Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Holy Wednesday

  • Knowing and believing the person we love

    Knowing and believing the person we love

    April 5, 2023 – Wednesday of the Holy Week

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040523.cfm)

    Judas sold his friend and teacher. The Gospel recounts to us that one of Jesus’ close friends sold him to the chief priests. Why would Judas do that to the person who only showed kindness and generosity to him and to the people?

    Judas though, was chosen to be one of the close friends of Jesus and disciples had these two attitudes that motivated him to betray the Lord and to sell him for thirty pieces of silver.

    First, Judas never believed that Jesus is the Lord and the Messiah, the Son of God who is sent into the world to redeem the world and save the people from their sins and evil ways. Judas never believed in Jesus but only thought that Jesus was a mere teacher. Thus, Judas never called Jesus as Lord but only Rabbi, which means teacher.

    Second, Judas did not have a close, personal and intimate relationship with Jesus. Because Judas never believed in Jesus as Lord, it also followed that Judas had never developed that close relationship with the Lord. Judas actually failed to build true friendship with Jesus and so failed to recognize God in Jesus.

    These attitudes of Judas may also be present in us. When we do not believe or refuse to believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, who has come to love and forgive us, then, we too shall have the difficulty of not being able to build a personal relationship with God. Failure to recognize God in our life leads us to an estrange relationship with God.

    This is also true with our human relationships. Failure to believe in the person, to a friend, to your beloved, to your husband, or wife  or child will lead us to a distanced relationship. This failure in knowing the person and building personal and intimate relationship with the person will lead us to easily discard the person. It will be easy for us to hurt them, to cause them pain, to cheat on them, to betray them, to leave and abandon them – because after all, we are never committed in that relationship.

    Thus, we are called rather now to know better the person that we are in relationship with, our friends, our beloved and all those people around us because it is in knowing them that we also come to recognize their importance and believe in them. And again, this shall also move us to commit ourselves in that relationship by developing a close and intimate relationship with others and with God.

    May Our Mother of Perpetual Help guide and inspire us in our relationships and to truly believe in Jesus and to build personal and intimate relationship with him. Kabay pa.

  • Take a Stand

    Take a Stand

    April 5, 2023 – Holy Wednesday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040523.cfm)

    Worse than their disobedience – for eating the forbidden fruit, Adam & Eve commit the sin of not taking responsibility for their actions. When God asked them why they disobeyed Him, they blame not themselves but rather each other & the snake. Simply put, they don’t own up their promise & responsibility for their actions. They don’t take responsibility for their mistakes. In effect, sin happens & sinfulness abounds – remains to exist. Same way, whenever we don’t own up our promises & our actions, & most especially continue not to take responsibility for our mistakes, we hurt ourselves; we hurt one other; we hurt others; & we ultimately hurt God & our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Today is Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, because of the treachery & betrayal of Judas Iscariot. As this story preludes the suffering, eventual persecution & death-caused by Judas’ betrayal, the passion of our Lord is about & also caused by irresponsibility of the other disciples. When Jesus told them that one of them would betray Him, they, even his betrayer, asked, “It is’nt me, is it, Lord?” Here they concerned themselves not so much of taking responsibility for Jesus & defending Jesus, but rather on suspecting who among them is the said betrayer, except themselves. Rather than taking responsibility for Jesus, they concern much on their self-image & finger pointing for someone to blame.

    With this, Jesus said: ‘You said it’, “Sugid mo, sinabi mo”. Here Jesus is not about who is the betrayer, but asking His disciples-then & us-now to take a stand & be responsible for our promise & action to Him. So, rather than be concerned about whether you & I, or one of us is & has been a Lord’s betrayer to blame, Jesus wants us to CLAIM & SAY to ourselves: “IT IS NOT ME” (period). By our sins, yes, we may have at times betrayed him, but this time on we may promise ourselves: NOW, I choose not to betray you, Lord. I stand & take responsibility for You, whatever may happen.”

    Today is more than just about our possible betrayal & abandonment of the Lord, but moreso, about our commitment in owning up & taking responsibility to follow and stand for the Lord in our lives, so that we may not remain a burden but rather be His responsible disciple of His passion.

    So Be it.

  • God for 30 pieces of Silver

    God for 30 pieces of Silver

    April 8, 2020 – Holy Wednesday

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040820.cfm)

    Homily

    God only costs 30 pieces of silver!

    Do you know what that means? It means that the Lord is cheap!

    30 pieces of silver were the approximate amount to buy a slave. This amount was also equivalent to a person’s wage for five weeks based on 6 days of work at that time of Jesus.

    Today, especially for Davao Region the highest minimum wage rate is P 390.00 and multiply it by 6 days and 5 weeks, then, you have P 11, 700.00. This is the equivalent amount of the price of Jesus in today’s context.

    Thus, just for five weeks, working 6 days a week, 8 hours a day, we can buy God!

    This is both fascinating and upsetting. It is fascinating knowing that God is cheap. An ordinary person can buy God just like what Judas did. Judas sold his friend and master to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.

    In a way, this tells us of Jesus’ availability for us. He makes himself cheap, for a price of a slave so that we can have him, so that he can be with us. With that 30 pieces of silver, then, we have Jesus who offered his life for us.

    However, what is upsetting is the thought that we do not value that much the presence of God in our life. The chief priests valued Jesus for that amount and Judas willingly accepted that and even desired to really have that amount in his hands. This is so disturbing because for all those days that Judas had been with Jesus and the goodness and generosity shown by Jesus to him, Judas seemed not to have realized the great worth of Jesus.

    With this attitude, we may not be far. We too might have thought also that God is the least in our priorities and that God is not essential. We could have spent more time and more of our presence on other things rather than spending quality time with the Lord and with our family. We could have thought also that other people are worthless and good for nothing.

    Nevertheless, what is more striking was the price that Jesus has to pay for us. Judas might have sold Jesus for 30 pieces of Silver, but Jesus has paid for his life in order to redeem us, that we might be with him.

    Imagine, we are more expensive than God. We, mere creatures, are more costly than the Creator. This tells us how much we are being valued by God.

    That’s why when somebody tells you that you are worthless, believe Jesus, that’s not true. Jesus has paid his life for you. When someone would say that a sinner or a criminal or an offender has no value in our community, believe Jesus, that is fake news. Jesus has to suffer, has to be crucified and to die to tell us that every sinner and every creature on earth is special and expensive. God has to pay it himself.

    Hence, on this Holy Wednesday, there are three invitations I would like you to dwell deeper.

    First, God is so cheap. As God is everywhere, recognize God always. It won’t take you long to recognize God in the presence of your loved ones, with your friends, with strangers, and with all the things that are around you.

    Second, each person worth the life of Jesus. Never allow others also to put you down, to tag you as valueless and worthless. Stop thinking too of this idea, because each of us is so valuable to Jesus. And never believe also that there are people or even just one person that has no value.

    Third, recognize also the value, the importance of the gift of presence of people around you. Recognize also the many gifts that you are enjoying, the gifts of nature, the gifts of material things.

    Hopefully, with these realizations then the more we become grateful to Jesus and generous of ourselves to others. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR