Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Traslacion 2020, Quiapo, Manila.
Lord Jesus Christ, today I beg you, please do not ask me the same question you have asked your apostles at Caesarea Philippi: “Who do people say that I am?”
I am not yet ready to report these to you, Lord, because I would be telling you also so many varied answers on what people say who you are just like the Twelve at that time.
But so unlike your apostles, the people’s many different answers on who you are – that are mostly wrong – are because of my own faults and shortcomings.
Yes, dear Jesus: when your apostles told you what people said about you, they merely reported what they have heard.
But, today Lord, people say different things about you largely because we your priests and modern followers have not fulfilled our mission from you. We have misrepresented you, Jesus, most of the time.
People get so many wrong ideas on who you are because we do not reflect your true self as a humble and loving servant living with the poor and marginalized.
People get so many wrong ideas on who you are because we do not reflect your true self as a suffering servant, sacrificing everything, bearing all pains for justice and truth.
Forgive us, Jesus, when most of the time, we are what your apostle St. James refer to as those showing partiality with the rich and powerful, forgetting the less fortunate among us.
I am sorry, Lord Jesus in misrepresenting you that until now, people still say so many things on who you are.
Please continue to purify me, to empty me of my pride, to fill me with your humility, justice and love so people may realize who you really are — through me. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, 09 January 2020
Thursday after Epiphany, Traslacion of Black Nazarene at Quiapo
1 John 4:19-5:4 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 4:14-22
Photo from MyPilipinas.com
Praise and glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ! Every year on this date as we continue to celebrate Christmastime, you bless us with a unique Epiphany at the Traslacion of the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno in Quiapo, Manila.
Many cannot understand the immense power of your image as the “Nazarene” as the gospel today tells us how you came home to Nazareth, your origin.
More than indicating to us your origin at Nazareth, the only place in the New Testament never mentioned in the Old Testament, your being called a Nazarene according to Matthew and Isaiah reveals to us your very essence as the “nezer” or the “shoot from the stump of Jesse” (Is.11:1), the new beginning of life here on earth with your coming as our Saviour from sins. You O Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Old, of the coming of the Emmanuel born by a Virgin.
The millions of people who flock to your annual Traslacion can never be wrong, Lord, in having experienced your manifestation or epiphany with them when they were so burdened with so much sufferings in life.
A debilitating disease maybe or serious sickness of loved ones.
Utter darkness and despair before hopeless situations.
Or a crushing defeat and failure in life.
You were there, Lord Jesus the Nazarene helping us all with our heavy crosses in life.
Help us to continue to love you, to love your Cross, and most of all, to love our neighbors so we may truly imitate you as Jesus the Nazarene by keeping your laws. Indeed, all these devotions are nothing without love that always entails pains and sufferings.
For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.
1 John 5:3-4
Help us, Lord Jesus, to carry our Cross and follow you always faithfully and lovingly. Amen.
Nuestro Señor Padre Jesus Nazareno, have mercy on us!
1 John 3:22-4:6 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
A blessed Monday morning, dear Lord Jesus Christ!
Thank you for the gift of this first day of work and school after a very long Christmas vacation – even if many of us did not spend time with you nor even remembered you on your birthday.
Bless us this first week of work and study in this new year of 2020.
Guide us in testing every spirit that try to lead us in the choices and decisions we make, the course of actions we take.
So many times, we have always been misled away from you, Lord, especially when we are lured into taking shortcuts in many aspects of life.
Most of all, very often we choose to be blind and deaf, speaking no more when the world denies your presence, your teachings, your truth. There are times we get carried away into believing that you have left us, that you are not involved in our affairs in the world.
This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist who, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.
1 John 4:2-3
Let us always seek your light, Lord Jesus for you alone are the true light of the world.
Let us lead our lives in such a way that proves, that witnesses to your abiding love and presence among us especially in times of darkness.
Enlighten us Lord, our Light to be your light to guide others to you. Amen.
Friday, Optional Memorial of the Holy Name of Jesus, 03 January 2019
2 John 2:29-3:6 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 1:29-34
From Google.
Praise and glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ, whose name alone is so powerful and merciful, always taken for granted by those who refuse to enter into a deep communion and friendship with you.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
2 John 3:1-2, 5
So many times Lord, we take your love for granted.
Most of the time, we take you for granted.
Give us the courage to testify to your most Holy Name, your holy presence like John the Baptizer.
May our lives be a witnessing to your love and mercy, kindness and justice as we try our very best to spread your good news of salvation from sins. Amen.
Praise and glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ who had come, who is coming, and always with us in this life, helping us in our trials and sufferings, and leading us into fulfillment in him!
On this second day of new year 2020, many of us have already forgotten your great feast of Christmas.
Many of us have become “liars” as St. John points out in the first reading, denying that you are the Christ.
Many of us Lord Jesus have been deceived by the “antichrists” that have misled us into believing into so many modern thoughts about life that disregard your teachings about the dignity of persons, beauty of sex, and of justice and truth.
In the name of political correctness and other so-called progressive thoughts, we have turned our blind eyes into so many instances of human life being taken for granted these days.
Teach us to have the courage like St. John the Baptizer and our saints today, St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen to always stand for what is true always, to proclaim your coming not only in words but most especially in deeds. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for the Soul, 01 January 2020
Wednesday, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
Numbers 6:22-27 ><}}}*> Galatians 4:4-7 ><}}}*> Luke 2:16-21
Photo by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pascual, Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC, 2017.
Today marks the octave or eighth day of Christmas when we celebrate the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
Octave means we extend the celebration of Christmas Day into eight days because one day – December 25 – is not enough to reflect on the meaning and mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God.
The eighth day also signifies eternity which comes next after the seven days of the week.
Hence, whenever people greet me on this day with a “Happy New Year”, I just say “thank you” and then greet them too with “a blessed Christmas to you” or the usual “Merry Christmas”!
I am not disturbing your peace this Christmas and it is more than my being a “language nerd” – but, if you really want to appreciate more and experience the depth and the joy of Jesus Christ’s birth, stop that happy new year greeting.
The more proper and perfect greeting this January 2020 is still “blessed Christmas” or “Merry Christmas” because it is another year in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here we find the very important and deeper meaning of Christmas: do not ever forget it is about Jesus Christ. Christmas is not about gifts and bonus, it is not about food and merry making, it is not about vacation and long weekends.
Christmas is all about Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became human like us in everything except sin in order to save us and bring us back to the Father in heaven. In his coming, it is not only us who were made holy but even our time that became “his story”.
Indeed, Jesus Christ is the reason of the Season. Let us maximize in greeting “Merry Christmas” and stop its abrupt ending with the coming of the new year that after all, is based on his birth that is why we call it “Anno Domini” (AD) or “year of the Lord”.
Nativity Scene at the National Shrine of the Minor Basilica of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Quezon City. Photo by author, 30 December 2019.
Why stop greeting everyone with a happy new year
Keep greeting everyone with “a blessed Christmas” or a “Merry Christmas” until January 12, last day of our Christmas Season with the Baptism of the Lord.
In the Philippines, you may continue greeting people with Merry Christmas until January 19, Feast of the Sto. Nino which is an extension of the Christmas Season in our country granted by Rome.
Furthermore, for the lazy among you, you can have the excuse of not removing your Christmas decors until February 02, Feast of the Presentation at the Temple because chronologically, that is the precise moment when Christmas Season ends. That is why, the giant Christmas Tree at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square is traditionally removed only on this date.
Also, please stop announcing in churches about the Mass tonight and tomorrow as “New Year’s Mass” because there is no Mass for New Year.
Though our Sacramentary offers prayers for Mass at New Year, the same book stipulates that “this cannot be celebrated on January 1 because it is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.”
Basic reason why we should not be greeting one another with a happy new year on January 1st is the fact that we celebrated our New Year in the Church during the First Sunday of Advent, that Season of four Sundays when we prepare for Christmas.
Remember, Advent has two aspects: from First Sunday of Advent until December 16, our focus is on the Second Coming of Christ or Parousia at the end of time. Nobody knows when it will be, not even Jesus Christ except the Father in Heaven. Then, from December 17 to 24, we enter the second aspect of Advent which is the focus on the first coming of Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. All the readings on these days center on the events and stories leading to Christ’s birth.
So my dear reader and follower, we start each year in the Church preparing for the coming of the King of kings and we end the year with Solemnity of Christ the King.
To be exact, we start and end each year in Jesus Christ, not in numbers.
Every day of the year is a Christmas in essence, a coming of Jesus Christ.
And for us to continue this beautiful story of Christmas especially on these first 19 days of 2020, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ who is true God and true Man, teaches us the way to keep this spirit of bringing the Savior into the world even beyond December 25 and January 1.
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
Luke 2:16-19
Shepherds approaching the Nativity Scene at the National Shrine of the Basilica of Mt. Carmel, Quezon City. Photo by author, 30 December 2019.
Mary to guide us through another year closer to Jesus
A natural reason we have for cutting short our greetings of Merry Christmas to one another is the very close proximity of December 25 with the New Year. Though the civil calendar also came from the Church, in a sense the start of the year has been made holy by its closeness with Christmas.
Rightly then, all the more we find the reason to keep on greeting Merry Christmas than happy new year!
Notice the sudden shift from the holy and transcendent so evident in just a span of one week that personally, I feel we have to promote all the more a stop in this greeting of happy new year at Christmas Season.
How easily we can forget the wonder and awe of Christ’s birth!
See how from our rich liturgical celebrations of Advent and Christmas then suddenly this last seven days of the year, we turn to pagan practices to usher in the new year?
Have we become like the shepherds who came to Jesus only at his brith and never to be mentioned again in the entire account of St. Luke?
What happened?
A shepherd near the Nativity Scene at the National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Mat. Carmel in Quezon City. Photo by author, 30 December 2019.
Mary guides us to the true meaning of Christ’s birth and of the new year that closely comes after Christmas. See how St. Luke narrated the attitude and disposition of Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God:
And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
That’s the problem with our Christmas celebrations: after December 25, we go back to “normal lives” which is more of living without Jesus, of getting into the daily grind of life away from Jesus.
Like us, Mary did not know what was really ahead of her with the birth of Jesus: she had no idea about his being lost at the temple, of his being tempted by the devil, of his being rejected and killed by his own people despite his many healings and other miracles.
Mary simply believed in Jesus. And that is why she is blessed according to Elizabeth, because she believed the words spoken to her would be fulfilled.
Mary had nothing certain about her coming year, of her life except the name to be given to her Son, Jesus which means “God is my Savior”.
The same is true with us! We do not know if we will still be together until December or at least in January 2021. We do not know who would get married this year, who would be migrating to another country, who will hit it big time in business or whatever.
Stop consulting fortune tellers because they know nothing about the future! Only the Father of Jesus knows everything that is going to happen. And he had sent us his Son Jesus to make sure that through everything that is going to happen, none of us would ever be lost (Jn.6:39).
Like Mary, we have only one surety and security this 2020: Jesus Christ, our Lord and God living with us!
Let us focus this year in Jesus Christ and his words of salvation.
And that is the challenge of Christmas of the new year 2020: that every day, despite all the good news and bad news we hear and encounter in life, we make that conscious decision to trust in Jesus that good is coming to us for his name means God is my Savior.
Like Mary, let us lose ourselves every day in this wonderful moment of Christmas of looking at the child Jesus inviting us to be caught up in his joy of coming, to fear not of the new year ahead for he has come precisely to be one with us.
May we stay with him, keep his words in our hearts like Mary by reflecting on their meaning trusting and awaiting their fulfillment.
Let us not leave Jesus like the shepherds, though, they were the first to see the Lord at Christmas, they missed his full glory of resurrection because they never went back to him again.
Have a blessed and Merry Christmas!
From the inside of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the small doors that require pilgrims to humbly bow first to enter the church and find Jesus. Photo by author, May 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for the Soul, Christmas 2019
“The Adoration of the Shepherds”, a painting of the Nativity scene by Italian artist Giorgione before his death at a very young age of 30 in 1510.
A blessed Christmas to you and your loved ones! As we celebrate this single event that has made the most impact on mankind in our entire history, I share with you my thoughts and reflections in a Christmas prayer based on our midnight Mass gospel:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, wen Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:1-7
Jesus, both the giver and the gift
A most blessed happy birthday to you dear, Lord Jesus Christ!
How funny that you are the one celebrating birthday but we are the ones expecting and receiving gifts on this day. And that is why we all celebrate your birthday – it is a living story that continues to this day when you gave us yourself as a gift to each of us!
Thank you very much for being both the gift and the giver.
Thank you for coming to us, for being like us in everything except sin to accompany us in our lives, to help us carry our cross and lighten our many burdens.
In becoming human like us, you have taught us and made us experience true humility so we can also be like you, holy and divine. Indeed, the words of St. Augustine are so true when he preached in one of his Christmas sermons:
“God became a human being so that in one person you could have both something to see and something to believe.”
St. Augustine, Sermon 126, 5
Thank you for coming to us, being born like us that we have found meaning in our lives, in our struggles, in our pains and hurts.
Because of your coming to us, we have come to believe in better future, we have come to hope and most of all, we have experienced tremendous joy in living.
Your great servant St. John Paul II perfectly said of every human person that
“Every birthday is a small Christmas because with the birth of every person comes Jesus Christ.”
Evangelium Vitae
Help us to find something good always in us and something to believe in us because you are dwelling in us!
Chapel at the Shepherds’ Field in Bethlehem where the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the the shepherds tending their sheep under the darkness of that night. Photo by author, May 2019.
Life is what we make on earth, you planned in heaven
I love that opening phrase by your evangelist St. Luke, O Lord: “In those days” which in some versions has a more literal translation from the original Greek that says, “It came about in those days”.
As a child starting to learn how to read, I quickly memorized the letters and words of every storybook’s opening line, “Once upon a time”. Then, I got fed up with the expression as I grew up and matured because I have realized they are not true at all.
In these past 21 years being your priest, Jesus, eight years here in my first parish assignment of about 12,000 souls, you have taught me with something to see and something to believe in myself “In those days”.
In those days when I feel so insignificant, when I feel so little with my shortcomings and failures and sins, when I doubt my gifts and talents, when everything seems so wrong, that is also when I feel so close with you, when you console me too.
Like you being born during the time of the great Roman emperor Augustus, the more you came closer to us, the time you were born amid the many hardships of your Mother Mary. Even if there was no room in the inn, there was the lowly manger that welcomed you.
Yes, my sweet Jesus, life is what we make of here on earth, so difficult, so trying, sometimes frustrating but you are always there making us look up above to the Father that we just hang on with life for you have planned everything for our good in heaven.
Do not allow us to be troubled and disturbed by the mundane things of the world that are all passing.
Do not let us to be robbed of your glory and joy by being overtaken by pains and anger, hardships and struggles for you know very well what we are going through in life, of how tired we are in keeping up with our duties and responsibilities, of how hard we have tried to follow you like Joseph and Mary.
How lovely, dear Jesus, to imagine you were born in the darkness and stillness of the night of the shortest day of the year to remind us of the coming light, of the lengthening of days after.
It is in that same dark night when we see and experience our littleness and insignificance in this vast, wide world when you also make us feel our worth and value being cupped in your mighty hands, assuring us of your protection and love.
Help us to let go of our grudges and vengeance against those people who have hurt us, duped us, insulted us and be rather filled with your peace and goodwill as the angels proclaim your glory in the darkness of the night.
Atop Mt. Sinai in Egypt at midnight. Photo by Atty. Grace Polaris Rivas-Beron, May 2019.
Are we not?
Thank you Jesus for the gift of a beautiful poem I have read from a fellow blogger tonight after hearing confessions of my parishioners.
This Christmas, dear Lord Jesus, let me hug you in my brothers and sisters who have made me see something good, something beautiful, something joyful amidst the many evil, ugly, and sad events of life.
It is Christmas, in those days so ordinary when you came to bless us, to make us a part of your story so beautiful, so lovely. Let me believe more in you so I can see you more, love you more, and follow you more! Amen
Daniel 7:2-14 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 21:29-33
Praise and glory to you, O God! Thank for this blessed Friday, the last working day of November 2019. Most of all, thank you for keeping us safe always in your protection despite our sins and being stubborn.
Like the vision of Prophet Daniel in the first reading, so many “beasts” have tried destroying us. In fact, these “beasts” are so “horrible” that so many people have come to believe them, accepting them and all their lies and malice.
Red Wednesday 2019, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan.
There are times that we lose hope, fearing that everything is going to nothing.
Sometimes, it is so difficult to find meaning in life at all amidst all the sufferings and miseries around us and even within us!
May we always trust in your Word, Jesus Christ who became flesh to be with us.
In the many trials and tribulations that come our way, may we always hold on to his assurance:
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
The Cross is the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. It is also a lesson in itself, the most profound Jesus has given us that continues to unfold and unravel the “depth and breath” of God’s love for each of us.
Through his Cross, Jesus did not only enter humanity but also allowed humanity to enter him by putting into his heart its very symbolism which is death we all deny and are afraid of. By dying on the Cross, Jesus turned it into a blessing to now become the symbol of life.
Let’s make an illustration.
Yes, it is Bruce Willis from a scene in one of his popular series, “Die Hard” which I continue to watch whenever possible.
What I like most with Bruce Willis in all of his movies is his being so “human” – very vulnerable physically, emotionally and even psychologically. His roles never hide his being a frail human being despite his muscular strength and tactical acumen. Bruce never hides his weaknesses that he can get shot and wounded, dumped and divorced or cheated by his wife like in “The Last Boy Scout”, making him more believable than the other action stars.
And that’s our point here: Jesus never hid his humanity from us. The all-powerful God on whose everything was created according to St. Paul in the second reading became human like us in every aspect except sin.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth… He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
Colossians 1:15-19
Carmelite Monastery, Guiguinto, Bulacan, 12 November 2019.
In becoming human like us, Jesus entered our humanity. He who is the Son of God became an infant and child so weak, entrusting himself to us humans.
And when he had grown into a man, he experienced leaving home and family to fulfill his mission like almost everybody. He had friends, some eventually became faithful while another had betrayed him.
Jesus went to almost every gathering like weddings and banquets, met everybody from the “who’s who” to the nobody like sinners and marginalized. He was manly enough to relate with every kind of people, be they children or women, rich and poor alike.
He had wept at the death of a good friend and the impending destruction of his beloved city of Jerusalem, felt hunger and thirst, got angry and was surprised in some occasions.
Jesus is truly human that we can also identify with him but in his dying on the cross, we were able to enter him to become like him when on his Resurrection, he took away the curse of death and turned it into pure grace in him.
Cross at the Dominican Hill in Baguio City, January 2019.
A very unique characteristic of Jesus as a human is his being a radical in its truest essence and meaning. From the Latin word “radix” that means roots, Jesus brought us back to our very roots, to our grounding of being who is God himself.
Too often, we think of radical people as rebels and revolutionaries leading movements and many changes in the society. They are the “game changers” because they radically change things to show us the more essential.
But in reality, radicals do not change things: they restore things to its original state and being. They get into the roots or “radix” of things to bring out its true meanings by doing away with the unimportant accidentals that have taken over the realities.
That is why Jesus is a radical: by dying on the Cross, he firmly reestablished his throne as King of the Universe because that is where evil ended and death is conquered.
It is on the Cross his throne where every new life begins because it is our very rootedness and “grounding of being” as beloved children of God in him.
Most of all, it is on the Cross his throne, our root and grounding from which comes our sole focus and attention in life – God in Christ Jesus.
The rulers sneered at Jesus… even the soldiers jeered at him. Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:35, 36, 39-43
We have a beautiful expression in Filipino about a person described as “malalim” or deep. A radical is the truly deep person because he is rooted and grounded in his being who is God!
Anyone who truly recognizes Jesus Christ becomes a radical person too, a person of depth because he is rooted in God like the other thief hanging on the cross with Jesus.
See how the rulers or the elite like the priests and elders of Israel who sneered at Jesus: the more they poked fun on him as “the Christ of God”, the more they indict themselves of the grave crime of putting Jesus to death. Eventually at the death of Jesus, the Temple curtain would be torn from top to bottom to signal the end of temple worship and the start of worshipping God in “truth and spirit” in Christ.
The soldiers jeered Jesus too because they “know not what they were doing” because they were all pagans. But again, upon Christ’s death, we find one soldier there at the scene declaring “truly this is the Son of God.”
In any case, some members of Israel’s rulers and Roman soldiers eventually followed Jesus after the Resurrection to show us how the Cross is indeed the throne of Christ the King: it is also a door that opens anyone to conversion, to accept his reign and kingdom!
Most of all, the “good thief”, usually referred to as Dimas, shows us how at the cross any one can become radical like the Lord. While agonizing with Jesus on the cross, Dimas must have examined his life and got into his very core, his roots and realized that basic truth inside him was right there suffering also with him — Jesus whose name means “Yahweh saves”.
What is so surprising with his request from Jesus “to remember him he gets into his kingdom” is the fact that in the Old Testament, it is God who always remembers his people, remembers his promise, remembers his covenant.
Man always forgets God and his covenant that we always turn away from him to live in sin. But at the cross, the throne of Jesus our King, he enables us to remember our roots, our being children of God, our being loved and forgiven that we finally find our way back home.
And that home is God in eternity: “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.”
Every time we are at the cross, when we are getting through so many pains and sufferings, failures and disappointments, even darkness and sin, get into your roots – Jesus Christ – and you will never get lost.
Long before we got into all these crosses in life, remember Jesus was there first for us to suffer and die on his Cross. And that is why he is our King for he rose again so we can become like him in eternity. Amen.
Monday, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, 04 November 2019
Romans 11:29-36 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 14:12-14
Sculpture of a homeless man sleeping on a bench fronting the Franciscan Fathers’ Residence in Capernaum, the Holy Land. On closer examination of the sculpture, one realises it is in fact Jesus Christ living in our midst! Photo by the author, May 2019.
Praise and glory to you, our heavenly Father!
Thank you very much for never changing your mind regarding your gifts and call to us as St. Paul reminds us today in our first reading:
Brothers and sisters: The gifts and call of God are irrevocable.
Romans 11:29
It is always a struggle with us to come to grip with this truth and reality.
Very often, we tend to forget your gifts and call to us to be holy, to be like you in Christ Jesus, always kind and loving, forgiving and merciful, just and understanding.
There is always that inner temptation within us to think too much of ourselves, to have our rewards or share of the fruits of our labor.
Help us to keep in mind like St. Charles Borromeo, who despite his very colourful and illustrious background, he lived out his call and vocation to the priesthood exactly as your servant, Lord.
Help us to forget our selves so we may always see you, Lord, among the poor and needy, the ones who cannot pay us back, or invite us to dinner. Amen.
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