Tag: Sunday Reflection

Categories
Fr. Sergio Santos

“Jesus Christ, Son of God is a Merciful and Compassionate God” SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time By Fr. Serge Santos, OFM

Have you ever thought that our savior Jesus Christ could have done differently in proclaiming the Gospel to the world? In today’s gospel Jesus Christ sends the apostles two by two to the neighboring villages, preaching repentance, casting out demons, and healing the sick. They are to trust absolutely in Divine Providence for daily sustenance.

It’s over two thousand years ago since the time of Jesus Christ. Millions of people have come to know about him and his message. It is a reality that this is still far from the millions and millions in this world who are not evangelized yet. We are still waiting for the event when he would endorse to God, Father and Creator, everyone so that the New Heaven and New Earth could usher in.

As God and Son of God there are alternative ways Jesus Christ could have adopted to evangelize the world quickly. After his resurrection, he could have gone to all corners of the world and could have taught his doctrine to all humanity, proving his words with supernatural deeds (miracles). Yet he chose the more human way of evangelization…he sent his own fellow human beings to bring the good news. In this way he shows his divine love and understanding of weak human nature. This is a lot better way than the supernatural means which he could have done.

God gave humanity free will. Human beings are able to choose between alternatives. Jesus Christ has never used force or coercion on persons to choose heaven as eternal home. The person who chooses heaven can select the means for reaching it. By appointing mortal beings to bring the good news of salvation and the means of getting there to all of us, Christ gives us the opportunity to exercise our free will and thereby merit heaven. We can accept to reject the Gospel of Christ. If Christ chose to inform us miraculously or taught us personally, it is impossible to refuse the Gospel.

Jesus Christ earned heaven for ALL people and not only for Christians. He founded the Church with its truth and aids and shared to those who would become his followers. By virtue of our baptism, we are followers of Jesus Christ. For us, the way of the Gospel is a sure way to reach heaven, if we are faithful to the commandments.

There are still millions of people who have not heard Christ and the church. Other millions who heard of Christ and his church did not accept the Christian way of life because of their upbringing, culture and environment; would Christ exclude them from heaven? Jesus Christ is aware of these millions and He wants them to be in heaven. It could be that their situation and circumstances, lack of knowledge of the Christian truths, limited perception, personal biases, which were brought by circumstances beyond their control prevent them from being attracted to become Christians. Would Jesus Christ exclude them from Heaven? Certainly NOT!

Jesus Christ has foreknowledge of those who could not accept his Gospel and yet they want to reach heaven. This is why he lets other persons who may be doubted to proclaim the Gospel. It would not be acceptable to refuse to listen to his teaching if it was delivered by some other form or preached by Christ personally. These people could be excused if they doubted Christ’s human stewards because of some reasons like their personality and lifestyle. Christ would let them enter heaven! This is telling us that Christ found ways and means to excuse those who choose to trek the wrong way rather than travel on the highway to heaven that he offered.

In all of these we see Divine Mercy and Compassion at work with Jesus Christ. We are all children of God regardless of nationality, race, color and language. The will of God is that all people may be saved, that is, to be able to enter heaven. While on a pilgrimage on earth, we serve Jesus Christ according to our God-given talents. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s Divine Mercy and Compassion could reach frontiers and trails less traveled through his chosen workers/followers. Christ continues to shower Mercy and Compassion to people along the way.

With expectant hope may we all enter heaven and live blissfully ever after because our Friend and Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, Son of God, is a MERCIFUL AND COMPAASIONATE GOD.

(Ref: THE SUNDAY GOSPEL by Kevin O’Sullivan, OFM)

About Fr. Serge and his other reflections…..

Categories
Fr. Reu Galoy

SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Reu Jose C. Galoy, OFM

untitledAs We Celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy, Let Us Listen to the Top 10 Mercy Quotes of Pope Francis:
1. I think we too are the people who, on the one hand, want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, at times, like to find a stick to beat others with, to condemn others. And Jesus has this message for us: mercy. I think — and I say it with humility — that this is the Lord’s most powerful message: mercy.

2. It is not easy to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, because it is an abyss beyond our comprehension. But we must! … “Oh, I am a great sinner!” “All the better! Go to Jesus: He likes you to tell him these things!” He forgets, He has a very special capacity for forgetting. He forgets, He kisses you, He embraces you and He simply says to you: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more” (Jn 8:11).

3. Jesus’ attitude is striking: we do not hear the words of scorn, we do not hear words of condemnation, but only words of love, of mercy, which are an invitation to conversation. “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” Ah! Brothers and Sisters, God’s face is the face of a merciful father who is always patient. Have you thought about God’s patience, the patience He has with each one of us? That is His mercy. He always has patience, patience with us, He understands us, He waits for us, He does not tire of forgiving us if we are able to return to Him with a contrite heart. “Great is God’s mercy,” says the Psalm.

4. In the past few days I have been reading a book by a Cardinal … Cardinal Kasper said that feeling mercy, that this word changes everything. This is the best thing we can feel: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand properly this mercy of God, this merciful Father who is so patient. … Let us remember the Prophet Isaiah who says that even if our sins were scarlet, God’s love would make them white as snow. This mercy is beautiful.

5. God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14). … Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.

6. Together let us pray to the Virgin Mary that she helps us … to walk in faith and charity, ever trusting in the Lord’s mercy; He always awaits us, loves us, has pardoned us with His Blood and pardons us every time we go to Him to ask His forgiveness. Let us trust in His mercy!

7. In today’s Gospel, the Apostle Thomas personally experiences this mercy of God. … Thomas does not believe it when the other Apostles tell him: “We have seen the Lord.” … And how does Jesus react? With patience: Jesus does not abandon Thomas in his stubborn unbelief … He does not close the door, He waits. And Thomas acknowledges his own poverty, his little faith. “My Lord and my God!” with this simple yet faith-filled invocation, he responds to Jesus’ patience. He lets himself be enveloped by Divine Mercy; he sees it before his eyes, in the wounds of Christ’s hands and feet and in His open side, and he discovers trust.

8. Let us … remember Peter: three times he denied Jesus, precisely when he should have been closest to him; and when he hits bottom he meets the gaze of Jesus who patiently, wordlessly, says to him: “Peter, don’t be afraid of your weakness, trust in Me.” Peter understands, he feels the loving gaze of Jesus and he weeps. How beautiful is this gaze of Jesus — how much tenderness is there! Brothers and sisters,let us never lose trust in the patience and mercy of God!

9. I am always struck when I reread the parable of the merciful Father. … The Father, with patience, love, hope and mercy, had never for a second stopped thinking about [his wayward son], and as soon as he sees him still far off, he runs out to meet him and embraces him with tenderness, the tenderness of God, without a word of reproach. … God is always waiting for us, He never grows tired. Jesus shows us this merciful patience of God so that we can regain confidence and hope — always!

10. God’s patience has to call forth in us the courage to return to Him, however many mistakes and sins there may be in our life. … It is there, in the wounds of Jesus, that we are truly secure; there we encounter the boundless love of His heart. Thomas understood this. Saint Bernard goes on to ask: But what can I count on? My own merits? No, “My merit is God’s mercy. I am by no means lacking merits as long as He is rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are manifold, I too will abound in merits.” This is important: the courage to trust in Jesus’ mercy, to trust in His patience, to seek refuge always in the wounds of His love.

Source:http://www.thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=5380

About Fr. Reu and his reflections…

Categories
Fr. Jesus Galindo Reflections

“It Is In Dying That We Are Born To Eternal Life”, A SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION for the 5th Sunday of Lent B By Fr. Jesus Galindo, OFM

Those words from the Peace Prayer of St. Francis very aptly express the message of today’s gospel. The incident in today’s gospel took place right after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (which we will recall next Sunday). The authorities were greatly disturbed by the event. “We are getting nowhere; the whole world has gone after him,” bemoaned the Pharisees (Jn 12:19). As if to prove them right, today’s gospel tells us that some Greeks, pagans at that, showed interest in seeing Jesus. They did it in a way very familiar to us: They approached somebody who could help them.

We don’t know whether they actually got to see and talk to Jesus or not; the gospel does not satisfy our curiosity. We don’t know either whether Jesus’ words are addressed to them or not. But we do know that Jesus’ words are valid and relevant for all – including ourselves: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat.” What a simple image, yet so rich and profound.

Jesus was speaking for himself. He was just a few days away from his passion and death, and he understood fully well that he had to give up his own life in order to give life to the whole world. It was not easy. The gospel describes the inner crisis Jesus went through, and how he struggled with the specter of death: “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour.’ But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.”This inner struggle is John’s equivalent of Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. It was not easy for him, but he submitted to the Father’s will.

The words of Jesus (“unless the grain of wheat…”) remind us, first of all, that we are the fruit and the harvest of other people’s toil and death, both as a nation and as individuals. We are what we are because of the death of the many unknown soldiers and unsung heroes;because of the sweat and toil of our ancestors. They died so that we might live. (See story of the bamboo.)

In the same manner, our toil and self-denial will bring about new and better life for others. Dying does not have to be taken literally, in the sense of losing one’s life. It can also mean dying to pride, selfishness, hatred, drinking, drugs, gambling etc. People “die” to different things for different reasons: Some people “die”to excessive eating and drinking for a better health. Students “die” to leisure and recreation for the sake of honors. Athletes “die” to comfort and pleasure for the sake of honors. And so on.

There was a married young man who had a drinking habit. He spent more time with his drinking buddies than with his family. Eventually, his marriage broke up and he lost his job. As life without his wife and children was unbearable for him, he sought to reconcile, but his wife would agree only if he stopped drinking and got a job. Swallowing his pride, he set on the path of recovery. He took all sorts of odd jobs to earn some money. Little by little he was able to rebuild his life and his marriage. It was by dying to his pride and to his vice that he brought new life to himself and his family.

The only way for us to make our life meaningful and fruitful is to spend it at the service of others. It takes great faith and courage to understand this – and even greater courage to put it into practice. But that is the way it is. That is the way the Lord Jesus did it. And that is the way he wants us to do it! This is what he meant when he said: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”

About Fr. Jesus and his other reflections…

Categories
Fr. Laurian Janicki Reflections

SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION By Fr. Laurian Janicki, OFM

“ Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight: wish I may, wish I might have the first wish I see tonight.” How many countless children have chanted this over the years? Some even take it quite seriously; even though they know that the wish probably won’t come true. The same might be said for making a wish before blowing our birthday candles out. Wishes don’t usually come true. Yet, all of us, young and old alike – make wishes our whole life long. Maybe it’s just a fun game. But, maybe, just maybe, once in a while a wish comes true. Some people wish for simple things of no consequence, maybe like a new toy and others wish for huge things of grave consequences perhaps like a tumor will be benign. In today’s gospel, the leper’s, “If you wish” to Jesus was more than a childhood chant.

When the leper in the gospel says “If you wish,” we can imagine that he is implying more than that Jesus has a choice to heal or not. He is hoping against hope that his own wish to be clean would be fulfilled. Jesus has proven his power.

Jesus was moved with pity. What moved Jesus to make the leper clean? Perhaps the leper’s sorry condition.
Perhaps the leper’s isolation in being an outcast.
Perhaps Jesus, inspite of Jesus’ command to “tell no one anything.”

Jesus knew that the leper would not be able to keep the good news of his healing quiet. And yes, the leper publicizes the whole matter. In our terms, the leper proclaims the gospel. Perhaps Jesus healed the leper because he recognized one who would be a disciple and spread the good news.

Jesus wished that the leper be made clean. And so it was. He had the power to heal. But more important, he had the mercy and Jesus was announced to all by this leper outcast, who now had become a disciple.
Jesus commands the leper to tell no one. The leper tells everyone. Jesus’ commissions to us is tell everyone the good news – do we tell no one? The message of good news in “believing who we are and what we do.”

“A World larger than your heart.”
In John Drinkwater’s play Abraham Lincoln, this exchange takes place between President Lincoln and a northern woman, an anti-confederate zealot. Lincoln tells her about the latest victory by northern forces – the confederate army lost 2700 men while union forces lost 800. The woman is ecstatic, “How splendid, Mr. President!”
Lincoln is stunned at her reaction. “But madam, 3500 human lives were lost!”

“Oh, you must not talk like that, Mr. President. There were only 800 that mattered.” Lincoln’s shoulders drop as he sways slowly and emotionally,” Madam, the world is larger than your heart.”
Connection: Our attitudes and perceptions, our view of the world often reduces others to “lepers” – those we fear, those who don’t fit our image of sophistication and culture, those whose religion or race or identity or belief seem to threaten our own. We exile these lepers to the margins of society outside our gates. We reduce these lepers to simple labels and stereotypes. We reject these lepers as to be “unclean” to be part of our lives and our world.

The Christ who heals lepers comes to perform a much greater miracle – to heal us of our debilitating sense of self that fails to realize the sacredness and dignity of those we demean as “lepers” at our own gates.

We can make them clean by transforming our own attitudes and perspective. We can make them “clean” by reaching out to them as God reaches out to us. We can make them “clean” by the simplest acts of kindness and respect.

About Fr. Laurian and his reflections.

Categories
Fr. Baltazar Obico Reflections

“Feast of the Lord’s Baptism: New Life in Christ, Incorporation into the Faith Community”, a Sunday Reflection by Fr. Baltazar Obico, OFM

Introduction: The word padrino or ninong comes from the church religious vocabulary to mean godparents, someone who assist the parents of the child in order that the baptized child grows up to be a mature Christian. They serve as second parents to their godchild that the latter should grow into Christian discipleship. The word padrino has deteriorated into what is known as the padrino system in our culture that is contributive, if not the major cause, to our inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy. It has eroded the merit system; what is important is who is your well placed padrino who can facilitate favors on your behalf, either through employment or juicy government contracts. The deterioration can be traced to reduction of baptism to become merely social events. Chief concern is given to numerous ninongs and ninangs to the lavish feasts for the invited guests. Less interest is shown in explicit religious dimension of the sacrament itself. The obvious result is nominal Catholicism sometimes labeled as KBL (kasal, binyag at Iibing) as those are the only occasions when the baptized go to Church.

Feast/Gospel: Today we celebrate the Lord’s baptism. In Mark’s account, John the Baptist once more professed that Jesus whom he is going to baptize is mightier than he. Matthew therefore expressed John’s reluctance to baptize Jesus due to his awe of Jesus. He perceives Jesus as the more powerful one. All the three synoptics have common denominators of the baptismal account of Jesus. The opening of the heavens, the appearance of the Spirit like a dove, and the voice from heaven recognizing him as God’s beloved son in whom the father is well pleased. And all of them placed Jesus’ baptism as a prelude to his public ministry. Hence the baptism of Jesus is the father’s public recognition of Jesus’ Sonship as well as the beginning of his public life. The same text from the prophet Isaiah 42 was also uttered in the transfiguration story, where the beloved three disciples have difficulty accepting the public proclamation of Jesus that messiahship consists in his suffering and death. The Father is well pleased with Jesus because of his work as a messiah and his life as Son of God is by being a servant, a suffering servant. The baptism of the Lord reminds us of our own baptism. We have been anointed and have been constituted as God’s children.

WORD: In baptism we are made God’s children. Traditionally we have associated baptism with cleansing of original sin; the experience of painful moral weakness in trying to do what our conscience tells us, but also inclination to evil which is called concupiscence. As a consequence we find ourselves in a society structured by sinful structures, injustices and moral aberrations. The struggle against sin must go on, but with our baptisms we are marked with Christ, in dwelt by the Spirit and supported by Christian community. Therefore baptism focuses on our having new life in Christ, not simply washing away of original sin.

In baptism we have been incorporated into the faith, messianic community of believers, the Church. This means our personal relation with Christ is never a private affair but always a loving relation that originates, develops and grows in union with fellow members of Christ’s body. Our baptismal life is never solitary, isolated thing, but a communal sharing with others. Lastly, baptism enables us to share in the church’s three fold ministry of Jesus’ as priest, prophet and king. In baptism we are not only recipients of the privilege of being children of the father, but we are also tasked to
proclaim his message and establish his kingdom by our words, deeds and courageous initiatives. This ministry will entail bringing our baptismal commitment to the political arena.

About Fr. Tasang and his other reflections.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started