Mug Shots

First Reading:  Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

My child, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.  The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favour with the Lord; for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble. For the disease of the proud there is no cure, since an evil growth has taken root there. The heart of the sensible will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage's dream.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11

Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or gloom or total darkness, or a storm; or trumpet-blast or the sound of a voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them.

But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church of first-born sons, enrolled as citizens of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and to the spirits of the upright who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to purifying blood which pleads more insistently than Abel's.

 Gospel:  Luke 14:1, 7-14

Now it happened that on a Sabbath day he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this,  'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man." And then, to your embarrassment, you will have to go and take the lowest place.

Reflections:
by Gary Tulabut

When they are all working properly, we only have three microphones in our prayer meetings. Sometimes when only one works, it is shared by the worship leader, prayer leader, and the music ministry.

Our borrowed projector is slowly showing signs of wear and tear as the usual snow-like white patterns common to old projectors start to cover portions of the projected screen. We use borrowed mini-component as our sound system and borrowed laptops for the media operations.

That’s how we have been operating for more than a year now. And so the council decided it’s time to raise funds for these pieces of equipment.

Among the ideas that came up in our fund-raising meetings were the usual solicitations, sponsorships and selling promotional stuff such as t-shirts, fans, mugs and the like. The first and the easiest to produce among our merchandise are the coffee mugs. These mugs had beautiful designs. Thanks to that wonderful artist who wants to remain anonymous. Let us just call him Gary T. (LOL.)

Our brothers and sisters in the community were excited to sell these beautiful mugs, each priced at P150.

One of our brothers who also teaches in the same school I teach brought one in school to try his sales pitch at some co-faculty members. While delivering his short speech to one colleague, one eavesdropper suddenly interrupted and lambasted him and the mug, saying that it was so expensive, that a mug like that can be bought at a much cheaper price, and so on. This brother maintained his composure, controlled his temper, and remained humble. (He’s a Philo major, by the way, and situations like these are nothing compared to many others he has already dealt with.) But even before he was able to open his mouth to explain, the prof who the brother was initially talking to reprimanded the interrupter saying, “What’s wrong with you? Are you sick? This is a fund-raising campaign and for a good cause.”

And that’s all that was needed to call the attention of the other professors and one by one they said, “I’ll get one.” “Me too.” “Me too.”

Humility works in mysterious ways. God works in mysterious ways.

PRAYER:

Father, Thank You for showing us what humility can do in these times when people have become opinionated. May we always be humble in our ways so that the world will see You in us. Amen.

 

The Invitation

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct 12
First reading                                        Isaiah 25:6-10
On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food. On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek; he will take away his people’s shame everywhere on earth, for the Lord has said so. That day, it will be said: See, this is our God in whom we hoped for salvation; the Lord is the one in whom we hoped. We exult and we rejoice that he has saved us.

Psalm                                                Psalm 22:1-6

Second reading                               Philippians 4:12-14,19-20

I know how to be poor and I know how to be rich too. I have been through my initiation and 
now I am ready for anything anywhere: full stomach or empty stomach, poverty or plenty. 
There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength. All the 
same, it was good of you to share with me in my hardships. In return my God will fulfil all 
your needs, in Christ Jesus, as lavishly as only God can. Glory to God, our Father, for ever 
and ever. Amen.

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Gospel                                          Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’

Reflection

By Beth Eguia

Have you ever been invited to a wedding or perhaps a birthday party? Surely you would have received more than 2 invitations in a year?  But how do we respond to these invitations? Do we make preparations like buying a nice dress that will fit the occasion or perhaps, find time to look for a present that the celebrant would love?.

When we were kids, we are so excited to attend parties mainly because there will be a variety of food and different games to join and win prizes. On our teenage years, we also love attending proms or debuts because it is a time when we will be with our  best friends or “bffs”, “barkadas” and have fun. In a wedding, we are delighted to see the newly wed couples happy and so much in love. We are honoured and thankful for being part of the important events in their lives.

But how about the invitations to attend bible study, a rosary recitation within the community or perhaps attending the Sunday Mass, visiting the sick or the elders? Or maybe just the invitation to be grateful, hopeful, happy each day in spite of the many problems or trials in life? Or maybe the invitation to do God's will and not our own?

Today's Sunday Gospel is a reminder of God's invitation to respond to His call every day, i.e. to be delighted serving Him through others, to live our lives according to His will.  He will always send messengers to guide and inform us, make us aware of our shortcomings.  Yes, we have the free will to decide on things but do you think God the Father will be happy if we choose the wrong way? If we invited our best friend to our birthday or to our wedding and she didn’t come, giving all kinds of excuses, how would we feel? If we felt bad, then how much more will our God feel? Let us take this as a challenge as we reflect on our lives every day.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, through the intercession of Mama Mary, grant us wisdom to act rightfully to Your invitations daily. We are sorry for the many times we fail You and not responded to Your call. Continue to guide us through Your messengers so we are reminded of our shortcomings. We pray dear Lord that when that day of our meeting comes, may You be proud and say “Well done my child. I am proud and happy for accepting my invitation”. Amen.

Simply Jessie

First Reading: Exodus 17:8-13

Then came Am'alek and fought with Israel at Reph'idim. And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Am'alek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Am'alek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Am'alek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua mowed down Am'alek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Psalm: Psalm 121:1-8

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14 -- 4:2

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Gospel:Luke 18:1-8

And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, `Vindicate me against my adversary.' For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, `Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Reflection
by Gharri Tulabut

One friend at a time. This has been my practice in inviting friends to join The Angeles Feast (our prayer meeting). Yes, I often do Facebook invitations and, yes, there were people that joined us because of those invitations but I still like focusing on one person at a time. Well, sometimes up to 3 or even 5. But what I mean is, I always want to make it more personal and invite those that I worked with, whom I have an idea what their issues are all about, and those I really want to help.

Let’s call one of them, Jessica.

I was able to make her attend once last year. That did not happen for a second time because of the many issues she had at work. Often she confides in me. And because I had an idea what her issues are, I wanted to help her. And I think joining the Yuppies Group in our community would really help her with her issues at work on top of the personal advice she gets from me. That is why I was persistent in inviting her.

Every Saturday morning, I would always remind her, either through text message or Facebook.  Every Saturday.

But no, there was no Jessie in our weekly prayer meeting.

One Saturday, I told myself not to invite her this time (to save my 1 peso cellphone load for a while, hehe). No, I am not planning to quit just yet. I will just step back and probably change strategy.

I did not wake up early that Saturday. But upon waking up at noon guess who texted me.

Yup, it was Jessie.

And guess what the text was all about.

She’s asking me what time The Feast was?

She’s attending. Hurray!

And that afternoon we were all very happy in The Feast together with some of Jessie’s (and my former) officemates.

…But without Jessie.

She’s still a no-show.

But I was not mad at her. I did not even confront her to ask why she did not suit up. I still saw her at Mass. And we talked about other things.

I remember what Pope Francis said, “We just have to be a friend and Christ will do the rest.” So this remains my strategy in “disciple-ing”.

One other thing that keeps my communication line open with Jessie busy is my passion with financial investments. Last Tuesday, I received an unexpected text from her. This time she’s telling me that she is now ready to invest in the Mutual Funds I am representing.

Well, I do my regular talks on investments right after The Feast, so I told her, let’s meet at The Feast and discuss afterwards. 

She was not promising but she said she might attend this coming Saturday.

That Saturday is Oct 19. Did she finally attend?

As of this writing, I still don’t know.

But one thing I know, I will keep my persistence in inviting her and in praying that she finally say yes. I am that determined to help her… in her financial life, and of course, in her spiritual life.

And Jessie is just an example of many similar situations I handle.

Prayer

Father God, touch Jessie and the many like her who are still confused, to finally see the beauty of having a community both to receive blessings and to bless others. Grant me always the patience and persistence in inviting and spreading your good news. Amen!