Sixth Sunday of Easter

Dear friends in Christ, today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter and our Gospel is from John 15: 9-17. Here, we learn that Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” With these, I ask, can we force ourselves to love someone? If not, then why Jesus has to command us to love one another? Well, in this Gospel, Jesus has revealed to us that love is not just a mere feeling or emotion as we usually believe it to be. He has qualified love when He commanded as to love one another as an act of the will. It means then that when we love, it is not based on just our feeling although it is accompanied with our feelings. When we love, it shall be rooted in our will which we submit to Jesus who wills us to love one another. Such kind of love is what everybody needs and everybody must have. For married couples, they sometimes experience a lull or dull moments in their married life. They think they have lost their love. Well, it may happen that between the husband and wife, their romantic feelings may have been gone, but it is their will to love each other that matters in order to keep their marriage. For some children, they think their parents do not love them. Well, it is possible that parents have not shown a loving gesture toward their children but we can sense their will to love them. Why should their parents send them to school? Why do their parents scold them when they become unruly? On the part of the parents, there is the will to love. With this kind of love, Jesus then has given us what it can do by saying, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends.” It is an act of the will in accordance to the will of God that one can give his/her life for the sake of another. It is an act of the will for a husband or a wife to spend all his/her life with his/her spouse. It is an act of the will to obey and respect one’s parents too. This act of the will in accordance with the will of God is called love. It is loving the other even if he/she feels hurt for being unloved in return.

To end, I remember sometime in 2004, I was bombarded with a series of problems. Intrigues and false accusations were thrown against me inside and outside the church arena. I admit, I made many mistakes in the past that hurt many. All the problems then were just part of the consequences of my good and bad actions toward those people. (Note: Even until now I believe I commit more mistakes.) It was the time when I felt I could not defend myself because I could not see the attacks coming. During those times I hid myself in pain. I only had the chance to stand again when in one occasion, I learned that my best friend Fr. Glenn told one person who brought him some bad news about me with these words, “I know Jude, and I love him.” In another occasion, I regained my confidence when Fr. Kenn, my long-time best friend, told me with these similar wordings, “Jude, I could not see what they have seen against you.” These experience of being loved by a friend brought me to the place where I am now. Their love is not based on feelings but on their will to accept me as who I am and not as what people expect me to be. It is with this experience that I understand why Jesus has to command us all to love one another because love can make a difference in our lives. Amen.             

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Today is the Good Shepherd Sunday; this is based on the Gospel of John 10: 11-18 where Jesus made Himself known to His followers as a good shepherd. Now I ask, what qualifies a shepherd to consider him good? What is this goodness in a shepherd? According to Jesus, He is the good shepherd because He is willing to lay down His life for his sheep. Not only that He mentioned this –to lay down His life for the sheep, but also He mentioned this line several times in the said Gospel. We cannot fully understand why Jesus said this for several times unless we relate this with the Gospel of John 15: 13 which states: “Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” In line with this thought, we can now fully appreciate that Jesus is a good shepherd because He loves His sheep so much that He is willing to lay His life for them. It is the quality of His love that makes Him a good shepherd. In other words, with the quality of His love, everything is good. And for us who follow Jesus, love means to give up one’s life for the good of the other. Moreover, Jesus is willing to give up His life not only for the good sheep who listen to Him. Rather, He also loves those sheep who have not listened to Him as He said in the Gospel: “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.” With His words, Jesus assures us that because of His great love, His priority is to give what is good for us and not what can condemn us.

My dear friends in Christ, today we are called to listen to Jesus. We know if we have listened to Jesus if we are confident that despite the problems or crisis we face in life, there is something good to happen because Jesus is willing to lay down His life for us. If we listen to Jesus, we do not compare our life with others, rather we learn to follow Jesus by giving up our life for the good of the other. For those who are married, it is somehow very difficult to be faithful to each other, but if you listen to Jesus as your good shepherd, you know you have to do what is good for your spouse. You do not seek his/her condemnation but his/her salvation i.e., for the good of each other’s soul. You have promised to love each other until death, then fulfil it. For your children, teach them to love Jesus so that they will love you with the love of Jesus. You will know if your children listen to Jesus as their good shepherd if they will take care of you as parents when you grow old, sick and dying, without resentments. For those who are alone in life, you know you are not really alone if you listen to Jesus as a good shepherd.  

My dear friends, let me end my homily by telling you my experience. Since June 19, 2012, I have been assigned as a parish priest of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila in a remote barangay of Batan, Aklan. The parish is used to be known as a poor parish if not the poorest in the diocese. I knew what my life would be so I prepared everything I believed I needed for my survival. I brought with me some sacks of rice, canned goods and other ready-to-cook food. But as the days went by, I ran out of resources. My car broke down. There was no more rice to cook. There were even no canned goods left except for the empty cans. I could not pay for the electric and water bills of the parish. I really worried too much what would happen to me then. So, I prayed before the altar and cried. I said, “Lord, why do you allow me to suffer? I accepted this parish and I believe I am doing what is good for the parish but what is happening to me right now?” Of course, I did not hear God answering me when I was praying. But really I could not imagine how good Jesus is as a shepherd. When I began saying our monthly mass in four public elementary schools within my parish, each child would offer me a handful of rice which they wrapped using a cellophane. Believe it or not, when we collected the handful of rice they offered, I have more than enough rice to sustain us every month. How about our food? Believe it or not, although our parishioners are mostly tenants or workers in a fishpond if not fishermen, every Sunday before or after the mass, they would bring me some milk fish, king crabs, lobsters, sugpo, talaba, hipon, my favourite ghost shrimps (kamantaha), etc. Truly I can say that Jesus will always do good for us if we listen to Him as our shepherd. In fact, I was only 120 pounds when I first arrived in the parish. But now I am 185 pounds. My dear friends, Jesus loves us so much that He will do everything that is good for us. Amen.

Third Sunday of Easter (Revised)

Our gospel for today is taken from Luke 24:35-48. This Gospel reminds us that even the apostles or followers of Jesus experienced how their expectations caused them their frustration. Being with Jesus for almost three years, the apostles expected Jesus to be the king of Israel with all His glory and fame. They expected that if Jesus would be a king one day, they could also have a better place in His kingdom. They expected that as the Public Satisfaction Rating of Jesus grew higher, they too could enjoy the privilege of being popular as His friends or companions. But in just a second, every expectation they had sunk with them when Jesus was crucified and eventually died on the cross. Prior to this, Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied Jesus three times. Then after Jesus was buried, all the other disciples hid themselves with shame and fear. They lived in frustration. I say they lived in frustration because when a person is frustrated, he/she has a hard time to listen and believe. He/she refuses to hear some good news from anyone including his friends. He/she is impervious or callous, showing no concern of what is happening about the world. Is this not the experience of a woman who faithfully loves her man who is unfaithful to her? Is this not the experience of the parents who thought their children were good yet they ended in jail because of drugs? Is this not the experience of children who are abandoned by their parents as they decided to separate ways? With all these analogies, I say the apostles lived in frustration when they knew they could not reach anymore their expectations. Yet the Gospel does not end in the apostles ' frustration. It tells us how Jesus came to change the ending, from the tone of frustration to the recognition of a divine expectation. The Gospel tells us that Jesus came before the apostles and greeted them saying "Peace be with you!" Then He began to explain everything to them. He said -- "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." These words of Jesus simply mean that the apostles should not dwell on their frustration but to rise up from such situation in order to meet God's expectation; It is the time for them to ask what God wants them to do and not what God must do for them. This is also the message that we must get from this Gospel: though we fail in many ways, we fall on our knees due to our broken dreams, we become frustrated and irritated, still God has a divine plan for us and He expects us to fulfill it. We have to testify that in our failure, God is still successful. We have to testify that even in the midst of frustration, we can pursue God's divine expectation -to keep our faith.

To end, I would like to share to you the story about St. Alphonsus de Liguori. 

St. Alphonsus was born of noble parents, near Naples, in 1696. His spiritual training was entrusted to the Fathers of the Oratory in that city, and from his boyhood Alphonsus was known as a most devout Brother of the Little Oratory. At the early age of sixteen he was made doctor in law, and he threw himself into this career with ardor and success. He was one of the best lawyers. A mistake, by which he lost an important cause, showed him the vanity of human fame, and determined him to labor only for the glory of God. He entered the priesthood, devoting himself to the most neglected souls; and to carry on this work he founded later the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. My dear friends, St. Alphonsus's experience of failure and then frustration did not prevent him to do great things for the glory of God. So I encourage you to meet God's expectation for us to be His living witnesses. Let us keep the faith. Amen.

Third Sunday of Easter

When expectation becomes a frustration

Our gospel for today is taken from Luke 24:35-48. This Gospel reminds us that even the apostles or followers of Jesus experienced how their expectations caused them their frustration. Being with Jesus for almost three years, the apostles expected Jesus to be the king of Israel with all His glory and fame. They expected that if Jesus would be a king one day, they could also have a better place in His kingdom. They expected that as the Public Satisfaction Rating of Jesus grew higher, they too could enjoy the privilege of being popular as His friends or companions. But in just a second, every expectation they had sunk with them when Jesus was crucified and eventually died on the cross. Prior to this, Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied Jesus three times. Then after Jesus was buried, all the other disciples hid themselves with shame and fear. They lived in frustration. I say they lived in frustration because when a person is frustrated, he/she has a hard time to listen and believe. He/she refuses to hear some good news from anyone including his friends. He/she is impervious or callous, showing no concern of what is happening about the world. Is this not the experience of a woman who faithfully loves her man who is unfaithful to her? Is this not the experience of the parents who thought their children were good yet they ended in jail because of drugs? Is this not the experience of children who are abandoned by their parents as they decided to separate ways? With all these analogies, I say the apostles lived in frustration when they knew they could not reach anymore their expectations. Yet the Gospel does not end in the apostles ' frustration. It tells us how Jesus came to change the ending, from the tone of frustration to a real and divine expectation. The Gospel tells us that Jesus came before the apostles and greeted them saying "Peace be with you!" Then He began to explain everything to them. He said -- "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." These words of Jesus simply mean that the apostles should not dwell on their frustration but to rise up from such situation in order to meet God's expectation from them. It is the time for them to ask what God wants them to do and not what God must do for them. This is also the message that we must get from this Gospel: though we fail in many ways, we fall on our knees due to our broken dreams, we become frustrated and irritated, still God has a plan for us and He expects us to fulfill it. We have to testify that in our failure, God is still successful. 

To end, I would like to share you the story about St. Alphonsus de Liguori. 

St. Alphonsus was born of noble parents, near Naples, in 1696. His spiritual training was entrusted to the Fathers of the Oratory in that city, and from his boyhood Alphonsus was known as a most devout Brother of the Little Oratory. At the early age of sixteen he was made doctor in law, and he threw himself into this career with ardor and success. He was one of the best lawyers. A mistake, by which he lost an important cause, showed him the vanity of human fame, and determined him to labor only for the glory of God. He entered the priesthood, devoting himself to the most neglected souls; and to carry on this work he founded later the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. My dear friends, St. Alphonsus's experience of failure and frustration did not prevent him to do great things for the glory of God. Amen.

Primera Palabra

"Ama, patawara sanda bangod owa sanda kasayod ku andang ginhimo." Ku Marso 25, 2013, lagpas sa 8:30 it agahon, si kaibahang Butz Maquinto it DYRU habatian ko nga sa mawraya nga bisaea o tinaga nagtao it paglaygay sa gapamati kana sa kahanginan. "Ama, patawara sanda bangod owa sanda kasayod ku andang ginhimo." Raya nga bisaea hay naghalin sa baba ni Hesus suno sa sugid ni San Lukas 23:34. Ag daya man ro una nga bisaea sa Siete Palabras nga aton igapamaeandungan makaron.  Magaumpisa kita sa pagpamaeandong paagi sa isaeang ka pangutana. Ano ro kaundan it mga tinaga ngara ni Hesus?  Agod makit-an ta ro ginahambae nga kaundan, aton anay himay-himayon ro hauna nga bisaea ni Hesus. Una nga paghimay, kon aton taw-an it igtaeupangod ro tinaga ni Hesus, atong mabinag-binag sa tanan nga imaw nagapanawag bilang unga sa ana nga ama. Kaparehas it maisot nga unga nga sa ana nga pagtinangis imaw nagadaeagan paadto sa ana nga ama. Bilang unga imaw nagapati nga ro anang ama hay ana nga daeangpan. Imaw nagasalig nga ro ana nga ama makapatawhay ag makapahagan-hagan sa anang ginabatyag nga kasakit. Ro hauna nga mga tinaga nga gumuwa sa baba ni Hesus hay nagapamatuod nga imaw hay unga nga maeapit sa ana nga ama. Owa imaw nahadlok magsungkoe o magsugid sa ana nga ama sa ana nga kabudlay. Bukon imaw it isaea ka unga nga magpipi eang sa binit ag magtago ku ana nga ginabatyag.  Pangaywa, sa haunang bisaea ni Hesus, mataeupangdan  naton nga bukon eamang nga maeapit si Hesus sa anang ama kundi nagapamatuod guid nga imaw hay may mapinalanggaon nga ama. Batyag guid ni Hesus nga palangga imaw ku ana nga ama. Ngani kasayod ag kaeobot si Hesus nga maakig guid ro ana nga ama kon masayran na ro natabo kana nga maeain. Sin-o abi nga ama man ro malipay nga ro ana nga sambilog nga unga hay patyon eang nga owa man ngani it saea? Sin-o abi nga ama ro indi maghunahuna nga magbaeos sa maeain nga gin-obra sa mabuot na nga unga?  Pangatlo, sa paghambae ni Hesus nga "Ama, patawara sanda bangod owa sanda kasayod ku andang ginhimo" ginapaabot na sa ana nga ama nga imbes uyangan o kauyaktan ku ama it tyempo ro mga tawo nga naghalit sa ana nga unga hay indi eon lang. Kaysa unahon na nga mag-linagas o maghingabot sa mga maeain nga tawo, hay ro ana nga unga lang anay ana nga paga-ulikdan. Kaysa itao ku ama ro ana nga panueukan sa iba hay sa ana lang guid nga unga. Si Hesus nakasayod nga kon ro ama magapabilin nga nagatueok kana nga ana nga unga, magapangibabaw ro paghigugma.  Ag sa ngaean it paghigugma ku ama sa unga, ro unga nga si Hesus nagahinyo sa ama nga paghigugma man ro itao maskin sa mga naghalit kana. Ag ro pinakamataas nga pagpakita it paghigugma hay ginatawag nga pagpatawad. Ngani mabudlay makapatawad sa tawo kon kueang o owa it paghigugma. Sa raya nga paghimay-himay ta, ano eon ro kaundan it mga tinaga ngara ni Hesus?  Ro pagpatawad isaea ka timaan nga ro mabahoe nga paghigugma hay mas mabahoe pa sa pinaka mabahoe  nga saea. Ro pagpatawad nga ginapangayo ni Hesus sa ana nga ama para sa mga naghalit kana hay isaea ka hueag nga magapadumdom sa tanan nga indi dapat maduea ro paging mahigugmaon bangod eamang sa mga bulok nga ginhimo ku iba. Indi dapat mabayluhan ro gugma it kaakig maskin ano pa ro nagakahanabo nga kaeainan. Ag daya ro sueod ku mga bisaea ni Hesus nga "Ama, patawara sanda bangod owa sanda kasayod ku andang ginhimo." Ro pagpatawad ni Hesus sa mga nagkasaea kana nagatungtong sa owa nagaka-hubas nga paghigugma. Sa punta it tanan, paghigugma ro kinahang-ean agod ro kaugot ag kaakig maumpawan.  Sa raya nga pang-orason, ginahangkat kita it Sta. Iglesia nga magtuead kay Hesus. Kinahang-ean pun-on ta ro atong taguipusuon it paghigugma it ama ku atong Ginuo. Sa kapupun-an eamang it paghigugma nga kita makasarang makapatawad eabi eon sa pinakamabug-at nga saea nga nahimo katon it iba.  Tapuson ko ro akon pag-giya sa pagpamaeandong paagi sa isaea ka pagsugid it hitabo nga akon nabatian sa mag-asawa nga katapo it Bukas-Loob sa Diyos. May mag-asawa nga may maintok pa nga unga. Ro unga hay sueang-hatod ku family driver sa baeay ag eswela. Isaea ka adlaw hakibot sanda nga naduea ro andang unga ag nakit-an eang nga patay eon. Nasayran nga gintabing ru unga it pilit bago pinatay. Ulihi eon hadakpan ro nagmolestya ag nagpatay sa unga. Owa it iba kundi ro andang family driver. Bisan ano ro kaakig ku mag asawa sa family driver nga ginsaligan nanda sa kabuhayon pero nakahimo giyapon kanda it kabahoe nga saea, ginduaw nanda sa prisohan ro driver ag ginpatawad. Kon bukon sanda it maeapit sa Simbahan sigurado kabudlay ro magpatawad. Mga tumueo-o ni KristoHesus, sayod ta nga sa kapupun-an eamang it paghigugma ku Dios, magahalin ro atong ikasarang nga makapaiway ag magapatawad. "Ama, patawara sanda bangod owa sanda kasayod ku andang ginhimo."

Wadeford School Graduation 2015

There  was once a mother and her son who lived in a faraway land. The mother just like any other mother of her time sent her son to school. One day, she was surprised when her son arrived from school with new pen and papers. She asked her son where did he get them. The son replied, "Those things belonged to my classmates. I stole them." Upon hearing this, the mother said to him, "Ok son, but just don't let people catch you." So every time her son brought to her what he had stolen, the mother just said to him,  "Ok son, but just don't let people catch you." These activities of her son continued until he grew up. But one day, the mother learned that her son was in jail to wait the judgment of the court for his crime of theft and robbery. She could not do anything except to cry for him. When her son faced the judge, his mother tried to convince everybody that her son is a good person. But the judge sentenced him to death. All the more the mother cried. She went to her son to give him her last hug. To her surprise, her son bit her ears. But she managed to get away from her son's agression. For the first time, she scolded her son saying, "You must be punished. You know you have done many bad and nasty things since you were young." The son retorted, "This is all your fault. If you only taught me before that I should be punished for doing bad things, I would not end up as a bad person." My dear friends, this sort of story reminds us that first, education is important and second, education is not only confined in schools.  First, education is important for everybody.  The word education means to bring up or to build up. It means then that primary purpose of education is to see to it that a child grows up to be able to stand on his/her own feet and finally can decide what is best for his/her own life.  Yes, it is good to receive some medals or certificates during the graduation ceremony to affirm the determination of the child to aim what is best in life. But these symbols of graduation cannot limit the meaning of education. If these symbols of graduation create the impression that we are the best among the rest, it is through education that we learn that not all best things happen to best people of this world. Education allows us then to decide what is best for us not only during the times we experience success but also during the time we experience failure in life. I remember a grade 6 pupil from St. Scholastica who approached me many years ago. She was a consistent topnotcher during her kindergarteen years until grade 5. But she was frustrated when she learned that she was never among the Top Ten of the graduating class. She wanted to die. She was afraid of her parents who expected too much from her because all her siblings graduated with honors. She was really afraid to go home. She really wanted to die rather than to hear her parents blaming her. My dear friends, do you think this is the meaning of education? Of course not. This sounds more of a competition where the winner takes it all while the loser gets nothing. So I tried to educate the girl. I told her to confront her parents. If they could not accept her as their daughter, she could stay with us in the parish. She could start anew after graduation. After how many days, the girl sent me a text message informing me that she learned how much her parents love her despite her failure. She promised to do her best within the true meaning of education which is to see to it that a child grows up to be able to stand on his/her own feet and finally can decide what is best for his/her own life. Second, education is not only confined in schools. My dear friends, I would like to remind you that it seems useless for the school to teach the best for the children which the home could not support or follow up. If the school teaches the children to pray before and after meals, but they are not encouraged to practice it at home, then what is the use of education? If the school teaches a child that it is bad to tell a lie, but he/she lives with a dishonest parent, then what happens to the so-called education? My dear friends, it is the primary task of the parents to educate their children. The school is there to complement or to assist the parents in giving good education to their children. Remember, what happens to the child when he/she grows up, falls back to his/her parents. If the child grows up as a great physician, it is the parents who can benefit directly from their child's achievements. Then the school can just make a good advertisement that the said great physician was once their student, a product of their education. And if the child grows up as an addict, it is still the parents who will be directly liable for their child's failure. The school has nothing to do with what goes wrong in the life of the child after the child has left the school premises.  So, my dear friends, especially to the parents, educate your children well. Teach them to respect you. Teach them to say thank you, or sorry or even I love you when it is proper to say it. They are your children, they are yours. Teach them to love your home. To end, I would like to tell you -to the graduating class, never stop learning. Allow yourselves to be teachable and be educated. Say thank you for the gifts you received. Say sorry for the sins you committed. Say I love you to your parents who have loved you. Above all, because you are graduates of Wadeford School, students who are inspired  by St. Jose Maria Escriva, learn from Jesus. Do what is right and avoid what is wrong. In the long run, you will realize the difference if you get good education from this school i.e., RO MAY MAYAD NGA TINUN-AN, MAY MAYAD NGA BATASAN. God bless you.

9th Day of Simbang Gabi December 24, 2014

A father was always scolding his son because of the latter’s vices. The son rebelled against him that he never went home anymore. One day, the said son met an accident and the doctor said he could not be able to walk. He blamed his father because of what happened to him. After some months of sitting on his wheel chair, the son was confused when he was carried by his father outside their home. His father carried him on his back and told him to start walking. Since then his father never failed in carrying him outside the house and assisted him to walk again. Miraculously, the son could walk again. He learned how much his father loved him and so he loved his father. My dear friends, a father in the family plays an important role just as much as a mother does for their children. A father is not just a figurehead but a person who sets the tone and atmosphere of the home. He exercises some influence in the decision-making of his children. He teaches them what respect and authority means. He is not just a breadwinner who supplies his family with their basic needs but also the first one to sacrifice even his needs for the sake of his family. The name of a good father is worth remembering and children should not blemish his family name. Zechariah was this kind of a father. In Luke 1: 67-79, Zechariah who was filled with the Holy Spirit announced God’s vision for his son John the Baptizer. As a father, he wished all good things about his son. But above all these, he never doubted that his son would serve and be pleasing to God. My dear friends, the fathers of our time should know this –that they are not only sperm donors whose role is to make babies. They have to understand that as procreators, they should see to it that their children know God more so as to serve Him better. Being a father is not just a social, cultural or economic reality but most importantly is a spiritual reality.