Cycle C - Year II:  

16 October 2016: Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical color: Green)

Gospel: Please read  Luke 18:1-8

Trusting and persevering in prayer!

Corruption in the judiciary is a serious issue in an struggling democracy. Often times, the poor of society are the victims because they cannot afford lengthy litigation and trials.

That scenario is the starting point, or background, of the Gospel narrative for this Sunday, from the evangelist St. Luke.

Our Lord Jesus Christ tells a parable of a persistent widow to teach us something about trust and perseverance when we pray to God.

In the story, a defenseless widow is taken advantaged of and refused

her rights. But through her sheer persistence, she wears down an unscrupulous judge so that in the end the judge gives her justice she prays for. Her persistence pays off.

Thus, the intent of the parable is to give fresh hope and confidence to the disciple as they follow our Lord Jesus in His difficult path.  It is also true for us today, because in this life we can expect sufferings and adversity. But we are not without hope in God. For those who persevere can look forward with hope to that day when they will receive their just reward.

With this parable Jesus illustrates how God as our ultimate judge is much quicker to bring us His justice, blessings, and help when we need it, especially when we do not lose heart and persist in asking our heavenly Father for His grace and help through prayers.

What is "prayer" then? Let us listen and reflect on some of the most beautiful understanding of what prayer is.

- Pope Francis tells of "prayer as the dialogue of the soul with God."

- Our new Saint Teresa of Calculta says that "prayer is to the soul what air is to the body. If we take away prayer, the soul suffocates, just as the body deprived of air perishes."

- The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines prayer as "the raising of one's mind and heart to God, or the petitions of good things from Him in accord with His will."

In effect, prayer is our personal and living encounter with God. This means that prayer is relational. Like the widow in the parable, persistence in praying cultivates and nourishes our gift of faith, which deepens our trust in God's unfailing love.

Sometimes we are discouraged, when we are led to believe that our prayers seem not answered. The reality is that God always listens to our prayers; it is His answers that we may not like.

Therefore, it is necessary to pray for the grace of humility so that we are able to cooperate with whatever God wants to bestow upon us, regardless of our own preferences or specific requests.

Towards the end of the parable Jesus asks a probing question for us: "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Lk 18:8) 

In other words, will you and I have faith that perseveres to the end, when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead?

Our answer is clear. If we want to live, grow and persevere in our faith until the end, then we must nourish our faith with the word of God and the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

Let us pray: Lord, give me faith to believe Your promises, and give me perseverance and hope to withstand trials and adversities. Help me to trust in Your unfailing love, and to find joy and contentment in You alone. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

     

Cycle C - Year II: 9 October 2016: Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time (Liturgical color: Green) Gospel: Please read Luke 17:11-19 Teach us to be grateful, Lord! There is a wise saying, in Pilipino, "Ang utang na loob ay hindi binabayaran, kundi tinatanaw." (Roughly translated: A good deed is never paid back, but only appreciated with gratitude.) The Gospel narrative for this Sunday presents to us a case of gratitude, and the lack of it. St. Luke gives an account of the cure of ten lepers, of whom only one came back to thank our Lord, Jesus Christ. And the grateful one was a Samaritan, the outcast of society in his time. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, through Samaria and Galilee. He met ten lepers who asked Him to

cure them of their leprosy. This type of illness is characterized by open and smelly sores and deformities in one's nose, fingers, and toes. In biblical times, lepers were regarded the outcasts of society. By Moses Law, lepers had to live apart from the rest of the community (Nubmers 5:2-3), and were required to shout a warning to others when they were nearby (Leviticus 13:45-46). As the Gospel story goes, our Lord Jesus heals or "cleanses" the ten lepers, but only one of them came back to thank Him; and he was a Samaritan. The grateful Samaritan glorified God with a loud cry and he realized the greatness of the gift he has been given and the goodness of the One who gave it, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the light of such a great gift of healing for the ten lepers, it seems mystifying that only one of them came back to say "thank you" to Jesus. Well, the Gospel does not tell us why. But it should be enough that we realize there's something wrong with the lack of gratitude of the others. So Jesus said, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" (Luke 17:17-18) It is the same message from our Lord to us today, that we should always give thanks for our many material blessings, like family, friends, homes, food on our table, a good job, and many more. Gratefulness must also include the many kindness we receive from others by way of such little gestures as thank-you note or phone calls, or text are important. Because we must always acknowledge when we have been blessed with precious gifts at home or at work. Even so, we need to go a little deeper than being grateful for our material blessings. By faith we know that once we were dead in sin, but now we live in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gift of baptism, when we died and rose with Christ. Our gratitude, then, is what makes us see with clarity with the eyes of faith. In sum, God makes amazing miracles in our lives every single day, some are spectacular perhaps, and some are so small they can be easily missed and overlooked if we aren't paying attention. So let us pray that our eyes may be opened to God's great works in our daily lives. So that we do not just simply go about our day but rather stop whatever we are doing to give our Lord Jesus Christ all praise and glory for His many gifts and blessings. Participating in the Eucharist at Holy Mass is our way of "glorifying God in a loud voice" for His most wondrous gift of life. May the Lord be on our hearts and on our minds each moment of every day, as we pray, Teach us to be grateful always, Lord!" The Church also celebrates the Indigenous People's Sunday with the theme: "Indigenous People, Part of a Caring Filipino Family." Let us support with prayers their struggle on land, justice and life because they, too, are people of God. A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank You for a moment with God. Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:

2 October 2016: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical color: Green)

Gospel: Please read Luke 17:5-10

"Lord, increase our faith!"

The wise say that never to regret a day in our life. Because good days give happiness; bad days give us experience; worst days give lessons; and best days give us memories.

And regardless of what each day gives us..... it is really a new life to live.

So keep faith in humanity..... even in a world full of turmoil.

The Gospel proclamation this Sunday talks about "faith", and the very source of our faith, which is our faith in God Almighty.

The Apostles said to Jesus, "Lord, increase our faith!" And the Lord's response is for them to "have faith the size of a mustard seed."

So, what is "faith"?

Well, faith is not to have a better knowledge of our catechism and the Church dogma. Rather, faith is a much deeper and stronger trust and confidence that our God is near us always, even when we think He seems so far away sometimes, that our God takes care of us always. Faith starts with humility, making us feel small in the presence of our loving God, accepting Him with utter humility and trusting Him to care for all our needs.

Jesus' response to the Apostles about increasing their faith is the core message of the Gospel proclamation. Jesus teaches us that the efficacy of faith does not depend on its quantity, nor its size, not even its volume, but rather on the quality of our faith or its worth. Using an example of a tiny mustard seed, Jesus makes a point that even the smallest amount of faith can enable someone to do amazing things.

In practical life, our very faith will often be tested. Even when we have such a faith like a mustard seed, it does not mean that our Christian life will be free of all hardships and difficulty. While it is true that God assures us of His love and care, He also never promised a life free of pain, difficulties, sufferings, and even sudden and violent death. Let us not forget that even God did not spare His own Son from suffering in Calvary.

But the Good News is that with a deep faith and trust in Him, God has promised that we can endure pain and difficulties, that we can accept all our trials if and when they come, for the sake of making Jesus' message of love and salvation a reality even in our world full of turmoil.

For the greatest test of faith is when we don't get what we want and ask for, but still we are able to say at the end of each day...... "Thank You, Lord Jesus!"

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year II:  

25 September 2016: Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical color: Green)

Gospel: Please read  Luke 16:19-31

A heart of compassion for the poor!

Is the Philippines "a rich country pretending to be poor"? That is an interesting observation.

That our country is "rich" is indeed true, considering that the Philippines is blessed with natural resources, industrious and hardworking people, and even the billions of pesos collected by the government from taxes and foreign borrowings.

The second part of the statement, on just "pretending to be poor" is not necessarily true, because the fact is majority of our people are really economically poor. And sadly, they are poor because our elected leaders pretend to be caring for them while in truth they are screwing them. So that the wealth of the nation is enjoyed only by the very few, while the rest which is the majority make do from "the crumbs that are thrown to them" by the greedy. 

The parable in the Gospel gives us a timely message about the rich and poor people, the two extremes of our society. It is meant to make us think and reflect.

In this parable, our Lord Jesus paints a dramatic scene of contrasts-- riches and poverty, heaven and hill, compassion and indifference, inclusion and exclusion.

The rich man in the story dresses well and dines sumptuously every day, but ignores poor Lazarus lying at his door steps and begging for food.

Jesus describes the poor man Lazarus as covered with sores but

desiring to eat the scraps that fall from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick Lazarus' sores. Obviously, Jesus is revealing His heart, that He sees the pain and anguish of the poor and the sick, and it stirs His emotions.

At the end of their worldly life, the story goes, poor Lazarus was "carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham" in heaven, while the rich man was in "the netherworld, where he was in torment".

So we ask, what was the rich man's sin that merited his damnation? It would appear that he did nothing wrong with Lazarus while in this life. But it was not what the rich man did, but what he failed to do that condemned him to hell. In other words, the rich man's wealth was not his sin. Because there is nothing mentioned in the story that his wealth was ill-gotten. But rather, it was his self-indulgence that blinded him to the basic human needs of his fellowman that warranted his condemnation.

Thus, Jesus uses this story to teach the important lesson that all His followers must have a special place for the poor in their hearts. To be a disciple of Jesus is to have the preferential option for the poor, the sick and the starving of this world. And the Gospel parable makes it painfully obvious that this is a non-negotiable aspect of following our Lord Jesus Christ. That is to say, if we plow through life so concerned only about our own needs and hurts that we cannot see or attend to the suffering of others, then we cannot be Jesus' disciples.

In practical life, Jesus reminds us today that if we fail to see the "Lazarus" around us and do nothing to alleviate his suffering, we will not be happy come judgement day.

In sum, the message of this Sunday's Gospel is really simple: when we are blessed with gifts and wealth, we need to share them with the less fortunate. Because by making ourselves "poor in spirit" we will accumulate riches beyond expectation in heaven.

Our new saint, Saint Teresa of Calcutta used to say that the people are really Christ in distressing disguise. In each of them, we must seek to alleviate Christ's pain and suffering in this world.

Also this Sunday, the Catholic Church in the Philippines celebrates the 21st National Seafarers' Day. Let us include in our prayers the seafarers and their families that they keep their family values in spite of temporary separation from each other due to work.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!