Reflection for Friday May 12, Fourth Week of Easter: John 14:1-6

Gospel: John 14:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way." Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

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Reflection:

Where are we going after our life in this world is over? We don’t know only God knows. But Jesus in our gospel is giving us a hint as to where would we be eventually. Jesus tells us: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The secret therefore to know where we would eventually end-up is to follow Jesus. Why follow Jesus? Because He is the truth and the life and we cannot reach the Father in heaven except through Him.

We will often hear in stories of conversion testimonies about troubled lives, lives lived without peace and contentment. Until they’ve known Jesus after which their lives were never the same again. From troublesome or worrisome lives it became peaceful and serene courtesy of Jesus.

Jesus is the only way and He is the only one that can give us peace that transcends this world. Jesus will give us a glimpse of this peaceful feeling once we immediately choose to rest our lives in Him.

We all know that life in this world is uncertain it may end very abruptly anytime. Let us therefore invest more on Jesus rather than on this world. Let us help the poor, let us become the living symbol of Jesus for them.

This is not easy to do because it would entail much self-sacrifice on our part but it’s actually nothing. Compared to His promise that we will eventually have our reserved dwelling place in heaven someday. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Thursday May 11, Fourth Week of Easter: John 13:16-20

Gospel: John 13:16-20

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me. From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

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Reflection:

What is the weakness of many followers of Jesus? It’s to act and behave as if they are bigger than Jesus. This is the failing of many who are followers of Jesus. But a true follower doesn’t aspire to become somebody, doesn’t aspire to raise himself in the pedestal of prominence.

He/she is simply content to become a nobody in the vast ocean of humanity who follow Jesus. He/she works tirelessly and silently with the end in mind that they have to advance the  teachings and goodness of Jesus in this world.

In the gospel, Jesus washed His disciple’s feet. Was this a simple ritual done by Jesus? Or there was a silent message for His disciples and for us as well. What lies beneath the act of washing His disciple’s feet is the message of humility. For they would not be productive in their mission without humility. And they would not be able to attract others to the faith without humility.

If we say that we are followers of Jesus it is also expected that we would be humble at all times. Never arrogant, never overbearing but always humble even if others are not. For the virtue of humility is what separates true followers from fake and fair weather followers of Jesus. - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday May 10, Fourth Week of Easter: John 12:44-50

Gospel: John 12:44-50

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.  And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

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Reflection:

Are you sometimes quick to condemn or judge?

Based on His pronouncements in the gospel for today, patience is a word that we can always attribute to Jesus. He tells us this: “If anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. (John 12:47)” These are profound words that give us hope no matter how sinful we are and no matter who we are.

Jesus doesn’t look at our sinfulness no matter how grave it is! For He became man not to judge us but to save us, if we are very quick to condemn Jesus doesn’t condemn. If we easily judge our fellowmen based on their appearance Jesus doesn’t for Jesus always looks at the heart.

Instead of condemning and judging our fellowmen let us give them hope and let us forgive them for the bad things that they’ve done to us. No one deserves to be judged or condemned for the reason that everyone of us is within reach of the mercy and enlightenment of God.  

Let us therefore reflect and try recalling the many condemnations and judgments that we undeservingly heaped on our fellowmen. Let us pause for a few seconds and humbly ask Jesus to forgive our condemning and judgmental minds. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday May 9, Fourth Week of Easter: John 10:22-30

Gospel: John 10:22-30

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

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Reflection:

How can we have an encounter with Jesus? We simply have to abide with what Jesus tells us in the scriptures. If He tells us that He and the Father are one we have to believe it without any doubt. For the simple reason that all of Jesus pronouncements are not empty, it is solidly supported by other passages in the bible.

What separates those who believe and those who don’t? Those who believe receive the full graces of the power that emanates from Jesus. For example, their lives are changed, their faiths are strengthened. And they themselves become an agent of positive change in their own respective environments.

Those who do not believe Jesus are left-out in terms of spiritual graces, their individual faith life is not strengthened. They are more vulnerable to the many forces of evil and they don’t have the spiritual strength that believers normally have.

What is the secret for us to believe? We have to humble ourselves before Jesus. We have to accept with faith every word that He tells us in the bible. And the moment we do, this would be the beginning of our new journey with Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Monday May 8, Fourth Week of Easter: John 10:11-18

Gospel: John 10:11-18

Jesus said: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father."

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Reflection:

There is this story of a family man who had a terminal ailment, instead of just waiting for his death to come. He still worked very hard for his family and he never neglected to bring his family every Sunday to church for Mass. He did his best to provide for the material and spiritual needs of his family. In his last few days he gathered his family and he told them that he had done everything for them. So that they could have the best future that they could ever dream of, then after a day he died.     

This father in our story is a good shepherd to his family for he worked very hard for them to ensure their future. How many fathers are like this father in our story? There are many but there are many more who are fathers in name only. They don’t care about the future of their family they instead focus on their many vices to satisfy themselves. They don’t allow Jesus to shepherd them they instead cling to the dictates of this world and they make it their shepherd.

The family man is somewhat like Jesus who gave His life for our salvation. Do we completely trust our lives to Jesus our good shepherd? Or we trust more on ourselves where we give more priority to our own personal needs rather than our need for Jesus. 

For example our Sunday obligation of going to Mass we sometimes take this for granted because we give more importance to our own agendas. How can we be properly shepherd by Jesus if we don’t give much importance to the celebration of the Holy Mass? How can we be shepherd by Jesus if we don't even read the bible?

Trusting Jesus our good shepherd takes patience we may not see now what we want from Him. But we must still continue to trust our lives in Him and never on our own selves. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for May 7, Fourth Sunday of Easter; John 10:1-10

Gospel: John 10:1-10

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

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Reflection:

Maria is a single parent who tried very hard to provide her three children. She worked very hard for them and she taught them also about the role of God in their lives. Her three children eventually became very successful courtesy of her proper shepherding.

Jesus wants nothing but the best for us as well this is the reason why He patiently shepherds us. And His end objective is for us to live our lives according to what He desires it for us. However, we oftentimes veer away from the shepherding of Jesus and we sadly choose to be shepherded by this world.

So what happens to us when we allow this world to shepherd us? We endlessly labor for this world to acquire its temporal things. Temporal thing that amounts to nothing at the end for the simple reason that it will not satisfy us.

In our gospel Jesus tells us this: “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (John 10:9).” If only we would deeply reflect on this statement of Jesus we would find out that the way to discover the true meaning of life. The way through finding peace and contentment in this temporal world is through the shepherding of Jesus only.

Would you allow Jesus to shepherd your life from here on? – Marino J. Dasmarinas     

Reflection for Saturday May 6, Third Week of Easter: John 6:60-69

John 6:60-69

Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father."

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

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Reflection:

What should be our guiding principle if we decide to follow Jesus? It must always be forever, we will not only follow Jesus in good times we must also learn to follow Jesus in our most trying times.  We will stay with Jesus even if it’s hard to believe that He is comforting us in the midst of our sufferings and tribulations. 

The very large crowd (More than five thousand of them) who were with Jesus when He multiplied the loaves and fish suddenly became very few. Only the twelve apostles remained many of those who followed Him returned to their former way of life. Why? Because they couldn’t accept Jesus’ continuous insistence that He is the true bread of life that whoever believes in Him will never hunger and thirst (John 6:35). 

They rapidly had amnesia because they all of a sudden forgot that it was Jesus who feed them when they were all hungry. It was Jesus who healed them when they were sick and it was Jesus who gave them hope when they were hopeless.

Such is the behavior of many of us, we quickly question or even leave Jesus when we go through trials. We never remember or perhaps we purposely forget the many blessings that He had given us in the past.

Let us never leave Jesus no matter how difficult our present circumstances are right now. Let us always choose to be with Him in sickness and in health, in our good times as well as in our difficult times.

What are we going to do if we leave Jesus, we embrace the devil and its worldly teachings? – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday May 5, Third Week of Easter: John 6:52-59

Gospel: John 6:52-59

The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

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Reflection:

What is the difference between a person who is a regular Communicant and the person who doesn’t partake of the Body of Christ at Holy Communion? The person who devoutly goes to Holy Mass and who lets himself be nourished by the Body of Christ is slowly but surely being transformed by the Body of Christ to become Christ like.

What does this mean to you? It means that the very moment you allow the Body of Christ to come into you. You also open yourself the opportunity to be an alter ego of Jesus. In other words it simply means that you become an ambassador of Jesus when you receive Him.

But do we really allow this to happen to us? Do we really allow the Body of Christ to spiritually nourish and transform us? Many of us go to Holy Communion regularly but we never change. There’s no positive behavioral and spiritual transformation that occurs within us. This is for the reason that we don’t allow the Body of Christ to transform us.

One sure sign that the Body of Jesus Christ is transforming us already is when we are able to share and live His teachings. When we are able to forgive those who’ve hurt us, when we are able to overcome our own sinfulness and our own arrogance and pride.

Have we already shared and lived Jesus? Have we already asked Jesus to help us overpower our own sinfulness, arrogance and pride? - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Thursday May 4, Third Week of Easter: John 6:44-51

Gospel: John 6:44-51

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”

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Reflection:

How could you have eternal life?  You have to regularly receive the Body of Christ at Holy Mass. Always receive it with reverence and piety never doubt and think of it as a simple bread. Because what you receive is Jesus Himself.

Just imagine the enlightenment and unfathomable blessing that it will bring you if you would always partake of the body of Christ. Just imagine the countless spiritual blessing that it would bring you if you would believe that Jesus is the Consecrated Host that you receive during Holy Communion.

Your belief and faith in the bread of life will open your mind to the many truths about Jesus and the church that He founded. Things that are hard to explain but is real and felt by the heart, all you have to do is to believe and have faith.

For without faith and belief you will not fully comprehend how this small bread becomes the body of Jesus after it is consecrated by the priest. How this small bread becomes your life and your reason for existing in this world.

Don’t wait for a Eucharistic miracle to happen before you for it may not happen in your lifetime. Simply believe and have faith in our Bread of Life. Which is Jesus Himself and you yourself will become a living and breathing miracle for those who know you. – Marino J. Dasmarinas    

Reflection for Wednesday May 3, Saints Philip and James, Apostles: John 14:6-14

Gospel: John 14:6-14

Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

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Reflection:

A typical marriage vows goes like this: For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. A man and a woman becomes one by virtue of the Sacrament of Marriage.

Jesus objective for instituting this Sacrament is to permanently bind these two separate and distinct individuals so that they may become one. This union must always be for life. It must never be based on convenience but based on mutual trust and respect for each other.

In our gospel for today, it is very obvious that Jesus wants to point out to Philip and to us too that He and God the father are one. Although God the Father and Jesus are two different persons they are one and the same God. They both have the same desire for all of humanity and that is salvation for us all.

We believe this oneness of Jesus and God the Father, although they are two different persons. We must also strongly believe in the Sanctity of the Sacrament of Matrimony. That it is a union for life and nobody can separate both spouses except mortal death.  – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Tuesday May 2, Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church: John 6:30-35

Gospel: John 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus: "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

So they said to Jesus, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

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Reflection:

There is a true story of a woman who was stricken with brain cancer, she was already given by her doctors two months to live. Being so they requested their Parish Priest to anoint her with Holy Oil and have her received the Body of Christ.

The family of the woman requested the priest if he could assign an Extra-Ordinary Minister of the Holy Communion for regular visit so that she could receive Jesus every Sunday. To make a long story short the Priest assigned an Extra-Ordinary Minister to give her Holy Communion every Sunday.    

With the grace of the Lord the two months life that was given her by her doctors became five years.  And her mother would always tell the Extra-Ordinary Minister that the additional four years and ten months of her life was a miracle of the Good Lord which she always receives every Sunday.  

In our gospel today, after Jesus mentioned about the bread from heaven that gives life to the world. The crowd told Him "Lord, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst."

The sick woman and her mother believed without a single doubt this declaration of Jesus that He is the Bread of Life. How about you? Do you also believe? – Marino J. Dasmarinas