PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION, C

-


HOW POWERFUL IS GOD?






In a moving video, a group of anti-abortion protesters confronted an abortionist doctor. One of the protesters preached to the doctor that he needed to know Jesus in order to be forgiven and saved. The doctor retorted that he believed in God, but as for Jesus, “He is dead! He has been dead for the past 2,000 years!” The protester, surprisingly, had no ready answer to give.



Why did Jesus have to die? His death is a great mystery to us all, even to the most vocal proclaimer of Christian faith. That Jesus died is a fact of history. That he should die in the first place is a continuing reason for many to doubt his power, and for many others to deny that he is truly God. This Palm Sunday initiates for us a whole week of confronting a dying God, a bleeding Redeemer, hanging on the cross. Before him, our faith too is sometimes shaken.



Wise people through the ages thought of God as powerful, absolute, unchanging and immovable. Many people expect these same qualities in God today. For them (as for our president), the cross is an insult to God, a contradiction we do not need and one we cannot handle. But is it really?



The cross of Jesus is indeed a contradiction - not on God’s side, but on ours. Our minds are limited in comprehending the ways of God. Saint Augustine was right when he taught that we can understand “something” about God but it is impossible to understand "everything" about God. For if we did, then he would no longer be God.



Like wise thinkers, we often think that God is perfect, immovable, and emotionless. This God is a big boulder of rock that stay in its place, having no real connection with its surrounding. But a simple reading of the Bible shows a God who feels, loves, gets angry, changes his mind – far from the idea of philosophers and thinkers.



God is indeed perfect, but his perfection is fullness rather than limitation; he is not unmoving, but rather possesses all movements; he is not unfeeling, but rather surpasses all sorts of emotions. It is true that he does not love “like” us, because he loves “more than” we can ever do, in a way we can never fully understand – he loves the sinner in all of us! He loves us to the point of death, to the very end, to the Cross and the grave!



God’s hidden life is exposed in the very humanity of Jesus. As truly man, he suffered, loved, healed, forgave sinners. He was deceived by his companions and was betrayed by a trusted friend. This is who God really is, in the life of his only Son, Jesus Christ.



Holy Week challenges our very concept of God. May we have a richer, not poorer idea, of the Crucified and Dying God as we meet him in his passion and death. May we be filled with praise and worship as we welcome him in his resurrection. For the end of Jesus was not destruction but victory over sin and death.


-->

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

GOMBURZA: BAKIT MAHALAGA?

-
Image
      PADRE MARIANO GOMES  (Gomez, ayon sa kanyang orihinal na apelyido)       Isinilang si Padre Gomez sa Santa Cruz, Maynila noong Agosto 2, 1799. Itinuturing siyang isang tornatrás o torna atrás o iyong may magkahalong dugo na Indio, Intsik at Kastila; karaniwang ang ama ay Kastila at ang ina ay mestisang Intsik. Ang kanyang mga magulang ay sina Alejandro Francisco Gomez at Martina Custodio.   Pumasok siya sa mga paaralang Letran at UST. Naghanda naman siya sa pagpapari sa Seminaryo ng Maynila na ngayon ay San Carlos.   Taong 1824 nang maging parish priest si Fr Gomes ng Bacoor, Cavite. Nakakitaan siya ng kasipagan sa pag-aalaga sa espirituwal na kabutihan ng mga tao, gayundin sa pagtuturo sa kanila ng kabuhayan at ng agrikultura. May maganda siyang pakikitungo sa mga kapwa pari. Kabilang siya sa mga nasyonalistang pari na nakikipagbuno para sa pantay na karapatan at pagkilala sa mga paring secular (o iyong hindi miyembro ng mga religious order tulad ng Dominicans, Franc
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