Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Year 1

  • TO FIND OUR GREATEST JOY IN LIFE

    TO FIND OUR GREATEST JOY IN LIFE

    August 2, 2023 – Wednesday 17th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080223.cfm)

    Why do people work so hard? Is it not because of the dream to be contented and happy? Why do men and women search for true love? Is not also because of the hope of being happy in life? Why do we search for what makes us happy? Is it not because that we are destined to be happy?

    Definitely, we are all in search of something that will make our life happy, joyful and contented. Each of us dreams that kind of life. However, in the process of searching, we also encounter failures and disappointments, discouragements and frustrations. Yet, we always wake up to achieve what we desire for our life and for our loved ones. Our instinct is to search and gain a life of happiness peace and joy not just for ourselves but also for the people we love.

    This brings me to the message of the Gospel today. Our Gospel presents to us two parables that tell us about this desire of finding and possessing something of great value in life. This is something that a person would do everything just to attain this something of great value.

    The first parable tells us of the grace of God that surprises us. The person was actually not conscious in searching for a treasure. Yet, that person just found it out of accident and later on did everything just to possess it because he was convinced that it was of great importance. He was willing to sell everything he had just to gain that treasure. Certainly, God also loves to surprise us. Joy is truly a gift given to us.

    The second parable tells us of a person consciously searching for a pearl of great price. This search comes from that desire to have a blessed life of peace and joy. Indeed, along the way of our search, great difficulty may be experienced. However, God also leads us to discover His gift for us when we persistently ask for that. God would truly bless a heart that desires Him.

    And when a person finally finds his or her joy in life, this transforms the person not just internally but also physically especially in the way the person relates with others and the way the person presents himself or herself before others. This is what we have heard from our first reading in the Book of Exodus.

    Moses who found his greatest comfort and joy in the Lord was transformed. The Book of Exodus described him that the “skin of his face became radiant.” Moses’ intimate friendship with God made him a different person from before. He was God’s close friend. Consequently, this made Moses also ever closer to the people. Moses became more sensitive to the struggles, questions, fears and anxieties of the people.

    This tells us too that when we truly find our greatest joy in life, we become contented and grateful persons. We would begin to look at things and look at life from the perspective of God rather than from our negative and bitter perspective. In a way, this makes our heart radiate, our actions generous and our words kind.

    Certainly, a married person who truly finds contentment, security and joy in his or her married life extends such grace towards the people around him or her. A person who finally finds his or her vocation in life also becomes more generous and life-giving towards others.

    We pray that in our search of that great value, then, we would hopefully also arrive at the realization that God’s desire for us is more than anything that we could imagine for ourselves. And once we find it, may the joy and peace that it brings will transform us to become a person God wants us to be. Hinaut pa.

  • Judging others

    Judging others

    June 26, 2023 – Monday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062623.cfm)

    Moral life is all about our practice of christian faith in life. It begs the question as to how we live out our lives as we believe in Jesus.

    We do live nowadays in a world in which it is very common to judge, criticize, & condemn other. Easy for us to see the failures & mistakes of others, dwell on their sins, points out their weaknesses, & speak of their faults to others. Yes, we do have the tendency & the habit to judge, criticize, & condemn others, that greatly influence our thinking, attitude & actions towards others.

    In this regard, Jesus teaches & advices us to “stop judging… stop measuring others”. Meaning, to stop the habit of judging, criticizing & condemning others.” Why? Because the habit corrupts our very person. Such habit not only unhealthy & harmful to the judged other, but above all to the judging person. Judging, criticizing & condemning others makes us not only sinful, but above all corrupt persons.

    Pope Francis, once said: “We are all sinners, but we are not all corrupt. Sinners are accepted but not the corrupt.” Meaning, sinners are forgiven, but corrupt are not tolerated & accepted in the church. So, stop the corrupting habit of judging, criticizing & condemning others.

    How? Jesus asserts: “Remove out your beam first, & then you can remove out your brother’s speck.” In other words: “Bago mo linisin ang dungis ng iyong kapwa, hugasan mo ang putik sa mukha.” In Cebuano: “Manalamin sa, bag-o mamintana.” Have a good look then at yourself first. If you have something to judge, criticize & condemn on others, do it to yourself first& perhaps you will be more slow & careful to do so.

    Lord, teach us to do & live your ways in our daily witness of our faith in life. So, May it be. Amen

  • A Change of Heart

    A Change of Heart

    March 1, 2023 – Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030123.cfm)

    There are three areas in today’s readings where a change of heart happened.

    First, the change of heart of the people of Nineveh. At the preaching of Jonah, the king and the whole kingdom realized their sinfulness, repented and believed in God. Jonah played a significant role here, since it was him who was sent by God to be a sign to the people, not of condemnation but of mercy and freedom. Jonah, though was very against of the idea of preaching and calling the people to repentance, did what God told him. Those people were Assyrians who subjected Jonah’s people to suffering. The Assyrians waged war against the Hebrews and wanted them as slaves. This was the reason why, Jonah just wanted these people to die and not be saved. Yet, the people believed in Jonah and ask God’s mercy.

    Second, the change of heart of God. Yes, we were told wonderfully that “God repented of the evil plan that he threatened to do” to the people of Nineveh. God was moved by the sincerity of the people and saw that even with the evil they have done against their neighbors, there was still goodness in their hearts. The acts of repentance and confession of their sins, moved the Lord and changed his heart and granted mercy and freedom for these oppressors.

    Third, the change of heart of Jonah. He realized that his belief in the Lord God was very limited. He thought that God does things according to what he likes to believe. He thought that God was only for them, yet, he realized that God was bigger than his anger and hatred against the people of Nineveh. God was bigger and greater than him.

    Thus, today we too are called to have a change of heart from whatever that prevents us from truly being free from pain, anger, hatred, biases and prejudices. May we realize that this Season of Lent is already a sign to us to change our heart according to God’s heart. As the Psalm proclaims today, “A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.” May we not become like those people whom Jesus addressed in the Gospel, whose hearts became hardened and unrepentant though the Lord was already in front of them. 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.