Memorial of the Presentation of the

Blessed Virgin Mary

“You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” – Revelation 10:11

       “I’m gonna sing with them one day.” That was my vow at the age of 14 as I watched our adult music ministry worship the Lord during our community’s prayer meeting. It was my highest goal at the time — to serve God on stage with my talents. I eventually did that, but the Lord had bigger plans for me.

       Today, I serve God on a much larger stage as a full-time servant of the Light of Jesus Family. I’m the creative director of Shepherd’s Voice Radio and Television Foundation, the media office that produces all the radio, TV and Internet programs of Bo Sanchez, and mounts all the big events of the Light of Jesus Family. I’m also editor of FiSH magazine, a magazine that over 40 schools subscribe to nationwide. I’ve preached God’s Word at live gatherings here and abroad and also on an Internet program called Preacher in Blue Jeans (preacherinbluejeans.com) with other fantastic preachers. I’m using my talents in ways I never dreamed of, reaching people I never imagined I’d be in touch with.

       Truly, nothing can stop God’s Word from reaching His people far and wide if only enough of us would offer our lives to His service. George Tolentino Gabriel (george.svp@gmail.com)

Reflection: How many people do you want to reach with your message? Offer your talent to God and let Him take you to places you’ve never expected.

St. Gelasius, pray for us.

The promise of the prophet Zechariah is that a Messiah is coming. The people of Israel need hope as they are suffering and in danger of losing trust in God. This is a danger that haunts us as we are not immune to suffering or problems. It is almost inevitable that we will be tempted to despair. Knowledge of the promises of God and His faithfulness will help us through it.

8 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me. Then the voice spoke to me and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, “Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.” 10 I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then someone said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

R: How sweet to my taste is your promise!

14 In the way of your decrees I rejoice, as much as in all riches. (R) 24 Yes, your decrees are my delight; they are my counselors. (R) 72 The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (R) 103 How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (R) 111 Your decrees are my inheritance forever; the joy of my heart they are. (R) 131 I gasp with open mouth in my yearning for your commands. (R)

One of the things that Jesus makes very clear during His ministry is that discipleship depends on our choices. It is a matter of whether we choose to be

disciples or not. Will you follow the Gospel principles or not? The challenge is that we do not know where God will lead us. Are we ready to go wherever Jesus takes us?

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.

45 Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, 46 saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” 47 And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, 48 but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

think:  We do not know where God will lead us. Are we ready to go wherever He takes us?

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Jeremiah 47-49

A HOUSE OF PRAYER, NO LESS!

Life now is almost like a perpetual balancing act. There is the need to safeguard the sacred nature of the place of worship — the physical church — and the corresponding need to uphold solemnity and proper liturgical decorum of both the clergy and the laity. But at the same time, there is the need for our places of worship to be as welcoming as possible in order to attract those who are not among the so-called “dynamic Catholics” but who are disengaged, not totally unchurched, but not quite involved either.

       The need to make the liturgy alive, appealing and attractive to these “seasonal Catholics” can take the focus away from being “prim and proper” (read: orthodox and solemn) in the way we celebrate liturgy. Move too far toward the popular and the mundane and one offends the sensibilities of those who have decided to stay on the side of the solemn and the sublime.

       Whatever position we are in, there is no doubt that there have been abuses and excesses on both sides. Somewhere in between the two extremes lies the golden mean, that which does not leave a bitter aftertaste and produces rancor even among those who claim to be staunch Catholics.

       The two camps who differ in style and approach, I would like to think, are really one in their aim and goal — the very same goal that led the Lord to take up the cudgels for God and proceed to drive out the sellers in the temple. Those who want the liturgy to be chic and popular, on the one hand, and those who insist on solemnity and seriousness, on the other, really have evangelization in mind, to draw people to the Church, not away from it.

       There is a point, however, when even evangelizers need to draw the line. There is a point, too, when talk about God’s will, that tastes sweet initially, turns out to be sour in the belly when opposition begins to take shape.

       The Lord must have faced stiff opposition from those who turned the temple into a cathedral of commerce. “My house shall be a house of prayer!” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTION: How welcoming are you to the unchurched?

Lord, grant me a heart that includes — not excludes — the unchurched and the disengaged.

May my life’s witness draw them closer to You.