Reflection for Thursday October 9, Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 11:5-13

Gospel: Luke 11:5-13

Jesus said to his disciples: “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 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?”

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Reflection:

How persistent are we in our prayer? For example if we have a prayer before Jesus do we pray until our prayer is answered by Jesus? Or we easily give-up because we feel the Jesus doesn’t hear our prayer? The best attitude to have when we pray is not to give-up because giving-up is a sign of our lack of faith.

The foundation of every prayer is faith for without faith there is no successful prayer. For example, if we pray for healing for our sickness or we pray for something that we badly want we must therefore pray unceasingly with faith.

In our gospel there is this persistent fellow, who during the dead of night went to the house of his friend to ask for bread for his visitor. What moved this fellow to go to his friend to ask for bread even at midnight? It was faith! The fellow had faith that his friend would never fail him.  

Jesus in our gospel tells us: 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 (Luke 11:9-10).

Do you have a prayer before Jesus? Never give-up continue instead to badger Him with your prayer with faith. Prayer that comes from the depths of your heart and soul. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday October 8, Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 11:1-4

Gospel: Luke 11:1-4

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.”

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Reflection:

Have we asked Jesus to teach us to pray? This is one of the most powerful petitions that we could ever ask Jesus; to teach us how to pray. But do we pray regularly? When we pray we connect with Jesus and when we pray we allow Jesus to come to us and strengthen us.

Let us observe our feelings before and after praying, isn’t it that we feel good after we’ve prayed? The feelings of a person is different before and after prayer. Why is this so? This is the miracle of our prayer to Jesus, it heals us body and soul; it makes us accept the things that is hard for us to accept and it opens our body and soul to infinite graces from God.

Starting today let us begin our prayer with this humble petition for Jesus: Lord teach us to pray and then we solemnly recite the prayer (The Our Father) that Jesus taught us to pray. After praying the Our Father let us stay and speak to Jesus through our minds. And before ending our prayers let us also ask the Blessed Mother and our favorite saint/s to pray for us.

If exercise is for our bodies, our prayers are for our souls for it makes us have an active and healthy relationship with Jesus. Therefore the more we pray the more that we make healthy our souls and the more we pray the less worries we would have.

Prayer:

Lord teach us to pray, teach us how to properly pray the prayer that you’ve taught us.  Give us the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we could connect with you in our prayers. Give us the gift of spontaneous prayer dear Lord and give us the grace of focus and concentration when we pray. For there are times that our prayers comes only from our mouths and not from our hearts. Teach us how to pray O Lord. Amen. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday October 7 Our Lady of the Rosary; Luke 10:38-42

Gospel: Luke 10:38-42

In the course of their journey Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

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.'

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Reflection:

Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary this is in honor of the 16th century naval victory in Europe against the Turkish invasion. Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was said that the ship’s crew in the battle field implored the intercession of the Blessed Mother by praying the Holy Rosary before the battle  occurred.

What are we going to do if we visit a house of a friend and we get the same treatment that Jesus received from Martha and Mary? Who are we going to favor Martha or Mary? It actually depend upon us who are we going to favor. But Jesus obviously preferred the action of Mary who sat down at the feet of Jesus 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 did not favor her when what she was doing was for His honor also? Jesus is a preacher and being a preacher he wants people to listen to Him so that He could impart His wisdom. This was perhaps the reason why Jesus preferred the reverent action 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 will happen to us if we are all work? If we have no more time for Jesus or if Jesus is just a minuscule entity in our lives? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

1Reflection for Sunday October 5, Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 21:33-43

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wret-ched men to a wret-ched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

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Reflection:

In what instance/s in our lives does Jesus knocks in our hearts? It’s when He wants to get closer to us, Jesus does this to us in so many ways. For example through a friend who may want to share the words of Jesus to us. It may be through a written commentary about life and our faith in Jesus that may deeply awaken us. It may be through important events in our lives such as sickness even problems.

Some of us may listen to this knocks of Jesus and we open our hearts to Him and change our lives for the better. But many of us may not listen and may not even give careful reflection about this. Thus, we move-on with our lives as if nothing significant has happened to us. We continue to distance ourselves from Jesus or we continue to treat Jesus like a medicine that we only take when we are in need.

In our gospel for this Sunday Jesus gives us the Parable of the tenants. The tenants were allowed by the landlord to take care of his vineyard. When it was harvest time already of course the landlord was realistically asking for his share because the land was his property. 

So the landlord sent two batches of servants but the tenants greedily refused the demand of the landlord by killing some of the servants that he sent them. Finally the landlord sent his only son thinking that the tenants would now listen to him but they killed him as well.

The greedy tenants in the gospel are the chief priest and the elders, the landlord is God. The servants that God sent were the prophets and the only son is Jesus whom they have killed as well. The reason they did this to the prophets and Jesus is they disliked their call of renewal and repentance.

In some ways we also take the role of the greedy tenants because we continue to greedily love this world more than Jesus. Many of us may have already fell in love with what this world offers us that we refuse Jesus' demand of repentance. We continue to refuse to listen to His voice that asks us that we let go of all of our sinfulness.

Nevertheless, Jesus is still persistently knocking on the door of our hearts. Patiently waiting for us to open it so that He could come-in, defeat all our sins and take control of our lives. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday October 4, Saint Francis of Assisi; Luke 10:17-24

Gospel: Luke 10:17-24

The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, 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 who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired 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:

What does Jesus require from us so that we could know Him deeply? Childlike trust and confidence in Him, we will not know Jesus if we rely on ourselves no matter how educated we are.

No matter the volumes of books that we have read about Jesus and our faith and no matter how many degrees we have finished about our faith. It would still not be enough because we have no childlike trust in Him.

When we have childlike trust before Jesus this simply means that we rely on Him and not on ourselves. And we entrust our lives in Him and not entrust it in our hands. When we begin to trust Jesus, He also begins to open and equip our minds with knowledge that is not available to those who do not trust Him no matter how intelligent they may be.

The seventy-two disciples came back from their very fruitful mission of spreading the good news about Jesus because they had childlike trust in Jesus. And therefore the power of Jesus reigned on them.

Let us take the risk of having a childlike trust in Jesus for this is a risk worth taking. - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday October 3, Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 10:13-16

Gospel: Luke 10:13-16

Jesus said to them, “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, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? 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.”

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Reflection:

Why is Jesus angry with the people of Chozarin and Bethsaida? Because they did not hear His call of repentance, they refused His offer of love and renewal for them.

It’s sometimes puzzling why we refuse to heed this call of Jesus when we have nothing to lose but everything to gain. For example, if we are living in sin right now and we decide to hear this call for renewal of Jesus. A big burden would be taken off from us but so many of us still refuse to walk away from sin, why?

 What does sin offer us that we can’t walk away from it? Does sin offer us heaven? Does sin offer us a quiet and contentment filled life? Why do many of us cling to sin when it doesn’t offer us anything good?    

Let us all have a fresh start in our lives by refusing to commit any form of sin even for a few days or even a week. And we compare our lives previously lived in sin and a life lived already lived with the guiding light of Jesus. We surely would love this new life with Jesus than the old life with the   burden of sin. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday October 2, The Holy Guardian Angels; Matthew 18:1-5, 10

Gospel: Matthew 18:1-5, 10

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

“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.”

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Reflection:

Why did the disciples asked Jesus about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Were they expecting that Jesus would tell them that they would be one of the greatest in the kingdom of heaven because they are close to Him? From all indication this question of the disciples was asked to serve their own egos and Jesus knew about this.

 Therefore to straighten out things and to tell the disciples that self-seeking individuals will not be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus told the disciples; “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3-4).

The Kingdom of Heaven is reserved for the humble only for we cannot ascend heaven by our own effort. And we cannot ascend heaven without dependence on the good Lord. Therefore children are not only perfect models of humility they are also perfect examples for their reliance on their parents.  Could children exist by themselves? No they could not exist by themselves they need their parents to be with them to survive.

In like manner the disciples did not rely on themselves they humbly relied on God rather than in themselves. This was perhaps one of the salient point of Jesus when He called the child to their midst (Matthew 18:2).

This also applies to all of us, we cannot rely on our riches (If ever we have riches) no matter how presently rich we are. We cannot rely on our power as well no matter how presently powerful we are for all of these are creation of this world that could evaporate from our hands anytime. - Marino J. Dasmarinas