Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on the 23rd Sunday in OT, 7 Sept 2025, St John Bosco Shrine and Parish, Cotcot, Liloan

Last August 16 we were blessed with the priestly ordination of Rev Jhon Robert Andales, SDB. As a boy, Fr Robert used to be very actively involved in the parish where he grew up in Kampingganon, Bantayan Island. In fact he was a very dedicated altar server just like many of the altar servers here. But after high school he took courage in leaving behind his father and his sister in order to enter the seminary in Don Bosco Lawaan. On a personal note, I was blessed to have journeyed with him as one of his formators for sixteen years, and today I can only marvel at what God has done all these years to form in Fr Robert the mind of Christ and the heart of a zealous shepherd for the young.

We are now on the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and we are actually celebrating the Season of Creation. As we come together to worship the Lord on this holy day, God also comes down from heaven to nourish us with both his divine Word and his sacred Body and Blood. In the gospel passage we have heard today Jesus teaches us something that seems to be very hard to accept. He says “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Have you ever hated someone in your life? Some of you when you were young must have hated your siblings for not sharing their toys and chocolates with you. Some of the teen agers here might have hated their parents for not having given them permission to go out with friends and have some good time. But hating someone is bad, isn’t it? And what could be worse than hating someone? It is to hate one’s very own parents and certain members of one’s family. In fact Jesus himself taught us that hating others is bad. And instead of hating, he told us that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us (You will find this in Luke 6:27ff). But, why is Jesus teaching us in today’s gospel (Luke 14:25-33) to hate the very people we should love? Aren’t these two teachings contradictory?

Absolutely not! It is important for us to understand the proper context of what Jesus is teaching us in today’s gospel. The opening verse of this passage tells us that great crowds had been following Jesus. They were listening attentively to his teachings. And we can only surmise how each one tried to react and respond especially to certain teachings difficult to understand and hard to accept. Then at the end of the day those who followed him would go home and share with their families whatever they had heard from Jesus. It is precisely at this point when the more difficult struggle would begin. It is in the home where the conflict among Jewish families would arise. Many parents and other members of the Jewish families who have become extremely attached to their old Jewish beliefs and practices, could find it impossible to accept the new teachings of Jesus. And consequently those who have become Jesus’ disciples would easily feel discouraged by their very own family members from continuing to follow Jesus.

Doesn’t it happen at times today, that parents, if not other members of the family, become a hindrance or an obstacle to the observance of Christian values or the achievement of one’s lofty dreams? A young man may fall in love with a certain respectable lady whom unfortunately his parents would not approve. And he has to decide whether to break up with his girlfriend if he chooses to please his parents, or to stick to his girlfriend but end up being thrown out of his parents’ house.

Let me give you another classic example. Every year a good number of senior high school students come to visit our seminary in Lawaan to attend a three-day search-in program. After experiencing the beauty of seminary life and a unique bonding with our aspirants, some of them would express a strong desire to enter the seminary. However after their graduation when enrolment time comes, most of them would suddenly change their minds because their parents would not allow them to pursue their priestly or religious vocation.

I’m afraid it is to such as these that the words of Jesus are particularly addressed today “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,… and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” A true lover and follower is one who can give up anything or anyone else in order to be with his or her beloved. In other words what the gospel is teaching us today is the PRIMACY of CHRIST: for a Catholic, loyalty to Christ should be over and above all other loyalties, even above loyalty to one’s very own family.

We pray therefore that the Eucharist we celebrate may move us to follow Jesus more faithfully despite opposition or discouragement from our own family and from the very people whom we love.

Today at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican the Pope will canonize two young men who have lived very holy and inspiring lives. One of them is Carlo Acutis while the other one is Pier Giorgio Frassati.

Bl. Carlo Acutis was only 15 years old when he died of Leukemia. But from the day that he received his first Holy Communion he promised to serve the Lord faithfully and live a life always pleasing to God. He never failed to attend daily Masses and to pray the Rosary everyday. He grew up like many other kids during his time doing what he loved to do, like using social media, playing football as well as video games, but he did this always in moderation.

What made him different from all the rest was his amazing love for Jesus in the Eucharist, which he expressed by spreading such devotion through social media. In fact he made his own blog where he would post various Eucharistic miracles hoping that many would be inspired and fall in love with Jesus, really present in the most Blessed Sacrament. And among the first whom he was able to convert was his very own mother.

Bl. Giorgio Frassati on the other hand lived around a century earlier. And just like younger saint mentioned above, he died of a certain illness at 24 years old. But his untimely death did not become a waste, as he dedicated his entire life to Jesus since he was a kid by his charity to the poor, and above all by fighting for their cause in accordance with Gospel principles. It was said that one day when he was much younger, he willingly took off the pair of shoes he was wearing in order to give it to a barefooted boy who with his mother was knocking at their doorstep asking for alms.

These two saints, Carlo and Giorgio, have shown to us that young people even in our times are capable of becoming saints. Young people can be spiritually mature enough to always give PRIMACY to GOD over everyone else and everything else and choose to live a joyful life always pleasing to Him.

Allow me to conclude with what our newly ordained priest, Fr Robert, shared with the people at the end of his Ordination Mass. After having expressed his thanks to the many significant persons who have helped him respond to God’s call, he said his gratitude goes above all to his very own mother, for it is to her that he owes his very own life. 36 years ago the doctor told her Mom to choose between her life and the life of her baby inside her womb. And so, on the day his Mom was to give birth to him, she chose to die in order that her new born baby boy might live. And that boy was Fr Robert. Isn’t that choice the most selfless a mother can ever make in today’s world?

May these beautiful stories we have heard today inspire us to love Jesus above all and soon be numbered among the countless saints in heaven. GiGsss!

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