Theme: “Standing Firm as Overcomers”

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Malachi 3:16-4:2

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:1-2,4-6,8-9

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Gospel Reading: Luke 20:45-21:4

Homily by Fr. Romie-Jun Peñalosa

Fr. Jun started out his homily with rounding up today’s readings. In our first reading in Malachi, it was prophesied that the day will come when He will separate who is for Him and who is against Him. In the second reading, Paul gives a warning about simply being busybodies. He reminds them here to not be a burden, and in silence do our work. Finally in the Gospel, we learn about cultivating the heart of a cheerful giver.

God is always looking at us and He sees everything we do. Our actions will connote if we are for Him or against Him. Most importantly, our hearts will clearly show how much we value God in our lives.

With today’s readings, he shared with us three wrong attitudes in giving, and three proper attitudes when giving.

Three Wrong Attitudes:

1. God hates selfishness.
2. God hates it when you show off.
3. God hates self-preserving.

These are some of the attributes that the Pharisees showed in their giving. The widow, however, showed something different. Though she was poor, she proved that no one is too poor to give to God. The widow’s mite was the best offering because with it, she gave her all, her everything. What we need to see is that every time we give to God, He observes you.  God does not look at the amount but at the value of what you are giving. He even knows when we give away something that we need. Most importantly, God knows  how much love you put into your giving.

In 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 it says “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap ^[bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” 

With these, he then shared the following…

Three Attitudes of a Cheerful Giver

1. Selfless – thinks of the other
2. Sincere – not for show
3. Sacrificial – does not give without value

As David once said, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:24)

God values why you give and how you give.

Fr. Jun then challenged the congregation to start doing sacrificial giving for the missions of the church. For as low as Php10.00 per week per family member, we can already raise funds for the mission. Let us be part of the work of the church in bringing out the Good News of the Gospel. Let us not just be busybodies, and let us ensure that we are seen by God as part of His flock through our sacrificial giving and love for Him.

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“Those who are afraid to die are not fit to live.”

The idea of death is the common and greatest fear of man. And when we live in fear, we do not live righteously and properly. Jesus’ final instruction to His disciples to “Go into the world, preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20) – requires a lot of work! The thought of this alone can weaken and make us weary and afraid to even start. However, He promised also that when we obey and do the mission He wants us to do, He is always with us, and therefore, we should not be afraid. 

It is always a risk to obey and follow Christ. But if we are not going to work and do what Jesus wanted us to do, we will not grow as a people and bear fruits in our lives. Doing missionary work does not guarantee our good health. It cannot give assurance that we will not get hurt, get tired, or get disappointed. It does not give us the security to be exempted from rejections and facing adversities in life but we have hope in His promise that He will be with us who follow the mission.

The resurrection of Christ gives us hope. This hope gives us the boldness and courage to go out on a mission. We are not afraid to die in the mission because we put our hope and confidence in the resurrection of Jesus and we should live this every day of our lives. We should not think that resurrection is an Easter week celebration only. It must be engraved in our minds, every day so that we will not fear death. When we focus our thoughts on the resurrection of Christ, it gives us so much hope, that no matter how hard we labor for the works of God, we are encouraged to press on, knowing that all things will turn out for our good in the future. 

As Primate Alcaraz said, “I do not know what the future holds for me, but I’m not afraid because I know the One who holds my future”. The rising of Jesus from the dead gives us hope for a life after. There is no reason to worry about the future. Our confidence must be in Christ Who promised us a future that we hope for.

As we enter the celebration of Christ the King, Father Jun encourages us to declare in our lives that Jesus is the King and He is the Lord of our life! We will celebrate with joy and proclaim that only Christ has the say in our life! We will rule out the fear of death for Jesus has already erased sin and death when He died on the cross! 

Job, in the midst of his suffering, has already seen the coming of the Redeemer. He never fears dying for he believes that someone is going to save him and he will see him face to face someday. We who have been born after Christ’s death should keep fresh in our mind the resurrection of Christ for by hoping, we can have the strength and the courage to fulfill our mission as a church. The Body of Christ is a mission community. We should not allow the world to minimize us, dictate to us, or intimidate us into doing what God wanted us to be. The power of heaven is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We should not be afraid and therefore, let us be who God wants us to be.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Standing Firm in Patient Perseverance

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time- October 16, 2022

First Reading: Genesis 32:22-31

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 121:1-2,3-4,7-8

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-4-:5

Gospel Reading: Luke 18:1-8

“There are things in life we can never be successful in unless we persevere.” (Fr. Jun)

Today’s parable in our gospel reading talks about the most important activity  in our life – PRAYER. We fail in so many things because we do not continue with them. Oftentimes, we stop whenever we find it difficult. But there are many people who become successful in their prayers, not because they know so many things in the Bible or they have that big faith in life, but because they always persevere and never give up.

Father Jun points out PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE as the main ingredients in a successful prayer. We need to cultivate these attitude if we want to be successful. The parable as explained by Jesus to His disciples, tells the importance of prayer – not to give up; and to pray unceasingly. We should “always pray “ and not lose heart or be discouraged. We should pray continually, meaning having regular time in prayer. To pray unceasingly means also that we need to have patience. A person without patience will find it difficult to pray and pray every day. “Do not give up”.  Jesus told us not to give up in prayer even at times when prayer is hard for us or difficult for us to do, because “the habit of not praying is more difficult to break than the habit of praying.”

In the parable, Jesus also tries to give us the picture of how vulnerable, how helpless we are sometimes in our life. The widow persevered in seeking justice from the judge who is not willing. Jesus tells us that if perseverance will work on someone who has no the intention to help– how much more will it work when we come to our God who is not reluctant to help us.

Cultivating patience in prayer is a must attitude. The ability to stay calm, to stay composed, and to stay focus. Psalm 37:3-4 tells us to delight ourselves to God in order to have our heart’s desires. God is delighted with us when we pray because when we do, we are mindful of Him. He wants us to think of Him always, and prayer makes us mindful of Him. Talking, spending time with God every day, being still and waiting for Him patiently makes God excited to give us what we desire, for He is just and a God of justice. To be patient also means that we should not be intimidated when things are not happening the way we want it to happen. We just need to continue and persevere because God does now answer all prayers right away. Often, it takes time. Why? Because God will give us the best in the best time.

Let us remember Church that we don’t have a reluctant God. We have a Father that delights in answering our prayers. We just need to be patient in praying, and do not give up, until we have it in our life.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Standing Firm with a Thankful Heart

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time- October 9, 2022

First Reading: 2 Kings 5:8-15

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 111:2-3,4-5,7-8,9-10

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-13

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:11-19

The pandemic has brought a drastic change in our lives. And as it eases now, we see a world filled with hungry people…hungry for meaning of life. Many people are turning to so many things. And we can see the world now as a huge market, everyone has something to sell. People tend to learn so many things and because of these, the need for the church to go and feed them with the word of God is urgent to satisfy their hunger and longing in life. The world is longing for Christ. And we, the church, are commissioned to go and bring Christ to the world.

Our gospel today mentions the term “go” twice, reminding us church of our mission.

The lepers in our scripture reading cries out loud to Lord Jesus to have mercy on them. This is also the case with the world today, it cries out for mercy from God. The lepers obeyed Jesus when He told them to go and have themselves checked by the priest, but only one remembered to go back and give thanks to Jesus and praise God. We can see from this story the common attitude of many of us now. It is the joy of God to bless us, He demands not, but He expects us to be thankful always.

As Jesus commanded the lepers to go, it is the same word He is telling to us church – go on our mission. But as we go out to bring the Gospel, we need to cultivate the following in our hearts: 1) faith – obeying God, believing  what He will do for you; and 2) gratitude – when you obey God because of what He has done for you from the past.

Gratitude and thankfulness is an attitude. Attitude is the most important thing as we walk our life with Christ and our mission. And how are we going to cultivate it in our lives? According to Father Jun, these are the ingredients:

1. Learn to expand or widen our perception of life. See things beyond your family, your work or your business. Open your mind to many things and learn to appreciate the value of every thing. We should stop being too conscious of the prices that oftentimes blinded us to value small things. Let us begin to perceive the value of what has been given to us so that we can learn to appreciate.

2. Be humble. A humble person realizes that what he has in life is something he doesn’t deserve. Once you realize that everything is a gift, a bonus in life…it makes you humble.

3. True gratitude in the heart needs to be expressed. Appreciation must be shown or expressed. Once we learn to express our gratitude to Jesus, it praises God. We should come in humility and express our true gratitude to God.

Realizing what God has done for us and will be doing for us, He deserves our utmost appreciation and gratitude. We should not only keep it in our hearts but we should be bold also in expressing it. He expects us to become grateful. A token is always an expression of gratefulness. We have nothing great to give God as a token, but we have life to give back to Him. Our willingness to use our life for Him is already a token. Be bold then, St. Michael Cathedral!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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Standing Firm In Faithful Obedience

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time- October 2, 2022

First Reading: Habakkuk 1:12-17

Responsorial Psalm 37:1-18

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1-10

Gospel Reading: Luke 17:5-10

Father Jun started his homily today with a commendation to all the workers and parishioners of the church for a job well done during the month-long celebration of the church 40 years journey with the Lord. We all did well and naturally, we feel good with all the efforts we’ve put in; but he reminded us to be ready to get back back now to reality, that we need to move forward and continue the tasks God has entrusted to us. The load is too heavy and the roads might be too rough to bear; but today must be the starting point of another fruitful forty years.

The ceremony of symbolic “passing on” of different ministry heads to the younger generation during our Gala Night celebration signifies that great responsibilities await them. We, the older ones, also have a great  to educate, to nurture, and to train them. For what they will be in the future depends on the kind of seed we plant on them.

Our gospel today talks about faith. The apostles have been asking Jesus how to increase their faith.  We should also be asking this from God. For the next forty years, we could never fulfill what He has given to us unless we have faith. We can find comfort in Jesus’ answer to His disciples, “If you have faith as a mustard seed…” meaning, what we have right now is more than enough already to act upon. God has given us a measure of faith. It is not how big or how small our faith is; it’s the quality of faith God has given to us. We have been given the faith of Jesus, that faith which made Him overcome all the problems He faced, even the cross! And that is the kind of faith we need today. All we need to do is plant it; act upon it today, because the secret in faith increasing is action.

What action shall we do then? Obedience! Keep obeying the Lord. The little things we do every day for the Lord allow us to plant the seed of faith in our heart. We activate faith that can do the impossible once we choose to obey God. And as a servant of God, we ought to obey. A good servant is a picture of obedience. We are not in control of our life, of the circumstances around, we only need to set in our mind and hearts to obey God because in life, the only test God has given us is obedience.

The next forty years of our journey as a church might not be a bed of roses. We are uncertain of the circumstances that might happen. But having that servant-like attitude of being obedient will allow us to be mature in the Lord. We are designed to mature and bear fruits as Christians. Maturity comes when we learn to do what we need to do, even if we don’t like it. And obedience allows us to grow in maturity, to begin to bear fruits in our life, to increase our faith, and to overcome the next 40 years as a church. As a people of God, Father Jun encourages us “to begin our new journey; to cultivate obedience in our hearts, decide once and for all that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Let us start teaching our children and eventually pass on to them the legacy of faith, the legacy of obedience. Primate Dick once said, “We will not just survive, but we will thrive in the midst of difficult circumstances.”

As Apostle Paul told to Timothy…”stir up the gifts that are within you” we need also to stir our gifts. And what is our gift? Our calling as a community, as a church. Let us remain faithful in obedience to the One and Only God we serve.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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25th Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time

Theme: Standing Firm in Trustworthiness

First Reading: Amos 8:4-12

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 113:1-3,4-6,7-9

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Gospel Reading: Luke 16:1-12

God calls us to be servants. We should realize that once He calls us, He trusts us. All of us have been called and the scriptures encourage us that we should live worthy of that trust.

There are two things that we can learn about what makes a trustworthy person. First is his honesty and the other one is his wisdom. We should be people who know what we need to do. We need to cultivate these values in our lives for us to be worthy of God’s trust.

We are all stewards of God’s creation and today’s gospel teaches us how to become good and faithful ones. Whether we like it or not, the truth is that everything we have right now is not really ours. These are just entrusted to us and one day, we are going to give an account to the Owner of these things.  In the parable, we learn that Jesus is not promoting dishonesty.

Instead, we can see that no matter how simple or worst the situation is, Jesus can always find the good and best. He teaches us to use wisdom in all our dealings.

Here are five ways how we can apply wisdom in our dealings with life:

1. Learn to invest. Invest in eternal things. As a steward, everything entrusted to us has value. However, earthly investments are bound by time. Jesus then teaches us to use our earthly possessions for eternity.
2. Relationship is more important than money. Jesus wants us to use our money, our wealth, our talents, and energy to build friends and relationships. Do not put money over relationships. Rather, let it work for your relationships.
3. Invest your wealth. To be wise, invest not only in material things but especially in spiritual things. Save lives, save souls, and help the needy.
4. Always start small. Never despise small beginnings. Use what you have right now. Focus on the daily little things. Start from your family, your work, and later on, your community.
5. Practice faithfulness. Be faithful to things that are not yours. If we are faithful to the little things God entrusted us, then He will entrust us with greater things to do.

We are trustworthy every time we use God’s wisdom. Let us choose to be God-filled wisdom people, Church.

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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24th Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time

Theme: Standing Firm in God’s Forgiveness

First Reading: Exodus 32:7-14

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:1-2,6-8,9-11

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Gospel Reading: Luke 15:1-10

Today’s homily started with a story that was shared to Father Jun. It is about an ancient tradition story in Israel where God tested Moses if he could shepherd Israelites from Egypt. As a shepherd, Moses lost one of his sheep and God tested him on what he would do. After two days of looking, he finally found the lost sheep and instead of getting mad, Moses jumped for joy, cuddled the sheep, while kissed it and carried it on his shoulder as they went home. Like many other leaders, Moses also has a lot of weaknesses. But when God saw how he responded to his lost sheep, He saw that Moses will truly be the shepherd of His people. As a leader, he should be strong but at the same time he should possess tenderness of heart toward the sheep. And that is why God chose Moses because of that character he possessed. God tested the person not to show his weakness but that he might find his own strength also.

Two kinds of people are featured in our gospel reading today. The first kind are those who are willing to welcome Christ; and second kind are those who are offended always by Christ’s words. The first ones were the sinners and tax collectors, but when they heard the word of Christ, they welcomed, listened and were interested. The second ones, the Pharisees, were considered to be righteous, the ones who knew  scriptures, the ones who were supposedly “God-fearing people” were offended by Christ’s teachings. Among these kinds of people, which one are we?

The gospel message today is summed up with this: “Jesus revealed the heart of God to all the people.” Jesus is the revelation of who God is. Sinners become interested with God because He reveals how merciful God is. As sinners, when we hear about the mercy of God, we become hopeful. It is a good news for us. But for others, they cannot hear Christ; they did not welcome his words. Why? Because they believe that they don’t sin, they have not done wrong. Church, we will never appreciate the mercy of God until we realize in our own life that we are sinners!

The two parables shared by Jesus today in the gospel reveals the very essence of who God is. He is a God who never gets tired of looking for us. He never stops forgiving our sins when we repent; who would love us in spite of our failures. God delights when a sinner finds his way back to Him; He rejoices when someone  repents and goes back to Him. He doesn’t mind nor count what we have done nor the extent of our sin; He is simply delighted once we turn and go back to Him.

The life of St. Paul displays the mercy of God. Whenever we see him we are reminded that if God can transform and use the worst sinner, He can do the same to me as well. We are called not to judge but to display the mercy of God. Jesus shares a description of God in this way that we may become “God-conscious”. When we become so focused and aware of His mercy, we will not sin as much. And the issue when we sin, is that we hide from God. We hide because we are afraid to be seen by Him. We are never lost to God when we sin; God becomes lost to us, when we sin.

Repentance is the message of God in our scripture reading today. How God would rejoice once we turn from our sin and present ourselves back to Him. We need to acknowledge and take responsibility of our sin. Do not isolate yourself. Instead, realize that life would never get better without God. So, stand up, focus and celebrate the mercies of God for life will only be merrier when we become God-conscious!

Recap by:

MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU

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