God Will Provide

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

20 July 2025

 

First Reading: Genesis 18:1-10a

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 5

Second Reading: Colossians 1:24-28

Gospel: Luke 10:38-42

 

Reflection

By: Fely Santiago

 

"You are anxious and worried about many things."

I’m sure this message  will resonate with most of us. Who is not anxious and worried about many things? Where will the money to pay my bills come from? Where will I get the money for hospitalization? Tuition fees are due next month? Can I borrow money? Can I get a new job? Will I find a new relationship again? Are we going to have a baby after being married for 5 years? Will there be WWIII? What is happening in the economy?

Maybe it’s time for us to be still. Breathe. Calm down. Isn’t it that the Lord in several verses in the Bible addresses the topic of worry, encouraging believers to trust in God and find peace in Him. Two prominent passages are Matthew 6:25-34, where Jesus teaches against worrying about material needs, and Philippians 4:6-7, which instructs believers to present their requests to God in prayer, finding His peace that surpasses understanding.

Here's a more detailed look at these and other verses:

Matthew 6:25-34

This passage focuses on the futility of worry, particularly about basic needs like food and clothing. Jesus points out that God cares for the birds and the flowers, and He will certainly care for His followers. He encourages seeking God's kingdom first, and trusting that He will provide.

Philippians 4:6-7

This passage instructs believers to bring all their anxieties to God in prayer, accompanied by thanksgiving. In doing so, they will experience God's peace, which transcends human understanding and will guard their hearts and minds.

1 Peter 5:6-7

This verse encourages believers to humble themselves under God's mighty hand and cast all their anxieties on Him, because He cares for them.

Psalm 55:22

This verse provides a direct command to cast one's burden on the Lord, who will sustain the righteous.

Isaiah 41:10

This verse reminds believers not to fear, because God is with them.

These verses, among others, offer comfort and guidance for those struggling with worry, urging them to trust in God's provision, seek His kingdom, and find peace through prayer.

Let us also be conscious that the “enemy” attacks you with anxiety because he knows there’s greatness in you, that you’re on the verge of seeing a new level of your destiny. He’ll try to make you feel overwhelmed, fearful about the future, thinking it’s not going to work out. Thoughts will tell you, “This anxiety is never going to change. You’ll always have to deal with this feeling that something is wrong.”

Don’t believe those lies. The anxiety shall pass. Sometimes God will bring you out quickly. Other times He’ll take you little by little. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see anything changing. God is working. Every day you need to declare, “I’m getting better. My mind is at peace. My heart is at rest. I am free from this anxiety."

Prayer

Lord Jesus thank You in advance for the many answers to our prayers. Your strength in difficult times is the source of my security. I refuse to be overwhelmed by problems because You will bring me through to victory. I declare that I am resting in the Almighty God who is greater than anything I face. I believe that my prayers are already answered in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Be Christ-like

    

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

19 February 2023

 

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

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

Second Reading: 1 Cor 3:16-23

Gospel: Mt 5:38-48

 

Reflection

By: Benj Santiago

 

"You shalll love your neighbor as yourself." "Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger and abounding in kindness." "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

I have a confession to make, it is very easy for me to love those who are loveable. But I hate and despise those who oppose me and reject my ideas. I find it difficult to love and be merciful to my enemies.

I am sure some of us also find it difficult to love our enemies. I struggled and tried to be merciful and gracious, to be slow to anger and abound in kindness. I fail on this most of the time. And in today's Gospel we are all being reminded "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We are all called to be "Christ-like." He has forgiven those who mocked, persecuted, and crucified Him!

It's a tough challenge for me even to this date. As far as I can recall my childhood days, I has bouts of anger and hate to myself and other people for the mistakes and wrongdoings I see and have done. But I am consoled by the fact that I no longer or very seldom I act when I am angry. We are all blessed to have a God who is merciful and gracious who is "slow to anger and abounding in kindness."

I am continuously praying to develop a loving heart. We are all called to develop a forgiving and loving heart capable of loving others who may even have offended us so "that you may be children of your heavenly Father."

Prayer

Heavenly Father teaches us Your ways. Enable us to be abounding in forgiveness and mercy to others especially those who have wronged us. Give us a heart that we may be able to claim that indeed we are Your children. This we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.

Pray, Ask, See, Knock, Receive

   

  Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

24 July 2022 

 

First Reading: Gn 18:20-32

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8

Second Reading: Col 2:12-14

Gospel: Lk 11:1-13

 

Reflection

By: Benj Santiago

 

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Do you find it difficult sometime to say a prayer? Or is it automatic for you to pray all throughout the day as you go through your daily activities? Or do you only pray when you are in a difficult situation? I had learned many types of prayers including "praying in tongues". In one of the Catholic Communities, I belong (Magis Deo), we practice the Contemplative Prayers. But among all these, the "Lord's Prayer" is what I pray frequently each day.

I find ultimate solace and peace in the Lord's Prayer. It gives me an assurance of blessing me with out daily needs, and daily repentance and forgiveness of my sins and those who sinned against me. I believe the Father already knows all my needs. But I truly rest in the assurance that if I Ask, Seek, and Knock (ASK), the flood gates of blessings will open.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, let Your will be done. Thank You for our daily bread. Bless us with a forgiving Spirit. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.

Pray About Everything, Worry About Nothing

1st Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2015

First reading
Jeremiah 33:14-16

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I am going to fulfil the promise
I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah:
‘In those days and at that time,
I will make a virtuous Branch grow for David,
who shall practise honesty and integrity in the land.
In those days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell in confidence.
And this is the name the city will be called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.’

Psalm                                                                                               Psalm 24:4-5,8-9,10,14

Second reading                                                                           1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.   Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants, as you learnt from us, and as you are already living it. You have not forgotten the instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Gospel	Luke 21:25-28,34-36

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.
  ‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’

Reflection

By Gary T.

Two sweethearts were talking about their plans moving to the next level of their relationship, that is getting married. Having kids was part of their conversation. Their plans were so detailed that they came to a point that they were already identifying their worries about growing their kids, i.e. from the sleepless nights during infant years, to the toddler years, to pre-teens, to teenage. These teenage years were what they dreaded the most, perhaps knowing what kind of teenage life they had.

You see this young couple’s relationship was not exactly what we call Christ-centered despite their being members of Church  communities.  When people do not see them, they drink, smoke, and, yes, they practiced pre-marital sex. They were living a dual life.

But they struggled to change and they were having good progress. And it was in this process that they became worried of how they would raise their children to follow the right ways when they themselves did not.

Worries. Worries.

Last Sunday, on the Feast of Christ the King, I was able to attend Mass celebrated by Fr. Jerry Orbos. The ever acronym-loving Fr. Orbos might have just provided an acronym to answer the young couple’s worries in my story. The acronym was PAEWAN, which stands for “Pray About Everything, Worry About Nothing.”

Today’s Mass readings to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent talk about the preparation for Christ’s coming. When you read biblical verses like our readings today, and then look around, it seems like they were already happening. Are you excited or are you worried? I know we should be excited. But I understand the worries. Following Christ is already not that easy. What more the tribulations before everything is fulfilled.

It is not easy only if we think it is not. But why worry about the things we could not control?Why not continue doing the good things which we can control? Then pray about everything and leave our worries to the Master of everything, even of worries!

The couple in our story decided to live a real Christ-centered life, to bring-up their future children close to the Lord, to pray for everything, and to surrender all their worries  to God. Shouldn't we do the same?

Prayer

Father, make us increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as You have for us, so as to strengthen our hearts, to be blameless in holiness before You, our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones. Amen. (1Thes3:12-13)

The Goodness of the Lord

Corpus Christi
June 7, 2015

Lord, you have given your people the food of angels, from heaven untiringly sending them bread already prepared, containing every delight, satisfying every taste.

First reading                                      Exodus 24:3-8

Moses went and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. In answer, all the people said with one voice, ‘We will observe all the commands that the Lord has decreed.’ Moses put all the commands of the Lord into writing, and early next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed certain young Israelites to offer holocausts and to immolate bullocks to the Lord as communion sacrifices. Half of the blood Moses took up and put into basins, the other half he cast on the altar. And taking the Book of the Covenant he read it to the listening people, and they said, ‘We will observe all that the Lord has decreed; we will obey.’ Then Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people. This’ he said ‘is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you, containing all these rules.’

Psalm                                               Psalm 115:12-13,15-18

Second reading                               Hebrews 9:11-15

Now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than the one made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.
  He brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant.

Gospel                                        Mark 14:12-16,22-26

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to Jesus, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there,’ The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.
  And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’
  After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives.

Reflection

By Fely C Santiago

“How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the GOOD He has done for me?”

God is good all the time!  All the time God is good!

Sometimes I wonder what I might say if I were to meet the Lord in person. I think I might say "Thank You Lord" for always being there for me. I want to thank the Lord for everything He has done in my life. I cannot return all the goodness He has showered in my life. I know I cannot thank Him enough. I am nothing. God is everything.  He planted big dreams in my heart. I am now living these dreams. I can now see how God’s Hands are really at work.   Miracles happen everyday.  There are many surprises and explosive blessings everyday. I cannot thank the Lord enough for the many scandalous graces I receive but really do not deserve.  We truly have an amazing and awesome God! I also know with certainty there were times when the Lord carried me. When it was through His strength I got through the dark times in my life. I can now see after all these years how the Lord molded me, shaped me, twisted me, stretched me, to become the person that I am today.  I want to thank the Lord for His goodness even for the many trials and challenges that came my way -- all the frustrations, disappointments, failures, mistakes, rejections. They have made me a better Christian. God allowed these things to happen to build  my character. I am getting better and better because of the goodness of God. Yet I am a work in progress.

Today as we also remember the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ,  God has made known His commitment to us very clearly. Let us also renew our commitment to Him. Know Him more clearly by listening to His words in the Bible, through the Holy Spirit that speaks to us, in the people we meet everyday. See Him in every circumstance whether we walk in the dark valley or greet the morning sunshine. Pray without ceasing, converse with God at all times in every area of our lives, upon waking up, while brushing our teeth, cooking, eating, driving to work, in a meeting. Let us also renew our commitment to love God more and serve Him more in the people that come our way. It is not an accident when we meet someone. It is always a Divine appointment. There is always a purpose. The Lord has given His life to us. We really cannot return all the goodness of the Lord. We just have to stay in faith, to trust, to honor God and to obey His will because He always have the BEST for us. All things happen for good.

God is GOOD!

Prayer

Our loving and faithful God, thank You for all Your goodness. I really cannot thank You enough for all the unconditional love You give me everyday. Thank You for all the dreams You planted in my heart. Thank You for giving me hope. Hold my heart close and sing Your love to me so my doubts and fears are cast away.   In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Love One Another!

First Reading: Acts 14:21-27

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Ico'nium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed. Then they passed through Pisid'ia, and came to Pamphyl'ia. nd when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attali'a; and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grac of God for the work which they had fulfilled. And when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Psalm: Psalm 145:8-13

Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-5

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Gospel: John 13:31-33, 34-35

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going you cannot come.' A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Reflection
by Benj Santiago

Moses, in the Old Testament got the Ten Commandments encrypted in stone tablets by God that he was not even able to see. In the New Testament, it was Jesus speaking directly to His disciples about a New Commandment of Love. And not only did He give His disciples a command, He has shown by His examples how each one must love one another. In this Sunday’s gospel scene, Jesus had already done the lowliest of the job of a servant by washing their feet. Jesus by this time, had already shown them that He has gone through the sacrifice of dying in the cross for the sins of men, and He already told them to be of service to many like a faithful shepherd to his flock. I liken this scene in the gospel to a “habilin” (a last will) to His disciples before He returns to heaven. Jesus is commissioning His disciples to continue His ministry on earth by loving one another as we are loved unconditionally by Him, our Lord Jesus, our God. Thus, Jesus said “I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize you as my disciples.” (John 13:34-35)


It is all about Love. Love will restore us to the new heaven: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.” (Revelations 21: 1, 3-4)

Love is so exciting and a wonderful feeling. But it is not too easy to do all the time even to the person I dearly love. Envy, distrust, and other deceptions by the Evil One sometimes win over my decision to love. I keep falling out and in of love. A continuous struggle which I believe is true for most of us. But I am so driven and I am praying even harder that I would be able to follow the new commandment of love for I am looking forward to the reward of being part of the “new earth without a sea”. Wow, we can traverse the world on foot! We can reach out to so many people and places. A new earth where God lives with humans. A new earth where there will be no more death, no more sadness or pain, no more tears.” A new earth filled with love. It is really all about LOVE. And all I have to do is LOVE. LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we praise You, we adore You, we glorify You! You are so loving, You don’t give up on us. We continuously fall into sin of envy and hatred yet You continually give us hope of eternal life with You! We pray You grant us a new heart filled with Your love that we may be able to love one another and follow the new commandment that Your dearly beloved Son has given us! We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother, AMEN!

Easy For Him

 First Reading: Is 35:4-7a

Thus says the LORD:

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10

Second Reading: Jas 2:1-5

My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Sit here, please, " while you say to the poor one, "Stand there, " or "Sit at my feet, " have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?

Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

Gospel: Mk 7:31-37

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha!"-- that is, "Be opened!" -- And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.

He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, "He has done all things well.

He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Reflection

By Cris Balla

The passage from Isaiah is a narration of the future; after all, he was a prophet. He asks those whose hearts are frightened to be strong for a Savior is coming. "Thus says the LORD: Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, He comes with vindication; with divine recompense He comes to save you." Then the Gospel reading tells of the miracle Jesus performed on a deaf-mute. This miracle is a very specific confirmation of what Isaiah foretold many hundreds of years before the time of Jesus.

The story starts with Jesus traveling to Decapolis. (I did some wiki-reading about the Decapolis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapolis - and it was apparently a 10-city federation around the Sea of Galilee). There in Decapolis, He was asked to heal a deaf-mute, and so He performed a miracle.

I think there are a number of learning for me in this Gospel reading.  First, I think that God listens and responds appropriately when we ask Him for something. In the Gospel, Jesus obliges when He was asked by the people. He did not deny them the healing of the deaf-mute when they "begged Him to lay His hand on him"... So, let's ask Him. And let's not be abashed for He is our Father after all. And am sure He will answer our prayers. It is easy for Him to grant our prayers.

Imagine how apparently easy for Jesus to perform the miracle. "He took Him off by Himself away from the crowd. He put His finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched His tongue; then He looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to Him, "Ephphatha!", that is, "Be opened!".

Apparently easy, but if we put some emphasis on (1) His act of taking the man away from the crowd and then (2) His gesture of looking up to heaven, I think we can also deduce that He was probably praying to God when He looked up to heaven, and so He took the man away from the noise of the crowd so He can pray and talk to His Father in a more conducive setting.

So my second learning is that we should pray. And when we pray, we must concentrate, away from distraction, away from the "noise" and the clutters of our lives. After all, even the Son of God has to pray to the Father, and when He prayed, He wanted an environment that did not interfere to His praying.

My third learning is from this same snippet: We need assistance of God. When Jesus prayed, He was probably asking for His Father's assistance. I believe that He can do it alone, but He chose to ask assistance. By this gesture, I think He is teaching us to recognize that we need assistance from the Father too. That our own abilities and all our education are insufficient to face the challenges in our lives.

So, let's go ahead and ask; we shall receive :) And then "He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it"… Good deeds cannot forever go unnoticed, and so the people themselves proclaimed His deeds. And so my last take-away is a reminder that "Actions speak louder than words".

Have a great day!

Prayer:

Father, like Jesus, please make it easy for us to pay attention to people who needs our healing touch. Help us in bringing more people closer to Your embrace as we try to nurture an intimate relationship with You.