Inspirations at your Fingertips!

As New Year ushers in, we reflect on blessings as proclaimed in the scriptures.  May even our hurts turn into blessings. From the Hebrew Beraka, which means "to bend the knee in worship and praise", blessings become due to God rather than his gifts.  "We bless you, Lord God Almighty."  Rightly so, because we kneel in praise and honor to the Source of all gifts. From the Greek "eulogein", which means "to speak well of" or "to praise", blessing becomes a social reality of recognizing persons as gifts. Everything becomes a blessing, even hurts.  And we bless, we give what is due to others and to God.  We can convert hurts to blessings if we allow God to bless us so we can see how He would heal us. Life is indeed a blessing!

"That which we have heard from the beginning, that which we have touched with our hands ..."  Whoever could get more concrete than these?  But these are the marks of an original witness to Jesus.  And these marks were passed on to the present in an unbreakable bond. The original experiences translated into words and life, coupled by experiences of those touched by the Holy Spirit.  These are the marks of a true Christian, the signs manifest in his very own life. This Christmas, may our our lives become mirrors of the saving power of Jesus Christ.

In a few hours, we shall be celebrating The Solemnity of Christ's Birth.  As parish priest, I feel truly honored to share this mystery and prepare the People of God to this great meeting.  Because of this, a great responsibility has dawned upon me and I would like to ask for your prayers and blessings. God must have wanted us to prepare so much to the detail so that we who receive Jesus and the world may finally obtain the salvation we are seeking for.  That is why there is the vigil mass, the midnight mass, the dawn mass, and the day mass. In the mystery of Jesus' birth, we hope to also be born in him; for God's judgement in us to be changed from "forsaken" or "abandoned" to "Delight" and "wedded".  Right this moment we shall be wedded to God. In the gospel of the vigil mass, let us recall the family lineage of Jesus because we are part of that one family that existed ever since the beginning of time.  All we have to do is to a...

As we approach Christmas, everything is in place … heaven is gearing up for its ultimate preparation before the definitive coming of Jesus Christ.  Have we also prepared enough? In Isaiah, people who following God are greater in number and force, as in the barren as compared to the wedded.  Widowhood and barrenness are no more.  The Lord God comes in His glory.  His love never ends. In the gospel according to Luke, he invites us to take a closer look at the manifestations of Christ in the world today.  Where is the messiah except in the least of all which is the greatest in the kingdom of God?  Jesus allows himself to be the "least" in the kingdom to show us that even the greatest in this world has to power over him. It is time to break the world we have created for ourselves.  It is time to let Christ in and to let His work be ours and His cause, our cause.  It is time to start with the smallest and the weakest and come up teeming with life in...

This homily is given at the misa-novenario of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish, Project 4, QC last Nov. 24, 2011. If Mary were to be the model of pardoning injuries, the best opportunity for her to reveal this virtue is during the crucifixion of her Son, Jesus Christ.  How would one feel if a mother who knows her son through and through as the epitome of goodness would be subjected to the extremest rejection ever? But she was there, totally present for her Son, with such endurance that nobody else can sustain.  We could only surmise what was in Mary's heart all along - this is for the salvation of the world and thus, she would also endure it as her Son endures it. But notice the words of our Lord to her: Woman, there is your son (referring to John); Son, there is your mother.  And John took her to his home.  Jesus still calls for a lasting relationship that no other bond could take away.  And Jesus called for the perfection of love in communio - a c...

Friday of the 33rd week, year 1 Have you noticed what the people thought is due to God in the readings? All the rites and rituals are geared toward that utmost reverence to the Almighty God, the Lord of Heaven and earth. Even in the smallest liturgy, one could feel the presence of the Divine, sanctifying the human world and filling it up with His living Spirit.  The world is animated; it becomes the incarnation of the Divine Lord and His love for us. Have we given to God what is due to Him?  Do our lives reflect the Divine Presence?  Is our involvement in the liturgy and the Church a manifestation of the presence of God?  Finally, may it be a challenge for us to reflect the presence of God in the work we are in "In Opus Ministerii"  which means, in the work of the Ministry: the ministry to love, to serve, and to adore God.

29th Friday, year 1 "Gusto kong bumait, pero di ko magawa" are the attractive lines of a song sung by a rock band to say that there is something in us that prevents us from doing good. Actually, the statement may be right considering that there is something in us that desires almost everything, from food to luxury and power.  But there's also another saying that goes "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" to tell us that desires could be insatiable and they are there to bring havoc to us all. "Who will save me from all of these?" St. Paul asks; and here is the answer: "Jesus Christ!" Recall when Jesus was born that first Christmas and the angels sang their praise: "Peace on earth to men of good will!"  We are the people of good will.  Our spiritual side enables us to be oriented towards the Divine.  And the reason we are desiring these things is because truthfully, we desire for something that will grant us true and lasting ha...