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POSTS FOR "Gospel reflection"

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Balik-Tanaw | Good news

Balik-Tanaw | Good news

I was walking with a colleague to the Surigao house we share and came to talk about her first foray into the city. A development worker, she had come from Iligan and had just been onboarded into a response team here in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Odette in 2021. Her work then must have been challenging, made even more difficult by the prevailing Covid. Being new here myself and getting a lot of help settling in, I was immediately reminded that I arrived at a better time.

Balik-Tanaw | Solitary life, lepers and Valentine’s Day

Balik-Tanaw | Solitary life, lepers and Valentine’s Day

On this feast of a martyr for God, let us remember the love of mothers who lost their sons and daughters to this nonsensical war on drugs, those healthcare workers serving the frontlines risking their lives out of love and care for Covid patients, the homeless, hungry and needy, the children suffering in desperate conditions, the women and children victims of domestic violence whose numbers have risen in the advent of the lockdown, the rising number of out-of-school youth and adults, the LGBTQ community pushed to the margins of society, and many more who suffer a martyrdom, a loss of the sense of self, a loss of a sense of hope.

Balik-Tanaw | Quiet time

Balik-Tanaw | Quiet time

Working in a school environment is such a tough, demanding and challenging mission, yet a gratifying one. It presents me with great joy and also with great challenges as well as frustrations and pains. My work allows me to encounter people from all walks of life, the learned and unschooled, the rich, powerful and famous, and those at the margins of society who are victims of impoverishment and social justice neglect.

Balik-Tanaw | Leading by example

Balik-Tanaw | Leading by example

A true leader goes to the people. That is what Jesus did when He went to Capernaum. He did not wait for people to go to Him. He was the one who went to the people. A true leader knows where to go -in the synagogue where people are. A true leader knows what to do -teach. A true leader knows how to do it -with authority.

Balik-Tanaw | Struggles of following Christ

Balik-Tanaw | Struggles of following Christ

The world we live in today continues to be a hostile place, especially for the majority who are deprived of the basics in life. Statistics would tell us that most of the world’s resources are held only by a few and the aphorism “the rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer” continues to be true. If we take a look at what’s happening around us, we can see that this is due to the fact that those who are in power wield such power with impunity, and those with wealth continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the ordinary people. This indeed is a hostile world for God’s people.

Balik-Tanaw | 10th Sunday after Pentecost: God is here and there is hope

Balik-Tanaw | 10th Sunday after Pentecost: God is here and there is hope

God is in every act of kindness that we extend to the people around us especially those who have lost much. In the midst of all the efforts that are being done to defeat this virus, in the midst of all the fear, doubt, desperation, anger, and frustration, an act of kindness is like a tiny, insignificant whispering sound. And yet it is there where hope springs anew. God is there.

Balik-Tanaw | Be the Wheat!

Balik-Tanaw | Be the Wheat!

The ownership of land is in the hands of the powerful people – the landed elites, the mighty corporations that exacted money out of the hard labor, sweat, and blood of the oppressed. They are the bureaucrats, the people in the governments who governed as if the fate of the people is in their hands to give or to put to an end.

Balik-Tanaw | Pentecost: Fear No One

Balik-Tanaw | Pentecost: Fear No One

It’s hard to be a prophet; it is difficult to tell and live by the truth, to raise our voice and denounce what is wrong. It is more comfortable to remain at the margins in silence and pretend not to see and hear what is happening, or to let the others talk. Still, if one wants a real change in our society, a community faithful to the Gospel and more docile to the spirit, if one aspires to a newness of life, prophets are needed. Like Jeremiah, may we have the courage to say what the Lord tells us, even at the risk of life.

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