Cycle B - Year II:2 September 2018: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time(Liturgical Color: Green)Readings:First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27Gospel:Please Read Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23Love God from the heart!It is true that traditions and customs are noble and admirable when observed and practiced with the sincerity of the heart. Because, as the great poet Helen Keller said, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."In the Gospel incident for this Sunday, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that what comes from within gives meaning and importance to our external actions.According to St. Mark, the scribes and pharisees were upset with Jesus because He allowed His disciples to break with their ritual traditions by eating with unclean hands. Now remember that washing of the hands before meal was an important religious ritual for the Jews. And in their zeal for holiness many elders developed many other elaborate traditions which become a burden for the people to carry out in their everyday lives.Bear in mind that Jesus was not primarily concerned with justifying His disciples' omission of washing their hands before eating, but instead He used this incident to clarify what true holiness is in the very eyes of God. And so Jesus accused the scribes and pharisees of hypocrisy because they appear to obey God's word in their external practices while they inwardly harbor evil desires and intentions. So Jesus reminded them of Isaiah's prophesy: "This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vein do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts."Unfortunately, this attitude of "hypocrisy" in serving the Lord is still with us even in our generation. For example, many of those who profess their faith in Jesus are so much focused on external rituals and practices but forget the reason and meaning for observing them.So then, the message of this Sunday's liturgy is a timely reminder that religious traditions are practices are good, but then they become meaningless without our personal intimacy with the Lord. In today's Gospel incident, our Lord Jesus is actually reminding us that external rituals of cleaning are really empty physical acts without inner purification from within us. Such "inner purification" is essentially the work of the Holy Spirit in a human heart that is open and receptive to divine intervention.In sum, our Lord Jesus Christ reminds us that true holiness is first and foremost a matter of the heart, a personal intimacy with Jesus our Lord and God. And we become close to God primarily because of His grace rather than own merits.A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.Ad Jesum per Mariam!
Friday, August 24, 2018
Friday, August 17, 2018
Cycle B - Year II:26 August 2018: Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time(Liturgical Color: Green)Readings:First Reading: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18bSecond Reading: Ephesians 5:21-32Gospel:Please Read John 6:60-69Are we Catholics by choice?Are we Catholics by choice? Perhaps this is a timely question during these most challenging times in our national journey. It challenges us to witness and live our Catholic faith.In one of his homilies, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle has expressed disappointment that many Christian Filipinos fail to draw inspiration from the Good News at Holy Mass. According to him, many parishioners often grab the opportunity to nap when the Gospel is being proclaimed at Mass. And he asks, "Why is it easier to spread gossip than the Good News?"Our Lord Jesus was in the same predicament when He reveals to His listeners and disciples that He is the Bread of Life. This Sunday's Gospel proclamation is the conclusion of our Lord's discourse on the Eucharist. Jesus confronts His followers to make a choice. Either they believe Him and ask for this bread, or reject His claim on Himself as the Bread of Life. So it is decision time for His followers.The religious leaders and many of Jesus' followers were scandalized by His claim. They find His teaching difficult to swallow, and so they no longer want to follow Him. They cease to be disciples and deserted Him.So Jesus asks the twelve Apostles: "Do you also want to leave?"It was Simon Peter who answered Him: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that You are the Holy One of God." (Jn 6:68-69)Now Peter's profession of faith and loyalty was based on a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the gift of faith Peter knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the Holy One of God, and he believed in His words.And so faith is our response to God's revelation. It is the key to seeing God work in our lives. But we have to make the difficult choice of accepting our Lord Jesus, or rejecting Him. We cannot be content with merely drifting through life.Real faith seeks understanding. That is why God gives us the help of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the eyes of our mind to understand His truth and revelation.In practical life, so many things are happening in our lives and in our world today that shock us. But the Lord invites us to receive Him as the Bread of Life. We can refuse Him, or like Peter we respond to our Lord's invitation, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"In sum, our life is made up of many choices, big and small, human, spiritual and religious choices. But our choices must come from within us. And so we need our Lord Jesus Christ with us, if we are to follow Him in our earthly journey.Let us pray. Lord Jesus, You have the words of everlasting life. Help me to cast aside doubts and fear and to embrace Your word with trust and joy. I surrender my life to You. May there be nothing which keeps me from You and Your love. Amen.A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank You for a moment with God.Ad Jesum per Mariam!
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Today, August 15 is the solemnity of the Assumption.
In 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: "The Immaculate Motherhood of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. (The other three... perpetual virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception.)
In the Catholic Church, a dogma is a definitive article of faith that has been solemnly promulgated by the college of bishops at an ecumenical council, or by the Pope when speaking in a statement ex cathedra, in which the magisterium of the Church presents a particular doctrine as necessary for the belief of all Catholic faithful.
Prayer:
Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Ad Jesum per Mariam!
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