Jesus
said to them, “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, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum,
‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ Whoever
listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever
rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
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Reflection:
Do you
listen to Jesus’ call of repentance?
Repentance is a perpetual call from Jesus and
we must listen to Him. What will happen if we will not listen? There would be punishment and it will not
certainly come from God; punishment will originate from the outcome of our
sinfulness.
For
example a woman who had been advised by her relatives to stop her adulterous
affair. Instead of listening to her relative’s admonition he persisted.
Eventually they were caught by their respected spouses; you can just imagine
the punishment that they'll receive.
There’s a
lot more examples of those who did not listen, so they received their deserved
punishment. Punishment which did not come from God, It originated from their
stubbornness and refusal to heed God’s call of repentance.
So why
not repent and listen to the voice of God who always calls us every minute of
the day to change our ways for the better? Are we not afraid of the punishment
that is surely forthcoming?
In the
church true repentance happens when we humbly submit ourselves to the Sacrament
of Confession. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus saw
Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There
is no duplicity in him.”Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig
tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King
of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you
that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And
he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the
angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
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Reflection:
Do you
believe that Jesus knows you very well? Many will not believe but the truth of
the matter is Jesus knows each and everyone of us very well. What we are
thinking right now Jesus knows about it also!
If Jesus knows everything about us why is it
that he doesn’t intervene whenever we are in the verge of committing sin? This is for the reason that God gave us the
freewill or the freedom of choice to do what we want to do.
However
the moment we strive to get closer to Jesus. For example we religiously attend
Holy Mass. We spend time to read the Holy Bible and practice His teachings, we
surely would feel the movement of Jesus in our lives. We therefore invite Jesus
to take an active part in our life when we strive to get close to Him.
In the
gospel Nathanael was surprised that Jesus knew him in advance. But looking at
the life of Nathanael it comes without surprise that Jesus knew him beforehand.
This is for the reason that Nathanael was also a man who was quietly seeking
and thinking about God.
Do you
want to feel the intervention of Jesus in your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
As Jesus
and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I
will follow you wherever you go.”Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds
of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to
another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury
my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and
proclaim the Kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but
first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one
who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the
Kingdom of God.”
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Reflection:
How do
you follow the Lord inside the Sacrament of Matrimony? You follow the Lord by
being faithful to your marriage vows. We know for a fact that the priest who marries
the husband and wife does it in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore the two
persons becomes one through the Sacrament of Matrimony courtesy of
Jesus.
However,
no marriage is made in heaven, every marriage goes through the fire of trials
and tribulations. But if both spouses are serious in following the Lord through
the Sacrament of Matrimony. Both spouses should always find it in their hearts
to forgive whatever offenses that was committed against them.
This
simply means that there should always be a sacred room for forgiveness in the
heart of hearts of married couples. This is for the reason that married couples
are not perfect, in fact both are flawed individuals united by Jesus in the
Sacrament of Matrimony.
Therefore,
forgiveness must be one of those select requirements for both husband and wife
if they want to follow the Lord. But forgiveness doesn’t come cheap, it comes
with a very high price tag.
However, if the Lord is present their union
and if both spouses are serious in their desire to follow the Lord. There would
always be love, forgiveness and humility until they breathe their last. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
When the
days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to
journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they
entered a Samaritan village to
prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the
destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw
this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume
them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them,
and they
journeyed to another village.
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Reflection:
Would you open the door of your house for Jesus?
The
Samaritans did not welcome Jesus because they did not know Him well. If only
they knew Him they would have welcomed Him even if He was going to Jerusalem.
But they did not know Him that’s why they refused to be hospitable to Him.
There are
some problematic individuals who decide to end their life by way of committing
suicide. Why? Because they do not know Jesus, if only they know Jesus they
would have not ended their lives.
We miss
so many blessings when we do not fully know Jesus. For example, the blessing of
hope, the blessing of love, the blessing of understanding and a lot more. These
are but a few of the many blessings that we miss once we do not know Jesus that
well.
But how
would we know Jesus? We must read our bible most especially the first four
books of the New Testament. We must often be present in the celebration of the
Eucharist or Holy Mass most especially
during Sundays. If we do it, slowly but surely our eyes will be opened to the
friendship of Jesus.
But how
about those who do not Jesus? How would they know Jesus? We have to share Jesus
and we have to live His teachings so that through us they will know Jesus. To
know Jesus is still not enough we have to share Him and we have to live what we
know about Him.
Do you
want to live a more meaningful life? If
your answer is yes, you therefore have to share and live Jesus. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
An
argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus
realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his
side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and
whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least
among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”
Then John
said in reply, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we
tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company.” Jesus said to
him, “Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”
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Reflection:
Who is
the greatest? It’s the humble one, the one who is always willing to serve us,
always willing to be with us. We may not know it but Jesus has been serving us
since time immemorial. He is in the person of the priest during the Sacrament
of Reconciliation forgiving us of our sins.
He is
always present in the Eucharistic or Holy Mass celebration humbly giving His
Body and Blood to nourish our body and our soul. He is the greatest treasure
that we can ever have! But His greatness is a paradox to some of us because we
measure greatness by our earthly standards.
Such as
greatness thru power and influence this is mostly fueled by political power,
position in government and in the private sector and the size of our bank
account. But this greatness is passing and temporary; the time will come that
this shall pass us and we shall be forgotten.
Jesus is
the personification of true greatness: His humility, His self-sacrifice and His
refusal to wield power for His own self interest. This greatness of Jesus is
usually unheard in this world nevertheless we should emulate the greatness of
Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus said to the
Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and
dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus,
covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that
fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When
the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The
rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in
torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And
he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of
his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these
flames.' Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good
during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he
is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a
great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go
from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ He said, ‘Then I beg you,
father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may
warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied,
‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ He said, ‘Oh no,
father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. ’Then
Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’
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Reflection:
A man who did not
believe in God and in the afterlife wantonly wasted his life by living a life
of sinful pleasures. It was always a
life of immoral satisfaction for him: drugs, sex, and other sinful things, in
other words he had no time for God. This became his life because he did not
believe in the existence of the afterlife much less God.
Is there really an
afterlife or a life which will immediately replace our present life after our
life in this world is over and done with already? The answer is a resounding
yes! The gospel shows us that there is an afterlife which is very different
from the life that we have today. There in the afterlife exist two kingdoms:
the kingdom of God and the kingdom of hell where the devil and his minions
dwell.
In the gospel, we
see the characters of the unnamed rich and indifferent man and the poor man
named Lazarus. The rich man perhaps did not believe in the afterlife or was
not aware that there is an afterlife that’s why he did not mind the poor man
Lazarus who was in dire need of his help. He nonchalantly ignored Lazarus as if
the poor man did not exist.
When both of them
died there was a reversal of places: The poor man Lazarus who endured a
difficult life when he was still alive was in the kingdom of God and the rich
man who savored earthly life was in the dark kingdom of the devil.
Why was there a
reversal of places? Because the rich man was indifferent to the crying need of
the poor man Lazarus. If he only knew that Lazarus was very close to God. If he only knew that Lazarus could have been God in disguise. The
lesson for us is very simple, we should not ignore the crying need of the poor
and we should always be sensitive to their plight.
What do you do when
you encounter the poor? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
While
they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, “Pay
attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to
men.” But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about
this saying.
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Reflection:
When
Jesus told His disciples that he was to be handed over to men they were not
able to comprehend it. Why? Because at that time Jesus was doing miracles left
and right. And perhaps they were asking themselves, how could this be possible
that this miracle man will be handed over to authorities and afterwards suffer?
The
disciples were oblivious because they did not fully know His mission.
Otherwise, if they kn0w, they would have understood this pronouncements of
Jesus. The moment we decide to follow
Jesus we must prepare ourselves for the sufferings that we have to go through.
Because
we cannot separate Jesus with sufferings, to follow Jesus is to suffer also.
However, there are people who will say, simply follow Jesus and you will have a
problem free life. This is farthest from the truth because everyone of us who
truly follow Jesus will have our own share of sufferings and tribulations.
But let
us not bedevil ourselves with the thought of these sufferings because Jesus
will not give us trials that we can’t handle. We simply have to have faith in
Jesus and that is more than enough to conquer our sufferings. – Marino J. Dasmarinas