Noong
panahong iyon, isang Araw ng Pamamahinga, naparaan si Jesus sa triguhan.
Nagutom ang kasama niyang mga alagad kaya't nangitil sila ng uhay at kinain ang
mga butil. Nang makita ito ng mga Pariseo, sinabi nila sa kanya, "Tingnan
mo ang ginagawa ng iyong mga alagad. Bawal iyan kung Araw ng
Pamamahinga."
Sumagot
si Jesus, "Hindi ba ninyo nabasa ang ginawa ni David nang magutom siya at
ang kanyang mga kasama? Pumasok siya sa bahay ng Diyos at kumain ng tinapay na
handog sa Diyos at pinakain din niya ang kanyang mga kasama. Labag sa Kautusan
na kanin nila ang tinapay na iyon sapagkat ang mga saserdote lamang ang may
karapatang kumain niyon.
Hindi
pa ba ninyo nababasa sa Kautusan ni Moises na tuwing Araw ng Pamamahinga,
lumalabag sa batas tungkol sa araw na ito ang mga saserdote sa templo, gayunmay
hindi nila ipinagkakasala iyon? Sinasabi ko sa inyo, naririto ang higit na
dakila kaysa templo. Hindi sana ninyo hinatulan ang mga walang sala kung alam
ninyo ang kahulugan ng mga salitang ito, 'Habag ang ibig ko, hindi hain.'
Sapagkat ang Araw ng Pamamahinga ay nasa ilalim ng kapangyarihan ng Anak ng
Tao."
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor
and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for
yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
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Reflection:
The story is told about a father who was
suddenly rendered out of job. He was therefore worried where he would earn the
money to feed his family. So, he prayed to the Lord for help to find a new job.
After only three days a neighbor who knows about his predicament asked him if
he would be willing to work as a family driver and he immediately said
yes!
Are you going through a difficult stage in
our life right now caused by a sickness or joblessness? Do you want to learn
how to let go of your worries? Jesus has an offer for you! In the gospel Jesus
tells you this: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will
give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Why does Jesus wants you to go to Him?
Because Jesus wants to help you carry whatever that burdens you right now. He
wants to ease your pains and sufferings; Jesus wants to help you in carrying
whatever that suffering might be.
Let us respond to this call of Jesus and
we will never regret making that decision. What would happen to us if we
respond now? The sufferings that we carry will become lighter this is for the
reason that Jesus will help us carry our suffering.
We will have hope and there will be many
more positive things that will happen to our life if you would respond to this
offer of Jesus. Let us respond now and see for ourselves the miracle that will
unfold in our life. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose
if we would respond to this offer of Jesus.
Would we respond to this offer of the
Lord? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Noong
panahong iyon, sinabi ni Hesus, "Lumapit kayo sa akin, kayong lahat na
napapagal at; nabibigatan sa inyong pasanin, at kayo'y pagpapahingahin
ko.
Pasanin
ninyo ang aking pamatok, at mag-aral kayo sa akin; ako'y maamo at
mababang-loob, at makasusumpong kayo ng kapahingahan para sa inyong kaluluwa.
Sapagkat maginhawang dalhin ang aking pamatok, at magaan ang pasaning ibibigay
ko sa inyo."
At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give
praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden
these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the
childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious
will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to
whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
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Reflection:
The story is told about a man who was very
serious in his desire to know God. So, what he did was he read every book that
deals about God. But he was wondering how come that the more that he read books
about God the more that God becomes distant to him?
So he seek the advice of a wise man for
enlightenment thus he was told by the wise man: Your dilemma is simple. You
need to become more humble as you become more learned about God. You should put
into your heart and not into your head whatever learning that you obtain from
your readings.
Do you want to discover more about the
movement of God in our life? The secret word is humility: childlike humility;
this is for the reason that the more childlike you become in front of God the
more that you open yourself to His many graces.
What is the demeanor of Jesus when He prays
to God? Jesus is always humble before God, He doesn’t brag or boast anything
about Himself. So, we too should always be humble for this is the secret for us
to know more about God. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Noong
panahong iyon, sinabi ni Jesus, "Pinasasalamatan kita, Ama, Panginoon ng
langit at lupa, sapagkat inilihim mo ang mga bagay na ito sa marurunong at
matatalino at inihayag sa mga may kaloobang tulad ng sa bata.
Oo,
Ama, sapagkat gayon ang ikinalulugod mo. "Ibinigay sa akin ng aking Ama
ang lahat ng bagay. Walang nakakikilala sa Anak kundi ang Ama, at walang
nakakikilala sa Ama kundi ang Anak at yaong marapating pagpahayagan ng
Anak."
Jesus began to reproach the towns where
most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to
you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your
midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in
sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be
exalted to heaven? You will go down to the nether world. For if the mighty
deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on
the day of judgment than for you.”
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Reflection:
The story is told about a man who was
being bothered by his many sins, he would think of it every now and then and it
would always give him guilt of conscience. He had no peace of mind; a friend
noticed his uneasy behavior so he was asked what was bothering him. After
telling his friend what was bothering him, he was advised to repent from all of
his sins through the Sacrament of Confession. So he did and he finally had
peace of mind.
The people of Chorazin and Bethsaida were
reprimanded by Jesus for they refused to repent from their evil ways. Why do we
refuse to repent and why do we love to sin? The reason perhaps is we love Satan more than Jesus, we love this world more than we love to be
eventually in heaven with Jesus. Otherwise if we love Jesus we would repent and
this repentance will reach its apex once we submit ourselves to the Sacrament
of Confession.
This is who many of us are, we love to sin
yet we don’t want to be in hell. But what we don’t know is as we continue to
sin we also slowly walk towards hell. Are Satan and hell real? Of course,they are! Observe those who continue to sin or who continue to live sinful
lives. They live without peace.
They may be rich and powerful but the
reality is they have no peace of mind often times their family also is in
turmoil. And the reason for this is their refusal to walk away from sin.
Therefore we will be with the evil one and we will feel hell here and now if we
will not walk away from sin.
Jesus will surely want us all to repent
and to submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Confession. This is for the reason
that Jesus wants us to be cleansed from all of our sins that have been
enslaving us for so long. Nevertheless, Jesus also gave us the freedom of
choice to do what we want to do in this world.
The choice is ours to make, should we
continue to live in the darkness of sin that has been making life so miserable
for us? Or we embrace the guiding light of Jesus through HIS offer of
repentance? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Noong
panahong iyon, sinumbatan ni Jesus ang mga bayang ginawan niya ng maraming
kababalaghan sapagkat hindi sila nagsisi't tumalikod sa kanilang mga kasalanan.
"Kawawa ka, Corazin! Kawawa ka Betsaida!Sapagkat kung
sa Tiro at Sidon ginawa ang mga kababalaghang ginawa sa inyo, malaon na sanang
nagdaramit ng sako at nauupo sa abo ang mga tagaroon upang ipakilalang sila'y
nagsisisi.
Ngunit
sinasabi ko sa inyo: sa Araw ng Paghuhukom ay higit na mabigat ang sasapitin
ninyo kaysa sasapitin ng mga taga-Tiro at taga-Sidon. At ikaw, Capernaum, ibig
mong maging mataas kaysa langit? Ibabagsak ka sa Hades!
Sapagkat kung
sa Sodoma ginawa ang kababalaghang ginawa rito sa inyo, sana'y nananatili pa
ito hanggang ngayon. Ngunit sinasabi ko sa inyo, sa Araw ng Paghuhukom ay higit
na mabigat ang ipaparusa sa inyo kaysa dinanas ng Sodoma."
Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think
that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace
but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter
against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s
enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not
worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me, and
whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a
prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever
receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s
reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones
to drink because he is a disciple–amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose
his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands
to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in
their towns.
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Reflection:
There’s a saying that goes, “No pain no
gain”. But how could there be gain in pain? Why not gain without pain? When we
gain something without pain what we gain can easily fly away and it can easily
be forgotten. But when we gain something that is accompanied with pain, sweat
and sacrifice we will treasure it and properly take care of it.
Would you be able to know Jesus more
deeply without going through life’s many pains? No, you will not gain
Jesus and you will not have an up close and personal encounter with Him if
you would not go through life’s many pains. For there’s no easy way going to
Jesus.
you have to pass through the many
painful obstacles of life in order to find Jesus. You may even have to give up
every inch of your worldliness in order to find Jesus. Therefore self-sacrifice
is an important ingredient in finding and knowing Jesus.
Would you be willing to go through pains
and sufferings so that you could experience an encounter with Jesus? If you
really desire an encounter with Jesus in your life you have to embrace
suffering/s and pains.
But worldly life has already conditioned
us to veer away as much as we could from our crosses and pains. No small wonder
that many if not majority has not yet found Jesus in their lives. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
Noong
panahong iyon, sinabi ni Hesus sa kanyang mga apostol, "Huwag ninyong
isiping naparito ako upang magdala ng kapayapaan sa lupa; naparito ako upang
magdala ng tabak, hindi kapayapaan. Sapagkat naparito ako upang papaglabanin
ang anak na lalaki at ang kanyang ama, ang anak na babae at ang kanyang ina,
ang manugang na babae at ang kanyang biyenang babae. at ang kaaway ng isang
tao'y ang kanya na ring kasambahay.
"Ang
umiibig sa ama o sa ina nang higit sa akin ay hindi karapat-dapat sa akin. At
ang umiibig sa anak na lalaki o babae nang higit sa akin ay hindi karapat-dapat
sa akin. Ang hindi nagpapasan nang kanyang krus at sumusunod sa akin ay hindi
karapat-dapat sa akin. Ang nag-iingat ng kanyang buhay ay siyang mawawalan
nito, at ang nawawalan ng kanyang buhay dahil sa akin ay magkakamit
nito."
"Ang
tumatanggap sa inyo ay tumatanggap sa akin, at ang tumatanggap sa akin ay
tumatanggap sa nagsugo sa akin. Ang tumatanggap sa isang propeta dahil sa
siya'y propeta ay tatanggap ng gantimpala ukol sa propeta. At ang tumatanggap
sa isang taong matuwid dahil sa siya'y matuwid ay tatanggap ng gantimpalang
nauukol sa taong matuwid.
At sinumang
magbigay ng kahit isang basong tubig na malamig sa isa sa maliliit na ito dahil
sa ito'y alagad ko-- tinitiyak kong tatanggap siya ng gantimpala." Matapos
tagubilinan ang labingdalawang alagad, umalis si Jesus upang magturo at
mangaral sa mga bayang malapit doon.
On that day, 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:
Do you give time to listen to Jesus?
Whenever Jesus speaks everyone listens because whatever Jesus talks about is always wisdom filled. Who would not want to listen to someone who imparts wisdom? We all want to listen to a person whose words are full of wisdom.
But how could we listen to Jesus in this smart phone and social media dominated times? First, is we listen to HIM by reading and reflecting on HIS life and teachings in the bible. Many of us have no more time to open the bible even for a brief moment. Yet we have time for other worldly things that often times bring no value to our life.
Second is we listen to Jesus through our solemn presence at Holy Mass. Because of our many self-created distractions there are times that it’s so hard to allocate time to this Holy and Sacred Celebration. Nevertheless, if we really desire to give time for this holy and sacred celebration we would be able to do it and in return receive unfathomable blessings from it.
Third is we go to the Adoration Chapel to stay there to be with Jesus and allow Him to speak to us. If we can spend time daily using our smart phones, why can’t we give time for the Lord? There’s an enormous blessings that awaits us whenever we give time to the Lord.
If only we would care to give time to the Lord we would be like the seed that fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Let us spend more time with Jesus, let us listen more to Him and let us be prepared for the spiritual blessings that will come our way.
Do you give time for the Lord? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Noon ding araw na iyon, si Hesus ay lumabas ng bahay at naupo sa tabi ng lawa. Pinagkalipumpunan siya ng makapal na tao, kaya sumakay siya sa isang bangka at doon naupo. Nasa dalampasigan naman ang mga tao. At nagturo siya ng maraming bagay sa pamamagitan ng mga talinghaga.
“May isang magsasakang lumabas upang maghasik. Sa kanyang paghahasik ay may binhing nalaglag sa tabi ng daan. Dumating ang mga ibon at tinuka ang mga iyon. May binhi namang nalaglag sa kabatuhan. Sapagkat manipis lang ang lupa roon, sumibol agad ang binhing iyon, ngunit nang mapabilad sa matinding sikat ng araw ay natuyo, palibhasa’y walang gaanong ugat.
May binhi namang nalaglag sa dawagan; lumago ang mga dawag at ininis ang mga iyon. Ngunit ang binhing nalaglag sa mabuting lupa ay nag-uhay: may tigsasandaan, may tig-aanimnapu, at may tigtatatlumpung butil ang bawat uhay. Ang may pandinig ay makinig!”
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Repleksyon:
Palagi po ba tayo naglalaan ng oras para makinig kay Jesus?
Dapat tayo po ay nakikinig kay Jesus dahil lahat ng kanyang mga sinasabi ay puno ng mga aral na nagbibigay sa atin ng liwanag at kapanatagan.
Kung tayo lamang po ay mag lalaan ng oras para makinig sa Panginoon. Tayo ay magiging katulad ng binhing nalaglag sa mabuting lupa na nag-uhay: may tigsasandaan, may tig-aanimnapu, at may tigtatatlumpung butil ang bawat uhay.
Pag maglaaan po tayo ng oras para kay Jesus tayo ay makakatangap ng maraming biyaya mula sa kanya at magkakaroon ng tamang dereksyon ang ating mga buhay.
Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple
is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple
that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of
his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be
revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the
darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small
coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth
more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will
acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others I will
deny before my heavenly Father.”
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Reflection:
What is the mark of a true and faithful
follower of Jesus? It’s the mark of obedience, a true follower will obey the
command of Jesus to share His good news. But we may say that sometimes
it’s hard to share Jesus because the environment is not conducive for sharing
Jesus. If this is the case when are we going to share Jesus?
If we wait for the right environment to
share Jesus that right environment may not come at all. As the apostles
were commissioned by Jesus to share the gospel we too are tasked to do the
same. Let us not wait for the right environment to share Jesus because Jesus
Himself will guide us going to that environment which is safe and ripe for
evangelization.
No harm will fall upon us if we share
Jesus because we are sharing the good news of humanity’s salvation. If we share
Jesus we would be able to change lives and we will be able to give hope which
many badly needs today.
The apostles treated with sacredness their
commissioning from Jesus and as a result of it they became very successful in
their mission. How about us? When are we going to share Jesus? Would we still
wait for the right time and environment?
Noong
panahong iyon, sinabi ni Hesus sa kanyang mga apostol, "Walang alagad na
higit kaysa kanyang guro, at walang aliping higit sa kanyang panginoon.
Masiyahan ang alagad na matulad sa kanyang guro, at ang alipin na matulad sa
kanyang panginoon. Kung ang puno ng sambahayan ay tinawag nilang Beelzebul,
lalo na nilang aalimurahin ang kanyang mga kasambahay!"
"Kaya
huwag kayong matakot sa kanila. Walang natatago na di malalantad, o nalilihim
na di mabubunyag. Ang sinasabi ko sa inyo sa dilim, ulitin ninyo sa liwanag; at
ang ibinulong sa inyo ay inyong ipagsigawan. Huwag ninyong katakutan ang
pumapatay ng katawan ngunit hindi nakapapatay ng kaluluwa.
Sa halip, ang
katakutan ninyo'y ang nakapapatay ng kaluluwa at katawan sa impyerno. Hindi ba
ipinagbibili ang maya nang dalawa isang pera? Gayunman, Kahit isa sa kanila'y
hindi nahuhulog sa lupa kung hindi kalooban ng inyong Ama. Maging ang buhok
ninyo'y bilang na lahat. Kaya, huwag kayong matakot; higit kayong mahalaga
kaysa libu-libong maya."
"Ang
sinumang kumilala sa akin sa harapan ng mga tao ay kikilalanin ko rin naman sa
harapan ng aking Amang nasa langit. Ngunit ang magtatwa sa akin sa harapan ng
mga tao ay itatatwa ko rin naman sa harapan ng aking Amang nasa Langit."
