Reflection for Saturday November 5, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 16:9-15

Luke 16:9-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “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 God and mammon.”

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”

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Reflection:

Do you allow yourself to be influenced by the love of material things?

Advertisers continuously bombard us with ads that entice us to love material things? So what we do is we buy simply because we allow ourselves to be captured by the very enticing advertising even if there’s actually no need for it.

This is what we must watch out for because if we are not careful there’s that tendency to serve the God of this world which is mammon or money.  Who is behind this advertisers that induces us to mindlessly spend so that we are always busy to earn more money until we eventually shun God in our lives?

The one behind is the Devil it deludes us to believe that mammon or materialism is the be all and end all of life. And if we are not careful we may believe it thus we may favor mammon over God.  But we all know that mammon is an instrument of the devil to take us away from God.

You therefore have to choose God over the God of this world which is materialism. If you choose God you will have a peaceful life. You may not be able to ward off every problems that may come your way. But you will be able to handle it no matter how difficult it may be.

Why? Because you’ve chosen to side with God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Friday November 4, Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop; Luke 16:1-8

Luke 16:1-8

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 he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’ He 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 the children of light.

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Reflection:

Mr. X is a man of the world; he was materially successful and could practically buy almost anything that he may want. He satisfied his cravings for the material things of life that he totally forgot that he’s a person with a soul. After enjoying the things of this world; his life came to a halt and he realized that he was still empty deep inside notwithstanding his worldly success.

This is the big danger that may come to the lives of those who are materially successful there’s that tendency to drown with their worldly success. And totally forget that they’re simply stewards of their material possession.

What is the secret to a successful and fulfilling life? We must learn how to share not only to share a small portion of what we earn. We must hugely share for we are merely stewards with the things that we have. It’s not ours to own; we have what we have right now because God blessed us with that for us to share it.

We must not only share our material wealth, we must also learn to share our spiritual wealth. Let us all remember that we are simply temporary creatures of this world. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Thursday November 3, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 15:1-10

Luke 15:1-10

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus addressed this parable to them. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

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Reflection:

A father has already given up with his wayward son who was in and out of prison. He said to his son, “I already give-up on you, I now give you to Jesus and I hope He finds you.” After ten long years the lost son who was given-up by his father  was found by Jesus and became a priest.

Finding the lost is one of the most important reasons why Jesus walked on this world. This is the character of Jesus, always reaching out to us who are lost. No matter who we may be, no matter the sins that we’ve committed and no matter how many we may be, Jesus desires to find us all and bring us once again to His loving embrace.

These actions of Jesus of not giving up invites us to reflect about our own actions toward our fellowmen. How many times have we given up or judged our fellowmen simply because they are lost or wayward based on our biased judgment. But who are we to judge and give up on the lost and who are we to condemn them as good for nothing?

Many times over we’ve been lost also because of our sinfulness yet Jesus has not given up on us even for a single moment. So we must also not give up on the lost and we should not also judge the lost. Let us rather reach out to them and let us make them feel the unconditional love of Jesus. We have wayward relatives and friends for the simple reason that we’ve judged them already. We gave-up on finding them and we already gave-up on showing them the unconditional love and mercy of Jesus.

Let us never give-up on anyone because Jesus has not given up on us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday November 2, Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) Matthew 25:31-46

Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,  and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous* will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ i And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’  Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ l And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

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Reflection:

Imagine the last days of your life, would it be a happy last days or a lonely last days? We would ideally want a happy last days, this means that we did what we have to do in this world.  We followed the commandments, we feed and clothed the hungry and so forth.

If this is what we’re are doing right now we need not worry about where we would be after our last days are over. But we are still living and we are still on this temporal journey so we have to sustain the momentum by doing good most especially to the poor and unwanted.

We have to take side and the side that we have to take is the side where we have to do good. Let us not get tired of doing good because whatever good that we do now we will harvest eventually. Let us not mind if we will not be given credit for the good that we do what is important is we continue to do good. God knows everything anyway.

  

In this day of the Souls we are reminded of our loved ones who’ve gone ahead of us. This is also a reminder that whether we like it or not we will also be one with them sooner or later. What should we do so that we will not be forgotten? We have to do good, as Jesus did good during His three years public ministry we also have to do good.

If we have not done good yet or if the bad actions are more than the acts of goodness it’s never too late to reverse this cycle.  God has created us to be good and to do good God never intended us to be bad or to do bad. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday November 1, Solemnity of All Saints; Matthew 5:1-12a

Matthew 5:1-12a

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you

and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward will be great in heaven.”

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Reflection:

What are the beatitudes all about? The beatitudes are guidelines for living that Jesus gave to His disciples. The beatitudes deal also with humility and utter dependence upon the goodness of God. Do you live humility and do you always depend on the goodness of God?  
   

As we remember the saints today, we are being invited to take a closer look at their lives for they lived it with humility. They did what they have to do but at the end of the day they humbly submitted everything to the will of God.

The saints did not do it their way they went through the way of God thus they have to embrace the beatitudes. For example, why is the poor in spirit blessed? They are blessed because they know that their knowledge about God is something that they should not be proud of based on vocal proclamation. They acknowledge their nothingness before God thus God continuously fills them.

Those who say that they are rich in spirit are not blessed for the simple reason that they are full of themselves. And when somebody is already full of himself/herself, he/she automatically shuts himself/herself from receiving the true blessings that only emanates from God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Monday October 31, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 14:12-14

Luke 14:12-14

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

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Reflection:

Have you tried giving to those who cannot give back?

There is always this feeling of unexplainable happiness when you give to those who cannot give you back. For example when you give to a poor relative, a poor friend or an unknown poor just passing by you. There’s always that feeling of unfathomable happiness.

From where does this feeling of happiness comes from? It comes from God who gives back on behalf of those who cannot repay your kindness. Such how good God is, He always sees to it that the good that you do is given back to you. And when God gives back He gives back generously.

But many of us prefer to give to those who are capable of giving us back. Perhaps that’s human nature but what if we try giving to those who cannot repay our generosity? The moment we do it then we see how good God really is.

The gospel for today invites us to reflect on the motives of our giving. Do we give because we expect something in return? Or we give because we find unfathomable joy in giving especially to those who cannot reciprocate our generosity.

Every acts of goodness that we do most especially to those who are poor are generously rewarded by God in manifold way. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Sunday October 30, Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 19:1-10

Gospel: Luke 19:1-10 

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

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Reflection:

Is Zacchaeus an ambitious man?

Yes, Zacchaeus is an ambitious man, he ambitioned to become wealthy no matter what it takes. And with the help of his job as a tax collector his ambition eventually became a reality. He did not mind dirtying his hands with corrupted money just to become rich.  

Considering that he was wealthy and almost had every worldly things that he could ask for, what moved Zacchaeus to seek Jesus? Perhaps, after enjoying all the trappings of dirty wealth and influence. Zacchaeus was still empty deep inside him, he was still yearning for that something that would fill his inner longing for peace and contentment.  

Many of us are like Zacchaeus, we chase wealth and power. We don’t even mind if we would be stepping on others toes just to achieve what we want.  This is for the reason that we think that we will become happy and satisfied once we become wealthy.

 But the more that we become wealthy and powerful the more that we are not able to sleep. The more that we will not have peace of mind and this is principally caused by our greed for wealth and power.

On the external Zacchaeus was a picture of wealth and power. But deep inside he was crumbling primarily brought by his lack of peace of mind. Until he heard about Jesus and from thereon he promised himself to look for Him.

And when he found Jesus, he chased him with all of his might. He did not mind if he would wade through a sea of humanity and he did not mind either if he would climb a sycamore tree to get His attention. For he knew that it is only Jesus who can give him peace, contentment and serenity.

How about you are you still busy chasing after wealth? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday October 29, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 14:1, 7-11

Luke 14:1, 7-11

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully.

He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

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Reflection:

What can humility do to your life? Among many other things humility can give you peace and contentment. With humility you can also win over your adversaries so that they will become your friends.

There is a story of a husband who was always critical of his wife in whatever she does. She would always dictate on his wife and would shout at her whenever he commits a mistake. After many years of being together the wife had already enough of the dominating behavior of her husband. She therefore finally decided to silently walk away from her husband.   

Many of us are afraid to imbibe humility because we are afraid that we would be dominated. But humility doesn’t work that way, humility is to purposely decrease in the eyes of men and let God’s exaltation come to us at His own appointed time.

For example if the situation calls for us to say yes and follow lawful orders by all means we have to say yes and follow. Thus, we have to do the task that is given to us with utmost competence.  We give it our all until we are able to achieve what is expected of us.  

There is always a reward that accompanies humility and that is honor and exaltation from God. Honor and exaltation that will be given to you when you least expect it. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Friday October 28, Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles; Luke 6:12-16

Luke 6:12-16

Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

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Reflection:

Would you be willing to respond to Jesus’ call to spread the good news? You may say, I have not studied about the catholic faith thus I have nothing to share so, I will not respond.

The twelve apostles were ordinary men called by Jesus for an extraordinary mission. Majority lived ordinary lives and have not studied yet they responded to Jesus call. There was a common denominator that bonded them together and that was the desire to freely respond to Jesus’ call.

If you respond to Jesus’ call your life would be more meaningful for the simple reason that you will not exist for yourself anymore. You will not be touching lives; you will become salt and light in the lives of others. You certainly will not become rich for the simple reason that Jesus did not call you to be rich, what is riches anyway when it can fly away from our hands anytime? Jesus is calling you so that you could bear fruit and touch more lives.

Should you respond just like the twelve apostles? Of course you should never worry of the material things for God will provide for you. Respond and abandon yourself to Jesus and see the unfolding of events that will marvellously show the infinite goodness of God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

1Reflection for Thursday October 27, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 13:31-35

Luke 13:31-35

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned. But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

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Reflection:

What if Jesus allowed fear to grow in His heart? There would be no salvation for all of humanity, but Jesus faced His fears and accomplished His mission by dying on the cross.

What can we learn from this courageous act of Jesus? We also must learn to face our fears, many of us are not able to evangelize because of fear. Fear that no one will listen to us, fear that we might be rebuked and we have many more unfounded fears. We fear for the simple reason that we allow it to live in our hearts. But once we don’t give a haven for fear we now become successful missioners for Christ Jesus.

The key to become successful missioners for Christ is to defeat fear with faith. But human as we are we often times succumb to fear most especially if we are in the line of fire. If we have this mindset what will happen now to the propagation of the faith that was started by Jesus?    

If Jesus, the apostles and the saints allowed fear to conquer them we have no Christian faith to hold and speak of right now. We would be pagans and faithless wanderers in this world, but we have our faith and we owe this to the courage of Christ Jesus and His followers.

Let us therefore emulate Christ, let us not fear the obstacles before us. For obstacles are meant to be conquered by the strength of our faith in Jesus. Face your fears and creatively live your Baptismal mission to evangelize.

Be courageous and never worry for the simple reason that as you do your mission for the faith Jesus will always be with you.  – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday October 26, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 13:22-30

Luke 13:22-30

Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

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Reflection:

Where would you end up after your temporary journey in this world is already over? You actually do not know however Jesus is giving you a clue where would you be going. If you choose to follow and be faithful to Jesus you would be going to His kingdom where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets are.

But it’s actually not easy to follow the path of Jesus because it would require you to sacrifice your very self so that you could follow Him. For example, would you be willing to give-up your wealth or even just a portion of your wealth so that others may live?

Would you be willing to sacrifice your high paying job so that you could serve the poor? Would you be willing to swallow your pride and reach-out to those whom you have antagonized? These are but a few of the many sacrifices that you have to make if you want to truly follow Jesus.

A life with Jesus is not to enjoy earthly trappings it’s rather to do away with whatever that is earthly in favor of Jesus. It’s also to discard whatever that makes you distant from Jesus. If you’re friends are pulling you farther away from Jesus, by all means leave your friends so that you could be near Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas