Reflection for Wednesday November 22, Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr: Luke 19:11-28

Gospel: Luke 19:11-28

While people were listening to Jesus speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the Kingdom of God would appear there immediately. So he said, "A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.' His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, 'We do not want this man to be our king.' But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, 'Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.' He replied, 'Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.' Then the second came and reported, 'Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.' And to this servant too he said, 'You, take charge of five cities.' Then the other servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.' He said to him, 'With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.' And to those standing by he said, 'Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.' But they said to him, 'Sir, he has ten gold coins.' He replied, 'I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.'" After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.

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Reflection:

A successful businessman suddenly died, when his soul was about to separate from his body he saw an angel and a devil. He naturally veered away from the devil and he put himself at the side of the angel. When they were about to enter the heavenly gates God was there to ask him this question: What can you say about your life on earth? The man said, I was a successful business man when I was still alive and I did no wrong to anyone.

Then God said that’s very good! But have you done something for my kingdom? The man was not able to answer for he did nothing to help grow the kingdom of God. Then God commanded the angel to bring him to the other side of the fence where the environment was very hot and humid for he did nothing to advance the kingdom of God.  

What is your present preoccupation right now? Are you very busy with the things of this world? Like how to expand your business and how to grow bigger your money and so forth. Many of us are perhaps like this: very earthly and always very busy with earthly things. But if we are all busy with the affairs of this world where would we be after our journey in this world is already over and done with? Where would we end up if we do nothing for the kingdom of God in this world? 

In our gospel a nobleman gave his servants gold coins so that they could do something to make it grow. Some of them were able to increase its value yet there was one who simply kept in a handkerchief what was entrusted to him. He did nothing to grow the money entrusted to him by his master.

In our faith life doing nothing is never an option or faith in Jesus that is kept to oneself is never an alternative. We must share this faith that Jesus has entrusted to us in whatever manner possible so that it could grow and have life.

When you share your faith you also enrich your spiritual life and you become a productive servant of the Lord. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday November 21, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Luke 19:1-10

Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

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

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Reflection:

Was it only Zacchaeus who was seeking an encounter with Jesus? Was Jesus not also seeking an encounter with Zacchaeus?  Yes, Jesus was also seeking an encounter with Zacchaeus! Why? For the reason that Zacchaeus was a sinner like all of us and truth be told Jesus loves to have an encounter with sinners so that He could convert them. And what made it more interesting for Jesus to seek out Zacchaeus was his desire to see Jesus as well.

Before Jesus arrived in Jericho He already had in mind Zacchaeus He knew that this chief tax collector was looking for Him and ready to change his sinful ways. With this factor present the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus happened. After their meeting Jesus subsequently went to the house Zacchaeus to purify his house. As well as to liberate Zacchaeus from any form of sinfulness and right then and there his conversion and liberation from any form of sinfulness happened.

How could we relate this gospel episode with our personal lives? Like Zacchaeus we too are sinful we may not be thinking yet of walking away from our sinfulness. Yet Jesus is already knocking at our hearts so that he could also have a personal encounter with us.

If we say that we are not ready yet to walk away from our sinfulness because we enjoy sinning, then when? Next month or next year? It may be too late already, nothing is certain in this world anything can happen the next seconds or minutes.

Therefore, we must also be like Zacchaeus who responded to the desire of Jesus to meet him. Let us not delay anymore let us rush to meet Jesus now for tomorrow may be late already.

Are you prepared to have a personal encounter with Jesus today? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday November 20, Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 18:35-43

Gospel: Luke 18:35-43

As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!” Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

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Reflection:

Who is Jesus to you? Is Jesus the hope and salvation of your life? The blind man in our gospel had his hope and salvation anchored on Jesus. When he heard that Jesus was passing by he shouted with all his might, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” His shout comprised his prayer with faith in Jesus.

From a hopeless situation the blind man suddenly found hope and salvation because Jesus passed by him. And Jesus did not disappoint the blind man because He asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Then the blind man said in reply, please let me see my Lord and immediately he receive his sight and he became a follower of Jesus from thereon.

What separates the blind man from us? It’s his persistent and persevering faith, it’s faith that can move mountains. This is what separates this blind man from many us, what if we are in the shoes of the blind man? Would we simply give up and be silent because we were rebuked and sternly told to be silent?   

But this blind man, when he was rebuked and told to be silent the more that he persisted and the more that he cried to Jesus for help.  And because of his persevering and persistent faith he was heard and given the gift of sight by Jesus.

What is it that you want from Jesus? Don’t give up, be persistent and have faith for Jesus will soon hear you. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Sunday, November 19, Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 25:14-30

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”

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Reflection:

A talented inventor died a few years ago; he was praised by the world for his contribution to the advancement of cutting edge smart phone technology. He used his talent to the fullest extent until he died to feed the technology cravings of this world.

We all have talent/s that God has given us. However, we oftentimes selfishly use this talent to advance our own agendas such as to increase our wealth and status in life. There is nothing wrong with this kind of usage of our talents for we are humans. As such our tendency is to grow and nurture this talent/s to feed our human needs.

But Jesus gives us another idea on how to use the talent/s that He gave us by way of the parable of the talents in our gospel. He tells a parable of a master who went on a journey but before proceeding he called his three servants and he entrusted them his wealth. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one after which he proceeded to his journey.

After a period of time the master came home and he called the three servants so that he could be updated on what they’ve done with the talent/s that he entrusted them. We all know what happened; the first two were very enterprising for they were able to multiply the talents entrusted to them.

But the servant who was entrusted with one talent was not as enterprising as the two. Out of fear for his master he instead buried the one talent that was entrusted to him. Naturally the master was furious with this unproductive servant and we know already what happened to this unproductive servant.

Let us not only use our talents for this world alone.  It’s about time that we use our time, talents and treasures to plant the seeds of the kingdom of God in this world. Let us not worry even if we won’t be getting any worldly reward in return for God will take care of it someday. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Saturday November 18, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 18:1-8

Gospel: 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:

Is prayer an essential part of your everyday life? What do you do after you pray? Do you just lie down and wait for the answers to your prayers to fall from heaven?

The gospel for today shows persistent prayers coupled with corresponding actions. In our gospel there is a parable told by Jesus about a persistent widow who ask again and again from a judge for a just decision she never gave up until she got what she wanted from the judge.

When we pray we humble ourselves before God, we humbly open ourselves to the unlimited blessings that God could shower us. When we regularly pray we get to know Jesus more deeply. We become not only friends with Jesus but very close friends with Him, thus Jesus becomes an essential part of our lives.

Make prayer a part of your daily life and you will feel that Jesus is always with you. You will also observe a deepening of your relationship with Him who is always just a prayer away from you. When you are prayerful you also are always assured of the presence of Jesus in your life.  

Don’t you want to be with Jesus all the time? You therefore have to be prayerful. - Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Friday November 17, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious: Luke 17:26-37

Gospel: 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:

Why does the church perpetually call us to leave behind our sinfulness? For example, the church since time immemorial had been tirelessly advising us to live a life worthy in the eyes of the Lord. For what reason is this call of the church?

This is to prepare us for the coming judgment day which unfortunately we don’t know when it will be. Therefore, the sooner we respond to this call of repentance the better for it would save us from unspeakable punishment.

The people during the time of Noah and Lot were preoccupied with immoral and worldly things; perhaps this was the reason why without any warning came the catastrophe. Why did it happen? It happened because they were very much preoccupied with the things that would satisfy their lust, their greed and their love to commit sin.

We never learn from these incidents because up to this very moment some of us continue to crave to commit immorality. Some of us are still very greedy we have no satisfaction and we continue to amass corrupted wealth.   We continue to commit sin; we continue to harbor the devil in our midst.

We better stop these sinful actions and repent before it completely destroys us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Thursday November 16, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 17:20-25

Gospel: 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:

Do you have an awareness of the kingdom of God in your life?

Everyone of us has different awareness of the kingdom of God; for some it’s already here and now. This is basically attributed to their rock solid faith and close intimacy with God. Their rock solid faith and intimacy with Jesus which is always feed by a healthy prayer life.

Others have no sensitivity of the kingdom of God in their lives and the sad part here is they think that life ends with death. In these others lies the challenge for us. What must we do so that these immeasurable others will know that the kingdom of God is real? 

Should we preach about it? Should we teach them about it? We must preach, we must teach and we must live the kingdom of God in our lives.  Otherwise we will have no awareness of it and we would continue to live our lives without fear of sin.

The kingdom of God is within us already, we who know Jesus and we who have a relationship with Him. The challenge therefore is to share Jesus so that they too will have an awareness of His kingdom. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday November 15, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 17:11-19

Gospel: Luke 17:11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."

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Reflection:

What does God require from us to be healed from our physical and emotional sickness? God requires Faith, Humility and gratefulness.

In our gospel, while Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem His attention was caught from afar by ten men who were shouting with faith: Jesus master! Have pity on us! It was not their collective shouting that caught His attention it was their infinite faith that caught Jesus’ attention.

As a result, the ten of them were healed but not all of them were humble and grateful enough to appreciate the healing that they received from Jesus. Amongst them it was only the Samaritan (a foreigner) who went back to Jesus to express his appreciation.

Thus Jesus said to the Samaritan: "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Why did Jesus ask for the other nine? Was Jesus expecting them to say thanks to him because He wants to be honored? Of course not! Jesus was looking for the other nine because He wanted to see if they have the virtue of humility and gratefulness. Unfortunately, they did not have it for they did not return.

We have three important lessons that we can learn from the gospel today.

First: We must always have faith in Jesus, no matter what storms we encounter in our lives we must always have faith, we must not lose it!

Second: We must always humble ourselves before God by way of following His will for us and not our own will for ourselves which is always selfish.

Third: We must always be grateful to God for the countless blessings and miracles that He continuously bestows upon us. We may not notice it but everyday we receive little and big blessings from God. For example: the food on the table that He daily gives us, the health that we have, the new life that He gives us every morning. These to some are trivial but these are blessings from God that we forget to realize.

Therefore, let us always be cognizant of the fact that we must always have faith no matter our life’s trials. We must always be humble before Him and our fellowmen for the reason that humility is the gateway for having more blessings from God. And lastly we must always be thankful for the little and big miracles that He authors in our lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Tuesday November 14, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time, Luke 17:7-10

Gospel: 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:

Once in a while we would go through episodes in our lives that would force us to question if there is really God. And because we were taught that there is a God we will say, yes there is God. But then again at the back of our minds we will ask again and again and again. If there’s a God, why does suffering exist?

We don’t know the answers to this very valid question because there are times that God seems to be deaf to our longing for Him. But who are we to question the majesty of God? We are but a speck in this world, mere servants and finite humans that easily gives up on God whenever we are faced with sufferings.

In our lowliness before this infinite and all powerful God, it’s also valid for us to ask Him questions. It’s also valid for us to beg for answers. Why all these sufferings? Let us ask God to answer these valid questions of ours for the reason that even servants have rights too.

In spite all of these sufferings we who are alive must not lose faith. We must continue to hold on to this God who gave us life and faith. Otherwise if we would lose faith, to where would we go? We embrace evil and allow the Devil to take control of our lives? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday November 13, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin: Luke 17:1-6

Gospel: 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:

A woman wants her faith to increase she practically did everything to have it. She went to church regularly, read the bible and she did a devotion to the blessed Mother. However, she noticed that her faith did not increase.

She even shouted, “Increase my faith O Lord” but there was no increase in her faith. In fact she noticed that her faith was actually diminishing because she was more trusting on herself than the Good Lord. Why?  For the simple reason that she remained arrogant towards her relatives and friends. She always wants to have her way in everything that she does: in short there was no change in her egotistical behavior.

What must we do then for us to have an increase in our faith? We must be humble at all times, before God and before our fellowmen. We must trust God more than we trust ourselves. We attract graces (including the grace of faith) if we are humble and if we bow our heads before God.

When we’re humble and more trusting in God it simply means that we’re opening ourselves for heavenly graces. That God pours to those who are always ready to accept it with humility. What happens if we’re arrogant and we trust more on ourselves? We’re shutting ourselves from God blessings, that’s how plain and simple it is.

We cannot anymore fill a glass full of water, this is the arrogant and self-trusting person but we can certainly pour more water to a half-empty glass, this is the person who trusts and humbles himself before God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Sunday, November 12, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 25:1-13

Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

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Reflection:

Is there a magic word for a successful marriage? Yes, there is and the magic word is preparation. When a couple decides to marry they have to ensure that they plunge into the marriage covenant prepared.

They have to be prepared spiritually by putting God at the center of their lives. They have to be prepared for the emotional and financial stress that they will be going through. They have to be prepared to swallow their own prides/egos. If there are no preparations their marriage will break apart sooner or later.

In the gospel the five foolish virgins went unprepared to meet the bridegroom. They have no knowledge of the time of the bridegroom’s arrival yet they did not bring extra oil for their lamps.

So, when news came that the bridegroom had arrived.  The five who were unprepared went out for a while to buy oil. But upon coming back nobody was present anymore. For the bridegroom and the five wise virgins were already at the wedding feast. Despite knocking at the door and begging to be allowed entry the door was not opened for them.

Preparation is important in any event of life. For example, a student who prepares for an examination would be able to pass. A soldier who prepares for war will be able to fight properly.

A Priest who prepares for his homily will be able to touch and change hearts and minds.  And a person who has months to live and who prepares for his death will be able to die without excess baggage in his heart.

Should you also prepare for your ascent to heaven someday? – Marino J. Dasmarinas