"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 12)

CHRISTmust 12

Let us not be defocused by the customs that evolved around the visit of the magi from the East and the gifts they brought Jesus. The magi are not the stars. THEY THEMSELVES HAD TO BE LED BY ONE! Their gifts were nothing compared with the Gift they received: Jesus who Himself is the Star that enlightens those who SEEK GOD WITH A PURE HEART.

The Lord's Epiphany is about Jesus, not about the magi. It is the story of Jesus's glorious self-manifestation to the world. Be careful not to miss Jesus in the thick of the trimmings of the day.

Epiphany is THE SIGHTINGS OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD. Have you seen Him lately?

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 10)

CHRISTmust 10

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” says John the Baptist as he points to Jesus Christ who came to be baptized by him. The title “Lamb of God” is highly significant for any Jew.

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 9)

CHRISTmust 9

One of the most important questions in life is the question on identity. We search for who we really are. Each of us wants to know his or her identity as an individual. Cold facts in our curriculum vitae do not satisfy us. Neither do a list of our talents, skills, and traits. We thirst for more knowledge about who we really are. We want to know what makes us different from the person standing next to us and from the rest of humanity.

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 8)

CHRISTmust 8

Today we honor the greatest mother of the greatest Son: Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. She saw her Son’s moments of triumph and tragedy. Because her Son is no ordinary son, so is Mary a no ordinary mother. Her Son is God’s own Son. Thus, Mary is God’s own mother. Not that she gave divine personhood to her Son but that her Son favored her with divine motherhood. More than honor, but less than adoration, we venerate Mary, the Mother of God, today.

Great mothers have great memories. The Gospel today tells us that Mary kept all things in her heart and pondered on them. It is a very painful experience for anyone of us if our aging mother can no longer remember our names or the life we once shared with them. Motherhood and memories go perfectly together. Mothers are keepers, not only of family secrets but of family memories as well. They keep family memories not only by remembering them but also by reminding us of them whenever needed and, after reflecting on them, providing meaning and value to whatever we face in life as we grow.

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 7)

CHRISTmust 7

Jesus is God's Word Incarnate. We therefore cannot encounter Him UNLESS WE LISTEN.

We listen with OUR HEART. We FEEL the Word-Made-Flesh. We listen beyond the Word and feel the presence of Jesus.

KNOW SILENCE, KNOW JESUS.

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection #s 5 & 6)

CHRISTmust 5

The family is the door through which we enter into human history. The same door, the Lord passed through to reach us. By becoming part of a human family, Jesus sanctified all families.

But what has become of many of our families today?

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 4)

CHRISTmust 4

Feast of the Holy Innocents

In any war, there are no winners; all are losers. And many innocent people die in the crossfire. Today, we remember the children caught in a rather peculiar battle.

Herod wanted to kill the Baby Jesus because he felt threatened by His birth and the prophecies linked to Him. Herod was ready and willing to sacrifice other people’s lives to keep his grip on the throne. Such madness! Such evil!

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 3)

CHRISTmust 3

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

“…that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes, that we have watched and touched with our hands…we are writing to you to make our own joy complete (1 Jn 1:1-4).” Now we know why John wrote the Fourth Gospel and his epistles!

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 2)

CHRISTmust 2

Memorial of St. Stephen, First Christian Martyr

A day immediately following Christmas, the liturgical color suddenly turns from white or gold to crimson or red. December 26 is the feast of the first Christian martyr, Stephen.

"CHRISTmust" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Christmas Season (Reflection # 1)

CHRISTmust 1

(We begin today, Christmas Day, a new series of daily reflections: "CHRISTmust". We shall carry this from today through the Feast of the Lord's Baptism. Please feel free to share it. Let us evangelize the networld together!)

"ADVENTures" -Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 14)

ADVENTures 14

ADVENT TRAINS OUR ABILITY TO REMEMBER. We remember God’s fidelity to us. Through the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord proclaims His faithfulness to His people: “The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah.” From where we stand now in the long history of salvation, we already know the wondrous things that God did to set His people free not only from the Egyptians but from all their enemies as well. God was always there, intervening in the history of Israel, from Egypt to Babylon, and even unto the age of the Roman colonial rule and beyond, helping them through all their trials and leading them out of their miseries.

"ADVENTures" -Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 13)

ADVENTures 13

Advent is not only about preparation and vigilance. It is first of all about hope. For why should we wait when we do not hope that Him whom we wait would come? We prepare and keep watch precisely because we hope. We wait for the Lord because we hope in the Lord. And we are certain of our hope not because we already see the object of our hope but because the Lord, who gave us His word, is always worthy of our trust. ADVENT SHOULD BE AN ACTUAL CELEBRATION OF OUR UNWAVERING HOPE IN THE LORD AS INDIVIDUAL AND AS CHURCH.

"ADVENTures" -Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 12)

ADVENTures 12

In the Old Testament, the glory of God was said to have departed from His People when His voice could no longer be heard. God was silent precisely because His glory was gone. For example, we read in 1 Sam 4:21-22 that when Eli died, his daughter-in-law, Phinehas by name, gave birth to a son whom she named “Ichabod”. In Hebrew, the word “Ichabod” literally means

"ADVENTures" -Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 11)

ADVENTures 11

If we always keep in mind where this Advent journey will pass through unto completion, we would refer to so-called "holidays" as holy days and spend them differently from how the world suggests we do.

"ADVENTures" -Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflections # 10)

ADVENTures 10

The image of the Good Shepherd and the lost sheep fits well in the Advent season. It blends well with the call of the season to wait. Advent is waiting for Jesus not so much to be born as to find us. He was born already, we know. Let us not overly romanticize the Christmas crèche.

"ADVENTures" -Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflections #8 and #9)

ADVENTures 8

Christmas is Jesus coming to us. The Eucharist is Jesus staying with us.

ADVENT IS NOT WAITING FOR JESUS AS IF HE ISN'T HERE YET. He is already here. Find Him. Recognize Him. Offer Him your gift, not gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but your heart.

YOUR HEART IS THE BEST MANGER FOR JESUS. Are you preparing it for Him?

"ADVENTures" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 7)

ADVENTures 7

We cannot go through Advent without Mary. Of all humanity, she alone knows first-hand - and indeed truly physically felt - what it means to wait for the Jesus. She waited for Him with the awareness that she was carrying Him in her womb.

"ADVENTures" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 6)

ADVENTures 6

Advent is patiently waiting for THE Light, who is Jesus, to shine on us, in us, and through us. It heightens the Christmas theme of THE Light coming into the world, of the dawn breaking upon us (Cf. Lk 1:78), of a people sitting in darkness seeing a Great Light and on those who dwell in a land of gloom a light shining (Cf. Is 9:2).

"ADVENTures" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 4 and # 5)

ADVENTures 4

He who was born for us, given to us, is Jesus. Jesus is the Eternal Word of the Father. Christmas is the Word-of-God Incarnate being born in our midst, becoming a part of humanity in all things but sin. Advent, therefore, is the gradual incarnation of the Word of God. Even before Christmas day, this Most Holy Word was already made flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Apostle Paul wrote, "In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law..." (Gal 4:4). Then we no longer read the Word only but began hearing Him ourselves. And the first sound of the Word-Made-Flesh that we heard was the cry of a feeble, helpless baby.

DO WE STILL HEAR THE WORD-MADE-FLESH? ARE WE STILL EAGER TO HEAR HIM? IN WHOM AND IN WHAT DO WE HEAR HIM? ARE WE LISTENING?

Hearing is with the ears, but listening is with the heart. Advent teaches us to be more silent and sober so that we may hear and listen to The WORD. And many times, He remains crying! If you don't hear Him, maybe you are not silent. If you don't listen in silence, how can you welcome and love Him?



ADVENTures 5

Advent is should be a heightened period for our prayerful, vigilant, and creative waiting for the Lord. It is not an empty and prolonged moment of passive waiting. One of the manifestations of our prayerful, vigilant, and creative waiting during this season is genuine reflection on the question "ON WHOM DO I CONSCIOUSLY AND WILLFULLY BASE MY LIFE?" We have but a limited number of years in this world before we pass on to eternity, and the immensity of this Advent question is underscored by the fact that our honest answer to it determines how life will be for us forever.

Advent refocuses us on the TRUE FOUNDATION of our life, without whom everything in our life means nothing and life itself is just an inescapable, undeserved, and overly extended drudgery.

REALLY, IS IT STILL JESUS? Is it still Him whom we wait for? Honestly, is it Him?

REFOCUS YOUR LIFE ON JESUS. HE IS ALL THAT MATTERS NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY. AND HE MATTERS NOT ONLY ON CHRISTMAS. HE MATTERS EACH AND EVERY SIGH WE MAKE.

"ADVENTures" - Reflection Series of Rev. Fr. Bobby R. Titco for the Season of Advent (Reflection # 2 and # 3)

ADVENTures 2

Advent begins in the desert. So does Lent, right? No wonder because both blessed seasons should heighten our thirst for God.

IS OUR LIFE A TRUE LONGING FOR JESUS?




ADVENTures 3

Advent is never a waste of time. It teaches us to wait and prepare for the RIGHT TIME! Advent puts time in its proper perspective and us where we should be - not there but here. Keep Advent! Refuse going with the rising tide that rushes into Christmas at the expense of the Advent Season. Remind the world the value of waiting for the RIGHT TIME. Teach the young the wisdom of waiting and preparing well. He who hurries flirts with danger. He who rushes things courts an epic fail.

WASTE YOUR TIME WITH AND FOR GOD. He deserves it from you more than anyone else...always!

- from my homily on the 1st Sunday of Advent (CRUMBS: "Wasting Time", 1 December 2013)