Minutes of Hope

How many times have we grumbled before God? Too many times, I guess. We grumbled about a difficult situation. We complain about the heartaches over a lover, angry and frustrated about a betrayal and seemingly unfair response from someone we care and expect to return our good actions.    This Sunday’s readings are focused on Jesus as the Bread of life where we are reminded of God’s gift of Himself as our daily food.   The first reading from the Book of Exodus, we heard about the grumbling Israelites. They mocked and complained about their situation. Moses promised them a land of freedom from Egyptians, a land of milk and honey. But along the way, through the dessert, the Israelites felt betrayed, abandoned. They began to feel hungry, in need of food. And the promise seemed forgotten. They are now in despair of food. And so, they asked, why? Why all the sudden change? Where is God leading them? When will God come to their rescue?    Of course, we read from the rea...

Last Sunday, we heard about Jesus presenting Himself as the bread of life - the ONE who can fill the hunger and thirst of the people. Today’s gospel is almost similar to last Sunday’s but this time I want to change focus on the challenge of being   the   provider for others instead of the one   being   provided.   The question is: How can we be the provider of others’ needs?    It is always a challenge to be others-centered and look after the needs of others first before working on our priorities. In fact, in many instances, we try to save first for ourselves before we go out and address the requests and needs of other people. For, in reality, we are humans trained to support and preserve our own.    While we were in our mother’s womb, we were trained and introduced to personal survival and protection. And as we grew, we learned and taught how to take care of ourselves by eating good food, long hours of sleep, etc. It is our designed nature. ...

We need a break even for a short period of time to relax. A vacation or a time away helps us to manage stress better. If we are constantly building up stress without ever finding the time and outlet to relax, it can turn into chronic stress and eventually burnout. Taking a break can help us to reduce and prevent stress. But, where do we go?   Throughout our lives, we can be assured that many times we will encounter a lot of challenges. It may come in the form of a tragic experience, a deep wound inflicted by the people we love, the effects of our own sin or some other painful experience.    We live in a world influenced by many means and ways that provide temporary rest to our tired selves and distort the attention we should give to our spiritual life and sanity. So, amidst the never-ending challenges that we wrestle and face every day that may seem insurmountable and would make us give up let us look and examine ourselves, where do we normally go?   Considering...

“That’s unacceptable! You cannot do that since that is not our custom and tradition! You have to observe what we normally do!” These words may seem familiar to many of us when we deal with people doing the same things for a long time. People would insist on doing the same thing since it’s the NORMAL, USUAL, ORDINARY thing people do.   A new teaching. This is what the Pharisees and the leaders of the law during the time of Jesus were so concerned about – Jesus teaching a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things opposite to what is the mainstream teaching and rule.   When people are obsessed with the familiar and popular, people tend to neglect the possibility of looking at other perspectives. At times, even promoting violence in the protection of one’s own beliefs, manipulating other people to subject themselves to their ways.    But Jesus knew that something was wrong. He knew that some things were meant to be changed, and challenged - and HE confronted them ag...

The Gospel reading this Sunday, reminds me of my pastoral exposure in Bangladesh in 2019. Being a doer and an active person what was difficult to accept was the fact that I could not do so much at all in my new environment. For one, the language made it challenging for me to convey, and share the things I am good at. Often times I was disappointed because I felt limited, and unproductive. I was trying hard to bring and introduce new stuffs and new ways of doing things like in the Philippines. It was frustrating! Eventually, I realized that I was battling with myself – I was trying very hard and waiting for the perfect opportunity to be impressive. I gathered that I did not have to be super me, I just had to be open to my new environment.    Many of us are maybe in a situation where we have to stop clinging on something or someone. Being open can be hard because it means letting go of aspects of our past – aspects of us.  It also means letting go of our expectations of how...

This Sunday’s gospel is quite familiar for many of us. It is the gospel of John including the chapter 3 verse 16 which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   This is our reflection this Sunday,  God gave His life for our sake.   The Exultation of the Cross which we celebrate this Sunday, that is, every September 14,  honors Christ's Cross , an instrument made sacred by the Lord's offering of Himself upon it for our salvation. God gave his life for our sake through the cross, a symbol of God’s saving love for all, God’s ultimate act of love.   But during the time of Jesus, the cross was a symbol of defeat, never a victory and pride as we now proclaim. Those times, people would see the cross as a symbol of weakness, of loss, and death. That is why no one would ever desire to be associated with the cross.   And yet, Jesus showed us the path to salvation – the...

If the avengers and justice league were true and were called by God as his 12 apostles to preach the good news to all nations, to give sight to the blind, to drive out demons, to protect the afflicted, to heal the sick, to bring peace; what would this world be like?   They do not only possess great powers, but they are also superheroes above all. But they are nothing but mere products of a creative mind. If Jesus had chosen and created them for real, things could have been a lot easier or worse, perhaps.  God is a wonderful God, for instead of strong and powerful superheroes, he chose the powerless, and the weak. He chose you; he chose me; and he chose every one of us. God simply wants us to know that even the weakest person, even the most ordinary, the powerless can do extraordinary things. Hence, Jesus taking a child to address the argument among His disciples of who’s the greatest. It is important to be aware that in our life there is always the big tendency to become proud...

What I will share with you today is about ENVY, one of the seven capital sins in the teaching of the Catholic Church. According to the Webster Dictionary, the word  envy   is defined as “( noun)  a feeling of  discontented  or  resentful  longing  aroused  by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck.” Is this somehow familiar with you?    In our gospel from Mark chapter 9, some of Jesus’ disciples were trying to prevent someone who performs miracles because he is not one of them. But Jesus rebuked them. Jesus took up the lesson that those who are not against them is for them. And those who help others, give a cup of water to those who are thirsty will surely have their reward in heaven.    Envy. Jealousy.    The closest opposite words of these is HAPPINESS. When we are happy of what other people have, when we are happy when other people are successful, when we are happy when other people are finan...

I came across a clip of  Binibining Pilipinas  2008, where a candidate was asked to describe a perfect family. She answered, “There is no such thing as perfect family because there is no perfect thing in this world, only close to perfect. And for me, as long as your family stays together or apart, but you still manage to see each other, like my case, I have a broken family, but I still see my father and my mom. Although they are not together, we still manage to share love in a very different way and that’s a perfect family for me.”   Others may think that her family was imperfect because her parents got separated. For the candidate, however, as long as she managed to see parents - it’s a perfect family.   Today’s Gospel made me reflect on the importance of marriage in becoming parents for their children. The first part talks about a lifetime covenant of married couples. The second part is about the little children who were brought by the people to be close to Jesus. ...

When I was working outside, before I got ordained, my manager at work asked me, why do you want to embrace the priestly life?     I couldn’t answer her right away. Then, she started to recount the charitable works I’ve done with my friends and the groups we have organized to raise funds for the street children, the aged, and etc. She went on saying; you can still serve God, the Church, even outside. I simply answered by saying; doing charitable deeds is just one thing – the life that I will embrace is far bigger and higher. Of course, she did not understand the totality of my words.     So, why did I choose the priesthood and religious life? When someone is in love, sometimes it is difficult to articulate the reasons – there is just a strong prompting or provoking deep within that at times words are not enough or there is no perfect word to express it. And sometimes just like love, you just know you are in love – and sometimes too, no explanation is needed.  Our...

“I want to be the first. No, I want to be the best. I want to be the NUMBER ONE if not THE ONLY ONE.” These are very human inclinations we see and recognize even in our own selves. We aspire to take the highest places, the most important titles, the most powerful position in the company or office, etc. That’s what we are. That’s who we are, isn’t it?   Well Jesus reminds his apostles and his disciples to be aware of these human inclinations which oftentimes lead people to self-pride, holding on to power, feeding the ego, and greed.   Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.” Taking the less prominent and totally opposite direction, Jesus tells us that we must learn the value of humility. Enough with self-preservation. Enough with too much pride. Enough with always looking after power, prestige, and the high applause of people. This is quite challenging for the apostles and his disciples. And the same to all of us.    With the growing nu...

In October 2021, I was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 4 (CKD-4). The doctor told me that my kidneys can only function at 25%. She also noticed my swelling ankles. It indicates that the kidneys are unable to flush excess fluids. So, once the kidneys are damaged, it cannot heal and deteriorate gradually. The only remedy is kidney transplant or by the grace of God, a miracle. I could not just accept it, and I refuse to believe the doctor.             Being sick is not easy, particularly when it is a chronic a one. I struggled and I got depressed. I prayed that someone would donate a kidney for me. The more I long for answers, confusions came instead. I got angry to God and asked Him questions about my situation. It affected my journey of becoming an Oblate. I lost interest in praying and in attending community schedules. Because of my situation, I felt that I could not escape it and I told God that I want to die immed...

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) of the Philippine province gathered last October 22-23, 2024 at Youth and Family Center in Tamontaka, D.O.S. Maguindanao for their annual assembly.     The assembly was participated by about 80 OMI priests and brothers assigned in the different ministries distributed in different provinces of the Philippines all the way from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.    The OMI annual Assembly is an OMI tradition where all OMI priests and brothers gather from all over the Philippines to pray, reflect, and discuss the present situation of the province in terms of its mission and evangelization, financial and human resources, vocation and recruitment among others in consonance to the lens and perspective of the whole congregation.    ON the first day, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated led by Fr. Julito dela Cruz, OMI the Novice Master. After the mass, Fr. Gerry delos Reyes, OMI the provincial Superior of the OMI Philipp...

T o love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves summarizes the whole message of the scripture. This is the message of which God wants us to understand, believe, and live everyday – that life is all about loving God and others before anything else.     So how do we love God will all our heart, with all our understanding, and with all our strength? This simply tells us that to love God means to give our everything, our whole being, our whole selves, our whole person – heart, mind, our every energy.    God is the centrifugal force that brings us all together in this life. We are called towards God. We all move towards Him.    God is our destiny. God is our eternity. God is our beginning, the Alpha and the Omega, where we all come from, and will eventually return. That is why loving Him entails nothing more than what we are, who we are, and what we have. Everything belongs to God. Therefore, everything is of God. This means that everything that we do, think ...