Dear Family of God,

What is freedom?

Freedom is doing what is good. Love is willing the good of the other. Willing or doing evil is deprivation of freedom, in other words, when we choose to sin, we are not acting freely, we are slaves to sin.

This weekend’s reading warns us that it is our final decision for or against God, that is, our choosing to obey Him by doing His will, or our choosing to go against His will, which will decide our eternal reward, or eternal punishment. As free beings, it is we who choose our eternal destiny.

As we do not know the moment death will strike, our only guarantee of dying in God's friendship is to live in that friendship always, saying “Yes” to God in our deeds. We should become men and women who profess our Faith in word and deed, remembering that, "Not all those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in Heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

Dear Family of God,

God does not deal with us “fairly” and it is a good thing! We should be thankful God does not give us what we deserve. The parable this weekend tells us that our Heavenly reward is not something we earn, but rather a free gift. God has made His rewards available to all through Faith in Christ Jesus. Indeed, as Isaiah says: “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Is. 55:9). Heaven is a gift to us by God, it is all about graces that He is willing to give to those who are willing to receive them. Grace is an "undeserved love" that God has shown us through the death and Resurrection of His only Son Jesus Christ.

Dear Family of God,

Do you know that the “Lord’s Prayer” is a dangerous prayer?

What I refer to when I say dangerous, is the phrase “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We take a risk if we do not forgive others. It is as if we are asking God not to forgive us. If we want to be forgiven, we must first forgive those who have wronged us.

The Book of Sirach says: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven” (Sir. 28:2). When we forgive from the heart then God heals us from past hurts and we are at peace with God, with others, and with ourselves. On the other hand, unforgiveness is selfdestructive, it hinders our growth and robs us of peace.

Dear Family of God,

What is fraternal correction?

Why it is important?

St. Paul said, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Charity is the fulfilment of the law and our being. God who is love made us for love also, only when we love that we will attain true joy in life. Correcting an erring brother or sister especially when they are young, is a form of love. We care enough for them that we don’t want them to persist in error that will be self-destructive or will lead them to prison.

Dear Family of God,

Who is a Christian?

Christians are followers of Christ, they are called to live their lives in a different way from others around them. Christian discipleship demands honesty, the willingness to suffer (“take up your cross”), generosity (“to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God”), and readiness to follow Jesus by obeying his commandment of love. To follow our Lord is to imitate his life in the way He fulfills the Father’s plan, that is, through suffering. His example is left for us to follow, not just listening to it or admiring his great deeds, no, he wants us to do the same.

Dear Family of God,

How do we know the truth? It is either by Human Reason or Divine Revelation (Faith) or both, by reason and faith.

How are we certain it is the truth? When it corresponds to reality. We are not acting in truth if we use a knife as screw driver. Both the knife and the screw will be ruined.

Jesus asked: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” This experience of trying to identify Jesus by human reason alone can be wrong. These people are living with Jesus, but they missed knowing who He is. This teaching is clearly telling us that we need a guide to know who really Jesus is.

Dear Family of God,

I often remember a poem that I would like to share with you. It was written by Elizabeth Cheney and is called, “The Robin and the Sparrow."

Said the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know, Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.” Said the sparrow to the robin, “Friend I think that it must be, That they have no Heavenly Father, Such as cares for you and me.”

In this time of many storms or crisis, we need to pause and remember that that we have a loving Father who wants what is best for us.

We need to renew our trust in Him alone for we know that this world is passing away, one thing necessary is our meaningful relationship with Jesus, who will give us peace, and will lead us to eternal salvation.

One of the things we have had to deal with during this pandemic and the civil unrest in our country is the need to discern what is true and what is false in the conversations that have been going on. We are being bombarded with very strong public opinions about these crises.

We know through common sense that not all public opinion is good and not all is bad either. But we must be aware that most of the times, the motive behind most public opinion is convenience. Because of our flawed human condition, our natural typical response to crisis and the search for truth is to go for the most convenient and most acceptable choice(s). But often times choices made out of convenience and general acceptability do not always solve the problem.

Dear Family of God,

In the bible, we hear about a man took a little food and multiplied it in order to feed many.

This happened in 2 Kings 4 and his name was Elisha. That’s right. Elisha.

He was known as one of the chief miracle workers of the Old Testament. He was rightfully held in tremendous esteem by all Jewish people.

He took twenty loaves and through the power of God, he feeds 100 people. Talk about miraculous!

Then, Jesus comes along and in the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels (including the Gospel to be read this Sunday), he takes a fourth as many loaves and feeds fifty times more men. (Additionally, he feeds all the women and children present, so the total number could’ve easily doubled that.) And he doesn’t do it through someone else’s power. He IS God. It is HIS power.

Dear Family of God,

Telling parables is Jesus’ way of teaching us new things, a new way of thinking, new attitudes in life; His way. The Parable of wheat and weeds is teaching us the mystery of evil; that God is not the source of evil, it is the enemy. We have a tendency to make a quick judgement now, “pulling out the weeds”, but God is teaching us not to pull out the weeds, but wait until the harvest time. First, so that we don’t harm the wheat and second so that the weeds (or the bad ones) will be given a chance to repent, be converted and be saved.

Evil cannot thwart God’s plan. He allows evil so that something greater may come out of it. Joseph’s brothers had an evil plan to sell him into slavery in Egypt, but God’s plan was to use him to save his whole family, and the whole nation from famine. The greatest example of this is that Jesus’ Crucifixion becomes the source of our salvation. God wants us all to trust in Him and be patient with everyone, then do our part in building His Kingdom on earth.

Dear Family of God,

Jesus explains the Parable of the Seed and the Soil: “The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundredfold...” (Matthew 13:23). To listen to the word of God is not enough, we have to understand it too, that is put it into practice in our lives so it will bear fruit. Saint James said in his letter: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

I remembered an anecdote regarding the parable of the coconut; a mature coconut must be eaten, or, it has to be planted for new life. If we just keep it, it will rot and be wasted. The same is true for the Word of God; just hearing the Word and doing nothing is not enough, it has to have a transforming effect on our lives, bearing fruit and helping others to be “fed”, or influenced by it.

Dear Family of God,

The Gospel this weekend is very timely as we reopen our Church, after a three-week rest. Jesus gives us an invitation that He alone can truly provide for us who trust in Him: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).

This invitation of Jesus is opposite to what the world teaches us, “Do-it-yourself” attitude, that we are entirely independent; create our own futures, do not depend on anyone else. In other words, that we should simply save ourselves. This is the lie of the enemy; this is the lie of pride. We all need God, and He is a providential Father, he won’t leave us orphans, we are always under his care. The wisdom of humility helps us to recognize that in God’s eyes we are included among the “little ones.” We do not reach the Father by being more learned and clever. We come to know the Father by following Jesus, who reveals the Father to us. Jesus Himself is the way to the Father. He teaches us to be, like him, meek and humble of heart.

Dear Family of God,

Do you know a story about what St. Philip Neri did when he saw someone leaving church right after Communion?

He sent servers with candles and bells to accompany the man. The guy stormed back into the Church and confronted the priest. "What kind of joke is this?" he demanded. St. Philip Neri said, "It's no joke. The rules of the liturgy say the Blessed Sacrament should be treated with reverence. You left the Church immediately with no prayer of thanksgiving. You were carrying the Blessed Sacrament within you. So I asked the boys to accompany you to honor Him."

After Communion you and I are tabernacles - the physical presence of Jesus continues in us for a brief time. That's why we have the Communion hymn, a time of silence, the Communion Prayer -- and even the announcements, to build up the Body of Christ in practical ways. I encourage you to use well the time after Communion to say thanks, to express your gratitude, and to pray for one another. Pray that we will all be bearers of God’s love to our broken world.

Dear Family of God,

What is Holy Trinity? Or more precisely, who is the Holy Trinity?

The Catechism teaches that “by sending his Son and the Holy Spirit of love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He has destined us to share in that exchange” (CCC 221).

Jesus is the revelation of the Father; He became Man to show us the Father. He became human like us, so He can show us the Love of the Father. He came so that we can share in the eternal exchange of love of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Christ saves us from sin and selfishness so that we can share in the total self-giving love of the Holy Trinity through our union with Him, and through the Holy Spirit.