2nd Day of Simbang Gabi 2011

December 17, 2011
Pook Interior

In the olden times before electricity, the streets were lighted with gas lamps. Each evening a lamplighter would go around with a little flame and light one lamp after another. One evening a person was sitting in his house looking out the window. Across the valley was a street on the hillside. There he could see one lamp after another being lighted by the lamplighter as he went along. Because of the darkness, the man could not see the lamplighter, only his burning torch and the trail of lights he left behind. 

 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,  and Ram the father of Ammin'adab, and Ammin'adab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Bo'az by Rahab, and Bo'az the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,  and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uri'ah,  and Solomon the father of Rehobo'am, and Rehobo'am the father of Abi'jah, and Abi'jah the father of Asa,  and Asa the father of Jehosh'aphat, and Jehosh'aphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzzi'ah,  and Uzzi'ah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezeki'ah, and Hezeki'ah the father of Manas'seh, and Manas'seh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josi'ah, and Josi'ah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoni'ah was the father of She-al'ti-el, and She-al'ti-el the father of Zerub'babel, and Zerub'babel the father of Abi'ud, and Abi'ud the father of Eli'akim, and Eli'akim the father of Azor,  and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eli'ud, and Eli'ud the father of Elea'zar, and Elea'zar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

In our Gospel, we have the list of the ancestors of Jesus. Some of the names are familiar to us though many are not. However, this does not matter (whether we know them or not) because what is important is that we know Jesus -the light of the world who entered into our human history through them. We may never have known them, we never have seen them, but we know they passed through this world by the trail of light that they left behind them. And let us therefore not allow to miss the opportunity of seeing the light who is Jesus. Amen.

1st Day of Simbang Gabi 2011

December 16, 2011
ARC/Mabilo

A blind man visited a friend in another village. His friend was so happy to see him as they had not met for so long a time. They began to talk about how their lives had been since they last met. They never noticed that it was already dusk and they had to end their conversation. So the blind man had to go home. But before he went out, he asked his friend if he could give him a lantern or a torch. His friend asked why does he need a light because he is blind and he cannot even use it for his sake. The blind man replied, "It is true I am blind but it does not mean I do not need the light. I need it so as to give other people a clear chance to see me and thus prevent our collision."

Jesus said to the Jews:
“You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. 
I do not accept testimony from a human being,
but I say this so that you may be saved. 
John was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. 
But I have testimony greater than John’s. 
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.”

In our Gospel, Jesus describes John the Baptist as a "burning and shining lamp" who gave light to those around him. His light is not for himself but for others so that they can see God's only son -Jesus. John's light gave warmth because it was the fire of God's love and truth. Just as natural light dispels the darkness and makes the way clear, so John''s light dispelled the spiritual darkness in people's lives and opened the way to freedom and joy in God's kingdom. 

Now we ask ourselves if we do make use of John's light to see Jesus and believe in Him as the son of God?

1st Sunday of Advent 2011

Last Thursday, I was one of the many passengers who were waiting for the plane at Kalibo airport. It was expected to arrive on time as we had to board the plane at 10:30 A.M. But it was delayed for almost an hour. When it arrived, we rushed to get inside the plane and took our seats. However, the pilot announced that we had to wait for a call from Manila to allow us to fly. After a long period of waiting, at last, it was announced by the pilot that we were going to fly. The flight began. When we were about to land at the airport, again the pilot made an announcement that we had to wait for our turn to land as there were eleven planes to make their landing first. There I realized that it takes too long to wait when you wait just as the proverbs say A WATCHED POT NEVER BOILS. It seems it takes forever to wait for something or for someone. The time seems to be too fast and everything around is so slow. Or the clock seems to be too slow to run and still everything is slower. We do not know what to do with our time while waiting and such gives us an irritable feeling somehow.
In our gospel which is taken from Mark 13: 33-37, Jesus said, “Watch; for you do not know when the time will come.” Jesus told us to wait for Him. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. Jesus will give the reward of eternal life in heaven for those who will remain faithful to him as they wait. But for those who will be found unfaithful and those who cannot wait for Jesus, they will be in hell.
We need to be patient and be prudent while waiting. We have to do something while waiting so as to be found worthy of eternal life. Jesus will come not according to our time, but in His time. What we can do, we have to wait and pray.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time -A-

To hear a beloved says “I love you” is beautiful, but it is even more beautiful if a beloved loves you in deeds (actions) too. There are separated couples who would recall their experience admitting that it is easy for their beloved to say “I love you” but their actions speak otherwise.
A husband would say he loves his wife but asks his wife to understand his philandering as part of manliness. A woman would say she loves her husband yet she has the bad habit of yelling at the top of her lungs sometimes for no reason at all. There are also couples who do not pay attention to each other’s needs. One will try to explain something that is important to them, and the other will say, “yes, yes,” but will not really hear. In addition, there are couples who fall into bad habits in their fighting. Ordinarily, couples will disagree from time to time but sometimes they show no love for each other when they argue. A spouse would throw dishes instead. Still another would bring up old arguments to try to hurt the other.
In short, to say I love you is one thing, but to show it through one’s actions is another thing.
Now as a Christian, we are reminded of the same thing by our gospel that we should not just say WE LOVE, but we have to show in our actions that indeed WE LOVE. We have to walk our talk!
In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said –You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. His words clearly show the extent of the command: there is no action in the life of a person which should not be dedicated to the Lord. If we love God then show it through our actions.
But why do most of us fail to love God in our actions though we can boldly say we do love Him? Well, it is because we fall into a wrong notion of loving God.
My dear friends, before we say we love God, we examine ourselves if we recognize the love of God for us. In 1 John 4:19, it is said WE LOVE GOD BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. Love of God always presupposes a prior experience of God’s love, and God offers most of us abundant evidence of such love, usually indirectly through the goodness of others and of our mother nature. The most concrete manifestation of God’s love for us is Jesus, which in 1 John 3:16 declares –this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. So the proper response to our experience of God’s love is to love Him in return. God loved us first and our love for Him is a response to his amazing grace to us.
Yet our love of God does not stop there. In Matthew 22: 39 Jesus added, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. No one can therefore say he loves God unless he loves his neighbor as himself. This is tantamount to say that the more we acknowledge God's love for us the more we must love what He loves. The love we have for others gives us the barometer of how we love God through our actions. In 1 John 3:16-17, this is what God ordains us to do: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Therefore my dear friends; to desire to love God without loving others is a mission impossible. We must follow Jesus who loved God His Father through loving all of us. And when we experience trials and persecutions, let us be reminded of our theme for the upcoming feast of St. Jude: Remain in your love of God like St. Jude who chose life rather than death. It means that we can show our love for God even in the most undesirable circumstances by choosing to live and not give up life. God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Romans 5:5). Let our love conquers all!

Grace of God

In most of our life's pains, we realize there is a person who hurts, a person who is hurt, good people who help, and a God who heals." For those who are emotionally hurt because of what their spouses have done against them, hopefully this book can help them in their journey towards their own healing through the path of forgiveness and reconciliation. The thoughts and insights found in this books are fruits of my interaction with people I met as well as products of some books and related literatures I read. The examples, exercises, and stories presented here can easily guide you to reflect on your own situation. Though the personal stories here are all real, names and some details of the events are changed to protect the person's privacy. Those stories are used for pastoral purposes only and should not be used for any legal purpose.



ISBN 978-971-004-090-2

SIZE – 5.5 x 8.25"

WEIGHT – 200g

PAGES – 184

PRICE – Php 185.00

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

God’s ways are not our ways. It is not always easy to understand the ways of God.
In the Gospel parable today (Matt 20:1-16) we see the workers failing to understand why those who worked just one hour received the same wages as those who worked all day. This made those who worked hard in the heat all day became jealous of those who worked for only one hour and yet got the same pay. For them, the landowner is UNFAIR!!! And we can also say the same against the landowner –that he is unfair. The word “unfair” is easy for us to understand because in one way or the other we ourselves experienced being treated unfairly. We cannot deny that in our world, there are more people who are victims of UNFAIR TREATMENT. There are many of us who know of qualified people whose promotion is denied instead it is given to less qualified people. But the landowner justified himself, “I am not unfair!” He said –“I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?” How come did he say this? Well, if we read again our Gospel for today, we will realize the landowner is right in saying he is not unfair. It is said, “A landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.” Here the first batch of workers had agreed upon a set wage: a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. And yes, they were paid according to what they had agreed. What is unfair about this? Thus, the question is not about fairness but of envy. The first batch who worked hard in the heat all day was ENVIOUS of those who worked for only one hour and yet got the same pay. And their envy is expressed by saying “that’s not fair”. They did not realize that their experience of “unfairness” is actually the experience of envy. They felt themselves victimized and they could not see/appreciate the generosity/goodness of the landowner.
Now, we go to reflect on one of the most difficult questions of faith –Is God unfair? It reminds us of our senseless attempts to understand why some people seemingly have been in a better position than others going through life. Why does God apparently give more blessings to others but not to some? Why are there times when God seems to show partiality towards corrupt individuals while letting the innocent ones suffer?
We approach this question from our own light but the answer lies elsewhere. In other words, from our perspective, God seems to be unfair. And because we focus more on our feeling that God is “unfair”, we do not realize that we actually miss the mark of His generosity/goodness every day of our lives. If God was “fair” (balanced with an eye for an eye) we would all be condemned. “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23).
If others have more than you it does not mean that God loves them more while He loves you less. No matter what good fortune comes to others it really doesn’t matter because as followers of Jesus our aim is to use everything for the glory of God. In any case it would be foolish to be envious of others because we only see the outside and we never know what lies behind their success. And so instead of being envious and jealous of those who have been in a better position in life than us there is a better perspective; to be grateful for what we have.
Our Bible teaches us that we are to give thanks to God at all times in all circumstances.
In Ephesians 5:20 we read, “Always and everywhere give thanks to God who is our Father.”
In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 we read, “Be happy at all times; pray constantly and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus.”
In Colossians 3:17 we read, “Whatever you say or do, let it be in the name of the Lord Jesus, in thanksgiving to God the Father through him.”
So even when others prosper or have more success or better chances, what can we do? We can give thanks to God for the blessings he has given to them and the blessings he has given to us. God deals differently with each of us because God loves each of us in the way that God knows best for us and his kingdom. The attitude to have is one of trust in God –whether He is fair or unfair by man’s definition. We need to listen to God who says:
“Yes, the heavens are as high above earth
as my ways are above your ways.
my thoughts above your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)