SUNDAY READING REFLECTIONS:

February 3, 2008
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READING 1: Zephaniah 2:3;3:12-13
Reading 1 Reflection:

The prophet in the first reading sounds like he is out of touch with the values promoted by many people today: success, power, and riches. Because he is guided by what God values, the prophet advises us to seek justice and humility. Those who heed this advice and live by God's law will find shelter in the Lord.

We are bombarded every day by temptations to make ourselves "Number One." But God invites us to recognize our dependence on God and on one another. If we do, we will find a happiness that cannot be taken away.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

"They shall do no wrong and speak no lies." A lie is an untruth. What happens to relationships between friends when one of the friends lies about something? What happens to family relationships when family members lie to one another? In our country, we have "truth in advertising" laws. This means that a product cannot claim what it cannot deliver. However, many ads use implication rather than outright claims. Can you really jump higher in one athletic shoe rather than another? Is something newer always better? We need advertising and good products, but how can we separate the false from the true in what we see and hear on radio, TV, magazines, and newspapers?

READING 2: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul reminds us that God has not chosen us because we are brilliant, powerful, or perfect. God chooses the weak and the foolish, the lowly and imperfect to show the world that it is God who accomplishes all things through us.

This letter to the Corinthians helps us understand that we do not have to boast about our talents or apologize for our weakness. We can be glad that God has chosen us and loves us for who we are.

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

If we look around our school or parish, we probably see a lot of ordinary people. If we take a closer look, we may find that these ordinary people are doing extraordinary things. This week, take a closer look at your parish or school. What happens during a day? How are people being helped, encouraged, perhaps fed and clothed, prayed for and with? What are these ordinary people doing each day in response to God's love? How can you show your gratitude that God has chosen you?

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
Gospel Reflection:

Can you imagine a series of commercials telling people that the way to be truly happy is to be hungry for justice, poor in spirit, and single-hearted? Viewers might well wonder where these strange messages are coming from. These and the other happiness guidelines, or Beatitudes, come from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He wants his disciples to walk the path of littleness, of mercy, and of forgiveness.

The Beatitudes are a great challenge and an even greater promise of reward. If we live by them, we will be happier right now?as well as in eternity.

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

Jesus knew that life, perhaps especially life as a Christian, could be difficult. He knew that there were things to be sorrowing about, that people needed mercy, that conflicts and persecutions would come. In all of these situations, Jesus tells us, we are blest. And, if we are merciful, try to make peace, and try to be holy, we will be consoled and rewarded not with riches, or power, or influence but by God, by joy, by peace. Do we want this reward? Would we rather have riches or power? How can we open ourselves to God, joy, and peace?

Reflection by: CYBERFAITH
"Catholic resources for people of Faith"

Sunday Reading Reflections:

January 27, 2008
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

READING 1: Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Reading 1 Reflection:

Most of us know how it feels to live in the "land of gloom" for a few hours or days or even longer. The people in the region around Galilee were overcome by gloom when their enemy, the Assyrians, conquered them. But Isaiah promises that God's power is greater than the powers of darkness. "A great light" will lead them into "abundant joy."

Jesus is "the great light" who leads us out of the land of gloom. By his death and resurrection, he has assured us that darkness can never have the last say.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

Sometimes we get used to living in gloom. What would it feel like to have our gloom lightened and brightened? Sometimes we get used to living with a burdensome yoke. What would it feel like to have that yoke smashed? We can get used to living under the rod of a "taskmaster" (that is sometimes ourselves). What would it feel like to have that rod and those tasks lifted from us? Identify the gloom and the yoke and the burdensome (unimportant) tasks. Ask the Lord to come, shine his light, and set you free for the important things in life. What do you want more of in your life?


READING 2: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Reading 2 Reflection:

People who live in the light must avoid divisions and rivalries. Even though the followers of Christ are uniquely different from one another, Paul reminds us that Christ cannot be divided. And we cannot change his message to suit ourselves. Christ's cross is at the heart of our Christian faith.

It is perfectly natural to have favorites in our lives. We have favorite people, favorite teachers, favorite friends. However, we must always remember that even our favorites are human beings like us. No one is perfect except Christ, and it is him that we are to follow. Our favorite people can be role models for us, but we cannot put them in the place of Christ and his loving action in our lives.

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

How do we feel when someone we have looked up to fails in some way? Does this mean we were wrong to look up to them? Does this mean that they were all wrong in everything they said or did?

Someone once asked a very old religious sister, "Who is Jesus to you?" She very quickly answered, "The Lord is my ROCK." When someone fails us, do we talk to Christ about it, or do we stay in our disappointment and anger? How can we help ourselves and others to accept disappointments as part of life? How can disappointments in life lead us to lean on Jesus more as our steadfast rock?


Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17
Gospel Reflection:

Once again the gospel focuses on Jesus as the Promised One of the Old Testament. Jesus began his preaching in Galilee and is identified by Matthew as "the great light" foretold by Isaiah. Jesus' first message to God's people is a powerful one. He says that we should reform our lives, or repent, for "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

"To repent" means that we take a complete change of direction in our lives. Jesus knew what repentance, or change of direction, meant, because he had just made a big change in his own life. After John was put in jail, he knew that preparing God's people for the kingdom was now totally up to him. So he chose a place to live (Capernaum-by-the-sea) and "began to proclaim." Jesus made a new beginning.

Chaim Potok, a Jewish novelist, once began one of his novels with the statement, "Beginnings are hard." To repent means to begin again. When have you made a new beginning? How can you make a new beginning today in some area of your life?

Reflection by: CYBERFAITH
"Catholic resources for people of Faith"

Sto. Niño de Tondo

Feast Day of Sto. Niño de Tondo
By: Ms. Rose Marie Mendoza

The feast day of Sto. Niño in Tondo is celebrated in the third Sunday of January. The fiesta in Tondo has the biggest participation in Manila, not only because Tondo is the most populous district in the city and poorest but perhaps because of the many anecdotes connected with the Sto. Niño of Tondo. According to Philippine Historical Commission, the peoples of Tondo celebrated the feast day with a fluvial procession that “attracted thousands of visitors.” Tondo’s terrain at that time consisted of waterways and tributaries which were connected to Manila Bay, a probable reason why the present stone church of Tondo was constructed on elevated ground (several meters above sea level) to prevent sea waters from inundating the Church.

Nick Joaquin, inhis book entitled Almanac for Manileños (Published in 1979) describes the previous celebrations of the fiesta:

“At four in the afternoon on the visperas (meaning the Saturday before) the Sto. Niño of Tondo is borne to the sea by a dancing crowd among which groups of women in pastora hats, or in katipuneda attire: white camisa, red saya. The dancing is through sunny streets hung with bunting and here and there will be a giant heart of bell that opens up as the Sto. Niño passes to unloose a shower of petals. Everyone dances, even the barefoot men bearing the image and the boys bearing standard or farol.

At North Harbor waits the great pagoda with turreted altar. The Sto. Niño embarks, along with everybody who can squeeze abroad and the pagoda moves through the flaming hues of the sunset escorted by fishing fleets bedecked with banners the smaller boats racing each other round and round the pagoda. Dusk falls as the flotilla sails northward along the bay. On the pagoda the dancing continues but the trip has also become a picnic as the good old custom of caridad showers forth bags of biscuits and baskets of native oranges. The Sto. Niño moves in a blaze of light on the waters of his city. The voyage ends at the landing in the Velasquez and Pritil, densest tenement of Tondo is even livelier because folks back from school or works join in the merriment and besides, it’s always more fun to dance under the stars than under the sun. Parents not only from Tondo or Manila but also from the province come to dance before the Sto. Niño to pray for a sick child or give thanks for a child’s recovery.

There were attempts in the past to revive this amphibious celebration as a form of thanksgiving after the Sto. Niño was recovered in August 2, 1972. It was discovered missing from the church altar the previous weeks, July 14, to be exact. Every August 2, since 1973, the Sto. Niño placed on top of a decorated pagoda being paraded along Canal de la Reina, a large polluted estero near intersection of Pritil Market and Tayuman Street. Thousands of people lined both sides of the iron-fenced estero several boats follow the pagoda bearing the images as it travels toward the Dagupan area where a crowd of processioners accompanied the Sto. Niño by land back to the church.

In 1983 Bishop Amado H. Paulino, then the priest ordered a stop to the fluvial parade. Through rapid urbanization has made the fluvial procession of Tondo a thing of the past as many of the waterways have either been reclaimed or have small canals and esteros, residents still awaits the feast day of Sto. Niño with anticipation and excitement.

As early as the first week of January, traditional fairs are set up along Tondo’s side streets, most of the time occupying even half of the two-way traffic lanes. Hanging over practically all streets are banderitas which residents have painstakingly cut, trimmed, and pieced together months earlier. In some streets, where the procession is expected to pass the banderitas are more intricately made and more meticulously laid-out in-between houses complete with bamboo archways and steamers proclaiming “Viva El Sto. Niño.” The annual fiesta processions are held twice, one in the morning and the other just before the sunset. They pass the major streets, stopping occasionally as the participants in the procession watch a display of fireworks, a couple of doves set loose from the hanging gilded cage or a shower of residents stay in their homes to receive guests both invited and uninvited.

There are several stories woven about the church and the miraculous image. It is said that during the Spanish-American war, the Tondo church was used by the American forces as their quarters. Within 24 hours, all the US troops quartered in the church contacted smallpox and the contingent force had to leave the church premises.

In 1943, the church was also converted by the Japanese troops into their military headquarters. Sounds of children crying from nowhere bothered the Japanese troops to much that they abandoned the church.

When the liberation of Manila took place in February 1945, the Japanese set the church on fire. Msgr. J. Jovellanos, the parish priest evacuated the Church taking with him the image of the Sto. Niño. The Tondo devotees who were following the image in safety did not suffer so much as a scratch amidst the crossfire of bullets and mortal shells."

Sto. Nino de Cebu

A Tale Of The Santo Nino

It is told that when, in the days of Legaspi, the capital was moved from Cebu to Manila, the authorities decreed that the image of the Sto. Nino should also be moved to the new capital.

So, the image was crated and shipped to manila, but the crate arrived there empty. The image miraculously disappeared, reappearing in its shrine in Cebu. It was recreated, and the crate placed inside another box, and then shipped to manila. Again, the boxes arrived in Manila empty. The image was crated a third time, and the crate placed not in one but in two boxes - but in vain. The Santo Nino was back in Cebu.

Eventually, the shippers sent the image out in a series of Chinese boxes, one inside another, with the seventh and inner-most box containing the image. In this manner, the image arrived in Manila and was enthroned in the Augustinian church of the capital city. The image, however, kept disappearing from the Augustinian church and reappearing in its shrine in Cebu. And so, it is told, the Manila Augustinians decided to cut off one of the Holy Child’s legs to stop it from escaping and returning to Cebu. This proved of no avail. The Santo Nino still kept on returning to Cebu

Manila finally gave up and Cebu kept its little Lord. Today, it is said, one can still notice how unevenly the Santo Nino stands. It is a sign of how, at one time, it had been amputated to keep it from returning to its beloved home.

In other versions of this story, the image was shipped not to Manila but to Spain. Whatever the version, however, it is a story told to show how intimately wedded to each other Cebu and the Santo Nino have become.

IMAGE OF SANTO NIÑO - Considered as the oldest religious relic in the Philippines. It was on April 14, 1521 that Magellan gave the image to Queen Juana as a baptismal gift. Forty-four years later, on April 27,1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived, Fr. Andres de Urdaneta who formally Christianized the Cebuanos, found the Native hostile. Legaspi besieged the settlement and set the village on fire. It was on one of the burnt houses that Juan Camus, a soldier, found the image of Sto. Niño unscratched. Since then, the miraculous image has been venerated by the Cebuanos as its patron saint. At present, the miraculous image is kept in the parish convent, and a replica is adorned with gold and precious stones and enshrined in glass. It is housed in a side altar inside the Basilica Minor del Santo Niño.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

The Baptism of the Lord (feast)
January 13, 2008

READING 1: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Reading 1 Reflection:

In this reading the author tells us about a special servant of the Lord. He brings justice to God's people in ways that are peaceful and life-giving. He frees those who are imprisoned or wandering in the darkness. With a firm grasp, he takes God's people by the hand and guides them in keeping their covenant with God.

For Christians, this description of the servant of the Lord is an inspiring portrait of Jesus. He is the One who brings us peace, life, and freedom.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

What are some characteristics of this servant described here? Why does the Church identify this servant as Jesus? What do you learn about Jesus from this reading?

Who is the "you" in the second part of the reading? How can you carry out the mission assigned to you in this reading? Do you know anyone who is blind, imprisoned, or living in a dungeon? Keep in mind that this does not only mean physical conditions but spiritual conditions. However, be careful not to "over-spiritualize" this passage. God does want us to care about the physical world, including people who are physically or mentally challenged, in prison, or living in difficult conditions. How can you meet this challenge of care for those in spiritual or physical distress?

READING 2: Acts 10:34-38
Reading 2 Reflection:

Because God is just, God does not play favorites. All persons and nations are acceptable to the Lord. As Peter shares this welcome news with the household of the Roman soldier Cornelius, he can hardly wait to tell the entire Jesus story. He stresses how the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus at his baptism. After that, Jesus went forth to fulfill his ministry as the servant of the Lord.

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

This reading is proof, if we needed proof, that human nature has not changed very much since the time of Peter. We are often wary of people who did not grow up as we did, who are somehow different from us in some way. Perhaps Peter was surprised that this former pagan, this Gentile, this Roman had also been accepted by God. It may not have been the way Peter had expected God to work, because God first chose the Jews to carry his message to the world. Have you ever been surprised by God's choices, perhaps even of yourself? Have you ever been rejected or prejudged (the word prejudice literally means "to prejudge")? How did you handle it? Were you able to continue to "fear God and act uprightly" no matter what others thought of you?

Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17
Gospel Reflection:

Why did Jesus insist that John baptize him in the Jordan River? Jesus had no sin to be washed away, no need to repent. But Jesus had a great need to cooperate with God's plan of salvation. And that plan required that he identify totally with the people he had come to save.

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

Note that Jesus does not contradict John when he says, "I should be baptized by you!"

In a very real way, John was right. However, Jesus only says, "Give in for now." Jesus had a bigger plan in mind, and he was asking John to cooperate by laying aside his own way of thinking "for now." Does God ever ask you to "give in" on smaller issues?

What is your response? How do you decide whether to "give in" or not? When it is important to you to be "right" and when can you lay aside your own way of thinking in order to let God's bigger plan unfold?

By our Baptism, we were given a share in Christ's life and ministry. He shares his identity with us. How will you live as another Christ, so that God will say of you,

"This is my beloved, on whom my favor rests?"

Reflection by: CYBERFAITH "Catholic resources for people of faith"

Sunday Reading Reflections

The Epiphany of the Lord (solemnity)
January 6, 2008


READING 1: 1 Isaiah 60:1-6Reading 1 Reflection:

What a vision the prophet gives us of the way life should be, and one day shall be! He sees a new Jerusalem bursting in the future with the riches and abundant life of the Lord. Pilgrims from every nation stream into the holy city to praise God, who has called them home. Their hearts throb with wonder, joy, and gratitude.

For Christians, the new Jerusalem is understood as a symbol of the universal Church. The Church gathers God's people from east and west, north and south, to worship together and present their gifts to the Lord.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

The universal, world-wide Church takes shape and lives its life diocese by diocese, parish by parish, and family by family. The "you" in this reading is each one of these groups that make up the Church. Read the first line of this passage together (up to "shines upon you,") and in place of "Jerusalem," say the name of your diocese. Read the line again, replacing Jerusalem with the name of your parish. Then read it one last time, with each one saying the name of your family.

"The glory of the Lord" is another way of saying "the presence of the Lord,"

in Hebrew, the shekinah (SH-KEYE-NAH). How does the presence of the Lord shine upon your diocese, your parish, your family? How do you see the presence of the Lord in these parts of the universal Church? As a member of a family, a parish, a diocese, how can you bring the presence of the Lord to these parts of the Church? How is your family, your diocese, and your parish open to the needs of the whole world? How do you express your care and concern for the whole world?

READING 2: Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6
Reading 2 Reflection:

A message similar to that of the first reading is given to the people of Ephesus: the good news of Jesus is meant for all people, not just a few. All people are called to share in the promise of Jesus Christ.

The word "epiphany" means "showing" or "manifestation." Once the feast of the Epiphany, we celebrate that Jesus Christ came, not just for his own family, or his own tribe, or for all the Jews, but for everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike. (Gentiles are non-Jews.) This was part of God's plan. The Gentiles of that time did not know God. They believed in idols, or in "the Fates," or in the emperor of Rome. But now they had been "in the dark" long enough. It was time to bring them (and us, their descendants) into the light of Christ! That is what the feast of Epiphany is all about.

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

This letter was written to the Ephesians. They were Gentiles. Imagine how they felt, being told that they were now "co-heirs with the Jews (God's chosen people) and sharers of the promise." They were no longer left out, but included. How can you carry this message of inclusiveness to your neighborhood, your parish, your school?

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12
Gospel Reflection:

Today we celebrate the showing forth (epiphany) of Jesus to the nations beyond Israel. When astrologers, or magi, from the East saw a new star appear in the sky, they accepted it as a sign that a great leader had been born. Without knowing where the star would lead them or what they would find, the magi set out bearing gifts. Their faith and courage were rewarded when God revealed to them his own Son.

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

On our faith journeys, we, too, have to remain alert for the signs through which Jesus reveals his presence to us. His "stars" are all around us?in the beauty of creation, in the Church, in the arts and sciences, in the uniqueness of each person. How will you be alert to the "stars" around you? How can you let Jesus shine through you?