The Official Blog Site of the Ministry of Lectors and Commentators of the Manila Cathedral-Basilica

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-09-19T06:27:00.001+08:00

September 19, 2010
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READING 1: Amos 8:4-7

Reading 1 Reflection:

The prophet Amos lived eight centuries before Christ, but the warning he issued against greed is still needed today. He calls on dishonest people who cheat others to take a good look at themselves. They are so focused on money that they cannot wait for the Sabbath or holy days to be over. They are not fair with the poor, even when it comes to selling them wheat for bread. But their greed is no secret from God. "Never will I forget a thing they have done!" God promises.

READING 2: 1 Timothy 2:1-8

Reading 2 Reflection:

This reading from the first letter to Timothy was written at a time when Christians were trying to get along with the Roman government. Wisely, they are advised to pray for those who have power over them. They hope to avoid persecution so that they can live in peace. But they also hope for the conversion of their rulers to the Christian faith.

Gospel: Luke 16:1-13 or Luke 16: 10-13

Gospel Reflection:

Jesus warns his followers today against allowing money to become their master. They must use money in an intelligent and responsible way. But they must be ever alert to the ways in which concerns about money can take over their lives. Jesus advises them to prove themselves trustworthy in dealing with material wealth. Then they will be more trustworthy in spiritual matters as well.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-08-27T21:24:00.001+08:00

August 29, 2010
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

READING 1 Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

Reading 1 Reflection:

This reading is from the Book of Sirach, a collection of teachings on how to live in a manner approved by God. The first two verses advise us to be humble, even when others praise us to the skies. Humble people do not deny their gifts and talents. Humble people recognize that their gifts and talents come from God. The last two verses encourage us to listen to those who are wise, and to be generous to those who are in need.

READING 2 Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today's second reading describes a dramatic contrast between the old and new covenants. When God made the covenant with the Israelites on Mount Sinai, it was a majestic and even terrifying event. But our covenant with God in Jesus is characterized by its intimacy. The risen Christ draws all believers up to Mount Zion, a symbol of God's kingdom, or reign. There, all the angels and saints are gathered in a joyful celebration of love and friendship.

Gospel Luke 14:1, 7-14

Gospel Reflection:

Have you noticed how often Jesus talks about parties and dinners? He wants us to be prepared for that great feast that is the fullness of God's reign. In today's gospel, Jesus prepares us with some good advice about ways to be a guest and ways to be a host. As God's guests in this world, we should act humbly and remember that we are always in the presence of Someone greater than we are. As hosts of God's people, we should offer hospitality to those who cannot reward us.

In the custom of his time and place, Jesus exaggerates to make a point. We do not have to leave out our friends and families. But neither should we leave out the poor and disabled.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-08-20T08:32:00.000+08:00

August 22, 2010
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

The prophet stirs up God's people with a vision of how they will participate in revealing God's glory to the world. Scattered throughout the world, they will spread the knowledge of the one true God. They will attract all people to Jerusalem and its Temple. What a colorful procession! Pilgrims of every race and nation are traveling side by side on horses, mules, and camels. They have been gathered to worship the one true God.

Reading 2 Reflection:

At times we have to struggle to live the Christian life. But God prepares us for the difficulties we will encounter. Like a responsible parent, God must at times discipline us. That discipline may cause some grief. But through it, we learn God's ways of love, justice, and peace.

Gospel Reflection:

When someone asks Jesus how many will be saved, he answers by using the image of the narrow door. Those who do not remain faithful to him will be left outside. Jesus is warning people of faith not to take their salvation for granted. Just because we worship every weekend, we cannot assume that we can squeeze through the narrow door. We may be surprised to discover that some who seem less worthy will enter the kingdom before us.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-08-13T22:47:00.000+08:00

August 15, 2010
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Solemnity and Holy Day of Obligation)

Reading 1 Reflection:

In this vision from the Book of Revelation, we are presented with a woman dressed like a queen with a crown of twelve stars. The stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, the nation that gave birth to the Messiah. A wild red dragon (evil) tries to destroy the woman's newborn son (the Messiah). But God dramatically saves the child by "snatching him up" to heaven. Today the Church honors Mary, the mother of the Messiah. She was assumed, or taken up bodily, into heaven at her death. Truly God has taken her into "the special place" he had prepared for her from all eternity. Her rising is a "preview" of our own rising, body and soul, into eternal happiness with Jesus.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Christ is risen! He was the first to experience the joy of resurrection. But he is not the last. All of us will also rise from the dead. At the second coming, Jesus will "hand over the kingdom to God" and we will share in his final victory.

Mary did not have to wait for the end of time to rise from the dead. Now she waits to welcome each of us to our eternal home.

Gospel Reflection:

Wouldn't it be frustrating to have good news, yet no one to share it with? In the telling, good news gets even better, because a friend is responding to it. Luke tells us the beautiful story of Mary sharing with Elizabeth the news of her pregnancy. Elizabeth immediately recognizes that Mary is "the mother of my Lord" and she praises Mary's complete faith in God's word. Bursting with joy, Mary sings her victory song, the Magnificat: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord."

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-08-04T09:11:00.001+08:00

August 8, 2010
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

The most memorable event in the early history of the Israelites was their exodus from Egypt. God led them out of slavery and saved them from their enemies. Today's reading recalls God's special care and protection of the Israelites. The author sees God's people as "the holy children of the good" who have cooperated with God's plan for salvation.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Because the Israelites believed, God saved them. Today's second reading recalls how our early faith ancestors placed their trust in God. Abraham and Sarah left their comfortable home and went to an unknown land because God called them. When God promised that they would have a son (Isaac), they were old enough to be great-grandparents. But they believed. They had the virtue of faith, a lasting confidence that God's word would be fulfilled.

Gospel Reflection:

One way Christians can prove that they are a people of faith is to live every day as though they expect Jesus to return. Today's gospel urges us to be awake and on the watch like servants awaiting the master's return home. We should be "on guard" against anyone or anything that leads us astray from Christ. Since no one knows when the final judgment will happen, the wise person will always be prepared for it.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-07-29T13:11:00.000+08:00

August 1, 2010
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Today's readings fit together like three panels of a colorful mural called "Set Your Heart on the Kingdom." This first reading insists that "All things are vanity!" For the author, vanity meant "emptiness" or "straw." He is telling us that it is useless to set out hearts on things that must be left behind when we die.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

This is a list of what Joe plans to do this week:

get his parents to buy him a new jacket even though his old one still fits
study for Thursday's history test
avoid a friend at school because other kids avoid that person
practice basketball with his friends after supper Friday
save part of his allowance to get his Mom some perfume for her birthday
go to altar server practice on Saturday morning.
What is the most "vain" thing on the list? Why? Discuss his other concerns. Tell when
and why Joe is on the right track and when he is not.

Make a list of your concerns. Are any of them "vain"? How are you on the right track in your priorities? When are you overly concerned with vain things?

Reading 2 Reflection:

In this reading we are reminded that the life of a Christian should reflect the values of Jesus. "Seek what is above," we are told. Put aside lies and idols and evil desires. Be formed in the image of God. Live as though you truly believe in the kingdom, or reign, of God that Jesus proclaimed.

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

This reading reminds us to be like Christ. A popular way of saying this in our own day is to use the initials WWJD?"What would Jesus do?"

Try to answer that question in the following situations. Then say what YOU would do to be like Jesus. A new student comes to your class at school. He or she is very shy and is afraid to make friends. You said hello once. Is that enough? What would Jesus do? What would you do?

Your group is saving money for Catholic Relief Services. You each made a box to save coins. Together you will help people without homes. Your box is on your desk at home.

You have chores to do after school each day. The list is on the refrigerator. You always need to be reminded to do yours.

Some of your friends like to make fun of other kids or people they see on the street. You are tempted to join in.

Make up one or more situations like these. Have others say what Jesus would do and what they would do to be like Jesus.

Gospel Reflection:

As so often happens, Jesus tells a parable because someone has asked him a question. A man wants him to settle a squabble about an inheritance, but Jesus will have no part of it.

Concern about money prevents people from focusing on the reign of God. The parable of the rich farmer shows how foolish it is to keep piling up possessions. Right when the greedy man is gorging himself on food and drink, he dies. Death prevents any chance of reform.

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

How important is making money? Jesus knows that we all need enough to live on. Each person's need will be a little bit different. Each family's needs will be a little bit different. But Jesus warns here against piling up money and ignoring what really makes us rich?love of God and love of others.

In our society, we must all spend some time making money. How much time? How much of our thought and energy goes into this? How do we keep ourselves from spending too much time and energy on making money? Does our need to make money take too much time away from family and friends?

Of course, we do not work just for money. Every job is an opportunity to love God and others. How do you love God and others in your work? If your work is being a student, how do you love God and others while you are at school?

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-07-23T14:41:00.001+08:00

Sunday, July 25, 2010
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Could the author of Genesis have come up with a better story to show the power of prayer and just how merciful God is? Here we see Abraham pleading with God, praying a beautiful prayer for mercy. Abraham's prayer shows us how close he was to God. It also shows that God always listens to our prayers. God's mercy is so great!

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

What does justice mean to you? What does mercy mean to you? In this story, the bad are not punished. They are saved with and because of the good and innocent people in the city, even if the good people are very few in number. This is an example of the mercy of God. This story shows us that we all are in "the same boat" or "the same city." As Jesus said, both the weeds and the wheat will grow together until the final harvest. We must learn to live with people who do not always do the right or the best thing, who are weak and sinful. And sometimes those people are us! Can we be merciful toward people who are sinful and weak, including ourselves? How? Our natural tendency is to get even with those who hurt us, to administer our own kind of "justice." What does this story have to say about that?

Much is often made of Abraham "bargaining" with God. This is the way we humans act with one another. We try to make a good deal into a better one. However, God does not need to be persuaded or bargained into being merciful! The story is written in this way to show that our prayers to God for mercy are always answered with a yes. Pray this prayer together: Lord, thank you for all the times you have been merciful to me. Help me to remember your mercy when I feel like getting even with those who have hurt or offended me. In the name of Jesus, your Son and our Lord. Amen.

Reading 2 Reflection:

When you were baptized, you were freed from sin and given new life through water and the Holy Spirit. It is this new life of grace that Paul speaks of today. He reminds Christians that Jesus has canceled the "debt" of our sins by his death on the cross. Our new life is not just something for later, after we die. It begins now!

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

Saint Paul wrote that we are raised to new life because we believe in the power of God. God does not use his power to force us to pray, or to help others, or to forgive. When do you experience the power of God in your life? (Hint: Think of some of the gifts from God you have been given. Think of ways you help others. God's power often works through people, including you!)

Gospel Reflection:

What a wonderful scene Luke paints for us today! The disciples watch Jesus at prayer. They see how much prayer means to him. One of them gets up the nerve to ask, "Lord, will you teach us to pray?" And Jesus responds by sharing the Lord's Prayer with them. (This is a shorter version than the one we pray from Matthew 6:9-13.) Then Jesus completes his lesson prayer by telling two parables. The first urges us to persist in prayer. The second reminds us that we do not always pray for the right things. God knows best how our prayers should be answered.
How can you show your gratitude to Jesus this week for dying and rising for us?

Discussion Questions for Gospel:
Imagine that you are in the group of disciples who asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Are you surprised that this prayer seems so simple and easy?

Try praying one line of the Our Father each day, at various times all during the day. The first day, pray, "Father, hallowed be your name." The second day, pray, "Father, your kingdom come." And so on.

How can you hallow?make holy?God's name? How can you help God's kingdom to come? How can you appreciate and share daily bread and all the gifts you receive from the Father each day? How can you ask for forgiveness and give forgiveness to others?

Sunday Reading Reflections

2010-07-16T14:21:00.002+08:00

July 18, 2010
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Our reading from Genesis tells an appealing story about Abraham and Sarah. Three visitors appear unexpectedly before their tent. Abraham identifies them with the Lord. He and his wife, Sarah, rush around making preparations for a lavish meal to refresh their guests. Then their generous hospitality is even more generously rewarded. God, speaking through the guests, promises that the aged couple will have a son! For the Israelites, this story is a sign of how God's plan of salvation will be carried out through them. From the offspring of Abraham and Sarah, the Messiah will come.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

Abraham is revered by both Jews and Christians because he was a man of faith. He believed God's promises, even when the odds seemed to be against him. In Eucharistic Prayer I, we ask God to accept our gifts "as you accepted the gifts of Abraham, our father in faith." We are children of Abraham because we believe in God's promises to us. What promises of God do you believe in?

We often hear of the faith of Abraham in the letters of Saint Paul. In one letter, we also read of another of Abraham's great gifts: hospitality. "Never neglect to welcome strangers, for some who did entertained angels." Abraham and Sarah welcomed the three young men, and received God's promise of a son. The strangers were messengers from God.

We often fear the stranger at our door, and it is wise to be cautious. But that should not prevent us from "welcoming strangers" whenever we can. Have new neighbors moved in? How can I welcome them to the neighborhood? Is there someone new at school who would appreciate a friend? Do I stick with old friends at the parish coffee hour or socials, or do I "welcome strangers" as Abraham and Sarah did? Each one of us can be a messenger from God in our own way. If we neglect to welcome others, we may miss the message of God's love given to us in a new friend! In what situations could you welcome newcomers?

For those who say, "I can't! I'm too shy! I get embarrassed!" you may find that, after welcoming others and saying, "Hi, I'm ____. Welcome to our church (or school, or block, or group)!" these feelings of shyness will gradually go away. You might like to role-play welcoming others and having short conversations. Remember that feelings of shyness are temporary. God's love is forever!

Reading 2 Reflection:

Saint Paul suffered many hardships in preaching the Good News. In today's reading we learn that the suffering of all Christians, like the suffering of Christ, helps the Church to grow. As Christians grow in their understanding of "the mystery of Christ," they will become "complete."

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

Reflect for a moment on "the mystery of Christ in you." How is Christ in you? Do you experience his presence in you? When? How does the fact that Christ is in you give you hope?

Christ is also "in us" because we are one body, the Church. Christ is in us as brothers and sisters. How can we show one another that we are brothers and sisters in Christ that we are related, that we are family in Christ? What virtues (or strengths) do you need in your life to be a good brother or sister to others in Christ's family? (One example: compassion.) How do these strengths help you become more "complete" as an individual? How do they help us all in the one body of Christ?

Gospel Reflection:

A guest shows up, probably unexpectedly, and the hostess, Martha, knocks herself out trying to do everything at once. The guest, Jesus, sits down and makes himself at home. The sister of the hostess, Mary, sits with Jesus, and listens thoughtfully. When Martha complains that she is doing all the work, Jesus tells her that she has forgotten the most important thing. She has neglected to listen to Jesus, whose words are more nourishing than any meal.

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

Most of our lives are a combination of Martha and Mary. (Even cloistered monks and nuns, devoted to lives of prayer, have hours of work every day.) However, if our lives are all-Martha-all-the-time, they may be out of balance. We may be missing "the better part." (There is an ironic joke that goes: "At the time of death, no one says, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office.' ")

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its discussion of observing Sunday as a day of worship and rest, declares, "Traditional activities (sports, restaurants, etc.) and social necessities (public services, etc.) require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure" (Catechism, 2187). Most people in our country are working more hours a week than ever before. How does this affect their families, their children? What is the responsibility in this area for Catholic supervisors and managers?

How can we put more Mary-like listening into our lives? When do we make time to listen to our families? our friends? When do we make time to listen to Jesus?

Sunday Reading Reflections

2010-07-08T09:16:00.000+08:00

July 11, 2010
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

This reading shows a wonderful understanding of human nature. The author knows how easy it is to say, "I would do God's will if only I knew what it was!" We hear Moses telling the people, "Don't look up in the sky or out to sea for God's will. Look in your own heart." The people are about to enter the Promised Land. They will enjoy all the good things God has in store for them if only they listen to the word of God and follow God's law.

Reading 2 Reflection:

This reading is part of a great hymn of praise to Jesus Christ as the Lord of all creation. He is the One who keeps everything in existence. He is the head of the Church, which continues his ministry on earth. Through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus unites everyone with God. He is the source of our peace.

Gospel Reflection:

Jesus was a great storyteller. We can imagine how fascinating his voice and manner must have been when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan to the lawyer who wanted to be saved. And how surprised the lawyer must have been when he heard the answer to the question "Who is my neighbor?" My neighbor is not just the person next door or a member of my parish or my racial group. My neighbor is anyone in need?even if he or she seems to be an enemy. Jesus' parable reveals the true meaning of love of neighbor. It is going out of our way to do everything for someone that we would want done for us.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-07-02T19:20:00.001+08:00

July 4, 2010
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Have you ever watched a small baby with its mother? If the baby is nursing or just snuggling, it is completely happy in its mother's arms. That is the image used in today's reading to tell the Israelites how happy they will be when Jerusalem is restored. The holy city is like their mother. She knows how much they have suffered in exile. Now she will comfort and nourish them. And God will comfort them like a mother, too, and once again shower them with good gifts.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Some of the Christians of Galatia thought that they should follow all the regulations of the Old Testament. Paul tells them that they do not have to follow ritual laws like circumcision. They have been "created anew" in Jesus Christ. Like Paul, they should trust in the cross of Jesus and boast of nothing but their faithfulness to the Lord.

Gospel Reflection:

If Jesus sounds like he means business in this reading, he does! What matters most to him in the whole world is to make people understand that the reign of God is at hand. This is why he sends his disciples out in every direction.

The harvest (people who have not heard the good news of the gospel) is ready right now. Jesus instructs the disciples to go quickly and travel light. They are to spread his peace, cure the sick, and proclaim the reign of God

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-06-25T22:53:00.000+08:00

June 27, 2010
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Today we hear the dramatic story of the prophet Elijah appointing his successor. At God's command, Elijah chooses Elisha to take his place. Elijah throws his cloak, the symbol of his prophet's vocation, over Elisha's shoulders. With no questions asked, Elisha mmediately says farewell to his family and destroys his oxen and plow. He drops everything to follow God's call.

Reading 2 Reflection:
When Elisha gave up everything to do God's will, he must have felt truly free. In our second reading, Paul reminds the Galatians that Christians have been called to live in freedom. Those who have accepted Christ follow his example of love. Those who listen to the "flesh"?whatever urges them to act against God's will?are still slaves. They act against their own best interests when they listen to the voice of selfishness.

Gospel Reflection:

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He is preparing himself to face suffering and death. He forgives the Samaritans who refuse to welcome him, showing his disciples how to behave toward their enemies. He then responds to three different people who want to follow him. Does he say, "Come with me and all will be well?" Not at all. Jesus tells them right up front that the cost of becoming his disciple is high. That cost may include giving up home, family, and means of income.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-06-16T15:38:00.001+08:00

June 20, 2010
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

The first reading is from the prophet Zechariah whose initial prophecy is dated around the year 520 B.C.. Today s reading from Chapter 12 is part of the Book of Zechariah attributed to other authors and is sometimes called "Deutero-Zechariah."

Chapter 12 begins the oracle proclaiming the victory of God's people. The blessings that will be poured out on Jerusalem come through the suffering of "him whom they have pierced." There will be mourning, but also purification from sin and uncleanness.

One cannot help but think of Jerusalem today and the mourning that takes place daily in the midst of divisions and wars. Where is the "spirit of grace"? It remains, of course, for God never abandons his people. The spirit of God's grace lives in the hearts of those who have mourned for all those who have known suffering and even death in the Holy City. Grace abounds in those who work ceaselessly for peace against tremendous odds. Pray that God's grace will be poured out on the people of Jerusalem and on all God's people who know mourning.

Reading 2 Reflection:

In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is writing to the people he converted from paganism to Christianity. He writes to correct some of the errors that have been presented to the Galatians by those Jews who believed that any converts must follow Jewish laws--circumcision and other obligations. Paul proclaims that faith in Jesus Christ and Baptism make all one in Christ, regardless of one's former state.

Paul writes of the divisions and inequities which existed between people at that time: Jews and Greeks, slaves and free people, males and females. From the time of Saint Paul until this day, all who are baptized in Jesus Christ are clothed with him, belong to him, and are heirs of the promise of Eternal Life. We have only to recognize any divisions, inequities, injustices and correct them. Preserving the unity of the Body of Christ must be the concern of all who belong to him.

Gospel Reflection:

Today's Gospel from Luke is perhaps one of the most poignant accounts of Jesus. Before this exchange with his disciples, Jesus has already cured the possessed man, cured Simon Peter's mother-in-law, cured the leper, taught the multitude about God's love, healed the paralytic, healed the centurion s slave, raised the widow's son from death, pardoned the sinful woman, calmed the storm at sea, healed the Gerasene demoniac and Jairus' daughter and the woman with the hemorrhage. He had fed the 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Now, he is in praying in solitude and the disciples are with him. He asks, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" What did Jesus feel as he asked? What answer did he expect, or hope for? And what did he think when the disciples answered: John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets arisen? Then, the Gospel says, he said, "But who do you say that I am?" Did Jesus hope--after all the miracles and teachings--they would finally understand? Today, we might reflect on that same question that Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?" We have the witness of Peter who was the first to reply to Jesus, saying Jesus is "The Christ of God." But when he turns to you and me, how shall we respond?

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-06-09T18:47:00.000+08:00

June 13, 2010
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

In the first reading, Nathan tells King David a story that helps David to see the terrible sin he has committed. Because he wanted another man's wife for himself, David deliberately placed the soldier in the front line of battle where he would be killed. God had given David so many blessings and David now realizes he has sinned against God.

David is filled with sorrow but Nathan assures him of God's forgiveness. Like David, any one of us can lose our perspective and let our desires rule us. We are not entitled to take what belongs to somebody else. Pray for God's help against this temptation.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today's reading helps us to see the importance of faith. St. Paul says that having faith in Jesus is what makes us favorable in God's eyes. Paul tells us that his faith is so strong that it's as if he no longer lives, but Christ lives in him. People should be able to see God's love radiating in us.

Those who are so intent on keeping the law that they don't reflect God's love are missing the point. Keeping the law is important, but the law alone will not help us to be saved.

Gospel Reflection:

The gospel reading tells the beautiful story of Jesus' response to the sinful woman. In her love for Jesus, she disregards the usual way guests are treated at a banquet. She bathes Jesus' feet first with her tears, then with precious ointment, and wipes them with her hair. Simon, the host of the banquet, shows Jesus none of the usual courtesies when he arrives.

Moreover he condemns Jesus for associating with the woman who was a known sinner. In telling Simon a story about forgiving debts, Jesus praises the woman. She is forgiven much because of her great love. Jesus points out Simon's need for forgiveness because of his lack of hospitality, his lack of respect for each of them, and his self-righteousness. The story is a powerful example of the relationship between forgiveness and love.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-06-03T18:14:00.001+08:00

June 6, 2010
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Reading 1 Reflection:

The scene in our Old Testament reading is the city of Salem, which would later become Jerusalem. The king of that city, Melchizedek, was also a priest. He came out to give Abram, whom God later called Abraham, a blessing, and to share bread and wine with him.

Melchizedek's blessing celebrated how God had protected Abram, the father of the Israelites, in a battle. Centuries later Christians saw a likeness between Jesus Christ and Melchizedek. They understood the sharing of bread and wine in this reading as a sign of the Eucharist.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today, on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we listen to Paul's account of the Last Supper. Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and says, "This is my body."

He repeats the same actions with a cup of wine, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." In the same way, the celebrant repeats the words and actions of Jesus in the eucharistic prayer at each Mass. When we gather together for Mass, we share the Body and Blood of Christ, just as Jesus invited us to do at the Last Supper.

Gospel Reflection:

Have you noticed how all the readings today speak of feeding people? Our gospel story shows us Jesus and the Twelve surrounded by a huge, hungry crowd. When the Twelve protest that they cannot feed everyone, Jesus has them divide the crowd into smaller groups. Then he takes what they have five loaves, two fishes gives thanks (blesses the food), breaks it, and invites the disciples to pass it around and share it.

There is more than enough for everyone! We can, of course, see this story as a sign of the Eucharist, in which Jesus continues to feed the multitude of his followers. But we can also see it as a challenge to do what we can to feed the millions of hungry people in our world today.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-05-27T21:02:00.001+08:00

May 30, 2010
THE MOST HOLY TRINITY solemnity

Reading 1 Reflection:

In this reading from Proverbs, God's Wisdom is pictured as a separate being who was with God at the creation. Wisdom works with God as a "craftsman" and "plays" with God's people on earth. For the Israelites, Wisdom was first a quality of God. Then they came to see wisdom as God's companion.

Centuries later, Christians, looking back at the Old Testament for signs of Jesus, saw him as the Wisdom of God. This is part of the gradual and sometimes mysterious way that God is revealed to us.

Reading 2 Reflection:

How does our faith in Jesus change us? Our letter today lists several ways. Through Jesus, we grow in harmony with God and receive the grace to live for God's reign. We have the virtue of hope, which is like a candle that is not blown out by the cold wind of hard times. And we have the Spirit living in our hearts, keeping God's love alive in us.

Gospel Reflection:

Today's gospel continues with Jesus' advice and instructions to the disciples at the Last Supper. He promises that the Spirit will be there to guide his followers to the truth. The Spirit will speak in Jesus' name, just as Jesus speaks in the Father's name. Each of these three Persons in one God belongs to the other. We call this mystery of God's identity the Blessed Trinity.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-05-18T23:41:00.001+08:00

May 23, 2010
PENTECOST SUNDAY solemnity

Reading 1 Reflection:

Today we celebrate the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus. They were "filled with the Holy Spirit" and never again would be content to keep their faith to themselves.

Now they were all fired up by the Spirit to share the Good News with everyone. Down came the barriers of fear. Down came the language barrier! All the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem from many nations could instantly understand the disciples. And they, too, were filled with the powerful Spirit of God.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul's letter today gives us two "proofs" that show we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit. First, we as a community can truly say, "Jesus is Lord." Second, each of us uses his or her gifts for the good of the community. We pull together to help bring about the reign of God among all people.

Gospel Reflection:

Once again we are reliving Easter night with Jesus and the disciples. He breathes on them, communicating the gift of the Holy Spirit. They gladly receive Jesus' Spirit and his ministry of forgiving sins. At Pentecost the Spirit will send them forth as living signs that Jesus has overcome sin and death.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-05-05T22:19:00.000+08:00

May 9, 2010
Sixth Sunday of Easter

Reading 1 Reflection:

Perhaps you have seen it coming. In recent weeks, our readings from the Acts of the Apostles have shown a growing split between Jews and Gentiles in the early Christian community. Many Jewish Christians in Jerusalem felt that the Gentile believers should be required to fulfill the law of Moses.

So Paul and Barnabas went on a peacemaking mission to Jerusalem, where they met with Peter and the others. Together they chose a delegation to return to Antioch with a "peace treaty" letter. In it they assured all Gentiles that the Holy Spirit approved of them as members of the Church. They would not be required to abide by the Mosaic Law.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Christian artists would never run out of symbols if they went looking in the Book of Revelation. Our reading today is filled with symbols that gleam and sparkle. The author envisions the gathering of all Christ's faithful ones in the heavenly Jerusalem.

It shines like a diamond; its unsurpassed beauty flows from those who have persevered in faith. Its foundation stones are beautifully inscribed with the names of the apostles. And, most magnificent of all, God is the temple in this shining city. And Jesus is the lamp glowing over all.

Gospel Reflection:

In the gospel today, Jesus continues to speak about love. Those who live will experience God's love in their lives and the gift of peace that only Christ can give. Jesus also promises to send the Paraclete, or the Comforter, to his disciples. The Paraclete is the Holy Spirit, who will guide the Church for all time. Jesus' followers will not be left on their own.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-04-23T17:44:00.001+08:00

April 25, 2010
Fourth Sunday of Easter

Reading 1 Reflection:

Today's reading allows us to share one of Paul's great victories on his first missionary journey. It is the Sabbath, and Paul goes to the local synagogue with his companion Barnabas. The city's large colony of Jews has gathered there to hear Paul's message. He proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ so well that many are converted on the spot. The word spreads rapidly and by the following Sabbath the entire city, Jew and Gentile alike, turns out to hear Paul.

Some of the leaders of the synagogue do not approve of including Gentiles in their midst. They expel Paul and Barnabas. Paul quotes Isaiah ("I have made you a light to the Gentiles") to show that Jesus will be recognized as Savior of the whole world. Not only the Jews, but the Gentiles as well prove Paul right by gladly accepting Jesus as their Lord.

Reading 2 Reflection:

In this vision from Revelation, huge crowds of faithful believers from every nation gather before God's throne. To Christians who are suffering persecution, this vision is comforting. They need to know that their suffering will be rewarded by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. When the end comes, he will be there to shepherd and protect them. He "will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Gospel Reflection:

The words Jesus speaks in this reading were directed to some Jewish leaders who wanted to trip him up. They were hoping he would call himself the Messiah. Instead, Jesus refers to himself as "the Good Shepherd." He describes the secure and lasting relationship he has with his sheep, those who truly hear him and believe. Just as no one can separate Jesus and his Father, no one can take Jesus' disciples away from him.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-04-16T23:02:00.001+08:00

April 18, 2010
Third Sunday of Easter

Reading 1 Reflection:

If our readings each had titles, this one could be called "Brave Heroes Spread Good News." Although Peter and some of the other apostles had been imprisoned and beaten, they continued to preach in Jesus' name. They also dared to accuse the religious authorities of putting Jesus to death.

Despite the danger to themselves, the apostles spoke out with great courage. "We must obey God rather than men," they proclaimed. Now that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, facing danger for Jesus' sake actually made them joyful!

Reading 2 Reflection:

The title of the second reading might be "All Creation Praises the Lamb." It describes a vision of the heavenly court in which a huge crowd of angels and all living beings are gathered. They are all singing the praises of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Lord. By his death and resurrection, Jesus has reconciled us with God and given us cause for great joy.

Gospel Reflection:

The title of this wonderful story from John's Gospel might be "Surprise Picnic at the Beach." In a very human way, it shows the great love Jesus and his friends had for one another. While the disciples are out fishing, the risen Christ appears on the shore at Lake Tiberias. They are anchored at a distance and do not recognize him. But when they follow his advice and wind up with a sagging net full of fish, John figures out that the stranger is Jesus. Coming ashore, they enjoy the picnic breakfast Jesus has prepared for them.

Although our reading stops after the meal itself, we know from the rest of the Gospel that Jesus called Peter aside after they ate. He asked Peter to "feed my lambs. Tend my sheep."

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-04-05T17:44:00.001+08:00

April 11, 2010
Second Sunday of Easter

Reading 1 Reflection:

During the Easter season, the first reading each Sunday is taken from the Acts of the Apostles. This book of the New Testament is like no other. It gives us a beautiful description of the early Church community as it grew. Filled with the Spirit of the risen Christ, the disciples brought the healing love of Jesus to those in need. In doing this, they carried on his mission.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today's reading sounds a little different, doesn't it? It is filled with special symbols that were used to bring hope to the early Christians during a time of persecution. When we hear the words of the reading, we are filled with the hope of Easter, too. Jesus tells us, "Do not be afraid." Christ has conquered death. He is truly "the one who lives" forever.

Gospel Reflection:

John's account of that first Easter night is filled with drama. Jesus appears through locked doors and gives his disciples his peace. He gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit and communicates God's power of forgiveness. Thomas, who misses out on this experience of Jesus, refuses to believe unless he can touch Jesus' wounds. A week later he has a chance to do just that! Thomas exclaims, "My Lord and my God!" And Jesus tells us how "blest" are we who have believed in his resurrection without having seen his risen body.

Holy Thursday Reflection

2010-04-01T10:04:00.002+08:00

1st April 2010
Holy Thursday
Commemoration of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist

"But if I washed your feet...then you must wash each other’s feet." (John 13:14)
Reflection.

In April of 1945 American artillery in the town of Siegburg, Germany, was shelling a nearby village, in which there were about 20 German soldiers. The natives were in constant danger of being hit by bullets from either side. Toward evening of April 12 the people persuaded the German soldiers to cease fire. Next morning the village priest carried a white flag to the American outpost to inform the commander that the German soldiers had gone and the civilian population had no desire to resist further. Instructions were given to fly white flags from all the houses. The question uppermost in the minds of the towns-people was: How will the Americans treat us?
They had heard terrible tales of cruelty on the part of the Russians. How would these conquerors act?
The Americans began a thorough search for weapons and German soldiers. Two soldiers armed with pistols came to a certain three- room home. They stopped short in the living room before a hand- carved family altar. Into the bedroom they went, to find there a beautiful crucifix. The soldiers noticed the cross. They stopped, took off their steel helmets, changed their automatics from right hand to left, and respectfully made the sign of the cross.
As a member of the family related, the members of that household feared no longer. Yes, the sign of the cross is the salute of the true follower of Christ whether he is conqueror or conquered, whether he is German, Chinese, American or Australian. It is the countersign of the Christian. In particular, it is the special salute of the Catholic.

Lenten Fact

Those who are impeded from visiting a church, during the Stations Of The Cross, may gain indulgences by piously reading and meditating on the passion and death of our Lord for one-half hour. The continued importance of the stations in the devotional life of Catholics is attested by both Pope Paul VI, who approved a Gospel-based version of the stations in 1975, and Pope John Paul II, who has also written his own version.

Lenten Action.

Imagine what it would feel like, if your loved one was taken to prison without due cause. Imagine how the apostles felt as Jesus was carried away.

Prayer

Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit you anointed your only Son Messiah and Lord of creation; you have given us a share in his consecration to priestly service in your Church. Help us to be faithful witnesses in the world to the salvation Christ won for all mankind. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-03-25T15:53:00.001+08:00

March 28, 2010
Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Reading 1 Reflection:

Although the writer probably had Israel itself in mind, his inspired verses in this first reading give us a perfect Holy Week portrait of Christ. The Son of God has been prepared and sent by God to "rouse" the people.

When his teaching stirs up opposition, he does not fight back or run away. He does not give in or give up. No matter what happens to him, Jesus anchors himself in God and continues to trust.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul's hymn of praise gives us another Holy Week portrait of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Freely, Jesus chose to "bring himself down" to our human condition. Freely, he humbled himself to suffer persecution and death on a cross. Freely, he gave his life in one long and glorious prayer of obedience to God.

Gospel Reflection:

Today is called both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. Since the early centuries of the Church, Christians have carried palm branches in joyful processions on this day. We sing or shout, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" like the crowd that followed Jesus into Jerusalem at the beginning of what we now call Holy Week. This year we hear the passion account from Luke's Gospel. It tells a moving story of Jesus, who consoles the "good criminal" and forgives those who nailed him to the cross.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-03-19T22:49:00.001+08:00

March 21, 2010
Fifth Sunday of Lent

Reading 1 Reflection:

To stir up their hope about what God would do for them in the future, the Israelites often looked back to see what God had done for them in the past. The prophet helps them to do just that in today's reading.

He recalls their exodus from Egypt and how God provided for them in the desert. Then he says, "Look ahead!" In other words, whatever great deeds God had done in the past, God can always do something new and greater.

Reading 2 Reflection:

You have probably noticed that Paul often talks about himself and his own faith experiences in order to convince others to follow Christ. Today he recalls that he has given up everything to make room for Christ in his life.

He knows it isn't easy to do this. But in the end he will share in Christ's Resurrection. That is why Paul describes himself as a runner, pushing on toward the finish line.

Gospel Reflection:

Once again the scribes and Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus. They bring him a woman caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses requires that the adulteress should die. If Jesus does not agree, he will look like someone who does not respect the Law of Moses. To the Pharisees' amazement, Jesus at first ignores them.

Then he stops them in their tracks with an unexpected challenge: "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." One by one the judges and critics drop their stones and drift away. Now that they recognize their own need for forgiveness, they are not ready to condemn someone else. Neither does Jesus condemn the woman. He simply requires her to turn away from sin. Now she has a chance for a new beginning.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-03-12T23:23:00.000+08:00

March 14, 2010
Fourth Sunday of Lent

Reading 1 Reflection:

The Passover celebration described in today's reading is the first in the Promised Land. Because they have now settled in Canaan, the people no longer need the manna (the "bread from heaven") God has been providing on their journey through the desert. Their new homeland will produce all the food they need.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul enthusiastically describes how God has made all things new through Christ. He pictures each of us as an ambassador of peace sent by God to our own little corner of the world. To be effective ambassadors, we must first experience God's peace in our lives. One way we can do this is through the sacrament of Reconciliation, a sacrament of peace.

Gospel Reflection:

Religious people often criticized Jesus for eating and associating with sinners. But these people did not realize that everyone needs God's mercy and love. In today's gospel story, Jesus wants us to know what God's mercy is like. When anyone sins and is sorry for that sin, God rushes out at top speed to embrace that person. Even when we feel that we may be undeserving of God's love, Jesus tells us that God rejoices like the father in the gospel story.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-03-04T21:33:00.002+08:00

March 7, 2010
Third Sunday of Lent

Reading 1 Reflection:

What a dramatic scene the Book of Exodus depicts for us today! Moses, who had escaped from Egypt, is now a shepherd. He has been leading a simple life tending sheep. But all that changes in an instant when he encounters a burning bush at Mount Horeb. As he takes a closer look, he hears God calling him by name and instructing him to take off his sandals as a mark of respect for this holy place.

God assures Moses that the cries of the people in captivity have been heard. God will not only rescue the people but will lead them to the Promised Land. When Moses realizes that God wants him to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites, Moses says that the people will not believe him because he does not know God's name. Moses learns God's name. It is Yahweh, meaning "I am who am."

Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul's letter to the Christian community at Corinth is filled with advice about keeping the faith. In today's reading he reminds the people that they cannot take their new faith for granted. Faith means that we are called to conversion, to turn to God each day.

Lent is a season of penance, a time for conversion. Our challenge is to give evidence that we are truly followers of Christ. Pray together: Lord, teach us the meaning of conversion. Help us to live lives of service and love.

Gospel Reflection:

Sometimes when we see a terrible accident or hear about people who are being persecuted, we may think that such things will never happen to us. Some people in Jesus' time believed that those who suffered such tragedies and injustices were being punished because they were great sinners. Jesus sets them straight in today's gospel reading. He says that suffering comes from injustice in our world.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-02-25T19:29:00.001+08:00

February 28, 2010
Second Sunday of Lent

Reading 1 Reflection:

Many of us have had the difficult experience of having to pack up and move on, leaving our homes and friends behind. We can imagine how Abram, later known as Abraham, might have felt when God called him to journey to a new and unfamiliar land. Despite his doubts and questions, Abram "put his faith in the Lord."

He gave up everything, including his pagan gods, and accepted God's promise of countless descendants. The covenant between God and Abraham was sealed in a special ceremony of sacrifice. The smoke and flame in that ceremony represent the presence of God moving between the broken animal halves. This is a sign that neither Abram, who stays with the sacrificial animals, nor God, whose presence is signaled, will break the covenant.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today's second reading reminds us that as Christians sharing in God's life we are already citizens of heaven. Neither our earthly homes nor our physical bodies are lasting. But one day our bodies will be transformed and become like the glorified body of the risen Jesus. This is the great and final hope of every Christian.

Gospel Reflection:

Wouldn't it be wonderful to see your best friend transformed, or turned into his or her glorified self, right before your eyes? That's the kind of experience Peter, James, and John have in today's gospel. While they are up on a mountain with Jesus, they have a splendid vision of him in his glorified body.

They see him talking with Moses and Elijah, two long-dead figures from the Old Testament. Moses represents the Law, while Elijah represents the prophets. In Jesus, both find the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-02-19T21:32:00.002+08:00

February 21, 2010
First Sunday of Lent

Reading 1 Reflection:

Lent is more than a season of preparation for Easter. It is a time for the Christian community to repent and be reconciled with God and one another. It is a time of journeying with and praying for the catechumens who will be initiated into the Church at the Easter Vigil. We also pray for those baptized candidates who will be confirmed and/or will be receiving the Eucharist for the first time.

Finally, it is a time to appreciate and profess our faith, as God's people do in today's first reading. As they celebrate a liturgy of thanksgiving, Moses retells the story of the marvelous way God guided and saved them. He reminds the people that God sees their suffering and hears their cry for help.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1:

Remembering the story of God's people?our story?is a very important part of the liturgy and our lives as part of God's family. The "wandering Aramean" referred to here is Abraham. He is the father of the Jewish people. We Catholics also call him, in Eucharistic Prayer I, "our father in faith." Abraham answered God's call to leave his own land and to worship the one true God. Have you ever been asked to leave familiar things behind and go into the unknown? If you have, you know something of what Abraham experienced. How did God help you at that time? What other help did you have?

In this reading, we remember the hard times of God's people. We also "make merry over all these good things" that the Lord has given us. Because we belong to God's family, we are a part of all these events. Without them, we would not be where we are today: inheritors of eternal life in Jesus Christ. If you have ever experienced difficult times, you know what it is to remember them after they have passed! What difficult times do you remember? How did God help you through them? How did they bring you to where you are today?

The liturgy enables us not only to remember the past but to make it present today in action. "Do this in memory of me," said Jesus, as he broke the bread and shared the wine of his Body and Blood. The priest does what Jesus said to do. When we receive the Eucharist, we are "in communion" with Jesus, and in him, with all the people of God?those in the past, those living now, and people yet to come. In Jesus, the Son of God, we become more deeply a part of God's family. Each one of us can say, "My father was a wandering Aramean." We too can rejoice in God's goodness to his people. What good gifts of God will you rejoice in today?

Reading 2 Reflection:

Just as Moses wanted the people to express their faith, Paul calls on the Christians of Rome to "confess with their lips that Jesus is Lord." He reminds them and us that we must truly believe that Jesus rose from the dead if we hope to be saved. Through Jesus, God's great mercy embraces us and makes us "justified," or right with God.

Discussion Questions for Reading 2:

In the early Church, two cultures of people were listening to the preaching of the apostles and becoming Christians: the Jews and the Greeks. These two cultures were very different. What Jews and Greeks thought about religion was very different from one another. The Jews had a long history of worshiping the one true God. The Greeks had always been pagans, with many gods and goddesses. The Jews were used to their own religious rituals and prayers. The Greeks had their own customs. How could these two very different groups of people get along in the same Church? Paul's answer is: Our belief in the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead, makes us one. This is what matters. It is calling upon the name of the Lord that saves us.

Look around your parish and the Church throughout the world. Discuss the differences you find among people?in language, customs, national origin, race, or any other differences. You may want to make a list of the various differences you find. Find pictures to illustrate your list. Above your list, write, "ALL HAVE THE SAME LORD." Show and explain your chart to another group in your school or parish.

The French have a saying that expresses a joyful acceptance of differences: "Vive la différence!" This means, "Long live difference!" or "Hurray for differences!" How do we express our oneness and our differences in our parish? in the worldwide Church?

Gospel Reflection:

Lent is a period of forty days during which the whole Church renews itself through prayer and fasting. Today we are reminded that the Israelites wandered for forty years in the desert after God led them out of captivity. We are now observing the forty days of Lent. During the Easter Triduum, we will celebrate being led from slavery into freedom. According to today's gospel, Jesus retreated to the desert for forty days to prepare for his mission after being baptized by John the Baptist.

Luke dramatically describes what happened to Jesus while he was alone in that deserted place. The devil tempts Jesus with promises of bread (a symbol for material comforts), of power (authority over others), and of false glory (to be gained by daring to test God). But Jesus defeats the devil by defending himself with God's word from the Old Testament. Even then the devil does not give up. He "awaits another opportunity" to tempt Jesus

Discussion Questions for Gospel:

Look up the Scriptural quotes Jesus uses. They are all from the Book of Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:13; and 6:16. How might you use one of these quotes to protect yourself in a time of temptation?

There is an old folk saying that probably came from this gospel account. It goes: "The devil can quote Scripture, too." This means that good things (like Scripture, or an idea that seems to be harmless or even good) can be used to trip us up or deceive us. We have to be careful and consider how good or trustworthy a person or an idea is. While we are to be open and accepting of everyone as loved by God, we sometimes have to examine how well people can back up the truth of what they say.

Here the devil used a beautiful psalm verse about God's care for us to suggest that Jesus, as the Son of God, could recklessly, for no good reason, throw himself from the Temple. Jesus rejected the idea of "testing" God's love and care for him. Do we ever "test" God's love and care? How might this work against trust in God?

Ash Wednesday Reflection

2010-02-17T21:10:00.001+08:00

ASH WEDNESDAY

" Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return."
Gn. 3:19

Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. (Joel 2:13)

Reflection.

The liturgical use of ashes originated in the Old Testament times. Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance.

In the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1).

Job repented in sackcloth and ashes (Job 42:6). Prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem, Daniel wrote, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).

Jesus made reference to ashes, "If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago" (Matthew 11:21).

In the Middle Ages, the priest would bless the dying person with holy water, saying, "Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return." The Church adapted the use of ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality and mourn for our sins. In our present liturgy for Ash Wednesday, we use ashes made from the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year.

The priest blesses the ashes and imposes them on the foreheads of the faithful, making the sign of the cross and saying, "Remember, man you are dust and to dust you shall return," or "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel."

As we begin this holy season of Lent in preparation for Easter, we must remember the significance of the ashes we have received: We mourn and do penance for our sins. We again convert our hearts to the Lord, who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation. We renew the promises made at our baptism, when we died to an old life and rose to a new life with Christ. Finally, mindful that the kingdom of this world passes away, we strive to live the kingdom of God now and look forward to its fulfillment in heaven.

Lenten Question

Q: What is Lent?

A: Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). [This traditional ennumeration does not precisely coincide with the calendar according to the liturgical reform. In order to give special prominence to the Sacred Triduum (Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) the current calendar counts Lent as only from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, up to the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Even so, Lenten practices are properly maintained up to the Easter Vigil, excluding Sundays, as before.]

Lenten Action.

Invite a non-practicing friend to Mass with you. PrayerAlmighty and everlasting God, you despise nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent.Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our brokenness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.Amen.

Ash Wednesday is a day of both fasting and abstinence.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-02-10T16:05:00.002+08:00

February 14, 2010
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

We can tell from Jeremiah's opening complaint today that the leaders of Judah had become corrupt. The people had again wandered away from God. Jeremiah warns that it is useless to place our trust in anyone "whose heart turns away from the Lord."

If we do so, we are "cursed." But if we place our trust and hope in the Lord, we will be like trees growing near a stream. Because their roots are watered by the stream, they bear fruit even in time of drought. That is the blessing Jeremiah prays all of us will experience.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul, too, has a complaint today. He is upset with those Christians of Corinth who no longer believe in the resurrection of the dead. He lets them know that they are way off base. If they do not believe in the resurrection, their faith is not worth a wooden nickel.

Gospel Reflection:

You might have noticed that this gospel reading sounds very similar to Matthew's account of the eight beatitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. In Luke's account today, Jesus names four categories of people who are "blest." They are: the poor who place their trust in God; those who hunger for God and God's reign; those who weep because there is so much suffering and evil in the world; and those who are persecuted because they live their faith.

Jesus then names four categories of people who will suffer misery because they do not put their trust in God. They are: the rich; the well-fed; the uncaring; and those who are accepted because they live by the world's values instead of the gospel. These people have woes because they may forget that we must all be dependent on God and not on things.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-02-03T21:06:00.001+08:00

February 7, 2010
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

As Isaiah describes how God called him to be a prophet, he remembers the scene as though it had just happened. In a vision, Isaiah has "seen" the Lord on a magnificent throne in the Temple. Glowing angels called seraphim hover above the throne, and the Temple shakes with their praise.

Isaiah is overcome with the reality of his own sinfulness and God's holiness. He protests that he cannot be a prophet because of his "unclean lips." But an angel purifies his lips with a glowing coal from the altar. This is a sign that Isaiah is now completely worthy to speak for God. Cleansed of his sin, Isaiah answers the Lord's call by saying, "Here I am, send me!"

Reading 2 Reflection:

Often when we want to convince others of an important truth, we point to the testimony of the experts who believe that same truth. Paul wants to be sure that the Christians of Corinth believe in the resurrection of Jesus. If they fail to grasp that central truth, their faith will be without meaning.

So Paul lines up all the important "experts," or witnesses, from Peter (Cephas) on down to himself. Paul is probably the most convincing witness of all, because Christ himself converted Paul from being a persecutor of Christians to a zealous apostle.

Gospel Reflection:

We can be sure that Peter remembered the scene in today's gospel story as clearly as Isaiah recalled his own vision of God. Even though Simon is convinced that there are no fish available, he tells Jesus, "At your command, I will lower the nets."

His trust is rewarded not only by a huge catch of fish, but by Jesus' call to become a disciple. Peter, James, and John, overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus, drop everything and follow Him.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-01-27T20:07:00.001+08:00

Sunday, January 31, 2010
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Here is the second poetic story of creation from the Book of Genesis. In earlier verses which are not part of today's reading, the story describes how God made the first man from clay. God then fashioned all kinds of birds and animals. But none of them were suitable partners for the man. So God made the first woman from the man's own body.

Together the man and the woman became one body. They were equal and suitable partners for one another. In marriage, husband and wife enter a union blessed by God. The primary message of the story is that man and woman both come from God. We are God's unique creation in a world of wonderful creatures he has entrusted to our care.

Reading 2 Reflection:

The humble person does not look down on others or try to raise himself to a prominent position. Jesus, the Son of God, is a perfect example of humility. He made himself lower than the angels by taking on our human nature. He then made himself subject to suffering and death in order to gain our salvation.

Jesus tasted death for all of us so that we can share in his glory with God the Father. He is pleased to call us his brothers and sisters. In return, at every Eucharist, we thank him for lifting us up with him.

Gospel Reflection:

Some people are more interested in the letter of the law than the spirit of the law. The Pharisees tried to test Jesus by asking him if he agreed with the law of Moses regarding divorce. Jesus draws their attention to the true meaning of marriage. He reminds the Pharisees of the teaching from Genesis about the man and the woman becoming one flesh.

Jesus is focusing on God's loving plan for marriage partners. In the second story, Jesus scolds his disciples for trying to keep the little children away from him. He hugs, holds, and blesses the children. Once again he teaches that all who follow him must trust in God and openly accept the Good News.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-01-20T21:57:00.001+08:00

Sunday, January 24, 2010
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Today's reading presents an interesting picture of the priest Ezra standing above the people to deliver his interpretation of the law of God. His reading goes on for hours and saddens the people as they consider how much they need to reform their lives.

Perhaps their weeping finally convinces Ezra to "take it easy on them." He and Nehemiah, the governor of Judah, then encourage the people to celebrate their observance of the law. The people, they say, should have a great feast because "rejoicing in the Lord" will be their source of strength.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Human beings have a desire to belong to another person, to a community, or to God. We can imagine how the Christians at Corinth welcomed Paul's letter assuring them that they were all "one body."

They were not to create divisions among themselves by identifying as Jews or Greeks, slaves or free people, women or men. Because they had all been anointed by the Holy Spirit, they had become together the one body of Christ. Each was a member; no one was left out.

Gospel Reflection:

Just as Ezra, in our first reading, read to the people from Scripture, Jesus reads from the book of the prophet Isaiah about the Servant of the Lord. He announces that he is the fulfillment of Scripture.

Then he tells the crowd in the synagogue that he is the one sent by God. His presence is their guarantee that a "year of favor," or time of salvation, has begun. All eyes are glued on him as he puts down the scroll and takes his seat.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-01-12T16:32:00.002+08:00

Sunday, January 17, 2010
Feasts of the Child Jesus (Sto. Niño)

Theme: WE LOVE JESUS IN THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH OF TODAY

Today we celebrate the feast of the Sto. Niño, the yearly celebration that is
so dear to the hearts of all Filipino Catholics. This observance brings us back
to the beginning of the Christianization of our land but also enables us to see the relevance
of this devotion to our lives today.

In a special manner, it forces us to focus on our children and youth, with all the problems they pose and the hopes they raise. Today, and especially the Eucharistic celebration we are about to start, are renewed opportunities for us to entrust our “niños” to the protection and guidance of the Holy Child.

He, who is so much a part of our history and our lives, will surely take care of our children and will teach us how to do likewise.

Reading 1 Reflection :

Now that the Christmas season is over, we might think that we can go back to our "ordinary lives" during Ordinary Time. But Ordinary Time is never "ordinary" in that sense! Ordinary Time in the liturgical year is the time when the Sundays are numbered "in order." This season of Ordinary Time will last about six weeks. Ash Wednesday will follow the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time. During Ordinary Time, we celebrate the whole life of Christ, not just one aspect of it. So Ordinary Time is a time of celebration after all! It is a good time to remind ourselves that every Sunday celebrates Easter, the resurrection of Christ.

Every day of Ordinary Time invites us to know Christ better and to live his teachings in a deeper way. And there is nothing "ordinary" about that!In the Old Testament, God's covenant with the people is sometimes compared to a marriage covenant between a husband and wife. In today's first reading, the prophet uses this imagery. With great enthusiasm, he celebrates a great event. The Lord has not only delivered the people from their enemies but has "married" them and made them his own. Their faithfulness has been rewarded. Now they can say to their enemies, "See, we told you! Our God has saved us."

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today's second reading reminds us that the Christian community is filled with gifts of the Spirit. These gifts enable some of us to be teachers or counselors, prophets or preachers, healers or leaders. But they all come from the same Spirit and are intended to build up the faith community. We should never be jealous of someone else's gift because all the gifts truly belong to all of us as the Body of Christ. Do you ever rejoice in the gifts of others?

Gospel Reflection:

The Old Testament reading today celebrates the "marriage" of Israel with the Lord. In the gospel reading, Jesus and his friends are taking part in a wedding celebration at Cana. Everyone is having a grand old time until the wine runs out. Then Jesus, in what is described as the first of his signs (miracles), turns six jars of water into choice wine! Everyone is astonished. But turning the water used for Jewish rituals into wine, Jesus gives God's people a sign that the Messiah has come. Later the disciples would recognize Jesus as the Bridegroom of the Church, the new people of God.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2010-01-06T19:29:00.000+08:00

January 10, 2010
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Reading 1 Reflection:

Today's reading might be called Jesus' theme song, even though it was written long before his birth. Known as one of the four "suffering Servant Songs" in the Old Testament, this reading describes someone who sounds exactly like Jesus. And Jesus himself quotes some of these lines from the prophet, who was probably describing Israel itself.

By accepting his own suffering and remaining faithful to God, Israel could be "a light for the nations." For us, the reading is an inspiring portrait of Jesus, the Suffering Servant, who humbly brings justice, freedom, and peace to God's people.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Today the Roman centurian Cornelius and hsi fellow converts to Christianity are delighted to hear the apostle say that "God shows no partiality." Some of the early Jewish Christians belieeved that the good news of Jesus was intended only for the Jews.

But Peter insisted that Jesus' mission was to all nations. He pointed to the Baptism of Jesus as the beginning of his ministry, the day when he was "anointed with the Holy Spirit and power."

Gospel Reflection:

We all want to be recognized for who we really are. Today's gospel reading describes that memorable day when Jesus had the joy of being recognized by John the Baptist and approved by God as "God's beloved Son." Although Jesus did not need to be baptized (since he was without sin), he wanted to identify himself as closely as possible with God's people.

Take a few minutes today to be thankful for your Baptism. Ask Jesus to help you recognize yourself more deeply as a beloved daughter or son of God.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-12-28T16:19:00.001+08:00

Sunday, January 3, 2010
The Epiphany of the Lord (Solemnity)

Reading 1 Reflection:

In biblical times, Jerusalem was the center of Israel's life as a nation because the Temple was there. Crowds of people went to Jerusalem from all parts of Israel. Today's first reading describes this holy city as radiating the light of God's presence to all the peoples of the earth.

Israel became a light to all nations. Seeing "the glory of the Lord," other nations recognize the one true God and bring gifts "proclaiming the praises of the Lord."

Reading 2 Reflection:

The author of today's second reading recalls how God's "secret," or mysterious, plan of salvation was suddenly revealed to him when he came to know Jesus Christ. He reminds the Ephesians that all people are called to be one in Christ Jesus and that the gospel must be preached to them.

Because Jesus was a Jew, some of his followers thought that Jesus' message was only for Jews. The early Church gradually came to realize that the message of Jesus was for everyone in the world. This was God's great plan!

Gospel Reflection:

As you listened to the gospel, did you hear any echoes of the Old Testament reading from Isaiah? Perhaps you noticed that in both readings people are being led by a bright light on a long journey. They want to see the Lord's glory and honor him with gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh).

Matthew tells us the story of the astrologers, or magi. They followed a star to find "the newborn king of the Jews." Today's feast is called Epiphany, a word meaning "manifestation" or "shining forth" like a light. We celebrate that day when Jesus, our Light, was first revealed to the nations beyond Israel. Just as light shines forth so that we may see in the darkness, our faith in Jesus shines forth in us.

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2009

2009-12-25T23:45:00.001+08:00

Two thousand years after the coming of Christ Jesus, the Prince ofPeace, the world He taught to live in harmony still remained teetering in aprecarious search for Peace. The much-sought for tranquil life withdrew farther from the reach of humans because people had put their selfish ambitions and greed first before the possession of the common good of all.

It is not equality that peace looks after, but a sufficiency to own and consume what a noble life needs and what human dignity requires.

If we survey our surroundings and see the poverty around us—the selfish ambitions and the pride, including the degenerate ways of governance bereft of inspiration and good example from leaders, the inhumanity in today’s crimes and the shamelessness in many a crime among irresponsible leaders—the question remains the same as before, “Is peace a possibility?”

Peace, as a required respect and love for everyone, is a reality that has often been beclouded by greed and dishonest behavior. But despite all efforts to stop wars and violence, peace can only begin in the heart of man. When someone desires what is good for everyone including self, peace can become an accepted reality. Peace is not within the grasp of a person whose only interest is self. To make His disciples men of peace, the Lord Jesus trained them to love beyond selfish interest, even to the point of offering the sacrifice of one’s life.

Peace is also the consequence of a good choice, whether the choice is to have enough to eat or to select a man who will honestly lead others to progress. “…Peace will come to everyone who does good” (Romans 2:10). Any person, who performs real good, no matter how imperceptible that good act is, will inevitably bring in peace.

The coming year 2010 is the nation’s year of choice for honest, selfless and God-fearing leaders who will serve with honesty, simplicity and humility. Arrogant leaders, who, in the past, thought that the nation could not go forward without them, had always been failures; and they had, unfortunately, brought the country down with them.

The ultimate solution to our election problems does not exactly depend on the automated machines but in the well thought of, more seriously considered, and much prayed for choice (vote), regardless of money or favor, but considered only for the good of everyone, and not just for the interest of a few (family, clan or group). That looks like an ideal so difficult and so nearly impossible to attain, this side of the present Philippine political practice. This is the reason why we need the reminders of the Lord, who came teaching people the need for discipline and sacrifice (under the expression of the cross) in order to attain the path to peace and success.

With joy, then, we greet the Lord’s coming that in the end we may arrive at a lasting and welcoming peace. Blessings to All!

+GAUDENCIO B. CARDINAL ROSALES
Archbishop of Manila

9th day of Simbang Gabi, 24th December

2009-12-24T11:09:00.001+08:00

In God’s Graciousness

Introduction

Joy fills the airwaves of Christmas season.

Malls are jam-packed with shoppers to buy new things to wear and
funny gifts for their loved ones and godchildren. Houses are decorated
with various Christmas designs and lights. At home, family is busy in
preparing special meals and special gifts. On the streets, Christmas carols
are rendered by the young and adults while gift giving is centered on the
poor. Parishes display different versions of crib where baby Jesus was
likely borne. With all of these material manifestations, we cannot but
celebrate. Christmas is a big celebration, a festivity.
And today marks the 9th day of “Simbang Gabi”. All the efforts
of waking up at dawn, shaking the cobwebs of sleep while at Mass and
trying to complete the novena for a wish to come true are now drawing
to a close. It is worth an effort. We should be rejoicing because we are
able to go beyond our limitation and self-comfort.

These external and internal preparations move our heart into joy.
This is timely and proper as we remember the birth of Jesus, the Savior.

Body

God’s graciousness is beyond measure and imagining; its fruition
to men is nothing else but joy.

David, in the first reading, is blessed with two privileges: he has
chosen by God to be the King of Israel and from his throne, the everlasting
dynasty will reign.

In the gospel reading, the old barren wife gives birth to a child.
Elizabeth’s giving birth to a boy is a source of great joy to all- herself,
Zacharias, relatives and friends. They cannot help but affirm the
miraculous deed of their God Zacharias, meanwhile, rejoices because the long-waited Messiah has now come in their midst and his very son, John is the one who would
prepare the way for Messiah’s coming.

This is what his Benedictus, a song of praise and thanksgiving to God, highlighted; a song that expresses the overflowing joy of an old man who is both a priest and a father.

The name John means God is gracious; the name that God has
ordered to be given to the child and able to describe the gratitude of
John’s parents for an unexpected joy. It reveals who God really is and
what He wants for us. A personal God, He wants his people to be happy
and fully alive. This divine graciousness has made flesh; God’s gift to
the world is himself. The Son of God entered into the world and became
one with us. Through a baby borne in the crib in Bethlehem, man is not
only redeemed but also elevated to divinity. God in man and Man in
God. This is what we commemorate, celebrate.

Joy and divine graciousness are inseparable. Joy is from God
and for us. Like God, let us share the joy received to others.

Conclusion

Let us imitate Him for he is the source and model of joy. Joy to
the world the Lord has come!

Question
How do I find joy in my life?

Reflection shared by:

Fernando L. Sabado, Jr

8th day of Simbang Gabi - 23rd December

2009-12-23T09:40:00.000+08:00

WHAT CHIlD IS THIS?

“What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. – Luke 1:66

Last year, my caring group, composed of Kerygma preachers and their wives, gave me a baby shower a few weeks before our first baby was born. Aside from the outpouring of love and practical gifts, our daughter, Charlize Gabrielle, was the recipient of many spiritual blessings that each of them pronounced upon her.

Health, happiness and holiness. Love and divine protection. A smile that reflects God’s face. The joy and delight of the Lord. Long, straight hair. (OK, that wasn’t too spiritual but it does come in handy, especially since I spend a small fortune on relaxing my hair.) I went home that night thankful for the blessings they had pronounced and believing that my child would indeed grow in the virtues they had bestowed upon her. I can’t wait to see how Charlize will live out her calling and be a blessing to the world.

As Christmas draws near, we are confronted with the coming of the Christ Child. What He will be we already know. The question is, are we allowing Him to be all that He is in our lives?
This season, let’s strive to know this Child in a deeper way. Rissa Singson-Kawpeng

REFLECTION:

As you celebrate Jesus’ birth this Christmas, what does His coming mean to you at this time in your life?

Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Holy One, manifest Yourself to me in a personal way this Christmas season.

6th day of Simbang gabi - 21st December

2009-12-21T10:07:00.007+08:00

THREE WORDS

In today's Gospel reading we hear the story of 2nd Joyful mystery - The visitation of the Blessed Mother to her cousin Elizabeth. Mama Mary who was also pregnant hurriedly went to her cousin when she knew that she was also pregnant. Imagine someone who is pregnant "in a hurry" . . . Let me share with you three (3) words to reflect in relation with our Gospel for today's simbang gabi.

The first word is "COMMITMENT". God fully commited with His love for humanity sent his only Son to save us from sin. God that He was he took a form of a slave, shared the stages of being a child, adolescent and an adult and died for our sins. If God was not commited to us then until now we are still in bondage with sin.

Mary was also commited to the call of being our universal Mother, specially being the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is Mama Mary was not commited then the whole Salvation History would not happen. When Mama Mary when to Elizabeth she was soo commited to visit her cousin who is also pregnant given the fact that she was also pregnant.

Are we commited in our given task? Or we are just commited when the task is easy and we easily give up when it's hard?

The second word is "JOY". When Mama Mary approached her cousin Elizabeth and spoke . . . The baby in Elizabeth womb "leep for joy!" As Mama Mary was commited being our Mother she accompanied it with outmost joy . . . when she said "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior. "

St. Elizabeth even in her old age, was full of joy accepting the will of God to be pregnant and bear a son who will prepare the way of the Lord. Zechariah on the other hand, became mute because he did not believe what the angel Gabriel told him but when the baby was delivered he spoke with joy "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he comes to his people and set them free . . . "

The third and the last word is "LOVE". Our salvation history was all because of one word and that is the imense LOVE of God with humanity. It was His LOVE that made him "Commited with Joy."

I remember the story of the Pig and the chicken. They both always see their Master eat his breakfast. One day the chicken told the pig, you know our master likes me because he always eat egg everyday while he just eats luncheon meat sometimes. The pig replied, yes our master doesn't eat pork meat always but there one thing I can say. You just sit there and you produce eggs of which is being used by our master. But as for me I need to butchered before my meat becomes a luncheon meat which he eats sometime.

Let us ask ourselves, are we like the chicken or the pig in the story? If one our loveones needs our life, are you able to offer it for LOVE? If in the near future we may encounter such fate, may we close eyes and somber a prayer that God may help us be commited, full of joy and love!

God loves you more than you know!

RAYMOND SINENSE - MACATANGGA

Lector and Commentator

Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

Manila Metropolitan Cathedral - Basilica

3rd day SImbang Gabi Reflection, 18th December

2009-12-18T10:14:00.004+08:00

Do miracles still happen?

Introduction

Though they were devoted to the temple and the service of God, this old couple seemed condemned to be childless. God seemed neglected their dogged fidelity to Him. On every level, this was certainly a disaster, that in every Jewish family, a child can be a full proof of special blessing. Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years.

We could never really blame them, old and barren, yet can still conceive? What could be your reaction upon seeing a lola walking along in her maternity dress? How would you feel, if one day, you will see your Granny, having stomach pains in the morning and suddenly telling you,“Apo, I am pregnant!”

Body

The announcement of the birth of John by the Angel Gabriel shows us that nothing is impossible with God. It is true! After long years of waiting for a child, the announcement came as a surprise especially for Zechariah, nodding his head in disbelief, as if telling the angel: “Do not add up to our misery. This must have been a joke!”For longs years, they prayed for a baby, they longed to fill-up the empty womb.

Perhaps, they might have sought help just to figure it outhow to have a baby that probably cost them so much, even their lives! It must have been a very painful experience for both of them; no word scan explain the anguish and unhappiness of the state of their married life, for long years, they wept a thousand tears. Luke’s infancy stories are built on a comparison: John the Baptistis compared to Jesus.

First, John is the climax of all the hopes of the Old Testament, and then we see Jesus, even greater than John. Second,there are two annunciations in the Gospel, which we have heard today,that is to Zechariah, and later on to Mary, by the same Angel Gabriel. In both cases, the Angel comes to tell that a son will be born against allhope and all natural means.We can also remember in our first readingabout the appearance of an angel to the mother of Samson. She was alsobarren, when an angel of the Lord Yahweh appeared to her and told her she would conceive and give birth to a son. Our father in faith, Abraham,also received a similar visit from the angel to promise that his barren wifeSarah would bear him Isaac. (Gen 18)What could be the purpose of these stories? It is not merely torelate miraculous happenings. It is not just a simple birth of babies.

That is not the only reason to celebrate. It is celebration of faith, that It is notonly reasons to celebrate, it is celebration of faith, that indeed, miracles still do happen! Perhaps, at the start of the Simbang-gabi, most of us, broughtwith us, certain longings of our hearts: that for a long time, we havebeen praying on bended knees, asking the Lord to grant us our petitions. Perhaps, for healing, for a new job, finding the perfect partner in life,passing board exam, or just like Zechariah and Elizabeth, praying fora child. Let me share with you, three thingsas we all continue to present to God our “special requests.”·

Continue hoping- there is absolutely nothing is impossible with God. God will always be true to His promise, God fulfills Hispromise. The Lord is true to His words. That inspite our infidelity,God continues to be a God of second chances, He continuously allows us to feel His loving concern. That even if seemingly it is only hope that we can cling to.

Do whatever you can- and God will do His part. We canhave the most fulfilling battle of our lives if only we have given allour best. Do not give up. Moreover, after trying and doing all themeans and ways for our problems, it is then we allow God to do His part, ultimately surrendering everything to God. Allow God to surprise you- miracles still do happen. You may not receive the answers to the longings of your heart and the greatest need of your soul, but still in one way or another, the grace of God will always be there to surprise us, if only we have the eyes of faith.

Just when we begin to think it’s going to be the end , the Lord pulls the rug from under our feet to tell us that it isn’t exactly quite over yet. Through faith, we can have the eyes to see the blessings that come our ways. Through faith, we believe that God will never abandon us, even in our need.

Conclusion

There would be times in our lives that God seems to have leftus in a situation where we can see no way out. Let us keep on trustingin His love. No matter how dark the horizon may be, with the help and grace of faith, we know that He is always by our side.

Question

What surprise have you receive from God recently?

Rev. Msgr. Geronimo F. Reyes, JCD

Judicial Vicar

2nd day Simbang Gabi Reflection, 17th December

2009-12-17T09:43:00.003+08:00

Man’s Greatness

Introduction

The genealogy of Jesus proves that the whole human race is wounded yet redeemed, sinful yet grace-filled.

Body

The genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel insinuates three stages.

· First, man was created in the image and likeness. It means that man resembles God but he is aware of his own identity that was not equal to God. In other words, man can enjoy all the privileges that God gave him like intelligence, freedom and capacity to love. However, he must have to recognize also his nothingness before God because without God, he can lose everything he enjoys inlife.

· Second, man gave in to his selfish desires that destroyed hisoriginal closeness to God. Even though God has providedeverything for him, he still desires for more to the extent of wanting to be greater than God. As a result, God allowed him tosuffer the consequences of his folly actions. He became a slaveof his passion and death becomes the ****** of his sinfulness.

· Third, man can regain his greatness. With God’s mercy and love,man is never abandoned to be totally destroyed by his sinfulness. After the prophets, God has sent his only Son with the plan of rescuing man from the slavery of sin so that man will be reunited to Him again. Jesus Becoming Man returns man’s status as createdin God’s image and likeness.

Conclusion

Man is great because God created him in his own image and likeness. There is no way for man not to exemplify this greatness by his faithfulness and goodness to others.

Question:

Am I convinced that I am great since I was created in God’s image and likeness?

How do I exemplify that greatness?

Caster K. Gonsadan
Apostolic Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe

1st Day Simbang Gabi Reflection, December 16

2009-12-16T14:10:00.004+08:00

COMMITMENT TO LOVE

Introduction

Some people find it hard to commit. They are eitherafraid to surrender or see themselves incapable of commitment. No wonder some people are half-hearted with regard to their respective commitments.

Commitment is an active word. We must live it out. We must show it. We must manifest it. Today’s gospel reading on the First day of Simbang Gabi invites us to renew our commitment

TO LOVE.…

Body

LOVING ALL

The Love of Jesus is an inclusive way of loving. It includeseveryone… the poor unlovable, the marginalized, the sinners, thosewho can not reciprocate your love to and for whom He was sent. We are invited to love all who belong to Jesus’ embrace.

LOVING ALL THE TIME

The Love of Jesus chooses no time. Every time is the best timeto love. He was borne and loved at time when there was persecution,denial, betrayal and hatred. We are invited to love all the time even if weare hurting and we find it difficult to love.

LOVING ALL THE WAY

The Love of Jesus never ends. It never gets empty. He gave His all,from Mary’s womb to His tomb. We are invited to love all the way… not to hesitate to love over and over again… not to be afraid to be empty oflove for the more we give love, the more we receive love from Jesus.

LOVING ALL FOR GOD

The Love of Jesus for us is a fulfillment of His Father’s Will. He was sent to proclaim God’s kingdom that we may start experiencingheaven here on earth.

We are invited to love all for God who calls us tolove… who Himself is Love.

Conclusion

To become the living presence of Jesus to others not only throughwords but through actions. In this season, we must concretely manifest our Love for Jesus through our little ways of showing love to others.Christmas is a perfect time to translate love into actions.

To sincerely and humbly acknowledge our unworthiness to becalled brothers and sisters of Jesus, who dwelt amongst us, by allowing Him to restore our dignity as children of God. We must constantly and consistently go back to Jesus’ embrace through reconciling with him inthe Sacrament of Reconciliation.

To start and end this Novena with enthusiasm and excitementfor the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Staying late at night or wakingup early in the morning for one simple reason: We love Jesus! And as aconcrete manifestation of our love, we prepare ourselves spiritually for His Birth through this simple and sincere sacrifice.

Question: How can I concretize my commitment to love all the time......?

REV. FR. MAXELL LOWELL C. ARANILLA
Principal
Our Lady of Gudalupe Minor Seminary

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-12-08T22:01:00.000+08:00

Third Sunday of Advent
13th December 2009

Reading 1 Reflection:

We could really get into the spirit of this reading if we could sing it and accompany ourselves with musical instruments. Our song would celebrate a renewed relationship between God and God's people.

The time of exile, or separation from God, is over. Now the people can once again feel good about themselves because they are living according to God's will. They sing our their joy, and God sings with them.

Reading 2 Reflection:

This Third Sunday of Advent is sometimes called "Gaudete" Sunday. This is Latin for "Rejoice!" It comes from the first word of Saint Paul's letter for this Sunday. Paul reminds the Philippians that they should not merely rejoice that the Lord is near, and then go about their everyday business.

They must also pray, be grateful, place their trust in God, and be unselfish in their relationships with others. Then they will experience "the peace of God."

Gospel Reflection:

Imagine that you are there, listening to John the Baptist in today's gospel. You hear him advising the people who have already expressed their sorrow for their sins. They are about to be baptized as a sign of their repentance. But they realize that they must also change their lives and avoid sin in the future.

Then the people wonder whether John might be the promised Messiah of God. John tells them that they must look for someone greater than he. We know that he was directing them to Jesus. We can be like John the Baptist when we help others to find Jesus Christ in their lives. Pray today that your joy in knowing Christ will help lead others to him.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-12-02T19:01:00.001+08:00

Sunday, December 6, 2009
Second Sunday of Advent

Reading 1 Reflection:

Perhaps you noticed right away that the author of this reading is a poet. He is filled with hope and joy as he assures the Israelites in exile that God will bring them back to the holy city of Jerusalem. They are suffering very much because they are far from their homeland.

But their return will be such a joyful event that even the mountains, the valleys, and the forests will do what they can to make the journey easier! In this beautiful vision of the future, the people have God¹s "mercy and justice for company." Advent is a time for making progress on our faith journey. Take time to give thanks for God's mercy and justice in your life.

Reading 2 Reflection

In his letter to the Christians at Philippi, a city in Macedonia, Paul makes two things clear. The first is his great love and affection for the Philippians, who have helped him in his ministry. The second is his hope that they will continue to become more and more like Christ. Paul is looking forward to the second coming of Christ.

And he wants to make sure that all Christ's followers will be ready to receive him when he comes. What will you do during this second week of Advent to show that you, too, are becoming more like Christ?

Gospel Reflection:

Why do you suppose Luke makes such an effort to pin down the historical timing of the preaching of John the Baptist? He gives us a complete rundown of Roman and Jewish leaders who were in power. Luke wants us to realize that John, a "common man" chosen by God, is much more important than any worldly ruler, because he is the herald who announces the Lord's coming.

John urges the people to be baptized as a sign of their repentance for their sins. When they do this, they will make the path clear for Christ to come into their lives. Then all people "shall see the salvation of God."

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-11-25T21:27:00.000+08:00

November 29, 2009
First Sunday of Advent

Reading 1 Reflection:

The voice of the prophet Jeremiah greets us as we enter the season of Advent. Called by God, Jeremiah preached a message of hope to the people. In today's reading we hear the promise that God will raise up, from the ancestors of King David, a ruler who will "do what is right and just." This message reminds us of Jesus our Savior.

Advent is a season of hope. We prepare for the coming of God's kingdom and for Christmas. Don't delay. Begin today by praying that God will open your eyes to all the ways you can live as a person of hope.

Reading 2 Reflection:

Paul's letter is addressed to the newly formed Christian community at Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia. He expresses his love for them and his urgent desire that they continue to make progress in living as followers of Jesus Christ.

He reminds them of the second coming of Christ at the end of the world. How will they prepare? By loving one another.

Gospel Reflection:

Today's reading might seem to be a real "downer." Just as we are beginning the new liturgical year, we hear Jesus' reminders to "be vigilant" and "pray." Advent is a time of preparation for Jesus' final coming. Jesus, the just one, who will judge us in the final days of human history, wants us to be able to stand up like true Christians when that time comes. Decide how you will show that you have heard Jesus' words on this first day of Advent.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-11-17T10:47:00.000+08:00

November 22, 2009
Solemnity of Christ the King

Reading 1 Reflection:

Once again we share the visions of the prophet Daniel. He sees "one like a son of man" coming from the heavens into the presence of God. This Messiah king receives from God the Father power and kingship over all nations.

His rule is universal and it lasts forever. No one can take it away from him. "Son of Man" later became a title of the Messiah. Jesus applied this title to himself. The Messiah was also thought of as a king. When Jesus was on trial before the high priest, he quoted the vision of Daniel to describe himself.

Reading 2 Reflection:

We are delighted whenever someone we love is honored. In this reading from the beginning of the Book of Revelation, the inspired author has a vision of the second coming of Jesus Christ. He comes in the clouds as the "ruler of the kings of earth."

He is the "First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." He is the faithful witness to God's promises and the first to rise from the dead. Now he is honored as a crucified and risen King. On this triumphant feast day we rejoice in Christ's kingship. And we give thanks that Jesus has made of us a royal priesthood to serve our God and Father.

Gospel Reflection:

What kind of king is Jesus? In this reading from the passion story in John's Gospel, Jesus provides us with his own answer. Pontius Pilate was the Roman official who held power in Palestine. He asks Jesus if he is the king of the Jews. Pilate really wants to know whether Jesus might be part of a Jewish revolt against Roman rule. Jesus assures Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world. He is not one who rules by force. However he is a king who came into the world to "testify to the truth."

All who recognize him as "the way and the truth and the life" will hear his voice (John 14:6). As the Church year comes to a close, we are grateful for the ways in which we have heard our King's voice in the liturgy this year. We consider how to live the words of Jesus more faithfully as the circle of the new liturgical year begins.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-11-04T21:58:00.001+08:00

November 8, 2009
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

In this reading we hear the beautiful story of the prophet Elijah and the widow and her son. During a great drought, Elijah met a widow and asked her for a small cupful of water and a bit of bread. She had only a handful of flour and a bit of oil that she was preparing for her son and herself. But she made a little cake for the prophet and was rewarded with flour and oil for a year, until the rains came again. The generosity of this widow touches us and fills us with admiration.

Reading 2 Reflection:

This reading contrasts the actions of the Jewish High Priest with Jesus' priestly office. Each year the Jewish high priest entered the sanctuary of the Temple of Jerusalem with the sacrifice of animals' blood. In contrast, Jesus entered the sanctuary of heaven and offered the sacrifice of himself once to take away our sins. During today's liturgy, let us ask especially for the forgiveness of our sins, especially for not being generous in forgiving one another.

Gospel Reflection:

In this reading we have the story of another widow who gave generously. Many rich people gave far more; she gave only two small copper coins not worth very much. But Jesus was moved by what she did and praised her to his disciples. She gave all that she had to live on. God loves generosity. Nothing is more moving to the heart of Jesus than our willingness to give of ourselves to help others.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-10-27T13:42:00.001+08:00

November 1, 2009
The Solemnity of All Saints

Reading 1 Reflection:

In this reading from the Book of Revelation, the author, who calls himself John, writes after the year A.D. 70. It was a time of terrible persecution of Christians. In his writing, he urged them to persevere in their faith. In a vision the author sees "a huge crowd which no one could count" from every nation on earth. They stand in triumph before the throne of God and the Lamb (Christ), dressed in white and holding palm branches, the sign of victory. John is told who they are: those who survived the great trial and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. This is symbolic language. It means that these people, in their own lives, have participated in the suffering and death of Christ.

This washing makes their robes white, like the robes of those who have been baptized into Christ. We, too, are washed clean when we share in the death of Christ through the waters of Baptism. We may not be asked to die for our faith like so many of the early Christians. But we are called to be strong in our faith even when we are ridiculed by others.

Reading 2 Reflection:

In this reading we are reminded of the consoling hope we have as children of God. The world may not agree, John says, yet that is in fact who we are. One day we will see God face to face.

As children of God, we should live sinless lives. All children try to bring credit to their parents and their brothers and sisters. How much more should this be our aim as God's children.

Gospel Reflection:

This reading from the Gospel of Matthew contains the Beatitudes. These statements are a summary of the way to sainthood for all the thousands and thousands of people who have followed Jesus faithfully. They show how the followers of Jesus today are to live for God's kingdom. All the rewards promised here will have their fulfillment in God's kingdom in heaven. Jesus calls us all to holiness.

By following the teachings of Jesus and the Church, celebrating the sacraments, and trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the way to heaven lies open for us. Our journey of faith may not be an easy one. There will be many hardships and challenges along the way. But if we walk humbly with our God, we will one day reach the place of justice and peace where God reigns forever.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-10-14T23:18:00.001+08:00

October 18, 2009
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

One of the worst things a person can experience is to feel that they have suffered for nothing. When a soldier dies in battle for a good cause, others say that he or she did not die in vain. In today's first reading, Isaiah describes the Suffering Servant of God. This servant gives up his life "as an offering for sin." By doing so, he bears the guilt of others. God says of him, "My servant shall justify many." To justify others is to free them from blame or take away their guilt. We can easily understand why Christians see a portrait of Jesus Christ in this reading. He is the obedient servant who gave his life for our salvation. By his suffering, death, and rising, he leads us into fullness of days

Reading 2 Reflection:

Temptation is a familiar visitor for most of us. Sometimes we lock our doors and say "Keep out!" Other times we let temptation in and wind up acting against God's will. Jesus never said yes to temptation. He knows what it is like to be tempted. Therefore, he understands how hard it is for us to resist temptations to sins like dishonesty, greed, and violence. Jesus is a priest who intercedes for us always. Whenever temptation knocks on our doors, we have only to turn to Jesus. He will strengthen us to do what is right.

Gospel Reflection:

We can often recognize those who are considered great in the world by the number of people they have serving and protecting them. Jesus teaches his disciples that it cannot be like that with them. He has come not to be served but to serve others, especially the poor and those who need healing. His greatness is seen most clearly in his laying down his life for others. Through Baptism we share in the Church's ministry to serve all who are in need. We share Christ's mission of working for peace and justice in our homes, our parish, and our world.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-10-07T20:53:00.001+08:00

October 11, 2009
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

If one person prays to win the lottery and another person prays for wisdom, which do you think has offered the most meaningful prayer? The author of this reading sees clearly that wisdom is more desirable than riches. It is also to be valued above power, health, and beauty. Wisdom enables us to keep our priorities straight.

It helps us to see things from God's point of view. Sometimes we hesitate to seek the things of God because it might mean we have to lose the things of earth. But when we seek God and God's kingdom first, everything else of true value will follow.

Reading 2 Reflection:

A two-edged sword is a very powerful symbol. When we picture God's word as a sharp sword, we want to sit up and pay attention to the reading. The inspired author teaches us that this sword can cut right to the human heart. It judges our thoughts and decisions.

It saves those who listen to it and requires an accounting from those who ignore it. The symbol of the sword reminds us that God's word is alive and active. It is never a word that is lifeless or without meaning in our daily lives. It is always capable of changing us if we let it.

Gospel Reflection:

The rich young man in this story is like a mountain climber who has almost reached the summit. But the final stretch will be more difficult than the distance he has already come. He comes to seek wisdom from Jesus about how to achieve everlasting life.

He assures the Good Teacher that he has kept the commandments since he was a child. Jesus looks at him with love and challenges him to do one thing more. If he wants to reach the summit of treasure in heaven, the young man must sell his possessions and follow Jesus. This he cannot do. So he goes away sad. Jesus assures his disciples that entering the kingdom of God is no easy matter.

Those who are attached to their possessions will have a more difficult time. However, those who rely on God to achieve the impossible can do all good things.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-09-30T09:45:00.002+08:00

October 4, 2009
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Here is the second poetic story of creation from the Book of Genesis. In earlier verses which are not part of today's reading, the story describes how God made the first man from clay. God then fashioned all kinds of birds and animals. But none of them were suitable partners for the man. So God made the first woman from the man's own body. Together the man and the woman became one body. They were equal and suitable partners for one another. In marriage, husband and wife enter a union blessed by God. The primary message of the story is that man and woman both come from God. We are God's unique creation in a world of wonderful creatures he has entrusted to our care.

Reading 2 Reflection:

The humble person does not look down on others or try to raise himself to a prominent position. Jesus, the Son of God, is a perfect example of humility. He made himself lower than the angels by taking on our human nature. He then made himself subject to suffering and death in order to gain our salvation. Jesus tasted death for all of us so that we can share in his glory with God the Father. He is pleased to call us his brothers and sisters. In return, at every Eucharist, we thank him for lifting us up with him.

Gospel Reflection:

Some people are more interested in the letter of the law than the spirit of the law. The Pharisees tried to test Jesus by asking him if he agreed with the law of Moses regarding divorce. Jesus draws their attention to the true meaning of marriage. He reminds the Pharisees of the teaching from Genesis about the man and the woman becoming one flesh. Jesus is focusing on God's loving plan for marriage partners. In the second story, Jesus scolds his disciples for trying to keep the little children away from him. He hugs, holds, and blesses the children. Once again he teaches that all who follow him must trust in God and openly accept the Good News.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-09-24T09:42:00.000+08:00

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Sunday, September 27, 2009

SOCIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY

Mark 9:38-48

Sometimes we act and speak as though we have the monopoly on access to the power of God.

We don't, and in today's gospel Jesus seems to be telling his disciples that God works through people of good will, irrespective of whether they are on the edge ('not one of us') or at the centre of the reign of God movement.

Much the same message is found in the first reading (Numbers 11:25-29) which has Joshua, assistant to Moses, trying to exclude two men from prophesying on somewhat tenuous grounds. Moses does not take Joshua's advice. On the contrary, he prays that the Spirit of God might 'rest on' and, by implication, work through all God's people.

Both the gospel passage and the reading from Numbers affirm the role of the community leadership and religious tradition in selection for public ministry but seem to be warning against attempts to control or domesticate the Spirit of God.

The second part of the gospel reading (9:42-48) brings a dramatic change of mood as it takes up the issue of scandalising the 'little ones'.

The reference to 'little ones' marks a return to the setting in the latter part of last week's gospel reading where Jesus takes a little child in his arms and instructs his disciples.

The horror of harming the little ones is dramatised in a series of sayings that challenge the most vivid imagination. These sayings are hardly intended to be taken literally. It may, however, offer some solace to those little ones who have suffered 'scandal' or worse to know that there is no stronger condemnation in the gospels than that reserved for those who bring harm to children and vulnerable others.

We are all called as church to heal the hurts of the past and to create conditions that ensure the protection and safety of our youth.

By way of footnote, today is Social Justice Sunday in Australian Catholic communities. Taking up the theme of last year's World Youth Day, the church is urging our young people to be gospel witnesses to the ends of the earth.

They cannot do this without theological and biblical education, our trust, and a massive injection of resources. Let those of us who have laboured for some time in gospel ministry put all our energy and resources into making it possible for them to take up the challenge of gospel witness.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-09-16T15:24:00.001+08:00

September 20th, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

PRE-PRAYERING

The “spiritual life” is our way of living with and not leaving behind the ups and yips of life. Our faith with all its rituals and prayers constantly assures us that we are not abandoned, but neither are we excused from attending each day of life’s classes.

As we yip and trip through these days, as we move from being sent by one Eucharistic liturgy toward the next, we can check in on whether we have checked out of those classes of the faithfulness of god or did we show up. Grace flowing from the sacraments is a gift to abide with the great gift of being alive for a while here on earth.

REFLECTION

In our First Reading it would be easy enough to imagine a group of outlaws preparing to treat cruelly a particular man of virtue. It is easy also to project this as a prophesy concerning Jesus. It is in fact a verbal picture of a faithful Jewish person whom the Jewish author offers as a picture of how insulting the virtuous life is to others.

The final four verses of this chapter, (which are not presented in today’s readings) indicts the reasoning of the foreigners or outsiders. They do not have faith and hope in God’s promises and protection which support the faithful Jew at all times and in all circumstances. “They do not know the hidden things of God, they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded, they see no reward for blameless souls.”

This reading is from the Book of Wisdom which has various literary forms within it. What we have here is a boast of sarcasm. Throughout the book God is pictured as faithful during Israel’s history and especially during the hard times. The Jewish people are presented as called, challenged, cared-for and always God’s people. The virtuous Jew will be seen as poor and out-of-it as he trusts God. He will be tested and remain faithful.

Last Sunday’s Gospel recorded the “First Prediction of the Passion” in Mark’s narrative. Today we hear the second. Last week we heard Jesus’ rebuke of Peter who attempted to prevent Jesus from even thinking of it. Today the post-prediction story is quite different and yet a contrast for sure. Peter had understood well what Jesus was talking about. Here the disciples fail to get it. They continue walking and instead of questioning the meaning of what Jesus had spoken, they begin arguing about who would be the leader if Jesus were to actually be killed.
Jesus has just revealed an intuition about His future death and the disciples are planning on their future rankings. Then Jesus does something a bit strange. After reminding them about the role of a true follower by being servant, Jesus embraces a child as a visual aid. This has to be somehow united with the theme of His death and how a virtuous follower is to live.

Mark is presenting Jesus as a servant who is embracing His life, ending with His embracing of His cross and death. As easy as it is to welcome one little child into ones arms, a true follower of Jesus is to welcome the implications of that vocation. Jesus was available, welcoming and embracing of all the persons and events of His life including His welcoming of His death. The “child” becomes a convenient symbol of life and those who would be first of all, must let go of the importance of being first and so be last in the “ego-line”.

This past summer I spent a few days with my extended biological family, with young nieces and nephews! It was a joy to be with them and after a while, also to leave them with their parents. Here’s one story which I enjoyed. My three year-old grand-nephew ran to his father and complained that his little cousin wanted to take and play with his toy. His father told him that he himself had to “work it out” with his little cousin Lily. My nephew considered this “working out” for three seconds, turned to Lily and said, “This is mine and you can’t have it!” His mother turned to me and said, “That’s how men work things out I guess.”

I wonder how old the child was whom Jesus took into His arms.
The disciples and my niece’s son have a little in common; actually quite a bit. We also have a little in common with them as well. That ego-driven sense of self-priority is what Jesus is challenging. Where did my little Jakey obtain the sense that having things was making him better than Lily, who did not have. Lily had the same sense, but just then did not have the important toy. Blame it on Adam, parents, even perhaps grand-uncles? Jesus did not upbraide His followers. He knew what Jake’s parents knew that self is an energy as well as an identity. Jesus has been telling His disciples that He was being called to un-self, or surrender that self-energy even to the point of letting go of His life. Jesus welcomed the little-child within each of the disciples with all its self-centered preoccupations and tells the disciples that they have to do the same. If they are to be followers of Jesus they will have to face the constancy and hunger of the self. They then will be freer to follow Him through His Passion and Resurrection to their becoming servants.

Ultimately, Jesus is chiefly speaking of Himself throughout this passage. He is serving the disciples and the world by not allowing His self-energy to move Him to be first. He is guided to deny Himself, take up His cross and not say, “This is mine and you can’t have it.” He declares “My life is mine and you can have it to the full.”

“You have laid down your precepts to be faithfully kept. May my footsteps be firm in keeping your commands.” Ps. 119, 4-5

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-09-11T14:07:00.000+08:00

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Sunday, September 13, 2009

Today's gospel reading leads us into a section of Mark's gospel that explores challenges which confront all disciples on their journey of faith.
The first challenge is to clarify the nature of our commitment as disciples of Jesus. If we fail to understand who Jesus is, then we have little chance of understanding the nature of our own call to follow him.

Two questions ('Who do people say that I am?' and 'Who do you say that I am?') are addressed to our forbears in faith communities of the latter part of the first century and to Christians across the millennia.

We are invited to hear these questions anew. Do we simply share what 'the people' say about Jesus? Are we like Peter who has the right language but only partial insight? Or do we have the wisdom to seek a deeper understanding of the identity of Jesus?
In response to Jesus' second question ('Who do you say that I am?'), Peter gets the words right: Jesus is the messiah, the Christ, God's anointed messenger.

It becomes clear, however, that Peter has a very different notion from Jesus of what it means to be the messiah or the Christ. This is understandable enough since there were diverse messianic expectations within first-century Judaism.

Many expected a royal militaristic figure who would drive out the occupiers and restore Israel's status as an independent nation. Jesus, as God's messiah, refuses the way of violent action. His way is to be true to his mission of bringing God's empire, even if it brings the most intense personal suffering.

Peter refuses to accept a suffering Messiah. He is severely reprimanded for his refusal and basically told to get out of the way, to get back to where a disciple should be, namely behind Jesus, following him, and not in front obstructing the path.
The bitter experience in recent years of conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq should make us wary of accepting militaristic messiahs. In our times, to know and follow Jesus as the Christos or Messiah is to seek and support more moderate and lasting responses to perceived injustice. It is to listen to the wisdom of those with insight and experience, to calculate with the utmost care the consequences of violent reactions to the problems in our world, in contemporary society, and in our homes.

That may well involve hard work, personal misunderstanding, physical and emotional trauma or, in other words, it may mean 'losing one's life' for the sake of the gospel.
It certainly calls for profound trust in the saving power of God.
Over the next few weeks, the Sunday gospel will call us into the ways of respect, of commitment, and of peaceful negotiation, to ever deeper insight into the ways of the anointed messenger of God's empire.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflection:

2009-09-04T09:45:00.000+08:00

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Mark 7:31-37

Those who are profoundly deaf frequently find themselves on the edge of the human and earth communities. Without access to birdsong, to spoken discourse, to the vast range of media communication, they often struggle to understand and to be understood. Their capacity to communicate their deepest wisdom, their hopes and dreams, their anxieties and fears, is limited not only by personal disability but also by the incomprehension of others.

In our contemporary technological world, sophisticated hearing devices and cochlear implants transform the lives of many who previously suffered from serious hearing loss and its social consequences. Whatever degree of deafness is experienced, relief from such an affliction offers far more than physical healing.

It brings insertion into the life of family and community and workplace. It opens up new horizons and unimagined possibilities.

In first century Palestine, the chances of relief from hearing deficiency and associated speech impairment were minimal. Desperate people put their faith in folk healers who used their healing hands and drew upon their knowledge of the medicinal properties in certain herbs and other plants.

It seems clear that Jesus was known as an effective healer and that he used some of the same methods as other healers of his time. Many of his contemporaries in that part of the world would have turned to Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, or his daughter Hygeia. Jesus turns, not to Asclepius or Hygeia, but to the God of Israel ('looking up to heaven ...') as the source of healing power.

There is layer upon layer of meaning in today's healing story.

Place features significantly. Jesus travels from Tyre on the northern Mediterranean coast to the Sea of Galilee via the non-Jewish territory on the eastern side of the lake. It was a regular route, but definitely not the most direct one.

The gospel writer seems to be stressing the all-embracing nature of Jesus' healing ministry.

As the gospel story has unfolded, we have found that the same healing power of God is available to Jews and Gentiles, to male and female, young and old alike. It is available to those with bodily afflictions and those who are paralysed by anxiety and fear.

There is irony in the telling of the story: a Gentile deaf man can be brought from no hearing to hearing, from 'speaking with difficulty' to clarity of speech, but Jesus' own disciples will shortly fail to hear and understand ('Do you have ears and not hear?'-Mark 8:18).

We open our ears to hear in the hope of understanding.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-08-28T21:00:00.000+08:00

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 30, 2009

by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PRE-PRAYERING:

We are praying for the grace to want to do what is holy, rather than have to do what is expected. This is very difficult for us in the western world. We love fulfilling exactly the expectations of others or an organization and when we do, well, we are guiltless and perfect, in a sense. Completing expectations is not the heart of a relationship. Jesus is inviting us to pray with the truth of his love and the truth of our response. We pray for his love to wash our hearts of fearing God so that when we go to the market and return from the market we will have washed that market with our presence. We will return and bless the potatoes and onions and the dirt from which they have come. We can pray with dirty hands and cleaner hearts to extend those dirty hands in praise of the God who dirtied himself by walking in our mud.

REFLECTION:

The laws and customs which Moses will offer to God’s people, Israel, and which follow in subsequent chapters, are meant as invitations to life and freedom rather than burdens to which to be enslaved. In the previous chapter leading to our reading today from Deuteronomy, Moses has given instructions to the men to prepare to wage war so as to gain their new homeland. The land becomes a sacred reminder of the fruitfulness which derives from trusting the faithful God.

What we hear is an instruction about the wisdom behind these laws and customs. They are wise because they come from the God of Wisdom, the Source of Life. They are wise, because they will prove to be more powerful and influential in establishing their new home than the power of arms waging war. The inhabitants will be won over to believing in the “one God” when they see how well the Israelites live together, fruitfully, justly, and trustingly in their “one God”.
The way the Jews are to live will reveal not only their intelligence, but the closeness of their God to them. This God cares for them, guides them and has revealed to them how to take care of the land and other gifts they have received.

We return to Mark’s Gospel today and find Jesus inviting the scribes and Pharisees to reflect on the why of their customs rather than the what. The religious officials of the Jews have been noticing that Jesus and his disciples do not keep the “traditions” of the “elders”. The “law” is one thing, but these “traditions” are added practices which extend the “law” and the power and prestige of the Rabbis who advance them. Washing of hands and cups is the center of the problem in this reading, but there are other accretions to the “law” to which Jesus takes exception.

The Law of Moses was part of the Covenant which God made with the Jews and was meant to help their relationship or response to this covenanting God. In a sense God is saying, “I have done all these great things for you; keeping these laws and customs is how you live, more than say, thank you.” The practices and little traditions have gotten in the way. They have become responses to the religious officials. The keeping of these has become more important than keeping the relationship which God has initiated, alive in their hearts. “This nation honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me”.
Love is shown in deeds, but so is sham. Having dirt under ones nails comes from doing something outside the body. The deeds of evil come from within and are not erased by washing hands or saucers. Lady Macbeth has been washing the spots off her hands for centuries and will never rid herself of the “damn spot” by all that scrubbing. The list of interior attitudes is quite extensive and encompassing. Jesus did not mince words or leave much to legal interpretation. Worship of God comes from the heart, but the heart hears these other calls as well. As always, Jesus offers the invitation to struggle against foreign voices and do those things which will purify the heart, spirit and soul. In senior year of high school, a Jesuit place, we were told that kissing girls could be dangerous. To avoid such, one of the rules was that a kiss should last only as long as one could say “grapefruit”. It was hard to imagine kissing while saying that word. After some discussion, we decided that saying “graaaaaaaaaaaaape fruuuuuuuuuuuit” was well within the legal limit. We love to figure out ways to wiggle within the boundaries of self-righteousness. How far could we go before having to line up during Monday-morning mass to go to Confession? We were all budding lawyers as well as budding lovers.

Jesus, as Moses before him, offers us reminders of the relationship which God has extended to us. He embraces our interior with its fragilities. The external actions will reflect the status of the battle inside. To pretend that there is no battle going on is to be in delusion. Pretending by strict conformity to rules, laws, customs, and traditions out of fear, may look good, but eventually will result in a confusion, distraction, and disorder of soul and life. Externals are a revelation of a truth rather than a cover-up for a lie. Jesus came to give us our truth and invites us to reveal it.

“O Lord, how great is the depth of the kindness which you have shown to those who love you.” Ps. 31

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-08-20T18:20:00.001+08:00

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 23rd, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING

We are praying with our being invited to declare our personal position in relationship to Jesus in TODAY’S readings. We are aware of all the recent controversies Jesus has been having with his Jewish listeners about his being the “bread of life” and being told to eat his flesh. Jesus creates controversies all through the four Gospels. His invitations reach deeply into our human fears, pride, and self-images.
We pray to receive Jesus’ invitations to follow him from one Eucharistic encounter to the next. We pray that our beliefs may move from our heads through our hearts and hands into the hands, hearts and minds of his sisters and brothers. Our belief in his being, “the Holy one of God”, is a commitment to our letting his life be more a part of our own. We pray to see if there is enough room for both of us in our own personal lives.

REFLECTION

Joshua, in the final two chapters of this book, is having a great farewell celebration. In the previous chapter to the one from which our First Reading is taken, Joshua tells the people of Israel to follow the laws and customs of their covenantal relationship with the Lord. God has been fighting against their enemies and now the land is their own.
In our reading, we skip past a kind of “victory lap” in which Joshua relates specifically the history of the Lord’s care for Israel. In those verses he calls to mind the great people and events that constitute them as God’s own people. What we do hear is the consequence or response Joshua offers his listeners.

Based on all that the Lord has done for Israel, which way will they choose? They have been invited to look backwards through their national history to see God’s goodness to them. Joshua is asking them about their looking forward. Joshua, as Moses’ replacement declares that he and his folks choose the Lord. The people reply that they too know their history and they are sticking with the winner who has made them victorious themselves.

In the Gospel, we have reached finally the great conclusion of the discussion about Jesus’ being the “Bread of Life”, and his being the one ”sent”. Some of His disciples find these words offensive to their senses and so boggle their minds. They have to leave and return to their former ways of seeing, thinking and believing. They did see the miraculous distribution of bread and fish and ate their fill. Their senses told them something they could grasp. Jesus stretches their minds and asks them to be as open to something even more miraculous, but which goes beyond the information provided by the senses. They choose the path of the “flesh” while Jesus is inviting them to walk the walk of the Spirit. They stumble over what they can not see or imagine.
Many leave, but some stay including Peter. So Jesus puts the big question to them and him, “Do you also want to leave?” As with Joshua, Peter professes that they have seen enough to trust what they can not see with the eyes of their “flesh”.

This communal affirmation comes at the end of the first half of John’s Gospel’s “Book of Signs” in which John presents Jesus’ doing “signs” which actions are sense-based, but intended to lead to such an act of believing as we hear from Peter. In other sections of this “book of Signs”, there are miracles of water becoming wine; blind and lame being healed as well as bread being multiplied. There is evidence, but just enough to allow the act of believing to be made freely, that is that non-believing is also possible. Why do some believe and others just “be leaving”? Jesus tells us that the “spirit” draws some and the “flesh” attracts others.

Most of you are reading this on the Internet. After finishing, you can bring up an almost miraculous amount of data, facts, records, pictures, and collections. You may even grow impatient as you search when something does not come up immediately or you have to click a few more times. Hand-held phones, MP3s, Ipods and all kinds of other devices, allow you to take a great amount of this anywhere you go and you will have maps in your palms and lights to make sure you get there even in the dark. When you do arrive you can phone or email those whom you left behind to tell them you are safe, and to check if there is anything “new”.
I sometimes think faith of any kind and trust in anybody has been injured by our increased reliance on technology .We desire to the point of demanding to see the replay before the play. Signs lead only to wanting clarity and conviction.

It seems that faith in the “beyond” or “transcendent” or “God” was more a part of a time past when night was dark, trails and roads led “out there” and signs were both indicators and invitations to continue.

God continues to offer us invitations, “signs” which are invitations to trust, while they can also be taken as nothing more than non-“sense” and not to be followed. There are signs that can indicate there is no God, that religion is absurd and the Church an “opiate of the people”. Belief is a non-sense experience, in a sense. Faith is a human way of responding to what we sense, but our senses can take us only to the threshold where the signs say, “Go beyond!” Living with and through faith is not an easy way to go. We rely on the Spirit of God to draw us beyond what we can see, taste, touch and reason to. For us, it is the way we desire to go against our technological security-centered human inclinations.

As for me, I’m with Peter who has seen enough, but not enough as his stumblings will prove. As for me, I think after finishing this, I will turn off the computer, the lights, the phones, the radio, the TV, and try to believe that there is life without them all.

“Lord, the earth is filled with your gifts from heaven;” Ps. 104

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-08-13T21:42:00.000+08:00

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Sunday, August 16, 2009

Proverbs 9:1-6

In this reading from Proverbs, God is imaged as Wisdom and Wisdom is depicted as a woman. She has built a house with seven pillars in preparation for an extraordinarily lavish banquet of meat and wine. She prepares the banquet herself, sets the table, sends out her female servants, and offers a general invitation to the 'simple' or ignorant, the least likely of guests. Her invitation is to share the bread and wine that offer life and the 'way of insight'.

John 6:51-58

If the eucharistic overtones were subtly present in last week's gospel passage (John 6:41-51), they become quite overt as the Johannine Jesus responds to yet another objection from his opponents in this week's gospel.

Like the Israelites of old in the desert wanderings, they are more than ready to grumble: 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (6:52).' Jesus does not really respond to the question 'How ...' Rather, he goes on to tell his hearers that 'life' for them depends on their eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

The Johannine Jesus uses the present as well as the future tense. The life they experience in eating his flesh and drinking his blood is a present reality for them as well as a promise of on-going life. Life for the Israelites was in the blood: blood poured out meant life poured out. Clearly 'life' is being used in John 6 symbolically for the quality of life the believers have come to know through their incorporation into the community of the baptised, the sort of life that is not destroyed by death.

Life in the community unites the believers intimately with Jesus as well as with the God of Israel, whom the Johannine Jesus generally calls 'Father'.

The first reading for today reminds us that other metaphors such as Wisdom were available to those of Jewish heritage for portraying the divine. In John's discourse, Jesus becomes wisdom extending an invitation to the banquet of life.

We keep accepting that invitation. It is well to remember that one never enjoys a banquet alone. It is always shared with others who accept the same invitation. In the strength of the sustenance we receive in this banquet, we are also invited to bring a quality of life to those who struggle to exist. The potential for this is as boundless as the generosity of our God enfleshed in Jesus.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-07-30T15:54:00.004+08:00

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I first knew Flor she was a lovely girl but totally lacking in self confidence. She had no initiative and was afraid to contribute to any group activity. Flor, came from a big family. One day she said, "In our family you could work for 24 hours and nobody would ever have a word of thanks or praise for you, but if you made the slightest mistake it was as if another world war had been declared." The deprivation of affirmation that she had experienced made her terrified of any situation in which she may be criticized.

Susan, on the other hand, had experienced that whenever she was with a new group she was the life of the party for a while, but then she noticed that her presence could empty a room in minutes. It emerged that she was a menopausal child - born eight years after the youngest of her six siblings. She was her father's pet and a little doll for her older brothers and sisters. She was always center stage singing or dancing for family guests. With this much affirmation in childhood, she felt in later life that she should always be at the center of the stage. Soon others found this very demanding and avoided her so as not to have to be constantly worshipping at her shrine.

Both Flor and Susan could be described as fixated in a stage of development. Because of the fear of criticism or the need for attention they are not free to move on in the work of life. All of us have bits of Flor and Susan in us.

In the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and its aftermath, we see Jesus trying to liberate people not only from their needs but from the fixation that goes with those needs. The crowd understands him as someone who will satisfy their material needs. For this reason they want to make him king. Jesus calls them to a deeper understanding because it is only in faith that they can grasp how he gives himself to them as food for eternal life. The manna given to the Israelites in the desert became spoiled after one day, but what he gives them does not perish. Faith - the letting go of fearful grasping - is necessary in order to receive the gift of life. Faith is first of all an openness to hear and receive and respond to the word. The word that is heard needs to be assimilated so that the Gospel values are appropriated and made part of us. Ultimately, Faith means letting Jesus make his home in us, so that he can transform us in a permanent way. It means making space within for Jesus to not only dwell there but also to let his attitudes and values influence us in our way of life. Jesus tries to lead the disciples to long for this life that lives for ever. The people hunger for living bread but he hungers to live in them to be a bread that is assimilated into them.

Unfortunately, like Flor and Susan, many of us are fixated in our needs. We are too caught up in our wanting. To hear the call of the Lord is to go beyond wanting. In ordinary life needs cannot be ignored, they must be accepted and dealt with and then transcended. Very often though, because of our fixation, after a need is satisfied we rush greedily to satisfy it again and again. We cannot transcend.

When Jesus fed the multitudes he attended to their basic needs but then he challenged them to something higher, to let him become their food, to let him become the source of their attitudes and values; but they were not ready for this and so could not come to fullness of life.

If we look at our own prayer patterns today we will see the same. Prayer of petition and presentation of concerns to the Lord is very legitimate. It is asking God "to be Our God" to be caring and liberating but it often fails to include the prayer that, "we be his people" who live according to his values.

A way of prayer that is open - like meditation - does not ignore needs, is not fixated, but leaves us open to the challenge to our attitudes and values that is given to us when Jesus - the Lord - makes his home in us.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-07-23T10:28:00.000+08:00

July 26th, 2009
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING:

These days we can pray with our readings for this weekend which are about miraculous abundance; where there was little, now there is much. Both the First Reading and Gospel SPEAK OF God’s “providing” literally, “looking forward”. There is a need and behold, something is distributed for satisfaction.

We pray these days for trust in our times of need. We pray with faith for the grace to receive the Eucharist as a pledge of Jesus to “com-pany” us, that is literally, “bread-with” us. We can pray with our letting what we consider small and insignificant, to be placed in his hands and distributed to those in need. We can pray also with the histories we have of God’s abundance in being faithful, provident and nourishing in our lives.

REFLECTION:

Elisha is a “holy man” and, in the chapter from which our First Reading is taken, is on a roll. He has promised that a woman who has welcomed him often to her house will have a longed-for child. He has cured another child and provided needed oil for a widow and her sons to use and sell.

The story right before our reading is quite interesting too. Elisha went back to his home and there was a great famine there. His fellow prophets were sitting around hungry. Elisha asked some servants to make a soup for them all. The servant went out and while gathering herbs picked a wild vine which he put in the soup. Upon eating some, they all began to experience sickness because of the poison herb. Elisha ordered that some grains be brought and he threw them in the pot and all was well.

Today we hear of a multiplication of twenty barley loaves to feed one hundred people suffering from the famine. He has to insist that his servant take the loaves and share them even though they do not appear to be enough. Elisha promises that there will be more than enough and there will be leftovers as God has promised. Elisha had received his blessing from God and walked around sharing it in plenty.

With today’s Gospel, we begin a four-Sunday reflection from John’s narrative on Jesus’ being the Bread of Life. He is both the provider and the provided. Today’s Gospel is John’s account of the follow-up to what we heard from Mark’s Gospel last Sunday. The crowd has followed Jesus and the apostles to a deserted place and the journey there has rendered them hungry. All heaven is about to breakout if something isn’t done. The apostles have not enough money to buy for this crowd so that each could have even a little bit. There is a tension. John’s Gospel rides easily on these apparently impossible situations. Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus was at a wedding feast when the wine ran out, “tension, what to do!!!!!”. They have only five loaves and two fish, “what are these among so many?”

Five thousand people reclined and had their fill of bread and fish, so there were fragments to be collected. Because of this sign of abundance, the people wanted to promote him as king so that they would never have to search for satisfaction and fullness again. Jesus, desiring to keep them searching in faith, slipped away and left them to experience hunger which is a tension for them, leading to faith or distraction.

There are many themes in this one story, which reflect John’s Theology of Jesus. We will be hearing in the next three weeks much of Jesus as the “bread of life”. This story begins a long discussion about just who Jesus is. This whole chapter is not specifically about Jesus as Eucharist, but Jesus who has come to be consumed totally as the one who has been “sent” as the source of true life. Bread is a wonderful medium with which Jesus presents himself. He is nourishing, available, familiar, and a biblical reminder to the Jews of the abiding gift of manna when they were wandering in the desert. John uses other familiar images such as “light”, “Water”, and “Shepherd” to offer to his listeners and readers ways to come to believe him and believe in him.

There will be more of the image of “bread” in weeks to come. I am moved to ponder briefly the mention of the lad who had the five loaves and two fish. “What are these among so many”? Jesus takes the lad’s meager provisions and does something great with them. If there is something of the Eucharist in these verses it is that Jesus takes our gifts, or rather that he takes the gifts we have received from him, which we experience as so limited and insignificant and gives thanks through his perfect offering. He then empowers us to receive again our lives as gifts, and our gifts as forms of “bread” or that which is meant for the nourishment of others. What is any one of us among so many? There is a tension then within us about inferiority of image or self. Who am I to speak of God, or teach, or do anything in God’s name? The tensions of self-image and availability for doing his labors are solved by our belief that he did so much with so little. He took the breadliness of human flesh, of simple human companions, of the women and men who have carried on the faith before us. It is our breadliness now for which he gives thanks and which He now distributes us to those who await his coming in our own simple doings.

“O bless the Lord, my soul, and remember all his kindness.” Ps. 103

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-07-16T15:28:00.001+08:00

July 19th, 2009
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PRE-PRAYERING:

We are praying with traditional images these days such as sheep and shepherd. In the agricultural times of the prophets and of Jesus, vines, crops, harvesting, and tools of the farm were handy images for speakers of the day. Sheep were precious and the shepherd an important person. Sheep can seem to us rather slow and willing to follow anybody or anything. The shepherds did much following of their flocks as the sheep wandered, searching for nourishment. We are invited to pray with the tenderness which God has for the flock of Israel and with which Jesus embraces those seeking healing and wisdom.

We pray with the picture of a gentle, caring, tenderly compassionate God who guides us to what is good for us even when we do not think it so. We pray for the humility to admit that we are not self-sufficient, but search for the wisdom of Jesus’ ways. We are not dumb as some say sheep are; we wander looking for nourishment and satisfaction. We, like sheep, can and do make poor choices. Jesus as shepherd leads us to health of spirit and mind, but not with a whip or stick, but whisperings and callings. There is comfort for which to pray in these readings.

REFLECTION:

Jeremiah, the prophet who claims that he was seduced by God and who gets in trouble for speaking the word of God, is at it again in our First Reading. He has been announcing ruin against various kings and leaders of Israel. Jeremiah denounces the leaders as shepherds who have scattered the flock, the people of Israel.

A true prophet does more than complain or denounce, so an important announcement issues from his spirit. God will send a new, faithful king. Jeremiah switches images to another agricultural one. The one to come will be a “shoot” off the stock of David. He will govern with justice, tenderness and wisdom. He will save Israel and have a wonderful new name which will indicate his personality and mission.

We humans reveal our truer selves in more ways than our words. God’s personality or interior is what we call, “revelation”. We watch more than listen to the actions which reveal Jesus who is the fullness of revelation. Today’s Gospel reading is a study of the personality of God.

We, as readers and listeners of this story have an opportunity to experience some revelation of ourselves. The apostles have told Jesus all they had done so he gathers them together and goes across the lake for a day of rest. Crowds of people find out where they are headed and so they get to the shore before the vacationers arrive. How would you feel? The apostles will reveal their spirit very quickly. Jesus reveals his inner self even more so. He is "open to" or welcoming to them.

Our text uses the word “pity” which has the usual meaning of feeling sorry for or condescending care. The Greek word here means that Jesus was moved deeply, literally to his guts. This is quite dramatic, but a beautiful revelation of his truer self. The beach is no longer a deserted place, but now abounding with tender care. He will feed them in next Sunday’s Gospel, but first his words of tender instruction. They come as lost, but not dumb sheep who search for true nourishment. Food for the spirit first, then there will be food for the journey of life. It is a wonderful image of the Eucharistic liturgy.
There are many instruments and questionnaires arranged so that we might discover little fragments of what we call our personalities. We think we can understand more easily others when we learn their number, animal, letters, or anything else which can assist in solving their mysteries. Does God have a personality? Does Jesus? Did he fill anything out which reveals to us a person to whom we can relate sincerely? We have his profile and that of the infinite God within scripture, especially our Gospels.

Through the words of Jeremiah, God reveals that God will lead the beloved people as a new kind of shepherd. That is a strong revelation of God’s personality. Jesus, who in John’s gospel says that to see him, is to have a vivid picture of the God who sent him, displays his interior in every action and story he did and told. Every story, miracle, gesture of Jesus reveals both his person and personality as well as the God whom he calls “Father”. He opens his heart and personality to the crowd and wants to give them what is good for them. The apostles are always learning new facets of their friend and take it inside themselves very slowly, because getting closer to Him invites them to become closer to themselves. As we know, this can be uncomfortable.

Most of the changes to our own personalities have been rearranged and strengthened by one or more significant relationships. We are ourselves of course, but influenced highly by the life patterns of these others.

As women and men of the liturgy, we put ourselves as close to Jesus as is possible and we hope that something rubs off. It starts in Baptism and becomes more and more a part of who we are. We live and how we live in Jesus is revealed in our smallest actions and most public gestures. As each of us is known mainly by our actions, so Jesus is known through those same gestures. Each of us is ordained to reveal him according to our unique ways, our personality. No questionnaire, inventory, or test is necessary. What of God and Jesus does each of us reveal? What a great way to live!

“The Lord keeps in our minds the wonderful things he has done. He is compassion and love. He always provides for his faithful.” Ps. 111

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-07-09T22:50:00.000+08:00

July 12th, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING:

The late John Paul II spoke extensively about the “New Evangelism”. We are to spend some time in the pew, praying and receiving intimate encouragement to spend more time in the p-u of this world’s process of recovery. Jesus was sent to be the “sender”, but first there had to be the encounter with him before there would be the encounter with his people.

We pray these days to be the church of Jesus’ mobility. We attend the liturgy so as to be moved to attend the needy, lonely, scared, and marginal. We pray for the freedom from depending overly on security systems of various kinds. We pray for the freedom from and the freedom for reaching out, touching, accompanying, and in that way, preaching the Good News of the care of God. We can pray for the grace to extend Christ’s peace as we walk through our days in his ways.

REFLECTION:

We hear in the First Reading of the adventures of a shepherd and tree trimmer turned prophet. Amos has had some troubling visions, troublesome for the unjust and oppressive King Jeroboam who had conquered Israel. In previous chapters, Amos had given warnings against the rich and self-secure of Israel.

The early portion of the chapter from which our reading is taken, Amos presents three visions of what is going to happen. The first is of a swarm of locusts eating up even the King’s Portion of the early grains. Amos pleads that this not happen and so it did not. The second is a drought which will ravage all the crops and herds. Again Amos pleads and the Lord relents.

The third vision is of a man with a plumb line. The device is used to determine how out of line a wall might be. Israel is the wall and it is leaning badly almost ready to fall. The Lord tells Amos that he will destroy all that Israel treasures and in which they have taken their security. Amos does not intervene. Amaziah, a temple confidante of Jeroboam, sends word that Amos must be silenced, because he is predicting exile from Israel and death for Jeroboam himself.

What we hear in our reading is Amaziah’s dismissal of Amos from the king’s temple and his telling Amos to go back where he came from and stick to his own business.
Amos makes a very simple reply explaining his being called by God.

The Gospel is Mark’s account of Jesus’ sending his disciples out to test their wings as missionaries. The word “mission” comes from the Latin word for “send”, and so he sends them to do something good and with instructions about how they shall go. They are to test more than their own wings, but also test God’s care and fidelity to them as they go. They are to take nothing upon which they can rely, but only their trust in Jesus’ word. They were to take no food, nor money. They cured many, drove out demons and preached God’s call to believe. Apparently they did all right; it doesn’t say they went hungry or were bereft.

Jesus did tell them to expect rejection or at least not to be accepted just because he sent them to do some good things for people. He told them to expect it and when it comes, they should just keep on walking and talking.

Last week we heard that Jesus had returned to his own hometown and he himself was rejected and so had to move on. This week we hear that the early church was given the same message we receive from Jesus. When we are doing the works of healing this world and all the areas of hurt and division, do not expect an open-arm welcome and acceptance. Amos tried announcing God’s word and he got kicked out. Jesus gets people angry by teaching and curing. Modern-day martyrs speak the Good News and offer graceful assistance and have gotten early entrances into eternal life for their efforts.

No matter what your political view might be of the United States” being in Iraq and the Middle East, while the military persons are trying to reestablish normalcy and extend health care and peace, every day they are receiving resistance and killings. Going about doing good things is not always popular, respected, nor received.

I remember sitting in Fr. Padberg’s sophomore Latin class and listening to the intensity with which he loved Caesar’s Gallic Wars and Gillick’s war with Caesar forced me to resist Father’s goodness. He wanted to give, but I and most of the other squirming fellows around me were thinking about weekend football games and other more delightful activities. He just kept right on the march towards the Germanii and Belgi and eventually he won, but not without his own wars with us.

We as Church and as individual missionaries leave the liturgy, leave our prayer, leave our comfortings and live the Good News and that is our success. We try and keep on keeping on whether or not we see our victories. We continue to reach out, comfort, challenge and touch the needs of others and just sometimes, our offerings will be rejected and our extended hands slapped away. Our fidelity is the revelation of God. The early disciples had to trust his word; we later disciples are doing the same. Have your helping-hands been slapped away lately?

“The sparrow even finds a home, the swallow finds a nest wherein to place her young, near to your altar, Lord of host, my King, my God.” Ps. 84

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-07-01T20:01:00.001+08:00

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 5th, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING:

When we entered the grace-life through Baptism, we were anointed also into Christ’s manner of living as a prophet. This means more than being able to predict the future of course; it means living as humans were meant to live. There is a certain non-conformity to the way Jesus lived as prophet and while extending the divine love towards humanity, he did not expect, demand or manipulate popular acceptance.

We are praying these days for the grace of fidelity to our baptismal vocation of being an insult to the spirits, manners and dependencies of this-world’s ways. We can pray for an independence from such tendencies as can prevent us from loving and relating with the marginal, needing to be identified by our family’s history, or doing only those actions which create a popular image. We are prophets when our life style reflects an alternative to the easy conformities of our cultures. Ezekiel had to stand up; Jesus and the disciples had to stand up for who they were. We can pray to stand up and stand by who God says we are and how we will find peace by how we live. We pray these days for such graces so we can amaze those who think they know us.

REFLECTION:

This weekend in the United States we are celebrating the successful rebellion against King George and the English domination of our country’s beginning. There were rebels who desired to live free from what they experienced as tyranny. Independence and freedom are so precious to the human heart and yet we live constantly under the tyranny of what can appear as freedom.
Ezekiel, in our First Reading, gets a “stand-up call”. He receives the word in the form of a scroll which he is commanded to literally eat. He is to prepare to go to the people of Israel who are hard of face and heart. They are in a constant state of rebellion against a God whom they experience as a tyrant. He is told to go at least there so they know that God is still sending them invitations through a prophet’s presence.

We will be seeing Mark’s Jesus for a few more weeks beginning with this picture of Jesus’ returning to his hometown. The crowd who has been listening to him and watching his miracles can only accept him through his family roots by which they think they know him. He is the carpenter’s boy and the son of Mary down the road. They are confined by what they know and so move to reject him as anything new or different. Jesus remarks that a prophet or special person is not accepted at home where people think they have him or her in a convenient envelope.

I have a friend who while in high school was kicked out of his neighborhood drug store and told never to return again, for causing the owner some grief more than a few times. Twelve years later, while visiting home after his ordination, his mother sent him to the same store. When he walked in the owner looked up and said, “I told you out!” This is a true story and is not a unique one either. Jesus is someone new and different; he has been ordained to be so, but others mistrust and reject his differentness.

Many of the great saints from Peter and Paul to modern-day, holy people have had to live with their pasts in the presence of those who knew them when. More than that, each of us has to live with our pasts which might be known only to ourselves. We can be tempted to reject, resist and deny the newness, the graceful growth of the healing Jesus within us. We have many experiences of our being rebels ourselves; demanding, fighting for our independence. The great freedom for us as humans is to recognize God as, not tyrant, but creator and sustainer. God continues sending us prophets and prophetic moments and events to announce our rebellion and the way to live less troubled lives which result in giving lots of others, grief more than a few times.

Growing, changing, becoming new again are all very frightening, but Ezekiel had to eat the scroll and we too eat God’s word and share his life’s grace in the Eucharist. Jesus did not argue or defend, or reject his neighbors; he continued being who he was and doing who he was as prophet. The questionings of others did not move him to question himself, but remain a question mark in the minds of those who thought they knew the answers. We who follow Jesus are moved to live not as commas, but always as exclamation and question marks ourselves. Jesus left his watchers and listeners scratching their heads by what he taught and what and how he did. We may have scratched our heads many times at these ways. Slowly, we grow in his style of expanding the envelopes into which we have, or others have, put us. We are meant to rebel against the tyrannies of unfreeing expectations and grow into the free state of allowing God to be our loving Lord.

I’d like to think my relationship with Jesus frees me to be a puzzlement, a head-scratcher, and of whom, “they shall know that a prophet has been among them."

“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” Ps. 34

Sunday Reading Reflections;

2009-06-27T23:42:00.001+08:00

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24

This passage is addressed to socially marginalised Jews in Alexandria in Egypt just a few decades before the birth of Jesus. Life, not death, is God's doing, and the life they have is lasting, for they are made 'in the image of God's 'eternity.' The Greek notion of immortality is extended to the Hebrew notion of righteousness or justice. If their righteousness is of God, it too will last.

2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15

Paul's praise of the Corinthian community is a little ironic. He has had to remind them that their knowledge and eloquence are God's free gift and no reason for boasting. The generosity of God is the basis of his appeal for generosity towards the suffering community in Jerusalem.

Mark 5:21-43

In Mark's gospel, we often encounter a story within a story.

In Mark 5:21-43, the frame consists of the two-part story of the desperately ill 12-year-old daughter of Jairus, a synagogue official. Jairus falls at the feet of Jesus in an attitude of reverence and pleads with him to come and lay hands on her. Jesus is clearly known as a healer, one who can 'save' life. The passage closes with the young woman's seeming death and restoration to life.

In between, we have the story of an older woman, also seriously ill, possibly with a gynaecological problem: she has been haemorrhaging for 12 years.

The stories are linked in many ways, first by the repetition of the number 12 - a symbolic number in a Jewish context. Both the young Jewish woman and the older Jewish woman are in need of the saving power of God mediated through Jesus the healer. Jairus' daughter does not speak for herself. Like all young women of that culture, ill or not, she is dependent on the voice of her father. The older woman comes tentatively 'from behind'. She speaks, but only to herself, as she touches Jesus' cloak and experiences healing in her body. She is finally shamed into telling all. Like Jairus, she falls at the feet of Jesus.

Both women, young and old, are 'daughters' of Israel. Both are restored to health, one on account of her parents' faith, the other on account of her own faith.

Jesus the healer has embraced and responded to the pain of a woman alone on the one hand and of a family (mother, father, and daughter) on the other.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-06-18T15:56:00.000+08:00

June 21, 2009
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 4: 35-41

Jesus said to his disciples: Let us cross to the other side.
The heady days of the Easter Season have come to an end and the
gospel passage we reflect on today invites us to “cross to the other side.” The
Reign of God, though found in the ordinariness of “this side” is only fulfilled in
the extraordinariness of “the other side.”

Though the Reign of God is found in resigned acceptance of the cross
on “this side”, our welcoming embrace of the cross leads us to the splendor
of “the other side” which is resurrection.

The Reign of God is certainly found within the crowds of needy people
clamoring for our help on “this side;” and the riches of the Reign of God wash
over us when we go to “the other side,” taking time for solitude.
Our careful planning and execution of our ministry on “this side,”
reveals the Reign of God; letting go of our control of plans and projects and
depending on Providence, however, moves us to “the other side” where new
energy for the Reign of God is boundless.

Wrestling unafraid with the doubts that plague everyone on a spiritual
journey strengthens one to continue her faith in the Great Mystery on “this
side.” Choosing to go to “the other side” in contemplation plunges us into that
Great Mystery which claims us as its own.

We can live safely on “this side” trusting that salvation will be ours in
eternity. We can cross to the “other side” now and reflect to the world that
salvation is at hand.

Questions for Reflection:

• What experience of “the other side” have you had lately? What was “the
other side” all about?

• Are you afraid of “the other side”? Why? Why not?

--Reflection and questions by Sr. Diane Langford, CDP

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-06-11T22:12:00.000+08:00

June 14th, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING

I have been listening lately to people who say they would like to grow closer to God. Hmm, I find myself wondering what that means. How does one know or feel not close to God? How would one feel if they were fifty or seventy Godmeters closer? I suspect we would always want more and so in fact, feel distant. Come to think of it, we will not ever be close until some heavenly experience of inclusion.

We can prepare for this liturgy by our experiences of longing. That seems to be as close as we get on earth. Our longing for deeper communication, for soulfulness, for being understood are very good preparations for the presence of God in the liturgical community, in the liturgy of the Word and in the reception of God’s desire to be as close to us as our very bodies.

REFLECTION

There is a theme of supplanting, literally in our First Reading for this liturgy. The verses we hear come at the end of the chapter and at the end of a long symbolic poem.

An eagle is pictured doing some planting of its own. Trees and vines are established by the eagle’s snatching them up by the roots and flying them non-stop to a foreign land. The eagle is Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon who has conquered Jerusalem. After all this historical recounting of just how these vines and trees grew, the prophet speaks on behalf of God and tells these verses which form our First Reading.

God will replant new trees which will grow tall and green. The theme is, instead of a foreign eagle, “I the Lord have spoken and I will do it.” The “it” is the planting of Jerusalem back where it belongs. It will become a cedar of nobility and God’s kingdom will be fruitful. The arrogance of Jerusalem was humbled by its being transplanted and now the power of God will take Israel back to the loving relationship with God and re-transplant Jerusalem as a fruitful vine. God alone will give the increase as a sign of love and dominion.

Our Gospel has two parables taken from a chapter containing several of these literary devices. There continues the theme in both of planting and growing. The chapter opens with the parable of the sower going out to spread some seeds which fall on various types of growing surfaces.

This first parable of today’s readings has also a man scattering seeds. Parables are deliberately available to a variety of interpretations which make them both easy to remember and easy to provoke discussions.

Try this one out. The person scattering is God and the seeds are the teachings of Jesus and the land is those who have ears to hear. The growing without tending or cultivating is the heart of interesting pondering. Could it be that God, through Jesus does not force anybody to allow the seeds, (teachings) to be taken in personally... If so, does this mean that God doesn’t care, doesn’t assist with Grace to help the growing?

We are so like high school first-year English students studying poetry. “Why didn’t Emily Dickenson just come right out and say her insight with clarity!” We want, “Just the facts man.” Jesus does explain the use He makes of parables, they are employed to challenge those who cannot believe how God has come right out and said it in the person of Jesus.

We return to the second parable to read about a tiny mustard seed which is sown into the earth and grows to be the biggest of the shrubs. This is what the “kingdom of God” is like. Well how does that work? What’s the clear answer?

God is the sower, Jesus could be the seed, or maybe His teachings. Maybe the little seed represents the faith of the early church, or the apostles, or maybe just their little group. Perhaps Jesus is saying that their faith will grow, or the Church will grow or the “kingdom of God” will be that great growing thing in which all creation will find room and rest. So is that what Jesus meant? For those who had faith in Him, His disciples, they didn’t need parables, except they did not know that until He told them. Those who refuse the person of Jesus needed parables to find their reasons for believing.

Many concerned parents come to me worried about their teenaged sons and daughters who have announced that they no longer believe! Parables would not help much there, nor do clear statements of Theology, nor anger and feelings of failure and guilt. Jesus just kept living His life and asked the apostles and followers to do the same. Faith is not a mathematical conclusion, nor a resolution of the tensions caused by really good questions.

God keeps sowing, we are the soil, (Human comes from the Latin word for earth). Things grow slowly, but it is amazing how all creation wants to believe, but wants also to know and figure things out for themselves. Jesus put His followers in the question-tensioning from the get-go. Why should we be different! We do not like nor enjoy always the poetry of God and the parables God spins up for us. Faith is like deep love, we really don’t fall into it, rather, it sneaks up on us almost without our reasoning to it and so we actually fall out of doubt and questioning as lovers fall out of fear.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-06-02T22:58:00.001+08:00

June 7th, 2009
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

PREPRAYING:

We can prepare for this sacred celebration of the Holy Trinity by being prepared to be told who we are and what we are to do. We do not like being told exactly what to do usually, but we need our “usually” to be interrupted. Every good relationship needs good imagination to grow deeper. We need some of that to hold on to such a mystery as Three “Persons” in One mysterious God.

One good way to prepare is to allow various mysteries into our lives these days. There are so many: child-birth, the mystery abiding in spouses or family members. We might find ourselves stumbling over the reality of being loved, or suffering illness. We are so made as to want, demand, strongly, “Why!” We can always pray with the various experiences we have of the mystery of our simple selves. Try it! See if you can come up with easy answers.

REFLECTION:

In the fourth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, from which the verses are taken for our First Reading of this liturgy, Moses gives two long speeches. Our reading is taken from the first. There is much of an historical presentation in both speeches before the laying down of the law. Fruitful land and fruitful families are the promised results of Israel’s keeping the laws which will be the heart of Israel’s response to God.

The living God has been active in their collective past and in a way, Moses is telling the people, “And don’t forget that either!”

This mysterious God relies on Israel’s scale of values to display divine care. Coming out of Egypt, from slavery, they had no land of their own and no future for their survival. Land and family productivity was the number one value, and so we hear Moses telling his people that the God Who saved them from has also saved them for a future of displays or revelations. Their pasts are leading to their futures and their futures will allow them to know their God more intimately. There is a “trinity of time” then, the unknown God has come a bit out of hiding and becomes the God of Israel’s present. The God of the future reveals the ways that the people will stay of God. The old saying holds true for his listeners, “Keep the rules and the rules will keep you.”

Today’s Gospel presents Jesus in the last verses of Matthew’s account of the life, death and resurrection of the Lord. Like Moses, Jesus gave His first instruction on a mountain of Beatitudes and here at the end Jesus is giving an instruction about their futures. Jesus announces that all power has been entrusted to Him and He is sharing that with His disciples. They are to use this power to make new disciples and including them into the circle of power through baptism. Jesus commits Himself to His being with them all and for ever. They are to announce that all they do will be in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

This power is not for domination, control, manipulation nor confinement. It is the power which Jesus used throughout His public life. It was and is the power and authority of relationship and responsibility. The commandments of Moses were to keep the Israelites separated and uncontaminated by associations with other traditions, cults and nations. Jesus gives this new way of extending the relationships within the Trinity to the “Trinification” of the world. The power of the intensity of love within the Trinity is to now be trans-national; all nations are to be touched.

The disciples are given the power to relate with the responsibility of caring. Jesus has not laid down the laws in an “or else” spirit. Jesus has announced in His days, that all of creation is of the love of God. So again there is a “Trinity of Time” in which creation has a past, has been clarified as to its identity by the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus and it has a destiny to become the kingdom of powerful relations. The disciples are the beginning actors in baptizing the world from its false perceptions and identities. They are to extend the creative Spirit of love in reidentifying all of creation, including us, as belonging to that kingdom. We, as with the Israelites, are to be saved from and saved for the power of love. The power of Jesus is the interior of the Trinity and all of creation is enfolded into such a love.

After all that, I have tried not to cop-out by admitting the truth more simply that the Trinity is a mystery and let’s leave it so. Love is the power and we are given the responsibility of receiving it and being caring for the coming of the kingdom within our own little lives. It is a blessing of this holy Trinity that we appear to be more than we appear to be to ourselves. This is the power of the Resurrection.

“Blessed be God the Father and His only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for He has shown that He loves us.” Entrance Antiphon for this liturgy

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-05-27T22:51:00.000+08:00

May 31st, 2009
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING

“I will pour out my spirit upon all,. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your elderly shall dream dreams, and your young see visions.” Joel 3, 1-2

PRE-PRAYERING

We pray for our making Jesus larger and more visible in this fractured and shrinking world.. We pray that all Christians become more the church based on the excitement and preaching of the early apostles. We pray that the Spirit of the One God will mend Christ’s splintered body and that all who speak various languages will one day understand each other more compassionately.

We need an inflation, an expanding economy of God’s Spirit and a more personal investment with high interest and great returns, that our world will be God’s kingdom.

REFLECTION

Fifty days have passed since the Jews, now gathered together for the second great feast of the agricultural year, had celebrated the first feast which is the Passover or Feast of the Unleavened Bread. The last of these will be a final harvest thanksgiving. Fifty days have passed for the spring wheat and grains to have ripened. Now these “first fruits” are presented before the Lord. All the farmers of this agricultural community acknowledge their radical dependence upon God’s care in sending rain and sun.

Luke pictures the raining down of God’s Spirit within the context of this Jewish agricultural festival. They are gathered to send up their prayers for all that has grown in their fields. God sends the Spirit of growth so that there will be even more produce, but of a new kind. The newness is that while the sun and rain bring forth fruit of the fields, the Holy Spirit will bring forth a completion of creation as the ultimate expression of God’s love. The people are gathered to praise and thank God. Luke will picture the Spirit moving them out and beyond the territory of the Jews so as to bless and bring about the final harvest of God’s peace and justice. They all speak different languages, which is a consequence of the Tower of Babble. They will continue speaking their various languages, but the message is to go out from them to all the world.

In today’s Gospel, we hear John’s account of Jesus’ sending, or “breathing” the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. As in Luke’s account in Acts, there is a gathering. John’s version has the group hiding for fear, but both, upon reception of the Spirit, are blest and then “sent”. Jesus’ breathing the Spirit echoes Genesis’ description of the creating God breathing form out of the abyss of nothingness. For John, the process of creation is to extend God’s peace to the now “deformed” world.

The Holy Spirit comes constantly from the ever-loving Trinity. We are not praying in such a way that maybe God will breathe again upon our creation. We celebrate that we might be open to the Spirits work of giving Christ new dimensions, new visibility and new gestures of revelation within us as individuals and us as God’s people. We are praying in celebration that God is constantly sending the “breath” upon; this is not a maybe. What we do pray is that we may be more open to the Spirit’s creating of us.

We use an expression for those who think too highly of themselves. “That person has an inflated self-image.” What that means literally is that he/she is full of “air”, coming from the Latin word for wind, “flatus”. We might say, “hot air”. “Deflation” means the air has “run out”. What the early Apostles heard sounded like a strong wind and Jesus breathed air upon the hiding eleven. The Spirit was not in-flating, but in-carnating.

Pentecost is a celebration of the fruitfulness of the land, blest by the sun and rain and “breath” of God. In the Christian community, we celebrate how the Spirit, “wind” of God has “in-spirited” human hearts to live “highly” of themselves. The work of the Spirit is that all creation and that includes human beings, radiate, in-flesh Jesus. As the Spirit came upon Mary whose womanhood gave him flesh, so that same Spirit hovers over our bodies that Jesus might take new flesh. We think highly of ourselves all right, but not full of air but Spirit, not totally Jesus yet, but the Spirit is not done with us.

The early Apostles, “air-borne” in a sense, flew outward from hiding into humanity, from amorphous shame into figures of faith. No balloons or blimps are we. This day we re-up for loving the flesh-bound “bone house” that gives Jesus attractiveness to all whom he meets through us. As he went about blest by the Spirit at his anointing, so we do not float, but walk, run, limp, wheelchair, crawl, or sit, and give his light our personal refraction. The Church, as were the first Apostles, is not full of itself, but longs to be freed to inspire God’s good earth to bring forth fruits of holiness not hollowness, substance not emptiness and investments in acts of justice.

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke of the great things that God had done, alleluia.” Acts 2, 4

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-05-21T10:38:00.000+08:00

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Year B
Sunday, May 24, 2009

Acts 1:1-11

Loss is part of the human condition, and death is the most painful manifestation of loss. Today's feast of the Ascension invites us to face that experience of loss in a transformative way.

In Ordinary Time, we celebrate the life and ministry of Jesus. Over the period of Lent and Easter, we have been re-membering his death and resurrection. As we come towards the end of the Easter season, the liturgy draws us into another aspect of the Mystery, that of the presence and absence of the Risen One.

The Lukan Ascension story, as found in today's first reading, presupposes a pre-scientific, three-tiered understanding of the structure of the world. In this ancient view, God is in the heavens above and the prophet Jesus, like the prophet Elijah of old, is caught up into God's realm from whence the Holy Spirit will 'descend' upon God's people. This vertical (up and down) movement is balanced by a horizontal movement: Jesus' family and friends who grieve the loss of their loved one are told not to keep looking up to the heavens. They have work to do: they must return to Jerusalem for the present and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue the prophetic ministry of Jesus, to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. They have to face the fact that the physical loss of Jesus means a new and different sort of presence and that they have a role to play in making him present in their world.

Like us, the early Christians needed time to grasp each dimension of the one great Mystery of God's life in their midst.

Mark 16:15-20

Today's gospel passage receives little attention in commentaries and classes because, along with verses 9-14, it is a much later addition to the original text of Mark's gospel.

The author of these verses is familiar with the similar commission to proclaim the good news to all nations and to baptise in the name of the Trinity, found at the end of Matthew's gospel.

In Mark, the command is to bring the gospel to 'the whole creation', a more inclusive vision than Matthew's.

This is our mission in the 'in between times'. There are also echoes here of John's gospel in the assurance that those who believe will be saved. Jesus continues to be present in the church despite his seeming absence. His return to 'the right hand of God' ensures a different kind of presence, one that enables the believer to continue the healing and re-creative ministry of Jesus through the ages.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-05-14T17:23:00.001+08:00

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B
Sunday, May 17, 2009

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

The Spirit of God is poured out on all of God's people, a lesson that some of the earliest Christians were slow to learn and that some of us can be reluctant to accept.

While Acts 9:15 has shown Saul being commissioned to carry the 'name' of Jesus to the Gentiles as well as to the people of Israel, in the Cornelius story Luke wants to affirm the primacy of Peter in accomplishing this mission.

The story is set in Caesarea, a port city in northern Samaria, established by Herod the Great in honour of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It represents the final step in the progression of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judaea and Samaria (Acts 1:8), or more specifically to a Gentile and his family living in clearly defined Gentile space within Samaria.

Just as the Holy Spirit comes upon the Jerusalem community at Pentecost, so now the Spirit is 'poured out' on the Gentiles. Peter comes to realise that God 'shows no partiality'. Therein lies the challenge.

John 15:9-17

It is not easy to love unconditionally and without reserve. We see such love in organisations like Medicins Sans Frontieres and in the lives of those who volunteer their services in times of crisis, often at great personal expense. The growing unemployment here, as elsewhere, is spawning an extraordinary upsurge in volunteering activity.

In this Sunday's gospel, the Johannine Jesus talks to his disciples of the flow-on effect of love that is boundless and unconditional (agape). God, imaged in the gospel passage as 'the Father', loves Jesus.

Jesus remains or abides in that love so deeply that it flows on to his friends. They are to love one another as Jesus has loved them.

That means living for each other and putting their lives on the line for one another. It means being faithful to the teaching of Jesus as he has been faithful to God's 'commandments'. Remaining in the love of God or of Jesus and doing what God or Jesus commands seems to be one and the same thing.

In other words, love is not just an emotion: it is always expressed in action that is in tune with and for the sake of the other. The disciples need no further explanation. Jesus' whole life and his courage in the face of impending death have shown them what it means to 'love one another'.

by Sr.Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-05-05T19:28:00.001+08:00

May 10th, 2009
Fifth Sunday of Easter
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING:

Conversion is in the air and not merely that of the sinner, but the community to which the sinner desires to return. Saul, AKA Paul, had a past with which he had to live, and live he did. The early Christian Community had its history as well; they had been persecuted as it tried to live and spread the Good News. Paul needs help to become one of the “boys”.
There is much of union and separation in today’s Readings. “Remain” and “prune” “without me”, “Thrown out”, “bear fruit”, are words of such oneness and division. We pray with the intimacy which a grape has with its stem branch, vine and roots. We can pray with our desire for and sense of the union Jesus offers us in the Sacraments, especially Baptism and the Eucharist. We pray also for the freedom of spirit to welcome into our union, those who have been separated, especially those who have hurt us.

REFLECTION:

The past four Sunday’s we have been listening to the preachings of Peter. In today’s First Reading, we hear of his partner Paul. The verses which precede our reading relate the event of his conversion, his being knocked off his high horse. When he comes to and realizes that he has been met by Jesus, he changes from persecutor to proclaimer. His being knocked down and raised up allows him to have a future which does not negate his past, but allows him to live with it peacefully. Paul is a good example of just how to live gratefully with the present we do not resent or continue harkening to the past which brought us to this present.

What we hear today is his having been preaching in the area of Damascus and threatened himself for doing so. He moves to Jerusalem and asks for admittance into the circle of the Disciples. They, of course, had heard of Saul, but not that he had been renamed and reframed. With a little help from his friend, Barnabas, the circle is widened and eventually”grew in numbers” through his living and preaching.

In today’s Gospel, we drop right into the middle of John’s famous five-chapter relating of Jesus’ “Last Discourse”. Last week Jesus pictured himself as the “Good Shepherd” and today we hear him say he is the “vine”. He is relating himself in a familiar image to his hearers, but intensifies the picture by claiming that the “fruit”- the “grapes” are united to him as vine and these grapes are his disciples.

In the first chapter of this “Discourse” Peter, who did not want his feet washed, was told that he would do nothing separated or apart from Jesus unless his feet be washed. This theme is picked up again as Jesus reminds them all to stay or remain in him by bearing fruit, or they will be cut off and burned up.

Jesus asks his disciples to “remain” which is different from “stay stuck”. Jesus is preparing them for their going out as he himself moves on. What does “remain” mean then for Jesus and his little cluster? What does “bearing fruit” mean and what does being separate mean?

In our American “culture” there is an increasing urgency to belong while remaining independent, which is quite a conflict. There is also a personal hunger to discover one’s depth, one’s singular personality. “Character” is a word which has come to mean more than a person in a play or movie. The term has something to do with strength, personal values and dedication. Accomplishments can reveal character, but there is also the danger of a “Pseudo-character” when one’s deeds become a cover-up for emptiness.

Being baptized into Jesus is not a single event, but a process of entering his “character”. He is asking his disciples to be so influenced by the relationship he offers that they will go out and do “something” which will reveal him by what they do and especially how they do it.

I have noticed over the years, a quality of “character” which is a blessing to me. I experience it most often with those persons who work or live among the marginal, injured and poor of this world. They “remain” well. Remain themselves; actually receive more of themselves by their being touched by those they touch. They seem to separate themselves from “accomplishing” themselves. They touch into the Jesus who remains deeply within them rather than finding their identity from polishing the fruit, they are producing.

These disciples separate themselves from “doing” and remain peaceful in their “being” or “remaining” in the Jesus who remains deeply inside them.

I am privileged to be close friends with three Religious women who work with the Aboriginal children who attend their schools and drop-in centre in Winnipeg, Canada. I am invited also to walk, in Spiritual Direction, with my Jesuit brothers as they “remain” with Jesus at the Holy Rosary Mission on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I live with men who work in the inner city of Omaha; one directs the Jesuit Middle School for African/American boys, one is the founder of Gesu Housing which is dedicated to building concrete houses for low income families in our neighborhood. Every morning they go off, but “remain” as they bear fruit. They “remain” faithful while all kinds of things happen that would make one wonder if Jesus had given up and left town.

These women and men “remain” in Jesus while the culturally conditioned illusions are pruned from their hearts and spirits. “Success”, "accomplishments”, “trophies”, and the various self-validating acquisitions drop slowly away. This “pruning” seems to deepen them in their “remaining” in Jesus and freeing Jesus to “remain” in them. So it seems that this “pruning” is part of the love which Jesus offers those I experience as having depth of soul, who grow in “character”. Naturally speaking, we do not like the thought or experience of being so pruned, but the church and the needy profit from their resulting fruitful lives.

This spiritual deepening which I refer to, as “character” is the growth Jesus offers those who are touched by the poor, the sick, and those Jesus called his Sisters and Brothers. God is not a bad “vine dresser” after all.

“I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of your people.” Ps. 22

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-04-30T19:47:00.001+08:00

Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 3rd, 2009
by
Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING:

We are encouraged to pray for the strength and courage to lay down our lives as did the Good Shepherd. We all will die of course, but how we live our days of life will be the measure of our following Jesus. We are encouraged not so much to “die” for Christ, but “live” for Christ.

Most of us are laying down our lives for some person or persons. We pray today for the freedom and joy which it takes to really live while dying to ourselves.

REFLECTION:

The temple officials and religious leaders have arrested Peter and John after the healing of the man who was crippled. Many, because of this healing, were coming to believe in their message about Jesus. Peter and John are dragged into the midst of this religious gathering and asked two direct questions about the healing event. They want to know by what “power” and by what “name” was this performed?

What we hear in today’s First Reading is Peter’s explanation and direct confrontation with the leaders. The “name” and the “power” are the same. Jesus, crucified by these same leaders, but Who the very God of Israel has raised has also raised this man who had been crippled, to health. The elders are the “builders” and they have rejected Jesus Who is the “Cornerstone” of salvation. This is a scriptural image referring to a line from Psalm 118. Peter affirms Jesus as the One and Only source for salvation, given to the world by the God of these religious leaders of Israel.

Peter and John have done a “good deed” and in keeping with the ways of Jesus, good deeds done in His name, can result in opposition and fear-based persecution. From its earliest days, the Church and the followers of Jesus have been called out, knocked down, and done in by those forces of darkness and fear. It follows then that when there is persecution of the Church, the Church must be doing something good.

For the next several Sundays of this Easter season we will be hearing some familiar themes from the Gospel of John. Jesus makes many imaginative “I am “statements. “I am the light.” “I am the bread of life.” “I am the living water.” “I am the way, the truth and the life.” When the guards come out to meet Him in the Garden, they are asked about whom they seek. Jesus says simply, “I am.”

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus say twice “I am the good shepherd.” John has Jesus continue Jesus’ discussion and confrontation with the Pharisees after His having healed a man who was born blind. This man, who was blind, first heard the voice of Jesus and through believing in that voice came to believe and that was his new way of seeing.

The Pharisees are blinded by what they see and so are impaired of hearing and do not believe. Hearing and believing becomes the central message of Jesus’ saying that He is the “Good Shepherd”. It is the shepherd’s voice that is important and the sheep are not ignorant, but attentive and responsive. Jesus is telling those who can hear and want to hear important aspects of just what the Shepherd does for His flock.

In other chapters John has presented Jesus as teacher, finder, healer, feeder and forgiver. In this reading, Jesus is presented as the Shepherd Who will lay down His life for His flock. He will stay faithful to Whom He is while the “hired” or the Pharisees turn away and have turned away from their vocation of tending their “flock”. Jesus is very direct with His listeners who do not want to hear, but they obviously do. He announces that He will stay faithful to Himself and His mission and thereby to the “flock”, because of the love of His Father. The Pharisees hear that they are interested only in their being paid and so have made that their mission and not caringly guide their “flock”.

Jesus claims that He is living this through, because the Father loves Him and and desires that all of God’s people become one holy family with the Father. This ultimate uniting will depend on the mission of Jesus being continued through the verbal and non-verbal preaching and living of His Voice, the Good News.

Each time John presents Jesus as saying “I am”, John is also saying that Jesus claims His followers as those who can also say with confidence, “I am” and “we are”. In this section we are not sheep, but listeners who learn the tenor and timber of His voice and message. We have learned and continue to learn the other voices within and around us. They can sound so inviting, comforting, and of Grace. They just might truly be, but it takes a long time to be so in tuned with the Voice of Jesus, that we need experiences of life and prayer to figure out the difference. Our egos need attention but not constant indulgence. Our fears are to be respected, but not adored. Our cultures”’ ways are to be influential, but not conformed to entirely.

Most of us, upon listening to our own recorded voices, wonder if that is really us! What we sound like to others is not the exact way we sound like to ourselves. People who are visually impaired learn quickly who is who by their footsteps, pace, noisiness as well as their voices. Jesus is telling us that He will keep calling in the same voice and when we begin to follow, He will keep speaking. There will always be other voices, from within ourselves and from outside. How will we ever learn! One sure way, (I know you are not going to like this), is to trust the adventure of mystery. It seems that is part of His voice pattern. The Pharisees did not like it either, but the man who was cured from his blindness came to like it.

“The Good Shepherd is risen! He who laid down his life for his sheep, who died for his flock, he is risen, alleluia.”

Sunday Gospel Reflection:

2009-04-23T14:20:00.000+08:00

April 26th, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING

We pray for the grace of youthful joy. This grace for which we long does not return us to the innocence of our youth, but the sense of our being re-embraced. It is the season of Baptism and we pray with the infants and the adults who are “claimed by Christ” as His own.

Easter lingers in our church assemblies and the readings and prayers keep insisting that we allow the grace of joy to return and flow in and around us. Our memories can also insist that we have walked away and forgotten and forsaken our own baptismal joy. We can pray that we remember as well, at these times, the life, death and resurrection of the most Innocent all to re-immerse us by His ever-flowing love.

I was privileged to concelebrate Easter-morning liturgy recently at the Sacred Heart Church in the town of Pine Ridge South Dakota. It was a cloudless dawning and as I was standing in the back of the little Jesuit parish church, Delbert Yellow Horse greeted me and said, “Today I am going to drown myself in the sunshine.” His words rearranged the homily I had prepared and prayed over earlier. We had had a total emersion in an adult baptism the night before in a beautifully decorated “horse stock tank”. The lovely young woman candidate had had some kind of almost drowning in the blest Holy Water. Delbert was planning on celebrating Easter joy by his drowning in the love of God into which he had been baptized years before. He was imagining the warm sun as how God has loved him and his Lakota People for centuries.

REFLECTION:

The readings today are full of Easter excitement. Peter is speaking to a crowd of Jewish spectators who have come to witness the man whom Peter and John had cured from paralysis. He had been begging for money, but the two apostles could not give them silver or gold, but rather a recovery of his mobility through the Holy Spirit.

Peter begins his speech with a kind of Scripture lesson. He reminds them that the God of their religious fathers, the Patriarchs, has revealed Jesus to be the servant of the Scriptures.

Peter reviews how the listeners had been complicit in the handing over of this Servant to His death. There is within Peter’s proclamation, not a condemnation, but a call to receive what God has done after considering what his listeners had done. Peter ends with a comforting call to repentance and life offered through Jesus Whose death and resurrection was written in their Holy Scriptures. He invites his listeners to drown themselves in the forgiveness of Christ, Who before He was born, was buried prophetically in their own sacred writings. This Christ, the Servant of Suffering, once buried in a tomb, now is alive and giving life to all who believe.

This Easter season, for the liturgies of Sunday, we do not hear of the two men walking rejectedly away from Jerusalem toward their home town of Emmaus. What we do hear in today’s Gospel is the story they are relating to their companions about how Jesus met them in their broken dreams and in the “breaking of bread”. Their excitement is that of two persons who have just come out of the best movie they had ever seen.

I personally have never failed to grow tired listening to friends as they relate some film they have just seen. It does lose something in the translation. If I enjoy anything it is the experience of two people who have seen the movie together and keep interrupting each other with details which really don’t assist my unenjoyment. Well, here are these two returning veterans from the battle of faith in Jerusalem these latter days and behold who does the interrupting. I doubt the listeners to the excited fellows were bored with their resurrectional stories. In a sense we are being introduced to a kind of Sunday liturgy.

The congregation has listened to the word which brings Jesus alive. Then Jesus appears in a Eucharistic display. Jesus does admit that He is a challenge to their believing. The Greeks for whom Luke is writing mainly, do not believe in the resurrection of the body, so Luke has to stress this central mystery. Jesus offers them His body with its wounds and then eats fish to show He is not a ghost. The liturgy ends with a little scriptural review of how the prophets and psalms had indicated His death and Resurrection. The liturgy ends with a Rite of Dismissal, that those who have been witnesses are to announce the call to repentance and the announcement of God’s mercy, beginning from right where they are.

If I ever get in charge of redesigning the Eucharistic liturgy I would begin with the Rite of Sending! Now I know that there are many who just cannot wait to begin sharing the Good News so they leave the congregation before the liturgical Rite of Dismissal. I admire their zeal. For the others who stick around, I would have a little silent reflection time about such topics as “to whom are you sent?” “To whom are you to extend forgiveness?” “What gifts have you been given to distribute?” I might have everybody write down their reflections and then the presider would bless them and announce loudly “The world is waiting, your families are waiting, and the needy are waiting! Go in peace to continue the mass as people who are sent beginning right where you are!”

“Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of His name; proclaim His glorious praise, Alleluia.”

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-04-17T17:34:00.000+08:00

Second Sunday of Easter / Divine Mercy Sunday, Year B
Sunday, April 19, 2009

Some of us remember when we spoke of the Sundays 'after' Easter. The terminology has changed and we now speak of the Sundays 'of' Easter. In other words, we now recognise that the liturgical readings and prayers for each Sunday between Easter and Pentecost invite us into a different movement of the one great symphony of resurrection faith.

Acts 2:32-35

In this passage, Luke presents an idealised picture of the post resurrection Jerusalem community-all things in common and the gospel received with great respect. This picture has a particular resonance in the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires and the Queensland floods. We respond with love and generosity in times of crisis. How can we continue to live this gospel message in 'ordinary time'?

John 20:19-3

The first scene in today's gospel has the disciples hiding behind closed doors 'for fear' of those who had handed Jesus over to be executed by the Roman authorities. Jesus appears among them, offers a greeting of peace, and tells them that he has been sent by God, his 'Father'.

They receive from him the gift of the Holy Spirit. He sends them in turn to bring peace and to mediate the forgiveness of God through the power of the Spirit.

The story invites us as believers to place ourselves in the shoes of the earliest disciples. It invites us to receive the gift of the Spirit, to emerge from behind the doors that close us in on ourselves, and that prevent us from rising above the fear of reprisals in the pursuit of justice and peace.

The second and third scenes in today's gospel focus on Thomas who is not with the other disciples when Jesus first appears in their midst.

Thomas is not exactly the trusting type. He seems to trust only his own first hand experience.

We all know people like Thomas. They test our patience because they seem to lack imagination. Then they make big statements when they come around to understanding what everyone else has known for a while.

If we think, however, that those who hear in the first place are any better than Thomas, we need to note that the doors are still closed eight days down the track! The simple fact of knowing has not dispelled the fears.

Even those who do believe and trust need a bit of time to take the gospel message to heart.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Easter Triduum Reflection:

2009-04-08T19:06:00.000+08:00

THE EASTER TRIDUUM
By Fr. Anscar Chupungco, OSB

1. "On the third day he rose again from the dead". From this article of faith the church developed the observance of the Easter Triduum.

a. St. Ambrose (Letter 23) writes: "It is necessary that we observe not only the day of Christ's passion, but also the day of his resurrection, so that we may have a day of bitterness as well as day of joy. This is the holy Triduum in which Christ suffered, was buried, and rose again". Hence, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. St. Augustine (Letter 55) explains: This is "the most holy Triduum of the Savior crucified, buried, and risen again".

b. Toward the seventh century the Roman Church introduced the memory of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday with an evening Mass. By the tenth century Holy Thursday came to be regarded as part of the Triduum, which meant that Sunday was excluded from it. Vatican II has made a compromise, by extending the concept of Triduum to the evening of Holy Thursday.

2. From the time of Tertullian in the third century Good Friday and Holy Saturday were days of fasting, while Easter was the day for feasting. The two days of fasting were an immediate preparation of the catechumens for baptism, with the Christian community observing the fast with them. Fasting was from sunrise to sunset. Because Holy Communion was considered to break the fast Mass was not celebrated on Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

a. Today the church prescribes only two days of fasting: on Ash Wednesday, when the public penitents began their preparation for the sacrament of reconciliation which they would receive on Holy Thursday, and on Good Friday, when the Bridegroom was taken away from us (cf. Lk 5:35). "Let the paschal fast be kept sacred. Let it be observed everywhere on Good Friday and, where possible, prolonged throughout Holy Saturday, as a way of coming to the joys of the Sunday of the resurrection with uplifted and welcoming heart" (SC 110).

b. People fast for various motives: because of poverty, asceticism, protest, or cosmetic reason. The Good Friday fast is our way of expressing sorrow over the suffering and death of Christ, and of showing our union with those who on this day and even on Easter Sunday are forced to fast on account of poverty.

3. Feasting begins on Easter vigil when candidates are baptized, when the Christian community renews its baptismal promises, and when the risen Christ hosts the Easter table of his body and blood. Easter Sunday is the day of days, which is extended to eight days (octave), as if these were still Easter Sunday. In antiquity this was insinuated to by the practice of the neophytes who wore their white baptismal garment for eight days. The preface for the entire week makes us repeat daily: "On this day, when Christ became our paschal sacrifice"

HOLY THURSDAY

1. Until the seventh century the Roman Church ended the Lenten observance on Holy Thursday morning with the reconciliation of public penitents by the bishop in the presence of the faithful. These were penitents that had been chosen on Ash Wednesday for reconciliation. As sign of penance they had been covered with ashes on Ash Wednesday and dressed in sackcloth.

The 13th century rite of reconciliation was dramatic. Penitents waited outside the church while the archdeacon pleaded for them. He addressed the bishop in these words: “Holy Father, the time for reconciliation of penitents has come. There is water for baptism, and there are tears for penance”. Baptism was called the “first penance” (meaning first conversion or “metanoia”). By baptism the candidate crossed the water of rebirth; through tears of compunction the penitent obtained reconciliation.

2. At midday the Mass was celebrated during which the holy oils were consecrated by the bishop. Today this is known as Chrism Mass, though the other oils (for catechumens and for the sick) are also blessed. Since the time of Pope Paul VI the Chrism Mass has become a significant occasion for priests to renew their priestly commitment.

3. In the evening another Mass was celebrated. It would seem that by the tenth century this Mass commemorated the Last Supper. Eventually this evening Mass and the entire day of Holy Thursday became part of the Easter Triduum to the extent of dislodging Easter Sunday. The reform of Vatican II has included Easter Sunday and extended the Triduum to the evening of Holy Thursday. Thus the Triduum opens grandly with the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.

4. The washing of feet existed by the middle of the fifth century in Jerusalem whence it was adopted by the other Churches in the East and the West. The papal household toward the seventh century practiced it after the evening Mass, but it did not form part of the liturgy until the reform of Vatican II. After washing the feet of his household the pope partook of supper in the company of the poor: the Eucharist overflowed in a meal with the people with whom Jesus wanted to be identified, namely the poor and the marginalized.

It is important to see the connection between the Eucharist and the washing of the feet. The washing of the feet is not merely a dramatic representation of what Jesus did at the Last Supper. In the Gospel of John, which does not contain the story of the institution of the Eucharist, the washing of the feet is the concrete symbol of what the Eucharist is all about: humble service. The washing of the feet is a graphic symbol and image of the Eucharist.

Holy Thursday used to be called Maundy Thursday (Maundy is an English version of the Latin “mandatum” or command). It is the day when the Church recalls the Lord’s command at the Lat Supper to “do this in memory of me”. In the gospel of John this command is expressed in the other command “to wash each other’s feet” as sign of mutual service. Thus Holy Thursday is Maundy Thursday because of the double command of the Lord to celebrate the Eucharist in his memory and to express the meaning of the Eucharist by serving each other in the spirit of his love and sacrifice.

To express concretely the meaning of the washing of the feet, the Church urges us on this day to offer gifts in cash or kind for the poor (this is the only day of the year when this is explicitly mentioned in liturgical books). On Holy Thursday we reflect on this command in favor of the poor in the mixing of wine and water, in the collection for the poor, and in the sharing in communion where we receive a small piece of bread to symbolize that we eat less so that the poor may have something to eat.

It is a practice to have the “twelve apostles”. There is no reason why they should not be representatives of the different sectors of the community. Three things should be noted: 1) it is not necessary to have twelve (the number can be more or less than twelve); 2) they are to be male persons, as the Church discipline requires; and 3) they should be morally respectable.

5. The reposition of sacred hosts not consumed during Mass was an ancient practice, which was later solemnized on Holy Thursday toward the thirteenth century when Pope Urban IV introduced the feast of Corpus Christi.

6. The stripping of altar cloths was an ancient practice to signify the end of the Eucharistic celebration, in the same way as we remove table cloths after a solemn dinner. Today the stripping of the altar cloth is taken to symbolize the stripping of Christ at his passion, but there is no historical basis for this.

GOOD FRIDAY OF THE LORD'S PASSION

A. The Celebration of the Lord's Passion

1. The celebration of the Lord's passion on Good Friday is not done in the form of a Eucharistic celebration because of the ancient tradition of fasting.

2. The celebration takes basically the form of a liturgy of the word with the veneration of the cross and Holy Communion. The central part of the celebration is the proclamation of the passion as recorded in the Gospel of John. Through this the events of Christ's suffering and death are recalled and in some way made present to the assembly.

3. The celebration takes place at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the time when Christ died on the cross. The hour of the celebration attempts to coincides with the hour of Christ's death. We are dealing not only with an anniversary but also with the reality of the here-and-now.

B. The Liturgy of the Word

1. Toward the eighth century the liturgy of the word on Good Friday in Rome consisted of the following elements: prostration of the celebrant before the altar and silent prayer, two scriptural readings each followed by a responsorial psalm, the proclamation of the passion of Christ, and general intercessions. The liturgy of Vatican II follows this format very closely.

a. It should be kept in mind that the liturgy of the word is the central part of the Good Friday celebration. It is the Church's way of recalling and re-experiencing the greatest event in salvation history: the Church recalls and re-experiences by narrating the event.

b. The format is dialogical: for on this day, as on every occasion when the word of God is proclaimed in the liturgy, God speaks to his people and Christ continues to proclaim his gospel of suffering and death for us. Hence, we have the readings of the word of God (or proclamation), homily (or corresponding explanation), and general intercessions (or the community's response to God's proclaimed word).

2. The proclamation of the passion narrative on Good Friday is an ancient tradition in the church. In the fourth century a pilgrim from southern France, by the name of Egeria, describes how the bishop of Jerusalem read the passion of our Lord in the church of Golgotha amidst the loud wailing and weeping of the assembly. The reading of the passion is the heart of the entire liturgy. Since the Middle Ages it has been a tradition to sing it and hence to assign roles for the narration, for Christ, and the other parts.

With realism St. Augustine explains in one of his Good Friday homilies: "As we recall the passion of Christ, we see him, as it were with our eyes, nailed on the cross". Following the Mystery Theology of the Benedictine scholar Odo Casel, we may say that the event on that Friday witnessed by our Lady and the beloved disciple as they stood at the foot of the cross becomes a living reality or present to us, as we read the passion narrative. Christ is present in his word, and with him also the event of his passion and death.

3. The general intercessions conclude the liturgy of the word. The format follows the ancient usage of the Church of Rome, namely: the priest sings the introduction or invitation, then all kneel in silent prayer of petition, and the priest sings the prayer in behalf of all.

a. In the dialogical plan of the liturgy of the word the general intercessions are the assembly's response to God who has proclaimed his word. On Good Friday the general intercessions match the importance of the moment by the solemnity of their structure and the breadth of the intentions. The Good Friday general intercessions are the propitious moment to pray for the important and pressing needs of the Church and the whole world. As St. Teresa of Avila would say: when the world is on fire, we cannot pray for little things.

b. In the inaccuracy of our human tongue we could say that after the reading of the passion narrative, whereby we present to the Father what his Son has done for us and for the world, we make our petitions with confidence that he will not refuse them on account of the merits of his Son.

C. The Veneration of the Cross

1. The veneration of the cross is like a sequel to the proclamation of Christ's passion and death.

a. In the fourth century in Jerusalem the wood of the cross, discovered by Empress Helena, was venerated on Good Friday. Egeria recounts that the bishop and people bowed before the true cross and kissed it. In the seventh century the practice was introduced in Rome, where a relic of the true cross was kept in the Basilica of the Holy Cross. It should be noted that the object of veneration was not the image of Christ on the cross, but the wood of the cross.

b. In the twelfth century the cross was gradually uncovered, as part of the general scheme of dramatization. In the ninth century the antiphon "This is the wood of the cross on which hung the Savior of the world" was sung to accompany this rite. It will be recalled that on Passion Sunday or the Sunday before Palm Sunday the crucifixes and sacred images were covered, to heighten the sense of desolation and to dramatize the gospel reading assigned for that Sunday: Jn 12:36: "When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them [Jews]".

2. The Reproaches and the Trisagion were introduced in Rome in the ninth century to accompany the veneration of the cross.

a. The Reproaches add to the veneration of the cross a human touch. They make us profoundly aware of the human side of the passion of Christ. During his passion Christ never uttered a word of reproach, never a word of bitterness. He was led to the cross and crucified like a meek lamb being led to the slaughterhouse.

b. The Reproaches then should be regarded as a poetic form that expresses not any bitterness from the part of Christ but our own confession of guilt. The Reproaches are the self-reproach of a conscience stricken by grief at the sight of Christ nailed on the cross. We may read it in a reverse manner: "My Savior, what have you done for me? How have you offended me? You led me out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom, but I led you, my Savior, to the cross".

c. On the other hand, the Trisagion (thrice holy): "Holy is God, holy and strong, holy immortal one" is an affirmation of Christ's divinity. It balances the human aspect of the crucifixion of Christ, as depicted by the words of the Reproaches, by proclaiming that the suffering Christ is God. Even in his moment of utter humiliation Christ never ceased to be the Son of God. Our faith tells us that on the cross it was God who offered his human life for us.

3. Good Friday alludes to the first Friday when Adam was created; it alludes to the tree of paradise on account of which Adam fell into sin of disobedience. According to the rabbinic tradition, Adam who was created on Friday also sinned and died on a Friday. By dying on the wood of the cross (the tree) on Calvary (the "mountain" of paradise) on Friday Jesus became the new Adam.

4. In the patristic tradition, especially in the thinking of St. Augustine, Christ is the new Adam who slept the sleep of death on Calvary; from his side there flowed out blood and water, that is the Church itself, in the manner of Eve who was formed by God from the side of Adam as he slept in paradise. Good Friday commemorates not only the sacrifice and death of the new Adam, but also the birth of the new Eve, the Church. When Christ died, the Church was born, in order to continue the work Christ began. It is difficult to think of Christ and his sacrifice without thinking of the Church, his bride.

D. Holy Communion

1. Holy Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday because of the ancient discipline of the paschal fast: Holy Communion was considered to break the fast. However by the eighth century the practice of giving communion was introduced in the parish churches in Rome, although holy Mass was even then not celebrated. With the holy week reform of 1955 the practice of giving Holy Communion on Good Friday became universal. The thinking that Mass is not celebrated on Good Friday because Christ himself celebrated the sacrifice on the cross on this day has no theological value.

2. The Holy Communion we receive on Good Friday has a particular significance. It stresses our union with him whose body was pierced, "broken" for us, on the cross. Our union with Christ is a sharing in his suffering and death, before it is a sharing in his glorious resurrection.

HOLY SATURDAY

1. "On the sixth day God completed all the work he had been doing, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work" (Gn 2:2). The patristic literature explains this passage in the light of Christ's mystery. Christ entered Jerusalem on the first day of the week to begin the work of the new creation, completed it on the sixth day when he died on the cross, and rested on Saturday from his work. Holy Saturday is the day of Christ's rest, as he lay buried in the tomb.

a. An ancient homily on Holy Saturday reads: "What thing is this? Today a great silence has fallen on earth, and with it also solitude. There is great silence, because the King sleeps; the earth trembled and was silent, because the Lord slept in the flesh... God died in the flesh".

b. Silence, gravity of demeanor, and recollection are the characteristic traits of Holy Saturday. These are external expressions of our awe and admiration at what Christ has done. In churches the only sound that can be heard is the chanting of the divine office. The altar is left bare and the holy mass is not celebrated. Holy communion is given only as viaticum to the dying. In many countries in Latin America Holy Saturday is observed as a day of near absolute silence and of refrain from unnecessary movements.

2. On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord's tomb, meditating on his suffering and death. In the middle ages it was the custom to venerate the holy sepulcher on this day. The spirit of Holy Saturday is magnificently captured by the concluding chorus of J.-Sebastian Bach's Passion according to St. Matthew: "We sit by your grave with tears on our eyes, and to you we whisper: have a restful sleep, have a restful sleep".

EASTER VIGIL, THE MOTHER OF ALL VIGILS

1. According to the ancient tradition of the Church, this night is spent in watching and prayer in honor of the Lord. We are reminded to have our lamps burning ready, to be like the servants awaiting their master's return, so that when he arrives and finds us wide awake, he will seat us at the table of his body and blood.

a. St. Augustine called the Easter vigil the mother of all vigils, because all the other vigils we celebrate in the course of the year (Eucharistic vigils, vigils for the dead, etc.) draw their meaning from it and in some way prolong its effect. St. Augustine writes: "While we keep vigil on this night during which we recall to mind the burial of our Lord, we want our vigil to coincide with the time when he slept for us. Thus in the very night when he slept we keep vigil. During the time of his sleep we solemnize a vigil, so that when finally we have arisen for the eternal vigils, he may keep vigil for us".

2. The Easter vigil is arranged in four parts: the service of light, the liturgy of the word, the liturgy of baptism and renewal of baptismal vows, and the liturgy of the Eucharist. The central parts of the entire celebration are the baptismal and Eucharistic liturgy. While the season of Lent centered on the word of God for conversion, penance, and preparation for baptism, Easter centers on the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist.

A. The Service of Light

1. Light is an integral and symbolic part of Easter vigil. First, we recall the creation of light at the dawn of time, when God said: "Let there be light". By his resurrection Christ became the light of the world. Second, we use light to signify that those who have been baptized have become light in the Lord. St. Justin Martyr called baptism "Photismos" or illumination. And it is said of Emperor Constantine that he lit torches all over the city of Constantinople on Easter vigil to honor those who were baptized.

a. The blessing of fire on Easter vigil seems to have originated sometime in the eighth century. The fire which had been kept burning since Good Friday (the ancient did not use matches and had to nurse fire constantly) was brought out to light the lamps and candles to be used on Easter vigil. Soon the fire became a symbol of the light at the time of creation and of the light of the risen Christ.

b. The blessing of fire, like the blessing of water, is meant to show that this material element is now an instrument of grace, a reminder of God's presence and intervention in our earthly world.

2. In antiquity the lighting of lamps and candles was part of the office of the "lucernarium" which was a type of vigil prayer before an important feast. The lighting of the paschal candle is a solemn form and a remnant of that office of the "lucernarium".

a. The celebrant traces the sign of the cross, the Greek letters alpha and omega, and the current year, saying: "Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the end, alpha and omega, all time belongs to him and all ages". These words are a profession of the Church's faith that by his resurrection Christ has gained absolute dominion over all ages; he is the key to the Christian understanding of the everything in the universe. The current year is written on the paschal candle to signify that this year is also the year of the Lord, that is, it belongs to him.

b. The insertion of the five grains of incense in the paschal candle is now optional. The practice came from an erroneous interpretation of the Latin "incensum" which can mean either lighted candle or ornamented with incense. The grains of incense are now interpreted as the symbols of the five wounds of Christ: "By his holy and glorious wounds may Christ our Lord guard us and keep us".

c. At the procession the deacon or priest proclaims "Christ our light" three times, as he spreads light around him from the paschal candle. The paschal candle now represents Christ who is our light. The procession led by the lighted paschal candle reminds us of the Exodus of the chosen people. The column of fire guided them on their way toward the Promised Land. We too are guided by Christ on our Exodus from the slavery of sin to the freedom of God's people.

3. The "Exultet" or Easter proclamation is a fourth-century hymn attributed to St. Ambrose of Milan. It is a solemn proclamation of Christ's resurrection that took place on this night. This is why the "Exultet" focuses its attention on the night. This night was in fact the night of the Exodus, the night of baptism, the night of the resurrection. In other words, the Easter night is the compendium of the chief events that God has accomplished in us.

With poetic indulgence the "Exultet" exclaims in words that show the immensity of God's love when he gave away his Son as well as the immeasurable grace, thanks to Adam's sin, of having Christ as our Redeemer: "Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away [Latin: tradidisti, meaning betrayed!] your Son. O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!"

B. The Liturgy of the Word

1. The present-day liturgy of the word offers nine readings including the epistle and the gospel. Before the sixth century the number of readings in Rome was six. After this the number became 12 or in the Lateran Basilica 24, because the 12 readings were in Latin and Greek for the benefit of the Greek-speaking faithful in Rome.

2. The readings, which precede baptism, are meant to give to the catechumens a final instruction on the history of salvation. For the faithful these readings sum up the major works of God in the history of salvation, namely: creation, sacrifice of Abraham, passage through the Red Sea, the new Jerusalem, salvation offered to all, fountain of wisdom, a new heart and a new spirit. Finally, the epistle explains the meaning of Christian baptism, while the Gospel proclaims that Christ is truly risen.

a. Looking closely at the Old Testament readings, we are able to gather the chief topics: creation, Exodus, church, universality of salvation, baptism as wisdom, and baptism as new life. Or in short, creation and salvation.

b. But the readings are not meant to be taken merely as a review of the things God accomplished in the history of salvation. The prayer that follows every reading affirms that what God did in the past he still does today, that what he promised to Abraham and through the prophets he now fulfills in the sacrament of baptism. The difference is that the fulfillment is more wondrous than the promise itself.

d. After the last reading from the Old Testament the Gloria is sung and the church bells are rung festively. After the epistle the Alleluia is intoned solemnly. From then on, until Lent, the Gloria and the Alleluia will constantly remind us of this night of nights, of this mother of all vigils.

C. The Liturgy of Baptism and Eucharist

1. Baptism and Eucharist are the two sacraments that culminate our Lenten, Holy Week, and Easter Triduum observance. This is not the place to discuss these two sacraments, nor is it possible to do it on account of their vastness. There is, however, one aspect that needs to be stressed here, even if only in a partial way, namely: the renewal of baptismal vows.

2. A complete celebration of Easter vigil includes the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and communion, or in short, the sacraments of Christian initiation. The entire Lenten season and the plan of the Easter vigil, especially the readings, are all directed to the celebration of baptism. Several attempts in the past have asked that there be baptism, even of children, on Easter vigil, precisely in order to have an integral celebration.

3. In the absence of baptism, therefore, something is missing in the wholeness of the Easter vigil celebration. But this is filled in by the renewal of baptismal vows by the assembly. In a sense, for the Christian community this is the culminating point of the entire Lenten observance. That is why, the renewal of baptismal vows should be given greater care, planning, and catechesis. For us who are already baptized, the renewal of baptismal vows mean that we commit ourselves, in the words of St. Ambrose, "to cling to the cross of Jesus Christ, to cling to his nails, and not to allow the devil to lure us down from the cross".

EASTER SUNDAY

1. "Christ is risen!" and the response "He is truly risen!". This is the greeting among Oriental Christians for fifty days, until Pentecost. In fact, the fifty days of Easter are like one long and endless day of rejoicing. The season of Easter culminates in the solemnity of Pentecost, just as the resurrection of Christ culminated in the bestowal of the Holy Spirit.

2. Alleluia fills the liturgy of the Mass and the liturgy of the hours. Alleluia is the typical Easter acclamation that resounds during the season. To heighten it the Roman Church (from the sixth century) did not sing the Alleluia from Ash Wednesday to Easter Vigil. This Roman practice was questioned by the Oriental Churches and became one of the items of controversy between Rome and the Orthodox Churches as late as the fourteenth century.

3. The Gloria is another Easter component. Although its opening lines refer to the song of the angels on Christmas night, it was originally associated with Easter. There was a time in the sixth century when it was sung only at the bishop’s Masses and was allowed to priests only on Easter.

4. For fifty day the paschal candle and the image of the Risen Christ are kept in the sanctuary. The paschal candle is best positioned beside the ambo and is lighted in all Masses and baptisms during the Easter Season.

5. The spiritual and liturgical richness of Easter Vigil has affected only in a limited way the celebration of Easter Sunday in terms of solemnity. Except for the possibility of renewing the baptismal vows on Easter Sunday Masses and the chanting of the Easter sequence, the liturgy is practically reduced, in some places, to that of an ordinary Sunday. Perhaps the Salubong, which is considered the culmination of Filipino Holy Week, has something to do with the mentality that Easter celebration ends with the Salubong.

Fr. Anscar J. Chupungco is the Director of the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy in Barrio San Jose, Malaybalay, Bukidnon. The above article is part of the lecture he gave during the Liturgy Conference on Semana Santa held in the Institute on March 1-7, 2009.

Sunday Gospel Reflections:

2009-04-02T21:51:00.001+08:00

Palm Sunday
Rev. Fr. Shannon M. Collins

"Hosanna Filio David: Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Rex Israel..."

All the ceremonies of Palm Sunday — the blessings of the palms, the procession, and the sung Hosannas, are instituted by Holy Mother Church to recall that triumphant entrance of Christ into Jerusalem on that day. He is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Who is deserving not only of these holy palms being placed before Him in praise, but of our hearts and minds submitting to His Holy Rule and His Most Sweet Yoke. But know that within a few days these Hosannas were replaced by blasphemies and insults — give us Barabbas — crucify Him... — from palm branches to whips and cat-o-nine tails — from being placed on a beast of burden to being thrown down upon a Cross — from garments being laid before His path to His garments being divided and lots being cast for His vesture — from being hailed as king to being crucified as a slave — we have no king but Caesar.

In the Old Mass or the Old Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church a very symbolic thing was done during the procession. The priest, deacon, altar boys, and the people would march towards the Church with their branches. When they came to the front doors of the temple, they found them closed while angelic hymns were heard from within. The Cross bearer would then knock against the doors of the Church with the bottom of the processional cross. Yes, open these doors. O gates, lift high your heads grow higher ancient doors. Let Him enter, the King of Glory.
You see, the procession of Christ into the Old Jerusalem is really a symbolic entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem. For thousands of years, the gates of heaven were closed to the human race after the fall of Adam. Only a New Adam could open what was closed. Christ is the one and only Savior of the human race. God has destined us for acquiring salvation through our Lord, Jesus Christ — there is no other name given to men under heaven than that of Jesus by which we are to be saved — I am the Way, He stated, and no one, no one comes to the Father but through Me. Christ is the one and only Shepherd that can lead the flock to the verdant pastures. He is the one and only General Who can lead the troops through the Arch of Triumph. He is the one and only Physician Who can heal fallen man.

But the doors, the gates of heaven would only be opened by the key of His Cross. Only by striking against those doors with the Holy Wood of the Cross could they be thrown open. As we enter into the most Holy Week in the Church's calendar, let us who honor our King and Lord today, not reject Him on Good Friday. Let us as members of the New Israel, the People of God which is the Catholic Church, not reject Him as did the People of God in the Old Testament by enlarge — He came unto His own and His own received Him not. May we who vowed at Baptism to reject Satan and Sin and to embrace Christ and His Holy Cross, live out this commitment until we pass through those same heavenly gates.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-03-27T21:18:00.000+08:00

Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 29, 2009

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The prophet Jeremiah presents the God of Israel as a God who forgives and is even prepared to forget the sins of the past. The people will be God's garden: the seed planted within them is God's Law. They will be God's own billboard: the Law of forgiveness and mercy will be written in their hearts.

Hebrews 5:7-9

This reading confronts us with the humanity of Jesus who, in the face of suffering and death, prayed 'aloud and in silent tears to the one who had power to save him'. These words recall the gospel accounts of Jesus' agony in the garden of Gethsemane. The strange anomaly is that Jesus' agonised prayer was 'heard' and yet he was not spared the pain of a violent death. Suffering was the means through which Jesus learnt to obey and to become the source of salvation for all who in their turn learn to obey.

John 12:20-33

Among those who go up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast of Passover are some 'Greeks'. They probably belong to a group known in the early church as 'God-fearers'.

These people were a bit like RCIA candidates in relation to Judaism. They were certainly interested in Judaism and, because of their active interest in the Jewish faith and traditions, were possibly better informed about many of the Jewish traditions than those who had been members of the Jewish community all their lives. God-fearers seem to have been among the first Gentiles to join the early Christian Jewish movement, ie the Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah [or Christ].

For Jesus, the arrival of these God-fearing Greeks signals his 'hour'. Earlier in John's gospel, Jesus has insisted that his hour or his time had not yet come. Now that his message receives universal acknowledgement, or in the words of the Pharisees now that 'the world has gone after him' (John 20:19), he can announce that the hour of his glorification has come.

Characteristically, Jesus uses a potent agricultural image to capture the transformative nature of his imminent death: like the grain of wheat, he must go into the earth and die in order to bear fruit. The same is true for his followers: to be concerned only with self-preservation is to 'lose' one's life; to give one's life in the service of others is to 'keep it for eternal life'.

In John's gospel, Jesus' death is also his being lifted up in glory and the moment of his death becomes the moment of drawing 'all' to himself. The 'all' embraces all people. It also allows an ecological interpretation: in his death and exaltation, Jesus gathers the whole created world to himself and into the mystery of God's transforming love.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-03-19T22:20:00.001+08:00

Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 22, 2009

First Reading: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23

This passage provides a brief moralising summary of Israel's infidelity. Their sufferings are interpreted as God's punishment for their sins. The Chaldeans and Persians, enemies of Israel, are depicted as God's agents in the process of teaching Israel how to be God's people.

Second Reading: Ephesians 2:4-10

In this little extract from the letter to the Ephesians, the author reminds the community of the extraordinary gift they have received of God's boundless love and outpouring of mercy. Just as God has raised Jesus to life, so also those who are 'in Christ' already share in that same life. As 'God's work of art', they are to live in a way that reflects the grace they have received.

The Holy Gospel According to St. John 3:14-21:

The gospel for today features a number of typically Johannine themes: life, eternal life, believing, seeing, God's love, salvation, judgment, light, darkness, the world.

John loves to play on words. We need to keep asking: how is this word or expression to be understood in this particular context? In John's gospel, the characters often misunderstand and this gives Jesus the opportunity to lead his hearers to a deeper or different understanding of his words.

As 21st century readers or hearers, we operate out of a symbol system that belongs to a different time and place, hence the need to explore the traditions informing the stories.

The first two verses of today's reading evoke the ancient Israelite tradition of the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:5-9). According to the story, the Israelites are unhappy with their lot in the desert. They complain about the food or lack thereof and blame both God and Moses. Their situation worsens with the outbreak of a plague of poisonous snakes whose bite has killed no small number of them. The people interpret the plague as punishment for their sin of speaking against God. They ask Moses to intercede with God. God instructs Moses to make an image of a fiery serpent and set it on a pole: anyone affected by snakebite has only to look upon the image to find life and healing.

And so it happens: the bronze serpent is lifted up and those who 'see' or 'look upon it' find life.

Life and death, seeing and believing in God's love and mercy are at the heart of this story. The gospel writer taps into the collective memory of the emerging Christian community: just as the serpent was lifted up and the people found life, so will Jesus be lifted up and those who believe will find life. In John's gospel, seeing is often equated with believing and believing leads to 'life'.

The bottom line is God's love for the world, the whole cosmos, and God's compassion and mercy, despite the tendency of humans to mess things up.

by: Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

REFLECTIONS on the Sunday readings:

2009-03-13T17:35:00.001+08:00

Lent comes around each year and presents us with its usual challenge to take stock of our lives, to see more clearly what is in our hearts, and to discover what might be calling us out of our comfort zones. It is a time for personal as well as group reflection, a time for entering into 'the wilderness' and grappling with the mysteries of life, as well as a time of preparation for Easter when we renew our baptismal vows and celebrate the greatest mysteries of our faith.

Third Sunday in Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 15, 2009

1st Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
This reading presents 10 covenant 'words' that sum up early Israel's way of life.

God's people are to worship only one God, a rather novel idea in the ancient world. Israel's God cannot be manipulated by magical incantations. A day to remember the God who liberates is a welcome change for slaves whose way of life permits no rest. Honouring one's parents involves taking on their values as worshippers of the one God.

Some aspects of God's 10 'words' are situation bound: the prohibition on killing was originally restricted to killing other Israelites; adultery concerned sexual relations with the wife of another Israelite; to steal was to kidnap another male Israelite; to give false witness was to tell lies in a court of law and thus be responsible for the death of another; to covet what belonged to another was to plot and scheme to get it, and wives were then the property of their husbands.

Israel's legislation was intended to protect God's people. It came to be interpreted more broadly and more inclusively through the centuries.

Today Christian churches tend to put Christian morality into the framework of Israel's commandments. The early legislation provided an alternative wisdom in its time. It was revisited and interpreted anew in the light of new realities. It is important not to reject the old out of hand, but rather to seek out the wisdom at the heart of the ancient 'law' code.

Lent invites us to examine our core values and our way of life.

2nd Reading: 1 Cor 1:22-25

Paul's message to the people of Corinth is also about an alternative wisdom. Some of the Corinthians place a higher value on philosophical speculation than on the implications of accepting an executed criminal as their messiah. Paul is scathing in his criticism of these would-be sophisticates. He challenges their view of wisdom.

The Holy Gospel: John 2:13-25

This gospel foreshadows the death of Jesus. As a devout Jew, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem at Passover. His final going-up will be the occasion of his death and resurrection.

The setting is Judaism's most holy site, the Temple. Jesus acts decisively to draw attention to the true purpose of God's 'house': while there is legitimate commercial activity associated with temple worship, the temple is not a marketplace.

The disciples partially understand. The Jews' request for a sign provides Jesus with the opportunity to play on the word 'temple'. The temple is his body, to be destroyed and raised up. 'The Jews' misunderstand. [Note that 'the Jews' refers to those who reject Jesus as messiah, not to the whole people of Judea or all the Jewish people].

The narrator provides an explanation and indicates that the disciples will eventually understand and come to belief. We travel the journey to Jerusalem with those who partially understand. We remain open to a deeper wisdom in the light of resurrection faith.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-03-04T22:10:00.002+08:00

March 8th, 2009

by Larry Gillick, S.J.

Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

PREPRAYING

The grace we ask for has to do with our two senses of hearing and seeing. We pray to distinguish between the Word of God and projecting our selfish desires into God’s Word. Hearing differs from listening and we pray to allow the Word of God into the center of our lives where we can listen to it and to what that Word calls us.

We are invited also to pray for seeing better in Christ’s Light so to become familiar with the path that leads to true life. The light for which we pray is not the same as clarity of course. Our readings for this liturgy and the spirituality of Lent call us to a faith and a listening which lead to our trusting God.

READING REFLECTIONS:

The First Reading and the Gospel for this liturgy present us with two experiences of liturgy, in a way. There is a going up, a preparation or calling together, a central act of faith, a “Word of God”, a surprising revelation of the “real presence of God, and a going onward.

We hear first of the terrifying story of Abraham’s being tested by God. He is called to take his only son, Isaac, to a distant place and sacrifice him by the knife and then burning him on an altar which Isaac would help build. Abraham takes his son who helps carry the fire and the wood and off they go in a journey of trust. Upon arrival at a divinely-pointed-out hill, the dirty deed is set in motion, no questions asked, except by Isaac who asks about the lamb to be slain.

At the point of the knife’s being about to enter Isaac who has been bound and placed on the altar, the voice of the Lord’s messenger calls for a timeout. Abraham has proven his faith so that he is not only the father of Isaac still, but the “Father of Faith” and the eternal model for the People of God. A ram is tangled up in a near-by bush and so God has provided the means for the sacrifice rather than Abraham

A promise is then made by the Messenger of God that, through Abraham, as he continues living in faith, his descendants who will increase through this same Isaac, will flourish and possess a land of blessing.

GOSPEL READING REFLECTION:

The Gospel presents us with the “Transfiguration”, or the “the Changing of the Garb”. Peter, James and John go up a hill with Jesus. They have a most intimate encounter with Jesus, God the Beyond, and of course, themselves. Jesus dazzles His followers with some state of glorification. Moses and Elijah are seen conversing with Jesus. Moses is the “man of the Law” and Elijah the “man of Prophesy”. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets and the “voice” again ordains Him as “My beloved Son.” The terrified trio is encouraged also to, “Listen to Him.”

Immediately, there they are, just the four again and nobody else, no other sounds. They leave with this experience and their questions about what all this was about. They are charged also not to speak about it until the “rising from the dead”, and they did not understand this either, but they kept on walking back down from this hill of intimacy.

Most of us orient our lives, in varying degrees, toward and from the Eucharistic liturgy. We try also to be women and men who pray, what ever that means. Abraham and Isaac have an extreme close calling with God. Peter, James and John experience an unusual convention and communion. All five go off into the regular, back-down-the-hill living of their lives. Their faith seems to be strengthened, but at the same time their understanding seems to experience befuddlement. They would naturally be asking themselves about the “realness” of what had just happened.

One of the great joys of human intimacy is that it goes beyond reason. I enjoy asking couples whom I have the privilege to be preparing for marriage, “Why do you love her/him?” The relationships I trust the most are those who fumble around for words which might express some good reasons. Love is not reasonable. When there are many verbal reasons, I suspect this is a transaction and not a transfiguration.

Devotion, prayer, liturgy are such calls to simple and honest closeness, that to try to figure it out and explain it cheapens it and flattens it out into a practice rather than a delight.
As with Abraham, Isaac, Peter, James and John, we go toward a time of being met by the Holy, given something of ourselves by the encouragement and comfort of God’s presence and then sent away, but always the little question, “Was that really real?” “Was I talking to myself, comforting myself, judging myself?” Intimacy does not lead to comprehending, but to the sending, the living, the transfiguring, or changing, because we are so loved.

I love the Eucharist for so many reasons, but the very prime reason is that it defies adequate intellectual explanation and I love that freedom from the factual, the scientific, the demand of my arrogant mind. The Eucharist is more than a transfiguration; it is a total trans from a something to a Somebody. The Somebody’s changing of the other somebodies who gather around the Holy Place is also unexplainable, but real. The closer we allow Jesus to come toward and within us, the more we, individually and communally, are transfigured and re-presented to the world. The world cannot adequately explain our living as His New and Real Presence. We will never know if our prayer was real. Abraham is our Father of Faith and our brothers of faith walked down that hill with questions, doubts and wonderings about what in Heaven’s Name was all that about? Questions do not dampen faith, cheap answers do. Living the faith is the proof of intimacy, just as living out married love intensifies and proves the leap.

“I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living. I believed, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”

Responsorial Psalm, 116

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-02-27T23:43:00.000+08:00

First Sunday in Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 1, 2009

Gen 9:8-15 & 1 Peter 3:18-22

The readings from Genesis and 1 Peter evoke the destructive yet life-giving waters of the great flood of old. They invite us to reflect on our baptism as a participation in God's covenant with all of creation, with 'every living creature of every kind'.

The reading from 1 Peter reminds us of God's will to 'save' and of God's triumph over the forces that oppose God's ways of being in the world.

Mark 1:12-15

The four verses that make up today's gospel present a little drama that is played out in several 'worlds': the celestial, the human, the animal, and the 'wilderness' worlds.

Jesus is, as usual, the main character. The Spirit, Satan, God, and God's angels, members of God's heavenly court, represent the celestial world. The 'wild beasts' interact with the 'angels' in the wilderness. Numbers feature symbolically, as do settings and characters.

God's Spirit has featured in the previous scene: Jesus is the chosen one of God on whom God's Spirit rests, the one sent to be a light to the peoples. Now the Spirit impels Jesus into the wilderness, the place of beginnings for Israel. Satan, a member of God's heavenly court, tests (a better translation of the Greek than 'tempts') him. Jesus is tested for 40 days, just as the people of Israel were tested during their 40 year ordeal in the wilderness.

Jesus passes the test that Israel failed. He is 'with the wild beasts'. This evokes Isaiah's prophecy of a time when God would reign, a time of reconciliation, of trust, of harmony and peace: 'The wolf shall lie down with the lamb ...'(Isa 11:6-9). Jesus is with the wild beasts, but is not devoured, because God looks after him. He reconciles the most seemingly irreconcilable elements.

This little gospel scene provides a microcosm of the ministry of Jesus, and of his struggle to overcome the opposing forces that threaten the success of his mission.

God's power breaks through, Jesus announces the 'time' of God's reign. This is not a matter of clock time (chronos) but of God's time (kairos), the time to turn our lives in God's direction. The tense of the verb is continuous: the invitation is to continually 'think beyond' and turn our lives towards God.

Lent helps us to focus on that invitation.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Ash Wednesday Reflection:

2009-02-24T22:01:00.001+08:00

ASH WEDNESDAY

" Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return."
Gn. 3:19

Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. (Joel 2:13)

Reflection.

The liturgical use of ashes originated in the Old Testament times. Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance. In the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1). Job repented in sackcloth and ashes (Job 42:6). Prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem, Daniel wrote, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).

Jesus made reference to ashes, "If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago" (Matthew 11:21). In the Middle Ages, the priest would bless the dying person with holy water, saying, "Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return."

The Church adapted the use of ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality and mourn for our sins. In our present liturgy for Ash Wednesday, we use ashes made from the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. The priest blesses the ashes and imposes them on the foreheads of the faithful, making the sign of the cross and saying, "Remember, man you are dust and to dust you shall return," or "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." As we begin this holy season of Lent in preparation for Easter, we must remember the significance of the ashes we have received: We mourn and do penance for our sins. We again convert our hearts to the Lord, who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation. We renew the promises made at our baptism, when we died to an old life and rose to a new life with Christ. Finally, mindful that the kingdom of this world passes away, we strive to live the kingdom of God now and look forward to its fulfillment in heaven.

Lenten Question

Q: What is Lent?

A: Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). [This traditional ennumeration does not precisely coincide with the calendar according to the liturgical reform. In order to give special prominence to the Sacred Triduum (Mass of the Lord's Supper, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) the current calendar counts Lent as only from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, up to the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Even so, Lenten practices are properly maintained up to the Easter Vigil, excluding Sundays, as before.]

Lenten Action.

Invite a non-practicing friend to Mass with you.

Prayer.

Almighty and everlasting God, you despise nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent.Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our brokenness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.Amen.

Ash Wednesday is a day of both fasting and abstinence.

Sunday Gospel Reflections:

2009-02-18T17:49:00.002+08:00

Sunday, February 22, 2009
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mark 2:1-12

The Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.
As I was reading Mk 2:1-12, I could immediately see such a scene taking place in
Ghana where houses are low and squatty with thatched roofs, and where a paralytic
would actually be carried on dried animal skin suspended between two long poles.
Jesus had been away from Capernaum for some time and it didn’t take long for
word of his return to spread throughout the village. The people had heard about
Jesus’ compassionate love and care for the sick and suffering, and they wanted to
see and to hear him.

The large crowd that had gathered in and around the house where Jesus was
preaching did not prevent the family from bringing their paralyzed loved one. They
were determined to present him directly and personally to Jesus for healing. Jesus
did not seem to find it distracting or annoying to have the roof removed from over
him, but rather seeing their faith he was moved to compassionate response for the
paralytic and gave him the greatest of gifts: complete healing and forgiveness.

The simple people in the crowd seemed to accept the experience for what it was,
but the scribes, closed-minded, set in their righteous ways, failed to recognize Jesus
and immediately had negative, condemning thoughts of him. Jesus picking up on
their critical thoughts challenged them with the question: “Which is easier to say to
the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say “Get up; pick up your stretcher and
walk’?” Wanting the scribes to know him and wanting to respond to the paralytic,
Jesus healed both his soul and his body.

Does any part of this story remind me of my own behavior?
Do I find myself identifying with the paralytic? With the ones carrying him to
Jesus? Or with the scribes setting around Jesus or with the crowd surrounding
Jesus? And can I identify with Jesus?

Do I believe that Jesus can reach deep within me and heal my most shrouded
area of pain?

What do I do in my daily living that reveals my belief?

--Reflection and questions by Frances Lorene Lange, CDP

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-02-12T10:08:00.002+08:00

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Sunday, February 15, 2009

Lev 13:1-2, 44-46

To be a leper in the world of ancient Israel and early Judaism was to have some sort of skin disease that excluded a person from community and in particular from public worship. There were very strict regulations regarding such lepers. Their condition required ritual cleansing by a priest and an offering that cost money. The reading from Leviticus demonstrates that lepers suffered not only from sickness but even more significantly from social and communal exclusion. That seems horrifying from our perspective and it was.

1 Cor 10:31-11:1, 22-23

Again and again, Paul begs the wealthy members of the Corinthian community to be attentive to the sensitivities and needs of others. The community probably numbered about 50 and it necessarily fell to the wealthy to host the community gatherings. Paul, who is writing to them from Ephesus, has been informed that the behaviour of some members at these Eucharistic gatherings is reprehensible. The conventional mores with regard to meals permitted different kinds of food for people of differing status. This is not the way of the gospel. They are to eat at home before they come together for the ritual meal. Under no circumstances are the poor to be humiliated. They have seen how Paul behaves and he offers himself as the standard for their behaviour.

Mark 1:40-45

In this little story, a man with leprosy approaches Jesus and begs for healing. Jesus is 'moved with compassion', literally 'moved in his gut, or in the depths of his being'. In other words, Jesus has a physical reaction in the face of suffering. Some manuscripts have 'moved with anger'. [A later scribe probably considered that expression too harsh and softened the text].

Jesus wills the cure of the man. He actually reaches out and touches him, and then sends him back to tell the priests 'as a proof to them'. The verb used for 'send back' presupposes that the priests had already been approached without success. Jesus, the Galilean healer, succeeds in mediating the power of the God of Israel and so restores this outcast to life in the community. The widespread report of Jesus' healing activity incurs the anger of some of the authorities.

For our part, as followers of Jesus, we might reflect on the fact that sickness and disability are not only physical phenomena. They also affect people emotionally and socially. Healing enables people to live again, to return to the life of the community, to do the things they want to do. The combination of a compassionate word and a healing touch can work wonders. That was true in the ancient world. It is equally true in today's world.

by: Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

2009-02-05T10:13:00.003+08:00

February 8, 2009
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7

The Book of Job is a reflection on human suffering. It ponders the age-old mystery, 'Why does the just person suffer?' Job's so-called 'comforters' are locked into a mindset that considers human suffering to be God's punishment for sin. Job's experience dictates otherwise. Sadly, millions of good people across our planet know the experience that Job describes: hard labour, little return for hard work, a sense of emptiness, sleepless nights. What can this little vignette offer us? Job complains, but does not lose faith in God. Sometimes we need to complain, even bitterly, and to unburden our hearts in safe places. Simply naming the pain can bring some relief.

Second Reading: 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23

In the verses preceding this passage, Paul has made it clear that those who preach the gospel have a right to financial support from the community. In his concern to 'win' all for the sake of the gospel, he is prepared to forego this right and make a living as a tentmaker. In various parts of his correspondence with the Corinthian community, there are hints that some of his readers are more mature in their faith and moral development than others. Paul does not condemn 'the weak'. Rather, he accommodates their lack of maturity and at the same time challenges them to grow in their faith and moral commitment. He also challenges the more sophisticated who think they have all the answers. It is sometimes the less well off in our communities who contribute most in financial terms and subsidise those who take the gospel ministry for granted.

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:29-38

Today's gospel presents Jesus healing a woman who is identified only in relation to her son-in-law, Peter. She may not be named, but she is the first human character in the Markan gospel story who is said to 'minister'. In other words, the love of God working through Jesus draws her beyond herself to engage in a ministry of bringing the bread of life, of caring for God's people. A little earlier in Mark's gospel we hear that angels ministered to Jesus in the desert: in other words God looked after Jesus as he embarked on his mission of bringing God's healing love to a broken world. Now this woman is caught up in the same mission. The many people healed by Jesus come a little closer to knowing the happiness that is the goal of all being, the realisation of God's 'empire'.

by Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Images and the Sto. Niño

2009-01-14T16:19:00.001+08:00

Reflection shared by: Rev. Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R.

Nora was a nurse by profession. She went to work in Saudi Arabia to earn more money to send their children to college. This was difficult for her family and especially for her husband, Jayme. Often, he told me, he was tempted to go to another women but one thing saved him. There was a large picture of Nora in their sala. When he felt tempted he would gaze at it, sometimes he would even take it down and hug it. This is what kept him faithful during those few years.

Today, as we celebrate the feast of the Santo Niño we find ourselves coming back to reflect on the place of images in Roman Catholic teaching. There is no doubt that devotion to images, particularly to those of the Santo Niño and of the Blessed Virgin, have done much to preserve the Faith of the Filipino people. In times when the official Church teaching kept God far from the people - they had little access to the Scriptures and a liturgy in Latin performed facing the wall - the people expressed their genuine faith instinct that God was close through their devotion to images. Just as the picture of Nora brought her close for Jayme, so our images bring God, and his friends and relatives who are perceived as intermediaries with him, close to us. But there is a difference. The picture of Nora helped Jayme to live out the attitudes and values consistent with his love for her. Do our religious devotions lead us to a way of living that is mature and consistent with the faith that we profess?

We find three stages of spiritual growth in the New Testament. The writers were trying to answer the question: "Who was this man Jesus who rose from the dead?" The first memories were of the extraordinary happenings. Jesus had worked miracles of healing and feeding and bringing back life. These stories probably grew as they were passed down by word of mouth. Jesus is recorded, however, as playing down the miracles, of asking people who were cured not to tell others about what happened. He wanted people to come to him for more than the physical healing that they could get from him. The second level of spiritual growth concerns the attitudes that he taught. He taught love and forgiveness towards all, even for one's enemies. St. Paul referred to this second stage as finding the fruits of the Spirit - kindness, gentleness, self-control, forgiveness, by which the inner person is changed. Then as a result of the fruits of the Spirit we move into the third stage, we discover that our value system has changed. We no longer seek power, prestige and possessions. Rather, we see the blessedness of poverty, weakness etc. We accept the values of the Beatitudes: a profound reversal of conventional values.

As we mature spiritually God is no longer sought in the extraordinary but found in the ordinary. To see God is not to see anything different but to see everything differently. The Church's role is to help Christianity mature. We look back into our cultural roots to integrate and transcend what went before. Prayer moves from merely asking God for what we need to being with God in the silence of meditation, in perfect trust that in his love he will do what is best for us.

There is a certain danger in the image of the Santo Niño. It portrays Christ as a child dressed as an adult. It could be seeking the best of two worlds - the protection of a divine king on the one hand, but then he is only a child and can be ignored when he makes difficult demands on our behavior.

In the ceremony of Baptism we place a white cloth on the baptized child as a symbol of its purity and innocence. I always do it with a certain pity for the child who will in a very short time be contaminated by us adults who like to make symbolic gestures but rarely live up to the values they express or the attitudes that they demand.

Sunday Reflection:

2009-01-06T20:30:00.001+08:00

Sunday, January 11, 2009
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord. This brings to an end the season of Christmas. The Church recalls Our Lord's second manifestation or epiphany which occurred on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan. Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its waters and to give them the power to beget sons of God. The event takes on the importance of a second creation in which the entire Trinity intervenes.

In the Eastern Church this feast is called Theophany because at the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan God appeared in three persons. The baptism of John was a sort of sacramental preparatory for the Baptism of Christ. It moved men to sentiments of repentance and induced them to confess their sins. Christ did not need the baptism of John. Although He appeared in the "substance of our flesh" and was recognized "outwardly like unto ourselves", He was absolutely sinless and impeccable. He conferred upon the water the power of the true Baptism which would remove all the sins of the world: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world".

Many of the incidents which accompanied Christ's baptism are symbolical of what happened at our Baptism. At Christ's baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon Him; at our Baptism the Trinity took its abode in our soul. At His baptism Christ was proclaimed the "Beloved Son" of the Father; at our Baptism we become the adopted sons of God. At Christ's baptism the heavens were opened; at our Baptism heaven was opened to us. At His baptism Jesus prayed; after our Baptism we must pray to avoid actual sin.

- Right Rev. Msgr. Rudolph G. Bandas

Customs on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
In the Ukraine the faithful gather in the front of the church where a cross of ice is placed. Since there are no rivers near churches, a tub is filled with water and is placed in front of the ice cross. During special and very unique services the water is blessed and brought home. This is taken in before breakfast is eaten. The remains are kept during the year to keep the home safe from fire, lightening and sickness.

The priest visits his parishioners to bless their homes with the holy water that the New Year may be one of cooperation with the gift of God; His Son and the participation in the Life He has come to lead us in toward Salvation. The evening meal is very much a repeat of the Holy Supper except that there are no restrictions on meat and dairy products. It starts with Kutia, which has been saved from Christmas Eve.

The Eighteenth Day of Christmas

True Greatness Is to Make Oneself Small
The presence of John the Baptist accompanied us through the season of Advent and we met him again on our liturgical and spiritual journey on the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. The figure of the Baptist is mysterious and captivating. He was the Precursor of Christ, not only two thousand years ago but in a sense also in our day. He is the friend of the Bridegroom. The voice, which makes us hear the Word which introduces us to the mystery of the redemption, who helps us to respond to the call to conversion, with humility and love. He helps us understand that the human person, every person in front of the Lord Jesus stands before the greatest mystery of our existence: the Mystery of the Man God!

We cannot stand before Jesus as if he were not what he is: God from God, true God from true God! Only a person who has a relationship of humility with the Lord is able to receive the faith which illuminates the mind and warms the heart. Atheism is the product of human pride which renders man unable to believe because he is closed to the truth, to humility.

Truth-humility cannot be separated! John the Baptist is the herald of truth because he is the herald of humility and vice versa. His words are fire which desires to burn any remnant of pride deposited in the hearts of his disciples, who are disarmed in front of the figure of Jesus, his apostolic success, his truly surprising manner of announcing the Kingdom of God: a Messiah whom they had imagined differently.

The Gospel speaks of this “crisis” of the disciples of the Baptist, which we might call “crisis of humility ”, because it touches this fundamental disposition of the human soul before the mystery of God who reveals himself in Jesus. The Gospel says: “so they went to John and said, 'Rabbi, the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, the man to whom you bore witness, is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him.' John replied: 'No one can have anything except what is given him from heaven. 'You yourselves can bear me out. I said, "I am not the Christ; I am the one who has been sent to go in front of him." 'It is the bridegroom who has the bride; and yet the bridegroom's friend, who stands there and listens to him, is filled with joy at the bridegroom's voice. This is the joy I feel, and it is complete. He must grow greater, I must grow less.’”(Jn 3, 26-31).

These are among the strongest words and most moving testimony with regard to the identity of Christ, his priceless greatness compared with our littleness.

The fact that this warning was addressed by the Baptist to his disciples who were prepared to welcome the Messiah makes us realize the insidious nature of the temptation to enter into “crisis of humility”: refusing to recognize that “everything is grace”, that God's gifts do not belong to us, that “'No one can have anything except what is given him from heaven”…

How often the disciple thinks he is the teacher; the servant the master. John the Baptist knew well that the original sin was pride, a desire to possess the gifts of God separating them from their origin and identity as gifts, starting with freedom! How dangerous it is for the believer to forget the nothing he is and everything that God is. That original temptation is ever ready to arise in our soul. How good it is for us to say now and then, “you alone Lord are everything!” Right at the beginning of the spiritual journey of Catherine of Sienna, the Lord said: “do you know daughter, who you are and who I am? If you know these two things, you will be happy. You are not, and I am who is. If you hold this knowledge in your soul the enemy will not be able to mislead you, you will be safe from all his threats; you will never accept to do any thing contrary to my commandments and you will have no difficulty in obtaining abundant grave, truth and light” (Raimondo da Capua, La vita di S. Caterina da Siena, I, X, 92, ed. Cantagalli).

Although with different words, John the Baptist offered his disciples the same teaching: “He must grow greater, I must grow less”; in order to make way for the Everything He is, we who are nothing must forget ourselves. This is the extraordinary dynamic of the conversion announced by the Baptist and repeated by Jesus: lose oneself in order to find God, become little in order to be great, be the least in order to become the first in the Kingdom of Heaven!

The path of humility teaches us to see God's gifts in ourselves and in others, a sign of the goodness He pours into the hearts of his creatures. Those who follow the example of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and John the Baptist, will be open to joyous testimony of God's gifts and remove from their soul all trace of jealously and rivalry, envy and ambition, because they will understand that the only true greatness lies in allowing to grow in their soul not self, but the only True Great One. God! And of this, Mary is the greatest example. — Mgr. Luciano Alimandi, Ave Maria, Agenzia Fides

Sunday Reflection:

2008-12-30T16:58:00.001+08:00

Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Epiphany of the Lord (Solemnity)

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany. "The Lord and ruler is coming; kingship is his, and government and power." With these words the Church proclaims that today's feast brings to a perfect fulfillment all the purposes of Advent. Epiphany, therefore, marks the liturgical zenith of the Advent-Christmas season. — Pius Parsch

The Solemnity of the Epiphany is celebrated either on January 6 or, according to the decision of the episcopal conference, on the Sunday between January 2 and January 8. The young Messiah is revealed as the light of the nations. Yet, as the antiphon for the Magnificat at Second Vespers reminds us, three mysteries are encompassed in this solemnity: the adoration of the Christ Child by the Magi, the Baptism of Christ and the wedding feast at Cana. Extra candles and/or lamps may be placed around the sanctuary and in other parts of the church to honor Christ revealed as the Light of the Gentiles (Ceremonial of Bishops). It is customary to replace the images of the shepherds at the crib with the three Magi and their gifts. — Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, Msgr. Peter J. Elliott, Ignatius Press.

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus which is kept on the First Sunday in the year; but if this Sunday falls on January 1, 6, or 7, the feast is kept on January 2.

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany
Many traditions and genuine manifestations of popular piety have been developed in relation to the Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany, which is of ancient origin and rich in spiritual content. Among such forms of popular piety, mention may be made of:

the solemn proclamation of Easter and the principal dominical feasts; its revival in many places would be opportune since it served to make the connection between the Epiphany and Easter, and orientate all feasts towards the greatest Christian solemnity;
the exchange of "Epiphany gifts", which derives from the gifts offered to Jesus by the three kings (cf. Mt 2,11) and more radically from the gift made to mankind by God in the birth of Emmanuel amongst us (cf. Is 7, 14; 9, 16; Mt 1, 23). It is important, however, to ensure that the exchange of gifts on the solemnity of the Epiphany retain a Christian character, indicating that its meaning is evangelical: hence the gifts offered should be a genuine expression of popular piety and free from extravagance, luxury, and waste, all of which are extraneous to the Christian origins of this practice;
the blessing of homes, on whose lentils are inscribed the Cross of salvation, together with the indication of the year and the initials of the three wise men (C+M+B), which can also be interpreted to mean Christus Mansionem Benedicat, written in blessed chalk; this custom, often accompanied by processions of children accompanied by their parents, expresses the blessing of Christ through the intercession of the three wise men and is an occasion for gathering offerings for charitable and missionary purposes;
initiatives in solidarity with those who come from afar; whether Christian or not, popular piety has encouraged a sense of solidarity and openness;
assistance to the work of evangelization; the strong missionary character of the Epiphany has been well understood by popular piety and many initiatives in support of the missions flourish on 6 January, especially the "Missionary work of the Holy Child", promoted by the Apostolic See;
the assignation of Patrons; in many religious communities and confraternities, patron saints are assigned to the members for the coming year.
—#118 Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy

Things to Do:

Read about the Epiphany, or the Manifestation of the Lord.

For family activities please see the Blessing of Water and Chalk and the Blessing of the Home on Epiphany.

Christmas Message: His Eminence Gaudencio Card. Rosales, D.D.

2008-12-29T17:27:00.001+08:00

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2008

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth Peace for those He favors” (Luke 2:14).

Again and again the message of Christmas must be repeated in order to allow it to sink deep into human hearts. The news of great joy is brought to us in order to be shared by all. This hopeful message is the reason why nearly everyone hums a little tune or sings a carol at Christmas season. Christians are a cheerful people. Only Christians have the ability to hope in times of great need and even in paralyzing disasters.

Peace may be wished for, but God saves it only for those He favors. Humans long for peace, but they have to deserve it. Peace belongs to those who sincerely long and work for it and on whom God’s favor rests.

Peace is not the achievement of one struggle; it is built up by a day-by-day effort. It is not simply sung with the angels. Peace is built on justice among humans. It is born of a relationship where honest people are just to each other and respect one another. It is a world of kind relationships, where neighbors love and help each other, where business traders do not cheat customers, where leaders, and especially government leaders, are not proud and do not defraud their subjects, and where everyone sees the other as friend or brother/sister to serve or to help.

In the simplest level of life where rich and poor breathe the same free and healthy air, Peace is known by the practice of sharing. No one feels at ease (or sometimes safe) with an extra bowl of rice to eat, while just across their fence are brothers and sisters who are hungry.

Crises may come and crises may go, but for as long as humans know how and love to share what they have, there will be both Peace and Joy in our land. This is what Christmas reminds us to do. Just remember were Filipinos who love Jesus Christ and are sincere in following Him. That makes the great difference! But do not forget to work for Peace!

A Blessed Christmas to all!

(Signed)
+ GAUDENCIO B. CARDINAL ROSALES
Archbishop of Manila

Solemnity of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, 25th December

2008-12-18T10:55:00.007+08:00

A PAULINE CHRISTMAS: Reflecting upon the Body of Christ as Infant

Introduction

A Blessed and Merry Christmas to all Let this be sign to you: in
a manger you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes (from
our Gospel according to Luke). Also, since this year is the Year of Saint
Paul, I greet you a Pauline Christmas to all! St. Paul rewrites tonight’s
Christmas narrative. The Christmas story is of the Holy Family in a stable
of animals, with the angels singing the Gloria in heaven and the shepherds
adoring. Saint Paul adds the visit of the magi. Instead of the names of
the wise men being Gaspar, Melchor and Baltazar, the names given by
Paul are: Timothy, Titus and Philimon after his letters. And instead of
the gifts given being gold, frankincense and myrrh, the gifts offered are:
faith, hope and love. Saint Paul explains why. The essence of Christmas
is not material gifts of a consumerist and commercialized environment.
Christmas is about giving gifts truly from the heart, things that truly last
and endures: faith, hope and love which is the greatest.

Body

With Paul, we reflect upon the Body of Christ as a cute babe, a
lovable infant, a tender child. From Paul’s experience in his conversion
at Damascus, there is oneness between Christ and the Church being
persecuted by Saul. In Paul’s letter, there is a constant refrain of the Body
of Christ with Christ as Head and the Church members making up the
different organs of the Body.

Paul urges unity and the resolution of differences as the Church
members partake of the one Body of Christ whenever they break bread
and receive communion. The Body of Christ is Christ born in the manger
at Christmas midnight and the Body of Christ is also the Church. As we
partake of communion tonight, Christ is born in our hearts on His very
birthday.
Paul challenges us to grow in grace, mature in love as a community.
The Pauline literature is all about building communities, reconciling
groups within the Church, correcting those who stray, all about Church
growth and development. We are toddlers in eth faith, we stumble, we
are babies that are dependent upon others for wisdom, we are children
who need to be taught and guided along the path of righteousness and
holiness.

The acronym CHILD best summarizes who Paul is:

C Conversion His conversion on eth road to Damascus is a sign
that we need to return to the Lord always.

H Hardships Paul enumerates his crosses, trials, tribulations
in his journeys. All these hardships are his
participation in eth Paschal Mystery.

I Inclusion Paul fought that Gentiles be included in the Church,
that they need not become Jesus first.
L Love Love is the essence of God and the reason
for Christmas and is the highest lasting virtue
according to Paul.

D Determination Determination, zeal, fervor, indefatigable drive
are the marks of Paul the missionary.

“The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all” (from
our second reading, Paul’s letter to Titus)
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder,
dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-
Forever, Prince of Peace” (from our first reading from the Prophet
Isaiah)
Conclusion

On this Christmas night, let us offer gifts, not material gifts brought
from the mall but the gifts of our total loving selves. Paul’s Christian
communities lead us in this procession of gifts.

The Thessalonians offer their “breastplate of faith and love and
a helmet as a symbol of hope salvation”.

The Corinthians offer their “bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit”.
They acknowledge they are “God’s field, His building”.

The Ephesians offer themselves as “the whole armor of God, the
shield of God”.

The Romans offer themselves as “a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God”.

Once more, we renew our commitment to follow, love and serve
Christ on this birthday of His.

Merry Christmas! Happy birthday Jesus!

REV. MSGR. HERNANDO CORONEL
Rector
San Carlos Seminary

9th day Simbang Gabi Reflection, 24th December

2008-12-18T10:46:00.004+08:00

In God’s Graciousness

Introduction

Joy fills the airwaves of Christmas season.

Malls are jam-packed with shoppers to buy new things to wear and
funny gifts for their loved ones and godchildren. Houses are decorated
with various Christmas designs and lights. At home, family is busy in
preparing special meals and special gifts. On the streets, Christmas carols
are rendered by the young and adults while gift giving is centered on the
poor. Parishes display different versions of crib where baby Jesus was
likely borne. With all of these material manifestations, we cannot but
celebrate. Christmas is a big celebration, a festivity.
And today marks the 9th day of “Simbang Gabi”. All the efforts
of waking up at dawn, shaking the cobwebs of sleep while at Mass and
trying to complete the novena for a wish to come true are now drawing
to a close. It is worth an effort. We should be rejoicing because we are
able to go beyond our limitation and self-comfort.

These external and internal preparations move our heart into joy.
This is timely and proper as we remember the birth of Jesus, the Savior.

Body
God’s graciousness is beyond measure and imagining; its fruition
to men is nothing else but joy.

David, in the first reading, is blessed with two privileges: he has
chosen by God to be the King of Israel and from his throne, the everlasting
dynasty will reign.

In the gospel reading, the old barren wife gives birth to a child.
Elizabeth’s giving birth to a boy is a source of great joy to all- herself,
Zacharias, relatives and friends. They cannot help but affirm the
miraculous deed of their God Zacharias, meanwhile, rejoices because the long-waited Messiah
has now come in their midst and his very son, John is the one who would
prepare the way for Messiah’s coming.

This is what his Benedictus, a song of praise and thanksgiving to God, highlighted; a song that expresses the overflowing joy of an old man who is both a priest and a father.
The name John means God is gracious; the name that God has
ordered to be given to the child and able to describe the gratitude of
John’s parents for an unexpected joy. It reveals who God really is and
what He wants for us. A personal God, He wants his people to be happy
and fully alive. This divine graciousness has made flesh; God’s gift to
the world is himself. The Son of God entered into the world and became
one with us. Through a baby borne in the crib in Bethlehem, man is not
only redeemed but also elevated to divinity. God in man and Man in
God. This is what we commemorate, celebrate.

Joy and divine graciousness are inseparable. Joy is from God
and for us. Like God, let us share the joy received to others.

Conclusion

Let us imitate Him for he is the source and model of joy. Joy to
the world the Lord has come!

Question

How do I find joy in my life?

Fernando L. Sabado, Jr

8th day Simbang Gabi Reflection, 23rd December

2008-12-18T10:30:00.005+08:00

TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

Introduction

Jesus Christ’s advent into the world was prepared for
by various prophets in the Old Testament and by a big cast in
the New Testament. His coming in the life of any believer is preceded
by many and sundry characters and events. His real presence to us this
Christmas requires not only our own personal cooperation but the crucial
participation too of a multiplicity of persons. One such major character
was and is John the Baptizer, the Lord’s precursor.

Body

THE MESSENGER. The prophet Malachi (the Hebrew name
means “my messenger”) is well-known for his messianic proclamation of
the divine purpose: “I am sending my messenger to clear the way before
Me.” The pun on his name underscores his role in the long history of the
waiting for the advent of the Messiah. Rounding off the Twelve Prophets,
the book tried to persuade its readership to follow the Law and be faithful
to God and to be strong in their resolve to do so, for the messenger in
preparation for the final development is there.

For the purpose of keeping the covenant with God, so that God
may finally come and be in fact in His temple in the midst of his people,
the messenger sent by Him would be clearing the way before Him. And
he would be like “a smelter’s fire and a fuller’s lye” a purifying, caustic
treatment. This zealous, powerful enforcer of the covenant would make
his appearance to purify the descendants of Levi like a smelter and a
refiner of silver and gold. Thus the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem in
righteousness would be pleasing to the Lord.

THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. This angel of the
covenant desired and needed by the people would test them in his coming.
Who could hold out when he appears, and endure the day of his coming?
Elijah, the herald of the messianic era, seemed to have been understood
in Jewish prophetic tradition to be this messenger of the Lord and the
angel of the covenant. Since Elijah did not die but ascended to heaven
in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11), he could return in preparation for the
day of the Lord.

“The awesome, fearful day of the Lord” refers not only to
the travails of the Messiah but also to the rigorous actions the people
would be summoned to undertake in order to be acceptable to God.
The prophet Elijah would bring about intergenerational reconciliation,
reconciling parents with their children, and children with their parents.
This restoration of the family which mirrors the covenant would deflect
the utter destruction due to the entire land.

THE PRECURSOR OF THE MESSIAH. Jesus Christ himself
declared that the foretold return of Elijah to restore things for the final
manifestation of the kingdom of God was fulfilled already in the coming
of John the Baptizer (Matthew 11:14; 17:10-13). Matthew intentionally
portrayed John wearing clothing made of camel’s hair to recall the austere
dress of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). Luke narrated the birth and
circumcision of John to emphasize his incorporation into the people of
God by the sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:1-12). And his naming meant
his identity; his name John (“God is gracious”) given by the angel meant
he was a gift to his people, a heavenly destiny. What his name indicated
for the people was that vital, his father would remain speechless until he
had proclaimed it to others. The people’s reaction to the entire happening
showed that not only the parents had a stake in the child’s birth.

John was a promise of future blessings to God’s chosen people for
the establishment of the reign of God. Neighbors and relatives rejoiced
that God had shown great mercy to everyone by the birth of the child.
Clearly, John was a sign of divine presence and power, accompanied by
the marvels that his father Zechariah blessed God for and which inspired
fear in the hearts of the neighbors. They might not know exactly what
to make out of the events, but they were certain God had great design
for the child.

Conclusion

God, to save us, willed that we cooperate with Him. Not only in
the sense that each of us must personally submit to His divine will, but
also in the imperative that we assume active role and responsibility for
the salvation of others. God calls messengers to deliver His word to the
people, and angels of the covenant to focus the attention of the public to
the particular demands of our union with Him, and precursors to challenge
the believers to renew their lives. Christmas, as a celebration of God’s
coming in Jesus Christ here and now, needs servants of God too to prepare
the way of the Lord. Not only priests and teachers tell the people of
the mystery that happens in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, but parents,
friends and individuals can likewise remind and assist those immediately
around them so that all can welcome the One Who Comes. Today we
still need a Malachi, an Elijah or a John the Baptizer to challenge the
people to prepare and to clear the way of the Lord.

Questions

In all the flurry of activities surrounding the approach of Christmas,
have we done anything yet to ensure that God who longs to be present
in our hearts finds us open and welcoming? Have we helped anyone so
far to be ready spiritually for Christmas?

MSGR. SABINO A. VENGCO, JR.
President
Kadiwa sa Pagkapari Foundation

7th day Simbang Gabi Reflection , 22nd December

2008-12-18T10:26:00.005+08:00

MAGNIFICAT

Introduction

At times we are so focused in an image of Mary who is
always well-composed, stress-free and a very calm person. We
forget that she is also human like us. When the angel Gabriel announced
God’s plan for her, she was greatly troubled. “Hail full of grace, the
Lord is with you… You shall bear a child and will name him Jesus.” I
guess Mary’s response could be “DAH!!! Why me? Don’t you think I’m
bit too young for that big responsibility.” Anyways, who could ever say
No… I mean here you are faced with an Angel, “shinning, shimmering,
splendid.” I guess to her shocked she said, “Ok… whatever!” Yup, not
very clear in her mind… but one thing is crystal clear… “I trust you,
because you said God wants me.”

Afterwards, she went to Elizabeth. She took this opportunity to
reflect. What have I done? I guess, it was along the journey that she
realized the gravity of her saying “Yes”. And so she was all the more
troubled. She was very much scared. How could my parents understand
and accept this? What will my fiancée do in case he discovers I’m
pregnant? How will my country men receive me, they thought I’m a
very modest girl and now I’m pregnant out-of-wedlock?

When she saw Elizabeth, it was there she realized that indeed
what the angel told her was true. The impossible became a reality. When
Elizabeth saw her, she did not asked why but she already understood.
Elizabeth envelops Mary in her arms and she felt safe, warm, and began
to feel that maybe she can do this. Elizabeth reminds her of her mission
and gave her the courage to do what she is called to do. In her embrace,
she felt the arms of God holding her close. With that Mary felt secured,
Mary felt so happy and so in outburst she sang this beautiful song of
“Magnificat” in praise to God.

Body

The Magnificat is a song of surrender and trust in the Lord. It is
also a song of humility for how God looks with favor on his lowly servant.
Her lowliness is not an obstacle but rather a strength so that God’s power
may reign and not hers. Mary made herself available for whatever God’s
purpose is. This song says it all. “Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
I entrust my whole life to you!”

Like Mary, God needs our “yes” so that His will may reign in
our hearts and in this world. Often times we look at our lowliness in a
different light. We see it as a hindrance, an inadequacy, and/or incapacity.
But at times it becomes false humility when we would shun ourselves from
something we can do and beg-off because of our being shy or timid. At
times we say, “No I’m not fit for the job, somebody else will do it better,
I’m unworthy, I can’t do that.” Today’s Gospel challenges us to look at
the ways God is inviting us to be instruments in his plan, in the midst of
our own less-than-perfect situations. When God calls you, He is calling
you in your entireness. You think God doesn’t know your limitations?
God is God, therefore He is All-Knowing. He knows you through and
through. Thus, inspite and despite of all, He still calls you because He
believes in you… He needs you.

Conclusion

Advent is a wonderful time to make ourselves available for
whatever it is God calls us to be. This advent is a time for us to discover
that in our lowliness we can give glory to God. Perhaps this is a time to
realize that I can be an instrument of God and be grateful for that. Like
Mary, may we be able to give praise to God and sing our own Magnificat.
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!”

Question

How do i say my yes to God?

REV. FR. JOSELITO BUENAFE
Spiritual Director
San Carlos Seminary

6th day Simbang Gabi Reflection, 21st December

2008-12-18T10:21:00.007+08:00

IT IS NO MORE I WHO LIVES IN ME BUT CHRIST

Introduction

Today’s Mass is known as the “Golden Mass” the Misa Aurea,
commemorating the annunciation and the actual beginning of the Godmade-
man. This is the start too of man’s participation in the life-stream of
God. St Athanasius went further by saying “He indeed, assumed humanity
that we might become God” Another more contemporary theologian said
“Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in
our punishment, in our grace, and now with us or rather we with Him, in
resurrection, ascencion, triumph and Second Advent splendour.” Thus,
this means our total oneness with God.

Pope Benedict XVI announced that the universal Church would
celebrate a special Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul from June 28, 2008
to June 29, 2009 on the occasion of the bi-millennium of his birth. This
was to give greater importance to the life, teachings and spiritually of Saul
who became a Paul. This took place on his way to Damascus while riding
on a horse with letters of authority in his hand to arrest all the Christians
living there. Suddenly the Lord appeared to him. He fell to the ground
and heard a voice calling him “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
He replied,” Who are you, sir?” And the Lord said to him, “I am Jesus
whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:4-5)

What must have struck Paul at this theophany? It must have
been the statement of Christ, identifying Himself completely with every
Christian whom Paul was persecuting then. Through this statement
therefore, Christ is not alone. He is always with every Christian. And for
that matter every Christian is also in Him. From here Paul develops his
theology of the mystical body of Christ (1 Cor. 12-14)

Body

- Christianity is a religion of joy. Christianity is what it is because
of Christ. Christ who is the Son of God has become man. Humanity and
Divinity has become one in Christ. Thus the angel says to Mary: “Rejoice,
O highly favored (daughter). The Lord is with you” (Lk.1:28). In the
same manner Zephaniah told the people of Israel (Zeph.3:14-15) “Shout
for joy, O daughter Zion, Sing joyfully, O Israel: Be glad and exult with
all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem…. The king of Israel, the Lord is
in your midst…” God is now with His people Israel.

- This is the glad message of Christmas which we are preparing
for this simbang gabi. This too is the same good tidings Paul got on the
road to Damascus. The Lord can be one with. But how?

- By faith in Christ, is his answer. Faith joined with baptism is that
which renders a man righteous. It is the life which St. Paul lived since his
conversion. But it is a life of crucifixion with Christ so that Christ lives
in him (Rom.6:8) and of course he in Christ. By this he can truly say that
union between Christ and-himself is complete because it is through faith
that Christians becomes sons of God in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26), Hence
the Christian is saved by grace. The result is a symbiosis between man
and Christ, the glorified Kyrios who has become as of the resurrection a
“Vivifying Spirit. (1 Cor. 15:45)

- St Paul shows that it is only through faith in Christ, that personal
connectedness and that individual identity can be saved. It is the opposite
of autonomy.” I have been crucified with Christ. I live no longer I, but
Christ lives in me.” The presence of Jesus Christ does not suppress Paul’s
identity but save it. How? By that theophany Paul wants to be one with
Christ. Why does he want Christ?” “I live by faith in the Son of God who
has loved me and given himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20). For Paul faith is
always connected with love. “For in Christ Jesus; neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through
love.

Conclusion

Is this not what we all want specially this coming Christmas? Yes,
we all want that precious gift of being one with Christ who is the very
love of the Father. We want that God-made-man may be one in each of
us. This is what we all are trying to prepare ourselves during these nine
days of our simbang-gabi also in the company of Mary who was found
praying when the Word was made flesh in her womb. To be perfectly
loved by Christ by His death on the cross and by recognizing in faith the
presence of Jesus who loves him, is Paul’s identity. So shall this be our
identity.

May the Good Lord be seen in all of us this coming Christmas.

REV. MSGR. EMMANUEL SUNGA
Parish Priest St. Andrew The Apostle
Parish Bel-Air 2, Makati City