Reflection for Sunday July 1, Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Mark 5:21-43

Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live. He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

 While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer? Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

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Reflection:

A woman who was diagnosed with terminal sickness was given by her doctors only two months to live. Even if her health was already failing this woman had incredible faith, even if she was already getting weaker by the day she would try very hard to attend Holy Mass daily. 

It eventually came to a point that she was too weak to get up from her bed. Hence, she requested their parish priest to visit her so that she could be administered the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. And thereafter every Sunday she would be visited by an Extra-Ordinary  Minister of the Holy Communion to give her the Body of Christ.

After a month of receiving the Body of Christ brought to her by the Extra-Ordinary  Minister of the Holy Communion. The woman was amazingly able to get up again. She regained her strength and was able to attend once again their daily Mass. When she was asked who healed her she would always give praise to Jesus and her strong faith in Him.

We have in our gospel two incredible stories of faith one is the synagogue official named Jairus and the other one is a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve long years. Both of them got what they wanted from Jesus, in the case of Jairus healing for his daughter and the woman healing for her sickness that had been enslaving her for twelve years.

Jesus granted them both what they want because they both have rock solid faith. Not only that they have faith they also manifested their respective faiths by their deeds or actions. For example, in the story of Jairus he went out of his way to personally go to Jesus to ask Him to come to his home and lay His hand on his daughter.

The woman afflicted with hemorrhages did the same, upon hearing that Jesus was near her. She went to Him with the intention of touching a part of His clothes and that would be enough for her to be healed by Jesus. So, she went to Jesus; touched His cloak and she was immediately cured. Jesus told her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction (Mark 5:34)."          

Just like Jairus and the sick woman our faith in Jesus must always be coupled with action. If we pray to Jesus to grant us something we must not lay around idly we must work for it and ask Jesus with faith to grant us what we want. It must always be faith with action not faith without action.  St. James said: What good is it to profess faith without showing works?” “Such faith has no power to save you (James 2:14).”   

How is your faith in Jesus is it always coupled with action? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

1Reflection for Saturday June 30, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 8:5-17

Gospel: Matthew 8:5-17

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 but the children of the Kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you. And at that very hour his servant was healed.

Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.

When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet: He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.

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Reflection:

Why is Jesus a magnet to people most especially to who are in need? This is for the reason that Jesus never refused anyone who asked for His help most especially those who are persistent. Jesus was always available, Jesus would always have time for them regardless of who they are and where they came from.

The centurion/soldier in our gospel came from a faraway place and certainly not a follower of Jesus. But he knew Jesus and he heard of His miracles so he ventured to see Him. And when he saw Jesus he asked him to cure his servant. Jesus never had any second thought of helping the centurion; he even offered to go his house to personally cure his servant.

This gospel episode invites us to reflect if we also make ourselves available to those who are in need of our help. Often we are not willing to help because it will disturb us. It will affect our personal finances and schedules and so forth. However, it’s not every day that we are asked for help.

The best way to share our faith and to share Jesus is not though eloquent or bombastic preaching. The best way to share our faith and to share Jesus is when we make ourselves available most especially to those who are in need. And to those who cannot give back the help that we give them.       

Do you take time to make yourself available to those who are in need especially the poor? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Friday June 29, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles: Matthew 16:13-19

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

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Reflection:

How well do you know Jesus?

After Peter correctly answered the question of Jesus about His true identity. Jesus told Peter that the enlightenment to know Him came from God and not from him. Thus, being the anointed one Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the first head of the church. It was not by Peter’s own effort that he was chosen it was God who chose Peter.   

How many times have we credited ourselves for our achievements and success?    How many times have we owned to ourselves our knowledge about God? Many of us would always attribute to ourselves and through our hardwork everything that we know and have.

But the truth is what we know and have right now is purely a gift from God. Amongst the many we were chosen by God with those gifts not for us to boast about it. But to humbly use it for the greater glory of the kingdom of God in this world.

The Apostles Peter and Paul used their God given gifts to humbly advance God’s kingdom.

How about us? – Marino J. Dasmarinas     

1Reflection for Thursday June 28, Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr: Matthew 7:21-29

                                                                     Gospel: Matthew 7:21-29

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. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’

“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.”

When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

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Reflection:

Does a priest have a safe passage to heaven? Does a nun have a safe passage to heaven?  Does a Catholic blogger like me have a safe passage to heaven?

The answers to all of these questions are no! Nobody has a monopoly of heavenly dwelling, everyone of us has a chance provided we do the will of God and we live our lives according to how God wants us to live it.

So what are we going to do? We have to live what we preach and teach for if we don’t live what we preach and teach we have no chance of entering heaven someday. Many are only good with teaching and preaching and it ends there. So very much like the false prophets who were only good at preaching and teaching but live unholy lives.

Jesus himself tells us this: "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 (Matthew 7:21).

Jesus knows everything about us! If to our fellowmen we could sugarcoat our image as Godly with Jesus we cannot. For He knows our deepest secrets, He knows if we are only pretending to be Godly.

Jesus knows as well the secret lives that we live and the hidden sins that we commit we can’t hide anything from Him. We therefore must reform and leave behind anything that makes us sin. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

1Reflection for Wednesday June 27, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 7:15-20

Gospel: Matthew 7:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them."

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Reflection:

Do you know of someone who would say that he/she speaks for God but his/her actions say otherwise?

There were many false prophets during the time of Jesus and even before the time of Jesus. They would claim to speak for God but their actions betray their true motives. There are also many false prophets nowadays, by their glib tongues they gather many adherents but soon enough they’re exposed as frauds by their own words and actions.

Good relatives and friends are somewhat like prophets they guide us and they bring us closer to God. But we should also be wary because there are friends and even relatives who would bring us away from God.

They only take advantage of us and the moment they already achieve their objective they immediately evaporate from our sight. We therefore have to be discerning and careful.

So, we must be watchful of these people for they are like leeches that will cling to us only to leave us in a huff when they find out that we are not anymore useful to them.  False prophets are like that as well, they are good at manipulating and using their followers to serve their selfish agendas. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday June 26, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Gospel: Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

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Reflection:

What is the difference between a narrow gate and a wide gate? It’s hard to enter the narrow gate, you may have to twist your body so that you could pass through it. How about the wide gate? You simply can walk through it no twisting and no discomfort whatsoever.

You may ask, what is the relationship of the narrow gate with Jesus? The narrow gate is the gateway to knowing Jesus. The narrow gate is the gateway toward having a personal encounter with Jesus. In what way would this narrow gate lead you to Jesus? This narrow gate will entail for you to make some sacrifices. It will entail you to do things that you are not normally used of doing.

For example, in fulfilling your Sunday Holy Mass obligation, in abhorring sin or in reading the Holy Bible. You may not be comfortable  of doing this because this requires effort and time. Yet if you dare do this it will lead you to Jesus and it will lead you to know more about the many truths concerning the church.

If you want to find the true meaning and purpose of your life and if you want to know Jesus more deeply. You have to pass thru this narrow gate for this is the way that would lead you to a life of purpose with Jesus. Forget the wide gate which consist of the many sinful worldly enjoyment, it will lead you nowhere it will even lead you to destruction.

Will you dare enter this narrow gate? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Monday June 25, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 7:1-5

Gospel: Matthew 7:1-5

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

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Reflection:

Why are many of us judgmental? This is for the reason that we feel superior than the person that we are judging or we have this attitude of dominance and arrogance. Otherwise if we don’t feel superior we would not dare judge our fellowmen.

But very clearly in our gospel for today we hear Jesus telling us to stop judging. This is difficult to follow for those who have superiority complex but easy to follow for those who are docile, and humble.

It’s always very tempting to be judgmental most especially if the person is at fault. However, what would we get from judging others? Nothing except to increase the value of our arrogance and to increase the worth of our egos! Instead of judging, why not simply advice and impart words that heals rather than words that condemn.  

When we perceive that someone is a sinner let us always think that we are sinners too! So that we would not be tempted to judge them. The reality of life is we are all sinners that is why we have no right to condemn or to judge our fellowmen.

We can only bring others to Jesus when we are not judgmental, when we are compassionate, loving and forgiving. For who are we to judge? Even Jesus doesn’t judge, therefore; we have no right to judge.  

There are sinners because many of us do not dare impart and live Jesus’ compassion, forgiveness and love. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Sunday June 24, Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist: Luke 1:57-66, 80

Gospel: Luke 1:57-66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John."

But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

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Reflection:

A married couple in their late-thirties was finally blessed by God with a child. They were so happy for they thought that they would not have a child anymore. Therefore, the married couple promised God that they would properly take care of this child. They also said to God that they would teach this child how to be simple and humble and they would introduce this child to Him by bringing the child with them whenever they would attend Holy Mass. 

What does a new born child brings to a family? It brings unfathomable joy and rejoicing. This was how the couple Elizabeth and Zechariah felt during that time. The new born child did not only bring joy to his parents, he also brought healing to his father Zechariah who had problem with speaking.

Do you properly take care of your child? This child that is given to you as a blessing by God? Do you teach your child about God and your faith? Do you teach this child to be humble and to live simply? Do you bring this growing child to church for Holy Mass?

What can we learn from the nativity of Saint John the Baptist? We learn that there is a reward that awaits for parents who are faithful to the will of God. We learn that when a child is taught about values of simplicity and humility the child would grow up to be simple and humble as well.

John grew up as a simple and humble man, he grew up faithful to God’s will for him. We cannot only attribute these virtues of John to God alone. Both Elizabeth and Zechariah (his parents) played also an important role in instilling him these virtues of humility and simplicity. Zechariah and Elizabeth did not only teach John about simplicity and humility. They spent time with the child John and both of them lived humility and simplicity also.   

Many children today are being pampered and spoiled by their parents. They buy their children the newest gadgets to supposedly show their love. However, giving them the latest gadgets is not a show of love.

It’s in fact a testament of parent’s lack of real and unconditional love towards their children.  Real and unconditional love is when you spend time with your children and you don’t count the cost of the time that you spend with them. You simply savor and treasure that time for you know that the time spent with your children is a time well spent which no money or gadgets can replace.

Do you still bond with your children by giving them your time? Do you live the virtues of humility and simplicity and do you teach your child how to be humble and simple?  – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Saturday June 23, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 6:24-34

Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus said to his disciples: "No one 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 God and mammon.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."

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Reflection:

There’s this story of a mother in her mid-forties. After working hard for almost twenty years and being financially stable already she applied for early retirement. Her reason was she wanted to spend more time with her family and she also wanted to put-up a small business that she can call her own she had full trust in God that she will not fail.

After two years this mother was searching for a job again her reason was they were running out of funds already.  If you ask her what happened to her business she would dryly say that it did not prosper. And if you ask her again as to what happened to her trust in God she would ironically say that it’s much better to trust more on herself than trust God.

This mother’s trust in God was severely tested unfortunately she waivered on her belief and on her faith that God would help her succeed in her business.

There would be instances In our lives wherein we would be at a crossroad or a crucial point. Where we have to ponder if we would continue with our trust in God or we would trust more on ourselves. When there’s no more food on the table, when there’s no more money in our pocket. Should we still trust God to provide for us or we put aside our trust in God and we do it our way to earn a living?

When we say that we trust God it doesn’t mean that we will just lie down and wait for God’s blessings to come our way like manna from heaven. To trust God is to do everything humanly possible for us to earn a living without losing our faith in God: So it’s faith with action!

Jesus used birds in the sky as metaphor for His providence, birds fly and look for their food and that’s when God feeds them.  Birds don’t just stay idle in one place and wait for their food to come to them.  

That’s what we must do also we must move and look for a living with faith, move and look for our destiny with faith. As we move let us ask God to guide us, to be with us for He will not fail us and He will certainly provide for us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday June 22, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 6:19-23

Gospel: Matthew 6:19-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

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Reflection:

Do you believe that your eyes represent your present predicament?

Our eyes are the doorway to our soul, if we are happy it shows in our eyes and if we are sad it also shows in our eyes. We may be able to hide our sad emotion but our eyes will eventually betray us for it will show the true emotions of our hearts.

So how can we have ever glowing eyes that is full of happiness, contentment and serenity? The answer to this is very simple: we must store up treasures in heaven by means of doing good things to our fellowmen. By helping the poor in spirit and wealth and by sharing Jesus with them.

By doing so we are already storing up true treasures in heaven where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. What are you presently storing up? Perhaps, you are very busy with the things of this world. For example, making yourself rich in the eyes of this temporal world.

However, think also that the accumulation of worldly things that keeps you busy right now will count for nothing at the end. Only God will count during that time; the relationship that you’ve built with God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday June 21, Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious: Matthew 6:7-15

Gospel: Matthew 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

“If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

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Reflection:

If God knows what we need before we ask him, what is the use of our prayer before him? The answer is this: It is through our consistent prayer life that we get close with God. In fact the more we pray the more that we get closer to God. If we are not yet prayerful or we don’t have yet a regular prayer life, just try having a consistent prayer life. And you will be surprised by the growth of your intimacy with Jesus.

So we pray not because we want to ask something from God for indeed He knows beforehand what we need. He in fact knows everything that we need and desire today, tomorrow and in the future. We pray because we want to be best friends with God.  

When we pray with piety our whole being talks to God and He listens and in the silence of our hearts He also talks to us. We hear God whispering to us this is hard to explain but this is what occurs when we pray this prayer with devoutness or any prayer for that matter.  This kind of prayer relationship with God is a sign of a mature life of prayer.

For example, in a married life relationship the marriage bond is strengthened by constant communication between husband and wife. Through this regular communication they both mature in the marriage covenant relationship. Until such time that they know and understand practically everything about themselves even without verbal expression.

This is the same with our prayer life; the more we pray with our whole being focused to God the more that we would grow in intimacy with God. Then, there will eventually come a time that when we pray to God we will not anymore utter a single word. We will simply go down on our knees and keep silent and let our heart talk to our merciful, compassionate and loving God.

How is your prayer life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Wednesday June 20, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your alms giving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

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Reflection:

What motivates you to do good? For example in giving to the poor, what motivates you to help them? In giving to the poor Jesus has a major requirement that you should follow. Do it in secret without anyone knowing about it.

Why in secret? This is for the reason that secrecy is the language of Jesus secrecy is also a close relative of humility which Jesus embodies to the hilt.

The teaching of Jesus on alms giving is totally opposed to the teachings of this world which unfortunately many of us follow. This world teaches us to publicize and to broadcast whatever good that we do. It teaches us to post in facebook and other platforms in the internet our acts of kindness. So that those who know us may see it and consequently they will have a good impression about us.   

Why publicise? Perhaps this is brought about by our hunger for recognition. And there’s no wrong about it for we simply want to be recognized.  But Jesus is challenging us not to go  after recognition and to not publicize what we do.

Jesus is challenging us to silently fade away after we have done good to anyone. Could we measure up to this challenge of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday June 19, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 5:43-48

Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

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Reflection:

What is genuine love? It’s a love that doesn’t discriminate a love that embraces everybody including those who are not lovable to our eyes. The beauty of loving even those who do not love us is we show them what true love is all about. True love that emanates from Jesus Himself.

When we love even those who are not lovable we don’t only give them our unconditional love. We also teach them to give love, never mind if they will not love us in return. What is important is we teach them the language of unconditional love so that they would learn from it and hopefully be converted by it.

But is unconditional love still relevant today? For many of us today love is a two way street: You love me and I give you love in return if you will not love me I will not give you my love. But if this is our mentality the language of true love will not anymore have life. There would be no more true love and true sacrifice for the person that we love.

True love or genuine love therefore is to love without any condition/s and to love without expecting love in return. Hard to do, right? But if we truly love Jesus we would be able to freely give love, love which is not bound by the laws of reciprocity. – Marino  J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday June 18, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 5:38-42

Gospel: Matthew 5:38-42

(Jesus said to his disciples) 38 "You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; 40 and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; 41 and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

 42 Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.

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Reflection:

What would we gain if we exact revenge to those who’ve aggrieved and injured us? Nothing except further enmity and injury then at the end there will be no winners only losers.

Take for example disagreements and quarrels, if a person will exact revenge for the injury that was caused her/him.  It would only become a vicious cycle of disagreements and quarrels that has no ending. This is the result of our unforgiveness but what if we take the high road of forgiveness and humility? Then things will be OK, there’s no hatred or any kind of bad feeling in our hearts.

It’s hard to be humble, it’s hard to forgive and it’s hard not to retaliate for the injury that was done to us. But let us look at Jesus on the cross and reflect on the wounds that we have carved on HIS body by our sinfulness. What if HE has not forgiven us, what if HE did not humble himself for us?

What Jesus gives us today are valuable lessons on humility and forgiveness that will help us build bridges instead of walls. The gospel reading for today is very easy to look at and read. But can we live it? If we abhor hostility, if we are humble and if we are truly passionately in love with Jesus we would be able to live these teachings. – Marino J. Dasmarinas