Reflection for January 29, Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 5:1-20

Gospel: Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

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Reflection:

Is there anyone in this world that is more powerful than Jesus? No one for the simple reason that  even demons and unclean spirits are afraid of Him. If this is so; how come not everyone of us gravitate towards Him? Because the power of Jesus is not of this world;  and besides we normally equate power with position of influence and money.

Does Jesus occupy a position of influence? Does Jesus have money? Jesus has none of these worldly trappings! If we would follow Jesus He would dislodge us from our corrupt and worldly comfort zones and many who are already enslaved by this world will not like this.

Jesus power is something that we feel in our hearts; it is something that He gives us freely and oftentimes something that is not felt and seen by worldly people. And people who love this present life more than the real life after this present life is over and done with already.

How about you? You who profess to know Jesus and you who say that Jesus is in your heart. What are you going to do? You have to find time to share Jesus no matter how busy you are. Thus, you would be able to share the miracle of Jesus which has transformed you to become who you are today. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Sunday, January 28, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Mark 1:21-28

Gospel: Mark 1:21-28

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

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Reflection:

There is a story of a married man who succumb to an adulterous relationship with his
 equally married officemate. The man would always attend Holy Mass with his wife every Sunday. Yet, he still surrendered to the enticement of the devil acting through his married officemate by jumping with reckless abandon into that adulterous relationship. 

Why was he overpowered by the woman who was doing it on behalf of the devil? This is for the simple reason that he had superficial faith, he did not allow Jesus to take control of his life. He instead allowed the devil through the woman who was ostensibly nice and accommodating to her to seduce, control and manipulate him. 

When Jesus went to the synagogue He encountered a man with an unclean spirit or a man possessed by a demon. Then after conversing with the unclean spirit Jesus drove it away from the man.

Everyone, of us is susceptible to be possessed by a demon that is if our faith in Jesus is weak and if we don’t live our faith. Therefore, we are easily tempted by the devil to commit sin no matter how severe without guilt of conscience. This is what the evil one does to us he uses people to probe our faith. And if it’s weak and shallow it would never stop until it capture, ravage and destroy us.

Unclean spirit and evil spirit are very real it hides deep in our being it only comes out when the environment is conducive for it to come out. For example, when there’s temptation for us to do something immoral, adulterous and sinful. When the opportunity presents itself the demon that hides within us would now suddenly take control of us until it accomplishes its evil will for us.

Why does the presence of the evil one hide within us? It hides for the reason that we give it space, in other words it hides within us because we consent to it. Most especially when the situation to sin and do evil is favorable.

However, if we really desire to completely extricate ourselves from any form of evil possession and unclean spirit. We actually could with the help of Jesus, how would we do it? We must get closer to Jesus we must always ask Jesus to weed out and to completely overpower, defeat and eliminate the evil that resides within us.

And of course we also have to do our part. We have to permanently avoid and distance ourselves from the human representative of the devil which ostensibly appear to be nice and accommodating to us. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for January 27, Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time; Mark 4:35-41

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: "Let us cross to the other side." Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" They were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"

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Reflection:

Was Jesus only testing the faith of His disciples? If He was, then Jesus found out that His disciples was terribly wanting in faith. Jesus calmed the violent sea storm to assure them all that He was in control of everything.

We too will encounter storms in our lives. How would we handle these storms? Would we allow these storms to defeat us and prevent us from living our lives? Or we continue to become calm under duress caused by these life storms?

The obvious answer is we will continue to be calm no matter how difficult the storm/s that we would be encountering. For the reason that we already have Jesus.

We are often times easily rattled by our life storms or problems because we are lacking in faith. If only we will learn to trust Jesus more than we trust on ourselves. If only we will not lean on our own finite understanding.

We would then be able to discover how mightily powerful Jesus is. That Jesus is more than enough to defeat any kind of life storms that we will be encountering in our lives. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday January 26, Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops; Mark 4:26-34

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

He said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade. With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

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Reflection:

Do you want to feel the kingdom of God in your life? Then you should open your life to God. In everyday of your life God showers you with every blessing that He could give you. But do you notice and acknowledge these blessings that God gives you?

For example, the blessing of a new life when you wake up in the morning, the sunlight, the air that you breathe and so forth. Do you care to thank God for all of these blessings?

Acknowledgement of God’s many blessings is the first step for you to feel the kingdom of God in your life. When you recognize the majesty and power of God you also open your life to His kingdom. And you let God come into your life; eventually you let God rule your life.

Then little by little you let God take charge of your life and not you anymore taking charge of your own life. Thus, you would be able to avoid sin no matter how tempting. And you would be able to carefully discern right from wrong.

This is where the kingdom of God begins to take root in your life. It grows little by little until it blooms wherein you would be able to fight temptation in whatever forms and shapes.  others can take shelter and comfort. 

Jesus in our gospel for this Friday mentions about the small mustard seed which is none other than Himself and His kingdom. This small mustard seed once acknowledged and recognized by the soil (Which is no other than you). Begins to sprout until it blooms and eventually grows bigger so that those who are in need can take shelter.

Do you always acknowledge, recognize and discern the presence of God’s kingdom in your life? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday January 25, the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle; Mark 16:15-18

Gospel: Mark 16:15-18

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

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Reflection:

There is a story of a woman who would always share pictures of herself on social media. Her husband who was a pastor would always tell her to share instead bible quotations so that she could inspire others to know more about God and in the process share in the mission of Jesus as well.

Transmission of communication nowadays is very fast, for example if we post something on the internet. And if the content of what we post is good, we could be assured that it will go viral, it could reach the farthest corner of the world.

During the time of Jesus transmission of communication was on a word of mouth basis. No internet and other high-end form of communication. It was simple word of mouth only. And yet the gospel was able to spread until it reached us. The key element in the spread of the gospel were the committed apostles and Saint Paul whose conversion we celebrate today.

The desire of Jesus today is for us to become the modern day apostles and Saint Paul to whom he could entrust the mission of evangelization. He trusts us that we could also proclaim the gospel using the many forms of social media mode of communication today.  

There’s no more excuse for us not to help Jesus spread the gospel because we have in our fingertips the internet. Let us exploit the use of this technology to reach as many humans as possible.

For example, if you’ve been posting updates about yourself using facebook, twitter, instagram and other forms of internet vehicles. Why not post quotations from the bible instead? Why not post something that would inspire others to take seriously their faith?  By doing this you inspire others and you perpetuate the teachings of Jesus.  

What are you doing to spread Jesus and your faith using the internet? -  Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Wednesday January 24, Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church; Mark 4:1-20

Gospel: Mark 4:1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.  Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

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Reflection:

How can you become the seed that fell on rich soil? You have to attend Holy Mass as often as possible most especially on Sundays, you have to be prayerful, you have to ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit and you have to live your faith.

Many of us go off course and do not become the seed that fell on rich soil for the simple reason that we don’t take seriously our faith. We attend Holy Mass, we read the bible but we don’t practice what we read and hear. We simply let it inside our ears and let it pass on the other side of our ear.

What we have to do is to let what we hear go down to our hearts afterwards we let it go up to our brains. Thus, we would be able to live what we read and hear.

There is a story of a man who goes to Mass every Sunday and who profess to be faithful to his wife. However, his wife discovered that she was not the only woman in his life. Why did it happen that he was not true to his profession of fidelity towards his wife? This is for the reason that his faith is superficial and many of us are like this man: We have superficial faith.

How could we transform this superficial faith for it to become the seed which fell on rich soil and produced hundredfold of fruits?

We have to be docile to the desire of the Holy Spirit and that is to transform us to become a faithful follower of Jesus. And this is very possible for the simple reason that nothing is impossible to our God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for January 23, Tuesday of the Third Week; Mark 3:31-35

Gospel: Mark 3:31-35 

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

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Reflection:

Would you want to be a relative of Jesus?

Jesus has a very simple requirement for us to become His brother, sister and mother and this is to do the will of God. What does this mean to us? We must feed the hungry, we must help those who need help, we must forgive and pray for those who’ve hurt us. And there are many more selfless actions that we can do, so that we can be called relatives of Jesus.

It seems simple by reading through it but to live what Jesus wants us to do is another story. Do we really feed the hungry? Are we really quick to forgive? Are we really selfless? The challenge for all of us is to live our faith to the hilt. This means that we must at all times be like Jesus: through our actions, words and through our way of life.

However, this is easier said than done, yet God in His infinite mercy gives us the opportunity everyday for us to become part of Him. He presents us life situations wherein we could always live what we have learned from Him if at all we are leaning from Him.

The reality of life is it’s hard to be a relative of Jesus because many of us don’t undress ourselves with everything that makes us creatures of this world. Such as self-centeredness, arrogance, greed and a lot more negative attitudes. Which makes us relatives of the evil one rather than a relative of Jesus.  

But all is not lost yet, if we want to be a relative of Jesus we must strive to be like Him: His humility, His acts of kindness and His countless selfless actions.  These are the challenges that we must ponder if we want be a relative of Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for January 22, Monday of the Third Week; Mark 3:22-30

Gospel: Mark 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

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Reflection:

A young family would always go to church as a family and whenever there is a problem in their family. The father or mother would always see to it that they reconcile before the day is over. For to them God always wants a unified family. Indeed, God is an advocate of unity and for unity more so inside the family.

Yet the devil wants to destroy the unity of the family for the simple reason that the devil is for disunity, problem and conflict. For the simple reason that when there’s problem, disunity and conflict the evil one has the opportunity to come in and create more havoc.    

In the gospel, Jesus talks about the importance of unity. He tells us; If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Unity indeed is very important and essential, for example in a family. What would happen If there’s no unity between the father and mother? Same as with friendship, how can friendship last if friends are not operating on the same wavelength?

The same is true if we are not united with Jesus in everyday of our lives. What would happen to us If we live our lives apart from Jesus? And if we stand by ourselves in this world? We end up with nothing but division, loneliness and evil. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for Sunday January 21, Feast of the Sto. Nino; Mark 10:13-16

Gospel: Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child* will not enter it. Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

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Reflection:

A story is told about a man who wanted to know God on his own terms and intelligence. So, he read books that would help him know God but to no avail. He be friended people from his church’s parish yet there still was no development of his knowledge about God.

Finally, a wise man advised him to humbly abandon himself like a child before God. So he did and thereupon began pouring all the wisdom that he would need to know God deeply.

Today we celebrate the feast of Sto. Nino, this is one of the most well attended and most popular feasts of the church here in the Philippines. Many also are devotees of Sto. Nino in fact we see the image of Sto. Nino in almost all of the catholic families here in the Philippines.

There are also images of Sto. Nino in government/private offices; majority of politicians are devotees of the Sto. Nino. For the reason that the Sto. Nino is present everywhere it may seem that our country is morally upright. Better think again, the country is still mired in corruption, immorality, arrogance and killings.

Where is the influence of the Sto. Nino then? Do we allow our devotion to the Sto. Nino change us for the better? Certainly not and this is our big problem. We are fond of displaying images of our faith but the irony of it is this: Our faith remains on exterior display and it ends there.

There is no conversion and change of heart. If only we would learn to imbibe and internalize the virtues of the Sto. Nino who is a little child that is always humble and honest. Who doesn’t know how to cheat, kill and lie. Who doesn’t know how to compromise with wrong. Then, our devotion to the child Jesus or Sto. Nino is not in vain.

In the gospel, Jesus is angry with His disciples for they were preventing the children to go to Him. So Jesus told them: “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Mark 10:14)

Is Jesus speaking here of the literal children only? Of course not! Jesus is also speaking here of the adult ones which includes us. Adult ones who have childlike virtues such as: Humility, simplicity, forgiveness, honestly and the like. – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Reflection for Sunday, January 21, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time; Mark 1:14-20

Gospel Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

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Reflection:

A father would always call his children to go home for lunch as they play in front of their house. The moment the children hears his voice they would immediately pack things up to respond to his call. Why? For the simple reason that she is their mother the one who takes care of them, who feeds them and who gives her time for them.

The four disciples knew something that we don’t know. That’s why they responded to Jesus’ call. Jesus did not promise them anything verbally but perhaps Jesus was silently talking to them in their hearts. That if they would respond they would have a new perspective about life and the afterlife.  And if they would respond He would take care of them for the rest of their lives.

What is it that keeps us from responding to the call of Jesus? Are we afraid to lose our financial security? Are we afraid to leave behind our family and friends? Are we afraid to leave behind our vices and sinfulness? We are on a temporary journey in this world, whatever worldly things that we presently have are temporary and passing.

Jesus is calling us to follow Him and leave whatever worldliness and sinfulness that we have for Him. For example, the call would go this way: Follow me and leave behind your sinful life, follow me and begin to live a fulfilled, peaceful and meaningful life.

Perhaps, Jesus is not asking us to leave our present environment and be with Him in another place. Perhaps Jesus is telling us this: Follow me where you are today by living behind whatever sinfulness that you are in right now. Never worry when you do so for I will take care of you and will never leave you alone. – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

Reflection for January 20, Saturday of the Second Week; Mark 3:20-21

Gospel: Mark 3:20-21

Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.

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Reflection:

What happens when we get to serious with our vocation for the Lord? They normally would label us as someone who is out of his/her mind. For example, when we prioritize God over money, when we shun friends even relatives from our environment friends/relatives who do not bring us any good. and instead we focus our time and energy for the glory of God. They would really label us as somebody who is out of his/her mind.

But come to think of it, who is out of his/her mind? Those who focus their time and energy for the greater glory of God or those who focus their time and energy to this world only? If you focus your attention to this world what would happen to you when you die? Where would you end up if you allow yourself to be possessed by this world? 

Jesus is labeled as out of His mind for the reason that He is very zealous in His mission for the Lord. He allowed Himself to be possessed by His mission for the Lord rather than embrace worldliness.

There really are people who will not understand us for the things that we do for the greater glory of God. We must move on nevertheless and continue doing our mission for Jesus. Let us just pray for the enlightenment of those who do not understand or refuse to understand what we do for the Lord.  – Marino J. Dasmarinas