Cycle C - Year II:
3 January 2016: Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany
(Liturgical color: White)

Gospel: Read  Matthew 2:1-12


The Lord's Epiphany: salvation is for all!

For busy people time flies so fast indeed.  So now we realize that Christmas 2015 is now just part of our human experience. And now it's time to welcome the New Year 2016 with much hope and enthusiasm and to enjoy the wonderful gift of living.

If you missed receiving gifts last Christmas, the Feast of the Lord's Epiphany, or traditionally known as the Feast of the Three Kings, may be your last chance to receive gifts from dear someone. So make your wish upon the star.

The Gospel narrative from Matthew is about the journey of the Three Kings (or Magi, or Wise Men)

in search for the infant Jesus guided by a star. They want to pay homage to the new born Jesus with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Western Church assigned them the names of Melchor (believed to be a Babylonian scholar), Caspar (a Persian scholar), and Balthazar (an Arab scholar). And so because these three kings brought gifts to the baby Jesus, so by tradition their feast today is also considered the last day for sharing Christmas gifts with our loved ones.

Let us understand the meaning and significance of the Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany.

The word "epiphany" means manifestation or appearance of God in person like us through the humanity of Jesus. In the Lord's epiphany we see the plan of God to give His only Son as King and Savior, not just for the Jewish people, who are God's chosen people in the Old Testament, but to all nations as well. Because the Three Kings, or Wise Men, or Magi were foreigners and so non-Jews.  Thus, the implication of today's feast is that the Lord Jesus comes to both Jews and Gentiles (or non-Jews), including our present generation of followers of Christ, so that all may find true and lasting peace with God.

Also, the gifts of the Three Kings have their own symbolic significance to the divine identity and the mission of our Lord Jesus. Thus, gold has great value and symbolizes the kingship of Jesus. Frankincense is a perfume and the symbol of the divinity of Jesus. And myrrh is an anointing oil commonly used in Jesus' time, which symbolizes the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross that brought about the salvation of the whole of humanity. These gifts to the newborn Savior speak of their respect for our Lord's divine identity and the realism about His death at the hands of humanity.

What is the relevance of the Feast of the Lord's Epiphany to our lives today? Let us consider the following reflections:

Epiphany tells us that God became visible and audible for us in the person of Jesus, who is the human image of the invisible God. So that even to our generation we experience God living among us and within us in the sacramental present in the Holy Eucharist.

Epiphany makes known to us the way to the Father through Jesus Christ. Our Lord leads the path in our journey in this present life to our heavenly home. Jesus Himself declares: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." (Jn 14:6)

Epiphany makes known to us God's plan for all men and women to be saved from the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve, by believing that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Because God's kingdom is meant for all people of all generations.

In sum, as we conclude our celebration of the Christmas season, we pray that the examples of the Three Kings, Magi, or Wise Men, be our guide in our own spiritual pilgrimage through the New Year 2016. For like the Three Kings, we too acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior and do Him homage. And like the Three Kings,  we also open our gifts to the infant Jesus, our gifts of unwavering faith amidst the temptation of "religion by convenience" in our present generation, and so commit our undivided loyalty and faithfulness to Christ's teaching through His Church.

In the Holy Eucharist, let us pray that the Lord's epiphany or revelation of Himself on this Feast shine forth on everyone so that the grace of salvation may be shared by all.

Happy Three Kings to all, and thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:

1 January 2016: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
(Liturgical color: White)

Gospel: Read  Luke 2:16-21


We begin a new journey with Mary, Mother of God.....

With great joy, I greet everyone "A Happy and Prosperous New Year 2016!"

New Year fills our heart with new hope, inspiring us to reach out to new opportunities, and celebrate anew the most precious gift of life. It is like a re-birth in a way, a chance to re-make our dreams and our life.

Our Holy Mother Church opens the new calendar year by proclaiming Mary as "Mother of God". It is a holy day of obligation for the Catholic faithful, meaning we all go to Mass like in a Sunday.

A brief backgrounder on this particular title of Mary. It was the Council of Ephesus which affirmed in June 431 that Mary can rightfully be called "Mother of God."

Let us reflect on this title of our Blessed Mother.

Since Mary is the mother of Jesus, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God.  We can affirm this fact by logical syllogism: "If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God."

However, it is important to clarify that "although Mary is the Mother of God, she is not his mother in the sense that she is older than God or the source of her Son's divinity, for she is neither. Rather, we say that she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a divine person -- Jesus Christ, God in the flesh -- and in the sense that she contributed the generic matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ." (from Catholic Answers@www.catholic.com)

So today we honor Mary, Mother of God, for her courage, faith, devotion and humility. Like all other mothers, Mary must have felt afraid at certain moments in her maternal role, like when the child Jesus was lost and found in the Temple after three days, and also during the agony and death of the grown-up Jesus. But Mary's complete trust in God made her accept the role of a mother to God the Son.

In the Gospel narrative from St. Luke, we hear about the poor shepherds who were the first witnesses of the birth of the Messiah. They went in haste to Bethlehem after receiving the Good News from the angel. There they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant Jesus laying in a manger, just as the angel told them.

St. Luke mentioned, perhaps on purpose, that "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Lk 2:19) Because itt speaks of Mary's humility and complete obedience to God's will.

Thus, Mary is our perfect model of an ideal believer, for she hears the Good News, ponders it in her heart, and then fully responds to it. So that her heart becomes the place of discovering Jesus, and who He truly is. It is in this aspect of Mary's motherhood that is most important as we begin a New Year, another year in which we continue our own journey of the heart towards God.

Mary shows us how to be a christian and disciple of Jesus. She was the joy-filled mother of the new born Jesus; she was the mother of sorrow cradling her lifeless Son in the "Pieta"; and she is the Queen-Mother standing at the right hand of the glorified Lord, which we proclaim in the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary.

So, therefore, as we begin a new journey in the Year 2016 let us pray to Mary, Mother of God and our Mother too:

"O Blessed Virgin, pray to God for us always, that He may pardon and give us grace; pray to God for us always, that He may grant us peace in this life; pray to God for us always, that He may reward us with paradise at our death. Amen."

A Blessed and Prosperous New Year 2016 to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II

27 December 2015: Feast of the Holy Family
(Liturgical color: White)

Gospel: Read  Luke 2:41-52


Celebrating the blessing of family...

Every human being comes to be through the family. Because family is where life begins and love never ends. That is why FAMILY is an acronym for Father And Mother I Love You.

The Church celebrates this Sunday the Feast of the Holy Family. The Lord of lords and King of kings

chooses to be born in a human family, with Mary as His mother and Joseph as protector. The reality of the Holy Family speaks loudly how God regards family life.

What is the message of the Feast of the Holy Family to us today?

We acknowledge that family life is challenging and never easy. This was no different for Mary and Joseph too. They had to work through, with a little divine intervention perhaps, the circumstances of Jesus' conception. And Mary had to give birth to Jesus away from home, in the town of Bethlehem. Soon after the birth of Jesus the Holy Family had to flee to Egypt to avoid King Herod who wanted to kill the infant Jesus. We can learn something from the examples of the Holy Family on their love, concern and respect for each other.

God loves the family. By the incarnation of the Son, God unites Himself with everyone through the family. Mother Teresa wrote: "The family that prays together stays together, because such a family learns something about how God loves each one of us."

It is his human family, fraught with trials and challenges of everyday living that Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace as He prepares for His saving work. In much the same way God intends to prepare us for the many challenges in life in the environment of a family to make strong through the ups and downs of family through His grace.

In fulfilling our role in caring and sustaining our respective families, it is important for both parents to be close to God, to be prayerful and to have an obedient spirit so that we can hear God speak and follow his plan for the family entrusted to our care and guardianship.

The Gospel narrative from St. Luke is about the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary, the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple.

The boy Jesus was separated from his parents as they went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. After three days they found him in the Temple, conversing with the elders.

In his answer to Mary's anxious inquiry, Jesus took the name "father" from Joseph and addressed it to his Father in heaven: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? Thus, Jesus in his youth recognized that he has been given a call by his heaven Father. And he show his trusting faith and confident determination to pursue his heavenly Father's will.

At the end of the Gospel narrative, Jesus went home with his parents to their home in Nazareth and became obedient to them. While Jesus was fully aware of his real mission from the Father, he submitted himself with love and obedience to Joseph and Mary and waited for his time when his call or mission would be fulfilled.

In reflection, our heavenly Father calls each of us to a unique task or mission in life. Sometimes, we may not discover or understand it fully, but if we trust in God, and cooperate with Him, He will use us to His purpose and plan. Because we know and believe that with the call God also gives grace -- grace to say "yes" to His will and grace to persevere through obstacles and trials.

Do we recognize God's will in our life and do we trust in His grace?

Let us pray: Lord, in love you have called each one of us in the family to live for your praise and glory.  May we always find joy in your presence and trust in your grace and in your wisdom and plan for our respective families. And may the Lord Jesus, who has come to be part of the human family, bless all our families. Amen.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:

25 December 2015: Solemnity of the Lord's Birth
(Liturgical color: White)

Gospel: Read  John 1:1-18


The Gift that is Christmas...

It's the big day and we greet everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas 2015! Thank You, Lord for this very special day!

Let us start our reflection with the lyrics of a popular Christmas carol: "Rejoice, Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."

For indeed today is the "tamang panahon" (to borrow from a popular kalyeserye, translated "right time"). Because "today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord". (Ps 96)

The event of the birth of our Lord Jesus is the reason for all the preparations during our Advent

pilgrimage, and the nine-day Novena Masses or Misa de Aguinaldo (Simbang Gabi). Today let us rejoice and be glad, for the Messiah is born. We are overwhelmed with joy that lights up our darkness.

By his birth, our Lord teaches us the truth that love seeks to be concrete. Because we cannot love in a general sort of way. Rather, true love expresses itself in concrete ways and toward particular persons.

So God's love for us became flesh in Jesus, even as a child -- someone we can see, hear and touch. By this God sets the standard for all love. That is why, in much the same way, for every new child in a family, the husband and wife give a concrete, specific, living, breathing expression of their love for each other.

The Gospel reading (for Mass during the day) is the prologue of the Gospel of John the Evangelist. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (Jn 1:1-2) Thus, in his simple introduction, John actually summarizes for his audience everything that he wanted to convey about our Lord Jesus. John expresses the divinity of Christ: He was there in the beginning, that is to say, the very beginning before anything else has begun; in that time Jesus was with God, and He was God; nothing was made without Him because it was all created through Him; in Him is life for all men.

After talking about Christ's divinity, John proceeds to tell us about Christ's mission on earth. The Word became flesh to make it possible for us to become children of God. Because Jesus is the only way that we can inherit God's kingdom.

Now John the Baptist comes to help people discover and to relish this luminous and consoling presence of the Word of God in our life. The witness of John the Baptist has been very important so much so that many people thought he was the Christ. That is why the "Prologue" clarifies that "John was not the light! He has come to bear witness to the light."

In sum, we reflect on the significance and importance of the Christmas event. The all powerful and might God comes to our world as a "helpless" little infant. And we also believe that every new born child is precious, a gift from God. For God is present in the tiny, vulnerable infant child.

So we return to the manger to reflect that the new born infant Jesus testifies that the prodigal love of the Father in heaven is real, is present has come into our world for the salvation of all men.

As we gather together on this Christmas Day to celebrate the Eucharist around the infant Child of Bethlehem, it my greatest joy to wish my family and friends, and all my readers a "Merry and Blessed Christmas!"

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LORD JESUS!

A blessed Christmas to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

December 25 is also a holy day of obligation for all Catholics. That means we must all go to Mass like our Sunday obligation.


Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:

25 December 2015: Solemnity of the Lord's Birth
(Liturgical color: White)

Gospel: Read  John 1:1-18


The Gift that is Christmas...

It's the big day and we greet everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas 2015! Thank You, Lord for this very special day!

Let us start our reflection with the lyrics of a popular Christmas carol: "Rejoice, Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."

For indeed today is the "tamang panahon" (to borrow from a popular kalyeserye, translated "right time"). Because "today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord". (Ps 96)

The event of the birth of our Lord Jesus is the reason for all the preparations during our Advent

pilgrimage, and the nine-day Novena Masses or Misa de Aguinaldo (Simbang Gabi). Today let us rejoice and be glad, for the Messiah is born. We are overwhelmed with joy that lights up our darkness.

By his birth, our Lord teaches us the truth that love seeks to be concrete. Because we cannot love in a general sort of way. Rather, true love expresses itself in concrete ways and toward particular persons.

So God's love for us became flesh in Jesus, even as a child -- someone we can see, hear and touch. By this God sets the standard for all love. That is why, in much the same way, for every new child in a family, the husband and wife give a concrete, specific, living, breathing expression of their love for each other.

The Gospel reading (for Mass during the day) is the prologue of the Gospel of John the Evangelist. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." (Jn 1:1-2) Thus, in his simple introduction, John actually summarizes for his audience everything that he wanted to convey about our Lord Jesus. John expresses the divinity of Christ: He was there in the beginning, that is to say, the very beginning before anything else has begun; in that time Jesus was with God, and He was God; nothing was made without Him because it was all created through Him; in Him is life for all men.

After talking about Christ's divinity, John proceeds to tell us about Christ's mission on earth. The Word became flesh to make it possible for us to become children of God. Because Jesus is the only way that we can inherit God's kingdom.

Now John the Baptist comes to help people discover and to relish this luminous and consoling presence of the Word of God in our life. The witness of John the Baptist has been very important so much so that many people thought he was the Christ. That is why the "Prologue" clarifies that "John was not the light! He has come to bear witness to the light."

In sum, we reflect on the significance and importance of the Christmas event. The all powerful and might God comes to our world as a "helpless" little infant. And we also believe that every new born child is precious, a gift from God. For God is present in the tiny, vulnerable infant child.

So we return to the manger to reflect that the new born infant Jesus testifies that the prodigal love of the Father in heaven is real, is present has come into our world for the salvation of all men.

As we gather together on this Christmas Day to celebrate the Eucharist around the infant Child of Bethlehem, it my greatest joy to wish my family and friends, and all my readers a "Merry and Blessed Christmas!"

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LORD JESUS!

A blessed Christmas to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.


Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:

20 December 2015: Fourth Sunday of Advent
(Liturgical color: Pink or Rose)

Gospel: Read  Luke 1:39-45


"Blessed are you among women...."

We now enter the final week of our Advent journey. and our last days of "waiting" for the big event of Christmas day.

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. In all churches and chapels we now light the fourth, and last, candle in the Advent Wreath, the candle of love. It symbolizes love for life and all creation, love for sinners and saints, love for the poor and the little ones, and especially God's love that redeems and shows us the way to His kingdom.

The Gospel from St. Luke narrates the visit of Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth, We meditate on this scene in the second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary.

In the history of salvation, what is the significance of Mary's visit to Elizabeth before the birth of Jesus?

When Elizabeth greeted Mary and recognized the Messiah in Mary's womb, they were filled with the

Holy Spirit and with a joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promise to give humanity a Savior. The elderly Elizabeth, also with child, reports that her child leaps with joy in her womb as the two cousins met. Hence, the unborn child John the Baptist is the first to witness the divinity of the unborn child Jesus, in the temple of Mary's womb.

What a marvelous wonder for God to fill not only Elizabeth's heart with His Holy Spirit but the child in the her womb as well. For John the Baptist, even before the birth of the Messiah, pointed to His coming and leapt for joy in the womb of his mother, as the Holy Spirit revealed to John the presence of the King to be born.

Much in the same way, the Holy Spirit is God's gift to us to enable us to know and experience the indwelling presence of God and the power of His kingdom. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the way in which God reigns within each of us. It is the Holy Spirit that opens our hearts to see and experience the presence of God in our lives.

As we wind up our spiritual preparation for the Lord's coming, let us pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus, the joy of Mary and Elizabeth, and the blessing of the Advent season lead every one of us to respond freely to God with the obedience of faith, even when sometimes we do not understand immediately God's plan for us. Let us pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to understand in faith what our eyes and mind fail to see. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.


Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:

13 December 2015: Third Sunday of Advent
(Liturgical color: Pink or Rose)

Gospel: Read  Luke 3:10-18


Feeling the joy...

"Almost there, but not quite".... that's a good way to describe our Advent journey as we cross the Third Sunday of Advent.

The liturgical theme for this Sunday is "rejoicing" because we are mid-way in our Advent pilgrimage and thus so close to the big event that is Christmas day.

On the third week of our Advent walk, the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday or the Sunday of
Rejoicing. The entrance antiphon in the Mass begins with St. Paul's exhortation: "Rejoice in the Lord always." (Phil 4:4) Indeed the readings for this Sunday tell us there is reason to rejoice as we prepare and await the joyful expectation for the coming of Jesus, our Lord and Messiah.

In the Gospel narrative, we hear again about John the Baptist, preaching his message of repentance. But this time, John goes down to specifics in his message. While the people showed good intentions of listening to him, they must also show firm resolutions to put to action their good intentions.

So the crowds asked John, "What should we do?" (Lk 3:10) He said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise!" (Lk 3:11) To the tax collectors, John has this to say, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed." And to soldiers, John admonished, "Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages." (Lk 3:13, 14)

We celebrate the joy of the coming of our Messiah by also asking ourselves, "What should we do".... in our own time... in our particular situations?

We realize that true joy is not in material possessions; it is not found in seeking one's own interest and pleasure. Rather, our joy is made complete by preparing ourselves, our minds and heart, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas day, through repentance of our sins. For a clean heart and a pure mind, is the beginning of our spiritual growth.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.


Ad Jesum per Mariam!