FILIPINO TRADITIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC: March 2014

Saturday, March 1, 2014

What matters most

MY SUNDAY REFLECTION: March 2, 2014, 8^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“What matters most; A Reflection on Matthew 6:24-34”

By Herbert B. Rosana, Ph.D.

There are so many things that bother the human mind. Sometimes in an effort to put a semblance of order we prioritized our activities. But we have asked ourselves what it is that really matters most? Sometimes, the way we worry about things is almost pagan-like? Why do I say pagan-like? Because Christ referred to this kind of worrying as pagan-like! Many people worry about what to eat, what to drink, and what clothes they are to wear. Sometimes, people worry about the future. I think that these questions are more challenging today especially that many countries are undergoing economic recession. It seems that the more we hold on to our material possessions the more that chances of keeping them are slipping away. But have we really thought of what is the most important in life? People worry about clothes – But the body is more important than clothes. People worry about food – but life is more than food.

God Almighty of course does not want His children to be destitute. Christ said: “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness and all these things shall be given you besides.” When we seek the Kingdom of God and do His righteousness we can be assured that God will provide everything we need. But the question is who has the faith to believe?

For indeed no one can serve two masters. We cannot serve God and money at the same time. For we would either love the one and hate the other. Thus, just as God hated idolatry, because idolatry takes away our love for God for the love of the creature, so God hates those who profess to love Him but their priorities are earthly. This situation does not make a distinction between the rich and the poor. Even the poorest human being on earth can be as covetous and greedy as they could. It is also possible that the richest human being on earth can be the most generous and self-giving.

For indeed, it is not the outward situation in life that paints our character, but it is our hearts and our attitudes. Christ said it is not what we put into our mouths that make us unclean, but what comes our mouth. In our Christian life what matters most is how we prioritize the kingdom of God. As we value the pearl of great price. We are willing to give up everything just to possess that value of great price. The more that the meaning of this gospel sinks into our minds, the more that the Lord’s Prayer becomes more meaningful. In my Christian life, I could say that when I was immature, I thought that I have to pray with lots of words. But when I came to realize the truth of this gospel, I also realize that the Lord’s Prayer summarizes everything.

A blessed Sunday to all of us.

The blogger is

A 13 years old boy............. in 1983, but now I am a golden boy, gaining weight and wiser, but younger at heart. I consider myself as a “novus ordo baby” because I was born in the late 60s after the 2nd Vatican Council introduced the novus ordo missae and grew up confronted by the confusions as a result. Like my generation I never saw what the church was like prior to Vatican II, but I am a living witness to the gradual disappearance of religious traditions we hold dear. Young as I was then I could not understand what was going on. But I suffered the sense of loss as I saw how the modernizing influence in the church disfigured the liturgy and clouded the way we believe and practice our faith. But then being a child, powerless, not knowing what it was, and why it happened, I simply drifted into the sea of confusion, too young to understand. With a glimmer of faith in my heart, planted by baptism and confirmation, strengthened by the sound teachings of my parents and grandparents, I sailed into the sea of life, day after day, seeing the changes happen, feeling the sense of abandonment, yet God was merciful to me. In 2005 I discovered the Traditional Latin Mass or commonly known in the post-conciliar period as the Tridentine Mass. I began to love the rite of mass that has nourished my ancestors, the saints and the martyrs. I am eternally grateful to His Holiness Pope John Paul II for recognizing the rightful aspirations of Catholics attached to the ancient forms of the Roman Rite through his apostolic letter ECCLESIA DEI DI AFFLICTA. I am also eternally grateful to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for liberating the Traditional Latin Mass through his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum. I fully agree with the program of his pontificate regarding the Hermeneutics of Continuity and disdain the hermeneutics of rupture. Today I consider myself a Traditional Roman Catholic attached to the liturgical discipline of 1962 as outlined in the Motu Proprio SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM of his Holiness. I believe that there is only one Roman Rite, the Ordinary and the Extraordinary and that the Mass in whatever form should be celebrated with dignity. My voyage is on. Join me in this quest.

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FILIPINO TRADITIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC

Saturday, March 1, 2014

What matters most

The Word Made Flesh

Tu es Petro (You are Peter...)

DISCLAIMER