Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!
This Advent Reflection invites us to dwell deeper on the importance of our presence and of God’s presence in our life and in the life of others. The excitement to hope again calls us to hold on to hope, to be hopeful and to be the hope for others.
Below is a link of the reflection.
Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120620.cfm)
Homily
To look for comfort once in a while is a human necessity. To take comfort when we are experiencing stress from work allows us to relax. To take comfort when our relationship becomes suffocating allows us to gather our mind. To take comfort when we are sad, sorrowful and suffering allows us to breath, to be heard and to be embraced. For this very reason we seek the things that we know would give us some comfort like the presence of our friends and family members, the people who care and love us. Others can also take comfort even from small and simple things like eating their favorite dish, going to a fun-filled place, taking a vacation in a peaceful beach or just retreating into the recesses of their rooms and personal space.
Some forms of comfort too would sometimes develop into unhealthy habits and even addictions. In the search of experiencing comfort and joy, we could also fall into traps. We may believe that it is the comfort that we have been looking for, yet, because it is easy and can be made available then we settle for it. This is the case when we begin to foster a cycle of habit, the early stage of addiction, and later on will also become a compulsive behavior in us. This can compulsion can be in any form. This is not limited to chemical substances but also in relationships and in our attitudes to material things. Thus, those that become excessive in us can be forms of obsessions and addictions that are actually expressions of our desire to be comforted.
Such desire to be comforted brings me now into the theme on this Second Sunday of Advent. Today, we light the second candle, which is the candle of peace. Is it not that we indeed desire peace – peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, peace in our communities? This desire for comfort which peace will bring to us, is what we also hear in our readings today.
The first reading from the Book of Isaiah wonderfully proclaimed to us God’s response to the people who longed for peace. “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.” This passage was proclaimed to the people of God who were exiled to Babylon and were made slaves. They were in a foreign land, captives of foreign masters, removed from their homeland, subjected to suffering and misery. Indeed, they longed for comfort in midst of darkness and sin which can only come from God.
But, at last, the exile shall come to an end, for God is faithful and merciful. The sins of the people were forgiven and peace shall be theirs.
This promise of God to give comfort to the people shall be delivered by God himself and not just by any messenger. God comes to comfort the people because God’s presence means peace. That is why, Isaiah tells us too that when God comes, God will be like a Good Shepherd to us. The Lord will gather us in his arms, carry us in his bosom and lead us with care.
These images of God’s actions tell us that God also longs for us. God longs to be closer with us. God desires to be really with us. This is peace. This is the true comfort that we too are looking for.
Moreover, in order for us to be more welcoming and accepting of God’s comfort, Isaiah tells on what to do. What Isaiah proclaimed was also re-echoed in our Gospel today, through the person of John the Baptist. It says, “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”
John reminds us that salvation is possible, that peace and freedom from sin is possible. Thus, comfort of peace will dawn on us when we start recognizing our sinfulness rather than the sins of others. Peace is felt when we humble ourselves before God to accept that we are in need of mercy.
However, we too might feel impatient with God because we expect that we should be comforted right away and immediately when we need it. Peter in his second letter reminds us today also, he said, “Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Therefore, as we welcome the Lord to come and comfort us with peace, let us also make ourselves ready by preparing our heart. Let us reflect today, “What are my unhealthy habits or even forms of obsessions and addictions that prevent me from welcoming God? What are my un-confessed sins, my selfish tendencies and desires that are keeping me away from my true self, from others and from God?
As the candle of peace has been lit, may this promise of God to us today, ignite for our desire to be comforted by God’s presence dwelling among us. Hinaut pa.
Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120620.cfm)
Homily
Have you heard about the missing Bambino?
A story once told that day after Christmas, after all the parties and celebrations, words came out that the Bambino – “the Child Jesus” in a parish church went missing. Parishioners became quite concerned then for nobody can account for the whereabouts of their beloved and now missing Bambino. Perhaps it has been stolen and worse – desecrated by some unbelievers. Days after the incident, resigned with the sad fate of their missing Bambino, a father with his crying boy came to the parish church and brought back with them the missing Bambino. Rejoiced for the return of their missing Bambino, they asked the boy what really happened. The boy said, “My friend and I visited the baby here last Christmas night. The Bambino was sad and all alone. Nobody was with Him except us. So we decided to invite and bring Him home, and brought Him in our chapel where together we could happily play and be with Him”…
We may at times become so engrossed with & worried about the season of the celebration that we miss the Reason of the celebration itself. We at times concern ourselves more with the “how” that we fail the “why” we celebrate.
We are now into Advent Season, at the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Advent is all about preparation, preparation for the coming event – the once again visit and arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ into our lives. Advent is then not the event but the preparation of the coming event. Our gospel today introduced us John the Baptist as the herald and messenger who prepares the way of the Lord. He was predicted to be the one who announces the coming of the Lord into our lives. He prepared his whole life and other people’s lives to welcome the Messiah into our lives. John the Baptist then is not the Gospel but only the precursor – the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. In other words, He is not the Groom but Best Man of the Groom who paves the way for the celebration of Wedding.
Like John the Baptist, we Christians, followers and believers of Christ today are called to be heralds, messengers and announcers of the gospel of the Lord’s coming into our lives. We are to prepare ourselves and the world for the once again & anew visit and arrival of our Lord into our day to day lives. As last Sunday reminds us, we are to “Be alert, awake and aware” for the coming Event. This is the “How” we are to be for the Lord’s coming. And the very “Why” – the reason and gospel of Christmas is Incarnation.
God is wanting to be with Us always. God choose to be like us so that He can come & visit us, stay with us and be with us in our lives forever. How He wishes then that when He comes and arrives, we come prepared with our whole hearts and being to welcome Him to COME IN and allow Him to Be with us.
However, like the story of the missing Bambino, we may become so engrossed with the preparation that we miss the event itself – bogged down with the season that we miss the reason of celebration. It is like leaving the expected guest all alone on his own in the living room while we just go back to our own affairs after joyfully welcoming him, – or the best man who is so engaged with his formal attire that he missed to bring the wedding ring for the weeding. Or like Martha, we become so concerned with what to do for the Lord as He visits that we fail to be with Him. Or worse, we might just left Him behind on His own, neglected – allowed only when needed.
Christmas is not all about us welcoming the Lord but moreso about “Immanuel” God-being with Us – the Lord coming and staying into our lives. We may have been planning to joyfully welcome and celebrate His coming visit but do we allow Him to come in stay and be with us? Pinatuloy mo na, papatirahin mo ba Siya sa Inyo? Or will he just remain a guest and temporary settler/squatter of our home?
2nd Sunday of Advent proclaims the message of God’s Love. This is to remind us that as active and passive verb, Love means both to love & be loved. God loves us & we are beloved by God. We should love God in return & God should beloved by us as well. Again like at the arrival area in the airport, We wait for God but God also waits for us to recognize & let Him into our lives now.
During this Advent season, may our hearts be more willing and open to welcome the Lord once again & anew into our lives, not just a visiting guest but a welcome member of our home & family, community & church to partner & accompany us to the coming challenges ahead during these pandemic times.
Dayon, Tuloy po kayo. 어서 오시. Come in, Lord Jesus & Stay with us now and always. Amen.
Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120220.cfm)
Homily
My heart is moved with pity. The words of Jesus must have been ringing into the ears and hearts of his disciples. God is moved. God feels our pain. God feels the emptiness and longing of our hearts. The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us about this too, “The Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.” God shall take away our pain and sadness. Again, on this first week of Advent, we take comfort in this promise of God who is with us. The journey of this Advent is to make our heart and mind more confident in God, to be more assured of God’s abiding presence in us.
Hence, the Gospel of Matthew reminds us how Jesus attended, welcomed and healed those crowds who brought the heaviness and hungers of their hearts and different illnesses to him. Jesus cured and satisfied them all. He made the mute speak, the deformed whole, the lame walk, and the blind see.
Moreover, Jesus wanted his disciples to be also moved with pity. Jesus wanted that the hearts of his disciples will also experience the power of being moved by others. To be moved with pity allows us to feel the heart of another. This allows us to understand them, to be in solidarity with them and to journey with them. Such solidarity will lead us into healing and freedom, which is the very experience of those people healed and freed by Jesus.
This means that the journey towards healing, freedom and fullness of life is not achieved when we are alone. It cannot be achieved when we distance ourselves from our friends and family, our community, and from the Church.
That is why, as the heart of Jesus was moved with pity, he too asked his disciples to participate and join with him. His question, “How may loaves do you have?” must have been a question with a deeper meaning. Jesus was not just asking about the number of the physical loaves of bread, but also the availability of the hearts and presence of the disciples. Indeed, that question meant more than loaves.
The disciples responded not just with seven loaves, but also with few fish. This food was all they had, yet, God asked everything. And they all gave them up for others. It must not be easy to give up all you have for the sake of others. That food, if one would think, would not have been enough just for the 13 of them. How could that little they have, feed hundreds of people?
We usually think for ourselves and prioritize our own needs. However, the disciples, out of obedience to Christ, gave everything they had at that moment for the sake of those in need at that moment. This was the beginning of the wonder and amazement.
Those seven loaves and few fish given out of generosity and obedience to Christ were blessed, given thanks, and broken. Those were distributed to all of those who were hungry, to satisfy them and fill their emptiness. Yet, what was blessed, given thanks and broken and was shared became abundant before the eyes of the disciples. As people partake with their bread and fish, people were satisfied and there was more than enough. This was how they collected the left-over that filled seven baskets. The number of fullness.
What had been satisfied were not just those who were hungry but also the givers. Indeed, the journey taken by the disciples to fill the hunger and emptiness of the people became their own journey also to experience both physical and spiritual satisfaction and fullness of life with the people and with the Lord.
Today, Jesus also invites us to be moved with pity that with him and with the disciples, we too shall bring out those little things that we have, and to offer them to God so that many will be able to receive. We shall see the wonder, then, when the small or little things from us are given generously because we will surely be able to respond to the different forms of hungers around us. Hunger is not just limited with physical hunger for food but also for love, for affection, for justice and for peace.
The symbol of seven loaves and few small fish are not just limited with material possessions that we have. These also include our talents, capacities, expertise, our time and effort, our presence and our very person.
While the Lord assures us and promises satisfaction from our own hungers in life, hopefully, we too will be like his disciples who became instruments of satisfying not just ourselves, but also our brothers and sisters. Hinaut pa.
Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120120.cfm)
Homily
A growing seed makes no sound but a falling tree creates huge and echoing noise. (A quote I got from Pinterest). Creation, indeed, is silent while destruction is loud. In the same way, God growing in us is silent. God’s coming and arrival can only be realized when we too learn to listen in God’s silent coming. The noise of our anger, of our bitterness and pain, of our desperation and anxiety, may prevent us from listening to God’s silent coming. Those noises will only bring us to destruction and not to growth and peace.
The Book of Prophet Isaiah reminds us that a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. It describes to us how the Messiah will come from the linage of Jesse, who was the father of King David. The coming of Jesus as prophesied by Isaiah will be silent as a shoot sprouts and as a bud blooms.
What makes it more fruitful for us is on how such attentiveness to the silent coming of our God brings grace. The Spirit of the Lord shall also bless us with wisdom and understanding, with counsel and strength, with knowledge and fear of the Lord. As the Lord brings peace to us, so shall we also become peace.
Indeed, to become loud, to overwhelm ourselves with distractions whatever that may be, will stop us to see and recognize the Lord. This is how Jesus criticized the attitude of those people during His time who claimed to be the “masters of the world, the wise and the learned.” They make so much noise by claiming the knowledge that they have gained in many years of experiences. Yet, such arrogance prevented them to learn new things and to be welcoming. These attitudes prevented them to receive God’s revelations and invitations.
Jesus reminds us how the Father reveals the mystery of salvation, of His gift of healing and peace to the childlike. Of course, God reveals His mystery to all but only the children and the childlike are blessed to receive God’s blessing, simply because of the qualities of being welcoming, humble and receptive. This is why Jesus said to his disciple, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see,” because God revealed Himself to the childlike.
This is today’s invitation for us on this Season of Advent. We may have achieved many things in life, we may have gained many experiences already, or we may be carrying many things in our hearts and minds like our concerns and struggles, let us not allow them to overwhelm us in this season. We let go of them so that we will also learn how to see, to listen, to observe and be more attentive of God’s silent revelations in us.
May our eyes that see and ears that listen bring us to peace. Hinaut pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 