Reflection for Sunday December 7, Second Sunday of Advent; Mark 8:1-8

Gospel: Mark 8:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.

He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

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Reflection:

What if John said that he is already the one and no one anymore is coming after him? John could have fooled a lot of people but John did not take advantage of his new found celebrity status. He instead fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s proclamation that he would prepare the way of the Lord.  

How did John prepared the way for Jesus? He called for renewal and repentance he coupled this with his humility, simplicity and not with judgment, arrogance and frivolity.  For these reasons, John was very successful in his mission of leading others to Jesus.

This gospel invites us also to reflect on how we lead others to Jesus, if at all we are doing something to lead others to Jesus. This is for the reason that we may have not done anything yet to lead others to Jesus.

How should we go about in leading our fellowmen to Jesus? In our own little way we should become another John in the environment where we are right now. This means that we must also do something to prepare the way of the Lord. This we could best do by our humility, simplicity and genuine worship for Jesus.

We can lead others to know Jesus by how we live. For example, if our friends have a limited knowledge of Jesus it may be through us that they would know Jesus deeply by how we live our faith. And it may be through us that they might have a personal encounter with Jesus.        

During this second Sunday of Advent let us ask ourselves these questions: Have I done something concrete to prepare the way of the Lord? Have I already led other to Jesus through my words and actions? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

PROTECT O DEAR LORD JESUS THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES AGAINST TYPHOON RUBI/HAGUPIT. SHIELD AND EMBRACE US WITH YOUR LOVE AND CARE. AMEN

LET US IMPLORE THE PROTECTION OF THE GOOD LORD AGAINST TYPHOON RUBI/HAGUPIT.

Reflection for December 5, Friday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 9:27-31

Gospel: Matthew  9:27-31

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us! When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith. And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this. But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

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Reflection:

What are we willing to do to have faith? Are we willing to humble ourselves and kneel before God and ask Him to give us the gift of faith? Faith is a gift that Jesus freely gives to the humble. Even if you will not ask for it Jesus will give it to you for as long as you humble yourself in front of Him.

In the gospel for this Friday we have two humble blind men who cried to Jesus for compassion.  Why did they cry when they could have shouted at Jesus to get His attention? They cried because they saw hope and mercy in Jesus. For the two blind men Jesus was their only hope to have the gift of sight.

Let us also ask Jesus to give us the gift of Hope and faith for nothing is impossible for those who humble themselves before God. Even the impossible is now very much possible for as long as we have faith.   

Whatever we’re going through right now, believe that Jesus will heal us. And believe that He will answer our pleas for nothing is impossible for Jesus. This is best exemplified by the two  incredible blind men of deep faith in our gospel.

How’s your faith in Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for December 4, Thursday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Gospel: Matthew 7:21, 24-27

(Jesus said to his disciples) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

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Reflection:

What will happen to us if we always pray yet we don’t live our faith? For example we always pray the Holy Rosary everyday or we go to Holy Mass every Sunday yet we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to change us? We would easily succumb to worldly temptations and we render useless our acts of worship for God.

The Philippines is a catholic country, in fact more than eighty percent (80%) of us are Catholics and the majority of our leaders are Catholics. yet corruption is deeply rooted in our bureaucracy. Why is this so? This is for the reason that we are only good at worshipping God but we don’t allow our worship for God to transform us.

What does Jesus want from all of us? He wants us to worship Him and allow this same worship for Him to transform us. So that we could become His true and faithful followers, it’s very easy to pray so that others would see us. However, the real qualification for us to be called a follower of Jesus is when we allow our worship for Him to transform us.

What will happen to us if we let our prayers to transform us according to the will of the Father in heaven?  We would be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.  But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock (Luke 7:24-25).

Do we allow our worship for God to transform us according to His will? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

My Reflections will resume soon please comeback. God bless you!

My Reflections will resume soon please comeback. God bless you! - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday December 1, Monday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 8:5-11

Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”

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Reflection:

What brought the centurion to Jesus? It was his great faith, when the centurion went to Jesus for help for his servant he had nothing except his great faith. He firmly believed in Jesus power to heal and he used his mighty faith to convince Jesus to cure his servant.

Who is this centurion? He is a roman officer that has people under his command, he also is not a follower yet he has great faith in Jesus. Don’t we want this kind of faith also? Of course we all want our faith to be like the centurions. Therefore we must prayerfully ask Jesus to give us the same faith. But do we ask Jesus to give us the gift of faith? Is the gift of faith always part of our prayer request for Jesus?

If Jesus could give that great faith to a non-follower like the centurion why can’t He give us the same faith considering that we are his followers? Faith is a gift that Jesus freely and generously gives to anyone who prays for it.

What is our usual prayer to Jesus? Is it always to have the things of this world. Let us not forget that the things of this world are passing and temporary. While faith will not pass, it’s not also temporary.   

Faith will be with us until forever, it will accompany us in our journey beyond this world going to the eternal Kingdom of the King of Kings no other than Jesus Himself.

Give us the gift of faith O Lord Jesus, most especially the one who is reading this reflection right now. Amen. – Marino J. Dasmarinas