Reflection for May 27, Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 10:32-45

Gospel: Mark 10:32-45

The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.” Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, ‘What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, ‘We can.” Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

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Reflection:

What ensures lasting marriage? It’s the willingness to sacrifice, the willingness to bear pain and suffering and the willingness to swallow our own pride and ego. After we have endured these trials lasting marriage would be at hand.

The two disciples namely James and John wanted to sit beside Jesus in His glory. It seems that both of them did not want to pass through what Jesus was about to go through. Both of them wanted the easy path towards glorification.

But the easy path is not the way of Jesus for the way of Jesus is the way of the cross. The way of humility, suffering and humiliation without it there would be no triumph over evil. Without it there would be no glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.

The same is true if we want to become true followers of Jesus. We also have to go through the way of Jesus before we could be bestowed by glory that Jesus alone can bestow upon us. .

Stay the course therefore no matter how filled with trials the journey with Him might be. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Tuesday May 26, Saint Philip Neri Priest; Mark 10:28-31

Gospel: Mark 10:28-31

Peter began to say to Jesus, ‘We have given up everything and followed you. Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.

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Reflection:

A young man was asking for the heart of his beloved. The beloved said to him you have to give up your vices most especially your smoking and drinking. The young man acceded; from then on never did he smoke and drink any alcohol. After a few months they end up in the altar of God to become one.  

When we give up something for someone we dearly love we could be assured of something more worthy. Something that would somehow complete us, this may not make us happy immediately. But certainly something beautiful will come out of it in lieu of what we gave up.  

If we give up even a portion of our worldly life for Jesus we could expect something in return from Jesus. It may not be material riches or worldly power but we will certainly receive something in return.

 It may be peace of mind which has eluded us for the longest time. It could be good health or anything that cannot be measured and seen by our naked eye. Yet certainly be felt by our hearts.

When Jesus asks us of something to give up for Him we should hurry to obey and follow. We should never think twice, we should give it up immediately like a child jumping with reckless abandon to his father’s arms.

What are you willing to give up for Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for March 4, Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 10:17-27

Gospel: Mark 10:17-27

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”  Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God! The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

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Reflection:

Who is this man in the gospel who walked away from his desire to follow Jesus in favor of his treasures? We don’t know but we could compare the attitude of this wealthy man to our own attitude when it comes to wealth.

Many of us can’t give away our wealth so that it may serve its real purpose none other than to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. When the wealthy man walked away from Jesus he allowed himself to be possessed by his love for his wealth. He was already at the threshold of the real meaning of life yet he still chose to be possessed by the false meaning of life which is accumulation and possession of wealth and power.

Many of us including our politicians allow ourselves to be possessed by this false meaning of life. Which in the end will only serve as our downfall and we become the object of ridicule because we allowed ourselves to be possessed by our greed for wealth and power.

What will it do us if we have wealth yet we don’t have peace of mind? What would wealth bring to our lives if we don’t have God? Nothing but false sense of security, nothing but a life devoid of meaning and a life of emptiness. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 23, Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 21:20-25

Gospel: John 21:20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you? When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him? Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me. So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not die just “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?

It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did but if these were to be described individually I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.

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Reflection:

Are you sometimes to inquisitive about the things that does not even concern you? Peter in our gospel is like that, too curious about things that do not even concern him. Why did Peter ask about the beloved disciple?

We don’t know what was going on in peter’s mind when he asked about  John the beloved disciple of Jesus. But one thing was sure during that time: Peter was not paying attention to the instruction of Jesus to follow Him.

If we decide to follow Jesus, let us not be nosy about the lives of others in the parish. Or even the lives of our neighbors, let us rather focus on our very own life or family. Many troubles start from our being meddlesome with the lives of others. Misunderstanding and quarrels may start from it.

Therefore, let us focus solely on our own lives. Let others live their own lives in peace without us meddling or gossiping. Instead of wasting our time meddling or talking about the lives of others which bring us no good.

Let us use our time and energy on thinking of how we could further improve our  personal lives. On thinking of ways on how we could focus more on our desire to silently follow Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas       

Reflection for May 22, Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 21:15-19

Gospel: John 21:15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs. He then said to Simon Peter a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time “Do you love me?” and he said to him “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, Follow me.

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Reflection:

Do you love me? Jesus asked Simon Peter three times this question. How deep is your love for Jesus? Would you be willing to handle the responsibility that He will be giving you? Love is not love unless you’re willing to sacrifice something, unless you’re willing to handle a responsibility to prove that love.

Simon Peter failed in His test of love for Jesus when he denied Jesus three times. He could have stood for Jesus but Peter was afraid to lose his life, Peter was afraid to sacrifice his very life for Jesus. That’s why he denied Jesus three times. At that moment when Simon Peter denied Jesus Peter gave more importance to his own survival than his love for his Lord and Master.

However, even if Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus still profoundly loved him. Jesus knew of the human frailties of Peter, Jesus knew that when the going gets tough Peter would deny Him. Yet He still loved Peter, Peter's denial of Jesus did not diminish Jesus love for him. This is the reason why at the end of the gospel Jesus called Peter to follow Him.

How many times have we denied Jesus through the countless sins that we have committed? Yet in spite of these sins Jesus still loves us so much. That He is willing to forget the countless betrayals that we have done to Him. Thus He will never get tired of calling us to follow Him. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 21, Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 17:20-26

Gospel: John 17:20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one that the world may know that you sent me and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you but I know you, and they know that you sent me I made known to them your name and I will make it known that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.

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Reflection:

A woman engaged herself to caring for the poor of her community. She did this out of her concern for them, funds were hard to come by at times. Yet she was able to feed and nourish them because she believed that Jesus would always be there for them.

We can always lean on Jesus no matter who we are. He is always there to help us and He will always be there to bring our prayers to God. Jesus loves us so much that He gave His very life for us on the cross. By doing so Jesus completed the mission that was given to Him by God. For our sake God gave the life of His only begotten son.

God is never absent in our lives no matter who we are and no matter what we have done. He is always there ever ready to listen to us. God manifested Himself to us through Jesus so that we could reach out to Him. This is the reason why we should not think twice of calling for His help anytime.

Yet there is also a responsibility that rest on our shoulders. And this responsibility is to pay forward this infinite love of God. Our faith in God is never complete and it will never grow and mature unless we learn to share it. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

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