OUR PARISH PRIEST

FAITH THAT SAVES 13th Sunday, Ordinary Time The gospel today offers two accounts that are very real and concrete.   Who will not be able to identify with the two women in Mark’s narration – the woman bleeding for twelve years and the little girl on her deathbed? There are times when we are desperate in our search for solutions to our problems.   This woman was sick for a long time and her resources are already exhausted. Yet, she persists in her pain. My mother went through this in two years of cancer medications and I think I know what’s happening here. Maybe for the longest time ever you are in search of a job, or your career is slow and unproductive, or you have been waiting for a loved one to find the light. Yet you cannot bring about the results you desire. There are also times when the light of our life is dimmed, like Jairus whose lovely daughter just died.   How he hated to see her go and would do everything to augment her life....

A BIRTHDAY TO REMEMEBER Birth of St. John the Baptist Like a real family, our Christian community celebrates birthdays.  We Filipinos love to go to Mass on our birthdays, even if we do not go to church the whole year.  A birthday is a time to give thanks, a time to pray, a time to reflect. It is a time to consider blessings. Today, our Sunday celebration is eclipsed and enriched by a feast day that commemorates a birthday, that of John the Baptist.  John, the cousin of the Lord, was also the one who prepared the way of the Lord by his preaching and his lifestyle.  Common knowledge to all, is that he baptized the Lord Jesus in the River Jordan. The gospel narrates the miraculous birth of John, from parents too old to conceive and in fact, also sterile all their lives.  When the time has come to name the child, Zechariah, his father, inspired by the Spirit called him John, which means a “graced by God” or simply, a “blessing”. Birthdays are...

WHEN WE ARE HELPLESS 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time B There are many things in life over which we are helpless.  I always wanted to cultivate in my small garden the plant called “birds of the paradise” that normally grows in mountainous areas with fertile soil.  Many times I bought samples, or asked from friends, even picked this plant from the side of the road.  But when I planted them in Manila with its hot, unfriendly climate, it died. Once I got another bunch and arranged them in a large plant pot.  It seemed the plant would wither. At times, it seemed to be able to survive.  I fertilized the soil, pruned the leaves, sang many songs to the plant.  I even prayed over and asked God’s intervention.  Then when I was not expecting anything to happen, the plant recovered and in fact started to grow its amazing flowers! Nature teaches us that there are laws or forces around us that we cannot manipulate.  The rain will fall when th...

NOT JUST ABOUT EATING Solemn Feast of Corpus Christi One highlight of every Mass is Holy Communion.  It is almost instinctive that we line up for communion.  Those with sensitive spirits look into their hearts to decide whether they are worthy to receive Jesus.  Others though seem to care less, just following the crowd or repeating the gesture routinely. There is always something attractive and mystifying about Communion.  If we are filled with faith, we know that this bread is no ordinary food.  This bread has been proclaimed by Jesus, “my body” in the same way that the wine has been pronounced by him, through the priest, “my blood.”  Catholics believe this strongly, and so at Mass seek to be nourished by both the Word of God and the Body and Blood of Christ. This is also what the gospel today tells us.  Jesus wants to be remembered through the one celebration he himself requires done his honor, “do this in memory of me.” How tru...