Jesus said to his
disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone
strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to
go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone
press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks
of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
“You have heard that
it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to
you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the
good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those
who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the
same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not
the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
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Reflection:
Are you capable of
not keeping hatred in your heart? For example, when somebody hurts you, are you
capable of not taking revenge? When someone strikes you on the right cheek
could you turn the other side as well? Are you capable of not refusing somebody
who wants to borrow from you? Can you love your enemies and can you still pray
for those who’ve been persecuting and hurting you?
Jesus in the gospel
gives us teachings that are very difficult for many of us to follow. We may
wonder, why these teachings are very hard for us to follow? This is so for the
reason that we are humans. We have our limitations we respond based on our limited
human instinct.
We normally
compartmentalize our fellowmen. For example we label them as those we hate and
those we do not hate. Those we love and those we do not love, those who are
good to us and those who are not good to us. Therefore, we respond to them
according to what they give us.
However, the Lord
invites us today to discard our mindset of compartmentalization and retaliation.
He invites us to treat everyone equally regardless if this and that person is
good or not good to us. He invites us to throw away our mindset of revenge. And
finally He invites us all to be humble, to be loving and forgiving. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
Jesus
took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by
themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became
dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah
appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then
Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us
make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He
hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a
shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved
Son. Listen to him." Suddenly, looking around, the disciples no longer saw
anyone but Jesus alone with them.
As they
were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had
seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they
kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
He told them, "Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things, yet
how is it written regarding the Son of Man that he must suffer greatly and be
treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him
whatever they pleased, as it is written of him."
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+ + +
Reflection:
Do you
believe in the afterlife?
One of
the reasons why Jesus was transfigured is for us to see that heaven and the
afterlife is existing and real. This is what the apostles: Peter, James and
John witnessed when they were brought along to the mountain of tabor by Jesus.
There’s
life after our journey in this world is over, that’s why we must not leave
Jesus for anything of this world. We must continue on doing what is good and
righteous. We must not stray off the track of righteousness for this is the way
for us to be with Jesus in heaven.
There is
heaven, there is everlasting life and this is proven by the transfiguration of
Jesus. So what should we do for us to go there? We must faithfully follow Jesus
in His words and deeds no matter how difficult.
The
reward for our faithfulness to Jesus is eternal life, don’t we all want this
eternal life? Of course we do, thus we have to become faithful followers. Thus,
we have to leave permanently behind our sinfulness. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus
summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come
after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.
What
profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What
could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my
words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed
of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
He also
said to them, “Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not
taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
There’s a
story of a middle aged man who was newly retired from politics. When he was
still active he amassed a lot of dubious wealth. Having a feeling of financial
security already, he said to himself now I can enjoy all of my money.
However, in spite of his wealth he didn’t have
peace of mind he was always being hounded by the questionable deals that he
made while he was still in power. Then he had a heart attack and he died
immediately without enjoying his stolen wealth.
When he
was about to enter the pearly gates, Saint Peter refused him entry and told him
that he’s not welcome because of the things that he did when he was still
alive.
What will
it profit us if we gain the riches of this world if we will not be able to gain
entry in heaven? What will it profit us if we will continue to steal dubious
money if we will not have peace of mind?
Unfortunately
this is the mentality of a lot of us; we are so shortsighted that we focus on
the here and now even if it’s sinful. We continuously neglect to do good, we
purposely shut God out of our system to enjoy worldly life.
All of us
are temporary travellers passing through this world. In God’s time we will
leave this world. Where would we be by then? Would we be in heaven with Jesus or in the
other side? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus and
his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he
asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John
the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked
them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the
Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began
to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the
elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three
days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said,
“Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings
do.”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
What does
Christ mean?
Christ
means the chosen one or the savior and Peter got it right when he replied to
Jesus: “You are the Christ (Mark 8:29).” Unlike the other disciples Peter knew
the real identity of Jesus. But up to that point in the gospel his knowledge of
the true identity if Jesus was still limited because when Jesus said that He
will suffer greatly he didn’t believe.
Peter
only knew of the powerful Christ not the Christ who would suffer and eventually
die on the cross. Isn’t this our mindset as well? We know Jesus Christ as the
powerful one who would save us from our troubles. Yet there is an important
side of Jesus that we also have to know and that is the Christ who suffered and
died on the cross at calvary.
It is
said that: “To follow Christ is always right; but it is never easy.” Jesus was
actually foreshadowing the path that Peter has to go thru when He said that He
must suffer greatly and be rejected.
This is
also Jesus’ own foreshadowing for us: We have to go through suffering as well
for the sake of the teachings of Jesus. This may be hard to swallow for many
but that this is really how it is: Suffering is part and parcel of our faithful
discipleship!
If we
really are true and faithful followers of Jesus Christ we must expect
sufferings and rejections. We will suffer when we stand for what is right, we
will be rejected when we push what is moral. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
When
Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to him a blind man
and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him
outside the village. Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man
and asked, “Do you see anything?”Looking up the man replied, “I see people
looking like trees and walking.” Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second
time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything
distinctly. Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Jesus
asked the blind man: “Do you see anything?” Let us try to modify this question
of Jesus in such a way that it is addressed to us who are often times blinded
by the things of this world. It will be like this: Amidst the trappings of this
world do you see anything worthy about me?
I certainly
don’t know what would be our individual answers to this question but one thing
is sure Jesus wants to penetrate our hearts. He wants to reside there so that
we will not be blinded by the temporary things of this world.
If you
will not have that instant feeling of Jesus in your heart just be patient,
engage in prayer as often as you can. Pray for enlightenment and for
discernment so that the hazy image of Jesus could become clearer in your mind. Until it becomes crystal clear then allow Jesus
to fully engulf your whole being.
The
moment you surrender your life to Jesus you will lose your appetite for the
things of this world. You'll simply be satisfied with simple things for your
eyes are not anymore blinded by the temporal things of this world. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
The
disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in
the boat. Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the
Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. They concluded among themselves that it was
because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why
do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand
or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and
not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five
thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up? They
answered him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” They answered him,
“Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Do you
allow the enticement of this world to take off your focus on Jesus? For example
the Sunday obligation to celebrate Holy Mass. Many of us today sometimes do not
pay much attention to the highest form of worship inside the church. We
sacrifice it for our man worldly undertaking that only pull us away from Jesus.
Do you allow this to happen to you?
In the
gospel Jesus admonished his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and Herod. He used the leaven as a metaphor that they should not be convinced
by the inducement of the Pharisees and Herod to leave him for them.
Both the
Pharisees and Herod represents power, the power of religion and government which
for all intents and purposes are worldly and temporary. Jesus was actually telling
His disciples not to leave Him for what they represent. In effect Jesus was
telling them not to favor the world over their love for God.
The
secular world has many inducements such as: power, money, greed, popularity,
lust, ego, self-centeredness etc… We should be careful of these worldly
appendages, we should not let ourselves be deceived by these temporal
inducements.
Let us
rather continue be steadfast with our love, fellowship and fidelity with Jesus
through our words and actions. For what would we gain if we have all the
things that this world can if we don’t have God? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
The
Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign
from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why
does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to
this generation.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to
the other shore.
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Do you
need to see a sign to believe?
A woman
wanted to see a sign from her beloved so that she could finally say yes to him.
So she said if this handsome man would bring me flowers and chocolates that
would be the sign that he loves me. Lo and behold the man came knocking at their
gate with flowers and chocolates. To make a long story short she finally said
yes to him but after a few months they broke up.
Unlike
the love of a suitor which is often times bounded by time, Jesus love for us is
always there it’s not bounded by time. What are the signs of God’s love? The food on the table, the new life in the
morning and countless more! These are obvious signs of Jesus infinite love for
us.
But often
times these are still not enough for us, we still seek more signs to strengthen
our faith in Him. When we seek additional signs from Jesus it also shows how
feeble our faith in Him. Otherwise if we have full faith and confidence we
would not anymore seek or ask for whatever sign/s. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Jesus said to his
disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I
have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will
pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks
one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be
called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these
commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you,
unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will
not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that
it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be
liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be
liable to judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable
to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery
Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that
your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go
first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your
opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to
the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not
be released until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that
it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who
looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his
heart. If your right eye causes you to
sin, tear it out and throw it away It is better for you to lose one of your
members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right
hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to
lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.
“It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife - unless the
marriage is unlawful - causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a
divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have
heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make
good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all; not
by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;
nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your
head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean
‘Yes,' and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’Anything more is from the evil one.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Imagine a world
without laws, there would be no order; there would be chaos and anarchy.
Imagine life without following the laws of your country. And let us imagine
ourselves not being faithful to the teachings of God. There would also be
disorder in our lives; we will have no peace of mind.
In our first reading
according to Sirach, we are given choices,
life and death, good and evil. We are made to choose whichever we like.
If we like death and evil, it’s really up to us; if we like good and life, it’s
also upon our hands. God gave us the freedom but this freedom is not absolute
because He wants us to carefully discern our choices. For example if we choose
death disguised as fulfillment of the law over life or evil desires over good
where would these faulty choices bring us?
But what if we
choose life and we choose to do good. Of course we would have peace of mind we
will not be bothered by our conscience for the reason that we followed what God
wants us to do. And this is absolutely what God wants us to always do in our
lives!
For example in our
gospel, Jesus gives us teachings about Anger (Matthew 5:21-26), teachings about
Adultery (Matthew 5:27-30) and teachings about Divorce (Matthew 5:31-32). Just
imagine if we will follow all of these teachings. There would be peace and
serenity in our lives most specifically in our married lives. But are we
following these teachings or laws of Jesus?
These laws were
given to us by Jesus to serve as our lighthouse as we continue to sail in this
world. We follow these commands not because we fear it. We follow it because we
love Jesus who is the spirit behind His laws. Therefore if we follow we’ll have
peace in our lives and we’ll be much closer to Jesus in this world and beyond
this world.
Imagine a peaceful life and imagine a life
very close to Jesus, would you not want to have it? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
In those
days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned
the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because
they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send
them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of
them have come a great distance. His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone
get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked
them, “How many loaves do you have? They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd
to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke
them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them
to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and
ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the
fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.
He
dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the
region of Dalmanutha.
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Having
nothing to eat is an indescribable feeling of being weak. You cannot do the
things that you want to do. You will limit your movement because the more you
move the more that you feel the pain of hunger.
In the
gospel reading; Jesus speaks about the crowd without anything to eat: “My heart
is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three
days and have nothing to eat If I send them away hungry to their homes, they
will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance (Mark
8:2-3)."
Then, He
asked them, "How many loaves do you have (Mark 8:5)?" They replied,
"Seven." He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Afterwards
He gave thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples to give to the crowd.
The same happened to the few fish that they have; the four thousand people were
able to eat and they still have seven basketfuls of excess bread and fish.
What
lesson does Jesus wants us to learn from the miracle of the loaves? Perhaps
Jesus wants us to learn how to give, why? For the simple reason that many are
going hungry. When we decide to give let us not give what we have in surplus
because we will not truly feel the true joy of giving.
Let us
give out of the food that we are about to eat and let us give from the heart. –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
Again
Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who
had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off
by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and,
spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said
to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears
were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He
ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more
they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has
done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Have you already personally witnessed a healing session?
In the
gospel we are presented with an authentic healing presided by Jesus. A deaf man
who had a speech impediment is brought to Jesus for healing. To make a long
story short Jesus healed the deaf man: he was able to hear and talk again.
I’d like to
zero-in on the personal healing actions of Jesus. They walked away from the
madding crowd and once they were both by themselves Jesus conducted the
personal healing. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched
his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”—
that is, “Be opened!” And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech
impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.
This
healing action of Jesus is very much opposite to what we see nowadays. Healers
now want it to be publicized they want to be noticed they want to maximize their
media exposure so to speak! I can only speculate of their true motives.
Is it
still possible for us to have this personal and one on one healing with Jesus now?
Yes, a pious presence at Holy Mass or quite visit to our church’s Perpetual
Eucharistic Adoration Chapel would do it for us. Jesus is there personally
waiting for us to heal us of our sickness our personal hurts and pains.
If only we
would discover the healing and calming presence of Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament, if only we will learn to allocate a portion of our time to give Him
a visit there. We would also have an Ephphatha experience.
Our hearts and minds
would also be opened to this personal and wondrous healing experience with
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and with Jesus at Holy Mass. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
Jesus
went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know
about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an
unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a
Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of
her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not
right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied
and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s
scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone
out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in
bed and the demon gone.
+ + + +
+ + +
Reflection:
Are you
persistent when you pray before Jesus?
A Greek
woman went to Jesus to ask Him to drive out a demon from her daughter. What is
very significant here is the woman is an outsider, not a follower of Jesus not
even a Jew. But with courage and faith she went to Jesus for help, her mind was
focused on reaching out to Jesus.
When she
finally was able to reach Jesus, she told Him about her sick daughter. Jesus
was reluctant at first to help. But she persisted and she humbled herself
before Jesus after which her daughter was healed.
We all
have our own problems that we carry in our hearts and we surely have brought
these problems to Jesus. Let us not lose heart if we have not yet received a
response from Jesus. Let us continue to persist, continue to humble ourselves
before Him and untiringly beseech His guidance and help.
The woman
never gave-up until she got what she wanted from Jesus. So we too must never
give-up we must continue to badger Jesus with our humble and persistent
prayers. Often times we don’t get what we want from Jesus because we easily
give-up. Same as with our ambitions in life; we don’t get what we want because
we give-up.
What if
you never give-up, what if you continue to persist and humbly ask the Good Lord
to grant you your prayer/s? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
