SIN & SORROW

What a strong statement from Paul in today's 1st reading. He reminds us not to become 2 face or in tagalog "doble kara" We've got to make a stand on which side we really are. Sometimes we have this notion that we can continue doing what we do even if there is something wrong with it and just compensate by offsetting it with something good. Eventually things will toll up on us and would have to make a stand so that we don't end up losing everything. We must consider everything that we do as an offering to God just like bread and wine. We offer to the Lord the work of our hands and consider it a communion and participation in the Body & Blood of Christ. We go through life without realizing this truth in today's 1st reading. We end up missing the whole point and not reaping the benefits that we are supposed to get from it. The Holy Eucharist is at the root of all holiness. How many saints have advanced to holiness through the Eucharist? Holiness has always found its center in the Eucharist. God recognizes the fact that we are material beings in embodied souls. God uses sensible signs to lead us to spiritual realities. This time, God did not just use a sign or symbol. Jesus offered bread and wine and turned it into His own body and blood. We remember the Holy Eucharist models, martyrs and saints who discovered the secret in the Body and Blood of Christ. We can not live without the Holy Eucharist. It is only through it that we can cope with the toil and exhaustion of this life journey. God is the source of every good thing and He pours it out on us from the moment of creation up to the present time. When we receive the bread and wine turned into the body and blood of Christ during the mass, He becomes a part of us. It is a call to love Him and be attached to Him. This invitation of God is not exclusive and is extended to all of us.

The Bread of Life should be understood literally and sacramentally. If we are to read the gospel from John we would see that Jesus makes a noticeable shift and used the verb "eats", "drinks" and "feeds". The reaction of His followers in the gospel of John 6 explain and attest to this. Jesus really meant it when He said to eat and drink His blood. It is indeed a very hard teaching that we ought to accept and believe. Take note of John 6:66 (which has the #666) " As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him." We need to be clear of this truth and be united with Christ in Holy Communion. We must receive with the proper disposition for this to take effect in our soul. Anyone aware of mortal sin and receives Communion is receiving unworthily. We must receive worthily otherwise we are putting judgment on ourselves as St. Paul says"...whoever eats in an unworthy manner is guilty of profaning our Lord..., he who eats and drinks without discerning brings judgment upon himself..." (1 Corinthians 11:29) We have to receive Christ in a state of grace. According to St. Justin, no one may take part in the Bread and Wine, the Eucharist unless he believes what the Church teaches is true and lives in keeping with what Christ taught. Unworthy Communion is a sacrilege. It outrages God more than all other mortal sins because it attacks not just the 10 Commandments but the Person of Jesus Christ. It is a profanation, crucifies Jesus Christ in our hearts and brings to ourselves chastisement. It is a greater crime than in Mt. Calvary. It imitates and renews the crime of Judas. It is an outward sign of love to God just like the kiss of Judas but inwardly it aims to betray and capture Jesus. It is like leading a hypocritical or "double life". On the other hand if we receive worthily we get to enjoy the effects of Holy Communion. An intimate union with Christ, preserves, increases, renews and multiplies the life of grace received in Baptism. Celebrating Eucharistic liturgy is a requirement and in the Jewish custom it is done to take out all sin in order to receive God pure.  The New Passover is better understood by looking at what Jesus did on Maundy Thursday. He instituted the Eucharist before He died on Good Friday. Jesus is the victim of Divine love. He did it not as a substitute but  as  a representative, so that He could reproduce Himself in us in His Sonship. God Himself has given His own body and blood as a gift to mankind. The Eucharist is a sacrament of God's everlasting love that is like a fire ever burning that consumes all of the selfishness and coldness in our flesh. He gave Himself to man as food, satisfying food that erases all kinds of hunger with no taste of bitterness. We are all members of Christ's Body the Church. We are a team working together under the Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Hallelujah!

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

...The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf...21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger? Are we stronger than he?

When we hear of amazing stories we can not contain our excitement. May we be always mindful of it at all times and filled with this kind of emotion in all circumstances. We all have sinned and bore the guilt in us. We have all been destined to die but Jesus took upon Himself all our sins and paid it in full. He made an offering of Himself for our sake. The least we could do is to give honor to this Holy Sacrifice. Let us cloth ourselves with the blood which Jesus shed for us in Mount Calvary, let us not forget what Jesus did for us so that God's mercy will always be upon us. We have to endure to the end and be found deserving of a great blessing that awaits us. The ignorance of our faith is ignorance about Jesus. We may sometimes think that evangelization is just work for the priests and the religious. It is not limited to them but anyone who is baptized should take on this responsibility. JFK once said, "Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own." Nothing should ever stop us from being part of the work of God. God made man in His own image and likeness. (Gen 1:26) In this context we need to define personhood well and know the perils of limited definition. It could be classified into 2 definitions, nominal and real. Nominal definition of personhood is decided by man. It is approaching something that we don't know but we already have the answer. We make decisions and play God. The dangers of this definition of a person are:

1. nominal- when we deny to identify a person as a real person. Example is abortion, when doctors deny the fact that at the moment of conception a person already exists.
2. real but limited - We do not deny but identify them as persons but with lesser worth like the sick and terminally ill. Just because they are old, weak and sick they deserve to die as in the case of euthanasia.
3. full and real but limited - Kills people as in the Holocaust.
The whole principle involved here is discovery and deciding. When our approach is discovery then we are being led to the events in our life with a sense of total surrender, trust and faith in the Lord's Providence for the realization of things that are unseen and hoped for. God may not fully reveal and present us with a surprise but we maintain full confidence in a God who brought us to wherever we are right now. In deciding, our approach is a lot different since we already have an answer for something that we don't know yet. It boils down to the fact that we think we know too much but we don't. We end up playing God. We need to remain as man and allow God to be God of our life. When man becomes god, we lose everything because we are not God. We have to realize the impact in our life of discovery versus deciding.

We should ascribe to the real definition of personhood. It answers the question what, how and what is it meant to be. Our approach in life to achieve faith and righteousness is by discovery and through an authentic Christian life. Discovery can be best defined in the sense that we are open to the intention and purpose of God for us. With a seeking and expectant faith we should allow God to lead us in discovering what is ahead of us and prepared by God. The approach should be in a manner of discovering what God's intention is and respecting it. We've heard of several occasions when people are spared from death or any tragic or unpleasant event because they missed the bus, woke up late, got stuck in traffic and something just came up which delayed them. I guess, it has happened to us too, somehow. After feeling annoyed and impatient because of that incident, we just found out that what appeared to be a nuisance and a problem turned out to be a blessing. It will always be good to undergo trials and hardships in life and remain steadfast in the Lord for everything will pay off in the end. Not a single thing that we've been through for the glory of God will ever be in vain. It is only right that we give all glory, honor and praise to God. We need not wait and see any longer for it is in our very own lives that God wants us to start paying attention to in order to make a return for all the good he has done. What Jesus has done for all of us is the ultimate sacrifice of love ever known in the entire history of mankind. It is impossible for us to repay what He has done but with hearts full of gratitude we can follow what the psalm reading today is telling us. It is only right and fitting that we honor our vows and promises.  This shows how grateful, confident and assured we are of the Lord’s goodness. It is only right and fitting that we give 100% loyalty to God who deserves more than all the praises we can give. Let us cloth ourselves with the blood which Jesus shed for us in Mount Calvary, let us not forget what Jesus did for us so that God's mercy will always be upon us. The blood that marked the houses of the Jews during the Passover spared them from death. We, as true believers and followers of Christ had been marked with the Most Efficacious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is really good that without us making a way, He was the One who made the way. No amount of thank you will ever suffice to what God has done for all of us. This and only this should we always have in mind, the least we could do is to always put God first in everything we do. Let Him become our motivation and inspiration knowing that He shed His blood for our sake. We may look different, strange and queer for some because of our intense desire to please God in return for all the good that He has done for us. It may still be imperfect or could be unbecoming if based on the standards of some but we must continuously strive to do our best to pay reverence, homage and loyalty to the one and only Supreme Lord of all in the presence of all his people at all cost in the best way we can. We have to feel the abounding joy and peace in our heart as we remind ourselves of the many promises of God that we have been patiently waiting for to be fulfilled. God is going to fulfill all His promises. It should give us renewed strength and courage to confidently stand up and remain steadfast in His love against all odds. We can be a people radiating with goodness that others can see the contrast. We can choose modesty, chastity and purity over the values that the world tries to influence us with. We should be able to know our definition of happiness and love and be the person God has made us to be before the world defines it for us. In doing so we can face God on that day with faith and enter the ark of salvation into His heavenly kingdom. Amen. Hallelujah!

Ps 116:12-13, 17-18Responsorial Psalm

R. (17) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

12 How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? 13 The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. (R) 17 To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. 18 My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people.

The most holy and sacred woman who ever lived here on earth is Mary. We are so blessed to have her as our own mother, for Jesus shared and extended to us this noble and holy privilege. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Our Lady of Sorrows and commemorate the courage and strength of Mary in carrying out the most noble task ever known to man which she has faithfully fulfilled thus it gives us the inspiration to not grow weary in facing further trials that come our way and not despair and lose hope. The passion and death of Jesus on the cross is the ultimate pain and suffering that a human being could endure. It follows that the ultimate sorrow a mother could experience is to see her very own son subjected to such an excruciatingly painful way to die. On an afternoon of unnatural darkness she had to endure such cruel pain and agony that more than human nature could endure. Mary had to stand by and see the soldiers come and claim as their own all that was left of her dead son (John 19:24-25, Matthew 27:35). There at the foot of the cross was the little heap of Christ’s earthly belongings. They are the only heirlooms and the only souvenirs that she could have. There is the seamless tunic that she must have woven stitch by stitch with such love. There was his headdress which she had mended and his sandals which she had kept clean. And now these men were casting lots as to whose they should be as a reward and recompense for putting her son to death. We know that this world of ours is cruel, cold and heartless. But it can be kind to all men on 2 occasions, at birth and death and to be born and to die. To come into the world and to go out of it finds hospitality easily even from the world. But how was our Lord treated on those occasions? Why was it that it seemed too much just for Him to be born? It took the Almighty all His time to obtain a visible foothold of His own world. He wasn’t wanted. There was no room for Him in the inn. Though, we did hear the angels voices singing on the hillside that night but those voices soon changed. It changed into wailings of women, mothers mourning the loss of their sons in the killing of the innocents because man had been seeking God to murder Him. And at His death He wasn’t allowed to die a natural death like the rest of men. In the very prime of manhood His life was trampled out of Him as if it was something tiresome. His body was swiftly buried or else it would be polluting the air of festivity in the city (Mark 15:42, John 19:31) Mary stood at the foot of the cross as her heart was pierced with so much sorrow seeing her only Son, Jesus crucified. Only a heart full of faith, courage, strength and conviction could withstand such kind of sorrow and pain.  Mary never fainted nor faltered maintained reverence in God in that time of great sorrow and remained obedient. She is the “Stabat Mater” (Standing Mother) and such is the heart of Mary, a mother, immaculate and strong. Mary is the Lady of Sorrows for all these but we know from our faith that the pain of our Lady from that afternoon is nothing to what she endures now every time she sees a soul lose the garment of sanctifying grace for we are her children for Jesus said “Behold, your mother.”  For whenever we sin, a human being made in the image and likeness of God is brought lower than the beasts.  All the beauty is turned into hideousness. All the love turned into hatred and despair. There is only one evil in our lives and that is sin. Sin means we lose our God, the light goes out of our soul and we have become withered branches fit only to be burned in everlasting fire. We are living in a world now that says that sin doesn’t matter. That sin is only a little word in a dictionary that has long since lost its meaning. “Times have changed” we are told. Sin is the source of Mary’s greatest sorrow. May we realize that it places us in a better position with God when we know that we have the Our Lady of Sorrows, none other than our very own Blessed Mother who will always be with us, offering her cries and tears as she constantly prays for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. She is perfect enough for God to be the mother of His only Son surely she will also be for us, more than perfect as our Mother. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us. Amen. Hallelujah!

 

John 19:25-27

25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.