Gospel for August 8, 2015 (Satuday) Feast of St. Dominic

Mt 17:14-20

When [Jesus and his disciples] came to the crowd a man approached, knelt before him and said, "Lord, have pity on my son who is an epileptic and is in  a wretched state.  He has often fallen into the fire and at other times into the water. I bought him to your disciples but they could not heal him."

Jesus replied, "You, faithless and evil people!  How long must I be with you?  How long must I put up with you?  Bring him here to me."  And Jesus commanded the evil spirit to leave the boy, and the boy was immediately healed.

The disciples then gathered around Jesus and asked him privately.  "Why couldn't we drive the spirit?"  Jesus said to them, "Because you have little faith.  I say to your:  if only you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could tell that mountain to move from here to here, and the mountain would obey.  Nothing would be impossible to you."

The Word in other words

Thelma is her name, a woman in her forties, married, with two children: a girl and a boy.  The boy is a school dropout and a drug user.  The girl, the older one, is a third-year student at a local college in Talamban, Cebu City, getting good grades in her studies.  However, attending college has always been am uphill climb for the girl, financially.  Thelma is employed as a helper in a home for the aged run by the Camillian nuns in Talamban.  And her husband?  Unemployed.  Once, when Thelma turned to him to find a way to support the family, his curt reply was, "Tell Joy to quit school."

But for Thelma, Joy, their daughter was the only hope for them ever to come out of their misery.  And so, against all odds, she decided to let Joy continue her schooling She approached individuals and agencies for help.  She was about to go to a lending agency when a nurse frequenting a home for the aged suggested that she get counsel from a certain priest in the neighborhood whose counsel the nurse also sought at one time.  And so, eventually Thelma found herself face to face with the counselor priest.

Thelma (having told her problem in all its details): Father, I don't know what to do anymore. At night, I stay up awake, trying to figure out what I should do.  I reached the point when I told myself, "Bahala na, I will go to the lending institution.'  You see, Father, my daughter cannot take the semi-final examination this week if she cannot come up with the needed amount for her tuition fee.  These past days, I was not feeling well and so could not report for work, and so a deduction was made on my salary at the latest payday.  After providing for our barest needs as a family, what is left of my salary is not even enough to pay for my daughter's tuition fee.

Counselor:  I see that your burden is truly heavy; tat you feel depressed is understandable.  But you don't have to be carrying your load all by your lonely self.  This is what I miss in the way you respond to your problem:  You don't go to God for help!  Yes, we have a God who is bigger than any of our problems.  He is our Father in heaven who loves us so much that He would not want us to get crushed under our loads.  All we need to do is call on Him.  Nothing is impossible to Him.  Believe in Him, trust in Him.  Go also to Mary our Mother.  At the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, when the wine had run out, she turned to her Son and said, "They have no win." And Jesus worked his very first recorded miracle:  changing water into wine.  It would be so easy for Mama Mary to tell Jesus, "Thelma has no money for her daughter's tuition fee."

Thelma was all ears to the counselor, weeping.  Then wiping away her tears, she admitted that she had not called on God or the Blessed Mother, "But, hopefully, from now on it's going to be different," she said.

What a world of difference faith makes when it comes alive in the person who has it!  Just compare Thelma's way of going about her problems with the father's way of handling his in our gospel today.  Thelma worried about her problems in the extreme, spending sleepless nights over them.  On the other hand,  the father in our gospel  had recourse to the disciples of Jesus believing that they could heal his son who was a lunatic.  And when they could not, he did not give up but approached Jesus, the best healer of all, and, kneeling down before him, pleaded with him to heal his boy.  Seeing his faith, Jesus healed the boy right there and then.  In that sense, the father's faith was such that he was able to move his "mountain"- by the power of Jesus, the Son of God.

                  -  Fr. Dong Alpuerto, SVD (USC, Talamban Cebu City)

Gospel for August 7, 2015 (Friday) Feast of St. Cajetan, Patron of the Unemployed

Mt 16:24-28

Then Jesus said to his disciples,  "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?  Or what can one give in exchange for his life?  For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.  Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

The Word in other words

"Sure ka?" (Are you sure?)  This is, today, a common question or expression to determine how convinced and committed one is in pursuing what one wants to do.  Am I sure, really sure, that I wish to respond to Jesus' invitation to follow him?  I may say that becoming a religious I have given my life for Jesus.  How sure am I for this?  Or I might say that I really want to give up everything for Jesus.  What makes me so sure of this?

Following Jesus or becoming a Christian may be legally mine by virtue of my baptism, but it is something automatic.  I want to claim the grace of work for it.  In a similar way, becoming a real Christian- a follower of Jesus- does not happen just like that.  I have to make it happen.

What do I need to do?  First, I need to believe it.  I need to believe that only Jesus suffices and nothing else.  I need to believe it is possible to deny and to lose myself and that I can carry my cross.  Second, I need to appropriate to myself the reality that, by my baptism, I ought to follow Jesus and that I ought to give my life for him and make hi the only treasure or possession I wish to have.  Third, I must start working for what I believe.  I must start denying and losing myself.  I must begin carrying my cross.  I must not exchange my life with anything except the life that Jesus has offered me.  If you are sure of that, do it!

                 - Fr. Patricio R. delos Reyes, Jr., SVD (LVD Tacloban)



In honor of St. Cajetan, I would like to share this daily prayer with you.

St. Cajetan, Pray for us.

Daily Prayer

O glorious St. Cajetan, you studied to be a lawyer, but when you felt that the Lord was calling you to his service, you abandoned everything and became a priest. You excelled in virtues, shunning all material rewards for your labor, helping the many unemployed people of your time. You provided loans without interest and you attracted a lot of benefactors who donated to your resources so that you could go on with your activities. Look on us with mercy. We wish to find employment that could help us and our families live with dignity. Listen to our petitions, dear saint; you, who could easily give up the food on your table for the needy, bring our petitions to Jesus (here make your request). Amen.

Gospel for August 6, 2015 (Thursday)

Mk 9:2-10

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them and his clothes became dazzling white. such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.  Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.  Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here!  Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.

Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved Son.  Listen to him."  Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.  As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

The Word in other words

Working in school for the last 14 years, I found that one of the most challenging decisions to make every year is where to hold major retreats and recollections. This is true not only for our faculty but also for our students, especially the graduating 4th year students whose parents can usually afford out of town activities for their children,  And what should be the gauge of a good place for such activity?  For us administrators, foremost is that it should be in a far and isolated place.  We discourage retreats in our city because there is always the temptation to go home which is anyway just a stone's throw away.  Moreover, making "valid reasons" for "hard to refuse" permissions is as easy for our employees or students as buying puto (rice cake) in a nearby store.  Looking back to the planning stage of every retreat or recollection, a great number would insist that it be held locally for various reasons like it saves money, makes it easy for the "SC" (Senior Citizen) members of the community, facilitates the feeding of their babies, and many more,  Of course, some reasons are valid, but others are obviously not convincing enough compared to the annual spiritual activity,

But experience also shows that common to all these retreats or recollections is the fact that at the end of the activity, one normally hears comments like, "Can we extend?" or "Bitin", or "Sana dito na lang tayo" (I hope we can stay here forever).  In short, if possible, the participants would want to postpone even for a little while.

As my parishioners would say, when I was still a parish priest, "Kada bagting, kaon" (Each time the bell rings, we eat).  But I think it is not only the eating which makes a retreat something to miss, since that part is something they can always do at home anyway, maybe even more often.  It is not only the physical comfort or the experience of being away from daily concerns that makes a difference, but more so the experience of being in a state of an unfamiliar "peace".  When we invite speakers, we see to it that we get the best ones, Our Campus Ministry Office would always prepare beautiful liturgical and other para-liturgical exercises and we see to it that they are well-prepared for a meaningful reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation,  And of course, what more can one ask after a foretaste of heaven?

What about the "going-home-part"?  Many have actually turned into "Peters".   Remember when Peter told Jesus, "Rabbi, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"?  They also wanted to stay on Mt. Tabor!  Home for some means worrying again for the next meal, or being back to a nagging wife or a suspicious husband, or dealing with a troublesome neighbor, or returning to a pile of papers for evaluation and signature, or doing lesson plans.  In short, home could mean going back to the harsh realities of life.

No, they just have to go back.  They just have to bring back with them that newfound peace- the peace that is the result of the realization that this Jesus Christ taught to them by their catechist, by their parents and teachers, by the books they read, by the movies and videos they watch- this Jesus Christ is God.  In fact, He is the Son of God. He was introduced to them and they have seen and experienced the truth of that during the retreat, confirmed just as it was confirmed to Peter, James, and John who heard a voice from heaven saying "This is my Son, the Beloved.  Listen to Him."

No.  Don't stay.  Rather, go back and face the realities of home- this time as a better and stronger person, because you know that somewhere up there, a reward is waiting.

                            -Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD (DWC, Calapan City)

Gospel for August 5, 2015 (Wednesday) Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major

Mt 15:21-28

Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out.  "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon."  But he did not say a word in answer to her.  His disciples came and asked him, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."

He said in reply, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, "Lord, help me."  He said in reply, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."  She said,  "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."  And her daughter was healed from that hour.

The Word in other words

She did not believe in miracles.  As a pharmacist, my mother believed in doctor's prescriptions and drugstores.  Then, one day, my sister fell sick.  The doctor was puzzled.  What was certain was that my sister was suffering from a high fever accompanied by a series of vomiting, darkened skin and some dark patches all over the body.  Upon seeing my distressed mom and my poor sister, the nurse suggested that Mama could try praying at a much talked-about Divine Mercy shrine.  Then, the nurse prayed over my sister.  This loving gesture moved my mom so much that she then asked my dad to stay while she rushed to the shrine.

Never knowing what word to say, she eloquently and tearfully asked the Lord to heal my sister.  Then suddenly, a collective gasp was heard as the glass began to blur at its center.  Then the people broke into shouts and cries as the mister center glistened and a rivulet of water gushed forth!  The visionary saw this, got the cup and caught the water.  She handed it to mama, but my mom was already running to the door.  She had no more need for the cup or the water; she knew that the Lord had answered her.  That was all she asked.   True enough, my mother cried all the more when the nurse met her at the lobby and told her that my sister was already up!

This is one of the greatest family stories.  Yes, this might sound to good to be true, but it happened.  It speaks about human faith and the promptness of he Lord's help.  My mother was a skeptic.  She was never a part of those people one would find praying in a chapel; she was an "outsider" to faith systems and practices, but there must have been that insistent faith beneath the unbelief which so touched the Lord that he allowed mercy and love to flow out from his heart.

This story has been told and re-told many times over, but the message remains the same.  This changed my mom, too, so  that when she finally breathed her last the Divine Mercy's picture was in front of her.  She was gazing at it until death finally closed her eyes.

           -  Fr. Ferdinand Bajao, SVD (Rome, Italy)

Gospel for August 4, 2015 (Tuesday) Feast of St. John Vianney

Mt 15:1-2;10-14

Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem then came to Jesus and said, "Why do your disciples break away from the tradition of the elders?  They do not wash their hands when they eat food."

He called the people to him and said, "Listen, and understand.  What goes into the mouth does not make a man unclean; it is what comes out of them mouth that makes him unclean."

Then the disciples came to him and said, "Do you know that the Pharisees were shocked when they heard what you said?"  He replied, "Any plant my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up the roots.  Leave them alone.  They are blind men leading blind men; and if one blind man leads another both will fall into a pit."

The Word in other words

When we were kids, our parents used to tell us that we should wash our hands before eating.  I think it was a very practical advice that we should all follow or even make a habit of.  So what is Jesus talking about when his disciples do not wash their hands?

First, we have to  understand this washing of hands that the Pharisees and scribes are concerned about.  In the Jewish custom, there is a ritual of the washing of the hands before meal which, in Jerusalem, takes a longer form because water is readily available in the city.  Meanwhile, the disciples of Jesus, who come from the countryside where water is scarce, naturally prefer the shorter ritual.  So the Pharisees and scribes are complaining not really about the disciples' abandoning the ritual but about the latter's preference for the shorter form.  With this in mind, Jesus spoke out against the legalism of the Pharisees and scribes emphasizing that it is not what enters our body but rather what comes out of our mouth that makes us unclean.

Nowadays, we are being taught that we should make healthier choices of what we eat.  We are asked to buy "free range eggs" rather than "caged eggs".  We are also asked to eat "organic rice" rather than rice that grow with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  We are also asked to drink "fair-trade" coffee, meaning coffee certified to have been picked by workers who have received proper wages.  In the same way, we should also be taught to make healthier choices of the words we say to our brothers and sisters.  Maybe we should cut down on our use of foul language.  Instead, we should utter nice words that offer praises to God.  If we do that, we may become healthier not only in our body but also in our mind and heart.

            - Fr. Elmer I. Ibarra, SVD (Sydney, Australia)

My apologies for the long absence.

Am  back online...

Gospel for July 27, 2015 (Monday)

Mt 13:31-35

Jesus proposed another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.  It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the biggest of plants.  It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"  He spoke to them another parable.  "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.  He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:  "I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world."

The Word in other words

Self transformation and religious conversion, being watchful and ready for the Lord's coming, demands a change of perspectives.  How does a perspective work?

Francis of Assisi literally lived Jesus' commandment of love.  True to the Gospel, he was compassionate even to the Saracens, infidels and thieves: "Come, brother robbers, we are all brothers and we have some good wine." (L.Boff, Saint Francis, 1982).  His love extended to creatures.  He would serve honey and wine to the wild bees during winter.  He would remove worms from his path so as not to hurt them,  For he believed that living things reflected their Creator's love and were thus a source of wonder and deserving of reverence.  Such a perspective influences human conduct.

Gandhi was known for his belief in ahimsa, a policy of nonviolence towards all living things.  He would not extinguish the life of mosquitoes, scorpions or snakes.  When a poisonous snake appeared in his ashram, he would pick it up and set it free in a field.  Likewise, Albert Schweitzer, a Nobel Prize winner, espoused "reverence of life," believing in its sacredness in all forms,  For him, man must be humane to all living things.  When his wife trapped some rats, he would set then free.  He himself would not catch fish, shoot birds, harm an animal or step n a flower.

These three persons shared the same perspective on nonviolence whereby they would not kill insects (Wallechinsky D. et al, The Book of Lists, 1977).  Their attitude no matter how unusual indicates that perspective in powerful.  It is intimately linked with human transformation.  Let us then embrace Jesus' perspective, his words.  In that way, we would be responding appropriately to the gospel's challenge.  Francis of Assisi was enjoying an affluent life but he radically embraced a lady, Lady Poverty, after his long illness. Leo Tolstoy's writings on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount led Gandhi to love Jesus himself and his words.  He was not a christian convert but his critics describes him as a "secret Christian".  Do we have that intense desire to love Jesus' transforming words like Gandhi?  Was there a time when I decided to become an authentic Christian? Tolstoy used to grapple with this question: "Was I merely play acting as a Christian?"  Let us be one with him in this concern.  Albert Schweitzer's decision to engage a mission in Africa and establish a hospital there was  motivated by Jesus:  Seek first the Kingdom of God.  Let us strive to feel the dynamism of the Spirit as we hear, listen and read the words of Jesus.

            -  Fr. Martin I. Mandin, SVD (SAJP, Cainta, Rizal)