Reflection for Thursday August 28, Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church; Matthew 24:42-51

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Gospel: Matthew 24:42-51

(Jesus said to his disciples) “Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

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Reflection:

What are we going to do if we’re assigned a responsibility? We will do whatever it takes to properly accomplish the responsibility immediately.  There will be no dilly dally we will immediately do what we have to do because this is the responsibility given to us.

In our gospel for today Jesus tells the disciples: Be prepared for the son of man will come at an hour you do not expect. What kind of preparation did Jesus wants from His disciples? Of course it is to live their lives the way Jesus lived His life, this they could achieve through their humility, their concern for the poor and by living their lives in the service of others.

How should we prepare for the coming of Jesus? Should we prepare by making ourselves busy on how to increase our material wealth? Of course not! The preparation that Jesus speaks about is the same preparation that He required from His disciples. So that when He knocks we would be able to let Him enter our lives.

Therefore, we must not always busy ourselves on how to increase our wealth. For material wealth is not the be all and end all of life.  The best preparation for the coming of Jesus into our lives is to create time for Him no matter how busy we are for this is the only way we could prepare for His coming.    

How are we preparing for the coming of Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday August 26, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 23:23-26

Gospel: Matthew 23:23-26

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

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Reflection:

Why do we follow Jesus? Do we follow Him because we are obliged by our faith or we follow Him because of our deep love for Him? When we follow Jesus because we see it as our obligation; it does not create a deep transformation within us. We simply follow for the reason that it creates a positive self-image for us and it ends with the positive self-image: No interior cleansing and transformation.

When we follow Jesus because we love Him, we allow the love of Jesus to deeply transform us. For example if we follow Jesus because we love Him, we will be forgiving, we will not store hatred in our hearts. And we will abhor anything that is bad and evil because we give Jesus the freehand to transform us.

Our discipleship with Jesus must always be rooted in our love for Him and not because this is dictated by our faith. For this is what true discipleship is all about, a discipleship that creates a very deep transformation within our being.

Let us therefore examine ourselves and reflect for we may be only following Jesus because we are obliged by our faith or even by our position in the church and community. If this is so it’s about time that we allow Jesus to interiorly renew us. 

This would only commence when we forgive those who’ve hurt us. When we are willing to build bridges than walls and when we humble ourselves before those whom we've hurt by asking for their forgiveness. - Marino J. Dasmarinas  

Reflection for Sunday August 24, Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 16:13-20

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

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Reflection:

Do we boast about the things that we do and own? For example we post on facebook the things that we own or the beautiful places that we’ve been through with the motive of letting others know about who we are. Do we boast about how intelligent we are and how profound our knowledge about Jesus and the catholic faith?

The intellect that we have and everything that we have we did not earn by your own effort alone. The Good Lord has a hand on what we know and what we have today. Even our personal success we did not earn it by our own effort, the Good Lord has His hand on it also.

In our gospel today, Peter hit the jackpot when he correctly answered this question of Jesus, “Who do you say that I am?” But Jesus immediately told Peter that it was not through his own intellect that he know Jesus for it was God who enlightened him to know the real identity of Jesus.

We can perhaps relate with this statement of Jesus to Peter. Because there may be times that we boast also about who we are and what we know and have. Jesus reminds us that everything is a gift and grace from the good Lord. Who we are today or how successful we are today is God’s gift to us. That’s why we must not allow ourselves to be carried away by our success no matter how big. 

The Catholic church that we have today was founded by Jesus through Peter. Jesus did not do it because Peter was the favored one or because Peter was always in the thick of things in the life of Jesus. Peter was chosen for the simple reason that it was the will of God and not Peter’s will.

We must therefore stay humble and we must continue to firmly plant our feet on the ground. No matter how successful we are for everything is a gift from God and everything emanates from God’s good will. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday August 23, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 23:1-12

Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

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Reflection:

Should we aspire for greatness in our service for Jesus and our fellowmen? No, because the moment we aspire for greatness we are not anymore serving Jesus and our fellowmen. We are rather feeding our own egos and personal agendas, whatever our personal agendas are.

Many of us including church people as well as politicians fail in this aspect of true servanthood. For the reason that instead of giving true service we accompany it with our own selfish motives. Why are we offering our free service to the church? Is it purely to serve, or we may have hidden motives in serving the church. Same with politicians during campaign they would always offer themselves as servants, but after they’ve won we could hardly see them anymore.

Jesus is teaching us that if we truly want to serve we must be ready to forget ourselves or forget who we are. We walk our talk without complaining whatsoever. We silently do what we have to do not minding if we would be rewarded for what we do for this is what servanthood is all about.

Let us not worry if we are not cited for whatever noble undertaking that we do. God is not sleeping He sees everything and knows everything. - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday August 21, Saint Pius X, Pope; Matthew 22:1-14

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying, “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.” Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.’ The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

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Reflection:

Jesus compared The Kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. When it was the day of the wedding feast none of the invited guest arrived for they all had their preoccupations. How could they refuse the graciousness of the king?

The kingdom of heaven and the wedding feast that Jesus speaks about is within our midst which is the celebration of the Holy Mass.  And just like the king who invited guest, Jesus is inviting us also to be present at Holy Mass most especially during Sundays. But do we make time for Holy Mass to partake of the Body of Christ?

Like going to a wedding banquet where the invited guests prepare their most elegant clothes. Do we prepare ourselves before going to Holy Mass by having prior knowledge of the gospel and the other readings?

In our gospel, the expected guest refused the invitation of the king so the king was disheartened by their refusal. The king then instructed his servants to go out again and invite anyone (bad and good alike) they could find and many came to the wedding banquet and ate to their hearts content.     

Perhaps, many of us do not also honor this invitation of Jesus to be present at Holy Mass. Why? Is it because we are also busy like the invited guest in the gospel? We are missing heaven on earth when we refuse to honor this invitation of Jesus for us to go to His wedding banquet which is none other than the celebration of Holy Mass.

Do we always listen to this invitation of Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday August 20, Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church; Matthew 20:1-16

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us,  who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

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Reflection:

God thinks differently from how we think and God decides not based on how we decide.

 It seems that the landowner is unfair this is for the reason that He payed the workers the same amount regardless of how much time they’ve labored in his vineyard. Was he really unfair to the other workers who worked for longer hours?

The landowner was simply generous and fair for he paid everyone based on what they’ve agreed upon.   It did not matter to him who worked early in the day and who worked late in the day. What was important for him was he paid justly and generously to everyone who worked in his vineyard.

We can’t help but compare God’s generosity compared to ours if at all we are generous. If God doesn’t count the cost we count the cost and if God is generous we are often times not generous. If we discriminate God doesn’t discriminate whomever we are, what is important for God is we respond to His invitation.  

God doesn’t look at how sinful we are, God doesn’t look at how early and late we respond to His call of repentance. What is important for God is we respond to His call of renewal no matter how late. All of us whomever we are are being invited by God to walk away from our sins and follow Him.

How would we respond to this call of God? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday August 19, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time; Matthew 19:23-30

Gospel: Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

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Reflection:

The recent suicide of Robin Williams tells us that fame and fortune is not a guaranty to have inner peace and serenity. We may have all the material wealth of this world but it amounts to nothing if we are without inner peace.

In our gospel Jesus said to the disciples, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. This was in reference to the rich man in our gospel yesterday (Matthew 19:16-22) who couldn’t give-up his treasures in favor of the poor and his discipleship with Jesus. That rich man was actually invited by Jesus to become his follower but he declined the glorious offer because he held-on to his wealth.

It’s not actually bad to be rich it becomes a hazard to our well-being when we make our riches our God. That we are not willing to let it go for anything even for the sake of the kingdom of God. Therefore, when we are so in-love with our fleeting wealth we become capable of doing anything that Jesus abhors.  

That’s why Jesus said in our gospel that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God. Because the more that we get richer the more that we distance ourselves from the love of Jesus yet the more that we give away our riches  the more that we become fit for the kingdom of God.

God created us to freely aspire for His kingdom in heaven and not to be permanently imprisoned by our riches in  this world. - Marino J. Dasmarinas