OUR PARISH PRIEST

BE CHALLENGED BY THE OTHERS 26 th Sunday During one instance of heavy rains, when people flocked to our church for safety, a woman came to me. She offered the information that not all who evacuated to the church are Catholics.   She talked to some of these people, she said, and asked them why they turned to us and not rather to their own churches.   I gently reminded the woman that in the Catholic Church, helping is not done by sorting out people according to religious identity.   There are no labels to people who need succor and refuge. The readings today serve as our guide in understanding how to see other people who are not “from our side,” – those who belong outside our group but who, like us, profess to sincerely seek the Lord.   In the first reading (Num. 11), the Lord distributes his Spirit to the elders together with Moses.   But the Lord also chose to bestow his Spirit on two elders who were not with them, while enlightening Moses’ mind that God’s arms

WALKING INTO THE LIGHT In his life, Jesus had to deal with a lot of frustrations, the worst coming from his own disciples.   He has just taught them the value of carrying the cross like him and with him. Now in Mark’s chapter 9, Jesus catches the disciples scheming about their future glory in an imagined earthly reign of their Master.   They were arguing among themselves who was the greatest of all. The disciples did not openly quarrel about their ambitions.   They tried to hide all these squabbles from the Lord.   And when found out, “they remained silent,” that is, they were filled with shame. The disciples thought it was safe to discuss things among themselves, apart from Jesus.   They dared not plan their projected ascent to power in the presence of the Lord but actually, behind his back, so he would not hear, so he would not know.   But Jesus was always sensitive to the people around him and he felt they were into something again. In a retre

SUFFERING AS A WITNESS TO FAITH 24th Sunday I trained as a chaplain in a critical hospital in Manila before my ordination. Assigned to the pediatrics section, I met so many seriously ill children and their families.   Sadly many of the kids I had known and grown to love died while I was there.   Each time a child died, I couldn’t eat or sleep.   I just couldn’t fathom why innocent beings like them would suffer so much and die in pain. I covered my head with a pillow and stifled my tears. That is why I understand Peter’s reaction to the words of Jesus today.   In chapter 8 of Mark’s gospel, Jesus was gradually hinting at his coming agony and crucifixion. And Peter grumbled, thinking that his protest could stop Jesus from following the destiny he was mapping out before them. Jesus was the best guy in the world, with the promise of salvation for all, and he just couldn’t succumb to the pain he was describing.   Peter’s reaction was that of someone who loved and s

FR. LEO IGNACIO, VICE RECTOR OF  OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE MINOR SEMINARY IS NOW PARISH PRIEST AND HE CAN’T HIDE HIS JOY! CONGRATULATIONS FR. LEO ON YOUR FIRST PARISH! YOU ARE A BLESSING FROM JESUS TO HIS PEOPLE!

JESUS OPENS US TO THE WORLD 23rd Sunday How strange that Jesus, in meeting a deaf and mute person, and in being drawn to him, said “Be opened!”   Wasn’t it more appropriate to say:   “Hear!   Speak!   Be healed!”   That was what everyone else was expecting to hear and to see from the Lord. Given the power, that’s probably what we will instinctively say to someone with a physical deformity. Why did Jesus say something different? The gospel (Mark 7) shows the sensitivity of Jesus, deeper than the compassion we feel for the suffering brothers and sisters around us.   Yes, Jesus knew the pain and ridicule, the isolation and the poverty of the deaf-mute.   It was plain for all to see, for it was the deaf man’s daily misfortune.   But Jesus felt something more beyond the oppression society imposed on the man.   Jesus felt the stirring in the heart. And in that man’s heart, Jesus was certain something was trying to emerge, to explode and to express.   It was all