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Tag: Christianity

  • GOD’S GIFT OF SALVATION

    GOD’S GIFT OF SALVATION

    May 24, 2025 – Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052425.cfm)

    Once, a friend told me, “It is only through ourselves that we will be saved. Religion cannot save us, only ourselves.” And because he was quite talkative and tended to always dominate any conversation, I couldn’t respond to him and refute his idea. However, that event helped me to further discern and understand the gift of salvation.

    There are two points that I want to bring out today.

    First, we will never be able to save ourselves. No one can save his/herself. No human effort and merit can save us. Salvation is a gift. It is a grace. It is not like a salary or wage that we receive after our hard labor. Even our good deeds and righteousness will never be capable of affording the grace of salvation.

    We will only be able to share this gift because this is God’s plan revealed to us. the Lord desires that we share in God’s fullness of life, and that we become free. This is God’s gift offered to us though we are unworthy at all.

    Second, religion or the Church is the very image of the people who are already sharing the gift of salvation. When we truly live as a church united in Christ, it shows that we joyfully accept this grace. We also share in this grace. Thus, only in living out our Christian life in our community, though our closeness and concern with each one that we learn to share in the grace of salvation and freedom. This is what we have heard from our readings today.

    In the Acts of the Apostles, we were told that “Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.”

    This tells us of the gift of salvation already shared among the first Christians. Those who heard the good news and lived them out, experienced the grace of freedom in Christ.

    This was crystal clear in the life of Timothy. He showed that grace by living a life dedicated to preaching of the Gospel to many. He joined and accompanied Paul in his journey because he felt and experience the grace in his very life.

    Thus, through the preaching of the apostles that the church grew, and today we are all gathered, as fruits of that grace lived out since the time of the apostles. This was the reason why the Gospel was preached to many nations and peoples, and they too received and lived the faith, and grew.

    This is reechoed in our Responsorial Psalm today, “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.” This is both an expression of hope and vision, that all of us will also preach the Gospel not just in our words but also in our deeds. May we preach Christ and his teachings with joy in our hearts. Only by this attitude of the heart that others shall see and recognize that we have already shared the grace of salvation and freedom.

    However, let us also remember that when we too are constantly in conflict with one another, the constant division in our community, the lingering hatred and resentment against each one are signs that we do not live and share in God’s gift of salvation. When our hearts are filled with jealousy, greed, hate, selfishness, indifference, deceit and violence towards others, these too are signs that we are departing and making ourselves distance from God’s offer and gift of freedom and joy.

    On the other hand, when we also experience persecutions, suffering and hatred from others because of what we believe, do not worry too much. Remember, even Christ and his apostles also suffered very much from the hand of those who rejected God’s presence and God’s gift. The Gospel today reminds us that the world may persecute us, but, God has chosen us to be his own.

    As God has chosen us, this is now our surety of the Lord ever abiding presence in us. As Jesus accompanies us and journey with us, we too share in his gift of salvation and freedom. Hinaut pa.

  • Known by our love

    Known by our love

    May 18, 2025 – Fifth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051825.cfm)

    Having married to his childhood sweetheart for only a year & a half, in fear & anxiety, a man told his father: “Dad, marriage is not FOR me.” After few minutes of silence, the father gave this advice: “Son, I make this really simple. You marry not to make yourself happy, but to make someone else happy. Marriage is not for you because you are married for a family & your future children. Marriage is not about you, but about the person you married & the life you have chosen.” So, marriage is more than just for your sake, but for the sake of your beloved ones.

    Easy for us to think that ordained priests and consecrated religious people are married to God & church. Rightly so, for they dedicate their lives to & for God & the church. It does not mean however that lay Christian couples & family are not married to & for God & the church. Christian marriage & family life is a

    discipleship – a way of following Jesus & loving God through & in His people. Like ordination & religious professions, marriage is not about & for oneself but for your beloved whom you love in life, and above all for God.

    Christian couples do have their marriage in the church because they consider their love & marriage to each other as sacred & holy, and they wish to make their life now & always as their sacred offering to God & His church. Their marriage then is not about themselves but about each other living their love life for God & His Church through their own family & Christian community. Same way with ordained priest & consecrated religious people, Christian married couples are also thus married to God & His Church. And above all, being Christian is being married to God, and being in marriage to our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Jesus in our gospel today said: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

    Here Jesus reminds us that it is not enough just to know the commandment to love, but most of all we must live & practice Love. And Love then is for one another than oneself. Meaning, love is basically not for and about oneself (not for and about you), but Love is all about & for one’s beloved & others. In other words, love is our marriage of one another to God.

    Ultimately then, marriage is not for the sake of Me and about Me, but for the sake of and about An-other than Me. Love lived in Christian discipleship then is not self-centered, self-serving & self-oriented but more so other-centered, other-serving & other-oriented. If & when we love this way, as Jesus says: “We are not far from God’s kingdom.”

    And above all in & our loving one another, by our marriage to God, as we love same way as Jesus loves us, we are known to be His disciples and known to be Christian, …because as it was said, “marriage is not for me, but for one another than me”. By our love & loving, then we are known to be Christians.

    In this mass, we pray that our love for our beloved & others in life be our way of following our risen Lord, and be our marriage to God & His Church as our fitting sacrifice & worship to God’s goodness for us now & always.

    So be it. Amen.

  • Discerning Authenticity

    Discerning Authenticity

    May 11, 2025 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051125.cfm)

    Once the late-Philippine lady senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago while giving a graduation speech made this joke. She said…

    Beside a swimming pool, two girls are having this following convo. G1 said to G2: Know what? You are going to float (Alam mo. Lulutang ka). G2 to G1: Why? Is it because I’m getting slim, light & sexy? (Bakit? Dahil ba, magaan, slim at sexy ako? G1 replied: No, it’s because you are Plastic (Dahil plastic ka). Funny & rude it maybe, but it tells a lot.

    Now, we might ask nowadays, how do we distinguish a GOOD parent, teacher, friend, politician, leader, mentor, or coach from a BAD one? How do we know if that person is real, true, deep, honest & trustworthy? How do we know that person is fake, shallow, liar & unreliable? In other words, how do we discern authentic from artificial?

    Nowadays it is normal for us to suspect things, simply because it is not easy to know whether it is real or fake. Because it is difficult to detect the authentic from artificial or plastic, the durable from disposable, nowadays we do tend to be suspicious of things & even of one another.

    Same way with our relationships with others, we rather suspect, doubt, and distrust one another, than believe and trust others because it is more challenging to distinguish who are real, honest & smart from fake, deceitful, & shrewd people.

    Jesus in our gospel today introduced and made Himself known to us as The Good Shepherd who knows His sheep and His sheep follows Him. As Jesus distinguished Himself from a Hired Worker who work for pay and no concern for the sheep, He reminds us here that as OUR good shepherd, He is a hands-on and committed caretaker/caregiver of His sheep who maintains a personal intimate relation with His sheep, and will commit His life to live and work with His fold in life & we, His sheep has a deep faith in Him, our Good Shepherd.

    Be reminded the risen Lord reveals Himself in Person & in Flesh for real. Jesus then is authentic, not artificial.

    In the Gospel few Sundays ago, as the risen Lord reveals Himself in the midst of the disciples, he showed and asked them to touch and see His wounded hands and feet.

    Thus, the risen Lord reveals Himself not as ghost but in flesh and bones with wounds. The risen Lord, our Good Shepherd thus knows us & we know Him personally for real, & not for fake or as plastic.

    We Christians proclaim that our risen Lord Jesus Christ is OUR good shepherd. We believe that He is our Shepherd, who knows and loves us personally. We also believe that we know Him personally for we know His voice & we follow Him faithfully in life.

    Particularly For us Filipino Catholic, we do have special or unique take in knowing our Good Shepherd personally. We know Him not only because Kilala natin siya but because Dama Natin siya – not only because we know Him but moreso because we feel Him.

    Culturally sense-feeling perceptions are important to us, Filipino Christians. Like,… I may know you, but I may not feel you. I may feel you though I may not know you. (Kilala kita, pero di kita ramdam. Ramdam kita kahit di kita kilala). This is how we distinguish real from fake – authentic from artificial or virtual & how we discern good & bad person.

    Same way as we Filipinos have this natural felt-instinct & sense to distinguish the real from fake, to discern the good from evil, we also come to be familiar with & know more the shepherd’s voice through our gut-sense and feelings.

    Same way as the mother knows the child instinctively & the child knows the mother by sense & instinct, we do come to know the risen Lord as our true Good Shepherd in life not only by our volition, consent & reasonings, but most of all through our sense & feeling perception (damdamin at kalooban).

    Feel/Ramdam ko Siya/Bati Nako Siya. Feel/Ramdam natin Siya/Bati nato siya. By our sense-perception & feeling-gut insights, we come to know the risen Lord with us – in person & in flesh. Knowing the Shepherd is thus not only for us an intellectual or cognitive familiarity but moreso a deep felt-sense knowledge and insight of His presence, love & blessing.

    Same deep-sense knowledge and insight would also guide us in tomorrow’s National & Local Election as we choose & vote for our coming political leaders. By the same gut-feeling insight, we know who will be good or bad, real, or fake, sincere or corrupt for the future ahead of us.

    We pray then that the Easter Season this year be our moment to enhance and improve our special felt-sense of knowing our True & Good Shepherd, so that we may not be gone astray from His fold but rather have a much deeper relationship with Him, and be always attuned with His will & plan for us now, for the future of our society, nation & world ahead.

    So Help Us, God. So May it Be. Hinaut pa unta. Amen.

  • FREEDOM FROM OUR OWN PRISON CELLS

    FREEDOM FROM OUR OWN PRISON CELLS

    April 30, 2025 – Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/043025.cfm)

    When I was a novice, there would be a day in a week when we would visit the city jail. In our weekly visits, as I have become comfortable making friends with the inmates, now called as, Persons Deprived of Liberty, I asked one of them who have become a close friend of mine. I asked how was he and his life inside the City Jail. Great was his dismay for the crime he did. He violated the law and so deserved to be punished. Because of this, he felt deep longing and loneliness. He had many fears but for him, he said, he had to face them because he had to pay the crime he did. He, together with the others, have been deprived of liberty because of a crime committed or suspected to have done a crime.

    Peter and John, as told to us by the Acts of the Apostles, were also deprived of liberty. This was, in fact, the second time that both were brought to the prison. They were deprived of liberty because of the jealousy of some leaders at that time. They were jealous of the many good things the apostles did. They were jealous because people believed more to Peter and John rather than to them.

    The Apostles preached Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. They too healed the sick. They helped the poor and the needy around them. They responded with generosity to those who needed their help. What the Apostles did were concrete expressions of what they believed and held in their hearts.  Their faith in the person of the Risen Jesus became their way of life.

    As both were imprisoned, surely, they too were afraid and worried on what will happen to them. However, this time, they had enough trust and faith in God. The constant invitation of Jesus, “Do not be afraid! Peace be with you!” has grown in their hearts.

    These are just two kinds of physical imprisonment. One is imprisoned because of a crime committed and the other because those in authorities were just filled with jealousy and malice towards those who did good and preached the Gospel.

    However, there is also another form of imprisonment which is not physical. This was the case of the authorities. The chief priest, Sadducees and Pharisees who continued to persecute the Apostles and felt jealous towards them, were truly imprisoned by their blindness and hardness of heart. They were imprisoned by their greed and envy, by their fear and doubts and by their refusal to believe in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

    Thus, it was self-imprisoned caused by their own jealousy and unbelief. The Gospel portrays these kinds of people with those who preferred darkness than light, because their works were evil.

    We too examine ourselves today. In what way am I also being imprisoned? Or what is it that imprisons me today? What keeps and prevents me from bring free and to be truly I am? What are those that I consider as my prison cells that suffocate and limit the person I am called to be?

    Let us be more reflective and discerning of these things. Ask the grace from the Risen Christ to enlighten and to free us from our own prison cells.

    Pray, that we may be able to see and recognize areas of our life where we are being imprisoned.

    Pray, that we may be free and become the person and community that we are called to be, and that is to be a “light.”

    Hence, believe in the Risen Christ who brings us light. Jesus was sent by the Father to redeem us and not to condemn us to death. Let us also join our prayers to Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help so that she may help us in recognizing better ourselves and to see the light of the face of her Son, Jesus. Hinaut pa.

  • What makes our heart unbelieving and hardened?

    What makes our heart unbelieving and hardened?

    April 26, 2025 – Saturday in the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042625.cfm)

    When a terrifying and agonizing event happen in our life, it overwhelms our heart and mind. Such a horrible experience brings us into a state of shock, confusion and disbelief. Persons who are recently in a traumatizing experience may manifest anxiety and fear and other spontaneous strong emotional outbursts. There may be flashbacks of that terrifying event and thus make the person to withdraw and isolate from others.

    To protect oneself, a possible coping is to shut down that memory of the past. Hence, it makes the heart unbelieving and hardened towards others.

    Such human experience was the very state that the disciples of Jesus went through. They were in a state of shock and disbelief after the horrible event that happened to Jesus. And so, they retreated and hid themselves because of fear. They locked themselves in a room to protect themselves. Yet, when Jesus fulfilled his promise to be with them through the gift of his resurrection, their hearts remained closed.

    Indeed, they could not believe it. They could not even accept what has been reported by Mary Magdalene. They would not even accept the testimony of the two disciples who went to Emmaus and reported that the Lord appeared to them.

    The disciples must have been filled with guilt. They were ashamed for fleeing and hiding when Jesus was arrested, tortured, and killed. Peter denied Jesus who earlier said he won’t. The very experience and those days were just disheartening. They too must have felt that there was no more hope for them. Their courage was gone. Their spirits dampened. These were devastating, and so, they became unbelieving and their hearts hardened.

    The terrible death of Jesus, killed in the most shameful and painful way, was beyond their expectation. Yet, it happened. The Lord told them he would suffer and die. He also told them he would be raised on the third day. Despite this, they were all unprepared.

    And when Jesus was raised and appeared to other disciples, their minds and hearts were closed because they were too afraid. They stayed in their grief and sorrow, nursing their fear and shame.

    However, the Lord appeared to them all and confronted them. As the Gospel of Mark told us, “Jesus appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.” Yes, the Lord confronted and challenged them by rebuking them. It was the Lord’s way of making them wake up and move forward. They have been staying in that disposition and attitude that was already unhealthy and unhelpful for them and for others.

    We too could find ourselves having such kind of disposition and attitude. When we stay too long in our grief, we nurture our own emotional wounds. Feeding our fears with anxiety further escalates the issue. Such dispositions of the heart and mind make us more submerged into fear and anxiety, leading into sin and darkness.

    We remind ourselves, it is okay to grieve. It is okay to be afraid after a painful experience. It is okay to feel down and discouraged after a failure. It is okay to feel lonely and alone. It is okay to be sad and not feeling okay.

    However, when we are already staying too much in these human emotions and even reinforcing these emotions with our unhealthy coping and nursing them. Then, that is not okay. It is not alright. These attitudes would lead us farther from others. We would move even farther from our true selves and the grace of God.

    Today, the Risen Jesus, through the gift of His Resurrection, we are called to confront ourselves, to confront our friends and one another when we are going in those unhealthy and life-sucking state of life. Let us allow the grace of the resurrection to give us hope, courage and a new way of looking at things and looking at our life.

    We move forward and move on, knowing that the grace of God is with us, and that the presence of Jesus assures us that there is life, and that there is hope, always. Hinaut pa.