Reflection for Sunday August 19, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: John 6:51-58

                                                                      Gospel: John 6:51-58

Jesus said to the crowds: “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.” 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.

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Reflection:

The story is told about a non-practicing catholic whose house was located across the church. Every morning his wife would wake him up to accompany her to go to church to attend Holy Mass but he would always refuse. For so many months it was always like that every early morning. Out of curiosity he decided to go with his wife just to see what was going on during Holy Mass.

Upon going inside the church the Holy Mass had just started and to his amazement he saw angels all over the altar especially near the tabernacle. During consecration instead of the Holy Host, he saw real flesh being raised up by the priest for the faithful to adore. Thereafter the man became a faithful believer and a regular presence in the daily celebration of Holy Mass.

When Jesus said: “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.”(John 6:51) The Jews did not believe Him.  In fact they said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:52) Indeed, how come that the Sacred Host that we receive during Holy Communion becomes the body of Jesus? It takes deep faith to believe the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood during Holy Communion. Obviously, the Jews who were complaining about this brave declaration of Jesus did not have faith.

How about us? Do we believe in this Bread of Life discourse of Jesus? Do we believe that it is Jesus’ Body, Blood and Divinity that we are going to partake during Holy Communion? After receiving Jesus do we still kneel and deeply communicate with Him? Or we just kneel because that’s the gesture that we have to do and we do it just for the sake of doing it?

Many are always going to Holy Mass every Sunday or even almost everyday but not everyone goes through the process of conversion. For the simple truth that we don’t allow ourselves to be converted by the Body and Blood of Jesus.

We persist to dominate Jesus since we refuse His call to walk away from our sinfulness. We continue to increase and Jesus continue to decrease because we persist to do things our way and not let Jesus show us the way.

Do you believe in this Bread of Life Discourse of Jesus? Do you believe the pronouncement of Jesus that you will live forever when you always partake of His Body during Holy Communion?

There can be miracle in your life when you begin to believe! – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday August 18, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 19:13-15

Gospel: Matthew 19:13-15

Children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

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Reflection:

Do you bring your children to church for Holy Mass? Do you teach your children about Jesus? Do you read the life of Jesus in bible to your children? All of these questions are means for all of us to bring our children closer to Jesus.

What is the importance of bringing our children to Jesus? First and foremost is it assures their good future in this world and beyond this world. This is basically what Jesus does to our children: He assures them of a bright and Godly future not based on the criteria of this world but based on His own criteria.

Just imagine if we bring our children closer to Jesus, we would have less headache as they grow up. This is for the reason that the more we bring them to Jesus the more that they are being guided by Jesus in everyday of their lives.

Some parents of today are afraid to bring their children closer to Jesus. For the reason that they are afraid that they children may aspire to become a priest or a nun and their alibi is there’s no money in aspiring for the priesthood or in becoming a nun. Indeed, there’s no money in these vocations but we don’t live for money in this world. We don't live for this world only we live to live the teachings of Jesus, we live to aspire for heaven eventually.

What would it benefit our children if they have all the money in this world yet they don’t have Jesus? When we bring our children to Jesus we are not only investing in their future we are also investing in our own future in heaven someday. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday August 17, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 19:3-12

Gospel: Matthew 19:3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate. They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery. His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.

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Reflection:

From the beginning up until this very moment separation is never in the agenda of God. God’s desire for married couples is to remain married until death. Yet we contradict this agenda of God by introducing separation in the marriage. We contradict this agenda of God by betraying the sacred marriage vows, not once, not twice but many times.

There is a story of a wife who for three long years was always being advised by her husband to stop her adulterous relationship with her wicked officemate. Notwithstanding the advises of her husband the wife continued with the adulterous relationship. Finally, the husband realized that it’s not worth anymore to stay in the marriage.

  

But come to think of it, why do married couple separate? They separate because there is an absence of God in their marriage. They separate because they allow the temptations of the devil to overpower God and His command to make marriage Sacred and Holy.  This is the primary reason otherwise they wouldn’t separate if there’s an active presence of God in their marriage.

When God is left out of the marriage or the teaching of God is not taken seriously. The devil is given the opportunity to create havoc in the couple’s married life. And the devil will never stop until it finally destroys the marriage covenant of the couple.  

Therefore, make Jesus an active player in your marriage.  How are you going to do this? Have time for Holy Mass as a family. Have time for prayer as a family and have time for reading and afterwards reflection of the words of Jesus in the bible as a family.

Is Jesus an active player in your marriage? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Thursday August 16, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 18:21-19:1

Gospel: Matthew 18:21–19:1

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full. Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe. Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back. But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!  I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.

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Reflection:

How do you feel after you’ve been through the Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation? You feel light and free as if a big burden has been taken off from your back. This perhaps was the feeling of the servant in our gospel who asked forgiveness from his master/king.

But the irony is this: the servant who was forgiven by his master did not forgive a fellow servant who owed him a small amount of money. Something is terribly wrong here because the servant should have also forgiven his fellow servant. But he did not take advantage of the grace of forgiveness that was showered upon him by his master.  

Do you always take advantage of the grace of forgiveness that is graciously given to you by God during the Sacrament of Confession? God’s desire for us is to forgive as we have been forgiven. To forgive and forget the offense/s that is done to us as God has forgiven the countless offenses that we’ve done to Him. Think about if you don’t forgive, you’re imprisoned by your anger and you don’t have peace of mind. 

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose if you will forgive or if you become forgiving. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday August 15, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Luke 1:39-56

Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”

Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

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Reflection:

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This dogma was defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1 1950. It states that the immaculate Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, after completing her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.”

How does it feel to be visited by the Blessed Mother? Nobody of us knows about it, however; in our gospel we read about the reaction of her cousin Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luke 1:39-42).

Elizabeth’s humility is very evident through her acknowledgement of the presence of the Blessed Mother. Same as with Mary’s humility through her acknowledgement of the Lord’s majesty and greatness.

What is the lesson for us here? The lesson is this: God the Holy Spirit dwells within the humble. Mary and her cousin Elizabeth lived and gave a human face to this humility. And through their humility the Holy Spirit dwelt upon them.

Do you also want to feel the presence of God the Holy Spirit in your life? -  Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday August 14, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr: Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Gospel: Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. 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:

A man who was labelled as the black sheep of their family by his siblings. As such nobody amongst his siblings want to be associated with him anymore. Who would want to be associated to a so-called black sheep? No one among us want to be associated with a black sheep. Right?

How about Jesus? Oh, He loves the black sheep and those who stray dearly. He constantly searches for them wherever they may be until He finds them. This is the love of God for us, He will patiently look for us until he finds us. And when He finds us He will stop at nothing to bring us back to His loving embrace.

We always have to remember that Jesus’ mission is to bring back the lost, misguided and sinners. However, what if those who are lost does not want to renew their life and they want to continue on living their sinful life? What are we going to do?  Should we give up on them and let them live their sinful life?

 Of course not, because when we give up it’s like we already surrender to the power of the Devil. We let evil triumph over good and this must not be the situation. It must be the other way around, good should always triumph over evil. Thus, we must not give up on the lost we must seek them until we find them and once we find them we introduce Jesus to them.

Do you seek out the lost? -  Marino J. Dasmarinas

Catholic Spiritual Recollection and Retreat facilitator

I conduct talks, facilitate Spiritual Recollection and Retreats For more details please get in touch at: mjdasma@yahoo.com or mjdasma@gmail.com 

Tel no. 046-4303668

Reflection for Monday August 13, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 17:22-27

Gospel: Matthew 17:22-27

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief.

When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”

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Reflection:

Do you generously give to your church?

The gospel speaks about the payment of the temple tax. Even if they were exempted from paying the temple tax Jesus still instructed Peter to pay the temple tax. Perhaps Jesus did this for the reason that He wants to contribute something for the maintenance of the church and its facilities.

This generous payment of the temple tax by Jesus invites us to examine our generosity to our church as well.  Are we generous to our church? Do we give generously at Holy Mass during offertory?

We have to be generous to our church so that it can have funds not only for the maintenance of its facilities. But also for the welfare of those who are working for the church. The money that we give to the church is not only for the church it is also for the poor.

We may not know this but the church takes care of the poor, the church doesn’t blare it but it silently helps the poor and those who are in need. Therefore, we have to generously give to our church and whatever we give to our church will come back to us a hundredfold.  

What may come back to us may not necessarily be through financial rewards. It can be peace and harmony in the family; it can be good health and many more blessings that does not involve money.  

Do you generously give to your church and to those who are doing something to spread the words of God? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Recollections and Retreats provider

I conduct talks and facilitate Recollections. For more details please get in touch at: mjdasma@yahoo.com or mjdasma@gmail.com. 

Tel no. 046-4303668

Spiritual Recollection and Retreat facilitator

I conduct talks and facilitate Recollections. For more details please get in touch at: mjdasma@yahoo.com or mjdasma@gmail.com. 

Tel no. 046-4303668

Reflection for Sunday August 12, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: John 6:41-51

Gospel: John 6:41-51

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven, ” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. 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.”

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Reflection:   

A young couple was often seen by a church worker at church attending Sunday Mass with their little child in tow. The church worker befriended the young couple, therefore, every now and then they would converse after mass.

As weeks passed by the friendship deepened and until the church worker visited the dilapidated house of the young couple.  While conversing the church worker asked the couple: “How long have you been married?” The wife said, we are not yet married because life is hard.

The church worker told the couple: “Do you want to join a Mass wedding at church scheduled next month?” In unison and with conviction the couple said, “Yes we will join!” To make a long story short the newly wed couple became volunteer church workers themselves.    

What should we do when we are faced with this kind of situation? Of course, we should help as well, there’s no other option but to help. We should help them because this is our duty as followers of Jesus: To help those who are in need.

In our first reading for this Sunday, the prophet Elijah encountered so much hardship during his journey in the desert that he was almost on the verge of giving up. But the Lord helped him, the Lord sent Elijah an angel to give him hope, food and water so that he could continue his journey going to mount Horeb.

In every occasion that we present ourselves at Holy Mass the Lord through the Sacrament of Holy Communion offers Himself to us. He invites us to partake of His Body, Blood and Divinity. For what reason?  He wants to help us, He wants to strengthen us and He wants to give us hope as we face the many challenges of life.

However, it must not end with our partaking of the Bread of Life. Our partaking of the bread of Life must propel us to be Christ like in every way. We must allow Jesus to change and transform us the way He wants us to become not how we want ourselves to become. We must be like Him in humility, in kindness and in compassion.

Our partaking of the Bread of Life should also move us to courageously share Jesus. Let us not be daunted by the obstacles before us for Jesus is always there for us. Why share Jesus? This is for the reason that  many are still not aware of the enormous spiritual blessing of the Bread of Life.

Let us share Jesus with them so that they too will be blessed by the Bread of Life which is no other than Jesus Himself. Have you already shared Jesus your Eternal Bread of Life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday August 11, Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin: Matthew 17:14-20

Gospel: Matthew 17:14-20

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out? He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

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Reflection:

What can your faith in Jesus do to you? It will move you to have hope and it will move you to hold on to Jesus no matter how difficult the situation. The man in our gospel who asked Jesus to cure his son had faith in Jesus. Otherwise he would not have dared approach Jesus and asked for the healing of his son.

In contrast to the faith of the man was the lack of faith of Jesus’ disciples. What was the cause of the disciples’ lack of faith? Perhaps, they treated Jesus as an ordinary mortal like them. Perhaps their reverence for Jesus was little by little being eroded by the trials of their discipleship.

If we treat Jesus as an ordinary mortal we too are susceptible to a spiritual disease called erosion of faith. And the result of this is we will be lukewarm towards Jesus. There would be less motivation on our part to continue to pursue Jesus. We would be more susceptible to doubts and spiritual apathy.

What then is the cure if our faith is dwindling? We should pray and ask Jesus for the gift of increase of faith. We should be present and always paying attention to the Eucharistic Celebration (Holy Mass). We should partake of His Body as often as possible and we should give time for reading the words of Jesus in the bible.

If we will have time to do all of these, we surely would always have rock solid faith in Jesus. Thus, no problems and life challenges no matter how difficult can defeat us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday August 10, Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr: John 12:24-26

Gospel: John 12:24-26

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.”

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Reflection:

What does it mean to hate your life in this world? It’s to give your life in the service of Jesus so that through you others may know Jesus. When you do not give your life for the mission of Jesus and just keep it to yourself you will not grow in wisdom and faith. Yes, you will grow in worldliness and hedonism but eventually your life will come to a halt. And that’s basically the end of it.

When you choose to give your life for the mission of Jesus you will not anymore enjoy this world as you enjoyed it before.  Yet you will also discover a more profound and deeper meaning in your life that only Jesus can give you.

 Why? Because you chose to give your life for the mission of Jesus. You chose to throwaway your life away from worldliness going to the direction of Jesus so that you could walk hand in hand with Him.

As Jesus gave away His very own life on the cross so that God’s kingdom in this world could grow and flourish. We too should not be afraid to give away our life for the sake of the kingdom of God for this is where the true essence and meaning of life lies.

Have you already found the true essence and meaning of life with Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday August 9, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 16:13-23

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-23

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and 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.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

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Reflection:

About ten (10) years ago, Every Sunday I would regularly go to the house of a sick 85 years old former Eucharistic minister to give him Holy Communion. He was poor and was renting a small house with his children. It would seem that he was suffering but he was always thankful for the blessings of Jesus every Sunday. I never heard him complain about his suffering.

When Jesus was giving some hints of His forthcoming sufferings and eventual death; Peter rebuked Him by saying: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22) Just like Peter many of us are averse with sufferings; we want to avoid it as much as possible. Perhaps this is our human nature; we don’t want to suffer for the simple reason that it’s difficult.

But sufferings are part and parcel of life. No matter how we deftly avoid it, it will eventually catch us along our journey in this world. However, if we have Jesus in our life we will never complain about our physical suffering/s.

How about Jesus? Is HE averse with sufferings? No, HE is not, in fact HE told HIS disciples that HE would be suffering greatly from the hands of elders, chief priest and scribes then eventually be killed by them. (Matthew 16:21) Why is Jesus not afraid of suffering/s? This is for the reason that Jesus knows that God is with Him.

Jesus embraced HIS sufferings for the reason that HE knew that it was part of HIS mission of salvation. HE let go of HIS life and HE entrusted it to almighty God.

Life is not always how we like it to be, there would come a time that we will encounter hardships and sufferings. Let us not lose sleep about this, let us simply trust our all knowing and all loving almighty God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas