Short, Simple and Personal reflections on the daily Holy Mass Gospel. I provide talks.
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Sunday, November 23, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
Reflection for Sunday November 23, Solemnity of Christ the King; Matthew 25:31-46
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
(Jesus
said to his disciples) "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all
the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations
will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his
right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come,
you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed
me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous
will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or
naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you? And
the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for
one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those
on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was
thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked
and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me. Then
they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs? He will
answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least
ones, you did not do for me. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but
the righteous to eternal life."
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Reflection:
A politician
wanted to be the king of his town. So he said to himself: I need all the money
that I could have so that I could use it for my campaign this coming election.
To hasten his plan he aligned himself with the rich and rub elbows with them
with the end in mind that they would contribute to his election campaign.
While
planning for his campaign strategy his wife asked him, what are you going to do
with the poor who comprise the majority of this town? The ambitious politician
said to his wife, don’t worry I will pretend that I am one with them so
that I could use them and have their votes.
Today is
the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King! What is the difference of Jesus
kingship to this ambitious politician? The divergence between Jesus’ kingship and
the kingship of this ambitious politician and ours too is like heaven and
earth.
Our
mindset of kingship is one that dabbles in lavishness and one that craves for
respect and adulation. The kingship of Jesus dwells in humility, simplicity and
service. Our mindset of kingship is to use the poor to serve our selfish ends
the kingship of Jesus is to serve the poor without any ulterior motives
whatsoever. The earthly kingship that many of us and our politicians aspire for
is a total contradiction with the Kingship of Jesus.
Come to
think of it, what if we all align our understanding of kingship with the
kingship of Jesus? The world that we are presently in would become a much
better place to live. There would be no greed and corruption in government most especially there would be equality and no discrimination. There would be no more hunger
because the poor would be properly taken care of but
this is like wishing for the moon right now.
Each and
everyone of us has his/her little kingdoms to administer. Say for example if
you’re a parent or a bread winner, your kingdom is your home. If you’re a priest
your kingdom is your parish, if you’re a politician your kingdom is your town.
Do you
use the humble and selfless Kingship of Jesus in managing and leading your
little kingdom? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Reflection for Saturday November 22, Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr; Luke 20:27-40
Gospel: Luke 20:27-40
Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came
forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If
someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the
wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the
first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married
her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now
at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been
married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and
remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the
resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no
longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because
they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known
in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the
living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher,
you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
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Reflection:
Why are we striving to live a life worthy in the eyes of God? This is
for the reason that we believe in the resurrection. We believe that after our
walk in this world is already over we would be raised once again to a new life
that is very much different from our present life right now.
The Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection put in-front of
Jesus a situation about a woman who married one after the other seven brothers.
Their question for Jesus was to whom would the woman belong after all of them
dies? Would she belong to brother number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7? They’ve asked
this question to prove to everyone that there is no resurrection. Otherwise if
there is a resurrection then there would be a dilemma for the woman and the seven
brothers who married her.
But Jesus incisively answered the Sadducees that life in the resurrection
is very much different from their present lives. During the resurrected life
there would be no more marriage, no more death for everyone will be like angels
according to Jesus.
We must all aspire for this resurrected life that Jesus mentions to us
in the gospel. We start by living a life founded in our close relationship with
Jesus. A life that is clean and righteous before the eyes of God and men.
Is your present lifestyle worthy of resurrection in heaven with Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Reflection for Friday November 21, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Luke 19:45-48
Gospel: Luke
19:45-48
Jesus entered the
temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to
them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it
a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief
priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to
put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.
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Reflection:
Today is the
memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was said that when the
Blessed Virgin Mary was around three years old. She was brought to the temple
as an offering to God by her parents Anna and Joachim. This was to fulfill a
promise made by the couple to God when they were still childless.
There was an article
that I’ve read about a confession of a young man who went through a medical
procedure called sex change. From male he became female, after a few months of
going though the procedure this young man was already full of regrets.
According to him he was being deeply bothered by his conscience and he felt that something was wrong with the function of his body. I can’t remember if he died but there was something very unfortunate that happened to him after going through that procedure.
According to him he was being deeply bothered by his conscience and he felt that something was wrong with the function of his body. I can’t remember if he died but there was something very unfortunate that happened to him after going through that procedure.
Are we aware that
our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Are we aware that Jesus is deeply
saddened when we try to alter the physical composition of our body? Today
with the help of science we could make ourselves appear younger. We can even
make our bodies a walking expression of who we are by tattooing it.
Reflection for Thursday November 20, Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 19:41-44
Gospel: Luke 19:41-44
As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace but now it is hidden from your
eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade
against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will
smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave
one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of
your visitation.”
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Reflection:
Why is it
that some people are so peaceful and not worried about life even if the environment
around them is worrisome? The reason behind is they’ve learned to surrender
everything to Jesus. They listen to Jesus by way of their active prayer life
and they’ve let Jesus take control of their lives and not them taking control.
When
Jesus was nearing Jerusalem He was very sad and He wept for its people because
they did not listen to God’s call of repentance (Through the prophets). They
purposely blinded themselves to the reality of repentance, why? Because they
love to sin and they liked what this sinful world offered them, they never
cared to be concerned of the punishing outcome of their sinfulness.
Jesus
loves us so dearly that He wants all of us to listen to Him. So that we could
be spared of the dreadful punishment that is due to those who do not care to
listen to Him. He also weep for us
everytime we sin, everytime we don’t to listen to Him.
When
everything is said and done and we are already suffering for the reason of our
sinfulness we have nobody to blame but ourselves. However, why let this very
harsh event called punishment come to us? When we could actually avoid it by
means of opening our hearts to the love and mercy of Jesus. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Monday, November 17, 2014
Reflection for Wednesday November 19, Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 19:11-28
Gospel: Luke 19:11-28
While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a
parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would
appear there immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went off to a distant country
to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his
servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with
these until I return.’His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a
delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ But
when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to
whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The
first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional
ones.’ He replied, ‘Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this
very small matter; take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came and
reported, ‘Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.’ And to this servant too
he said, ‘You, take charge of five cities.’ Then the other servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I
kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are
a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you
did not plant.’ He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you
wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay
down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a
bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.’ And to those
standing by he said, ‘Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant
who has ten. But they said to him,
‘Sir, he has ten gold coins. He replied, ‘I tell you, to everyone who
has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be
taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king,
bring them here and slay them before me.’”
After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.
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Reflection:
A
successful businessman suddenly died, when his soul was about to separate from
his body he saw an angel and a devil. He naturally veered away from the devil
and he put himself at the side of the angel. When they were about to enter the
heavenly gates God was there to ask him this question: What can you say about
your life on earth? The man said, I was a successful business man when I was
still alive and I did no wrong to anyone.
Then God
said that’s very good! But have you done something for my kingdom? The man was
not able to answer for he did nothing to help grow the kingdom of God. Then God
commanded the angel to bring him to the other side of the fence where the environment
was very hot and humid for he did nothing to advance the kingdom of God.
What is
your present preoccupation right now? Are you very busy with the things of this
world? Like how to expand your business and how to grow bigger your money and
so forth. Many of us are perhaps like this: very earthly and always very busy
with earthly things. But if we are all busy with the affairs of this world
where would we end-up after our journey in this world is already over and done with?
Where would we end-up if we do nothing for the kingdom of God in this world?
In our
gospel for this Wednesday a nobleman gave his servants gold coins so that they
could do something to make it grow. Some of them were able to increase its
value yet there was one who simply kept
in a handkerchief what was entrusted to him. He did nothing to grow the money
entrusted to him by his master.
In our
faith life doing nothing is never an option or faith in Jesus that is kept to
oneself is never an alternative. We must share this faith that Jesus has
entrusted to us in whatever manner possible so that it could grow also.
Are we
productive servants of Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Reflection for Tuesday November 18, Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 19:1-10
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a
wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because
of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a
sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he
reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for
today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him
with joy. When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to
stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have
extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because
this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and
to save what was lost.”
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Reflection:
Was it
only Zacchaeus who was seeking an encounter with Jesus? Was Jesus not also
seeking an encounter with Zacchaeus? Yes
Jesus was also seeking an encounter with Zacchaeus! Why? For the reason that
Zacchaeus was a sinner like all of us. And what made it more interesting for
Jesus to seek out Zacchaeus was his desire also to see Jesus.
Before
Jesus arrived at Jericho He already had in mind Zacchaeus He knew that this
chief tax collector was looking for Him and ready to change his sinful ways. With
this factor present the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus happened. After their
meeting Jesus subsequently went to the house Zacchaeus to purify his house. As
well as to liberate Zacchaeus of any form of sinfulness and right then and there
his conversion and liberation from any form of sinfulness happened.
How could
we relate this gospel episode with our personal lives? Like Zacchaeus we too
are sinful we may not be thinking yet of walking away from our sinfulness. Yet
Jesus is already knocking at our hearts so that he could also have a personal
encounter with us.
If we say
that we are not ready yet to walk away from our sinfulness because we enjoy
sinning, then when will we be ready? Next month or next year? It may be too
late already, nothing is certain with our life anything can happen the next
seconds or minutes.
Therefore
we must also be like Zacchaeus who responded to the desire of Jesus to meet
him. Let us not delay anymore let us rush to meet Jesus now for tomorrow may be
late already.
Are you
prepared to have a personal encounter with Jesus today? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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