Cycle B - Year I:

21 June 2015: Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical color: Green)

Mark 4:35-41


The Lord calms our life's storms!


Scientists and experts warn about devastating effects of global warming and climate change in the form of environmental catastrophes, like very powerful storms. Also in our personal lives, we encounter numerous "storms" of life -- troubles, accidents, illnesses, and other most trying moments. How do we deal with these storms?

Some helpful tips may be found in the Gospel narratives for this Sunday. Let us examine them.

St. Mark wrote that as evening approaches, Jesus embarks in a boat and asks his disciples to "cross to the other side" of the shore. But while they were in the waters, a violent storm came up and their boat was at its breaking point due to the very strong waves filling up the boat.

All this time Jesus was in the stern, soundly asleep on a cushion. The disciples woke him up and said, "Teacher, do you not care not we are perishing?"

So Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" And lo the wind and the

sea obeyed him and there was great calm. Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

Jesus' calming the storm and the sea is unmistakably a miracle, but let us look at it beyond just a mere natural physical feat, and reflect on the spiritual insights in our own encounter with Christ as we navigate the various circumstances of our lives.

Our first reflection is to realize that Jesus never promises us a life free of storm, but that he will walk with us through them. Remember that Jesus himself has his cross and suffering, so why should his followers expect a different path in following him?  In the song, or poem, "Footprints in the sand", Jesus says that during good times there are clearly two sets of footprints in the sand as he walks with us to celebrate life. But as the walk becomes more difficult and challenging there is only one set of footprints in the sand of life, because the Lord carries us through during these most trying times in our life. Trust in God's abiding presence in our lives allows us to transcend our difficulties and challenges, no matter how big and seemingly un-surmountable. It is Jesus who gives us peace in our sorrows, our problems and anxieties. His grace reigns in our hearts as our faith in the Lord increases.

The second point in our reflection is to understand that Christ may allow us, sometimes, to experience the storms of life in order to draw us into deeper faith and trust in him. He encourages us to conquer our fears and anxieties with faith in him. So that when sometimes we find ourselves in the eye of a storm, when life turns turbulent, the image of Jesus calming the storm at sea should inspire us to entrust our fate in his caring and loving hands. And believe that the Lord is never outdone by seemingly hopeless circumstances that we can encounter in this life. Therefore we must keep faith and trust that our Lord Jesus Christ stays with us and guides us safely through every storm in this life.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year I:

14 June 2015: Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical color: Green)

Mark 4:26-34


God's Kingdom grows within us!


After a series of solemnities, or special feasts, since the Ascension of our Lord, we are back to celebrating Ordinary Time in the Church's liturgical calendar. This Sunday is the eleventh in Ordinary Time.

Ordinary Time is the yearly cycle of 33 or 34 weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the totality or fullness of the mystery of Christ itself is honored.

The gospel passage is from St. Mark, and Jesus preaches about the kingdom of God in parables.

Jesus used parables that employed elements of common life and daily living of  his time from which his hearers could learn spiritual lessons. In other words, Jesus used parables to help his new followers better understand the kingdom of God. Thus, parables bridged the gap between earthly realities and heavenly ones.

In the gospel reading, what can the parable of a mustard seed teach us about the kingdom of God.  Let us reflect on this parable.

When we plant a tiny mustard seed in good soil, it grows literally to a big tree, through the wonders

of Mother Nature, that bears abundant fruit and serves as a leafy home to birds. But we don't know exactly how Nature works to transform the tiny seed into the big tree.

Now our Lord tells us that God's kingdom works in a similar fashion. It starts from the smallest beginning in our hearts when we are receptive of God's word. It works unseen and causes transformation from within us.

Yet, we must understand that just as the mustard seed has no power to change itself until it is planted in the ground, so, too, we cannot really change our lives to be what God desires of us until God Himself gives us the power of his Holy Spirit. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, because God never forces Himself on anyone. It must be our personal choice to let Him transform us to be God-like. Are we ready to let God change us by his grace and power?

In sum, Jesus is telling us in this Sunday's Gospel that this is how God's kingdom works in our lives and in the world: its beginning is rather small, but given time and our cooperation  it grows into something big that can transform us to become missionaries of joy for God's kingdom here on earth. Because when we follow and yield to our Lord Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Do we believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray: "Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit and transform me into the Christ-like holiness that You desire of me. Increase my zeal for your kingdom and instill in me a holy desire to live for your greater glory. Amen."

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year I:  

7 June 2015: Solemnity of Corpus Christi
(Liturgical color: White)

Mark 14:12-16, 22-26


The Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist!


Another important feast is celebrated this Sunday: Solemnity of Corpus Christi, or the most holy Body and Blood of Christ.

The Holy Eucharist, or Corpus Christi, is the very center and source of our Christian life. Even after
his ascension, Jesus chose to remain with us in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Because in the Eucharist we encounter Jesus Himself and receive a foretaste of heavenly glory.

The Gospel proclamation is from St. Mark's version of the Last Supper. We note that his narrative includes a detailed account of the precise preparation that Jesus asks two of His disciples to make in anticipation of the Feast of Passover. The details of this preparation convey within themselves rich messages of how we ought to prepare ourselves properly when we encounter Jesus in His body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist.

It is within the holy sacrifice of the Mass that we have our immediate experience of this encounter with Jesus. We are invited to prepare our minds, hearts and bodies in anticipation of the representation of the paschal mystery. That means to say, our minds and hearts and bodies ought to be oriented toward adoration of our Lord, contrition for our sins, thanksgiving for our blessings and crosses and supplications offered with our particular intention in mind.

For Catholics, the doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist Jesus is literally and wholly present, body and blood, soul and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine.

The great St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that Jesus' presence in the Eucharist is visus, tactus, gustus. That means his presence is not imaginary in our mind. Because when we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we actually see, touch, and taste Him. He is an "edible" God, as some theologians would say.

And so as Jesus makes Himself present to us as a gift in the Holy Eucharist at Mass, so too we must prepare ourselves to respond to His gift of self by our proper disposition during Mass. Thus, our bodily postures of kneeling and genuflecting should remind us of who we are about to encounter as we approach the altar for Holy Communion. Even our discipline of an hour fast before receiving the Lord into our bodies and souls should remind us of the purity and sense of mortification we must adopt if we want to imitate Him authentically.

As we prepare to go to Mass, we should ask: "How will I offer myself to God during Mass in order to match Jesus' love and gift of self to me?"  And we will soon discover that as much as we think we are giving ourselves to Jesus, in reality He is never outdone in His generous outpouring of His very life into our own, in the Holy Eucharist.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year I:

31 May 2015: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
(Liturgical color: White)

Matthew 28:16-20


One God in three Persons!


The sign of the cross is the "trademark" of every Christian. How often do we make the sign of the cross? Do we cross ourselves as we wake up in the morning, and at night time before sleep?

Every time we make the sign of the cross, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" we actually profess and proclaim the most important truth in our Catholic faith: three divine Persons, equal in majesty, yet one Lord, one God.

This Sunday is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. What do we understand about the Holy Trinity?

Admittedly, the Holy Trinity is the most difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to fully

communicate with human words. We end up acknowledging that the Trinitarian character of God will always be, in reality, a great mystery. In fact, this would be easily the shortest Gospel commentary: the Trinity is a mystery, end of story.

It is important to say that the Church did not invent the teaching on the Trinity. Jesus Himself revealed this mystery of the Trinity to us through the first disciples.

In today's Gospel from St. Matthew, Jesus commands the Apostles to go out to all nations and teach as well as baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Here, we have God revealing Himself to us as a communion of three divine Persons. God Himself shares with us the truth about Himself, by revealing to us His real identity.

In our modern times, does the Church's teaching on the Trinity make sense at all? Well, it does greatly, to help us grow in faith and strengthen us in practical ways in our Christian living.

First, God allows us to know Him more intimately as He truly is. For we cannot love Him unless we know Him: one God in three divine Persons. Thus, He reveals Himself to us as a divine family. And we are all invited to be part of that family.

In the words of John Paul II: "God in His deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since He has in Himself fatherhood, sonship, and love, which is the essence of the family.

Second, because we know that God is a communion of persons, we who are made in His image and likeness are likewise made to be in relationship with God and with each others. We are made to be communal beings, meant to live for others. This is the nature of love and the nature of God who formed us in His image.

And finally, through the Holy Trinity God reveals Himself to us as a family, a loving communion of persons. So therefore, our family should be a communion of life and love modeled after the Trinity. It is in the family that we first learn some important lessons about Christian living, like sharing, about being patient and forgiving. It is in the family that we also learn how to practice a selfless, sacrificial love that is an image of the selfless love of the Trinity.

In summary, the doctrine on the Holy Trinity tells us something about who God is, and tells us something about ourselves too, made in His image and likeness. In Holy Mass, let us give glory to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- One God, three Persons-- from whom everything in the world and in history comes, and to whom everything returns, in time.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year I:

24 May 2015: Pentecost Sunday
(Liturgical color: Red)

John 20:19-23


Come Holy Spirit!


Pentecost Sunday comes fifty days after the Resurrection of our Lord. That is why it is called Pentecost, from the Greek "pentekoste", which means "the fiftieth" (day after Easter).

In the very first Pentecost, the Apostles, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, were gathered in the

Upper Room. The Scriptures tell us that "suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues..." (Acts 2:1-4)

After Jesus ascended into heaven, now it is the turn of the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Jesus through his disciples and our Holy Mother Church. The Holy Spirit, the promised gift of the Father and the Son, is the one who will gather together and unite men and women of every race and tongue in one body and one faith. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles began their work as fishers of men.

Thus, Pentecost is the celebration of the birth of the Universal Church. So today we greet ourselves a Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary as we mark a fresh start for all of us as the New Church, the People of God in journey toward the Father's house in heaven.

The evangelist John shares with us the Gospel for this Sunday, which speaks about the first encounter of the risen Lord with his disciples.

When the resurrected Christ appears, He offers proof of His resurrection by showing the disciples the wounds of His passion, His pierced hands and side. Then He calmed their fears and brought them peace, the peace which reconciles sinners and makes one a friend of God.

Then, Jesus commissioned His weak and timid apostles to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And He breathes on them the gift of the Holy Spirit to equip His disciples with power, grace, and strength to accomplish their mission.

In our generation, today we are empowered as well by the same Holy Spirit to continue the missionary work, to face the challenges of our time, especially in matters of faith and morality.

Through the gift of faith, we proclaim that Jesus is our personal Lord and our God. For He died and rose again so that we might have new life in Him. In other words, the Lord offers each one of us new life in His Holy Spirit so that we may know Him personally and walk in this new way of life through the power of the Lord's Resurrection.

How do we "experience" the Holy Spirit in our lives today?

For example,  when we struggle to pray because of so many distractions, or perhaps when we want to pray but do not have the words, it is the Holy Spirit that links us to God and interprets our desire before Him. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says it well: "It is the Holy Spirit who helps our inability, who enlightens our minds and warms our hearts, guiding us as we turn to God."

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to come, and showers us with His gifts (of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord) to keep us unwavering in our faith and remain committed to all the teachings of the Church handed down from the Apostles to the bishops and the Pope. Let us use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build and strengthen the Church as the Body of Christ through constant prayers. Because it is through prayers that the Holy Spirit works in our humanity, strengthens our weakness and transforms us from men bound to material realities into men filled with the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year I:

17 May 2015: Solemnity of the Lord's Ascension
(Liturgical color: White)

Mark 16:15-20


The mission continues...


Forty days after our Lord's Resurrection, the Church celebrates this Sunday the Solemnity of the Lord's Ascension.

What does our Catechism tell us about this great event in the life of Jesus?

The Lord's Ascension into heaven to the right hand of the Father is among the articles of Faith we profess in the Apostles' Creed. We believe by this mystery that Jesus Christ, in His resurrected body and soul, went up to heaven and took His seat at the right hand of God the Father. Thus, the Ascension makes way for the Holy Spirit to come down to earth and inspires the Apostles to preach the Gospel to every land.

The Church further teaches that when Christ ascended into heaven He did so on His own power and He ascended as true God and true Man. This belief is rooted in the eyewitnesses testimony of the Apostles themselves. The first reading in the Acts of the Apostles describes this momentous event: "When he (Jesus) had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight." (Acts 1:9)

For the Apostles, the Lord's Ascension becomes their great hope. It was this encounter with the Resurrected One that compelled the Apostles to preach the Gospel without fear, even to the point of shedding their blood as martyrs.

In truth, the Lord's departure and ascension were both an end and the beginning for the first disciples. It was the end of Jesus' physical presence with them but at the same time it is also the beginning of the Lord's presence in a new way.

The Gospel narrative from St. Marks says that the Lord gives the Apostles his final command to continue His mission on earth: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mk 16:15) Thus, Ascension Sunday is the great commissioning which the risen Christ gives to the first disciples and now also to the whole Church. That means, all of us who believe must continue the mission to be heralds of Good News and ambassadors for our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, the mysterious nature of the Ascension event must draw us to an increase in the virtue of hope, a filial trust in God that helps us transcend all of the sufferings of this life and assures us that we can one day join the Lord in heaven. So that whenever we are beleaguered by the rigorous demands of authentic Christian living, the Ascension of Jesus reminds us that heaven awaits those who are faithful to the end. Because all of our sacrifices in this life are our merits in the life of the world to come.

The Ascension must also compel us to continue with the Church missionary work to seek the souls who are still far from knowing Jesus. It should move us, for example, to share our hope in Christ with the person who is near despair, or a co-worker or neighbor who needs to know that life is worth living. The hope of the Ascension reminds us to witness to others that what we do here on earth will reap either a great reward of eternal punishment.

Also this Sunday the Church celebrates the 49th World Communications Day with the theme: Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love. Let us make use of our family to nourish the hope of Christian life, and share that hope with others through the Church.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle B - Year I:  

10 May 2015: Sixth Sunday of Easter
(Liturgical color: White)

John 15:9-17


"Love one another!"


Do you remember the Gospel message of two Sundays ago?

Jesus gave us the measure of a good leader in his description of himself as the Good Shepherd.  He says that the Good Shepherd "lays down his life for the sheep." (Jn 10:11) Thus, good leaders are those who inspire us by their examples of caring, compassionate leadership, love and respect for human life.

There is also a measurement or requirement to be good followers of a leader. On the sixth Sunday of Easter, we will hear Jesus speak about how to measure those who want to follow Him as the Good Shepherd.

Our Lord Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment -- a new way of living in order to be worthy

of following him.  He says to them, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you!" (Jn 15:12)

What is the essence of this new commandment? Let us look up to Jesus again for his example.

Well, true love is really sacrificial. That means, love gives all to the beloved. There is no greater proof in love than to sacrifice one's life for the sake of another. Jesus proved his love for his disciples by giving his very life for them, through his death on the cross. And so, we can prove our love for God and for one another when we embrace the way of the cross in our journey through this life.

Even so, we realize that we can never outgive God in love, because He has loved us without measure. For in God's love, we find the fullness of grace, life, peace, and everlasting joy.

In practical application, Jesus is really telling us to get out of our isolation, go forth, and bear fruit by following his commandment of love. In other words, all those who profess to love Jesus will obey his commandments and teachings because they enable us to make the love of God real in our lives.

Perhaps, one of the most spiritual destructive ideas that has infected the world today is the fallacy of claiming to love Jesus Christ while at the same time ignoring, and even rejecting, the commandments and teachings of his Church. It is simply "double talk".

The real test and testimony of our love for a person lies in our acceptance of what that person we love holds dear. Because authentic love means cherishing and honoring what the person we love cherishes and honors. That is what our Lord is telling us today: "You are my friends if you do what I command you." (Jn 15:14) And He commands us to love one another.

As we celebrate the mystery of Christ's love in the Holy Eucharist, let us pray to remain in God's love so that we can bear fruit through our love for one another.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!