12th Sunday in 2015

In our Gospel which is taken from Mark 4: 35-41, it is said that Jesus invited His followers to go across to the other side of the sea. In so doing, we could observe two acts which interplay in the scene i.e., the acts of the disciples and the acts of nature. In the first instance, we could imagine the action of the disciples as they took Jesus in the boat. They were secured and confident to take Jesus in the said boat because they had fishermen with them who were expected to be familiar with the course of the sea. We know that Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen, so they knew if it was safe for them to sail on that day. But the acts of nature entered into the scene. It is said that a great storm of wind arose and the waves beat into the boat. At this point, the security and confidence of the disciples were somehow failing and fading. Here we may say, in relation to the boat, the acts of the disciples were constructive but the acts of nature were destructive. It was at this point too that they awakened Jesus and said "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" My dear friends, if we reflect on these words, was it appropriate to utter those words to someone who was awakened from a deep sleep? Was it not inappropriate that someone who was expected to be familiarized with such kind of situation being fishermen themselves uttered those words to a son of the carpenter? Anyway, the acts of the disciples here towards Jesus were somehow destructive in the sense that they would seem to question Jesus whether He cared about them or not. They were restless and unsteady even in the presence of Jesus. Then Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Here the acts of nature were somehow constructive that in the sense nature became at peace and steady in the presence of Jesus.   

From these two acts i.e. of the disciples and nature, we could also reflect on our own acts in relation to things and to Jesus. In our Gospel, the boat was the thing which became the object of the acts of the disciples and of nature. Just like the disciples, we too feel secure and confident with things which we are familiar with. Some of us have our cars, cellphones, iphone, etc. and we use them for our purpose. We take care of them because we know it is important for our life. However, if the acts of nature have to take its course, we cannot expect that nature would spare the things we love and destroy only those things of which we would care less. Our Gospel made a statement on this, the boat was already filling because of the acts of nature. It also happened in our parish, at San Lorenzo Ruiz de Mla in Aklan, our native-style convention hall which was built in May and finished in September but was only destroyed by Yolanda (in November). Hence, in relation to things especially those which are beneficial for man and woman, we try to protect and preserve them. We even cry to God for help.

How about the acts of nature and our acts in relation to God? Well, in our Gospel, nature obeyed Jesus. The wind and the sea could not therefore go against God. Nature could never destroy the will of God. But like the disciples in the Gospel, we sometimes fail to see that we little by little severe our relationship with God just because of the things we love. The disciples experienced that the damage done to their boat was also a threat to their lives, such is sometimes what we feel when we are about to lose the things we love or when we actually lose them. I for one lost my newly-bought cellphone, and I could neither eat nor sleep thinking of it. And just like the disciples, we say some words which show our desperation, “Lord, do you not care if we perish?” We have not realized that we make “things” more important than God in saying those words. We have not realized who we are before God. We have not realized that if we protect the things we consider important, then how much more for God to protect us as we are important to Him.

My dear friends, today we are called to evaluate our own actions in relation to things and to God. When all things are eventually destroyed by nature (Don’t get me wrong. I am not praying for the Big One to happen), let us ask ourselves with the question Jesus asked His disciples -"Why are you afraid? And if our life is in danger due to the course of nature, then we ask ourselves with the question Jesus asked His disciples –“Have you no faith?" My dear friends, in God alone we can find our rest. Amen.

11th Sunday 2015

In our Gospel according to  Mark 4:26-34, Jesus gave His listeners a description of the Kingdom of God using two parables.
In  the first parable where He talked about the Kingdom of God, He mentioned -"the harvest has come" and in the second -"the mustard seed becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
In both parables, Jesus revealed to His listeners that with the dawning of the Kingdom of God, there comes happiness. In other words, God wills to share His happines with us His creatures. But this seems to be difficult for some of us to understand. If God wants us to be happy, then why is there suffering? Why is there sickness, death, famine, poverty, etc. in this world? How can there be happiness? My dear friends, with all these questions, happiness seems to be a mere impossibility. Instead of providing us some answers for all these questions, Jesus maintained to describe that there is happiness. First, this happiness does not happen abruptly or instantly. Then this happiness is imperceptible that it is something beyond what the senses can perceive.

First, happiness does not happen abruptly or instantly. This is indicated in the first parable when Jesus said, "the earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear"  while in the second He said, "it is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth". With these descriptions, we get the impression that happiness happens through a gradual process. My dear friends, we believe that God being omnipotent can give us an instant solution by eradicating all of these problems once and for all. Yet our God prefers that things happen in His own time. It is therefore necessary for us to wait for God to address all our concerns while we continue praying to Him. This is what most sick people experience when they say "God, if you want me to be happy, heal me right now", healing does not take place immediately. For some, it takes years to be healed. They have to be patient as they gradually improving their health condition. We have to remember, happiness does not happen abruptly or instantly.

Now we go to the next character, happiness is imperceptible that it is something beyond what the senses can perceive. This is indicated in the first parable as Jesus said, "a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how", and in the second He said, "a mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up..." With these words, we get the impression that happiness somehow is uncapable of being perceived by the senses. This means my dear friends, that despite the many problems we see in this world, those problems cannot stop God in sharing us His happiness. There is happiness. But we have to go beyond our senses to discover it. We cannot rely on just what we see or hear or touch. We might not understand why certain painful event must happen to us but time will come for us to realize why it should happen. What matters on that day is that after all the sufferings, we can find happiess in the end. In short, despite the many discomfort and difficulties in life, God assures us that He shares His happiness with us.

To end, allow me to share my experience. In 1988, after I graduated from elementary, I entered the seminary to fulfill my only dream, that is to become a priest. But it was very difficult for me then to adjust myself in the seminary because it was my first time to sleep without my mother at my side. I also had the difficulty to follow our seminary schedules as well as to pass our subjects especially in Math, Latin and Spanish. I always got sick that I thought I could not make it anymore to become a priest. This situation went on until I was in the second year, when our priest-professor in Latin scolded me during our class with him because I was actually academically poor. He even warned me saying, "You better go home and plant camote." It was on that day that I prayed to God that at least I could finish my high school in the seminary and get out after our graduation. My dear friends, I do not know how and why but I stayed in the seminary after graduating from high school. Then after thirteen years in the seminary, I could not believe that I was ordained priest on September 19, 2001, which was also the birthday of the priest who scolded me when I was in High School. I admit my dear friends, he served as my model-priest while I was studying in the seminary. On that day, I experienced what happiness means. Happiness is a gift from God. It does not happen instantly. It is not always perceptible yet it exists. Happiness comes in God's time. Amen.

Corpus Christi Sunday

Today is Corpus Christi Sunday or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. I cannot but share to you how I witnessed a miracle resulting from one’s devotion to our Holy Eucharist when I was in college. We were in our Philosophy years that we seminarians experienced great pressure to study due to the seminary’s academic demands. One of our classmates had to study using his penlight during our “lights off” or sleeping time. Because of this, he suffered from an eye defect. So he was brought to the hospital, (Makati Med) and he was advised to undergo surgery because there was something in his brain that needed medical attention. So he agreed with the doctor. When the scheduled time arrived, one of the doctors was not there and so the mother of our classmate decided not continue their plan of having any surgery. They went back home and our classmate went back to the seminary with his defective eye covered by an eye mask. Every day we had our mass, he would take off his eye mask as the priest elevated the sacred host saying, “My Lord and my God.” Of course, all of us prayed for him too. Then after sometime, he regained his normal sight. They went to the hospital to ask how it happened, well the doctors could not explain it. But for us, we believe that it was the power of the Holy Eucharist who healed him.

My dear friends, the Holy Eucharist is important for us Catholics. It is in the Eucharist that we receive the Body of Christ as Jesus Himself said in the Gospel of Mark 14: 22 “This is my body.” In receiving Jesus in the Eucharist we are also reminded by His words in the Gospel of John 6: 54 which says, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” This is why even if some Catholics say that our celebration of the Mass is boring, we cannot change its essence that it is a sacrament instituted by Christ for our salvation. Yes, it is nice to pray while dancing and singing praise and worship songs, but such can neither equal with nor a substitute for the Eucharist which has a saving effect being a sacrament. Moreover, it is never written in the Scripture that when a community has a good preacher, with good dancers and singers too, that eternal life is possibly bestowed on them by God. Rather, what is written, that Jesus commanded His apostles to continue doing what He instituted as a sacrament saying, “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). To go further, the Holy Eucharist is the great source of our assurance of salvation. This is why satan hated the Holy Eucharist because many souls are saved every day through this sacrament. So satan needs to stop people attending the mass; and if satan could put an end to the celebration of the mass, then he would do so. This is why the first ones being attacked by satan are the priests. If there is no priest, then there is no one who celebrates the mass. If there is no mass, then one cannot receive the Body of Christ which gives us eternal life. So you see, my dear friends, as we celebrate the Corpus Christi, we are once reminded to love the Eucharist. We are called to attend mass every Sunday and if possible, we celebrate mass together every day. And by the way, our classmate who was healed by the power of the Holy Eucharist is now a parish priest -Fr. Kenn Martin G. Estocado. Let us therefore bless the Lord, and give Him thanks. Amen.      

Trinity Sunday

Today is Trinity Sunday. And as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity, I cannot but tell you a story about my favorite saint, St. Augustine.  

The great Doctor of the Church St. Augustine of Hippo spent over 30 years working on his treatise De Trinitate, endeavoring to conceive an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity.

He was walking by the seashore one day contemplating and trying to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity when he saw a small boy running back and forth from the water to a spot on the seashore. The boy was using a sea shell to carry the water from the ocean and place it into a small hole in the sand. 

The Bishop of Hippo approached him and asked, “My boy, what are you doing?” 

“I am trying to bring all the sea into this hole,” the boy replied with a sweet smile. 

“But that is impossible, my dear child, the hole cannot contain all that water” said Augustine. 

The boy paused in his work, stood up, looked into the eyes of the Saint, and replied, “It is no more impossible than what you are trying to do – comprehend the immensity of the mystery of the Holy Trinity with your small intelligence.”

My dear friends in Christ, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity or the dogma of One God in Three Divine Persons which we believe is revealed to us by Jesus Himself when He said to His disciples according to the Gospel of Matthew 28:19, 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 

In saying this, Jesus revealed to us that there is One God in Three Divine persons –Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. How could I explain this? Well, like St. Augustine in the story I would say it is impossible to comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity; and if I or anybody could fully explain it then how could we say it is a mystery? Nevertheless, allow me my dear friends, to use an analogy just to help you understand a little how great this mystery shall affect our Christian lives if we only know something about it.

Allow me to ask you, Where is West Philippine Sea? Where is South China Sea? If you try to search for the location of West Philippine Sea from Wikipedia, you can find a note “West Philippine Sea redirects here” and then you see there “South China Sea”. In short, there is one sea but is called by different names, either West Philippine Sea or South China Sea. Through this analogy, let me say but not exactly as it must be, that when we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we pray to only one God (the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God yet we do not have three gods but one God).

Now, you might ask if there is one God, why is there Three Divine Persons in God. (You see I am grammatically wrong in using the verb “is” as I talked about Three Persons; but I am doctrinally correct because the “Three Persons” as I have said is but One God.) Again, allow me to use an analogy. If you are a father of a family, you could hear your wife and your children call you “Daddy” while you are in your home. Then if you go to your office to work, you could hear your subordinates call you “Sir”. After your work, you go home and change your clothes because you are going to play tennis with your friends who call you “Nene”. Here, there is only one person who is “Daddy” to his family, “Sir” to his officemates and “Nene” to his friends. Let me say then, but this is not exactly as it must be, there is one God whose presence is that of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

With all these analogies, I now submit to you my dear friends, how the mystery of the Holy Trinity shall affect our Christian lives. We only have one God. This God according to the Scripture is love and thus we say God is love. We have experienced the presence of God. We have experienced love. This love is not just a word but an action word. It is neither an abstract idea nor an empty word. Rather, it is real and true. This real and true love creates life. It always makes something new. God the Father created the world and even until now something new is happening in our world. This real and true love saves life. Jesus the Son has saved us through His death and resurrection. He has given up His life for our sake. This real and true love makes life holy. The Holy Spirit makes us holy. Though we are sinners, the Holy Spirit guides us to our way back to God. This kind of love could also be experienced by most Catholic couples. As husband and wife who love each other, they procreate, they give life to their child. The husband thinks of what to give his wife when he goes home while the wife prepares the home for his husband. They offer their lives for the good of each other. Finally, they pray together. They make each other holy. Therefore, my dear friends in Christ, if we believe in One Holy Triune God, we dedicate ourselves to love. If we really and truly love, we create life-giving atmosphere to the other. If we really and truly love, we offer our lives for the good of the other. If we really and truly love, we make other’s life holy. And at the end, we can all say I love in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Pentecost Sunday

My dear friends in Christ, our Gospel is taken from John 20:19-23. From this Gospel, we could learn somehow what charismatic groups or even born again Christians describe as “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” or “the experience of God’s presence”. Surprisingly, even a deacon of the Iglesia ni Kristo shared a similar experience to me within their community. Well, the sharing and testimonies of the different communities in our present generation would only confirm the religious experience of the early apostles as authentic and true as written in the Scripture.

My dear friends allow me to tell you the experience of the early disciples in seriatim. It is said that it happened on one Sunday evening (on the evening of that day, the first day of the week), which means the apostles were in the dark. Not only that they were in the dark but also hiding in the dark, as it is emphasized in the Gospel that the doors being shut where the disciples were because of fear.

This was the sad setting when Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Notice my dear friends, when Jesus said “Peace be with you” to His disciples, He showed His hands and His side. He showed them His wounds. Why He had to do this? This is to tell us that peace is neither the absence of pain, nor the absence of problems, nor the absence of worries. Rather, peace is an experience of the presence of God despite the pain, problems or worries. It is an experience of the love of God in the midst of the cruelty of the world.  

To continue, it is said in the Gospel that the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So we learn from here, that being aware of the presence of Jesus, of the presence of God, the disciples forgot their fear! The presence of Jesus was so overwhelming that one can say, “wala ka nang hahanapin pa” or “forget muna ang problema”.  

Finally, Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit”. Here, we are being made aware that the Holy Spirit is with us as we receive Him when we were baptized and in the sacrament of Confirmation just like the experience of the early disciples. It is somehow improper then to say that God has abandoned anyone because God Himself has come for all of us. God the Father gave us Jesus and then the Holy Spirit. What else do we want? Well, it is time for us to do our mission in this world being sent by Jesus to testify that God is with us.

Let me end with a personal sharing; there is this one good young man in our parish whose parents are working in a rented fishpond. He wanted to become a teacher but he did not pass the board exam. So he tried culinary arts and became a chef but he was not rehired due to management’s prerogative. When he applied for overseas work, everything was ok except for the result of his medical exam given by the company. He told me he was confused and did not know what lies ahead of him. He was depressed. I told him to pray more. His father also was worried about him and his future.

One day, I asked his family to have a life-size image of Jesus on the cross which would be used for the Holy Week procession. I told them God will bless them for their efforts for the good of our parish. Though I know how difficult it was for them to accept my suggestion, they willingly did have such image during our Holy Week celebration this year. It was this young man who assisted his parents in preparing the image for the procession. I saw his dedication for the parish during the Holy Week. I reminded him that God will make His presence felt in his life.

My dear friends, this morning when I was browsing my Facebook account, I saw his name as one of those who pass the licensure exams for teachers this year. His dream now comes true. But for me as a priest, it is a concrete manifestation that God is with us to be at peace in this restless world. Amen.      

Ascencion Sunday

In Exodus 2:11-12, it is said that one day, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, so he looked in all directions to make sure no one was watching, then he killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.

This Bible passage gives us a picture of one who intends to perform an evil act. First, the person looks in all directions, from left to right, to make sure that no one sees what he intends to do. Second, he performs his evil act with the intention to conceal it from any one.  In most cases, we experience this as a reality when we are tempted to sin. We looked in various directions and thought no one was watching us; thus we fell into sin.

My dear friends, on today's celebration of the Ascencion of our Lord, we are given a reminder that we should not think no one knows what we are doing in secret. In our Gospel, Mark 16:15-20, it is said that our Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to the disciples, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. This verse tells us that before doing anything, we have to look up first rather than to look around. Why? So that we become aware that Jesus is up in heaven and He watches over us. We then have the chance to pray to avoid falling into sin. But most of all, before we begin what we intend to do, we pray first, we ask for God's grace. Today's feast of the Ascencion of our Lord cannot but remind us, pray to God first before we move. Amen.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Our Gospel is taken from John 15: 1-8 where it says Jesus told His disciples that He is the true vine and God the Father is the vine dresser. This declaration of Jesus reminds us of His intimate relationship with His Father. He tells us about Himself but not without telling us about His Father. In other words, we cannot take away or exclude His Father from the story of His life. Without His Father, we cannot therefore have a complete story of Jesus. To go further, Jesus said, "Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." My dear friends, by using such metaphor, Jesus conveys to us that in His relationship with God the Father, He knows and believes that eveything His Father does is always for the good of everybody. His Father assures not only that there must be fruits found in every branch, but there should be more fruits. And if ever a branch does not bear fruit, He has to cut it off. 

My dear friends, let me use an analogy so that we can understand better this relationship of Jesus and His Father. We may say that like any good father of a family, He wishes everything good for His Son as well as to see His Son growing as a good Son. To do this, any good father makes some checking with regard to the quality of his son's friends or companions. If a father would see his son is keeping a bad company, then he would remind him of the ill effects which his bad friends might bring to him. If his friends are good, any good father will take good care of them for the good of his son.

Now, my dear friends, what is significant here in this Gospel is that Jesus said, "You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you." This statement suggests that those who are connected to Jesus are made worthy companions because of what Jesus does to them. In other words, any son who has a friend whom his father does not like, will make some justification in order to keep their friendship intact. In the case of Jesus, He does not make justifications rather He makes His friends fit and qualified to be His companions through His words. Therefore, it is up to His friends now to show some proof that they are indeed worthy companions. There must be some indicators that they are worthy to be called friends. They should produce fruits. 

My dear friends, this Gospel is relevant for us as Catholics who believe in Jesus. We are made worthy to be called His friends through His grace. We are made clean through His sacraments He entrusted to His Church. In Baptism, all our sins are forgiven. In Confirmation and Holy Eucharist, we sustain our cleanliness. In Confession and Extreme Unction, our sins after Baptism are forgiven and make us clean once more. Jesus has done everything for us to be fit and qualified to be with Him. But all these should not end there. We are expected to bear fruits. It means, Jesus has done to make us good as His friends then we must show in our words and actions that we indeed become good. Good works may not be necessary for salvation as some Christians believe, but for us Catholics, good works are fruits and expression of a faithful who is already saved by Jesus. Therefore, if Jesus said, "Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, the Father takes away", this is but necessary for His Father to do. Any person who has received the grace, blessings and the love of God but does not do anything good in this world is ungrateful. And what is the use of doing good to an ungrateful person? It is better to shut him up! In extension, any person who has already been saved by Jesus when He died on the cross has still the chance to go to hell because he has never treasured the gift of salvation through his words and actions.

My dear friends, let me end my homily by sharing to you my experience. In one parish where I was assigned, there was this homosexual, a teen-ager who did not go to mass. He did not even have the time to visit the church. He had this notion that an homosexual is not loved by God. For him, an homosexual is already condemned while he is still alive here on earth. He concluded that the church has no room for an homosexual or gay like him. One day, I had the opportunity to talk to him. I chose him to organize the Ministry of Ushers and Greeters for the parish. This opened his way to the church. But it was not that easy for me to make our parishioners accept him in our midst. It was one Palm Sunday celebration, while he was performing his duty as Usher and Greeter, he was put to shame by a parishioner in front of many people. He hid himself and cried because of this. It was only later that I learned about what happened. So I talked to him. I made him realize that it is only God who can judge us whether we are good or bad. It is not right therefore to say just because he is an homosexual or gay he shall go to hell. Any person will go to hell not because he is a man or she is a woman but because he or she has not done any good though God has been good to him or her. No matter how he is condemned by all, it does not mean that all who condemn him are right and just. Moreover, I let him know that it is Jesus who has made him clean. He must only focus his eyes on Jesus and do what is good. My dear friends, since then until now, this young homosexual has been the catalyst of the parish in attracting many youth to join the ministry. He is only one of the many branches of Jesus, the true vine. How about you? Do you bear much fruits also? It is all up to you.