Life in Tune - God's Love is My Melody: 02/23/13

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gospel Reflection

February 23, 2013

Saturday – Year of Faith – Lenten Season

by Rev. Fr. (Major) Daniel D. Tansip, VHS (Vicar Forane, Vicariate of Palawan, Military Ordinariate of the Philippines)

12:15PM Mass, Sto. Nino de Paz Chapel (Greenbelt Chapel), Greenbelt, Makati

Reading 1 Dt 26:16-19

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.
Be careful, then, to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations he has made, and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God, as he promised.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8

R. (1b) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

Gospel Mt 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said,You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

HOMILY

Tayo po ngayon ay nasa ikalabing-isang araw na sa panahon ng Kuwaresma. Ang panahon po ng Kuwaresma ay binibigyang katangian ang higit pang pag-iibayo sa pagsasanay o training. Hindi po tayo lalago sa ating buhay espirituwal hangga't wala po tayong effort na ginagawa. 'Yong totohanang gagawin at susundin ang mga panawagan ng Kuwaresma. Hindi po ito madaling gawin, kahit na sabihin po natin na taon-taon namang nagdaraan ang simbahan sa panahon ng Kuwaresma. Taon-taon naman na nakikita natin at nararanasan natin ang panahon ng Kuwaresma. Kailangan natin ng ibayong paggawa, base po sa ating pang-unawa sa mga napapaloob na gawain sa Kuwaresma.

Ipinapahayag po sa ating Ebanghelyong narinig ang dalawang mahalagang batas ng Diyos na sa totoong buhay, sa panahon po natin ngayon, ay tila mahihirapan po tayong sundin, kung hindi po buo ang ating kalooban kay Lord. Ang mahalin mo ang iyong kaaway, at ang maging perfect sapagkat ang Diyos ay perfect being. Mayroon po ba sa atin ditong perfect? Pakitaas po ang kamay. Wala naman siguro.

Meron po ba ditong mahal ang kanyang kaaway? Sino pa sa inyo ang nagmamahal sa kaaway? Itaas po ang kamay. Halimbawa kayo po ay Daddy. Papayagan po ba ninyo ang inyong anak na dalaga kung may nag-imbita sa kanya sa prom, pero ang nag-imbita ay kaaway ng anak mong lalaki, at palagi pang binu-bully ang isa mo pang anak na maliit? Tatanggapin ba ng Tatay na ipagkatiwala ang kanyang anak sa kaaway? Of course, hindi. Hindi po ba?

Mga kapatid, kung titignan po natin, tila napakahirap mahalin ang kaaway. Sa papaanong paraan po natin mamahalin ang ating kaaway? Higit na makatutulong sa ating pang-unawa kung sisimulan po nating itama ang understanding po natin base sa uri ng love na itinuturo ni Kristo sa Ebanghelyo ni San Mateo. Sa Kanyang mga tagapakinig at disipulo, at sa panahon natin ngayon, when Jesus Christ tells us to love our enemies, He is not demanding us to produce some warmth toward the people who have wronged us. He does not expect us to be inhuman, or to pretend to be what we do not like. The love He calls us is rooted in our free decision on what is good for our enemy. No matter what pain he has caused you, ipagdasal mo ang iyong kaaway. Sino po sa inyo ang nagdarasal para sa kanyang kaaway? Paano po natin ipagdarasal ang ating kaaway? Ipagdarasal po ba natin siya para mapahamak? Hindi. Ipagdarasal natin ang ating mga kaaway nang harinawa'y maging mabuting tao siya.

Jesus said that we should be perfect, just like our heavenly Father is perfect. But how can we expect to be perfect like God? It sounds like Jesus is expecting us to be flawless, and we know that we cannot live up to such demand. We get distracted, we forget things. We make mistakes, not to mention our many sins. We are very far from perfection. Just as we need to understand how Jesus uses the word 'love', we also need to correctly understand what God means by the word 'perfect'.

The word 'perfect' here is not about scoring the highest rank. Jesus is calling us to be perfect, in the sense of being whole or fully developed. We are perfect if we realize fully the purpose for which we have been created. And we are created to love. So Jesus is calling us to the highest standards of love. Mahalin mo ang iyong kapwa-tao. Wala ka dapat kinikilingan sa iyong pagmamahal.

Sa atin kasi, mahal lang natin 'yong nagmamahal sa atin. Eh paano 'yong hindi nagmamahal sa atin - mamahalin mo ba? Paano kung ang taong 'yon ay araw-araw kang binibigyan ng problema, mamahalin mo ba 'yon? Paano 'yong mga taong umaaway sa atin, mamahalin mo ba sila? But that is the perfect love that Jesus is telling us. If we want to follow the Lord, we cannot be completely loving only those who love us. If we love some people but not others, our love is still imperfect.

Let us ask ourselves, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Does our heart open to the Lord's transforming love, so that we can love as He loves us? Are we really exerting effort to love those who are difficult to love? Do we really pray for our enemies? Ipinagdarasal ba natin na sana ay magkaroon ng kabutihan ang ating mga kaaway? Hilingin po natin ang grasya ng Diyos, at humingi rin tayo ng kalakasan na nagmumula sa Kanya, para po matutunan nating mahalin ang lahat, at maging perfect, sapagkat ito ang panawagan sa atin ng Diyos. Sa ngalan ng Ama, ng Anak, at ng Espiritu Santo, Amen.

Praying for One's Enemies - click here

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

About This Blog

Hi, everyone.

My name is Laurence Lim. I am a Filipino Catholic, an architect, and I am currently working in a design firm in Doha, Qatar.

Back in the Manila, I took delight in visiting a Catholic Church almost every day, to hear mass, and to spend time praying at the Blessed Sacrament. Practically in any place in Manila, I can find God’s abode. However, upon arriving in Qatar, I found out that there is only one Catholic Church in Doha, and its location is far away from where I reside. Regrettably, given my schedule at work, I could not visit the church every day and hear mass, and was confined to my daily rosary and prayers at home.

But God truly finds a way to convey His message to us. One day, my Mammu Chinn started to send me SMS and e-mail messages, as she wanted to share the priest’s reflections at the daily masses that she hears in Manila. Knowing that I could not go to church every day and my longing to do such, Mammu Chinn made me a part of her daily masses, and also shared with me God’s daily blessings, through the reflections. Mammu Chinn always made me feel connected through her pure motherly love, her prayers and her strong faith in God.

The reflections are very nice and inspiring, and have been very helpful in my daily meditation and prayer. For me, the Word of God is always fresh, novel and real, and thus worth sharing. It is for this reason that I was inspired to create a blog, with the hope that others will also be blessed by the reflections, quotes and messages that I have collected through time.

I was finally able to create the Blog in August, 2012, during a long vacation at the end of Ramadan. Though not a techy like others, I tried my best to make the Blog as clear, easy to read, and user-friendly as possible. I have also browsed the Net to find suitable images* for my posts. I have also asked the help of Mammu Chinn to check the reflections that she has sent me, to make sure we did not miss anything.

Mammu Chinn and I would like to thank (though indirectly) all the priests who have shared their reflections through the masses. Their homilies are spiritually enriching, and will always serve as a guide and reminder to us. Although the reflections are not as verbatim as they could be, Mammu Chinn told me that she has tried her best to capture the priest’s words as faithfully as possible.

I am not a very religious person or one claiming to follow the footsteps to sainthood, but one thing I am sure of is this – I love God and I believe in Him. With God’s grace and guidance, I will try my best to improve myself and my life. In my own little way, I will strive to be closer to God.

I hope that this Blog will help you be closer to God, too, and enjoy His abundant blessings. Let’s keep our life in tune with God – every day!

* Note: I do not own the images in my posts, and if there is anyone whose image I have inadvertently used, just feel free to inform me. Thank you and God bless.

Lift Songs of Praise to the Lord

Ephesians 5:17

17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

God wants us to walk as wise men and women, and not as fools. (Ephesians 5:15) Now, He will not tell us to walk in wisdom without showing us how. That is why His Word goes on to say, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

So what is the will of God? The next two verses tell us how to identify it: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”. (Ephesians 5:18–19)

As you allow yourself to be filled with the Spirit by lifting songs of praise to the Lord, singing or speaking (God knows some of us can’t sing!) psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and making melody in your heart to the Lord, God promises that you will know what His will is for your situation. You will then have the wisdom to decide wisely what to do next.

8So my friend, lift up songs of praise to the Lord, whether times are good or bad. For when you fill your mouth with praises to God, He will lead you and guide you in all the affairs of your life. Even if you are stuck with a problem, He will show you the way to go or make a way out for you. Either way, you will get the wisdom and help that you need!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gospel Reflection

Contributors