Reflection for Thursday September 22, Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 9:7-9

Gospel: Luke 9:7-9

Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.

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Reflection:

Are you sometimes being haunted by a wrong which you’ve done in the past?

The wrongs that we’ve done will continue to haunt us for so long as there is no closure to it. It happened to Herod the tetrarch when he ordered his soldiers to kill John at the behest of the woman who lustfully danced in front of them.

We need to be careful of the actions/decisions that we make in our lives. Impulsive or spur of the moment decisions are usually wrong. Like when Herod to impress his friends impulsively decided to kill John.

These thoughtless decisions that we’ve made or we’ll make in the future will bother us, in will constantly pop in our minds until we do something to close it. So what is the cure to this dilemma?

We have to seek closure, if we have to walk an extra mile for us to obtain closure so be it. We obtain closure by making amends with the person concerned. Or a much better avenue to erase our guilt of conscience is to humbly submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Confession.

By the way, when was your last Confession? – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Wednesday September 21, Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist; Matthew 9:9-13

Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

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Reflection:

Does Jesus have a soft spot for sinners? Yes Jesus has a soft spot for all of us: sinners. For example in our gospel HE called a tax collector and a sinful man named Matthew. After calling Matthew Jesus went to his house to dine with tax collectors and sinners.

All of us are sinners and Jesus is continuously calling upon us to leave behind for good our sinfulness and follow HIM. The gravity of our sins are not anymore important for Jesus what is important for HIM is we respond to HIS call same as how Matthew in our gospel responded.

Perhaps we may ask, why is Jesus calling us to follow HIM? Among many other reasons Jesus wants us to be freed from the bondage of sin; HE wants us to be enlightened by HIS grace. And Jesus wants to save us from going to the kingdom of the devil. These are reasons why HE calls us to follow HIM.

Your life will never be the same again once you accept this offer of Jesus. There will be healing in your family; you will now become averse to commit any form of sin and you will be freed from its bondage.  Are you not tired of sinning? Are you not tired of a life without peace and contentment?

Why not try to respond and see for yourself the miracle and healing that Jesus will bring into your life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday September 20, Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs; Luke 8:19-21

Gospel: Luke 8:19-21

The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

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Reflection:

Do you consider yourself as a relative of Jesus?

Very clearly Jesus tells us that we could only be called His relatives if we hear His word and act on it. What if we don’t hear His word and don’t act on it? Does this mean that we are not anymore related to Jesus?

 For example, if you have a wayward relative who doesn’t listen to your advices. Would you treat him as not your relative anymore? Will you condemn him to eternal damnation? Of course not!

Jesus said this statement, (My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it). To convey a message to the crowd and to us too that we must at all times abide by His teachings.

But human as we are, we sometimes wander away and we sin thus we distance ourselves from Jesus. However the tie that binds is still there, Jesus still pines for us. He patiently looks for us and eager to bring us closer to Him so that He could embrace us once again. 

If you are a sinner (as we all are) remember that you are still very much loved by Jesus notwithstanding your many sins. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Monday September 19, Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 8:16-18

Gospel: Luke 8:16-18

Jesus said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”

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Reflection:

Do you sometimes put a facade of who you truly are or do you sometimes live a double life?

We cannot hide our real identity no matter how hard we try to hide it for there will eventually come a time that we shall be unmasked. For example, we pretend that we are good but deep inside we are not.

Our pretension will work to a certain extent we may even fool our fellowmen with our pretensions. However, there shall come a time that we will be unmasked no matter how hard we try to conceal our true identity. 

In the gospel Jesus tells us: There is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Indeed no secret is kept secret forever and every facade that we put forward will eventually be exposed.

No secret last forever most especially dark and hideous secrets, therefore it’s better to be transparent and to show who we really are. If we have dark secrets let us be honest and after that let us move forward to live a new life worthy in the eyes of the Good Lord. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Sunday September 18, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 16:1-13

Gospel: Luke 16:1-13

Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property.  He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one.  To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?  If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

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Reflection:

Do you recognize that what you have right now like money, power, earthly wealth and the like is not actually yours? Many of us are acting like everything that we have we earned by the sweat of our brow. So, we get to selfish with what we have we cling to it as if our life hinges upon it.

We fail to realize that we are simply stewards of what we own in this world. We fail to realize that at God’s appointed time we will be accounting for everything that we’ve owned in this world.

And during that time the dear Lord will ask us:  “What have you done to the things that I’ve entrusted you? Such as your talent, your wealth, your time and even your life.” Did you only use it to advance your own selfish agenda in this world?

The steward in our gospel failed miserably in his assigned task to properly take care of the wealth that was entrusted to him by his master.  Therefore everything that was entrusted to him was taken back by his master, the rich man.

We to are merely stewards of what we have right now, we did not earn it by ourselves. God’s invisible hand helped us to earn what we have right now.  

Yet, many of us are acting as if we earned it all, so many of us become worshipper of the God called greed and we purposely don’t share and we don’t help even if we have the means to do so. – Marino J. Dasmarinas