Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

Today is the Feast of Christ the King and, the last Sunday in ordinary season. The Gospel of John opens a scene where Jesus is on trial in front of Pontius Pilate. The most fascinating thing I saw, is a battle between the Kingdoms of the world and the gentle Kingdom of God. Jesus and Pilate’s conversation ends up revealing that Jesus is indeed a King. Most times we may not be aware of these two Kingdoms clashing in front of us, because we are living a reality of which there are invisible spiritual forces behind. The real issue behind these battles is that humankind continue to rebel against the intentions of God their creator. I was reading from one of the church Fathers St Cyril of Alexandria talking about how Jesus was betrayed in a garden, recalling “the Eden Garden”, the old paradise God gave to Adam and Eve. That’s where the human condition began, sin. They rebelled against their creator in a garden, and now Jesus’s sufferings began in a garden towards a reversal of the sting of ...

In our Men’s Bible Study, we have been learning about the ways of the ancient world which is the setting of Biblical stories. It felt to me like it was a really tough life. Our modern world is so accustomed to comforts, shortcuts and lenient and just laws but, by the look of things, the ancient world does not seem survivable by our standards. For example, the ancient world didn’t have soaps, so they were easily vulnerable to skin diseases like leprosy. I did realize something though; we share the same human hearts and aspirations: They also wanted to do well in life just like us. Well, you may say, it depends on what you mean by doing well: You mean doing well by God’s standards or doing well by human standards? We have that too. Our Old Testament began with a story of God sending the prophet Elijah outside Israel because Israel had become so corrupt with idolatry, that God was so done with them. It seems like God wanted to remind them that He is the Lord and creator of all. Israel wa...

WEDNESDAY Evening Prayer Reflection 102721 Matthew 13:1-9 “That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: 'Listen! A Sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” Farmers are good analysts! They have a sense of the most efficient time to sow to make the highest yield. They understand times to plant and most ideal season fo...

TUE EP Reflection 091421 (HOLY CROSS DAY Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:11-17) Today we celebrate Holy Cross Day. We are reminded of the Cross of Christ where He was crucified. Our Church Father and Mothers often taught using symbolism to drive home a point. Jesus did it as well especially when he quoted Old Testament Holy Scriptures. In Numbers 21, Israelites were tired from their journey. They couldn’t find a shortcut through the land of Edom, so they had to go around it. As a result, they were so discouraged and they began to complain: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? No bread, no water… God was angry about it. Can God be blamed? I saw a human behavior pattern here. When things are constantly going wrong and our frustrations reaching high levels, we complain in ways that can be inconsiderate and insulting. We know when we are out of line and need to scale back and apologize. Being out of line happens, but it shouldn’t just happen, we have to train ourselves t...

Charles Spurgeon, who was one of the great preachers and was known to be blunt, he once said: “Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our own worst enemies within us.” I contemplated on those words thinking about those areas of my own life where I have been my worst enemy. Is it possible that there is something about us that enjoys rebellion? If you tell a toddler: don’t touch the bowl, it is heavy it may fall on you. The toddler will most definitely want to touch it. Is it what happened to Adam and Eve when God forbade them to touch the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden? Our readings today are all unified in their message about our need to observe/ to keep God’s word/commandments so that we may live in God’s grace and favor. It sounded like an earnest plea to sincerely follow God’s way. Psalm 15 provided us with an opening, telling us the profile of a worthy person: “who may dwell in your tabernacle?” The answer was: “Whoever leads a blameless life and does what...

How are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ In the name of the living God, who creates, redeems and sustains us. Well, good evening, good evening my brothers and sisters. Welcome on this holy night, this night when we gather to celebrate the feast of our patron, St. Dominic. And a special blessing upon our brothers Jeffrey, Lee, Mike, Steve and Todd. I wish upon you the special blessing of awe, because what you are about to do is an awesome thing: not in the common parlance or the sense of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (“Awesome”), but in the ancient sense of the word. My hope for each of you is the blessing of awe, of fear and trembling at what you are about to do. In episode V of the Star Wars saga, the Empire Strikes back, Luke Skywalker tries to assure the Jedi master Yoda: “I won’t fail you. I’m not afraid.” And Yoda replies, “Go...

WED EP Reflection 081821 (On Simplicity) Part of my journey into the religious order of the Dominicans or the Order of Preachers, is the vow of simplicity. In the olden days, people would vow to live in poverty and become beggars (mendicants) even if they were from wealthy families. St Francis is in this category. This virtue of simplicity is something the church has not emphasized much. I got to seriously think of how it could affect our modern Christian way of life. I began reading from ancient manuscripts as well as some modern writers who are returning to these ancient ways of living Christian life like Rod Dreher's book "the Benedict Option". I read the apostolic Fathers. It offers a few remarks about simplicity. In the letter of Ignatius to the Romans, he wrote: “ Do not give to the world one who wants to belong to God or tempt him with material things…Do not talk about Jesus Christ while you desire the world. Do not let envy dwell among you. My passionate love ...