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Tag: Sunday

  • Of Life BEFORE Death

    Of Life BEFORE Death

    November 13, 2022 – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111322.cfm)

    Whenever death & disasters happen in our lives, we cannot help but raise the question about the end-time or the end of the world. Ever-present war, pandemic, famine, pestilence, super typhoons, tsunami, hunger, earthquakes, flooding, landslides, and countless death-crimes in life render us anxious and helpless towards our coming future. Our worries about the coming end-times are not only felt around us but also within us. We are not ignorant as to how it feels when our world seems have broken and ended whenever we experience heartache as to the death and loss of our loved ones, or failed in our studies, business endeavors, plans and dreams, or diagnose with serious illness and others. Even worse, Scripture and Jesus himself warns us of these coming end-times as inevitable and surely to happen to our human life.  

    Related with our uncertainty about end-time are the questions: “What’s the point? What’s the meaning of all these life-endeavors? Is there hope in life?” And above all, at its very heart, raises the question: “What now… and then? Is there Life AFTER Death?”

    A wise man once said: “The question should not be: ‘Is there life after death’ but rather ‘Is there life BEFORE death’?

    True enough, while life-disasters and death surely to happen in life, we should concern ourselves less about what happen to us after life, but rather more so concern about how we live our life before our inevitable death. Regardless whether there is life after death or not, we should never forget the fact that there is life before death that we are still now in. If we come to think of it, we are still now here alive for a reason and purpose to be in this world. It is for us now, as we live this life, to discover and fulfill in life our real reason and purpose to be and live. Our task and concern in life is to live our life now before death to the fullness of our very life-purpose.

    Life Before Death would also mean that the greatest loss in life is not death, but what dies inside us while we live. Sadly there are people nowadays who have reasons to die than to live, and people who are still alive but dying and already died inside. Though painful, confusing and disheartening, our experiences of disasters and loss should move us still alive to deeply discover and enable the very reason and meaning of our life-existence. For Jesus, life-death and disasters are not only about end-times or world’s end, but more so about the opportunity for us to testify, that is, to rise to the occasion,…. stand up and witness in life our faith in God through Him, and…. to live-up to our very life-purpose and reason in life.  In other words, Jesus is saying to us, that these things will surely happen to us, but with a reason and for a purpose. So, we should consider more our life now before death, rather than our life after death, and as He  promised,  “By your perseverance in life, you will secure your lives.”

    Practical advice then to ponder: Whenever disaster strikes and happens in life, ASK NOT , “Why is this happening TO me?” but rather, “why is this happening FOR me?” Because…. Asking, “why is this happening TO me?” leads to unhealthy self-doubt, blame, guilt, anger, and inner death. Asking, however, “why is this happening FOR me?” leads to meaning, purpose, challenge, responsibility, and resolution.

    As we grapple then with the concern about our experience of death & disasters in life, as  per advised,  ask not: “Why is this happening to me?”, “Is there life after death?” but rather ask,  “Why is this happening FOR me?”, “Is there life before death?”, “Do I have or am I having a life now before my death?”.  With this, we may be more hopefully grounded to live our lives by its very reason, meaning and purpose, as well as to be a living testimony and witness of our Christian faith, and God’s grace to our present world.

    May the Lord lead us to His fullness of life.

    So May it be. Amen.

  • LIVING and DYING. LIFE and DEATH.

    LIVING and DYING. LIFE and DEATH.

    November 6, 2022 – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110622.cfm)

    Are you living to die? Or are you dying to live? Do we seek to give life? Or do we suck out life? We have just celebrated All Souls’ Day and remembered the lives of our departed loved ones.  We remember not just their life but also how they died. Some may have died in tragic and painful events. Some also may have died peacefully. Remembering their death and being aware also of our own, sooner or later, what gives us hope is the promise of the resurrection, a blessed life that we will share with Jesus.

    However, the promise of the resurrection is not just something that will be for the future alone. Its grace and mystery are so vast and beyond any boundaries that we are already being invited in the here-and-now. And so, as we are being invited to hold on to that promise and have a taste of that blessed life in our present context, allow me now to journey with you a bit deeper on this 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

    In 2019, I was in a funeral wake of a young professional in his mid-twenties. Because of much pain and hurts that he was experiencing in his young life, he couldn’t endure them. He was helpless and felt hopeless. He felt alone and lonely. All of these directed him to depression until his depression clouded his mind and heart which also led him to kill himself.

    Without judging him, such situation brought me to ask myself, how am I living my life right now? Am I letting hopelessness and despair to deprive me to live fully and meaningfully with others?

    Back in college, I met a leper in Cebu, an old woman in her 70s, abandoned by her family in her teen-age years when leprosy began to manifest in her body. Yet, despite being abandoned and left alone in the hospital for lepers, she remained hopeful in life by resisting to be eaten up by despair, by emotional hurts, by abandonment and by the very suffering she was enduring. Thus, she even adopted an abandoned baby girl with cerebral palsy whom she named Nancy. She found Nancy in a garbage bin in Cebu. Despite her poverty, she accepted Nancy in her life and let Nancy feel a mother’s love, affection and care. Yet, as Nancy grew up and due to her failing eyesight and old age, she has to let go of Nancy and bring her to a group of Sisters who could provide better the needs of Nancy. Despite the pain of separation and of the loneliness she would endure by losing Nancy beside her, she let her go. In that way, she gave life to Nancy even though she herself struggled to live. She died peacefully in the hospital for lepers knowing that she was capable of loving and being loved.

    With this encounter, I also asked myself, am I giving life? Have I tried to give myself in order to give life to others? Or am I just busy living only thinking of myself without any regard and care for others?

    In the second book of the Maccabees, we have heard the story of the seven brothers and their mother who were tortured and killed. The king wanted them to violate the law of God. Despite the trials and persecution, the reverence they gave to the law of God made them commit their whole life even up to death. This was their expression that there is more in this life, and that is, the resurrection.

    Their story tells us that suffering and persecution, trials even sickness and death are nothing because the righteous, those who are favored by God will be raised up.

    This is what Paul also tried to express in his second letter to the Thessalonians. Paul confessed, “The Lord is faithful.” This was his experience and his reminder to the Christians in Thessalonica that amidst trials and persecutions, they too will be confident in God’s faithfulness. Paul also asked for prayers and hoped that the Thessalonians, their hearts, will be directed to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ. Christ is therefore, our strength and confidence in times of trials and the fullness of our joy. This fullness of joy reminds us of the blessed life in the promise of the resurrection.

    But let us remember, this fullness of joy or blessed life or the promise of the resurrection begins to unfold today, in our present moment, in the quality of our life and relationships.

    This was the failure of the Sadducees, the fundamentalists at the time of Jesus categorically denied the promise of resurrection. For them, this was completely foolish because this was not clearly affirmed in the Pentateuch or the Torah. However, the situation they gave to Jesus of a woman marrying the brothers of her dead husband, one after another death, was a complete misunderstanding of life and the resurrection.

    Their denial of the resurrection was a denial of God’s power over death. Their misunderstanding of life that only ends in death expressed hopelessness. And their perversion of one’s life that remains the same if there is ever a resurrection, referring to their question to Jesus, is an insult to the fullness of joy in the resurrection. Resurrection, as Jesus said, is not a state of life that we have now but the fullness of joy and total blessed life shared with the God of hope and of life.

    How are we invited now so that the hope of the resurrection shall grow in our hearts, mold our faith and develop the quality of our life and relationships? There are three invitations for us now.

    First, live to share hope. This invites us that we ourselves will become an instrument of hope not discouragement or fear. Let our very person and our presence express hope for those friends who may be struggling now, needing support and understanding, company and acceptance.  Living to share hope is call from us that we are anchored and secured in our relationship with God, who is our hope.

    Second, live to share love. This calls us to go beyond ourselves and beyond our comforts in order to show concretely our love. Living to share love requires our commitment in our relationships which can be difficult, or even painful at times. Yet, it is in truly living to share love that we too experience what life is.

    Third, live to share life. This directs us to recognize that we can actually regenerate life, inspire life, defend life and motivate life. Indeed, this is an invitation to us not to suck the life of others, or to abuse, oppress and kill the life of others. All of these are not from the God of life but of evil. Like what Jesus did, this could be quite challenging because living to share life is giving totally our life for the sake of others.

    And so, as we are called to live to share hope, love and life, may the God of the Living and not of the dead, bless us with a joyful and blessed life today and tomorrow. Kabay pa.

  • Of Life Beyond

    Of Life Beyond

    November 6, 2022 – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110622.cfm)

    Last week and even week before last, we cannot help but find ourselves thinking about our experiences of death & life. Not only we were remembering our dearly beloved departed brothers & sister, we are also praying for the souls in purgatory & souls of those who have recently died of Covid pandemic, victims of natural disasters, & about all the 150 plus youth who died in Itaewon Stampede for a Halloween party in South Korea. Yes, we cannot help but reflect on such a waste of lives of many young people who are supposed to be enjoying & having fun on a costume party Halloween Event, which they don’t even believe, ending in tragedy on harrowing deaths of plenty.

    In such experiences of death, dying & waste of lives nowadays, yes indeed, we do find ourselves questioning about our life as it is & our life yet to come. Somehow, we ask ourselves what is life all about. “Is there a life after death? What happened to those who have died? Was their life sensible before their death? Is our lives now sensible before our death? Is there, are we living or do we have a life before death?”, are just but some questions we are confronted with, as we make sense & find meaning from our recent experiences of loss & grief.

    Somehow our readings today are offering us some perspectives as to how we grapple with these questions.

    By our faith in God, the witness of suffering & martyrdom of the Maccabeans testify to the reality that there is more to life & death than what we have and are experiencing it. For people of deep faith, there is resurrection, eternal life, and life-beyond life & death. Paul exhorts us faithful people to be steadfast & enduring in our faith in God who loves us dearly & in Jesus who journeys with us in life. And in our gospel today, Jesus is telling & teaching us that resurrection, eternal, life-beyond life & death is not all about who are we married to in life, but moreso about it is about how we have been faithful & fruitful to the life we have committed to in life, since our fullness of joy lies in the full glory of our Lord – not ours, as our Psalms proclaims.

    In our life as Christian believers then, we are called not only to be happy and successful, but above all to be faithful & fruitful. Faithfulness & fruitfulness then IS life-all about, and less on our happiness & successes. Our life here & now thus is all about fullness of God glory through the faithful & fruitful witness of all who believes in our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Beyond the questions about the meaning of our experiences of life & death while we are still alive here & now, lies the call & challenge for us to be faithful & fruitful in our faith in God. Eternal Life – Life Beyond then is all about God & about how we have been faithful & fruitful in life we are having now.

    As once penned by a modern-day spiritual guru Henri Nouwen: “The real question is: “How can I live so that my death will be fruitful for others?” Our life we have here & now then IS OUR CHANCE to do thing right before God & others.

    Perhaps while we are still now alive here in this life, consider these very words of St. Paul that inspired one of Pilipino church song entitled: “Pag-aalay ng Puso”:

    “I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now… for I shall not pass this way again….”

    Minsan lamang ako dadaan sa daigdig na ito, Kaya anumang Mabuti maaring gawin ko ngayon. O anumang kabutihan ang maari kong ipadama, itulot ninyong magawa ko ngayon ang mga bagay na to. Nawa’y hwag ko tong ipagpaliban, O ipagwalang-bahala, sapagkat di na ko muling dadaan sa ganitong mga landas.

  • Tampo

    Tampo

    October 30, 2022 – 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103022.cfm)

    A man once approached an elderly priest and asked, “Father, how come it seems that God does not speak to His people anymore?  He used to speak so beautifully with such power and clarity to our prophets and apostles. But why is it that God seems no longer talk to us His people? Nagtatampo ba siya sa atin? Is he isolating Himself from us?”

    For a minute the priest was just in silence, shaking his head as though he was in pain. He replied in time, “My son, it is not that God no longer speaks to us His people. Hindi sya nagtatampo sa atin. He is not isolating Himself from us. It is just that… no one these days can stoop down low enough to listen to Him. No one… can stoop down…low enough… to listen to Him these days.

    At times, we also find ourselves like that man sharing the same question: “Why and how come God no longer speaks to us His people?” As we go through our lives doing our daily affairs, we do feel and experience at times the silence and absence of God. Nagtutulog ba ang Dios? Is God asleep? Nagtatampo ba ang Dios? Is God sulky? Is He isolating or distancing Himself from us?

    Zaccheus in our gospel today must have felt and experienced the same silence and absence of God in his life. While doing his usual work of collecting and counting money in the treasury, Zaccheus must have asked the same question about God no longer speaking to His people. He must have also wondered about the silence and absence of God in our lives.

    To the extent, that when he heard that Jesus is passing by, he decided to close his office, climbed up a tree, hoping to have a glimpse of Jesus, whom he must have heard of as godly person. Actually, he doesn’t want to be involved. He only wanted to “observe” Jesus and the crowd. So, while waiting for Jesus on the tree, perhaps he must be back then thinking about his favorite topic: his work, his money collections, his usual affairs & concerns.

    As he passed by the tree, Jesus saw Zaccheus and asked him to “come down and hurry for I must stay in your house today”. Somehow Zaccheus got more than what he bargained for. All he wanted was just a glimpse to observe Jesus. Now, he got an audience and a home visit from Jesus.  And, what is required of him is just to come down from the tree, invite Jesus in to his house, and take part in the life and mission of Jesus.

    So how come and why God is no longer speaking to us His people? Why do we at times felt and experience the absence and silence of God?

    Perhaps because, like Zaccheus, we become so concerned and comfortable about our day-to-day worldly affairs of being and striving to be always at the top of things and people. Like Zaccheus, perhaps we also don’t want to get involve and participate. We rather observe than serve the Lord and others. And like Zaccheus, we rather remain “at the top of all things” in our comfort zones, being labelled and stereotyped by others, – instead of being recognized as not only as Abraham’s descendant but more so as God’s children. So, why God no longer speaking? Perhaps it is because we are no longer stooping or kneeling down low enough to listen to Him.

    photo from https://aleteia.org/2016/10/29/going-out-on-a-limb-for-jesus-with-zacchaeus/

    The invitation of Jesus to Zaccheus: “To come down and hurry for I must stay in your house today” is a wake-up call also for us today: “to stoop down low enough to listen to Him”. For us then to experience the presence, voice, and lambing of God, instead of his absence, silence and tampo, we must learn to humbly listen to Him through His son Jesus Christ & be involve in His affairs.

    This is a reminder that in life at times, we become too-far, too-high, too-much, too-numb, too-away, too-distant from God that we cannot anymore see, hear, feel, and experience Him.  It is like our phones might be fully-charged but we have weak signal and out of coverage.

    However, rest assured, like Jesus, God is always reaching-out to us, wanting to be in contact with us whatever happens, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost”. All we have to do & required of us is to come down from our pedestals & comfort zones, invite Jesus into our lives and eventually participate in His ever-present life & mission in our lives. In other words, Stoop Down… Low Enough… to Listen to Him. 

    Perhaps we may ask ourselves: “when was the last time I stoop or knelling down low enough to listen to Him?”

    We learn last Sunday the most simple and very effective prayer of the tax collector: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” or simply the Jesus prayer: “Lord, have mercy”. May we also learn today from the prayer of prophet Samuel: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”.

    Before Our Father, may we find ourselves listening in humility & poverty, so that God can contact-trace & reach-out to us for the better of us always.

    So Be It. Kabay pa. Amen.

  • Towards a Humble recognition of our failures

    Towards a Humble recognition of our failures

    October 23, 2022 – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102322.cfm)

    Have you ever been judged because of what you have done before? Or because of a mistake or failure or sin that you have committed that people around you believed that you are hopeless and beyond redemption? It is truly devastating to be judged by people around us especially when we are “put in a box,” that, as if there is nothing more in us except our sins and failures in life.

    Well, aside from being judged by others, each of us too can be the one who judge others because of their mistakes and failures in life. We could have played to be the righteous individuals who try scrutinize people searching for their faults and failures. We could be that mean person whose main intention is to bring other people down by shaming and gossiping their weaknesses in order to hide our own sins. This happens among our families, circle of friends, communities and our workplaces.

    This Sunday, I would like you to listen first to one of the members of the Redemptorist Youth Ministry. Miss Kirsten Dañas will share her reflections tonight. And so, let us discover together how the Lord invites us. Let, us welcome Miss Kirsten.

    Sharing of Miss Kirsten

    Three years ago, I met this person, she was new to us, she was quiet and so respectful. As time goes by, I can see how genuine she was, that’s why it was not hard for us to treat her like our younger sister. We became good friends, we share stories, we have each other’s company, we let her feel that she always belongs to us. There was this moment when we were talking to our colleagues that she was always bragging about “Loyalty or being faithful” when it comes to a relationship. And yes, there was no second thought on that, we are on the same line when it comes to that part. I can see how she was as a girlfriend to her partner. They were together for like three years, her partner was a good man, anything she asked was being given to her. She was very lucky to have such a wonderful man, a-one-call-away-partner anyone could ever asked.

    Months have passed, her partner got laid off from his job, I don’t know the whole reason behind it, but I saw in her eyes that she was also affected with that problem. Eventually, everything changed, I didn’t know why, but we noticed that she became closer with our co-worker whom she really didn’t like because of the past of this person whom she called “Babaero”.

    At first, I thought, she was just longing for a brotherly love because that person also gave her everything she needed. Until such time, I never would have imagined that brotherly love turned into Cheating. Yes, she was cheating with her boyfriend that time. We were so disappointed with her, she was the one bragging about loyalty yet she ate all the words she said. We distanced ourselves from her as if she didn’t exist, to the point that we judged her, talking beyond her back about what she did, and even called her a “Gold Digger”, because that only started when her boyfriend can no longer support her needs.

    I tried reaching out to her telling her to stop what she was doing. But, she chose to continue such actions. Though I was not expecting it, but this situation and her actions affected our working environment. Our workplace became toxic day by day until such a time that I felt I can no longer stand working there. I left that place without even talking to her or even saying good bye.

    Yet, years have passed, I met this man, the reason behind my friend’s unfaithfulness. He told me everything, that what they did was wrong. They were together for almost a year, yet they realized also to end their relationship for some reasons. A shocking truth struck me actually, when that man told me something about her. That friend of mine was a victim of abuse and greed from her own family most especially from her own parents and brothers. They wanted her to get in touch with anyone as long as they can benefit with the money that their daughter can provide them. How selfish her parents are!

    I was speechless that time. I realized, who am I to judge her that easily without knowing her story?  Knowing all the truth, I felt so sad, I wanted to hug her and I wanted to say sorry for the judgment I made against her. I really didn’t know that she was pressured by her own family. She should have been protected and cherished in the first place yet she was used and betrayed by her own family.

    I know that I can no longer take back all the things I did and said. But that circumstance made me realize a lot that indeed, it’s okay to feel down sometimes, it’s okay to feel sad, it’s okay to feel like giving up and it’s okay to have negative emotions. If ever we see someone who feels like this, let us embrace them, speak to them, listen first to their story, and allow them to open their heart. Most importantly, this calls me to be a non-judgmental person, to give my time and presence in order to accompany a friend. This will certainly bring significant and positive change in their lives.

    Now, being in this ministry for more than a decade brings me closer to Jesus and I realized how the Lord has changed me to become a better person by accepting that I am also a sinner in need of forgiveness, and that my failures and mistakes are rooms for me to learn and grow.

    She shared to us her experience that helped her to realize better about herself and her actions.

    The Gospel story that we have heard today conveys this message to us. To become self-righteous only blinds us. Thinking highly too much of ourselves will even prevent us from asking God to show his mercy upon us because we already think that we do not need God’s mercy. Therefore, the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisee is basically a denial of God, a rejection of God’s mercy because he felt that he did not need it. Moreover, this attitude only leads us to build invisible walls that separate us from others.

    Thus, we might still have that idea of condemning our brothers and sisters who are considered terrible sinners. We too might have that attitude of separating those people whom we consider as unclean for fear of being contaminated and be associated with them.

    On this Sunday, Jesus invites us to rather look closely at ourselves and to examine better our intentions, thoughts and actions so that it may also lead us to recognize our failures and sins. This was the attitude of the Tax Collector and the very reason why he could not look up to heaven. When he saw himself, he felt disgusted for the sins and failures he had done against God and his neighbors. He must have cheated and corrupted a lot of money. However, looking at himself, he realized his need of mercy and the need to be converted. That same realization will hopefully lead us to also join the tax collector in praying, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

    Such prayer and humility will surely reach the heart of God. In fact, the Book of Sirach in the first reading tells us that “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.” God, our Just Judge, will come to our rescue and will show us his mercy when we also begin to honestly acknowledge our sins and failures. The God of Justice will listen to our petitions especially when the Lord also finds the poverty in our heart. This means that our heart is empty of any self-righteousness, of any self-satisfaction and self-justification.

    As the Lord defends us and shows us mercy, we are called to be more understanding to those who failed and sinned but not in the sense of condoning and tolerating such failures and sins. Thus, it is very important that as we exercise understanding, we also need to confront each other of our mistakes and failures. We are invited to be merciful rather than condemning.

    Therefore, to both the righteous and the sinners, God does not condemn but God rather desires our healing, reconciliation and fullness of life for all.

    This calls us, then, to see more in the person of our brothers and sisters, to stop our harsh judgments and condemnations, to stop our gossiping, image shaming, name-calling and bullying that only destroy the person of our brother or sister.

    I would like to invite you then, to embrace a family member, or a relative or a friend whom we know have sinned against us so that reconciliation will also begin in us. In this way then, we will hopefully become witnesses of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Kabay pa.