Reflection for May 21, Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 17:20-26

Gospel: John 17:20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one that the world may know that you sent me and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you but I know you, and they know that you sent me I made known to them your name and I will make it known that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.

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Reflection:

A woman engaged herself to caring for the poor of her community. She did this out of her concern for them, funds were hard to come by at times. Yet she was able to feed and nourish them because she believed that Jesus would always be there for them.

We can always lean on Jesus no matter who we are. He is always there to help us and He will always be there to bring our prayers to God. Jesus loves us so much that He gave His very life for us on the cross. By doing so Jesus completed the mission that was given to Him by God. For our sake God gave the life of His only begotten son.

God is never absent in our lives no matter who we are and no matter what we have done. He is always there ever ready to listen to us. God manifested Himself to us through Jesus so that we could reach out to Him. This is the reason why we should not think twice of calling for His help anytime.

Yet there is also a responsibility that rest on our shoulders. And this responsibility is to pay forward this infinite love of God. Our faith in God is never complete and it will never grow and mature unless we learn to share it. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 20, Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 17:11b-19

Gospel: John 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them so that they also may be consecrated in truth.

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Reflection:

A husband and wife wanted to adhere to the teachings of the church that marriage is for life. So they thought of ways on how they would go about it. In their reflection they thought of making prayer as an agent that would bind them together until they breathe their last in this world. To make a long story short they made prayer part of their married life. Thus they remained married until the end.

As Jesus was about to be arrested, He prayed to God for His disciples. That they may continually be united as one in their mission, united for the reason that they would not succeed without unity.  Isn’t this true also inside a family or married life? A family needs unity for it to succeed, what is the fruit of unity inside the family/marriage? The fruits are: Humility, Honesty, Forgiveness and many more positive attributes.

Every family/marriage that succeeds spiritually is a praying family and a praying family is a united family. Let us therefore not devalue the powerful miracle of prayer inside the family by not prioritizing prayer inside the family. This is for the reason that a family that prays as one would remain united until the end.  

Is prayer already part of the culture of your family and marriage? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 19, Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 17:1-11a

Gospel: John 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.

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Reflection:

What is the usual method of our prayers? Is it spontaneous prayer or we follow a certain pattern when we pray? Whichever it is, what is important is we put our hearts in our prayers before God. For a prayer that connects to the heart of God is a prayer that originates from our hearts.

We read in our gospel for this Tuesday that Jesus is praying to His God His Father. It is a personal prayer for Himself and at the same time a prayer also for His disciples and the people that He dearly loved.

If Jesus prayed to God, we too ought to pray also to both of them. We pray for our personal petitions before them, for example prayers for strength to face our daily challenges. Prayers to lighten the loads that we carry, prayers for us not to store any form of hatred in our hearts and so forth.

When we pray we also unknowingly allow God to heal us because through our prayers we allow God to dwell in us. Notice that after we pray from our hearts where we don’t say a word yet we develop a connection with God. We feel light, we feel better and refreshed. Why? Because this is the miraculous effect of our prayers before God.

Let us beseech Jesus to heal us of anything that ails us. And let us beseech God to give us the gift of connection with Him and His Father whenever we pray. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 18, Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter; John 16:29-33

Gospel: John 16:29-33

The Jesus said to His disciples, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God. Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

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Reflection:

A young man aimed for worldly riches and greatness in his chosen field of endeavour. By his hard work he was able to achieve his aim. He thought that it would be his crowning glory but he aimed for more riches. In doing so he had no peace and contentment, he became worldly and a creature of this world.

Jesus tells us in the gospel for this Monday, You will have peace in me, in this world you will have trouble (John 16:33). Many of us allow ourselves to be enslaved by this world up to this very moment. Until we get sick, until we are near death and the reason behind is we keep on chasing the temporal riches of this world. Which in reality will not give us peace and contentment.

Jesus offers us His peace. Peace that we cannot find in any part of this world. Let us wholeheartedly accept this. And we will begin to free ourselves from the possession of this world. In doing so, we will not be anymore concerned about others opinion toward us. It will not matter for us anymore because we already have the peace of Jesus in our hearts.

Do you want to have peace in your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday May 17, Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord; Mark 16:15-20

Gospel: Mark 16:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “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.”

So 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:

A soldier was about to be assigned in a faraway place so he said to his wife: Properly take care of the children. Teach them about our faith so that they’ll grow-up to become responsible and God loving individuals.

The wife seriously followed the command of his husband. She taught their children the basic tenets of the faith, she introduced Jesus to them and she educated them about discipline good manners and values. After five years he came back. His children were all grown-up and he was so happy because they were all wonderfully brought-up by his wife.  

Before Jesus ascended onto heaven, He gave His disciples this marching order: “Proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) All the disciples lived to the hilt this command of Jesus. In fact majority of them were martyred for the sake of advancing the gospel of Jesus. 

The words of Jesus are like endless stream of water it flows with the passing of time and it speaks to us now so that we can respond to it. Have we shared and lived the gospel yet? Majority of us have not shared and lived it yet.

We therefore should share it because Jesus commands us to do so. We become a blessing for others when we share and live Jesus. We become more fruitful and useful followers of Jesus when we obey Him and when we help Him advance His teachings. And we allow Jesus to bless us more when we follow His marching orders. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for May 16, Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:23b-28

Gospel: John 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

“I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

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Reflection:

 How does it feel to be left behind by someone that you love and respect? It’s heartbreaking to say the least, as much as possible we don’t want to hear goodbyes. But goodbyes are real and part of life. But why is it that we don’t want to hear goodbyes and we don’t want to be separated from the person that we love? Because goodbyes and separations entails loneliness and sadness.

Perhaps the disciples were also feeling lonely and sad. Just imagine being there in that situation where Jesus was already saying His goodbyes to them. Surely we would be lonely and sad also. But unlike human goodbyes which is often times permanent and leaves us empty. Jesus’ goodbye was not permanent and Jesus goodbye to His disciples did not left His disciples empty.

Jesus assured His disciples that after He left them they could still invoke His name when they pray for something to the Father. And through His name they can have whatever they ask in prayer to the Father.

Everything is possible with Jesus if we have faith in Him. We can have whatever we want to have for as long as we ask Jesus help. The impossible becomes very much possible when we pray to God through Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 15, Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter; John 16:20-23

Gospel: John 16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

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Reflection:

Are you afraid to go through suffering/s? We all are, as much as possible we don’t want sufferings in our lives. What we want is a suffering free life but suffering free life is not a possibility for believers of Jesus. For without it we would not be able to intensely feel the abiding presence of Jesus in our lives.

Jesus will help us conquer our sufferings for as long as we steadfastly hold on to Him. For example, if a person is suffering from a terminal sickness yet in spite of this sickness he/she continues to intensely hold on to his/her faith in Jesus. Through his/her steadfast faith Jesus will sooner or later deliver him/her from his/her suffering/s. This could happen through physical healing or mortal death.

In our gospel for this Friday, Jesus tells His disciples: You will weep and mourn (John 16:20). Jesus told them this for His hour of arrest, passion and death will soon come. Yet they will be joyful and triumphant after a period of time. Joy and triumph that nobody can take away from them. Joy and triumph which are brought about by Jesus resurrection and triumph over death.

What is important in life is we continue to steadfastly hold on to Jesus no matter how severe the trials that we may face. For there surely be triumph over our trials if we remain unwavering in our faith in Him.

Are you going through a trial in your life right now?  – Marino J. Dasmarinas