At baka bigla kayong datnan ng araw na
iyon. 35 Babagsak itong parang bitag sa lahat ng nasa lupa. 36 Kaya lagi kayong
magbantay at manalangin para maging marapat na makatakas sa lahat ng
mangyayaring ito at makaharap sa Anak ng Tao.”
Amen, I say to you, this generation will
not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
+ + + + + + +
Growing old is the dread of some, more so when they notice the graying of their hair and the sagging of their skin. This is the reason why they try to dye their hair and they go to facial clinic to conceal the advancement of their age.
As we face this slow but sure change of our body’s appearance we are reminded that we are slowly but surely nearing our departure date from this world. We fear this occurrence especially for those who are not prepared. But why fear? This is the simple flow of life; and we all will pass through this experience.
If we have not done anything wrong we have
nothing to fear. If we are close to Jesus we have nothing to fear, if we are
always present during Holy Mass we have nothing to fear. If we read the bible
we have nothing to fear. Even death itself we will not fear for this is the
last hurdle going to the eternal Kingdom of God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
31 Gayundin
naman, pag napansin ninyo ang mga ito, alamin ninyong malapit na ang paghahari
ng Diyos. 32 Talagang sinasabi ko sa inyo na hindi lilipas ang
salinlahing ito at mangyayari ang lahat ng ito. 33 Lilipas ang
langit at lupa ngunit hindi lilipas ang aking mga salita.
Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon,
and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring
of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is
coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then
they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But
when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your
redemption is at hand.
+ + + + + + +
Jesus talks about a very frightening scenario in the gospel. But at the same time at the end He also tells us that there shall be redemption. We also have our own share of frightening scenarios in our lives. Problems, trials, persecution and we may feel that this is already the end for us and this kind of scenario would test us.
Let us continue to steadfastly hold on to God, let us not let go no matter how difficult our trials. For at the end there shall be redemption for us also. If we have God nobody could bring us down not even the occurrence of the end times.
However, there are times that many of us give up but why give up when God has not given up upon us? God is always there for us to assure us that everything will be alright no matter how difficult and frightening the situation before us.
Let us not allow the signs of the end
times to weaken us. For the simple reason that there is always hope for as long
as we continue to have faith in Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
22 Sapagkat ito ang mga araw ng paghihiganti sa kanya para matupad ang lahat ng nasa Kasulatan. 23 Sawimpalad ang mga nagdadalantao o mga inang nagpapasuso sa mga araw na iyon. Sapagkat matindi ang sasapit na kapahamakan sa lupain at ang galit sa bayang ito. 4 Mamamatay sila sa tabak, dadalhing bihag sa lahat ng bansa, at yuyurakan ng mga bansang pagano ang Jerusalem hanggang mabuo ang panahon ng mga bansa.
25 Magkakaroon ng mga tanda sa araw, buwan at mga bituin. Sa lupa’y mangangamba ang mga bansa dahil sa ugong at alon ng dagat, at wala silang magagawa. 26 Hihimatayin ang mga tao dahil sa takot at pagkabahala sa mga sasapitin ng sanlibutan sapagkat mayayanig ang mga puwersa ng sanlibutan. 27 At makikita nila ang Anak ng Tao na dumarating na nasa ulap na may Kapangyarihan at ganap na Luwalhati.
28 Kung
magsimula nang maganap ang mga ito, tumindig kayo at tumunghay dahil palapit na
ang inyong katubusan.”
Remember, you are not to prepare your
defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all
your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed
over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of
you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on
your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
+ + + + + + +
If we suffer poverty for Jesus’ sake, if we are persecuted for following Jesus. And if the events in our lives are not turning out well based on worldly standards because we choose to follow Jesus. Let us not worry for someday in the great beyond we will surely receive our reward.
Are all the worldly appendages that we blindly chase and have worth it? No it’s not because it can slip out of our hands anytime. So, why are so many of us are so blinded by these worldly things? We covet it as if our life hinges on it.
At the end of our lives only one will
matter and that’s none other than our faithfulness to Jesus. Let us therefore
strive to get closer to Jesus than obsessively striving to possess the fragile and
passing offerings of this world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
14 Isaisip ninyo na huwag ikabalisa ang pagtatanggol sa inyong sarili 15 dahil ako mismo ang magbibigay sa inyo ng mga salita at karunungang di matatagalan o masasagot ng lahat ninyong kaaway.
16 Ipagkakanulo kayo ng inyong mga
magulang, mga kapatid, mga kamag-anak at mga kaibigan, at papatayin nila ang
ilan sa inyo. 17 At kamumuhian kayo ng lahat dahil sa aking pangalan.
18 Subalit hindi maaano isa mang buhok sa inyong ulo. 19 Sa inyong
pagpapakatatag, ang mga sarili ninyo mismo ang inyong makakamit.
Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come. Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not
immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes,
famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs
will come from the sky.
+ + + + + + +
But in hindsight we are human beings and as such it’s natural for us to have fears in our hearts. most especially when we see calamitous storms, outbreak of viruses such as Covid-19 and wars. But Jesus words are more powerful than any wars, viruses and storms combined!
In our gospel for this Tuesday Jesus mentions about destructions and wars. Jesus mentioned these words in the gospel hundreds of years ago. And what He mentioned then is actually happening right now. There are many ongoing wars and destructions in many parts of the world. Are we going to tremble in fear? Of course not! For the reason that we know deep in our hearts that there’s hope! And this hope is given to us by Jesus.
Jesus tells us not to be terrified for He is far more powerful than any wars and destructions. Therefore, what we must do is to have hope and faith in Jesus for when we have Jesus in our hearts we have nothing to fear. Even the most destructive wars and calamities we will not fear!
Do you have fear/s in your heart right now?
Surrender and give it all to Jesus for He will take care of it for you. -
Marino J. Dasmarinas
8 Sumagot si Jesus: “Mag-ingat kayo at baka kayo madaya. Maraming aangkin sa aking pangalan sa pagsasabing ‘Ako ang Mesiyas; ako siya,’ at ‘Palapit na ang panahon.’ Huwag kayong sumunod sa kanila. 9 Sa pagkabalita ninyo sa digmaan at mga kaguluhan, huwag kayong maligalig; mangyayari muna ito pero hindi pa ito ang wakas.”
10 At sinabi niya sa kanila:
“Magdidigmaan ang mga bayan at maglalaban-laban ang mga kaharian. 11 Magkakaroon
din ng malalakas na lindol sa maraming lugar, magkakaroon ng taggutom, magkakaroon
ng mga kakila-kilabot na bagay at ng malalaki ring kababalaghan sa langit.
+ + + + + + +
Maybe she has been doing this act of extreme generosity for so many times already and time and again this poor yet generous woman has proven that whatever she gave out of her poverty comes back to her a hundredfold times.
You may ask, if what the poor woman gave comes back to her many times over. Then why is she still poor? Yes she is still poor based on our own materialistic eyes, but she is actually very rich in terms of her faith and spirituality this is the reason why she could give everything including her earnings from her livelihood.
To be materially poor is OK for as long as you are rich in faith and spirituality. For what is the essence of material wealth when it can easily fly away from our hands anytime?
Are you generous like the poor woman in
our gospel? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of
these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
+ + + + + + +
What is the significance of the Solemnity of Christ the King in our lives? It encourages us to make Jesus the center and King of our lives; it persuades us to make Jesus the priority of our lives. In other words before anything else it must be Jesus first in our lives.
But look at what is happening now; Jesus is the least to some of us. We need no factual statistics to validate this; we simply need to look at the attendance at Holy Mass. We look at the spiraling crime rate, the corporate greed, the massive destruction of the environment that results to calamitous flooding as evidenced by the flooding caused by typhoons Rolly and Ulysses. The arrogance of many politicians and so forth.
Obviously the Kingship of Christ is nowhere in their hearts. The kingship of Jesus is eroded by the kingship of materialism, greed and arrogance.
Would we allow this erosion of the Kingship of Jesus in favor of the kingship of the secular world which the devil represents? We must not allow this to happen! We who are followers of Christ must see to it that He is always part and parcel of our daily lives. We may not verbally preach Him but we must learn to preach Him through our daily lives.
Saint Francis of Asisi has said: “Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary.” This means that we must live the gospel in every moment of our lives. By doing so we would be perpetuating the kingship of Christ in this world. But this is seldom done now what is often preached now is greed, materialism, arrogance and other forms of destructive secular teachings.
We are therefore being challenged by Jesus to help Him become more relevant in this present world. Now more than ever the world needs the Kingship of Jesus, His values and His teachings. Let us not run away from this responsibility that Jesus gave us, let us live His kingship, let us embrace it and let us share it.
Can you measure up to this challenge? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. they can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise even Moses made
known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of
the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply,
“Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him
anything.
+ + + + + + +
Some people have a limited understanding of the vastness of life that they thought that it is only up to the point of death, after that no more. But if there’s no life after death what then is the use of living a worthy life in this world?
There is a resurrection! And we begin to sow the seeds of resurrection the moment we decide to walk away from all of our sins. And when we die we will have an up close and personal encounter with this resurrection. Therefore, eternal life or resurrection will come to those who lived their lives pleasing to the eyes of God.
In the gospel Jesus tells us all the
reality of afterlife, of heaven, of everlasting life and of angels. However,
not all will have the privilege of being there. For it is only reserve for
those who are considered worthy. Worthy based on the merciful eyes of God not
based on our own subjective and judgmental eyes. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
And every day he was teaching in the
temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people,
meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to
accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
A few years ago I’ve read an article about the confession of a young man who
had a sex change. From male he became female, after a few months of going
through the procedure this young man was already full of regrets.
According to him, he was being deeply bothered by his conscience and he felt that something is wrong with the function of his body. I can’t remember if he died but he got sick a few months after going through that procedure.
Are we aware that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Are we aware that Jesus is deeply saddened when we try to alter the physical composition of our body? Today with the help of science we can make ourselves appear younger. We can even make our bodies a walking expression of who we are.
Is this right? Of course not for God created our bodies to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why it does not deserve to be altered by any form of medical procedure and by our own wild imagination disguised as self-expression.
In the gospel, Jesus got angry with those
who were defiling the temple. Why? Because they were using the temple not for
worship anymore but to advance their own self-interest. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
