Thursday, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 December 2019
Zechariah 2:14-17 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 1:39-47
From Catholic News Agency
Praise and glory to you, O God our loving Father in heaven who has given us along with your Son Jesus Christ our Savior his beloved Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Thank you in giving us Mother Mary as our guide in this Season of Advent, along with the Prophet Isaiah and St. John the Baptist.
And the most wonderful thing about Mary as our guide in Advent is the fact she lived Advent because she was the first to truly believe in Jesus!
Renew our faith in you, O God especially in this age when we tend to believe more to our selves, to science and technology.
Strengthen our faith also so that like Mary, we may be blessed as we believe your words O God will be fulfilled in us.
Detail of painting at the Basilica of St. Juan Diego receiving roses from the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:45
Let us firmly believe like Mary, your Mother, Lord Jesus!
Let us give you our daily “Amen” like Mary who gave her total self to your service, Lord.
Fill us with the Holy Spirit, Father, like Mary who has continued to share your Son Jesus Christ with others, not only to Elizabeth at that time but also to St. Juan Diego at Guadalupe, St. Bernadette at Lourdes, and to the children at Fatima. Amen.
Isaiah 40:25-31 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 11:28-30
Eagle, the symbol of our Patron Saint, John the Evangelist, Advent 2018.
What makes Advent so wonderful, Lord, is the fervent hope your words instill in us to persevere in believing and serving you.
Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Teach us to trust you more, to always walk in firm faith in you because you always keep your promise.
Enlighten us, Lord, that you never promised to take away our cross; let us realize the great comfort you offer us in helping us carry our cross.
Enough to comfort us and assure us is your gentle mastery, Lord Jesus Christ.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Thank you, dear Jesus, for these kind words today, enough for us to forge on in life’s many trials.
We pray for those having some form of crisis in life today, enlighten their minds and their hearts in making the right choices in life. We pray for those who are very sick and those taking care of them in this most trying time of their life. We also pray especially those who lost a loved one, feeling guilty in the process. Please assure them Lord of your gentle presence, that they are cared for, and most of all, loved. Amen.
Tuesday, Feast of Our Lady of Loreto, 10 December 2019
Isaiah 40:1-11 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 18:12-14
Pope Francis prays at the Holy House of Loreto during his pilgrimage on 25 March 2019. Photo from Vatican News.
How comforting are your words, O Lord, and the celebrations we are having today: the Feast of the Our Lady of Loreto and the ordination to the priesthood of our three deacons in the diocese.
It is a very special day for us parishioners of your “beloved disciple”, Lord, because one of the ordinandi is our first priest, Rev. Fr. Roel Aldwin C. Valmadrid.
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.
Isaiah 40:1
To comfort, Lord, is not only to relax and soothe but most of all, to strengthen, cum fortis.
Thank you for comforting us, our loving God with the gift of the first priest of the parish. Despite our many sins and shortcomings as a parish community, you blessed us with a priest, with another coming next year!
Thank you also Lord for comforting our three new priests. Finally, after more than a year of darkness, we see light today with their ordination.
May our new priests give comfort to your people, Lord, for many of them are lost, tired, and confused, “like sheep without a shepherd”.
Most of all, comfort my former seminarian, my parishioner and now a priest, Fr. Roel Aldwin.
You know very well the many trials Fr. Roel Aldwin had faced before this day came: of how his future looked so dark and uncertain with the death of Bishop Jose last year, and after being ordained deacon last June, some wayward souls have tried to destroy his reputation with lies and false accusations.
Comfort, Fr. Roel, Lord, comfort him and teach him to forgive whoever those people have maligned him. Make him realize that trials and tribulations, pains and sufferings are the stuff you allow to come our way as priests in preparing us for bigger and greater mission.
And where else, dearest Jesus, can we truly find more comfort but in the warmth and assuring love of your holy home in Nazareth with St. Joseph and Mother Mary that was miraculously transported to Loreto, Italy in 1260!
It is so difficult to understand, even believe, how your holy house in Nazareth would be carried by angels across the seas into Loreto; yet, it is very comforting and reassuring to hear stories by pilgrims there, including Pope Francis who all claimed to have felt, to have been “comforted” in visiting your holy earthly dwelling place.
Yes, dear Jesus, it is very comforting to realize how you would do everything like a shepherd leaving behind 99 sheep in the hills to look for the lone stray one.
Fill Fr. Roel Aldwin, Fr. Laurence and Fr. Howard with your strength and love so they can comfort many people and lead them back to you, Lord Jesus as your priests. Amen.
Diaconal Ordination of Rev. Howard, Fr. Roel Aldwin, and Rev. Laurence at the Malolos Cathedral, 12 June 2019.
Monday, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 09 December 2019
Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ><}}}*> Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ><}}}*> Luke 1:26-38
Every year, O Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate on your birth month the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of your Most Blessed Mother Mary who was conceived without the stain of original sin.
Until now, many are still confused with this feast especially when our Gospel speaks about the annunciation of your birth, dear Jesus.
Nonetheless, it is the single most important part of your lives both that truly give us a valuable lesson about Mary’s blessedness – later to be expressed by Elizabeth at the visitation, “Blessed is she who believed that the words spoken to hear will be fulfilled”.
Her Immaculate Conception teaches us the importance of faith especially at this time when we face a great crisis in faith in the Church.
And so, we pray to you O Lord for the gift of faith like that of your Mother Mary, a faith that is deeply personal yet communal.
The first is subjective and the second is objective.
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38
Malolos Cathedral, June 2019.
Unlike Eve in the first reading, Mary had always believed in God.
Her faith is a total entrusting of herself to God on a person-to-person relationship. It is subjective faith where emphasis is on believing itself than on what is believed.
However, Mary did not believe in a purely subjective manner as if God is a personal God detached from others and exclusively revealing only himself to her in secret.
Mary’s faith is also objective because when the angel explained everything to her, she believed the good news proclaimed to her is part of the bigger whole, of the coming new covenant, of the fulfillment of the promise of God made to Abraham and the fathers of Israel as she would later express in her Magnificat.
It is only in believing like Mary can we truly give ourselves to you, Jesus, to the Church so that what we believe may truly be fulfilled in us like Mary. Amen.
Isaiah 29:17-24 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 9:27-31
Advent in our parish, 2019.
Time flies so fast, O Lord, and we are almost over with the first week of Advent! How reassuring are your words today especially in the first reading of the wonderful things coming soon, in fact happening now in Jesus Christ’s coming.
Thus says the Lord God: but a very little while, and Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and the orchard be regarded as a forest! On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; and out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel…
Isaiah 29:17-19
I know, Lord, and yes, I can see clearly now that great things are coming for us who faithfully await your coming. There shall be joy and justice, healing and consolation for those who suffer and cry.
Keep our eyes opened, remove our blindness to see the more essential things in life especially you so we may always experience your presence, your coming. Amen.
Isaiah 26:1-6 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Chandelier of the Malolos Cathedral, 04 December 2019.
Let me stay in your “house”, O Lord, and help me keep your house rules, too. I am sorry when most of the time I simply want to rest and drop by your “house” with no plans of really living there, of listening to your words and doing your will.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
Matthew 7:21
Forgive me Lord when I have become so complacent as your disciple, as a Christian, relying solely on my name and affiliation with you without working so hard to be like you.
Help me to be holy like God our Father, listening to your words intently and faithfully acting on it at all time so that I may be wise and most of all, be filled with your peace:
A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever! For the Lord is an eternal Rock!
Isaiah 26:3-4
So many times, Lord Jesus, we take you for granted… just like the people in our own homes. But when things go wrong, they are the only people we can count on to receive us, to love us, and to forgive us. Very much like you, Jesus.
May this Season of Advent make us more open to you not only to receive you but also to keep you. Amen.
Isaiah 25:6-10 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 15:29-37
The Manor House, Camp John Hay, Baguio City, 2017.
Praise and glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ for coming to us, in fulfilling our lives, in making our joy complete. Unfortunately, no one seem to be waiting for you or worst, we live as if you have not come at all.
How sad, O Lord, that often even if we are so excited with Christmas, it does not necessarily mean we are excited of you as a person coming to us. Even if we love to sing and hear that carol “Joy to the World”, we are not really joyful because our hearts are far from you.
Forgive us, Jesus, in being focused with time and dates, than with your person and with your coming.
The more we get focused with dates and gifts and carols and other trimmings of Christmas, the less we think of you and of others too.
Open our hearts to receive you in us.
On that day it will be said: “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!” For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
Isaiah 25:9-10
Open our hearts to you, Jesus, that you are more than enough than anything we could wish for.
Make us desire more of you than of things so we may always have an abundance of you as our “bread” or everything in this life. Amen.
Tuesday, Advent Week I, Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, 03 December 2019
Isaiah 11:1-10 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 10:21-24
What a blessed Tuesday we have today, O Lord, despite the threat of a super typhoon approaching us!
Your words console us, assure us of your protection and grace.
You give us today two beautiful images of greatness in being small which is the true spirit of Christmas, of you our God coming to us a child born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago.
First image is the “shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from its roots a bud shall blossom” (Is.11:1).
Every great thing always starts small. Most of all, they always happen where we least expect them like shoots sprouting from the stump of a tree! Help us to keep this in mind especially when we are losing hope.
How sad that in today’s world, people insist that “size always matter” that we always want to be the biggest in everything.
Second image, O Lord, that you have given us today of greatness in smallness is being childlike, your favorite:
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
Luke 10:21
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2018.
Being like a child is the very essence of your life and teachings, O Lord Jesus which we seem to fail to grasp and accept. All our lives we have always insisted on being so wise and learned that have often led us to more problems and disunity among us.
Teach us to be childlike, full of trust and confidence in you and most especially, with that sense of awe.
Like our Saint for today, that great child in faith of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier who kept that spirit of being childlike in his going to mission as far as China and Japan working tirelessly for the faith.
O blessed St. Francis Xavier, pray for us to remain small and simple before God our Master like you so that his greatness and majesty be seen more in us. Amen.
Isaiah 4:2-6 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 8:5-11
Sunrise at the Lake of Galilee, the Holy Land, 2017.
O God our loving Father, who among is truly worthy to receive you under our roofs?
Who among us is truly worthy of receiving you in our sinful selves?
No one, O dear God!
Yet, you still sent us your only Son Jesus Christ to live among us, to dwell among us sinners so that unworthy as we are, we may be worthy to receive him.
Just say the word, Lord, like with the centurion’s request to you in today’s gospel.
Cleanse us, our minds, our lips, and our hearts so that we may be worthy to receive you into our lives in your daily coming. Most especially in your Second Coming, Lord Jesus.
Unworthy as we are, let us come to you with clean hearts and receive you Jesus in your sacred banquet of the Holy Eucharist, the foretaste of that banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.
For over all, the Lord’s glory will be shelter and protection; shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from storm and rain.
Isaiah 4:6
Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.
Trees at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches, Quezon City, 2017.
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.”
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