Leading with honors

In our Gospel today, Jesus set an example not only for His disciples but for all of us Christians to continue to teach the people and care for them despite our being physically tired from all the work and missions that we carry out every day.

You see, there are times as human beings that we want to go off to a secluded place to avoid the crowds so we can rest a while. Some are tired of a long and boring relationship, some are tired of caring for others or listening to one’s problems or heartache. But Jesus is telling us to continue teaching His words to people. Jesus had pity on the people, who were described in the Gospel as sheep without a shepherd and guidance.

This was in fact a fulfillment of what the Lord had proclaimed earlier through the prophet Jeremiah and the other prophets, that God would send His Son into the world for the sake of His beloved people.

God sent Jesus as a new Shepherd, the One Who would gather all of us and show us the path towards God Himself, He Who is the Good Shepherd and the Lord of all, none other than Jesus Christ Himself, the Savior.

Through His Son, the Lord gathered everyone back to Himself, calling upon everyone to embrace once again His love and providence and to follow the path that He Himself has shown us so that we may not be lost again to Him through our disobedience and sins. God wants each and every one of us to be fully reconciled and reunited with Him.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all have heard from the Sacred Scriptures and as we have discerned earlier in their messages, we are all reminded that as God’s most beloved ones, we must always realize that we are all precious and beloved by God, Who has done everything for us so that we may have the path towards eternal life.

Let us all therefore reject all sorts of wickedness and evil in our lives and strive from now on to be ever more committed to God, in all the things that we say and do, in our every interaction with one another.

May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to empower and strengthen us all so that we will continue to follow Him and be faithful to Him, ever reminded of the great and ever-enduring, most wonderful love that He has for each one of us, now and always. Amen.

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Recently, the TNTrio represented by Mr. Franklin Ysaac filed a new mandamus petition in the Supreme Court (SC) asking it to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to open ballot boxes, particularly in Sto. Tomas, Batangas to ensure there was no fraud or anomaly in the 2022 presidential and national elections.

Ysaac explains that it is only the SC as the highest judicial body that can order the Comelec to open a ballot box to prove the allegations of TNTrio.

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Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is preparing appropriate charges against those found to be involved in the issuance of spurious birth certificates to Chinese nationals in Sta. Cruz town, Davao del Sur.

Reports said the NBI regional office in Davao has identified at least two alleged “fixers” after five to seven notaries public had been tagged in the ongoing investigation.

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My greetings to the Rev. Dr. James Philip Monserate, our Moderator, Secular Oblates of the Holy Family (OHF), who graduated this year with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Major in Anthropology, from the Manila Theological College (MTC) Graduate School.

Aside from being the Moderator of OHF, Reverend Doctor Monserate is a member of the Canadian Canon Law Society and the Tribunal of the Diocese of Catarman. The Manila Theological College Graduate School and College of Medicine is led by its Missionary founder and President, Rev. Dr. Choi Chang-Hoan. Congratulations, MTC Batch 2024.