Standing Firm in Patient Perseverance

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time- October 16, 2022

First Reading: Genesis 32:22-31

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 121:1-2,3-4,7-8

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-4-:5

Gospel Reading: Luke 18:1-8

“There are things in life we can never be successful in unless we persevere.” (Fr. Jun)

Today’s parable in our gospel reading talks about the most important activity  in our life – PRAYER. We fail in so many things because we do not continue with them. Oftentimes, we stop whenever we find it difficult. But there are many people who become successful in their prayers, not because they know so many things in the Bible or they have that big faith in life, but because they always persevere and never give up.

Father Jun points out PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE as the main ingredients in a successful prayer. We need to cultivate these attitude if we want to be successful. The parable as explained by Jesus to His disciples, tells the importance of prayer – not to give up; and to pray unceasingly. We should “always pray “ and not lose heart or be discouraged. We should pray continually, meaning having regular time in prayer. To pray unceasingly means also that we need to have patience. A person without patience will find it difficult to pray and pray every day. “Do not give up”.  Jesus told us not to give up in prayer even at times when prayer is hard for us or difficult for us to do, because “the habit of not praying is more difficult to break than the habit of praying.”

In the parable, Jesus also tries to give us the picture of how vulnerable, how helpless we are sometimes in our life. The widow persevered in seeking justice from the judge who is not willing. Jesus tells us that if perseverance will work on someone who has no the intention to help– how much more will it work when we come to our God who is not reluctant to help us.

Cultivating patience in prayer is a must attitude. The ability to stay calm, to stay composed, and to stay focus. Psalm 37:3-4 tells us to delight ourselves to God in order to have our heart’s desires. God is delighted with us when we pray because when we do, we are mindful of Him. He wants us to think of Him always, and prayer makes us mindful of Him. Talking, spending time with God every day, being still and waiting for Him patiently makes God excited to give us what we desire, for He is just and a God of justice. To be patient also means that we should not be intimidated when things are not happening the way we want it to happen. We just need to continue and persevere because God does now answer all prayers right away. Often, it takes time. Why? Because God will give us the best in the best time.

Let us remember Church that we don’t have a reluctant God. We have a Father that delights in answering our prayers. We just need to be patient in praying, and do not give up, until we have it in our life.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Standing Firm with a Thankful Heart

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time- October 9, 2022

First Reading: 2 Kings 5:8-15

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 111:2-3,4-5,7-8,9-10

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-13

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:11-19

The pandemic has brought a drastic change in our lives. And as it eases now, we see a world filled with hungry people…hungry for meaning of life. Many people are turning to so many things. And we can see the world now as a huge market, everyone has something to sell. People tend to learn so many things and because of these, the need for the church to go and feed them with the word of God is urgent to satisfy their hunger and longing in life. The world is longing for Christ. And we, the church, are commissioned to go and bring Christ to the world.

Our gospel today mentions the term “go” twice, reminding us church of our mission.

The lepers in our scripture reading cries out loud to Lord Jesus to have mercy on them. This is also the case with the world today, it cries out for mercy from God. The lepers obeyed Jesus when He told them to go and have themselves checked by the priest, but only one remembered to go back and give thanks to Jesus and praise God. We can see from this story the common attitude of many of us now. It is the joy of God to bless us, He demands not, but He expects us to be thankful always.

As Jesus commanded the lepers to go, it is the same word He is telling to us church – go on our mission. But as we go out to bring the Gospel, we need to cultivate the following in our hearts: 1) faith – obeying God, believing  what He will do for you; and 2) gratitude – when you obey God because of what He has done for you from the past.

Gratitude and thankfulness is an attitude. Attitude is the most important thing as we walk our life with Christ and our mission. And how are we going to cultivate it in our lives? According to Father Jun, these are the ingredients:

1. Learn to expand or widen our perception of life. See things beyond your family, your work or your business. Open your mind to many things and learn to appreciate the value of every thing. We should stop being too conscious of the prices that oftentimes blinded us to value small things. Let us begin to perceive the value of what has been given to us so that we can learn to appreciate.

2. Be humble. A humble person realizes that what he has in life is something he doesn’t deserve. Once you realize that everything is a gift, a bonus in life…it makes you humble.

3. True gratitude in the heart needs to be expressed. Appreciation must be shown or expressed. Once we learn to express our gratitude to Jesus, it praises God. We should come in humility and express our true gratitude to God.

Realizing what God has done for us and will be doing for us, He deserves our utmost appreciation and gratitude. We should not only keep it in our hearts but we should be bold also in expressing it. He expects us to become grateful. A token is always an expression of gratefulness. We have nothing great to give God as a token, but we have life to give back to Him. Our willingness to use our life for Him is already a token. Be bold then, St. Michael Cathedral!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Standing Firm In Faithful Obedience

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time- October 2, 2022

First Reading: Habakkuk 1:12-17

Responsorial Psalm 37:1-18

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1-10

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:5-10

Father Jun started his homily today with a commendation to all the workers and parishioners of the church for a job well done during the month-long celebration of the church 40 years journey with the Lord. We all did well and naturally, we feel good with all the efforts we’ve put in; but he reminded us to be ready to get back back now to reality, that we need to move forward and continue the tasks God has entrusted to us. The load is too heavy and the roads might be too rough to bear; but today must be the starting point of another fruitful forty years.

The ceremony of symbolic “passing on” of different ministry heads to the younger generation during our Gala Night celebration signifies that great responsibilities await them. We, the older ones, also have a great  to educate, to nurture, and to train them. For what they will be in the future depends on the kind of seed we plant on them.

Our gospel today talks about faith. The apostles have been asking Jesus how to increase their faith.  We should also be asking this from God. For the next forty years, we could never fulfill what He has given to us unless we have faith. We can find comfort in Jesus’ answer to His disciples, “If you have faith as a mustard seed…” meaning, what we have right now is more than enough already to act upon. God has given us a measure of faith. It is not how big or how small our faith is; it’s the quality of faith God has given to us. We have been given the faith of Jesus, that faith which made Him overcome all the problems He faced, even the cross! And that is the kind of faith we need today. All we need to do is plant it; act upon it today, because the secret in faith increasing is action.

What action shall we do then? Obedience! Keep obeying the Lord. The little things we do every day for the Lord allow us to plant the seed of faith in our heart. We activate faith that can do the impossible once we choose to obey God. And as a servant of God, we ought to obey. A good servant is a picture of obedience. We are not in control of our life, of the circumstances around, we only need to set in our mind and hearts to obey God because in life, the only test God has given us is obedience.

The next forty years of our journey as a church might not be a bed of roses. We are uncertain of the circumstances that might happen. But having that servant-like attitude of being obedient will allow us to be mature in the Lord. We are designed to mature and bear fruits as Christians. Maturity comes when we learn to do what we need to do, even if we don’t like it. And obedience allows us to grow in maturity, to begin to bear fruits in our life, to increase our faith, and to overcome the next 40 years as a church. As a people of God, Father Jun encourages us “to begin our new journey; to cultivate obedience in our hearts, decide once and for all that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Let us start teaching our children and eventually pass on to them the legacy of faith, the legacy of obedience. Primate Dick once said, “We will not just survive, but we will thrive in the midst of difficult circumstances.”

As Apostle Paul told to Timothy…”stir up the gifts that are within you” we need also to stir our gifts. And what is our gift? Our calling as a community, as a church. Let us remain faithful in obedience to the One and Only God we serve.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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25th Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time

Theme: Standing Firm in Trustworthiness

First Reading: Amos 8:4-12

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 113:1-3,4-6,7-9

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Gospel Reading: Luke 16:1-12

God calls us to be servants. We should realize that once He calls us, He trusts us. All of us have been called and the scriptures encourage us that we should live worthy of that trust.

There are two things that we can learn about what makes a trustworthy person. First is his honesty and the other one is his wisdom. We should be people who know what we need to do. We need to cultivate these values in our lives for us to be worthy of God’s trust.

We are all stewards of God’s creation and today’s gospel teaches us how to become good and faithful ones. Whether we like it or not, the truth is that everything we have right now is not really ours. These are just entrusted to us and one day, we are going to give an account to the Owner of these things.  In the parable, we learn that Jesus is not promoting dishonesty.

Instead, we can see that no matter how simple or worst the situation is, Jesus can always find the good and best. He teaches us to use wisdom in all our dealings.

Here are five ways how we can apply wisdom in our dealings with life:

1. Learn to invest. Invest in eternal things. As a steward, everything entrusted to us has value. However, earthly investments are bound by time. Jesus then teaches us to use our earthly possessions for eternity.
2. Relationship is more important than money. Jesus wants us to use our money, our wealth, our talents, and energy to build friends and relationships. Do not put money over relationships. Rather, let it work for your relationships.
3. Invest your wealth. To be wise, invest not only in material things but especially in spiritual things. Save lives, save souls, and help the needy.
4. Always start small. Never despise small beginnings. Use what you have right now. Focus on the daily little things. Start from your family, your work, and later on, your community.
5. Practice faithfulness. Be faithful to things that are not yours. If we are faithful to the little things God entrusted us, then He will entrust us with greater things to do.

We are trustworthy every time we use God’s wisdom. Let us choose to be God-filled wisdom people, Church.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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24th Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time

Theme: Standing Firm in God’s Forgiveness

First Reading: Exodus 32:7-14

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:1-2,6-8,9-11

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Gospel Reading: Luke 15:1-10

Today’s homily started with a story that was shared to Father Jun. It is about an ancient tradition story in Israel where God tested Moses if he could shepherd Israelites from Egypt. As a shepherd, Moses lost one of his sheep and God tested him on what he would do. After two days of looking, he finally found the lost sheep and instead of getting mad, Moses jumped for joy, cuddled the sheep, while kissed it and carried it on his shoulder as they went home. Like many other leaders, Moses also has a lot of weaknesses. But when God saw how he responded to his lost sheep, He saw that Moses will truly be the shepherd of His people. As a leader, he should be strong but at the same time he should possess tenderness of heart toward the sheep. And that is why God chose Moses because of that character he possessed. God tested the person not to show his weakness but that he might find his own strength also.

Two kinds of people are featured in our gospel reading today. The first kind are those who are willing to welcome Christ; and second kind are those who are offended always by Christ’s words. The first ones were the sinners and tax collectors, but when they heard the word of Christ, they welcomed, listened and were interested. The second ones, the Pharisees, were considered to be righteous, the ones who knew  scriptures, the ones who were supposedly “God-fearing people” were offended by Christ’s teachings. Among these kinds of people, which one are we?

The gospel message today is summed up with this: “Jesus revealed the heart of God to all the people.” Jesus is the revelation of who God is. Sinners become interested with God because He reveals how merciful God is. As sinners, when we hear about the mercy of God, we become hopeful. It is a good news for us. But for others, they cannot hear Christ; they did not welcome his words. Why? Because they believe that they don’t sin, they have not done wrong. Church, we will never appreciate the mercy of God until we realize in our own life that we are sinners!

The two parables shared by Jesus today in the gospel reveals the very essence of who God is. He is a God who never gets tired of looking for us. He never stops forgiving our sins when we repent; who would love us in spite of our failures. God delights when a sinner finds his way back to Him; He rejoices when someone  repents and goes back to Him. He doesn’t mind nor count what we have done nor the extent of our sin; He is simply delighted once we turn and go back to Him.

The life of St. Paul displays the mercy of God. Whenever we see him we are reminded that if God can transform and use the worst sinner, He can do the same to me as well. We are called not to judge but to display the mercy of God. Jesus shares a description of God in this way that we may become “God-conscious”. When we become so focused and aware of His mercy, we will not sin as much. And the issue when we sin, is that we hide from God. We hide because we are afraid to be seen by Him. We are never lost to God when we sin; God becomes lost to us, when we sin.

Repentance is the message of God in our scripture reading today. How God would rejoice once we turn from our sin and present ourselves back to Him. We need to acknowledge and take responsibility of our sin. Do not isolate yourself. Instead, realize that life would never get better without God. So, stand up, focus and celebrate the mercies of God for life will only be merrier when we become God-conscious!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 7, 2022

Theme: Standing Firm with Proper Focus

First Reading: Genesis 15:1-6

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1-22

Second Reading: Hebrews 11:1-2

Gospel Reading: Luke 12:32-37

Homily by Fr. Romie- Jun Peñalosa

The beauty of having a sacramental and liturgical church is that we learn and celebrate the different seasons of life throughout the year. Advent teaches us peace, hope, love, and joy and in Christmas, we learn that “Christ is with us”. But among these – Ordinary Time is the longest season we celebrate. Why? “So that the church, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, may have enough time to apply everything from the beginning of the year.” (Fr. Jun)

We value life because we celebrate life. And every Sunday, as we gather as a community, is a celebration of life. We learn the value of life not just by sitting and hearing the lectures but we learn it through our whole being. Every season brings truth in us; and every lesson must be applied. The blessings of God come to our lives once we know the truth and once we walk in the truth. That’s why the emphasis of Ordinary Time is to establish us in our faith. We are given time to reflect and manifest in our lives the lessons we have learned. As hearers of His word, we should be overcomers of problems, we should be strong as a people, and victorious in our lives. Yet it seems that among the many lessons we learned, we are still experiencing the same cycle of life. We still haven’t had breakthroughs from problems and we are easily swayed by our emotions. Many of us have been destroyed by “galit”, “poot” at “tampo” that we tend to walk away from our calling, from our commitment to Him. “Do not allow emotions to take the best of you” (Fr. Jun) We are called to heal and prosper in our life, so let us not allow these bad emotions to ruin us and let us stand firm in our convictions. “We live by faith, not by sight”.

Lessons from the gospel today:

1. We should not be afraid. As a people of God, we need to take our stand. Because no matter what happens to the world, in the end, there is always God. Let us not live in fear and let us not allow it to control our lives. Why? Because we have the LOVE of God. “Perfect love alone can drive all fears” and to be able to walk in life without fear, we need to establish the truth that God loves us so much that He gave His only and most valuable Son as well the whole kingdom for us! We need to encounter and experience the love of God that we may treasure Him in our life.
2. We should be prepared. Everyday is an opportunity to be of service to other people. We should be prepared always. Let us keep our faith alive and burning every day because we cannot consistently serve the Lord if we have a weak faith in Him. We should remember the truth that Christ is coming again and that when we meet Him, we should be prepared.

Christian life is serious. It is lived out deliberately by choice. Our life should not be moved by what we see, what we hear, what we feel; but we should be moved by the Word of God. We are not Christians tossed to and fro by the waves of circumstances around. We have been walking with the Lord for years and years now, been in journey and pilgrimage with Him; so we must be teachers already of the Word of God. We need to stand firm in our conviction, in our commitment, in our faith, in what we believe in God. We are a mountain, immovable in the midst of the ocean, just like our God. And as God’s people, we know we have a strong God, that’s why we need to be firm – and this is what Ordinary Time teaches us!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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