20 Years of Priesthood: A Miracle of God's Love

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

December 1, 2021

Readings: Please click here to read in full.
    Reading I: Is 25:6-10a
    Responsorial Psalm: Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
    Gospel: Mt 15:29-37

For my ordination to the priesthood 20 years ago, I chose the theme "To become a living sacrament of the Love of God." Through the years, I always ask myself, have I become a living sacrament of God’s love? Yes, I believe so, for it is not my own doing but God’s. It is not entirely my effort, but God’s grace first and foremost. God called me, formed me, ordained me and sent me on a mission because His "heart is moved with pity for the crowd" (Mt. 15:32). He made me a living sacrament of His love, as all of us are, so that the pity He feels for His people may become visible and tangible. I believe that through the assignments I have been given, God has responded to the needs of His people with whatever little I have. 

In the Gospel, Jesus apportioned from what the disciples had, even just seven loaves and a few fish (Mt. 15:34) to feed the hungry crowd of "four thousand men, not counting women and children" (Mt. 15:38). Jesus made use of the little given to him by the disciples. Similarly, he uses whatever we have, no matter how little, to make His love more tangible. This is why I said that I have, in truth, become a living sacrament of God’s love. In my priestly years, though most of these were spent as a parish priest, I cannot say that I have given something extraordinary. Yet, God made use of this, though it was small and imperfect. Since God does not require from us beyond the gifts He has given, I am confident that I can continue what He has made me, a living sacrament of His love.

I thank God for these grace-filled years of ministry, for being unconditionally patient with me and for loving me despite my weaknesses. I thank my brothers in the congregation, all my companions in my assignments, Fr. Roel, our Provincial Superior, and his council for your trust and confidence in me. I pray that, in the coming years of my priesthood, God may continue to provide for the hungry crowd through the 7 loaves and a few fish I can afford to offer.

As the Feeding of the Four Thousand was truly a miracle, my 20 years of priesthood is also a miracle, a miracle of God’s love that continues to feed His people in the Eucharist.

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: catholic365.com

Tools to Preach the Word

Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

November 30, 2021 Tuesday

Readings: Please click here to read in full.
    Reading I: Rom 10:9-18
    Responsorial Psalm: Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
    Gospel: Mt 4:18-22

In every trade people do, tools are essential to get the job done. Fishermen use fishing tools to fish; otherwise, it would be very difficult to catch fish. The fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James and John in our gospel, used fishing nets. Peter and Andrew were casting their nets on the sea when Jesus found them. They were fishing. While James and John were found mending their fishing nets with their father, Zebedee. They were preparing to go fishing. 

When Jesus called them, He said, "I will make you fishers of men." He knew that what they usually did to catch fish could also be used to catch men. They may already know how to fish by mending their nets and casting them into the sea, but they do not know how to mend and cast the Word of God into the sea of people. This is what Jesus taught them.

And so, when they were already empowered to become fishers of men, they preached the Word where God wanted them to. St. Andrew, whose name means strong and who possessed good social skills, preached the Word on the shores of the Black Sea and through all the lands that are now called Greece and Turkey. It was in Patras, Greece that he was martyred by crucifixion on a "crux decussata," an X-shaped cross or a "saltire." We now call this as "St. Andrew’s cross." He requested to be crucified in this manner because he felt unworthy of being crucified on the same form of cross as Jesus.

St. Andrew is one of those whom St. Paul described as having "beautiful feet." "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!" St. Andrew, the rest of the Apostles, and all those who followed them until today used the fishing tools God gave them: their feet to bring them to many places, their arms and hands to touch the hearts of those they nurtured, and their mouths to preach the Good News. Their whole being was their fishing tool to catch people for God. They were able to do that because Jesus taught them how to mend and cast this net, this tool, into the world. St. Paul wrote, "Their voice has gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."

Let us now ask ourselves, how am I mending and casting myself into the world to catch people for God? How beautiful are my feet?

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: wikimedia.org