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Tag: Homilies

  • GOD-Struck

    GOD-Struck

    April 30, 2023 – Fourth Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/043023.cfm)

    During the time of the desert monks, around 450 AD, a young monk went to an old and holy monk and asked him, “Father, how is it that so many today leave the monastery? The old monk answered him, “When a good hunting dog sees a rabbit, he will immediately run after it, howling, and barking with excitement. This will, of course, attract other dogs, and they in turn will run and bark and howl like the one that saw the rabbit, although they have not actually seen it themselves. After a while the ones who did not really see the rabbit, but relied only on barking and howling of the first dog, will get tired and give up the chase, because they are no longer interested. They drift off and go home. Only the dog that really saw the rabbit will go on running and eventually catch up with it. That is the way with many who enter the seminary,” the old monk concluded. “Only the one who has his or her eyes on Christ and has seen Him will and can survive. The others, who came only because the enthusiasm of others had drawn them, will lose interest and leave.

    Once I had been involved with the formation of our seminarians as assistant Postulancy director in my years of priesthood. As of those who had been with me, only one out of nine in the first batch, one out of six in the 2nd batch, and three out of seven the last batch are still in the seminary. Meaning, only 5 out of 22 seminarians have persevered in their formation in the seminary. With this, we cannot help but think if there is hope in religious life or priesthood. Some would even blame us, their directors or formators for being too strict. I say, as the story suggests, it is not the Formators but the dynamic and intimate relationship between the seminarian and the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe growth and perseverance in vocation to priesthood or religious life must be based on the personal faith relationship of the person with the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Jesus in our gospel today claims himself as the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep. He is a Good Shepherd who has a deep personal relationship with His sheep. He knows His sheep and His sheep knows Him. We, Christians proclaim that Jesus is our Good Shepherd not only because we believe that He is the Shepherd but He is OUR very OWN Shepherd. Our faith moves us to proclaim that Jesus is yours and ours Good Shepherd. He is not like any other shepherd but He is your personal shepherd, who knows and loves you. We believe in Jesus as our Good Shepherd, because we choose Him to be our own shepherd. 

    If Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and we are His sheep, what does it mean to be His sheep? There are three important things.

    First, to be His sheep is to believe in Him. The basic message of Easter is to have faith in the risen Christ. Like the hunting dog to the rabbit, we must believe in what we have encountered & witnessed Him, as Jesus reveals himself to us in our day to day life-experiences.

    Next, we must listen. Jesus said, “My sheep listens to my voice.”  We ought to be sensitive to hear and listen to His words in the Scriptures and in the movements of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Meaning, we should lead a life of prayer to nurture our faith.

    And lastly, to be His sheep is to follow Him. Jesus said, “My sheep follows me.” We must heed His voice, i.e. we must live what we believe and practice what we preach. We must be like the hunting dog that is persistent in its following and fulfilling what it believes.

    While our world today promotes the Star Struck motto: “Dream – Believe – Survive”. Jesus, our Good Shepherd calls us today to God Struck motto: Believe – Listen – Follow. If seminarians want to grow and persevere in their vocation, they must believe, listen, and follow their calling. And if as Christian, we want to grow and persevere in Faith, we must believe, listen, and follow Jesus our Good Shepherd.

    Particularly for us Filipino Catholic, we do have special or unique take in knowing our Good Shepherd. We know Him not only because Kilala natin siya but because Dama natin siya. Culturally sense-feeling perceptions are important to us. 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, depth from superficial, good from bad.

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

    By our sense-perception & feeling-gut insights, we come to know the risen Lord with us – in person & in flesh. Like the hunting dog who first sees the rabbit, knowing the Shepherd is thus not only for us a cognitive familiarity or herd-mentality but more so a deep felt-sense knowledge and insight of His presence, love & blessing.

    We pray then that during this Easter Season may be our moments to be God-Struck in believing, listening & following Jesus, and so enhance and improve our special felt-sense of knowing our True & Good Shepherd, & ensure 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, especially these new normal times. So Help Us, God. So May it Be. Amen.

  • Via Magnets

    Via Magnets

    April 23, 2023 – Third Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042323.cfm)

    Easter Season proclaims: “The Lord has risen. Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia”. But how do we recognize the risen Lord in our life now?

    In a class inside the seminary, their professor asked the seminarians to discuss how do people recognize the presence of our risen Lord. One of them complained, “Yes, we believe Jesus has risen, but it is not easy to recognize Him in our midst. It is like finding a needle inside a haystack.” The professor continued: “Well, let us start with that. How can we find a piece of needle inside a haystack?” A seminarian answered: “We sort through each straw until we find the needle.” “The scientific approach”, the professor said. “People have done it but it is a futile and time-consuming exercise to examine each element of our lives until we recognize His presence”. “How about if we burn the hay so that we can find the needle?” suggested by one. “The practical approach. You may have found the needle but you lost the hay. You may recognize the Lord but destroyed lives in the process,” commented by the professor. He then continued, “The best way thus to find a needle within haystack is to use magnets. Use magnets to attract the needle from the haystack. Eventually, the magnet will recognize the needle and separate it from the haystack. Via magnets, you will find and recognize the needle, and still have the haystack. This is also how people recognize the risen Lord. The Lord uses magnets for us to sense and recognize His presence in our midst without destroying ourselves.”

    Brothers and sisters, surely, we have heard of our gospel before and are familiar with such one of the great resurrection-story ever told. After the Risen Lord has revealed Himself to women & his disciples, here two disciples have encountered Him in person on the road to Emmaus. With Jesus on the road, they eventually recognize Him through various signs, attractions, and magnets.

    Yes, our gospel today suggests us various signs that would point us to recognize or various magnets to attract us to the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst.

    First, we may recognize the Risen Lord through our ordinary normal lives. He appears on their way back home with their life-griefs, struggles & defeats. In the same way, the Lord accompanies us in our day-to-day lives – especially whenever we invite Him to be with & be part of our ordinary lives in faith. We may also recognize the Risen Lord in our midst through the Holy Scripture.

    Just like when he opened their minds to understand the Scripture concerning Himself, we can recognize the risen Lord whenever we read, reflect, and pray with the Scripture, as we understand the relevance of Jesus’ story in our own lives. We can recognize him further by welcoming a Stranger into our lives. Jesus sometimes crosses our path in a form of a stranger, especially those who are in need, asking us: “Have you anything to eat?” By reaching out and befriending with a stranger who sit with you in the tricycle or you meet along the way – especially the poor, we could have a glimpse of His presence.

    We also recognize His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Whenever we attend mass, and whenever we eat with one another and with the Lord, we witness people gathered in faith to remember and celebrate the Last Supper of the Lord, his offering of sacrifice. Like the disciple, we recognize the Risen Lord through the breaking of the bread – the Holy Eucharist.  Our gospel suggests also that we can recognize the Lord in and through the community of faith. The Risen Lord made himself known not only to them, but also within their community. We can recognize the Lord not in isolation or distancing but whenever we join and be involve in our faith-communities, whenever we participate in the activities of our parish or BECs.

    And finally, the presence of the risen Lord can be recognized through the preaching and witness of His follower. Same way as the two disciples shared their faith-experience with others, whenever we proclaim and preach our faith, we his faithful become the representative of Jesus to other, that through our words and actions, people recognize the Risen Lord in our midst.

    We may then, recognize the Risen Lord through our ordinary lives, through the Scripture, through our act of charity in welcoming a Stranger, through Eucharist, through Christian community and through our faith witnessing.

    Let us rejoice & be glad then for the Lord has indeed risen. And gracefully, He has provided us enough means & magnets to recognize Him in our midst – accompanying us in our journey of life in faith.

    May we continue to encounter & recognize Him in our Emmaus – our road to life & faith with Him who loves & saves us now & always.

    Amen.

  • HEARTS in LOCKDOWNS

    HEARTS in LOCKDOWNS

    April 16, 2023 – Second Sunday of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041623.cfm)

    I remember when we first experienced “LOCKDOWN” here in the City in 2020 due to the spread of Covid-19, the first Sunday was so depressing. I walked around the empty Church ground and looked at an empty Church. I was very sad and afraid of what will happen in the coming days when lockdown was imposed. Since, then, as the virus made more infections, we experienced the same face of lockdowns, with its different names, from GCQ, to MGCQ, ECQ to MECQ. Our movement was limited and the more it brought anxiety to many.

    Those lockdowns were imposed as a defensive mechanism that the government believed and medical experts developed to minimize the infections. We followed and believed that those lockdowns were necessary to protect, save and even give life. Yet, I pray that we will never go back to that experience again.

    Remembering those lockdowns, it evoked to me now a different kind of lockdown. This is  the self-imposed lockdown that can be life-threatening and life-depressing.

    This is similar to the situation of the disciples,  who embraced a self-imposed lockdown as told by the Gospel on this Second Sunday of Easter. The disciples gathered in one place and locked themselves in because of fear. They were afraid that what happened to Jesus, may also happen to them. Certainly, this was a defensive mechanism of a heart that was hurt and bruised. It is a form of withdrawal from others and from God because of “fear.”

    In a way, experiencing pain in our relationships also makes us more defensive the next time we relate with others. We become defensive and even withdrawn with others because we fear of being hurt again, of being rejected again, of being bullied again. And so, we develop a defense mechanism to the point of making ourselves isolated from others. Thus, we “lockdown” ourselves from any possible pain or hurt, because we are afraid of what others can do to us. We will tend not to invest emotionally in a relationship, or refusing to give oneself for others, becoming mediocre and complacent and to just stay at the comfort zone but remaining fearful.

    However, fear makes our heart unbelieving. This happened to the disciples who refused to believe what Mary Magdalene proclaimed to them, that Jesus has been raised from the dead. They couldn’t believe her because they were too afraid.

    Yet, what was more interesting in the Gospel was on how Jesus appeared in their midst even though they made sure that the doors were locked. Jesus appeared to them and brought peace to the hearts of these fearful disciples.

    We also find Thomas who was not there at that time of Jesus’ appearance, still holding on to his fears and doubts. Although all the other disciples have testified that they have seen the Lord, Thomas couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t believe, and because of that, his heart was more locked than the door and the walls of his heart have thickened to the point that he did not want any more to listen to what others were saying. Thomas personally lockdown his heart.

    That is why, Thomas, set a condition before he would believe that Jesus is alive. He said, “unless I will see and touch him, I will not believe.” Because of so much fear and doubts, Thomas insisted that condition in order to protect himself.

    Just as Jesus met the other disciples in their own hiding place and so he did it also to Thomas. Jesus appeared once again and asked Thomas to touch his wounds so that he may believe. Jesus submitted to the condition of Thomas.

    This is what the Gospel is telling us today – the Lord meets us wherever we are and he takes us seriously in all our fears, anxieties and doubts. When God meets us in our own hiding places and closed doors, He brings us peace to our troubled hearts. This is an assurance that in God’s presence we find peace and without Him we will always be disturbed and insecure.

    This is the mystery of the Divine Mercy which we celebrate on this Second Sunday of Easter, the God of Mercy who brings peace into our troubled and fearful hearts, and who pierces through our lockdown-and-walled-hearts.

    In God’s Mercy, Jesus indeed meets us  where we are at the moment especially when we decide to retreat to self-centeredness, to our old bad habits and addictions, to our unhealthy defensive mechanisms and self-imposed lockdowns of mediocrity and indifference towards other people, and into our angry and irritable response to people around us. God meets us there and he wants us to know that He is with us and He brings us peace.

    It is when we recognize God in those moments that Jesus invites us to touch his wounds just like Thomas. Being aware of the wounds and touching the wounds of Jesus means that Jesus feels our own pain and suffering, our fears and anxieties, questions and doubts. Hopefully, that experience will lead us to proclaim like Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” This is again an assurance to us that our God is alive and at work in our lives.

    I would like to invite you now to be aware and to recognize those attitudes, cultures, beliefs and experiences that continue to lock us away from others and from God. Be aware of those that are holding us back from fully relating to others and from freely expressing goodness, and those that make us withdrawn and indifferent to people around us.

    May our encounter with the risen Christ, the image of the Divine Mercy make our locked and defensive hearts to open up as He brings us peace and sends us to others. This may move us to go out to touch the lives of others. Hinaut pa.

  • Guest-inside our Tombs

    Guest-inside our Tombs

    April 16, 2023 – Second Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy)

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041623.cfm)

    Happy Easter to all. Last Sunday we celebrated Easter Sunday. We celebrated and proclaimed our Christian faith that our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed risen into our lives. Today we are now on the 2nd Sunday of continuing celebration of Easter season. So, how is life after Easter Sunday?

    After the preparations of Lent and the celebrations of Holy Week – after Easter Sunday surely, we are back to our normal ways – back to our usual routine, schedules, activities, programs, tasks, and responsibilities. But as we go along our normal ways and live our usual lives, we also wonder how is the message of resurrection of the risen Lord make sense and become more real now in our day to day living.

    Yes, we believe that the Lord has risen. But how and in what ways the risen Lord has resurrected and can be resurrected into our ordinary lives today? Paano Siya naging at maging Buhay’ng-Muli sa Buhay ko at natin ngayon? This is the very challenge of Easter to us Christians during this Easter season.

    While reflecting on the revival of Lazarus from the dead, Pope Francis once in his homily said that each one of us has a small tomb inside our hearts – that somehow somewhere in our lives, though still alive and breathing, is dying and dead inside. Yes, somehow, we are still & get used with isolations in our small caves, even after pandemic lockdowns & quarantine. Our small tombs are usually our dark secret holes and shadowy caves where we usually hide and bury our anger, hurts, pains, sufferings, failures, frustrations, anxiety, fears and addictions from ourselves and others.

    And inside our small tomb, we do have the choice whether to be alone on our own, miserably struggling and grieving with the “why’s of life”… OR to invite the risen Lord to be part of our search for answers and sense for all these happenings in our lives. For Pope Francis, we need to recognize our dying and dead self-inside, and invite the risen Lord to be our Guest inside our small tombs and allow Him to be part of our death and dying within, and be resurrected into our New Life with Him.

    Brothers and sisters, the empty tomb of Easter reveals to us that the risen Lord is not in his tomb, but out here and there revealing himself into our ordinary normal lives and offering us life and life eternal. The same way as He appeared before His disciples, the risen Lord is showing & will appear Himself to us in our ordinary lives anew with a promise of not only new normal but more so, of life eternal.  

    The mistake of Thomas in our gospel today is not so much for doubting the Lord’s resurrection but more so for being absent – he was not there when the Lord appeared the first time. Thomas at first did not recognize his own small tombs and invite the risen Lord to be part of his ordinary life. Only when he was with the other’s disciples in locked door room – present in their own tombs and allow the Lord to be part of His life that Thomas came to recognize and believe in the risen Lord.

    Meaning, the risen Lord only wishes to be invited and partake into our own isolation inside our small tombs and in our ordinary lives so that He can share to us New Life with Him. No more being alone – on your own in your own tombs. Thus, no more hiding, navel-gazing, just looking into oneself – licking wounds, brooding, and sinking in anguish.

    For the Easter message of Lord’s resurrection to be more real and meaningful now in our lives then, we must invite the Lord into our small tombs and allow His to be part of our usual day to day struggle with life. The Lord is risen and has indeed resurrected again and anew in our lives now – if and when we invite Him to be part of our small tombs and our ordinary lives. He also can only resurrect and bring our death and dying back to life anew if only and whenever we invite and allow the Lord to be part and be with our normal life’s-struggles and triumphs.

    To have a more real and meaningful celebration of Easter Season then, Let the risen Lord in and allow Him to be our Guest – to be there and be part of our small tombs and our ordinary lives these days. And perhaps ask ourselves once again: What is the risen Lord offering me now here inside my tomb, inside my isolation? What is it in to me and what’s in for me? What are benefits and the purpose of letting Him be part of my life now: Healing, Peace, Mercy, Forgiveness, Hope, Mercy, Love, Release, Liberation, New Life, Holy Spirit…..?

    Although we are back to our usual normal lives after Easter Sunday, we also know and believe that with the risen Lord in our lives now, life will never be the same again and as usual, but ours would now be a new normal life and better than before, IF and Whenever we invite and allow our risen Lord to be part of our small tombs and our daily ordinary lives. Siya Nawa. Hinaut pa unta. Kabay pa. Amen.

  • The Lord Confronts our Unbelief and Hardness of Heart

    The Lord Confronts our Unbelief and Hardness of Heart

    April 15, 2023 – Saturday in the Octave of Easter

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041523.cfm)

    They could not believe it. They could not 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 eleven disciples, who were the closest circle of Jesus, did not believe because their hearts were hardened.

    We could just imagine the very dispositions and attitudes of the eleven disciples. They must have been filled with guilt and shame for fleeing away and hiding when Jesus, their Lord and Teacher, was arrested, tortured and killed. Peter denied Jesus who previously 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.

    The terrible death of Jesus, killed in the most shameful and painful way, was beyond their expectation. Yet, it happened. The Lord told them that he would suffer and die and be raised on the third day, yet, they were all unprepared for that. They clearly did not understand what Jesus was teaching them at that time. And when Jesus was raised and appeared to other disciples, their minds and hearts were closed because they were too afraid. And 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 are staying too much in our grief and sorrow, when we are already nurturing our own emotional wounds, and feeding our fears with our anxiety, then, such disposition of the heart and mind will only make us more submerged into fear and anxiety or into sin and darkness.

    Indeed, 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 because such attitudes would only lead us farther from others or even farther from our true selves and farther from the grace of God.

    We are rather called to confront ourselves, confront our friends and allow the Lord to confront us when we are going in that state just as Jesus rebuked the disciples whose hearts were hardened. This is the invitation for us today and that is to allow the grace of the resurrection to give us hope, courage and 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, that there is hope.

    As we allow the Lord to confront us, may our hearts be filled with confidence and gratitude to proclaim and share to our friends, families and communities the goodness that the Lord has done to us. Hinaut pa.