READINGS

FIRST READING: Jer 17:5-8
PSALM: Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 15:12, 16-20
GOSPEL: Lk 6:17, 20-26

VIDEO

The video below can be downloaded here.

HOMILIES

• The Blessing of Persecution [www.bible.claret.org]
  As ever, Jesus gives the lie to many of our assumptions. He was the word become flesh and he entered a sinful community. By word and act he showed that he was on the side of the sinful. He said that sinners would be the first in his kingdom and he spent much of his time with people who were despised as sinners. His problem was with the self-righteous, self-sufficient and self-enclosing religious leaders who considered themselves above others and cut themselves off from those whom they called sinners. Read more…
• Do Good to Those Who Hate You, Pray for Those Who Abuse You [dailyscripture.net]
  Jesus showed his listeners how sorrow could be turned to happiness for those who truly wanted to live as free citizens of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ “beatitudes” both amazed and challenged his listeners to discover the true souce of happiness and joy. The word beatitude literally means happiness or blessedness. Jesus’ way of happiness, however, demands a transformation from within — a conversion of heart and mind which can only come about through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Read more…
• 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time [www.catholicmatters.com]
  No follower of Christ is forbidden to enjoy the legitimate joys of life, but every Christian must be prepared to accept life’s pains and sorrows as well. We are pilgrims and strangers on this earth, making our way to heaven. The lighter our pack the easier and faster we travel. But there are cares and responsibilities, according to each one’s vocation in life, which we may not and must not shirk. If we face these responsibilities honestly and cheerfully, realizing that they are the means by which God wishes us to gain our eternal reward, then they will be less burdensome and less heavy for us. Read more…

IMAGES

To view and download their full size versions, please click on the images or the names of the artists/sources.

CLIPART

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The following presentation can be downloaded here.

GOSPEL TOON

By www.cartoonstock.com

READINGS

FIRST READING: Is 6:1-2a, 3-8
PSALM: Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 15:1-11 or 15:3-8, 11
GOSPEL: Lk 5:1-11

VIDEO

The video below can be downloaded here.

HOMILIES

• Where “Down” Means “Up” and “Up” Means “Down” [www.bible.claret.org]
  Peter is the first person in the Gospel to acknowledge his sinfulness; he is also the first person to be called by Jesus. The Good News of the gospel is that God does not get nervous at the news of our sinfulness. He can handle sinners. Our God is one who gives sinners a new start. The scribes and pharisees liked to keep people prisoners of their sins but not so for Jesus. He moves Peter from protestation of sinfulness to the work that is ahead of him. It is important that we acknowledge our sinfulness but then to get up and live again – trusting not so much in our own goodness as in that of God. Read more…
• Do Not Be Afraid; Henceforth You Will Be Catching Men [dailyscripture.net]
  Jesus speaks the same message to us today: we will “catch people” for the kingdom of God if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us. God wants others to see the light of Christ in us in the way we live, speak, and witness the joy of the gospel… Do you witness to those around you the joy of the gospel and do you pray for your neighbors, co-workers, and relatives that they may come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in the knowledge of his love? Read more…
• 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [www.catholicmatters.com]
  How the wisdom of God differs from the wisdom of men! If a businessman of today (or even of the year 28 A.D.) were choosing a chairman and assistants for the world-wide enterprise he was about to set up, is it likely that he would choose them from among the unknown, unlettered fishermen of Galilee? Yet Christ, who was about to set up not only a world-wide institute but an everlasting one, chose these simple fishermen and made them his assistants and his successors in the work that he had taken in hand. Read more…

IMAGES

To view and download their full size versions, please click on the images or the names of the artists/sources.

CLIPART

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The following presentation can be downloaded here.

GOSPEL TOON

By ReverendFun

READINGS

FIRST READING: Jer 1:4-5, 17-19
PSALM: Ps 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 12:31—13:13 or 13:4-13
GOSPEL: Lk 4:21-30

HOMILIES

• He Broke All of the Rules [www.bible.claret.org]
  Poor Jesus didn’t have a chance! He broke all of the rules. When he began to preach he had just come in from a long fast in the desert looking like a starved animal. He addressed his own people and told them the truth about themselves. They answered “Who does this fellow think he is? Isn’t he the son of Joe the Panday?” He challenged them to change their ways and to become responsible for themselves. So what did the people do? They eventually took him out and crucified him. But even in death Jesus did not keep the rules. In the business world a dead competitor is no longer a threat. But Jesus came back and the kingdom he established has continued through the ages while empires have risen and collapsed. Read more…
• Today this Scripture has been Fulfilled in Your Hearing [dailyscripture.net]
  How would you react if Jesus spoke this message in your worshipping community? It was customary for Jesus to go weekly to the synagogue to worship and on occasion to read the scriptures and comment on them to the people. His hometown folks listened with rapt attention on this occasion because they had heard about the miracles he had performed in other towns. What sign would he do in his hometown? Jesus startled them with a seeming rebuke that no prophet or servant of God can receive honor among his own people. He then angered them when he complimented the gentiles who seemed to have shown more faith in God than the “chosen ones” of Israel. They regarded gentiles as “fuel for the fires of hell”. Jesus’ praise for “outsiders” caused them offence because they were blind-sighted to God’s mercy and plan of redemption for all nations. Read more…
• 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time [www.catholicmatters.com]
  We would not, of course, openly deny Christ, much less try, like his neighbors in Nazareth, to throw him to his death over a cliff; but how often in our private actions, and in our dealings with our neighbors, do we push him and his doctrine quietly aside and act as if we knew him not. In this we are no better than Christ’s neighbors of Nazareth and we grieve his loving heart as much as they did on that sad day. Am I one of those (each one of us can ask himself)? Do I really love Christ or, to put it in a more personal way, do I really love myself? If I do, I will not risk losing my place in the eternal kingdom for the sake of some paltry pleasure or gain in this present life which will end for me so very soon. Read more…

IMAGES

To view and download their full size versions, please click on the images or the names of the artists/sources.

CLIPART

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The following presentation can be downloaded here.

VIDEO

The video below shows Jesus declaring that the Scripture passage He has just read has come true in Him. But the crowd rose up and led Him to the brow of the hill that they might throw Him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them Jesus went away. It can be downloaded here.

The Pope recognizes that priests need to employ new communication technologies for a fruitful priestly ministry. Knowing that “new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances”, the pope asserts that priests “are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.”

Click here to read the full message of the pope.

READINGS

FIRST READING: Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
PSALM: Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 12:12-30 or 12:12-14, 27
GOSPEL: Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

HOMILIES

• Today Is God’s Day [www.bible.claret.org]
  In today’s Gospel we find Jesus going into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. The audience were probably like most of us at our Sunday Liturgy, half there, half hearing the nice message. We find ourselves a bit like St. Augustine who prayed in his earlier days when he was far from saintly, “Lord make me chaste – but not now.” The audience found it comforting to hear Jesus read that a Savior, a Messiah, would come to bring good news to the poor… to proclaim liberty to captives… to give sight to the blind and to set the down trodden free… some day in the distant future. A lovely thought. Something to look forward to… no demands for now… but then they were taken aback when Jesus put down the book and said, “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” This caused a stir because Jesus was saying that what you hope for is not in the distant future. It’s already here. It is here and it is now. Stop putting your future off until tomorrow and begin to do something NOW. Read more…
• Jesus Returned in the Power of the Spirit into Galilee [dailyscripture.net]
  Luke tells us that Jesus began his public ministry in his own land of Galilee where he was raised as a child. Jesus’ first public words in his hometown synagogue amazed both his family and townspeople. It was customary for the president of the synagogue to call on different people each week to read from the Hebrew bible and say a few words. Jesus read the text from the prophet Isaiah that explained how the Messiah would come in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring freedom to those oppressed by sin and evil (see Isaiah 61:1-2). Jesus commented that he himself would fulfill this prophecy. Only a madman or the Messiah would dare to make such a claim! Jesus not only got their startled attention, he awoke in his people fresh hope that God would indeed fulfill his promises to them. Luke tells us that the people received Jesus’ words favorably and wondered what would become of “Joseph’s son”. In Jesus we see the grace of God in action. His gracious words bring hope, joy, and favor to all who were ready to receive him. Are you hungry for God’s word? Read more…
• Go……Team Christ! [www.st.ignatius.net]
  God loves each of us individually for whom we are. He doesn’t love us for the ways that we are like others. He loves us for the way that we are the unique reflections of His Love. And the way that we are unique reflections of His Love is the role we have been called to fill in the great contest of the Battle of the Kingdom… We all need to find the best ways that we can serve the Lord according to our particular talent and stage in life. And we need to go out there and compete against the forces of evil, compete for Team Jesus, and use our unique talents to win the world over for the Kingdom of God. Read more…
• 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time [www.catholicmatters.com]
  We have a priceless gift of God in the inspired Books of the Bible. Let us show true appreciation for that gift by using it to build up a better knowledge of the Christian faith which it teaches us. There should be a Bible, or at least the New Testament, in every Christian home. It should not be an ornament on a shelf, but a fountain and source from which we can draw strength and refreshment in the daily practise of our Christian faith. Almost two thousand years ago, God’s infinite goodness provided this source of strength, the “fountain of living water,” for us Christians of this century. Are we grateful for his thoughtfulness? Are we nourishing our faith at this blessed fountain of his infinite wisdom and love? Read more…

IMAGES

To view and download their full size versions, please click on the images or the names of the artists.

CLIPART

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The following presentation can be downloaded here.

VIDEOS

The first video shows different scenes of Jesus’ life. It includes the scene wherein Jesus goes to the synagogue to read the scriptures and declare that the passage He has just read has come true in Him. It can be downloaded here.

The video below is a homily on the theme “Liberty to the Captives”. It can also be viewed here.

The question of spirituality in Filipino films, quite surprisingly, is one that is not explored in critical essays, much less in book-length studies. The influence of the Catholic tradition has been suggested in an essay or two that deal with melodrama, particularly with the characterization of the woman/martyr and other stock characters in Filipino films, but there is not much else as far as a consistent treatment of spirituality in local films has been done. This collection of essays which we entitle Spirituality and the Filipino Film is an attempt to fill that obvious gap and is envisioned as a step towards a serious study of this subject.

“Spirituality and the Filipino Film” features no less than eleven authors. Coming from different professional fields, these authors provide fresh and unique perspectives on spirituality in Filipino films. The following is a complete list of the authors and the title of their respective essays.

1. Peter Malone, MSC – Asian Cinema and Spirituality
2. Nicasio Cruz, S.J.- What Is a Religious Film?
3. Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. – Being Human: Spirituality in Three Filipino Films
4. Shirley O. Lua – Portraits of the Believer, Acts of Faith, and the Ironic Imagination in Philippine Cinema
5. Ronald Baytan – Looking for the Divine: The City of Si and Bernal’s Manila by Night
6. Anne Frances N. Sangil – Satire and Social Activism as Subversion in Mike de Leon’s Kakabakaba Ka Ba? and Sister Stella L.
7. Noel Vera – Without God: Mario O’Hara and the Question of Faith
8. Edward de los Santos Cabagnot – Two Mama Marys, One Santo Niño, plus All the Twelve Apostles: Adventures in Religious Iconography in Philippine Cinema
9. Stephen Cuyos, MSC – Imaging God: Magnifico as Christ-Figure
10. Vicente Nebrida – Cavite and Santa Santita: Mayhem and Miracles at Quiapo Church
11. Rolando B. Tolentino – Beyond Spirituality: Women, Nation, and Brocka’s Melodrama

To order copies of the book “Spirituality and the Filipino Film”, please email sales@cfamedia.org or call CFA Sales at (02) 7132981 to 86 local 163.

READINGS

FIRST READING: Is 62:1-5
PSALM: Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 12:4-11
GOSPEL: Jn 2:1-11

HOMILIES

• Cana: Beyond Appearances [www.bible.claret.org]
  The theme of God dwelling in us, making his home in us, is much emphasized in the Gospel of St John. The story of the wedding feast at Cana is telling us that that when Jesus dwells in us we will be transformed and have life in abundance. The indwelling of the Spirit in us is not something that will happen to us. It has happened to us and it is only for us to become aware of it and be present to it. This is what we do when we meditate, when we be with the ground of our being dwelling within us. Read more…
• Jesus Manifested His Glory at Cana [dailyscripture.net]
  This miracle signifies the “new rich wine” of the Gospel and it points to the “wine of the new covenant” and the “bread of life” which Jesus provides for his disciples in the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. It also points to the Messianic banquet which Jesus will provide at the end of the age when he comes again in glory. The miracles of Jesus demonstrate the power of God’s love and mercy for his people. God’s kindness knows no limits. And the ultimate expression of his love is revealed in the person of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He became flesh for our sake, and he died for our redemption, and he rose for our glorification. Do you thirst for God and for the life of holiness he offers? Read more…
• Shout It Out: Jesus has Given Us His Blood [www.st.ignatius.net]
  We are very loud about some things which in the long run do not effect the vast majority of us, such as sports, but are quiet about the one event the really matters and that has an infinite effect on each of us: the Christ event. We need to be proclaiming Jesus Christ with our lives as well as our words. Think of this. We have received the greatest Christmas present there could possibly be. We have received the Lord. The gift is not a one time event. He keeps giving Himself to us in the Eucharist. Read more…
• 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time [www.catholicmatters.com]
  Christ worked his first miracle in order to grant a temporal favor, an earthly gift, to save the newly married groom from embarrassment. It had the other effects of convincing his very recent disciples of their belief that he was the expected Messiah, and also it convinces all Christians of the efficacy of our Lady’s intercession for us, but its primary purpose was to confer a temporal benefit on the groom. By this kind act he has shown us that he is interested in our earthly affairs also. He became man in order that we could become sons of God, he came on earth so that we could go to heaven, but this miracle at Cana proves that he has a deep interest in our many and varied activities during the course of our journey to heaven. He told us “ask and you shall receive.” That “shall” is very definite, our prayers will be answered, and what we should ask for is not only spiritual gifts, but the temporal aids also which we need. Read more…

IMAGES

To view and download their full size versions, please click on the images or the names of the artists. You may also find other images here and also here.

CLIPART

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The following presentation can be downloaded here.

VIDEO

The first video is a short clip from the movie “The Gospel of John” which shows Jesus performing His first miracle at a wedding in Cana. It can be downloaded here.

The video below is a song about the Wedding Feast at Cana where Jesus turns water into wine. The title of the song is “Do Whatever HE Tells You” and it is written and performed by Nick Cardilino. It incorporates clips from the Bible Jesus movie. It can be downloaded from this link.

Other speakers in the three-day seminar are popular Filipino film critics and personalities such as Clodualdo del Mundo Jr, a multi-awarded film writer and director. His famous works include Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag, Kakabakaba ka ba?, Bayaning Third World and Markova: Comfort Gay.

Free movie screenings are held everyday of the seminar at 5:30 in the afternoon.

Slots for the seminar are limited so it is best to get a reservation. The highly affordable PHP 2,500.00 seminar fee covers the handouts, snacks and lunch. You may contact the CFA Training Department at 713-2732 or 713-2972 or email training@cfamedia.org. For more info about the seminar please click here.

Zoogle is still in beta stage and I’ve had problems accessing my newly-registered account. After clicking the validation link I received via email from Zoogle, it keeps telling me that my account has either been blocked or that I may not have activated it yet. I hope the administrators will solve this problem immediately as others have reported experiencing this same problem. There is no “About Us” page so there is not much I know about the Zoogle.

READINGS

FIRST READING: Is 42:1-4, 6-7 or Is 40:1-5, 9-11
PSALM: Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
SECOND READING: Acts 10:34-38 or Ti 2:11-14; 3:4-7
GOSPEL: Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

HOMILIES

• The Commitment of Baptism [www.bible.claret.org]
  In lining up for baptism by John like a sinner, Jesus set aside all exemption for himself. He also lined up with someone who would be martyred for his convictions. Jesus would also die for his convictions. This was a commitment to a nonviolent struggle that would win salvation for all. While this commitment was horrific it also had its consolation.Read more…
• He will Baptize You with the Holy Spirit and Fire [dailyscripture.net]
  John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3). Why did Jesus, the Sinless One, submit himself to John’s baptism? In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of the “baptism” of his bloody death upon the cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allowed himself to be numbered among sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust and submission to God? Read more…
• The Baptism of the Lord: A Mission from God [www.st.ignatius.net]
  We Christians believe that life is not just a matter of biology. Life is not just a matter of survival. Life is not just a matter of chance. We Christians believe that life, authentic life, consists in serving God by making the Presence of Jesus Christ a reality in the lives of others. That is why we embrace the work of the Lord until the last day we live. That is why each stage of our lives presents us with a challenge, a new way to serve the Lord. Read more…
• Baptism of the Lord [www.catholicmatters.com]
  We are convinced that getting to heaven is more important than getting all the treasures and pleasures this earth has to offer. But do we always live up to these convictions, are we true Christians the seven days of the week? In our work, in our speech, in our dealings with others, in our family life are we truly following Christ and his teaching? Is my way of life, my daily conduct, such that it would cause a non-Christian to say: “That man has something noble and sensible about him, that man is concerned with the things that really matter; that man has an inward peace and sense of security which I have not got, a sense of peace and security which comes not from the things of this world. I must find out what it is and get it for myself?” Read more…

IMAGES

To view and download their full size versions, please click on the images or the names of the artists.

SLIDE PRESENTATION

The following presentation can be downloaded here.

VIDEO

The first video can be downloaded here. The second video below can be downloaded from this link.