Reflection for December 14, Monday, Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church: Matthew 21:23-27

Matthew 21:23-27

When Jesus had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’  But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.” So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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Reflection:

Are you in a position of authority?

Authority is synonymous with power and there are many who do not know how to properly use their authority. They use their authority to oppress, bully, corrupt and to look down to those who are powerless and poor.

The chief priests were like that they were always at the back of Jesus watching his every move so that they could humiliate Him. Aside from the fact that they are threatened by Jesus popularity amongst the ordinary people. They also perceived Jesus as powerless and lowly that’s why they make it a habit to oppress Him.

Jesus has the greatest authority that anyone of us could have but how did He used it? He used it with humility, He used it to cure, He used it to comfort people, He used it to give hope and to serve. Never did He boast about it, never did He told anyone to worship Him because of His authority.

If you are a parent, how do you exercise your authority in your home? If you are a manager/leader, how do you exercise your authority in your sphere of environment? If you are a politician, how do you exercise your authority on your constituency? If you are a priest, how do you exercise your authority in your parish? If you are a teacher, how do you exercise your authority to your students?

The best model on how to exercise authority is the model of Jesus: Authority used with humility and authority used for the greater glory of God.

How do you exercise your authority? – Marino J. Dasmarinas    

Reflection for Sunday December 13, Third Sunday of Advent; Luke 3:10-18

Gospel: Luke 3:10-18

The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” He said to them in reply, “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He answered them, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” Soldiers also asked him, “And what is it that we should do?” He told them, “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages.”

Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.

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Reflection:

A troubled husband was asking the Lord for enlightenment. Thus; he said to the Lord. Lord help me I am so burdened by my problems, my wife and children are not speaking to me, I feel so alone in our house.

 All of a sudden the husband heard the booming voice of the Lord which said, your wife and children are not talking to you because you’re arrogant and domineering. The Lord further said, change your ways by being more humble, gentle and loving. So the troubled husband followed the advice of the Lord and it immediately had a positive result. The divided family became one and they lived happily ever after.  

In the gospel, before the crowd asked John, what should we do? John had already preached to them about repentance and renewal of their wicked lifestyles.

Why is repentance very important? Repentance is important because it makes us more worthy before the Lord. Repentance also straightens our crooked lives and it brings us closer to the Good Lord.

Why is it that many of us live problematic family life? The reason is very simple, we refuse to hear John’s call for renewal and repentance. We continuously refuse to embrace humility, forgiveness and gentleness.

Why not listen to the preaching of John the Baptist? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for December 12, Saturday Our Lady of Guadalupe: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

As they were coming down from the mountain the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said in reply,* “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

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Reflection:

Why is it that we often recognize the importance of someone after he had left us? Or we don’t listen to the voice of our conscience to repent until we realize later that we are in a problematic situation?

The call of Jesus for repentance continuous until this very hour, he speaks to us through people around us and through our conscience. We should not ignore it, we should rather listen to it because to listen and repent is the right course of action that we must take.

Like John who prepared the way for Jesus, we too should become the modern day John. Thus we should also gently call for repentance to those within our sphere of environment. This is for the reason that this is a call of duty for us Catholics.

Lest we forget that by virtue of our Baptism we are the modern day John. Therefore, we have to call for repentance and conversion also. For this call to be effective we have to do this with gentleness, with mercy and compassion.

It is obvious that Jesus is pertaining to John as the second coming of the prophet Elijah. But majority of the people then did not recognize the call of John to renew their lives because they were busy with the things of this world. They have no time to listen to the messenger of God yet they created time to serve their own selfish interest.  

We have nothing to lose if we tread the way of John. Yes it will not be a walk in the park and there will be challenges as well. But if Christ is with us who will be against us? Nobody for we have Jesus at our backs silently supporting us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for December 11, Friday of the Second Week of Advent: Matthew 11:16-19

Matthew 11:16-19

Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”

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Reflection:

Whenever biographies of famous personalities are to be written. Publishers would try to make the exterior of the book as attractive as possible so that it would create an immediate exterior attraction to the buying public. especially to those who have superficial knowledge of the personality involve.

Jesus was called names such as glutton, drunkard, friend of tax collectors and sinners by the Pharisees and scribes. Because that’s what they saw, they based their unfair judgments on what their eyes saw. If only they knew that the real motive of Jesus was the conversion of tax collectors and sinners they would not have unfairly judged Jesus.

The same is true with John he was labelled as someone who is possessed by a demon. Perhaps the reason behind such unfair name calling is based on the physical appearance of John. And John’s preference to live in the desert before coming out to prepare the way for Jesus to name a few.

Oftentimes we are like the Pharisees and the scribes for we judge also based on what we see and hear about our neighbor. We base our judgment on the exterior and the superficial. But is this right? Of course not!

It’s not correct to throw judgment based on what we see or observe for what we see is a scant representation of the whole person. Let us know first the person before judging. And if there’s an opportunity to talk to him/her so that we could have a clearer picture of the person’s personality let us do so.

Are you often times quick to judge? – Marino J. Dasmarinas     

Reflection for December 10, Thursday of the Second Week of Advent: Matthew 11:11-15

Matthew 11:11-15

Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

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Reflection:

What are you going to do if you see that something is wrong in your family or in the community where you belong? You are going to create order and make things right.

John the Baptist did this when he called for the people to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 3:2). John saw firsthand the sinfulness of the people of his time. Thus he called for repentance, renewal and order.

John also gave his life for the sake of morality when he criticized King Herod for coveting Herodias the wife of his brother Philip (Matthew 14:1-12). The sinfulness of humanity was creating damage in the kingdom of God.

Someone has to take the cudgels for God and it is John the Baptist. He is the messenger sent by God to create order and bring once again righteousness. John courageously faced the powers that be during his time even at the cost of his life.

As we live our lives we may be witness to immorality, corruption and the countless evils of our society. Let us not think twice to denounce it, to speak out for what is moral and right. Even if will bring us trouble, if temporal trouble would be the result for speaking out for what is right and moral, so be it.

Evil pervades in this world because we choose to bow and kowtow to the scheming of evil people . We choose to be cowed instead of being courageous. To defeat evil we therefore have to make a stand and speak out whatever it may cost us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for December 9, Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent: Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus said to the crowds: “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:

There’s a story about a very rich man who was so burdened by his problems. He tried many ways to solve, he thought his money would help him solve his problems, to no avail. He went to his friends and indulge in drinking sessions and vices yet it did not solve his problems.

He was living like a ship without a rudder aimlessly drifting to nowhere, he didn’t know it but he was slowly wasting his life. Until he meet a relative who was an active member of the church. He opened-up to him and the relative listened.

At the end the relative had only one advice: “Go and spend time with Jesus in the adoration chapel. Then, don’t miss Sunday Mass and when you are at Mass be attentive and listen to every word being spoken for many of it will speak to you. You also read your bible for Jesus will also speak to you there. To cut short a long story, he made a devotion to the adoration chapel, went to Holy Mass as often as he could. And regularly read his bible.

After a few weeks he already had a normal family life. Yes, from time to time there were still problems that need to be sorted out. But he knows now where to go. Not to his vices, not to his money not even to his friends. But to Jesus in the adoration chapel, to Jesus in the Holy Mass and to Jesus  in the Holy bible.

In the gospel 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.

Why does Jesus invites us to go to him? We who are sinful and we who are beset by our many burdens. This is for the reason that Jesus loves us dearly, Jesus doesn’t want us to waste our life by finding earthy solutions to our burdens.

Take this offer of Jesus by surrendering your life to Him. And see for yourself the miracle that He will create in your life the moment you surrender it to Him. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for December 7, Monday Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor: Luke 5:17-26

Luke 5:17-26

One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”– he said to the one who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”

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Reflection:

How far are you willing to go to help a person in need? We have in our gospel a paralytic who was brought to Jesus by selfless men. Men who did not think of their own safety so that they could help. Men who did everything so that they could bring somebody to Jesus.

What if there were no selfless men who dared to help the paralytic? The paralytic would have remained paralytic for the rest of his life. But he was very blessed that he encountered these men who help him go near Jesus.

When you help someone in need you are opening yourself to enormous blessings from God. This is what happened to the men who brought the paralytic to Jesus. They were blessed by Jesus and was forgiven of their many sins (Luke 5:20).

As you continue your journey in this world you will continue to encounter those who are in need. Never let go of the opportunity to help be it material or spiritual help. If it would require you to momentarily forget your own self so that you could extend a helping hand, help by all means.

Every effort that you do for others is always rewarded by Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday December 6, Second Sunday of Advent; Luke 3:1-6

Gospel: Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

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Reflection:

A powerful and learned man saw a simple man preaching about the teachings of Jesus. The powerful man got curious of what the simple man was talking. So he got off his car and listened to the preaching of the simple man.

The powerful man was so captured by the preaching that he listened to it. After the preaching was over the powerful man said to himself, “I wish God gave me also the same gift of preaching.”

In the gospel for this second Sunday of advent Saint Luke presents to us the names of powerful people. Such as Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate and many other personalities who controlled their own kingdom.

However Luke mentions also the name of John a simple man who was chosen by God to be the herald for Jesus.  God did not choose any of the powerful personalities in the gospel to prepare the way for Jesus. Since they have influence God could have easily chosen any of them. But God chose John the simple man from the desert to become the precursor of Jesus.  

What is the message for us with the anointment of John? This tells us that God generally comes to those who are simple. To those who don’t allow themselves to be possessed by the trappings and influence of this world.

John is also preaching to us about repentance and abhorrence of our many sins. In addition, John is preaching to us that we need to lead and live simple lives. For it’s only in the simplicity of our lifestyle that we would be able to hear the voice of God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for December 5, Saturday of the First Week of Advent: Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8

Matthew  9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

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Reflection:

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37).” These words of Jesus rings loudly to our ears today than ever before. Indeed this is very true and very relevant for our times. We just need to look around our environment and we will see the sad reality that there’s are many more who don’t know Jesus.

Our labor for God must not be limited to our service in the church as Extra-Ordinary Ministers of the Body of Christ, as Catechist, as Lectors/commentators and as members of other church ministries. We must put more flesh in our involvement in our church by going out to those who are hungry, who are physically/emotionally sick. We need to bring Jesus out to the poor of our society for they too need Jesus they need Jesus to guide them.

Even if we are ordinary parishioners by virtue of our baptism we too are called to share Jesus. A faith that grows is a faith that is shared. Beginning his Advent season and onwards let us allow Jesus to use us as His instrument of healing by helping the poor and the deprived.

But there are those who follow Jesus based on their own terms and standards. They impose their own rule and not the rule of Jesus they follow Christ based on their own self-rule.  Thus, instead of embracing humility they choose to embrace arrogance. Instead of winning converts and followers they become the main reason why others walk away from the faith.

A good follower has rock solid  faith, is neither self seeking nor arrogant. He/She is rather humble and content to silently do his mission for the greater glory of God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for December 4, Friday of the First Week of Advent: Matthew 9:27-31

Gospel: Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!” When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

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Reflection:

What moves us to go to church to attend Mass? It’s our faith! When we are sick and in need of healing; what moves us to pray and ask Jesus to heal us? It is our deep faith! When we learn to ask with faith Jesus will certainly give it to us.

Faith is the healing balm that we receive from God, but not everyone has this faith. Those who have faith must do something so that those who do not have faith will have it. And this we can do best if we learn to share our faith in Jesus and the many miracles that He has done in our life.

The two blind men in our gospel obviously had faith for they shouted to Jesus, “Son of David have pity on us!” Who gave them faith? It was somebody who shared to them Jesus and in sharing Jesus with them they slowly but surely gained faith.

Let us also have the courage to share our faith and friendship with Jesus. For it’s in sharing our faith that we grow in faith and it’s in sharing our faith that we make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Have you already shared your faith? – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for December 3, Thursday; Saint Francis Xavier, Priest: Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

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Reflection:

There is a story about an old man who was always at church, he attends Mass, and he was always present during novena prayers. However, he also has this domineering attitude, he thinks highly of himself and he treats everyone in the church as someone who is not within his level.

After a few years he died, Therefore, he was expecting a smooth passage to heaven but Saint Peter did not allow him to enter the pearly gates. So he asked: “Why are you not allowing me to gain entry to heaven, I was always at church leading the novena prayers, I was always at Mass!” Saint Peter replied: “Yes you were always in the church but you did not change your ways, it was all for show.”

A lot of us are like the old man, we are active in the church, we attend Holy Mass but we refuse to let go of our boorish behavior, we think highly of ourselves simply because many of us are rich and educated. Then we carry over these domineering behaviors into our home and our workplace.

Could we gain entry into heaven with this behavior? Can we be compared to the wise man in the gospel who built his house upon a sturdy rock? Not certainly, to become the wise man who built his house on a solid rock we need to walk our talk and we need to live what we preach.

In the gospel, Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21).” – Marino J. Dasmarinas