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.
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.
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.
They always reveal something about us. Medical doctors say our hands’ texture and color indicate our health condition. Psychics always read our palms to see our past, present and future. And every suitor always asks for the hand of his beloved for marriage.
In fact, it is always fascinating to observe the hands of a man courting a woman. See how he would always hide his hands inside his pockets or at his back as he puts his best foot forward to impress the lady he is courting. If he wins her heart, they get engaged and that is when they keep on holding each other’s hands until they get married.
There are a lot great beauty and profundity in our human hands that always come in handy for daily living!
“It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.”
1 Timothy 2:8
I love St. Paul’s expression of men praying “lifting up holy hands” which is the sum or integration of prayer and action. Very picturesque, showing us how we must conduct ourselves with God and one another by living in peace and harmony as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. That is why today until next Sunday, our gospel from St. Luke would be challenging us on how authentic our life is as seen from last week’s parable when we experienced God as a loving Father embracing us despite our sins.
This Sunday, the Lord is asking us, “what’s in our hands”?
What are we holding on, literally and figuratively speaking?
Whatever our hands touch and hold are always linked with our whole selves. They cannot be separated from our body for our hands extend us to other people and even with things. Our hands reveal the balance or imbalance within us, the truth and lies we hold on deep inside us.
Photo by Jim Marpa in Carigara, September 2019.
“No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Luke 16:13
In our gospel today, Jesus is not asking us to “dirty our hands” with sin. What he wants us to realize from his parable is to be like the wise steward or “hired hand” who used all his resources and intelligence in securing a sound future by doing something finally good to those he had cheated.
Like that hired hand, what are the main concerns of our hands? Do we use our hands for good or for evil? Would we dare to use our hands extensively to achieve eternal life by entering through the “narrow door” Jesus told us last month by keeping our hands busy in doing good, serving the poor and needy?
Our hands are a blessing from God, including the fruits of its labor.
How unfortunate that like during the time of the prophet Amos whom we have heard in the first reading today, we use these very blessings from God to curse and trample others especially the poor and the weak. How ironic and sad that the very hands we use to care for others are the very same hands that beat and even kill others perfectly expressed in the term “blood in one’s hands”. Worst of all, the very hands that pray to God are the same hands that hurt others!
Betania Tagaytay, August 2017.
The late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila used to narrate a short story about the gracious hands of God. He said that most of the time, the hands of God caress us, pat our shoulders and even soothe us whenever we are in pain. But, sometimes, the hands of God tap us, even “spank” us when things do not seem to favor us. What matters most, according to Cardinal Sin, whether we are caressed or tapped, the same touches come from God’s loving and healing hands always filled with grace.
In the gospels, we find many instances of Jesus using his hands to raise the sick, to touch the eyes and mouth in restoring senses, and to bless, break and share bread with his friends and sinners alike. When he expressed his immense love for us and the Father, Jesus stretched out his arms and offered his hands on the cross on Good Friday.
Just imagine how with all our sins, God with a stroke of his hand can make us all vanish but chose not to do so and let our trespasses pass. Like the master in the parable we have heard, God is giving us all the opportunities to work with our hands in lovingly serving the people he has entrusted to us in our homes and offices, school and parish, and community.
But unlike that master who still fired his hired hand despite his resourcefulness, God is not judging us into doom. In is infinite love, God gave us Jesus Christ his Son to bring us back to him in eternal life. It is for this that we lift up our hands to him every day, especially in the Holy Mass we celebrate. The best prayer we can offer God is for these “blessed hands” to reach out to everyone in love and forgiveness, kindness and peace. Amen.
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.
1 Timothy 4:12-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 7:36-50
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, Atok, Benguet, 01 September 2019.
It has been raining for quite some time, Lord, dampening our moods. Some of us have been trying hard cheering ourselves up despite the rains and gloomy skies that have gotten inside inside us too!
Thank you very much for your soothing words of encouragement through St. Paul, sweet Jesus.
Beloved: Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity… Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.
1 Timothy 4:12, 14
There are times Lord Jesus when we just hit it so low, when everything does not seem to be going in the right directions, when we feel even under attack.
How reassuring are your words through St. Paul reminding us of our giftedness and the gifts we have to offer you and others.
More reassuring were the words you spoke about that “sinful woman” who came to anoint you with oil and perfume as you dined with a certain Pharisee.
“Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feel since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her may sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
Luke 7:44-47
So nice of you to remind us today to keep on doing what we think and feel as good and beautiful, to see ourselves still blessed despite our weaknesses and sins like that woman who has so much goodness to share like the oil and perfume she poured on you, Lord.
We pray for those going through hard times these days due to many problems not only with others but with their very selves – those feeling so guilty with their sins, feeling bad with themselves due to failures, or just having the “blues”.
We pray for those having difficulties with their loved ones who are sick and simply misunderstood even unwelcomed. Those having problems with family members who refuse to admit their faults for all the problems their family is going through.
Lastly we pray for those of us misunderstood and boxed or labelled. O Lord, help us bring out the goodness and giftedness we have inside to fill our homes, offices and schools with your fragrance, sparkle, and presence. Amen.
1 Timothy 3:14-16 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 7:31-35
Cross atop Dominican Hills overlooking Baguio City, January 2019.
Lord Jesus Christ, how I wish we have a very reassuring and powerful St. Paul by our side these days when your Church comes under attacks from the outside and even from the inside.
Beloved: I am writing you, although I hope to visit you soon. But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.
1 Timothy 3:14-15
How unfortunate that our leaders in the Church and other institutions seem to be so silent these days amid the ongoing attacks against your “household” by SOGIE Bill and the Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage Bill.
How unfortunate also is the growing indifference within your “household” with these raging issues today that we are like what you have described in the gospel:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge , but you did not weep.”
Luke 7:31-32
Give us the strength and courage to stand for what is true in keeping our faith alive amid the rising tides of progressivism and modernity not only in the society but even within your household, Lord.
Let us follow more your voice, taking into our hearts the seriousness of these attacks on faith and morals that totally disregard your existence and plans. Amen.
Saturday, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 2019
Numbers 21:4-9 ><)))*> Philippians 2:6-11 ><)))*> John 3:13-17
The Brazen Serpent Monument on Mt. Nebo inside the Franciscan Monastery in Jordan, May 2019.
“We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
As we celebrate today the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, we widen our gaze on your holy cross, Lord Jesus, that remains standing to remind us of your love and mercy, of your abiding presence and light amidst the many darkness enveloping us today.
When we look around us, when we read the newspapers, watch the TV and listen to the radio, we cannot help but cry, even complain deep within like the Israelites in the wilderness why all the miseries still happening around us with all the killings and injustices going on.
Sometimes, Lord, the powers of evil and sin seem to prevail over the world cast in widespread darkness with all the chaos and confusions going on.
But here lies the beauty of your Cross, Jesus Christ: it does not deny the sufferings and pains caused by our sins that led to your death that still continue to this day and cause our grave sufferings; however, despite this gravity of our sins, your Cross reminds us too of your unending love and mercy.
More powerful than evil and darkness are your love and light, O sweet Jesus made manifest on your Cross.
Grant us that gaze of faith, the look of faith needed by so many of us travelling in this wilderness to always see you Lord who was sent by the Father because he so loved the world that whoever believes in you might not perish but gain eternal life. Amen.
1 Timothy 1: 1-2, 12-14 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Luke 6:39-42
From Google.
Thanks be to you, O God our loving Father for this merciful day of Friday. Today, the whole Church praises you with that beautiful Psalm 51, “The Miserere Nobis”.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offense. O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.
My offenses truly I know them; my sin in always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done… O see, in guilt I was born, a sinner was I conceived.
From the Breviary
Like St. Paul in today’s first reading, give us the grace of having that “sense of sinfulness” within us, Lord.
So many times, we deny the presence of sin in our lives as we keep on justifying our actions, always having that feeling of uprightness, of never erring. Worst, we have become blind guides you have mentioned, O Lord, in the gospel today.
Give us the grace of a deep sense of sinfulness within us, Jesus, so that like St. Paul and all the other saints who were all sinners before, including Dimas the thief who died with you on the Cross on that Good Friday, we may also have that sense of the Father’s rich mercy.
Garden of Gethsemane, May 2019.
Let us not be blinded by our self-righteousness that make us deny the presence of sin in us that ultimately deny ourselves of your mercy. May we realise that only those who have been forgiven can understand what it means to receive the Father’s mercy. Amen.
Colossians 3:12-17 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 6:27-38
Sacred Heat Novitiate (Novaliches), July 2016.
It is only Thursday, Lord Jesus Christ, but suddenly your Most Sacred Heart came to mind, especially this beautiful hymn:
Heart of Jesus, meek and mild Hear, O hear, Thy feeble child, When the tempest’s most severe, Heart of Jesus, hear!
Sweetly we’ll rest on Thy Sacred Heart, Never from Thee, oh let us part, Hear then Thy loving children’s pray’r, O Heart of Jesus, Heart of Jesus, hear!
Everyday, Lord, we think of the clothes we would wear and too often, our choices seem endless, taking so much of our time so we would always look good to others.
Today, O Lord, I pray, you clothe me with your person: through your “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, may everything I do be done in your most holy name, O Jesus”, (Col. 3:12, 17).
From Google.
To be clothed in you, O Lord Jesus, means to see the good in others than to see myself as the only one good.
To be clothed in you, O Jesus, is to get into the very heart of your gospel message of “loving our enemies” (Lk.6:27). It is the most radical words in your preaching that seems so impossibly hard for us to follow – unless we are clothed in you, O Christ.
That is why it is very important for us to be clothed in you, Jesus, because loving our enemies is the clearest expression we are your disciples, that is, Christians in the truest sense.
Help us to take off our clothes of pride and selfishness, our clothes of greed and insecurities that make us want more than what we have and what we need, and thus lead to our making enemies because we try to possess and defend.
Instead, let us be clothed in you, Jesus, so that we become poor like you with nothing to keep except everything to give and share.
In that manner, we become open and hospitable instead of being hostile with others. Amen.
