Reflection for May 14, Thursday Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle; John 15:9-17

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

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Reflection:

What is an ideal life in this world? It’s a life that is forever attached to the love of God. Without attachment to the love of God life would be empty, barren and meaningless. The love of God is the essence of life for we were not born to love this world. We came into this world to live and love God.   

Let us think about loving this world more than God and we only create emptiness in our lives we end up with nothing except emptiness. It’s a fact of life that everything that is in this world is temporary: wealth, power and the like. All of these we will leave behind or will eventually leave us, but the love of God will always be there for us.

What matters is the love of God nothing else but the love of God. It’s no brainer therefore why Jesus is telling us to remain in His love. For if we always remain in the love of God we would be able to hurdle. Whatever trials that may come our way and we would be able to conquer whatever fears that we may have even the fear of death.

Do you always desire to remain in the love of God? Or you sometimes discard the love of God in favor of your love for this world? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 13, Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:12-15

Gospel: John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

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Reflection:

Do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit dwelt in you when you were baptized. However not everyone of us have an awareness of the presence of God the Holy Spirit.

What is the impediment that prevents us from discerning the presence of God the Holy Spirit? It’s when we live our lives away from the teachings of the church. It’s when we create our own rules to follow instead of following the rules of the church.

 For example, the obligation of going to Holy Mass every Sunday. Many of us do not follow this Sunday obligation we instead follow our own self-created rule/s. This is the reason why we just go to Holy Mass when we feel like going. This kind of behavior prevents us from discerning the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Holy Spirit acts as our honest and true counsellor who will never dare tell us to distort the truth. In fact it will tell us to speak the truth no matter who gets hurt. It will forever counsel us to do good and not to do evil things. This is the reason why we are bothered by our conscience whenever we tell lies and do wrong. And this feeling will not fade away until we tell the truth and correct the wrong that we have committed.

Do you have an awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 12, Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:5-11

Gospel: John 16:5-11

Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

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Reflection:

Have you been through an episode in your life where you somehow feel that God has somewhat abandoned you? We all pass through this kind of experience perhaps not only once but many times over in our lifetime.

But God never leaves us for He is always with us. His presence within us is coursed through us by the Holy Spirit. Jesus through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is always with us. Thus, we have nothing to fear! For we know that through the Holy Spirit God is always with us, it’s in fact us who forget of His presence in us.

We only have to connect with God to discern His presence in us. We can do this by our prayers, presence at Holy Mass, by reading of the words of God in the bible, by spending time with Him in the adoration chapel, by our interaction with Him through the sacraments of the church.

In the gospel, Jesus is already saying His farewell to His disciples for he will soon be arrested. Yet He continuously assures them of His sacred presence in their lives. This presence is made manifest to them by the presence of the Holy Spirit who would be their helper and advocate in whatever way.

We are never alone for God through the Holy Spirit is always with us. The Holy Spirit is ever ready to lift us up whenever we are feeling down, unloved and neglected by the people of this world. We simply have to have an awareness of its presence in our lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 11, Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 15:26-16:4a

Gospel: John 15:26—16:4a

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

                                                          

“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”

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Reflection:               

What strengthens our resolve to continue to move on with our lives? It’s our connection with God and Jesus. Our prayerful connection to both God and Jesus inspires us and gives us hope whenever we are down and weary.

Through our connection with God and Jesus we are given the gift of discerning the presence of the advocate or helper within our midst. For this reason, we have to have regular connection with God and Jesus. For both of them are facilitators of the presence of the advocate within our lives.

In our  gospel Jesus mentions to the disciples the advocate whom He will send to them courtesy of His Father (John 15:26). The advocate will continue to inspire them to be steadfast in their mission no matter the difficulties that they may encounter. It will protect them from dangers and it will lead them to do what is right.

We too can have an awareness of the presence of the advocate if we are always connected with Jesus and God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 10, Sixth Sunday of Easter; John 15:9-17

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.

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Reflection:

Have you been in love? Many of us have fallen in love already and many have fallen out of love also. For those who are still in love up to this very day. Say for example to your spouse   no matter the hurts and pains. The love that you have in your heart is somewhat near to the love of God.

The love of God is a love that does not discriminate. It is a love that welcomes everyone who desires His love. It does not look at the physical attributes and the social standing of a person. Neither does it look at the moral fitness of the one that desires His love. For the love of God is a love that restores and heals.

In the gospel, Jesus commands us, “love one another as I love you (John 15:12).” Here lies the challenge for all of us because if God’s love is encompassing our love for our fellowmen should be encompassing also. We should be capable of loving even those who’ve hurt us and those who do not love us in return. If we truly love Jesus, we have no other choice but to love like Jesus.  

Today is Mother’s day, how does a mother loves? A mother’s love is like Jesus love for us because her love for her children is encompassing also. A Mother will love her child without pre- condition a mother will love her child no matter who the child may become someday.

How do you express your love? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 9, Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter; John 15:18-21

Gospel: John 15:18-21

Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

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Reflection:               

What does it mean to be hated by this world? We would be hated by this world if we would have the courage to go against the false teachings of this world. For example, if we would have the courage to say no to anything that is not good. Or if we suddenly have the enlightenment to say no to anyone who brings us nothing but worldliness.

There comes a point in our lives that we have to make a decision. Should we decide to take the side of God or follow this world and live a life away from God? The best decision is to follow God and discard anyone who brings us nothing but worldliness. This is for the reason that worldliness will bring nothing but emptiness in our lives.

Let us not be afraid to follow God, let us not be afraid to sacrifice this world for our love for God. For this is always the right decision to do. We can never go wrong with God and nobody has been misled by following God.  

If we choose to follow God over this world, we would experience something that we have not experienced before. And this is the guiding light  of God in our lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 8, Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter; John 15:12-17

Gospel: John 15:12-17

Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

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Reflection:               

What will happen if the love of Jesus is present in the family? There would be no conflict, no arrogance, no dominant behavior and no misunderstanding. There would also be forgiveness and humility. All of these factors are present because of the presence of the love of Jesus.

Let us say that we take away the love of Jesus, surely we will have conflict inside the family. This is brought about by arrogance, domination, infidelity, lies and so forth.

When Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He loved them (John 15:12). He envisioned harmony, forgiveness, trust and everything that is good for His disciples.  This is for the reason that Jesus wanted His disciples to become successful in their mission of evangelization.

Jesus perfectly knew that without love that originates from Him the disciples will not become successful in their mission. Their efforts would simply be in vain because they will simply be pulling each others leg downward. And there would be jealousy and misunderstanding among His disciples. Therefore there would be failure of their mission of evangelization.

We too will not become successful in our mission for Jesus and we will not have harmony inside the family. Unless we learn to imbibe and live this love commandment of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas