Inspirations at your Fingertips!

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Luke 23:46 In the 5 stages of death – denial, compromise, anger, depression, and acceptance, these words of our Lord are the words we might utter after all our struggles on earth, denials, compromises, anger and depression from all sicknesses, problems, sin, and desolation.  We humbly present to the Lord who we really are.  No more false pretenses; no more hiding.  We now utter, "Father, into your hands i commend my spirit." What does it mean when we pray these words?  And when is the best time to say them? First, know that Jesus is also equipped with a human spirit that gives life to his body.  We also possess the same spirit integrated in our bodies.  We need to offer our spirits to the Lord, having been created in his image and likeness, so that our every existence in this world would be a holy existence springing from a harmonious relationship between the body and the soul. Second, the best time...

Maundy Thursday John 13:1-15 We formally enter into the Paschal Mystery of our Lord, or the mystery of his passion, death, and resurrection.  We need to enter fully into this mystery and know what it means for us.   And if there's a word that would encapsulate its meaning, the word would be "gift". As we are fond of receiving gifts, we also realize that gifts have qualities needed for them to become real gifts.  For instance, a gift has to be freely given with a joyful heart.  If it is forced because we expect to receive something, then it is not truly a gift.  The Holy Eucharist and Jesus' command of love, on the other hand, are authentic gifts from Jesus.  What constitutes a true gift? First, a gift needs to be given in the spirit of pure, immaculate intentions, as pure as a young lamb prepared for the family during the time of Moses.  In the gospel, Jesus is Begotten Son anointed by the Father with the purest heart filled with love for ...

Wednesday of Holy Week Matthew 26:14-16 Holy Wednesday brings us to reflect on the moment prior to the Last Supper when Jesus again prophesied who would betray him. The moment of salvation is near, but woe to that betrayer.  His sin is great indeed, far than any of us could think of.  He stayed with our Lord, traveled with him, heard his words, and seen his actions.   But he sold him for 30 pieces of silver after he ridiculed Mary when she poured perfume on Jesus' feet.  To sell person is a treatment of total indignity against him.  Much worse, when he asked the question, "Is it I, Rabbi?" he stripped Jesus of his title "Lord". We betray Jesus every moment of our active liveshere on earth.  We claim we don't have time even to greet him or visit him in the church.  No wonder we don't have time to serve him.  We become like Judas when: First, we stop listening to Jesus.   When our outlook on life is far from Jesus' outlook. When ...

Tuesday of Holy Week John 13:21-33,36-38 This Holy Tuesday, Satan entered into Judas who dipped bread together with Jesus and left to do what he had to do - betray Jesus. Yet, Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in Isaiah, the One called before he was born, elected to save humankind from sin.  God's spirit is in Him. Peter, on the other hand, though appearing concerned about who would betray Jesus, did not know that he would end up doing the same.  Jesus said, "You cannot follow" for not only Peter, but us, are not yet prepared to face the ultimate confrontation between evil and good. In moments when we are confronted with our own weaknesses and sin, because we are not yet ready to follow Jesus, do the following: First, stay close to Jesus.  This is simply faith, when our natural faculties to understand collide with faith, we give in to faith precisely we believe in Jesus. Second, stay close to the light.  God promised Israel to be the "light to t...

Saturday of the 4th week of Lent John 7:40-52 The people of Israel couldn't discern whether Jesus was the son of God or not.  But then came those who think they know God that they end up ridiculing others and most of all, Jesus: "Prophets do not come out of Galilee", though Jonas was from Galilee. When we are far away from God because of sin, all hell breaks lose.  From our corrupted minds comes corrupted hearts, hands and feet.  This total ignorance of God is what we are afraid of.  In this age of technology and information, man thinks he knows everything and what he does is true.  In the end, our lives are devoid of any tinge of the goodness and will of God. Heed the Lord's words in the first reading, "But you, the Lord of Hosts, who pronounce a just sentence, who probe the loins and heart, let me see the vengeance you will take on them, for I have committed my cause to you."  Let us reflect every verse from this reading to know God. First, Go...

Thursday of the 4th week of Lent John 5:31-47 This 30th day of Lent, we are confronted with a grim reality of our human nature - no matter how much God loves us, we still choose to love ourselves instead of him. In the first reading, God's disappointment is so overwhelming;  Moses' plea is not even enough to appease him.  There seems to be a deeper dearth here - the emptiness of love.  Still, God chooses to give man another chance. In the Gospel, what Jesus taught is actually a theology of who he is - the Son of God who testifies to the Father.  But his message was rejected by the Jews, for their hearts were far away from God. This is one of the greatest pains we can ever bear - when the other whom we love stops loving us.  What do we do? First, let our love be magnanimous.  Jesus testifies to the love of the Father.  There is no other love greater than that.  When we love, we give witness to the triumph of God's love even in failure...

Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent John 5:1-3,5-16  The reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel gives us a clear picture of an increasing volume of water that becomes a river and various plants sprout.  Indeed, it gives us a glimpse on God's power to grant us life and abundance. In the Gospel, Jesus didn't wait for the water to be stirred by the angel; he immediately cured the paralyzed man.  He is the water that gives us life. In this 28th day of Lent, let's constantly reflect on God as the source of graces and life. 1. Grace is a reason for healing and well-being.  In Facebook, we can see a barrage on how to live a healthy lifestyle.  But the best healthy life is one that is lived in God.  In following him, we would know how to live healthily.  His will enables us to live a length of days. 2.  Grace is a reason for communion.  The pharisees showed a poor example of rejoicing in the healing of a brother or sister.  Too p...

Friday of the 3rd week of Lent Mark 12:28-34 This 24th day of Lent, let us reflect our total reliance on God. Though Assyria was the most powerful nation at that time, still God reminded the Jews that "Assyria cannot save us." Hosea also depicted the very heart of God: "I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned from them." What are we waiting for? In the Gospel, Jesus reiterated the most important law: "This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." Love is the most profound expression of our total reliance on God.  First, it openly acknowledges that everything comes from God; we are nothing without him. Second, it calls us develop and nurture ...

Getting married is such a profound, human experience; so profound that sometimes, we tend to attribute every relationship to ourselves. In the Christian context, marriage can most of all be a profound experience of God.  From the Book of Genesis 2:18-24, Adam uttered a most profound statement which cannot be uttered by any human being unless he has God's inspiration: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman, 'for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." Jesus in the New Testament, Jesus reiterated the words of Genesis with a deeper implication: "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate" (Matthew 19:3-6). Angelica and Charles, as you're entering into a new chapter in your lives as a married couple, realize one ...

Friday of the 2nd week of Lent Matthew 21:33-43,45-46 This 17th day of Lent, it is getting more apparent that every reading is pointing to the effects of sin as well as to Jesus' salvific action. Joseph being sold to the Ishmaelites prefigured Judas handing over Jesus to the pharisees for some 30 pieces of silver to be unjustly tried and killed. The end of sin is ultimately death.  It starts with a pleasurable thought, though skewed to please the self and God.  And whatever process it takes, it ends with a violent action against another, belittling human dignity.  Worse, it veers us away from God. But God is magnanimous than any of the sin combined.  God's judgment in the gospel is not a result of his anger but rather, it is a natural consequences of the effect of sin - alienation, punishment, and death. Jesus is much higher than any of these.  "They will respect my son" is a key to resolve this malady - Jesus, "the stone rejected by the builders, ...

Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent Luke 16:19-31 Jeremiah never stressed enough the importance of a life that is entrusted to the Lord; it is always fresh, green, and bearing fruit whereas the life devoid of God is like a heathen plant in the desert. Jesus in the gospel narrates the parable of the the rich man and Lazarus.  Though the rich is filled with wealth, his life is barren, but Lazarus, in yearning for the crusts that fall from the rich man's table is experiencing eternal comfort in heaven. The key to abundance or the lack of it is the heart.  Jeremiah mentioned it adequately, "I, the Lord, search to the heart, I probe the loins, to give each man what his conduct and his actions deserve."  The gauge for true life is what is inside it." How do we mold our hearts this Lenten season? First, search what is inside that heart.   The desire that causes it to beat is the gauge of its evilness or goodness.  Let that heart start yearning for God. ...