I was never naturally confident. In my younger years, this was my deepest wound.

Growing up, I was often teased for my petite frame. I was called names like Ikay Bukikay, Butike (lizard), and Payatot (scraggy). My family struggled financially, so my aunt took me to the province, where I could get a good education without burdening my parents. In exchange, I helped clean the house and worked in their bakery.

Being away from my family was tough. I battled homesickness and insecurity, especially when I saw my cousins living in luxury—traveling abroad and enjoying things I could only dream of. I felt small, unworthy, and lacking.

But today’s reading is a reminder: True confidence doesn’t come from possessions, achievements, or status. These things fade. Instead, our confidence should be rooted in God—the one true Cornerstone who never fails. 

In Him, I find my worth, my strength, and the assurance that I am enough. 

Erika Mendoza Ventura (erika.m@svrtv.com)

reflect

Where do you draw your confidence from? 

Lord, I hold on to You. May I be grounded in Your love so I can draw my confidence from You.

St. John Joseph of the Cross, pray for us.

To bear good fruit for God’s Kingdom, let us place our trust in Him and His will. We may think we know what is best for us and others, but discovering God’s will is the only way to know and act on the best advice. Let us pray for the grace to discern and understand God’s will for us.

⁵ Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. ⁶ He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. ⁷ Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. ⁹ More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it? ¹⁰ I, the Lord, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6

R: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

¹ Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, ² but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. (R) ³ He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. (R) ⁴ Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. ⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. (R)

Gospel | Luke 16:19-31

Each of us will have opportunities to show mercy and compassion toward others. Let us avoid making the same mistakes as the rich man in today’s Gospel. May we open our hearts to other people’s difficulties and do what is possible to help them.

Gospel Acclamation

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.

¹⁹ Jesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. ²⁰ And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹ who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. ²² When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’ ²⁵ Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. ²⁶ Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ ²⁷ He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, ²⁸ for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they, too, come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ ³⁰ He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ ³¹ Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Read the Bible in one year! Read REVELATION 1 - 3 today.

The readings today invite us to reflect on this truth we often forget: much of what matters in life grows slowly in secret.

Jeremiah reminds us that the person who trusts in the Lord is like a tree planted beside the waters, with roots that go deep and wide. Psalm 1 echoes this image: the one who delights in God bears fruit in due season. In the spiritual life, fruitfulness is the quiet outcome of where we have chosen to root our lives. 

The Gospel story seems like a jarring shift at first: the rich man living comfortably and Lazarus suffering at his gate. But it is also about hidden realities becoming visible. Outwardly, it looked like the rich man had everything and Lazarus had nothing. But when the hidden roots were finally revealed, it was Lazarus who had found his home in God. It was Lazarus who had grown, quietly and unseen, into a soul ready for eternal life. It is a sobering and hopeful reminder that what we cultivate in secret matters far more than what others can see.

Coffee trees come to mind. In the early seasons, they may look ordinary and unremarkable, but beneath the soil, their roots are strengthening, reaching deep for water. In much the same way, the fruits of faith, hope, mercy, and courage are formed in the quiet decisions of trust made again and again, often when no one is looking.

Today’s readings ask us: Where are our roots growing? What kind of life are we nurturing when no one else sees? 

Perhaps the most important work we do in this life will be the slowest, quietest, and least celebrated. But if our roots are deep in God, we will find ourselves bearing fruit that endures—not only in this world, but into eternity. And that, in the end, is the kind of life worth growing. 

Fr. Albert Garong, SSP

reflection question

Where in your life are you being called to trust the slow, hidden growth that God is working within you?

Lord, help me to always choose to put my roots in You and in nothing else—the one True Vine of life. Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________________________