Reflection for Monday May 15, Fifth Week of Easter: John 14:21-26

Gospel: John 14:21-26

Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

"I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name— he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you."

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Reflection:

There’s a story about a couple who always go to Sunday Mass to fulfill their Sunday obligation. While in church they look pious and devoted to the faith. However when they go home their other side which is their real personality is suddenly revealed. They shout at their maid, they yell at their kids and they act like dictators in their house.

Do they really love God? I don’t think so, their love for God is superficial and is limited inside the four walls of their church.

In the gospel Jesus says: “Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Certainly Jesus and God the Father the first two persons of the trinity have not revealed themselves to this couple.

Jesus further states: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

Sometimes it’s very hard for many of us to understand the mystery of the oneness of God and Jesus simply because we are not true to our faith. What we hear and learn in the church during the Priest sermon/homily just comes in and out in our ears. Many of us don’t live and give substance to our faith. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

1Reflection for May 14, Fifth Sunday of Easter; John 14:1-12

Gospel: John 14:1-12

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. 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."

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Reflection:

A man would always be troubled whenever he would see on TV news about massive wars and killings. He would always ask himself, is the end of the world coming? Like this man we all have our own secret worries and fears, for example we worry about how we could sustain the future for our children. Worry about money, about our family relationships and it seems that we are never running out of worries in this world.

But have we thought of God in the midst of our worries? Have we thought of just telling Jesus take care of our secret worries and fears whatever it may be?

We are very much bothered by our troubles in this world because we never trust Jesus that much and our faith in Jesus is wanting. What we do instead is to trust on ourselves and have faith on ourselves. This is the reason why we are bothered by our worldly troubles.

Why don’t we try to let go and let God? We let go of our worries and let God take control of everything! For example if you’re being bothered by a sickness, family problem or a personal problem. Start to slowly let go of those worries and pains, then raise everything up to God, learn to trust and have faith in the powerful name of Jesus. 

In our gospel for this Sunday Jesus gives us an antidote for our worries and fears HE tells us: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me (John 14:1).

Thomas said: “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.

Sometimes we seek to discover things that we think will make us happy only to realize that it won’t and we keep on looking for it until we feel empty and broken. To avoid this from happening we must rediscover Jesus in our lives. For he is our way, our truth and our life.

 Without Jesus there’s only emptiness and brokenness. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Saturday May 13, Fourth Week of Easter: John 14:7-14

Gospel: John 14:7-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “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 Jesus, “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:

How well do we know God the Father? How well do we know Jesus? No one of us can say that by our own effort we know God the Father and Jesus very well. Because the gift of deeply knowing God the Father and Jesus is something that we cannot achieve by our own effort for it’s a gift by the Holy Spirit.

In this gospel episode Jesus tells the disciples and us too about His oneness with God the Father. Yet Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father and that would be enough for them (John 14:8). What was going on in Philip’s mind? Perhaps Philip was simply following Jesus for the sake of His miracles and mission. There was no deeper conversion within Philip that’s why He wasn’t able to decipher the oneness of Jesus and the Father. 

When we decide to follow Jesus, let us not only follow Him because of His miracles and the desire to share in His mission. Let us decide to follow Jesus also because of our love for Him thus we yearn for our own spiritual growth with Him. We yearn for a deeper faith and a deeper conversion within ourselves. 

If we only follow Jesus for His miracles and mission sooner or later this desire for discipleship will decrease. Until we decide to lie low and eventually detach ourselves from following Jesus. Let us therefore pray and be open for the gift of deeper faith and deeper conversion within ourselves. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

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