with Jesus turned her bitterness, desperation and sadness into hope and joy. At the end, the words of Jesus, “Give me a drink,” have become her words too, she said, “Give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty again or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

    Such statement is very deep. This does not only mean to water itself, but to the deepest thirst and longing of the woman. What she was asking was freedom from her sadness, desperation, and bitterness from those negative/traumatic experiences in her life that have made her to constantly seek from what was only temporary.

    Hence, she realized and found that “Living Water” in Jesus, in a person, in God who showed true compassion to her, lasting friendship with her and acceptance of her painful and sinful life.

    This is the invitation for us also on this 3rd Sunday of Lent. Jesus invites us to dialogue with him, because it is in dialoguing with God, is expressing our heart to God and listening to God’s that we begin to dig deeper into our own well, to recognize the dryness and thirst that we experience in life. However, this will also allow us to discover the abundance of God’s love and forgiveness for us. 

    When we begin to recognize and own fears and failures, sinfulness and weaknesses that we also ask God to fill us, to love us, to forgive us and to give us life. 

    We are not called to bury ourselves in fear and anxiety when difficulties come in our life, or to turn towards bitterness and complaints when our struggles become confusing and overwhelming. Like Moses and the Samaritan Woman, let us turn towards God who shall direct US to that Living Water, to life itself, to our life’s contentment and joy with God.

    As an exercise for this week, I invite you to find time at least 10 to 15 minutes every day, spend those moments in silence. You do not have to say your memorized prayers, but just stay in silence and be comfortable with that. Allow yourself to confront yourself and to dialogue, in expressing to God what is in your heart and in listening to what God would like to tell you. Ok lang? Sana all.

    Jom Baring, CSsR