Reflection for Thursday November 6, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 15:1-10

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus addressed this parable to them. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance. 

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

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Reflection:

What is your attitude toward the so called sinners of our society? For example if you have a brother and you perceive him to be a sinner, how do you treat him? Should you simply ignore him because you are angry with him for the many sins that he committed? Or you would build bridge to seek him out and let him know that the love of Jesus knows no bounds. That the love of Jesus is not diminished by the sins that he has committed.

There are many of us who give-up on the lost or sinners and we cannot blame ourselves for this because this is basic human nature. For example if you have a spouse who is a serial womanizer  and you have forgiven him for so many times and yet he does not change his ways. What is our natural reaction to this kind of attitude? Isn’t that our natural reaction is to raise our hands in surrender and give-up on that unrepentant spouse?

If we give-up with sinners, Jesus doesn’t give-up He will continuously seek out the lost or sinners until He finds them. And when Jesus finds them He will do everything (without questions asked!) to let this sinner feel His infinite love and forgiveness.   

The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin is a showcase of the infinite love of Jesus for us. We who are all sinners, we who continue to struggle with sin. There’s hope after all for all of us sinners. And this hope is brought to us by the infinite love and mercy of Jesus. Amen. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday November 4, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 14:15-24

Gospel: Luke 14:15-24

One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’

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Reflection:

What occurs in a dinner? There’s breaking of the bread, there’s sharing, interaction, exchange of ideas and the like. We are not invited to a dinner to simply eat and go. We are invited because the host wants to know more about us, the host wants to bless us with the food that he prepared.  And he wants to exchange even for a brief moment small talk that could further enhance and strengthen the relationship between the invitee and the host.

When we honor the Holy Mass with our presence we respond to the invitation of Jesus to be present at this Sacred and Holy celebration. We break bread with Jesus, we interact with Jesus and we open ourselves to the innumerable blessings that Jesus alone could bestow upon us.

But like in the gospel many of us will refuse to go to Holy Mass because we have our other preoccupations. We miss a lot when we decline to be present at Holy Mass foremost of this is we miss this opportunity to know Jesus deeply.

It’s sad to think that many Catholics leave the church for other Christian churches because as they would say. They want to develop a personal relationship with Jesus through His written words in the bible.

But if only we would take time to religiously be present at Holy Mass. Jesus Himself will give us the grace to know Him deeply. Jesus Himself would prod us to open our bibles so that He could reveal more about Himself to us.

The deepening of our intimacy with Jesus emanates with our presence at His dinner banquet which is none other than the Holy Mass. Let us therefore go to this one hour celebration and build a deeper relationship with Jesus.   

Do we always honor this invitation of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday November 3, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 14:12-14

Gospel: Luke 14:12-14

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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Reflection:

 Have you noticed that there’s a greater feeling of satisfaction when you give to the poor than when you give to someone who could repay you? If you have not done this yet just try doing it so that you would feel it.

For example, try preparing two sets of the same food; you give one to your neighbor and the other one you give to the poor. Notice immediately the deeper feeling of grace and fulfillment that will set-in to your heart after you’ve given the food to the poor.

Why is this so? Because the poor, the unwanted and the less fortunate of our society are closest to the heart of Jesus. In-fact Jesus Himself told a story about the last judgment where the king said: ‘Truly I say to you: just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it to me (Matthew 25:40).’

In our gospel for this Monday, Jesus was invited to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees and while there Jesus gave them a food for thought or something to think about and ponder.

Jesus said this to the host who invited Him: “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:12-14).”

This loaded and meaningful lecture of Jesus is not only for the host who invited Him this is also for us. We who sometimes or oftentimes forget the poor and the abandoned in favor of those who could pay us back. And we who oftentimes discriminate upon the less fortunate of our society.

Let us reflect on this for Jesus is speaking to us through our gospel. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday November 2, Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls); John 14:1-6

Gospel: John 14:1-6

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 * And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 4 Where [I] am going you know the way. 5 Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth* and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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Reflection:

Today we remember all of our loved ones who've gone to the great beyond. We do this in many ways: By visiting them where they rest now, by offering prayers for the eternal repose of their souls and by recalling their countless acts of goodness.

It’s hard to forget the memories and we often get emotional when we remember them. But this is our life; someday somehow we would be also going through the process of sickness, hospitalization and eventually the inevitable which is our death.

Perhaps many of us may lose sleep by mere mention of death, we don’t want to die at this point because we are not yet prepared. But who is prepared to die? Nobody, we are not prepared to die or we are afraid to die because we are all sinners otherwise if we are clean we would not be afraid to die anytime.

Nevertheless, Jesus is telling us in our gospel not to be troubled. For as long as we have faith in Him we would be OK. Because our faith in Jesus is more than enough to conquer our fear of death.

In this day of remembrance for our departed love ones we are encouraged to continue to pray for their souls. We must also continue to strengthen our faith in Jesus because if we have faith we lack nothing and we fear nothing even death.

Jesus Himself assures us with these words: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places (John 14:1-2). - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday November 1, Solemnity of All Saints; Matthew 5:1-12A

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12A

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you

and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward will be great in heaven.”

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Reflection:

How does one become a saint in his/her own little way? To be saint is to embody the character of Jesus to be saint is to embody the words of Jesus in our gospel today.

We can be saint in our own little way for as long as we aspire to follow the life of Jesus and for as long as we live the words of Jesus in the gospel. For example if you’re a parent and you try your very best to rear your children according to the teachings of Jesus you are already a saint for them. If you’re a son or daughter and you try your very best to take care of your retired parents you are already a saint for them.

In our gospel Jesus mentions nine blessed situations. The first is poor in spirit; how does one become poor in spirit? Does this mean that we are blessed because we lack the necessary spiritual vitality? No, to be poor in spirit means that we continuously hunger for the worlds of Jesus. 

Nobody can fill this hunger than the words of Jesus in the gospels, after we are filled with the words of Jesus. We once again are looking for our bible so that we could once again be filled by His words.  To become poor  in spirit is therefore a character that we must all aspire for as long as we continue to exist in this world. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday October 31, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 14:1-6

Gospel: Luke 14:1-6

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”

But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said to them “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer his question.

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Reflection:

What is the purpose of the Sabbath law? It’s to bring honor to God by resting and doing nothing for the world on that day. What if there’s somebody who is need of help on that same day? Should they (Jews) ignore the person for the reason that it was a day of rest?

In our gospel Jesus asked this question to the scholars of the law and the Pharisees: “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not (Luke 14:3)?” Not hearing any reply from them Jesus simply healed the man sick with dropsy. By doing so Jesus sent a clear message to the scholars of the law and the Pharisees that to bring healing or help to someone is more noble than the observance of the law. In other words the immediate need of somebody takes precedence over the observance of the Sabbath law.

How could we relate this with our own exercise of our faith life? In like manner say for example, if we have an obligation to our faith such our scheduled prayer meeting. Scheduled time for our prayers or our presence at Sunday Mass which is a day of obligation for us Catholics.

All of these exercise of worship for God must take a backseat over our acts of mercy. For example if we are in the process of fulfilling our obligation to our faith. And it so happen that there is a person who is in need of our immediate help. Our exercise of mercy must take precedence over our obligation to our faith.

Why is Pope Francis so admired, revered and respected? Is this because he is always shown presiding at Holy Mass or shown praying the Holy Rosary? No, it’s because of the Pope’s spontaneous acts of mercy and humility. Such as his non judgmental words, his action of embracing a badly disfigured man and countless more acts of compassion. - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Thursday October 30, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 13:31-35

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned. But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

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Reflection:

Would we be willing to die for our faith? I’m sure that many of us would say yes with an exclamation point! But when the actual time comes that we would be killed for standing up for our faith we may renounce our faith to save our life. Many of our saints died for our faith they could have renounced it to save themselves but they chose to be faithful until the very end.

When Jesus was told by the Pharisees to go away because King Herod wants to kill Him. Jesus did not budge a bit He courageously stared the challenge in the eye and faced it notwithstanding the threat to His life.

Do we recognize that to be a follower of Jesus is no joke? This is for the reason that like Jesus, the prophets before Him and the saints we are also called to stand-up for what is right. To face anyone and courageously stare them eyeball to eyeball so that we could advance the teachings of Jesus.

To be a follower in name only is easy but to be a committed follower until the very last gasp of our breath is never easy. For it will require us to get out of our own comfort zones or to even sacrifice our very own lives so as to preserve and advance the teachings of Jesus.   

Are we committed followers or followers in name only? - Marino J. Dasmarinas