“OUR FAITH GIVES US HOPE”

Funeral Homily
Romans 6:3-9; John 11:17-27

I was ten years old when my father passed away. Even I was just a little boy I can still remember when we heard the news about the death of our father. All of us in our home burst into tears. We couldn’t hold back our tears. It was the darkest moment happened in our family. It was very sad. We lost our loved one. We lost our father, our loving father. We cried, “Lord, you know we love him, why he had to go away?

Losing a person we love is so sad… really sad. It really hurts. It breaks our hearts into many pieces. And it is not easy. I experienced how is it losing of someone I love. I know the feeling. So we are united with you today in sorrow at the death of your beloved.

The reality of death confronts us. And this reality brings us pain and sorrow. But we are also confronted with something else… our faith. And we have to allow ourselves to be confronted with this faith. Our faith gives us hope. Our faith gives us light. Our faith opens our hearts and minds to understand why it happened to us. It opens our minds why our love one has to go away.

We believe that “if we died with Christ, we shall also live in Him” and “if we have grown into union with him through a death like His, we shall also be united with Him in the resurrection.” We believe in the resurrection. This is the very core of our faith as Christian - the resurrection. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, our faith is useless.

Jesus Christ gives us an assurance. He says "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus is life, our life. He gives us hope. Our death here on earth is not the last chapter of our lives. Death is not last period. It is not the end. Jesus conquered death. Through His resurrection we will live in a newness of life.

I would like you to just fix your eyes on the crucifix. Just look at Jesus now on the cross. He was dying. He was dying so that we might live. “Dying, He destroyed our death. Rising, He restored our life”. Jesus did not remain on that cross. He is risen. Death is conquered. Do we faith in Jesus Christ? Do we believe that He is the resurrection?

Now we are grieving. The death of our love one made a hole in our hearts. It is very sad to say that we do not see our love one anymore. It is natural for us to grieve. We are just human. But our faith gives us hope. Now we are grieving with hope. We are grieving but never despair. We will see him again because we believe in the promise of Christ. We pray for our love one for the complete journey to heaven. We pray also for ourselves that we may grow in faith. Our faith makes us strong. Our faith gives us hope that our love one who gone ahead of us, and all of us, will rise again and we will live forever.

“OUR FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS”

21^st Sunday of the Ordinary Time
Lk 13:22-30

“When you need a friend that you can depend/ you can count on me because you're my best friend. / When you're feeling down and your heart is hurt. / You can call on me and I'll be there for you friend.”

This song is song of a true friendship. A friend knows the heart of his friend. They have a very deep personal relationship. Do you have best friend? Who is your best friend? We all have best friends.

Here, I want to point out that Jesus must be the center of all our friendships. He is the center of our life. Indeed, He is our friend, our best friend. He knows us deeply. He journey with us in the difficult times. Likewise, as His friends we know Him personally just like we know our best friend.

Jesus was making His way to Jerusalem. There was someone asked a question, “Lord, will only a few people will be saved?” Will be only a few will enter in Heaven? He said that it’s not easy to get there. It’s not automatic. It’s a hard road. It’s a narrow gate. Many people wish to enter. But they will not able to.

The Gospel is telling us why people will not be able to enter. It is because they don’t have a deep relationship with Jesus. They have thought that it’s just enough to have Jesus. They are knocking at the door and saying, “Lord, open the door for us… we ate and drank in your company.” Is being in the company with Jesus enough? That’s not the point. Do we really know Jesus? Do we have an intimate relationship with Him? Are we accepting Jesus? Do we depend on Him? Are we taking His words to our hearts? And living them out? Do we believe in His words?

We may say, “Well, I am a catholic… I am an active member of CFC… I attend the Bible Study regularly… I have many friends who are religious, priests and bishops… I am a student of the Catholic school here in Davao… I am a Lay Minister… I am a good Catholic… I have no problem.” So what?

To be just being here is not that matter. It’s just plain external. What matters is that what’s happen inside of us. Our personal and deep relationship is what matter most in our lives. Our friendship with Jesus is what it counts. If we want to be with Him forever, we have to treasure the words of Jesus in our hearts. And live in it day by day.

To live the gospel in our lives is not easy. We have to strive for it. This is the invitation to us - walk in the narrow gate with our friend, Jesus. And we will be with Him forever. Amen.

“MARY, MOTHER OF HOPE”

Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary
Luke 1:39-56

Recent News: Mother Loses 4th — and Last — Son to Davao Death Squad (DDS). “Clarita Alia, a vegetable vendor in Bankerohan, Davao City, called members of the Davao media this morning to report that her son, Fernando, 15, was stabbed dead. Before this, she already lost three other sons to the so-called Davao Death Squad. Fernando was her last remaining son.”

It was very sad news… so sad! But killings still continue. Some don’t want to hear this kind of news anymore. They have enough of it. There has been no single case of summary execution solved. There’s no more hope.

People lost hope. But it’s dangerous! Losing hope is dangerous. In losing our hope, we become depressed. There are some people committed suicides because of depression. There are some people became problematic for they don’t find hope for the future. Seems the world stops turning. Hopeless!

Mary as a mother of Jesus was hopeful. She nursed and cared for her baby Jesus. She loved Jesus so tenderly, so deeply. Jesus was her precious child. Imagine how the mother ran to her child and picked him up from falling. She was worried and concerned for her missing son. She found her son with full of hope. She heard the word and kept it with full of hope.

Mary’s son was persecuted. Jesus was suffered and died on the cross. It was so terrible! It was so terrible for a mother to see her son suffered and died. She lost her son. But in her deep sorrow, she was still strong. She was still full of hope.

Her hope was fulfilled. Jesus was resurrected. His ascension to heaven is the fulfillment of her hope. As a mother of hope she was assumed to heaven. Now, she’s with her son through God’s power and grace. She’s now with her Son because she was not discouraged.

The Assumption of Mary reminds us and encourages us not to lose hope. We always love this Feast, because we believe that Mary assumed to Heaven, body and soul. Mary is always a mother to us. She wants us to be filled with hope. She loves us that she wants us to follow her, to be like her, to be hopeful.

This feast is a source of great hope for us. It gives us hope and courage to go on, to continue to live like Mary – to be obedient to God, to be gentle to others, to be humble, and, above all, to be concern to what’s happening in our society today.

. The Assumption is a sign to us that there is hope. And someday, like Mary, we too may join with Mary to sing her song: “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior…” in Heaven.

“BE FAITHFUL AND BE PATIENT.”

19^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Wis 18:6-9; Heb 11:1-2,8-19; Lk 12:32-48

A few years ago, I volunteered to work in the Centre called “Home for the Sick and Malnourished Children” of the Missionaries of Charity Sisters in Matina, Davao City. The very poor parents, who can’t afford to take care for their sick children, can bring there kids there. The children are mostly infected with tuberculosis or TB. They can take their children from there when they are already well.

I went there three times a week. During those times, I really enjoyed my time with the children playing and singing. Most children came from far places that their parents could visit them only sometimes.

The most common questions that they asked and cried out from their mouths were, “When is my father coming?” “When is my mother coming?”

To ease the pain of these little ones, I said, “Your father and your mother will come soon.” I told them to believe and have patience. Just wait and see. And you will see them face to face.

In a similar way, we cry out for the time when we will meet God face to face. We cry out for the day when we share the fullness of life, when we stay with God forever. However, for the meantime, we must trust in the promise of God to us in the future. We must believe and have patience. We just wait and see!

We heard of the faith and patience of the people of Israel in the first reading. God’s people waited and prepared for the Lord’s coming to free them from slavery of Egypt. They offered sacrifices in secret. And they lived according to God’s Law. Indeed, God came and delivered them from slavery.

We also heard of the faith and patience of Abraham in our second reading. Abraham obeyed God and left his homeland for the Promised Land. He just lived in tents with his family, all of their lives. They were looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and maker is God. Abraham died in faith even without receiving what had been the promise. But in his heart Abraham desired for the Promise Land. He patiently waited for it. And now, he is rejoicing with God. He inherited the promise of God to him. He shined in faith and patience.

Our Gospel today tells us to be faithful and patient. Jesus said that blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant. The servant will become great in the eyes of the master because of his faithfulness and patience. Then, the master will sit down with him and eat with him.

The Gospel invites us to persevere in our faith like of the people of Israel. It invites us to be faithful and patient like Abraham. It is through faith and patient that we become great.

We take a few moments to review our own personal faith and patience. Are we faithful to our Divine Master, our God? Do we trust in His promise? Are we faithful and patient to do His commandments? If so, we are longing to see Him face to face. We are prepared to welcome Him. We cry out in our hearts that “we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

“NO TO GREED”

18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Eccles 1:2; 2:21-23; Col 3:1-59-11; Lk 12:13-21

I watched a “Discovery Channel” on the television. I have learned how the natives in Africa catch monkeys. They made a little hole on the tree. They put some food inside it. After maybe an hour the monkey came by. And the monkey found the food inside the hole. That must be a delicious food! So the monkey put its hand into it. It took the food in the hole and grabbed it. But, the monkey couldn’t withdraw it! It tried its best but it was all in vain! The monkey cannot open its hand and let go of the food on his hand. It can’t put its fingers out, because if it did, it would drop its food. So then, a native African came and catch the monkey!

Thousands of us are like that monkey, so busy holding on to our own possessions. We can’t let go of the material possessions. We have experience many moments of greed in our life. We have something but we don’t give it to those in need. We have some money in our pocket but we don’t want it to lend to others. We also need it and we need even more. We may think, “I really work hard for it. Why give it to others?” We can afford but we refuse to spend. We become selfish. We become greedy!

All three readings of today referred to material possessions. Money, property, possessions are very important for the living of our human lives. But a wrong attitude to these things can have terrible consequences - the consequences of greed. The first reading says, “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” For the writer, looking at things from a merely human point of view, life seems useless. Abundance of material doesn’t make our life meaningful. Human fulfillment will not be found in the things that are on the earth alone. We can only be found in 'the life we have with Christ in God' as Paul mentioned in his letter to the Colossians. Paul said, “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.”

Jesus warns us to “take care to guard against all greed.” Greed is the sign of lack of love of God in our lives. A rich man thinks he can control his own destiny by money, wealth and possessions. He has no thought of sharing it with the poor and less fortunate. Such a man is not rich in the eyes of God.

Money and possessions are important for our benefit and of our family. However, we are reminded that these material possessions don’t make our life meaningful. We have to learn to share it and give it to others.

Take a look at your hands. Are they closed like the monkey that can’t let go of the food? Closed hands cannot pray. Closed hands cannot care. Closed hands cannot give. Closed hands are greedy. God invites us now to open our hands – to become rich in the eyes of God by giving and sharing. We must learn to say, “No to greed!”