Gospel Reflection

December 14, 2012

Friday – Advent – Year of Faith

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

by Rev. Fr. Richard James Babao (Vice Minister, Archdiocesan Ministry on Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs)
12:15PM Mass at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, Megamall

Reading 1 Is 48:17-19

Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go. If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea; Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

R. (see John 8:12) Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

Gospel Mt 11:16-19

Jesus said to the crowds: "To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is vindicated by her works."

HOMILY

Jesus was very sad when he talks about the Kingdom of heaven and speaks to the Pharisees and the Scribes. Jesus was saying that John the Baptist was preparing the way for the Lord. John the Baptist was the second Elijah, a sign that something is coming. John was preaching about penance, about going back to the Lord, about conversion. But the Pharisees and Scribes did not listen to him.

Jesus came to try to involve Himself with the people, to be part of them. He ate and drank with them. But they said that Jesus was a drunkard and a glutton, mingling with the poor and the sinners. For them, the Son of Man was supposed to be a man of dignity, that is why they could not accept him as the Son of God, as the Messiah. They were thinking of a different Messiah. That is why Jesus was saying they are like children. Either way, they did not listen, and could not accept that an ordinary son of a carpenter will be the Messiah. Remember that the Pharisees and the Scribes were schooled. They knew many things, they know the law. So for them, who is this son of a carpenter,  speaking about the Kingdom of heaven?

St. John of the Cross said that the greatest sin of man is pride. Why? Because a proud man does not see God, but sees only himself. In fact, he sees himself as God, believes only in himself, focuses on himself, and lives only for himself. Therefore, he forgets or does not realize that he is only an image of God. As we know, pride is one of the seven capitals sins - the root of our sins.

My dear brothers and sisters, as we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus this Christmas, let us look at ourselves once again and realize that first and foremost, we have been made in the image and likeness of God. We were created by God, and we owe everything to Him. Unless we learn to approach God with a pure heart, we can never prepare for the coming of His Son, such that when He comes, we will never decipher, we will never know that it is He who has come. And Christmas will never be celebrated as it should be.

Christmas is supposed to be a homecoming of us to our Lord. When that happens, it will give us peace and joy, which is the purpose, the essence of Christmas. Amen.

Saint John of the Cross – Pray for us

You may also want to see: A Holy Life - Saint John of the Cross

A Holy Life

Saint John of the Cross

Doctor of the Church

Feast day – December 14

Saint John of the Cross was born near Avila in Spain. As a child, he was playing near a pond one day. He slid into the depths of the water, but came up unharmed and did not sink again. A tall and beautiful Lady came to offer him Her hand. “No,” said the child, “You are too beautiful; my hand will dirty Yours.” Then an elderly gentleman appeared on the shore and extended his staff to the child to bring him to shore. These two were Mary and Joseph. Another time he fell into a well, and it was expected he would be retrieved lifeless. But he was seated and waiting peacefully. “A beautiful lady,” he said, “took me into Her cloak and sheltered me.” Thus John grew up under the gaze of Mary.

One day he was praying Our Lord to make known his vocation to him, and an interior voice said to him: “You will enter a religious Order, whose primitive fervor you will restore.” He was twenty-one years old when he entered Carmel, and although he concealed his exceptional works, he outshone all his brethren. He dwelt in an obscure corner whose window opened upon the chapel, opposite the Most Blessed Sacrament. He wore around his waist an iron chain full of sharp points, and over it a tight vestment made of reeds joined by large knots. His disciplines were so cruel that his blood flowed in abundance. The priesthood only redoubled his desire for perfection. He thought of going to bury his existence in the Carthusian solitude, when Saint Teresa, whom God enlightened as to his merit, made him the confidant of her projects for the reform of Carmel and asked him to be her auxiliary.

John retired alone to a poor and inadequate dwelling and began a new kind of life, conformed with the primitive Rules of the Order of Carmel. Shortly afterwards two companions came to join him; the reform was founded. It was not without storms that it developed, for hell seemed to rage and labor against it, and if the people venerated John as a Saint, he had to accept, from those who should have seconded him, incredible persecutions, insults, calumnies, and even prison. When Our Lord told him He was pleased with him, and asked him what reward he wished, the humble religious replied: “To suffer and to be scorned for You.” His reform, though approved by the General of the Order, was rejected by the older friars, who condemned the Saint as a fugitive and an apostate and cast him into prison, from which he only escaped, after nine months’ suffering, with the help of Heaven and at the risk of his life. He took refuge with the Carmelite nuns for a time, saying his experience in prison had been an extraordinary grace for him. Twice again, before his death, he was shamefully persecuted by his brethren, and publicly disgraced.

When he fell ill, he was given a choice of monasteries to which he might go; he chose the one governed by a religious whom he had once reprimanded and who could never pardon him for it. In effect, he was left untended most of the time, during his last illness. But at his death the room was filled with a marvelous light, and his unhappy Prior recognized his error, and that he had mistreated a Saint. After a first exhumation of his remains, they were found intact; many others followed, the last one in 1955. The body was at that time found to be entirely moist and flexible still.

Saint John wrote spiritual books of sublime elevation. A book printed in 1923 which has now become famous, authored by a Dominican theologian,* justly attributed to Saint John and to Saint Thomas Aquinas, whom the Carmelite Saint followed, the indisputable foundations for exact ascetic and mystical theology. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.

 

Sources for this article were taken from:  http://magnificat.ca

 

Prayer

O God, Who didst instill into the heart of Saint John ot the Cross, Thy Confessor and our Father, a perfect spirit of self-abnegation, and a surpassing love of Thy Cross: grant, that assiduously following in his footsteps, we may attain to eternal glory. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Saint John of the Cross – Pray for us

Gospel Reflection

December 13, 2012

Thursday – Advent – Year of Faith

Feast of Saint Lucy, Vurgin and Martyr

by Rev. Fr. Robert T. Young, JCL, Chancellor, Prelature of Batanes
12:15PM Mass at Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace (Our Lady of EDSA)

Reading 1 Is 41:13-20

I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you." Fear not, O worm Jacob,
O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water. I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine, That all may see and know, observe and understand, That the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13ab

R. (8) The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let them make known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.

Gospel Mt 11:11-15

Jesus said to the crowds: "Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

HOMILY

I am saddened by the results of the session of Congress regarding the second reading on the RH Bill. We missed it by just 9 votes (113-104 in favor of the RH Bill). Only 9 votes. Some of our Congressmen did not vote, while others left.

The RH Bill is significant to me. Why? Because I am one of those who were supposed to be aborted by their parents. I am the third in the family of five. I am supposed to be the last - in fact, I am not the last. I was not supposed to be born. Kasi sabi ng aking lola, who is the aunt of my father, tama na ang dalawa. Then it turned out that my mother got pregnant. My grand aunt forced her. Tinakot siya, sinesermonan, sinasabihan, "Uminom ka ng Cortal. Inuman mo 'yan." I don't know how effective is Cortal. Pati buto ng duhat, pinapakain ng aking lola sa aking nanay.

But my father stood ground. He said, "A child is a gift. Let it.be." So nag-away sila ng lola ko, lumayas sila sa bahay, at dinala ako sa ibang lugar, sa hometown ng aking mother, at doon ako ipinanganak. You see, if my father did not stand his ground, I would not have been born in this world. And today, I am celebrating my 36th birthday, thankful to God. (loud claps) Thankful to God that my parents made a choice. Had they not make a choice, I would not be here in front of you, as a priest. I am now 9 years old as a priest, and 36 years old in this world.

This is what our Gospel is telling us. The Kingdom of God is suffering violence, and the violent are taking it by force. The world sees things differently, but God sees the bigger picture. That is why He does not force Himself. Sabi Niya nga, if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah.....whoever has ears ought to hear." We realize that God does not force Himself to us; He just persuades us. He is offering to us, if we are just willing to listen. But the problem is the world does not listen anymore.

Going to the reflection on today's Gospel, what puzzles me is this - "...Among those borne of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist. Yet, the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he." John the Baptist is the forerunner of our Lord. He is great; he is the last of the prophets of the Old Testament. Once John the Baptist appears in our Readings, that means Advent has come. But why is he lesser compared to the least in the Kingdom of heaven? Akala ko greater na siya.

One great commentary said that one thing John the Baptist lacked is he never saw the Cross of Jesus. He was not able to experience the full revelation of God's love, which all of us experience every time we see the Cross. Yan ang naiba. That is why even the least among us is greater than him. John the Baptist was just at the entrance door of salvation. Parang si Moses. He led his people to the Promised Land, but he never experienced how it feels to enjoy the Promised Land.

But as I see the picture, my dear brothers and sisters, greatness - or being lesser or greater - is not the way God thinks. God sees a bigger picture. God's Kingdom is huge. Every birthday is a milestone for us. But God sees eternity. God sees the whole of our life. That is why He can tolerate our sins. And as God sees the bigger picture, He sees that each and every one of us is important, and that we have a role to play in the Kingdom of God. Bawat isa sa atin ay may halaga. St. John the Baptist played his role, napakahalaga ng kanyang role. And then the others came, and they played their role.

Our Responsorial Psalm says 'The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness'. Hindi natin nakikita ang buong picture. Pero nakikita ni God ang buong picture, kaya nakakapagtimpi Siya, nakakapagpasensiya Siya. And at the end, He is inviting us, if we are willing to accept it.

God patiently calls on us and invites us - even the grave sinners - because He wants each and every one of us to play our important role in the Kingdom. If only we could listen. Listening is a choice. May maririnig ka, pero hindi lahat 'yon ay maiintindihan mo, hindi lahat 'yon ay maaalala mo. 'Yong masasagap mo lang ang pakikinggan mo. That is why Jesus wants to give patience to us, so that eventually, once we listen, we can put ourselves into the proper perspective, and we find and discover our role in this world.

As we continue our every day lives, and as we celebrate also our birthdays, let us ask ourselves this question - what is my significant role in this world? Every year, it would be nice to ponder on this. Every Christmas, every New Year, it is nice to look back, to reflect, to check, and to see what role do we really play in the Kingdom of God, and that just in this world. Amen.

Saint Lucy – Pray for us

You may also want to see: A Holy Life - Saint Lucy