Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Gratitude

  • Awareness of God’s Grace calls us to gratitude and graciousness

    Awareness of God’s Grace calls us to gratitude and graciousness

    November 11, 2020 – Wednesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111120.cfm)

    Homily

    In a conversation with a friend, he told me that he was doing some form of sacrifices because he was asking God of something, to grant his prayer intentions. This really reminds me of our usual attitude in our prayers and in the way we relate to God. We make sacrifices so that God may grant our prayers for healing, for success or for material graces that we need. We also take time to light a candle, to offer a mass intention, to say our novenas and rosaries, even visit churches and shrines, and ask the intercession of our favorite saints so that God will grant our prayers and desires.

    This kind of action is also similar to that 10 lepers in today’s Gospel. They too begged Jesus. They cried out to the Lord to heal and grant them freedom from the curse they endured. Certainly, Jesus listened to them. As Jesus told them to make themselves appear before their priests, on their way, each of them was healed from leprosy and experienced freedom from the curse of that illness. However, out of ten healed lepers, only one leper came back to Jesus. This leper came back to thank and to praise the Lord. This leper may not be fully aware yet, that Jesus is Lord, but he was sure enough that God was working in Jesus.

    Hence, Jesus actually wondered on what happened to the nine lepers who were all Jews like him. The leper who came back was a Samaritan, considered as a foreigner by the Jews. And Jews considered Samaritans as enemies, worthless and good for nothing. Yet, it was this enemy of the Jews, this worthless and good for nothing person who became aware not just that he was healed but also of the grace of healing. Becoming aware of the grace he received, this made the Samaritan leper to also recognize the giver of the grace. His awareness of the grace filled him with joy and gratitude. He must have been running back to Jesus out of joy to thank the Lord.

    However, Jesus indeed wondered about the nine Jewish healed lepers. We would wonder and could also ask, “What could have prevented them to thank Jesus like the Samaritan?” Well, we can only suspect. The nine Jewish healed lepers might have become indignant that the Samaritan was also healed and was given the grace. For them, a Samaritan was not worthy of God’s grace because they were traitors. They might have not accepted that an enemy had been blessed and healed by God. That happy occasion of healing must have turned into bitterness. Instead that the nine should be grateful to God, their hearts turned bitter at the sight of someone whom they thought was not worthy, useless, a mere disturbance in their society, and would only bring nothing good but problems and crimes.

    Because of such attitude, they forgot that everything was a grace and so forgot to express their gratitude to God. God’s generosity is endless yet our memory can sometimes become very short especially when we are filled with bitterness. We always remember to ask, but we tend to forget to give thanks.

    Thus, we should be careful on this. We might tend to think that those who always go to Church are the only ones worthy of God’s grace of mercy. We might tend to believe that our enemies, people we hate, people we don’t like are useless and insignificant. Then, this kind of attitude will only cloud our heart with hate and bitterness instead of gratitude and graciousness.

    Thus, we are called not just to be grateful with what we have but also to be more grateful for others who are also blessed by God. This makes us gracious too. And this also was the attitude of the Samaritan who went back to Jesus to thank him, to praise God and also to follow the Lord.

    This healed leper’s action showed how grateful his faith was. Indeed, he was not just healed physically but also spiritually. Jesus told him, “Stand up and go, your faith has saved you!” This healed leper teaches us today to show our gratitude to God so that we may also become gracious.

    St. Paul’s letter to Titus reminds us about this, he said, “the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we have done but because of his mercy.” And because of this, Paul urges us to “exercise all graciousness towards everyone.”

    Indeed, by becoming more and more aware of God’s grace in us and in each of us, we may also grow not in bitterness but with a grateful and graceful heart. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Giving a space for God

    Giving a space for God

    Advertisements

    September 2, 2020 – Wednesday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090220.cfm)

    Homily

    When we allow a person to occupy a space in our life, this also means that we make ourselves open to the person. The person may know our deepest secrets, as well as our deepest pain in life.

    This is how we find our relationships fulfilling and essential in our personal development. Of course, we assume that the person whom we have given the space in our life has the good intention of giving care and love to us.

    However, if the person whom we have given a space in our heart and in our life, betrays us, gives us more pain and stress, then, our relationship becomes hurtful and even toxic for us. This kind of relationship does not help us and would only bring us into desperation.

    Yet, when it is God who asks for a space in our life and in our heart, will we allow God to occupy a space? Are we willing to give up something for God to be in our life?

    God would surely not bring us harm. God only desires goodness and happiness for us. Nevertheless, giving a space for God also requires something from us. We cannot accommodate the Lord when our heart is full, if our life is occupied with many things. What God actually needs is a small space to bring healing and transformation in us.

    This is what we have heard from the readings today. St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, reminded the people of their childish attitudes which actually made their hearts full and unwelcoming to God’s spirit to work in them. The community in Corinth was filled with jealousy and rivalry. Paul called them “infants,” meaning that the people were still exercising their selfish attitudes and seemed to advance their personal interest rather than the interest of the Lord.

    Paul reminded them to become mature by claiming and welcoming the Lord in their life and not to be limited with the influence given by Apollos or by Paul himself.

    Moreover, the Gospel also tells us how Jesus brought healing and transformation into the house of Simon. As it was in any typical Jewish house at that time, the house of Simon, must had been full of people too. His house was not just occupied by his wife and children but also his in-laws, nephews and nieces.

    However, despite this situation, Simon offered Jesus a space in his house. When Jesus was given a space into the house of Simon, Jesus was able to heal his mother-in-law who was afflicted with a severe fever. The miracle of healing happened here. She, indeed, was healed.

    But what was more interesting was the effect of the healing, and that was the transformation which made her to act, to be generous of herself to the Lord and his friends. When she was healed, she got up and waited on them. This means that when she experienced the healing, she served the Lord in her own capacity. This is faith in action and gratitude being transformed into generosity and kindness.

    This is what the Lord is inviting us also today. We may have experienced hurts and pains in our human relationships because those whom we welcomed in our life have caused us troubles, but we are assured that God would only bring healing and transformation in us. God desires that we will be healed in whatever illness and pain we are experiencing today, may it be physical or emotional.

    Thus, we are called to give a space for God by also getting rid of those that are not actually helpful and not necessary. This applies in our personal life, in our relationships, and in our homes and communities particularly. Allow the Lord today to occupy that space and allow him too to heal and bring transformation in us.

    Hopefully, as we also experience the gift of healing, this may lead us to transformation where we are moved to put in action our faith and to make concrete our gratitude to God by becoming generous and kind towards others. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Be humble. Recognize your emptiness. Be Grateful.

    Be humble. Recognize your emptiness. Be Grateful.

    Advertisements

    July 14, 2020 – Tuesday 15th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071420.cfm)

    Homily

    Jesus was very disappointed at the response of the people. Three places were mentioned to have been the places where Jesus did many wonderful things. These are Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. Miracles were performed as God’s sign of blessing and presence. However, Jesus found the heart of the people hardened and unrepentant. The people refused God’s offer of friendship.

    They did not want to be disturbed from what they were usually doing. They were just satisfied with the kind of life that they were leading. Thus, God’s invitation for them to change became a threat to what was comfortable, advantageous and beneficial for them.

    This is the reason why Jesus gave the uncompromising warning to these people because of their refusal of God’s offer of salvation, and that is, damnation. However, remember that it is not God’s desire for the people’s damnation. It was the people who chose to be damned and to reject God.

    There might be times where we will find ourselves in this kind of situation. We can easily take for granted the everyday miracles that are happening in our life. As a result, we could become ungrateful in the way we live our life, in the way we relate with others and even in the way we relate with God. And from these, there are three reasons that I see on why we would hold back and refuse God.

    First is the refusal to admit and recognize that there is something wrong in us, in the way we live our life, and in the way we relate with people around us. Unacceptance of our faults means distancing ourselves from our responsibility. This attitude will make us self-righteous and arrogant, making us blind of our own sins. Thus, when we refuse to admit our failures and sins, we point our fingers to others. We would find ways of covering up our sins by bringing up the sins of others or making reasons that we have become the way we are because of the faults of others.

    Second is the confidence of being self-satisfied. When we are filled with ourselves, filled with our selfish desires and wants, we also become self-satisfied. When this happens, we will not realize that we are also in need of God. This attitude comes from the tendency that tries to accumulate more for the self. The forms of accumulation is not just limited with our desire to enrich ourselves with material things but also, praises and recognitions from others, or even forms of compulsive behaviors and addictions. These forms of accumulation make ourselves busy and filled with many things, consequently, preventing God to occupy a space in our life. We would not dare to make a room for God because our heart is full, our mind is occupied and our day is busy.

    Third is being ungrateful. A self that refuses to admit sins and becomes self-satisfied also becomes ungrateful. When we become ungrateful, we easily take for granted the giver of gifts and the worker of miracles, and thus, the presence of God in our life. With this attitude, 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, the source of all blessings and miracles. We will easily notice this in us because we will tend to become bitter, impatient and cranky.

    However, as the Lord continues to reveal himself in us, he desires that we become the person God wants us to be. That is why, the Lord never tires in calling us closer to Him, again and again. The Lord has blessed us and shown us many wonders to invite us. Thus, the invitation for us today is to be more aware of the many blessings and miracles God is doing for us today even in the midst of this pandemic.

    Advertisements

    Hopefully, by recognizing God’s blessings and miracles in our life, it will lead us to the three movements that will allow us to see and recognize the Lord in these difficult times.

    First. Humble ourselves by recognizing our failures and our need for mercy and forgiveness.

    Second. Recognize our emptiness and so of our need of God to fill our empty hearts. Never be afraid to be vulnerable and to show our weakness so that God can work miracle in us.

    And finally, be always grateful to the many good things that God has given us even small and simple things. This calls us to be more aware of God’s presence revealed even in ordinary ways and to be sensitive to the needs around us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • To be grateful this Holy Week

    To be grateful this Holy Week

    April 6, 2020 – Monday of the Holy Week

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040620.cfm)

    Homily

    Jesus was in the house of his friends, who were Lazarus, and his sisters, Mary and Martha. These three siblings invited Jesus for a celebration. They were celebrating to thank Jesus. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. As an act of thanksgiving, Lazarus invited Jesus for this celebration. It was in this way that Lazarus expressed his gratitude to Jesus. Meanwhile, his sisters, Martha  expressed her gratitude to Jesus by making sure that there was food and drinks for Jesus and his disciples. It was Martha’s way of thanking Jesus. And also, Mary, who was so fond of Jesus, expressed her gratefulness as well as her affection by anointing the feet of Jesus with an expensive perfume. She spent that only for Jesus because she loved Jesus.

    Thus, when a person grows to be grateful, the person also becomes more aware of the presence of God, the giver of blessings and gifts. Lazarus, Mary and Martha were people who have grown to be grateful to God that is why they also became more conscious of Jesus’ presence.

    However, when we become ungrateful we also take for granted the giver of gifts, and thus, the presence of God in our life. This is what we find in the person of Judas. Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was an example of a person who was ungrateful. He had been with Jesus for the past three years but then he was not fully aware of who Jesus was. He physically encountered Jesus but then his ungrateful heart prevented him to recognize God in the person of Jesus.

    This is the reason why Judas reacted so much when Mary poured expensive oil at Jesus’ feet. Judas reacted harshly! Judas was so bitter! He was not upset about the celebration or about the food and the drinks. You know why? Because he benefited from those. But, he complained about Mary because it was only for Jesus, nothing for him! Judas was not able to benefit from that perfume. That was the reason why he demanded that it should be sold. Judas was the treasurer of the group and if that perfume was sold, Judas will surely keep the money for himself and not for the poor. Because Judas was ungrateful, he was also corrupt.

    This will also happen to us when we remain ungrateful and when we refuse to recognize that everything we have is a gift. When we become ungrateful persons, we also become self-entitled. We become demanding in our relationships. We become critical of those people around us. We are easily threatened when we are not praised and recognized. Yet, 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, the source of all blessings.

    Thus, God calls us today to be more grateful of the gifts and blessings that we have received each day, no matter how small would that be. But if we have received so much also, be more thankful and be more generous too. Remember, a grateful person is a person who goes forward, because when we are grateful we also become contented of the present, whatever there is. We also become reconciled with the past, whatever that was. And we become hopeful and positive of the future, whatever there will be. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • In Gratitude to God not in complaints

    In Gratitude to God not in complaints

    March 31, 2020 – Tuesday 5th Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/033120.cfm)

    Homily

    Have you ever met a person who complains a lot? Or have we noticed ourselves when we complain a lot?

    We would surely find ourselves in this situation especially when we are overwhelmed by our worries and anxieties of our personal struggles such as our failures and unfulfilled dreams and desires, or the overwhelming expectations from others, or the issues that our relationships are facing today, or the great demands that your family life is requiring you to do, or the illness of a loved one that pains you.

    When we let these one or more issues to overwhelm us, then, we will certainly become disturbed. We will be out of focus that may lead us to become complaining persons. Consequently, our relationship with others and even with God will be affected. We could become negligent and inattentive to our relationships because our worries and anxieties have grabbed us to what are more essential and important.

    When we become complaining, this makes us ungrateful too. Complaining persons, especially when complaining becomes our attitude or habit, we become very difficult to live with. When we become like this, we tend to be negative with what surround us. We also tend to see what is ugly and imperfect. We become sensitive to failures and mistakes of ourselves and of others. And because we seemed to seek perfection, then, we are also difficult to satisfy whatever there are in our hands.

    However, such attitudes are just reflection of our own negativity and bitterness towards ourselves. The ugly we see in our friend or the wrong that we tend to see from others could sometimes be mere reflections of our own mistakes and ugliness, which we abhor and cannot accept.

    Thus, a person who complains a lot is also a person who is anxious and worries a lot. And if we let these attitudes to control us, then, we shall also lose the opportunity to become aware of God’s presence. And what follows is the attitude that does not recognize the many gifts and blessings that we have. We shall surely find life difficult, dark, bitter and hopeless.

    This happened to the Hebrew people while they were in the desert. The people have grown tired of their journey. They have become impatient because of the hardships on the road. Hence, they began to complain at everything. They complained against Moses and God for bringing them in that place. They complained how difficult life was in the desert. They complained about and were disgusted of the tasteless manna that God gave them. However, they forgot that God saved them from slavery. They forgot that God saved them from the oppressive Egyptians.

    Again, this reminds us of our attitude when we tend to complain. When things are not going well as what we are expecting it to be, we begin to complain at everyone and everything.

    But let us also remember, when things are not going well, never jump to complains immediately. A Chinese proverb says, “every crisis that we encounter is always an opportunity.” This was the failure of the people at that time. The crisis that they faced was merely considered as difficulty and not as an opportunity for them to grow as people of God.

    That is why, the very crisis that we are facing now as a community and also as individuals is not merely an obstacle or punishment for our sins, but an opportunity for us to grow as persons and as a community, to discover ourselves better, to build relationships stronger, to be able to make a difference to people even in small ways and to be more intimate with this God loves us so much.

    Let us take comfort with what Jesus said in the Gospel today. “He who sent me is with me and has not left me alone; because I always do what pleases him. (Jn 8:29)”

    God also comforts us with his presence. This tells us that we are never alone in our journey. God is always with us and has never left us alone even in the most difficult moments of our life, not even with this dreadful Corona Virus disease.

    We are called then, that even in the midst of a very difficult situation never lose that attitude of gratitude to God. Gratitude will always make us hopeful because it helps us to recognize how God makes himself known to us in ordinary things and people and unexpected places and events.

    Thus, as the people were told to look up to the bronze serpent in order to find healing and life in their difficult moments, let us also look up to Jesus in our difficult moments now, so that we too shall find healing and life. And it is only in gratitude that we will be able to look up to him not in our complaints and bitterness. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR