Reflection for April 26, Fourth Sunday of Easter; John 10:11-18

Gospel: John 10:11-18

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

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Reflection:

Who is a good shepherd? A good shepherd is someone who desires nothing but the good of his sheep. A good shepherd is also someone who would be willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his sheep.

 In modern times right now a shepherd could also be an object of our attention or even obsession. That seeks to control and dictate upon us.  For example, greed for money could be our shepherd if we allow it to control us. But if we allow money to be our shepherd it will not only control us it may even possess us. It may even destroy not only us even our family as well. 

Our Job could also be our shepherd, in what manner could this be? This could happen once we allow our job to enslave us. For instance, we focus more on our jobs rather than our family that we hardly have time for our family. So what would happen to the family? It may be destroyed and eventually disintegrate.  Our ambition to be wealthy could also be our false shepherd and there are many more false shepherd wannabes.

In the midst of all these false shepherd wannabes. Jesus wants to offer Himself to us for He is the good shepherd. He tells us in the gospel: I am the good shepherd (John 10:11) and I will lay down my life for you (John 10:15). Why don’t we consider this offer of Jesus and allow Him to shepherd our lives?  

Perhaps we could start by reading the life story and the life changing words of Jesus in the bible. We can also begin to take seriously the celebration of the Holy Mass by paying more attention to this sacred celebration. Where we can receive Jesus in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

You might have already allowed money and other worldly ambitions to shepherd or control  you. But did it truly give you what you want? Did it give you peace and contentment in your life? -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for April 25, Saturday Feast of Saint Mark, Evangelist; Mark 16:15-20

Gospel: Mark 16:15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

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Reflection:

Have you done something to share the good news about Jesus? For example, you shared the life of  Jesus to a friend or a relative. Or you’ve brought someone to church for Holy Mass and while at Mass he/she had a renewal of his/her faith in Jesus.  

One of your foremost mission as follower of Jesus is to share Him. If you have no idea on how you would share Him you could even simply live His life. Evangelization is not only confined to sharing with your vocal words for you could also evangelize by the way you live.

When the disciples were sent by Jesus through their mission one of the unwritten commands of Jesus for them was to live His way of life. For they wouldn’t be successful missioners for Jesus without immersing their very lives on Jesus way of life.

The challenge for you therefore is to share Jesus like how the disciples shared Him. You also have to live the way of life of Jesus. For without living the life of Jesus you will not become His true follower and evangelizer. 

Many in the church or outside of the church profess to follow Jesus but they do not live His life. Thus their evangelization is superficial it doesn’t take root in the hearts of those who listen to them. Therefore, an effective evangelizer is one who shares and live the life of Jesus.   

Do you share Jesus and do you live the life of Jesus most especially Jesus' life of humility and simplicity? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for April 24, Friday of the Third Week of Easter; John 6:52-59

Gospel: John 6:52-59

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

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Reflection:

Are you a regular Sunday Mass goer or even a daily Mass goer? How do you feel if you fail to be at Holy Mass? Do you feel that something is lacking in your system of being? You have this feeling not because you miss a routinary activity.

On the contrary you have this feeling because you miss to be with Jesus. And you miss to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus which (you may not know) is the source of your every Sunday or daily nourishment. 

How many times have you been to Holy Mass without paying attention to what’s going on during the celebration? Perhaps countless times already, what do you do after noticing that your attention was not in the Mass? Do you say sorry to Jesus and then make it a point to be attentive the next time?

In every Holy Mass that you attend you should see to it that your full attention is in the celebration. So that when the part comes that you are about to partake of His body your focus is centered on what you are about to receive. Which is no other than the most precious bread in the entire world because you receive the life giver, Jesus Himself.

Perhaps you may not believe this now because you are still young, healthy and perhaps you have money and power. And these temporal things serve as your security blanket right now. However when the time comes that you are already old and sickly. You will know that nothing matters anymore except the Bread of life, Jesus Himself. You will not desire anything except to partake of His Body which will become the source of your daily nourishment. 

Why wait for that time to come in the future? When you can already desire to be close to Jesus by faithfully partaking of His Body and Blood now and onwards?  Why make the temporal things of this world your security blanket? When you can make the Body of Christ your security blanket now? Yes now! – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for April 23, Thursday of the Third Week of Easter; John 6:44-51

Gospel: John 6:44-51

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

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Reflection:

How could you have eternal life?  You have to regularly receive the Body of Christ at Holy Mass. Always receive it with reverence and piety never think of it as a simple bread. Because what you receive is Jesus Himself.

Just imagine the enlightenment and unfathomable blessing that it will bring you if you would always partake of the body of Christ. Just imagine the countless spiritual blessing that it would bring you if you would believe that Jesus is the Consecrated Host that you receive during Holy Communion.

Your belief and faith in the bread of life will open your mind to the many truths about Jesus. Things that are hard to explain but is real and felt by the heart, all you have to do is to believe and have faith.

For without faith and belief you will not fully comprehend how this small bread becomes the body of Jesus after it is consecrated by the priest. How this small bread becomes your life and your reason for existing in this world.

Don’t wait for a Eucharistic miracle to happen before you believe for it may not happen in your lifetime. Believe now and have faith now in the bread of life. Which is Jesus Himself and you yourself will become a living and breathing miracle for those who know you. – Marino J. Dasmarinas    

Reflection for April 22, Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter; John 6:35-40

Gospel: John 6:35-40

Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me,  that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

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Reflection:

Is Jesus the center of your life?  Well and good if yes for this is how it should be; Jesus should be the center of your life. Not money, not power or anything that is worldly it should be Jesus! Why Jesus and not anything that belongs to this world? Because when you have Jesus in your life you already have the bread of life that gives eternal life.

Life in this world is fleeting, you may leave this ephemeral life anytime, what would happen to you if Jesus is not the center of your life? For example if your motivation of living in this world is all about material things, power and enjoyment. What’s next after material things, power and enjoyment? Nothing for it’s already the dead end for a person without God.. This is the danger of not having Jesus in your life and not making Jesus the center of your life. 

In our gospel, Jesus said to the crowds: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst (John 6:35). If you deeply believe in this statement of Jesus you will indeed not experience hunger and thirst anymore. Hunger and thirst for what? Hunger and thirst for whatever this world could offer you.

Is Jesus the center of your life right now?   – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for April 21, Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter; John 6:30-35

Gospel: John 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

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Reflection:

I’ve been an extra-ordinary minister of the Holy Communion since 1999 and through these years I’ve brought the Body of Christ to the sick. In fact at present there is a middle-aged lady whom I regularly visit every week to give her the Body of Christ.

One common denominator that I’ve noticed with all of them is they all have an aura of peace and calmness ever since they received the Body of Christ. Hard to believe but this is true: Jesus gives them peace, calmness even an extension of their earthly journey by giving of Himself to them through the Sacrament of Holy Communion.  

Except for the one that I regularly visit every week right now they all have died already. They died in peace, they died being nourished by the giver of the Bread of life, Jesus Himself!

Jesus in our gospel tells you: I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Do you want to prove this assertion of Jesus? Whenever you attend Holy Mass receive with piety and reverence the bread of life which is Jesus.

Always do this whenever you are at Holy Mass and be docile to the will of Jesus for you and notice the miracle that Jesus will make in your life. Perhaps there would be change in your behaviour from being arrogant you now will become humble. Perhaps a miraculous cure from sickness and so on, all of these courtesy of Jesus the eternal bread of life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas    

Reflection for April 20, Monday of the Third Week of Easter; John 6:22-29

Gospel: John 6:22-29

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God,  that you believe in the one he sent.”

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Reflection:

Why do you go to church for Mass or why do you pray? Is it for your love of Jesus or for your need of Jesus? Some of us go to church for Holy Mass because of our need for Jesus, some of us pray for the same reason also.

 After our need for Jesus has been address already we now slacken and go back to our old ways. Until such time that we once again encounter humps and bumps in our lives then we again have our need for Jesus.

The people who were following Jesus were looking for Him because they saw how He feed them in the miracle of the loaves and fish. It was not for the love of Jesus that they were looking for Him neither for their desire to join Jesus disciples in their mission of evangelization.

If we look for Jesus let us not look for Him because of our need for Him alone. We look for Him because we love and miss Him. We look for Him because we want to partake of His mission.

 It’s always better to look for Jesus rooted in our love for Him since this love that we have for Him is always comprehensively rewarded by Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas