PALM SUNDAY YEAR B

LOVE AND SACRIFICE

Adunay usa ka mag-uuma nga nagtanum ug kawayan sa iyang uma. Sa dako na ang kawayan, iya kini nga giputol. Sa iyang pagputol mireklamo ang kawayan. “nganong imo man ako nga giputol?” “Sakit kaayo kana alang kanako”, miingon ang kawayan.

Mitubag ang mag-uuma: “Giputol ko ikaw tungod kay gihigugma ko ikaw.”

Pagkahuman ug putol sa mag-uuma sa kawayan iya kining gidala sa ilang balay ug didto iyang gikuhaan sa mga salingsing(sanga) ang maong kawayan. 

“giputol nako nimo sa akong punuan, imo pa gayud nga gikuha ang akong mga kamot, mga sanga! Ngano nga imo man akong gisakit?” Mireklamo ang kawayan.

“Tungod kay gihigugma ko ikaw”, mitubag ang mag-uuma.

Pagkahuman ug putol sa mga sanga, giputolputol sa makatulo sa mag-uuma ang kawayan tungod kay taas man kini. Mireklamo na usab ang kawayan.

“giputol nako nimo sa akong punuan, imo pa gayud nga gikuha ang akong mga kamot, mga sanga! Ug karon imo pa gayod akong giputolputol sa makatulo, grabe na ang pag-antos nga akong nahiaguman”, miingon ang kawayan.

Ang mag-uuma mitubag: “giputolputol ko ikaw sa makatulo tungod kay gihigugma ko ikaw.”

Pagkahuman ug putolputol sa makatulo, giduslak sa mag-uuma ang mga buko sa sulod sa kawayan aron mabangag kini. Mireklamo ang kawayan.

“giputol nako nimo sa akong punuan, imo pa gayud nga gikuha ang akong mga kamot, mga sanga! imo pa gayod akong giputolputol sa makatulo, ug unya giduslak pa gayud nimo ang akong mga buko! Dili na nako maantos ang kasakit nga akong nasinati.

“Giduslak ko ikaw tungod kay gihigugma ko ikaw”, mitubag ang mag-uuma.

Natingala ang kawayan kay gipas-an siya pagbalik sa mag-uuma ug mibalik didto sa uma. Pag abot sa uma nakakita ang mag-uuma ug usa ka tuburan (spring) diin adunay nag- agas nga tubig. Didto gitaud sa mag-uuma ang kawayan ug miagas ang tubig gikan sa tuburan ngadto sa uma ug nabuhi ang tanang mga tanom sa uma. 

Greetings!

Mag igsoon, karon mao ang gitawag nato ug palm Sunday. Nagbendisyon kita ug mga lukay isip paghandum sa nahitabo kaniadto sa pagsulod ni Hesus sa Jerusalem. Karon usab nga adlaw gitawag nato ug Passion Sunday tungod kay ato mang gibasa ang Ebanghelyo sa pagpasakit sa Ginoo. 

Matud pa sa mga batid nga magsusulat, ang pasyon sa atong Ginoo dili estorya sa kasakitan ni Hesus kon dili estorya sa dakong gugma sa Dios kanato. Kini tungod kay sa iyang mga kasakit naluwas ang tibuok kalibutan. 

Kita nakasinati usab ug mga kasakit sa atong kinabuhi. Daghan kaayo kini nga daw malumos na kita sa pag-antos . daghan kaayo ang hinungdan sa pag antos. Adunay uban nga nag-antos ug nasakit tungod sa ilang paghigugma sa uban. Sa pagsulat nako niining homiliya, adunay kalit nga naghangyo sa pagpasantala, miundang ako sa pagsulat ug miadto dayon ako tungod kay akong nahibal –an nga anaa na daw sa ER. Akong nahibal-an nga sulod sa walo katuig na diay naghigda sa katre ang maong inahan. Apan ang pamilya wala moundang sa pagsuporta sa ilang inahan ug nag antos gayod sila pag-ayo. Kini sila nag antos tungod sa ilang paghigugma sa uban. 

Adunay uban usab nag antos ug nasakit tungod sa ilang hiwi nga mga binuhatan. Sama pananglitan sa mga tawo nga napriso tungod sa mali nga binuhatan. 

Adunay uban usab nag antos tungod kay aduna silay personal nga gusto nga mahitabo sa ilang kinabuhi. 

Karong domingoha, gihagit kita sa pagpamalandong sa mga pag-antos nga atong nasinati karon. Unsa man kana nga klase sa pag-antos? Tungod ba kana sa gugma? Hiwi nga binuhatan? O personal nga interests lamang?

Sama sa kawayan nga  nag-antos aron makatabang sa tanang nanginahanglan nga mga tanom. Atong hinumduman nga si Kristo nag antos alang kanatong tanan. Tungod kini sa iyang dakong gugma kanato. Ikaw? Unsa nga klase ang imong pag-antos?

 Kaya mo ba yan? Moingon ako: kayanin mo yan! Kasi ang Dios ay palaging nandiyan.”

5TH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

My dear friends today I am bringing a coin (show the coin) as you notice that there are two sides of a coin (show both side of the coin). If I will drop this coin to the floor do you know which side will appear? Of course not! Subukan po natin…(drop the coin to the floor) first toss: guess? Hari o patay?  2^nd toss: hari o patay? And third toss: hari o patay? The two sides of the coin represent the two situations in life: Heads for glorification, happiness, success and other fortunate events in life. The tails represent sacrifices, suffering, deaths, and all dreadful events in life.  Do you know that Jesus embraces the two sides of the coin? Jesus Christ embraces suffering, the passion that we are about to celebrate next week, and he also dies. However the story does not stop at the death of Jesus it continues until he was glorified into heaven. 

Our gospel today tells us about Jesus who will suffer and die in order to be glorified. Jesus embraces the two sides of the coin: heads and tails Jesus narrates that “a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”. Jesus wanted to embrace death because it is the fulfillment of his mission. The hour has already come that Jesus will suffer and will die. Jesus uses the parable of the grain of wheat to explain that by denying suffering and death it reduces his mission ("remains just a single grain") whereas by giving himself to death in order to save his people extends his mission here on earth(produces much fruit). 

 

Most of us do not want to suffer, to sacrifice, and to experience death. All we wanted to be is happiness, enjoyment, leisure. But my dear friend life is not like that. Life is like the two sides of the coin. Life involves sacrifices, suffering, happiness, enjoyment. Life is the two sides of the coin. 

I have encountered quotes about life in the internet, the author is unknown, and it goes like this: 

Life isn't about keeping score.
It's not about how many friends you have
Or how accepted you are.
Not about if you have plans this weekend or if you're alone.
It isn't about who you have kissed,
It isn't about who your family is or
how much money they have
Or what kind of car you drive. 

Or where you are sent to school.
It's not about how beautiful or ugly you are.
Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on,
Or what kind of music you listen to.
It's not about if your hair is blonde, red, black, or brown,
Or if your skin is too light or too dark.
Not about what grades you get how smart you are, how smart
everybody else thinks you are, or how smart
standardized tests say you are.

Life just isn't.

Life is about who you love and who you hurt.
It's about who you make happy or unhappy purposely.
It's about keeping or betraying trust.
It's about friendship, used as a sanctity or as a weapon.
It's about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.
It's about starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip.
It's about what judgments you pass and why.
And who your judgments are spread to.
It's about who you've ignored with full control and intention.
It's about jealousy, fear, ignorance, and revenge.
It's about carrying inner hate and love,
letting it grow and spreading it.
But most of all, it's about using your life to touch or poison
other people's hearts in such a way that could have
never occurred alone.
Only you choose the way those hearts are affected, and those
choices are what life's all about. 

LIFE IS THE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN…

4TH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B

GO BACK TO THE LIGHT!

Most of us don’t want to live in the dark that is why during the night we wanted to sleep and wake up only during daylight. We even murmured when the electric power company announced that there will be power interruption.  In the dark we have a limited action because our vision is not as clear as we wanted to be.  In the dark, we cannot work so easily, our movement is limited. However, we can easily work, do our job, and move as fast as we want because there is light. Light provides us with clear vision and we can easily identify things because the light help us. 

Our gospel today tells us that God sent his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. In other words, Jesus Christ came into the world to save us all. This is the expression of how God love the world. This is the expression of how God loves you! Loves us all! He is the light that our gospel is talking today. To those who love the lights like to live always in the light. But for those who are in darkness, do not want to live in the light because they are afraid that the light may exposed their wrong doings, their evil acts. 

If we look at our society today, there are many people who live in the dark even in daylight.  They have been in prison of the dark because of their evil acts. Some people are involved in murder, stealing, destroying people’s lives, drug addicts and many more. But, what shall we do with them? We will just allow them to be in the dark always? 

My dear friends, God sent his only begotten son to save the world and as Christian, living in the light it is our duty and responsibility also to help the people living in darkness. It is our duty to break that prison of darkness and allow them to taste the light. Let us encourage them to go back to the light which is Christ. Tell them how beautiful to live in the light of Christ. 

On the other hand, if you are experiencing life in the dark, I encourage you to get out of that prison and go back to the light. Live in the light! The only person that can help you is you. 

Turn to Jesus and be saved. 

Turn to Jesus and experience the light! 

Turn to Jesus and have eternal life. 

Go back to the light!

3RD SUNDAY OF LENT B

EMBRACE THE CHURCH

There is a saying that goes like this: “cleanliness is next to Godliness.”  Cleaning is very important in all aspects of life. Most of us use material things to clean something. Like for example, we use soap to clean our clothes; we use alcohol to clean our hands or we use facial cleanser to clean our faces. 

Do you know that the oldest soap use by the ancient people are ashes, they use it to clean their houses, dishes and many others.

 I also remember that my mother used ashes also to clean some of our dishes and other kitchen materials.  Naa pa gyoy lain, my mother also used   “lugod” to clean my back during my early childhood. Unsay iningles sa lugod? Weheheheheheh!

There are many materials in cleaning something and we need it in order to be cleaned totally.  However, in our gospel today, Jesus uses a whip to clean the temple. When Jesus arrived at the temple, he could not believe what he saw. There are many people selling cattle, sheep and doves and even the money changer is also there. The temple is a house prayer and Jesus could not believe that it becomes a market place. What Jesus did was cleansing the temple. He let out all the animals using the whip and overturned the tables of the money changer because his house is a house of God not a market place or carnival. 

We Christians also believe that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. If we need to clean our physical bodies using expensive materials, we also need to clean our spirit using the sacraments of the church. The church provided us many opportunities in order for us to be clean. We have the sacrament of reconciliation provided for us. All we have to do is to come to confession and allow ourselves to be pure and clean. The Holy Eucharist also reminded us to live in a pure spirit. Church formations like recollection, seminars, and retreats are venues for cleansing.   

My dear friends, we need purification, all we have to do is to come to the church, embrace the sacraments, and believe in God. 

As we celebrate the Third Sunday of Lent, we are encourage to embrace of the church; hold and live with it as much as you can. Be cleaned and live a pure and happy life. As we think about Jesus cleansing the temple, we also think of ourselves cleansing the spirit. Release everything that is filthy inside you. Do not wait for the whip of God.

 Be cleaned right now! 

Be pure! 

Be like Jesus!