A sower went out to sow....

The River of Mercy 0 comments

Thursday 19th week ordinary time
(Matthew 18:21-19:1)

One of the most deep-seated weaknesses of human nature is our desire to revenge and payback. There is something inside us that feels relieved when we have scored over an enemy. We seem to get a certain satisfaction out of this. However, as followers of Jesus Christ we are taught that sorrow, forgiveness, and reconciliation are absolute necessities for discipleship.

Why do we find it hard to forgive others even though that is the only way to anchor God's forgiveness? I think the reason is because we fail to appreciate and celebrate our own forgiveness. Like the ungrateful servant in the parable, we focus on the 100 denarii our neighbour owes us rather than the 10,000 talents we owe to God, which God has graciously cancelled. Let us think about this in perspective.

A denarius is a labourer’s daily wage. So his fellow servant owed him 100 days pay, which could be paid back in a couple of months. But this same servant owed his master 10,000 talents. A talent was equal to 6,000 denarii. So he owed his master the equivalent of 60,000,000 denarii. For a labourer working 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, it would take 280,000 years to raise that kind of money. This enormous figure shows that the servant owed his master so much that there was absolutely no way he could ever hope to repay that. This is symbolic of the debt each of us owes God through sin; a debt we could never ever hope to repay even if we spent out whole life is sackcloth and ashes.

Not even the combined penitence of all humankind suffices to blot out a single sin. But God in his infinite mercy sent his own Son to die on the cross and take away our sins. And all He asks of us is to be grateful; to realise that He has done for us so much more than we could ever be required to do for our neighbour.

***

There are two seas in Palestine. They are both very different. One is called Sea of Galilee. It is a large lake with clean fresh water from which people can drink. Fish and people swim in it. It is surrounded by green fields and gardens. Many people have built their homes near to it. The other big body of water is called the Dead Sea. It lives up to its name. Everything about it is dead. The water is so salty that people would get sick from trying to drink it. It has no fish. Nothing grows along its banks. No one wants to live anywhere near its unpleasant smell.

The interesting thing about both these bodies of water is that the same river flows into both of them. What makes the difference? Just this one: one receives and gives; the other receives and does not give. The Jordan River flows into the top of the Sea of Galilee and out at the bottom. The same river flows into the Dead Sea and never gets out again.

We have received the river of mercy of God. The river of mercy should flow out to others. Otherwise, we will be like the Dead Sea.

Correcting others 0 comments

Wednesday 19th week ordinary time
(Matthew 18:15-20)

In this times when an aggressive media usually pursue issues for expose, and use the formula “for the sake of truth,” there is the tendency to sacrifice privacy and good name. There is a tendency to glorify being “brutally frank” about issues as a virtue. However, Jesus’ admonition is clear and uncompromising; even in the worst of times when someone may have fallen into the lowest point of moral and spiritual life, correction should be first be done privately. This avoids unnecessary publicizing of private matters, and it also avoids giving unnecessary hurt to persons.

Deeper consideration of the teaching of Jesus makes us realize that Jesus is not simply teaching on correcting mistaken persons. Jesus is talking about true love and concern. True love and concern cannot afford to be silent and indifferent toward people in their weaknesses. Silence and refusal to be involved will not be a safe option, but we will actually be held accountable for the attitude as a “sin of omission.” This is an eye opener for us who live in a society where the culture of personal safety and individualism is becoming more and more basis of action.

Be Like Children 0 comments

Tuesday 19th week ordinary time
(Matthew 18:1-5)

In our ordinary world, those who are famous become our idols. There is a constant search for idols: American Idols, Philippines Idols, and so on. But in our Gospel today Jesus called a child to him and said we are to become like children. A chldren to be our idol?

I found an intriguing idea today about the practice of “inverted Confucianism” today: instead of worshipping our ancestors we worship our grandchildren. The status of children is utterly changed; till modern times they were regarded simply as incomplete adults – ignorant, helpless and dependent.

To receive the impact of what Jesus did and said, we have to put the pampered little tyrant out of our mind and imagine a child in 1st-century Palestine. In Jesus’ time children had no rights, position, or privileges of their own. They were socially at the "bottom of the rung" and at the service of their parents, much like the household staff and domestic servants. Notice that Jesus placed the child at his right side. What is the significance of Jesus' gesture? Jesus elevated a little child in the presence of his disciples by placing the child in a privileged position of honor at his right side. It is customary, even today, to seat the guest of honor at the right side of the host. Who is the greatest in God's kingdom? The one who is humble and lowly of heart — who instead of asserting their rights willingly empty themselves of pride and self-seeking glory by taking the lowly position of a servant or child.

Moreover, children have their qualities we can learn despite of their defects. They are intellectually and emotionally immature. But children have some precious qualities which they often lose as they grow up. They are born free of prejudice and they are totally open to learning. It is this quality that we need to enter the Reign of God. To be totally open and free of prejudice when it comes to listening to God. To be fully teachable and malleable and flexible. Then we are ready to receive everything that God wants us to have and to become everything God wants us to become. Furthermore, to welcome a person who has these qualities in Jesus’ name is to welcome Christ himself.

Paying Taxes 0 comments

Monday 19th week ordinary time
(Matthew 17:22-27)

In the time of Jesus, Jewish men throughout the world showed their loyalty to the temple in Jerusalem and helped to support its work by paying a temple tax of about two days' wages (A half shekel at this time was roughly equivalent to two days’ wages). The tax collectors wondered if Jesus was going to pay the tax, perhaps because they were aware of his critique of the temple, or maybe because they knew he had no steady source of income.

(At least) there are two points we can learn. First, Jesus agreed to pay the tax, not out of some obligation, but in order not to offend his fellow Jews unnecessarily. (Surely he had offended them plenty in matters of the kingdom of God.) As children of God, Jesus and his followers did not have to pay a tax to their Heavenly Father, but they chose to do so in order to foster good relationships with other Jews.

Sometimes Christians are needlessly offensive in their desire to honor God. The example of Jesus and the temple tax reminds us that we need to be both faithful to the Lord and respectful to those around us. Though sometimes we cannot help but offend people with our beliefs, we should never do it needlessly. There is no point erecting barrier so that others are kept away from the Lord.

Second, this passage seems to reflect a dilemma of the early Church. A double dilemma. Should Christians who are Jews continue to pay the Temple tax? Should Christians in general have to pay tax to a pagan government, especially one whose emperor claims to be a deity?

The first dilemma solved itself in time, especially with the destruction of the Temple (which had already taken place when Matthew was written). The second dilemma took longer. The problem seems to have been solved by the principle laid down elsewhere by Jesus: Give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor and to God what belongs to God.

We too have to discern what is legitimately required of us by our governments and make our contribution to the needs of our society while at the same time not compromising on issues where universal principles of truth and justice are at stake. Civil disobedience is sometimes not only a right but also a responsibility.

Life 0 comments

Friday 18th week ordinary time
(Matthew 16:24-28)

For those who believe in feng shui, today is a good day because of the good number 8-8-2008. Many couples choose today as their time for their weddings because of that ‘good day”. Maybe, that is also the reason why the Olympic will start today, exactly this evening at 8.08pm. But for us who have faith in God every day is a good day everything we have is an out-right gift from God. We owe him everything, including our very lives – our day by day lives.

In our short Gospel passage, the word “life” is mentioned four times. Indeed God is life, and this is a gift he shares with us through his Spirit. The word of the Lord reminds us that we must ask ourselves: “What will a person give in exchange for his or her life?”That is, how can we make a return for the gift of life that the Lord gave us?


L = live life. We must discover our intended purpose in life. God works with a purpose. Then we must pursue that purpose. This is greatness. It is measured not against what others do; it is measured against what we are supposed to do.
I = intimacy, not just acquaintances. We must not live inwardly for ourselves, but outwardly for God, and for others. We must pour ourselves out in relationships that are meaningful and humanizing. What defines our relevance in life is this: the live we have touched.
F = fullness. In whatever it is that we are engaged in: let us put our whole selves into it. The Lord says, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” To try to do something and to try to “save my life” is mediocrity. St. Ireneus said the glory of God is in the human being fully alive.
E = empty yourself. Do not be afraid – excel, transcend, give life your best all the time.

Personal Conviction 0 comments

Thursday 18th week ordinary time

The heart-to-heart encounter between Jesus and the disciples at Caesarea Philipi centered on the open question that Jesus posed to the disciples: “But who do you say I am?” This question, highlighted at the middle of the narration of the Synoptic Gospel, brings us the key motif of authentic discipleship: personal conviction.

The twelve, especially Peter, will not be learners and followers forever. They will be sent; they will be apostles. It is important then that they have personal conviction about Jesus: his person and his true mission. [In this sense we can understand why Jesus rebuked Peter: “Get behind me satan!” Peter had understood the mission of Jesus wrongly (namely: politically) and this “Rock” could be a stumbling block for Jesus’ true mission].

What would spell success in the evangelizing efforts of the twelve is “fire” that burns from personal conviction. True enough, when finally these twelve started out their task of spreading the Good News that is Jesus, they made the believing community attain a remarkable growth – from Twelve Galileans to half a million Christian throughout the Roman Empire by the end of the first century. Considering the poor communication and tiring travel at that time, this was an explosive growth attained in around 30 to 40 years.

Do we have this personal conviction alive and aflame? Our vision of Jesus in the Gospels should become an inner inspiration, "a fire within" that will create a special response, an awareness of mission, and a strong desire to spread our belief in Jesus' vision and mission.

Jualan [Laptop for sale] 0 comments

TOSHIBA SATELLITE 2410

Specs:
Intel Pentium 4 Mobile 1.80 GHz. 1.79 GHz
RAM 768 MB
Monitor 15" 1024x768 pix
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA Geforce4 420 G0 (Toshiba)
PCMCIA slot
3 USB slots
SD card reader
Matshita DVD Rom /CDRW
Floppy disk drive
Toshiba AMR Modem
Network Adapters: 1395 Net Adapter
Intel(R) Pro/100 VE network connection
Hardisk: 80GB
Infrared: SMC IrCC Fast Infrared Port
Sound controller: YAMAHA AC-XG Audio
Genuine Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
(2 Recovery CDs included)
NOD32 Antivirus, MsOffice 2007, and other softwares.

How does it look:















Note: the speed of the video or tv streaming depends on the bandwith of your internet connection.

Take courage! I have overcome the wolrd. 0 comments

The attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 led the U.S. to imprison 100,000 citizens of Japanese descent.

Two of these citizens were Carole and Jim. They had a little girl whose feet twisted inward. Hard work corrected the defect so that by age six she was walking well.

To strengthen the little girl's legs, Carole enrolled her in an ice-skating class. Both would rise at 4 a.m. daily to get to the rink and do the lessons and the workouts before school. The girl developed into a fine figure skater. In 1992 Carole and Jim Yamaguchi watched their daughter, Kristi, win the gold medal in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Canada.

Jesus' words today inspire confidence: «Courage! I have overcome the world» (Jn 16:33), that is, through his Passion, Death and Resurrection, He has attained the eternal life, life with nothing to stop it, a limitless life because it has overcome all limits and all difficulties.

We, the followers of Christ, can overcome these difficulties too, as He did, in spite of the fact we may have to go throughout our life through many deaths and resurrections, never wanted but certainly assumed by the very Paschal Mystery of Christ. For “deaths” indeed are, losing a friend, parting with a beloved person, the failure of a project or the limitations or own human weakness impose upon us…

But «in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us» (Rm 8:37). Let us be witnesses to God's love, because He has, with us, «done great things» (Lk 1:49) and has given us his help to overcome all difficulties, even death, because Christ is sending us the Holy Spirit.

The dignity of the worker 0 comments

Today we celebrate the memorial of Joseph the worker. More than celebrating the dignity of work, we celebrate the dignity of the worker. The book of Genesis speaks of the inherent dignity that lies in the very fiber of our existence. The very moment God loved us into existence, He encoded in us the privilege of being like Him and thus being co-creators with Him. He didn’t leave us a static world but one that we could shape and change and care for. He gave us the power to work.

When God put us in charge of the earth, He intended that the work of our hands would be life-giving. This power to co-create something of value and life-giving brings out the true dignity of a person. It is known to us that unemployment brings about depression and is a personal blow to one’s self esteem. It incapacitates a person.

This is the reason why it is the moral obligation of a nation’s government to insure that every one is employed in a job befitting the person’s dignity as a child of God and one that compensates a just wage. It is the duty of the employer to provide a wage that is proportional to living a normal, balanced life. It is a good reminder for us that more than estimating the value of the work done, we need to value the divine worth of the worker behind it. It has practical consequences for us who live in a country where the minimum wage is not exactly a just one.

But God doesn’t want labor to be our end. In a world where workaholism, productivity and the amount of the remittance sent home are signs of success, God tells us that our worth ultimately doesn’t rely on the work that we build. It relies in knowing that our home is in the Creator. This is what it means to rest. To rest is to consciously be in the presence of God and to know that even the work of our hands fade. And only one thing is important: to experience the rest of being with the Lord.

Incarnate Christ 0 comments

Wednesday sixth week of Easter

Dodong went from the provinces to work in Manila. He got a job painting the white line in the middle of the road. On his first day he painted fifty meters, twenty on the second day and only ten on the third. The foreman was rather surprised. He called him in and said, "Dodong, how come you painted fifty meters on the first day, twenty on the second and only ten today?" "Sir," answered Dodong, "can't you see that the can of paint was getting to be farther and farther away!" Poor Dodong's progress was limited by his thinking that the can of paint could only be in one place to which he had to continue to go back. It improved immensely when he found that he could move it along or even bring it with him all the time.

Our faith development and understanding of God can be impeded by our perception of God. If we, as Christians, know what Christ and the Church teach in the doctrinal way only, Christ could be far and far away.

Our life as Christians includes also our efforts to “bring” this Christ in our daily life. It is also to recognize this Christ, who expresses himself in the events of our life, in history, in social situations.

It is to learn to live the Christian message in the humdrum of daily living, which is always new and variable.

The spirit that Jesus sent to us assists us, that we may know how to incarnate the faith in our life.

The Spirit Within 0 comments

Tuesday Sixth Week of Easter

A child, Mei was in prison with her Christian mother during the religious oppression in China in the 1950s. She had a deep faith in what she was taught: that the Holy Spirit comes to the Christians in Confirmation. Mei requested and received the Holy Spirit in this way. Meanwhile, without knowing, Chinese guards let Mei run freely in the prison. When Christians outside the prison found a way to smuggle Communion into the prison, it was Mei who gave it to prisoners-even those in solitary detention. She said, "I'm not afraid: the Spirit is within me."

A clear sign of the works of the Spirit within her.

Another example is from the life of our saint today: Catherine of Sienna. She was the youngest of twenty-five children and was spiritually talented. She had various mystical experiences, and wanted to enter religious life, though her parents did not agree with her. They tried everything to persuade her to leave her dream but it was useless. She became a member of the Third Order of Dominican.

However, all was not sweetness and light; she was afflicted with terrible temptations. After a long struggle of these, she asked the Lord where he was when she was enduring such awful trials. His answer: “I was in your heart, strengthening you by my grace.” In addition to her penances and mystical experiences, she devoted herself to nursing the most horrible of cases. She had the gift of reading people’s minds. She became skilled in diplomacy, and was able to reconcile the conflicting parties within the church. A strong-willed person, she even told the pope “where to go” – i.e. from Avignon back to Rome.

Her life became a clear sign that The Lord, through the Holy Spirit works in her.

What are signs that may indicate the Spirit is at work in my life?

Never give up loving 0 comments

Sixth Sunday of Easter

There was a Hindu who saw a scorpion struggling around in the water. He decided to save it by stretching out his finger, but the scorpion stung him. The man still tried to get the scorpion out of the water, but the scorpion stung him again.

A man nearby told him to stop saving the scorpion that kept stinging him.

But the Hindu said: "It is the nature of the scorpion to sting. It is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?

Don't give up loving.
Don't give up your goodness.
Even if people around you sting.

Today we hear Jesus that never gives up loving you says, "If you love me you will keep my commandments." The important word here is "my". Jesus is not speaking of "the", the traditional, Ten Commandments. These belong to the Hebrew Testament. They are still valid, of course, but Jesus goes beyond them. He made this clear in the Sermon on the Mount. He says categorically that he has not come to do away with the Jewish law or the teaching of the prophets but rather to fulfill their inner potential.

Jesus' "commandments" are on a different level. It is HIS commandments we are to keep. What are these commandments of his? Really, there is only one and that is the commandment to love: to love God with all our heart and soul, and to love others as we love ourselves, to love others as Jesus loves us, as he loves the sinner, as he love his enemies.

They include commands to recognize Jesus in the most needy, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalised, even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."). They include commandments to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.

There is nothing explicitly about any of this in the Ten Commandments. A good Christian is not just a law-abiding person taking care of oneself. He/she is a loving, caring person reaching out to others in love and service.

Now, Jesus speaks of love as his commandments. Can love really be commanded? In answering this question, we have to believe that “God has loved us first and he continues to do so; we, too, then, can respond with love. God does not demand of us a feeling which we ourselves are incapable of producing. He loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has ‘loved us first,’ love can also grow as a response within us.”

In order to be able to love, one must also receive love. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as our Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34). We need to abide in the love of Christ. May we, with the gift of Holy Spirit Jesus promises, will be able to love unceasingly.

Never give up in loving!
Don't give up your goodness.
Even if people around you sting.