He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
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Reflection:
The story is told about a wife who prayed to Jesus for healing of her marriage. After a few months the husband who left her and her children suddenly came back asking for forgiveness. The wife forgave him without asking him about the past. She humbly said, “Let us move forward, learn from our mistakes, attend Holy Mass and thank Jesus for healing our marriage.
Today is Valentine’s day a day for those who are in love and a day for those who are in a love relationship such as marriage. But not all who are in a married relationship are experiencing bliss. There are many who are going through some humps and bumps in their marriage or love relationship. If you’re one of those who are going through this humps and bumps episode don’t give up because there is hope. You simply have to ask Jesus to heal your love relationship. Because the Lord will heal it the moment you begin to pray for it.
How would you react if you are the leper that was healed by Jesus? Should you just keep silent about your miraculous healing or you tell everyone how Jesus healed you? Perhaps you would also spread the good news of your healing from Jesus for this is basic human nature.
The healed leper disobeyed the command of Jesus not to tell anyone of the miracle that he received from Him (Mark 1:44). Did Jesus get angry with his disobedience? Of course not! For Jesus perfectly understood that his disobedience was for a good reason.
The healed leper wanted everyone to know that Jesus heals! The former leper simply wanted to share the good news of his healing so that others could also receive healing from the Lord. Soon after, the healing that Jesus did for the leper spread like wild fire and as a result of this, people from everywhere went to Jesus.
Have you received a miracle from Jesus? For example, healing from your sickness, healing of a family relationship or healing from an emotional/spiritual sickness and the like. Don’t keep it within yourself!
Tell everyone about the miracle that Jesus did to you. Humbly tell everyone about the greatest healer who ever walked this earth; no other than Jesus Himself! So that they too would experience healing from the Lord. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
43 Ngunit mahigpit siyang pinagbilinan ni Jesus sa kanyang pag-alis, 44 sinabi niya: “Mag-ingat ka, huwag mo itong sabihin kaninuman, kundi pumunta ka sa pari para masuri ka niya at maialay alang-alang sa pagkalinis sa iyo ang handog na iniutos ni Moises upang magkaroon sila ng patunay.”
45 Ngunit pagkaalis ng tao, sinimulan niyang ipahayag ito kahit saan at ipamalita ang pangyayaring ito. Dahil dito, hindi na lantarang makapasok sa bayan si Jesus kundi nanatili siya sa labas, sa mga ilang na lugar. Ngunit may dumarating pa rin sa kanya na kung saan-saan galing.
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.
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Reflection:
What happened to the crowd after they were fed by Jesus?
Perhaps they went back to their respective environments satisfied and spiritually recharged. Did they lead transformed lives? Did they become fervent and true followers of Jesus? Obviously majority of them did not live transformed lives and they did not become full blooded followers. Otherwise they would have not deserted Jesus when He was being persecuted, tortured and nailed to the cross.
What happens to us after attending Holy Mass wherein we listen to the words of God and partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus? Do we allow Jesus to transform us every time we listen to His words and every time we receive Him during Holy Communion? His fervent desire is to transform us so that we could become His true followers. This is His desire for us.
But at the end of the day it’s still in our hands we still have the liberty to decide for ourselves. If we become His true followers or not and if we allow His Body and Blood to transform us or not. The choice is ours to take but the wise choice is to allow Jesus to transform us.
Look around and see the lives of those who did not allow Jesus to transform them. Look around and see those who followed in words only. They may be materially wealthy, they may be politically powerful. But do they have peace and serenity in their lives? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
4 Sumagot ang kanyang mga alagad: “At paano naman makakakuha ng tinapay para pakainin sila sa ilang na ito?” 5 Tinanong sila ni Jesus: “Ilan bang tinapay meron kayo?” Sumagot sila: “Pito.”
6 Pinaupo ni Jesus sa lupa ang mga tao, kinuha ang pitong tinapay at nagpasalamat sa Diyos. Pinagpira-piraso niya ang mga ito at ibinigay sa kanyang mga alagad para ihain; at inihain nila ang mga ito sa mga tao. 7 Meron din silang ilang isda. Binasbasan ito ni Jesus at iniutos na ihain din ang mga ito.
8 Kumain sila at nabusog at inipon
ang mga natirang pira-piraso – pitong bayong. 9 Apat na libo ang naroon,
at saka sila pinauwi ni Jesus. 10 Agad siyang sumakay sa bangka kasama ang
kanyang mga alagad at pumunta sa lupain ng Dalmanuta.
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.”
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Reflection:
How would you react when people praise you for the things that you’ve done and achieved? Do you gloat over it? Does it increase your sense of self-worth? Do you feel proud and feel that you are head over shoulders above others? These reactions are for those people who have a very high regard of themselves.
Those who are humble when they are praised for the things that they’ve done and achieved would point to God by saying: Thanks be to God, or Praise God. They would always deflect the credit out of themselves and give the glory to God.
Let us look at the gospel and see the humble actions of Jesus when He was asked to heal the sick man. Instead of healing the sick man in front of the crowd. He took him away from the crowd then He cured him just the two of them. Afterwards, He told the healed man not to tell anyone.
We, when we’ve done something worthy we would want the whole world to know about it. This is the reason why many of us always post on facebook and other social media platforms pictures/videos that show that we’re doing or we’ve achieve something so that we would have a positive image.
But not Jesus, He would always be
non-assuming, self-effacing and low profile. How about you? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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.
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Reflection:
Does Jesus favor a certain group of people? No, Jesus doesn’t not have a chosen group of people. Jesus came into this world not to save a select group of people but for everyone of us: Sinner, non-sinner and Christians and non-Christians alike.
In the gospel, a Greek woman, a non-Jew and an outsider went to Jesus to beg for healing for her daughter. What did Jesus do? He tested the faith of the woman and when He saw her great faith Jesus granted her request for healing for her daughter.
What does this tell us about Jesus? Jesus is for everyone of us regardless who we are and the sins that we have committed. What is important for the Lord is we humbly go to Him and reach out to Him with faith. For if we have faith nothing is impossible for Him, Jesus would grant us what we want from for as long as we have faith.
Do you want Jesus to do miracles in your
life? Humbly beseech Him and don’t be shy. Simply trust Him and simply abandon
yourself to Him. In His own perfect time, He will give you your heart’s desire.
Believe and have faith. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
27 Sinabi naman ni Jesus sa kanya: “Bayaan mo munang mabusog ang mga anak. Hindi tama na kunin ang tinapay sa mga bata at itapon ito sa mga tuta.” 28 Sumagot ang babae: “Totoo nga, Ginoo, pero kinakain ng mga tuta sa ilalim ng mesa ang mga nalalaglag mula sa mga bata.” 29 At sinabi sa kanya ni Jesus: “Dahil sa sinabi mong ito, lumabas na sa iyong anak na babae ang demonyo.” 30 Kaya umuwi ang babae at nakita niya ang bata na nakahiga sa kama; lumabas na nga ang demonyo.
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.”
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Reflection:
The story is told about a married man who had an adulterous relationship with
his officemate. The wife told him, “I never thought that you would be capable
of doing that to me because we always go to Holy Mass every Sunday and we
practice our catholic faith.
It’s really hard to comprehend why many of us commit sin and don’t live our faith. Yes, we go to church for Holy Mass and yes we practice our catholic faith. Yet when tempted by satan to sin we easily sin. Why is this so? I don’t know why? Perhaps, this is brought about by our weak and superficial faith thus, we embrace the devil and we set aside Jesus.
Jesus in the gospel mentions that nothing that enters us make us sin but what comes out of us makes us sin. We therefore have to be careful and discerning about the things that we do. If we think that our actions would make us sin then by all means we should not do it.
If there’s a strong temptation to sin, we must run away from it before it captures us. The problem with sin is it will never stop until it completely destroys us. For example, the sin of adultery, couples who are into this would continue to engage in this adulterous relationship until they are caught.
They enjoy this sin very much for the simple reason that this is made more attractive by satan in their eyes. Since they are already under the spell of satan they continue to do it without guilt of conscience The same satan whose hidden and only desire is to destroy them.
Come to think of it, why is it that even if we know that what we are doing is sinful many of us still do it? The simple answer is many of us choose to embrace satan than Jesus. Many of us choose to gamble our very lives with satan than invest it with Jesus.
When you choose to be with the devil/satan you will be destroyed by it sooner or later. However, when you choose to walk away from it and you choose to be with Jesus. Jesus will never stop until He rids you of all of your sinfulness. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
17 Pagkalayo ni Jesus sa mga tao, nang nasa bahay na siya, tinanong siya ng kanyang mga alagad tungkol sa talinhagang ito. 18 At sinabi niya: “Wala rin ba kayong pang-unawa? Hindi ba ninyo nauunawaan na sa bituka pumupunta ang anumang pumapasok sa tao mula sa labas? 19 Sapagkat hindi sa puso ito pumapasok kundi sa tiyan at pagkatapos ay itinatapon sa labas.” (Sa gayo’y sinabi niya na malinis ang tanang mga pagkain.)
20 At idinagdag niya: “Ang lumalabas
sa tao ang nagpaparumi sa tao. 21 Sa puso nga ng tao nagmumula ang masasamang
hangarin – kahalayan, pagnanakaw, pagpatay sa kapwa, 22 pakikiapid,
kasakiman, kasamaan, pandaraya, kalaswaan, pagkainggit, paninira, kapalaluan,
kabuktutan. 23 Ang masasamang bagay na ito ang nagpaparumi sa tao.
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.”
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Reflection:
Why is Jesus a revolutionary leader? Because Jesus’ dares to violate established rules to benefit the people. For Jesus it’s always the greater good of the people before the observance of any rules or laws. Which by the way was created to serve the whims and caprices of the ruling class (The Pharisees and scribes).
Jesus violates the rules created by the ruling class because some were restrictive and oppressive. It makes the ordinary people servants of the ruling class. Ruling class who were good only with utterance of their laws but visibly wanting in human compassion. Truth to tell, the ruling class (Pharisees and scribes) sacrifice human compassion in exchange for the observance of their self-serving created laws.
Case in point is the washing of hands before eating which was mentioned by the ruling class in the gospel. They asked Jesus: “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands (Mark 7:5)?” Jesus answered them by simply pointing at their hypocrisy, their lack of interior transformation and compassion toward the ordinary people.
If we want our fellow men and women to truly respect and follow us we should not be imposing, we should not be dictators. Because if we are imposing and dictatorial our people will rebel against us, they may externally show their respect towards us but it’s a respect devoid of substance and spirit. Instead we should always live the gentleness and compassion of Jesus.
Do you live the gentleness and compassion
of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
5 Kaya tinanong siya ng mga Pariseo
at mga guro ng Batas: “Bakit hindi isinasabuhay ng iyong mga alagad ang tradisyon
ng mga ninuno? Hindi nga sila naghuhugas ng kamay bago kumain.”
6 At sinabi sa kanila ni Jesus: “Tama ang propesiya ni Isaias tungkol sa inyong mga mapagkunwari. Nasusulat na “Pinararangalan ako ng mga ito sa kanilang labi, at malayo naman sa akin ang kanilang mga puso. 7 Walang silbi ang kanilang pagsamba sa akin at kautusan lamang ng tao ang kanilang itinuturo.”
8 Pinabayaan nga ninyo ang utos ng
Diyos para itatag ang tradisyon ng mga tao.” 9 At sinabi ni Jesus:
“Mahusay na pinawalang-bisa ninyo ang salita ng Diyos para tuparin ang inyong
tradisyon. 10 Sinabi nga ni Moises: ‘Igalang mo ang iyong ama at ina’,
at ‘patayin ang sinumang sumumpa sa kanyang ama o ina.’ 11 Ngunit ayon sa
inyo, masasabi ninuman sa kanyang ama o ina, “Inilaan ko na para sa Templo ang
maaasahan ninyo sa akin.” 12 At hindi na ninyo siya pinapayagang tumulong
sa kanyang ama o ina. 13 Kaya pinawalang-bisa ninyo ang salita ng Diyos
sa tulong ng sarili ninyong tradisyon. At marami pa ang mga ginagawa ninyong
ganito.”
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.
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Reflection:
Do you have the habit of touching the image of Jesus in your house or when you are at church? Then as you touch His image you say your silent prayer of petition and thanksgiving to Jesus? Continue doing it because that is a good habit it signifies your humility and surrender to the mighty power of Jesus.
The healing crusade of Jesus continues in our gospel. Wherever He goes those who were in need of His healing go also. The moment they get the information that Jesus is near them they hurry to go to Him to have a healing encounter with the Lord. They never mind if they are not able to talk to Jesus. It’s enough for them that they’re able to touch a tiny part of His clothes. Or to have a glimpse of Him is already enough for them to be healed by the mighty power of Jesus.
Up to this very moment this mighty healing power of Jesus is very much present in our midst. Because the Lord is always just a prayer away and His very image is within our reach too. Look at the cross in your house or in your church the image of Jesus is there. Touch Him and as you touch Him ask Him to heal you, ask Him to change you according to His will ask Him to make you more gentle, humble and forgiving.
Surely, Jesus will never disappoint anyone
who humbles and surrenders himself/herself before Him. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Kaya dinala nila ang mga maysakit na nasa
higaan kung saan nila mabalitaang naroon siya. 56 At saanman siya lumakad,
sa mga nayon man o sa bayan o sa bukid, inilalagay nila sa mga liwasan ang mga
maysakit at nakikiusap sa kanya na mahipo man lamang sana nila ang laylayan ng
kanyang damit, at gumaling ang lahat ng humipo rito.
