A Glimpse of His Love

7th Tuesday in Ordinary Time Feast of Saint Crispin of Viterbo TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 9.30-37) recalls moments in Galilee when Jesus told His apostles of His impending death, and how that death should let them understand what faith is all about. When they came to Capernaum, the Lord noticed that His apostles had argued about something along the way. And they told Him about it, He said: If anyone wishes to be the first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all. And then He proceeded to illustrate to their faith: Whoever receives this child in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me. There is a single thread that ties together the death of the Lord, the greatness found in servanthood, and the acceptance of a child in a culture that treated a child as nothing of value. That thread is the humility of soul flowing from total submission to the will of God in an environment of total love and devotion. The Lord will eventua...

7th Sunday of Easter Solemnity of the Pentecost IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (John 7.37-39), the Beloved Apostle recalled Jesus speaking before the Jews in the synagogue during the last and greatest day of the feast. The Lord invited the people of Israel who thirst amid the evils of life to come to Him and be filled. Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.  Interestingly, the Lord did not invite those who do not thirst to come to him. And this lack of invitation has profound meaning to reflect upon. He did not invite them because either (a) they are self-sufficient in their lives and think they do not need the Holy Spirit, or (b) they are so close to the Lord anyway no invitation would be necessary. The first group of people believed they do not need a drink; the second are already drinking what the Lord can give. Above all that, the Lord sought to fill those who thirst. He came to bring everlasting water to those whose souls thirsted for God. Lord, I thirst for you all through my...

Seventh Saturday of Easter TODAY'S GOSPEL (John 21:20-25) tells of a final scene before the Lord ascended into Heaven. As the newly appointed leader of the Church that would take care of the Lord's sheep  when He physically goes back to His Father, Peter had started thinking of maximizing the Apostles and disciples under him in order to reach as many Jews and Gentiles as possible. But obviously, he had nothing in mind for the beloved apostle, John. So he asked the Lord, what about him? And the Lord replied: What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? The Lord concluded His response with an exhortation for Peter to do instead: You follow me .  In this account from John, the Lord reminds us of the primacy of God's will as the purpose of our lives. He tells us that our vocations are personal calls of a personal God. And only the person being called can exactly understand that call.  Neither must we concern ourselves for the fut...

1st Tuesday of Lent Feast of Saint Conrad of Piacenza IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Matthew 6:7-15) the Lord taught the crowd the right way to pray to the Father, the prayer Christians later named as the Lord's Prayer . He taught prayer as a child talking to his father. The first part of the prayer must be an expression of worship to the Father-- may your name be held holy (v.9)--and an affirmation of our commitment to follow His will in our lives-- your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven (v. 10). The second part consists of addressing our need for help to physically survive-- give us today our daily bread (v. 11)--to be forgiven for our transgressions-- And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us (v. 12)--and to be spared from the temptation of the devil-- And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one (v. 13).   The center of this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is the love of God and our fitting response to...

5th Tuesday in Ordinary Time Feast of Saint Marina IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 7:1-9), the Lord confronts the Pharisees and some scribes on the misguided observation of the tradition of the elders, the set of injunctions and practices that the rabbis added to the Law of Moses. The Jews had so forgotten the heart and spirit of the Law of Moses that the tradition of the rabbi came to be observed not for love but for the sake of it. In the process, they lost their freedom of mind and heart and got enslaved instead into it. In the process, they have forgotten that the tradition had turned into something beneficial for the sake of it, forgetting the place of God in it; worse, they even believed they did it for God. So the Lord reminded them using the words of Isaiah (29:13): "These people honors me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations ." They have forgotten to tea...

5th Monday in the Ordinary Time Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Matthew 9:14-15) the disciples of John the Baptist sought understanding their confusion in watching the disciples of the Lord did not follow the usual Jewish fasting practice. Jesus told them that God does not need fasting but rejoicing-- "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?"   If we really come to think of it, fasting and sacrifices had not been made for God's benefit but for our benefit. God does not need these; we do. Fasting and sacrifices strengthen our mind and body, and in the process strengthen our faith. But the God of love and mercy does not need either-- "What I want is mercy, not sacrifice" (v. 13; 12:7; Hosea 6:6).   Our God of love is also the God of Happiness and Rejoicing. Because God loves us with unconditional and faithful love, we have no reason to feel unloved. The only tears that love draws from our ...

4th Friday in the Ordinary Time TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 6:14-29) veers away from the ministerial account of Jesus and retells on a portion of the life of Herod and the beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Saint Mark tells on how Herodias, the concubine Herod and the wife of Herod's brother Philip, plotted to have John killed.   Of all Herod's faults, he was right in one thing: John was a holy person. Herod respected John. He knew John to be an upright and holy man and kept him safe (v. 20a). That respect was so strong that even Herodias could not plot to kill John openly. However, although life also involves respect for the beloved, respect is not love. A person can respect another without loving him. And Herod was a slave to his pride, vanity, and sexual impulses. When these vices started to demand commitment, Herod could not deny it even at the cost of killing the holy man John.   Herod still had the grace of insight into the heart of John. He knew John accurately...

4th Wednesday in the Ordinary Time Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 6:1-20) the Lord encountered rejection from his own townmates-- "A prophet is despised only in his own country, among his relatives and in his own family" (v. 4)--simply because he has been one among them-- "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joset and Judas and Simon... His sisters, too, are they not here among us?" So they took offense at him   (v. 3). And in an important moment in his ministerial life, he experienced the difference between the love of his Father and the love of men.   By nature, human "love" is selfish. People tend to behave with care on people that they like; not on those they don't. We believe that love is a privilege that you can give to or take from other people depending on how we like them or not. We tend to praise others' accomplishments in close relationship to th...

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Year 1 IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 5:1-20), Jesus and the Twelve arrived at Gergasa ("Country of the Gerasenes") on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee-- on the other side of the lake in the region of the Gerasenes  ( (v. 1). Here he encountered a demonically possessed person who lived in the tombs and attacks those who passed by. When the demoniac saw the Lord, he hastened to approach him, the possessing demons asking him that they not be "tortured" (v. 7). Saint Mark also identified the group of possessing demons as Mob (Christian Community Bible translation), or Legion  (in other translations). Knowing that staying in the man was not acceptable to Jesus,  Mob  requested to be transferred instead to a herd of pigs.   The Lord shows us a beautiful show of the disciplined and respectful characteristic of love. He showed respect for the needs of the demons while making it clear to them that...

Third Friday in the Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Year 1   TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 4:26-34), the Lord tells the gathering crowd two parables--the parable of the self-growing seed (another sower parable) and that of the mustard seed. He explains how it is in the Kingdom of God; how even little things count... little seeds grow on their own, and which can grow into so huge a tree, in fact,  becomes the largest of the plants in the garden and even grows branches so big that the birds of the sky can take shelter in its shade (v. 32). And the sower does not have to do anything to make the seeds grow; nay, he does not even have to understand how that happens. Each little seed plant will grow on its own nourished by a power that takes care of all things created, that loves all things created.   Portiuncula, the small portions... The Lord intimates to us that even little things we do matter; that even little things we do count. He does not call us to be great giants in soci...

Third Wednesday of the Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Year 1   IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 4:1-20), the Lord tells the parable of the sower, an approach he used when teaching those who are still outside the Kingdom --But to those outside, everything comes in parables (v. 11b). He tells of the soil conditions that the seed of the Word may fall into--the path soil (v. 4); the rocky ground (v. 5); the thorny ground (v. 7), and; the good soil (v. 8).   Reflecting on these soils shows us that all the first three types of soils are pure human conditions empty of the grace of God. In a way of speaking, the Lord tells us how our soul would be like when it is not nourished by the love of God. It will be unstable and vulnerable to open attacks of the Enemy (the path soil). It will be full of unfortunate bumps and hurdles that mean anything to use other than making our lives frustrating (the rocky ground). It will be littered with painful and unhealed wounds as we struggle to survive...

Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mk. 16: 15-18) Jesus directs the Eleven on the focus of their mission before he ascends to Heaven. His central message constitutes the role of faith and baptism in human salvation-- whosoever believes and is baptized will be saved . And that doing the opposite will bring man to damnation-- whoever does not believe will be condemned . Inherent in the act of faith is the act of total surrender to the love of God and to His will. Without this act of surrender there will be no faith as Jesus defined it. This total faith transforms the human heart totally into a soul consumed by God's love in the same way that a "partial faith" (if such is by definition possible) will not allow God's love to trasform the human soul because the reservation against faith becomes a stumbling block of that transformation. That stumbling block lets the seed of fear grow and fester the heart of man so ...