Reflection for Wednesday December 7, Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church; Matthew 11:28-30

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:

There’s a story of a man who would always drink to kingdom come whenever he had problems. When he is drunk already he would disturb the peace of his family, he would verbally abuse his wife and his children and blame them for all their miseries.  Many fathers are like this! But what can they get from this temporal escape? They only further mire themselves with more problems until their problems takes control of them.

In our gospel for today Jesus gives us a foolproof invitation, HE tells us: “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 (Matthew 11:28-30).”

What are we going to do with this invitation? Of course we have to accept and open our lives to Jesus. If we would not accept and continue to keep out Jesus in our lives we would continue to be enslaved by this world. And when a person is a slave of this world he/she has no peace of mind and will be forever be burdened by the worries of this world.

Will you go to Jesus and allow Him to help you carry your life’s burdens? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday December 6, Second Week in Advent; Matthew 18:12-14

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 compare the love of Jesus with how we exercise our love for our fellowmen? No, we cannot compare because majority if not all of us love with preconditions and conditions  we love with limitations and we love only those who give us love. Jesus loves us without any preconditions, limitations and He loves us even if we don’t love Him in return.

We all know that Jesus is alluding about His infinite love for us when He told this story of the lost sheep.  By way of this story He is also telling us that His love for us is always there no matter how sinful we are and no matter who we are.

As we follow Jesus we must also ask Him to deepen our faith and to erase our preconditions and conditions when we love. For example, if before we could only love those who give us love, now that we have become mature followers of Jesus. We will love even those who do not give us love and those people who do not love us anymore.

To love even those who do not love us and those who hurt us is very hard to do. But if we really are sincere in following Jesus we would be able to love them. And we would search for them until we find them and forgive them without any precondition.

Let us look for those who went astray, let us forgive and give them the unconditional love of Jesus. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Monday December 5, Second Week in Advent; Luke 5:17-26

Luke 5:17-26

One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–he said to the one who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.

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Reflection:

Do you always ask Jesus to increase your faith?

We all have our own set of sickness: physical and emotional sickness. Whatever sickness that we may have Jesus can cure it all, all He ask from us is to have faith.  The same faith as the four men who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus.

We always have to remember that nothing is impossible for Jesus. He can make all things possible including the impossible! What He only asks from us is to have faith, faith that endures and faith that is willing to wait.

The four men and the paralyzed man had that enduring faith. They braved the crowd and the difficulties before them so that they could go through Jesus. How many of us have that kind of faith?

We therefore must not forget to always ask the Good Lord to increase our faith for the simple reason that we are feeble and weak. In this difficult and tortuose jungle called life there are times that we tend to be overtaken by our own set of life challenges.       

Prayer:

Dear God we ask you to increase our faith, we are weak and susceptible to the challenges of life. We know that you are always there for us ever ready to help us conquer our challenges. Give us the same faith of the four men who brought the paralytic to you. Give us the same patience and endurance of the paralytic as well.

We ask this in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus. Amen. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

1Reflection for Sunday December 4, Second Sunday of Advent; Matthew 3:1-12

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

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Reflection:

A mother who had a wayward son would always plead him to change his ways and repent from his sinfulness. However, the son would always turn a deaf ear to her mother’s pleadings.  The mother eventually died without seeing her son’s repentance.  After a few years the son also died brought about by his living a life of sin.

This story is perhaps the story also of people who lead sinful lives. There would always be someone who would call their attention to change for the better to move forward and leave behind their sinfulness. Some would listen and change some would be so stubborn that they would not heed the call. They will instead continue to live their lives according to how they want it to be: to live it in sin until the very end.

During the time of John the Baptist he called also for repentance because the people of Judea were living in sin. John was a Prophet who lived his life in utter simplicity and humility. He wore clothing made of camel’s hair his food was locust and wild honey.

Many listened to his call because he was worthy of his advocacy, he showed the people of his time that he was walking his talk; he lived according to what he was preaching.

We can endlessly preach repentance to our fellowmen but if we do not live what we preach, if we do not walk what we talk nobody would listen to us. That’s what separate John the Baptist from us, he was a worthy herald for Jesus simply because he walked his talk. He supported his call of repentance by living it and by shunning the trappings and comforts of his world.

This second week of Advent let us have a reflective self-examination of ourselves: have we called for repentance to people who are within our circle of influence?  

Are we living the life of John the Baptist: his life of simplicity and his life of humility? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday December 3, Saint Francis Xavier, Priest; Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8

Matthew  9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,  The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

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Reflection:

What is your fulfilment in life?

To amass wealth and to have power is already a fulfillment for many of us. Some even make it their life’s mission but this is not our fulfilment neither this is our life’s mission. True fulfillment and true mission in life is when we make a positive difference in the lives of our fellowmen. We become this when we are able to share and introduce Jesus to our fellowmen. 

When Jesus summoned His twelve disciples He did not instruct them to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and make money out of them. He rather told them: “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons.” In other words make a big difference in their lives without expecting anything in return.

Material things come and go but the help that we make in the lives of our fellowmen creates a lasting impact that they will forever remember. However, some of us will say: “Life is hard right now, how can I help when I have barely enough for me?”

We must not restrict the word help with money or anything that is material. For the reason that we can give help even without using money. For example, we can share Jesus, we can listen to emotional burdens and we can always share the gentleness and love of God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Friday December 2, First Week in Advent; Matthew 9:27-31

Gospel: Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!” When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

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Reflection:

What causes spiritual blindness? It’s our love affair with this world, love affair means that we are overly concerned about how we look. We are overly concerned of the external impression of our fellowmen about us. And we are overly fixated with chasing material wealth, power and other worldly appendage. All of these cause our spiritual blindness.

In the gospel, we have two physically blind men who are not blind spiritually because recognized the presence of Jesus who was passing by them.  Thus, they shouted toward Jesus “Son of David, have pity on us!” And very  quckly Jesus did not disappoint them.

We must not allow this world to rob us of our spiritual vision for the simple reason that this is where we would discover the true essence and meaning of life. We have to understand that life is not about earthly riches, influence and so forth for what is the use of riches and influence if we don’t have Jesus in our lives?

The moment we decide to faithfully follow Jesus our spiritual blindness will be cured and we will see things differently very different from how we see it before. We would be able to discover that nothing matters in this world except the love and light of Jesus.

Jesus Himself said this: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday December 1, First Week in Advent; Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

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

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Reflection:

Who do you listen to in this world? Do you listen to Jesus and shutout what this world is trying to dictate upon you? When you always listen to Jesus you have an impregnable anchor that nobody can destroy. Even the strongest of calamities will not be able to destroy much less discourage you for the simple reason that you have Jesus in your life.

Often times we are defeated by our problems, worries and sickness because Jesus plays no role in our life. What rule our life are the many worldly attachments which only make our life in this world burdensome and heavy. So when we encounter trials many of us are not able to withstand it.

Indulgence with the pleasures of this world makes us fragile physically and emotionally; it could even make us suicidal. We will be left with nothing except emptiness which will quickly lead us to nothingness.

Try making Jesus the anchor of your life and you will see that not even the worst of problems can defeat you or bring you down. Even the worst sickness will not be able to conquer you it may conquer your physical being but your spiritual being will remain strong.  And this is for the reason that Jesus is the rock solid foundation of your life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday November 30, Saint Andrew, Apostle; Matthew 4:18-22

Gospel: Matthew 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

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Reflection:

Are you ready to respond to Jesus’ call?

Jesus called ordinary fishermen to help Him advance the gospel, ordinary folks just like you and me. What is striking  in the gospel reading is their immediate response to the call of Jesus. When Jesus called Peter and Andrew they immediately left their nets (their livelihood) and they both followed Jesus.

The same occurrence happened when Jesus called the brothers Zebedee and John. Upon hearing the call of Jesus they left their boat and their father to immediately become a follower. When we hear God’s call for us to serve Him through the daily events in our lives we must immediately decide to follow Him; we must not be indecisive.

Let us take a closer look at the gospel for today because this is for us also. The four of them were ordinary fishermen, they were expert with their craft but they have no formal education about the faith. 

What does this mean to us? This simply means that a formal education about the faith is not a requirement to become an effective follower. What is important is the desire and willingness to respond to Jesus. For as long as we are ready to respond we all can have a humble role in the mission of Jesus. 

Let us not worry if we have no formal education about our faith because this is not the requirement of Jesus. What Jesus wants from us first is for us to be sensitive to His call, this is perhaps the first requirement sensitivity to His call. 

Jesus is always calling us to follow Him every second, every minute and hour that pass by. Let us be sensitive to this call of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Tuesday November 29, First Week in Advent; Luke 10:21-24

Luke 10:21-24

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

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Reflection:

Communication is an essential part to a successful marriage. The more communication time a married couple has the better that they would understand each other. Thus, communication facilitates smooth relationship and intimacy.

Jesus in our gospel for today communicates through His prayer with our Father the creator. He gives praise to the Father, Jesus did not only communicate to the Father to give praise. He communicated because he longs for His Father and it’s through this longing that He builds deeper oneness with Him.  

We too must always have this longing or thirst for God in every moment of our lives. We must always communicate with Him for He is our lifeline in this world. What would happen to us if we would not have our regular prayer moments with God? We become empty shells that looks sturdy outside but deep inside is spiritually shallow. 

Let us always have our regular prayer moment with God in everyday of our lives. Let us give praise to Him let us thank Him for all of the blessings that He has been giving us. Let us not wait for the time to come wherein we will look for God because we are already in dire need of Him.

Do you have your regular moment with Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Monday November 28, First Week in Advent; Matthew 8:5-11

Matthew 8:5-11

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.

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Reflection:

How deep is your faith in Jesus?

Aside from learning about the centurion’s deep faith in God what else do we learn from our gospel today? We learn how to deeply care and be concerned for our fellowmen no matter who they may be and regardless of their standing in our society.

The centurion is not an ordinary soldier he is an officer but he was very concerned of his servant that he went to Jesus with faith and asked for His healing. Considering his stature the centurion could have simply sent some of his underlings to Jesus. But he went personally to Jesus it speaks volumes of his goodness.

How many of us are caring enough for those who are lowly and poor; they are both neglected people of our society. How many of us truly care for our servants? Would we still care for your servant even if they cannot serve you anymore?  

On this Advent season perhaps Jesus is inviting our attention thru this gospel reading to take a closer look on the plight of the less fortunate: the poor, the servants. They’re everywhere and they badly need our help.

Who are the servants and poor that needs our love and care? They may be our poor siblings, our neighbor, our neglected children and parents or any nameless individual who is in need of our help. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Sunday November 27, First Sunday of Advent; Matthew 24:37-44

Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

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Reflection: 

What does it mean to stay awake? It means to always be ready for anything that may come to us. Does this mean that when we are ready we would be able to handle whatever that may come to us?

For example a tragedy in the family, would we be able to handle it? Yes and no. Yes we would be able to handle it if we always have a connection with Jesus. No, we may not be able to handle it if we are not connected with Jesus.  

Today is the first Sunday of advent, advent means arrival or coming of somebody who is important and this is none other than Jesus. We therefore have to be prepared for His coming by intensifying our relationship with Him. We have to steer away from anything that would make us sin, we have to listen more to Jesus than to this world. 

If this world dictates us that we have to be materially prepared for the coming birth of Jesus.  Jesus is asking us to be more spiritually prepared by repenting from all forms of sinfulness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, by reconciling ourselves with those whom we have offended and so forth. For what good it will do us if we are materially prepared yet we are spiritually unprepared?

When we go to the malls we would see the heightened worldly preparation for the coming birth of the Lord. New gadgets are on sale, other material things are also there to entice us to buy it. The best Christmas lights and decoration will also be present to capture our attention.

 However, Jesus is telling us that we have to stay awake by not allowing ourselves to be deceived by the commercialization of HIS season. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday November 26, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 21:34-36

Luke 21:34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.

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Reflection:
Do you easily yield to temptations?

We are always vulnerable to the many temptations of this world. The temptation of the flesh, the temptation of money and many more secular temptations that will take us away little by little from God’s loving embrace.

What is the cure to these many temptations? We must always be connected with God by having an active relationship with Him. Active relationship means that we attend the Celebration of the Holy Mass, we read the scriptures and we translate this to a faith that is lived daily. This is the only way for us to avoid the many temptations of this secular world.

But majority of us do not take this seriously for we love the trappings of this world more than the intimacy that God constantly offers us.  Thus, we often times give-up the faith based values that was taught to us by the church.

After our life on this world comes to a close we will stand before God and He will ask us if we’ve been faithful to Him. Many of us will not be able to speak before God for we’ve failed Him. Let us not wait for the fearful day to happen. While there is still time let us mend our ways and tread the correct path that God is offering us.

Let us always bear in mind that there will be a day of reckoning which will happen anytime. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday November 25, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 21:29-33

Luke 21:29-33

Jesus told his disciples a parable. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

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Reflection:

Are we aware that God is always manifesting Himself to us?

God uses creative ways for us to be aware of His presence: sometimes He comes to us through a friend who will share His words to us. He comes to us through events or even accidents in our lives. And there are many more ingenious manifestations of God in our lives for this is His desire: to introduce Himself to us. 

 But how do we react with these manifestations of God? Oftentimes this is ignored by us for the reason that we are so enamoured with what the world offers us such as: Wealth, Power, Treasures and the like. We therefore fail to discern that it was God because we have already been enslaved by this world.   

Then we get seriously sick that we are a few steps from death’s doorway and here we are cramming to know God. Here we are making amends with those whom we’ve hurt. And here we are trying our best to straighten our way of life.

Why wait for that time? Why not listen and get closer NOW with GOD while we are in the pink of health? Why not get close with God now? Why not reach-out and humble ourselves with those whom we have offended? Why not leave behind any form of sinfulness right now? – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Thursday November 24, Saint Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs; Luke 21:20-28

Luke 21:20-28

Jesus said to his disciples: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city, for these days are the time of punishment when all the Scriptures are fulfilled. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.

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Reflection:

What makes you afraid? Are you afraid of problems and trials that may come your way?

Jesus talks about a very frightening scenario in the gospel. But at the same time at the end He also tells us that there shall be redemption. We also have our own share of frightening scenarios in our lives. Problems, trials, persecution and so forth and these will test also our faithfulness to God.

Let us continue to steadfastly hold-on, let us not let go of God no matter how hard our trials may be. For at the end there shall be redemption for us also. If we have God nobody could bring us down not even the severest problem and persecution.

However, there are times that we give-up but what many of us don’t know is problems and trials are part and parcel of our daily life. All of us have problems and trials that we go through and we don’t encounter these difficulties to defeat us. We encounter these trials/problems so that it could strengthen us and if we handle it properly we will come-out of it a much better and stronger person.

Let us not allow our trials and problems to weaken us. For the simple reason that there is always hope for as long as we continue to have faith in Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas