16th Sunday in 2015

Our Gospel which is taken from Mark 6: 30-34 is a very rich source of Christian reflections about the different ministries in the Church. The moment Catholics reflect on this, they cannot but find themselves serving the Church. To start with, the opening of the Gospel tells us that the apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. The Gospel used the word “apostles” which refers to the chosen twelve. Such word is important in order for us to distinguish them from the seventy-two disciples in seemingly similar event which is mentioned in Luke 10:17. In Luke, it is said that the seventy-two disciples returned and they joyfully reported to him declaring, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” As we compare the two events, the seventy-two are described with emotion using the word “joyfully” while the twelve are described plainly with no indication of emotion. This would give us an idea that when one is new or fresh in the ministry, there is so much emotion and passion involved in the ministry. But as years pass by, it is enough for one to sustain and remain in the ministry.

To continue our reflection, Jesus on his part invited them to settle to a quiet place to take a rest. Jesus invited them to rest because he knew they were tired. Jesus invited them to rest because they needed to regain their energy for the next day to continue their mission. Jesus invited them to rest because the apostles already completed their mission. This leads us back to the Book of Genesis where God saw everything He made was good, He then rested. God blessed the day He rested because it was the day when He rested from all His work of creation. Rest then for the apostles neither means sleeping, nor drinking wine or eating. Rather, rest for the apostles means making their day sacred. This is why all lay ministers and even the clergy have to attend retreat and recollection at least once a year. They need to recharge their Spiritual energies. They have to take care of their souls also.

Now, we go to the ending of the Gospel wherein Jesus saw the people trying to go with them. Here the Gospel states Jesus had compassion on them it is because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  My dear friends, sometimes we interpret this as if Jesus meant that there is scarcity of ministers. Not necessarily! During His time, there were many leaders such as the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, etc. There were many shepherds so to speak. But Jesus knew what kind of leaders they were. They were not compassionate! (Look at what they did to Jesus Himself!) So, when the Gospel states that Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd, Jesus looked for the quality of His ministers. Out of the seventy-two disciples, He chose the Twelve as His apostles. These apostles were expected to be compassionate to God’s people like Jesus the Good Shepherd. We therefore my dear friends in Christ remind ourselves that being ministers of the Church, it is not our personality shall prevail but the compassion of Jesus over everything. We are only caretakers of God’s people and we need to show compassion to people as God has been compassionate in choosing us.   

To end, I would like to share to you my experience the first time I stayed at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2005. I left the province at that time to enroll at Asian Social Institute as Msgr. Manny Gabriel’s student (Institute for Priests Renewal and Studies). Because I did not know where to reside in the city, a friend of mine recommended me to the parish priest of the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to have my temporary shelter. I did not know who the parish priest then but it was only through text that I learned that he was expecting me to be in his parish. When I arrived at the National Shrine, I immediately looked for him. Then a man approached me smiling and asked me if I am Fr. Jude. When I said yes, he took my baggage and brought me to my designated room. It was only there that he revealed himself as the parish priest of the National Shrine. The two months I stayed with him in the Shrine were memorable; I witnessed how compassionate he was to his parishioners. He always tried to listen to his assisting priests, guest priests and priests-companions. He would pray with us in our morning and evening prayers. He would always attend to our needs too. I could not forget the night when he invited me to join their community of priests to dine in a fine restaurant and then watched a movie with them. He was never tired smiling in dealing with people. At that time I learned that people go to church because they could feel God’s compassion through him. He was not tired in doing his ministry well because he was always at the Adoration Chapel to pray and get his energy. Verily, he is one of the priests with a good quality to shepherd God’s people. This kind of minister is what we need in our church. So pray for more ministers who could show God’s compassion to people. Amen.          

15th Sunday in 2015

Our Gospel is taken from Mark 6: 7-13 which states in its opening that Jesus called His twelve disciples and began to send them out two by two with His authority. Notice my dear friends the first two acts of Jesus i.e., to call and to send. Obviously, when Jesus called His disciples, their response was to join Him while when He sent them, their response was to leave Him. Though all these seem to be obvious, look at how the Gospel refers to the disciples. When they approached Jesus as He called them, they were one single unit known as the Twelve. And the purpose of Jesus in calling them was to send them out two by two. Here, the Twelve was divided into pairs, two by two. It was only at this point that Jesus gave them His instructions.

My dear friends, from this Gospel narrative which exposes to us the position of the disciples in relation to Jesus, we are being reminded of two things: our prayer life and our pastoral life.

In our prayer life, we are called to be with Jesus. So as we pray to Him, it is better to bring with us our Christian Community like how the Twelve approached Jesus when He called them. It is better to pray as a Community as this is also in consonance with the promise of Jesus in Matthew 18: 20 –For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. We do not have any problem with this  as we always pray and celebrate our liturgy and sacraments as a community.

In our pastoral life, we are called to go for a mission just as the disciples were sent out by Jesus. This means we do not only pray as a Catholic but we also do something to express our faith. What do you think a good Catholic shall do while seeing someone is drowning in a swimming pool? Shall he say, “I will pray for you while you are drowning” or shall he attempt to save the victim the best way he can? Of course, he has to do something to save the victim aside from his prayers.

Now, we learn from the Gospel that aside from praying we have the mission to be living witnesses of our faith, to preach the Word of God, to preach repentance, and everything which is implied in doing them. But in going to a mission, we need to have a companion on our way. It is better if we have our Community with us while in a mission. Yet, if this is not possible, then we have to request for at least one as a partner. Why? It is because the purpose why we preach is to build a Community in His name. And in building a Christian Community, one man alone cannot do it even if he is a good preacher. On one hand, we know how people dislike those who do not live what they preach. On the other hand, if people see how two missionaries live harmoniously together in Christ, they are more drawn to join the latter. In addition, one man alone cannot do all things to fulfill his mission as he has his own share of weakness and limitations. Working in pair is expressed in the Book of Sirach 42: 24-25 which states, “All things are in pairs, each the opposite of the other, but nothing the Lord made is incomplete. Everything completes the goodness of something else.”

To end, I will share to you my experience as a first time parish priest. When I was assigned at San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish as a parish priest in year 2012, I was not alone in going there. I asked Adonis who was a candidate for the ministry of deacon at that time to help me in the parish. Our first few months were difficult because we cooked our own food, did all the cleaning, celebrated mass just for the two of us during weekdays and talked to each other from morning to evening. This was so because our parish is composed of three barangays and is far from its town. Our parishioners are mostly nominal Catholics who go to mass on Sunday. With this setting, we could not talk to our parishioners after the mass because they would hurriedly go home to rest or go to visit the town. This is understandable because it is only on Sunday that they could rest after working in the field for a week. After sometime, Adonis and I decided to make a pastoral plan and we divided our pastoral work between us. I had to deal with the old ones while he had to deal with the young ones. Within our first four months, we organized the first batch of the Ministry of the Altar and the Parish Youth Council. We revived the inactive organization and strengthened the others. Everything went well until Adonis was ordained and left the parish while I stayed alone. It was there and then that I could feel the burden of being alone in the parish. I could not forget that sometime in May, I suffered from hypertension but I needed to say the mass as it was the feast of San Isidro Labrador. I could not do anything except to celebrate the mass without them knowing that I could not see anything anymore. I decided to baptize the children within the mass too as I knew that I could not stand any longer after the mass. That was the feast that I never enjoyed because I had to go back to the convent to sleep in pain. I needed to take a rest because the next day I had to say mass again which nobody could do in the parish. My dear friends, this is my experience which leads me to appreciate why Jesus had to send out His disciples two by two. And I ask you today to pray for your priests especially for those who are assigned alone in their parish or in a mission area. Moreover, may you be our prayer-partners starting today. Amen.

14th Sunday in 2015

Our Gospel is taken from Mark 6: 1-6. In this Gospel, we learn that Jesus began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished. The verb astonished here could either mean as “namangha” or “nagtaka”. So what is the difference between these two? Well, “namangha” is used to express one’s experience of being amazed of something or someone to the extent that he wants to know more about it or him for his better appreciation; while “nagtaka” is used to express one’s experience of being puzzled about something or someone to the extent that he wants to probe the complexity of the said thing or the person to cause a surprising effect. Let me describe this very slim difference; in a school setting, a grade one teacher would be astonished (namangha) to know that one of her pupil knows how to use the multiplication table at the very young age. Where do you think her astonishment bring her? She would say to her pupil, “Eh di wow! Ang galing mo. Believe ako sa iyo!”  Now compare this scenario with a high school teacher whose student hardly passed their exams in all his subjects but when the said student took the National Achievement Test, he was one among the top ten when the result was announced. Of course, the teacher would be astonished (nagtaka). Where do you think her astonishment bring her? She would say to him, “Eh di wow!” but with disbelief. This kind of astonishment (nagtaka) seemed to be the tenor of those people who heard Jesus teaching. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…” Here we can feel that their astonishment did not lead them to appreciate what Jesus was doing. Moreover, their disbelief is manifested when the Gospel itself states: “And they took offense at him.” My dear friends, because of this kind of astonishment, those people tried to probe that Jesus could not do anything better knowing where he came from. It is just like saying that a stream cannot rise above its source. People like these are usually motivated by envy (inggit). They are not happy if they know someone does something better than them. If only they were astonished in the first sense of the word as in “namangha,” they would follow Jesus and they would know more about Him. They would realize then that they were wrong by thinking that Jesus came only from the house of a carpenter, with Mary, James, and others because they would discover that Jesus came from God, the real source. People of this kind are usually happy seeing others doing great things in the society. They even encourage others to do more great things for the greater glory of God. To end, allow me to share with you my experience last April. Last April, I asked someone to drive my car from Aklan to Manila via Ro-Ro. I was expecting that we would arrive early in Manila and I told him that we would stay in a parish. But due to some reasons, we arrived late in Batangas and I told him that we could not get a good accommodation in the parish especially at such unholy hour being aware of our travel time from Batangas to Paranaque. He told me not to worry because we could sleep somewhere in Quezon City. When we were in Quezon City, we were welcomed by a couple in their home. We ate our late supper then we went to sleep. On the next day, of course we had our breakfast, and I was astonished on how they prayed before and after our meal. I was even astonished the way they talked about their members and pastors with admiration while we were eating our breakfast. The one who drove my car is a deacon of Iglesia ni Kristo and the couple also belongs to Iglesia ni Kristo. In fact, the wife is a professor in New Era University. I really admired them how they love their religion. I do not say this to encourage you to join them. Rather, I say this because this experience leads me to thank God that even though they are from a different religion, they are doing the same thing what our Church teaches us to do. My astonishment bring me to a realization to respect other’s religion as God is also at work with them in a way beyond my understanding. My dear friends, every time we see someone does great thing, let us not be jealous but thank God because all these happen for His greater glory. Amen.                

13th Sunday in 2015

Our Gospel is taken from Mark 5: 21-43 which I call “The Double Miracle” Story. It is a double miracle not only because there are two miracles in this one Gospel event but more of the following considerations: First, there were TWO women as subjects of healing and they were opposite in age and circumstances. One was young and the other was an adult. The young one was at the point of death while the woman was suffering for years and yet she was not dying! The young one had her family, Jairus being her father but the woman seemed to be alone. (There is a legend that says this woman is St. Veronica.) The only similarity they had during the time of Jesus is that both were considered second class in their society. Second, there were TWO wills in this event; one was known and the other unknown. Jairus made known his will to Jesus that he wanted his child to be healed while the woman’s will was unknown to Jesus. Further, Jesus manifested His will before He healed the daughter of Jairus but with regard to the woman, Jesus manifested His will after she got healed. Then lastly, there were TWO different acts which moved Jesus to make miracles i.e., the act of Jairus wherein he begged on his daughter’s behalf for healing and the act of the woman by touching the garment of Jesus. My dear friends, this exposition on two different acts in this particular Gospel passage make us appreciate our identity as Catholics. Why? Because these two acts which resulted to a double miracle in the said Gospel passage, are embedded in our Catholic Tradition which until now most if not all Catholics practice them. Though some Christian denominations criticize us for such religious Tradition, but with this Scripture passage, we can say we do right in our Church. The two different acts which are described in our Scripture, one that of Jairus is now known in our common parlance as “Intercessory prayers” or “Intercession” which means that we pray for the sake of another person. The other is the act of the woman which is known to us today as “Expressions of Pop Religiosity” which are religious practices which keep the faith of many simple people alive and lively outside the Church’s liturgy. The first act, the “intercession”, we always do it especially when dates for board exams or Bar exams are fast approaching. The second act, “pop religiosity”, we can observe this during the celebration of the feast of Black Nazarene in Quiapo,  Senor Santo Nino in Kalibo and in Cebu, during Holy Week rituals, etc. Now, my dear friends, every time someone criticizes us for being fanatics or lunatics because of what we do to express our faith, well remember this “Double Miracle” story. What (act of faith) Jesus never condemned, let no one condemn it. To end, allow me to share my experience about “intercessory prayers”. One Sunday afternoon, after celebrating the mass with the Charismatic community, the elders of the said community had a meeting with me as their new Spiritual Director. After our meeting, one elder approached me and asked me to lay my hands on her because she was going to have her medical check-up with her husband in Manila. According to her, she badly needed an immediate medical attention. I was doubtful about myself that I asked all the elders to extend their hands toward her and pray together with me. I did not say anything except that I told God He could heal her if He wills it. Then we all went home after that. My dear friends, few days later, I was happy when she sent me a message while she was at the hospital telling me that the doctor could not find any trace of her sickness. It means she needed not to worry because everything was normal despite her previous medical results which pushed her to go to Manila for treatment. My dear friends, I myself could not explain what happened, but I believe that because of the community of elders who prayed for her, she has been healed. The power of community praying for a person reminds us of the power of intercessory prayers which is one of the two acts in our Gospel today. My dear friends, starting today, please pray for your priests as we also pray for you in our mass. Let our intercessory prayers for each other make miracles in our parishes. Amen.                              

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.