Reflection for Wednesday December 17,Third week of Advent; Matthew 1:1-17

Gospel: Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.

After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.

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Reflection:

With the modernity of technology today wherein we are always busy with facebook and our many gadgets. Do we still have time to know our family tree or are we still willing to know our family tree? Say for example the names of our ancestors, are we still willing to know them?

Or we don’t have time to know them for the simple reason that they belong to the past already. And we are now here in this high-technology driven times where there is less people to people interaction. We now interact more with our internet friendly cell phones, ipads, laptops etc.

Nevertheless, we still need to know who our relatives are for the simple reason that we are humans, we are not high tech cell phones or other gadgets. And as such we need to know who our relatives are, so that we could also touch base and help them if they are in need of help.

We have in our gospel the ancestry of Jesus, it traces the family history of Jesus. From Abraham, King David up to Saint Joseph the designated father of Jesus. This ancestry shows the humanity of Jesus.

Even if He is God the Son Jesus is also human like all of us and being human this means that He is one with us. We can even adopt Him as our relative so that we could feel more closer to Him. For example we can treat Jesus as our brother or even our father that we could communicate with anytime.

God could have chosen Jesus to directly originate from heaven like a shooting star coming into earth. But God allowed Jesus to come from an ancestry of numerous people so that we can always be at home with Him. And so that we could treat Him as our close friend, our brother or even our father.

How’s your relationship with Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Tuesday December 16, First day of Misa de Gallo/Simbang Gabi; John 5:33-36

Gospel: John 5:33-36

(Jesus said to the Jews) You sent emissaries to John and he testified to the truth. I do not accept testimony from a human being but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.    

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Reflection:

Today is the first day of Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi. As we go through this nine days novena Mass let us try to prepare ourselves to be worthy to the coming birth of our savior. This we could do best by having an interior renewal of ourselves, by reconciling with our enemies. And by not focusing on the material side of Christmas focusing rather on the true essence of Christmas which is the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

Have you testified for Jesus by the way you talk and live? Have you humbly called for repentance and renewal? John humbly did all of these noble things, he was sent by God to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. Have we done something also to prepare the way for the coming birth of Jesus?

For example if you’re a parent, have you taught your children that the true essence of Christmas is not the material gifts that they would be receiving not either the appearance of Santa Clause? Have you pointed out to your children that the essence of Christmas is about Jesus?

Slowly but surely the true meaning of Christmas is being overpowered already by materialism and commercialism. In our own little way we could be like John also if we would try to highlight the true reason for this Christmas season no other than the birth of Jesus.   

Have you done something to humbly point out that the true  meaning of Christmas is the birth of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Monday December 15, Third week of Advent; Matthew 21:23-27

Gospel: Matthew 21:23-27

When Jesus had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.  Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him? But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know. He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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Reflection:

Where does Jesus’ authority comes from? We know that it comes from God, God gave Jesus the authority to preach, heal, exorcise those who are possessed by the devil and so forth.

The ruling class at that time (Pharisees, chief priest and elders of the people) was questioning Jesus’ authority because Jesus’ authority was more powerful than theirs. People were starting to flock more to Jesus than to them therefore they have to question His authority. Jesus never backed down with His authority He held-on to it until death.

Parent’s authority over their children is encompassing this means that for as long as parents live they have authority over their children until mortal death ends this authority. But why is it that many parents are being disrespected by their children?

This is for the reason that many parents failed to properly role model their authority over their children. They did not discipline their children; they spoiled their children by showering them material things. They failed to lead by example and they failed to introduce God to their children by teaching them about Jesus and by bringing them to church for Holy Mass.  Thus they end-up losing their authority over their children and the respect of their children.

If we want to have authority over our children and with other people under our care we must therefore be like Jesus. For Jesus exercised His authority by being a good role model, Jesus led by example until the end, even at the cost of His very own life.

How do you exercise your authority? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Saturday December 13, Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr; Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

Gospel: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

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Reflection:

Why is it that we sometimes are not aware that God is already manifesting His presence in our lives?   Because we have no awareness of God and our lack of awareness is made worse by our non observance of the church’s discipline.

For example, our Sunday Holy Mass obligation, our obligation to submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a year and so forth. When we behave like this we distance ourselves from God and as a consequence of this we become numb to the presence of God in our lives.  

By not following Jesus the scribes and the Pharisees were not able to imbibe the teachings of Jesus. That the Prophet Elijah has already manifested himself through the person of John the Baptist. By not followinng they persecuted and killed both John and Jesus.

If they followed John and Jesus they would have not dared to persecute and kill them for they will know their mission and their true identity.

How then could we connect this gospel with our faith life? If we will not listen to the voice of Jesus who speaks to us through manifold ways like the observance of the church’s discipline. We distance ourselves also from Jesus just like what the Pharisees and scribes did. And we may end- up becoming the persecutor of the church which Jesus has founded instead of becoming its protector.     

Do we faithfully observe the laws and discipline of Jesus voiced through the Catholic Church? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Friday December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe; Matthew 11:16-19

Gospel: Matthew 11:16-19

(Jesus said to the crowds)  16 "But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 17 `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; 19 the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."

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Reflection:

Are you quick to judge based on what you see? The people during Jesus and John’s time most especially the Pharisees and scribes were like that also. They judge both John and Jesus; John they judged as having a demon and Jesus as a glutton and a drunkard. They based their judgment on the external actuations that they saw.

However, their judgment was misplaced and farthest from the truth. Those who judged Jesus and John should have first tried to know them first by becoming their followers but they never cared to follow, they instead quickly judged. Thus, they missed the opportunity of a lifetime to know John and Jesus.

Those who judge allow themselves to be controlled by their misplaced emotions. Those who judge usually end-up missing something worthy and beautiful from the person that they judge.     

There are times that I see married couples the husband is handsome but the wife is not beautiful and vise-versa. I usually tell myself, how come they ended-up in the altar of married life? The reason behind is simple, they never cared to judge based on what they saw on their future spouse. They instead delve deeper, thus they discovered how beautiful the character of the person they chose to be with for the rest of their lives.  

Are you quick to judge? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Thursday December 11, Second Week of Advent; Matthew 11:11-15

Gospel: Matthew 11:11-15

(Jesus said to the crowds)  Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. Whoever has ears ought to hear.

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Reflection:

What does John the Baptist brings to us? It’s his witness for Jesus and His teachings until the end. Like the Prophets before him, John gave his life so that evil would not triumph over good. In essence it was the devil against God. John chose God over the devil, John chose righteousness over evil and immorality.

For these reasons Jesus hailed John as the greatest amongst the prophets, yet Jesus tells us also that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Who is greater than John the Baptist? It’s Jesus Himself! Jesus came into this world not with power and might. Like John, Jesus was born into this world bereft of worldly opulence.

Somehow the gospel communicates to us that for us to become great in the eyes of Jesus we have to emulate John. His humble witness for Jesus, his uncompromising stand against evil and so forth. We must not forget also that Jesus is challenging us also to become the least in the eyes of the people of this world.

 It means that we must not crave for money, power or anything that this fleeting world will offer us. Nevertheless even without these worldly things we will strive to continue to make a positive difference in the lives of our fellowmen. For this is the life of Jesus when He walked on this earth.

Could we emulate the life of John? Are we capable of shunning the trappings of this world and still make a positive difference in the lives of our fellowmen just what Jesus did? - Marino J. Dasmarinas

Reflection for Wednesday December 10, Second Week of Advent; Matthew 11:28-30

Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus said to the crowds: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

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Reflection:

Who among us are not feeling weary and burdened by the weight of the problems that we carry? We are all burdened by this world yet these burdens the we carry are miraculously made light. When we learn to submit it to Jesus and when we invite Jesus to help us carry it.

Why do we endure to carry the burden of someone we love or to suffer for someone we love? This is for the reason that we are already yoked or made one with this person that we love. For example, in married life if your spouse is sick you would endure and love to take care of your spouse.

This is for the reason that Jesus bonded the two of you to become one through the Sacrament of Matrimony.  Remember some words of your marriage vows? In sickness and in health you will not part until death!

If marriage made you one with your spouse, through your Baptism you became one with Jesus or you are already yoked with Jesus until eternity. Let us therefore always go to Jesus we who are all burdened by the difficulties of life for we will always find healing and strength in HIM.

Do you always go to Jesus by visiting Him in the Adoration Chapel? Do you always go to Jesus through Holy Mass? Do you always go to Jesus through your prayers? - Marino J. Dasmarinas