Monday, March 16, 2015

Reflection for March 18, Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent; John 5:17-30

Gospel: John 5:17-30
Jesus answered the Jews: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.

“I cannot do anything on my own;I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Do you believe that Jesus and the Father are one and the same? The critics of Jesus did not believe this oneness of the father and the son. The critics of Jesus did not believe because their mindset was based on their human understanding which is always subject to limitations.

What separates us from the critics of Jesus in our gospel? We believe in the oneness of the father and the son, we believe because we have faith. Faith that is not subject to  what our eyes and ears can see and hear.

If our faith is confined to what we could only see and hear this in actually not faith because true faith or deep faith requires believing even without seeing.  Through our faith in both the father and the son we are able to further discover the many truths about our catholic faith.  And we are also able to grow more in faith and knowledge about our universal church.

Perhaps some of us may ask, Why am I not growing in faith? The answer to this is we lack something perhaps this something is our lack of faithful adherence to the teachings of our universal faith.

Say for example our lack of adherence to the insolubility of the Sacrament of Matrimony, the Sanctity of human life, the healing and cleansing value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the many more teachings of our catholic faith. We will not grow in faith if we don’t believe these teachings.  

Do you believe in the oneness of the Son and the Father and do you also believe the teachings of our catholic faith? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for March 17, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent; John 5:1-16

Gospel: John 5:1-16
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me. Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk. Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat. He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk. They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’? The man who was healed did not know who it was for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
How does it feel to be sick? Those who got sick already would answer that it doesn’t feel good to be sick for you feel weak and can’t function properly. Absurd as it may sound but sickness is sometimes God’s gift to us for it’s through our sickness that we get to know God more deeply. It’s through our getting sick that we become aware of the majestic healing power of God.

The blind man in our gospel had this kind of experience. He was beside the pool waiting for someone to help him immerse in the pool. He didn’t know Jesus thus he did not ask Jesus to heal him.  Jesus by Himself desired to appear to this man and heal him right there. If the man was not sick Jesus would not have appeared to him.  

It’s through our sickness often times that Jesus strongly manifest Himself to us. Through our getting sick we get a clearer picture of who Jesus is. If Jesus healed the man in our gospel without asking for it,  will He not heal us as well? We who know Him and we who always pray to Him.   

There's always hidden silver lining when we get sick, we may not know it immediately but there's certainly silver lining. And one of this is to get to know more Jesus deeply and to have this up close and personal encounter with Him. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Saturday, March 14, 2015

1Reflection for Sunday March 15, Fourth Sunday of Lent; John 3:14-21

Gospel: John 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Why do some people decide to end their life? There are many reasons but perhaps one of those reasons is the lack of knowledge about the infinite love of God. If only they know beforehand the encompassing love of God they wouldn’t dare decide to end their life.

This is the tragedy of our modern times; many of us strive to know how to use high-tech gadgets. Yet many of us also do not exert any effort to know this great love of God that He freely offers to each and every one of us.

Take for instance our Sunday Holy Mass obligation. If we attend Holy Mass with fidelity and devotion the Holy Spirit will open our mind so that we would know this redemptive and salvific love of God.  But sad to say, many do not give priority to this sacred Sunday Holy Mass obligation.    

God’s love for us is encompassing. For example, if someone committed a mortal sin such as abortion.  Does this make the person already unloved by God? The love of God is by no means constrained by our sins even mortal sins. For God’s love is always there for us, it’s ours to take! We have to own this love of God that He freely gives to us.

What kind of love is this that God gives us so freely? This is a salvific love and a redemptive love a love that saves a sinner like you and me. Yes we sin every so often but the sin that we commit does not diminish the salvific and redemptive love of God for us.

During this season of lent let us embrace this encompassing, salvific and redemptive love of God. By humbly submitting ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Reflection for March 14, Saturday of the Third Week of Lent; Luke 18:9-14

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Is humility the passageway to the heart of God? Yes it is! By our humility we are able to access the sacred passageway to the heart of God. By our humility we are able to make God smile at us and we are able to make God embrace us.  

Humility is not only the passageway to the heart of God for this is also the passageway to the heart of our fellowmen. We are silently admired and respected if we are always humble and if we don’t raise ourselves to be exalted by our fellowmen.

In our gospel reading this Saturday there’s this Pharisee who boasted about his good qualities before God. Why did he boast? Perhaps the Pharisee thought that in so doing God would take notice and be impressed of his good qualities. But we cannot impress God, we cannot bully our way to the heart of God.

On the other hand the tax collector and perceived to be sinner by many humbled himself before God. He did nothing except to humbly acknowledge his own sinfulness in front of God. By humbly admitting his own sinfulness and shortcomings the tax collector gained the mercy and favor of God.

Do you also want to gain the mercy and favor of God? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Reflection for March 12, Thursday of the Third Week of Lent; Luke 11:14-23

Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed. Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons. Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Do you believe in Jesus as your Lord and savior? In our gospel for today, after casting out the demon from a man Jesus was accused to be one with the demons. They obviously did not believe in Jesus as their Lord and savior. They also can’t believe that Jesus is capable of doing this miracle with good intentions in His heart. Otherwise they would have not accused Him as one with the demons.

Who is one with the demons? Is it Jesus or the ones who refuse to believe in Him? There are only to options that we have in this world to believe in Jesus or not to believe in Jesus. To believe means that we should walk the path of Jesus for we can’t say that we believe yet we don’t walk the path of Jesus. Those who don’t believe are those who are vulnerable to the company and possession of the devil.

Many of the people of today are like those in the time of Jesus who did not believe in Him. For what reasons? Perhaps they are so obsessed with their own selves. That they regard themselves as somebody who know better than Jesus that’s why they don’t believe.

But the consequence of not believing in Jesus is enormous. First and foremost is they invite the devil to possess them. And once they are already possessed by the devil they now are capable of doing evil without any guilt of conscience. This is the reason why there are mothers who abort their unborn child without any guilt of conscience. They are capable of doing this despicable act because they are already possessed by the devil of convenience.     

But there’s still hope for as long as there are people like you who believe in Jesus. People like you who will stand for the teachings and values of Jesus and people like you who will value the gift of life more than the evil of abortion and wicked convenience. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Reflection for March 9, Monday of the Third Week of Lent; Luke 4:24-30

Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. When the people in the synagogue heard this they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Do you expect Jesus to bless you abundantly because you always pray and you do good? How would you feel if your expectation is not meet by Jesus with the same expectation that you have?  Would you now be indifferent to Jesus?

We cannot fathom the mind of God, there are times that His decisions will not fit our own comprehension. We nevertheless should continue to be faithful to Him even if His will is often times not attuned to our own will. In His own time God will eventually give us what we want. We simply have to be patient and not be uninterested with God.

In our gospel the people of Nazareth is angry with Jesus for the simple reason that what Jesus said did not fit their expectation. Their minds were already conditioned to believe their own expectations. But we cannot read the mind of Jesus and we cannot put Jesus in a box because His decisions are often times out of the box.

We simply have to believe and hold-on to our faith in Jesus no matter what happens. Even if sometimes or even often times His decisions doesn’t fit our own selfish expectations. Who knows one of these days Jesus will suddenly give us what we want. During these times when we least expect Him to give it to us.

Let us continue to have faith in Jesus in good times and in bad for He knows what is best for us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Reflection for Sunday March 8, Third Sunday of Lent; John 2:13-25

Gospel: John 2:13-25
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace. His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this? Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews said “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
What made Jesus lose His temper? What drove Him to angrily overturn the tables of the money changers and the others who were doing business in the temple area? Is it out of the character of Jesus to get angry because He was supposed to be gentle and kindhearted?  

The temple area was not anymore being used according to its real purpose. It was OK to have business there for that area was intended to be used as such. But there was fraudulent business that was going there. The animals that was to be offered to the temple was overpriced and there was many more deceit and cheating in the conduct of their business.  

Therefore Jesus had no other choice but to create order and in the process He got angry. Anger that was justified for it reminded the people that the temple area should be free from anything that is fraudulent. And anything that is against the will of God. The temple area and the temple itself must always be free from any form of desecration for it is the house of God.

This is a good reminder for all of us when we go to church to worship God. We should go there only to worship God and not do anything that would defile the temple of God. The defilement or desecration that we do is not limited to physical defilement. We also defile the church when we think of anything that is not good and ungodly while we are in the church.

How about if we are already not in the church or not anymore within the area of the church? Is it now justified to think of sinister things against our fellowmen, anyway we are now way outside of the church?

 It’s still not right, For we are the church our body is the visible representation of the church. Therefore we must at all times be free from any form of deceit or anything that would make us unworthy before the eyes of Jesus. - Marino J. Dasmarinas