Making Friends With The Lord Jesus

The religious authorities in the Temple of Jerusalem confront Jesus and demand from Him the authorization He has for preaching and teaching the people. They did not like this outsider. Anyhow, Jesus tries to help them face themselves by asking them first whether the baptism that St. John the Baptist had with the people was from heaven or only man-made. They did not think properly. Instead of reaso...

The Gospel narrates to us what happened when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. We are given words inspired by the Holy Spirit. First, we have the second part of the first part of the Hail Mary we usually recite. Then, we have the awesome prayer of Mary called the Magnificat. Here, we should appreciate Mary's humility.

The Gospel today tells us about Bartimaeus, the blind man, who shouted asking for God's mercy from Jesus who was passing by. He persisted in calling out His Name and asking for His Mercy. Although the people surrounding him tried to hush him, he cried all the louder. Jesus was observing him, although He feigned not hearing him the first time he called him out. Finally, He asked for Bartimaeus to c...

We have in the Gospel today the reply James and John gave to Jesus when He asked them whether they will be able to drink the cup that He was to drink. They said "We can!" Contained in that reply is a lot of faith in God's help and grace. The cup Jesus referred to was His Passion and Death. So, instead of backing down, these apostles made an act of faith by saying they could drink that cup too. Jes...

St. Peter posed this question to Our dear Lord Jesus after He had expressed to them the great difficulty so-called rich people will have in entering Heaven. We know that He referred to those who were attached to their things--from material wealth to their opinions and so forth--and were not willing to let go of them. Our Lord assured Peter and the rest of His followers--you and I--that He will giv...

A rich man received this invitation from Jesus. But he turned it down. Apparently, he preferred his great wealth to the adventure God had in mind for him. This adventure would truly be extraordinary because it was one with Jesus Christ Himself, no less than the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made flesh. So, he went away sad. If we are so desirous of being eternally happy, we should be ready...

We celebrate today the highest mystery of our Catholic Faith, i.e., The Most Blessed Trinity. Our daily life as Catholics is dotted with different expressions of piety and reverence to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Since there are three Persons, we need to deal with each of them. With the Father, as His children; with the Son, as our model; and the Holy Spirit as our Guide and sanctifie...

We read today the revelation of two principles of Christianity, namely, the need to deal with all people observing their dignity as persons and as children of God, and that we need to become childlike to enter Heaven. First, we have to learn not to discriminate against anybody. We have to respect them for what they are in essence. They are children of God, or to put it another way, God gave up His...

Jesus speaks about the indissolubility of marriage. Divorce and remarrying is adultery, even when there are good reasons for remarrying like one becoming young again with the new partner, or one believes in love again with the new partner, or whatever may be crafted as a justification for the next union. This divorcing and remarrying is contrary to the union God wants for Himself by nature and for...

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest. He is the Priest because He sacrificed Himself in Calvary for our salvation and in obedience to His Father. In the Old Testament, priests sacrificed something to God. In the New Order, Jesus is both the Priest and the Victim, the one who offers sacrifice and the one who is offered in sacrifice. The Pr...

Our Lord Jesus Christ replied this way in the title to the protest of John about wanting to stop someone who was casting out devils in Jesus' Name, but was not among Jesus' close followers. Any such person who works a miracle realistically could not speak evil of Jesus. We need to create imaginary enemies. We need to be inclusive and open to others when they also serve God and His Church, even if...

The Gospel of today tells us several things. First, Jesus spent more time, effort, and resources in training those who would speak and preach in His Name. How can we be good instruments of God's Word if we do not train ourselves more deeply. Then, Jesus reveals His coming Passion, Death and Resurrection. This is very much part of Jesus' life. Hence, we should not be shocked by the presence of the...

The Church that Jesus founded was born yesterday Pentecost Sunday. But the Church as the Bride of Christ was born when Jesus died on the cross. To make sure Jesus had died, a soldier pierced his side with a lance. He withdrew that lance and out came blood and water. These two came to symbolize the two great sacraments that build the Church, namely, Baptism and the Holy Eucharist because of the wat...

Pentecost means 50. In other words, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended upon the group of His followers in a bigger room adjacent to the cenacle they used for the Last Supper of Our Lord. As the scriptures narrate, the Holy Spirit descended on them under the appearance of tongues of fire. There was an antecedent strong wind that shook the dwelling. And they began...

Jesus is asked by Peter about what would happen to John, the youngest of the Apostles. Jesus had prophesied how Peter would die. Jesus tells Peter that he need not be concern about the future of John. He emphasized that Peter should simply follow Him. This shows us how we need to look at ourselves in front of God. We have been created as unique human beings. This means that there was never been so...

Jesus asks St. Peter whether he loved Him more than the others did. He replies in the affirmative. Jesus repeats this questions two more times, saddening Peter because He asked him this for the third time. While Peter always replies in the affirmative, Jesus tells Him to take care of His sheep since he was going to be occupying a governing position in the Church. This is what we need to do to prov...

Jesus stresses the point of unity in His prayer to His Father. In fact, He assigns it so much importance that it signifies that the one possessing it is from God. Without it or lack of it would be a sure sign that God is not behind us wherever we may be. People need not believe us because we simply are at loggerheads with others in our church.

Today's Gospel tells us about Jesus' prayer to His Father that we all be one, as He and His Father are one. Unity is an essential attribute of God. There is only One God. Also, in God there is only one Divine Nature. There are three Persons in one God. Three Persons, not three gods. There can only be one God or one Divine Nature. Jesus prayed that we all be one as they are one. This means we need...

Tossing lots was a Jewish custom. A fortuitous event was believed to show God's Will, as long as there was no manipulation by man. St. Matthias became an apostle because the lot fell on him. It was not because he was better than anyone one else. This way of determining God's will simply humbles us when we receive an office like Matthias. It is not because we are better than anyone else that we got...

Our Lord tells us to ask the Father in His Name. God the Father will not despise or forget that petition because it is done through His Son. He cannot deny anything to His Son whom He loves infinitely.

This valley of tears that we all need to traverse is part of God's plan. The discomforts here should help us aspire for the definitive life in Heaven, where there is all perfection with God. There will be no more need for creatures to satisfy us. Heaven will satiate us without any cloying.

Several things should come to mind when we recall her apparitions to three shepherd children. There is God. God is offended by man's sins. We need to do penance, a lot of penance. God's victory in the end is assured.

We cannot shirk from the responsibility of obeying the Lord's last words on earth prior to ascending to Heaven. Go out to the whole world. We find ourselves set up by the Lord in our positions and roles in society. Ask yourselves how we have preached the Good News. We can do this by practicing the Lord's other commandments, especially that of the New Commandment, namely, Love one another as I have...

The name we need to use to get what we ask for is the Name of Jesus Himself. But this name-dropping assumes we have a relationship with Him. Thus, we need to evaluate how our relationship is with Him. In fact, this is the real reply to all our petitions and prayers, namely, Jesus Christ. Nothing trumps Him as the fruit of our prayers. Having this relationship with Him is the bottom line in our exi...

Hope is the theological virtue we all absolutely need to get to Heaven. This world is only a leg of our trip. We have all these difficulties here, even with joy because we hope in seeing Jesus in the end. We need to shore up our hope in Heaven.