And He descended into Hell: Christ on Black Saturday preached the gospel unto the souls of the dead.

SEEING THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THE FACE OF THE NEEDY AND THE POOR

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Devotion

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Christ, the King of the Universe.  As customary the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church always closes with the feast of Christ the King.  This is to remind us that all our earthly life in following Jesus will culminate in God’s Kingdom.  This we affirm in our creed when we profess that we believe that He will come again the second time to judge the world in righteousness.  That we believe in the forgiveness of sins and in the resurrection of the Body and in the life to come.  This belief we hold to be true in the eschatological sense and a reality we expect.  Each liturgical year we pre-figure the journey and the promise, we live through a life of celebrating the hope, the life, and the passion of Jesus Christ and which we believe we shall achieve by God’s redeeming grace.

Reflecting on today’s reading I was reminded that one important factor that will qualify us for God’s kingdom is on how we have treated the poor, how we have visited the lonely and how we have comforted those who are in prison.  Jesus reminded us that though there are ten commandments, all of these are summarized in into two – Love God above all things and second love your neighbor as yourself.  What kind of law would contradict this?  While religious piety and formalities are important human expression of love for God, one thing is much more important – to show kindness to the poor and to help the lonely.  I always wonder why Christ has always identified Himself with the poor, I always wonder why He wants to be seen in the face of the poor and the needy?  But even in this seeming paradox Christ is showing to us the real face of God.  No one has seen God says the Scriptures, but Christ has shown us the face of God the Father.  For those who have been with Jesus has already seen the Father.  God is a God of compassion.  Thus I always believe that the true practice of the Christian religion can never be genuinely expressed by fanaticism and extremism.  Some Christians and perhaps us included have been guilty of too much emphasis on formalities.  Some of us condemn people who do not conform to our ideas.  Perhaps some of us have branded others as “conservative” or “liberal”.  But God is neither liberal nor conservative.  God is love and He wants us to see that grace in Him.  For as we have experienced that grace we are bound to do charity to our poor brothers and sisters.  There is no excuse for loving others, even the most hateful ones.  For by loving the poor (there are two types of poverty-material and spiritual), we have qualified to God’s standard set for those who will be in God’s Kingdom.  Life is brief and short and death is the door that will usher to the Day of Judgment.  God’s grace and our love for Him and the Poor will be our insurance guarantee for His Eternal Kingdom.  Jesus invites us to get this insurance from Him free of Charge.  Happy Cristo Rey!!!

How confuse are we regarding the nature of marriage?

Here is an interesting article from CNA and here is an excerpt [emphasis supplied]

“The fact that there are Catholic couples and people who have re-married, and therefore can’t come to Communion, the fact that they would desperately like to do so, and the Church recognizes the good of that; the question is, 'how do we do that while being faithful to the teaching of the Church concerning the bond?' That brings us to the question of an annulment, the declaration that there never was a bond in the first place,” Cardinal Wuerl commented.

My comment:  Couples and persons in irregular relationships, if they realize the love of God and the need for communion with God and the church must also realize that the graveness of their situation, and that the solution is repentance and amendment of life.  This is indeed a difficult situation.  The disciples of Christ said, "therefore it is no good to get married".  This was the typical reply of the disciples as they perceived how difficult the teachings of Christ about marriage, divorce and adultery.  But Christ never budge in.  In fact Jesus Christ rebuked the pharisees and told them that it was their  hardheadedness  that cause Moses to relent and allow them to divorce their wives.  But Christ emphasized that from the beginning it was not so. What the church should do is to give pastoral programs to help these people, but not to circumvent the rules that would dilute or even cause a distortion of the gospel of Christ.  The Church must renew the face of the earth and it should not be around-the world pressuring the church to bend her doctrines.  What is important is the salvation of souls not the "inclusivity" spoken of by the world.  The world seeks tolerance without making judgement.  Indeed we are not suppose to judge persons because Christ said that we must not judge.  But as individual Christians we need to make judgements on actions because we need to do what is right and shun wrong doing.  The only way we can do it is calling sin a sin and a spade a spade.  But our compassion for the erring brothers and sisters must always be characterized by a compassion that seeks the conversion and a heart full of pity and love.

“The whole concept of 'graduality' – that surfaced but you don’t find it in the final document,” he said.

 My comment:  Yes the Cardinal is correct, there is a need for a clearer definition of this term.  In the gospel we saw how Christ spoke with the woman of Samaria in Sycar's well.  Little by little Jesus open the understanding of the woman and in the end Christ made it clear to her that she was living in sin because the man he is living with is her 9th.  But as of the moment the word "graduality" far from providing coherence creates confusion for lack of meaning.

The world is watching us.  And it is naive to think that the world would ever be sympathetic to the Church.  So we need to work hard to convert the world.

For the salvation of souls is the supreme Law.

 

A New Name

My Personal Reflection for this Sunday

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16: 13-20)

“A New  Name.”

I could imagine the Lord walking the streets of Caesarea Philippi and speaking with the disciples.  The Lord was asking his disciples who the people think he was.  As humans we put a premium on our identities because it is the only one that separates us from the others.  But sometimes our perceptions of others are not as perfect as it should be.  We identify ourselves and the others based on our perceptions.  That is why in our reading for this Sunday we saw Jesus asking his disciples about what others say about him.  Of all these discussions Simon the son of Barjona got the right answer.  Simon said to Jesus: “YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”  Thereby Jesus blest Simon and Jesus gave him a new name.  From now on Simon shall be called Peter (Petrus in Latin means Rock).  And upon this rock, Christ said, “I will build my church and the netherworld [or death] shall not prevail against it. And I give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, whosoever, you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whosoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  What a profound declaration from our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said it was not human wisdom or knowledge that revealed this to him but it was God himself, the one we call Heavenly Father who revealed this to Simon Peter.

For indeed, apart from God we can do nothing.  Have you we given this a thought that Jesus during his ministry on earth called people who were not educated but simple fishermen.  Simon Peter was fisherman.  He was practically an ignorant man whose daily occupation was to catch fish in order to live day after day.  But when Christ saw him he called him and said that from now on you will no longer catch fish but you will be gathering men and women.  To cut the story short, Simon Peter became the leader of the Church, he became the first Bishop of Rome and together with St. Paul the apostle to the gentiles, they founded the Church of Rome.  And today we are happy to be members of the Roman Catholic Church because we know that we have this connection with the apostles.  For we are built on that rock.  For as long we remain steadfast in our faith we shall received what the Lord has promised to us.  The way to salvation is not easy.  In fact it is a narrow way filled with persecutions and self-denial.  For here we seek not a permanent city but we look forward and seek a city and a kingdom not built by men but by God.  And with this short reflection I would like to close this with a quote from the scriptures: [Jesus said] “He, that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches : to him that overcometh, to him will I give the hidden manna, and will give him a white counter, and in the counter, a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it.” Revelations 2:17 (Douay-Rheims Version).

Happy Sunday to everyone. 

Be Filled with Hope

MY PERSONAL REFLECTION:

“The Contradiction of Stewardship”

My reflection on the 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1.     The first reading gives me the assurance that God’s Word and His promises are true.  One could imagine with the prophet Isaiah with the vision of dew drops coming from heaven and spreading themselves and nourishing a verdant earth.  So is the Word of God. The assurance is clear that what He promised He will do.  But will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He comes again?  Have we forgotten about the reality of the second coming and the truth about the resurrection?  Why is it that as if all our plans are directed on earthly concerns?  Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto thee, says our Lord.  For the pagans seek for money and food, but we are reminded that God knows that we need of all of these.  Are we in doubt of God’s providence that we take into our own hands our lives and future?  We have to be reminded that our charitable work and even our social action is the product of a deep spirituality and not vice-versa.  We should not mistake “integral evangelization” so called, as emphasis on social justice and anti-poverty alleviation.  Some said, an empty stomach is not capable of receiving the gospel, so they say they have to fill the stomach first.  But I beg to disagree.  This is a wrong notion.  In the Bible we read that Christ first preached the gospel to the people and confirm it with miracles of healings.  It was only after the preaching that He multiplied the loaves of bread and the fishes. Let us make our Sunday worship the most beautiful.  Let the Church and her priests attend to the sacraments and the teaching of the Word of God.  Only after doing an excellent job on this can the feeding of the literal bodies is done.  For even the daily food that we eat is a token of God’s providence and not solely by our own effort.  For without Him we can do nothing.

2.     Reflecting on the second reading – I was impressed by the thought that the Sin of Humankind is so great that even the whole of creation was affected and was corrupted because of original sin.  The corruption of material things is a sign of our own struggle with sin and suffering.  These thoughts move us to come to the foot of the cross and behold what redemption it took to bring us to the door or paradise.  For we behold Him, the pledge of our redemption.  His grace sowed hope in our hearts.  Each time creation is renewed we are given hope that God will someday bring to a close the cycle of decay and bring us to the glorious redemption of our Bodies to be in God’s Kingdom.  Let us be filled with hopeful thoughts and trust in His grace all the time.  Let it be by prayer and supplications.

3.     In the gospel reading for today, I was initially confused when Our Lord said, “To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Does it look that the master was unmerciful to take away even the little things that remains with the least of these men?  I don’t think so.  I got the idea that perhaps our Lord was telling us that as Christians we are expected to be fruitful to abound with fruits.  The Lord emphasizes the gravity and the importance He places on stewardship.  Once he entrusts us with something good then we have to capitalize on it.  For anyone who hears the Word of God and keep it will have an abundant life in Christ.  Let us thank the Lord for giving us this grace to see and understand and let us ever pray that we will always have this grace.

Be filled with hopeful thoughts this Sunday!

THE IMAGE OF THE TEACHER

“MEEK AND HUMBLE OF HEART: MY IMAGE OF THE TEACHER”

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Reflecting and meditating on this Sunday’s gospel reading, I see in the face of my Lord, the face of a teacher.  As Pope Francis said...that indeed Jesus is more than a teacher, He is our friend.  No one indeed has seen the Father, but Jesus as the source of knowledge seeks to convey to us what the Will of God is.  Are we going to look somewhere else for the truth when the teacher of the truth is in our midst?

Unlike the Pharisees and the Jews who burdened their adherents with so many added laws and regulations, Jesus summed up the commandments into simple formula, to love God and to love one’s neighbour.  To say that we love God is easy but that love is manifested the way we love our neighbour.  How do we show love to our neighbour?  Jesus has illustrated this through the Parable of the Good Samaritan (the unpretentious and sincere love of others even to strangers and to those excluded by society risking one’s good standing and defying established values and assumptions), in the way Jesus conversed with the woman of Samaria (communicating and showing love for those despised by society), in the way Jesus forgave Mary of Magdala (unconditional forgiveness), in the way Jesus raised Lazarus from death to life (love for close friends), and many more examples.

Those who like the Pharisees seeks to be righteous by their own efforts are bound to be disappointed.  For it is futile to obtain righteousness by one’s effort.  But amidst this impossibility, Jesus offers Himself as the teacher who will teach us the way and to make learning easy.  Why is Jesus’ teaching easy compared to the Pharisees?  It is because the teachings of Jesus is the source of Love, unlike the Pharisees whose teachings are full of anathemas but they themselves do not lift a finger to obey and at the same time hinders others who are seeking the way to eternal life.

Jesus be our teacher, comfort our wounded and weary hearts and show us the way to the Father and we shall be saved.  Amen.

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Did you ever wonder why in many Catholic Churches here in the Philippines you always find the images of St. Peter and St. Paul side by side in the facade? It is because St. Peter and St. Paul are considered the Patron saints or the founders of the Roman Church. That is why in Rome you have the St. Peters Basilica, the location where St. Peter was buried and also the Church of St. Paul outside of the walls, two prominent churches in Rome. If Constantinople claims St. Andrew and if Alexandria claims St. Mark, Rome claims St. Peter and St. Paul. An ominous sign that it is the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ when before Simon, later Peter profess his faith in Caesaria Philippi. The Church of God founded on the ROCK (Peter), the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. On the SOLEMNITY OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL, may they intercede for us all.