Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Sunday

  • Believe the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ

    Believe the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ

    April 19, 2020 – Second Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy Sunday

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041920.cfm)

    Homily shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR

    A young man once said, “I will never believe until I have an experience of Jesus Christ.” But a Catholic missionary replied, “Unless you believe, you will never experience Jesus in His Church”. 

    Nowadays, it is not easy for us to believe. We ask usually for signs, proofs or evidence in order to trust somebody. We need some credentials in order for us to believe someone. We say: “To see is to believe.” Many times we claim, “We will never believe until we see it”. Others would say, “Show me the money first before I trust you”. Like Thomas in our Gospel today, we say: “Unless there are evidences (see and touch the nail marks on the Lord’s sides), I will not believe”.

    The opposite of Faith is doubt. Doubt has indeed been a great stumbling block or hindrance in the growth of our Christian faith. Even Jesus had difficulty in preaching the Good News because of the people’s doubt and unbelief. And the same doubt and unbelief have caused the Lords’ suffering, crucifixion and death.  

    Usually we doubt by certain truths in our life because they are beyond our comprehension. Because we don’t understand them – they don’t make sense- that we doubt if what is presented before us is really true and sincere. That is why, many at times in life, we struggle to find God in our signs and evidences, in our darkness and loneliness, in our comprehension and understanding that usually leads us nowhere but doubt and unbelief. But actually doubt and unbelief happen whenever and because we are just asleep – not aware or not awake and present enough to recognize what has been presented right before us.

    This is what Jesus is trying to reveal and teach his apostles then and us now in our Gospel today: Be Present in order to Believe. Believe in order to be in His Presence.

    As the community of disciples hid themselves asleep in fear for the authority, in shame for abandoning their master, and in hopelessness and defeat for the death of the Lord, Jesus, now the Risen Lord came and shown Himself to them, saying: “Peace Be with you”. Take note, Jesus appeared and presented Himself – make Himself known to them, in order to tell them: “Do Not be unbelieving, but Believe”, that is to wake them up from doubt, and to wake up their faith in Him again. The Risen Lord thus presents Himself before and in the Church to wake up our Faith in Him anew so that we may experience God’s glory being offered to us once again. 

    And He continues to reveal Himself again and always to us in our Church and whenever we are present in our Christian faith-community. Remember, Thomas doubted the risen Lord because he was absent – not there but somewhere else – when the Lord revealed Himself for the first time. So also whenever we are absent with ourselves and with our community, we don’t experience and don’t believe Easter. But whenever we are present with ourselves and our community, we experience and believe in the Resurrection of our Lord.    

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    “Believe the Gospel, believe in Him, Believe in Jesus Christ” has always been the core message of the Gospel. For us to always experience the Good News of God’s glory in our lives, all we are asked to do is not to look for evidences, signs or proofs but just to believe in Him who reveals Himself right before and in us, our community of faith. Without faith, we cannot comprehend and benefit from the greatness of God’s graces offered and can offer us now by the Risen Lord, as he makes Himself present in our church and community. 

    As Joan Chittister, a known lady-theologian once said: “It takes a lifetime to really understand that God is in what is standing in front of us. Most of our lives are spent looking, straining to see the God in the cloud, behind the mist, beyond the dark. It is when we face God in one another, in creation, in the moment that the real spiritual journey begins”. Very true, indeed. We do tend to look for something else while searching for God who is already right before and in front of us. In other words, Easter – the Lord’s resurrection only happens, makes sense and becomes meaningful to us, if and when we are present enough to acknowledge and believe in the Risen Lord as He reveals to us face to face, in front of us, in our Church, our community of believers.So, Don’t doubt but Believe the Gospel being and yet to appear to us in our community of faith. May we present as the Lord is present in our Christian Church even in the midst of our social distancing world.  So be it. Amen. 

  • Why is this happening FOR me?

    Why is this happening FOR me?

    April 5, 2020 – Palm Sunday

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040520.cfm)

    Homily

    A wise man once said: Instead of asking: “Why is this happening TO me?”, Ask rather, “Why is this happening FOR me?”

    In trying to make sense of the situations and to find meaning to what we are going through in life especially during hard times (like, sickness, failures, loss, crises, quarantine, lockdown) we tend to ask the question: “Why is this happening To me?” And the more we struggle with this question, the more we find ourselves down and confused. For with this question, we search not much on the meaning but more on to something to excuse or someone to blame or charge for the situation. Although hard and bad things do indeed happen To and In ourselves directly, these things could have happened and are happening FOR us, with an offer of a special purpose beyond our imaginings and comprehensions. 

    God’s blessings are often described as “blessings-in disguise” because only after going through the process of its trials and sufferings, we eventually come to recognize the purpose and to realize meaning of whole trying life-experiences.  Only by getting through the trying and hard experience, and struggle with the questions, we learn the lessons-offered and grow in living life much better and meaningful. As the wise man advised, to be more courageous and hopeful in dealing with life-challenges and crises, ask not for excuses, charges or verdict, but search rather for purpose and meaning behind the trying-experience. In other words, as we go through life-crises, Ask not: “Why is this happening To me?” but rather, “Why is this happening For me?” that we may be more open to the purpose and meaning it offer for our growth. 

    During these days of Holy Week, we are being in touch once again with the story of the Lord’s passion and suffering. Along with our Lenten observances, we are reminded of the Jesus story – on how He suffered and died on the cross. However, we cannot help but also wonder why Jesus has to go through all these pains and sufferings?

    On the hindsight, Jesus is sentenced for crucifixion because he was actually charged of claiming to be the Christ – the Messiah-king of the Jews. Politically, this charge is seditious and rebellious to the ruling colonial Roman Empire of his time. Religiously and culturally, this charge is blasphemously offensive to the Jews who are longing and waiting for their own expected Messiah to come and save the day. But all these things happened to Jesus, because of the envy and jealousy of those who are in power have on Jesus, since he is stirring a movement and inspiring people to change. For them, Jesus is basically a trouble-maker, bad influence, a radical leader with a cause. For allegedly claiming to be the Christ, suffering and death by crucifixion happened to Jesus.  

    We also cannot help but wonder why Jesus’ suffering and death happened to us. Reflecting on the Lord’s passion could definitely bring us to awareness of our own shortcomings and sins before God and others – of how much and how we have failed our Lord, as well as of how much we need God’s mercy and forgiveness and of how much the Lord’s price have made to save and redeemed us. For our failings and shortcomings before the Lord, suffering and death by crucifixion happened to the Lord. 

    However, over and beyond the charge of claiming to be Messiah, and our real failures and shortcomings with God, Jesus’ passion and death on the cross has a deeper value in the realization of God’s kingdom in our very lives. At the very core of the Good News Gospel of Jesus – is the constant slogan and challenge “So that You may believe”. This would mean that Jesus life and mission centers on the commission of awakening people’s faith in the Kingdom, i.e. so that we may believe in Him and His vision/mission of God’s kingdom for all. 

    Thus, His sufferings and death on the cross is His way of awakening and stirring up our faith in Him. It is His way of serving us (offering and giving us God’s kingdom). It is His way of speaking to the world (choosing, blessing and forming us) for God’s kingdom. It is His way of witnessing (revealing, sharing, and making us taste and see) life as lived in and with God’s kingdom. In other words, so that and for our faith in Him and God’s kingdom may direct and rule our lives always, Jesus’ life and death happened For Jesus and For us. 

    This is why the passion and death of Jesus for us Christian means more to us than just about our sins, failures, and misgivings, nor about the gruesome public condemnation and execution of Jesus. Our being reminded of His death can be our opportunity for us to renew our faith in our lives so that we may believe and witness into His vision and mission of God’s kingdom. For us, the Jesus story is a “blessing in disguise” – a path, a way to our life and resurrection, that we must go through in life so that we may eventually taste and see anew in faith the promise of God’s kingdom offered us again.

    We began Lenten Season with a personal challenge: “Repent and Believe the Gospel”. Now as we begin Holy Week on enhanced community quarantine this year, the challenge for us as Christian faithful is to: “Believe” for there are more yet better graces to come and be revealed to us. Let us rediscover in our present situation God’s blessings in disguise by asking not why is this happening To us, but rather ask why is this happening FOR us.May we have a Blessed, Inspiring and Faithful Easter Season ahead of us. Amen. 

    Shared by Fr. Mar Masangcay, CSsR