A PRIMER ON THE BELIEFS OF THE IGLESIA NI KRISTO By ORLANDO CARDINAL QUEVEDO, O.M.I. Archbishop of Cotabato Chairman, Commission on the Doctrine of the Faith, CBCP

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Reflection for Saturday 19, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 12:14-21

Gospel: Matthew 12:14-21

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

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Reflection:

What are we going to do if we know that powerful people are after our life? Of course we will do what Jesus did; we will also withdraw to a place where we will be safe. But unlike Jesus who continued to do HIS acts of mercy even if HIS life was already in danger. We may not do anything except to hide and protect our life, this is what separate Jesus from us.

For Jesus the greater good is not to protect HIS life but to continue to serve the people that HE dearly loved so much. This love for HIS people eventually culminated in HIS death on the cross.

But not all of us are afraid to give our very life for the sake of our fellowmen. There are others who selflessly gave their lives so that others may live and be free. This is best exemplified by our heroes who selflessly gave their lives for our sake.

In hindsight, what is the reason why we want to protect our life to the detriment of our fellowmen? The simple reason perhaps is we love our life more that we love Jesus and our fellowmen. We perhaps are simply unconcerned with the greater need of our fellowmen otherwise we would not think twice to give our treasured time and life for others.

Self-preservation is never an option for those who truly follow Jesus. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

My Reflection for Thursday June 26, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time, Matthew 7:21-29

Gospel: Matthew 7:21-29

(Jesus said to his disciples) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

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Reflection:

Where is your life anchored today? Is it anchored on this world or anchored on no one else but God? It’s very tempting to anchor our life to this world. For who would not want riches, influence, power and the like? We would be hypocrite if we say that we don’t want these all.

Yes we do want these all, however what will happen to us if we become worldly? If God simply becomes just an option for us where we go when we are in need of HIM and when we are not anymore in need of HIM we don’t go to HIM anymore.

the reality of our life is we were not created to become permanent citizens of this world. We are mere temporal passersby in this world, sooner or later we will leave this world and all the worldly possessions that we have accumulated. Where would we end-up in the afterlife if we only live for this world?

It’s always better if we accumulate our life with God, this means that we worship God and we do what HE wants us to do. But this is not always the case we often times worship HIM only and we don’t do what Jesus wants us to do. 

Therefore we continue to become slaves of this world.

1Reflection for June 15, Sunday; Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity; John 3:16-18

Gospel: John 3:16-18

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

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Reflection:

How do we give our love to our spouse or to our friend perhaps? There are times that this love is with condition, we love when we receive love in return. But when the love that we give is unrequited this love wanes until it finally evaporates from our hearts and this is how we normally love.

In our readings for this Sunday most especially the gospel, God opens our hearts to a much deeper kind of love. A love that cannot be measured by anything,  love that has no limits and a  love that is coupled with humility and sacrifice.

God’s love is not like how we express our love. For we are always conscious about what we could get back in return for the love that we give. This is the complete opposite of God’s love. Love in the eyes of God is when we are willing to sacrifice even at the cost of our very own life.  

Today is the solemnity also of the Holy Trinity, the three persons in one God. How are they able to exist without any conflict? How could they be one yet three? They harmoniously co-exist because they have the love of God.

The Holy Trinity for many of us is a mystery but not anymore for some of us. Why? Because they already have in their hearts the love of God, let us therefore ask the Holy Trinity covert our hearts according to His love.

If God lovingly gave HIS very own son so that we may live and have life, what can we give God in return? 

Reflection for June 1, Sunday; Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Matthew 28:16-20

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

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Reflection:

A military man was about to be assigned in a faraway place so he said to his wife: Properly take care of the children. Teach them about our faith and teach them  values so that they’ll grow-up to become responsible and God fearing individuals. The wife seriously followed the command of his husband. She taught their children the basic tenets of the faith and she educated them about good manners and values. After fifteen years he came back, his children were all grown-up and he was so happy for the reason that they were all responsibly brought-up by her wife.  

Jesus in our gospel episode for this Sunday is about to leave HIS disciples for heaven but before doing so. He gave them this marching order: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).” The disciples lived to the hilt this command of Jesus. In fact many of them were martyred for the sake of advancing the gospel of Jesus. 

To whom does these powerful words of Jesus speaks to now? It speaks to us with the same fervor during this very moment.  Who is our target? Is it the population at large? The target is not the population at large, the target is the members of our family, let us creatively share Jesus’ teachings with them. And let us encourage them to attend Holy Mass.

The words of Jesus are like endless stream of pure water it flows with the passing of time and it speaks to us now. What will be our response? 

Catholic Univ. of America- 2014, Baccalaureate Mass w/ Manila Arch. Bishop Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle Celebrant and Homilist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2ELmRabmDE

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.

Quotation from Saint John XXIII

Quotation from Saint John Paul II

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. …   

Ang Aking Repleksyon para sa Linggo, January 12, Kapistahan ng Pagbibinyag ng Panginoon, Mateo 3:13-17

Repleksyon para sa Linggo, January 5, Kapistahan ng pag papakita ng Panginoon: Mateo 2:1-12

Happy New Year!