When Jesus
and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man and
begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him
outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man
and asked, “Do you see anything?” Looking up the man replied, “I see people
looking like trees and walking.” Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second
time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything
distinctly. Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
A woman who
was a come and go Catholic suddenly decided to leave the church in favor for
another Christian denomination. When she was asked why she decided to leave she
said: “The protestant faith opened my eyes to the real Christian church.”
Perhaps we
know of Catholics who are not well versed about the basic teachings of the
church. They are also vulnerable to abandon the faith. What should we do? We
must be the vehicle for their enlightenment about the truths of the catholic
faith.
Let us open
their eyes and let them know that we don’t worship the saints. Let us open
their eyes and let them know that the Catholic church was founded by Jesus
through Peter. Let us open their eyes and let them know that the Holy Bible is
the book of the church that we must always read.
There are
many more truths about the church that our fellow Catholics do not know yet.
Let us allow ourselves to be Jesus’ vehicle so that their eyes of faith will be
opened. So that they will not anymore be blinded to decide to leave the church which
Jesus founded through Peter. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
The disciples
had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and
the leaven of Herod. They concluded among themselves that it was because they
had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you
conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or
comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and
not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five
thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up? They
answered him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” They answered him,
“Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Power
corrupts people who don’t know how to handle it.
The Pharisees
and King Herod were very powerful but they did not use their power responsibly
they in fact abused it. They used it to oppress and manipulate people.
Eventually they allowed the same power that they have to corrupt them.
Opposed to
the manipulative and arrogant power of the Pharisees and Herod is the power of
Jesus that emanates from God. Power that is used to sincerely help and power
that is used with humility and purity. This power was shown to them by Jesus
when He feed twice the thousands of people.
Many of us
handle power like how the Pharisees and Herod handled it. We use it to
manipulate, we use it to advance our selfish agendas. Many politicians use
their power to steal money from the government in the guise of helping the
poor. The power of the Pharisees and King Herod is temporary it doesn’t last
and this kind of power has a retribution factor in the end.
Of course, we
know the power of Jesus; it forever leaves an imprint in our hearts. It’s power
firmly rooted in humility and power that will bring us safely to God’s kingdom
someday.
Whose power do you embrace? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
The Pharisees
came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven
to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this
generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this
generation. Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the
other shore.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What does it
mean when we seek signs from the Lord Jesus? It means weakness of faith, it
means that Jesus is not yet enough for us to hold on for our salvation for we
still need signs and wonders from Jesus. A true believer and a person of faith
will not anymore seek a sign from the Lord. He/She will trust the Lord Jesus
regardless of if he/she will see or not see signs from Him.
If we truly
love the Lord and if we have faith in the Lord we will not anymore ask for a
sign from Him. Why? Because His name alone is more than enough to deliver us
from all of our fears and doubts. This is for that reason that we always
feel His abiding presence in our lives.
The Lord is
with us the moment we reverently attend Holy Mass most especially when we
partake of His Body and Blood during Holy Communion. The Lord speaks to us the
moment we reverently read His words in the bible. Jesus is with us the moment
we pray with reverence the Holy Rosary.
If only we would
invest time to dive deeper into the life of Jesus and our catholic faith we
will not anymore ask for any signs from Jesus. Because as we invest time for
Him, we will also notice slowly but surely His abiding presence in our life.
Let us not
ask for signs let us instead get intimate with Jesus and our faith by our
faithful presence at Holy Mass. By having a daily habit of reading our bible
and by having a daily quite time in prayer with Him. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus came
down with the Twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd
of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and
the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. And Raising his eyes toward his disciples
Jesus said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom
of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when
people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name
as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold,
your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in
the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received
your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe
to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak
well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
There’s a story of a man in his late thirties
who had a successful life in this world. Name it and he had it: women, riches,
power and the like. It may seem that he was enjoying what he was going through
but he was empty deep inside. So, he resigned from his high paying job and he
subsequently joined a catholic organization that serves the poor.
His life there was simple but he found real
happiness and fulfillment. Many of his friends hated and insulted him for what
he did. However, he did not mind them because he found Jesus in that
organization and subsequently built a deep friendship with the Lord.
What is the main requirement to get closer to
Jesus? It’s to suffer for the sake of the advancement of His kingdom in this
world. Without suffering for Christ there would be no close friendship with him.
Many of us are so afraid to suffer for
Christ sake because this will disturb us. If we have this mentality, we
therefore are only thinking of ourselves and not thinking of the welfare of
others. We only are concerned of what we can get from this present world
(wealth, power and the like). And forget about what is there for us after this
world.
We may be stripped of our riches in the
process of our desire to get closer to Jesus. Many will hate us even distance
themselves from us. But what the heck! We have to understand that we don’t live
in this world to be in this world. We live in this world now so that we can go
to heaven and be with the Lord someday.
Our motivation in existing in this world
should always be heaven to be with Jesus. Otherwise if our motivation is
centered in this world alone, we would never have peace. We may have all the
things in this world but we still will have no peace for there’s an absence of
Christ in our life.
In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus tells us: Blessed
are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and
denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man (Luke 6:22).
Therefore, let us not be afraid of the
challenges. That we might face for the sake of advancing the kingdom of God in
this world. For this is the reason of our existence. God made us to exist in
this world so that we could bring others closer to Jesus.
Have you already suffered for Christ and have
you already brought somebody closer to him? If your answer is yes, you are truly
blessed! – Marino J. Dasmarinas
In those days
when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the
disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they
have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them
away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them
have come a great distance. His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get
enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them,
“How many loaves do you have? They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to
sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke
them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them
to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and
ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the
fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed
the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of
Dalmanutha.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What kind of
God is Jesus? He is a God of compassion and mercy, Jesus feels our loneliness
when we are lonely. Jesus cries with us when we cry. Jesus feels the heavy load
that we carry when we are so burdened by it. Does this feeling of compassion
and mercy stops with Jesus empathy? No, Jesus never stops of thinking of ways
on how He can make light the burdens that we carry.
We see this
deep compassion and mercy of Jesus in our gospel today. When Jesus saw the
crowd who had been following them for days He had deep compassion with them for
they were already hungry. And His mercy and compassion led Him to think on how
He could feed them.
So Jesus
asked His disciples for whatever food that they may have and out of seven
loaves and few fish Jesus miraculously multiplied it to feed almost four
thousand. This is how merciful and compassionate Jesus is to those who follow
Him.
What does
this gospel tell us? This tells us that we will never go hungry the moment we
decide to faithfully follow Jesus! Jesus will never let us go hungry for He
will take care of our food and He will take care of our needs. This may be hard
to believe for others but this is very true! Jesus provides for those who
faithfully follow Him.
Do you
faithfully follow Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Again Jesus
left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into
the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a
speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off
by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and,
spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said
to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears
were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He
ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more
they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has
done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
There’s a
story of a man who was diagnosed to have a terminal sickness, of course he
was bothered, who would not be? But the man had great faith in Jesus so he
earnestly prayed. He went to Mass everyday, he prayed the rosary
regularly and he read his bible fervently.
As the days,
weeks and months passed by there was observable decline on his physical
appearance. But those around him noticed also the increase in his faith and confidence
in Jesus. They’ve noticed the peacefulness and calmness that he exudes so
unlikely of a dying man.
We are
presented in the gospel a story of physical healing, a deaf man was able to
speak again through the healing power of Jesus. With the help of those
around him the deaf man was brought closer to Jesus. After which he begged
Jesus to lay His hand on him.
Jesus took
the man away from the crowd. And in the stillness of the environment Jesus
groaned and said, “Ephphatha!” which means be opened. The man was immediately
healed, he was able to hear and speak once again.
Eventually,
everyone of us will get sick and everyone of us will also pray for physical
healing from Jesus. But not all of us would experience physical healing like
what the deaf man experienced in the gospel. Some of us would experience deep
spiritual healing, the same spiritual healing that the terminally sick man in
our story received from Jesus.
We must
therefore take steps also to get closer and build a relationship with Jesus.
Let us take the initiative and do it by ourselves now. Let us not wait for the
time to come that we will go to Him because we are already in dire need of Him.
– Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus went to
the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean
spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a
Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her
daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right
to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and
said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of
your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and
the demon gone.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What is the
key for us to have what we want from Jesus? It’s persistence, if we think that
Jesus doesn’t hear our prayers, we should continue to beg Him to grant us what
want. We should never give up because giving up is a sign of our lack of faith
in Jesus.
The
Syrophoenician woman in our gospel never gave up on her prayer request even if
she was already being tested by Jesus. She persisted and humbly beg Jesus to
cure her daughter possessed by the devil. Eventually her persistence bore fruit
for when she went home she found out that her daughter was not anymore
possessed by the devil.
As we
continue our journey in this temporal world, we surely will be facing a lot of
problematic situations. Let us not let these disappointing events bring us down
and let us not let these situations separate us from Jesus. The more we
encounter trials in our lives the more that we go persistently to Jesus for
help.
For it’s only
Jesus and it’s only through Jesus that we would be able to survive the many
trials and tribulations in this world. What if for example we
persistently pray to Jesus for help and he does not help us? Would this be
possible that we pray and we don’t receive any help from Jesus? Yes this is
very possible but this should not be a reason for us to give up and distance
ourselves from Jesus.
Are you
always persistent when you pray to Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus
summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and
understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but
the things that come out from within are what defile.” When he got home away
from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that
everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters
not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he
declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles
him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity,
theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy,
blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Where does
the desire to commit sin emanates? It first emanates from within us. It begins
when we think about it and if we don’t stop thinking about our desire to commit
sin it slowly progresses. Until we actually give flesh to our desire to sin by
actually doing it.
For example,
the desire of a husband/wife to betray their marriage vows. It starts by
thinking about it and when she/he sees that the situation is conducive to
commit the act of sin/betrayal. The spouse will now succumb to commit this
immoral sin. Therefore, the desire to commit sin originates from within us.
How then
could we avoid sin? We pray to Jesus and ask His help to exterminate whatever
sinful desires that we have in our minds. Then we also have to do our part by
taking action to rid ourselves of the desire to sin and by running away from
sin. Because if we pray yet our actions are not according to what we have been
praying for we would still commit sin sooner or later. As the saying goes God
help those who help themselves.
But come to think
of it, why do we commit sin? The simple answer is we don’t take our faith in
Jesus seriously this is the reason why we commit sin when we want to commit it.
Are we not tired yet of sinning? Are we not tired yet of mortgaging our lives
to the devil? When we continuously mortgage our lives to the devil through sin,
there is the danger that we may not anymore be able to get out of it!
It’s about
time that we change this cycle of sin, it’s about time that we rid ourselves of
any sinful thoughts and desires. It’s about time that we free ourselves from
any problems and complication brought about by sin. This could only
happen if we ask Jesus to come into our lives.
Would you be
willing to humbly pray to Jesus to come into your life? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
When the
Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is,
unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat
without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And
on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the
purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and
scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the
elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did
Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people
honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they
worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s
commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you
have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For
Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or
mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother, “Any
support you might have had from me is qorban”’ (meaning, dedicated to God), you
allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of
God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such
things.”
+ + + + + +
Reflection:
Are you very
strict with the observance of your customs and traditions?
The Pharisees
were very particular of their custom/tradition they follow it to the letter. So,
when they saw that Jesus’ disciples ate their meals without washing their
hands—they told Jesus about it.
They said to
Jesus: “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but
instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" and Jesus told them: You disregard
God's commandment but cling to human tradition." He went on to say,
"How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold
your tradition!
We see that
Jesus puts more weight on the commandments of God more than their traditions
the interior rather than the exterior, the inside conversion rather than the
fake exterior observance of their laws.
The
conversion that Jesus desires for us is one that involves change of our hearts
and mindsets. For example, from sinner we now become a non-sinner. From staying
in an environment where we sinned, we now completely walk away from that
environment and so on. For Jesus, what matters most is not our external appearance
but our internal conversion and renewal.
Are you
sometimes quick to judge based on what you see? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
After making
the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land
at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people
immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and
began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever
villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the
marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
+ + + + + +
Reflection:
A man sick
with cancer asked the Lord, “Why am I suffering Lord”? I can’t bear my sickness
anymore and I can’t bear the pain of going through the procedure of
chemotherapy anymore.”
In the gospel
those who were able to touch the tassel of Jesus’ cloak were very fortunate for
they received healing in return. It speaks volumes of their faith. But
there are also those who have faith but not physically healed. There are those
who have faith but they continue to suffer from their sickness. Sometimes it
may baffle us why they physically suffer considering that they also have faith
that they also love Jesus.
The healing
that Jesus gives us is not always physical, oftentimes its spiritual which
means that we're given the grace to accept our physical sickness and the grace
to completely surrender our life to the great mercy of Jesus.
There are
people who are still happy in spite of their physical sickness for they’ve
learned to offer to God their suffering. They’ve learned that the suffering
that they’re undergoing right now is nothing compared to the suffering that
Jesus went through.
There will
come a time that we will also get sick and may suffer as well. Let us never
forget to offer our suffering/s to Jesus. Let us ask Jesus to help us endure our
suffering/sickness. Though it may be difficult, let us learn to accept it and
continue to have that enormous faith in the Lord. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and
listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw
two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were
washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and
taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to
Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in
reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at
your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a
great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their
partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both
boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this,
he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a
sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and
all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who
were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you
will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left
everything and followed him.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
A middle-aged man who was newly out of prison wanted to follow Jesus. But
he would always have second thoughts if he would proceed with his desire
because he was sinful. Thus, the feeling of unworthiness always creeps into
him. However, there was always that inner voice that whispers to him to follow the Lord
no matter his sinfulness.
Who among us are worthy to become a follower
of Jesus? Nobody for all of us are sinful, all of us have offended the Lord one
way or another. Yet in spite of our unworthiness we are always being called by
Jesus to follow Him so that He can purify us of our sins no matter how dark those
sins are.
The Lord does not call us to condemn us of the
countless sins that we have committed. He calls us so that He could restore us
of our dignity which we lost through our sinfulness. He calls us to tell us
that His love for us can overcome whatever sins that we have committed.
All He want from us is our yes! When we say
yes to the Lord, we also would be willing to leave behind the environment which
made us sin. We leave behind those people who influenced us to sin. In other
words, there’s no turning back or looking back the moment we decide to follow the
Lord.
In the gospel, after Jesus performed the
miracle of the great catch of fish before the very eyes of Simon and the other
fishermen (Luke 5:6). Simon Peter kneeled before Jesus and he begged Jesus to
leave them for they were all sinful. And therefore unworthy of His presence and the miracle that
he did for them (Luke 5:8).
However, Jesus with all the love, mercy and
forgiveness in His heart told Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be
catching men (Luke 5:10).” Right after bringing their boats to the shore, Simon
and the other fishermen left everything to follow the Lord (Luke 5:11).
Regardless of your sins and your dark past Jesus
is calling you as well to begin a new life with Him. Will you heed this
call of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
The Apostles
gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said
to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. People
were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to
eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw
them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from
all the towns and arrived at the place before them.
When Jesus
disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for
they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Do you want
Jesus to teach you many things (Mark 6:34)? Therefore, you must thirst for
Jesus, you must follow Jesus and you must hunger for Jesus.
Many of us
today do not feel Jesus in our life because we don’t thirst and hunger for Him
anymore. We thirst and hunger more for the things of this world, we follow more
the false teachings of this world than abide by the teachings of Jesus.
What would it
benefit you if you follow Jesus and If you give up everything for Jesus? You
gain a foretaste of heaven while you are still in this world. This doesn’t mean
that you will not experience anymore human difficulties once you choose Jesus
over this world.
Yet you can
be assured that as you go through your human difficulties or problems you are
certain of Jesus abiding presence in your life. Jesus will make your
difficulties lighter and Jesus will walk with you.
In the gospel
for this Saturday we read about the multitude of people chasing after Jesus and
His disciples. The disciples were about to rest and go through some physical
and spiritual re-charging. Yet when the multitude of people discovered it they
hurriedly went there leaving behind whatever worldly undertaking/s that they
were doing.
When Jesus
saw the vast crowd waiting for Him, He did not turn them away, never did He
scold them or told them, why are you people disturbing our rest? Jesus instead
pitied them. Then, He taught them and healed them of whatever sickness that
they have.
Are you
willing to leave everything to have a precious encounter with Jesus? - Marino
J. Dasmarinas
King Herod
heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying,
“John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; That is why mighty powers are
at work in him.” Others were saying, “He is Elijah” still others, “He is a
prophet like any of the prophets. But when Herod learned of it, he said “It is
John whom I beheaded. He has been raised up. Herod was the one who had John
arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias the wife of his brother
Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod “It is not lawful for you
to have your brother’s wife. Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted
to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a
righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was
very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him. Herodias had an opportunity
one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers, his
military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. His own daughter came in and
performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the
girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you. He even swore
many things to her, “I will grant you whatever you ask of me, even to half of
my kingdom. She went out and said to her mother “What shall I ask for? Her
mother replied, “The head of John the Baptist. The girl hurried back to the
king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter
the head of John the Baptist. The king was deeply distressed, but because of
his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he
promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went
off and beheaded him in the prison. He brought in the head on a platter and
gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples
heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What does it
mean when you’re constantly being bothered by your conscience? It simply means
that you’ve done something wrong and the only cure for this wrongdoing is to
correct it. For example, if a believer has cheated on his/her spouse she/he
will naturally be bothered by her/his conscience. And this torment will not end
until there’s a closure or admission of sin.
When King
Herod heard about the miraculous actions of Jesus and the popularity that He
was earning from the ordinary people. Herod thought of John whom he ordered
beheaded it suddenly came to his mind that John was alive. But it was very
clear to King Herod that he ordered John killed.
So why did
King Herod thought of John when he heard about Jesus? This is for the reason
that King Herod was already being bothered by his conscience. Herod did
something which is terribly wrong and the price that he has to pay for his
wrongdoing was the guilt of conscience which was constantly bothering him.
Aren’t we
like that also when we do wrong? But what separates us from Herod is we have an
opportunity to repent and admit our wrongdoing. And once we do so the guilty
feeling will not be there anymore.
But why allow
ourselves to be pestered by our guilt? Why not permanently delete guilt from
our minds by not committing sin? Some of us may say that it’s impossible not to
commit a wrongdoing or sin. Yes it may be impossible but, why not try asking
Jesus to help us be clean all the time or if we sin, why not humbly apologize
and admit our sin? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus
summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them
authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the
journey but a walking stick –no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They
were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever
place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off
your feet in testimony against them.” So, they went off and preached
repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many
who were sick and cured them.
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
What were the
apostles thinking when they were sent to their mission by Jesus without
bringing any provision? Perhaps they were worried and questions arose like,
what are we going to eat and would we be able to survive this daunting mission?
But eventually their questioning minds were overwhelmed by their faith and
trust in Jesus. And so, they forged on and they became successful missioners of
Jesus.
Sometimes
it’s hard to imagine how God would sustain us or how we could survive the
difficulties of life. Until we learn to hold on to our faith and give our full
trust and faith to the almighty hand of Jesus. Many of us fail in our many
endeavors because we don’t have faith and trust in the Lord. Instead of
trusting the Lord we trust on ourselves more than God. So we fail and the main
culprit is our feeble faith.
Trust and
faith were the two main ingredients that made the twelve apostles successful in
their mission. Trust and faith in Jesus must also be our guiding light as we
move on to do our mission for Christ. Or as we move on to live our life for
Jesus.
Let us not
allow ourselves to be intimidated by the challenges that may confront us no
matter how difficult. Why? Because the Lord will always be with us to help us
as we help Him advance His teaching.
In hindsight,
has God forsaken anyone who helped Him spread His teachings? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
