Jesus
said to them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty
deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago
have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum,
‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ Whoever
listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever
rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
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Reflection:
Do you
listen to Jesus’ call of repentance?
Repentance is a perpetual call from Jesus and
we must listen to Him. What will happen if we will not listen? There would be punishment and it will not
certainly come from God; punishment will originate from the outcome of our
sinfulness.
For
example a woman who had been advised by her relatives to stop her adulterous
affair. Instead of listening to her relative’s admonition he persisted.
Eventually they were caught by their respected spouses; you can just imagine
the punishment that they'll receive.
There’s a
lot more examples of those who did not listen, so they received their deserved
punishment. Punishment which did not come from God, It originated from their
stubbornness and refusal to heed God’s call of repentance.
So why
not repent and listen to the voice of God who always calls us every minute of
the day to change our ways for the better? Are we not afraid of the punishment
that is surely forthcoming?
In the
church true repentance happens when we humbly submit ourselves to the Sacrament
of Confession. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus saw
Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There
is no duplicity in him.”Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig
tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King
of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you
that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And
he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the
angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
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Reflection:
Do you
believe that Jesus knows you very well? Many will not believe but the truth of
the matter is Jesus knows each and everyone of us very well. What we are
thinking right now Jesus knows about it also!
If Jesus knows everything about us why is it
that he doesn’t intervene whenever we are in the verge of committing sin? This is for the reason that God gave us the
freewill or the freedom of choice to do what we want to do.
However
the moment we strive to get closer to Jesus. For example we religiously attend
Holy Mass. We spend time to read the Holy Bible and practice His teachings, we
surely would feel the movement of Jesus in our lives. We therefore invite Jesus
to take an active part in our life when we strive to get close to Him.
In the
gospel Nathanael was surprised that Jesus knew him in advance. But looking at
the life of Nathanael it comes without surprise that Jesus knew him beforehand.
This is for the reason that Nathanael was also a man who was quietly seeking
and thinking about God.
Do you
want to feel the intervention of Jesus in your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
As Jesus
and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I
will follow you wherever you go.”Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds
of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to
another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury
my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and
proclaim the Kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but
first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one
who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the
Kingdom of God.”
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Reflection:
How do
you follow the Lord inside the Sacrament of Matrimony? You follow the Lord by
being faithful to your marriage vows. We know for a fact that the priest who marries
the husband and wife does it in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore the two
persons becomes one through the Sacrament of Matrimony courtesy of
Jesus.
However,
no marriage is made in heaven, every marriage goes through the fire of trials
and tribulations. But if both spouses are serious in following the Lord through
the Sacrament of Matrimony. Both spouses should always find it in their hearts
to forgive whatever offenses that was committed against them.
This
simply means that there should always be a sacred room for forgiveness in the
heart of hearts of married couples. This is for the reason that married couples
are not perfect, in fact both are flawed individuals united by Jesus in the
Sacrament of Matrimony.
Therefore,
forgiveness must be one of those select requirements for both husband and wife
if they want to follow the Lord. But forgiveness doesn’t come cheap, it comes
with a very high price tag.
However, if the Lord is present their union
and if both spouses are serious in their desire to follow the Lord. There would
always be love, forgiveness and humility until they breathe their last. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
When the
days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to
journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they
entered a Samaritan village to
prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the
destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw
this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume
them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them,
and they
journeyed to another village.
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Reflection:
Would you open the door of your house for Jesus?
The
Samaritans did not welcome Jesus because they did not know Him well. If only
they knew Him they would have welcomed Him even if He was going to Jerusalem.
But they did not know Him that’s why they refused to be hospitable to Him.
There are
some problematic individuals who decide to end their life by way of committing
suicide. Why? Because they do not know Jesus, if only they know Jesus they
would have not ended their lives.
We miss
so many blessings when we do not fully know Jesus. For example, the blessing of
hope, the blessing of love, the blessing of understanding and a lot more. These
are but a few of the many blessings that we miss once we do not know Jesus that
well.
But how
would we know Jesus? We must read our bible most especially the first four
books of the New Testament. We must often be present in the celebration of the
Eucharist or Holy Mass most especially
during Sundays. If we do it, slowly but surely our eyes will be opened to the
friendship of Jesus.
But how
about those who do not Jesus? How would they know Jesus? We have to share Jesus
and we have to live His teachings so that through us they will know Jesus. To
know Jesus is still not enough we have to share Him and we have to live what we
know about Him.
Do you
want to live a more meaningful life? If
your answer is yes, you therefore have to share and live Jesus. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
An
argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus
realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his
side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and
whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least
among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”
Then John
said in reply, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we
tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.” Jesus said to
him, “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”
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+ +
Reflection:
Who is
the greatest? It’s the humble one, the one who is always willing to serve us,
always willing to be with us. We may not know it but Jesus has been serving us
since time immemorial. He is in the person of the priest during the Sacrament
of Reconciliation forgiving us of our sins.
He is
always present in the Eucharistic or Holy Mass celebration humbly giving His
Body and Blood to nourish our body and our soul. He is the greatest treasure
that we can ever have! But His greatness is a paradox to some of us because we
measure greatness by our earthly standards.
Such as
greatness thru power and influence this is mostly fueled by political power,
position in government and in the private sector and the size of our bank
account. But this greatness is passing and temporary; the time will come that
this shall pass us and we shall be forgotten.
Jesus is
the personification of true greatness: His humility, His self-sacrifice and His
refusal to wield power for His own self interest. This greatness of Jesus is
usually unheard in this world nevertheless we should emulate the greatness of
Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus said to the
Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and
dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus,
covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that
fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When
the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The
rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in
torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And
he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of
his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these
flames.' Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good
during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he
is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a
great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go
from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ He said, ‘Then I beg you,
father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may
warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied,
‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ He said, ‘Oh no,
father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. ’Then
Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’
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Reflection:
A man who did not
believe in God and in the afterlife wantonly wasted his life by living a life
of sinful pleasures. It was always a
life of immoral satisfaction for him: drugs, sex, and other sinful things, in
other words he had no time for God. This became his life because he did not
believe in the existence of the afterlife much less God.
Is there really an
afterlife or a life which will immediately replace our present life after our
life in this world is over and done with already? The answer is a resounding
yes! The gospel shows us that there is an afterlife which is very different
from the life that we have today. There in the afterlife exist two kingdoms:
the kingdom of God and the kingdom of hell where the devil and his minions
dwell.
In the gospel, we
see the characters of the unnamed rich and indifferent man and the poor man
named Lazarus. The rich man perhaps did not believe in the afterlife or was
not aware that there is an afterlife that’s why he did not mind the poor man
Lazarus who was in dire need of his help. He nonchalantly ignored Lazarus as if
the poor man did not exist.
When both of them
died there was a reversal of places: The poor man Lazarus who endured a
difficult life when he was still alive was in the kingdom of God and the rich
man who savored earthly life was in the dark kingdom of the devil.
Why was there a
reversal of places? Because the rich man was indifferent to the crying need of
the poor man Lazarus. If he only knew that Lazarus was very close to God. If he only knew that Lazarus could have been God in disguise. The
lesson for us is very simple, we should not ignore the crying need of the poor
and we should always be sensitive to their plight.
What do you do when
you encounter the poor? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
While
they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, “Pay
attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to
men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about
this saying.
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Reflection:
When
Jesus told His disciples that he was to be handed over to men they were not
able to comprehend it. Why? Because at that time Jesus was doing miracles left
and right. And perhaps they were asking themselves, how could this be possible
that this miracle man will be handed over to authorities and afterwards suffer?
The
disciples were oblivious because they did not fully know His mission.
Otherwise, if they kn0w, they would have understood this pronouncements of
Jesus. The moment we decide to follow
Jesus we must prepare ourselves for the sufferings that we have to go through.
Because
we cannot separate Jesus with sufferings, to follow Jesus is to suffer also.
However, there are people who will say, simply follow Jesus and you will have a
problem free life. This is farthest from the truth because everyone of us who
truly follow Jesus will have our own share of sufferings and tribulations.
But let
us not bedevil ourselves with the thought of these sufferings because Jesus
will not give us trials that we can’t handle. We simply have to have faith in
Jesus and that is more than enough to conquer our sufferings. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Once when
Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist;
others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then
he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The
Christ of God.” He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said,
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief
priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
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Reflection:
Do you
live the teachings of Jesus?
When
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” they were unsure,
some said that He was John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of
the ancient prophets has arisen. Then He said to them, “But who do you say that
I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
If Jesus
will ask us, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” I don’t know if we will be able
to answer at all. Because unlike the disciples who walked and lived with Jesus
and who shared and preached the word of God. We may not have preached and
shared Him it yet.
What if
He will also say to us, “But who do you say that I am?” Would we be able to
reply like Peter who said with conviction, “The Christ of God.”
These are
two simple questions from Jesus that invites us to examine if we have a personal
relationship with Him. If we don’t have it yet let us implore the guidance of
the Holy Spirit who is ever ready to bring us closer to Jesus. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
Herod the
tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed
because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were
saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has
arisen.” But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear
such things?” And he kept trying to see him.
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Reflection:
Are you
sometimes being haunted by a wrong which you’ve done in the past?
The
wrongs that we’ve done will continue to haunt us for so long as there is no
closure to it. It happened to Herod the tetrarch when he ordered his soldiers
to kill John at the behest of the woman who lustfully danced in front of them.
We need
to be careful of the actions/decisions that we make in our lives. Impulsive or
spur of the moment decisions are usually wrong. Like when Herod to impress his
friends impulsively decided to kill John.
These
thoughtless decisions that we’ve made or we’ll make in the future will bother
us, in will constantly pop in our minds until we do something to close it. So
what is the cure to this dilemma?
We have
to seek closure, if we have to walk an extra mile for us to obtain closure so
be it. We obtain closure by making amends with the person concerned. Or a much
better avenue to erase our guilt of conscience is to humbly submit ourselves to
the Sacrament of Confession.
By the
way, when was your last Confession? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
As Jesus
passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to
him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his
house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his
disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your
teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those
who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning
of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the
righteous but sinners.”
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+ +
Reflection:
Does
Jesus have a soft spot for sinners? Yes Jesus has a soft spot for all of us:
sinners. For example in our gospel HE called a tax collector and a sinful man named
Matthew. After calling Matthew Jesus went to his house to dine with tax
collectors and sinners.
All of us
are sinners and Jesus is continuously calling upon us to leave behind for good
our sinfulness and follow HIM. The gravity of our sins are not anymore
important for Jesus what is important for HIM is we respond to HIS call same as
how Matthew in our gospel responded.
Perhaps
we may ask, why is Jesus calling us to follow HIM? Among many other reasons
Jesus wants us to be freed from the bondage of sin; HE wants us to be
enlightened by HIS grace. And Jesus wants to save us from going to the kingdom
of the devil. These are reasons why HE calls us to follow HIM.
Your life
will never be the same again once you accept this offer of Jesus. There will be
healing in your family; you will now become averse to commit any form of sin and
you will be freed from its bondage. Are
you not tired of sinning? Are you not tired of a life without peace and
contentment?
Why not
try to respond and see for yourself the miracle and healing that Jesus will bring
into your life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
The
mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him
because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing
outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my
brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
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Reflection:
Do you
consider yourself as a relative of Jesus?
Very
clearly Jesus tells us that we could only be called His relatives if we hear
His word and act on it. What if we don’t hear His word and don’t act on it?
Does this mean that we are not anymore related to Jesus?
For example, if you have a wayward relative
who doesn’t listen to your advices. Would you treat him as not your relative
anymore? Will you condemn him to eternal damnation? Of course not!
Jesus
said this statement, (My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of
God and act on it). To convey a message to the crowd and to us too that we must
at all times abide by His teachings.
But human
as we are, we sometimes wander away and we sin thus we distance ourselves from
Jesus. However the tie that binds is still there, Jesus still pines for us. He
patiently looks for us and eager to bring us closer to Him so that He could
embrace us once again.
If you
are a sinner (as we all are) remember that you are still very much loved by
Jesus notwithstanding your many sins. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus
said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets
it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may
see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and
nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care, then, how
you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even
what he seems to have will be taken away.”
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+ +
Reflection:
Do you
sometimes put a facade of who you truly are or do you sometimes live a double
life?
We cannot
hide our real identity no matter how hard we try to hide it for there will
eventually come a time that we shall be unmasked. For example, we pretend that
we are good but deep inside we are not.
Our
pretension will work to a certain extent we may even fool our fellowmen with
our pretensions. However, there shall come a time that we will be unmasked no
matter how hard we try to conceal our true identity.
In the
gospel Jesus tells us: There is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and
nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Indeed no secret is
kept secret forever and every facade that we put forward will eventually be
exposed.
No secret
last forever most especially dark and hideous secrets, therefore it’s better to
be transparent and to show who we really are. If we have dark secrets let us be
honest and after that let us move forward to live a new life worthy in the eyes
of the Good Lord. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus said to his
disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering
his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What
is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because
you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I
do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not
strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when
I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He
called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my
master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here
is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to
another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One
hundred kors of wheat.’ The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note;
write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for
acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing
with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make
friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will
be welcomed into eternal dwellings.The person who is trustworthy in very small
matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in
very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not
trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs
to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise
the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
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Reflection:
Do you recognize
that what you have right now like money, power, earthly wealth and the like is
not actually yours? Many of us are acting like everything that we have we
earned by the sweat of our brow. So, we get to selfish with what we have we
cling to it as if our life hinges upon it.
We fail to realize
that we are simply stewards of what we own in this world. We fail to realize
that at God’s appointed time we will be accounting for everything that we’ve
owned in this world.
And during that time
the dear Lord will ask us: “What have
you done to the things that I’ve entrusted you? Such as your talent, your
wealth, your time and even your life.” Did you only use it to advance your own
selfish agenda in this world?
The steward in our
gospel failed miserably in his assigned task to properly take care of the
wealth that was entrusted to him by his master. Therefore everything that was entrusted to him
was taken back by his master, the rich man.
We to are merely
stewards of what we have right now, we did not earn it by ourselves. God’s
invisible hand helped us to earn what we have right now.
Yet, many of us are
acting as if we earned it all, so many of us become worshipper of the God
called greed and we purposely don’t share and we don’t help even if we have the
means to do so. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
Then his disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. He answered, “Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.
“This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation. As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.”
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Reflection:
What is the essence of life if it’s not lived within the love of God? A meaningful life is always a life lived within the ambit of the love of God. If we live life outside of the ambit of God’s love life automatically becomes meaningless. Even if we have all the material wealth if we have no God life is still without meaning.
Jesus gives us a parable about the seeds that fell on four different surfaces. The first three surfaces were empty of the presence of God therefore the seeds that fell on these surfaces eventually died.
The fourth surface or soil is the perfect one because it is the good and productive soil. Don’t we also want to be connected with this productive soil? When we are connected with this good soil everyone who will know and come across our life will be enlightened as well and will be a channel of enlightenment for others.
We can only become good and productive citizens of this world if we will always be in touch with Jesus. Which is actually no other than the good soil which everyone of us should strive to be connected.
For without connection to the giver of the real meaning of life we wouldn’t be able to grow in wisdom. And we certainly will not become productive citizens of this temporal world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
