Team Jesus

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...