Gospel Reflection

October 26, 2013

Saturday – Year of Faith – Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. David 'Dave' T. Buenaventura, SDB
Councilor & Pugad Centre Director and Counsellor, St. John Bosco Parish, Makati
7:30AM Mass, St. John Bosco Parish Church (Don Bosco Church), Makati

Reading 1 Rom 8:1-11

Brothers and sisters: Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit with the things of the spirit.  The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace. For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Responsorial Psalm PS 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

R. (see 6) Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Gospel Lk 13:1-9

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply,  “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way  they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed  when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty  than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,  and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree  but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also,  and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;  it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

HOMILY

Just a brief reflection on our Gospel for today's liturgy. 

What can a barren fig tree tell us about the Kingdom of God? Fig trees are a common and important source of food for the Jews. A decaying fig tree was used in the Gospel to mean evil deeds and spiritual decay. The fruitless fig tree symbolized the outcome of Israel's unresponsiveness to the Word of God. The prophets depicted the languishing tree as a symbol of destruction that would fall on Israel because of their unfaithfulness to God. We find this in the books of Joel, Habakkuk and likewise, the book of Jeremiah. And Jeremiah, himself, said that evil people are like rotten figs. 

Can the parable of a barren fig tree be a warning to us also? We can ask ourselves - are we responsive to the Word of God? Is the Word of God part of our spiritual nourishment? Do we use the Word of God for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for trimming to righteousness, as we find in the letter of Paul to Timothy?

The parable of the barren fig tree also shows the patience of God. But at the same time, it contains a warning that we should not presume upon it. God gives us time to get right with Him, but the time is not tomorrow. It is always now. We must not assume that there is no hurry. A sudden or unexpected death gives us no time to prepare, to settle one's accounts, when we stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment. The Lord wants us to be ready at all times. 

Tolerating sinful habits and excusing unrepented sin will result in bad fruit and eventual destruction. The Lord, in His mercy, gives us both grace and time to turn away from sin and from worldliness. But that time, again, is not tomorrow, but it is now. If we delay it even for a day, we may discover that God's grace has passed us by, and our time is up. Do we hunger for the Lord's righteousness and holiness?

This is my Word of Life for you this morning, in the form of a prayer. Lord, increase my hunger for Your righteousness and holiness. May I embrace the grace of the present moment, to say 'yes' to You, to Your will, and to Your way of holiness. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Gospel Reflection

October 25, 2013

Friday – Year of Faith – Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. Leo Nilo C. Mangussad, - Rector, Shrine of Mary Queen of Peace (Our Lady of Peace Quasi Parish/EDSA Shrine) 

12:15PM Mass at the EDSA Shrine

Reading 1 Rom 7:18-25a

Brothers and sisters: I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Responsorial Psalm PS 119:66, 68, 76, 77, 93, 94

R. (68b) Lord, teach me your statutes.
Teach me wisdom and knowledge,
for in your commands I trust.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
You are good and bountiful;
teach me your statutes.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Let your kindness comfort me
according to your promise to your servants.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Never will I forget your precepts,
for through them you give me life.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.
I am yours; save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
R. Lord, teach me your statutes.

Gospel Lk 12:54-59

Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”

HOMILY

Everybody wants peace. But the problem is we seek our peace from the outside, not from the inside. As Jesus said in the Gospel, we are good at seeing things, and reading signs around us and from other people. But we cannot read the signs inside our hearts - our pains, our sufferings, our resolutions, our faith in God. The Lord is telling us to look from deep within us, for us to use our intellect to see what is happening inside of us, before we start healing others. 

Just like in the First Reading, we want to do good, but the bad continues to take over us. If we are able to master this, peace will come. We do not need to look for it; it will come, because peace must come from within us first, before it can be felt by others. 

The question we must ask ourselves is - I am very good at interpreting signs outside of me, but am I capable of interpreting what I have inside my heart?

Gospel Reflection

October 24, 2013

Thursday – Year of Faith – Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. Benjo Fajota, Vice Rector, Mary, Queen of Peace Shrine (Our Lady of Peace Quasi Parish/EDSA Shrine)
7:00 PM Mass at the EDSA Shrine

Reading 1 Rom 6:19-23

Brothers and sisters: I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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

R. (Ps 40:5) 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 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father,  a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

HOMILY

In April 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. A year after, his brother, Daniel, drowned. And six years after, his mother was also shot to death inside the church. When the assassin was asked why he did it, he answered, "I hate Christians. They are all my enemies." 

For someone in the position of Martin Luther King, Sr., with these tragedies that befell his life and his family, it would be understandable if he turned against God, if he rejected God or if he got angry with God. But nothing of that sort happened. During the funeral of his wife, since he was also the pastor, he said, "Today, I am strong. I cannot leave anyone."

How many of us, with all the tragedies and trials that we have experienced in life, can still have this unwavering faith in God? Perhaps some of us who have experienced lesser trials and tragedies, will already be outrightly denying God, rejecting God. And that would be understandable. 

All of us will go through a baptism of fire. But we have to ask for God's strength in order to overcome these. That's why in praying the 'Our Father', we pray that we may not be lead into temptation, and that we may not be given the test.

My dear brothers and sisters, the baptism of fire that Jesus did for us - dying on the Cross - saved us from our sins. All of us as Christians, must also hurdle these tests, these trials, this baptism of fire. And we are asked to hold on to our faith, to remain faithful to God, in spite of all these challenges. There will be times when we will be asked to separate or reject even our own family members and loved ones, but God must be our priority. Amen.

Gospel Reflection

October 23, 2013

Wednesday – Year of Faith – Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. Joel Jason (Dean of Studies, Graduate School of Theology San Carlos Seminary)
12:15PM Mass, Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord (SM Megamall Chapel)

Reading 1 Rom 6:12-18

Brothers and sisters: Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness,  but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.  For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

Responsorial Psalm PS 124:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8

R. (8a) Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us,
let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us–
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive;
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us
a prey to their teeth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers’ snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 12:39-48

Jesus said to his disciples:  “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly.  Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

HOMILY

If you have been going to our Holy Eucharist since Monday, you will notice that our Readings, especially today's First Reading and our Gospel, speak of a common theme. And what is the theme that is being discussed since Monday? It is the theme of servanthood. The theme of surrendering to the Lord. The theme of allowing the Lord to be Lord of our life. 

Tamang tama. Ano ba ang original word or root word of the word 'Lord'? It comes from the Latin word 'dominus', where we get the word 'domination'. And so, in a way, our Gospel is telling us to let us allow the Lord to dominate us. 

And for the modern man, whenever we hear the word 'domination', we are allergic to that word. Ayaw nating marinig ang ganyang mga salita. For example, in our First Reading for today in the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, Paul kept on referring to himself as the slave of the Lord. Imagine calling himself a slave. In our modern parlance, in our modern milieu, we don't use the word 'slave' anymore, because the term 'slave' has a negative connotation. 

And in our Gospel for today, Jesus gives us a parable of Christians awaiting the return of the Master, although in our Gospel for today, the word being used is already 'servants'. But when we look at the original Greek word that was used in the Gospel, it is 'doulos', which literally also means 'slave', not a 'servant'. So, both the First Reading and the Gospel are consistent in telling us that we need to be slaves before the Lord. 

But how are we going to understand it? We will only be able to appreciate the meaning of the term if we purify it with our modern-day understanding. Kasi, sa panahon natin ngayon, when we hear the word 'slave', ang naaalala natin ay mga alipin. But in the Gospel, whenever the word 'slave' is being used, it only refers to the overall effect and influence of God in every area of our life. Meaning, the Lord will truly be 'dominus'. He will dominate each and every aspect and dimension of our life. And that is what it means to be a slave before the Lord. 

I remember reading a quote from a philosopher who said, "....better to reign in hell, than to serve in heaven." Why? Because we are allergic to the word 'service'. Because whenever we hear the word 'service' or 'slavery', we look at it as an anti-thesis to our own freedom and our own dignity. 

And yet, in our Gospel for today, Jesus reminds us - do not be afraid to surrender yourself to the dominion of the Lord. Why? Because the master-slave mentality does not exist in the Gospel. Why? Because when Jesus came, He already changed and purified the meaning of the word 'Master'. Before the coming of the Lord, the word 'Master' refers to someone who dominates the slave. But when Jesus came, what did He do? He purified and changed the meaning of the word 'Master'. And how do we comprehend the word 'Master' now? Jesus is the One who came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

This means that ever since the Incarnation, the word 'Master' is already understood in a different way in the Gospel. Kaya nga sa ating simbahan ngayon, you often hear the word 'servant-leader'. This term is derivative of the meaning of 'Master' in the Gospels. 'Master' is no longer one who dominates. 'Master' is now one who donates and gives himself and gives his life for many. 

So sa araw na ito, ano ang pwede nating gawin? How do we understand or exercise the word 'Master'? I'm sure, all of us here, we are all masters in our little capacities. So how do we exercise the position of being a master? Second, we can also ask ourselves. How do we react, or how do we embrace the meaning of the word 'servant'? Are we allergic to the word 'servant'? Are we unnecessarily afraid of the word 'servant'? And therefore, are we also afraid to surrender ourself to the domination of God? 

In our Gospel for today, Jesus telling us how blessed we are when we expect the coming of the Lord in the spirit of servanthood. As we continue in this Holy Mass, let that be the grace that we will ask from the Lord. Lord, it is in surrendering to You, that we become more free. And it is in surrendering to Your dominion, that true freedom will be given to us. Amen.