12TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

-
-->



CROSS OF JOY



Do we still really care about the cross?  Not the cross as altar piece, liturgical décor or religious relic but the cross of life, the kind that the Lord Jesus speaks about: forget yourself, carry the cross and follow me.



We live in an age of comfort and convenience. Information is fast. Amenities are improved. Dreams are reachable. Solutions are easy to come by. That is why many Filipinos voted the way they did in the last national elections. They want to wipe out many sufferings (very valid indeed) in the lives of millions of people. And they want to do it quick and easy, within 3 to 6 months, as the elected president promised, and as people believed.



We are not anymore comfortable with the cross. If we can get it out of the way, why must we suffer through it?



There are crosses that we need not burden ourselves with. We must learn to throw away the weight of the cross of our past lives so that we can walk lighter, with more ease, and more positive.  We must learn to not worry about the cross of our future for if we do so, we will only feel paralyzed and unable to move towards it.



But Jesus is telling us to carry the cross of everyday life, and follow him; look only at him and not the cross on our shoulder.  In spite of the technology and advancements around us, the cross of daily life continues to afflict our lives. For each person, a different cross: there is sickness, personal problems, search for new opportunities, mistakes and weaknesses, financial troubles, blunders in relationship, family problems, sin, and the list is endless.



We can carry these crosses with resentment, with pain, with regret. Or pretend that we do not have any cross on our shoulders. But it will not go away. Jesus is offering us another perspective: to carry the cross with hope, with peace, and with joy!  Take up the cross and follow him. Look at him alone. Look not at the cross but at the one who can transform our cross one day into our crown of victory.








Popular posts from this blog

HOLY MASS IN FILIPINO (TAGALOG)

-
Image
ANG BANAL NA MISA PAMBUNGAD NA AWIT Pari:    Sa ngalan ng Ama, at ng anak, at ng Espiritu Santo. Bayan: Amen P.         Sumainyo ang Panginoon. B.        At sumainyo rin. P.         Mga kapatid, aminin nating ang ating mga kasalanan upang tayo’y maging marapat sa pagdiriwang ng banal na paghahaing ito.             Sinugong Tagapagpagaling sa mga nagsisisi,             Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami. B.        Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami. P.        Dumating na Tagapag-anyayang mga makasalana’y magsisi,             Kristo, kaawaan mo kami. B.         Kristo, kaawaan mo kami. P.         Nakaluklok ka sa kanan ng Diyos Ama para ipamagitan kami             Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami. B.         Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami. P.         Kaawaan tayo ng makapangyarihang Diyos,             Patawarin tayo sa ating mga kasalanan,             At patnubayan tayo sa buhay na walang hanggan. B.        Amen. GLORIA/ LUWALHATI
Read more

SIMBANG GABI DAY 1: READINGS AND REFLECTIONS

-
Image
FIRST DAY: DECEMBER 16   (from the book: Where is the Child?by Fr. R. Marcos (Makati: StPauls);  pls responsibly acknowledge source when using publicly)   fr tam nguyen's photo First Reading: Isaiah 56:1-3, 6-8   Thus says the Lord: Observe what is right, do what is just, for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.   Hay is the one who does this, whoever holds fast to it: Keeping the sabbath without profaning it, keeping one’s hand from doing any evil. The foreigner joined to the Lord should not say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people”; Nor should the eunuch say, “See, I am a dry tree.” And foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, to become his servants—All who keep the sabbath without profaning it and hold fast to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will
Read more

SIMBANG GABI DAY 2: READINGS AND REFLECTIONS

-
Image
SECOND DAY: December 17   (from the book: Where is the Child?by Fr. R. Marcos (Makati: StPauls);  pls responsibly acknowledge source when using publicly)   fr tam nguyen's photo   First Reading: Genesis 49:2, 8-10   Jacob called his sons and said [to them]: “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father. “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise—your hand on the neck of your enemies;the sons of your father shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s cub, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches, lies down like a lion, Like a lioness—who would dare rouse him? The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and he receives the people’s obedience.”     A.             Short Background on the First Reading   1. Who was Judah? Judah was one of the twelve sons of Jacob (or Israel). Jacob was considered the father of the nation of Israel and his twelve sons were cons
Read more