Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Ordinary Time

  • Increase our Faith     

    Increase our Faith     

    October 2, 2022 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100222.cfm)

    “I am losing my faith,” these were the words of my friend who has been in so much difficulties in her life recently. The pandemic affected so much their business and lost their investments. Then, her husband who was her inspiration and strength, her comfort and dearest friend, died of covid-19. She is left alone to take care of their three children and a burden to pay a surmounting debt.  She was frustrated, in deep sorrow and angry at God for letting all these happen to her and her family. She felt lost and confused if God is listening to her and truly present.

    “How long must I endure this?” This was a question from my friend that I cannot also answer. I dare not offer any advice to her because I realized that my words would not be enough to bring comfort to her. I was afraid that I might bring more confusion to her. And so I listened to her and prayed with her to rediscover faith in the midst of those great trials and to find God in her most depressing and grief-stricken moments in life.

    Prophet Habakkuk in our first reading also expressed such distress and hopelessness in the midst of an overwhelming suffering. “How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!” Habakkuk seemingly felt the absence of God amidst the misery and violence he had witnessed.

    At this time, the tragedy and suffering of the people were caused by themselves. Prophet Habakkuk lived during the time when their political leaders, their kings, committed grave sins against God and the people. In particular, King Jehoiakim led his people into evil. He was a corrupt and a godless tyrant who murdered his own people, violated the wives of the men who were against him and then seized their properties to be his own.

    This was the situation of their nation under such ruthless leader. And with this, there was also an overpowering foreign kingdom of the Babylonians who threatened smaller kingdoms. There was a coming destruction that Habakkuk had already seen.

    Thus, the prophet prayed in behalf of the people, “How long, O Lord?” The suffering of the people, the violence and misery that they were enduring seemed to be endless. Yet, the prophet still hoped and held on to his faith. This is what we have heard at the end of first reading, “and for the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”

    The invitation of faith is what we have also heard in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Indeed, God speaks to us and God remains present even in the darkest and most painful story of our lives. That is why the Psalm calls us to sing songs of thanksgiving in God’s presence, to come to God and recognize that God is our God. We are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. Therefore, we are not the one who is in total control of life, but God, something that could be very difficult for us to understand.

    Such realization is what we also find among the apostles of Jesus, who asked the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The apostles realized the their faith might not be enough to become worthy of Jesus. They became concerned that they might not be in control of their lives and lose their way.  Before this request, Jesus told them of the significance of a person who has faith and that is to be able to lead others to God’s presence and to be able to forgive.

    This was the very context of that plead from the apostles. Their faith might not be enough to lead the people closer to God and might even lead many to evil just like Jehoiakim, the corrupt and godless tyrant. Their faith might not be enough to forgive others because they might turned to become bitter, hateful and vengeful. Their faith might not be enough when great suffering and persecution will come in their life. They might lose their faith.

    Yet, the Lord assured them that even when faith is just as the small size of a mustard seed, that can make wonders in us. This is something that Paul also reminded in his second letter to Timothy. Paul who was already old and was in prison became more confident and assured in his faith despite the persecutions and the suffering he was enduring.

    Paul reminded and comforted the young Timothy of the gift he received. Timothy was gifted with faith. Thus, Paul said, “stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands” (speaking of the gift of ordination). God gave Timothy power, love, and self-control. This was how Timothy was told neither to be ashamed nor to be a coward to become a witness of the Lord, a witness of God’s presence and of God’s goodness even in the midst of evil and suffering.

    With all of these, this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time tells us and reminds us that…

    First, faith is our loving response to the Lord who is ever faithful to us and ever present even when we feel that he is not.

    Second, faith is our power and our strength especially in times of hardships or in times of miseries and in times of confusion and great trials.

    Third, faith is not just a mere adherence to creeds or traditional religious practices that we have. Rather, faith is our active response to God who has called us to be his witnesses, to become Jesus’ present-day apostles who shall bring others closer to the Lord through our own experiences of God working in our life. Kabay pa.

  • LISTEN. FOLLOW. LIVE.

    LISTEN. FOLLOW. LIVE.

    January 11, 2021 – Monday 1st Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011121.cfm)

    Our Christmas songs that filled the air have stopped playing. Most of our Christmas decorations were all kept and hidden. However, the spirit of Christmas lives on. Our liturgy portrays to us today  how the spirit of Christmas continues to call us towards God as we also begin the first week in Ordinary Time.

    Here in Ordinary Time, we do not celebrate any particular aspect of the mystery of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Rather, what we celebrate during this time, is the mystery of Christ honored in its fullness, especially on Sundays (from the Ordo 2021). This means that in Ordinary Time, we are called to listen, follow and live the invitations of Christ revealed in his public ministry. The mystery of the resurrection is also fully celebrated during the ordinary Sundays.

    Now, our Gospel today from Mark, begins with the invitation to listen and follow the Lord. This call ultimately brings us to live fully the invitation of Christ. Hence, Mark tells us how the Emmanuel, who is Jesus, walks and encounters people as he goes along in his journey. In those encounters of Jesus, the Lord calls and invites people to follow him.

    From what we have heard in the Gospel, we might have wondered if those men, Simon and Andrew as well as James and John followed Jesus immediately without any difficulty. Mark only described to us the symbolic change of ways in following Jesus by leaving behind their “nets” and their “father.”

    Moreover, Mark was actually trying to tell us about the attitude of these men by being able to change their way of life. This is what we have heard today in the Gospel, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” And so this was what these men did. They changed their ways by becoming fishers of men and women from being previously fishermen as Jesus invited them, “Come after me.”

    They abandoned their comfort zones in order to go beyond from themselves. They gave up their old attitudes that prevented them to go forward. These include accepting their sins and failures and accepting too that they were in need of God’s mercy.

    Their personal encounter with Jesus gave them the confidence in themselves and faith in the Lord who believed in them. They had been given the courage to believe in their capacities and potentials and to believe in God’s tremendous love for them.

    For us today, the Christmas Season was really an opportunity for us to encounter the Lord intimately in our life through our families and friends and through our Church and even through the difficult and dark situation that we have been through. We went through advent to joyfully wait for his coming and to be more vigilant of God’s presence. We have celebrated the Birth of Jesus to affirm that we are indeed loved beyond our expectation despite being unworthy.

    Hopefully, our Christmas experience had really given us that opportunity of intimate encounter with Jesus. Our encounter with the Lord, just like the first disciples, allows us to be more familiar with Jesus’ voice to follow him wherever he may lead us.

    Thus, allow Jesus to call us today, to motivate us, to inspire us, to give us courage and faith so that he may lead u to change our old ways that prevent us from going forward. Allow the Lord to challenge us and lead us to go out from our comfort zones so that we may become free and happier.

    In this way, we may discover more and more who Jesus is in our life and who we are before God. This is discipleship. This is following the Lord closely. In this journey, we may find more adventures and wonders to un-learn our selfish human ways in order to learn God’s ways. Hinaut pa.

  • When sweetness has turned sour

    When sweetness has turned sour

    November 20, 2020 – Friday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112020.cfm)

    Homily

    We must be familiar with a relationship that was so affectionate and loving at the beginning yet has turned cold and abusive later on. We must be familiar also of a friendship that from its fun-loving adventures and source of comfort outside home has become a source of insults, gossips and slandering. There are also organizations that had been inspired to make a difference in the lives of others through service and charity but has become a source of fraud. Elected leaders too could be so promising at the beginning yet later on has become a lapdog and corrupt.

    On a personal level, we could have done something good and enjoyable for ourselves as a way of coping, yet, that something could develop into a bad habit and even into an addiction. These are images and situations of something good and sweet at the beginning but through time has become sour.

    What could have gone wrong? There must be something wrong along the way. This is something that we must recognize in order to warn ourselves and bring our hearts and minds into the center, into God, whose voice echoes today to call us back.

    The Book of Revelation tells us about this. John, in his vision saw an angel and was told to take and eat a small scroll. John was told, “Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”

    John tells us of God’s word and promise to us. Indeed, as the Psalm proclaims today, “How sweet to my taste is your promise!” However, for those who turned unfaithful and indifferent towards God’s word and promise will taste a bitter and sour judgment. God also will hold us accountable for what we have done with our life and with our neighbors.

    This is what we have heard in today’s Gospel. The Temple that was built as a house of prayer was turned into a den of thieves. Merchants and others who made business and profit in the temple area desecrated the house of God. They took advantage of those who went to pray there. Just imagine, the businessmen at that time put a high price on every item but with a low exchange rate of money. They made agreement with the Temple authorities where only the animals sold inside the temple area will be accepted as offering and only temple money was accepted in buying and selling. Thus, people needed to change their Roman coin into a temple coin but for a low exchange.

    These businessmen had surely made profit out of the ignorance of the poor. What they were doing was a plain stealing. With this, Jesus was furious. Jesus expressed his righteous anger over these people who became indifferent and profit-oriented. And so, Jesus drove them out of the temple, in the same way he drove out demons from those who were possessed.

    All of this happened not just because of one person or few people but because of many who turned a blind eye to what was unjust and abusive. Many have become indifferent and accepted such abuses and corruption as part of their way of life.

    However, for Jesus, enough is enough! There is an end to everything that is evil and unjust. The righteous anger of God will be delivered upon us. Yet, God’s anger will be a time of renewal and cleansing of our hearts. It is a time of centering and focusing our gaze on Jesus, the merciful Lord.

    Thus, we are invited that as we end this week – to recognize our attitudes that has become indifferent thus leading us to develop forms of addictions or bad habits. Look at our various efforts including our work-attitude in our workplaces and in our ministry if we have yielded also to apathy and abuses. Look at our relationship with one another and with God if we have become cold and sour because of our self-centered heart and self-absorbed ego.

    Let us allow now the Lord to call us and challenge us. Let his voice be heard into our hearts and conscience as we strive to live today to be more like Jesus. Hinaut pa.

  • Why do we worship? Who should we worship?

    Why do we worship? Who should we worship?

    November 18, 2020 – Wednesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111820.cfm)

    Homily

    We can be in the Church the whole day but not worshipping. We can be kneeling during the whole hour but not worshipping. We can be singing in the Church but not really worshipping. We can be in a particular ministry but not worshipping God at all.

    Why do we really worship God? To worship God is to express our belief and to live what we believed. Worshipping the Lord our God is a celebration of God’s gift of Himself to us. Jesus as the very image of the Father, is God’s ultimate gift of presence to us.

    Moreover, to worship the Lord is not just limited in our worship services in the Church. Worship is basically a way of life. The way we live our life according to God’s desire is an essential part of our personal and community worship.

    The Book of Revelation tells us of the right attitude of worship. The twenty-four elders, who can be the representation of the twelve sons of Israel and the twelve apostles, are worshipping the one who sits on the throne, the Lord our God.

    John also described to us how they worshipped the Lord our God. The elders who were honored greatly in heaven, have thrown down their crowns before the throne to exclaim the glory, the honor and the power of God. This means that these elders did not cling to their own crowns but letting them go to worship the giver of their crowns.

    Thus, when we learn to let go of our own glory, of our achievements and successes, then we also learn to truly worship the Lord our God who is the source of everything that is good. To worship God, then, is actually to celebrate also our life, to celebrate our giftedness, to celebrate who God is and what God has done to us.

    Besides, worship allows us to focus on the Lord. That is why, even when we are in pain and confused, in worship, we re-channel our gaze from bitterness to God who strengthens us. In worshipping God, we regain our balance by reminding ourselves that we are unworthy of God’s grace yet, we are blessed because we are loved.

    This is what we also find in today’s Gospel, in the Parable of the Ten Gold Coins. Those who truly worship the Lord are those who are productive and fruitful in their lives. The servants who used well the gifts given to them have lived and celebrated wonderfully the King’s gifts.

    However, the unproductive servant lived in fear. He decided to hide the gifts given to him because he was afraid. He was afraid actually of losing them, because he could not let go of those, so he kept them. As a result, this servant turned to worship his fears because he lived in fear. This was how he lost the opportunity to celebrate life, to celebrate his gifts and to celebrate with the King.

    Each of us today, we are called to truly worship God by living not in fear or in bitterness or in our arrogance or in our personal glory but by living and celebrating our life with God.

    Thus, as we come to church and proceed with our daily affairs, let us also remind ourselves that we worship the Lord our God and not some other “gods,” that we worship the Lord by living honestly and generously, that we worship God by celebrating life and we worship God by making God’s presence more alive in us.

    Let us be inspired today through Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, so that like her, our decisions in life including our words and actions may become our very worship to God. Hinaut pa.

  • Be Careful of an Indifferent and Lukewarm Heart

    Be Careful of an Indifferent and Lukewarm Heart

    November 17, 2020 – Tuesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111720.cfm)

    Homily

    The Book of Revelation warned the Church of Laodicea of its “LUKEWARMNESS.” Laodicea, because it was a center for commerce and finance, and of medical discoveries at the time, became affluent. The Christians living in that City have been influenced greatly by the prevailing culture of the City. The prosperity that they experienced made them to “somehow feel independent from God.” In fact, there must be a feeling that because of their success they did not need God anymore.

    This was how their hearts became lukewarm, passive and indifferent to God’s call of conversion. Relationship with God is a constant calling to grow, and that is to change and be transformed always. Yet, the people did not want to be challenged anymore. The people seemed to become comfortable with their way of life. Hence, the people’s hearts became “rich and affluent that they have no need of anything.” The lukewarm heart of the people led them to reject and ignore God. Their success and wealth became their “new gods.”

    Consequently, the vision of John tells us that when our heart also turns lukewarm and indifferent, God shall spit us from His mouth. However, God does not want this to happen to us. The vision of John tells us that “those loved by God shall be reproved and chastised. We are called to be earnest and to repent.”

    Moreover, the Gospel of Luke tells us about the best example of this, of a person who did not allow himself to stay indifferent and remain lukewarm. This person took the risk to leave behind what was comfortable for him including his bitter past in order to live his life with meaning and with real purpose.

    This man was Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and a wealthy man. Being wealthy, Zacchaeus could have remained in his seat and not bother anymore to see and meet Jesus. However, he made concrete steps to meet the Lord. He committed himself to change and to repent.

    As a Jew working with the Romans, Zacchaeus must have been despised by his fellow Jews because he represented their oppressors. Being a short man, he must have experienced bullying from his friends. His limitations must have been a subject of discrimination. Yet, he found ways to be on the side of the Romans, and became a trusted man to be promoted as a chief tax collector. Though he was despised by his fellow Jews, being a chief tax collector was his best way in taking revenge to those who maltreated him before. He had power at this time to oppress those who oppressed him. He had the chance now to bully them by making them pay high taxes.

    Yet, deep within, Zacchaeus was restless. He was in search of something that will truly satisfy his longing for acceptance and for unconditional love. His wealth and influence could not satisfy that. Only God and he knew that. That is why, when Jesus was passing by, he did everything to meet the Lord and let Jesus find him. Though he was short, but he did not give up easily. Though it was crowded and people prevented him, yet, he moved to change his perspective. Until he found a tree to climb. That was how the Lord found him and thus, Zacchaeus also found acceptance and unconditional love from God.

    The story of Zacchaeus invites us today not to remain lukewarm in our relationships or indifferent towards others, towards ourselves and towards God. There is no growth in being lukewarm and indifferent.

    As we face life today, do not allow our comforts to control us to become stagnant. Never allow our limitations and painful experiences to drown our hearts into anger and bitterness. Allow rather the Lord to challenge us today, to call us and to move us and to always choose Jesus in all our decisions and actions in life. Hinaut pa.