January 2022
Vol 19 Issue 1
Tend my sheep
Jn 21:16
Dear brothers and sisters,
Happy New Year! We are pleased to share with you our first reflection for the year 2022 on personal or pastoral accompaniment (we use the two terms interchangeably). Personal accompaniment requires that we meet those under our pastoral care with warm communication of openness and readiness to accompany them in the journey of faith. In our community, there are many opportunities for us to personally accompany others in their faith journey. This is a gift from God.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
May 2022
Vol 19 Issue 5
God is love
1 Jn 4:16
Dear brothers and sisters,
For those who attended and listened to the CFC Mission Core Teaching on "Revisiting Deus Caritas Est" on 17 May 2022, this Letter may serve to refresh your mind on some of the elements covered by the teaching. For those who missed that teaching, we hope that this Letter may encourage you to request for a copy of the recorded teaching in order to know all its messages. May the Holy Spirit inspire you to seek to better understand why Deus Caritas Est teaches "that God's eros for man is also totally agape."
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
2022
February 2022
Vol 19 Issue 2
Do you still not understand?
Mk 8:21
Dear brothers and sisters,
Do you still not understand? was Jesus' perplexing question in the event reported by Mark in his Gospel, chapter 8, verses 14 to 21 (Mk 8:14-21). This event is an important teaching moment for the frequently obtuse disciples. The disciples just recently witnessed two extraordinary events — five thousand men fed with five loaves, with 12 wicker baskets of leftovers; and four thousand people fed with seven loaves, with seven baskets of leftovers - and yet they worry about having only one loaf of bread, completely forgetting that Jesus, who accomplished these signs, was with them. Jesus also warns the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, and of the leaven of Herod, which is worldliness. Once these afflict us, we will fail to see the presence of the divine and fail to hear the words of the One Living Bread who is already in our midst. And thus we will still not understand.
May the Holy Spirit guide you in your reflection.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
June 2022
Vol 19 Issue 6
Be fertile and multiply
Gen 1:28
Dear brothers and sisters,
There are not a few times that we have been asked if homologous IVF is considered by the Church as not moral. Recently, we have been consulted about a relatively young childless couple (already determined to be not capable of having a child through the normal way) who have decided to undergo homologous IVF procedure. Since they generously express their love for each other through the marital act (unitive purpose of marriage) and are always open to the possibility of pregnancy (procreative purpose of marriage), we were asked if undertaking the IVF procedure would be sinful. We hope that this reflection would be of some help to all those who face or who are asked the same question. May the Holy Spirit guide us!
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
September 2022
Vol 19 Issue 9
Lying at his door was a poor man
Lk 16:20
Dear brothers and sisters,
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus offers many lessons. This reflection offers two. God constantly calls the rich man to grace by laying Lazarus at his door. Lazarus is his key to heaven. But due to his arrogance and indifference, he chooses not to act. He does not recognize this grace. God is also constantly calling us to grace. The choice is ours.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
October 2022
Vol 19 Issue 10
Be merciful to me a sinner
Lk 18:13
Dear brothers and sisters,
This month we reflect on the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, a narrative that Luke leaves hanging. While he tells us that, after praying, the tax collector goes home justified, he does not tell us if the tax collector, like Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector in Jericho, promises to give back ill-gotten money. This is perhaps because Luke wants us to finish the story. After praying and receiving God's mercy, do we change our ways? The end depends on what we do.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
March 2022
Vol 19 Issue 3
Walk humbly with your God
Micah 6:8
Dear brothers and sisters,
Pope Francis said that humility is the only way that leads us to God.
The Holy Father and Mother Teresa are our exemplars of humility. After he was elected pope, Pope Francis took the shuttle bus and went to his modest hotel to pay the bill himself. He chose to live in the Vatican guest house instead of the papal apartment. His official car is an old Ford Focus instead of the traditional Mercedes Benz. Even when he was still a cardinal, he commuted using the Buenos Aires metro. In the case of Mother Teresa, one day while asking for spare bread for her hungry children, a bakery man spat on her open hand. She calmly said, “I will keep this spittle in my hand for myself.” And opening her other hand, she said, “Now please give me some of your spare bread for my hungry children.” Brothers and sisters, let us reflect on humility and emulate Pope Francis and Mother Teresa and walk humbly with our God.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
July 2022
Vol 19 Issue 7
Go and do likewise
Lk 10:37
Dear brothers and sisters,
"Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat" is a highly popular English language nursery rhyme. We mention this nursery rhyme because we want to share with you our new reflection on the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37). We are all familiar with this parable and have heard countless homilies and teachings concerning this parable. The parable teaches us the right answer to the question, Who is my neighbor?. My neighbor is anybody who is in need. But we are also taught that the right question to ask is not, Who is my neighbor?, but, Am I a neighbor to others? Our new reflection on the parable tells us that “what we see reveals who we are”. The pussy cat in the English nursery rhyme went to England to visit the queen. The Queen of England came with all the trappings of royalty. But the cat did not see these. Instead, the cat saw the little mouse and did what a cat was supposed to do – scare the mouse. It is the cat’s nature. What the cat sees reveals what the cat is – a cat. The parable’s new lesson is that if we cannot see people in need, we can never be neighbor. What we see reveals who we are. If we see people in need, then we can be neighbor.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
November 2022
Vol 19 Issue 11
Your plans will succeed
Proverbs 16:3
Dear brothers and sisters,
We have been preoccupied with many activities in CFC that we are sending the November 2022 issue of Letters of Aquila and Priscilla rather late. We hope, however, that you will still find useful our reflection on the account of Paul's first and second missionary journeys in your CFC planning in the future.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
April 2022
Vol 19 Issue 4
They rejoiced when they saw the Lord
Jn 20:20
Dear brothers and sisters,
A happy and blessed Easter to everyone!
Thomas is one of the most misunderstood disciples of Jesus. He has been sardonically called down through the ages as the "Doubting Thomas". But does he really deserve this characterization? From the two other times that Thomas is mentioned in John's Gospel, it is apparent that Thomas does not doubt the possibility that Jesus has risen but he doubts the credibility of his fellow disciples. They tell him that they have seen the Lord. But something does not quite seem right. If they have indeed seen the risen Lord, why are they still locked up tight in the upper room? Why are they still afraid? These are the very questions we should ask ourselves. Since we have been baptized and have received the Holy Spirit, and have thus the right and responsibility to proclaim the Gospel, why are we still locked up tight in our comfort zones?
For our Easter reflection.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
August 2022
Vol 19 Issue 8
You can no longer be my steward
Lk 16:2
Dear brothers and sisters,
One of the most difficult and perplexing parables of Jesus is the Parable of the Dishonest Steward in the Gospel of Luke (16:1-8). This parable is perplexing because it is difficult to understand why the master commended his dishonest steward. Why would Jesus teach (seemingly) that dishonesty is commendable? What lesson can we learn from this parable? This parable teaches us to be faithful and honest stewards of all the things that the Lord has entrusted to us. But amidst a corrupt world and misguided people, we must be "shrewd as snakes but innocent as lambs" (Mt 10:16), or we may no longer be God's stewards.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
December 2022
Vol 19 Issue 12
A new creation
2 Cor 16:17
Dear brothers and sisters,
A blessed, meaningful and Merry Christmas to you all! We are pleased to share with you our reflection on Christmas and Creation. Christmas and Creation are linked. Just as there are two different accounts of Creation, there are also two different accounts of the birth of Jesus, the reason we celebrate Christmas. In the story of Creation, an all-powerful God creates everything. In the story of Christmas, a helpless Child is born among us to commence the process of our salvation. And through this Child we become a new creation.
With our love and prayers,
JUN and JEAN
