1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8-10 ><)))*> Matthew 23:13-22
From Google.
We are now at the final stretch of the month of August, Lord, and everybody is thinking of September already, counting the days until Christmas.
How sad, O Lord, that we are so focused with the dates and we miss the event of your coming to us, of your birth. No wonder we also miss your great gift of calling us unto you, of making us your new chosen people.
St. Paul reminds us today of how you have loved us, God, of how we were chosen and called in Christ Jesus to become his body, the Church.
How sad that these days, churches and houses of worship have become more of places to meet for lovers and friends than for people to gather as a community of disciples waiting for the Lord’s coming again.
How sad that like the scribes and Pharisees of the time of Jesus, we have also become hypocrites living in the darkness of sin and self-centeredness, believing more in our selves than in you.
Lead us out anew, Lord, from the many darkness that blind us and prevent us from living a life of faith in you and love among our brothers and sisters. Amen.
Jungfrau Peak, the Swiss Alps. Photo by Fr. Gerry Pascual (Diocese of Iba, Zambales), August 2019.
Our Sunday music today is still about heaven as Jesus Christ concludes his four-week series of “shock preaching” about being ready for the end or death. From The Smiths’ groundbreaking alternative rock “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”, we offer you this Sunday Dionne Warwick’s classic soul and pop “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)”.
Composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David, the song was released in 1964 as the second single from Warwick’s third studio album. It was an international hit that has also been covered by many artists since then.
Its melody and beat are very light, even divine that are very uplifting especially on this rainy day. Most of all, its lyrics are simply honest and true: getting into heaven is trying our very best not to break anyone’s heart especially our loved ones’!
Mother told me always to follow the golden rule And she said it’s really a sin to be mean and cruel So, remember, if you’re untrue Angels up in heaven are looking at you
You’ll never get to heaven if you break my heart So be very careful not to make us part You won’t get to heaven if you break my heart
“You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)” is a feel good music by Warwick who has accompanied our generation for over 50 years reminding us about the more essential things in life like friends, love, relationships, and God. Unlike the Lord’s “shock preaching” wrapped in mystery, the song is straightforward that can instantly soothe our souls whenever we feel so down especially when the people we love are the ones who hurt us.
It can be very disappointing but amazingly, it is during those dark moments of our lives when Jesus comes to strengthen us and inspire us to keep on loving despite our imperfections.
I’ve been hearin’ rumors about how you play around. Though I don’t believe what I hear, still it gets me down. If you ever should say good-bye I’d feel so awful, the angels would cry.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe Week XXI-C, 25 August 2019
Isaiah 66:18-21 ><)))*> Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 ><)))*> Luke 13:22-30
The small door leading to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, symbolic of the need to be lowly, to bow to meet our Lord Jesus Christ who became human like us to save us. Photo by author, May 2019.
The Lord concludes his series of “shock preaching” today with a big bang by dousing us with a big disappointment…
Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.'”
Luke 13:23-25
It is very disappointing that after joining Jesus as he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem these past four Sundays in taking into our hearts his many earth-shaking lessons about the “end” only to find out that we could end up being locked out of the door to heaven. More shocking than the lessons last week is the disturbing revelation today that we have to be strong enough to enter through the narrow gate to eternal life.
How strong? We really do not know. But, we have learned from the Old Testament of the need to patiently obey and faithfully keep the commandments of God while the gospels remind us clearly to deny ourselves and carry our crosses even up to the point of dying with Christ.
Very difficult, huh…? And here’s more! Striving hard to enter the “banquet hall of heaven” is keeping in mind the important lessons we have heard these past three Sundays: life does not consist of possessions but of what matters to God (Lk.12:15,21; Aug. 04); that we must always gird our loins to be ready for death that comes like a thief at night (Lk.12:35,39; Aug.11); and, most of all, we have to go through our own passion and death like Jesus to be filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit to bring the peace of Christ into world (Lk.12:49-51; Aug. 18).
It is useless to count how many would be saved for there is enough room for us all in heaven. Through the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading, God wants us all to be with him in heaven despite his knowledge of our sins by sending us his Son Jesus Christ!
Thus says the Lord: I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory.
Isaiah 66:18
The small door to the Church of the Nativity from the inside.
See again in our gospel today an apparent contradiction in the teachings of our Lord like last Sunday with his bringing of fire and division among us. When Jesus refused to give that man a definitive answer to his question “if only a few people would be saved”, the Lord in fact revealed something deeper than the initial disappointment we have felt about the gate of heaven being narrow that would be closed when the time comes. Again, he mentions the Eucharist, our Sunday Mass as the wonderful opportunity to be strengthened in order to get inside the heavenly banquet.
“And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Luke 13:29-30
It is during the Sunday Mass when the Lord gathers us all together after a very difficult and disappointing week to refresh us, to strengthen us for another week of hurdling more problems, more trials in life. This is why before receiving him, we say, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” The Father gave us his Son Jesus Christ so we may have that strength needed to enter the narrow gate to heaven by doing more loving service to others, being kind and forgiving, being honest and generous. Yes, these are easier said than done but doable in Christ.
What is so surprising in our many experiences are the many times when in our many disappointments Jesus comes to guide us to new doors, new routes and new openings that mysteriously lead to new life for us!
Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes, Baguio City, January 2019.
Brothers and sisters: You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?
Hebrews 12:5-7
That is the mystery of God’s universal plan of salvation for us: the path may be filled with so many hardships and obstacles, the gate may be so narrow and difficult to pass through but he has made it possible for us to make it through by sending us Jesus Christ our Lord in leading this way to the heavenly Jerusalem. Authentic faith always involves pains and sufferings. When we embrace death like Jesus Christ, we also ensure life.
In every setback in life, we only have two choices always: either to be better or bitter. Choose to be better and that can only be through the narrow door of Jesus Christ by letting go of our anger and hatred, resentment and bitterness to give way to joy and peace, love and forgiveness. That is when God begins to surprise us!
Tam-Awan, Baguio, January 2019.
The author of Amazing Grace, John Newton was once challenged by a man after he had delivered a homily about heaven. Remember that Newton, as he claimed in Amazing Grace, was a “wretch” being a former slave trader after being a slave himself.
Newton was asked by a man to give something that would surprise him when he gets to heaven.
The former wretch replied that there would be three great wonders in heaven: first, he would see many people he never expected to be there; second, he would not find many church-goers he expected to see there; and third – which is the biggest surprise of all – is to find himself there in heaven when he knows very well his sinfulness.
Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, we are all sinners, now feeling disappointed with so many things in life. Just strive to be good and better persons as we celebrate every Sunday the Lord’s Supper and he will do the rest. And be ready to be surprised even before going to heaven! Amen.
Friday, Wk. XX, Yr. I, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, 23 August 2019
Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Matthew 22:34-40
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Israel, 2016.
Thank you very much O God for the gift of women!
Today we celebrate two beautiful women who showed us that the true essence of beauty is in sharing your love with others.
There is the Moabite woman named Ruth who stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi who went back to Israel upon the death of her husband and two sons.
What a beautiful story of great love of a young widow for her widowed mother-in-law co-journeying with her to uncertain future guided only by faith and love in God.
But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Ruth 1:16
Also today we celebrate the memorial of South America’s first canonized saint, Rose of Lima, Peru.
Said to be so lovely and beautiful, St. Rose offered her life at a very young age to the Lord in prayers and works of penance with a burning desire to evangelize the Indians despite the risks of being killed.
The patroness against vanities, St. Rose of Lima died at a young age of 31, praying, “Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase your love in my heart.”
Ruth and St. Rose of Lima, two great women of faith who proved with their lives that true beauty lies indeed in the greatest commandment of all, love of God and love of others.
We pray today for all the women, especially the victims of human trafficking.
Likewise, we pray for those men insisting to be “women” that they may come to discover their true beauty is in accepting their gift of humanity as a male amid the many confusions and turbulence within them. Amen.
“Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven” mosaic on the apse of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you very much in sharing with us, in giving us your Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thank you very much for being our King of Kings that we now have also a Blessed Queen.
Remind us always O Lord that her queenship is because of your Kingship!
We always forget that fact that have led us to almost worshipping her, even “crowning” her – episcopally or canonically?!
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:30-33
Did the Father truly crowned Mary like our earthly queens?
Or, are you Jesus her crown that she has become your channel of grace?
Teach us to be like her always open to you, to always respond to your calls, and most of all, to act on your words.
Reign in our hearts and in our lives, Lord Jesus Christ so Mary your Mother may truly be our Queen of heaven and earth when you are our only crown of glory. Amen.
Installation of the Fifth Bishop of Malolos, 21 August 2019
Judges 9:6-15 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 20:1-16
Main Altar, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Malolos City. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, June 2019.
On this joyous occasion of the installation of our fifth Bishop, the Most Rev. Dennis C. Villarojo, we praise and thank you O God for this wonderful gift of finally having a local Ordinary to lead us.
Thank you in hearing and granting our prayers for a new Bishop. And surely, you will be hearing and granting us all our prayers for him too!
But, lest we forget, I pray also to you, O God our Father, the prophetic request of a lay-woman you sent us during our clergy recollection last June: “Let us not corrupt our new bishop.”
It was the most shaking voice we have heard from you for a long time, Lord.
We were shocked, even jarred to our very core because it is so true.
It is a truth you have been telling us for so long not only in the Church but even in the society in general.
So often, we pin too much hopes and expectations, even demanding a lot from our leaders everywhere but we alway forget our important role of helping them fulfill their mission.
May we take into our hearts the parable of the trees by Gideon’s youngest son Jotham when your people were so eager of having their own king because the problem, O God, with corruption anywhere is not in the sinful ways being done by the corrupt but lies more on the corruptors who feel entitled that they must be given with special treatment by every leader they try to manipulate for their selfish ends.
Let us not be corruptors of any one like those in the gospel parable today of the first group of workers who looked so highly of themselves, expecting higher wages than the others and what was agreed upon, forgetting they are not the owner of the vineyard.
Bless our new Bishop and keep him strong in resisting the temptations and lure of fame and power and wealth in this so blessed vineyard of yours. Amen.
The Immaculate Conception, Patroness of our Diocese atop the Cathedral Bell Tower. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, June 2019.
Judges 6:11-24 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 19:23-30
Tam-Awan Village, Baguio City, February 2019.
The Lord answered Gideon, “Be calm, do not fear. You shall not die.” So Gideon built there an altar to the Lord and called it Yahweh-shalom.
Judges 6:23-24
In our beautiful story today on how you have called Gideon as a judge of your people, O Lord, you have also taught us a very important lesson about discipleship – our first task is to love you!
So many times in my life, Lord, I remember how I would always refuse to follow you because of the fact that I am not really afraid of the task ahead but more of my fear for myself: of how people would measure me, of how they would laugh at me, or how I might not be able to deliver results.
Like in the story of your call to Gideon, I often look at myself rather than see you as the Almighty God, calling me, trusting me, sending me.
How funny it seems that when you send us to a mission, O Lord, it is not because of our limitations but because of our excesses: of our too much pride, too much knowledge, too much comfort, and too much self hiding in false humility.
Just when we think we have given up so much for you, God, that’s when we find it difficult to give up the little things we enjoy like recognition, “likes”, applauds, or even simple pleasures like food and drinks.
Teach us to be like your servant St. Bernard of Clairvaux who despite his wealth and greatness chose to exhaust himself in praising you in his many works of charity and praises to you and the Blessed Mother (The Memorare) in the liturgy.
Like Gideon and St. Bernard, keep us calm, always trusting you, loving you in words and in deeds.
Judges 2:11-19 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 19:16-22
Grotto at Baguio (Mirador Hill), February 2019.
Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived; it was thus the Lord took pity on their distressful cries of affliction under their oppressors. But when the judge died, they would relapse and do worse than their ancestors, following other gods in service and worship, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct.
Judges 2:11-19
Sometimes I wonder why, O God, you did not just fix our hearts on you so we would remain in you?
Like the experiences of your people during the time of judges in Israel, our lives have become like one big vicious circle too difficult to break but so easy to predict: we turn away from you, our lives go wayward, we repent, you forgive us, then we go back to you, we are blessed and then, after some period of peace and prosperity, we again turn away from you, our lives go wayward and the cycle continues.
What a foolish heart we have, O Lord.
But, you are so filled with love and mercy for us, believing in us always for the ability to change and remain in you despite our weaknesses.
Thank you for never completely abandoning us, for always having that gaze filled with love like Jesus looking onto that young man in the gospel who walked away sad because he could not completely commit himself to serving you and loving you with all his heart.
Keep us faithful to you, enlighten our minds and our hearts to trust only in you even if the journey is full of dangers and difficulties.
We pray in a special way for our brothers and sisters suffering with various forms of cancer. May the prayers of St. Ezequiel Moreno grant them healing. Amen.
Sacred Heart Spirituality Center, Novaliches, QC, June 2016.
We go alternative rock today as our gospel continues with its “shock preaching” for the third consecutive Sunday.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptised, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Luke 12:49-51
And so, what is the good news in these pronouncements by the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ?
Interestingly like our intriguing gospel today is our featured music “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” by The Smiths released as a single in May 1984. And like the gospel today, we might ask, what is so good with this song that has become an anthem for our generation when heaven knows I’m miserable now?
Like our shocking and controversial gospel that sounds so negative on the surface, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now is a good news in itself worth sharing with others.
It is a very defining song of the time that is why it is listed as one of “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”. Its music has remained fresh and crisp, a melody that is definitively rock with a hint of lullaby perfectly given justice by the so British accent and voice of Morissey.
From Google.
And most of all, deep in all those icings, is the perfect cake: the lyrics that is intelligently straightforward and witty laced with deep meanings only a person who truly loves can identify with.
Although its title was inspired by Sandie Shaw’s 1969 single “Heaven Knows I’m Missing Him Now”, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now is a tribute to those who choose to be good, who choose to stand with what is true and beautiful even to the point of being deserted by others like Jesus Christ, the prophets, the saints, as well as Lucy and Snoopy!
From Google.
It is definitely an intelligent music that has remained relevant up to this time making it truly a good news.
In this age when reason is being disregarded with emphasis given more on popularity, on what is trending and viral, on what has the most “likes” and who has the most “followers”, The Smiths’ Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now shows us how it can sometimes be dangerous being right, being true, being just.
The next time you feel hurt and aching inside, when you feel going through pains for being true and good among those people so ugly inside and outside, who are fake and untrue, pray and fix your sights on Jesus Christ on the Cross because “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”.
And, never lose your wit and humor!
What she asked of me at the end of the day Caligula would have blushed “Oh, you’ve been in the house too long” she said And I naturally fled In my life Why do I smile At people who I’d much rather kick in the eye?
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XX-C, 18 August 2019
Jeremiah 38:4-6. 8-10 ><)))*> Hebrews 12:1-4 ><)))*> Luke 12:49-53
Batanes sunset after a storm, 2018. Photo by Mr. Raffy Tima of GMA-7 News.
Jesus continues with his “shock preaching” for the third consecutive Sunday today as “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” and face his death there.
And his preaching is getting more shocking.
Unlike the previous two Sundays, it was easier to see why Jesus had to shake us with his teachings as he wants us to seriously consider the reality of death that comes “like a thief at night” (Lk. 12:39, Aug. 11). Far from being morbid, Jesus is inviting us to be more concerned with things that last even after death because “life does not consist of possessions” (Lk. 12:15, Aug. 04).
This Sunday, Jesus gets bolder with his teaching of three provocative statements that challenge and motivate us in being like him who is “resolutely determined” in facing his passion and death by setting the world on fire, eagerly awaiting another baptism, and the most controversial, bringing division – not peace – among us his followers.
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptised, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!”
Luke 12:49-50
Sunset in Athens, Greece by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, 2016.
These first two pronouncements by Jesus go together like our expression “baptism of fire” to mean an initiation into something very new and life-changing or, as we say these days, a “game changer”.
In St. Luke’s second book, the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Holy Spirit coming down as “tongues of fire” upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary on Pentecost, filling them with wisdom and courage to proclaim the Good News of salvation by Jesus Christ. For St. Luke, this imagery of the Holy Spirit like fire is very important.
Fire gives heat, symbolising life itself. Without heat, we become cold and die.
Fire also means energy that can move and propel anything including people, covering great distances.
Most of all, fire purifies, removing impurities in so many things including persons.
Since June 30, we have been following Jesus as “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk. 9:51). This is the baptism Jesus is so eager, his Passion and Death on the Cross that leads to Easter. It is a path characterized by fire that emboldens us, purifies us, and most of all, illumines us of the more essential things in life!
From Google.
When we recall those trying moments in our lives, those many “baptisms of fire” we have gone through, there is always that sense of inner joy and gratitude in “passing over” through our little deaths that have made us stronger today. Whether we have triumphed or failed in those many baptisms of fire, what matters most is we went through it, deepening our faith that made us more determined in life.
And one very difficult lesson we have also learned in our little deaths is the painful reality of divisions among us.
“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Luke 12:51
In this age when sound reasoning is being pushed aside in making decisions on many issues and conflicts confronting us by following what is merely popular as “trending” and “viral” measured in the most number of “likes” or “followers”, we find ourselves plunging into more darkness than ever. What used to be not normal has become normal today like obscenity and profanity. Life is reduced to mere lifestyle with everybody insisting on one’s rights in total disregard of one’s responsibilities that anyone may use whichever toilet is preferred. Death in its many masks has become a solution to many problems that has spawned more serious problems. And worst, in the midst of these discussions that disregard morality, proponents of the Godless ways are the ones invoking the name of God!
Jesus tells us in the fourth gospel that “the peace I give you is not like the peace the world gives” (Jn.14:27) which is often more of appeasing one another, of compromises that eventually fails. Peace is more than the absence of war but is appropriately called the effect of righteousness, of love and justice (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, #78). And always, that path to peace is the Cross of Christ.
Jesus wants us his disciples going through our little passion and deaths to illumine the world with the Holy Spirit as it is slowly being engulfed in the darkness of sin and evil. And he knows it is not an easy task. Like him, we have to grow in faith completely relying on the Father who vindicated him as he died on the Cross.
Brothers and sisters: Let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. In you struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
Hebrews 12:1-2, 4
In 1945, the late Fr. Hans Urs Von Balthasar titled a chapter of his book “God is dangerous”, writing that
“He presents his victory over death as an example to be imitated, he draws us beyond our limits, into his adventure, which is inevitable fatal.”
“Heart of the World” (Ignatius Press, 1980)
Yes, God is dangerous — too hot to handle and too difficult to resist. We have all felt like Jeremiah bearing all the pains and sufferings because we have allowed ourselves to be “seduced and duped by God’s irresistible charm” (Jer. 20:7). And despite this harsh reality, we choose to remain standing at the foot of our Master’s Cross because it is there we can see everything more clearly, where we experience real peace.
Would you rather be in grave danger with God on your side or be safe for now with no one and nothing to hold on in the end?
