Reflection for Saturday November 12, Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr; Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’ The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

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Reflection:

How persistent are we when we have prayer petitions before God? If God seems silent and unheard of; do we easily give-up that He will hear our prayers petitions? Do we lose our faith when we don’t hear/feel any signs from God about our pleadings?

In the gospel Jesus gave the disciples a parable about a Judge who neither feared God nor respected any human being and a widow who was very persistent with her petition before the judge to grant her a just decision against her enemy.

Initially it would seem that the judge would not grant her request but the widow was very persistent and she never gave-up thus she continued on badgering the judge. Eventually the judge granted her petition for a just decision.

We all have our own silent prayers before God, we may have been praying for weeks, months, even years and it may seem that God is absent and quite. Let us not lose hope let us continue to storm the heavens with our prayers.

 For in His own time of choosing and when we least expect it He definitely will respond to our prayers. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Friday November 11, Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop; Luke 17:26-37

Luke 17:26-37

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.”  They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.

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Reflection:

What happens when we don’t anymore listen to God? We have no qualms of committing sin. Sin becomes a wicked way of life until this kind of lifestyle destroys us. We will not fully comprehend the wickedness of sin until it’s too late already.

This is how the devil actually works, it hides sin through eye-catching appearance that it becomes attractive to many of us. We therefore have to recognize the warning signs or the red flags that will tell us that we are siding with the devil. And what are these?

When we begin to love this world more than we love God. When we indulge in hedonistic actions, when we don’t anymore give ear to meaningful advice. All of these are the red flags that will warn us that we are self-destructing.    

We are self-destructing for the reason that the presence of God is not anymore present in our life.  And we all know what happens to the life of a person when he shuns God there’s no peace and contentment only temptations and troubles.

Do you want this kind of life?  – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday November 10, Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church; Luke 17:20-25

Luke 17:20-25

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”

Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.

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Reflection:

A man was always busy with the things of this world, he was busy making himself rich for he thought that it would give him fulfilment. But the more that he became rich the more that he became busier with the things of this world.

Where can we find the kingdom of God? We certainly cannot find it if we are always busy with the things of this world. We cannot find the kingdom of God if we continue to allow this world to dictate upon us. By accumulating the things of this world which we will leave behind someday.

A woman was asked: “Where does the kingdom of God rest?” She calmly said: “its here and now in my heart.” This woman was a prayerful woman, she lives her faith and she was always a constant presence in the Eucharistic Celebration.

The kingdom of God is ours for the taking if we learn to become prayerful, if we learn to live our faith and if we prioritize our one hour presence at Holy Mass over our many worldly activities. Worldly undertakings which only brings us further away from the Kingdom God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday November 9, Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome; John 2:13-22

John 2:13-22

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

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Reflection:

A temple is a house of prayer so it is sacred; therefore Jesus has every right to be angry for they used the house of God as marketplace.

Our bodies are temple of the Holy Spirit what are we doing with it? Do we recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit in our bodies by nourishing it with prayers? Do we recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit by our pious presence at Holy Mass?

We must at all times feed our bodies with what is Holy and Godly; we must shun any form of immorality and lust. Let us always remember that God has created us for one sole purpose and that is for Him to always dwell in us. How can we invite the presence of God in our lives if we defile our bodies with acts of hedonism? 

We will certainly grow in faith and wisdom once we nourish our bodies with what is Holy and Godly. Being Holy and Godly means that we nourish our bodies with the words of God this we can do best by reading our bibles so that we would know more about God. 

We always have to try our best to make our bodies clean of any worldly and spiritual defilement in doing so we always are ready to accept the Holy presence of God in our lives. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Tuesday November 8, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 17:7-10

Luke 17:7-10

Jesus said to the Apostles: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.

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Reflection:

What characterize a meaningful life? It’s a life spent in service of God and our fellowmen. God brought us into this world not to be served but to served but to serve God is not easy it’s in fact tiring. Nevertheless, we have to serve so that we can continue the life of service of Jesus.   

But what does it require to become a true servant? We have to be humble at all times for this is the only way that we could become true servants.   But do we have humility when we serve? We oftentimes serve the because we want to look good in the eyes of our fellowmen.

 We oftentimes want to serve the poor and under privilege because we want to look good in the eyes of Jesus. But we cannot fool Jesus, we may fool our fellowmen but Jesus? We can never fool Him and we cannot hide from Jesus the true intent of our service for Him. 

When you serve God He surely will reward you. You may not receive His reward immediately but in His own perfect time He will reward you. Your reward may even not come in your lifetime yet it surely will come after your lifetime in this world. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Monday November 7, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 17:1-6

Luke 17:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”

And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

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Reflection:

Jesus has a lot of things to say to us in this gospel reading about Sin, Forgiveness and Faith.

First: We must always be careful not to be a conduit for our brothers and sisters to sin and if we see somebody committing sin in whatever manner we must always have the courage to advice them to avoid sin no matter who they may be. Sometimes we think twice if we would advice a sinner simply because we are afraid of the consequence of our actions. We should not allow these factors to deter us because it is our moral obligation to correct those who go astray.

Second: We must always forgive those who have done us wrong no matter how deep the wound that they have caused us. If God can forgive who are we not to forgive? Let us always remember that the more we keep deep seated resentment and anger in our hearts the more that we allow them to hurt us. Try to forgive and you will feel as if a big burden has been taken off you.

Third: No matter how hard the times are right now, we must continue to have faith for it is in having faith that we manifest how deep our love and hope for God. The apostles said to Jesus: "Increase our faith."

Isn’t this what we also want to have in our life an increase in our faith on Jesus? If this is so, we should not only ask, we should do something about it by thirsting for Jesus. In other words we have to walk our talk. If we will not work for it, our increase of faith will not drop like manna from heaven.  

God smiles to those who exert effort to know Him and He surely showers His wisdom upon them. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

1Reflection for Sunday November 6, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 20:27-38

Gospel: Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.

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Reflection:

Mr. X is an unbeliever of the afterlife he always splurges on sinful and other worldly activities. His principle was to make the most of his present life for there will be no more after it.

He eventually died and he chose to go to a pearly gated kingdom being watched by a bearded fellow wearing a long white robe who told him that he was not welcome. After which he was suddenly snatched and brought to hell by a grim looking beast.

The gospel for this Sunday speaks about the Sadducees who deny that there is an afterlife they’ve asked Jesus: (about a woman who married seven brothers) to whose wife will she be in the resurrection?

Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.

In the resurrection the situation will be different, while here on earth we marry and procreate to sustain the inventory of life. In heaven relationships will not be like that. There will be no more marriage there for we shall be like angels who will only worship God and no one else; heaven is more than a paradise so to speak.

Our faith has taught us that life is not limited to this world alone, after our death we shall be entering a new doorway of endless blissfulness wherein there shall be no more hardships and problems. But the sad reality is this: Not everyone of us will be able to go there. Some of us who are not leading our lives according to the will of God for us might be snatched by the grim looking beast as well.

So what must we do to experience resurrection? We must live our lives according to the will of God for us. Follow the teachings of Jesus and the church. Always do good, be forgiving  have a heart for the poor, always impart love even to those who do not deserve to be loved.

Then leave everything to the mercy of God so that when our time comes to depart this material world we will have a new life in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Who by the way is Mr. X? He could be anyone of us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

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