Cycle B - Year II:  

4 February 2018: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Job 7:1-4, 6-7

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 9:16-19

Gospel:Please Read  Mark 1:29-39

Praying and healing!

In hot news these days.....the unrest of Mt. Mayon in Albay province, the controversies surrounding the dengue vaccine, the fires and floods in the southern part of the country..... all these are depressing news we hear or read.

How do we deal with these tragedies, and how do we heal the nation's wound, sometimes of our own making?

In his first ever visit to the Philippines to comfort the victims of the powerful typhoon Yolanda, Pope Francis said that sometimes we have no words to say amidst tragedies. And so it is alright for us to cry, the Pope said, perhaps to ease the pain, to cleanse our hearts of , despair, hopelessness and bitterness.

For we live in a world of pain, where physical, emotional and moral sufferings are realities. So we turn to God for hope and refuge in the most trying times in our lives.

The Gospel narrative from Mark this Sunday offers a glimpse of a day in the public life of our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Mark presents Jesus tirelessly preaching to large crowds and healing a mounting number of sick and suffering. On entering the house of Simon Peter, Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law and she waited on them.

There is a lesson to learn from this incident. When Jesus heals us physically or even spiritually, the best way to thank the Lord is to serve Him in our brothers and sisters, like what Simon's mother-in-law did after being healed by Jesus. 

The Gospel narrative continues and that even after sunset, people keep bringing to Jesus all who are ill. But after this exhausting day, Jesus gets up early the next morning and goes off to a quiet place to be alone in prayer with His heavenly Father. Because in prayer and conversation with the Father, Jesus finds strength and energy in His demanding ministry. We can certainly learn from the example of Jesus as well, and make praying the primary source of our activities and actions while living in this busy, sometimes chaotic, world.

So we ask: what then is the relevance of the Gospel message in dealing with our national tragedies and hurt?

Well, the Gospel presents Jesus as the healer of the sick and suffering. He is God-made-man who is always close to those broken and suffering in soul and body. In Jesus, God comes into our world of tears and sufferings in order to transform our despair into hope, to transform death into new life. 

This is the only way we find meaning in our sufferings, national or personal, to find our way back to God, who is gracious and heals the brokenhearted.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year II:  

28 January 2018: Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 7:32-35

Gospel:Please Read  Mark 1:21-28

Jesus speaks with authority!

What comes to mind when you hear about "authority"? Power, perhaps, or fame, or money. Because our traditional mind-set is that someone with authority has power to command or give orders, or fame that attracts followers, or money to make things happen.

But that understanding of "authority" can be intimidating, even fearsome. Are you a person in authority, or have you experienced dealing with authorities?

The Gospel narrative this Sunday will change our understanding of "authority".

On the Sabbath day our Lord Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and began to teach. The people were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as one having authority of his own.

Now consider that in Jesus' time teachers of the law didn't speak with their own authority. They usually prefaced their comments with something like, "There is a saying that...." or "Rabbi so-and-so said....."  Recall that even the prophets when they spoke attributed their pronouncements to... "Thus says the Lord...." But our Lord Jesus simply said.."I say to you...."

In other words, Jesus spoke with His own authority, not in the name of another. And that is amazing. Jesus demonstrated His own authority when He commanded even the evil spirits to come out of a possessed man, and the evil spirits obeyed.

Now the people in the synagogue had never seen anything like it. Who would have such authority that even evil spirits have to obey His command?

In truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had all the authority in the world... in the whole universe. Because God created all things through Him and put all things under Him.

But then, Jesus did not use His incomparable authority the way we humans tend to use our little semblance of authority. Because for many humans, authority becomes merely a means of enriching one's self, of getting one's own way even at the expense of others, of suppressing the truth, and of getting and holding the power to keep doing these things.

In sum, the Gospel this Sunday is a lesson about authority. From our Lord's own examples, He uses authority to serve, not to be served. And that is how our Lord Jesus wants us humans to use whatever authority we might have. That is to say, whether our authority is at home, a work, or somewhere else, our Lord Jesus Christ wants us to use it to help others, and never to take advantage of others, or to make ourselves big shots.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year II:  

21 January 2018: Feast of the Sto. Nino 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Isaiah 9:1-6

Second Reading:   Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18

Gospel:Please Read  Mark 10:13-16

The Sto. Nino: the Child Who is God!

Why did God choose to be a Child? It is an interesting question. Let us reflect on this Sunday's Gospel to search for the answer.

The Church celebrates the Feast of the Sto. Nino this Sunday. Filipinos revere the image of the Holy Child or the Sto. Nino throughout the country. The devotion to the Holy Child is said to be the oldest and one of the most popular in the Philippines, recalling the birth of the Catholic faith  in our country in 1521. The Holy See granted us special permission to celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Nino on third Sunday of January, which falls on the 21st this year 2018.

The Feast of the Holy Child is a celebration of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. That is, God came to us as a child to show us how to become children of God, and how we must entrust our lives to our heavenly Father. God chose to make Himself visible in Jesus as an appealing child in order to draw us to Himself. Jesus Himself loves the little children as today's Gospel narrates. He sees in their eyes the reflection of the freshness and holiness of God's kingdom.

Do we show kindness to the youth we encounter in the neighborhood, home, and Church? Do we pray for them that they may grow in the knowledge  and wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Going back to the Gospel narratives, perhaps the disciples want to shield Jesus from the nuisance or noisy children. But Jesus delighted in the children, and He wanted to demonstrate by His actions of welcoming the children instead that God's love has ample room for everyone. Because no one is unimportant to God. He comes to each person individually that He might touch them with His healing love and power. In fact, Jesus said that anyone who "does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it."

In sum, instead of using complicated language Jesus shows His followers a child as a model and standard by which we can measure ourselves if we are growing in virtue and grace for God's kingdom.

For a child is without ambition, pride and self-importance, and thus our model of humility before God. In such a transparent humble soul without deceit or guile we are able to see our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

"Children" here  can be taken in a wider sense to include all those who approach Jesus with a completely open,unprejudiced mind. And also those who have a low status in our society. Such people are often more ready to hear the message of the kingdom and to take an active part in it.

The devotion to the Sto. Nino instills the virtue of simplicity, obedience and trust in God. Such is the lesson for the Gospel reading for this Sunday. It brings to our attention the mystery of childhood. We are called to become like children, having the open and trusting disposition to accept the Lord's gifts with gratitude and without reservations, ever humble and careful not to despise others, so that we may enter the kingdom of heaven.

Today is also our Village Fiesta since our Patron is the Sto. Nino. We started our celebration with a nine-day novena in the evening in our community chapel from January 12 to 20. On the Feast Day our celebration starts with a procession of the Sto. Nino around the village and Thanksgiving Mass at 8:30 in the morning.

Happy Feast Day of the Sto. Nino! Viva Pit Senyor! And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year II:

14 January 2018: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a,17-20

Gospel:Please Read John 1:35-42

What are we looking for?

We are back to the liturgical season called Ordinary Time, after a series of solemnities, or special feasts, following the observance of the Christmas season. Today is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

A brief refresher on the liturgical season:

In the liturgical calendar, Ordinary Time is a specific season in the Church which focuses on the life of Christ during His three years of public ministry. There is no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ that is celebrated. Instead, the focus in on the mystery of Christ in all fullness or totality. Ordinary Tine is a yearly cycle of 33 or 34 weeks.

Green is the color assigned for this season, which is most associate with growth. Thus, Ordinary Time is viewed as a time of growing in our knowledge and love of Jesus, our Lord.

The Gospel tells us about the encounter of Jesus with the first disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, and an unnamed disciple. They were originally disciples of John the Baptist.

John saw our Lord Jesus approaching along the sea and tells his disciples, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Thus, John the Baptist continues to point his own followers towards Jesus, "the Lamb of God." And the two disciples followed Jesus.

But when Jesus noticed them following Him, He asked them, "What are you looking for?" They answered Him with another question, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" Jesus answers them, "Come and you will see." This incident, and the conversation, is really Jesus' open invitation to become His disciples.

The encounter by the two disciples with Jesus is a classic scene of a call or a vocation. And having experienced the attraction of Jesus, Andrew goes back to inform his brother Simon Peter, "We have found the Messiah!" and brought him to Jesus as well.

What is remarkable in the Gospel is the utter lack of hesitation mentioned in the answer to Jesus' call by His disciples. They instantly become of the first disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, leaving everything behind to follow Him. This led them to become Heralds of the Good News.

And so Jesus is walking along the sea in our generation, along the shores of our lives, and John the Baptist points us to Him as well as "the Lamb of God". Jesus asks about our desires so that He can respond to them, "What are we looking for?" or "What do we want?: from our Lord Today is the. In other words, the Lord calls to us constantly, to help us seek our salvation. Yet we often resist, considering it something to put off... to the last minute.

As we follow our Lord Jesus Christ today, are we looking for material wealth, honor or power? Or are we looking to deepen our relationship with Jesus, as our Lord and Messiah?

Let us answer our Lord with this prayer: "Here am I Lord; I come to follow You, and do Your will." Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!