Reflection for Saturday July 23, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 13:24-30

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from? He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

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Reflection:

Do you believe in evil possession?

I’ve watched a movie about a priest who performed an exorcism rite to a lady possessed by the devil. After hours of struggle the priest was able to cure the possessed lady and he drove away the devil from her. Following a few days the priest manifested signs of being possessed and it turned out that the devil whom he banished from the lady silently crept into him. The priest went through the same exorcism rite and was eventually freed from the possession of the devil.    

The devil is a reality it is always around us waiting for the perfect moment to possess us it may not be anymore like a diabolical possession. He may not anymore appear like a Diablo. For it will be very obvious already often times the devil stealthy hides beneath lustful intentions, ego trip, the absence of humility, greed for money and power, it always there ever ready to temp us to commit sin.

The weeds mentioned in the gospel parable are the many temptations that the devil sows in our way. It is always there being dangled before us. Some of us succumb to these many temptations and we naturally sin. But even if we sin God will not immediately condemn us to eternal damnation perhaps self-righteous people will condemn us right away but God will not. 

God will surely be merciful and patient with us sinners He will be there waiting for us to turn our backs from our sinful ways. God’s love and forbearance toward us is immeasurable He will give us countless opportunities for us to mend our sinful ways.

Let us therefore take advantage of these chances for renewal given to us by God before it’s too late. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday July 22, Saint Mary Magdalene; John 20:1-2, 11-18

Gospel: John 20:1-2, 11-18

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.

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Reflection:

Do you agree that you are a sinner?

All of us are like Mary Magdalene for like her we too are sinners. Nevertheless, we too are always being called by Jesus to conversion and to truly follow Him for the rest of our life.

But unlike Mary Magdalene who was compliant to Jesus call for her to repent. We oftentimes are not; we follow the many deceiving dictates of this world rather than follow the desire of Jesus for us.

What would we gain if we follow the many sinful dictates of this world? Nothing but emptiness and sin, has our cravings for the things of this world gave us peace? This world will never give us peace and contentment only Jesus will give it to us.

What if like Mary Magdalene we respond to Jesus’ call and truthfully follow Him for the rest of our lives? We will have a foretaste of heaven while we are still in this world. What if we are like Mary Magdalene who never gave up on searching for the risen Christ until she found Him? We will have peace, serenity and contentment in our life.

Like Saint Mary Magdalene let us also search for Jesus until we find Him and when we find Him let us continue to thirst for Him. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Thursday July 21, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 13:10-17

Gospel: Matthew 13:10-17

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

You shall indeed hear but not understand,  you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them.

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

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Reflection:

A young man wanted to serve as a sacristan on their parish church but he also had second thoughts. For the reason that he was told by his father to reconsider his desire because there are intrigues and other issues in the church.

It’s true that problems such as: backstabbing, rumor mongers, egocentric and control freak personalities exist in the church. But these characters are not even a tiny fraction of the whole church.

To have that felling of serving in the church is like to discern a parable it is only given to those who are called. However, not all who are called are chosen by God and not all who are chosen stay forever to serve. Why? For the simple reason that God has given us also the freewill to choose. It is therefore upon us to digest this offer of Jesus.

The gift of understanding that there’s more to life than money, power and material things are also like discerning a parable by God. Many of us think that if we have money and power we would automatically be happy. But it doesn’t work that way, money  and power will never make us happy and it will never give us contentment.

Therefore, consider yourself fortunate when you’re able to discern the parables of Jesus and pursue it.  You’re also spiritually privileged if you’re able to discern that a well lived life is to be with Jesus and not with the temporal things of this world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday July 20, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 13:1-9

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

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Reflection:

Do you reflect on the parables of Jesus?

Jesus often gives parables to His disciples for them to have something to reflect and think about. These parables are also for us to reflect and discover the lesson that it tries to convey to us.

The sower is actually God, the seeds that He sowed were His teachings and the environments which the seed fell are us. Obviously the first three environments on which the seeds fell were not ideal because the seeds did not grew up as it should be.

We become the first three environments when we intentionally turn a deaf ear to God’s teachings. No matter how much God wants us to know more about Him if we are not willing to listen He cannot do anything about it. He will not be able to take root and grow in our hearts.

The last environment: the good soil is also us. This happens when we open our whole being to God’s teachings. We listen to it, we imbibed it and we live it. It grows within us and in that process we bear fruit. In bearing fruit God uses us to touch lives thus we become an instrument of His blessings for others.

The desire of God is for us to always become the good soil wherein we touch lives and make a positive difference in the lives of our fellowmen. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday July 19, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 12:46-50

Gospel: Matthew 12:46-50

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

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Reflection:

How could we become relatives of Jesus?

Jesus Himself reveals the secret to us: “For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother." And what is the will of the heavenly Father for us? It’s for us to do good always and to be collaborator of Jesus in spreading the good news and to follow Jesus.

Jesus also cited the disciples as His mother and brothers for they were all faithful follower. We do not know the personal background of each disciple perhaps some of them were sinners like us. But notwithstanding their sins they still chose to follow Jesus and completely left behind their sinful past. Thus, Jesus called them His mother and brothers.

Therefore, when we choose to follow Jesus we already are called His relative. What does to follow Jesus mean? It’s to follow Jesus by immersing our feet in the river of sacrifice, love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion and so forth.  

How about you? Have you already immersed your feet in the river of sacrifice, love, forgiveness, compassion and so forth?   Have you already decided to follow Jesus and leave behind your sinful past?

Remember that Jesus yearns for you to become his relative also. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday July 18, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 12:38-42

Gospel: Matthew 12:38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

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Reflection:

A woman who was in her early forties was getting desperate already for she was getting old  yet she couldn’t find the right man for her. So while at church she said to the Lord, Lord give me a sign so that I’ll have the man for my lifetime.

Then she said to the Lord the first man who wears a red tee shirt is the one for me Lord. Lo and behold a well built and handsome man wearing a red tee shirt suddenly entered the church. But to her dismay the handsome man was with his wife and children. The desperately seeking woman said to the Lord, this is not my day Lord, until next time.

Many of us ask for signs and wonders from the Jesus, isn’t our faith more than enough to carry us through with our journey with Jesus? If our faith in Jesus is rock solid we would never ask for any sign whatsoever for signs is of no use if we have faith in Jesus?

Our faith is more than enough to carry us through our journey with Jesus in this world. Our faith is more than enough to conquer all our fears and problems in this world. We will be able to survive whatever may come to us because we have faith. And we believe that our faith will carry us through than any dreadful signs from this world.

Let us not be like the scribes and Pharisees in our gospel who asked Jesus for a sign. Let us rather continue to hold-on to our faith in Jesus. Let us continue to strengthen this faith in Jesus by our consistent prayer life. By our frequent presence at Holy Mass, by our frequent visitation at the Adoration Chapel and by daily reading the bible most specially the life of Jesus. If we do these acts of faith we would never anymore ask for a sign.

Instead of asking for a sign why don’t we ask Jesus to strengthen our faith? – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Sunday July 17, Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 10:38-42

Gospel: Luke 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.

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Reflection:

What makes us anxious and what influence our worries? It’s our detachment from Jesus. When a person is detached from listening to Jesus he/she is easily overtaken by anxiousness and worries.

This doesn’t mean that if we always have our regular listening time with Jesus we would already be immune from anxiousness and worries. We would still have our own share of worries because it’s part of life. However, we will always be able to handle and manage these pressures and anxiousness of daily life for the reason that we are connected with Jesus.

Jesus obviously favored Mary’s act of listening to Him. Why? Because it's more important to listen first to Jesus than do other chores. The same is true with our relationship with Him. If we will spend more time in prayer to Jesus we will learn more from Him. And we will receive more blessings and enlightenment from Him.

If we have our regular listening and prayer time with Jesus we are always connected to the source of eternal power. Thus we will always become His useful and productive followers for the reason that we have within us the source of eternal  power none other than Jesus Himself.

Just imagine a light bulb not connected to the source of electric power? It will never be useful or it will never radiate light no matter how big the wattage. This is the same with a journey in this world bereft of connection from Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas