Morning Voice

August 4 2019: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  READINGS:  Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23 ;  Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17 ;  Col 3:1-5, 9-11 ;  Lk 12:13-21 A French proverb says, “At his death, the richest man carries nothing away with him but a shroud.” There is a sad constant in our societies and in the world, the thirst for possession and the consumerism. This has been since the creation and still more actual today. We are a society of consummation. In this sense, we all move in accumulation. We want our jam-packed of everything. New clothes, news shoes, new cellphones, new cars, new houses… What was new yesterday loses it brightness and ends becoming old; therefore, we thirst for another. For many people, security means possession. To have nothing, starting with money is to live the most insecure life, opened to all uncertainties. This thirst for accumulation leads many people to be self-centered and to the saddest form of egoism: selfishness and in...

July 22 2019:  Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene READINGS:  SGS 3:1-4B ;  OR  2 COR 5:14-17 ;  PS 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 ;  Jn 20:1-2, 11-18 A Yiddish proverb says, “Women can keep only one secret -- their own.” That is why, the secret of the Lord’s resurrection was first entrusted to a woman. We are celebrating today one of the few women who played a very special part in the life and the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ; Mary Magdalene, the woman of all the social and theological controversies. I was scanning a book few days ago, written by one Filipino Bishop, Most Rev. Teodoro Bacani, emeritus of Novaliches Diocese, titled, “Jesus goes public”. Among the titles or articles, one is about, “the Women in the life of Jesus”. Bishop Bacani rightly states that the first woman in the life of our Lord was the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother. But after Mary, undeniably, one of the women who occupied a very special place in the Lord’s life was Mary Magdal...

July 28 2019: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - C  READINGS:  Gn 18:20-32 ;  Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8 ;  Col 2:12-14 ;  Lk 11:1-13 A Moroccan proverb says, “If the prayers of dogs were answered, bones would rain from the sky.” Every time that we call upon him, the Lord answers. He does not delay; and if ever the answer seems delayed, it is because the Lord is preparing the better than what we asked for. Analogy is not always logic, but we could say that prayer is like a bargain we do with the Lord. Through praying, we enter in agreement, in business with him. It is however, not so much a business of parity such as giving-giving or giving-receiving, as to say to the Lord, ‘I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine’, a kind of reciprocity. In the contract of prayer, he who gives is always the Lord and we, the interlocutors are the receivers. Prayer is also an exercise of mediation. One does not pray always asking for himself. It is sometimes, a...

July 21 2019: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  READINGS:  Gn 18:1-10a ;  Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 5 ;  Col 1:24-28 ;  Lk 10:38-42 A Jewish proverb says, “Hospitality is one form of worship.” And another proverb adds, “It is a sin against hospitality to open the doors and shut up the countenance.” Heb 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” By definition, from the Cambridge Dictionary , we call hospitality the act of being friendly and welcoming to guests and visitors. It is an act of kindness and friendly behavior. Hospitality is the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm friendly and generous way. Some peoples, some cultures, or ethnical groups and countries are known for their great sense of hospitality, while others are treated as not hospitable or lacking of that virtue. Hospitality, therefore is a virtue which opens...

July 14 2019: Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time READINGS:  Dt 30:10-14 ;  Ps 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37 ;  Col1:15-20 ;  Lk 10:25-37 A Yiddish proverb says, “If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.” Everyone will like others to be good to him. We always expect a lot of goodness, kindness, love and benevolence from others. Are we doing the same to them? Don’t ask your brothers to be your good Samaritans. You strive to be the good Samaritan to them. The only way to measure how one’s loves God is to see how he or she loves and relates to his fellows. The Apostle stated in 1 John 4:20, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” Our love of God is translated and will be assessed only through our attitude and relation towards others. Religiosity and the genuine religion are not a mere belon...

July 7 2019: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time READINGS:  Is 66:10-14c ;  Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 ;  Gal 6:14-18 ;  Lk 10:1-12, 17-20   An Afghan proverb says, “Though God is almighty, he doesn't send rain from a clear sky.” Mission will always be accompanied with hardships, but at the end, it opens to rejoicing. Talking of calling, we stated last Sunday that for many, it refers to specific calls, the call for priesthood and religious life, and therefore, some people feels not being concerned. Though we tried, through the readings of last Sunday to make it clear that all were called, there still are some abstracts in the definition and the content of the call. Today’s Gospel makes it the clearer. If some have the singular and specific call, priesthood and consecrated life, nevertheless, all are called. The mission of bringing the kingdom of God throughout the world is not the prerogative solo of the religious and consecrated people and the pr...