Wrong Motivation

First Reading: LV 19:1-2, 17-18

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

"You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.".

Responsorial Psalm: PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

Second Reading: 1 COR 3:16-23

Brothers and sisters:

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: God catches the wise in their own ruses,  and again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,  Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

Gospel: MT 5:38-48

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

"You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Reflection 
By Bernard M. Borja

A man watched his brother die when his tormentors finally executed him after hours of torture. He couldn't do anything. He just swore by himself to avenge his brother. Ten years later, he looked for each of his brother's tormentor one by one and killed them with several gunshots. He tried looking for another meaning in his life after he successfully avenged his brother.

***

A young girl and her mom were literally kicked out of their house after a filthy rich rival of the mother forcibly bought the property. The young girl swore that in time, she will make that person pay for what she did to her family. When the girl grew up, she became successful and wealthy. Remembering how her family suffered, she then promised herself that she will dedicate the rest of her life in giving to the homeless. She is now one of the people who build homes for the poor.

***

Two stories, similar beginnings, different endings. Both can be a good plot for a movie or a teleserye. But people today may find the first story more interesting. It can involve more action scenes especially the vengeance part when the main character did his best to find those who killed his brother. Scenes may include gunfight, fistfight, driving a truck then hitting one of his targets... etc. It can be a blockbuster hit for the "thrill-seeking" moviegoer.

The second story, though inspiring, may not interest most audiences. It can be a common story of struggle in life, rising above, and helping others. But how do we really look at the common nowadays? What is uncommon for us? Maybe if she avenged her family and made her mother's rival suffer, it would be a more interesting story as people will be motivated to do the same. To get back at those who have wronged us. To fight fire with fire. In the more common language today, revenge is how we can rise from our adversities in life. If one commits theft, everything will be taken from him when proven guilty. If one commits murder, people will say it is right and he deserves death because of what he did.

Jesus reminds us that giving will always be better than taking. When we give, we actually gain. When we take something away from someone, we actually lose something. But we ask, what would that gain be? It might be less interesting if I say, we can gain selflessness when we give. It's a more common path that most of us want, but do not choose because we are more interested in "thrill-seeking"; where we give much complicated meanings since we are motivated in a way that seeing someone who has wronged us suffer the way we did (oftentimes, we wish they suffer more). But we can also say, the more we give the more we receive. But in this saying, the motivation of receiving becomes our only mindset and reason why we really give.

Why don't we look at giving as a never ending path to be perfect just like Jesus, and we become better as we go on even though we don't really arrive at perfection? That we become higher than our adversities because we live above those wrong motivations that oftentimes control us and blinds us from what is the better path?

***

Every time there is a fire, may it be as small as the fire in a grill or as massive as it takes away homes, we all know that we cannot stop fire with fire. It can be stopped mainly by water, but it can also be turned off by covering it with a large blanket, reducing the air around the fire that sustains it. We can never fight fire with fire.

Prayer

I would like to pray one of the most common prayers that we Catholics know, and yet, one of the most powerful for us to realign our motivations:

Prayer for Generosity (by San Ignacio)

Dearest Lord, teach us to be generous. Teach us to serve You as we should. To give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds. To toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and ask not for reward. Save, that of knowing that we do Your most Holy Will.

With the intercession of our dear Mama Mary, we pray for our country and our people, that we may find peace in our hearts to forgive and love those who have wronged us:

Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.

To give all glory to God as we realign our motivations and love our enemies:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Be Honest

First Reading:  Amos 8:4-7

Listen to this, you who crush the needy and reduce the oppressed to nothing, you who say, 'When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat? Then, we can make the bushel-measure smaller and the shekel-weight bigger, by fraudulently tampering with the scales.

We can buy up the weak for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, and even get a price for the sweepings of the wheat.' Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, 'Never will I forget anything they have done.'

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

I urge then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving should be offered for everyone, for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live peaceful and quiet lives with all devotion and propriety. To do this is right, and acceptable to God our Saviour:

he wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth. For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus,

who offered himself as a ransom for all. This was the witness given at the appointed time, of which I was appointed herald and apostle and -- I am telling the truth and no lie -- a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.  In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument.

Gospel:  Luke 16:1-13

He also said to his disciples, 'There was a rich man and he had a steward who was denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, "What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer." Then the steward said to himself, "Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed.

Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes."  'Then he called his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, "How much do you owe my master?"  "One hundred measures of oil," he said. The steward said, "Here, take your bond; sit down and quickly write fifty." To another he said, "And you, sir, how much do you owe?" "One hundred measures of wheat," he said. The steward said, "Here, take your bond and write eighty."

 'The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.' 'And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings. Anyone who is trustworthy in little things is trustworthy in great; anyone who is dishonest in little things is dishonest in great.

 If then you are not trustworthy with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you are not trustworthy with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own? 'No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.'

Reflection

By Theresa Ballo

Honestly speaking, the readings this Sunday are quite a challenge for me. First, there are words in it especially in the Gospel which I found ironic and hypocritical. Second, I think I have a unique view of money or wealth for that matter. Third, all I can think of while reflecting in the readings was indeed, relationships are far more important than money and accumulating wealth. So, if this is the case, my Sunday reflection ends here.

Days after days, I read the passage before I sleep and a voice in my head would just say, “That’s it? Nothing more meaningful to add?” then I would lay myself to sleep. In the middle of work or even after work I would read other people’s reflection about the Parable of the Unjust Steward, hoping it would trigger something in me which I can own as my reflection in the Gospel.

The context of the Unjust Steward is told as a series or continuation of the parables in the previous Sundays. It is a response to the pharisees and scribes complaining that Jesus is eating with the sinners. Understanding that this parable is meant to be heard by the “righteous” of God’s laws in Jesus’ time is very important in order to understand Jesus’ meaning behind this parable.

In verse 8, Jesus says, "For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." He isn't commending the dishonesty to us rather he’s pointing out the cleverness of the manager. The manager knows he's getting fired and, of course, he won't be taking any of his master's wealth with him. So what does he do? He uses that money in the short time he has left to win friends who will help him after he is fired. Learning from the manager’s cleverness, not to imitate his actions but to learn from it nonetheless, I realized that the only way I can get lasting value out of our worldly wealth is to give it away. That spending money on other people is actually the best investment I can possibly make with it.

More so, it reminded me of the value of honesty and of trust. See, something in me has already been triggered. I have strong trust issues, whenever dishonesty sets in my relationships, immediately I would have a crisis. I always believe that if you cannot be honest in small matters, more so, you cannot be honest in big and critical ones.

To be honest with ourselves, to others, and to God should be our way of life. To be honest is to be true to oneself, of one’s giftedness and also of one’s limitations. To be honest is accepting who you are and who you are not. It is a choice to make. There is always freedom to choose and decide. Consent is given to own and not regret in the future because we chose what we think and feel best for others and in obedience to God.

A related saying from Jim Elliot’s quote to this parable of the dishonest manager is, "Wise is the one who gives to others that which he can never keep, in order to gain that which he can never lose."

Prayer

Almighty and loving Father, help us to be honest and true to ourselves, to others and to You.  When tempted and tested, may we choose to be faithful to You most especially when it feels hard. May we become responsible stewards of what You have entrusted in us. We surrender to You our nation, our families and communities especially in times where we are asked to be honest and sincere. This we ask through Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Unconditional Cooperation

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary   December 8, 2012

“ The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

- Pope Pius IX 

First Reading: Gen. 3:9-15, 20

The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you? " He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it." The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it. " Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

Res. Psalm: Psalms 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

Second Reading: Eph. 1-3-6, 11-12

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the one who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.

Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee  to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"   And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Reflection

By Nats Vibiesca

 

The cliché “it is better to give than to receive” maybe true, but actually I seldom practice it. Many of us rather receive than give. We fail to realize that all that we have and all we are, came from God and before we can ever give, we receive first from the merciful and loving God. If ever we give, it is not actually giving but simply sharing with others what we have received from God. Many times when we give, our thoughts automatically search for what we can get in return and this becomes a vicious condition.

Mama Mary, being aware and ever grateful to God’s blessings, unconditionally shared with us the abundance God gave her. By saying “yes” to God’s invitation from angel Gabriel, she disposes total and unconditional blessing for all of us mankind. Come to think of it, what will happen to us if Mama Mary did not accept the plan of God? Whenever I pray the first Joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary, I always remind myself that the “yes” of Mama Mary was an unconditional cooperation to God’s plan of infinite mercy for our salvation.

Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1854 as a dogma of faith which explains that God preserves Mama Mary from any stain of sin right from the first moment of her conception in her mother’s womb.

To say “yes” to God’s invitation is not always easy but when we look at Mama Mary as our model of unconditional submission to God’s will, like Mama Mary we can also say “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Prayer

Lord, we are beneficiaries ourselves--beneficiaries of Your love and blessings, help us to share with others what we have received from You and become someone’s benefactor. And may the Immaculate Conception guide us in sharing unconditionally among those who need most of Your blessings. Amen.

Unconditional Cooperation

“ The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

- Pope Pius IX 

First Reading: Gen. 3:9-15, 20

The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you? " He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it." The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it. " Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

Res. Psalm: Psalms 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

Second Reading: Eph. 1-3-6, 11-12

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the one who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.

Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee  to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"   And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Reflection

By Pietro S Albano

Most Catholic schools in the Philippines would have been holding their Grade 2/3 students’ First Holy Communion today, the Solemnity of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. This feast, a holyday of obligation in our home country, celebrates Our Lady’s privilege of being exempted from original sin. If you would compare the First and Third readings in today’s Mass, you would see how Eve and Mary differ in keeping God’s command. Eve, being easily fooled by the devil, ate the forbidden fruit. Mary, being full of grace (i.e. conceived without sin), humbly accepted to be the mother of the Promised Saviour. If Eve was ambitious, thinking that by eating the fruit she would be equal to God, Mary was obedient, ever mindful that she is the ‘handmaid of the Lord’. Ambition brought sin into the world. Obedience brought redemption.

I don’t know the real reason why First Holy Communions have been traditionally done on December 8 – mine and a sister took place in November. But I have a gut feeling that it is linked with this miracle that had happened to the Virgin Mary. By being immaculately conceived, Mary became a worthy mother to Jesus (whom we know is sinless being God). It is with hope that our young children, being innocent as they are (not to mention having been educated at the proper level of Catechism), would also be worthy recipients of Jesus - in the form of bread – just like her mother.

Most of our readers would have received Holy Communion for ages. Perhaps this feast would also be a good opportunity to check ourselves if we are still in that ‘state of grace’ to receive our Lord. If not, then it’s high time we go to confession. It’s also an opportune time to examine if we are still being good role models for those who look up to us especially children – not necessarily in what we say to them, but what we show them. Remember that famous saying “Ang anumang mali ay nagiging tama kung gagawin sa harap ng bata.” (Whatever wrong that is done in front of a child becomes right.)?

Nowadays, we have lost the ‘sense of sin’. People cheat because others have done the same thing. People wanted to satisfy their own selfish desires at the expense of their loved ones and other people. Like our first parents, we have failed to realize how our sins would impact on those around us.

Today’s celebration is good news! If Eve, our first mother, has let us down, God has given us a new mother in the person of Mary. Throughout the course of salvation history, she has been a mother we can count on. Let’s have recourse to her so that we may “withstand temptations and abhor sin…”(December monthly intention).

Prayer

Father God, You have never given up on Your people in spite of our failings. You have given us the Immaculate Mary to be our Mother. Through her intercession, grant us the strength and wisdom to do good and always, always avoid evil. Our sins have hurt You and others so much; may we come back to our senses to realize the effect of sin around us and do our best to bring about healing with Your grace.

We pray for all our First Holy Communicants, their parents, and teachers, especially for Cailin Balla and her parents Ana and Cris. Be with them on their special day. Bless them that like Mary they would always be filled with Your grace to do Your will and become worthy bearers of Christ in the world.

In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

Giving All I Have

32nd Sunday In Ordinary Time
8 November 2009




Come, let us worship Christ, whose bride is the Church.
First reading 1 Kings 17:10-16

Elijah the Prophet went off to Sidon. And when he reached the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks; addressing her he said, ‘Please bring me a little water in a vessel for me to drink.’ She was setting off to bring it when he called after her. ‘Please’ he said ‘bring me a scrap of bread in your hand.’ ‘As the Lord your God lives,’ she replied ‘I have no baked bread, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am just gathering a stick or two to go and prepare this for myself and my son to eat, and then we shall die.’ But Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, go and do as you have said; but first make a little scone of it for me and bring it to me, and then make some for yourself and for your son. For thus the Lord speaks, the God of Israel:
“Jar of meal shall not be spent,
jug of oil shall not be emptied,
before the day when the Lord sends
rain on the face of the earth.”’
The woman went and did as Elijah told her and they ate the food, she, himself and her son. The jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 145:6-10

Second reading Hebrews 9:24-28

It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf. And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the high priest going into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own, or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began. Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself. Since men only die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.

Gospel Mark 12:38-44

In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they receive.’
He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’

Reflection
By Mayzelle Atienza

“… but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”

The Ondoy disaster which flooded most of Metro Manila brought out a lot of modern-day heroes and philanthropists! It was a time of great giving and people were saying that Christmas came early for the Philippines because of the heightened spirit of giving! The Gospel for today though, further qualifies what real giving is – giving out of one’s wealth vs. giving everything ‘one has to live on’.

I remember at the height of the flooding with so many millions of pesos pouring in, one particular news item struck me; a well-known sports celebrity gave Php 1Million for the victims of Ondoy. It was big news; after all, 1 Million pesos will go a long way in helping so many people but the story doesn’t end there, at least for me, since several months back that same sports celebrity lost Php1 (or so) Million pesos on a billiard game -- his actual net worth was in millions of dollars! I am not really judging since I am in no position to judge and I struggle with this myself – not in that million-peso magnitude but in my daily decisions on what to give to God, to my family, to my friends and to my community. What is my ‘two small copper coins’? Am I giving out of my excess or out of my poverty? Am I giving all I have to live on or am I giving only what’s convenient?






Loving Father, mold our hearts and our minds that we may find joy in giving, not from our excesses and from what is convenient but allow us to truly give, out of everything we have to live on. Amen.







Next week on God-speak
Prepare Rather Than Fear