January 3, 2008

Quotation:

"If you write for God, you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men, you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make noise in the world, for a little while. If you write only for yourself, you can read what you yourself have written and after ten minutes you will be so disgusted, you will wish that you were dead." Thomas Merton


John 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me. I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

My Reflections:
Have we already shared Jesus with others who don’t know Him that well? I asked this question because if we will only be sensitive on how shallow others comprehension of Jesus we will find out that theirs is simply superficial. Now, if we know then that the situation is like this; would we just stand and be insensitive to their need to know deeply who Jesus is? If we will allow the gospel to touch us we will not just stand. Instead, we will choose to come-in and be involved in the deepening of their faith. This is what John the Baptist has done and we need to model our discipleship after him.

When John saw Jesus coming towards him; he proclaimed: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

In retrospect like John the Baptist; have we already proclaimed Jesus’ mission to others?

Have we shared Him as the Lamb of God who will take away their sins?




credits: http://mjdasma.blogspot.com

January 2, Friday: John 1:19-28

John 1:19-28
This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you? He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not. “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet? John answered them,“I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie. This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

My Reflections:
We pale in comparison to John the Baptist in every aspect of his virtuous life. His humility is beyond question; his self-effacing attitude is next to the Blessed Mother and Jesus. How about us? Are we humble enough to let others take credit for an endeavor which was partly realized with our help? It’s very tempting to ego trip and take credit for it but the gospel is telling us that we must be humble at all times.

if we want to mature in our faith, we ought to emulate John’s discipleship; his humility and his self-effacing attitude for these are the qualities that will help us grow in faith.


credits: http://mjdasma.blogspot.com

JANUARY 1, 2009
Luke 2:16-21: Feast of Mary the Mother of God.


Luke 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

My Reflections:
Today we celebrate the great feast of Mary the Mother of God, this is also a holiday of obligation here in the Philippines.

Amidst the joy of the people around her the Blessed Mother just kept silent and she deeply reflected on the miracle that has unfolded before her. I think one of the things being reflected by the Blessed Mother was her being chosen as the Mother of God. Maybe she was asking herself: “Why was I given this great honor to become the mother of the Messiah?” Perhaps this is also what is in our minds;among the many women during her time why Mary and not the others?

God works in mysterious ways; He does things by His will.

Sometimes this also happens to us, for example in our career pathing. We wonder why we are in a certain arena of life when we did not even consider being in this field, not even in our wildest dreams. But God has put us in our vocations for a reason and we need to do right and make a big difference in the lives of others.

Upon deep reflections the Blessed Mother realized her enormous responsibilities she lived and imbibed it with all her heart. Thus, she raised Jesus to become a Man for others.

We may be in different field of endeavors working in the vineyard of the Lord. However like the Blessed Mother we too are called to realize our enormous responsibilities, to live and imbibe it all humility and with all our hearts.