Short, Simple and Personal reflections on the daily Holy Mass Gospel. I provide talks.
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Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Reflection for January 28, Wednesday; Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor; Mark 4:1-20
Gospel: Mark 4:1-20
On another occasion, Jesus began to teach
by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat
on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he
taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said
to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to
sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it
up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at
once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and
it withered for lack of roots. Some seed
fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed
fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty,
sixty, and a hundredfold. He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
And when he was alone, those present along
with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The
mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside
everything comes in parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and
hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and
be forgiven.”
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand
this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows
the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky
ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have
no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes
because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are
another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the
lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the
word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
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Reflection:
Are you open to hear or read the words of Jesus?
The word of Jesus are the seed that He sows in our hearts. We can read this when
we open our bible, when we go to Holy Mass and when we hear or read
commentaries about the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of us hear or read this good news of
Jesus when we are burdened by our problems. Then after our problems have been solved
we once again distance ourselves from the words of God. We only treat God like
a commodity that we only use when we are in need. Thus the words of God does not
bear fruit in our hearts and we also do not become fruitful followers of Jesus.
How could we become fruitful followers of
Jesus? It’s when we read, hear and share His words. It’s when we allow the
words of God to bear much fruit in our hearts that it transforms us to become a
person with a new mindset soundly grounded upon the words of God. Thus we
become the rich soil that Jesus mentions in the gospel (Mark 4:20)
There are people who allow themselves to be
transformed by the seeds or the words of God. For example from being bad they
become good, from being irresponsible they now become responsible, and from
being corrupt they become incorruptible. Why? This is for the reason that they
allowed God’s words to work miracles in their life!
How about you? Will you allow the words/seeds
of God to heal and transform you? –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
Monday, January 26, 2015
Reflection for January 27, Tuesday; Third Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 3:31-35
Gospel: Mark 3:31-35
The mother of Jesus and his brothers
arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your
sisters are outside asking for you. But he said to them in reply, “Who are my
mother and my brothers? And looking around at those seated in the circle he
said “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is
my brother and sister and mother.”
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Reflection:
In what way could we become a relative of
Jesus? It’s when we do acts of mercy and compassion toward anyone in need. It’s
when we help Jesus spread His good news of salvation to others most especially
to those who have not heard yet of His gospel message.
To do good to our blood relatives is
already a given fact of life. We help them because we are connected with them
by consanguinity or through common family tree. Jesus in our gospel wants to stretch
further our acts of mercy and compassion He wants us not to limit these acts of
mercy and compassion to our own family circle only!
Say for example what if Jesus would ask us,
could you also give the same help to a complete stranger in need? The same help
that you would normally give to your blood relative/s? This is very difficult
to do: To give help to a stranger with the same amount of help that we would
normally do to our blood relative/s.
Nonetheless, this is the challenge for all
of us if we want to be called a relative of Jesus: We must help anyone in need!
In hindsight, why did Jesus said that whoever does the will of God is my
brother and sister and mother? Perhaps the purpose of which is to measure our desire
to become a relative of Jesus.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Reflection for January 26, Monday; Sts.Timothy and Titus, Bishops; Mark 3:22-30
Gospel: Mark 3:22-30
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem
said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he
drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables “How
can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom
cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself that house will not be
able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided he
cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house
to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can
plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people
utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will
never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin. For they had said,
“He has an unclean spirit.
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Reflection:
What is the antidote to evil possession or
who can defeat the devil? It’s no other than Jesus only Jesus can defeat the
devil. As time progress the devil also progresses; before we only attribute the
presence of the devil to evil possession.
But
not anymore today! The devil of today doesn’t only present itself by way of
evil possession. It presents itself in manifold ways such as: greed, lust
enslavement to the modernity of time and so forth. Who can defeat the devil
today? It’s still Jesus the same Jesus that defeated the devil in our gospel.
Jesus doesn’t change He is the same Jesus
yesterday, today and tomorrow. His power to defeat the devil is still present today
as it was present yesterday. But do we allow Jesus to dwell in our lives? Do we
still have time for Him in this era of high-technology and high-definition
gadgets?
We must at all times give time for Jesus so
that we could always ward off the devil from our midst. If you always have Jesus
in your life you give no room for the devil to dwell in your life.
Do you give time for Jesus? – Marino
J. Dasmarinas
Reflection for Sunday January 25, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time; Mark 1:14-20
Gospel: Mark
1:14-20
After
John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This
is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe
in the gospel. As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother
Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to
them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they abandoned
their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James,
the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their
nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along
with the hired men and followed him.
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Reflection:
What is
the prerequisite in following Jesus? Its repentance and belief in His gospel
message, we cannot follow without repentance and firm belief in His gospel
message.
When Simon, Andrew, James and John responded
to His call they did not simply respond. Along with their response to Jesus
came their desire to repent. They also did not only leave behind them their
livelihood and families they also left behind their sinfulness or anything that
made them sin.
When the
four of them went along with Jesus to become fishers of men they were already
renewed by Jesus. They were also equipped by Jesus with practically anything
that they would be needing as they go about their mission.
What is
the relevance of the gospel to us and to our faith life? We too are being
called by Jesus to a life of renewal and repentance. We too are being called by
Jesus to follow Him and become fishers of men. Why does Jesus calls us to
a life of renewal and repentance? This is for the reason that we are all
sinners, no one of us is sinless.
The
recent visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines was not only a visit per se. It
was also a clarion call for all of us for a life of renewal and repentance.
Hundreds and millions of us went to the streets to see the Pope and to greet
him. What now after that encounter with Pope Francis?
Let us
not waste our encounter with the Pope by doing nothing let us allow it to move
us towards our renewal and repentance. The visit of the Pope
was also Jesus' direct call to all of us to follow Him so that we too could
become His instruments of renewal and repentance by doing so we become fishers
of men too!
To
positively respond to Jesus' call of repentance and belief in His gospel message
is the best action that we could ever do to our life.
What are we going to do to this call of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Reflection for January 24, Saturday; St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor; Mark 3:20-21
Gospel: Mark 3:20-21
Jesus came with his disciples into the
house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When
his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is
out of his mind.
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Reflection:
What happens when we get to serious with our
vocation for the Lord? They normally would label us as someone who is out of
his/her mind. For example when we prioritize God over money, when we shun
friends even relatives from our environment friends/relatives who do not bring
us any good. and instead we focus our time and energy for the glory of God. They would really label
us as somebody who is out of his/her mind.
But come to think of it, who is out of
his/her mind? Those who focus their time and energy for the greater glory of
God or those who focus their time and energy to this world only? If you focus
your attention to this world what will happen to you when you die? Where will
you end up if you allow yourself to be possessed by this world?
Jesus was labeled as out of His mind for the
reason that He was very zealous in His mission for the Lord. He allowed Himself
to be possessed by His mission for the Lord rather than embrace worldliness.
There really are people who will not
understand us for the things that we do for the greater glory of God. We must
move on nevertheless and continue doing our mission for Jesus. Let us just pray
for the enlightenment of those who do not understand or refuse to understand
what we do for the Lord. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Reflection for January 23, Friday of the Second Week; Mark 3:13-19
Gospel: Mark 3:13-19
Jesus went up the mountain and summoned
those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also
named Apostles that they might be with him and he might send them forth to
preach and to have authority to drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve: Simon,
whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee,and John the brother of James, whom
he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas
Iscariot who betrayed him.
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Reflection:
What is the relevance of the selection of
the twelve apostles to you? It reminds you that you also have a mission for the
propagation of the faith. You may say, I know nothing about the faith therefore
I can do nothing for I know nothing.
The twelve that was chosen by Jesus know nothing
also about the faith; many of them were in fact laborers and sinners. Yet they
were called by Jesus to follow Him. Therefore to say that you know nothing is
not an excuse because you will know if you will only try to know something
about the faith.
Jesus will not fail you He will even equip
you so that from knowing nothing you will now know something. And this
something that Jesus will give you will soon grow if you will continue to
respond to His call.
Be not afraid to respond, be not afraid to
dive into the deep waters of our faith for Jesus will always be with you. Begin
your mission in your family first which is your domestic church. Gently evangelize
them about Jesus and about our Roman Catholic faith through your healing words
and actions. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Reflection for January 22, Thursday of the Second Week; Mark 3:7-12
Gospel: Mark 3:7-12
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his
disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing
what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and
Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who
had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits
saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He
warned them sternly not to make him known.
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Reflection:
Do you always go to Jesus in prayer
everyday? It’s is a must for all of us believers so that He could always bless
and heal us. If we will not sought
Jesus, to where would we go? We go after the ephemeral riches that this world
is always offering us?
Until we become hooked to the many temporal
offerings of this world. Then slowly but surely the devil will see to it that
he gets hold of us as we go after the many tempting offerings of this world.
In our gospel people from all over the place
went after Jesus because they knew that only Jesus could heal and help them. They
sought Jesus like a priceless diamond so that they could be healed of their many
sickness.
Let us learn from them by seeking Jesus as
well in everyday of our life through our prayers, our presence at Holy Mass and
other forms of devotions that will show our deep love for Jesus. Let us not wait for the time that we are
already sick before we embrace Jesus.
Reflection for January 21, Wednesday Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr; Mark 3:1-6
Gospel: Mark 3:1-6
Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a
man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he
would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man
with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to the
Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to
save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking around
at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the
man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The
Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him
to put him to death.
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Reflection:
Do you always help when you see somebody in
need of help? Or you sometimes make excuses so that you would not be obliged to
help. Like pretending not to see anyone who is in need of your help. For
example you see a poor man who is in dire need of help, what are you going to
do to that poor man? Pretend not to see his obvious need of help?
When Jesus went to the synagogue there was
this man with a withered hand. He did not ask Jesus for help but Jesus knew
that he needed help so Jesus called him and right after restored his withered
hand.
All of us also encounter people who are in
need of our help. Perhaps many of us simply pretend not to see them for we
don’t want to be disturbed. But there are those who would proactively go out of
their way to give help even if they are not asked and these people are like
Jesus and they have the heart of Jesus.
Reflection for January 20, Tuesday of the Second Week; Mark 2:23-28
Gospel: Mark 2:23-28
As Jesus was passing through a field of
grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the
heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him “Look, why are they doing what
is unlawful on the sabbath? He said to them, “Have you never read what David
did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into
the house of God when Abiathar was high priest
and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and
shared it with his companions? Then he said to them “The sabbath was made for
man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the
sabbath.”
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Reflection:
Why was Jesus so popular with the common
people of His time? Because He violates some religious norms for the greater
good of the people that He loves so dearly. For example the picking of grain during Sabbath
day, doing this was prohibited based on the Jewish religion. But Jesus dared to
violate this law for the good of His disciples.
Laws or religious norms are good for the
reason that it will teach us obedience and discipline. But there are times that
we have to violate it so that it could serve a higher and nobler purpose. In
the gospel the nobler or higher purpose why Jesus violated the Sabbath law was
to feed the hungry stomachs of His disciples.
Jesus violated the Sabbath law for the
reason that humans are more important that laws. We can amend a law or extinguish the life of a
law but are we willing to extinguish the life of a human being to serve the
law?
In a deeper sense Jesus is teaching us that
the important need of a person (In this case the need for food) is far more
important than any law. For Jesus it’s always the good of His followers than
the observance of any kind of religious law/s.
This norm of Jesus stands until today we
are His priority more than any other rule/law in this world. How about us, is
Jesus our priority more than any other undertaking in this world? – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
Monday, January 19, 2015
Reflection for January 19, Monday of the Second Week; Mark 2:18-22
Gospel: Mark 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees
were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the
disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples
do not fast? Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the
bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they
cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them
and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on
an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and
the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and
both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh
wineskins.”
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Reflection:
What is Jesus desire for you? It’s to
transform you so that you could become fresh wineskin so that He could pour
Himself into you. Jesus is the new wine and you are the old wineskin but Jesus
doesn’t want you to become old wineskin which cannot accept His renewing
presence. He wants you to be renewed or to be the fresh wineskin so that He
could come into your life.
What makes us old wineskins or what makes
us unworthy for the presence of Jesus? It’s our many sins, these many sins
makes us unworthy to Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus is also offering Himself to us
so that he could cleanse us and make us new once again
Will you let Jesus into your life so that
He could make things new for you? Or you will continue to shut your heart to
Jesus? The choice is yours, if you want to remain contained in the old wineskin
of sin or you allow Jesus to renew you and liberate you from sin.
The correct choice is always to allow Jesus
entry into your life and to allow Jesus to make things new in your life once
again. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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