July 19, 2021 Monday of the Sixthteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 12:38-42 This morning I would like to share three D’s with you. First, our gospel present a DEMAND from the Phrisees. They asked Jesus for a sign. But Jesus told them, “No sign wil be given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jesus compares himself to Jonah, the prophet who preached conversion. We need spiritual transformation in our life. Friends, asking for a sign indicates a lack of faith. If we demand for signs it means we don’t believe. The Pharisees are blind to the greatest SIGN before them who is Jesus. If we forget and remove God form our life SIGNS will be turned into SINS. Secondly, if the signs we demanded were not granted don’t be DISAPPOINTED! Jesus wanted us to put our total trust in Him. “There is greater than Solomon here” says the Lord. In the Eucharist, Jesus continue to reveal Himself. The Eucharist is the greatest sign of God. With deep faith let us open our eyes and welcome Him in our heart. Finally, the gospel is challenging us to DECLARE Jesus. How? Let ourselves be the greatest signs that the world can see so that others may come to know Jesus. How to be an effective sign? In our first reading we are told to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. Friends, God always show His saving power to the upright. You know what, the surest sign that you accept accept is your joy. Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God. Blessings Fr. Jhack

July 18, 2021 Sixthteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mark 6:30-34 Our gospel for today is a continuation of last sunday’s gospel. The previous sunday we remember Jesus sent His disciples by pairs on a mission. Now, the mission was completed and the apostles reported to Jesus all that they have done. Jesus saw how tired they were and He invited them to rest awhile. “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Friends, only the hard working individual had the right to relax. Learn to slow down. Never be a slave of your work. You need a day off! Learn to deactivate. Rest your mind and calm your heart. It is necessary to be replenished after a productive day at work. Offline is the new luxury. Today, Jesus is telling us to have a moment of “rest.” Everytime I visited a cemetery I often saw R.I.P letters engrave in a stone or at the cross. We know that R.I.P stands for “Rest in peace.” Right? The message of today’s gospel is inviting us to REST IF POSSIBLE (R.I.P) or else we will be RIPPED INTO PIECES. Friends when you are tired, change your atmosphere-go into solitude. Isolate and communicate with God- (R.I.P) REST IN PRAYER. Allow God to replenish your soul. He is our Good Shepherd. “In verdant pastures he gives me repose; beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.” Conclusion: When you are tired the solution is not drugs. Come to Jesus. Alcohol cannot solve our weariness. Feed yourself in the Eucharist. When you are tired hedonistic pleasures are not the password. Go to Jesus. When you are exhausted shopping malls are not the right place to rest. Go in solitude and communicate with God. Friends, find your deserted place and rest for awhile. Blessings Fr. Jhack

July 16, 2021 Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 12:1-8 For the Pharisees sabbath is more on observing the laws and keeping regulations. Sabbath is equated to legalism. Day of rest for them is a standard of regulations and ordinances. Inshort, sabbath is like this: DO THIS, DO THAT. They thought that keeping the laws are more important than helping someone in need. They thought that following the rules are far better than providing food for the hungry. Pharisees were law orriented people but destroy relationships. They were law abiders but charity breakers. They were faithful to the laws but they don’t have love for the needy. My dear friends, legalism lack the supreme sense of worship. It obeys but it does not adore. Are we this type of people? Brethren, if we keep on attending daily mass, faithful in our novenas, excellent in praying the rosary but blind to the needs of others there is something wrong in our spiritual life. God desire mercy not sacrifice. Friends, our belief does not make us a better person, our behaviour does. Blessings Fr. Jhack

July 15, 2021 Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 11:28-30 Many of people nowadays are exhausted and seemingly tired! Life can certainly become burdensome at times. What in your life wearies you? What wears you down or exhausts you? Have a break and rest with Jesus. Surrender all your burdens to Him. Give God a chance to carry your worries. Place your anxieties, doubts, fears, troubles or worries in His hands. Trust Jesus for He will truly lighten your burdens. If you get tired learn to rest not to quit. Jesus promise relief and refreshment to weary souls. Come to Jesus for He will surely bring us a true sense of rest. Let me end my reflection with 3R’s. First, learn to RELAX. Never be a slave of your work. We are not machines. The world will not stop spinning to let us going. Learn to deactivate from all that make your life heavy and stressful. Give time to your self. In short have a space empty for your self. Second, REFLECT. Refocus your mind. Come to Jesus. Think of what is most essential. Value what matters most. Remember that you have enough, you do enough and you are enough. When we rest, our energy is restored. Finally, REPLENISH and REBUILD who you are. Friends, I know your tired because you make your day 25 hours. Friends, if you felt life is burdensome, today’s gospel is right for you. Relax, Jesus’ invitation is this- “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest.” True and genuine rest can only be found in Jesus. So don’t look for it in alcohol. Real rest can’t be found in recreation, nor in sexual pleasure, nor in travels. Come to Jesus and surrender all your burdens and allow Him to take up the weight of your struggles. Blessings Fr. Jhack

July 14, 2021 Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 11:25-27 In today’s gospel Jesus is condemning intellectual pride. "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” What matter for Jesus is not the head but the heart. Brain is useless if the heart is empty. Our I.Q is nothing if all that we have learned prevent us from knowing and recognizing God. There are so many clever and well-educated people around nowadays. Friends, we don’t need to be intelligent. We are called to be simple and humble. Stay away from pride for it closes the truth about God. Only the humble can receive true wisdom from above. Child-like simplicity and humility are the keys we need to keep. My dear friends, let our intelligence be a medium to learn humility and simplicity. To know Jesus it requires humility. It is only the simple and humble recognizes the Lord. Today’s gospel is teaching us this message: Be simple and be humble! The clever and well educated people are those who look themselves as infants. Like infants have a room in your heart to accept new things and learn about Jesus. Unless we can be like infants we can’t be happy. Blessings Fr. Jhack

REFLECTION July 13, 2021 Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 11:20-24 "Woe to you" is a statement that emphasizes grief, sorrow, misery. It is also a warning reminding someone of a terrible calamity will come upon you if he or she does not turn to the Lord. The sin of Chorazin, of Bethsaida, and of Capernaum was the sin of doing nothing. I called it indifference-an absence of good deeds! They know and very much aware that it’s a sin but they no longer care. They ignore it. Nowadays, we lost the sense of sin. We don’t care what God and anyone else think. Repentance pleases God. The recognition of sin is the start of salvation. Today we are reminded that not to repent is a shameful act. All of us are obligated to repent of our sins because sin is a transgression of God's law. Remember that the devil will not show us the consequence of our sins. Enjoy today suffer later was the devil’s ways. Beware folks! This is not the final judgement yet. There is still a delay. Friends, there is still time to repent. If we refuse to repent; the greatest of all curses, all badlucks and miserable events will fall upon us. Brethren, sin is repairable. Please don’t delay your repentance. Jesus denounces and mourns those who do not repent. It is never too late to repent. Turn to the Lord and you will live. Blessings, Fr. Jhack

 July 2, 2021

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 9:9-13

God invites people who are not good enough. His love is perfectly perfect for those imperfect individuals like the sinners, the outcasts and those in the peripheries of our society. The sinners are God’s favorite. God sees our imperfections yet He loves us perfectly. Our God came not to shame the sinners but He came to save them. My dear friends our sins cannot stop the mercy of God to overflow. As what I told the other day, heaven would be empty if God did not forgive sinners. Come to church because the church is a hospital for sinners not a club for saints.

We are like Matthew in today’s gospel. We are sinners in need of God’s mercy. Jesus is a friend of sinners. Let us follow Him for He is the sinner’s physician. “It is not the healthy who needs a doctor but the sick.” His medicine to cure our sins is MERCY. My dear friends like Jesus let us hate the sin but love the sinner. Don’t avoid those who need Christ. Our attitude towards sinners should not be avoidance but rather mercy. Through mercy we seek to lead our fellow sinners to Christ who can help us. Let me end by saying: God’s mercy is bigger than any mistakes we’ve made.

Blessings

Fr. Jhack

 July 3, 2021

Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle

Saturday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time

John 20:24-29

I love planting flowers and some gardening stuff because I believe in tomorrow. I do not know about what is coming after tonight but I am sure it’s coming. This is faith. And faith is like seing the light in our hearts even if our eyes see the darkness. In today’s gospel we are challenged to be believers not a skeptics. Friends, doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Let us believe even without direct sight of the Lord and our blessings will be seeing what we believed. Faith does not need any evidence for faith is the evidence of things unseen. Believers are always happier than skeptics. Remember that folks!

Sometimes like Thomas we doubted the presence of God because we missed the opportunity of His visit. We missed it maybe because we are busy with worldly concerns and other affairs. There is always an element of skepticism in our faith but never allow your doubts create mountains. Unbelief starves our soul but faith find food in the midst of doubts. Friends, kill your unbelief and activate your faith. Let your faith roar so loud that you can’t hear what doubt is saying. You know what, I am excited to water my flowers again tomorrow.

Blessings

Fr. Jhack

 July 4, 2021

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 9:18-26

Today’s gospel we witnessed how Jesus showed his power over sickness by healing the woman’s hemorrhages when no one else could. We also heard how He showed his power over death by raising an official’s daughter from the dead. Friends, Jesus has power over sickness and death. This passage is telling us that no matter how bad your situation is, there is always hope if you have faith. Anything is possible if you believe.

My dear friends, God give miracles to those who believe. Our faith in the Lord require us to take care of the possible and trust God with the impossible. Never give up on the things that make you smile. Impossible is God’s starting point to do wonders in your lufe. Just believe that good things are on their way to you. Keep the faith. Hold on. Things will get better.

Blessings

Fr. Jhack

 July 6, 2021

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Mt 9:32-38

When we do good there is a tendency that some may hate us. When we do what is right some maybe envious but continue to do good anyway. You know what, I’d rather be hated for speaking God’s truth than hailed for trying to redefine the truth. The devil may use other people to discourage us but our God has dominion over all these discouragements. Sometimes we seem to be like the mute demoniac, we find it so difficult to speak about what we believe in, we seem too embarrassed to speak to others about God and our faith yet amidst of all these struggles, keep going.

Today’s gospel Jesus wants us to pray for more laborers to bring in the plentiful harvest. He wants more helper. My dear friends, when God calls us to a task don’t be afraid because He will equip us. The lack of laborers, then as now, is a major problem, but it is also an opportunity and a challenge. When we pray to the Lord to send laborers into his harvest we often think of the religious life. Most often we forget that Jesus calls each person to be a disciple of his love. Each of us has a vocation. We have a call to serve and to build the Kingdom of God. There a great opportunity and plentiful harvest but few workers. Friends, God needs you. We are challenged today to pray for God to send more workers into the world to spread the gospel.

Blessings

Fr. Jhack

 July 7, 2021

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 10:1-7

Jesus chose ordinary people. The twelve have no special education, no social advantages and no wealth or position. They were chosen to bring God’s healing power to the weary and to the oppressed. Friends, like the twelve we don’t need to have a college degree or a doctorate to serve. There is no need to be gifted to serve. We don’t need to be expert in language to do the task in demonizing the enemy. Stay who you are in confronting an evil world. Like the apostles we have authority over unclean spirits. Our world is getting worse. It is no longer a place of positive direction and affirmation. Evil is real. The smoke of Satan is here but be not afraid for the kingdom of Heaven has come near. Today, like the twelve we are called to confront the devil by proclaiming the good news. Convert bad news to good news!

The mission of the twelve is the same mission we are called into. We are mandated to go and spread the good news. We are challenged to get involved in the struggle against evil. We are commisioned to bring healing. Go and never settle in one place. Be an itinerant missionary. Keep spreading positivity wherever you go. Friends, trust your source and never be afraid because God is with us. Lord, let your mercy be upon us as we place our trust in you.

Blessings

Fr. Jhack