Gospel Reflection

February 16, 2013

Saturday – Year of Faith – Lenten Season

by Rev. Fr. Hans Magdurulang, Prefect of Discipline, Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary, Makati

12:15PM Mass, Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, SM Megamall

                         

Reading 1 Is 58:9b-14

Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.”

If you hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. (11ab) Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

Gospel Lk 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

HOMILY

This morning, I was at the Layforce Chapel at the San Carlos Complex in Makati. I was there to give a talk about the healing ministry of Jesus. I gave a talk to our church lay leaders. Punong-puno 'yong chapel. Just like what I do in Quiapo, every time I see a huge or a large number of people, as I look at you now, I always ask myself, "Ano kaya ang hinihingi nito sa Diyos?" Looking at you now, I am asking myself, "What are you asking from God? At this very moment, what is your request? What are you asking for, from God?" 

Perhaps some of you are asking for a good result - exam....medical result. Perhaps some of you are asking for a good deal. Good income. Or a good partner. You know I have a friend and I asked her, "Bakit hindi ka pa nag-aasawa? Why are you still single up to now?" Ang sabi niya, "You know Father, I am waiting for the perfect guy." So I said, "Oh...you're waiting for the perfect guy? Then you go to La Loma and Loyola, they are all there, lying down." (laughs) You cannot find a perfect person here on earth. But you can become one. You can try to become one.

But I am sure we are all asking for good health. Lord, pagalingin mo ako. Please heal me. Pagalingin mo po sila. Heal my husband. Heal my wife. Heal my child. Heal my parents. 

But healing does not just start from 'what'. Healing may also come from 'whom'. Because sometimes our illness is not just about the physical - not just the virus or the bacteria that we got. Sometimes, the illness or the pain that we have now is also caused by somebody, by someone else. 

The call of Levy in our Gospel today has something to do with healing. We have heard the story of the vocation of Levy. He is also Matthew. The people during the time of Christ, even till now, are suffering, not only from body or physical illness, but from moral, spiritual, emotional pain. When Jesus heals the blind, when Jesus heals the lame, when Jesus heals the leper, He is actually healing the people around Him. The people who are indifferent to the poor and the sick, who are uncharitable, who are hypocrites, who are judgmental. Because during the time of Christ, for them, sick people are sinners. 

Sabi nila, kaya may sakit, pinarurusahan ng Diyos. Di ba, until now, we have that mentality? May sakit kasi pinarurusahan ng Diyos. My goodness. God is all good. Walang ginawang masama ang Diyos. Huwag mong isisi sa Diyos ang pagkakasakit mo. Huwag ninyong sabihin na 'galing kay Lord ang sakit na ito'. Huh? Eh nagpapagaling nga Siya. How come He will give you that illness?

Sinners need healing. And we are all sinners. We all need healing. 

This Lent, my dear friends, let us listen to the call of Christ. We are all called by Christ to believe and to repent. Christ is inviting all of us to turn away from our sinful thoughts, from our sinful words, from our sinful actions. Turn away....but turn away, not from the poor. Turn away not from the sick. 

This morning, I told the people at the Layforce Chapel. "Do not just pray for the sick. Pray with the sick. Be with them." Do not turn away from the sick. Do not turn away from the sinners. Turn away from your selfishness and pride. Turn away from your sin and turn back to God. 

As we continue this celebration, just like Levy, listen to the call of Christ. God knows we need healing. We all need healing. After I got sick, my doctor advised me to change my lifestyle. Today, Jesus, the Great and Divine Healer, is calling us to change our lifestyle. Now, He is calling you. Do not be afraid to turn away from yourself, and turn back to God. Amen. 

Gospel Reflection

February 15, 2013

Friday – Year of Faith – Lenten Season

by Rev.  Fr. Nilo Mangussad (Rector, Our Lady of Peace Quasi-Parish)

6:30AM Mass at Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace (Our Lady of EDSA)

                         

Reading 1 Is 58:1-9a

Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? Afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bows his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19

R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Gospel Mt 9:14-15

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

HOMILY

There was this 90-year old man who was frail and weak. On Ash Wednesday, his family was so surprised because he was not eating at all. He was just lying down sleeping. At the end of the day, the family was so worried that they asked their family doctor to come over. The doctor asked the elderly man, "Why are you not eating? Don't you have any appetite for it?" The old man said, "It's Ash Wednesday, isn't it? Therefore, it is a day of fasting and abstinence." "Yes", said the doctor, "but you are exempted from it. You're 90 years old." But the elderly man said, "No, I would like to fast because it makes me feel lighter. Because it makes me control my body inclinations. Because I would like to be closer to God and not be controlled by anything material."

My brothers and sisters, if an elderly man of 90 can do something like this, why can't we? What Gandhi said is true. "Fasting crucifies the flesh, therefore, sets the soul free." If we can only learn the meaning of these words.....

We are being controlled by our bodily appetites. We like to eat lechon, we like to eat adobo....ice cream. We like to eat all things. Everything that is not good for our earthly bodies. It is good to taste them once in a while, but not to indulge. However, the people of the present time more than just indulge. It has become a lifestyle to eat these foods. That destroys our bodies.

Here, the Lord is reminding us. Fasting helps us to set our thoughts, our minds, our soul back to the light of our salvation. It is not preventing us from eating and enjoying life here on earth. It is setting our soul free. We have a choice. Giving up certain things is not simply lying there fasting, but aligning ourselves to our true identity as God's children.  

In this season of Lent, are we doing the alignment for our heavenly inheritance, or are we simply doing this because everybody is doing it?

Gospel Reflection

February 14, 2013

Thursday – Year of Faith – Lenten Season

by Rev. Fr. Benjamin “Benjo” Fajota (Vice Rector of the EDSA Shrine)

12:15PM Mass at Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace (Our Lady of EDSA)

                         

Reading 1 Dt 30:15-20

Moses said to the people: “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

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

R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Gospel Lk 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

HOMILY

Early this morning, I received a text message. Nakalagay doon: "Dear Lord, kung hindi di mo ako bibigyan ng ka-date ngayong Valentine's, sana po 'yong nagbabasa nito ay....huwag mo ring bigyan ng ka-date, para damay-damay na." (laughs) 

The world celebrates today the Hearts' Day or Love Day. In our Gospel for today, God shows us the true meaning, the true kind of love. And it is symbolized by the cross. 

The cross, during Jesus's time, was the most hated, most painful, most humiliating, most feared kind of death. But today, we celebrate the cross. We adore, we cherish the cross. And Jesus Himself tells us that we must embrace our crosses in life. "Whoever loses his life for My sake, will save it." 

We have forgotten the true meaning of sacrifice. It is giving up something which is good, in order to gain a higher good. Our life is so precious. Our life is so important to us. Our self, our egos. That's why when people talk against us, when people say negative things about us, we get mad. We want to retaliate and we keep those people as our enemies. When people say something, narinig natin, "Sinabi ni ganito, ganyan ka daw. Narinig ko, sinabi ni ganito." What we have to realize is, we must not mind what other people are saying about us. It's none of our business, 'no? Bahala silang magsalita. One psychologist said, "What other people tell of us do not necessarily have to be our own reality." We must really know ourselves, we must have to educate ourselves not to be prompted by our emotions because of what we hear about what other people tell us. Kung anuman ang sabihin nila, hindi makaka-apekto sa atin 'yon. Dahil kung kilalang-kilala natin ang ating sarili ay hindi tayo maapektuhan. 

And that is one way of embracing the cross. Loving people who talk against us. Loving people who spread rumors against us. Loving people who are unlovable, and who become our crosses in life. Jesus is telling us to embrace them. 

At the beginning of our journey of Lent, God is telling us to focus on that more important kind of love. The kind of love that Jesus gave for all of us. Giving up Himself, shedding His blood to the last drop. The summary of the life of Jesus Christ - from the moment He was born in Bethlehem, until He died in Calvary - can be summed up in three words. As we look at the cross here, listen to what Jesus Christ is telling all of us. "Father, forgive them." And this is the kind of love that we must also show to the rest of our brothers and sisters. Forgiving them of their faults. Forgiving them of their sinfulness. Forgiving them of all the mistakes and the problems they caused us. That is dying to ourselves. Amen.

Gospel Reflection

February 13, 2013

Ash Wednesday – Year of Faith

by Rev.  Fr. Matthieu Dauchez

6;30AM Mass at Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace (Our Lady of EDSA)

                         

Reading 1 Jl 2:12-18

Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing, Offerings and libations for the LORD, your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; Gather the people, notify the congregation; Assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast; Let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her chamber. Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep, And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach, with the nations ruling over them! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land and took pity on his people.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17

R. (see 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Reading 2 2 Cor 5:20—6:2

Brothers and sisters: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Gospel Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

HOMILY

My dear brothers and sisters, we have started already our Lenten Season. It is Ash Wednesday, and our Gospel is very clear.

The Gospel is teaching us that if you make efforts public, if you make your efforts known by others, there is no reward. No reward. Why? Because this is one of the most important conditions of love - to remain discreet and humble in all our actions and deeds of love in our daily life.

I conclude that our Gospel today is a real program for Lent. It is a real program of love - of true love - for men. It is because all our efforts during the Lenten Season should be efforts of love. So it is a real program of love. If you give something to the needy, do not make a big show; this is for alms. Then when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; this is for prayer. And finally, when you fast, do not put a sad face; this is for fasting.

These are the three points of our program for Lenten season. It is very simple, in fact. The program's three points - true alms, real prayer, and real fasting - have one common condition, and that is, secrecy, humility, discretion.

My dear brothers and sisters, for this new Lenten season, let us give meaning to what we are doing. Let us give meaning to all our efforts, to all our resolutions. Let us give meaning, which means, doing it really, in deed, having real resolution. But let us not take pride of it. Let us be discreet. Let us put love in every little deed of our life. Amen.