Reflection for February 19, Thursday after Ash Wednesday Luke 9:22-25

Gospel: Luke 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

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Reflection:

A man of the world was on the verge of ending his life, he decided to go to a cliff to jump so that he could end everything.  On his way he saw a church that has an inscription of the words of Jesus that says: Come follow me. He gave it a serious thought and decided to go to the church and inquire about it.

 There he was informed that it was a call to vocation in the service of the Lord. He thereafter decided not to end his life he instead responded to the instant vocation call. And soon after he found God and he also discerned the true meaning of his life with Jesus.

Many of us spend our lifetime to pursue our earthly ambition such as to be rich and powerful. And then when we reach the pinnacle of our ambitions we also discover that something is still lacking or missing. We yearn for something that is meaningful and something that would satisfy our inner being.   

This something that is meaningful that we yearn is no other than God. No matter how rich and powerful some of us may become we will still not have peace of mind. For the simple reason that only God will gives peace of mind only God will give us inner calmness and healing.

But the big question is this: Are we willing to give away our life to God so that He could save it and make full use of it? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for February 18, Ash Wednesday (Fasting and Abstinence) Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.When you give alms,do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not appear to be fasting except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

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Reflection:

How does the season of lent affect you? Does this make you closer to God? There are three keys for you to have a meaningful observance of lent. The first is Almsgiving, the second is Prayer and the third is Fasting. In all of these three Jesus advocates silence and self-introspection and Jesus advocates contradiction to what this world would normally dictate you to do.

In Almsgiving, Prayer and Fasting Jesus advocates doing it in the privacy of your heart. Nobody will know except you and God alone not even your closest relative or friend.  Why? Because it is in silence and secrecy that you would also receive blessings from God (Most especially spiritual blessings).  For example, how could you have peace of mind? It’s through silence. How would you feel the presence of God in your life it’s in silence also.

God is not a loud or boastful God He is not like the many artificial Gods of this secular world that thrives in noise and publicity. Come to think of it, is it possible to have communion with Jesus through noise and publicity? Never. You will never have connection with Jesus through noise, publicity and other acts of self-promotion.    

As we begin our forty (40) days journey this lent let us try to look back about the loudness of our lives. Let us look at our facebooks and observe how we loudly promoted our lives there and let us ask ourselves this question: Has this self-promotion and sometimes hedonistic lifestyle led me in close communion with Jesus?

Lent is the time of year that the Good Lord gives us so that we could get closer and intimate with Him. It is His hope that through lent we could have a close encounter with Him and this we could best do in silence.

As the priest or lay minister put ash with the sign of the cross on your forehead. Close your eyes and silently pray this to the Lord: Lord Lead me back to you and bring me closer to you. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for February 17, Tuesday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 8:14-21

Gospel: Mark  8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up? They answered him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” They answered him, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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Reflection:

What do you do when you go through your life’s trials? Do you fully trust the Lord to make things better for you? Do you say, Lord I give to you all my worries and I trust the you will take care of it and you will give me help. 

If your mindset is to surrender everything to the Lord, it then speak volumes of you enormous faith in Jesus. Come what may you will trust Jesus more than trust yourself and anybody else. Is your faith in Jesus as strong as this that you trust Jesus more than anybody else?

In our gospel, when the disciples together with Jesus were already in the boat they found out that they had only one bread. And they were naturally worried, for how could this one bread fill all of their hungry stomachs?

In the midst of their worries Jesus reminded them about His miracle of the loaves where He feed the thousands. As if Jesus was telling them: Why are you worried that you will not be able to eat when I am with you!

The disciples failed their test of faith; they doubted if Jesus would be able to help them. Did they doubt or they simply forgot that Jesus was with them in that boat?

We all face our own set of test of faith. Perhaps many of us also fail this test of faith and we doubt if we will be able to achieve what we want in life. Or for the reason of our many worries we simply forget that we have a powerful friend and God in Jesus.

Let us doubt no more let us fully trust Jesus for He will never fail us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for February 16, Monday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 8:11-13

Gospel: Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.

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Reflection:

What does it mean when we seek signs from the Lord Jesus? It means weakness of faith, it means that Jesus is not yet enough for us to hold-on for our salvation for we still need signs and wonders from Jesus. A true believer and a person of faith will not anymore seek a sign from the Lord. He/She will trust the Lord Jesus regardless of if he/she will see or not see signs from Him.

If we truly love the Lord and if we have faith in the Lord we will not anymore ask for a sign from Him. Why? Because His name alone is more than enough to deliver us from all of our fears and doubts.  This is for that reason that we always feel His abiding presence in our lives.

The Lord is with us the moment we reverently attend Holy Mass most especially when we partake of His Body and Blood during Holy Communion. The Lord speaks to us the moment we reverently read His words in the bible. Jesus is with us the moment we pray with reverence the Holy Rosary.  

If only we will invest time to dive deeper into the life of Jesus and our catholic faith we will not anymore ask for any signs from Jesus. Because as we invest time for Him, we will also notice slowly but surely His abiding presence in our lives.

Let us not ask for signs let us instead get intimate with Jesus and our faith by our faithful presence at Holy Mass. By having a daily habit of reading our bible and by humbly submitting ourselves to the healing Sacrament of Confession. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Sunday February 15, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Mark 1:40-45

Gospel: Mark 1:40-45

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.

He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

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Reflection:

How would you react if we are the leper in the gospel that was healed by Jesus? Should you just keep silent about your miraculous healing or you tell everyone how Jesus healed you? Perhaps you would also spread the good news of your healing from Jesus for this is basic human nature.

The healed leper disobeyed the command of Jesus not to tell anyone of the miracle that he received from Him (Mark 1:44). Did Jesus get angry with his disobedience? Of course not! For Jesus perfectly understands that his disobedience is with a good reason.

The healed leper wanted everyone to know that Jesus heals! The former leper simply wanted to share the good news of his healing so that others could also receive healing from Jesus. Soon enough, the healing that Jesus did for the leper spread like wild fire and as a result of this, people from everywhere went to Jesus.  

Have you received a miracle from Jesus? For example healing from your sickness, healing of a family relationship or healing from an emotional spiritual sickness and the like. Don’t keep it within yourself! Spread the good news about the greatest healer who ever walked on this earth; no other than Jesus.– Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for February 14, Saturday Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop; Mark 8:1-10

Gospel: Mark 8:1-10

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance. His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have? They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.

He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

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Reflection:

What kind of God is Jesus? He is a God of compassion and mercy, Jesus feels our loneliness when we are lonely. Jesus cries with us when we cry. Jesus feels the heavy load that we carry when we are so burdened by it. Does this feeling of compassion and mercy stops with Jesus empathy? No, Jesus never stops of thinking of ways on how He can make light the burdens that we carry.

We see this deep compassion and mercy of Jesus in our gospel today. When Jesus saw the crowd who had been following them for days He had deep compassion with them for they were already hungry. And His mercy and compassion led Him to think on how He could feed them.

So Jesus asked His disciples for whatever food that they may have and out of seven loaves and few fish Jesus miraculously multiplied it to feed almost four thousand. This is how merciful and compassionate Jesus is to those who follow Him.

How does this gospel speak to us? This tells us that we will never go hungry once we decide to faithfully follow Jesus! Jesus will never let us go hungry for He will take care of our food and He will take care of our needs. This may be hard to believe for others but this is very true! Jesus provides for those who faithfully follow Him.

Do we faithfully follow Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for February 12, Thursday; Fifth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 7:24-30

Gospel: Mark 7:24-30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

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Reflection:

What is the key for us to have what we want from Jesus? It’s persistence! If we think that Jesus doesn’t hear our prayers we should continue to beg Him to grant us what want. We should never give-up because giving up is a sign of our lack of faith in Jesus.

The Syrophoenician woman in our gospel never gave-up on her prayer request even if she was already being tested by Jesus. She persisted and humbly beg Jesus to cure her daughter possessed by the devil. Eventually her persistence bore fruit for when she went home she found out that her daughter was not anymore possessed by the devil.

As we continue our journey in this temporal world we surely will be facing a lot of problematic situations. Let us not let these disappointing events bring us down and let us not let these situations separate us from Jesus. The more we encounter trials in our lives the more that we go persistently to Jesus for help.

For it’s only Jesus and it’s only through Jesus that we would be able to survive the many trials and tribulations in this world.  What if for example we persistently pray to Jesus for help and he did not help us? Would this be possible that we pray and we did not receive any help from Jesus?

Yes this is very possible but this should not be a reason for us to give-up and distance ourselves from Jesus. For life in this world is temporary unlike in the afterlife where life is eternal. If our prayers did not get any response from Jesus in this world surely He will not only respond to us in the afterlife. We will also be with Him in His kingdom in heaven for we never gave-up on Him while we were still in this world.

Are you persistent in your prayer/s before Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for February 11, Wednesday; Fifth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 7:14-23

Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

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Reflection:

Where does the desire to commit sin emanates? It first emanates from within us. It begins when we think about it and if we don’t stop thinking about our desire to commit sin it slowly progresses. Until we actually give flesh to our desire to sin by actually doing it!

For example, the desire of a husband/wife to betray their marriage vows. It starts by thinking about it and when we see that the situation is conducive to commit the act of sin/betrayal. The spouse will now succumb to commit this immoral sin. Therefore, the desire to commit sin originates from within us.

How then could we avoid sin? We pray to Jesus and ask His help to exterminate whatever sinful desires that we have in our minds. Then we also have to do our part by taking action to rid ourselves of the desire to sin and by running away from sin. Because if we pray yet our actions are not according to what we have been praying for we would still commit sin sooner or later. As the saying goes God help those who help themselves.

But come to think of it, why do we commit sin? The simple answer is we don’t take our faith in Jesus seriously this is the reason why we commit sin when we want to commit it. Are we not tired yet of sinning? Are we not tired yet of mortgaging our lives to the devil? When we continuously mortgage our lives to the devil through sin, there is the danger that we may not anymore be able to get out of it!

It’s about time that we change this cycle of sin, it’s about time that we rid ourselves of any sinful thoughts and desires. It’s about time that we free ourselves from any problems and complication brought about by sin.  This could only happen if we ask Jesus to come into our lives.  

Would you be willing to humbly pray to Jesus to come into your life? –  Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for February 10, Tuesday; Saint Scholastica, Virgin; Mark 7:1-13

Gospel: Mark  7:1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, ‘If someone says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban” (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”

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Reflection:

Why is Jesus a revolutionary leader? Because Jesus’ dares to violate established rules to benefit His people. For Jesus it’s always the greater good of His people before the observance of any rules or laws. Which by the way was created to serve the whims and caprices of the ruling class (The Pharisees and scribes).

Jesus violates the rules created by the ruling class because it’s oppressive; it makes the ordinary people servants of the ruling class. Who are good only with utterance of their laws but visibly wanting in human compassion. Truth to tell, the ruling class (Pharisees and scribes) sacrifice human compassion in exchange for the observance of their self-serving created laws.

Case in point is the washing of hands before eating which was mentioned by the ruling class in the gospel. They asked Jesus: “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands (Mark 7:5)?” Jesus answered them by simply pointing at their hypocrisy, their lack of interior transformation and compassion toward the ordinary people.

If we want our fellowmen to truly respect and follow us we should not be imposing, we should not be dictators. Because if we are like this our people will rebel against us, they may externally show their respect towards us but it’s a respect devoid of substance and spirit.  Instead we should always live the gentleness and compassion of Jesus  – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for February 9, Monday; Fifth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 6:53-56

Gospel: Mark  6:53-56

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurry about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

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Reflection:

 Do you have the habit of touching the image of Jesus in your house or when you are at church? Then as you touch His image you say your silent prayer of petition and thanksgiving to Jesus. Continue doing it because that is a good habit it signifies your humility and surrender to the mighty power of Jesus.

The healing crusade of Jesus continues in our gospel. Wherever He goes those who are in need of His healing goes also. The moment they get the information that Jesus is near them they hurry to go to Him to have this healing encounter with Jesus. They never mind if they are not able to talk to Jesus. It’s enough for them that they’re able touch any part of His clothes. Or to have a glimpse of Him is already enough for them to be healed by the mighty power of Jesus.

Up to this very moment this mighty healing power of Jesus is very much present in our midst. For He’s just a prayer away, His very image is within our reach. Look at the cross in your house or in your church Jesus is there. Touch Him and as you touch Him ask Him to heal you, ask Him to change you ask Him to make you more humble and kind.     

Surely, Jesus will never disappoint anyone who humbles and surrenders himself/herself before Him. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

The education of Mar Roxas...

http://www.fef.org.ph/2015/02/the-education-of-mar-roxas/