3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C: GOD SPEAKS HIS WORD TO US

3^RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

YEAR OF THE YOUTH

JANUARY 27, 2018

Jesus, I trust in you!

The Temple of the Lord which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar was rebuilt during the time of Artaxerxes. In the course of the reconstruction, the scrolls of the Law were found amidst the ruins. These scrolls were presented by Ezra to the people. He assembled them and read to them the contents of the scrolls which they thought have been lost during the siege of Jerusalem. And as he read to them, the people were weeping because they have heard at last, after their long exile in Babylon, the contents of the scrolls. They wept because they were listening again to the word of the Lord. God, through the reading, was once again speaking to his people.

Led by the Holy Spirit who descended on him in the River Jordan, Jesus returned to Nazareth and stood up in the synagogue to read from the prophet Isaiah. He opened the scroll and read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor…to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. “ After reading, the Lord makes this bold proclamation: “Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

After the public testimony of the Father on behalf of Jesus when he was baptized, he now receives the testimony of Sacred Scriptures. The Scripture passage is fulfilled in their hearing because he who speaks to them is the Christ, the One Anointed by the Holy Spirit. He brings the Gospel to the poor because he himself is the Gospel. He is the Word of God made flesh. God reveals himself to them through Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s self-revelation to all people. He comes to liberate the captives of sin. He is the Light who dispels the blindness of those who live in darkness. He frees those who are oppressed by sin. He announces that the time of salvation has at last come. The Law and the prophets all point to him. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Jesus said: “Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life, and they testify to me.” (John 5:39)

The Jews wept when Ezra read the Scriptures to them. They understood that God has broken his silence. At last he was speaking to them. We should likewise weep when Scriptures are read to us because when they are proclaimed to us, God speaks to us through his Son. “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son.” (Hebrews 1:1) And that Son is Jesus. On the River Jordan, the Father publicly declared: “This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” The Word of God is not a book. He is a living Person. He is Jesus, the Son of God. We should rejoice because in Jesus, we have received the fullness of Divine Revelation. The Word of God has come to us. He speaks to us. He is Mary’s Son. Let us listen to him: He has the words of eternal life.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.  

Simbang Gabi 2: The Priest called from the People of God

SIMBANG GABI 2017 2

YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND CONSECRATED PERSONS

DECEMBER 17, 2017

Jesus, I trust in you!

The 2^nd day of the Simbang gabi will always be memorable because we always read today the long list of the Lord’s ancestors. Here we see a glimpse of the family of the Lord in a span of many centuries: 14 generations from Abraham to King David, 14 generations from David to the Babylonian exile, and 14 generations from the Babylonian exile to St. Joseph. At the end of this long list is Jesus Christ, the son of Mary.

Jesus came from this long family line.  It would be to this family that the promised Messiah will be born. Jesus came from this family. As in the case of Jesus, the priest will always be called from the people of God. Ministers are called by the Lord from his faithful. These ministers will be called to be at the service of the people of God. Thus, all the members of the People of God must do their part to foster priestly vocations. “The duty of fostering vocations falls on the whole Christian community, and they should discharge it principally by living full Christian lives. The greatest contribution is made by families which are animated by a spirit of faith, charity, and piety and which provide as it were, a first seminary, and by parishes in whose abundant life the young people themselves take an active part.” (Optatam Totius, 2.)

Priestly and religious vocations do not just happen. They are fostered. This means that the family and parish must provide an atmosphere that is conducive to the forming of priestly vocations. Indeed, a vocation is a calling from the Lord. But we must provide our young people with an atmosphere that can help them hear the voice of the Lord. Pope Pius X said that the family is the first seminary. Seminary means seed bed. It is in the family where the seeds of vocation are planted. Pope Pius himself experienced this. Pope Pius’ real name is Guiseppe Sarto. When he was studying for the priesthood, his mother worked as a cleaning lady to support his studies. Eventually, Guiseppe was ordained priest and later on, was ordained a bishop. After his ordination as bishop, he proudly showed his mother his episcopal ring. He said to her: “Mother, look at this ring, which is so beautiful.” His humble mother took off her wedding ring and said to him: “My son, without this ring, you cannot have your ring.” Pope Pius discovered his vocation thanks to his parents who were faithful in their wedding vows.

The family is the domestic Church. It is the first school of faith where children first learn by experience faith and love. In a prayerful family, children first learn to love God. When a family is generous to the poor, children learn the lesson of charity. Children observe and learn the lessons of sacrifice and self- giving when they see it in their parents. When children are educated with examples of faith, love and self-giving, they increase in their desire to serve God and his people. Here we have the beginnings of priestly and religious vocations.

Thus, we must truly live out our faith in our families. We must help our children listen to the voice of God. Why should we care? Why should families care about fostering priestly vocations? It is because a priest is a great blessing to the family. St. John Bosco said: God’s greatest blessing to a family is a son-priest! 

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!   

The Joy of the Gospel

Jesus, I trust in you!

There is a sense of urgency in the sending of the disciples to preach about the coming of the Kingdom of God: Go on your way, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. By commanding the disciples to bring neither money bag, nor sack, nor sandals, the Lord wanted them to travel light. “Greet no one along the way” so that nothing can delay them from fulfilling their task. Perhaps you have seen those trucks that bore the signs “Government project: do not delay.” The mission to evangelize is something like that. Each of us is sent to evangelize: God’s project: do not delay.”

I suppose that this sense of urgency springs from the importance of the message we are supposed to bring to others: “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” The coming of the Kingdom of God is indeed important because it is the means by which God gives all men access to his divine life. The Father wants all of us to share in his divine life. That is why he gathers men around his Son and this gathering is the Church which on earth is the beginning of the Kingdom of God. The Lord wants to gather us all in the Church so that we might have life: “Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts! For thus says the Lord: Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.” The Lord uses the tender image of a mother nursing her child in order to reveal to us the tenderness of his love which desires nothing but goodness for all of us. The Lord comforts us through the Church which is the new Jerusalem. We should always consider the Church as our mother.  (Because of the popularity of receiving communion by the hand, the reception of communion on the tongue is unappreciated by many. I find this unfortunate because receiving Communion on the tongue reminds us of the time when as little children, we were fed by the hand of our mothers. This manner of receiving Communion expresses the motherly gesture of the Church.)

The tenderness of a mother’s love always brings delight. It brings joy because it is life giving. A person who experienced a mother’s love grows and finds fulfillment. In the same way, we who experienced the love of God through the Church grow to maturity and eventually we seek means to fulfillment. The challenge to go and evangelize gives us the opportunity to find real fulfillment. “The Gospel offers us the chance to live life on a higher plane: ‘Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life the most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others.’ When the Church summons Christians to take up the task of evangelization, she is simply pointing to the source of authentic fulfillment. For ‘here we discover a profound law of reality: that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others. This is certainly what mission means.’” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 10.) A loving mother gives life to loving children. Eventually her children become parents themselves. They who have been given life by their mother eventually desire to give life to others. This is precisely what evangelization is all about: it is about the passing on of a life-giving tradition. I have been given life. Now, I want to give life to others. I have been given joy. Now, I want to pass on this joy to others. “Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that ‘delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow…And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes in anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ.’” (Ibid.)

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. 

Becoming fishers of men

St. Andrew the Apostle

I was ordained a priest on the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. I consider it a great honor to be ordained on this feast because St. Andrew was one of the first to the called by the Lord. As he walked by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Lord Jesus saw the brothers Peter and Andrew casting their nets. To them he gave the invitation: Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I like those words "fishers of men". The Lord called them and myself to become "fishers of men." The work of fishermen is really very simple. All they had to do was cast the net into the sea and haul into the boat whatever is caught in that net. I realize that my job as a priest is simply to cast the net and haul in what is caught. The Lord called me to be a fisher of men, not a member of a screening committee. All I have to do is to keep the Church door open and welcome anyone who enters through it. It is not my job to screen people and decide who should be deemed worthy to enter the Church and who should not. When a person finds his way to the Church, he has not done it on his own, Rather, it was the Father who called that person to approach his only begotten Son. It was the Holy Spirit moving in his soul. The fisherman simply casts his net and does not determine which fish should be caught in it. He hauls into his boat whatever the net catches. My task as fisher of men is to welcome those who find their way into the Church. It is not even my task to convert them or to touch their hearts. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Only the Holy Spirit can convert hearts. Only He can change lives. Only He can sanctify sinners. Only He can deify men. And I am not the Holy Spirit. I can only cast my net by preaching. Whatever happens to those who listen to what I preach is not within my control. I can only cast the net by celebrating the sacraments. Whatever happens to those who receive the sacraments is no longer my turf. Moving hearts, converting lives, sanctifying sinners, deifying men...all these are the work of the Holy Spirit. I can only cast the nets and nothing more,

Nurturing the Seed which is the Word of God

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

Like any seed, the Word of God possesses so much potential for life. It has the capacity to germinate so long as it is accepted by hearts that present no obstacles for its growth. The parable of the Sower is fulfilled in this very place where we are. The same Word of God was heard by everybody here present. But it will not produce the same fruits in all of us because we received the same Word of God in different ways. Some heard the Word but did not listen simply because they never considered God’s word as worth listening to. There is an outright rejection by hearts that chose not to believe in anything God says.

Some were willing to give the Word of God a try but they immediately give up at the sight of the Cross that comes with discipleship. They simply do not want to suffer for the sake of Christ. Some are willing to accept the Word of God but are overcome by love of material things and worldly anxieties. Only those who are willing to renounce attachments to worldly things and to embrace the Cross are the ones who will bear abundantly the fruits that the Word of God promises to bring into their lives.

The secret to cultivating the Word of God into our lives is rather simple. First, we have to listen to it, accept it and believe in it. “Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ears of your heart…welcome it and put it to practice,” so said the Rule of St. Benedict (prologue: 1)

Then, we should allow the Word of God to convert our hearts. We should be willing to let go of worldly attachments that stifle the desires of the spirit. We should will to be free from “slavery to corruption” in order to live in the “glorious freedom of the children of God.” “Renounce yourself in order to follow Christ; discipline your body; do not pamper yourself, but love fasting.” (Rule of St. Benedict 4:10-11)

Then, of course, we must embrace the Cross because there is no authentic discipleship without it. Willingness to endure sufferings for the sake of obedience to the will of God is a necessity for following Christ. “The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience.” (Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue:2) It is difficult to obey the commandments of the Lord but this is the only way to real life. “All who come to Christ will live forever.” (alleluia verse)  “Sufferings of this present time are nothing as compared with the glory to be revealed for us,” so said St. Paul in the 2^nd reading.

This is the part which the Lord asks of us. For his own part, the Lord will always water the seed planted in our hearts with the Holy Spirit whom he gives to us through the sacraments we should frequently receive. Therefore, let us constantly draw from the well of the sacraments the water of life which we need to nurture the seed of the Word of God planted in us. Christ plants the seed, we cultivate it with our cooperation, and the Holy Spirit provides the growth. Let us strive to bear the fruits of the Spirit so that we may be able to present to the Lord a rich harvest! 

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Christmas Mass at Day 2013: Encounter with the Word Incarnate

PRAISED BE JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. With the shepherds, our eyes behold a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. This baby is the Word of God who was made flesh. We look at the baby and we realize that through him, God is engaging in a conversation with us. “In times past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets…now, he speaks to us through his Son.” He speaks to us through his Son. “Christ is the ‘eternal Gospel’ (Rev 14:6); he ‘is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Heb 13:8), yet his riches and beauty are inexhaustible. He is forever young and a constant source of newness. The Church never fails to be amazed at ‘the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God’ (Rom 11:33).” (Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 11.) We look at the baby Jesus and in him is found that depth of Divine riches, wisdom and knowledge. Year after year, we celebrate Christmas. Year after year, we look at the baby in the manger and yet, we are always amazed at what we see. There is always something new to discover about him. His riches and beauty are inexhaustible. He is forever young. Forever he is a source of newness.

At Christmas, as always, we encounter Jesus made flesh in the Eucharist. But we also encounter him made flesh in his word. Jesus is the Word of the Father. He engages us in a unique and personal conversation…a transformative conversation. In Jesus his Son, he tells us that he loves us. In the Baby Jesus, he begs to be loved by us. This conversation of love is an invitation to communion with him – for isn’t every conversation meant to promote understanding, acceptance, and communion? And we must be willing to be surprised at what the Word is able to do in our lives. The Word that comes from the Father’s mouth is so powerful. This is the Word through whom all things were made. In this Word, all things continue to exist. “God’s word is unpredictable in its power. The Gospel speaks of a seed which, once sown, grows by itself, even as the farmer sleeps (Mk 4:26-29). The Church has to accept this unruly freedom of the word, which accomplishes what it wills in ways that surpass our calculations and ways of thinking.” (EG, 22.) But wherever the Word takes us…it will definitely take us out of our loneliness, fears, and sin. He will definitely bring us joy. “In Christ, joy is born anew.”

The Word does not only bring us to communion. Our communion with him transforms us into missionaries. “The Church’s closeness to Jesus is part of a common journey; ‘communion and mission are profoundly interconnected’. In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear. The joy of the Gospel is for all people: no one can be excluded. That is what the angel proclaimed to the shepherds in Bethlehem: ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people’ (Lk 2:10). The Book of Revelation speaks of ‘an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tongue and tribe and people (Rev 14:6).’ [EG, 23.] Therefore, like the shepherds who proclaimed to all what they have heard and seen, let us go forth and proclaim Christ, the Eternal Gospel. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hill and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet  of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, saying to Zion: “Your God is King.”

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

The Weapons Against Evil

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for 40 days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry…” It was at the moment when the Lord was hungry due to fasting that the devil decided to approach and tempt him. Perhaps, he thought that the hunger would make the Lord physically weak and so, it would be easier for him to fall into temptation. However, the devil was badly mistaken. He misunderstood the dynamics between flesh and spirit which are opposed to each other. The flesh struggles against the spirit and the spirit struggles against the flesh. That is why, the weaker the flesh is, the stronger the spirit and the stronger the flesh, the weaker the spirit. It was easy to tempt Adam and Eve. After all, they were in the midst of so much comfort in the garden of Eden. Their bodies were pampered. There was so much food to eat. The will of the soul weakens when the body is very comfortable. But the Lord was in the desert and he ate nothing for 40 days. He deliberately ate nothing…is that not training in self-mastery? He could eat but he did not – and the Lord sustained this resolution for 40 days. The devil should have seen it as a sign of a very firm and resolute will. It was a will that would withstand temptations.

It would not come as a surprise that the Lord would triumph. It is not just because he is God, but his human will was firm and resolute to do the Father’s will. He has so decided to be concerned with his Father’s affairs, as he declared in the temple when he was but a boy of 12. The firmness of his will is the manifestation of self-mastery. And means to this were prayer and fasting. “Why is there so much evil in the world today? Because people have thrown away their most reliable weapon, the all-victorious weapon with which every evil, every sin, and every demon are assuredly vanquished on all battlefields. And this weapon is fasting and prayer.” (St. Justin Popovich) The Lord went into the desert to fight the devil. And he came with his weapons: the Holy Spirit, prayer, and fasting. Against such weapons, the devil did not stand a chance.

And true enough, we know why we are constantly defeated in the spiritual warfare: we have been feasting and playing instead of fasting and praying! Feasting and playing around make us vulnerable targets of the devil. He dangles before us bread, power and glory. And we easily fall for these temptations. Not setting our hearts on higher and sublime things, we settle for bread that does not satisfy, power that flees, and glory that fades. We easily forget that we are meant for greater things to which the Holy Spirit dwelling is us testifies.

We should strive to win the spiritual battle for we are soldiers of Christ. And in this struggle against sin, the first battlefield is found in ourselves. We must master ourselves. We must dominate ourselves by learning to say “no” to what we want. And the weapons we need are but within our reach: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the word of faith…” Prayer and fasting are means offered to us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. Let us arise in battle, for “no one who puts his belief in him will be put to shame.”

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

On the multiplication of loaves and fish

Aside from the passion and resurrection narratives, the story of the multiplication of the loaves is the only one story that is found recorded in all the 4 gospels. This only shows the importance of the narrative to Christianity. It is important because of the Eucharistic character of the story. Clearly, the multiplication of the loaves is a Eucharistic lesson because the 4 actions which Christ performed are the 4 actions that determined the pattern of the Eucharistic Sacrifice: Jesus took bread, blessed, broke the bread and gave it to the disciples.

Thus, we see the centrality of the Eucharist in the Christian mysteries. A true Christian is a believer in the Eucharist. A true Christian cannot live without the Eucharist because the Lord Jesus himself said: “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot have life in you.”

This makes me wonder how non Catholics can afford not to believe in the Eucharist even in spite of the wealth of Scriptural proof and Apostolic witness. How could they get past St. John’s chapter on the Bread of life without seeing the clear Eucharistic doctrine? I once chanced upon a non-Catholic commentary on the Bread of life chapter of John’s gospel which tried to explain that the Bread of life is actually the Word of God because Jesus, at the temptation in the desert, quoted to Satan an Old Testament passage which said: “Man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” Thus, the center of non-Catholic worship is the sermon of the pastor. The center of the non-Catholic sanctuary is the pulpit.

But the story of the multiplication of the loaves proves this point wrong. If the Bread of life were simply the word of God, then the multiplication of the bread should not have taken place. After all, the Lord spent the whole day preaching and healing the people of their infirmities. But the Lord would not dismiss the crowd without feeding them. Thus, he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to the crowd to eat. The center of worship is not the sermon but the Eucharistic sacrifice. Blessed John Paul made it clear that the proclamation of the Word of God prepares us to recognize the Lord at the breaking of the bread: “It is significant that the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, duly prepared by our Lord's words, recognized him at table through the simple gesture of the ‘breaking of bread’. When minds are enlightened and hearts are enkindled, signs begin to ‘speak’. The Eucharist unfolds in a dynamic context of signs containing a rich and luminous message. Through these signs the mystery in some way opens up before the eyes of the believer.” (JPII, Mane Nobiscum Domine, 14.) Although we all appreciate a good sermon, let us not forget that the real reason we are here is to assist at the offering of the Lord’s body and blood to the Father and to receive him through Holy Communion. The Lord himself made it clear that what he wanted to give for the life of the world is his body: “My flesh is the food that I give for the life of the world.” Let us heed the invitation of the Lord: “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat…Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well.” Having listened to the word of the Lord, assist now at the offering of the Eucharist. Eat his body and drink his blood so that you may have life in you. “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,” says the Lord.

He alone has the words of Eternal Life

Indeed, sharing in the life of God, a Trinity of love, is complete joy (cf. 1 Jn 1:4). And it is the Church’s gift and unescapable duty to communicate that joy, born of an encounter with the person of Christ, the Word of God in our midst. In a world which often feels that God is superfluous or extraneous, we confess with Peter that he alone has “ the words of eternal life ” (Jn 6:68). There is no greater priority than this: to enable the people of our time once more to encounter God, the God who speaks to us and shares his love so that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10).

Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini (Septmeber 30, 2010), 2.