30^th Sunday-Year A

Ex. 22:20-26

Psalm 18

1 Thes. 1: 5-10

Matt. 22:34-40

God Loves You; So Do I

One of my adopted parents in Ames, Iowa, Richard Matt of blessed memory, never saw me without telling me: God loves you, so do I! In other words “ I love you because God loves you”! He always explained to me that his love for me was an extension of God’s love for him. Beloved, the truth of the human condition is that there are might be people in our families, work places, communities, schools, even churches that we might not like or might not want to have any thing to do with. However, Christianity is a call to become a true friend of God and all God’s friends.

In the gospel today, our Lord Jesus reminds us that we show our love to God by loving all that God loves. In the days of Jesus, the Jewish leaders had developed more than 600 laws from the Ten Commandments. The rabbis often debated which of these laws was the greatest. Usually, these debates were to show off and test how much a rabbi knew. A good rabbi was one who could remember all these laws and teach them to the people. The rabbis took pride in how much they knew about God. So they tested Jesus to see how much he knew about God. As usual, Jesus knew their intention but kept his cool and used the occasion as a teaching moments by reminding his audience that the goal of any true religion is not just about how much you have read or know about God, even though that is important, but rather, how much you love God: How much you offer God your mind, heart, and soul; and how much you receive God in others.

Another experience that drives today’s scriptural readings home for me is my encounter with one of my little friends in Iowa about six months ago. I have a little friend in Iowa, who is about eight years old. I have known her and the family for the past four years; but she only began to like me few months ago. She always avoided me and would tell me in the face, I don’t like you! As you can imagine, her parents always felt very bad when she did that and apologized on her behalf. But few months ago as I was Skyping with the family, she ran to the camera and shouted, “I love you!”, which surprised the parents and me even more! So I asked: “Why do you love me today? What did I do right?-J” Her response was “I decided to like you because my Dad loves you” My Little friend was telling me, left to her, she would not really care about me; but she decided to show her gratitude and love for her dad by caring about what her dad cares about: Me. She was just extending her love for her dad to me. This, for me, is what God calls us to do as Christians: To show our gratitude and love for him by extending that love to all those he cares about, all of humanity and created things. 

Loving God with all your mind, your heart and your soul means that God will, at times, invite you to love him in people you might not care about or people you might even strongly dislike. This is the point that God is calling our attention to in the first reading. He challenges the Israelites to express their friendship with God in the way they treat the friends of God, especially the widow, the orphan, and the poor, and those they considered foreigners. God is telling them if you don’t accept and reach out to these friends of mine then you don't love me. God loves all but had a preferential love for the poor, the widow/widower, the orphan and all the vulnerable. If you love God, you will reach out to the widow and the widower and make their problem your problem because your heavenly Father cares about them. You will care about the foreigner and approach immigration issues as a way of extending God’s love to the foreigner and be able to tell those you consider strangers, I care about you because my heavenly father cares about you. You will be charitable towards the poor and defend the vulnerable and the oppressed because your heavenly Father cares about them.

Beloved, this is how the early church understood love of God and neighbor. This explains why St. Paul is praising the Church in Thessalonica for accepting God’s friendship and extending that friendship to him, Paul, his companions, and others friends of God in Macedonia and in Achaia.

As we ponder today’s readings, let us ask ourselves: Who, right now in my life, is most in need of love? Whom do I find most difficult to love? Can you imagine how beautiful our world would be if we can all make that transition my little friend from Iowa made. To be able to tell someone, I don’t like you but I have decided to love you because my Heavenly Father loves you! Can you imagine how beautiful the world would be if we all truly lived out the words of my adopted Father: God loves you; so do I? Living this way is what it means to know and worship God. This is what it means to glorify the Lord with our lives!

26^th Sunday-Year A

Ezekiel 18:25-28

Ps. 25

Phil 2:1-11

Mt. 21:28-32

Anytime we Obey God, A Soul is Saved!

Beloved in Christ, before God created the world, the book of Genesis tells us that everything was in disorder. It was all confusion; but God decided to create all things, especially human beings in order to bring order, goodness, beauty, peace, and joy to creation. God created you and me to help him in realizing this vision and making the world a better place for all human beings and all creation. That is why, at times, God will call you to do something that might take more than your strength or might not fall within your plans; and so you might not want to do it. In fact, there are times that you might think God is “unfair” for calling you to do something that might be totally about others, especially when you think that the people don’t “deserve” it. Such was the situation of the Israelites in exile in Babylon when they were suffering but were still called to be a light to other nations. They felt God was not fair for punishing them when they refused to respond to his call to be a light for others. In our reading today, God is reminding them that he does not give people what they “deserve” but rather what they need. Thus, Israel and all who are called by God cannot only focus on what people deserve, but must understand God’s justice and love as giving people what they need, spiritually and physically, to be what he created them to be. Thus, in our first reading, God calls on us to change our minds from committing any sin, turning our backs on people, or from doing things our own way, because when we obey God, a soul is saved. We embrace salvation and become a means of salvation for others when we obey God.

In our responsorial psalm, the psalmist reflects on his faith in God and comes to the conclusion that faith must go beyond admiration of God. Faith must be transformative and life-giving.  My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I believe that we are all gathered here today because we believe in Jesus, admire him, and want to be like him, right? I need an answerJ If that is the case then St. Paul, in our second reading, has some great advice for us. He tells us that if we really want out lives to be live-giving, then we need to think of our lives as a participation in the work of the Holy Spirit and seek to obey God because the secret to Jesus’s success is obedience to the Father. Even in Gethsemane when he had a different view about the cross and told his Father that, left to him alone, he would have wished that the cup would pass him by, Jesus still obeyed his Father and put you and me first: Father even though this is not the way I want it, even though I do not want to drink this cup, if it's about them, if this will bring them life, then so be it I will obey you! (emphasis mine).  Beloved, obedience to God’s Word is what will help us become more life-giving. In our gospel today, the Parable of the Two Sons, Jesus reminds us that (1). Faith in is more than saying “I believe”. Faith in God involves giving God both your word and your life. It is a love relationship in which we honor God with both your words and actions. (2). It is never too late to change your mind and obey God because anytime you do, a soul is saved and God is gloried.

Beloved in Christ, a story that one of my family friends shared with me this past weekend affirms the truth that when we change our minds and obey God, a soul is saved. This family has a daughter who has been struggling with drug addiction for the past ten years. She is in her 40s but because of her struggles she has no job and has to depend on her parents for financial support.  At a point, the parents got tired of helping her because she does not seem to change. The relationship between these parents and their daughter got worse and for the past six months she decided not to talk to the parents any longer. They also decided to ignore her. However, two weeks ago, the father said he was praying and heard an inner voice that they should buy a new car for their daughter. He shared this with his wife but their initial reaction was: NO! We are not doing that. Three days later, they changed their minds and bought the car and drove it to their daughter’s house. When they gave her the car, she thanked them, cried, and said: You just saved my life! They did not understand what she meant but as the conversation went on she showed them a note she had written. She was about to end it because her car had broken down and for the past three months and she had not been able to go to her doctors’ appointments and other treatments for addiction. She had come to the conclusion that if she could not even get to her appointments to get help for her addictions, then life was not worth living. Thank God, her parents decided to change their minds and obey the voice of God. These parents changed their minds to obey God and they saved their daughter’s life. Beloved, that is what God can do through us when we obey him.

Is God calling you to do something that you don’t want to do? Are you resisting the voice of God in any way? Do not be afraid to obey God; because if you do, God will save some life through you. May God give us the grace to be Christians not only in our minds, and in our words, but most importantly, in our hearts and in our deeds

23^rd Sunday- Year A

Ez. 33:7-9

Psalm 95: 1-9

Rom. 13:8-10

Mt. 18:15-20

Silence is NOT always golden. 

At times souls perish when we keep silent

Beloved in Christ, life is journey and, at times, a very difficult journey. Each human being is on that journey to finding true love, true peace, and true joy in this life. Every human being is on a journey towards a life that is more beautiful and more fulfilling than what this world alone can offer, that kind of life that we Christians call eternal life, which is the fullness of life found only in Christ Jesus. We all need help, support, and guidance because we can lose our way; and in most cases we do lose our way. God knows that we cannot travel this life journey alone and so he gives us the gift of family, church, community, and society. That is why we were born into a family. God did not make us drop from the sky because we need other human beings to walk with us in life. In the Old Testament times God chose prophets to guide the people into the Promised Land and help them find love, joy, and peace that only God can give.

After guiding the people of God to walk away from slavery and oppression, Moses prayed that all human beings become prophets (Numbers 11:29) so that we all can guide one another to find true fulfillment in life. In Joel 2:28, God promised to pour his Spirit on all human beings so that they can walk with each other on this difficult journey of life. Beloved, that promise was fulfilled on the day you were baptized; that day when God poured his Spirit on you and made you a prophet so that you can guide others to find the path to life in God. Our readings today remind us of our identity and responsibility as baptized prophets of God and how we can best carry that out.

In our first reading today, God tells us that if we refuse to help people who go astray God will hold us responsible for standing aside silent while people destroy their lives. The reading reminds us that Silence is Not Always Golden. When we fail to speak the truth in love, souls perish. St. Paul in the second reading tells us that helping each other to find the right path to life is not an option. We owe it to people to point our their mistakes in love and help them on their journey. We call that spiritual work of mercy. That is what it means to be a Christian, and being charitable goes beyond giving people food and money. True charity, (caritas) calls for caring not only about the physical needs of people, but also caring about their souls.

However, Beloved in Christ, it is not easy at all to live our prophetic calling. How many times have you heard somebody saying: “It’s my own life, don’t tell me how to live it”. Today, almost every act of fraternal correction is mistaken as “judgment”, and one of the most popular sentences today is “don’t judge me” or “I don’t want to judge”. As I reflect on this, I ask myself: Do I keep silent when I see a soul perishing? How do I receive the prophets that God sends to me?

Many of us Christians hide behind this phrase “I don’t want to judge” and ignore our call to be prophets for one another. Beloved, there is difference between judgment and fraternal correction. Judgment is condemning somebody and choosing not to have anything to do with that person. Fraternal correction says “I love you too much to stand aside and see you destroy your life so I want to walk with you and help you overcome this weakness and find true peace and joy”. This kind of spiritual work of mercy calls for understanding the world as a family, it calls for abolishing individualism and relativism and embracing values, such as collective and communal responsibility.

Jesus gives us a three-step strategy to help us succeed in our role as prophets. If a brother or sister refuses to listen to you, call two or three people to help you approach the person. If that does not work, let the church know. If he/she refuses to listen to the Church, treat the person as a sinner or a tax collector. Jesus did not mean we should give up on the person; that would have been very easy. But No, when Jesus said treat him like a sinner or a tax collector, he was calling the disciples to follow his example: the way he treats sinners and tax collectors like Matthew. He continues to love them even through their struggles.

Have you given up on anybody? Have you given up on your son or daughter, your sibling, your friend, your co-worker, your teacher, your students, your husband or wife etc? Beloved, we need each other. As a prophet, you were called to walk with people in good and in bad times, when they are at their best, but also when they are at their worse. At times, when we keep silent, many souls perish. May God grant us the wisdom to know when to keep silent but also when to speak so that souls do not perish.  

22^nd Sunday-Year A

Jer. 20: 7-9

Psalm 63

Rom 12: 1-2

Mt. 16-21-27

It Takes Sacrifice, So Do Something!!!

One of my favorite Christian music artists is Matthew West. He sang a song called Do Something. In that song, Matthew West says he woke up one day and felt very sad about all the evils and problems in the world: the poverty, the killing of innocent people, the wars, families that are broken, children dying of hunger, people who are killing themselves because they have lost hope in our world and have lost hope in God. In that song, Matthew West said he prayed to God asking God to do something and then he heard a voice telling him: I have done something: I have created You!

Beloved in Christ, life can be tough and there are so many sufferings that happen in life that are beyond our control as human beings. An example is hurricane Harvey. We cannot control natural disasters like this but we can control human actions that contribute to global warming and rising sea levels. Therefore, as we thank all those who have contributed money and different resources to the people of Taxes to help reduce the suffering caused by the hurricane, we also need to do something about our actions and behaviors that contribute towards global warming and climate change. Sisters and Brothers, this is not a political talk. It is not a conversation for democrats or republicans. It is a problem that affects all human beings everywhere in the world so we, human beings, must talk about this and do something to stop any action that contributes to global warming.

Beloved, our scriptural readings today invite us to do something do and help put an end to suffering and pain in our world. In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah reminds us that we need to continue to speak the truth of God’s Word even if people reject us because of that because it is only the Word of God that can bring an end to suffering, So, even if preaching and living it brings us suffering, we should not stop preaching it. In the gospel, Jesus, the Word made flesh, tells us that it takes Sacrifice to bring joy into people’s life. It takes sacrifice to feed the poor and end poverty. It takes, sacrifice to look out for and stop the abuse and the killing of innocent people. It takes sacrifice to end the wars in our world. It takes sacrifice to heal and restore broken families. It takes sacrifice to bring hope to those who have lost hope in life are giving up. That is what it means to take up the cross, deny yourself by sacrificing your life so that others will have life.

St. Paul, in our second reading, reminds us that the only way we can put Jesus’s words into practice is to refuse to conform to the wisdom of this age and be transformed by the renewal of our minds and hearts. The wisdom of this age tells us that life will be better for me if I focus on “me” and make choices that make me happy and confortable. We live in an age when everything is “I” as seen in the many “i” s that dominate our culture today: iPhone, iPad, iPod, iTV, iWatch, etc. Don’t get me wrong; I like Apple and use most of the products because they are good product but is the emphasis on “I” reflecting a kind of philosophy that our culture today espouses where everything is about me and so far as it makes me happy it does not matter what effects it has on people? My Dear People of God, contrary to the wisdom of this age, the Wisdom of the Cross invites us to think “We” but not only  “I”. As we lament the sufferings of the world and call on God to do something about the problems in our families, communities, and country, God reminds us today that he has done something; He has created you, He has created me! God has placed people in our lives not so that we make life worse for them, but that we will sacrifice our lives to reduce and abolish suffering in their lives.

As I reflect on these readings today, the question I ask myself is “I am increasing the pain and suffering of my family, friends, and all those God has placed in my life or am I making choices that reduce their suffering and pain? What are the implications of the choices I am making on my family, friends, and community? My prayer today is Lead me Lord, Lead me Lord, by thy light of truth to seek and to find the narrow way……Amen!

21st Sunday-Year A

Is. 22:19-23

Psalm 138:1-8

Rom: 11:33-36

Mt. 16:13-20

God Has Placed the Keys to the Kingdom on Your Shoulder

Beloved in Christ, Napoleon, the French revolutionist who wanted to conquer the Catholic Church and the whole world, is believed to have told a Cardinal that, if he so desired, he could destroy the Catholic Church in an instant.  The Cardinal laughed and replied: “You cannot.” Napoleon with a show of power repeated that he would destroy the Church; and again the Cardinal said: “We, the clergy, with all our sins and stupidity have been trying to destroy the Church for 1,800 years and have not succeeded; What makes you think you can?”J Beloved, What the Cardinal said is true not only about the Church but also about the World. No matter how bad things get in the world, God never gives up on his world. He has and will continue to work everyday to save it.

That is the surprising Wisdom of God that St. Paul is talking about in our second reading. According to human wisdom, when something gets bad or rotten you throw it away; but for God when something gets really rotten he chooses to make it new. He does not throw it away. That is why St Paul says God will never stop surprising us.

One of the ways God surprises us is how he chooses the unworthy to be part of the great mission of saving the world. Our first reading and the gospel today use the ancient imagery of the key to explain how God calls human beings to participate in saving the world. In ancient societies, there was the practice of a King choosing one of his most trusted counselors to be second in command by entrusting the keys of the palace to that person. The key was normally placed on the shoulder of the person to symbolize both the honor and responsibility of granting people access to the riches of the kingdom. By receiving the keys, a person becomes the vicar who runs all the affairs of the kingdom as directed by the king. In our first reading, in the days of King Hezekiah, we see God, the King of Israel, placing the keys of the old kingdom of Israel on the shoulder of Eliakim. In the gospel, we see Jesus, the God-incarnate and the King of the New Israel, the Church, entrusting the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter and making him the vicar of Christ. That is why all the successors of St. Peter, the Popes become the vicar of Christ entrusted with the honor and responsibility of caring for the Church on behalf of Christ the King.

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, the gospel teaches us that profession of faith comes with an honor and responsibility. Like St. Peter and his successors the Popes, all the baptized who have professed faith in Christ as the Messiah have also been entrusted with the honor and responsibility of opening the doors for people to enter into the kingdom. He has placed some keys on your shoulder symbolized by your current vocation in life. As a husband, wife, parent, grandparents, priest, deacon, nun, religious, consecrated single person, school teacher, business man or woman, government official, whatever your vocation in life is, God has entrusted you with some keys in some aspect of his kingdom and God is counting on you to grant access to this kingdom of love, the kingdom of peace, the kingdom of unity, and the kingdom of God’s glory.

This might sound daunting and overwhelming but St. Peter has given us an example as to how we can succeed in this mission. Like St. Peter, we need to know how to cry out to God when we are sinking because of our own weaknesses and the evils of the world. We need to know how to say sorry to God and those he has placed in our lives when we fail them. We also need to know how to forgive and accept forgiveness from others. Above all, we need to know how to lay down our lives in order to help others become better. That is how you succeed in granting access to this kingdom of love, the kingdom of peace, the kingdom of unity, and the kingdom of God’s glory. May God grant us the grace to use the keys entrusted to us to grant access to the kingdom not the close the door to the kingdom. Amen! 

20^th Sunday-Year A

Is. 56:1-6

Psalm 67:2-8

Rom. 11:13-15; 29-32

Mt. 15:21-28

Unless We Learn To See As God Sees, We Cannot do as He Does

Beloved, our God continues to challenge us to dare to think like him so that we can act like him and continue to grow into his true and authentic representatives transforming the world for the glory of God. In our first reading, about 500 years before Christ, God challenged the Israelites to develop a new and Godlike perspective of those they considered foreigners, how they saw worship, and membership in the family of God. The prophet tells them that, contrary to what they thought, the gentiles could come into the temple, offer sacrifices acceptable to the Lord, and could even become priests to serve the Lord. This is a radical shift of perspective because for the Jews at that time, the gentiles could not approach the altar of God. They could be put to death if they approached the altar without first converting and becoming Jews. Thus the new perspective that the gentiles are welcome at the altar would have seemed to the Israelites to be a teaching too difficult to accept; however, they were to embrace this challenge if the temple was indeed to become a house of prayer, a place of true encounter with God.

This shift of perspective is what Jesus in the gospel, reminds his disciples of and challenges us to embrace so that our very lives will be a locus for a an encounter with God and help all nations to praise the Lord (responsorial psalm). When taken on the surface, this gospel story might seem confusing and even scandalous but when taken as the “satire” that it was meant to be, a genre meant to ridicule a particular practice in order to get society to change it, then the message in the gospel becomes clearer. Jesus as a prophet, many times acted out his message in order to call deeper attention to it. Today’s gospel is one of those instances when he acted out the message in the form of a satire in order to teach the disciples that they needed to transcend the human way of looking as non-Jews and begin to see them as God sees them so that they could treat the gentiles as God treats them. There are some important points to note in this reading: Taking the disciples to the district of Tyle and Sidon was like taking them on a field trip, which would surprise them and get them to ponder this whole experience at a very deeper level since they saw this gentile district as a “ no go area” for the messiah. Jesus ignores the woman to show the disciples how they and the whole nation of Israel had ignored the very people they had been sent to. He called the woman and the gentiles “dogs” to ridicule how Israel had unfortunately referred to other sons and daughters of God as dogs and actually treated them as dogs. Then Jesus moves on to treat the woman the way God would treat her: listening to her, giving her back her dignity as a precious daughter of God, and answering her prayers. Jesus ends this encounter by comparing the faith of the gentile woman with that of the Jews and saying the faith of the woman is GREATER FAITH and more pleasing to God. Thus, the point of the satire here is the call to transcend human ways of looking at people we might consider strangers and outsiders and to begin to see them as God sees them so that we can treat them as God treats them.

There are two lessons in this gospel that I would like to bring out for our reflection. The woman teaches us that we should not allow ourselves to be defined by the abuses and rejections, or any bad experiences that we might have suffered which enslaves us and makes us think of ourselves as less than God sees us. We need to ask ourselves: What does God think of me? How does God feel about me? What hopes does God have for me? Pondering these questions will help us set ourselves free from any effect of rejection and abuses we might have suffered. In order to become more authentic representative of Christ in our world today, we need to reflect on our perception and attitude towards people who are different from us. How do you respond to and interact with people who don’t look like you; people who don’t speak like you; people who don’t think like you; people who have different lifestyles than you; people who belong to different religions and denominations? May God grant us the grace to see as he sees so that we can do as he does.  

19^th Sunday-Year A

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a

Psalm 85: 9-14

Rom. 9:1-5

Mt. 14:22-33

Be a Cave and Shelter for Somebody

Beloved in Christ, St. Paul in the second reading of today is doing an examination of conscience and asking himself: Why I am doing what I do? What impact is my Christian life having on others? He is expressing his sorrow over the spiritual and physical suffering that his people, the Jews, were going through and prays that he could lay down his life to end the suffering of his people so that they would come to know the love and mercy of Christ.

Like St. Paul, we need to ask ourselves everyday before we leave the house to come and worship at Mass: “Why am I going to Mass today? What impact will my going to Mass today have on my life and the world? Our readings today remind us that Christianity is not a set of doctrine to be accepted or rejected, but rather a love relationship with God and his people, which allows us to profess our love for God and his people, celebrate it, and live it out. That is why in the Catholic tradition we have examination of conscience everyday to reflect on what impact our worship of God really has on our lives on the lives of others.

In our first reading today, we heard about the prophet Elijah looking for shelter from the storms and problems in his life. He was being pursued by King Ahaz and the Queen, Jezebel, wanted him dead. As Elijah was looking for God to save him, the problems seemed to get worse and he had to face a strong and heavy wind, an earthquake and the fire. One important point in the reading is how Elijah was able face all the storms, the earthquakes, and fire. He found a cave on Mt. Horeb, which gave him shelter and helped him to wait until the storms, the earthquake, and the fire were over. Beloved, in the Bible, a mountain stands for the house or dwelling place of God. In New Testament theology, the mountain symbolizes the church, the people of God. So as a church, we are called to be the cave in which people can take shelter, as they continue to search and wait for God.

Beloved, do you know anybody who is like Elijah and is going through any storms in life right now? If you watch the news, you will know that millions of people are hurting in our world today. Thousands are dying in Ukraine, Syria, Africa, Israel, Gaza and other parts of the world. Thousands of people are being displaced and they are dying in the dessert in Iraq due to attacks from a terrorist group called Isis. They need food and water to survive.

Beloved, these are the people who are crying the same cry we did in the responsorial psalm today: “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation”. How shall people in the world find God and see his kindness in the darkest hours of their lives, if you and I who make up the church, the mountain of the Lord, cannot provide a cave, and a shelter for them? That is what Jesus continues to challenge us to do in the gospel: Jesus feeds the people, goes up on the mountain by himself to pray, but he does not take is eye off the people. He sees them facing the storms and he walks towards them and helps them sail to safety. Beloved, that is what it means to be a Christian. Praying for the people, keeping your eye on what is going on in their lives, entering into their lives to walk with them into safety, and help them find Christ.  This is what Jesus always did, translating prayer and worship into concrete actions that transforms people’s lives, and that is what he calls on us to do. My dear people of God, yes, we as a church, have always reached out to people in in the difficult moments of their lives and provided a cave, but God is telling us we can do more.  

Yes, my dear people of God, we can do something about the suffering in our world today. In addition to reaching out as a community through the Stephen’s ministry, we can also take some initiatives as individual members of the Body of Christ. I want to invite all of us to do a novena for world peace. Extend this invitation to your friends and families on Facebook, Twitter etc. and ask them to join you to pray for peace in our world, in our families, and in our hearts. Secondly, I want to invite families who can to consider being foster parents to the thousands of children who have crossed our boarders and have become homeless in our country; If you can not be foster parents, just call Catholic Charities and ask them how you can be become a cave and shelter for God’s people! It is in taking practical steps like this that our worship today and everyday will impact our lives and our world. May Christ continue to shine in us; May Christ continue to shine in his church, Amen!