South Sudan's Challenge

South Sudan's Challenge
Healing & Reconciliation

Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Feast of the Holy Family (A)

Text: “…behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him." (Matthew 2: 13)
 Meditation:  Like the Holy Family, there are times that we need simply “to flee” until the “tempest” is gone else we are destroyed…  The important thing is to discern God’s voice within us. God's message leads to a new understanding not only of ourselves but of the reality out there...
SPECIAL PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLES OF SOUTH SUDAN THAT THEY MAY BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE PRESENT TEMPEST THAT THREATEN THE VERY FIBER OF SOCIAL COHESION OF THE NEW NATION...
 DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD
 1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.
2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...
3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.
Bapa Jun Mercado, OMI


Friday, December 20, 2013

4th Sunday of Advent (A)

4th Sunday of Advent (A): Readings: Isaiah 7: 10-15; Romans 1: 1-7; Matthew 1: 18-24

The short reflection is taken from the Gospel reading: “The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins’."  (Matthew 1: 20-21)

In facing life’s challenges, we are, often, afraid.  The message to us is similar to Joseph… ‘DO NOT BE AFRAID’. Trust in God… He is with us!

I considered some of the awful things my parents and grandparents had seen in their lifetimes: two world wars, Nuclear Explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killer flu, polio and small fox. But they saw other things, too, better things: the end of two world wars, the polio vaccine, and the post War Reconstruction and the space travels.

I believe that my generation will see better things, too -- that we will witness the time when AIDS is cured and cancer is defeated; when the Middle East will find peace and Southern Philippines will find the peace formula. Ever since I was a little kid, whenever I've had a bad day, my mom would put his arm around me and promise me that "tomorrow will be a better day." I challenged my mother once, "How do you know that?" she said, "I just do." I believed him. My grandparents did, and so do I.

What the future holds for the next generation, when I hear them speak ‘tomorrow’. I, too, want to put my arm around them, and tell them what the Angel Gabriel told Joseph:  “DO NOT BE AFRAID” Trust in God… He is with us!  Don't worry, tomorrow will be a better day. This, I believe.

Bapa Jun Mercado, OM

Saturday, December 7, 2013

2nd Sunday of Advent (A)


Readings: Isaiah 11: 1-10; Romans 15: 4-9; Matthew 3: 1-12

Text: In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea (and) saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3: 1-2)

Meditation:  The reign of God is at hand… it finds home only in a repentant heart.  Change our old ways and bad habits!  After receiving the Baptism of Repentance,  we make visible our commitment to new life.   This takes courage…!

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...
1st step: Write the text or Dhikr (the Arabic word for REMEMBRANCE) in your heart.
2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...
3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.