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The Future Glory versus the Present Suffering (Transfiguration of the Lord)

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To imagine or think about the BEAUTY OF WHAT LIES AHEAD is enough to help us endure the PAINS of what currently obtains. The JOY of being successful in exams is enough to motivate a student to apply himself or herself to studies, not minding the rigors and the stress. The BEAUTY of promotion in the workplace and the JOY of laughing all the way to the bank at the end of every month are enough to motivate an employee to work harder, despite the pains and difficulties he/she may be going through. The Transfiguration of Jesus was a very auspicious moment of encounter in which the future leaders of the early Church (Peter, James and John) had a faint idea or a foretaste of the glory that awaits them in the world-to-come. This encounter must have prepared them for the agony in the garden and must have given them strength and courage to go through the grinding and bitter experiences of witnessing to their faith while on earth. The vision of Daniel in the first reading (Daniel 7:9-10.13-14...
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Hireling Mindset (Wednesday, Week 20, Year II)

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Through Ezekiel (34:1-11), God took the shepherds of Israel to task for feeding on the sheep instead of feeding the sheep.  A better word that qualifies a bad shepherd is a hireling. The interest of the hireling shepherd is to feed on the sheep, not to feed the sheep. A true shepherd takes the sheep as his own and must be ready and willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of the sheep, but a hireling shepherd sacrifices the lives of the sheep for his gains.  In simple and clear terms, a hireling is purely intent on the amount of money or the material gains that he will make, not on the quality of service that he ought to render. Many of us work with a hireling mindset: the quality of the work or services that we do or render is purely determined by the material gains we expect to make. Sometimes, we even relate with God, worship or serve Him on the basis of the material benefits that we expect to get. For many of us, we must be rewarded materially for fasting, for paying tit...
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Peace I give you (Tuesday, Easter 5, 2021)

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In His farewell speech, Jesus mentioned that He would leave his peace with his disciples; that He would give them peace, not the kind of peace that the world gives (cf. John 14:27-31). So, which “peace” was He actually talking about? The exact Hebrew word translated as “peace” in John 14:27 is “shalom”. “Shalom” never means simply the absence of trouble. Barclay clarifies that “the peace which the world offers us is the peace of escape, the peace which comes from the avoidance of trouble and from refusing to face things. But the peace which Jesus offers us is the peace of conquest.” It is the kind of peace which no experience of life can ever take away from us; it is the kind of peace which no sorrow, no danger, no suffering can ever make less; it is the kind of peace which naturally comes to us independent of any outward circumstances. Jesus knew that Christians would face very hostile circumstances. By the virtue of their calling, they would be seen as the “dregs” of society. By thei...
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