Morning Voice

February 6, 2022 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – C. READINGS: Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8; 1 Cor15:1-11; Lk 5:1-11. “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” (Is 6:8) More than a call to do something, a vocation is a call to be. I’m not called to do the priest, but to be a priest. You are not called to do the husbands and wives, but to be husband and wife. Besides and above all, we are all consecrated and called by God to be Saints. Here is what the Church calls the universal vocation, the vocation to holiness. The Lord wants us to be with him. And through being with him, we will learn about him, be like him and so share him with others. The Catechism well summarizes the mission of every Christian and the Church saying: “Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole apostolate”; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for laypeople clearly depends on their vital union with Christ....

January 30, 2022 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time- C. READINGS: Jer 1:4-5, 17-19; Ps 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17; 1Cor 12:31—13:13; Lk 4:21-30. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” (Jer 1:4) A Romanian proverb says: “Beware of false prophets.” And a Sicilian proverb adds: “If I were a prophet, I wouldn't be wretched.” More than a promise, to be a prophet is a mission. Through the words of the Deacon or the Priest who baptized us, we have been appointed to share in Christ's threefold mission: Priest, Prophet, and King. What then is our prophetic mission? Today's readings come to remind us who we are, prophets together with Christ and at his likeness. We live in a world in need of truth. We live in a world filled with so much darkness. We live in a world in need of faith, hope, and love. What then could be our mission? Through the election of the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord tells us th...

January 23, 2022 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – C. READINGS: Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15; 1 Cor12:12-30; Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21. “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.” (cf John 6:63c) An Amerindian proverb says: “The words of God are not like the oak leaf which dies and falls to the earth, but like the pine tree which stays green forever.” And a Malagasy proverb adds: “Words are like the spider's web: a shelter for the clever ones and a trap for the not-so-clever.” Every time that we gather to celebrate the Word of God and the Holy Eucharist, we experience God's blessed presence in our midst. For, the Lord is present where His Word is proclaimed. This divine presence is made more manifest and effective through the reception of the Holy Eucharist. Thus, the saying of the Church about the Eucharist: it is the highest form of worship. It is the source and summit of the Christian life (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324). To reach the summit, one must start a...

16 January 2022 FEAST OF THE STO. NIÑO - Year C. READINGS: Is 9:1-6; Ps 97:1.2-3ab.3cd-4.5-6; Eph 1:3-6.15-18;Lk 2:41-52. “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” (Luke 2:48) A Swedish proverb says: “Children act in the village as they have learned at home.” And a Romanian proverb adds: “The blessing of having many children has never broken a man's roof.” From today's Entrance Antiphon, we read, "All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you, shall sing to your name, O Most High!" (Ps 65: 4) We are called to come and bow down before God under the image of a holy and innocent child. The Feast of Santo Niño raises a beautiful concern about the children and their dignity and education. Not only are children an academy of humility for us, but they also have rights, dignities, and words to say in our societies. The world will not be better without our children being well educated an...

January 16, 2022 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – C. READINGS: Is 62:1-5; Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10; 1 Cor12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11. “They have no wine.” (Jn 2:3) A Polish proverb says: “Without salt the feast is spoiled.” And a Spanish proverb adds: “The wedding feast is not made with mushrooms only.” Life is a continual feast, a joyful relationship with the Lord. No feast must be sad. So too, life is not meant to be a succession of sadness and bad news. To live, by itself is Good News. Even though, at the present, the Covid-19 pandemic has plunged us all in continual sorrows, pains, and tears, and has transformed life, making us speak of new normal: Isolation, individualism, social death due to social distancing, we always must get a reason to rejoice about and celebrate life. In that sense, every day of life and alive is a day to celebrate. I am from one part of the world where liturgical celebrations are truly festive. They are made of songs, dances, shout of joys, acclamations, p...

January 9, 2022 The Baptism of the Lord. READINGS: Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10; Acts10:34-38; Lk 3:15-16, 21-22. “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk 3: 22). A Japanese proverb says: “He who wants what God wants of him will lead a free and happy life.” And a French proverb adds: “Take away my good name, take away my life.” Baptism for us Christians is a special Sacrament. It is the Sacrament of the new birth, the renewal of life, and the forgiveness of sins. The Baptism confers on us a new identity. It makes us children of God, and so, brothers and sisters of Christ and in Christ. It is the first sacrament of initiation that opens us to a new life with its obligations. About our Baptism as Christians and its effects on us the Catechism says: “Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopt...