July 17, 2011 9:30 am 10:30 am Rev. Fr. Jorge Vargas SM City Lucena Cheska Jane G.

Arriola IV-Charity

REFLECTION #5
Fr. Jorge Vargas talked about different thoughts regarding the readings for that day. Of all the things he told us, there are three things which remained in my mind even after the mass. First, when he said the words open our minds . He said that we should first know the story behind the actions of a particular person before we make judgments. All of us have different interpretations and perspectives about certain stories or scenes. For instance, when a man went home so late, we can t say that it was because of hanging out and drinking with his colleagues. We should be open-minded and always try to understand every situation. Second thing that I still remember, our faith must continue to grow like those seeds in the Gospel. As Catholics, we should do more than what we usually do to be more productive and fruitful. And the last thing is, No one can change another person, only God can change us. Some people want to change their fellow human beings but most of them can t even change themselves. This is not a good act to practice as people of God. While listening to the homily of the priest, I can feel that my mind was being refreshed because of those things I ve heard. I learned and realized that I should always open my mind and understand other s situations. Sometimes, I misinterpret people s actions and judge them immediately. One concrete example of this is whenever I know someone who did a wrong action or sin like stealing. At first, I always think that he/she is a bad and uneducated person but on the other side, I know that I don t have any right to judge him/her. I learned that this is not a good act as a Catholic and I must know the whole story first before making conclusions. Another essential lesson I ve learned, I should let my faith to grow in order to be a productive Catholic. Attending the Holy Eucharist every Sunday is not enough but instead, I should do some community services to apply the things I ve learned. Just recently, I joined two religious organizations namely Youth for Family Life & Parish Youth Community (OLLP) and I m very grateful because I know that those organizations would help me to be closer to God and to grow my faith . Last but not the least, I realized that I should not force others to change themselves because only God can change them. There are times when I want a particular person to change himself/herself for the better but then, I should give him/her a chance to change himself/herself alone and ask God for guidance. These are the meaningful lessons I ve learned from the priest s homily this week.