Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Weekday Homilies

  • God’s coming received with great opposition

    God’s coming received with great opposition

    December 14, 2019 – Saturday 2nd Week of Advent / Memorial of St John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121419.cfm

    Homily

    Have you been opposed by others just because you are different? Have you been rejected by people around you just because you do not adhere to the status quo, to what they do and to what they liked to believe?

    The Gospel today tells us that the arrival of Jesus was not received warmly by people around him particularly of those in the leadership, of those in the high position. Despite the call of the prophets from the ancient times from Isaiah, Elijah and up to the person of John the Baptist, God’s coming was received with great opposition. As the prophets called the people to turn away from sin and selfishness, the prophets also received violent condemnation from the powerful. This was what happened to John the Baptist who confronted King Herod for his immoral union with his brother’s wife. As a result, John was silenced by beheading him. In the words of Jesus, he said, “they treated him as they pleased.”

    Indeed, the Lord revealed himself, yet the people refused to recognize him because their hearts were filled with malice and full of themselves. These people who continually rejected and opposed Jesus had become so comfortable with their life but trapped by their own selfishness.

    The Pharisees, scribes, lawyers and priests of the temple were so comfortable with their way of life that they did not want a change and did not want to be challenged. They were afraid of losing what they were enjoying. Herod and his mistress were also contented with their immoral life and did not want to be confronted. Thus, these people did not want God to change their life. What they seek was the preservation of that kind of life they were living. However, this was not what God wanted. Jesus wanted them to be free, that is why, he had to confront them.

    In this Season of Advent, we are reminded to also examine ourselves if we have become too comfortable with what we have been doing, with what we have been thinking and with what we are living for. The problem is not the comfort in itself, the concern is our attitude or way of life in choosing to be indifferent and unmoved with what is happening around us and with God’s self-revelations in our life. This also include our attitudes of not wanting to change, to be challenged, to be criticized and to be corrected.

    Hence, this calls us to confront ourselves with those attitudes that do not lead us closer to others and closer to God. Jesus invites us today to be more welcoming of his presence by also letting go of those comforts that prevent us from coming closer to him, and attitudes that prevent God to enter into our life.

    As we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus, may our hearts and our whole life be more ready and more welcoming of God’s coming. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • By being grateful, we become welcoming of God’s invitation

    By being grateful, we become welcoming of God’s invitation

    December 13, 2019 – Friday 3rd Week of Advent / Memorial of St Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121319.cfm

    Homily

    Gratefulness makes us see what surrounds us, both the good and the bad. Gratefulness allows us to be embracing and accepting of the things and people around us. It is when we are grateful too that we become joyful persons and will tend to see the goodness and uniqueness of others. And when we become joyful, we also become generous of ourselves towards the people around us, no matter who they are, whether they are our friends or strangers.

    However, if our heart is without gratefulness but rather bitter, hateful and vengeful because of our personal failures and failures of others towards us, then, we become close-minded, rejecting, and vicious in the way we relate with one another and even in the way we relate with God.

    An ungrateful heart makes us belittle ourselves and belittle others, jealous of the success of our friends, but having low self-esteem. With this in mind, let us see again and explore our Gospel today and discern on how God invites us.

    Let us see the attitude of the Chief Priests and Pharisees towards Jesus. These two groups of people were very critical towards Jesus because Jesus challenged their comfort, their belief and practices.

    So, what was Jesus really doing?

    Jesus was very unconventional because he ate and drank with sinners. He touched and mingled with the sick and the unclean people. Jesus preached a loving and forgiving God the Father. He was from Galilee, from an insignificant town called Nazareth. He was not a well-known intellectual and did not come from a rich and influential family. And all that Jesus did was a threat to the status quo.

    Thus, the Chief Priests of the Temple and the Pharisees were already contented with the comfort that they have, with the power and influence that they were enjoying. They were privileged people and the ordinary ones would almost worship them. They also preferred a strict and unforgiving God because it was through that belief that they could advance their self-interest. They used their position in the society to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor.

    That is why, they were against Jesus because he was changing their ways. Their hearts were filled with bitterness, hate, anger and the desire to have more; in other words, they were filled with themselves, worshipping their very selves. This is idolatry.

    These were the reasons why they could not accept Jesus or even recognize the presence of God in Jesus. As they rejected John the Baptist by accusing him of being possessed by a demon for being different and radical, and so they too rejected and despised Jesus, accusing him for being a glutton and drunkard because Jesus ate and drank with sinners and the poor.

    This is the response of an ungrateful heart. The Chief Priests and Pharisees did not recognize at all the works of God. Thus, by being ungrateful they also reject what comes from God.

    This will also happen to us when we remain ungrateful and when we refuse to recognize that everything is from God. When we become ungrateful persons, we also become self-entitled. We become demanding in our relationships. We become critical of those people around us and we tend to only see what is wrong in the other person. We will become stingy of our time and energy and ungenerous of our resources and presence to those who are asking for our help. And most of all, we become indifferent to people around us and indifferent to God.

    Thus, God calls each of us today to be more aware of the gifts, blessings and graces that we have received each day. It would be good then to bring back to our memories the many gifts that we have received as we prepare ourselves for the birth of Jesus.

    Hopefully, by starting from there, then our consciousness will be heightened and sharpened in recognizing the presence of God present in our life and in the lives of others. By being grateful, we may become welcoming of God’s invitation. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Surprise!

    December 12, 2019 – Our Lady of Guadalupe

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121219.cfm

    Homily

    The Season of Advent is characterized by an element of surprise. This means that God’s coming is a big surprise for us. We do not expect that God who is almighty and all-powerful will come to visit us and to humble Himself in order to reveal himself to us.

    This is what our Gospel tells to us today. Elizabeth was surprised by the visit of her cousin Mary. But more than that, Elizabeth and the baby in her womb were more surprised of what Mary carried in her womb. They were surprised because God had visited them. This prompted baby John to leap with joy because God has come through Mary.

    The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is also a manifestation on how God has visited us in history. Moreover, this visit of God through Mary to San Juan Diego is an expression of God’s loving concern for his oppressed people particularly in Latin America. God’s visit then, is a revelation that God is on the side of the poor and the oppressed, of the weak and powerless.

    On this Season of Advent and on this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are invited to allow God to surprise us. Thus, never lose the sense of being surprised. This means that we are challenged to put down our judgments and biases, indifferences and suspicions, thus, to be less and less guarded, that may prevent God from surprising us – and that may stop us too from welcoming God.

    God surprises all the more when we begin to embrace our own failures and sins, and when we begin to accept that we are vulnerable and weak. And when God comes to surprise us, may it lead us to leap with joy. And hopefully, that experience will also move us to also surprise others with our own kindness and generosity. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Are you anxious and burdened? Come to Jesus today

    Are you anxious and burdened? Come to Jesus today

    December 11, 2019 – Wednesday 2nd Week of Advent   

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121119.cfm)

    Homily

    What burdens are you carrying now? What makes you worry at the moment? What are those that you are most afraid of? These questions are surely relevant to us. They tell us about our dispositions and even would tell us about what we are hoping for. We hope to be liberated from our burdens, to be free from worries and anxieties. And usually we want them to disappear immediately. 

    A survey from blaze.com reveals the top reasons most people pray to God. The first two reasons according to the survey are (first) family and friends and (second) personal problems and difficulties. These two concerns are very much related. In fact, these two reasons reveal our burdens, worries and fears at the moment.

    Thus, we ask God to help us in our problems and concerns. But, there is a danger around here. There is a temptation in us to think of a God who does magic and who can take away all those concerns that burden us.

    Contrary to what we usually think of God, our readings today reveal the true character of God. God does not offer us magic what God offers us rather, is his gentle, empowering and understanding kind of friendship. 

    This is what the first reading reveals to us. The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us of the everlasting God who does not grow tired or weary. God would even give us strength and life. Isaiah proclaimed this to the Hebrew people at that time when they had become hopeless because of the suffering they endured while at their exile in a foreign land. They displayed weariness and boredom because of the long wait of the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah reminded them of this God who never forgets for his knowledge is without limit. God is hope because God renews our strength.

    This is what Matthew proclaimed in the Gospel. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are tired and lonely!” Jesus invites us to come to him and to welcome him in our life that we may be liberated from our burdens and sins, to be free from worries and anxieties.  

    Jesus tells us that God does not terrorize us with his power nor subjects us with his influence nor does magic to remove all our difficulties at once. Jesus gives us a humble invitation to come to him as our friend – a true friend who is gentle, humble and compassionate, willing to walk with us. 

    Thus, when we come to Jesus and trust him to be our friend, then he offers us his yoke.  At the time of Jesus, the yoke was put on the necks of two animals to plow the field for planting. There were usually two cows so that the weight becomes lighter and the plowing easier and faster. The yoke that Jesus speaks about is from this image. That yoke symbolizes the Gospel that we receive today – and that Gospel is Jesus the Lord himself. 

     In this way that Jesus offers himself as our friend who is with us. He is not promising us to remove all troubles in life at once, as his life was also filled with pain and suffering. He tells us today that though life may be filled with problems, worries and anxieties, fears and self-doubt, failures and insecurities, with shame and guilt, yet, we will never be alone in our struggle for he renews and strengthens us.

     Jesus invites us to carry those troubles with him, to pull our burdens with him, to share our trials with him, to draw strength from him and to allow him to help us. In truth, the Lord does not do good things for us, but rather, he does great things with us. He does not do miracle for us but he does it with us. 

     Remember also, our experience with Jesus as our gentle and compassionate friend is not meant to be for us alone. Each of us who have experienced that friendship is called to be a friend to others. Yes, in return that experience with the Lord will allow us to become willing and generous friends – ready to cheer up a friend filled with doubts, ready to give comfort to a friend suffering from grief and sorrow, who has a listening heart to a friend who needs someone to talk to, so that we too will become God’s instrument of brining freedom and inner peace to our overburdened brothers and sisters in this Season of Advent and Christmas. Ok lang? Sana all.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Re-Learning the qualities of Children this Advent

    Re-Learning the qualities of Children this Advent

    December 3, 2019 – Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

    Memorial of St Francis Xavier

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120319.cfm)

    Homily

    Do you know the average questions a child asks?

    According to a survey, approximately, a child of about 3 to 5 years old, asks 300 questions a day with with an average of 1 question every 2 minutes. J These questions come from their curiosity. They marvel at everything and are amazed with everything and everyone. This makes a child welcoming to the many surprises that come.

    The innocence of children, their simplicity and humility make them receptive to the many wonders that surround them.

    Thus, children easily recognize what is beautiful, good, amazing and surprising even with simple things. They easily get excited in a simple toy. They are delighted in a simple gift. They respond with pleasure to a simple smile.

    These qualities are without aggression and arrogance but rather filled with humility and openness. It is just interesting how the Book of Isaiah also described the coming of the Messiah. He proclaimed that a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse. He is filled with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. He shall be a just and kind judge and brings peace.

    And as a shoot silently comes out from its branch and so is God. This tells us that God’s unfolding and revelations are done in silence. That is why, when God reveals himself, it is always simple, humble and even ordinary. God does not reveal himself in extravagance and mere popularity that only shows aggression and arrogance.

    In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us how the Father reveals the mystery of salvation, of His gift of healing and peace to the children. Of course, God reveals His mystery to all but only the children and the childlike are blessed to receive God’s blessing, simply because of the qualities of being welcoming and humble. 

    Jesus warned us adults of our tendency to claim that we already know everything. Yes, when we become adults we tend to claim our independence. We ceased to be curious because we become over confident to what we have achieved.

    Jesus criticized the attitude of those people during His time who claimed to be the “masters of the world.” The knowledge that they have gained in many years of experiences prevented them to learn new things. They have become arrogant and unwelcoming. Thus, these attitudes blocked them to receive God’s revelations and invitations.

    We have to be careful then, when we begin to be arrogant with our own success, when we feel superior of what we have become and over-confident of what we have accumulated. These attitudes might prevent us from recognizing the many wonders that God reveals and to His invitations for us. 

    We are reminded today on this first week of Advent, to re-learn our previous qualities when we were children, and to re-learn those qualities through the children around us. These include our openness to the many wonders around us and to be receptive to the many gifts that are being offered to us. 

    Take time then to ask questions, to be surprised even with ordinary things, to be delighted even with simple greetings of smiles around you. Take time to stop and say hello to a friend. You may also take time to witness a sunrise or sunset or even while sipping your coffee and eating your meal. Hopefully, by re-learning the qualities of a child we may also discover more and more how God unfolds His advent, the coming of His presence in us and His blessings for us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR