Reflection for Monday August 18, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 19:16-22

Gospel: Matthew 19:16-22

A young man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

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Reflection:

So near and yet so far, perhaps this was the predicament of the man who asked Jesus on what must he do to have eternal life. He already did everything that was asked of him until Jesus told him to sell everything in his pessession and give the proceeds to the poor then follow Him. The man quietly walked away for the reason that he couldn’t let go of his many earthly possession.

Somehow this man represents all of us we who find it very hard to let go of our earthly possession in favor of helping others and the kingdom of God. What is with wealth that we cannot let go? We cannot bring it to our graves we cannot even possess it anymore when we are already old for someone will possess it for us or even hide it from us.

Saint Francis of Asisi was from a noble and rich family he gave-up everything to the poor so that he could follow God’s will for him.  God’s will for us also is to give-up our riches so that others may live from it. This is very hard to do that requires radical change of mindset for us to fully embrace it.

Perhaps if we are not willing to give-up everything because we also have our own family to feed and take care of. We can give something for the poor  because it’s only through giving-up of something that we treasure in this world that we could follow Jesus.    

Are we like the young man in our gospel who walked away from Jesus because he had many possessions? Or we are like Saint Francis of Asisi who gave-up everything to the poor so that he could follow God’s will for him. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday August 17, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 15:21-28

Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

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Reflection:

How do we define our faith in Jesus? It’s when we don’t give-up on what we want from Jesus. We continuously badger Him until He gives in to our prayer request for Him.

The Canaanite woman had this kind of faith, she never gave-up on her prayer request for Jesus to heal her daughter tormented by a demon. There were many obstacles against her foremost of this was her being not a Jew but it did not matter to her. She persisted and she even argued with Jesus until she passed Jesus’ examination of her faith on Him. After which her daughter was healed by Jesus.

This gospel relates with our own journey of faith in Jesus also. We could be that Canaanite woman who badgered Jesus no end until she got the healing that she wants for her daughter.

 However, unlike the woman from Canaan who persisted until the very end we may not have the will to badger Jesus. We may have quit already and said to ourselves, I give-up on my prayer for Jesus because He seems to be deaf. What we do not know is it's just a part of the testing of our faith.

Every trial that we go through is our own test of faith we may be going through some trials right now. We may be asking ourselves, why am I going through this difficulties? Let us not  give-up and let us continue to have faith in Jesus. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Repleksyon para sa Agosto 17, Ika-20 na Linggo sa Karaniwang Panahon; Mateo 15:21-28

Mabuting Balita: Mateo 15:21-28

Umalis doon si Jesus at nagpunta sa lupaing malapit sa Tiro at Sidon. Isang Cananea na nakatira doon ang lumapit sa kanya na sumisigaw, "Panginoon, Anak ni David, maawa po kayo sa akin! Ang anak kong babae ay sinasapian ng demonyo at labis na pinapahirapan nito."

Ngunit hindi sumagot si Jesus. Lumapit ang kanyang mga alagad at sinabi kay Jesus, "Paalisin na nga po ninyo siya. Napakaingay niya at sunod nang sunod sa atin." Sumagot si Jesus, "Sa mga naliligaw na tupa ng sambahayan ng Israel lamang ako isinugo."    Ngunit lumapit sa kanya ang babae, lumuhod ito at nagmakaawa, "Tulungan po ninyo ako, Panginoon."

Sumagot si Jesus, "Hindi dapat kunin ang pagkain ng mga bata at ibigay sa mga aso."

Totoo nga, Panginoon. Ngunit ang mga aso man po ay kumakain ng mumong nalalaglag sa hapag ng kanilang panginoon," tugon ng babae. At sinabi sa kanya ni Jesus, "Napakalaki ng iyong pananampalataya! Mangyayari ang hinihiling mo." At noon di'y gumaling ang kanyang anak.

Reflection for Saturday August 16, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 19:13-15

Gospel: Matthew 19:13-15

Children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

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Reflection:

Do you bring your children to church for Holy Mass? Do you teach your children about Jesus? Do you read the bible to your children? All of these questions are means for all of us to bring our children closer to Jesus but do we bring our children to Jesus?

What is the importance of bringing our children to Jesus? First and foremost is it assures their good future in this world and beyond this world. This is basically what Jesus does to our children: He assures them of a bright and Godly future not based on the criteria of this world but based on His own criteria.

Just imagine if we bring our children closer to Jesus, we will have less headache as they grow-up. This is for the reason that the frequent you bring them to Jesus the more that they are being guided by Jesus in everyday of their lives.

Some parents of today are afraid to bring their children closer to Jesus. Because they are afraid that they children may aspire to become a priest or a nun and their alibi is there’s no money in aspiring for the priesthood or in becoming a nun. Indeed there’s no money in these vocations but we don’t live for money in this world, we don't live for this world only we live to live the teachings of Jesus, we live to aspire for heaven eventually.

What would it benefit your children if they have all the money in this world yet they don’t have Jesus? When you bring your children to Jesus you are not only investing in their future you are also investing in your own future in heaven. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

In solidarity with the persecuted Christians in Iraq and in the Middle East...

Reflection for Tuesday August 5, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14

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Gospel: Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14

Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

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Reflection:

Whom would you prefer a person who observes the tradition of washing of hands before eating a meal or a person who doesn’t observe this tradition? We would obviously prefer the one who observes the tradition.

But what if those who observe the tradition do it only for people to see them doing it and there’s no interior cleansing that happens to them? And those who don’t observe the tradition are the ones who are interiorly clean. We would now prefer those who do not observe the tradition but they are clean from within their hearts.     

Jesus is not against the washing of hands per se but what He is against is the external display of holiness. For example, what is the use of our religious devotions if there is no internal transformation that occurs in our hearts?

We continue to do bad things and we continue to cling to what is evil, so what is the use of our acts of holiness if it’s only for people to see? - mjdasma     

Reflection for Wednesday July 30, 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:

Every now and then we hear news of rich and famous people committing suicide. We can’t help but ask, Why did they end their life? They almost have everything, this is what we think from outside looking in, that they almost have everything; but do they really have everything?

If they have everything why would they end their life? They may have everything that this temporal world could offer them but a very important component of their lives is missing and it is the Kingdom of heaven which is God.  

Many of us aspire to be materially rich and famous but when we get rich. And we almost have everything that this world could offer us we find out that something is still missing in our life. Who or what is this missing link in our life? HE is Jesus and to find HIM is to find our greatest treasure and most  precious pearl.

But how could we find Jesus if we are always busy with our many worldly undertakings? How could we find Jesus if we seldom listen to HIM in the silence of our hearts?   

Our lives will never be the same once we truly find the greatest treasure and the most precious pearl which is no other than Jesus.