Called

The story is told about a child who told his mother: “Mama, you are being called by my teacher because I misbehaved in our school.”  After some thought, the mother said: “That’s unfair. If you misbehave in our house, do I call your teacher to come to our house?”

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Today is Trinity Sunday. In today’s Gospel (Jn. 3,16-18), we hear the most important verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” What a consolation, what a joy, to know that we are loved, and that we are all called to share in the life and love of the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

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No matter how we have misbehaved, the good news is that we are all welcome into the Trinitarian circle of love. We are all unworthy servants, but we all have been invited to God’s very heart! What a blessing, what a privilege!

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Speaking of privileges, something made me smile last week. When I asked for the bill for my bowl of noodles, the waitress said: “Sir, do you have a privilege card?” It took me some time to figure out what she meant. She was actually asking if I had a senior citizen’s card! That was very kind of her. Not only that, it made me realize that being a senior citizen is indeed a privilege, that I have privileges!  The Lord reminds us today that we are privileged, and that we do have privileges!

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It is a privilege to be connected with the Trinity. We have not only instant but also unlimited access. And not only that, we have interactive access within our reach. With the Trinity, a network is always available, unlimited and toll-free.

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Please remember that our life is a journey. It can be a difficult journey filled with tears and fears. It can also be a very lonely journey. The biggest assurance and consolation in our journey through life is that we are journeying with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are always with us!

Our life is a journey with the Trinity and to the Trinity. Our life has a direction. We have a final destination, Heaven, where we will be fully united with the Trinity. May the Holy Triune God live in our hearts now and in eternity. On the road WITH the Trinity, TO the Trinity.

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Happy Father’s Day! First of all, let us thank our Heavenly Father. He knows everything, He sees everything, He will take care of everything. May we continue to trust Him and really live a life that is pleasing unto Him.

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Let us remember and thank the Lord for our own fathers. Only God knows their love for us and the sacrifices they have made for us. I look forward to the day when I can embrace my Papa again, someday. What a reunion that would be!

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Let us remember and pray for all fathers, for them to realize the value of, and the responsibility they have for, those who come after them. In a special way we pray for our political and government fathers, who affect the lives of so many Filipinos by their good behavior or misbehavior.

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The Trinitarian example of sharing is something we all must emulate. Those in power must share their power. We need a system, and we need leaders who are real agents of people empowerment. We are too focused on our elected officials and personalities. There must be a new way of doing politics, and government; otherwise, it will still be “the same old story” years from now, “as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be, world without end.” Amen.

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On Father’s Day, we your priests humbly ask for your prayers. Sharing with you a “Prayer for Priests”: O almighty, eternal God, look upon the face of your Christ, and for love of Him who is the eternal High Priest, have pity on your priests. Remember, o most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them close to you, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation. O Jesus, I pray for your faithful and fervent priests; for your unfaithful and tepid priests; for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for your lonely and desolate priests; for your young priests; for your aged priests, for the sick priests; for your dying priests; for the soul of your priests in purgatory.

But above all, I commend to you the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me of my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me or helped and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly (state the priests’ names).  O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.

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A moment with the Lord:

Thank you for calling us to you, Oh, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.