Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Weekday Homilies

  • CHRIST IS TRULY ALIVE

    CHRIST IS TRULY ALIVE

    April 10, 2023 – Monday within the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041023.cfm)

    Truth can indeed be easily manipulated or even covered especially when those who are faced with truth become threatened and disturbed by it. This is what we have heard on this Easter Monday as told to us by the Gospel of Matthew. The truth about the resurrection of Jesus was manipulated by people in power who also desired to advance their personal agenda. The soldiers who were witnesses of the Resurrection were paid not to tell what really happened but to create another story. These soldiers must have been captivated with awe and wonder in the event of the resurrection. Light must have pierced into their unbelieving hearts. However, what was sad in their story was when they were presented with the immediate comfort of money.

    They were willing to cover the truth of the resurrection and create fake news for the sake of money. They accepted a corrupt offer to spill the untruth to people rather than to tell others of God’s power and mercy. Why was that? Is money more powerful than God? Certainly not. It is just deceiving and very tempting especially when people need it.

    Nevertheless, apart from this sad story, we still have the women who showed to us how the resurrection of Jesus changed their life. The Gospel tells us that they were still fearful yet overjoyed. This means that despite the darkness they have experienced in the past days and the fear that enveloped them, the presence of Jesus filled them with so much joy.

    The women did not succumbed to despair and fear unlike the soldiers who succumbed to money and corruption. The women continued to believe in Jesus in spite of the confusions and even in pain and suffering that they witnessed. They never lost their hope in Jesus.

    This kind of attitude in them was showed in their action as they went to the tomb early in the morning. The tomb surely would remind them of the death of Jesus, meaning, of sadness and failure, of pain and disappointment. However, even in the midst of all of these, they found a reason to find light in the midst of darkness, to find hope in the midst of hopelessness and to find life in the midst of death.

    And true enough, as they desired to see Jesus, they indeed saw and witnessed the glory of resurrection. This was how they also found their mission, and that was to be Jesus’ witnesses to others.

    Now, as Jesus called them to tell other disciples about him, each of us now too is called to tell others of Jesus’ presence in our very life. With this, there are two invitations for us on this Easter Monday.

    First. Money is not everything though money and riches can be deceiving and tempting when we are in need of it, that it will lead us to become dishonest, corrupt and abusive. This happened to the soldiers who exchanged for money the truth. They settled for their own comforts. However, that did not made them truly rich or satisfied with life. In fact, they are now seen like the “paid trolls” who merely repeat lies and fake news to deceive others and bring others to corruption and death.

    Second, preach Christ and preach what is only true. Never be afraid to tell what we have seen, what we have heard and what we have witnessed. Tell others not just through our words but also through our actions that Christ is truly alive. Even a simple gesture of generosity to a person in need or a simple act of kindness to others is a way of sharing that Christ is truly alive in us. Kabay pa.

  • God is a Loving Parent

    God is a Loving Parent

    March 22, 2023 – Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032223.cfm)

    Each of us has a father. Biologically, we need a father and a mother for a child is only born out of a male and female. As we grow up, we have different experiences with our parents and with our fathers especially. Not all of us have experienced a very good father who spends enough time to be with us, who will support us constantly as a child.

    Some of us even may have painful memories particularly when we talk about experiences with our fathers. Others might have actually experienced being abandoned by their father that caused them pain. Others might have fathers who were always away because of work that made a deep longing of their father’s presence. Others might have experienced also with a father who was abusive and irresponsible giving them deep emotional wound.

    Unconsciously, our experiences with our father has a connection on how we relate with God whom we believe as a Father to us. If we have a very good experience with our biological father, then, it might be easy for us to believe in a loving and merciful Father in heaven. However, if we have painful and traumatic experiences with our biological father then, sometimes that create doubts and hesitations to truly believe in God the Father who is loving and forgiving.

    Personally, though my father was indeed responsible, he too was quite strict when I was growing up. That experience of mine was carried on as I related with God. I too believed that God was like my father who was very strict. I should always be a good boy or else I will be punished. This means that our own experiences especially our negative and painful experiences with our fathers can sometimes prevent us to recognize God’s true character as a father to us.

    It is good for us, then, to reflect on the readings today as they reveal God’s true character as a parent to us.

    The Book of Isaiah tells us about a God who is so passionate about us. Isaiah tells us that God is like a parent who brings comfort to us, who is there to flatten the mountains so that life won’t be too difficult for us. Isaiah uses the image of a mother who carries her baby in the womb. A mother is always connected with her baby. However, a mother may forget about her baby but God will never forget us. God remembers us because God always carries us.

    This confidence to a loving and passionate God is expressed in today’s Gospel. Jesus tells us about how he loves his Father so much. Jesus shows his affection to the Father who will never leave him alone. This expression of Jesus is just a confirmation of that passion of God the Father to Jesus.

    Thus, this is the invitation for us today as revealed in the scriptures. Though we might have painful experiences with our own Fathers or mothers or with those who became our parents in the absence of our biological parents, the readings call us to be confident in God as a loving parent to us.

    Just like Jesus, let us take confidence in God who is both a Loving Father and Mother to us, who promised to be with us, who will never leave us and will always be there for us. This is how God is so passionate to you and to me. We may come to believe in this.

    When we ourselves are parents or standing as a foster parent to a child, may our parenting be an image of God’s unconditional love to that child and to our whole family. Kabay pa.

  • PRAY AND LISTEN

    PRAY AND LISTEN

    February 18, 2023 – Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021823.cfm)

    Faith, as the late Pope Benedict XVI said, is a human response of love to the Lord who first loved us. The Letter to the Hebrews reminded us of this as well. We were reminded on how those Biblical personalities responded to God’s invitations for them. Faith has become a way of life of those who are close and deeply in love with God. This way of life led them to pay more attention to the divine presence of God who surrounds them. Thus, praying and listening are two essential attitudes of the heart as we nurture our faith-relationship with God.

    In today’s Gospel of Mark, we are brought to the experience of the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. Going up and coming down from mountain is an expression of journeying with God. And in journeying with God, it is very essential that WE LISTEN TO GOD, of God’s action in our life, of God’s Word in the Holy Bible and of God’s presence in our sacraments in the Church.

    To “pray and listen” is Jesus’ invitation for us today as we are reminded to grow in our faith-relationship. Remember, Jesus went up to the mountain to pray and through prayer he was transfigured. The disciples too where praying and it was through their prayer that they were made aware of that mysterious event in their lives.

    So it means that we too, are called to “pray and to listen,” to commune with God and to relate with God more intimately through our prayer. It is only when we become reflective and prayerful that we also become aware of other people around us. We become more connected with God and with others.

    Transfiguration becomes a reality in us when we see and recognize the face of God in our brothers and sisters, when we learn and take the courage to watch out for those who feel unrecognized, to give a room for the stranger, to listen to those who are troubled and hear the cry of those who are desperate in life, to walk with those who are afraid and those whose hearts are broken and to give a helping hand to those who stumbled.

    Through these, we become a community centered on the Eucharist that is welcoming, embracing, loving and forgiving that may hopefully move to gradually transform ourselves into the way God wants us to be. Hinaut pa.

  • The Tower of Babel

    The Tower of Babel

    February 17, 2023 – Friday 6th week Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021723.cfm)

    The Book of Genesis speak of the human tendency to be proud and arrogant. And the tower of Babel tells us of this human aspiration to be powerful and become like God, as people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and  tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves.” Yet, this made the people to be exclusive and arrogant.

    Indeed, the tower of Babel expressed earthly power and riches. Humanity believed that these things were enough for them to make a name for themselves and become powerful like God who created the world. Hence, as those who built the city and the tower, became exclusive, they also refused God’s command to fill the earth. The people decided to just stay in that place, in that city and not anymore share their knowledge, experiences, graces and riches in other parts of the earth. They have become comfortable there to the point that they did not want to go out from their comforts.

    However, it was said that the Lord had seen this and realized as well the evil intentions in the hearts of the people. This was the reason why the Lord scattered them by confusing and dividing them. When they spoke differently, people did not understand and did not care to understand each other.

    From here, we realize that our human efforts and aspirations when they only come from greed, pride and arrogance to become great and powerful like God, are certainly worthless. Our mere human success, wealth and power are not the keys to be great in the eyes of God.

    This realization brings us then into the message of our Gospel today. Jesus expressed a way of life that was different from the people who tried to build a city and the tower of Babel. Jesus tells us that to be a true disciple of him is not about boasting oneself, of our successes in life, of our influence and power over others. A true disciple, rather, is a person who denies himself for the sake of others, who carries his own cross and follows Jesus. A true Christian then is a person who remains humble before God, who recognizes his/her smallness and dependence, yet, also embraces the presence of God who gives him/her the strength to carry the cross.

    Let us remember, that human effort and strength and our successes in life are not evil. In fact, these are gifts from the Lord and not reasons that we become greedy and self-righteous people. What we have received, achieved or accumulated in this life give us the opportunities to be able to share our gifts, our talents and ourselves to our community.

    This calls us now that our families, groups, organizations, and communities become inclusive and welcoming. Indeed, to be inclusive and to be hospitable are natural to a Christian home, to a Christian organization or community. May that spirit lead us to give, to share and to reach out even to those who are different from us. Hinaut pa.

  • I am now establishing my covenant with you

    I am now establishing my covenant with you

    February 16, 2023 – Thursday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021623.cfm)

    The Book of Genesis in the story of Noah with God, we have heard how the Lord renewed the covenant with the whole human family. The Lord God still sees hope in us. And the wonder of this renewal of the covenant with God, as God says, “I am now establishing my covenant with you,” carries with it the call and responsibility to nurture, cherish, develop and give life.

    What does it mean? As the Lord renews the covenant, God also demanded an accounting for the life of every animal and an accounting for every human life. This is not a threat from God but rather the Lord wants us to value every life. This is how the Lord wants us to flourish and discover the wonder of life here on earth and be embraced by life itself through the whole creation of God. Every creature of the Lord reflects God’s goodness and love and every human being also reflects and carries God’s image.

    Thus, the call to be fertile and multiply must be understood within the context of life, in nurturing, cherishing, developing and giving life. This indeed, calls us to defend life from anything that will suppress life, abuse life and destroy life.

    The very covenant that we have with God is a testament of that life and promise of the fullness of life. The rainbow is not just some ideological color, however, it is a biblical sign of God’s presence among us, a sign of life and a sign of renewal.

    This calls us further to commit ourselves into that covenant with God so that we too shall become cooperators of God’s action and presence in the world in bringing and giving life. This can be fully expressed in our homes, communities and organizations, and into our relationships. Every time we give hope to those who felt hopeless, every time we give a helping hand to those who need it, every time we give more attention in taking care of animals and of nature – these are simple ways of expressing that covenant and call to give life.

    In a way, the Gospel today tells us also how Peter recognized the fullness of life in Jesus as he confessed that indeed, Jesus is the Christ. However, after realizing that Jesus is to be persecuted, will suffer and die, Peter retreated from his commitment to be with Jesus, the Christ.

    Like Peter, if we confess that Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and Savior, then, this confession implies commitment and risk. After all, when we commit ourselves to somebody we love, risks and sacrifices are implied.

    Thus, as we embrace the covenant God made with us, may we come to fully commit in that relationship with the Lord. Let us therefore, allow our human relationships and relationship with the rest of the created world to be fertile where we can multiply love and multiply life. Hinaut pa.