Sunday, May 19, 2013


To readers and followers of this blog:

I am very sorry I have not been able to update this blog lately. For one thing, I have not been well. There are other compelling reasons which have made it very difficult for me to update it. I hope you will understand.

Thank you.

Bro. Abelardo "Abel" Navarro

P.S.

I very much appreciate your comments and reactions. Perhaps, God wants a new direction for this  blog. I am toying with the idea of forming a team to manage and update it. How does this sound to you? Let me know your thoughts and suggestions. 

Thank you!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Daily Gospel & Reflection, Monday, April 29, 2013


Acts 14:5-18
Psalm 115
John 14:21-26

Worship Song


Entrance Antiphon

All you who fear God, both the great and small, give praise to him! For his salvation and strength have come, the power of Christ, alleluia. (Revelation 19:5; 12:10)

Opening Prayer

Father, you restored your people to eternal life by raising Christ your Son from death. Make our faith strong and our hope sure. May we never doubt that you will fulfill the promises you have made. We ask this in the name of your Son.

Alleluia

Alleluia, alleluia. Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and so enter into his glory. Alleluia, alleluia. (Luke 24:46)

The Advocate

[Jesus said to his disciples,] 21“Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” 22Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. 25“I have told you this while I am with you. 26The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.”

Reflection

 “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” ~ Jesus in v. 21

“I shall indicate to you the practice, which alone makes a man firm in the good and keeps him such from beginning to end: and this is – love God with all your soul, all your heart and all your mind, and work for him alone. God will give you great strength and joy … and in adversity, by struggling and prevailing … you gradually become stronger and stronger and fear evil no more.” ~ St. Anthony the Great

If you asked Jesus how well you have observed his commandments, what do you think he will say to you?

Prayer Response

Lord Jesus, live in me. Fill me with your Spirit. Teach me to obey you, trust you and love you always. Amen

Suggested Action

Do you know of someone who needs your love and caring support? Minister to that person.

“The worth of a kind deed lies in the love that inspired it.” ~ The Talmud

Silencing

In order to pray well we must be free from anything which separates us from God. Some attachments which make prayer difficult are: anger, resentment, unmet needs, and worries. If our mind is attached to these things our heart will not be free to love and pray. You can remove these distractions by imitating the prayer method of Jesus. His prayer was always in response to his Father’s love.

For the other readings today please go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Daily Gospel & Reflection, Sunday, April 28, 2013



Worship Song

Glory and Praise to Our God http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iRqiS6fcqw

Entrance Antiphon

O sing a new song to he Lord, for he has worked wonders, in the ssight of th nations he has shown his deliverance. (Psalm 98:1-2)

Collect
May your people exult forever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption , we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ…

Alleluia

Alleluia, alleluia. I give you a new commandment says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you. Alleluia, alleluia.


31When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32[If God is glorified in him,] God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. 33My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you. 34I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. 35This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reflection

Frederico Fellini’s film La Strada opened in 1954 and became a classic. In one unforgettable scene a clown is talking to a young woman. She has grown weary of trying to love unlovable and unloving people, and she wants nothing more to do with them. As the conversation ends and the young woman turns to leave, the clown says to her, “But if you don’t love these people, who will love them?”

The clown’s words to the young woman and Jesus’ words to his disciples  invite me to inventory how ready I am to take to heart what thy say.

“To love the world is no big chore. It’s that miserable person next door who is the problem.” ~ Anonymous

Reflection Credits: Fr. Mark Link, SJ; Daly Homilies

Prayer Response

Dear Lord, teach me to love the unlovable.

Suggested Action

Pray for the people you find difficult to love.

Silencing

“By reflecting on what we have read, dwelling on it, trying to understand what it is saying to me, what it says today, we open our spirit to what the Lord wants to tell us and teach us.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

For the other readings today please go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/

Friday, April 26, 2013

Daily Gospel & Reflection, Saturday, April 27, 2013


Acts 13:44-52
Psalm 98
John 14:7-14

Worship Song


Entrance Antiphon

You are a people God claims as his own, to praise him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, alleluia. (1 Peter 2:9)

Opening Prayer

Father, may we whom you renew in baptism bear witness to our faith by the way we live. By the suffering, death, and resurrection of your Son may we come to eternal joy. We ask this…

Alleluia

Alleluia, alleluia. If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, says the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia. (John 8:31b-32)

The Father is in Jesus

7If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. 12Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

Reflection

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth* and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ~ v. 6

I didn’t learn much about God growing up Catholic in the fifties. I spent most of my catechetical youth learning how to dodge the grip of Sister Frumetius. That woman had hands big enough to palm a basketball. Most often, however, she would simply palm my face. I used to come home with her fingerprints on my cheeks. She’d squeeze my mouth into fish lips while she screamed at me. The secret to surviving catechism with Sister Frumentius was getting the answers to the questions right.

So I did learn that we were created to know God, love God, and serve God. It must be important, then, for us to get to know Jesus, because if we know him, we know God. So I try to spend some of my time and money studying the gospel, serving the poor, comforting the sick, feeding the hungry, visiting prisoners, and so on. For as often as we do that for them, we do it for him. That’s how we get to know Jesus and, through him, God.

Prayer Response

Jesus, you reveal God to us through your own self. You show us through your words and actions. O Lord, may we become like you and reach out in compassion to the needy so that we may join you in your union with God.

Suggested Action

Look for God today in someone you might consider to be poor and lowly. Get to know that person better. Think about what you learned.

Credits: Fr. Paul Boudreau, Between Sundays

Silencing/Thought for the Day

“We want to give our children what we didn’t have; but let’s make sure we give them what we did have: our faith.” ~ Anonymous

For the other readings today please go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Daily Gospel & Reflection, Friday, April 26, 2013


Acts 13:26-33
Psalm 2
John 14:1-6

Worship Song

How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place, O Lord http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFLallGjDMI

Entrance Antiphon

By your blood, O Lord, you have redeemed us from every tribe and tongue, from every nation and people; you have made us into the kingdom of God, alleluia. (Revelation 5:9-10)

Opening Prayer

Father of our freedom and salvation; hear the prayers of those redeemed by your Son’s suffering. Through you may we have life; with you may we have eternal joy. We ask this…

Alleluia

Alleluia, alleluia. I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me. Alleluia, alleluia. (John 14:6)

Jesus Makes a Promise

1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 4Where [I] am going you know the way.” 5Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Reflection

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ~ Jesus in v. 6

The Lord speaks before the Ascension. He tells his disciples that he must go away. Thomas was puzzled at the exact destination of the Lord. Jesus answers him not with heavenly directions or ancient cosmology but with the assurance that he is the way, truth and life. The Lord says that to know what and where heaven is, we should remain in him. We will then have some experience of the glory, the deep healing, the joy and fulfillment which heaven is. Our access to the domain of God is only through Jesus. What that fulfillment of heaven is will depend on our needs, wounds and searchings. Generically it is fulfillment. The concrete shape of that fulfillment depends on our needs and psychological framework.

Point: The objective truths of our religion must be preached in a way that satisfies the human needs they were meant to address.

Reflection Credits: Rev. S. Jospeh Krempa, Daily Homilies

Prayer Response

Loving Father, thank you for your boundless love. Let us learn to love you in return by caring for those you have entrusted to our care. Help us to always rejoice in your Son’s resurrection.

Suggested Action

Jesus promised that he will prepare a dwelling place for us in heaven. In your mind’s eye, draw a picture of your heavenly home.

“The goal of religion is not to get us into heaven – but to get heaven into us.” ~ Anonymous

Silencing

We cannot know God unless we have listened to him in the silence of our hearts. Rest in the loving arms of the Lord with an open mind and an open heart.

For the other readings today please go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Daily Gospel & Reflection, Thursday, April 25, 2013


Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist

1 Peter 5: 5b-14, 1st Reading
Psalm 89
Mark 16:15-20

Worship Song


Entrance Antiphon

Go out to the whole world, and preach the gospel to all creation, alleluia (Mark 16:15).

Opening Prayer

Father, you gave Saint Mark the privilege of proclaiming your gospel. May we profit by his wisdom and follow Christ more faithfully. Grant this…

Alleluia

Alleluia, alleluia. We proclaim Christ crucified, he is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Alleluia, alleluia. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)

Jesus Missions the Disciples

15He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

19So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. 20But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

Reflection

“The Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” ~ v. 20b

The most convincing proof of the resurrection is the transformation that took place in Jesus’ followers after it. B. F. Rhein says of them:

“Off they went with burning urgency to tell the news to all the world. The Messiah had come. Truly the kingdom of God was at hand. Their lives were led for that end and for that end alone. No amount of persecution could stop them.”

The followers of Jesus enjoyed a new relationship with the risen Lord. He was able to work with and through them in a remarkable new way. They were now his hands, his heart, his tongue.

Can we recall a time when Jesus worked through us in a special way?

Reflection Credits: Mark Link, SJ; Daily Homilies

Prayer Response

Lord Jesus, empower us to be your witnesses. Fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we may serve you well.

Suggested Action

Be sensitive to the leading of Holy Spirit. Where and how are you being called to proclaim the gospel?

“The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s people – strengthened by preaching and sacrament – go out of the church into the world to be the church.” ~ Ernest Southcott

Silencing

We cannot know God unless we have listened to him in the silence of our hearts. Rest in the loving arms of the Lord with an open mind and an open heart.

For the other readings today please go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Daily Gospel & Reflection, Wednesday, April 24, 2013


Acts 12:24-13:5a
Psalm 67
John 12:44-50

Worship Song


Entrance Antiphon

I will be a witness to you in the world, O Lord, I will spread the knowledge of your name among my brothers, alleluia. (Psalm 17:50; 21:23)

Opening Prayer

Father, you raised saints to be outstanding defenders of the truth of Christ’s divinity. By their teaching may we grow in your knowledge and love. We ask this…

Alleluia

Alleluia, alleluia. I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia, alleluia. (John 8:12)

Jesus talks about his mission

44Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, 45and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. 46I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 47And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. 48Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, 49because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. 50And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

Reflection

“I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.” ~ Jesus in v. 46

A group of Chinese Christian clergymen invited an American professor of Scripture to give them a workshop on the Bible. In the course of the workshop the professor asked the clergymen to pick out the episode in the Gospel that impressed them most. To his surprise, they did not choose the Sermon on the Mount, the crucifixion of Jesus, or the resurrection of Jesus. They chose Jesus’ washing of the disciple’s feet.

The choice of the Chinese clergymen fits in perfectly with what Jesus says in today’s gospel about his mission. He came to the world to be its light. In other words he came into the world to serve.

How well do we imitate Jesus’ life of service?

Reflection Credits: Fr. Mark Link, SJ; Daily Homilies

Prayer Response

Lord Jesus, be my light. “Shine through me and be so in me that every person I come in contact with will feel your presence in my soul.”

Action Response

Reflect on how your light can shine ever more brightly in your family, church community, and workplace. Put into action.

“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” ~ Mark 10:45

Silencing

We cannot know God unless we have listened to him in the silence of our hearts. Rest in the loving arms of the Lord with an open mind and an open heart.

For the other readings today please go to http://www.usccb.org/nab/