Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
My Reflection for Tuesday April 29 Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church John 3:7-15
Gospel: John 3:7-15
Jesus said to
Nicodemus: “‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and
you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or
where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus
answered and said to him, ‘How can this happen?” Jesus answered and said to
him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen,
I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but
you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and
you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No
one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son
of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son
of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal
life.”
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Reflection:
What does our firm
faith in Jesus gives us? It gives us the courage to face the many challenges of
our lives. It gives us the confidence that after our pilgrimage in this world
is over we would now be having our eternal life with Jesus in heaven.
Faith is a gift that
Jesus freely gives to each and everyone of us. However, even if it’s a gift we
must also ask for it. For example if children want something from their parents
they would ask for it from them. And once the parents realize that what their children
are asking is reasonable then they would give it to them with love.
The same is true
with faith; it’s a gift that we must ask Jesus to give us we ask for it in
humble prayer. And if we do this Jesus would never refuse us He will freely
give us this gift of faith. This same faith will now give us the confidence to
always look-up and pray to Jesus on the cross.
In our gospel Jesus
said to Nicodemus: ‘You must be born from above. Perhaps Jesus is asking
Nicodemus to have more faith in Him and not to have faith on himself and on
this world. Perhaps, this is also what Jesus is asking from us today. We must
also be born from above and never be born from this world. We must have our
faith in Him and not have our faith in this world.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
My Reflection for Saturday February 22, Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle; Mark 16:13-19
Gospel: Mark 16:13-19
When
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do
people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist,
others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them,
“But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.”Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon
son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly
Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not
prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.”
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Reflection:
When
Jesus asked the disciples, Who do the people say that the son of Man is? No one
was able to correctly answer except Simon Peter, who told Jesus: “You are the
Christ the son of the living God. But Jesus immediately told Peter, it’s not by
your own intelligence that you know me; it’s through the grace of my heavenly
Father that you know who I am.
Why did
Jesus told Simon Peter that it was not through his effort that he knows Him? Perhaps
Jesus wanted to temper the behavior of Peter. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t want Simon
Peter to boast about what he knew about Him.
In our
continuing journey with Jesus there may be times also that we might be tempted
to brag or boast concerning what we know about Him. This we must not do because
everything is a gift, everything is a grace. What we know about Him is from Him
alone, not from us; not from our own effort.
How many
times have we boasted about our knowledge regarding Jesus and our faith? How
many times have we acted as if we knew everything about God? Have many times
have we acted as if we are the masters of the universe?
Let us
pause and reflect about this. …
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
I will be back again soon... please find time to visit me once again. GOD BLESS YOU!
I will be back again soon... please find time to visit me once again. GOD BLESS YOU!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
My Reflection for November 24, Solemnity of Christ the King, Luke 23:35-43
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My
Reflection:
Who among
us would want to follow the kingship of Jesus?
He is an image of human weakness, He hangs on the cross blooded ang
dying. The rulers sneered at Him even the soldiers taunted Him. Jesus on the
cross was seemingly helpless and it seems that God has forsaken Him already.
If we
were present during that time of His crucifixion we would not dare also touch
Him with a ten foot pole. We would have also
silently walked away like the others who were disappointed with Jesus show of
human weakness.
What if
Jesus projected the image of king David in our first reading (warrior,
conqueror and leader) of course everyone would have flocked to His side. But
Jesus did not show any warrior like demeanor, instead He showed a defeated
behavior that His followers did not want to see from Him. That’s why in His
most trying times everyone who followed Him eventually deserted Him.
But during His moment of human weakness
someone recognized His kingship. It was the criminal hanging on the cross
beside Him. What made the criminal recognize His power and kingship? That he
even asked Jesus to remember him when He is in His kingdom. It was the criminal’s
humility and unwavering faith in Jesus. We may ask, is it possible for a
criminal to be humble and is it possible for a criminal to have an unwavering
faith in Jesus? Yes it is very possible!
How could
this gospel help us to have a firmer grasp of the kingship of Jesus? We must
always humble ourselves before Him. For example, we always go to Mass and we
humbly submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as
possible. We must not forget also to always ask Jesus to increase our faith.
But sad
to say, many of us are situational followers of Jesus only. …
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
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