Morning Voice

April 2, 2023. Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion – A. Readings: Mt 21:1-11; Is 50:4-7; Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20,23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14—27:66. A Bantu proverb says: “Pain is inevitable suffering is optional.” And a Latin proverb adds: “Experience purchased by suffering teaches wisdom.” There is no glory without suffering, and no triumph without sacrifice. But the sad fact is that the same people who praise you and clap for you at the time of glory, are the same who will stone you in the hour of your agony. Mankind in general, and Christians in particular have a kind of split personality. They can praise with their mouth and insult with their very mouth. They bless with their hand and stone with the same hand. A story goes that a Bishop dropped by a sister’s convent on a pastoral visit. Upon arriving, the Mother Superior was so proud of their parrot that she praises it to the Bishop saying that it was a very pious parrot. "When you pull its right leg, it prays the...

March 26, 2023. Fifth Sunday of Lent - A. Readings: Ez 37:12-14; Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; Rom 8:8-11;Jn 11:1-45. What is the Resurrection, and what assurance do we have that we, too, will be risen? “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." John 11:21 An Albanian proverb says: “Faith begins where reason stops.” And another proverb adds: “It's easier to lose faith than to find it again.” There is a sad reality each one of us, oftentimes, goes through, the seeming absence of God. When passing through difficult times and hardships, we end up thinking and believing that God has forsaken us or gone away from us. In today's Gospel, in their helplessness, Martha and Mary, in front of the death of their only brother Lazarus exclaimed to the Lord: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Their common exclamation is that of each one of us in front of life's problems: "Where are you, God?” Or to quote the Psalmist during t...

February 19, 2023. Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Lv 19:1-2, 17-18; Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1Cor 3:16-23; Mt 5:38-48. “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father…” A Yiddish proverb says: “Love your neighbor, even if he plays the trombone.” And a Native American Shawnee proverb adds: “Do not hurt your neighbor, for it is not him you wrong but yourself.” Everything we do in life has a measure and a model, and it is aimed at a goal. So too, love has its measure, model, and goal. The measure of genuine love is oneself. Its model is the Lord Jesus. And its goal is our salvation. No one can give others the love he or she does not have for oneself and in oneself. We can only love others if we first love ourselves. It is not about selfishness but a basic moral, natural, and human truth. Empty hands can only give emptiness, that is, nothing. As says the Ivorian proverb, "The most ...

February 12, 2023. Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Sir 15:15-20; Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34; 1 Cor2:6-10; Mt 5:17-37. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Mt 5:17 A German proverb says: “Many people preach righteousness and perform sins.” And a Chinese proverb adds: “If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation…” There is a joke saying that no one can pretend to be more Catholic than the Pope, or more Christian than Christ. Righteousness has a source and a summit. God is the fount of all holiness, and so the par excellence source of righteousness. Our vocation, we said last Sunday, is to become holy as Christ our Lord is holy. And this is a road we daily journey. In this journey, however, there is a great risk of getting the w...

February 5, 2023. Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Is 58:7-10; Ps 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Cor 2:1-5; Mt5:13-16. A Native American Pueblo proverb says: “A good man does not take what belongs to someone else.” And a Chinese proverb adds: “One more good man on earth is better than an extra angel in heaven.” “Do good always. Do good to all. Never harm anyone...” (Don Orione) I watched an American-Mexican series on Netflix (Señora Acero) and one of the actors was named 'El Bueno' (the Good Man). One thing that caught my attention about him was his definition of being good and what he was able to do for goodness' sake. He even died in a war that was not his just by being good and defending the poor and the oppressed Sara Aguilar and her son Salvador Acero. He was ready to do good to all. To do good always. And without counting the price. The life of 'El Bueno' matches with the words of Don Orione we quoted ahead: do good always and to all. We learn through th...

January 29, 2023. Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13; Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10; 1 Cor1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12a. “Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters…” 1 Cor 1:26 A Hebrew proverb says: “Whoever has not tasted sinfulness does not qualify for holiness.” And a Latin proverb adds: “No man acquires perfection all at once.” There is a kind of universal call or vocation for each one of us. We are called to perfection. Holiness is our vocation. God wants us all holy. But the fulfillment of this vocation remains a journey each one must undertake every day and in our ordinary endeavors. According to the teachings of the Church, the call to holiness is often referred to as the universal vocation or sometimes the primary vocation. It is for every one of us. Although this vocation is supernaturally given at baptism, which literally engrafts the Christian into the body of Christ, God beckons every human being to a life of holiness. The Catechism says: ...

January 22, 2023. Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – A. Readings: Is 8:23—9:3; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14; 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17;Mt 4:12-23. “…The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen…”Mt 4:16 An Ivorian proverb says: “However long the night, the dawn will break.” And an Irish proverb adds: “There is light at the end of the tunnel.” There are times when life seems to be a succession of shadows and darkness. Times when we travel in confusion and uncertainties. In those times, what we need is a new dawn, a new opportunity that can lead us to a new hope. The Lord Jesus comes to raise in us that hope. Last Sunday, we spoke about the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, marking the beginning of his ordinary life and so the Ordinary Time of the year of the Church. We are today the 3rd Sunday in this Ordinary Time of the Year A, and the Word of God tells us what this time is made of. It is our time to shine bright l...