Reflection for Saturday April 21; Third Week of Easter: John 6:60-69

Gospel: John 6:60-69

Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

+ + + + +  + +

Reflection:

How is your faith in Jesus right now? Is it as solid as a rock or weak as a sand castle?

After extensively telling His followers that He is the Bread of Life and anyone that drinks His blood and eats His bread would never anymore thirst or hunger. It was now time to weigh up their faith on Jesus. Unfortunately many did not believe the Bread of Life discourse of Jesus. So they went back to their old life, therefore they disconnected themselves from actively following Jesus.

If we are made to choose between Jesus and the frills of this world. Many of us would also choose to be with this world rather than to be with Jesus. Why? What does this world offer us that we love it more than we love our God? This world offers us temporal power, wealth, influence and the like.

Why is it that many of us have chosen to embrace worldliness? Perhaps we have not yet experienced the power of Jesus in our lives. Otherwise if we have already felt the power of God in our lives. We would surely leave behind all forms of worldliness and sin for God.

Would it be possible to have the best of both sides (We follow God and we follow also this world). No, we have to choose which one we want to embrace. It’s either we embrace this  temporal world or we embrace our everlasting God. The righteous choice is always to be with God and never to be with this world.

What would it benefit you if you gain all the power and riches of this temporal world yet you don’t have the love of God?  Nothing except emptiness which surely will eventually lead you only to nothingness and depression. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday April 20; Third Week of Easter: John 6:52-59

Gospel: John 6:52-59

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

+ + + + + + +       

Reflection:

Are you a regular Sunday Mass goer or even a daily Mass goer? How do you feel if you fail to be at Holy Mass? Do you feel that something is lacking in your system of being? If your answer is yes, you have this feeling not because you miss a routinary activity.

Truth be told, you have this feeling because you miss to be with Jesus. And you miss to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus which (you may not know) is the source of your every Sunday or daily nourishment. 

How many times have you been to Holy Mass without paying attention to what’s going on during the celebration? Perhaps countless times already, what do you do after noticing that your attention was not in the Mass? Do you say sorry to Jesus and then make it a point to be attentive the next time?

In every Holy Mass that you attend you should see to it that your full attention is in the celebration. So that when the part comes that you are about to partake of His body your focus is centered on what you are about to receive. Which is no other than the most precious bread in the entire world because you receive the life giver, Jesus Himself.

Perhaps you may not believe this now because you are still young, healthy and perhaps you have money and power. And these temporal things serve as your security blanket right now. However when the time comes that you are already old and sickly. You will know that nothing matters anymore except the Bread of life, Jesus Himself. You will not desire anything except to partake of His Body which will become the source of your daily nourishment. 

Why wait for that time to come in the future? When you can already desire to be close to Jesus by faithfully partaking of His Body and Blood now and onwards?  Why make the temporal things of this world your security blanket? When you can make the Body of Christ your security blanket now? Yes now! – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Thursday April 19; Third Week of Easter: John 6:44-51

Gospel: John 6:44-51

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Are you afraid to die?

 There are many reasons why many are afraid to die; foremost amongst these reasons is we are not prepared yet. We still have our own worldly preoccupation that we must take care of first. But we all know that at a time that we don’t expect, we have to go and leave this world permanently.

In today’s gospel Jesus gives us an iron clad protection against our fear of death. He enjoins us to regularly partake of the living bread that is available to us during Holy Communion no other than Himself. This is the same bread that is given to those who are sick and not anymore able to go to church for Holy Mass.     

Why don’t we try to regularly partake of His Body during Holy Communion? And see how it will form, change and make us fearless of mortal death. We will not die anymore if we are with Jesus and we will not fear death anymore if we reverently partake of Him at Holy Mass during Holy Communion.  

Our marching order therefore is to bring others to Holy Mass. So that they will also be blessed, nourished and enlightened by the enormous blessing of the Body of Jesus Christ.

Have you been able to bring someone to church for Holy Mass so that they too could partake of the Body of Christ during Holy Communion? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday April 18; Third Week of Easter: John 6:35-40

Gospel: John 6:35-40

Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

+ + + + +  + +

Reflection:

Is Jesus the bread of your life?  When you make Jesus the bread of your life you will never go wrong with Him. But how are you going to make Jesus the Bread of your life? You have to receive Him at Holy Communion whenever you attend Holy Mass.

You have to read the life story of Jesus in the Holy Bible and you have to allow Jesus to transform you. You also have to have a daily quality and quite time with Jesus every day of your life. In your daily quite and quality with Jesus you have to allow Him to talk to you.      

In our gospel for today Jesus tells us this, I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. Jesus further tells us, I will not reject anyone who comes to me.

This bread of life discourse of Jesus invites us also to reflect on our own life in this world. Have we already touched lives? Have we given hope to the hopeless? Are our hearts always open to help those who come to us? Are our hearts open to those who ask for our forgiveness? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday April 17; Third Week of Easter: John 6:30-35

Gospel: John 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Would you be willing to give your very life for Jesus?

In our first reading Stephen was killed because of his unending profession of faith in Jesus. He could have saved his life if he did not proclaim his love for Jesus but he chose to boldly say it, thus he was stoned to death.

What a price to pay for professing his faith and love for his God. But this is the reality with our discipleship with Jesus. If we really are true and faithful followers we will not hesitate to give a certain part of our life or even our own life for our love for Jesus.

Every now and then there would be instances wherein the steadfastness of our faith in Jesus will be tested. It may not cost our life anymore; perhaps the test of our commitment to Jesus may come through many forms of temptations and trials. Would we still be faithful to Jesus amidst our temptations and trials?

It’s really not easy to follow Jesus, some of us may have already given up on Jesus and we instead chose to follow the many temptations of this world.

But if we would not follow Jesus and if we will not sacrifice a part of ourselves for the kingdom of God, who are we going to follow? We follow the evil one and master manipulator which is no other than Satan? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday April 16; Third Week of Easter: John 6:22-29

Gospel: John 6:22-29

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God,  that you believe in the one he sent.”

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Why do you go to church for Mass or why do you pray? Is it for your love of Jesus or for your need of Jesus? Some of us go to church for Holy Mass because of our need for Jesus, some of us pray for the same reason as well.

 After our need for Jesus has been address already we now slacken and go back to our old ways. Until such time that we once again encounter humps and bumps in our lives then we again have our need for Jesus.

The people who were following Jesus were looking for Him because they saw how He feed them in the miracle of the loaves and fish. It was not for the love of Jesus that they were looking for Him neither for their desire to join Jesus disciples in their mission of evangelization.

If we look for Jesus let us not look for Him because of our need for Him alone. We look for Him because we love and miss Him. We look for Him because we want to partake of His mission.

 It’s always better to look for Jesus rooted in our love for Him.  Since this love that we have for Him is always comprehensively rewarded by Jesus in multifarious ways. Such as good health, peace of mind, peace in the family. feeling of contentment and the like. – Marino J. Dasmarinas     

Reflection for April 15, Third Sunday of Easter; Luke 24:35-48

Gospel: Luke 24:35-48

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” they gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

A nun with a merciful, compassionate and loving heart would always go to a nearby  poor community to give bread to those who are hungry. The poor whom she had helped would ask her; “Why are you doing this to us?” The nun would humbly reply: “I want to share the love and compassion of Jesus to you.”

How would you know that you are witnessing for the risen Christ? You hunger to do the things that Jesus did when He walked for three years in this world. For example, you saw a poor man begging for food. And you felt pity for that man which led you to give him food to alleviate his hunger. Or whenever you see a person in need you always feel the drive to help.

If you feel these emotions in your heart you are already witnessing for the Risen Christ. He is manifesting Himself through you and you become a living and breathing witness that Jesus has indeed risen!

Why are you witnessing for Jesus? You witness for Jesus because you want others to know  Jesus as well. You witness for Him  because you want Jesus to make a positive impact in their lives as what Jesus did for your own life. By your witness others will know Jesus and They will feel Jesus presence and love through you.

In the gospel, the two disciples recalled to their fellow disciples Jesus’ manifestation to them in the breaking of the bread. When you break bread or share your food with the hungry, you do acts of mercy and compassion. 

When you break bread or share your food with the hungry you witness for Jesus and you become the face of Jesus for them. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Saturday April 14; Second Week of Easter: John 6:16-21

Gospel: John 6:16-21

When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Do you fear the unknown? Do you fear darkness? The  disciples in the gospel were fearful  of both the unknown and darkness. They were at sea in pitch darkness and being tossed by the waves, perhaps it was just fair for them to be fearful.

In total darkness and coupled with stormy seas. The disciples in the gospel were afraid when they saw Jesus walking towards their boat. Why were they afraid considering that they know Jesus? Perhaps they did not recognize Jesus at sea walking towards them and mistaken labelled Jesus as a ghost.  

There would be trials and problems that we will encounter for as long as we exist in this world. But in the midst of our trials, problems and fears we are also always assured of Jesus abiding presence in our lives. He is always with us notwithstanding the waves of trials and problems that we’re going through or we will go through.

All we need to do is to call upon Him and we will be alright. We will not anymore fear the unknown and even the darkness we will not fear either. For the simple reason that we have Jesus who is ever ready to help and save us whenever we pass though the many trials, darkness and trepidations of life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Friday April 13; Second Week of Easter: John 6:1-15

Gospel: John 6:1-15

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Do you believe that Jesus can do miracles in your life?

The precursor to Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fish was a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish; we cannot speak of this miracle without him. The boy was generous enough to give what was for him alone, he did not mind if he would be hungry; he simply shared his food for others to eat.

Out of the selfless heart of the boy, Jesus miraculously multiplied the five barley loaves and two fish and they were able to feed the more than five thousand followers. And they still had some more to gather and filled twelve wicker baskets.

We see here the enormous benefit of selfless sharing; sometimes we don’t share because we think that what we have is only enough for us. However, if we would learn to share we will also notice that what we share comes back to us a hundredfold. It is already immaterial how big or small the food that we share what is important is we are very much willing to share whatever blessing that we have.

There are similarities in the institution of the Eucharist and this miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Jesus instituted the Eucharist in remembrance of the Passover meal and coincidentally Jesus did this miracle of the loaves when the Passover feast was near. Jesus also took the loaves and gave thanks and distributed it to them. These are actions that He did during the Institution of the Eucharist.

Why did Jesus tested Philip? Because Philip had a shaky faith, he was with Jesus all along witnessing His miracles and all. Yet he was still doubtful that’s why Jesus tested him. Are we not like Philip once in a while? We are impatient sometimes and we doubt if Jesus would grant our dreams.

If only we know that Jesus will never abandon us, yes there would be testing of our faith. For as long as we hold on He will always be there for us in His own time of choosing.  Let us be patient and wait, let us pursue and not give up on our life’s aspirations, ambitions and visions. He will eventually help us achieve what we want.

After doing the miracles of the loaves and after having so much fragments leftover. Naturally the crowds were amazed. Who would not be? So it’s time now to hail and exalt Jesus with praises. But Jesus would have none of it. True to his humility and self-effacing character He simply walked away to the mountain to be alone perhaps to pray and thank God for the blessing of the miracle of the loaves.

In this occurrence we see how different is Jesus from us, we love it when we are being honored, praised for the things that we do. We are tickled pink by it and our ears flap in agreement, often times we don’t do things without people noticing us. We want people to see what we do and we want them to praise us (like politicians and public officials). Let us all wake up from this egotism and selfish attitude. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday April 12; Second Week of Easter: John 3:31-36

Gospel: John 3:31-36

The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Why can’t we convince our fellowmen to go to church for Holy Mass and why can’t we share Jesus with them? This is for the reason that many of us don’t live the teachings of Jesus. We are not humble, we are not loving and forgiving we don’t live our faith in other words.

What must we do if we are in this kind of predicament?  Should we easily give up or should we change our ways. The wise choice is to change our ways and not give up. Because if we would give up, who will evangelize them? We leave them to be evangelized by those from other faiths?

We must teach our faith but we must do it with humility, patience and love. We have to employ humility, patience and love so that we could impart to them the teachings of Jesus and our faith. For example our gospel for today tells us about the love of God the Father for His Son. How would they know about this if we will not teach them?

We will always become effective evangelizers of our faith if we are humble, loving and forgiving. For these are the qualities of Jesus when He walked on this earth more than two thousand years ago. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday April 11; Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr: John 3:16-21

Gospel: John 3:16-21

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

What would happen to us if we will not embrace the teachings of God? We will have miserable lives in this world. Almost all of humanity knows that there is God yet we don’t embrace the teachings of God. We prefer to embrace the teachings of this world rather than God.

 We prefer to enjoy life without God rather than life with God. Why? Is this because God creates rules and limits on how we live our lives? Many of us don’t want our freedom to be curtailed. But since freedom is not absolute there are limits to freedom.

God always wants us not to commit sin. This is for the reason that the moment we commit sin we envelope ourselves in darkness and darkness is the absence of the light of God.  Just imagine a life in darkness, it’s a life without hope and this is precisely what the devil gives to us: Life without hope sugar coated with worldly pleasures.

But no sinner is beyond reach of the love of God for God always offer to us His hand of forgiveness and love. This forgiveness and love is for our benefit but do we take advantage of this great forgiveness and love of God?   

God loves us dearly that He gave us Jesus to save us from all of our sinfulness yet we don’t embrace God we put aside Jesus in favor of this world. Let us not put Jesus aside and tell Him that we will first enjoy life in this world before we go to Him. For it may be too late already.

Let’s embrace God now let us open our life to Him now and let us start to walk away from our sinfulness now. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday April 10; the Second Week of Easter: John 3:7b-15

Gospel: John 3:7b-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to him, ‘How can this happen?” Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Do you seek Jesus in your life? Do you thirst and hunger for Him? Nicodemus is a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin a Jewish judicial body. Why did he follow Jesus? He must have discovered something in Jesus that made him follow Him even until Jesus death on the cross. Nicodemus followership of Jesus did not stop on His death on the cross, Nicodemus also took care of the body of Jesus after His death (John 19:39).   

What would it take for you to become a follower of Jesus? Do you still need to see a miracle before you become a faithful follower? It may be too late already, why not follow Jesus now? Try looking at Jesus on the cross, that man on the cross died for you! Will you not take a second look at that man on the cross? Will you not thank Him for giving His life for you?

We don’t know the life of Nicodemus before he became a secret follower of Jesus. I also don’t know what your present life right now, if you are a big time sinner or not. Nevertheless decide to follow Jesus now for He is ready to give you peace and serenity in your life. It’s no problem for Jesus if you will become a secret follower like Nicodemus what is important for Jesus is you will follow Him.

Would you faithfully follow Jesus starting today? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Spiritual Retreat/Recollection, Human Behavior in Organization Lectures and Seminar Workshop Provider

I provide and design affordable Spiritual Retreat/Recollection, Human Behavior in Organization Lectures and Seminar Workshop specifically suited for your organization’s needs. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

My email adds:  mjdasma@yahoo.com  / mjdasma@gmail.com

Reflection for April 8, Second Sunday of Easter/Sunday of Divine Mercy; John 20:19-31

Gospel: John 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

Where was Thomas when Jesus appeared to His disciples in the upper room? We don’t know we can only surmise that he was doing something that made him miss their meeting. Was his activity during that night more important than to pray with his fellow disciples?

By missing their meeting Thomas subsequently missed also the sacred presence of the risen Christ.  He missed being blessed by the presence Jesus and Thomas missed being imparted the  blessing of peace by Jesus. What a missed opportunity for Thomas! If only he knew beforehand that their Lord and Master would be making a miraculous appearance in their fellowship he would have not dared miss it. 

Some of us may see ourselves in Thomas we who oftentimes miss to go to church for Holy Mass. We who most of the time put our Sunday obligation at the backseat in favor of our many worldly preoccupations.

But where would all our worldly preoccupations bring us? Can it give us peace of mind and contentment? Certainly not! Can it bring us closer to the Lord and can it strengthen our relationship with Him? It surely can't but many of us put more importance in our many worldly activities than God.

What do we miss when we absent ourselves for Holy Mass? We miss to be with Jesus, we miss to partake of His Body and Blood. We miss to be blessed by His powerful and blessings filled words. We miss to be in powerful prayer fellowship with our brothers and sisters in faith! We also miss to receive His healing and blessing of peace which He silently gives to us every time we are at Mass.

Thomas learned his lesson that’s why he made his self available in their second fellowship. We too should learn our lesson by always prioritizing our sacred meeting with the Lord at Holy Mass.

Do you always try your very best not to miss your meeting with the Lord during Sunday Mass? – Marino J. Dasmarinas