Reflection for July 17, Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 12:1-8

Gospel: Matthew 12:1-8

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath. He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

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Reflection:

What is in the heart of Jesus? It’s mercy  and compassion for His people. Mercy and compassion that is ever ready to transgress sacred laws such as the Sabbath law.

Being God the Son Jesus perfectly knew that what He was doing was right. But the Pharisees did not know the true identity of Jesus. So they questioned the decision of Jesus to allow His disciples to pick and eat the grains on a Sabbath day.

Do you know Jesus deeply? Do you feel His presence in your life? If you don’t know Jesus deeply and if you don’t feel His presence in your life. You will also question some events or trial/s that occurs in your life.

For instance when you go through severe trials such as sickness and the like. You might also question the Lord Jesus and ask Him this question: Why am I going through this trial or why did you allow me to go through this episode in my life?

But if you know Jesus and if you feel His presence in your life.  You may never question Jesus and you will simply bow to His will for you.

Ask Jesus therefore to give you the gift of knowing Him deeply and the gift of His living presence in your life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for July 16, Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 11:28-30

Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

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Reflection:

Are you already tired with the drudgery of your life? Do you want to be refreshed? Jesus has an offer for you! In the gospel Jesus tells you this: “Come to me; you who labor and burdened by the daily grind of life.

Why does Jesus wants you to go to Him? Because Jesus wants to help you carry whatever that burdens you right now. He wants to ease your pains and sufferings; Jesus wants to help you in carrying whatever that cross might be.

Respond to this call of Jesus and you will never regret making that decision. What will happen to you if you respond now? The cross that you carry will become lighter this is for the reason that Jesus is now helping you carry your cross.

You will have hope as bright as the morning sun. And there will be many more positive things that will happen to your life if you would respond to this offer of Jesus. Respond now and see and feel for yourself the miracle that will unfold in your life.   

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose if you would respond to this offer of Jesus.- Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Prayer:

I humbly respond to your offer of help my Jesus.  I am burdened by the many trials of my life. Help me withstand these trials, help me ease my burdens. I humbly look to you for help my Lord for I know that you will never refuse to help me. Embrace me from now on with your merciful and compassionate love. Amen. 

Reflection for July 15, Wednesday Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor: Matthew 11:25-27

Gospel: Matthew 11:25-27

At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

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Reflection:

What is the key to know Gods will for you? It’s childlike humility,  a humble person is ever ready to listen to the voice and will of God. He/she doesn’t go against the will of God he/she rather allows God’s will to work in his/her life. In the process of allowing God’s will to rule his/her life he/she discovers more about God.

When you are humble you open yourself to the countless blessings that emanates from God. You may ask, how am I going to be humble before God? You have to follow the rules of the church which Jesus founded through St. Peter.  

For example the rule of Sunday Holy Mass obligation, a humble person will always see to it that he/she is always present in this sacred celebration. Another example is our submission to the sacraments most especially the sacrament of reconciliation. A humble person will always find time to confess his/her sins to a priest who is there in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus always looks kindly to those who are childlike and humble. Why? Because this is the nature of God: He loves those who are humble and He opens Himself more to the humble.

Do you want to know more about God? And do you want to have a deeper intimacy with God? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for July 14, Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 11:20-24

Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24

Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

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Reflection:

Do you get frustrated or even get angry every once in a while? It’s ok for as long as your frustration and anger is for a good reason. And for as long as your anger doesn’t stay for long in your heart.  For example, you advice a relative or a friend to mend his/her ways but she/he doesn’t listen to you.  

In his humanity Jesus also gets frustrated like us and it is shown in the gospel. When He reproached the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida due to their refusal to repent. Jesus wanted the inhabitants of the two towns to change their wicked ways and accept His good news.

Some of us if not majority of us are like the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida full of stubbornness. Yes, we believe that there’s a God but believing is very different from listening to God and letting Him live in our hearts.

In pushing His good news to us Jesus touches us in so many ways. There are also times when He uses our fellowmen and other forms of modern medium such as the internet in order to touch us. Yet we often times don’t listen or pay attention, we remain stubborn and continue to commit sin.

God desires our company and friendship. He wants us to have that special relationship with Him. Yet we don’t pay attention and we continue to sin, but until when we are going to sin? Until such time that sin could destroy us?

Let us run away from sin because sin is evil and whomever embraces sin will eventually be destroyed by sin. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for July 13, Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 10:34—11:1

Gospel: Matthew 10:34—11:1

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple–amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.

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Reflection:

There’s a saying that goes, “No pain no gain”. How could there be gain in pain? Why not gain without pain? When you gain something without pain what you gain can easily fly away and it can easily be forgotten. But when you gain something that is accompanied with pain and sacrifice you will treasure it and properly take care of it.

Would you be able to know Jesus more deeply without going through life’s many pains? No you  will not gain Jesus and you  will not have an up close and personal encounter with Him. For there’s no easy way going to Jesus.

 you have to pass through the many painful obstacles of life in order to find Jesus. You may even have to give-up every inch of your worldliness in order to find Jesus. Therefore self-sacrifice is an important ingredient in finding Jesus in your lives.

Would you be willing to go through pains and sufferings so that you could experience an encounter with Jesus? If you really desire Jesus in your life you will embrace without any second thought suffering/s and pains.

But worldly life has already conditioned us to veer away as much as we could from our crosses and pains. No small wonder that many if not majority of us have not yet found Jesus in our  lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday July 12, Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Mark 6:7-13

Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

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Reflection:   

A young man was considering a career in writing for God. But he was hesitant for he knows deep in his heart that he will not intellectually measure-up to such a huge responsibility. And this is for the reason that he doesn’t have any background in writing.

He told a friend about his desire and his intellectual shortcoming. The advice of his friend was to move forward and follow his desire. He was also told by his friend not to be disturbed by his intellectual shortcoming for God will fill whatever he was lacking. 

The twelve apostles who were sent by Jesus to their mission are like many of us. Many of them were ordinary fishermen who became fishers of men courtesy of Jesus. Perhaps when they were about to be sent by Jesus to their mission many of them were asking themselves this question; will I measure-up with  this huge responsibility? Perhaps, some were even thinking of backing out and then simply return to their old jobs. But Jesus was there to assure them of His support so they went ahead with their mission.

Jesus gave them full authority over unclean spirit (Mark 6:7). Jesus instructed them to take nothing for their journey except for a walking stick (Mark 6:8). As if Jesus was telling them to simply follow and not be bothered by their inherent weaknesses and shortcomings. For He will fill-up whatever is lacking in them.

They followed the order of Jesus and trusted their mission to His guidance. Therefore they became successful in their mission. They drove out many demons and they cured the sick upon their anointment of holy oil (Mark 6:13).

Often times we don’t achieve what Jesus wants us to do for Him because we don’t trust Him and we lack faith in Him. For the same reason we are also afraid to take the first step towards the realization of our mission for God. Therefore we get stuck and we fail to not only move forward we also fail to achieve our mission for Christ.

If you desire to follow Jesus you have to follow Him with faith and you have to learn to fully trust Him. Do you always have faith  and trust in Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for July 11, Saturday Saint Benedict, Abbot: Matthew 10:24-33

Gospel: Matthew 10:24-33

Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

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Reflection:

What is the mark of a true and faithful follower of Jesus? It’s the mark of obedience, a true follower will obey the command of Jesus to share His good news. But you  may say that sometimes it’s hard to share Jesus because the environment is not conducive for sharing Jesus. If this is the case when are you going to share Jesus?

If you wait for the right environment to share Jesus. That right environment may not come at all, so you will not be able to share Jesus?  As the apostles were commissioned by Jesus to share the gospel we too are tasked to do the same. Let us not wait for the right environment to share Jesus because every environment is right for Jesus.

No harm will fall upon you if you share Jesus because you are sharing the good news of humanity’s salvation. If you share Jesus you will be able to change lives and you will be able to give hope which many of us badly needs today.

The apostles treated with sacredness their commissioning from Jesus and as a result of it they became very successful in their mission. How about you? When are you going to share Jesus? Would you still wait for the right environment? It may not come, why not share Jesus now? And in the process be blessed by Jesus as Jesus blesses others’ lives though you. – Marino J. Dasmarinas