Our God is incomparable for He loves us with a love greater
than any other. From the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb, even
before we were born, God already knows each one of us by name. Let us always align our will, intentions,
motives and actions with God. It is always good to check ourselves constantly
and regularly at every given opportunity. Nothing is ever wasted nor considered
useless for as long as we offer it to God. We have all been called by God for a
purpose. He already had a plan laid out for us even before we were born. We are
that special to God. Let us not forget our holy calling from God. Let us become
the man or woman God has meant us to be and live each day of our lives in
answer to this call. The readings for today continue to reflect on the Holy
Servant Songs of Jesus. The mention of being called even from a mother’s womb,
the 2 edged sword and polished arrow are symbols of God’s words. The Word that
reaches to the ends of the earth, penetrates the hearts of people and able to
separate soul and spirit. What we are
going to witness these coming days are not just a series of special events in
our faith but the fulfillment of prophecies more than 500 years before the
event took place. It is part of the plan that God revealed to the world. We
have to develop an awareness of these things and Jesus Christ Himself. Today’s
gospel from John begins after the foot washing and Christ has already told them
and given them a clue that there’s a betrayer. Jesus was deeply troubled of
this betrayal and bothers him. We might think that this disturbance started in
the agony in the garden but the greater disturbance begins in the last supper
and just continued to the garden. This betrayal is not something that He takes
lightly. The fact that His betrayer is one of His chosen to lead Israel must be
very hard on Him. He kept on mentioning that one of his chosen will betray him
even in His teaching of the Eucharist, He mentioned that Judas will betray him.
Nobody knows whom He meant for Jesus never mentioned his name. Peter & John
are frequently in the Lord’s presence and can read and indicated in today’s
gospel that they are the only ones who knew as it is mentioned, that Peter
instructed John to find out who the betrayer is. John leaned back against
Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the
one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel
and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. We can see written in John 1 that Jesus is in
the bosom of the father and we can see that the same word is used in the gospel
today. This closeness as in leaning back against Jesus’ chest is key to
understanding why it is to John that he gives the sign. In the Middle East it is a sign of friendship if someone gets a
piece of bread, dip and offered it. Christ does this sign to Judas as a last
attempt to win him back over. But when he takes and eats the bread, satan
entered him and it did not become a source of friendship but an alliance with
satan. We have to be careful when receiving the Eucharist and always be in a
state of grace and maintain a position of closeness as in the bosom of God.
This is a sign for all of us to stay away from darkness. Judas took the morsel
and left and it became his hour of darkness. We need to avoid that and enter
into reconciliation with true repentance. This should be our attitude. Peter
also betrayed Christ because he said that he will always be faithful but denied
Christ. The difference is that Peter repented but Judas despaired of
forgiveness. This should never be our attitude rather always have hope of
reconciliation and be a penitent. Let us constantly build our confidence in God
who never fails. There is really nowhere else to go but to Him alone. By just
looking back at our past and present we can only come up with just one thing
which is God is constantly at work and in charge of our lives for as long as we
live even unto death. Many of our brothers and sisters all over the world
suffer persecution for their faith. This is a fundamental human right
proclaimed to be enjoyed by everyone. Religious freedom is the path to peace
according to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. It is a sacred right to have religious
freedom. Without openness to the transcendent, a human being withdraws to
himself and fails to experience authentic freedom which leads to violation of
other human rights as well. This is vital in building a just society. Wherever religious freedom is denied human
dignity is offended with a resulting threat to justice and peace. We can not
deny the assistance and various contributions of religious communities and
believers. It has proven to be effective for the promotion of the common good.
This is a force that could not be reckoned with or the truth that we can not
deny. No matter how radical secularization tries to eliminate any reference to
religion or any input the voice of religion may have. It can not ignore the
religious dimensions of a society. This is a truth that we can not deny.
Authentic religiosity is the source of a loving approach of brothers and sister
as a whole family. It has to be freely chosen according to one’s conscience and
not violently imposed. God beckons humanity with a loving plan and calls for a
free and responsible answer that engages the whole heart. Amen. Hallelujah!
Isaiah 49:1-6
...The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he
gave me my name. 2 He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the
shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. 3 You
are my servant, he said to me, Israel ,
through whom I show my glory. 4 Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for
nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the LORD, my
recompense is with my God. 5 For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his
servant from the womb,...
Let us not forget that our bodies are God's temple and we
should make an effort of maintaining our health at its prime, so that just like
Samson we can have the strength to hurdle whatever is coming our way. There are
many things that we don't understand especially the things that happen to us.
We can always choose to trust that it comes from God. We are His beloved son or
daughter with an awareness that God is fathering us and has brought us into a
family. We should have a childlike fearlessness that we can appropriate and
exercise as we trust God who never fails. In God we find the most secure and
safest shelter. If we will always fill our hearts with gratitude and praise for
God we will realize as we look back and recall that we really have a lot of
things to be thankful to God. Let us proclaim God's goodness and mercy. Our God
is incomparable for He loves us with a love greater than any other. In God we
find the most secure and safest shelter. Let us constantly build our confidence
in God who never fails. There is really nowhere else to go but to Him alone. By
just looking back at our past and present we can only come up with just one
thing which is God is constantly at work and in charge of our lives for as long
as we live. The mention of being called even from a mother’s womb, is one of
the symbols of God’s words. The Word that reaches to the ends of the earth,
penetrates the hearts of people and able to separate soul and spirit. It should be our duty to spread God’s Word.
Evangelization is defined with a very broad meaning and although preaching is
its core there's more to it than just that. It is crucial that we reflect the
values of Jesus. There is the so called "Equipping the Saints". We
need to go through a process to achieve this. We process information in the
mind, it is mind centered since it is a quest for knowledge. Formation is soul
centered, it is a quest for wisdom and go through it by making decisions in the
heart. Transformation is the meeting of mind and soul since it is a quest for
spirituality. Propagation is the fullness of mind, body and soul resulting to
authentic and meaningful faith in action. It is sometimes called
Evangelization. The Balloon Story tells us of a child who saw balloons of
different colors rising up in the sky. The child exclaimed how beautiful it
looked up there with all the different colors. An old man told the child that
it's not the colors that makes the balloons rise up but what's inside of it. As
we become formed and equipped for evangelization we become Good messengers of
the Good News. Furthermore, we need to differentiate between good and great
leaders. A good leader when the company
is doing good, is one who faces the mirror and look back at the reason why the
company is doing well but looks out of the window and to others when the company
is performing bad. On the other hand, a great leader is one who looks out of
the window and point to others as the reason why the company is doing well but
when things are bad, looks at himself and ask what he can do to help. Jesus is
a great leader because when things got really bad for humankind, He did not
point any finger but instead came as man and redeemed us all. Evangelization
should work towards making humanity whole again and free men and women from
things that hinder them from being whole again. We should treasure the
salvation that Jesus has given us. Do away with sin that makes us broken. Avoid
not just sin but the occasions of sin.
When we speak of the 5th commandment which is, "Thou shall not
kill" there is an unwritten command too, that we need to be peacemakers.
There is no peace without justice. We need to fight injustice and unjust
structures.
The Principles of Catholic Evangelization1. Live the gospel-use words only when necessary. Walk the talk
2. Challenge others by one's example and lifestyle
3. Uphold true values. People before profit. Embrace peace and justice. A Capitalist value works differently, it upholds profit at all cost.
4. Open our hearts to the saving power of God. From a distance foolishness and wisdom look alike but if we come closer we'll find that foolishness is an open mouth and wisdom is an open mind. In evangelization we need to approach it in a manner of discovery with an element of surprise rather than deciding which means we already have an idea of it. In discovery, God brought us to where we are although not fully revealing but trusting. We discover God and the wonders of His wisdom.
5. Build community
6. Identify and really call injustice as injustice. Accept and handle the truth. Sometimes the closer we are to power the farther we become to truth.
7. Work for a better society. Life is a gift from God but what we make of it is our gift to God. Amen. Hallelujah!
R: I will sing of your salvation.
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your
justice rescue me, and deliver me; incline your ear to me, and save me. 3 Be my
rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my
fortress. 4 O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked. (R) 5 For you are
my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. 6 On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength. (R) 16 I will treat of the mighty
works of the LORD; O God, I will tell of your singular justice. 17 O God, you
have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous
deeds. To top it all, we need to realize that God is the Primary Agent of Evangelization. It is not about us but about God. He is the Chief Architect of it all. God is indeed at work in us always but we also have to cooperate at every given opportunity. As told by the gospel today 2 people were both given a warning by God as to their upcoming betrayal and denial and eventually did as foretold. They could have taken the warning seriously and decided to do the right thing. Sometimes in our lives we are like that, God is already giving us the people and circumstances that is obviously there to serve our purpose but due to our pride or whatever is holding us back to accept the right thing we are misled and choose to be stubborn. It is good to know that no matter how many times we fall God in His goodness never gives up on us. As we all know today, Peter who betrayed Jesus 3x is now the head of the Church just because He decided to repair the damage and repent. Let us always choose to do the right thing and not remain in our stubborn ways because there is always a bright future ahead of us in God the Almighty. If we are to measure the tears we have shed in our lifetime we may all come to the conclusion that it could fill up a full bucket. Peter also shed tears when he denied Jesus. “...He denied a third time; Jesus looked at him and he wept very bitterly.” (Lk 22,62). It gives a feeling of great consolation knowing that Peter was able to rise up from his denials of Jesus. He even became the first Pope of the Catholic Church and is considered as the rock where the Church is built. We, too in our weaknesses and denials of Christ can still rise up from it as we shed tears of repentance and gather all our strength to follow the example of Peter. We can not deny the fact that we are no different from Peter and Judas in our denials and betrayals. But we always have a choice, we can either choose to be Peter or Judas Iscariot. We can either rise up from our denials or choose to die in our betrayals. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 13:21-33, 36-38
21 Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply
troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
22 The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. 23 One
of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. 24 So
Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. 25 He leaned back against
Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is
the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the
morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. 27
After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you
are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now none of those reclining at table realized
why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag,
Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to
the poor. 30 So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. 31 When
he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified
in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once. 33 My children, I will be with you only a little
while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you
cannot come,’ so now I say it to you. 36 Simon Peter said to him, “Master,
where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow
me now, though you will follow later.” 37 Peter said to him, “Master, why can’t
I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will
you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”
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