Happy2 2nd Sunday of 2015 to all the beautiful people of the world and your respective families. A little bit earlier today coz I surprisingly has no assignment for this morning instead I will be a Lector at 4:00pm in our Parish(English Mass). Yesterday we had a practiced in our place at 3:00pm with nilugaw na manok na may nilagang itlog with out shell) with hot pandesal,which was so good for the cold weather. We sang at 5:00pm in our Parish and 7:15pm in our Chapel. And now here is our reflections for this week coming from the Moments of Fr. Jerry M. Orbos, SVD entitled Obedience and Humility THE STORY is told about Mass-goers who noticed something strange about their Parish priest one Sunday morning. Every time he greeted them with The Lord be with you with open arms, his left arm would shake and his wrist would twitch. When asked about it after the Mass, the priest said: Oh, you noticed that? You see, I was just trying to revive self-winding automatic wristwatch, which had stopped! Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Lords Baptism. In todays Gospel (Mk. 1, 7-11), we hear of Johns baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, which he did in all humility, declaring to all, I a not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of His sandals. After Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven said, You are my beloved Son: With You I am well pleased. What made John and Jesus pleasing to the Father? They were obedient and humble. So, too, must we be. What can revive our faith, and what can help us renew our baptismal promises? Obedience and humility, Pope Francis visits us this week his message of mercy and compassion. If we are not obedient and humble, we cannot be true recipients or agents of mercy and compassion. May Pope Francis grace-filled presence in our midst this week remind us again of the most basic lesson in life: We are not gods, and neither should we play god. A text message sent to me said: A good apology must start with admission, continue with contrition, and end with reparation. If we want to become truly pleasing to the Father, we must go beyond lip service, and go to concrete service. The bottom line is that we must please God, not ourselves, or other people. Many of us spend our whole lifetime focused on our financial journey, fame and popularity journey, power journey, beauty journey, and what have you. Our Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, His herald, and now Pope Francis, His vicar on earth, teach us that the most important journey is our journey to Gods heart. Indeed, what does it profit us if we can gain the whole world, and in the end lose our soul? What is your wristwatch? What is it that keeps distracting you from truly focusing on and serving God? It boils down to the 4Ps: pera (money), power, pride, and pleasures. And if we may add another P---politics. The evil one knows how to distract us. Let us be vigilant and prayerful, for only if we truly listen to God can we discover how selfish and how self-serving we all are. Speaking of service, we who claim to be involved in the Lords service would do well to reflect during these coming days what true servanthood is all about, following the message of Pope Francis. Again, the bottom line is that our serving should be borne out of gratitude for Gods mercy, motivated by sincere concern for our brothers and sisters, and done out of humble reparation for our sins and the salvation of our souls. Let no money, career, position, fame and popularity get in the way of our serving, so that we can truly serve Him always, and in all ways. I have never seen a place in the Philippines where the Simbang Gabi is celebrated so religiously even in barrio chapels all throughout the nine-day novena before Christmas. The parishes in Batangas, in Pampanga even import priests from different dioceses and religious orders to meet the requests of so many barrio chapels for their services. Talagang sadyang relihiyoso at madasaling ang mga Batangueno at mga Pampangueno. Think about this: Worry ends when faith begins. Fear fades when faith grows. Humility grows when faith matures. Faith strengthens when you obey. Transformation is brought about by love. Love is the overflowing result of a person in true fellowship with God. A moment with the Lord: Lord, help me, an unworthy recipient, to live a life of obedience and humility, so that I may become a grateful agent of compassion and mercy. Amen. Have a nice remaining cold weather weekend, and God bless us all!
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 02:04:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015