1Reflection for July 30, Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 14:1-12

Gospel: Matthew 14:1-12

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”  

Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”  

The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.

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Reflection:

Do you always see to it that you always do good so that you would have a clear conscience? Guilt of conscience is the worst enemy that we can ever have because we don’t see it yet it keeps on bothering us.  

When King Herod heard of Jesus he thought that John had been raised from the dead. Why was he thinking of John? Because he was the one responsible for John’s undeserved death, the injustice that he did to John was perpetually bothering him.   

It had been haunting him for the longest time, that’s why upon hearing of the reputation of Jesus he became so afraid because he thought that Jesus was John. The wrongs that we’ve done in the past would hang around our neck like an albatross. We would be reminded of it every now and then unless we make a positive action to heal it.  

Let us avoid doing anything that would hurt anyone, let us always do good and let us always be humble and peaceful. And if ever we offend or hurt the feelings of someone we have to apologize and we must not do it again. -  Marino  J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday July 29, Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus: John 11:19-27

Gospel: John 11:19-27

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.”  Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. 

Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

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Reflection:

What compelled Martha to met Jesus while HE was on HIS way to their house? It was her faith. 

Martha was in grief because of the death of her brother Lazarus. But when she heard that Jesus was going to their house to comfort them Martha’s grief was immediately replaced by hope. Because Martha had deep faith in Jesus and being their close friend Martha also knew Jesus very well. 

What do we do when we are sorrowful and in distress? Don’t we also run to Jesus? Of course we also run to Jesus, the energy that compels us to go to the Lord is fueled by our deep faith, hope and friendship with Jesus. We are very blessed because we have this deep relationship with Jesus for we know where to go when we are in beset by the many trials of this world. 

But how about those who do not know Jesus deeply or those who do not know Jesus? Where would they go when they encounter trials? They may never go to Jesus, instead they may look for temporal alleviation of their distress in this world. 

This is where we must come in and illuminate those who do not know Jesus. We must have the courage to share Jesus and our faith so that those who are in distress will now go to Jesus for hope and salvation. 

Our faith in Jesus must not be an exclusive faith that is only limited to ourselves. It must always be an inclusive faith so that others too may feel the love, healing, hope and friendship of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for July 28, Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 13:-47-53

Gospel: Matthew13:47-53

Jesus said to the disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."  

"Do you understand all these things?" They answered, "Yes." And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old." When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

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Reflection:

The story is told about a mother who was pleading her son to straighten up his wayward life. But the son would pretend not to hear the pleadings of his mother. So he continued to commit sin until he grew old and eventually died. After dying the son was immediately whisked into hell by the devil.  

Hell and the devil are not only an afterlife reality, it’s also a present life reality. We would become a close confidant of the Devil and taste hell in this present life if we continue to sin. We will have no peace of mind; our lives would be problematic. The root cause of this problematic life is our refusal to leave behind sin.  

Our gospel for today clearly states this: “Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth (Matthew 13:49-50).”  

There’s a price for our sinfulness that we have to pay at an appointed date as they say sin is like a credit card enjoy now but pay later. But why suffer the grievous price of sin when we can walk-a-way from it?  Why not walk away from sin now, right now? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for July 27, Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 13:-44-46

Gospel: Matthew 13:44-46

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

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Reflection:

A lady who finds the greatest love of her life is very much willing to give up everything that stands on her way: be it the love of her parents, siblings and even her inheritance. She will be willing to give it all up for the sake of her great love.  

There are two important characters in the gospel. The first one is the person who sold everything that he owns so that he could buy the treasure filled land. The second one is the merchant who found the pearl. The field with treasure and the pearl of great price represents the kingdom of heaven.  

After finding it they were never the same again because they found something that would satisfy them for life. And without them knowing it what they’ve found would serve as their passage to heaven in the afterlife.  

Finding Jesus is more than finding the greatest love of your life. It’s like finding the greatest treasure and pearl. It’s an unexplainable feeling that tells you that you’ve already found the greatest possession that you can ever have in this world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday July 26, Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (M): Matthew 13:36-43

Gospel: Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

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Reflection:

The story is told about a sinful man who suddenly died he was therefore immediately ushered by the devil to his fiery kingdom. The sinful man was wailing and resisting his instant enrolment to Satan’s den but he couldn’t do anything to change his destiny. 

If only he repented from his sinfulness, if only he listened to the advice of his relatives to change for the better and embrace God. He could have not ended in hell, but he never listened.  

There are two opposing powers in this world one is God and the other is Satan. God sows good seeds to us satan sow’s weeds. From our conception, birth until our death God has only one desire for us and that is to sow His good seeds in our hearts. 

However, as we mature satan will always try to overpower us with his many inducements. Which if we bite would only result to our perdition and passage to his horrifying kingdom. 

Let us hate sin or any action that will make us sin, let us hate and walk away from the devil and his countless enticements. Let us rather embrace God and follow the way of Jesus no matter how hard for this is the right way and the way to heaven someday. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Ang Mabuting Balita sa Martes Hulyo 26, San Joaquin at Santa Ana, mga magulang ng Mahal na Birheng Maria: Mateo 13:36-43

Mabuting Balita: Mateo 13:36-43

Noong panahong iyon, iniwan ni Hesus ang mga tao at pumasok sa bahay. Lumapit ang kanyang mga alagad at sinabi sa kanya, “Ipaliwanag po ninyo sa amin ang talinghaga tungkol sa masasamang damo sa bukid.”  

Ito ang tugon ni Hesus, “Ang Anak ng Tao ang naghahasik ng mabuting binhi. Ang bukid ay ang sanlibutan. Ang mga taong pinaghaharian ng Diyos ang mabuting binhi at ang mga taong pinaghaharian ng diyablo ang masasamang damo. Ang kaaway na naghasik ng mga iyon ay walang iba kundi ang diyablo. Ang pag-aani ay ang katapusan ng daigdig, at ang mga anghel ang mga tagapag-ani.  

Kung paanong iniipon ang mga damo at sinusunog, gayun din ang mangyayari sa katapusan ng daigdig. Susuguin ng Anak ng Tao ang kanyang mga anghel, at iipunin nila mula sa kanyang pinaghaharian ang lahat ng nagiging sanhi ng pagkakasala at ang lahat ng gumagawa ng masama, at ihahagis sa maningas na pugon. Doo’y mananangis sila at magngangalit ang kanilang ngipin. At magliliwanag na parang araw ng mga matuwid sa kaharian ng kanilang Ama. Ang may pandinig ay makinig!”

1Reflection for Monday July 25, Feast of Saint James, Apostle: Matthew 20:20-28

Gospel: Matthew 20:20-28

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.”  

Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers.  

But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

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Reflection:

Do you love to be in front, do you love prominence and do you love to always be in the starring role? 

Prominence or to be with someone influential is something that we all want. For example, we love to post pictures on facebook and other social media portals the places that we’ve visited.  

We love to post pictures of these beautiful places. This is perhaps human nature, who wouldn’t want to post pictures of nice and idyllic places?  We all want it, but the essence of life is not about advertising the famous places that we’ve visited or the famous personalities that we’ve been seen with.  

The true essence of life is to serve anyone who is need of our help. It doesn’t matter anymore if the acts of service and compassion that we do are seen or not what is important is we’re able to help. As we follow Jesus let us always be reminded that HE never walked in this world to gain publicity and prominence.  

Jesus walked on this world to serve and not be served, HE never aspired to become famous. All He wanted was to simply follow the will of God for HIM no matter how difficult it was. This must also be our guiding principle.  

Many are attracted to serve in the church not because they want to help advance the teachings of Jesus. Their attraction comes from what the church can give or what they could derive from the church and Jesus if they would serve.  But we all know that this kind of motive is built upon a person’s self-image and therefore useless.  

True service in the vineyard of the Lord is all about humility. Not thinking of what we can derive from the church, but what we can humbly give to God and His church. True service for the church is not about having power and influence it’s actually based on losing power and influence for the greater glory of God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Wisdom from the Bible - 1

 

Karunungan mula sa Biblia - 1

 

Reflection for Sunday July 24, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 11:1-13

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: 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." 

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him, and he says in reply from within 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.' I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor 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?"

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Reflection:

How do you pray or what is your recipe for prayer? Do you follow a certain procedure or you spontaneously pray to God what is in your heart?

In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus is asked by a disciple: Lord teach us to pray and Jesus obliged him and taught the disciple the perfect prayer which is the Our Father. If we try to deeply reflect on this prayer we would notice that the Our Father contains our Adoration for God (Hollowed be your name) our Contrition/Repentance for the sins that we have committed (Forgive us our sins) and our Supplication: we request God to give us the food that we need (Give us each day our daily bread).

If we say this prayer with our hearts and minds deeply focused towards God we would feel something that we don’t usually feel. This feeling is very hard to explain but we would certainly notice this healing experience the moment we learn how to pray the Our Father with all our being.

We must always be prayerful and we must not give up on our being prayerful. Because when we pray we connect ourselves with God, we open ourselves to the enormous blessings that are always at God’s disposal when we pray.   

Prayer is not asking God to give us this and that. Prayer is essentially satisfying our longing for God. And the God that we always long for will grant us the desires of our hearts because we always thirst and hunger to be with Him in prayer. 

Do you have a prayer before God?  Don’t give up, continue to believe, have faith and you will soon have it. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for July 23, Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 13:24-30

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.  

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’  

He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

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Reflection:

Do you fear the judgment of God?  

God’s judgment is something that we all fear to come to us the reason perhaps is we are not yet prepared for it. There are times however that God’s judgment day would come to us when we least expect it. And when it comes to us we can’t do anything about it anymore we have to accept it whether we like it or not. For example if God will bar us from entering heaven we have to accept it and we can’t do anything about it no matter how hard we resist it.  

If God will judge us to be in hell it simply means that the time that we spent in this world during our lifetime was not worthy in HIS eyes.  This means that we led sinful lives most of the time. Perhaps there were also instances wherein somebody called our attention to embrace God and leave behind everything that makes us sin. Yet we chose to ignore that call towards repentance.   

Our gospel today offers us hope. It tells us that before God’s judgment comes to us. God will offer us first many chances for renewal or repentance. Let us therefore take advantage of this offering of God. This we can do by walking away from all our sins and by humbly asking forgiveness from HIM.  

The Good Lord will not immediately judge us for what we do now no matter how sinful it is. This is for the reason that HE knows that deep within us lies goodness and our willingness to walk away from all of our sins. Truth be told, God is a patient God, a God of forgiveness, hope and love. A God of second chances HE will wait for us until we heed HIS call of repentance.  

But what if we choose to ignore HIS call of repentance no matter the many chances that HE gave us, what will happen to us sinners if we ignore God’s call of repentance? -  Marino J. Dasmarinas

1Reflection for Friday July 22, Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene: John 20:1-2, 11-18

Gospel: John 20:1-2, 11-18

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.  

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.

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Reflection:

How would feel if a very close friend or relative dies? Surely it would be very devastating as if your world has momentarily ended. This was the feeling of Mary Magdalene she was so devastated by the death of her beloved friend Jesus.  

Mary Magdalene was so consumed by the death of Jesus that she failed to recognize the resurrected Jesus who asked her why she was weeping (John 20:14-15). Then afterwards Jesus revealed Himself to her and Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus (John 20:16).    

Death is a certainty of life, it visits anyone of us at a time that it chooses. A time that often times we don’t like but death comes to us and nobody can prevent it for it’s the cycle of our life. 

But after death comes life, life that is very much different from the life that we have in this world.  Perhaps this was the reason why Mary Magdalene did not recognize the resurrected Jesus when He appeared to her. Mary Magdalene could not distinguish the image of the resurrected Jesus as opposed to Jesus before His death.  

The resurrected Jesus also manifests Himself to us yet we don’t pay attention to Him. He comes to us through the poor that we often see begging for whatever that we could give them.  Jesus also manifests Himself to us through a sick relative or friend who is longing for our visit. 

And there are many more manifestation of Jesus that comes to us but we often fail to recognize it because our vision of Jesus has already been blurred by our concern for ourselves. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for July 21, Thursday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 13:10-17

Gospel: Matthew 13:10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.  

To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:  

You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them.  

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

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Reflection:

A young man wanted to serve as a sacristan in their parish church but he also had second thoughts. For the reason that he was told by his father to reconsider his desire because there are intrigues and other issues in the church.  

It’s true that problems such as: rumor-mongers, egocentric and control freak personalities exist in the church. But these personalities are not even a tiny fraction of the whole church. 

To have the feeling of wanting to serve in the church is like to discern a parable it is only given to those who are called. However, not all who are called are chosen by God and not all who are chosen stay forever to serve. Why? For the simple reason that God has given us also the freewill to choose. It is therefore upon us to discern this offer of Jesus.  

The gift of understanding that there’s more to life than money, power and material things are also like discerning a parable by God. Many of us think that if we have money and power we would automatically be happy. But it doesn’t work that way, money  and power will never make us happy and it will never give us contentment.  

Therefore, consider yourself fortunate when you’re able to discern the parables of Jesus and pursue it.  You’re also spiritually privileged if you’re able to discern that a well-lived life is to be with Jesus and not with the temporal things of this world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

1Reflection for July 20, Wednesday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 13:1-9

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9

Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  

Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

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Reflection:

Where do you take refuge when life’s trials hit you?  

You certainly don’t take refuge in this world you instead take refuge in Jesus, in Him you find solace, hope and strength. After doing so you are again ready to face your life’s trials and challenges.  

When we take refuge in Jesus we do one of these or we even do all of these:  we pray we go to Holy Mass, we visit HIM in the Adoration Chapel and we read the bible. We must not be satisfied with simply doing these acts of worship and devotion. We must also allow it to transform us so that others may see not our transformed selves but Jesus in ourselves thus we bring them closer to Jesus.  

How would they see Jesus in us and how could we bring them closer to Jesus? We must allow ourselves to become the seeds that fell on rich soil. And we can only do this if we would allow Jesus to transform us for this is HIS desire for all of us: To become the seeds that fell on the rich soil.  

At the end of the day it’s still in our hands if we would allow Jesus to transform us to become the seeds that fell on rich soil. We have nothing to lose and everything is ours to gain if we become docile to the desire of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas