Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Weekday Homilies

  • Love

    Love

    August 19, 2022 – Friday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081922.cfm)

    Surely, we are all familiar that the greatest commandment is to Love. But perhaps we may consider why is love the greatest commandment. Why do we have to love, then?

    However we experience it in life, ultimately we realize that Love is our great response to the great Gospel that God is with us. Love is our most appropriate & productive response to the revelation of Emmanuel (God-with-us). Not only out of obligation & as commanded, loving God wholeheartedly is our response to the Good News that God is with us. We love because God is with us, and we are with God. Because God is with us, we come to love God by loving one another and ourselves. And we come to love one ourselves and one another by loving God wholeheartedly.

    Perhaps this can be described clearly in the quote that says: “The greatest thing you will even learn is to love & be loved in return.”

    Here we can highlight to two things.

    First, love is something we learn in life. For us to live in life, we must learn not only to breath the air, to eat food, to sleep and move to grow, but also we must learn to love to communicate with others. Love then is (like any other), the basic language we must learn in life in order to grow in our relationship with others. For us to grow, we must learn the personal, cultural, universal & spiritual language of love. Beyond science, math, survival & others, the greatest capacity we must learn to grow in life is the language of love.

    Second, to love & be loved is the greatest experience we may have in life. Love is not only a noun, but above all, both an active & passive verb. It is active experience -something we do & being done to us. Same way with a child, for us to be loved by others is life-giving & nurturing; and for us to love others in return is self & other-enriching.

    In love, being with God, others & oneself is Great. But without love, being with God, others & oneself is limited.

    So, since God is with us, not only as commanded but in response, we love Him wholeheartedly as we love ourselves & others; and we come to love ourselves & others by loving Him wholeheartedly. And how we love and be loved in return is all that matters in God & in life.

  • RSVP

    RSVP

    August 18, 2022 – Thursday of the 2oth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081822.cfm)

    In the parable of wedding banquet today, Jesus describes to us the Kingdom of Heaven as a celebration party where everybody is invited to attend & participate.

    Imagine it is your special day – perhaps your debut or your 50th birthday where you invited all your family, relatives & friends. As the day arrives, somehow you can deduce all your invited guests into these categories. First, the excellent guest who are invited, attended & participated in your celebration day. Second, not-so good guests: those who are invited but did not attend, however valid or invalid their excuses may be. Third, the unworthy guests: those who are invited & attended but did not participate. These are guests who came with their own self agenda rather than yours, not properly dressed for the occasion, avoid to socialize with other guests, stays mostly outside, decline to partake in the meal, late to arrive-early to go, & worse, even expect to bring something home from the party.

    Funny, it may be, but we do have experienced these types of invited guests: the excellent (angayan), the not so-good (way ayo), and the unworthy (way angay) guests. So, what kind of invited guest are you?

    Perhaps we may also ask: What kind of guests are we in the Lord’s Eucharist? As foretaste of God’s Kingdom, the Eucharist is our Lord’s celebration of faith & life. We are all invited to attend, participate, & celebrate in His Eucharist. On these pandemic times where & when we are somehow restricted & limited to partake in the Holy Mass, perhaps we examine ourselves as what kind of Eucharist guests we have been & we should be. Have we been & are we an excellent-worthy guests, irresponsive & not so-good guests, or unworthy guests?

    Jesus may have said in our gospel today: “Many are invited, but few are chosen”, not because they are discriminated but because they have been unworthy & irresponsible guests.

    Many times, I was asked: “Father, do we need to, have to and ought to Go to mass every Sunday?” I usually answer this with an advice: “Next time, before you go to mass, listen to yourself first and ask these questions: Who are you before God now? What do you truly long for in life? What are the graces and blessings that you receive this past week? What should you do to thank Him for all these?” In other words, before going to Mass, as preparation, acknowledge first how blessed you are, and these will move you to come and celebrate. Not out of obligation, necessity, convenience, and preference, we come and attend Eucharist to celebrate and give thanks to God for all the blessings He has given, showered, and continually offering us today.

    Though unworthy we may be, Blessed are we always for God still invites us to participate & celebrate in the banquet of Life with Him. May we be God’s excellent & honorable guests to be chosen worthy of His Kingdom & of His sacred banquet. Amen. 

  • Beyond Justice

    Beyond Justice

    August 17, 2022 – Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081722.cfm)

    It is once said that: “Justice is getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve.”

    In our gospel today, all hired-laborers got justice from a just wage for an honest day’s work. However, those who are hired-later received Grace & blessing for a chance to work though undeservingly late & last to work. And they also received Mercy for though deserving of rejection for hiring, they were given a chance for work & just wage instead.

    Judging from the merits of their work, the early-hired laborers complain & ask for Justice based on reward & punishment reasoning. However, not only justice but also grace & mercy are given to the late & last-hired workers, because of and based on God’s generosity & their faith.

    We are reminded here that God judges & sees us beyond our merits, reward & punishment reasoning, & justice.  In His grace & mercy, God loves us out of His generosity along with our faith in Him.

    Now in our relationship with God, are we IN only for His Justice, & our merits – our reward-punishment? OR are we more into His grace & mercy, His generosity & our trusting faith in Him?

    Be reminded then of these words: “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?

    In your generosity, grant us Your Grace & Mercy O Lord, deserving or undeserving we may be. Amen

  • Grieving yet Persevering Faith

    Grieving yet Persevering Faith

    July 22, 2022 – Feast of St. Mary of Magdala

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072222.cfm)

    Lately, we could say we suffered great losses during these pandemic times. Somehow almost all of us have lost in one way or the other, someone or something significant in life. And usually, our experience of great loss could dishearten, discourage & even disorient us in life. Losing someone & something significant in life could somehow cause us to lose our heart and our way in life.

    Mary Magdalene must have also felt the same way when she lost her beloved Lord Jesus in her life. Somehow when Jesus died on the cross, Mary Magdalene lost also her heart and her way to a point where she did not & cannot anymore recognize the presence of the risen Lord with her.

    However, in our great loss & suffering, Mary Magdalene could also teach us how to experience resurrection in our lives. Amidst her suffering & loss, eventually Mary Magdalene also have witnessed & experienced anew the calling, presence, & challenge of our risen Lord with her. By allowing herself to weep & grieve over her losses, and persevering in love in times of losing her heart & way, Mary have experienced anew the voice, the heart & the way of the risen Lord. In the same way, in times of great loss & suffering, like Mary Magdalene, we may also witness anew the presence & life of resurrection with the risen Lord by not denying, but allowing our grieving over our losses while persevering in our faith & love with our Lord.

    Remember Mary Magdalene renewed her heart, her ways & her faith, because she witnessed Lord’ resurrection & the presence of the risen Lord anew, as she allowed herself to weep & grieve over her losses and persevere & keep her love & faith in Jesus Christ. In effect, Mary Magdalene became not only the “Apostle of the Apostles” but also the first witness, sharer & proclaimer of the Lord’s resurrection & the presence of our risen Lord in our midst today.

    So also, whatever we are grieving over these days caused by the losses & sufferings of pandemic times, like Mary Magdalene, let us be open with our persevering love & faith to go through our weeping & grieving, as so make us recognize & witness what better life has our risen Lord in store for our life ahead.

    So Be it. So May it be. Amen.

  • LIKE SERPENTS AND DOVES 

    LIKE SERPENTS AND DOVES 

    July 8, 2022 – Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time   

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070822.cfm)

    “Be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” This is what Jesus said to his disciples and now addressed also to us. What does Jesus really mean about this?  In biblical understanding, the serpent is an image of Satan or of the devil. We remember, that it was the serpent that tempted the humanity to commit sin as told to us in the Book of Genesis. However, there are also other characters that the serpent possesses. The serpent is also believed to be wise, resourceful, flexible, adaptable, observant and cunning.

    This means that a serpent adapts to its situation in order to survive. It finds ways as it observes its environment. It is in this way that Jesus invites us to be wise as the serpent, that is, to have the character in us that is wise, resourceful, has the quality to adjust to a given situation, observant and discerning. Like the serpent, Jesus invites us not to react immediately out of our emotions only, or to make decisions imprudently.

    The dove is also understood to have the characters of being innocent, gentle, relax, peaceful, understanding and meek. The dove also represents the Spirit of God that brings comfort and peace, enlightenment and freedom. The dove reminds us of the gentle presence of God, never intimidating yet powerful, never imposing yet forceful.

    It is in this way too that Jesus invites us to be as innocent and simple as the doves. Like the doves, we are called to keep calm and to always claim our peace so that we may be able to respond to life with wisdom. We are also called to be gentle and to be simple in order to bring encouragement and hope to others around who are already troubled and anxious. Kabay pa.