Cycle C - Year I:  

3 March 2019: Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:         Sirach 27:4-7

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:54-58

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 6:39-45

To judge others with a prayerful heart....

 At election season, probably everywhere in our human world, candidates try to outdo each other in criticizing and finding faults against opponents. It's an old and discredited dirty politics but it persists because electorate patronize it, so it seems, particularly when corrupted with money and false promises. But then, criticism is the most dishonest way of praising one's self.

This Sunday's Gospel is a timely reminder about the right conduct in dealing with the shortcomings of others. In the Gospel, our Lord Jesus spoke about criticism, judgment and weak character using parables which employ images common to His life time. The lesson He wants to impart is part of the formation of those who want to follow our Lord as disciples.

Now our human nature has the tendency to guide and correct people. But it can be a common weakness to judge others while not recognizing our own faults and need for God's mercy. For there is always a strong temptation in us to be quick to see the flaws in others.

Jesus Himself does not deny that people have failings, but He invites us to look to our own blind spots first. And we are hypocrites if we are concerned only with the splinters of one's eye and do not recognize our own self-blinding plank. 

Do we pass judgement with arrogance and pride?

Our Lord Jesus does not prohibit us from correcting those who err or are in a sinful state. But then He wants that in passing judgment we should do so in the spirit of prayer, great humility, compassion, and love.

For God sees each of us from the inside. Our heavenly Father sees us with a generous and compassionate gaze and does not despise or condemns us for our shortcomings and failings.

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray for grace to be loving and forgiving. Lord, make me more aware of my own inadequacies so that I may become gentle in dealing with others. And make me gaze at my erring brethren as kindly as You do, our heavenly Father. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year I:  

24 February 2019: Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:45-49

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 6:27-38

The Christian challenge: love and forgiveness....

In the old law of retaliation, it is "an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth!" This means, in principle, that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree.

But then, if we persist in this law of retaliation, we would end up a toothless and blind society. For none of us is blameless.

The Gospel message this Sunday is timely but also a difficult one to hear. It is even more challenging to live out in our day to day lives. For many people, even those who profess themselves as Christians, this may be one of the most difficult challenges in the Gospel. It seems to express an idealism that is unrealistic and seemingly unattainable.

 Because we live today in a world of great violence, of terrorism,of murders even the unborn, of vicious vendettas often stirred up in the tabloid press and other media, the horror of terrorist attacks on the innocent, like one we just witnessed in the Jolo Cathedral with scores dead and hurt. So are these things not to be avenged, we ask?

Well, our Lord Jesus utterly reverses human thinking about enemies and forgiveness. He spells out the way God goes about things, holding nothing against us despite all our failings.

Now, two sayings of our Lord Himself will help us to understand what He wants to teach us. The first saying is the so called Golden Rule: "Treat others as you would like people to treat you." (Lk 6:31) The second saying is "Be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful." (Lk 6:36)

These two directives from our Lord Jesus Christ indicate that Jesus does not want simply to change the situation. He wants to change the very system. And the novelty which He wants to introduce comes from the new experience of God our Father, full of tenderness who accepts all.  Jesus demands the contrary attitude: "Love your enemies!" (Lk 6:27) And love cannot depend on what I receive from others. Because true love should want the good of others, independently of what he or she does for me.

Of course, in the real world we know, forgiveness is never easy. That is why loving our enemies and those who hurt us is never easy. But then remember that our Lord does not ask us to do the easy things; He asks us to do whatever brings about the most love. And one way to show love for others is through service, especially to the poor and the helpless of society.

In sum, our challenge is to be one of those rare people, of those people who are able to give so much love and forgiveness even if it means not receiving anything in return. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ is calling us all to do.  And His challenge may seem to be beyond our human capacity. But then our Lord also reminds us that our model and strength is the heavenly Father who is compassionate to all, the saints and the sinners alike.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year I:  

17 February 2019: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Jeremiah 17:5-8

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 6:17, 20-26

To hope in the Lord.....

When times are tough and hard, like we are experiencing now, sometimes our only hope for surviving is in God our Lord and Savior.

The Gospel this Sunday is the introductory portion of the Sermon and consists of blessings and woes. The Sermon is also "The Beatitudes".

Now the word "beatitude" means literally "happiness" or "blessedness" in the context of

our search for God's kingdom.  What is the significance of the beatitudes, and why are they so central in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ?

In Luke's version, the Sermon is shorter but more radical. It contains only four Beatitudes and four curses directed to the Hellenistic communities formed by rich and poor. In Matthew, there are eight Beatitudes which trace a program of life for the Christian communities of Jewish origin.

Also, in Luke the blessings and woes address the real economic and social conditions of humanity. By contrast, Matthew emphasizes the religious and spiritual values of disciples in the kingdom inaugurated by Jesus (like "poor in spirit, Mt. 5:3; "hunger and thirst for righteousness in Mt. 5:6).

In the Beatitudes, Jesus upturns the values we would normally consider desirable. He asks us to realize that we are not living simply to be happy in this life but we should ask ourselves the deeper value of our ways of life in the light of what we can bring with us to eternal life.

The Beatitudes reveal God's ultimate justice. They outline Jesus' prophetic outreach to those who live on the fringes of society. Ultimately, authentic justice is bonding one's self with the sick, the disabled, the poor and the hungry.

As we reflect more deeply, we realize that the Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness in every human heart. Because the Beatitudes teach us the final end to which God calls us to His kingdom. But the Beatitudes also confront us with decisive choices concerning the life we pursue here on earth and the use we make of the goods God puts at our disposal. For in reality, God alone satisfies our longing for happiness, and not material possessions or wealth.

Thus, the Beatitudes point the way to God's kingdom. The saints have trodden the path of the Beatitudes in their worldly journey. We, too, are called to be holy and to be happy by working for the treasures which can afford us welcome into the heavenly home.

In sum, we must hold up the Beatitudes as a mirror in which we examine our own lives and consciences. So that we must challenge ourselves, and our faith: How can we be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ and put into practice Christ's teaching of the Beatitudes?

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!