Gospel Reflection

August 05, 2013

Monday – Year of Faith – Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. Richard James Babao
Vice Minister, Archdiocesan Ministry on Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs & Assistant Priest, Ina ng Laging Saklolo Parish, Punta, Sta. Ana, Manila
12:15PM Mass at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord (Megamall Chapel)

Reading 1 Nm 11:4b-15

The children of Israel lamented, “Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.”

Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin. When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, which tasted like cakes made with oil. At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell.

When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved. “Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the LORD. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all this people?  Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers? Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, ‘Give us meat for our food.’ I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress.”

 

Responsorial Psalm PS 81:12-13, 14-15, 16-17

R. (2a) Sing with joy to God our help.
“My people heard not my voice,
and Israel obeyed me not;
So I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts;
they walked according to their own counsels.”
R. Sing with joy to God our help.
“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
Quickly would I humble their enemies;
against their foes I would turn my hand.”
R. Sing with joy to God our help.
“Those who hated the LORD would seek to flatter me,
but their fate would endure forever,
While Israel I would feed with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them.”
R. Sing with joy to God our help.

 

Gospel Mt 14:13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” He said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over– twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

HOMILY

It is easy to understand the concern of the disciples of Jesus. They had concern with the people. But I think what they lack, as Jesus was telling them, is that, when people come to us for help, sometimes it is easy for us to refer them to others. If people seek our help, sometimes we refer them to foundations, to other groups who are willing to help. And it is easier that way.

But Jesus, in the Gospel, is saying that sometimes, we have to utilize whatever resources we have first, before we push others away and let them go to other people. The disciples in the Gospel, have been with Jesus, but they may have forgotten what they learned from Jesus when they were together. Sometimes, if we just look at our own resources, we see how little they are. But if we look at the vastness, the goodness of the graces of God, we will know that is far beyond we can ever imagine.

If yesterday's Gospel talked about material possessions, greed and selfishness, today, God is asking us to look at how generous God is, with us. If only we have the eyes and try to see. If only we see what is with us, and not what is lacking, then we will see the gifts and blessings of the Lord. If only the Israelites realized their blessings, with the manna that the Lord gave them. Perhaps, if they were Filipinos, somehow they will manage to be thankful, that at least, they have something to eat.  

My dear brothers and sisters, if we make the blessings of the Lord work in our lives, it is easier to be generous to people. It is easier to see how our blessings can make the lives of others better. Amen.

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

Gospel Reflection

August 17, 2012

Friday

Weekday

By Rev. Fr. Richard Babao (Ecumenical Minister)

Megamall

First Reading:   Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63 or Ezekiel 16:59-63         

Psalm:             Isaiah 12:2-6     

Gospel:            Matthew 19:3-12                       

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" 4 He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." 7 They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" 8 He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries commits adultery." 10 The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry." 11 But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."

HOMILY

The Gospel today focused on our commitment to our vocation, whether it be single-blessedness or religious, but great emphasis was given to husbands and wives. No husband should divorce his wife. Those who are meant to accept ought to accept.

God loved Israel so much that He remains faithful to it up to this day, even if Israel has become conceited or self-centered in the past. Such should be the commitment and faithfulness that couples should devote to each other.

Ano man ang maging vocation mo, just be faithful and committed to do good.