Limitless

   

  Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

11 September 2022 

 

First Reading: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19

Second Reading: 1 Tm 1:12-17

Gospel: Lk 15:1-32

 

Reflection

By: Grace Madrinan

 

"'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you, in just the same wqy there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance." - Luke 15:7

Today's Gospel is a relief for a repentant sinner but would appear as an injustice to the ninety-nine righteous ones. Imagine being upright all your life for the sake of the Kingdom while the other one is lavishing to his worldly desires. Then in a blink of a change of heart, the sinner is welcomed with warm hugs and butterfly kisses.

I actually can relate to the older brother in today's Gospel. Like him, I do feel jealous when I see how much my Mama gets excited when my older brother pays her a visit or does something for her. It hurts a little because I did not see that kind of affection from her when we were together. Sometimes I think of going away so I can be missed too.

But the Gospel gave me the answer, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours (Luke 15:31)." Among the siblings, Mama has been with me for the longest time and I have enjoyed her care and motherly love all these years. It is a pity that my brothers have not experienced the kind of mother she is. And that short moment my Mama had with my brothers is the only time she has to express how much she loved him. How can I be so selfish to deprive him of that?!

I believe the Holy Spirir led me to these conclusions. God's love is limitless. Sin cannot separate us from God. He constantly seeks us. Like a parent who misses his child, God all the more longs for the one who is lost. We should not monopolize God's love, His love needs to be shared. Our prize for remaining in His love? Being with Him and experiencing His love for the rest of our lives.

Prayer

God, our Father, grant me a forgiving heart to welcome my erring brother the same way You welcome a repentant sinner. We thank You for Your generosity and unending love. Amen.

Bias

Fourteenth Sunday in

Ordinary Time

4 July 2021 

 

First Reading: EZ 2:2-5

Responsorial Psalm: PS 123:1-2, 2, 3-4

Second Reading: 2 COR 12:7-10

Gospel: MK 6:1-6

 

Reflection

By: Grace Madrinan

 

"A prophet is not without honor except his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." - MK 6:4

Whenever I read today's Gospel, I feel bad for Jesus. I could not believe how impossible those people were back then. Have they not seen His miracles?

I was too quick to judge but then I realized I was just like Jesus' neighbors. There was a friend who just published an e-book and asked for my "endorsement" a few times already and I keep delaying it. My excuses? "I was too busy". "I kept on forgetting". But when I paused and reflected on it, I realized that deep inside I was jealous. I was too proud to admit that she accomplished something I wanted to do for a long time. I am just hiding the excuse that her work was not "good enough" to be promoted.

So when I snapped out of my pride, I finally got to read my friend's book and promoted it to my friends. I was no longer half-hearted when I said it was a good book, because it is. I just had to have the humility to remove my bias.

Maybe that's how it was during Jesus' time. Their neighbors were probably jealous of the attention He was getting and could not admit that the Son of God rose among them and they were too blind to see.

Prayer

 

Father, free me from my bias  and let me see the potential of every person as You would want me to see. Make me an instrument of your encouragement to pursue good work. Amen.

 

 

Forgiving is Loving

Viernes de Dolores 27 March 2015

Gospel             Luke 15:11-32

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Reflection

By Fidji Rivera-Sarmiento

“…Yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.”’

The naïve me used to think, ang daya (How unfair). Even in high school, each time this was discussed in the classroom or retreats, in my mind, I would mutter, ang daya-daya nung tatay (That father is very unfair). Of course, this is also me when I see good things happen to bad people.

Now I realized that this is the very core of that dangerous sense of entitlement, the “I-Deserve-This” thinking. It starts with jealousy or envy, then it escalates to a pity party. Entitlement borders on narcissism, and is way different than self-worth. Should the good son been genuine in being upright, then he should not feel in any way jealous of the prodigal son’s celebration. He must also not expect any reward at all from his compassionate father.

In the past, this parable centered on the prodigal son. Being prodigal means to spend resources, i.e. money, recklessly. I wonder why in Filipino this story usually translates to alibughang anak, when alibugha means taksil, more appropriately used on an unfaithful partner. Gladly, this parable eventually evolved to focus on the compassionate and forgiving father.

We can learn many things from this loving dad. How well do we forgive those who have wronged us? How many times have we given up on those who betrayed us? How do we deal with family members who went the wrong way?

Forgiving is loving. And when we forgive, we don’t do it for the other person. We do it to free ourselves.

So ponder on.

Who are you in this story? The prodigal son? The jealous brother? Or the brokenhearted father?

Prayer

Dear Jesus, more than anything today, we ask for Your Holy Spirit to help us manage our emotions. We believe that it is only with You that we can react to situations appropriately. You have shown us how it is to be a human, and we would want to follow You. Help us. Teach us. Fine-tune our thoughts, so we can proclaim Your kingdom through our ways. Amen.

Krabby Patty

26th Sunday In Ordinary Time
27 September 2009


We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock: come, let us worship him, alleluia.

First reading Numbers 11:25-29
The Lord came down in the Cloud. He spoke with Moses, but took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied, but not again.

Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit came down on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrolled among the rest. These began to prophesy in the camp. The young man ran to tell this to Moses, ‘Look,’ he said ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Then said Joshua the son of Nun, who had served Moses from his youth, ‘My Lord Moses, stop them!’ Moses answered him, ‘Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!’

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 18:8,10,12-14

Second reading James 5:1-6
An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

Gospel Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48
John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.

‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.

‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out.’

Reflection
By Fidji Rivera - Sarmiento

During my first few weeks here in the US, I remember Filipino teachers who have gone here before us telling me, "Sana konti lang ang katrabaho mo'ng Pinoy, mainam pa puro foreigners." You would hear this more than once in every gathering. I would just nod and smile, not understanding why that would be their usual wish. Since for me, it will be better if there are more Filipinos in the building, because that would mean more mentors, and a stronger support system. Until weeks became months, and months have become a year, I can now say that I have fully understood what these veteran teachers meant. True enough, stories of how talangka mentality destroys working relationships among Filipino teachers in buildings circle around gatherings. Teacher A questioning Teacher B's competency; Teacher V is condescending to Teacher W; Teacher X spreading rumors about Teacher Y. Sad but true. And of course, to accompany this is the Filipinos' favorite past time - tsismisan. This situation is nothing new. We have heard this in so many places and situations, in the Philippines and abroad. It is funny that when you Google crab mentality, predicted phrases include crab mentality and the Filipino. Has this mentality been ours like the jeepney and the carabao?

Crab mentality, envy, jealousy, and rumor mongering. This is the recipe of a miserable life and a way to perfectly kill your own person. It is not unscrupulous to aspire for the best position in every situation that we are in, be it in the workplace, in the classroom, in a competition, or in politics. It is the manner by which we reach that summit. Let us stop being like crabs who pull each other down in order to climb up. Every time I'll cook crabs, it amazes me how each crab, would want to go out the pot, pinch and pull each other down, and step at each other's carapaces. It has become their dance routine, and hopefully we can put a stop to this as being a Filipino trait. Let us, the new generation, begin the overhaul of how we are known for.







Blessed Mother,
Guide us into a life of contentment and joy. Help us not to be envious of our neighbor. Pray for us, dear Mother, that we become like you, always trusting the Lord's will for our own lives. May our mouths be filled with beautiful things to say about ourselves, others, and most importantly, about God's glory. Amen.




Next week on God-speak
(TBA)