12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 19, 2022

First Reading: Isaiah 65:1-9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:1-11

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29

Gospel Reading: Luke 8:22-25

Homily by Fr. Jun Peñalosa

“Do not worry, everything is going to be fine.” This was a statement of conviction uttered by Father Jun as he shared a story of what happened to one of his travel experiences where the airplane encountered turbulence in the air. A threat of death was in front of him, but he was assured it was not yet his time

Relating this in today’s gospel reading, “All of us will experience a storm in our life.” Not just natural storms, but storms brought by life itself. For as Jesus said, while we are in the world, we will have tribulations.

But the issue here is not about the storm, but how do we respond to the storm. No one is exempted. Rich or poor, educated or not, man or woman… everyone will come to a point where they will be facing a storm in their life. Even our Lord Jesus who lives in perfect obedience to God faced the greatest storm, His dying on the cross! But how should we respond to things beyond our control? The parable of the sower taught by Jesus to his disciples teaches us the right response when facing a storm if our life. After hearing the word of God, 1)receive it with all your heart, 2) retain it in your mind, 3) persevere and persist it to have fruit in your life. Every time we receive teachings from the Lord, it is always followed by testing. Storms always come at times you least expect. And Father Jun taught us the three dimensions of the storm:

1. Physical storm (a crisis that happens in our life, financial breakdown, and losses, friends rejection and betrayal, families torn apart, sickness, etc.)
2. Mental and emotional storm (fear, anger, anxiety, depression, etc)
3. Spiritual storm (questioning the principles of God, scriptures become insignificant, promises of God become vague, etc.)

No matter how hard and how long the storm is – it has an end. Only those who persevere in the word will receive the blessing.

Storms expose our foundation. We begin to see and know ourselves when we are subjected to trials. Our faith overcomes whatever storms that come into our life. We should not fear the storm but instead, we should be terrified of Him who commands the storm.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Feast of Pentecost

First Reading: Acts 2: 1- 7

Psalm Reading: Psalm 104

Second Reading: Romans 8: 14- 17

Gospel Reading: John 15: 20- 27

Homily by Fr. Romie Jun Peñalosa

The season of Pentecost is about celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus before His ascension. Today’s gospel however, talks about persecution. Why? One of the works that the Holy Spirit would do for us is to make us partake and share in the inheritance of Jesus. Whatever Jesus inherits from the Father, we also inherit. Second reading today talks about us being co-heirs of Christ.

But church, we need to understand that as co-heirs, we do not share or partake only of the blessings, of joy, of peace…but we also inherit the totality of the life of Christ, including His sufferings.

Christianity is not a religion for comfort. It does not offer an easy and comfortable life. It offers holiness of life! And when you begin to live a holy life, this is where the trouble starts. Why? Jesus Himself talks of the world we are living in right now, a world who hates God. Because Jesus testifies the truth about God, the world hates Him. And if the world hated Jesus, do not expect a life of honor and acceptance in a world where your master was despised and crucified.

Jesus said, “A servant is not above his master.” Meaning, whatever Christ went through in life, we are going to go through also, perhaps in different ways. We may not all be nailed and crucified, but we all have our own cross to bear every day. He also said, “That while we are in this world, we will have tribulations”. But He does not end His statement here…for He promised to send us a “Helper” to accompany us always. Jesus knew exactly how difficult life will be for us. For He himself was the first one to carry out the mission. And what is it? To go out into the world, bring the truth, and testify about how God loves the world.

In all the difficulties, in all the trials we will be going through, it is impossible for us to be alone because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life. The Holy Spirit testifies the truth about Jesus, just as Jesus bore witness and testified the truth about God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to always bring us to Jesus in order that we can carry out our mission. He (Holy Spirit) will immerse us and baptize us in Jesus that we may become one in the love of God. And the love of God that is in Christ will empower us to do everything and overcome whatever obstacles in doing what God us wants us to do.

The love of Christ propels us to do something beyond our capacity. The fire which descended upon the disciples is a symbolic burning of Christ’s love. And the same fire, when we keep it lit inside our heart, will keep us burning in the love of Christ and will let us do everything for the love of Christ.

We are all called for a mission. Let us not be afraid to go out and testify the truth of Jesus and the love of God for the world. We may not all have the supernatural power, nor gifts of the Holy Spirit; but we have the HOLY SPIRIT that lives and operates in our life!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Seventh Sunday of Easter

Theme : Resurrected Christ, Uniting Us To Himself and With One Another

First Reading: Acts 16:16-19

Psalm Reading: Psalm 98

Second Reading: Revelation 22:12-17

Gospel Reading: John 17:20-26

Homily by Fr. Romie Jun Peñalosa

The Gospel readings from the last three Sundays tells us the lasts messages of Jesus Christ to His disciples before He ascended to heaven. He gave His disciples a command to love one another as He loved them, then He gave them the gift of peace – not as the world gives but as He gives.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is not just teaching, but He is praying for His disciples. What a marvelous beauty knowing God himself is praying for them-“that you will be one”. See, unity is always in the heart of God. It is essential; so important that Jesus prayed for it. He did not pray for their success nor their prosperity; but for them to become one.

As people of God, it is so essential to unite and become one, for we are on a mission to bring the Gospel to the world. We need to reflect on this every day because sometimes, we neglect the things that are really important. Our minds oftentimes focus on little and minor things, which make us forget the important ones – and here, Jesus prayed for it!

As a church, we need to understand that unity is essential in our life; we need to fight for it, pray for it, and give emphasis in living out unity. Jesus’ prayer is not only for His disciples, but for all who would believe in Him through their message. He was not only praying for them at that time, but for all the church throughout the history of the world. Unity is important, because our mission will be in vain unless the world can see in us that Jesus is Christ whom God sent to the world.

When we begin to walk together in unity, not only the world will believe that Jesus was sent by God, but the world would even begin to believe that God loves them. Love is the foundation and the bond that brings us together. “Love causes us to crave for unity.” Unity is not our work; it is the work of God in our lives. So, what are we going to do as His people? We need to preserve it by continuing to immerse ourselves in the love of Christ. Our work, is not to bring unity; it is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a supernatural power only God can accomplish – the bringing of us into one. We can only preserve and move within what the Holy Spirit is doing for us!

And what is the focal point of our unity? We need to look up on Christ. When we begin to see Him in everything in our lives, despite all the differences, then we begin to perceive that indeed, we are one.

The Cathedral Church of St. Michael is a church on a mission. We are to go out into the world, to proclaim the Good News. We need to continually immerse in Christ that the world may perceive Him in us!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Sixth Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 16:9-15

Psalm Reading: Psalm 67

Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-2, 22-27

Gospel Reading: John 14:23-29

Homily by Fr. Romie Jun Peñalosa

This season of Easter, let us rejoice in the knowledge that Christ has been resurrected from the dead and brought us newness of life. This newness of life means not only walking in love, but also living in peace.

We need to understand that this new life God has given us is a life where we can experience true peace. This peace surpasses all problems, conflicts and circumstances of life. Perfect peace comes from God and this is seen and lived in a new life.

So, how do we live out that newness of life? How do we live out the love of God in our life? Keep the word of God.  “The man who keeps the word of God will keep his mind focused on God always and will allow him to experience the love of God.”

The kind of peace that Christ brought us is not circumstantial. It does not depend on the circumstances of the world. It does not mean the absence of problems and conflicts. We can see this in the life of Christ, where every day in His ministry, He was bombarded by so many problems, enemies kept on attacking Him,  storms came along His way… yet even in that storm He slept peacefully.  Knowing that God loves us- there’s always peace in our heart.

Further, Father Jun quoted the following tips from Primate Dick on how to keep the word of God.

1. Meditate on His words. To meditate means not just to read but keep on thinking about what He said.
2. Confess the word. Speak the word every day. Align your thoughts to the thoughts of God.
3. Do the word. As often as possible, do what He is telling you.

“The effort comes from us, but the ability to keep the word of God comes from the Holy Spirit.”

So let us not be afraid of how difficult the work is and how big the storm is along the way. For God promised a great Helper for us who gives true and perfect peace!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Easter Sunday

Theme: Christ Conquering Death, The Rejoicing Of His People

Psalm Reading: Psalm 114

Epistle Reading: Romans 6:3-11

Gospel Reading: Matthew 28:1-10

Homily by Fr. Romie-Jun Peñalosa

Today, we are celebrating Christ’s resurrection, a victorious overcoming of death, a time for great celebration.

Easter’s message is always about the risen Lord. But do we know that this message is also a challenge for us? The resurrection of Christ is not just something we recall in our mind or think and talk about. It is something that has an effect in the renewal of our lives.

First reading emphasizes our baptism, where we died already to our sins with Christ. The more we realize this, the more we understand that we should not live this kind of life we have right now for it has been dead and buried with Him.

Father Jun summarizes today’s Gospel into the following points if we are going to move forward with the new life Christ has given us:

1. Change whatever your agenda in life is and go fulfill His purpose. Since we have a new life, God’s agenda must be the first to be seen and manifested.
2. Do not be afraid. A righteous man, though he may fall seven times, always rises and tries to move forward again. Holiness is not about being perfect. To be holy means every time we fall, we never run away from God.
3. Rejoice. To rejoice is something we need to learn. It must be done intentionally. We can be miserable in life, but choose to rejoice and be filled with joy.

As a church, we should be strengthened because the new life brought by Christ’s resurrection is our strength itself. Let our life then, be a proclamation of Christ!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Fifth Sunday in Lent

First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm Reading: Psalm 126

Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14

Gospel Reading: John 8:2-11

Homily by Fr. Jun Peñalosa

The season of Lent has almost come to an end as we have our last Sunday celebration today.

The first reading speaks of a miracle God is able to do.  It talks about God making a way in the desert and providing water in the desert. That “desert” may refer to the hearts of men today; how sometimes the Lord can come and create a river that can flow in the midst of dryness, where even wild animals can partake of the water. But that water was meant only for God’s people. You can see then, that when a person is reconciled to God, there is life that flows in that person, and that person becomes a blessing to the world.

The second reading talks about righteousness that does not come from observing the law. It is the one that comes from knowing and trusting Jesus and it is the righteousness that God provides for each and every one of us.

Today’s readings speak of the wondrous plan that God prepares for us; how God speaks of restoration and righteousness, compassion and forgiveness, justice and mercy, and repentance. Father Jun reminded us of our purpose when we started our Lenten journey and pilgrimage and prayed we might be able to find and see it fulfilled in our lives. In his personal journey, he shared his own struggles and difficult times encountered because it requires so much confrontations and conflicts. But “conflicts make us stronger, and make us more determined as a people”, he said.

Our Gospel reading tells of a woman caught in act of committing adultery. Like the woman in the story, we are entitled to be stoned to death because of the sins we always committed. But praise God, we have a God who hates sin but loves the sinner. And just like the Pharisees, we judge and demand justice for sins committed by others; but Jesus made us think and look into our hearts. And this is the saddest thing we always encounter in ourselves; that when we look deeper in our hearts, we often find more sins hidden inside, compared to the person we are accusing. And because of this, we deserve judgement, we deserve punishment. But just like that woman, Jesus never condemned her of sin, but showed mercy and forgiveness. And forgiveness in our life entails responsibility. Our ability to respond to God is what causes us to receive what God is giving us.

Father Jun pointed out two (2) things we should remember:

First, “God’s justice will always be accompanied by God’s mercy.”  Justice without mercy is not true justice. On the cross, we are reminded of justice and mercy kissing each other. This was shown by Jesus having compassion on the woman. He took her sin, (and ours) and paid for them on the cross through His death. In our life, how do we go in dealing with justice? “Never criticize, never judge a person that you are not willing to help and pray for.” (Primate Dick)

Second, “We are all recipients of God’s mercy.”  Because of God’s mercy, our sins have been forgiven. And the sins that has been forgiven, demand that we need to change. “Sin no more” as Jesus said to the woman.

Finally, Father Jun encouraged us, to give a gift to the Lord as we conclude this Lenten season. And the best gift that could make God smile, is the gift of a transformed life. When our life is changed, it becomes a blessing to God. Further, he urged us to go to the sacrament of confession, as the first step of repentance. For in humility and repentance we can have a new life!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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