The First Sunday of Lent [2012]

'and saying, 

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; 

repent, and believe in the gospel."' 

– Mark 1:15

As Christians we are called to announce – in words, thoughts and deeds – the fulfillment of time, the coming of the Kingdom of God, repentance and faith in the good news.

The fulfillment of time means that God has already fulfilled His promise: He has already sent His only begotten Son, the one whom the world has been expecting for the past four millenniums and we do not have to wait for someone else. In Him everything comes to a close and signals a new and renewed beginning. This is also connected with the coming of God’s Kingdom for with the Lord Jesus God brings into the world the realization of His reign which the people denied Him from exercising: by the Chosen People when they elected to have their own king, and by the heathen by following various idols.

Repentance is a necessary prerequisite in order to belong to the new people of God for it would mean turning away from that which is abhorrent to God -  and submitting one’s self under God’s rule. Without repentance no one would be able to accept – and join – His Kingdom. Faith in the Good News – the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His message of salvation – is also necessary for it is the very core of becoming a member of the new People of God, the Church, and of being His representatives to all the earth to proclaim the very same message of salvation.

In all these it is necessary that we as Christians respond to the call in word, thought and deed. Repentance is true when it leads to a renewed life. Faith is real when it initiates a multitude of good works. Being a Christian and a citizen of the Kingdom of God means a full turning back from a life of sin and unconcern into a life of holiness and loving.

Friends, may we have a great pilgrimage through this Season of Lent.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time [2012]

Which of these is easier: to say to the paralytic, 

"Your sins are forgiven" 

or to say, 

"Get up, pick up your stretcher and walk"?

- Mark 2:9

As Christians we are faced with the challenge of manifesting to the world that God is a true God and that the Lord really saved us from bondage to sin. With so many people denying the reality of sin and the need for spiritual salvation we Christians must continue to manifest steadfast faith, ardent hope and generous love.

Actually, the Lord has told us that it is by loving one another that the world will ever believe that He has sent us the same manner that the Father has sent Him to save us. Many times we spend so much on justifying our faith through arguments and evidences but with so many people having their own intellectual prowess to prove their own stand, we are actually left with the option of manifesting true love as our best argument to manifest our faith and hope. 

Hence it is a lot easier to say and show love - and forgiveness - than to argue about whether someone who has been living on a stretcher for much of his life could be loosened from such bondage and be able to carry his own stretcher and walk home. Many times the solution to one's condition is not to take him away from such condition but to make him accept such condition and then use such condition as the starting point of holiness and salvation.

For example, one of the many problems that the government has been trying to solve is the problem on squatters, which now are called informal settlers. But many times the solutions that have been planned, tried and sometimes forced to be implemented, and maybe not properly monitored and evaluated, do not really respond to the problem. Most of these people return to their original informal settlements because the place they are transferred to to live better lives do not provide the basic necessities of life such as opportunities for livelihood for their daily sustenance. Hence the better alternative would be to solve the sinful social structures that create these informal settlers rather than just whisk them away into some place where they would not find solutions to their problems.

May we accept the fact that even the Lord said that the poor will always be with us. First of all, poverty is not a disease or a thing to be considered evil. It is rather a condition that challenges us to manifest our faith, hope and love.

A blessed Sunday, friends!

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time [2012]

"Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand, 

touched him and said to him, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.'"

- Mark 1:41

This verse - and the whole reading - somehow summarizes the entire history of salvation. It tells us about the story of how the Lord Jesus Christ went around the area of Galilee proclaiming the Gospel and making this miraculous healing of a leper. God has been proclaiming His love ever since the first moment of Creation and when man fell into the bondage to sin has saved - healed, cleansed - him through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. The empathy felt by Jesus our Lord toward the leper is the same empathy that the Father showed by sending forth His Son to become like us, a man, but yet remained a God!

We, followers and friends of our Lord Jesus Christ and children of God the Father, must also manifest that same love of God. Through us we can renew the face of the earth. God did not create mankind to destroy the world, and He did not establish the Church to divide humanity. God created mankind to become the stewards of the whole creation and the Lord established the Church to continue the mission of salvation.

Our work is to empathize with those who feel sick, weak and unloved. We are not called to love those who love us, to be happy with those who make us happy, to be well together with the people who are also well. We are called to become witnesses of God's love among those who are considered outcast: the sick, the unable, the weak, the ignorant, the innocent, the unknown.

May we accept the challenge to become instruments of God's love and healing and cleansing and be love ourselves just like how Christ our Lord become love and healing and cleansing for us all.

Have a blessed Sunday, friends!

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time [2012]

"In the morning, long before dawn, 

he got up and left the house 

and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. " 

- Mark 1:35

One of the most important things in every relationship is constant communications. It is hard to keep any relationship without communications. The motto of the Family Rosary Crusade, "The family that prays together stays together" is one expression of this - even if the members of the family may not be physically together, they will still be together through prayers. Families who are separated due to various reasons try to keep united through various means - before through snail mail, telephone calls and friends. Now we have many other ways of communicating especially with the advent of cellular phones and the Internet.

If we understand and value having constant communications with the people we love here on earth we should also understand and value having constant communications with God through prayers. 

Jesus our Lord never neglected the importance of keeping His communication lines open with the Father for prayer is our way of communicating with God the Father. He would always find time to pray in solitude even if it has to be in the very early hours of the day and of course during the entire day when He would do miracles and signs He would communicate with the Father.

As children of the Father and friends of the Lord Jesus Christ we also ought to keep communicating with them. It would keep us from sin and temptations if we constantly relate with God. We also have to develop our relationships with other members of the family of God, the Church, including the ones we consider to be Church Triumphant, the Saints, and the Church Suffering, those in purgatory. We also have to be constantly communicating with our guardian angels to keep us from spiritual, and at times physical, harm.

May we never disregard this important instrument of being one with God and the whole Church. Even the Lord Jesus Christ said that whatever we ask God the Father in prayer through His name the Father would give. St James also  encourages to pray for one another for the prayer of holy persons is very effective. St Paul encourages us to pray constantly. The late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila said, "God is omnipotent but prayer is more omnipotent!"