Reflections of a beloved son

The Bible has quite a number of strikingly memorable verses (I mean the entire Bible is but there are some that just sticks to your brain), and among them is this one: " No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God " (Lk. 9:62).  Jesus was not playing around - He sounded pretty serious.  This reminds me of another verse from the first book of Kings where the aging and dying David tells his son Solomon, "Be strong and be a man!" (1 Kg. 2:2).  To be a Christian, a follower of Christ, and a beloved child of God means to be present, look forward and not dwell on the past.   Christians are people of the here and now.  When Jesus invited the people to follow Him, they made excuses and pleaded to let them take care of some business first and then they will follow.  But Jesus basically said, "No, it's now or never." Now, don't get confused.  Jesus was not telling the people to abandon their work, fami

The world tells us there are many paths to take.   "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both."  Those are the opening words to Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken .  Sometimes we are faced with that same decision.  We come to a place where there are two possible paths to take, and we must decide which to take.  Both may take us to different destinations or it may take us to the same destination - we do not know.  But we must make a decision. Jesus told His disciples to "enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many" (Mt. 7:13).  Why the narrow gate?  Why does the wide gate and broad road lead to destruction?  I do not have the answer to that. I just know that Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life, and those even at the time of Jesus's earthly life rejected Him.  So, since Jesus is the way, and many have rejected Him and all th

Many people in history as well as today had come together, standing united for or against something or someone.  Let's take the marches that took place during the Civil Rights Movement when people from different religious, ethnic, and societal backgrounds came together and stood together united for the fight to have all people share the rights guaranteed by our Constitution.  More prominently in the Catholic world, since Roe v. Wade , people, not only Catholics, have gathered together to stand against abortion and standing for life - all life and at all stages.  Even more recently in Hong Kong, people - Christian, non-Christian, came together to stand against a piece of legislative amendment (the Extradition bill) that would transfer fugitives to the Mainland China, putting human rights activists, religious freedom activists, journalists, and others in harm's way.  Amidst the protests, Christians came together and began to sing "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord" for hours.

" Give them some food yourselves " Jesus told the Apostles when they asked Him to tell the crowds to go away so that they can go find some food and places to stay.  At this the Apostles told Jesus, " Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people ."  Jesus then instructed the Apostles to situate and organize the people into groups. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, raised them up to the Father, blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to pass out to the people.  All were fed, all 5000 of them, and there were 12 wicker baskets full of leftovers.  Wow.  (Read Lk. 9:11b-17 ). When the Apostles saw that it was getting late and people, including themselves, were getting tired, they suggested to Jesus to dismiss them so that they could go into the village and buy food and find a place to rest for the night.  But Jesus challenged them and said "Give them some food yourselves." Jesu

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The Trinity is a community of love.   I was taught that the Father is the lover, the Son is the beloved, and the Spirit is the love that they share.  The Father, Son, and Spirit form a community of love and serves as the example of how our lives, families, and communities should look like.  All three Persons love, and that's what they do.  Everything the Father does is out of love.  Everything the Son does is what the Father does.  Everything the Spirit does is what is proceeded from the Father and the Son.  The essence of God and our faith can be summed up in one word: love. Do we strive to let this love reflect within ourselves?  In our families?  Workplaces?  Churches?  If we do not, then we are not Christians and we should not call ourselves as such.  We call ourselves Christians because we are those who follow Christ, who is love.  So, if we don't love then we are not Christians.  Let us learn to receive this love so that we can in turn reflect this love in all that we d

" Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No. '"  That is what Jesus said to His disciples.  He was teaching them that to be a follower of His they must be people of integrity, who say what they mean, and mean what they say.  We must be people who keep their words.  Without integrity everything we say or do will be compromised.  And Jesus tells them further, " Anything more is from the Evil One " (Mt. 5:37). There's really not much more to say about that.  Our "yes" ought to mean "yes," and our "no" ought to mean "no."  We cannot say one thing and then do something else.  We cannot doing something one way and then tell others to do it another way.  There are no exceptions and they are no special privileges.  Both the leader and the follower are bound by the same rules.  Jesus, who is God and Lord became human and was born under the law so that we could be freed from it.  When Jesus

The power of words have always fascinated me.  Though they are just letters put together, yet they can do so much good and so much damage.  They can build up and they can tear down.  They can encourage and they can discourage.  They can sow love and they can fuel hatred .  It is this malleability and fluidity of words that make it so powerful.  But they are just empty signs.  Right now as I am typing, this keyboard is called a "keyboard" because we attribute this word to an object that contains keys or buttons with letters, numbers, and symbols on them that can be pushed down that is lined up on a board.  I can choose to call it something else.  But we know that for Christians, the WORD is neither empty not void of meaning.  The context in which we use "word" contains a deeper reality and a more profound truth.  But the "word" I am using here is just simply a stringing of letters that make up something to which we attribute a particular meaning. We are t

" You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world " Jesus told His disciples.  As Christians and as the People of God and People of the Resurrection, we must be the salt of the earth that seasons and enhances the lives of others by the Good News.  When we eat and decide to use salt we are usually careful on how much we sprinkle (if we are not, we should!) If we do not add enough, the food remains bland, but if we add too much it becomes too salty and unbearable, and even unhealthy.  So is the same with us.  As the salt of the earth, we must know what to do and how to enhance the earth, and we know this by the Scriptures and through prayer.  Everything we say should only enhance the other person's experience of faith and draw them closer to God and deeper into the mystery of Christ.  It should neither be too pushy nor forced upon.  Just like faith, the salt and its effects are gifts, freely given and freely received.  As salt, our end is to enhance.   But w

Perhaps one of the most famous parables people would know and remember is that of the “Prodigal Son” or the “Lost Son.” This parable is one that shows the rich and boundless mercy God has for each and every one of us. The rich and boundless mercy that cannot be separated from love. It is in His great love for us that God shows mercy. When we hear or think of this parable, we immediately think of the younger son who asks his father for his share of the inheritance that should come to him when his father dies, and how that younger son used up all that money on things that brought him only temporary happiness and mundane pleasures. We may also think of the elder son who stays home and works on the family property, following the rules and staying close to the father. Oftentimes we may even put ourselves in the story, seeing ourselves as the younger son who goes on his way, living a life of “dissipation” and not using his time and gifts well, and when all is used up, finding himself i

Pentecost is called the “birthday of the Church ,” because on this very day, 50 days after The Resurrection, and 10 days after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit was sent down to the people, whose hearts were opened and a flame was instilled in their hearts that remain burning despite the many attempts to extinguish it.  On that day many were baptized with the baptism of water and the Holy Spirit, the baptism that gives us the inheritance of God.  On that day a new and common language was granted to the people - the language of the Holy Spirit, the language of love. On Pentecost, the nations were gathered together and all received the same Spirit.  But this Spirit is manifested in different ways, unique ways to each individual as appropriate and conducive to their calling just as different gifts and talents are given to different people. Yet, though as diverse as the manifestations of the Spirit may be, they are all unified by the one binding element - love.  Before the Spirit all coul

”What about him, Lord?” was the question Peter asked Jesus after Jesus revealed to him how Peter was going to live out the rest of his life - preaching the Good News but being led to places he himself does not want to go with arms outstretched (Peter died a martyr’s death).  Peter’s question was in regards to John.  What do you think Jesus’ answer was?  He said “ What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”    Basically, “Peter we are not talking about John, we are talking about you!  Stay focused and mind your own business!”  In other words Jesus was saying to Peter to focus on what he’s being asked to do and really to focus on the life with which God has gifted to him.  Each person has a unique calling in life, a unique way of communicating and transmitting the message of God’s love and mercy, and we just need to focus on that and do that well and all other things God will take care of.  There are things that we just cannot worry about because we have no control over them.  So ins

Having knowledge of something is very different from knowing something.  Same with people.  You may know of someone, but you may not really know them.  Just because you may know of Tom Cruise it does not mean that you know him-know him, personally.  It is not until you have a conversation and open the doors to a personal relationship with someone do you really truly begin to get to know someone. So, think of some of the people that you say you know.  Do you really know them?  Or do you just know a collection of facts about them?  To know someone is to have a personal relationship with them.  In the Acts of the Apostles, a Jewish man named Apollos was teaching people about Jesus but all he knew was the “baptism of John.”  Then we are told two people who contemporaries of St. Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, took him aside and taught him more about Jesus.  In my mind I saw this as them sharing with Apollos what they’ve learned about Jesus through His disciples, but also teaching him how to