Reflection for May 20, Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 17:11b-19

Gospel: John 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them so that they also may be consecrated in truth.

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Reflection:

A husband and wife wanted to adhere to the teachings of the church that marriage is for life. So they thought of ways on how they would go about it. In their reflection they thought of making prayer as an agent that would bind them together until they breathe their last in this world. To make a long story short they made prayer part of their married life. Thus they remained married until the end.

As Jesus was about to be arrested, He prayed to God for His disciples. That they may continually be united as one in their mission, united for the reason that they would not succeed without unity.  Isn’t this true also inside a family or married life? A family needs unity for it to succeed, what is the fruit of unity inside the family/marriage? The fruits are: Humility, Honesty, Forgiveness and many more positive attributes.

Every family/marriage that succeeds spiritually is a praying family and a praying family is a united family. Let us therefore not devalue the powerful miracle of prayer inside the family by not prioritizing prayer inside the family. This is for the reason that a family that prays as one would remain united until the end.  

Is prayer already part of the culture of your family and marriage? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 19, Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 17:1-11a

Gospel: John 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.

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Reflection:

What is the usual method of our prayers? Is it spontaneous prayer or we follow a certain pattern when we pray? Whichever it is, what is important is we put our hearts in our prayers before God. For a prayer that connects to the heart of God is a prayer that originates from our hearts.

We read in our gospel for this Tuesday that Jesus is praying to His God His Father. It is a personal prayer for Himself and at the same time a prayer also for His disciples and the people that He dearly loved.

If Jesus prayed to God, we too ought to pray also to both of them. We pray for our personal petitions before them, for example prayers for strength to face our daily challenges. Prayers to lighten the loads that we carry, prayers for us not to store any form of hatred in our hearts and so forth.

When we pray we also unknowingly allow God to heal us because through our prayers we allow God to dwell in us. Notice that after we pray from our hearts where we don’t say a word yet we develop a connection with God. We feel light, we feel better and refreshed. Why? Because this is the miraculous effect of our prayers before God.

Let us beseech Jesus to heal us of anything that ails us. And let us beseech God to give us the gift of connection with Him and His Father whenever we pray. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 18, Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 16:29-33

Gospel: John 16:29-33

The Jesus said to His disciples, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God. Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

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Reflection:

A young man aimed for worldly riches and greatness in his chosen field of endeavour. By his hard work he was able to achieve his aim. He thought that it would be his crowning glory but he aimed for more riches. In doing so he had no peace and contentment, he became worldly and a creature of this world.

Jesus tells us in the gospel for this Monday, You will have peace in me, in this world you will have trouble (John 16:33). Many of us allow ourselves to be enslaved by this world up to this very moment. Until we get sick, until we are near death and the reason behind is we keep on chasing the temporal riches of this world. Which in reality will not give us peace and contentment.

Jesus offers us His peace. Peace that we cannot find in any part of this world. Let us wholeheartedly accept this. And we will begin to free ourselves from the possession of this world. In doing so, we will not be anymore concerned about others opinion toward us. It will not matter for us anymore because we already have the peace of Jesus in our hearts.

Do you want to have peace in your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday May 17, Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord; Mark 16:15-20

Gospel: Mark 16:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

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Reflection:

A soldier 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 so that they’ll grow-up to become responsible and God loving individuals.

The wife seriously followed the command of his husband. She taught their children the basic tenets of the faith, she introduced Jesus to them and she educated them about discipline good manners and values. After five years he came back. His children were all grown-up and he was so happy because they were all wonderfully brought-up by his wife.  

Before Jesus ascended onto heaven, He gave His disciples this marching order: “Proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) All the disciples lived to the hilt this command of Jesus. In fact majority of them were martyred for the sake of advancing the gospel of Jesus. 

The words of Jesus are like endless stream of water it flows with the passing of time and it speaks to us now so that we can respond to it. Have we shared and lived the gospel yet? Majority of us have not shared and lived it yet.

We therefore should share it because Jesus commands us to do so. We become a blessing for others when we share and live Jesus. We become more fruitful and useful followers of Jesus when we obey Him and when we help Him advance His teachings. And we allow Jesus to bless us more when we follow His marching orders. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 16, Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:23b-28

Gospel: John 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

“I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

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Reflection:

 How does it feel to be left behind by someone that you love and respect? It’s heartbreaking to say the least, as much as possible we don’t want to hear goodbyes. But goodbyes are real and part of life. But why is it that we don’t want to hear goodbyes and we don’t want to be separated from the person that we love? Because goodbyes and separations entails loneliness and sadness.

Perhaps the disciples were also feeling lonely and sad. Just imagine being there in that situation where Jesus was already saying His goodbyes to them. Surely we would be lonely and sad also. But unlike human goodbyes which is often times permanent and leaves us empty. Jesus’ goodbye was not permanent and Jesus goodbye to His disciples did not left His disciples empty.

Jesus assured His disciples that after He left them they could still invoke His name when they pray for something to the Father. And through His name they can have whatever they ask in prayer to the Father.

Everything is possible with Jesus if we have faith in Him. We can have whatever we want to have for as long as we ask Jesus help. The impossible becomes very much possible when we pray to God through Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 15, Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:20-23

Gospel: John 16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

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Reflection:

Are you afraid to go through suffering/s? We all are, as much as possible we don’t want sufferings in our lives. What we want is a suffering free life but suffering free life is not a possibility for believers of Jesus. For without it we would not be able to intensely feel the abiding presence of Jesus in our lives.

Jesus will help us conquer our sufferings for as long as we steadfastly hold on to Him. For example, if a person is suffering from a terminal sickness yet in spite of this sickness he/she continues to intensely hold on to his/her faith in Jesus. Through his/her steadfast faith Jesus will sooner or later deliver him/her from his/her suffering/s. This could happen through physical healing or mortal death.

In our gospel for this Friday, Jesus tells His disciples: You will weep and mourn (John 16:20). Jesus told them this for His hour of arrest, passion and death will soon come. Yet they will be joyful and triumphant after a period of time. Joy and triumph that nobody can take away from them. Joy and triumph which are brought about by Jesus resurrection and triumph over death.

What is important in life is we continue to steadfastly hold on to Jesus no matter how severe the trials that we may face. For there surely be triumph over our trials if we remain unwavering in our faith in Him.

Are you going through a trial in your life right now?  – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 14, Thursday Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle; John 15:9-17

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

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Reflection:

What is an ideal life in this world? It’s a life that is forever attached to the love of God. Without attachment to the love of God life would be empty, barren and meaningless. The love of God is the essence of life for we were not born to love this world. We came into this world to live and love God.   

Let us think about loving this world more than God and we only create emptiness in our lives we end up with nothing except emptiness. It’s a fact of life that everything that is in this world is temporary: wealth, power and the like. All of these we will leave behind or will eventually leave us, but the love of God will always be there for us.

What matters is the love of God nothing else but the love of God. It’s no brainer therefore why Jesus is telling us to remain in His love. For if we always remain in the love of God we would be able to hurdle. Whatever trials that may come our way and we would be able to conquer whatever fears that we may have even the fear of death.

Do you always desire to remain in the love of God? Or you sometimes discard the love of God in favor of your love for this world? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 13, Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:12-15

Gospel: John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

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Reflection:

Do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit dwelt in you when you were baptized. However not everyone of us have an awareness of the presence of God the Holy Spirit.

What is the impediment that prevents us from discerning the presence of God the Holy Spirit? It’s when we live our lives away from the teachings of the church. It’s when we create our own rules to follow instead of following the rules of the church.

 For example, the obligation of going to Holy Mass every Sunday. Many of us do not follow this Sunday obligation we instead follow our own self-created rule/s. This is the reason why we just go to Holy Mass when we feel like going. This kind of behavior prevents us from discerning the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Holy Spirit acts as our honest and true counsellor who will never dare tell us to distort the truth. In fact it will tell us to speak the truth no matter who gets hurt. It will forever counsel us to do good and not to do evil things. This is the reason why we are bothered by our conscience whenever we tell lies and do wrong. And this feeling will not fade away until we tell the truth and correct the wrong that we have committed.

Do you have an awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 12, Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:5-11

Gospel: John 16:5-11

Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

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Reflection:

Have you been through an episode in your life where you somehow feel that God has somewhat abandoned you? We all pass through this kind of experience perhaps not only once but many times over in our lifetime.

But God never leaves us for He is always with us. His presence within us is coursed through us by the Holy Spirit. Jesus through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is always with us. Thus, we have nothing to fear! For we know that through the Holy Spirit God is always with us, it’s in fact us who forget of His presence in us.

We only have to connect with God to discern His presence in us. We can do this by our prayers, presence at Holy Mass, by reading of the words of God in the bible, by spending time with Him in the adoration chapel, by our interaction with Him through the sacraments of the church.

In the gospel, Jesus is already saying His farewell to His disciples for he will soon be arrested. Yet He continuously assures them of His sacred presence in their lives. This presence is made manifest to them by the presence of the Holy Spirit who would be their helper and advocate in whatever way.

We are never alone for God through the Holy Spirit is always with us. The Holy Spirit is ever ready to lift us up whenever we are feeling down, unloved and neglected by the people of this world. We simply have to have an awareness of its presence in our lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 11, Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 15:26-16:4a

Gospel: John 15:26—16:4a

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

                                                          

“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”

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Reflection:               

What strengthens our resolve to continue to move on with our lives? It’s our connection with God and Jesus. Our prayerful connection to both God and Jesus inspires us and gives us hope whenever we are down and weary.

Through our connection with God and Jesus we are given the gift of discerning the presence of the advocate or helper within our midst. For this reason, we have to have regular connection with God and Jesus. For both of them are facilitators of the presence of the advocate within our lives.

In our  gospel Jesus mentions to the disciples the advocate whom He will send to them courtesy of His Father (John 15:26). The advocate will continue to inspire them to be steadfast in their mission no matter the difficulties that they may encounter. It will protect them from dangers and it will lead them to do what is right.

We too can have an awareness of the presence of the advocate if we are always connected with Jesus and God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 10, Sixth Sunday of Easter; John 15:9-17

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.

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Reflection:

Have you been in love? Many of us have fallen in love already and many have fallen out of love also. For those who are still in love up to this very day. Say for example to your spouse   no matter the hurts and pains. The love that you have in your heart is somewhat near to the love of God.

The love of God is a love that does not discriminate. It is a love that welcomes everyone who desires His love. It does not look at the physical attributes and the social standing of a person. Neither does it look at the moral fitness of the one that desires His love. For the love of God is a love that restores and heals.

In the gospel, Jesus commands us, “love one another as I love you (John 15:12).” Here lies the challenge for all of us because if God’s love is encompassing our love for our fellowmen should be encompassing also. We should be capable of loving even those who’ve hurt us and those who do not love us in return. If we truly love Jesus, we have no other choice but to love like Jesus.  

Today is Mother’s day, how does a mother loves? A mother’s love is like Jesus love for us because her love for her children is encompassing also. A Mother will love her child without pre- condition a mother will love her child no matter who the child may become someday.

How do you express your love? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 9, Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter; John 15:18-21

Gospel: John 15:18-21

Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

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Reflection:               

What does it mean to be hated by this world? We would be hated by this world if we would have the courage to go against the false teachings of this world. For example, if we would have the courage to say no to anything that is not good. Or if we suddenly have the enlightenment to say no to anyone who brings us nothing but worldliness.

There comes a point in our lives that we have to make a decision. Should we decide to take the side of God or follow this world and live a life away from God? The best decision is to follow God and discard anyone who brings us nothing but worldliness. This is for the reason that worldliness will bring nothing but emptiness in our lives.

Let us not be afraid to follow God, let us not be afraid to sacrifice this world for our love for God. For this is always the right decision to do. We can never go wrong with God and nobody has been misled by following God.  

If we choose to follow God over this world, we would experience something that we have not experienced before. And this is the guiding light  of God in our lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 8, Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter; John 15:12-17

Gospel: John 15:12-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

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Reflection:               

What will happen if the love of Jesus is present in the family? There would be no conflict, no arrogance, no dominant behavior and no misunderstanding. There would also be forgiveness and humility. All of these factors are present because of the presence of the love of Jesus.

Let us say that we take away the love of Jesus, surely we will have conflict inside the family. This is brought about by arrogance, domination, infidelity, lies and so forth.

When Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He loved them (John 15:12). He envisioned harmony, forgiveness, trust and everything that is good for His disciples.  This is for the reason that Jesus wanted His disciples to become successful in their mission of evangelization.

Jesus perfectly knew that without love that originates from Him the disciples will not become successful in their mission. Their efforts would simply be in vain because they will simply be pulling each others leg downward. And there would be jealousy and misunderstanding among His disciples. Therefore there would be failure of their mission of evangelization.

We too will not become successful in our mission for Jesus and we will not have harmony inside the family. Unless we learn to imbibe and live this love commandment of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 7, Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter; John 15:9-11

Gospel: John 15:9-11

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.”

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Reflection:               

How can we remain within the loop of God’s love? It’s by doing good all the time and by not going against the commandments of God (Exodus 20:1-17) (Matthew 22:36-40).  When we break the commandments we momentarily are cut-off from the love of God. Until such time that we repent for what we did.  In the church repentance is done by humbly submitting ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession.

It’s very important for us to remain in God’s love because this is the ideal life or perfect life so to speak. But there’s no ideal life for we are all imperfect beings created by a perfect God. So what should we do when we sin? We have to make amends immediately we have to humble ourselves before God and to the person that we have offended.

We could just imagine a life cut-off from the love of God or cut-off from the person that we love. What kind of life would it be? It’s a life without peace and tranquillity and a life open wide for the devil to create havoc.

Let us take advantage of this healing love of God, because this is always available for us. This is not something that God keeps away from us for us not to have it.

Who would not want peace and tranquillity in his/her life? We all want it certainly! Therefore we should try our very best to remain within the loop of God’s love. If we transgress it we should have the humility to ask for forgiveness from God and from the person that we have offended. – Marino J. Dasmarinas