Making Friends With The Lord Jesus

The first reading in the mass today comes from the Old Testament Book of Zechariah who prophesied about Israel's sharing with other nations what she received from the Lord. It is foretelling of Pentecost Sunday when the Apostles did indeed go out to tell the entire world about the teachings of Christ. We are modern apostles called by God to give Christian witness to everyone we meet and know....

Today is the feast of the Guardian Angels and the foundation anniversary of Opus Dei. Jesus tells us in the Gospel of today's mass that the greatest in God's Kingdom are the children. Thus, He invites us to become like children. And each child has a Guardian Angel. Let us not deprive ourselves of this wonderful devotion and practice of our faith, i.e., of dealing and interacting with our r...

The first reading and Gospel of the mass today, the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, tell us to change for the better. The first reading presents to us the case of a good man who lost his goodness by committing a crime. Such a person would be condemned if he does not repent of his sin. Then, there is the person who has been committing sin and then repents of them. Such a person will be saved. Thus, i...

He became a great saint because he did not give up his struggle to reign his irascibility until the day he transited to Heaven. He kept getting up again and again. Thus, he showed his love and loyalty to the Lord. The Lord says that he will be the wall of Jerusalem. There will be no physical wall because the inhabitants of the Holy City will eventually include so many nations and peoples. They wil...

Today's feast opens to us the possibility of living in the supernatural world. The Angels are real, as real as the computer or phone you are using to access this homily. Let us get used to dealing with them and counting on them.

The prophet Haggai prods the Israelites to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Difficulties and opposition met those returning from exile to Babylon. Mediocrity and lukewarmness set in. God was not pleased. So He sent Haggai to prophesy in His Name. Prophecy is not only about foretelling future events but more of reminding, teaching, and interpreting present occurrences read with the eyes of God. The...

Ezra tells us in the first Reading of the mass today about the returning exiles to Jerusalem. One of their challenges was how to face the challenge of mixing with the natives, these are the Israelites who were able to stay behind in Israel and not go into exile in Babylon like the great majority of the rest of the Israelites, and their having intermarried with foreign nations that surrounded Israe...

The Book of Ezra provides the reading content for the first reading of the mass of today, Tuesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time. We are told that King Darius took off from the documents of King Cyrus to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. It is amazing how much earth, stone and mortar went into the reconstruction. We should check also how we construct the temple that is our bodies for the Blessed...

God is so good! After many years of atoning for their sins, God moved the King of the Persians, Cyrus, to return the Israelites to Israel from Babylon. He commands all to assist them in rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem. God had meted out to them the punishment for their infidelity to Him in being exiled to Babylon. When the proper time came, He crafted the way for them to return. Oh, how great G...

The first Reading of today's mass of the 25th Sunday in ordinary time is a text from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. He reminds us that we need to seek God, and that we need to reset our standards and thoughts and plans because God's thoughts and plans are not like ours. He is the standard, not the other way around.

St. Paul continues to give instructions to Timothy, one of his disciples. This time he underscores the need to practice what we have been told by our faith. In this way, our faith avoids becoming simply a theoretical thing, with no connection with life. Our faith is meant to be practiced, not only thought or believed in. Our faith is life, not a book.

St. Paul reminds us as he had reminded Timothy that money is the root of all evil. We cannot escape the fact that we did not bring anything when we were born in this world. And we cannot bring anything from here when we die. He is driving at the need for us to beware of becoming attached and enslaved by the creatures of this world. There is only one God. The rest are creatures, although we might m...

The astonishing thing about St. Matthew's calling is that Jesus simply presents Himself to this chief tax collector and addresses him, saying, "Follow Me." Remember, Jesus caught him working his slimy business. He was a public sinner in the eyes of the ordinary Israelite. But his worthiness was not the basis of his calling. It is simply God's sovereign will. He is not like a cast...

The title of today's homily is taken from the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy, read in today's first reading of the mass, verbatim. Gone then should anyone's doubts be. There is not just the Christian who can interpret the Sacred Scriptures on his own, since he or she could claim direct contact with the Holy Spirit. The Church was established by Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Rock of...

St. Paul enumerates the qualities to his disciple, St. Timothy, in this letter. What is striking is that they should be of impeccable character. Our parents had this as a goal too when any of us were young. Our parents simply faced the responsibility of training us for future society. I point out, however, that this process would necessarily require the parents to practice what they teach. Otherwi...

St. Paul clearly instructs Timothy, his disciple, to pray for everybody. That referred especially to the Gentiles. We should not put limits on the quantity or quality of the people we need to pray for. He said that we pray for everyone, not only for some, for those we like, or for only the number we feel right so as not to bother the Lord with too many petitions.

For us to learn to forgive, we need to ask God for help. To err is human, to forgive is divine. And so the saying goes. Another thing for sure is what Our dear Lord warns us about. He will deal with us the way we deal with others. If we hardly grant mercy, God will do likewise to us.

This text of St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians enlightens us to see and appreciate the following: we have a treasure and we carry it in vessels of clay. This symbolizes our fallen nature that easily falls and sins. To encourage us onward in battling our weaknesses, we need to consider we have a treasure consisting in the life of grace, our divine calling, our quest for holiness, God...

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us in the first reading of the mass that Jesus learned to obey His Father's Will, although he prayed that His Passion and Death not happen. In the end, He submitted Himself by saying that not His Will but the Will of God be done. The Blessed Virgin Mary imitated her Son at the foot of the Cross by accepting in obedience the Will of the Father that her Son die on...

What used to be hated and feared and despised has not changed in any way in itself, but since Jesus Christ took it up and died on it to save us, we now should appreciate the humiliating crosses in our lives.

There is no escaping it. Jesus carried and died on the Cross to save us from our sins and restore us to God's life. It is also imperative to embrace our daily crosses with a different outlook now. We need to value these crosses and succumb to tantrums or frustrations because of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Having the cross is a prerogative.

St. Paul tells his Colossian converts that since Our Lord Jesus Christ is in Heaven, they needed to spend their thoughts on matters of Heaven. Thus, we have another reason to take care of our prayer life. If we are to spend eternity in Heaven, we would need to start practicing prayer life here on earth. We should not keep our hearts rooted here since we are only passing through.

That is the message of St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians in the first reading of today's mass. He graphically uses the phrase "You must be rooted in him". As the tree gets its nourishment from the ground through its roots, we need to get our sustenance from Our Lord Jesus Christ's life.

The text of today first reading teaches us the why of our suffering, even though Jesus Christ had already suffered and died on the cross for all of us.

The readings in the mass today, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, encourage us to face our serious responsibility to help others through this Christian and Evangelical means of fraternal correction. Our Lord will hold us responsible if we keep our mouths shut and mind our own business. As they say, Hell is full of closed mouths. It is a grave duty of charity. We all make mistakes. We impl...