And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of
someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it
says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it
finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other
spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last
condition of that man is worse than the first.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What motivates us to accuse falsely or to destroy the good reputation of our fellowmen? It’s greed, anger, envy and other negative emotions. These emotions are so dangerous that it could even lead us to kill. All of these are devious instruments of Satan. All of these are used by Satan to capture us.
How could we refuse these enticements of Satan? We must be prayerful, we must always do good. We must at all times be focused on our mission to spread the teachings of Jesus through our words and actions.
By doing good, Jesus was accused as being with Satan, what a reckless accusation emanating from the crowd! Is it Jesus siding with the demon or the crowd siding with the demon? The demon will never do good it will always seek to create chaos and manufacture baseless accusations.
Come to think of it, by accusing Jesus the crowd allowed themselves to be used by the demon himself. In like manner we also allow ourselves to be an instrument of the demon when we purposely accuse people even without a grain of truth.
The demon or devil is a clear and present danger to all of us. It’s always there looking for the right timing to capture us. However, if we are close to Jesus and we practice and live the teachings of Jesus. We have nothing to worry because the devil can do nothing to us.
Do you always create time to get closer to
Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
17 Alam ni Jesus ang kanilang iniisip kaya sinabi niya sa kanila: “Mabubuwag ang bawat kahariang nagkakahati-hati at magigiba roon ang mga sambahayan. 18 Ngayon, kung nagkakahati-hati si Satanas, paano magtatagal ang kanyang kaharian? Di nga ba’t sinasabi ninyo na nagpapalayas ako ng mga demonyo sa tulong ni Beelzebul? 19 Kung sa pamamagitan ni Beelzebul ako nagpapalayas ng mga demonyo, paano naman napalalayas ng inyong mga kaanib ang mga ito? Sila mismo ang nararapat sumagot sa inyo.
20 Sa daliri ng Diyos ako nagpapalayas ng mga demonyo kaya sumapit na sa inyo ang kaharian ng Diyos. 21 Kung sandatahang binabantayan ni Malakas ang kanyang palasyo, hindi magagambala ang kanyang mga pag-aari. 22 Pero kung salakayin siya ng mas makapangyarihan sa kanya at talunin siya, maaagaw nito ang kanyang mga armas na kanyang inasahan at ipamamahagi ang kanyang mga ari-arian. • 23 Ang hindi panig sa akin ay laban sa akin, at ang hindi nagtitipong kasama ko ay nagpapangalat.
• 24 Kapag
lumabas sa tao ang maruming espiritu, nagpapalabuy-laboy ito sa mga lugar na
walang tubig sa paghahanap ng pahingahan. Pero wala siyang natatagpuan at
sinasabi niya: ‘Babalik ako sa inalisan kong tirahan.’ 25 Pagdating niya,
natatagpuan niya ito na nawalisan na at maayos pa. 26 Kaya naghahanap
siya at nagsasama ng pito pang espiritung mas masama pa kaysa kanya; pumapasok
ang mga ito at doon tumitira. Kaya mas masama ang huling kalagayan ng taong
iyon kaysa dati.”
I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an
egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
him?”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Isn’t God all knowing? Doesn’t He read our minds? So why do we need to badger Him in prayer about our needs? God is all knowing and God reads our minds but we still need to persistently let Him know what we want Him to do for us. Why? For the simple reason that it’s through our persistence that we develop deep friendship with Him. It’s through our persistent prayer that we obtain the grace to get to know Jesus much deeper.
What if we would not persist? We miss the chance to know Jesus more deeply and we miss the opportunity to develop a much deeper friendship with Him. Take for example our Sunday Mass obligation or the Online Sunday Mass (For those who are not able to go to church because of the Covid-19 restrictions) what would happen to us if we wouldn’t keep on attending it every Sunday? We miss the chance to know Jesus deeply, we miss the chance to be showered by His many blessing and we miss the opportunity to grow in faith.
Yes, God knows everything about us already but we still need to be persistent before Him. For this is where He would know how deep is our love for Him. When we don’t give up on Jesus and when we continue to let Him know that we always hunger for Him. Surely Jesus will not be deaf and blind to our petitions before Him.
Jesus will certainly smile at us and tell
us: Here it is that you want I’m giving it to you now because you did not give
up. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
7 At sasagutin ka siguro ng nasa loob: ‘Huwag mo na akong gambalain. Nakatrangka na ang pinto at nakahiga na kami ng mga bata; hindi na ako maaaring tumayo para bigyan ka.’ 8 Sinasabi ko sa inyo, kung hindi man siya bumangon para magbigay dahil sa pakikipagkaibigan, babangon pa rin siya at ibibigay sa iyo ang lahat mong kailangan dahil sa pagpupumilit sa kanya.
9 Kaya sinasabi ko sa inyo: humingi at kayo’y bibigyan, maghanap at matatagpuan ninyo, kumatok at bubuksan ang pinto para sa inyo. 10 Talaga ngang tumatanggap ang humihingi, nakakatagpo ang naghahanap at pinagbubuksan ang kumakatok.
11 Sino sa inyo ang amang magbibigay ng ahas sa kanyang anak kung isda at hindi ahas ang hinihingi nito? 12 Sino ang magbibigay ng alakdan kung itlog ang hinihingi? 13 Kaya kung kayo mang masasama’y marunong magbigay ng mabubuting kaloob sa inyong mga anak, gaano pa kaya ang Ama mula sa langit? Tiyak na ibibigay niya ang banal na Espiritu sa mga hihingi sa kanya.”
Father, hallowed be your name, your
Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we
ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final
test.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Has anyone asked you to teach him/her to pray or have you taught somebody to pray?
It’s a humbling experience if somebody would ask us to teach him/her to pray. Just like the same petition that the disciples of Jesus told Him. But before we could expect people to ask us to teach them how to pray we must learn to live our prayer first.
For example, if we pray for humility it is incumbent upon us to live humility as well. If we pray for forgiveness we should be forgiving as well. If we pray for peace in our lives we should live a peaceful life. In other words, we should always learn to live our prayers before Jesus.
What will move our fellowmen to ask us to teach them how to pray? We should ensure that we live our faith and we are humble at all times. This is how Jesus lived His life; He always ensured that His prayers are always accompanied by humble acts of faith.
Just like Jesus, we too must see to it that we live what we pray or we walk and live our talk so that others may see in us Jesus. We become like magnets for Jesus if we live our prayers and we live it with humility.
Has anyone asked you to teach him/her to
pray or have you taught somebody to pray? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
2 At sinabi ni Jesus sa kanila: “Kung mananalangin kayo, sabihin ninyo: Ama, sambahin ang ngalan mo, dumating ang kaharian mo, 3 bigyan mo kami araw-araw ng pagkaing kailangang-kailangan namin, 4 patawarin mo kami sa aming mga sala; tingnan mo’t pinatatawad din namin ang lahat ng may utang sa amin, at huwag mo kaming dalhin sa tukso.”
She had a sister called Mary, who sat down
at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted
with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my
sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help
me. But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about
so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has
chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What are you going to do if you visit a house of a friend and you get the same treatment that Jesus received from Martha and Mary? Who are you going to favor Martha or Mary? It actually depends upon you who are you going to favor. But Jesus obviously preferred the action of Mary who sat down at His feet and faithfully listened to Him.
What did Martha do that it did not get the merit of Jesus? Martha was busy preparing food for Jesus. Why did Jesus not favor Martha when what she was doing was for His honor also? Jesus is a preacher and perhaps being a preacher he wants people to listen to Him so that He could impart His wisdom. This was may be the reason why Jesus preferred the reverent act of Mary.
What happens to us when we listen to Jesus and when we meditate on His words? We gain wisdom from Jesus himself and we are enlightened by Him no less. But do we still have time to listen to Jesus? Are we not very busy with our many worldly undertakings?
Some of us may say that we have to
move and be busy because we have to earn and eat otherwise we’ll get hungry.
Yes, this is true, but what would happen to us if we are all work? If we have
no more time to listen to Jesus or if Jesus is just a minuscule entity in our
lives? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
41 Sumagot sa kanya ang Panginoon: “Marta, Marta, abala ka’t balisa sa maraming bagay; 42 isa lang naman ang kailangan. Pinili nga ni Maria ang mainam na bahagi na hindi kukunin sa kanya.”
But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver
coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way
back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’
victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him,
“Go and do likewise.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
How do we express our love for God and neighbor?
It is by caring for those who are in need no matter who they may be, for as long as they’re in need we should help them. But there are those who are so withdrawn that even if they’re in need they find it hard to ask for help or they will not ask for help. There are people who are like them they’re in need but they don’t ask for help because of low self-esteem and shyness.
What should we do? We have be sensitive to their plight, we must not be stonehearted we should help without being asked for help.
The question of the scholar of the law is perhaps also our question before Jesus: How can we inherit eternal life? And Jesus referred them to what was written in the law; Love of God and love of our neighbor; these are the two keys to have eternal life.
Jesus further reinforced these two teachings with a story of a man who was victimized by robbers. As he lay wounded a priest followed by a Levite both prominent people simply passed by and did not lift a finger to help him. Afterwards a Samaritan came and he surprisingly helped the wounded man. Not content with helping him the Samaritan brought the man to an inn to be properly nursed there.
It’s not enough to say, we love God and
our neighbors for these are mere words that are empty. We put life and meaning
to these two greatest commandments when we become like the compassionate
Samaritan in the gospel. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
“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.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Have you tried looking at the face of a child and have you tried looking at the face of an adult? Which of them give you more joy? Of course, it’s the face of the child.
Jesus in the gospel gives us the secret on how we can enter the kingdom of heaven. Which is none other than to become like children or to be childlike, why? It’s for the reason of the pureness of their thoughts and their innocence. No wonder being childlike is the key for us to enter God’s kingdom in heaven.
But are we childlike in terms of the pureness of our thoughts and absence of sin? Of course we are not! Who among us could say that our thoughts are as pure as a child? Who among us could say that we are without sin? Of course, nobody because we are all sinners we sin through our words, actions and thoughts.
Nevertheless, it’s not yet late for us to go back to Jesus and be childlike before Him. Jesus through the Sacrament of Reconciliation is always inviting us to humble ourselves before Him. To be like a child who humbly runs to his parents with reckless abandon once he sees them coming home.
Are you humble like a child? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
You will go down to the netherworld.’
Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And
whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Is it possible for us not to sin anymore?
No, as we live here in this world we will continue to sin for we are mere mortals with frailties. We sin through our thoughts, words and actions. However, as we keep on sinning God calls us always to repentance until the time comes that our sins will be diminished.
Amid our humanness and sinfulness God wants us to know that we need to repent that is why He created the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For us to humbly submit ourselves and for us to be aware of God’s goodness and forgiveness.
Obviously the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and
Capernaum were stone hearted. They did not listen to the call of Jesus for them
to repent. There really are people who are like the people of Chorazin,
Bethsaida and Capernaum. No matter how we try to help them and no matter how
hard we gently speak to them. They will not walk away from their
sinfulness they will really not hear us.
This is perhaps the mystery of human psychology; God comes to us yet we refuse
Him. Or we are given advice by those who are concerned for our welfare yet we
refuse to hear them.
So for those who refuse to hear the wisdom of God and the wise counsel of the people around them. Be prepared for the consequences for there are really consequences for those who refuse to hear. But why wait for the price of our stubbornness to befall us? Why not listen and walk away from our sinfulness?
Let us repent while we still have time and
let us humbly ask Jesus to forgive us of all our sins. The best vehicle for us
to do this is to humbly submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
Sa Araw
ng Paghuhukom, higit na mabigat ang kaparusahan ninyo kaysa kaparusahan ng mga
taga-Tiro at taga-Sidon. At ikaw, Capernaum, ibig mong mataas hanggang sa
langit? Ibabagsak ka sa Hades! “Ang nakikinig sa inyo’y nakikinig sa akin, ang
nagtatakwil sa inyo’y nagtatakwil sa akin, at ang nagtatakwil sa akin ay
nagtatakwil sa nagsugo sa akin.”
Go on your way; behold, I am sending you
like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no
one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this
household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but
if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’
Whatever town you enter and they do not
receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that
clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the
Kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on
that day than for that town.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Would you be willing to be an ambassador of Jesus?
It’s hard to respond to this call of Jesus to follow Him most especially when you see nothing but challenges. For example, provisions are very scarce, nobody wants to be with you for the simple reason that they don’t love God as much as you do.
What would you do then? You must carry on! The harder the challenges in front of you the firmer your resolve to pursue and follow the Lord. The enemy of God which is no other than the devil will continue to badger you to give up. It will continue to paint a picture of hopelessness with what you do for Christ so as to discourage you. But you must not give up. You must continue to hold on with your desire to partake with the mission of Jesus.
The statement of Jesus that the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few is as true as the sunshine today. Each day we see the decline of the morality and values of many people. Each day we see the debasement of the sanctity of marriage. Each day we see the disintegration of families most especially in the so called first world countries. This is the abundant harvest that Jesus pertains today.
Don’t say that you don’t see any abundant
harvest. Look in your own sphere of environment and you’ll see them. Focus on
them; share Jesus with them thru your words or thru your lifestyle for they are
your abundant harvest. Don’t worry about anything for Jesus is with you, He
will protect you and He will provide for you. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
