Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Holy Bible

  • Words that Uplift and Inspire, Free and Heal

    Words that Uplift and Inspire, Free and Heal

    January 12, 2021 – Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011221.cfm)

    The words in the Bible uplift, inspire and give life to us because they are filled with the Spirit of God. In the same way, when our words are also filled with love, sincerity and honesty, words also bring inspiration and even life.

    Powerful and life-giving words are what we have heard in today. The Gospel of Mark tells us of the experience of the people from Capernaum. Jesus who taught the people in the synagogue found him different from the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus spoke with authority not just with knowledge and familiarity of his teachings. Jesus spoke from the heart, from the wisdom of God that intends to give life to the people.

    Hence, the people found life in his teachings, in his words. This was more manifested when Jesus encountered a man with unclean spirit. Through the words of Jesus, that unclean spirit was silenced and was commanded to come out of the man. That unclean spirit oppressed the man by taking out the voice of the person. The person was made a slave by that unclean spirit. Yet, through his encounter with Jesus, the man was given a chance to be freed and to be healed. This is the effect when words give life and freedom.

    Through the words of Jesus, the unclean spirit came out of the man without doing any harm to the person. This tells us again how those words of Jesus truly brought life, freedom and healing because Jesus’ intention was of kindness and his words were out of generosity.

    Today, Jesus also calls us to find healing, life, and freedom in his words and presence in the scriptures and in our Sacraments. Hopefully, what we find and receive will also be transmitted into our life that we ourselves will become life-giving and instruments of freedom.

    It would be good then to examine our words and our encounters with people today.

    Let these be our points of reflection today.

    Are my words and presence, life-giving or condemning? Are my words uplifting, inspiring, freeing and healing? Or, are my words filled with hatred, anger and bitterness?

    If we find our words and presence more of condemnation and judgments, of hate and bitterness, allow Jesus to transform us. Allow the Lord to cast out the unclean spirit in us that oppresses us and oppresses others. Allow Jesus’ words to make us free and make us at peace so that we too shall learn in giving words to others that are filled with love, life and freedom. Hinaut pa.

  • The Word of God nourishes and challenges us at the same time

    The Word of God nourishes and challenges us at the same time

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    June 5, 2020 – Friday 9th Week in Ordinary Time; Memorial of St. Boniface

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060520.cfm)

    The Holy Scriptures or the Bible is of great importance and gift to our Christian faith. The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy tells us that the scriptures will give us wisdom that leads to salvation, through faith is Christ Jesus. This means that by knowing and developing a relationship with Jesus brings us to freedom being experienced as individuals and as a community, as a church.

    Paul reminds us too that “all scripture is inspired by God.” As this is inspired by God, the Bible teaches us how God reveals the Divine Plan of Salvation. Hence, God in his great love for us has become man like us to feel what we feel, that God may be in solidarity with us.

    Moreover, the scriptures also refute error and corrects us. It means that the bible is not merely a passive literary work of some people, but it confronts us of what is wrong with us, of what is unjust and oppressive, of what is sinful. The scriptures then, bring us to be closer to God’s presence and to understand better the wisdom of God working in our life.

    Consequently, the scriptures serve as our guide to follow closely the Lord in our life. This is what Paul shared with Timothy. Following the Lord gives us peace and confidence in what we do yet this will also bring us challenges and difficulties as Paul experienced persecution from people who rejected Jesus.

    Paul was inspired by the Lord and committed his life to God. This was how Paul’s heart was captured by God. Paul’s heart gladdened at the revelation of Jesus to him which made Paul to be converted. This is what we have heard from the Gospel today, “many people came to Jesus and listened to him gladly.”

    That gladness came from that revelation of God, of God speaking to us. As Jesus spoke to Paul, Paul could not keep silent then. This was how Paul turned from being a brutal persecutor to a life-giving apostle of the Lord.

    Today, the Lord invites us that as we celebrate the Liturgy of the Word, let us also listen gladly to the Lord.

    Thus, let us allow the Lord to speak to us, to nourish us and at the same time to teach, correct and challenge us. Let the Lord confront us of our passivity and indifference towards others, of our sin and guilt, to confront us when we only settle to what is only comfortable and beneficial for us and to confront our hearts and conscience when we choose to keep our eyes blind from an unjust system.

    In this way, we may become Christians who like St Paul and St Boniface who were martyred because of what they preached, to also become a light and inspiration in this time of pandemic where our religious freedom is also being tested. Hinaut pa.         

    Jom Baring, CSsR