Reflection for Wednesday December 24, Fourth Week of Advent; Luke 1:67-79

Gospel: Luke 1:67-79

Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying:

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David. Through his prophets he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hand of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life. You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

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Reflection:

When do you feel that you are full of the Holy Spirit? It’s when you make prayer part of your daily life. You pray not once a day, not twice a day, not thrice a day, not four times a day, not even five times a day. You pray more than the sum total of the numbers that was mentioned.

Many of us do not pray often everyday because we think that it takes time to pray, no it doesn’t take time to pray. We can even pray even for a few seconds because the efficacy of our prayer is not measured by its length it’s measured by our focus and intensity.  

In our gospel we have the father of John named Zechariah. He is not only a priest he is also a holy man and as such he is a prayerful man; he prays with focus and passion. Because of his prayerful life it was already automatic for Zechariah to be filled with God the Holy Spirit.

The canticle of Zechariah was not only his own making it was also largely influenced by God the Holy Spirit whom he was always in-touch with thru his prayerful life. It was the Holy Spirit who empowered Zechariah to compose his canticle or song of praise for God.

Do you have an effective and passion filled prayer life? Do you feel in a very special way the presence of God the Holy Spirit in your life? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday December 23, Fourth Week of Advent; Luke 1:57-66

Gospel: Luke 1:57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

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Reflection:

What can our fidelity to the desire of God do to us? It could bring us blessings, it could free us from the bondage of sin, and it could heal us from any form of sickness and the like.

Initially the new born baby was supposed to be named after his father Zechariah for it was the tradition during that time. But his mother Elizabeth intervened she told them that he is to be named John. Perhaps Zechariah had told his wife Elizabeth about his encounter with an angel in the sanctuary who told Zechariah that the boy should be named John.

The relatives were not fully convinced with the desire of Elizabeth to name her child John. So they asked Zechariah and on a tablet he wrote the name John. And immediately Zechariah was freed from the bondage of not being able to speak.

God has always a reward for those who are faithful to His desire and this desire is to follow at all times His will for us. You may ask, what is the will of God for myself? God’s will  is for us to  observe faithfully His ten commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and to follow Jesus’ two greatest commandments of love (Matthew 22:36-40).

You may not become rich and powerful in the measurement of this world if you will follow His desire. But you will certainly have peace in your life, peace that this world would not be able to give you no matter how rich and powerful you become.

Do you always strive to follow the desire of God? – Marino J. Dasmarinas    

Reflection for Friday December 19,Third week of Advent; Luke 1:5-25

Gospel: Luke 1:5-25

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.

Once when he was serving as priest in his division’s turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”

Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time. Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was gesturing to them but remained mute.

Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home. After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she went into seclusion for five months, saying, “So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.”

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Reflection:

Do you have a prayer request before God? Do you believe that your prayer request will be granted by God? You must always believe that God will grant your prayer request. Because when you believe that you will have what you want from God what you want from Him is already within your reach.

In our gospel the couple Zechariah and Elizabeth was praying to God for the gift of a child. Yet when the angel of God appeared to Zechariah in the sanctuary and told him that his wife would be pregnant. Zechariah suddenly had doubts and the reason for his doubt was credible for the reason that both of them were already old.

It was so uncharacteristic for Zechariah to doubt considering that he is a priest serving God. Zechariah forgot that nothing is impossible for God, did he forget or he simply had weak and feeble faith? Perhaps Zechariah had weak faith during that moment when the angel appeared to him.

Perhaps Zechariah was overwhelmed by their personal circumstances (Old age and the like). Let us not doubt when we have prayer/s for God. Let us firmly believe and have faith that God will grant us what we want from Him.  

Do you have a prayer request for God? Believe and have faith that He will grant it to you for He will surely give it to you if you would only believe and have faith. Amen. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday December 17,Third week of Advent; Matthew 1:1-17

Gospel: Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.

After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.

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Reflection:

With the modernity of technology today wherein we are always busy with facebook and our many gadgets. Do we still have time to know our family tree or are we still willing to know our family tree? Say for example the names of our ancestors, are we still willing to know them?

Or we don’t have time to know them for the simple reason that they belong to the past already. And we are now here in this high-technology driven times where there is less people to people interaction. We now interact more with our internet friendly cell phones, ipads, laptops etc.

Nevertheless, we still need to know who our relatives are for the simple reason that we are humans, we are not high tech cell phones or other gadgets. And as such we need to know who our relatives are, so that we could also touch base and help them if they are in need of help.

We have in our gospel the ancestry of Jesus, it traces the family history of Jesus. From Abraham, King David up to Saint Joseph the designated father of Jesus. This ancestry shows the humanity of Jesus.

Even if He is God the Son Jesus is also human like all of us and being human this means that He is one with us. We can even adopt Him as our relative so that we could feel more closer to Him. For example we can treat Jesus as our brother or even our father that we could communicate with anytime.

God could have chosen Jesus to directly originate from heaven like a shooting star coming into earth. But God allowed Jesus to come from an ancestry of numerous people so that we can always be at home with Him. And so that we could treat Him as our close friend, our brother or even our father.

How’s your relationship with Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday December 16, First day of Misa de Gallo/Simbang Gabi; John 5:33-36

Gospel: John 5:33-36

(Jesus said to the Jews) You sent emissaries to John and he testified to the truth. I do not accept testimony from a human being but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.    

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Reflection:

Today is the first day of Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi. As we go through this nine days novena Mass let us try to prepare ourselves to be worthy to the coming birth of our savior. This we could do best by having an interior renewal of ourselves, by reconciling with our enemies. And by not focusing on the material side of Christmas focusing rather on the true essence of Christmas which is the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

Have you testified for Jesus by the way you talk and live? Have you humbly called for repentance and renewal? John humbly did all of these noble things, he was sent by God to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. Have we done something also to prepare the way for the coming birth of Jesus?

For example if you’re a parent, have you taught your children that the true essence of Christmas is not the material gifts that they would be receiving not either the appearance of Santa Clause? Have you pointed out to your children that the essence of Christmas is about Jesus?

Slowly but surely the true meaning of Christmas is being overpowered already by materialism and commercialism. In our own little way we could be like John also if we would try to highlight the true reason for this Christmas season no other than the birth of Jesus.   

Have you done something to humbly point out that the true  meaning of Christmas is the birth of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday December 15, Third week of Advent; Matthew 21:23-27

Gospel: Matthew 21:23-27

When Jesus had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.  Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him? But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know. He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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Reflection:

Where does Jesus’ authority comes from? We know that it comes from God, God gave Jesus the authority to preach, heal, exorcise those who are possessed by the devil and so forth.

The ruling class at that time (Pharisees, chief priest and elders of the people) was questioning Jesus’ authority because Jesus’ authority was more powerful than theirs. People were starting to flock more to Jesus than to them therefore they have to question His authority. Jesus never backed down with His authority He held-on to it until death.

Parent’s authority over their children is encompassing this means that for as long as parents live they have authority over their children until mortal death ends this authority. But why is it that many parents are being disrespected by their children?

This is for the reason that many parents failed to properly role model their authority over their children. They did not discipline their children; they spoiled their children by showering them material things. They failed to lead by example and they failed to introduce God to their children by teaching them about Jesus and by bringing them to church for Holy Mass.  Thus they end-up losing their authority over their children and the respect of their children.

If we want to have authority over our children and with other people under our care we must therefore be like Jesus. For Jesus exercised His authority by being a good role model, Jesus led by example until the end, even at the cost of His very own life.

How do you exercise your authority? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday December 13, Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr; Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

Gospel: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

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Reflection:

Why is it that we sometimes are not aware that God is already manifesting His presence in our lives?   Because we have no awareness of God and our lack of awareness is made worse by our non observance of the church’s discipline.

For example, our Sunday Holy Mass obligation, our obligation to submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a year and so forth. When we behave like this we distance ourselves from God and as a consequence of this we become numb to the presence of God in our lives.  

By not following Jesus the scribes and the Pharisees were not able to imbibe the teachings of Jesus. That the Prophet Elijah has already manifested himself through the person of John the Baptist. By not followinng they persecuted and killed both John and Jesus.

If they followed John and Jesus they would have not dared to persecute and kill them for they will know their mission and their true identity.

How then could we connect this gospel with our faith life? If we will not listen to the voice of Jesus who speaks to us through manifold ways like the observance of the church’s discipline. We distance ourselves also from Jesus just like what the Pharisees and scribes did. And we may end- up becoming the persecutor of the church which Jesus has founded instead of becoming its protector.     

Do we faithfully observe the laws and discipline of Jesus voiced through the Catholic Church? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe; Matthew 11:16-19

Gospel: Matthew 11:16-19

(Jesus said to the crowds)  16 "But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 17 `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; 19 the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."

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Reflection:

Are you quick to judge based on what you see? The people during Jesus and John’s time most especially the Pharisees and scribes were like that also. They judge both John and Jesus; John they judged as having a demon and Jesus as a glutton and a drunkard. They based their judgment on the external actuations that they saw.

However, their judgment was misplaced and farthest from the truth. Those who judged Jesus and John should have first tried to know them first by becoming their followers but they never cared to follow, they instead quickly judged. Thus, they missed the opportunity of a lifetime to know John and Jesus.

Those who judge allow themselves to be controlled by their misplaced emotions. Those who judge usually end-up missing something worthy and beautiful from the person that they judge.     

There are times that I see married couples the husband is handsome but the wife is not beautiful and vise-versa. I usually tell myself, how come they ended-up in the altar of married life? The reason behind is simple, they never cared to judge based on what they saw on their future spouse. They instead delve deeper, thus they discovered how beautiful the character of the person they chose to be with for the rest of their lives.  

Are you quick to judge? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday December 11, Second Week of Advent; Matthew 11:11-15

Gospel: Matthew 11:11-15

(Jesus said to the crowds)  Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.

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Reflection:

What does John the Baptist brings to us? It’s his witness for Jesus and His teachings until the end. Like the Prophets before him, John gave his life so that evil would not triumph over good. In essence it was the devil against God. John chose God over the devil, John chose righteousness over evil and immorality.

For these reasons Jesus hailed John as the greatest amongst the prophets, yet Jesus tells us also that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Who is greater than John the Baptist? It’s Jesus Himself! Jesus came into this world not with power and might. Like John, Jesus was born into this world bereft of worldly opulence.

Somehow the gospel communicates to us that for us to become great in the eyes of Jesus we have to emulate John. His humble witness for Jesus, his uncompromising stand against evil and so forth. We must not forget also that Jesus is challenging us also to become the least in the eyes of the people of this world.

 It means that we must not crave for money, power or anything that this fleeting world will offer us. Nevertheless even without these worldly things we will strive to continue to make a positive difference in the lives of our fellowmen. For this is the life of Jesus when He walked on this earth.

Could we emulate the life of John? Are we capable of shunning the trappings of this world and still make a positive difference in the lives of our fellowmen just what Jesus did? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday December 10, Second Week of Advent; Matthew 11:28-30

Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus said to the crowds: “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.”

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Reflection:

Who among us are not feeling weary and burdened by the weight of the problems that we carry? We are all burdened by this world yet these burdens the we carry are miraculously made light. When we learn to submit it to Jesus and when we invite Jesus to help us carry it.

Why do we endure to carry the burden of someone we love or to suffer for someone we love? This is for the reason that we are already yoked or made one with this person that we love. For example, in married life if your spouse is sick you would endure and love to take care of your spouse.

This is for the reason that Jesus bonded the two of you to become one through the Sacrament of Matrimony.  Remember some words of your marriage vows? In sickness and in health you will not part until death!

If marriage made you one with your spouse, through your Baptism you became one with Jesus or you are already yoked with Jesus until eternity. Let us therefore always go to Jesus we who are all burdened by the difficulties of life for we will always find healing and strength in HIM.

Do you always go to Jesus by visiting Him in the Adoration Chapel? Do you always go to Jesus through Holy Mass? Do you always go to Jesus through your prayers? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday December 9, Second Week of Advent; Matthew 18:12-14

Gospel: Matthew 18:12-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

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Reflection:

Can we measure God’s love for us? No for God’s love is not bound by any kind of measurement or limited by time and space. God will continue to love us even if we are the most sinful person in this world.

The Parable of the lost sheep in our gospel is a showcase of this infinite love of God. Who is the man who looked for the lost sheep? He is our loving and merciful God! Who is the lost sheep that went astray?  It’s us we who are sinful and we who love sin more than God.

Nevertheless, even if we love to sin and even if we run away from the love of God. He is always there looking for us, always ready to forgive and forget all the sins that we have committed. Let us all be cognizant of this infinite love of God and let us also not be quick to judge our brothers and sisters who sin.

Instead of judging those who sin let us rather emulate God who looked for and reached-out to the lost sheep. Instead of judging let us help them get-up on their feet so that they could free themselves from the bondage of sin. There are sinners because no one is willing to reach-out to them, no one is willing to pay forward the infinite love of God.

Are we quick to judge those who sin? Do we care to reach-out to them so that they could feel the infinite love of God? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Manalangin po tayo...

Reflection for Sunday December 7, Second Sunday of Advent; Mark 8:1-8

Gospel: Mark 8:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.

He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

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Reflection:

What if John said that he is already the one and no one anymore is coming after him? John could have fooled a lot of people but John did not take advantage of his new found celebrity status. He instead fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s proclamation that he would prepare the way of the Lord.  

How did John prepared the way for Jesus? He called for renewal and repentance he coupled this with his humility, simplicity and not with judgment, arrogance and frivolity.  For these reasons, John was very successful in his mission of leading others to Jesus.

This gospel invites us also to reflect on how we lead others to Jesus, if at all we are doing something to lead others to Jesus. This is for the reason that we may have not done anything yet to lead others to Jesus.

How should we go about in leading our fellowmen to Jesus? In our own little way we should become another John in the environment where we are right now. This means that we must also do something to prepare the way of the Lord. This we could best do by our humility, simplicity and genuine worship for Jesus.

We can lead others to know Jesus by how we live. For example, if our friends have a limited knowledge of Jesus it may be through us that they would know Jesus deeply by how we live our faith. And it may be through us that they might have a personal encounter with Jesus.        

During this second Sunday of Advent let us ask ourselves these questions: Have I done something concrete to prepare the way of the Lord? Have I already led other to Jesus through my words and actions? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

PROTECT O DEAR LORD JESUS THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES AGAINST TYPHOON RUBI/HAGUPIT. SHIELD AND EMBRACE US WITH YOUR LOVE AND CARE. AMEN