Team Jesus

In today’s gospel, it focuses on how Mary accepts God’s commands.  God sent Angel Gabriel to a young virgin named Mary. Mary was troubled at the Angel’s words but the angel said “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a son and call him Jesus. He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, he will rule over the people of Jacob forever and his reign shall have no end.” The Angel had also explained that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her and when the holy child is to be born he shall be called the Son of God. With these being said, Mary had no hesitations, no questions further asked. She replied “I am the handmade of the Lord; let it be done to me as you have said.” I couldn't say that Mary was brave enough to accept it; you see as human beings we are innate to be afraid and unsure. We have a lot of questions in mind; w...

"A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the desert; make straight the way of the Lord." Today’s Gospel is a very meaningful one. Let me share you an experience of mine. When I was still studying at Davao Doctors College, I was really uncomfortable wearing my uniform - typical all white med student uniform with black shoes, whenever I had to go to malls after my class. I remembered a time when I was strolling at Abreeza Mall. I was at the ladies section of the department store looking for a possible birthday gift for my friend when a middle-age woman approach me and said, "Day, paki-limpyo gud sa salog didto-a. Naay hugaw kay nabubo ang softdrinks sa bata." I turned my back and looked at her. With a tough voice, I said,  "Sorry po Maam. Pero studyante po ako ng Davao D...

During advent, we need to get into a symbolic desert experience in order to experience God who is already here. In today’s Gospel Jesus talks about the humility of John the Baptist. John the Baptist appeared in the desert and proclaimed baptism for the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist used Camel’s hair and leather belt for clothing. He also fed on locusts and wild honey. John the Baptist proclaimed “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John the Baptist has shown his act of humility in the Gospel 3 times. 1. Asking of forgiveness to God 2. Wearing of camel’s hair and leather belt and feeding on locusts and wild honey 3. Proclaiming that the Lord is mightier than him, he is not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals, and the Lord will baptize us with the Holy Spirit Everyone should have their own “Desert Experie...

Today marks the Sunday of Advent:   A period of hope, it prepares the faithful celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth on Christmas Day and awaits his joyous return in glory. In today’s gospel, it talks about the necessity for laborers to be ready for action and ready to give their best when the master returned from his journey. Were these servants excited or anxious about their master's return? The watchful servants looked forward to the future because they knew their master would be pleased and would reward them for their vigilance and hard work. Disaster and reprisal, however, awaited those who were unprepared because of carelessness or laziness. What does the lord expects from us? Are we ready to meet his expectations? Yesterday, someone asked me that “What if today is judgment day? What would you do?” Today is the first day of advent which means the coming of the Lord and have I been good lately? Have I cherished and nourished the talents and blessings that Jesus best...

Today’s Gospel talks about Christ’s Kingship. Since Christ’s Kingship rests in love and service, we the people of His Kingdom are expected to prove our loyalty to Him by serving others, especially the helpless in our society. “For thus says the Lord GOD: Look! I myself will search for my sheep and examine them.” (Ez 34:11-12). Christ’s love for us was so great that he came among us to experience for himself what it was to be truly human. In His stay in this world, He suffered, felt pain. He even experienced death. Even today, He continues to take upon himself the pain and the anguish of us men brings. It is like He’s dying each day because of our sins and each day He keeps rising victoriously as our King. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (Mt. 25:35-36). It is in the suffering of every human being that we will see Him re...

In today's gospel, Jesus tells his disciples about a parable. It is about a master who gave his 3 servants different talents. While he was away, the ones who got more talent even doubled the original number while the one who got one talent, out of fear, buried it and waited for his master to come back. When finally the master came back, the ones who doubled their talents were praised while the talent that the other buried was taken away from him and given to the one who doubled his. We can relate this story to today's setting with God as the master and we, the people, as His servants. Whether we like it or not, God has blessed each and every one of us a talent or talents that we are made to nurture. He may give us the talent of singing, dancing, playing the instruments and more. However, only a few of us know what to do with it. The question is, “What do we really do with the talents we were entitled with?” The answer is in this gospel for we would learn that our talents sh...

“Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”           In today's Gospel, we talk about Jesus' temple in Jerusalem. For the Jews, the temple is the place for sacrifices and offerings, a place where God's presence is found. Jesus referred to the temple as His Father's house which was being made into a “house of trade”. He requests that the temple be destroyed and be restored after three days, but the temple He had spoken was His body.             In reality, we are God's temple. The temple in the Gospel speaks about the body in which the presence of Christ dwells. We are referred to as the Holy Temple of God for the Holy Spirit is present among us. We do not only refer to ourselves as the Temple, but also the Church, the sacred place where God's presence is found. Therefore, whoever destroys the temple destroys God. We consider ourselves holy for we know God i...

The greatest lesson I've learned is to reach out and help other people. Whether they need it or they don’t want it. Most especially to those who are in need, even the simplest things can be a huge act to them. In the Gospel, Jesus talks about how people have helped him in many ways. The people questioned on how they have helped Jesus, and He replied that when they are helping other people, especially the least, they are also helping Him. I've grown up from a family that’s very generous. My parents help our relatives, especially when they are in need of money or material things. We would give them our once-used things so that they have something to use. It has always been a habit of our family to give them something every Christmas, and my parents, being the humble and kind people, never expect anything in return, because what makes them happy is when they are giving. Another generous act that my family would do is whenever we pass by a beggar; we would stop our car and g...

“Very well, pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar -- and   God   what belongs to God.” In the gospel the Pharisees asked Jesus’ opinion about paying tax to Caesar but asking Jesus’ opinion was the way of testing him, but Jesus being Jesus the awesome one figured out what the Pharisees are doing so he said “You hypocrites! Why are you putting me to the test?” then Jesus asked the Pharisees for the money that they pay the tax with. The Pharisees handed him a denarius then Jesus asked “Whose portrait is this? Whose title?” then they replied “Caesar’s”. Jesus then told them “pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar -- and   God   what belongs to God” Sometimes, we doubt Jesus despite everything that he have given us and what does it make us? Hypocrites. Who are we to doubt and judge his intentions when the only thing he did was to give us what we need and more. There comes a time in our lives when we doubt his intentions because it seems like the bright side of life is now...

In our gospel, the king invited a lot of people to attend the wedding feast of his son but refused. Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. All of them have their own priorities so why would they go. Many are invited, but few are chosen. These chosen ones are the one who accepted and went to the wedding feast. It becomes very apparent that the Kingdom of God is a tangible manifestation of the relationship between God and those He calls. The wedding feast is likened to attending the Holy Mass. The king who invited is God. For instance, a friend would invite us to go to church for Holy Mass, Should we accept it or not? Admit it or not every so often we refuse our friend’s invitation. We would always articulate alibis to evade from going to Mass. However when they invite us to go to “gimik” or “laag”, we would straightaway say yes.  Do we see what we are missing once we refuse the invitation to attend the Holy Mass? It’s not our friend who...

Today's gospel talks how someone planted a vineyard. After, he put a fence around it, built a tower, and before going away, he leased it to his tenants expecting them to grow produce to collect. When the produce is to be collected, the owner sends his servant to collect what is owed, but they beat him and send him away with nothing. The owner sends more servants, who are treated the same way—some of them are even killed.  Finally, the owner sends his own son. And unfortunately, they kill him, assuming they'll receive his inheritance. We could relate the gospel to our lives in a way that the owner of the vineyard is God, the beloved son sent by the owner is Jesus, the vineyard is our lives in the world and the tenants are us. There is mention of a cornerstone is the gospel also. What is a cornerstone? A cornerstone is a stone that forms the base of the building, joining two walls. A foundation of some sort. In more ways than one, love could be our cornerstone. Be it love fo...

I always try to live by the words “Love is a verb”. A verb, simply put, is an action word. A word of action. It is not a possessive pronoun that aims to take possession of something, nor is it a noun that gives names to things, nor is it an adjective which is used to describe nouns. Love is a verb. It is a word of doing. Which of the two did the Father’s will? It is the first son, because even when he primarily said no, he eventually did what the Father asked of him. Sadly, most of the time, we are like the second son. We utter words of affirmation, of yes-es. But we do not follow up our words with actions. We say that we study, but go on for hours on social media. We say that we have a lot of work, but go on neglecting it until the last hour. We say that we love our loved ones, but do not care when one of them needs our help. Let our love be like the first son’s love, let it be verbs, let it be actions. When we do stuff out of love, our words of yes-es are unneces...

In our Gospel Reading, heaven is described as a landowner of a vineyard, who went out early in the morning to hire workers. After employing the first group at 6:00 in the morning, he returned at 9am, at 12 noon, and at 3 in the afternoon, hiring more workers as the urgency of the harvest increased. The scripture says he came back a final time about the “eleventh hour” that’s approximately 5pm, and hired a concluding number. Then an hour later, all the workers gathered to receive their day’s wage. Surprisingly, all received the same wage in spite of the different hours of labor. Immediately, those hired first were angry, saying, "The men who came last have done only one hour, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day's work in all the heat." When reading this gospel, perhaps you as well as those workers have felt that there was injustice done here. Well first of all no one has been treated unfairly here. The first workers agreed to the ...

Most of the time I tell myself to be humble always even in those times that I know I should be proud of myself for achieving something that’s difficult. But sometimes, no matter how I try, I can’t always resist to the temptation of boasting myself when someone displeases me or   when I know a person who I thought to be more skilled than me, but actually he wasn't.   Sometimes in our music class, when our professor discusses a simple topic and most of my classmates do not understand but I do, I couldn't help not to boast myself silently. (I’m not a very expressive person). I kind of brag because the topic for me was just easy to comprehend yet the others did not get it. There was also one time when I finished my recital last March. The piece I played was technically really hard to play but I managed to play it clean for I did my best in practices. When I finished, I stood up and looked to the audience with my head held high as I heard there loud applaus...

It’s been quite a while since  I've  first joined the youth ministry. Oftentimes I would think before Saturday activities, if not because of the ministry, where would I have been? Was I to become a constant melancholic being that never saw the light? Or perhaps a wanderer whose labyrinth is infinite? In pursuit of the answers, I tend to end up always in the same answer: I would never know what the future could have brought if I picked the opposite path. The only sure thing is that the Lord planned to put me in this state in life and the best thing I could do now is be grateful about that and as much as possible help others know God as well, in this early age. In today’s readings, we are reminded that even when life is like a battlefield, even when the wave of blues is never ending and even when it feels like it always gets harder every single time, God gave us a battalion of family and friends to survive the war, He gave us surfboards to continuously ride the waves a...

Hi guys! I know we haven't heard from each other for a while, but I honestly miss you guys! In the gospel, to make it short, Jesus preached to Nazareth. All of us know that it was His hometown. The people there were infuriated and brushed Jesus out of Nazareth once he started to preach. They did not want Him there; even when they needed Him so badly and even when His presence, teachings and ideas were supposed to be like water to a parched throat. They rejected Him, resented him, and refused His whole being. How could they, when they knew that Jesus was the Son of The Almighty. His hometown did not want Him. His hometown wants him out. And so, Jesus left. Jesus was wholly human, and wholly divine. So I bet that his human part felt a bit sad when He was rejected; as we all are when we are rejected too. I could relate to this gospel because it tremendously resembles what happened in my life just recently. As your kuyas and ates know, I used to live in Davao, so it follows ...

The gospel helps us ask ourselves on how we perceive the Son of Man. It helps us ask ourselves how we see Jesus and how is He significant to our lives. All of us have our own opinion when we are asked of who the Son of Man is, especially when we consider that everyone has different personalities and experiences in life. People may have a better perception of who Jesus is, some may not. But in the gospel, just like how Jesus asked His disciples, what is important to Him is how we perceive Him or what our opinion is. I myself believe that Jesus is the Son of Man. Growing up in a catholic community really formed me and my knowledge about Jesus. When struggling, when in need, and when in doubt, I always consider Jesus as a shelter for help. After every storm and every storm ahead, I believe that Jesus was there with us and will be there for all of us as long as we believe in Him. Just like Peter in the gospel, He answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." A...

She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." –Matthew 15:27 I have to admit this is a tricky gospel to read at first. You can look this in a wrong way because it sounds like Jesus is just on his way of turning down a Canaanite woman who needs his help because her daughter is being tormented by a demon. The Canaanites are generally an idol-worshiping ethnicity. The woman is calling out to Jesus saying “Have pity on me son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. At this moment it is a very “oh hinde kulba my heart” moment for the Canaanite woman because Jesus is not responding to her call but she still called Jesus to make him respond. Even the disciples are asking Jesus to send her away because she is a Canaanite woman. They think that she does not believe in God but in reply, Jesus says “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” . With that being sai...

The gospel teaches us to share our blessings to others. The two fishes and five loaves in the story are God's blessings to us. No matter how little, when we share them to others, we may be surprised by how big the impact is to the lives of other people. This is because God multiplies the little blessings we have to bring great blessings to others. The twelve baskets of leftovers symbolizes the abundant blessings that will return to us when we surrender what we have to Him. It also stands as a reminder that God is a generous God. He gives us more that what we need so that we will have something to share to others. Just like our Father, we, too, should be generous enough to give, because His blessings are better cherished when we share them. Who knows, our little act of generosity could mean so much to a lot of people. Always remember that it is so much better to give than to receive. -Nikki Chin

We are presented with three parables in our Gospel today. First, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure. Second, the Parable of the Pearls. Lastly, the Parable of the Net. I remember in high school when my Christian Living teacher said that the reason why Jesus teach through parables is because it illustrates profound divine truth which imagery is not easily forgotten. I guess because these parables are timeless which the generation today can still easily connect to. In the first parable, Jesus said to his disciples “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” What’s your treasure? Is it money, clothes or your reputation? The parable obviously give us the idea that one’s we know God, all else becomes secondary. In serving God, there will always be a special kind of feeling; and that is joy and contentment. We might not have every pleasure that material things c...

"Whoever has ears ought to hear" - Matthew 13:43 I remember growing up to the stories of the Bible animated to me by my grandmother. It was through her that I first learned about "Papa Jesus" (wrong reference. hehe) and the whole concept of faith. And an important tool back then was being able to imagine things through parables. In the Gospel reading, wasn't that the first thing you noticed? That it was full of parables? I don't know if you find it helpful or maybe even annoying how Jesus, instead of going straight to the point, used parables. As I find myself reading the Bible, I sometimes find that these parables are doing more harm than good. I mean, understanding the Bible is difficult as it is. Why put in these metaphors?  A common misconception is that a parable is as story about characters like animals or even  inanimate objects (i.e the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the talents etc.) But mali pala! Fable yun, di parable! Th...