Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Gifts

  • THE MOST PRECIOUS CHRISTMAS GIFT!

    THE MOST PRECIOUS CHRISTMAS GIFT!

    For those who have the means, one cause of stress during the Christmas season is what gifts to give to one’s loved ones? This is especially so if they seem to have all that they need and are not wanting for anything else. We do not want to give gifts that will only end up in the cupboards or recycled as gifts to others.

                Godparents get perplexed when having to think of the appropriate gifts to their godchildren who do expect something from them during the Christmas season. It is easy enough when they were kids, as there is a variety of toys to choose from. And kids love any toy that they receive especially the ones popular at the moment.  But when they reach adolescent or early adulthood, one wonders what gift they would appreciate. To be safe, godparents resort to just giving gift cards of superstores or outright cash.

                OFW parents are even more pressured if they are not at home for Christmas. To compensate for their absence during this season, they spoil their kids and it could turn out to be expensive as kids demand gadgets that could cost a fraction of their salaries. But it is not just their children expecting gifts but the whole clan which explains the phenomenon of those big Balikbayan boxes that flood our airports at this time of year.

                And additional source of anxiety these days is the impact of inflation and the ensuing  high prices of commodities on one hand, while salaries have no correspondingly increased. Some companies even could no yet afford to give a 13th month bonus. Considering the high costs of Christmas with demands for a delicious noche buenas and other expenses, there is hardly left to buy gifts.

                On the other hand, there is also an interesting development in terms of undermining the crash commercialism that has characterized the Christmas holiday season. To make sure that they are not held captive by the pressure to go to the malls and shop till they drop, they refuse to even buy anything. Instead the more altruistic ones would rather distribute goods to the needy or give their money to charitable institutions or cause-oriented groups.  We can only hope that this kind of movement would expand and more people are involved in spreading Christmas cheer among our less fortunate sisters and brothers.

                If there is someone out there who wonders how best to respond to the question – what gifts to give to loved ones? –  let me offer this reflection. At a most recent time when I thought I was already destined to depart from this earth, I asked myself what was it that I would miss most? Or what would I have no difficulty letting go?  I realized I could let go of:

    –         Ice cream, halo-halo and all those wonderful pastries in bakeshops

    –         A really delicious meal in a fancy Vietnamese restaurant

    –         Bagel, croissant, pretzel and those freshly-baked bread

    –         A swim in the warm waters around the islets of El Nido, Palawan or in a lagoon underneath a waterfalls

    –         A fabulous sunrise or a gorgeous sunset with the wind caressing the coconut trees

    –         A climb up the mountain and then viewing a sea of clouds

    –         Travels to Baguio and Bali, Paris, New York or Rio de Janiero

    –         Films of Kurosawa and Trauffaut, concertos of Mozart and Bach

    –         The best of Filipiniana films, music, art and literature

    –         Songs of Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra

    –         Gardening, reading Booker prize-winning novels, writing fiction

    –         And a few more favorite things to do

    Photo by Sandino Madelo, Christmas 2021

    It goes without saying that I would not let go of my faith in the Triune God and of God’s plan of salvation that continues to unfold. To have been gifted with this faith has led many to a meaningful life allowing me a glimpse of what is God’s promise for humanity. It has also brought me to many communities where I could inter-act with peoples of great charm and generosity. It allowed me to experience moments of peace and great joy. And it brought into my life many co-believers to be able to constitute communities of mutual support, deep affection and compassion for each other.

    Then I realized there was one thing I would not let go for I would miss this very much. And it is this: the love and affection of family, confreres and the closest friends especially those whose friendships have lasted a lifetime. Who I am today and what I have accomplished in my life may be due to their support, encouragement and prayers.  The wonderful moments I have enjoyed through my life – especially at certain special occasions – were in their company. There was utter happiness that could only arise in their presence.  If there are memories to keep in my heart, their faces would appear.

    Indeed, the gifts of kinship, confrereship and friendship are the most precious gifts for me. And these are gifts given from Christmas season to Christmas season as well as throughout the years. These need not be wrapped in fancy paper and silk ribbons for these are offered from the heart. Every Christmas, I have always felt blessed because I knew I continue to receive these precious gifts. If I have these gifts, really what else do I need?

    So, dear reader, do not worry what gift to give your loved ones.  By embracing them in  your heart, wishing and praying for their well-being, assisting them in their times of need and loving them in a manner that makes them feel deeply appreciative – you would have given the most precious of gifts!

    And it is a gift that goes beyond Christmas!

    A blessed Christmas to one and all!

  • Showing what we’ve got

    Showing what we’ve got

    January 28, 2021 – Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time; Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012821.cfm)

    To show to others what we have in us is not entirely an expression of “showing off” or arrogance. To show off oneself comes from an attitude that only seek attention and affirmation from others. Showing arrogance does not necessarily also show to others the quality of what we have in us. Thus, “to show to others what we have” is a call to be generous towards others. This does not seek affirmation or attention or recognition or even seeking to be above others because of what we have.

    Such attitude is something that the Gospel today is calling us to develop. Jesus said to his disciples “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?” Jesus challenged the disciples to learn from him and that is to be generous enough to share what they’ve got. The lamp that carries the light is the gift that we have in us. We are the lamp and Jesus is the light.

    This generous attitude of oneself is the very way of life that Jesus showed to us and revealed in our Scriptures. Jesus showed the light of God to the people. That light in Jesus made people to recognise God and brought them towards healing, freedom and life. Despite the resistance of the arrogant and the self-righteous as well as of those who were powerful, Jesus did not hide himself but continued to show the light to the people. His life, indeed, is meant to be shared even in death.

    This was what Jesus was calling his disciples to do. Many will try to put off the light. The disciples may experience fear and will try to hide the light. However, the light shall never be put off for it will continue to shine in the darkness.

    The great St. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican philosopher and theologian is another example of an person who had been so generous in terms of sharing his wisdom and knowledge to the Church. His scholarly works in philosophy and theology had become foundations in scholarship that helped the Church deepen her knowledge of the faith.

    For us today who have heard these words from Jesus through our Scriptures, we too are called to share generously the gifts that we have in us. As Christians, we have Jesus in us, thus, share the Lord generously to our brothers and sisters through our charity and availability of our presence. Our gifts and talents, resources and capacities are also called to be shared generously because they can also serve as light for those who need our help and assistance.

    By showing what we’ve got, we may add more light into our community darkened by indifference, by loneliness and by death. Hinaut pa.

  • To be surprised with God’s gifts to us

    To be surprised with God’s gifts to us

    December 19, 2020 – Fourth Day of the Misa de Aguinaldo

    Click here for the readings (https://adoseofgodtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/december-19-2020-fourth-day-of-the-misa-de-aguinaldo-liturgical-publication.pdf)

    Homily

    “How shall I know this?”

    I don’t like surprises. Yes, there’s that element of excitement that one feels over it. But I think it’s in this certain sense of mystery and of unpredictability in surprises which makes it unwanting for me.

    Zechariah was not ready for a surprise. For sure, in the course of time he had served God, he must had presented his desire to have at least a child. But the time he waited for God’s answer was long overdue. Being human and old, and his wife Elizabeth was found to be barren, his doubts were understandably considerable.

    To doubt or misunderstand God’s purpose in our life is obviously easy. Even highly spiritual people are sometimes subject to doubt. Maybe because we don’t pay much attention to God’s intimate presence in our lives. Or perhaps we underestimate our value by magnifying our inadequacies.

    But God’s power is not bound by human limitations or confined by our pessimistic views. These factors, therefore, are not deterrents to God’s promised plan of salvation.

    God is faithful, and He keeps his promise. And he delivers it on time, by his time and by his way. He, who created the whole universe and guided the events of history to prepare the coming of the Messiah, is very much capable of accomplishing what He had begun. What may be under humanly impossible circumstances, God makes it possible. Because He specializes in the “Impossibles.”

    However, to be able to appreciate God’s hands at work in our life, we must be open to what God can do in every situation, be it ordinary or extraordinary. And of course, to let God be God by patiently waiting for God to act in his time, in his ways.

    Lord, God of surprises, may you give us eyes of faith to see you present in our life and ears of faith to hear you speaking to us. And may we learn to trust you enough in every step of the way. Amen.

    Gibo Dandoy, CSsR

  • The Gift of our Family and healing of our Family History

    The Gift of our Family and healing of our Family History

    December 17, 2020 – Thursday, Third Day of Misa de Aguinaldo

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121720.cfm)

    Homily

    I come from a family of fishermen. For hundreds of years, my ancestors’ main occupation was fishing. Our family’s history revolved around the sea and the various fish we could find within the Island of Mactan. In fact, our family’s surname is related to fishing. I became aware of this when I found my Papa’s long list of names of our ancestry. Papa loved history and most especially the history of our family.

    Papa told me stories of our great-grand fathers and mothers who created significant impact in our small history. As I listened to those long and many stories of Papa, he too shared interesting and exciting stories of significant people in our history. Later, he was not hesitant anymore to share with us some disheartening, scandalous and painful stories in the family.

    Yet, what I found funniest in our family history was Papa’s claim that our family come from the lineage of the great Lapu-Lapu, the first hero in our archipelago and defeated Fernando de Magallanes.

    Nevertheless, though funny it is, our own small family history has a small part in the story of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. Part of our family tradition is the devotion to the Sto. Niño as it is common among Cebuano families. We too have our own share of miracle stories with the Sto. Niño which made our Christian faith to grow.

    From this story of my own family, this also brings me into God’s invitation for us today, on this Second Day of our Misa de Aguinaldo. Thus, I would like to deepen today’s reflection on the Gift of our Family and the Healing of our Family History.

    Each of us, is also a product of our vast family history. It is not that we are doomed and chained by the past, but we are being enriched by a vast history. Our families have our own history of both joys and sorrows, failures and successes, of horrors and victories.

    Our family history tells us who we are and it is part of our identity. Hence, it is also very important that we become in touch with our own family history and see how God works within our story. Besides, knowing our family history, this will be an opportunity for us to allow God to heal our broken and painful past present in our family history.

    Let me bring you now on how God works within a human family and how God reveals the Divine Plan in the family history of the whole humanity. The first reading from the Book of Genesis tells us how Jacob called his sons and bestowed the blessing to Judah the fourth son. The blessing also contains the prophecy of the rise of a King, in the person of David, the very lineage of Jesus claimed in the Gospel of Matthew.

    This family of Jacob was not guiltless. The lineage had stories of repeated unfaithfulness and scandalous personalities. Jesus’ lineage is not perfect and not wholesome at all. In fact, Judah sold his own brother, Joseph for money. There was King David who raped Bathsheba and then later ordered to murder her husband. There was Rahab, who was a prostitute. There was King Ahaz who burned his own son alive as a human sacrifice. There was another King, Joash, who committed idolatry against Yahweh and murdered the people in the Temple area. And there was the once revered King Solomon who built the Temple pf God but later on, turned to be unfaithful to God by turning to the gods and goddesses of his many wives.

    In this kind of family history, is there any good news here, when, in fact, Jesus did not come from a “good” and “blameless” family?

    Despite the unfaithfulness and guilt within this family history, God never wavered His plan to make something good, wonderful and beautiful in this family. The Gospel of Matthew that has been proclaimed to us today, contained a long list of generations until the birth of Jesus.

    Matthew recorded the family tree of Jesus with 42 generations divided into three, that makes it 14. 14 is the equivalent of two 7. Seven is a perfect number in Jewish belief. And the repeated use of 7 means that God works in this human family in an absolutely perfect way. The family tree though not perfect but with traces of sins and unfaithfulness, God works within this human family to bring healing and life.

    The family tree of Jesus is God’s statement to us that God indeed journeyed with us, in all our humanity, in all our sins and unfaithfulness. Jesus, being born in a human family, tells us that God fully embraces our humanity. With our imperfection, God made it to be the very space for us to encounter him and to know him.

    This calls us now to own and recognize the gift of our family. Some of us must have been traumatized and carrying deep wounds because of what happened in our family, others could have been divided because of conflict over material possessions, many families are also struggling to live because of so much poverty. And with all of this, God invites us today, that as we recognize our sins and failures, God is also telling us to recognize how God unfolds blessings and graces in our human family.

    Let us also ask the Lord to grant healing to our wounded families, to bring healing to any pain and shame that are haunting us until now, healing to broken relationships, and freedom to our hearts and memories imprisoned by anger, hatred and indifference. Hinaut pa.

  • Recognizing our gifts and the gifts around us

    Recognizing our gifts and the gifts around us

    December 16, 2020 – Wednesday, First day of the Misa de Aguinaldo, National Youth Day

    Readings (Is 56:1-3a,6-8; Psalm 67:2-3,5,7-8; John 5:33-36)

    Homily

    The gifts during this season excite us. Despite this pandemic, the virus cannot prevent us to show our love and affection to people who are dear to us. Gift giving plays an important role in our Christmas celebrations. To receive a gift also reminds us of the greatest gift which we have received as Christians.

    When I was younger what truly excite me were the gifts that I will receive. I always long for that because of the feeling of satisfaction in receiving. Thus, during this season, I would always think of what I would like to receive. However, as I grew up and became more mature in my Christian faith, I gradually realized how childish my desire was. Though it is good, but to always think and long to receive something is indeed childish and a mere reflection of my selfish desire. I realized that Christmas is not just about mere receiving gifts but also recognizing my own gifts in order to be a gift to others.

    This realization brings me now into the message of this First Day of our Misa de Aguinaldo which is also the National Youth Day. This calls us together as a Church to recognize our gifts and the gifts around us especially the gift of the young.

    Allow me now to bring you all into a deeper reflection of God’s invitation for us today. Let us see the readings and discover the gift that God prepared for us.

    The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us how the foreigners came to believe in God. The Hebrew people who welcomed them, mingled with them and made friends with them, helped them to encounter the One True God. The very presence of the Hebrews became an instrument to this foreigners to recognize God’s presence. God’s people became a gift to these foreigners leading them to worship God and give thanks to God.

    This tells us that such encounter was the space where those who did not believe in God came to believe. These non-believers must have seen and witnessed God’s presence through the life of those who believed in God. This reminds us now that when our presence becomes a gift to another, our presence becomes a blessing.

    This is what our Psalm expressed today. God blesses everyone because God created everything. However, God’s blessing will be more manifested when such blessing is consciously shared. Moreover, as the Psalm recognizes God’s authority over all the nations, even those who do not belong to the chosen people of God, they too were blessed. This is a confidence in God who gathers everyone, without exception. Gifts and blessing from God are also given to all, without exception.

    The Psalm reminds us that each of us is being gifted and blessed by the Lord. Yet, the gifts in us should not remain hidden and must not be kept concealed. The beauty of the gift is when it is being shared. 

    Our Gospel today tells us about this. John was a gift to his childless parents, but more than that, John was a gift also to people who went to him, to seek the light and to seek the truth. The very life of John was a gift.

    This is what Jesus recognized in the Gospel. John’s life and his presence was a testimony to the truth. He was a burning and true shining lamp for people to see and recognize the true light. John led people to Jesus. Indeed, John’s life was a gift to people around him.

    More than John the Baptist also, the works of Jesus, his miracles, the signs he performed, were gifts of God to the people that revealed Jesus, the greatest gift we have. Nevertheless, when we are not conscious of the gifts of God, within us and around us, then, we become like those authority figures and people who failed to recognize the Lord. They failed to recognize Jesus because of their indifference.

    Thus, on this day, we are called to recognize our individual gifts and the gifts around us. For us to be able to arrive in this awareness, I have three invitations which you can bring with you today.

    First. Stop comparing yourself to others. Looking at what others enjoy and desiring what they have, and pitying ourselves with what we do not have, is burying ourselves in jealousy. This brings us into bitterness and indifference to our own gifts. Begin rather, to recognize our own gifts and talents, and the many blessing that we have. With this kind of attitude, we become confident with ourselves.

    Second. Be grateful of the gifts of people around you. As we recognize our gifts, we will surely become appreciative of the gift of others. Thus, express your gratitude to your friends, to your family and loved ones and even strangers who have become a gift to you. Say thank you to them even when what was done and given was small. When we become grateful of the gifts of others, this makes us happier.

    Third. Be a gift. As the Hebrews led the foreigners to worship God, as John led people to the true light, and as the works of Jesus revealed who he really is, let our person and our presence be a gift to people around us. Let our words, our actions, our talents and resources, become a gift in our relationships. Having such consciousness will allow us to give what is best and what is special. To become a gift is to give from the heart. In this way, our life will become a testimony of God who has come as our greatest gift. Hinaut pa.