Making Friends With The Lord Jesus

Let us praise God for the gifts we have received.

Today, the Holy Catholic Church presents to us again the annunciation of Joseph during his sleep. Let us appreciate sleep all the more by listening to the homily.

God's Providence is in full display in the gospel of today. Explore the nuances of the familiar scene of the Annunciation.

Today's gospel tells us about the version of the annunciation in the case of the parents of John the Baptist. These details are brought up to the fore for us so that we appreciate that God intervened in our history to get his Son to arrive here. A certain preparation had to be put into place. That was the role of John. Hence, the details regarding his appearance should be mentioned for us to learn certain lessons discussed in the homily.

Today's gospel tells us about the involvement of St. Joseph in the coming of Jesus Christ in our world. Jesus' conception was virginal, i.e., He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. St. Joseph, then, was supposed to do what?

We read today from chapter of one of St. Matthew his famous genealogy of Jesus Christ to prove to his compatriots that Jesus is the promised messiah. He is the son of David, the rightful heir to David's throne. So, he comes out with this genealogy showing us God's efforts through celebrated figures who were sinners and even gentile in origin His desire to get His Son to be born of the Woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Today, the gospel tells us about the unfortunate difference between those who eventually trust and follow the plan of God and those who although they initially follow Him later on renege on their loyalty.

Witness how Our dear Lord Jesus Christ unmasks the dispositions of the religious authorities in the Temple of Jerusalem. Because they had other things in mind, they failed miserably in getting from Our Lord the information they wanted. They were not forthright in thinking straight and honestly. They opted to be politically correct, we may say.

Let us continue preparing for the coming of the Lord! The gospel today tells us about the doubts of St. John the Baptist. How well he handles it!

The good Lord tells us today about the commonplace defect of fallen human nature, i.e., blindness of the mind and heart. What is worse is that man does not want to recognize or acknowledge it. Man requires a big dose of humility. Anyhow, Jesus tells us of the people's blindness to the coming again of Elijah, and that is in the person of John the Baptist. Because of the people's blindness, they did whatever they wanted with him. In the end, they, in the person of Herod, killed him. The same thing happened to Jesus Himself. Listen to the homily to find out more about this folly.

One of the main reasons man does not hear God, is that man writes Him off to easily. For example, in contemplating evil, man is confused that if God exists and is good, why didn't He prevent this from happening? True. But it is also true that God did not stop the evil from happening. Man's problem is not being able to understand this. With that, he too easily concludes that God cannot exist. He rejects the possibility that God in this instance of evil's triumph, simply permits the evil to happen. It is because He exists and that He has a Providence we need to have difficulty to grasp because He is God. A god that fits perfectly in my head can only be a small God. But God is infinite! We need to listen to Him more and give Him a chance...

Jesus tells us today about the kind of world we have. He created the world with a lot of variety and gradation of perfections. There is never just one flower of a certain color. Flowers are of different kinds and colors and hues and shades. No one is exactly like the others. So, we need to accept that there will be others better than us, bigger than us, more intelligent than us and so forth. This arrangement is not so that we get envious of the others, but that we admire the beauty of God in all its wealth of perfection.

Behold, the masterpiece of masterpieces of the Creator! As some saints have declared, the Blessed Virgin Mary was the greatest of God's creatures. He could not have created something better or more perfect. Her sanctity goes beyond all the saints and angels together! Let us contemplate in admiration this magnum opus!

Let us prepare for the coming of the Lord!

Today is another opportunity to hope in Heaven. God makes it plain to us that this world is destined to end, while the one to come is the everlasting one.

Today's gospel carries one of the secrets in having and growing one's relationship with Jesus. And that is about how God is attracted to what is sincere, humble and total. Thus, we should not be daunted by our insignificance in any area. What is important is to trust in Our Lord even with the little we have.

Christ is King of the Universe! We all know that and, at least in theory, we acknowledge and accept His Kingship over us. But that is where it gets tricky, because in practice, we can reject wholly or partially His Kingship over us. There is a rival to his authority and that is basically the EGO. In each soul there is a throne. Who sits in that throne? The Church celebrates this feast, not only to inform the world who we recognize as king, but also for us to examine ourselves about whether we practice our being subjects in his Kingdom. Look at the gospel today. The good thief made it to His Kingdom. Jesus promised him that he would be with Him "today" in paradise. How did he do it? He was punished for his having been a thief! He committed theft right there again. He stole the Heart of Jesus because he was sorry for his sins! Let us do the same!

Jesus proves to the Sadducees today in the gospel that God is a God of the living. Let us follow how he tries to convince them that there will be a resurrection.

We celebrate today the feast the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We recall that her parents presented her to the Temple's high priest when she was only 3 years old. She was offered to the Lord. Jesus in today's gospel is shown to us to be driving out the merchants-turned-thieves in the Temple. He did this because the Temple was supposed to be a house of prayer. That means that that edifice was for people to be able to be in touch with God. Such contact with the divine should be guaranteed by the architecture and atmosphere of the place. Such prayer is man's effort to be directed to God. Mary was going to be the first Temple to contain the Creator in her womb. Such is the image of dedication and union with God.

The gospel tells us that Jesus wept when felt Israel's rejecting Him in an acute way as he crested the summit of the mount of Olives on His way to Jerusalem. He was going to spend His last Passover there, readying Himself for His Passion and Death on the Cross. And so the Lord prophesied Jerusalem's absolute destruction and its Temple razed to the ground by the Roman armies under Titus in 70 AD. This is what they got for rejecting the Lord and Savior. All of this brings us to ask ourselves whether we reject the Lord somehow. The worst is to be indifferent to Him.

The Church is preparing us for the most certain of events in any man's existence in this side of the veil. That is the moment we transition to the next life, the real life. But what that life would be depends on how we spend this life on earth. We need to prepare ourselves for the move out there from here. For that we need to take stock of what God gave us and then check what we have been doing with them.

The Church reinforces our conviction today regarding Our Lord's commitment to look for us sinners. In fact, the best way to forge our union with the Saviour is by that avenue. Since He is Saviour, then we want to be found by him since we are essentially sinners in the present life.

The question about the advent of the Kingdom of God pops up today in the Gospel. Jesus reveals that the Kingdom cannot be observed. Neither can it be announced. The reason is that such a kingdom has already come. It is Jesus Himself. Such a kingdom is the union of God and Man in the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Listen now to the homily to find out more about this special kingdom.

We learn several things from the gospel today. First, we need to recognize that we are limited and acknowledge it. Second, after realizing we need something —like the lepers in today's gospel —we go to the one who can help us. Hence, we pray to God also and ask for help from others. Third, we are not the source of our gifts. We have only been recipients. Fourth, we need to thank that Source of all Gifts. This is why gratitude is a good sign of genuine humility.

Today, we read in the gospel about an aspect of the relationship between master and servant. Jesus points out that the servant is such and is asked to be of service to his master. His services are part of the agreement or contract. It is expected that he honors that accord. When he accomplishes his commitment, then he is a good servant. Otherwise, he would be typically classified as being out of order and may be terminated from his office. However, when he does what he is employed to do, then all is well and good. The servant does not have to be praised since he is only doing what he was hired to do. By justice that is the case. By another perspective like charity, thanks can be given to him. But since we do owe the master, and for the purposes of the gospel, we owe God everything. He expects absolutely all of our service capacity. God does not have to thank us.

We celebrate today the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. This temple is described as the Mother of all the churches in Rome and in the World because it is the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Just like any diocese anywhere in the world, it has a bishop whose seat or cathedral is the principal church of the territory. The Lord is portrayed in the gospel today cleansing the temple of Jerusalem of the cheating vendors of animals sold for the different types of sacrifices done par for the course in the temple. It was Passover, the principal feast of the Jews, so there were many people visiting the Temple. They were jam-packed in the outer area of the church called the court of the Gentiles. There were gathered there these usurers and collectors of payments, unfairly charging exorbitant fees for the sacrificial victims. Jesus flushed them out with a whip of cords, and so the temple authorities demanded from Jesus the authority to do so. The Lord spoke of that sign that was the temple of his Body, which will be destroyed and raised on the third day.

The gospel today tells us about a corrupt steward who his master fired. He cheated him. So, he wondered what he would do without a job. He thought about it long and hard. He decided to ensure his safety by undoing the unfair business he conducted with his master's clients. He corrected the unfair terms with which he conducted himself with them. Our Lord described that steward as prudent. Prudence helps us make the right decisions and act on them. This is how we can become trustworthy.

The Lord teaches us about the virtue of prudence today. We need to learn this well especially in those who are government officials or our politicians who have defrauded the people of their hard-earned money. They have not extended the services they were supposed to perform by virtue of their office. The Filipinos are clamoring louder and louder for accountability. Part of accountability is for the culprits to own up to their misdeeds, restore what they stole, and serve a penalty. We need to think carefully to avoid committing a crime, and if we do take part in criminal activities, we need to consider how to set things right. This is prudence. And prudence includes putting into practice what has been decided.

Jesus reveals to us today the joy in heaven over the repentance of a sinner. He employs the imagery of a shepherd who has a hundred sheep. One of them gets lost. He describes the shepherd leaving the 99, in search of the lost one. What joy he has when he finds it. The same thing happens in the realm of God and man. We are the sheep and each of us experiences being lost somehow and sometimes. The gratifying revelation Jesus makes is that God searches for you all the time, just like that shepherd. When He finds us to return to the fold, He is very happy, in the same analogous manner as the shepherd finding the lost sheep.

self-surrender to God will happy to us in forms similar to martyrdoms of old. However, the Lord seeks us to prove our absolute allegiance to Him in small things like in our attitudes to living according to our prayer schedule, that we smile even when we all the reason to explode in angry frustration and taking the pinpricks of ordinary life with hopeful demeanor, etc.

As we approach the end of the current liturgical year, the Church prepares us with such messages to remind us about being prepared for the end, be it for the end of the world or the end of our lives. We do not know when, but what is most certain is that it will happen at a time we do not know or expect. She reviews us today in the gospel of the mass that Heaven is our proper place, our home and our final destination. That is the case, at least in theory. However, through the story the Lord narrates--where he compares heaven to a dinner in the kingdom of God, invitations to that feast, excuses not to make it to the party, the Lord wants his party hall be filled--he warns us about the obstacles in the way that this longing to make it to the feast is waylaid.

The lesson today is about rectitude of intention. The Lord points out the danger in doing good. Such a pitfall happens when we secretly or not so secretly do good expecting the other party to do good to us in return. This may be the minimum to expect in normal and ordinary interpersonalr elationships. But the Lord encourages us to correct that so that we only expect the reward the Lord will give us at the end of our lives. When the good we do to others do not get recognized or requited, we surely are in the right in claiming unfairness. However, Jesus cautions us because such injustice is good for our purification. All the glory to God alone!

The Gospel today tells us about the compassion Jesus felt for a woman who was a widow and presently weeping, while bringing her only son to be buried. The poor widow grieved over losing her only means of supporting herself in that society. Women did not work to earn. They largely depended on the men in their lives. Jesus then resurrected her son and gave him to his mom. This example of compassion should be translated to our need to be compassionate for the holy souls in purgatory. They are suffering tremendously. But the Church today aims for emptying Purgatory so that everyone goes to heaven. We can hasten their transfer to join the Blessed Trinity by praying for them and offering various suffrages. One good way that is available these days to us is that of earning a plenary indulgence and applying it to souls in Purgatory.

Today we celebrate All Saints' Day. We recognize all of them in Heaven, acknowledging the great multitude of them who are unknown to us. We praise God's work in them. The gospel reminds us of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. Lucky are those saints, since they practiced the values on that list. Although they went through what others may refer to as pitiable traits and experiences, such as poverty of spirit, meekness, grief, persecution, etc, they were assured by the Lord that their reward will be great in Heaven.

We need to learn how to think and exercise our intelligence and come to a correctly reasoned out conclusion and decide what to do and to do it. We gather all the premises regarding the issue and ask for help or advice from knowledgeable people to guide us in the process. The issue the Lord brings up in the gospel today is what is to do on the Sabbath. His listeners were paralyzed in committing themselves to a stand in reply Jesus' question. It all boiled down to being simple and straightforward in concluding that it was fine to do on the Sabbath good actions to help the others.

Jesus proceeds to Jerusalem, where he will be condemned to death. He is forthright in doing his part to save us. Each of us needs to contribute our share to the process of salvation. Objectively, Jesus has already saved us, but we still need to go along with it personally. He cannot save those who are unwilling to be saved.

The Lord replies to that question by posing a challenge. We need to strive to enter the narrow gate. That is how we can get into heaven. We need to exert effort. We need to struggle to enter that narrow opening.

Jesus spent the entire night praying about what he would do the next day, i.e., choosing his closest collaborators to be called apostles. That was going to be a significant move for the continuity of what he was doing in the Church he was setting up.

The Lord taught the Pharisee who insisted that people who are sick should not come to be cured on the Sabbath. He corrected that view by curing the woman on the Sabbath. He proved His teaching by performing the miracle. Thus, it is not bad to do good on the Sabbath.

The publican prayed for God's mercy, with humility accepting his state as a sinner. The Pharisee prayed differently by comparing his accomplishments with those of the publican. He justified himself. But in God's eyes, he displeased God. He was pleased with the humble publican.

The gospel clearly calls us to repent from our personal sins, and not to compare our better fortunes with the misfortunes of others. Before God we will need to account for our personal sins, and thus, we need to repent of them now.

The Lord uses an analogy to illustrate our ability to predict the weather by paying attention to signs in nature. If we can do that, then why are we so complicated in reading the Lord and His holy Will? The problem is that we muddle the matter because of our lack of better dispositions in finding out what God wishes.

We should not rest on our laurels. We are not called to become selfish just because we are secure for the future with material goods. We need to be prepared always for being summoned by God to His presence.

The Lord invites us to a permanent state of conversion.

Today is a great day of celebration especially for the Visayans, and also for the rest of the Filipinos here and abroad. We feast because of the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod who was a missionary layman and catechist in the 17th century. He died together with his rector St. Diego Luis de San Vitores in Guam as they faced the threats to their lives in converting and baptizing the Chamorro natives. I recall that the Church did not forget to canonize that Jesuit. But it seemed that the Church forgot to check that teenager who accompanied him. That Visayan catechist was killed first. He could have run away to avoid martyrdom, but he remained by the Jesuit's side. He kept in mind and practiced the words of the Lord that entitle this homily.

The Lord tells us in today's gospel to examine ourselves instead of running to him to resolve our quarrels with others regaring inheritance disputes. He points out to check ourselves regarding greed and about what we think is truly valuable in our existence because it should not be about possessions. In this way, he invites us all to renew ourselves by repenting and resolving to amend ourselves constantly. Transformation of ourselves is the core of our calling. All our problems are about opportunities to grow to be more Christ-like.

This is the question Jesus poses to us today in the gospel. This query should spur us to examine ourselves, our consciences, and call a spade a spade. We need to face ourselves and check whether we are greedy and have fallen for the values of the world, that is, to be enslaved to material possessions, whether material wealth looms highest in our scale of values in life. We need to be reminded by the Lord's teachings on the Beatitudes in His Sermon on the Mount. Sooner or later, we will experience the parable He narrates in the gospel today. We need to be prepared to face Him, our Judge, and make the necessary adjustments now, before it is too late.

God knows best!

We need to nourish our petition to Our Lord about teaching us to pray. Praying to Him is a gift from Him. Rightfully, we need to ask to be taught. The devil hates this. All he wants is that we remain alone so that it is easier for him to deceive us.

Today, on the memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, we read in the gospel the account of St. Luke about the Annunciation. Mary gave herself to the calling of God for her to be His Mother. Thus begins the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

Today, we celebrate the 23rd canonization anniversary of St. Josemaria Escriva, the Founder of Opus Dei. We explore in the homily the idea of sanctity.