Category: saints

To listen like St. Francis of Assisi

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Friday, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, 04 October 2019

Baruch 1:15-22 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Luke 10:13-16

One of the scenes from Benozzo Gozzoli’s series of frescoes from the life of St. Francis (1450) that captures the saint’s “Sermon to the Birds” and the dedication of his basilica at Assisi. Photo from Google.

Praise and glory to you, Lord God our loving Father for this week about to close with the celebration of another great saint, Francis of Assisi.

Two things I wish to thank you in giving us St. Francis of Assisi.

First is his total dedication in listening to you alone.

St. Francis accomplished so much for you and had so much impact not only to the Church but for the whole world until now because he intently listened to your voice, to your calls, and to your instructions.

It does not really matter if he got your words literally or figuratively speaking like when he was praying inside San Damiano chapel and heard your voice saying, “Go, Francis, and repair my house, which you see, is falling into ruins.”

Or, when St. Francis finally found his vocation in life after listening to Matthew 10:9 in the Mass and felt you Jesus speaking directly to him to go preach the kingdom of God without extra clothes and money that right after that, he threw everything away to preach penance, brotherly love, and peace.

How ironic that in this world of modern means of communications, the more we have become fragmented than ever because we have lost the values of silence, prayer and listening to self, others, and you, O Lord.

Jesus said to them, “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Luke 10:16

Teach us, dear Jesus to be poor and empty like St. Francis so we may always open our ears and our hearts to seek your voice, to listen to your words, and most of all, to follow your will.

From Be Like Francis at Facebook.

Second thing I am so grateful with you Lord in giving us St. Francis is his deep sense of gratitude to you that he was able to see our universal brotherhood in you God our Father.

Did he really preach to hundreds of birds and told them to be thankful to you dear God for their freedom and for your care to them? I believe it must be true because where there is gratitude, there comes peace and serenity that attract than dispel people and animals alike.

Teach us to be grateful with whatever we have, Lord because the moment we learn to thank you and anyone here on earth, then we we realize our being one. In his gratitude for your wonderful gifts to him, St. Francis not only embraced you Jesus on the Cross but also saw everyone as family with brother Sun and sister Moon, brother Wind and sister Water. And even cousin Death.

Again, O Lord, in this age of affluence, the more we feel empty and lacking as we tend to acquire more of material things. Teach us to repent for our sins like St. Francis and Baruch in the first reading, to acknowledge everything we have including our sins.

It is only in being thankful that we are able to realize who truly reigns in us like St. Francis. Amen.

Hope for our difficult personality

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Monday, Memorial of St. Jerome, 30 September 2019

Zechariah 8:1-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:46-50

St. Jerome painting by El Greco portrayed as wearing the Cardinal’s robe to represent his highly esteemed works and contributions to the Church as one of the Four Western Fathers along with St. Augustine, St. Ambrose of Milan, and St. Gregory the Great. Photo from Google.

Praise and glory to you, God our loving Father! Thank you very much for giving us saints, men and women like us who were sinners with so many weaknesses but through your grace were able to lead holy lives.

Through your saints, you give us so much hope to be become better persons despite our many imperfections like our great Doctor of the Church, St. Jerome, the Father of Catholic biblical studies who immersed himself in the study and prayer of the Sacred Writings right in the Holy Land.

Considered as one of the great theologians of the Church, St. Jerome is said to be approachable but notorious for being a difficult person too due to his temper as well as sarcasm and being argumentative at times.

I confess, O God, that I am exactly the opposite of the kind of person Jesus Christ is telling us to be like – a child. Instead of being childlike, many times I have become childish, difficult to handle with my burst of temper and sometimes annoying sarcasm.

Like St. Jerome, fill me with your grace, with courage and willpower to conquer my irascibility and direct all my negative energies in pursuing you in prayers and good works.

Help me to follow St. Jerome in his call to “let us translate the words of the Scriptures into deeds.”

Fill me with your words, O Lord, cleanse me of my sins and iniquities so that your Holy Spirit may dwell in me, suffuse me with your holiness. Amen.

My favorite depiction of St. Jerome by Italian painter Antonello da Messina (c.1430-79), “St. Jerome in his Study.” Again, we see St. Jerome in red robe and hat like a Cardinal at his study desk with his faithful lion in the background which tradition says he had helped in the forest by removing a thorn in its paw. At the foreground are two birds: a peacock which is an ancient Christian symbol of eternal life that our saint meditated often (reason why he always has a skull in other paintings), and a partridge, a reference to St. Jerome’s notorious temper as the bird often represents jealous rage. Photo from Google.

Prayer for our co-workers in the Church

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Saturday, Memorial of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions, 28 September 2019

Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:43-45

From Google.

Today, O God our loving Father, we praise and thank you for the gift of our first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz along with his companions martyred in Japan on this day in 1637.

What a great blessing too, dear Father, that our first saint is a layman, someone we need these days to look up to and follow your universal call to holiness.

Bless our lay people who make up most of our faithful who are also our most essential co-workers in your vineyard, Lord.

We need them so much in this world that has become very secularized.

Restore their faith not only to you O God but also to us your priests, their priests and teachers and guides to you. May the lay people be faithful to your teachings through the Church they now question in the name of progress and liberalism.

Like San Lorenzo Ruiz, may the faithful trust again their priests and bishops despite the scandals that continue to rock our wounded Church.

What a beautiful sight to behold the martyrdom of San Lorenzo Ruiz with other fellow lay faithful and Dominican priests who all comprise the Body of Christ, the Church. In them were fulfilled your words to the prophet:

“People will live in Jerusalem as though in an open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst. But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.”

Zechariah 2:8-9

May we all trust you, O Lord, especially in this time of varied forms of persecution against the Catholic Church here and abroad. May we have the courage of San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions to suffer with you, and to suffer for you. Amen.

The gift of poverty

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Friday, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, 27 September 2019

Haggai 2:1-9 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:18-22

“Hapag ng Pag-Asa” painting by the late Joey Velasco. From Google.

Dearest Lord Jesus Christ:

Thank you for coming to us poor, for giving us the poor. But, tragically many times we have refused to see you among the poor.

On this feast of St. Vincent de Paul who faithfully and lovingly served you among the poor, we pray for the same gift of seeing you and loving you among the poor.

“It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible… this very service is performed for God. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity.”

St. Vincent de Paul, from the Breviary

In the first reading from Haggai today, your people the Israelites were so poor with literally nothing left to rebuild your temple in Jerusalem. What a gift for them to still see you among the ruins, in their poverty feeling your “spirit in their midst” assuring them with your “peace in the temple to be rebuilt” (Hag. 2:5, 9).

Empty us of our pride, let us appreciate and embrace the poverty within us like Simon Peter and all the saints like St. Vincent de Paul that we may boldly proclaim you are the “Christ of God” (Lk. 9:20) not only in words but also in deeds. Amen.

Praying like San Padre Pio

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Monday, Feast of St. Padre Pio, 23 September 2019

Ezra 1:1-6 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 8:16-18

Chapel of San Padre Pio at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.

Praise and glory to you, O Lord our God and almighty Father! You never cease to amaze us, doing great marvels for us your people. Despite our sins, you always make yourself present among us in so many ways.

In the first reading from Ezra, you have used the pagan king of Persia, Cyrus, to be the instrument in fulfilling your promise to Israel to bring them back home from their Babylonian exile.

In our modern time, you have sent us San Padre Pio to prove and show to us that worrying is useless in this age when we believe and rely more with science and technology than with you, a loving and personal God who had come to us in Jesus Christ.

Teach us to be like San Padre Pio to “pray, hope and not worry” by embracing Christ crucified, by bearing all the pains and sufferings in love contrary to the ways of the world seeking power, wealth, fame, and pleasures.

From Google.

May we befriend silence and prayer than the noise of the world; may we persevere in patiently waiting for you than be in the foolish “rat race” with no winner at all; and, may we believe in things we cannot see with our eyes contrary the modern dictum to see is to believe.

Give us the courage of San Padre Pio to bring out your light, Lord, especially at this time when people claiming to be liberal and progressive are calling for so many rights that are outrightly wrong, destroying the human person, family, and society.

May our hands bear the wounds of your crucifixion, Lord Jesus, like San Padre Pio in praying to you and serving you through those most in need. Amen.

Confessing Jesus Christ

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Feast of St. Andrew Kim Taegon and Companion Martyrs, 20 September 2019

1 Timothy 6:2-12 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 8:1-3

St. Andrew Kim Taegon, first Korean priest with his lay associate St. Paul Chong Hasan with 113 other Koreans died as martyrs between 1839 and 1867.

Thank you very much Lord Jesus for this wonderful Friday… not because it is the end of another week of work and studies but most of all, to remind us in this modern time how we must still confess our faith in you with the feast of the first Korean martyrs led by their first native-born priest St. Andrew Kim Taegon and his lay associate St. Paul Chong Hasan.

Every time we think of Korea, first things that come to our minds are their modern technologies and their very hip K-Pop culture.

How beautiful to reflect that deep in their modernity are the blood spilled and values instilled by their early Christians who have truly followed St. Paul’s admonition to St. Timothy.

But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:11-12

Amid the modern life we now have, remind us always Lord like St. Paul that our fulfillment lies in you alone who is coming back again at the end of time. As we await for your return, may we live out our faith in you amid the changing times, always holding on to things of the above and eternal that never change and shall remain the same.

Like your women companion in your ministry, teach us Jesus to remain simple in following you without much fanfare and pomp pageantry. Amen.

Photo by James Lucian on Pexels.com

The grudges that fester within us

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Passion of John the Baptist, 29 August 2019

Jeremiah 1:17-19 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Mark 6:17-29

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Today, O Lord, I pray for my hardening heart. I have a festering anger deep in my heart against some people who have hurt me. And I am harboring a grudge against them like Herodias, the mistress of Herod.

Herodias harbored a grudge against John the Baptist and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for is courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’s own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”

Mark 6:19, 21-22, 24

What is so shameful, O Lord, like Herodias, I want to have the heads of those people. I want to get even with the pains they have inflicted against me. I want revenge.

But more shameful, Lord Jesus, is, unlike Herodias, I have not done anything wrong against these people. And no amount of pain can justify my grudge, my anger, my hatred against them.

This is what makes it more painful with me: the festering anger in my heart is slowly poisoning my soul, my very being.

Teach me, Jesus, to bear all pains like John the Baptist, suffering for you, suffering with you.

Give me the courage and strength to “gird my loin” as you told the Prophet Jeremiah so I may be able to control myself and be on guard against becoming like Herodias or, worst, Herod, who beheaded John in prison.

Let me rise above my instincts and feelings to be not like the evil doers and fake people who fight and malign me because you have assured me that they will never prevail over me, that you will deliver me for you are always with me. Amen.

“The Severed Head of John the Baptist”, a sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin in 1875. This is probably a representation of a guillotined criminal’s head during that time. From Google.

It is never too late with God

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Wednesday, Feast of St. Augustine, 28 August 2019

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 23:27-32

O God our loving Father! Today we celebrate the feast of one of your greatest saints of all time, St. Augustine.

His life story itself is a gospel, a good news of your love and mercy, of your salvation in Christ Jesus!

It is never too late to love you, O Lord, for our hearts are restless until they rest on you!

Like the song of the psalmist today, “You have searched me and you know me, O Lord” that despite my many sins, my great pride, you patiently wait for me to go back to you like St. Augustine.

In him, we have found hope and and chances to be become better and holy.

Like St. Augustine, give us the gift of humility of accepting our humanity, our weaknesses and sinfulness to be converted into better persons.

Like St. Augustine, may we use our intelligence for your greater glory and not for our selfish ends and other evils.

Most of all, purify our hearts always that it may always seek you and follow you. Amen.

Funeral of St. Augustine by Bennozo Gozzoli at Florence. At the time of his death, St. Augustine was a towering figure in the Church and the entire Western world at that time with his hundreds of letters, treatises and books that shaped our thoughts and provided foundations for our many doctrines still very much in use these days.

A prayer for all mothers

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Tuesday, Feast of St. Monica, 27 August 2019

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 ><)))*> <*(((>< Matthew 23:23-26

How wonderful, O God, that on this feast of the patroness of mothers, St. Monica, the Apostle Paul identified himself as a mother caring the church he founded.

“Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.”

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

Teach us to be like St. Paul in his passion and drive caring for those you have entrusted to us like “a nursing mother who cares for her children”.

But most especially, as we remember St. Monica who embodied true motherhood with her patience and perseverance and undying love for her wayward son St. Augustine, we pray also today for all mothers.

We pray, O Lord, for mothers in their old age, sick and fragile, afraid of the inevitable, feeling alone filled with so many doubts and uncertainties of what is coming, of what is next: give them the firm faith and enlightenment of mind and heart like St. Monica.

We pray for the departed mothers and may you grant them, O Lord, eternal rest and peace in your presence. May they reap the fruits of their hard work here on earth that have caused so much physical and emotional pains for them here on earth.

Photo by Jim Marpa, 2017.

We pray for the many suffering mothers, Lord: those sick with cancer and other diseases; for those who have to suffer and cry in silence due to lack of concern and understanding by their unfaithful husband or ungrateful children; for those mothers who have to leave home to earn decent living abroad, taking care of somebody else’s children while their own children are left home alone.

We pray, O Lord, for the widows who always feel alone and misunderstood by everyone especially by their grown up children, always trying to put up a front that everything is going well so as not to make others worry.

We pray also for mothers who take care of their sick children who suffer twice even thrice seeing their sons and daughters writhing in pain; bless those mothers who have lost their children for various reasons that shattered all their dreams and hopes for a wonderful future.

We pray, Lord, for mothers left behind by their own families and by the society, living on the streets or in some orphanages, unwanted, unloved. We pray also for mothers-in-law especially those “boxed” by their in-laws.

We pray for the young mothers especially the first-timers at a loss at how to care for their babies, for working mothers trying to juggle motherhood and career.

Do not forget also, Lord, the many mothers who have forgotten their children have their own lives to live too, who have wrongly thought they are always right, manipulating their children who eventually were pushed over the cliff and now lost. Help them and their mothers find their way back to you, O Lord, and to each others’ loving arms.

Bless also, O Lord, all the other mothers who are forced to work under unfavorable conditions due to poverty, for mothers languishing in jails especially the innocent ones, for mothers into some other forms of crusades and advocacies nobody cares.

Lastly, we pray for us all children and for the husbands too that we may keep in mind only you, O God, can love perfectly. A mother’s love is always imperfect but no matter how defective it may be, it is the best love she can give. Help us create a room for our mother’s imperfections filled with your divine love that would console them, soothe them, and make them feel they are loved and appreciated. Amen.

St. Monica with her son St. Augustine. She died at the age of 56, always depicted dressed like a nun with a black habit to symbolise her being a widow.

Our first task is to love

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Tuesday, Week XX, Year I, 20 August 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.

From Google.