Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 28, 2020

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 28, 2020

Reflection

Hospitality has always been a hallmark of the Filipino. We Filipinos pamper our guests as if they were royalty. Where then does hospitality flow from? If we think deeply about it, hospitality reflects the dignity we bestow upon our guests based on our appraisal of them. Too often we treat better the better looking guests.

Our readings know about this universal human feature. The first reading narrates the prophet’s welcome that Elisha received. Wishing to pay back, Elisha intervenes on his hosts’ lack of a male heir, which is an embarrassment in their culture. It seems that great hospitality merits reward.

The psalm however reminds us that we are not the hosts. We have always been guests and God is our gracious host. The love and mercy of God does not depend on the righteousness of man. He loves both good and evil men. In front of this gratuity the psalm answers in gratitude.

This is the very point of the challenge of Jesus. Our Christian hospitality is not a reflection of our appraisal of people. If we do, we only merit justice. Instead, our hospitality is a reflection of the mercy of God. It extends to those without honor and dignity, the little ones, to whom we are invited to be inviting. If we do, we become God’s mercy to our community.

St. Paul strongly pointed out that a Christian’s life is not his own. He is living the life of Christ. Just as Christ died for men, both great and small, so must a Christian give himself to his brothers and sisters. Our hospitality is not about offering what we have to those that deserve it. Our hospitality is offering who we are to even those that don’t deserve it.

It might be a losing gamble but Jesus assures us that in the end we lose nothing. Everything is in the hands of the Father. Those who take up this cross does not lose any of what he has or any of who he is. Those who follow the mercy of God finds himself, and so much more, finds eternal life.

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 21, 2020

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - June 21, 2020

Reflection

Jeremiah is one of the most persecuted prophets. And he laments to God in the midst of the betrayals against him. Despite the insurmountable difficulty he faces both outside and inside Kingdom, and the injustice he received from his own countrymen, he resolutely submitted himself to God. By proclamation of faith he has shown us that God does not abandon his children.

God knows that man passes through the valley of tears. Pain and death is the consequence of sin, of the separation of humanity from God. Every human being suffers, both the good and the bad. But God is greater than sin and death, and he willed to overturn the curse of sin. Jesus reminds us through the Gospel reading that God is a Father who understands our pain and suffering.

Jesus is the overturning of death and sin. He undoes the disobedience of Adam and in doing so became the source of salvation. Jesus is the salvation of every Jeremiah today, for each person who suffers social injustice and the sting of personal sin. He is the compassion and understanding of God; and in his eyes, each person has worth. Do not be afraid.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ - June 14, 2020

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ - June 14, 2020

Reflection

Jesus was a famous preacher. Many considered him a great prophet. People saw in him a rising religious career and they flocked towards him, drawn by his words and his miracles. Yet here is an episode where Jesus lost almost all his followers, got unfriended, received unlikes and bad reviews. It was the downturn of Jesus' stardom but he knew what he had to do and pressed on.

"Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." This statement so scandalized the crowd they left Jesus and ceased following him. Jesus, however, was insistent. What he teaches is something that was a radical fulfillment of God's promises in the Old Testament.

The chosen people has always remembered how God cared for them in the desert. He provided them with water and manna, the bread from heaven. He saved them from death and from the venom of the serpent just by looking at a serpent mounted on a pole. This was a story of survival. That in escaping slavery, they had to struggle through the desert and God fed them both with food and his words.

Jesus now offers himself as the food that will save from death and slavery. He is both Word and food. He offers his blood and his flesh as the real bread from heaven. Just as each specie has to consume in order to extend their lives, Jesus gives himself to man that humanity may gain eternal life. The fullness of life within God, is passed on to man by allowing man to consume God.

This is one of the most difficult teachings of Christ and even now, we cannot fully grasp the mystery of it. Yet it does happen that when a Christian unites himself with Jesus in the most physical way, he becomes a part of him together with all who is united in Christ. God made this possible in Jesus who is God-in-the-flesh yet it is only through faith that man opens himself to this mystery.

True Christian faith does not only believe in the words of Jesus, but also feeding from Jesus. There is no other way.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - June 7, 2020

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity - June 7, 2020

Reflection

Love entails knowledge. God in loving us, knows us. This time our liturgical readings present to us a God who makes himself known so that we might love him. While our concept of God is always clothed in glory and power, our readings present to us a more personal image of him. Our God is not one who is seated on the throne from afar, but one who involves himself with the people he cares about.

One of the most sacred phrases to describe God in the Old Testament is highlighted in our first reading. He is "rich in kindness and fidelity". For the chosen people, God is the faithful lover despite the infidelities of the beloved people. This faithfulness flows from a deepest depths of his compassion that not only does he share the suffering of his people, he dwells among them in fellowship.

This theme of faithfulness, compassion, and fellowship is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. John the Evangelist summed up the whole message of the scriptures in his declaration that Jesus is the love of God sent to man. It is important to understand that when Jesus came to become man God stooped down from the heights of heaven to extend a both hands for his children.

This understanding of the richness of the identity of God as love is central to our Christian faith. Because from what be believe, we become. St. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth to mirror that fidelity and love of God with one another, with the "holy kiss". Christians are not only intimately united to God in love, but also deeply and truly in love with one another.

The point of God revealing himself to us is to transform us into himself. Humanity, despite its weaknesses and short comings, has been destined to be loved and to love with the fidelity, compassion and fellowship of God.