Team Jesus

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...