Team Jesus

When Jesus arrived Bethany, Martha met Him saying that if Jesus could have been there, Lazarus would still be alive. Then she continues saying “but I know that even now, whatever you ask of God, He will grant You.” In this Gospel, Martha represents us. There are times that we blame God for our problems. We get angry at Him for not being with us when we need Him most, thinking that He should have done something for us not to experience such pain and heartaches. But maybe just like Jesus, God takes His time to aid us in our problems. Maybe this is His way of letting us grow and learn from our problems. But God never leaves our side, He is always there to watch over us. Just like Martha, we also need to have faith. Despite having faced such problems, we still know that God is always there to rescue us. Even though Martha is grieving for the loss of her brother, she continued to have faith in Jesus. Losing someone is tough, but we should not let it take away our faith too. S...

Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, "Come after me and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. As members of this youth ministry, the gospel reminds us to always come after God because we are meant to be fishers of men. We are meant to bring people closer to Him. We are called to serve Him through this ministry. We may think sometimes that we are not capable of fulfilling the things that are entrusted to us. But let us be like Jesus' disciples, just let go and trust God that He knows what He's doing with us. Jesus might have seen something in them that would help him fulfill his mission that time and maybe the reason that we are still in this ministry is because we have something in us that could help in bringing more youth back to Jesus. Let's hold on to that and forget about the things that we cannot do. Let's focus on the things that we can do and start doing it because we are called for a reason. All we have to do is t...

Obedience could be the hardest thing that a person could never really imagine. Oftentimes when we sing along on a mass “Kunin at tanggapin ang alay na ito. Mga biyayang nagmula sa pagpapala mo.” It’s all easy until we usually unconsciously utter “Lahat ng mga lungkot, ligaya’t pagsubok; lahat ng lakas at kahinaan ko; Inaalay ko’ng lahat buong pagkatao. Ito ay  isusunod sa’yo.” Easier said than done.  Looking back, if we check on ourselves, have we really offered everything to God? Are all the things we do were done for the glory of God? Are the problems, big or small, offered to God? Or do we do things for our own sake then just later thank God if it turned out well? Do we make sure that the things that we do honor him—sins included? Do we surrender every burden we have to Him or do we try to make things go our way? Do not be discouraged. This, perhaps, is the biggest challenge we Christians have: to fully be obedient to God’s call. It is indeed a challenge when we ha...

Before you start reading, I want you to reflect for a short moment and ask yourself... Who do you say that Jesus is? In the gospel, Jesus was praying together with his disciples and He asked them who do they say that He is. The people randomly answered John the Baptist and Elijah... Some people from the crowd even answered that Jesus was an old prophet who has risen. After hearing what the people had said, Jesus shortly asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter immediately answered, "The Christ of God." After this, Jesus tells them that a time will come when the Son of Man must suffer, that He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests, that He will be killed, but will rise again on the 3rd day. Jesus said to them, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake, will save it."  Through this gospel...

Underserved love yet, given freely.   Ever since before, I've been really confused as to what this passage really means.  I understood it like this:  "The heavier the weight of the sin, the more your gratitude & love to our forgiving God." But is it really about the weight of the sin? Do we need to undergo a shameful bad past just to show a greater love & gratitude to God? Or is it about how we PERCEIVE what God has done for us?  In Jesus' parable, there were 2 debtors who owed money. They were both sinners(debtors). Undeserving of the love of God (the moneylender). No human action, no number of rules obeyed, could ever make them be worthy enough to "claim"  Gods love. It was out of Gods mercy and kindness that they were forgiven. And through the love we have received from God, we become able to love God back.  In the Gospel, there are 2 main characters who encountered Jesus:  Simon the Pharisee (Not Simon Peter) and the sinful Woman. A...

I guess I never imagined myself giving a reflection to all of you. Before, when I attended praise and worships, I was always in the audience listening to the person in front and be amazed of their reflections . I thought to myself, magka chance din kaya ako ng ganun? Siguro hindi. But what do you know; here I am in front of all of you. Funny no? I think the reason is because I had faith in myself and faith in God’s works and plans for me. Our Gospel talks about faith. It teaches us of what it means to follow Jesus. Si Bartimaeus , he was blind. Bartimaeus was hoping for a miracle. All that he needed was his sight and he knows that only Jesus can offer him healing and hope. And what’s so special about him, is that he was unlike the other disciples. He was different. Aside from the fact that he was blind, he had faith . Do you remember the story in the calming of the storm, Jesus asked the disciples, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith? (Mark 4:40) The disciples ...

                For me, the striking part in today’s Gospel is that James and John asked special places of authority at Jesus' right hand and left hand. They recognized that victory awaits them because they knew that the authority Jesus has showed in his ministry will lead to something big. And they plan to take advantage on that.                 Even today, there a lot of people who are taking advantage of situations, similar to what James and John did. At home, sometimes, we do household chores for our own personal interest. We work, maybe, to get increased allowance, "laag money" from our parents. It is not necessarily a bad thing but would it be better if we work or do things out of love and concern for our family instead of doing it for the reward?                 In school, we als...

In today's Gospel, Jesus wants to tell us that if there are things, people or habits in our life that hinder us from maintaining a healthy relationship with God, then we must keep it away from us. I encounter situations like these.. As a teenager, sometimes, I find it hard to avoid occasions that lead to sin. There are many temptations around me, at school, at home or everywhere I go. We have this thing called "weakening of Christian sense of sin" and it is where we consider sin as not a sin anymore because it is being practiced today in our generation or it is said to be a "trend". Though sometimes, I may be one of those kids of today who goes with the trend, I still know my limitations as a person. I still know what's right and what's wrong and that's why I'm so thankful to become a part of this Youth Ministry because it reminds me that I am a child of God and I should respect myself and others. I should not be drowned by these worldly desires ...

In the Gospel Jesus told the Jews, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." The Jews did not believe Him for they know that Jesus is the son of Joseph and Mary and not God. Then Jesus told them, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and i will raise him on the last day.” Jesus is trying to tell them that they should have faith in Him for they are gathered there because God led them there. And whoever believes has eternal life. Jesus also told them, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread that i will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Whoever believes in Jesus will be saved because Jesus will sacrifice His life to redeem the world from sin.  We can only experience eternal life if we believe in Jesus who was sent by our God the Father. If we only give our full love and faith in Jesus, nothing is impossible. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not ...

This gospel talks about how Jesus tested Philip and Andrew’s faith. When Philip and Andrew said that the food would not be enough to feed the entire crowd, Jesus wanted to tell them that “Nothing is impossible if you’re with Me.” At first, I think, it is impossible to feed 5,000 people with 5 barley loaves and 2 fishes but God made me believe that nothing is impossible! How can Jesus satisfy the people with just a few loaves of bread? Jesus, himself, is the only who can satisfy their hunger, our hunger because He is the true bread of heaven who can satisfy our deepest hunger in life. We are hungry; hungry not only for food but also hunger for values and morality. In the readings, Jesus said “They shall eat and there shall be some left over.”  And when they had eaten, there were indeed some left overs. God, abundantly, gives us blessings. He gives us more than what we need so that we may be able to share it with others especially to those who are in need.   Let us be gratefu...

This Sunday’s Gospel tells us that we need to  “Come away by ourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”  The gospel story suggests that we must in fact find the quiet place in our hearts (deserted place) to which we can withdraw at any time, whether at school or at work. It’s not just withdrawing from school or work to find peace but also finding that quiet place in our hearts even when we are at school or at work. I love how the Gospel shows the reality of being a disciple of Jesus or just being a human – napapagod din sila. Napapagod rin tayo . Remember the Gospel last Sunday? Jesus sent his 12 apostles for a mission. The apostles went off to preach repentance. They even drove out demons and anointed with oil the sick and cured them. So can you imagine? Dun sa Gospel, kagagaling lang nila sa mission . So when  The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.  They must have been SUUUUUPER tired. That’s why Jesus told them t...

The Gospel for today talks about simplicity. What is simplicity? It is state of being simple and being ordinary. Each one of us has shown simplicity in our lives without us even realizing that we are showing it. We may have shown it to our pets, our friends, our relatives, our family, and even to strangers. However, simplicity doesn’t mean that if you are ordinary, then you cannot do great things. Jesus, for example, was a simple man. But He was able to perform miracles. He was able to save us from our sins. For me, this means that in simplicity, there is also greatness. In the Gospel, the Twelve Apostles were called to be simple. Even though they were just these simple men who came from simple beginnings, Jesus gave them the authority over unclean spirits. This goes to show that Jesus didn’t just love His disciples. He also trusted them that they will be able to use that given authority in good ways. Just like the Twelve, each one of us is called by Jesus to be simple and we should ac...

It is always beautiful to see Jesus, he gave us a life and guided us in our everyday doings, he sacrifices a lot of things for us. In this Gospel, Jesus narrates the two brief stories which take place every day in the life of all us: the story of the seed itself and the story of the small mustard seed which grows into the biggest shrub”  The story of the seed which grows alone: A farmer who plants and knows the procedures: seed, the green sprout, leaf, spike, grain. The farmer knows how to wait, he does not cut down the grain before it is time. But he does not know how the soil, the rain, the sun and the seed have this force or strength to make the plant grow from nothing until it bears a fruit. This is how the Kingdom of God is. It is a process, there are stages and moments of growth. It takes place and time. It produces fruit at the just moment, but nobody knows how to explain its mysterious force.  The story of the small mustard seed which grows and becomes big. The mustard...

In today’s Gospel,, we learn about the meaning of friendship, and most especially, discipleship. To most, it would seem that friendship and discipleship are two polar opposites. Friendship as something mutual and symbiotic and discipleship as something bearing resemblance to being someone's servant. But we are told otherwise. We fail to see that both friendship and discipleship have something in common; and that is love. We love the people we are friends with and we love the person we are so willing to follow. Jesus tells us that: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you." He even calls all of us His friends! Is there anything more beautiful? He is telling us that if we continue to love one another and to live out His commandments, we may remain in His grace and love. By doing this, we are spelling out a message that says: "Yes, Father, I will obey and love as you did." Though we may not live in His ways, He still loves us unconditionally. There is a particul...