BE HUMBLE WHEN YOU PRAY

Saturday of Third Week of Lent Year C Luke 18:9-14 What is the right way to approach God in prayer? In the gospel for today, two people went to the temple to pray but only one received the reward. Both of them pleaded for Divine favors but only one got the blessings. Three points that I would like to share. First, when we pray, we dont need to promote ourselves. Prayer is not about bragging. We dont need to flaunt our achievements and accomplishments. Prayer is not about our glory but His glory. The Pharisee went to the temple to praise himself, the Publican went to praise God. One is centered on God; the other is centered on himself. Proud people full of themselves while humble people full of God. Jesus cautions us against anything that elevates us or sets us apart from others. Second, when we pray try to avoid the litany of comparisons. The prayers of the Pharisee was not pleasing to God because he broadcast about his righteousness by comparing himself to the Publican. He thinks that he is better than others. In our Christian life, there are people who thinks that their holiness are superior to others. They think that their righteousness are the most ideal. They have convinced everyone that they are the epitome of righteousness. They think that they are the paragon of holiness and embodiment of virtue because they always attended church worship. Today, we are challenge to avoid the idea that we are better and superior than other people. Today’s Gospel is teaching us humility. Pray like the Publican, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Prostrate before God, and asks for mercy. Finally, God rewards the humble and rejects the proud. Pride ends in a fall while humility brings honor. Remain humble in your prayer. Let your actions tell your story. St. Augustine once said: “It was pride that changed an angels into devils and its humility that makes men angels.” Blessings Fr. Jhack

FIAT OF MARY

Feast of the Annunciation Luke 1:26-38 Our gospel for today speaks about the story of Mary’s Annunciation. The angel appeared to her and told her that she would conceive and bear a Son. If you are on the shoes of Mary how will you react? Perhaps confusion and fear. Right? You know what, the encounter of Mary with the Angel is the most wonderful announcement ever happend in the world because it is the moment where heaven and earth mets in Jesus. Jesus is the meeting point of heaven and earth. Friends, the truth of the annunciation is wonderful reminder that God wanted to be with us. He is God but He choose to dwell with us. God is not far from us. He is the Emmanuel. The Annunciation tells us that Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love. Our gospel for today is reminding us that in difficult times like this we have to hold on to what the angel said: “...you have found favor with God.” Friends, I knew many of us were scared and worried today but be consoled by God’s promise. “Do not be afraid.” God is fully in charge of our world. Mary trusts to what the angel has said is true and would be fulfilled. Folks, trust like Mary for nothing will impossible with God. “He who trust in the Lord will never be disappointed.” Like Mary, we are challenged to take delight in God’s promise. Finally, the Virgin Mother is the supreme example of obedience to the will of God. Friends, obey like Mary. Even if we don’t understand it, just obey. Friends, learn to say NO to the good so you can say YES to the best. Obey and all will be well. There is always hope for all things are posible with God. Like Mary we say: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” May our life be a constant Yes to God. Blessings Fr. Jhack

APORECIATE THE GOOD IN OTHERS

Thursday of Third Week of Lent Year C Luke 11:14-23 Jesus did a good work, curing a man who was mute. Yet some of those around him were critical to his goodness. Three points that I would like to share. First, when we do good there will always be critics, haters, oppositions and hostility. Most often, the best of our actions are open to misjudgement. Our good intentions sometimes are misunderstood. There will be people who will try to put us down, but don’t be discouraged folks. Continue to do good no matter what people has to say. Keep shining like the sun; despite of the clouds covering at it from beneath. Second, the beast is envious when we do our best. When we do good the devil is upset. Doing good is like revealing the “finger of God.” Continue to do good anyway. Don’t get tired to open the mouth of those muted by the devil. Don’t get frustrated to do good. Do good unceasingly. Darkness is conquered by light. By doing good, we do well. By doung good we walk in the way of God. Friends, as long as you know that God is with you, it doesnt matter who is against you. Finally, try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Friends, kindness is a language that deaf can hear and the blind can see. Today let us ask the Lord to give us the grace to see the best in others, as we pray for them to see the best in us. Like Jesus our mission is to cast our evil in all its forms. Blessings Fr. Jhack

LAW

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent Year C Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus is always faithful to the laws infact He is the fulfillment of it but his oppositions often criticized him as “law-breaker.” Sometimes we live life like the Pharisees because we often judge another person for doing something that we may think as not correct. In today’s gospel Jesus said: “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” What did Jesus mean by the word fulfill? It means He came bringing out the true essence of God’s commandments. The law can be fulfilled in three ways. First, Love it. For Jesus, love is the supreme law since the law is finds its fulfillment in love. Friends, hating and violating the law is not fulfilling it. Second, Act on it. It means dont just observe the norms but live the rules. Nowadays, we need doers not just keepers. We need witness than teachers.“Whoever keeps and teaches the law will be called great.” In life, we all meet hypocrites: people who promote something while not even following it themselves. Do what you say. Act on it! Third, be wise. Wisemen obeys the law, idiots violates it. Qouting from our first reading for today it says: “Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.” Conclusion: Have you noticed that I just personally give the accronym meaning of the LAW? And I defined it this way: LAW- L-ove it A-ct on it, & it will make you W-ise Friends, obey the law and you will be blessed, disobey and you will be punished. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. Listen to Him and get ready to float in the ocean of God’s blessings. Blessings Fr. Jhack

FORGIVE WITHOUT LIMIT

Tuesday of Third Sunday of Lent Year C Luke 4:24-30 “How often should I forgive?” Three things I would like to share: First, forgiveness is never easy. It is difficult but it is not impossible to make appease. That is why, our gospel for today is challenging us to be men and women of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the virtue of the brave. Brethren, forgive and keep doing it. Jesus in today’s gospel is telling not only Peter but all of us too to forgive not only seven times, but seventy-seven times. Meaning, forgive without limit. Why? Because the limit of forgiving is limitless. Forgiveness is not limited to the quantity of numbers. Forgiving is an endless and infinite Christian virtue. Keep this in mind, not to forgive is like drinking a poison and expecting others to die. Second, be quick in forgiving. Don’t procrastinate nor postpone it. Never delay in saying sorry. Delaying is making it worst. If you hurt someone in the morning don’t wait for the night to reconcile. When you forgive you heal. When you let go you grow. Forgive and forget. If its hard to forget then change the way you remember it. Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an aplogogy you never got. Brethren, forgive not because your enemies deserves forgiveness but you deserve peace. Finally, we need to forgive because we are 0% perfect and 100% forgiven. God’s math is like this: 3 nails plus 1 cross equals 4given. When you are tempted to lose patience with someone, remember how patient God has been with you. Forgive because FORGIVING IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF LOVING. There is no love without forgiveness and there is no forgiveness without love. Friends, stop remembering what God has forgotten. To heal a wound, you need to stop touching it. Blessings Fr. Jhack

REJECTION

Monday of Third Sunday of Lent Year C Luke 4:24-30 Have you felt rejected by those closest to you? The irony of life is like this: sometime those who are close to you are sometimes the first one who will criticise and spread gossip about you. The mouth who praise you are sometimes same mouth who will cursed you. There will be moments in our life that we have more rejections than acceptance. There will be lots of instances that we will received two fingers (not the thumbs but the middle one.) Keep this in mind, when you are rejected don’t be discouraged. When people don’t like you, do not think that you are not good enough. You are actually awesome but they failed to see it because they were blinded by their bias and pride. Rejections happened because your haters think they are better than you, your critics think they are more knowledgeable than you. Be glad when you are rejected because most of the great people in the Bible are the rejected. God loves the reject. Finally, I love what Jesus did in the gospel. When he was rejected he passed through their midst AND WENT AWAY. Friends, when people dont accept you, dont force for acceptance. If they dont like you, then move away. If they show no interest then stay far off. Don’t force them! If you live for people acceptance, you will die from their rejections. The most powerful motivation is rejection. See rejection as redirection. Blessings Fr. Jhack

REPENT OR PERISH

Third Sunday of of Lent Year C Luke 13:1-9 Friends, why are we fruitless? Why are we suffering? Why success is so elusive? Today’s readings will help us to discover the underlying truths about our fruitlessness. To understand it, Jesus in today’s gospel uses the parable of the barren fig tree to explain the cause of our misery. The Jewish people has this spiritual outlook of associating their sufferings to their sinfulness. We have a bad times because we make wrong choices. It is our sins that destroys us not God. Friends, the outcome of our life depends on our ability to response to the call of God for repentance. You know what, “If we don’t repent we will perish.” We suffer not because our God is harsh but because we do things not in accordance with the ways of our creator. Friends, start to make a good choices in life. You know what, amidst of our wickedness our Gospel for today gives us a wonderful image of God. He is like a gardener who is patiently hoping for our progress. He is a God who believes that one day we will bear good fruits. Friends, Jesus is that God who always gives us the “second chance.” He continue to give us the opportunity to better ourselves everyday. He is very patient with our slow progress. God sees our efforts to change and be great again. Like Jesus we are challenge to be patient even if others are fruitless. Conclusion: When life give us the second chance, let us give our best shot. Let us be FRUITFULL. God is more than generous with the opportunities for us to reform our lives. Repent, or else something worse may happened to us. Time may run out, never delay nor postpone your repentance. Blessings Fr. Jhack

SOLEMNITY OF ST. JOSEPH

Solemnity of St. Joseph Year C Matthew 1:16,18-21,24a Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph the foster father of Jesus. In the gospel Joseph was described as “righteous man.” Allow me to share three points that makes St. Joseph a righteous man. First, he was considered righteous because he was unwilling to expose the shame and irregularities in Mary’s pregnancy. A righteous person is someone who doesnt spread any irregularities in someone’s private life but keep it secretly. Joseph was a rigteous man because his priority was to keep Mary’s dignity unblemished. He never brought dishonour to Mary. Today, when you heard tittle-tattle story and idle talks keep it to yourself. Dont spread it but keep it in your prayers. Nowadays, we need more Christians like that of St. Joseph. Second, St. Joseph was a righteous man because he listen to God. He wanted to run away and left Mary behind but he never did it instead; he took the responsibility of being Jesus’ foster father. Today’s feast is reminding us that running away from our problems is a race we will never win. Like Joseph be strong when everything seems to be going wrong. Challenge the challenges. Trust in God and face your struggles. Joseph's trust in what God was grounded in a willingness to do what God wants. Through dreams he obeyed God without hesitation. Brethren, remember this, the sun always shine on the righteous. Let us imitate St. Joseph! Third, Joseph was a silent type of guy. We dont find any verse in the Bible that Joseph spoke. He is a man of few words. I am challenging you my dear friends, to imitate St. Joseph: speak less and listen more. In this season of Lent, let us try this: decrease the dosage of talking and increase the amount of listening. Silence is a source of great strenght. The quiter we become, the more we can hear the whisper of God. Friends, let your action speaks. Well done is better than well said. St. Joseph, pray for us! Blessings Fr. Jhack

SECOND CHANCE

Friday of Second Week of Lent Year C Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46 Today’s Gospel is known as the parable of the wicked tenants. We are like the tenants in the parable. We are only stewards! We are provided by God with everything we need to make our vineyard prosper. However, we destroy His generosity by our greed. Friends, as long as greed is stronger than compassion, there will always be suffering. The message is very clear: we cannot stop God’s mercy to reach us. Amidst of our wickedness He will always give us chances to prove that we could be better even after we fall. Second chance is not ussually a happy ending but chance to end things right. God is very patient with our failures. He will keep sending messengers bringing on an invitation of love and mercy. The Lord wants us to return to Him and that He is willing to forgive us when we do. This is the season of Lent all about. Our conversion is the joy of the master. Finally, when you are hurt by others, never take a revenge. Violence can be destroyed by mercy. Alway wish well of others. My dear friends, be the best not the beast! Blessings Fr. Jhack

LAZARUS

Thursday of Second Week of Lent Year C Luke 16:19-31 The name Lazaru means God is my help. The gospel of today describes Lazarus as being forgotten by people, ‘cared for’ only by dogs. If we are cruel and mistreating “Lazarus” around us we will end a life of many regrets. Today when we met the poor it means God is giving us chance to enter the kingdom of heaven. Every poor is an opportunity to unlock the gate of heaven. Every charitable acts is a stepping stones-a stairway build towards heaven. Our eternal destiny depends on how we take care the least fortunate. We prepare our future dwelling place by the charity we made. Remember, charity isn’t about pity it is about love. Second point, money without active mercy for the poor is great wickedness. Without a rich heart wealth is an ugly beggar. If we close our wallet to the poor, the gate of heaven becomes narrow for you. St. John Chrysostom once said: “If you do not find Christ in the beggar at the church door, neither will you find Him in the chalice.” Finally, the gospel is reminding us that heaven and hell is real. When the end comes we will find ourselves between this two eternity. There is a place of fiery torment called hell, where unsaved sinners will suffer punishment for all their sins forever. There is also place of paradise called heaven and it is a reward fo those who listen to God’s commands to be mindful of many Lazarus around. Blessings Fr. Jhack

SERVICE IS GREATNESS

Wednesday of Second Week of Lent Matthew 20:17-28 “When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers.” The ten other disciples were angry to James and John because (naunahan sila) it is also their dream and desire to sit at the place of honor. Call it selfish request, greedy desire, inappropriate request. Inappropriate because they continue to misunderstand the true nature of Christ’s kingdom and the true purpose of his work. They were looking for the political Savior. They think of Jesus as a Military Messiah. In short, their messianic idea of Jesus is wrong and false. They were expecting of an earthly kingship. Hence, Jesus reminded them “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave”. Jesus in todays gospel is telling us too to aspire to serve not to be served. Desire to be a janitor than being the CEO, wish for being slave than being the king. Aim to be the muchacha than being the seniorita. Life in God’s kingdom means putting others before ourselves. Try not seeking the best seat in the house. Try not aspiring to be the VIP. Try not seeking the honor. Try not wanting the praise of men. Try to have less of self and more of others. Always have this behaviour of “how may I help you? The gospel is indeed very opportune in our modern situation because many of us are very ambitious. So many have the tendency of being “bossy” like lording over their subjects. We always dream of becoming the number one, the most, the great and the best. Friends, the path to greatness is service! Blessings Fr. Jhack