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!

Cycle C - Year I:  

10 February 2019: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (or 15:3-8)

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 5:1-11

To catch them for God....

Do you remember how  you were hired for the job? The usual practice in the corporate world is of course to hire the best qualified over all the others. But then sometimes the best credentials on papers do not always guarantee the best performance of those hired.

In this Sunday's Gospel incident, we will see that Jesus chooses quite differently from the standard norm the people whom He wants to work with Him.  Jesus uses the incident of Himself performing the miracle of the great catch of fish to show what kind of people He wants to work with Him in the mission of saving souls. Now this entire episode is both surprising and revealing.

The Gospel narratives: Our Lord Jesus was preaching to the crowds by the Lake of Gennesaret. The crowds were pressing around Him. To avoid the crush, Jesus decides to get on Simon's boat and pushes out from the shore a little so that He can better address the crowds.

And so when Jesus is done with His preaching, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Now Simon knew that they caught nothing for a whole night of toil. Nonetheless, at Jesus' , command he did not hesitate to follow Jesus and said to Him, "At your word I will let down the nets."  Lo and behold, they caught a great number of fish that their nets were tearing. So they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them with the big catch.

How do we make of this miraculous catch? Well, this incident conveys an important truth on how God works in and through us for His glory. Because expects of us greater things than we can do by ourselves. But when we fully cooperate in His works, we accomplish far beyond what we can do on our own or by ourselves. It is then a partnership with God, if you wish, that makes great things possible for His kingdom.

There is a valuable lesson to learn for our Christian living.  That is to say, when we meet disappointments and failures in practical life, do we press upon the Lord, like Simon did, to hear His word and receive His command?  In other words, do we kneel in prayer and humility and allow God to take over?  Or do we get disappointed, complain, or just give up on God?

The truth is that God uses ordinary people, like you and me perhaps, as His workers, and He uses the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives and work situations to accomplish His saving works, and draw others into His kingdom.

Now, Jesus speaks the same message to us today: we will "catch people" for His kingdom if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us. Because God wants others to see the light of Christ in us in the way we live, speak, and witness the joy of the Gospel.

May the Holy Eucharist at Mass enkindle in us the desire to respond to God's call to service in proclaiming the Good News of salvation to others by our own lives and authentic Christian living. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!