06/04/2022
"Faith amidst the Flames"
The children of the 2nd Batch of Sunday Catechism Classes received their first Holy Communion today, April 6, 2022, at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish and Shrine.
The Rector's Homily [The Full Text]
Sunday Catechism Classes (Batch 2)
First Holy Communion
April 6, 2022
Good morning children, Thank you for coming. Good morning parents, guardians, benefactors, catechists, brothers and sisters, Let us first give a round of applause to our communicants. Today you will receive Jesus. I would like to ask you one question. If the priest would say body of Christ what will you say? The Body of Christ? Okay so correct AMEN. Children you will receive the Lord for the first time and this is very important in your lives and you have to treasure this moment. The first time you receive the Lord, this first time will continue until the last time of your life because this is the most meaningful, most happy, and joyful moment of your lives. The next time you go to church, Jesus will be expecting you every Sunday. Jesus will be expecting you to attend the mass and to receive him in the Eucharist every week. There is one day that you should go to church to receive him. What is that day? Sunday! Sunday is an important day it is not an ordinary day it is even called by the church Dies Domini, the day of the Lord. It is not our day, it is his day that we should gather together and receive Jesus wholeheartedly. So the whole week from Monday to Saturday we have to prepare ourselves holy, mind heart, soul, and strength to receive the Lord on Sunday. You should be faithful in receiving the Lord every Sunday until the last day when God calls you to inherit his kingdom; the first communion will last forever. What is the purpose of receiving the Lord? In baptism, we became God's children. We receive the spirit of Jesus making us children of God. Who among you is or are children of God?
We are all God's children, all of us, each one of us, so you put it in your mind and in your heart that I am God's child. When you lay down to sleep before you lose your consciousness, you say to yourself, I am God's child, I am God's child, I am a sister or a brother of Jesus, you tell it to yourself often. Who among us are God's children? raise your hands. (Mga parents wala ga raise hands hu abi g**o nila ga refer ko sa children). Tanan kita bala children of God. Mayo pa bala mga born again. (Dumdumon ta nga maghambal di gani ang pari, gina explain yana ang voice ni God, gina Hambal ya so kamo da, you affirm yourself kay gina affirm kamo di ni God).
Catechists and parents, we are forming our children to become children of God. We are not just here to let them receive Jesus for the first time. It is our duty to inculcate to them in their spirit and hearts that they are truly God's children and therefore we have to treat them as one. We cannot s***k them, do harsh things to them because they are God's children. We have to respect them, respect their growth, their slow actions, attitudes and everything. So catechists take note ha, you are not simply telling them the truth amo gid na bala ang gina himo ko permi, gina explain ko na.
Another thing if we are God's children we should grow in the virtues of Jesus. The first moment you receive his spirit and his soul, the soul of our souls is Christ, it is the Holy Spirit. But if the soul has no hands, has no feet, has no eyes, has no ears, has no body, the soul cannot be seen and cannot do anything in us so by that element virtue we allow the spirit to move, to grow, to behave in us like Jesus and those behaviors are called virtues. What are virtues? these are Godly attitudes or values that are part in us or have grown in us as part of our lives that we live everyday that shows the presence of God, So amo na ang mga virtues. Example, if Jesus will give us his body as our food for life, one should also give food to others what is that act?
You should be generous because God is infinitely generous to us. We can never become God's children unless we become generous because others are not. It's hard to be generous because others will not really want to be generous and so you children, first communicants, raise your hands higher. Do you want to become Jesus? if you want to become Jesus we should become first generous to everyone. Everyone should be generous, everyone should learn to be generous that is one. Number two respect your parents. I don't need to ask that you have to say I love you mom or dad. Respecting them is enough. That is a sure sign of great love. Third helping them. Helping in whatever way, work, chores, anything that you can do. You clean, you wash dishes, some of you do not do this at home probably because you have helpers but it’s good to try. Working is a human virtue. Only human beings work. Do you know that? only human beings work. why? because only human beings understand what he does carabaos yes they work? no carabaos are just walking but farmers make use of the strength and movements of the carabao to plow the field. The carabao does not understand that he is plowing, correct? so you should work because working makes you a human person and above all God's child. So children my point is this, After communion don't forget this message, you have to go here every Sunday even though today you cannot understand just go tell your parents, let us go to mass I want to receive Jesus, Gradually, year after year, you'll understand what i said. You will come to realize, i experienced also when i was a child like you, I don’t understand. I just obey my parents, go to mass, pray the rosary, work, study well, behave, play well, join other children without quarreling, work with them. When you do that faithfully, you will come out a good, a gorgeous child of God.
(I-share ko pa ni tani si Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego ni kay ka tahom sini galing kay ka lawig na noh, give me 3 minutes I’ll explain this)
Si Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they are young people like you. They are jews and beloved of God and then king loves them because they are good children but one day somebody accused them that they are worshipping other Gods rather than the God of king Nebuchadnezzar o ang hari nga pagano. (Sin-o sa inyo kakita furnace? anybody, parents, furnace? have you seen that? kita kamo sang kawa na gina lutuan ka kalamay, dako pa gd da ang furnace kay ang gina luto salsalon gina cook and iron kita kamo iron? children? steel?
kita kamo gina cook na sa furnace gina tunaw to make armaments. Swords, spears, shields, Si Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego gin butang dira kag gin luto and the furnace was heated, as I can remember 7 times, (grabe init init eh noh grabe ang init 1000 degrees centigrade 7 times so g**o ambot lang 7000 degrees centigrade butang ta lang noh.) So gin luto sila nga 3, gin cook sila as a punishment because they are not worshipping the God of Jesus, the father of Jesus and the god of Abraham. So what happened, the king saw 4 images inside the furnace Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego and the fourth one looks like an angel and so the king saw it must be the angel of God sent by the god of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego and so the king was converted and the 3 boys were spared. Why am I telling this story? Because God is real, children si God bala real even though we cannot see God. God is real. He made this for us, everything, the sun, the moon, the trees, the sea, the earth, everything comes from him.
So children, we will receive God in Jesus. Imagine you receive God in Jesus (grabe ba.) So, thank you again girls and boys. Don't forget this moment go to church every Sunday. Force yourself even though you’re sleeping. You can sleep here; it’s okay provided you go to church. Clean yourself, dress-up go to church if you are faithful to God you will grow faster in his grace I tell you that’s what i have experienced. So, Congratulations children and we thank the formators, the catechists. I hope they also learned what they are teaching and they will also grow in the grace and they will grow in knowledge and understand what they are teaching others. Also the parents, thank you for supporting them for bringing your children to church answering the call of the church answering your responsibility as Christian parents thank you thank you gid sa inyo tanan parents, you try your best, you spend time and everything. God will bless you a hundredfold.
