Instant Ginatan

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 16:21-27


When I was in Hollywood, a Filipina offered an instant “ginatan halo-halo” for merienda. Having been away from the Manila for five months, the thought of ginatan halo-halo thrilled me. But the taste of this instant ginatan was a big disappointment. It was far from the taste of real ginatan. Indeed, instant products are not always good. Unfortunately, our world is turning into the culture of instants, short cuts, quick fix, and convenience stores. Modern technology is giving us a painless, easy and lazy life. Majority would say, why make it difficult and complicated when technology can make it simple and quick? In the process, we lost the value and wisdom of sacrifice and suffering.

In our gospel today, Jesus revealed the secret formula of his future glory: He must go to Jerusalem, suffer greatly, be killed, and on the third day be raised (Mt.16:21). But it was the antithesis of the disciples’ idea of “glory.” So Peter corrected Jesus, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Peter couldn’t accept that suffering and sacrifice are necessary ingredients in Jesus’ assent to glory. Peter couldn’t think a suffering Saviour. And so Jesus rebuked him, “Get behind me Satan, You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” And Jesus gave his triple conditions to discipleship to correct Peter’s wrong notion of sacrifice and suffering, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt.16:24) There is no instant glory in following Christ. We need to take the road to sacrifice and suffering to attain fullness of life and salvation.

Fullness of life and salvation can only be achieved through sacrifice, self-denial and hard work. Not through shortcuts or any instant solution. They are the fruits of our hard labour, perseverance and faithful carrying of our daily cross.

When Jesus scolded Peter with the words, “Get behind me, Satan!”... Jesus’ is directly commanding Peter to resist the devil’s deceiving temptation – take shortcuts, avoid pain and suffering, run away from the cross and self-indulge. But life is not like that. It has its own challenges, failures, misgivings, detours and delays. When these things happen, self denial and sacrifice become our way of engagement. And we gain a lot from them.

One of my friends required his newly graduate son to work as an all-around helper in their bakery. The son resented the idea at the beginning. He felt humiliated but followed his father’s decision. As a worker, the son learned how to relate to people and learned the value of hard work. After six months, his father made him the new manager of the bakery.

In his desire to protect Jesus from suffering, Peter failed to see the importance of sacrifice in God’s plan of salvation. Self-denial is necessary. No sacrifice, no glory.

If you want a happy family, then sacrifice.
Spend more quality time with your family.

If you want to pass the board exam, then sacrifice.
Go to the library and read read read.

If you want good health, then sacrifice.
Avoid your favorite junk food and exercise daily.

If you want beautiful garden, then sacrifice.
Toil under the sun and soil your hands.

If you want fruits in your backyard,
then plant trees now and wait for years patiently.

If you want delicious ginatan, then sacrifice a little.
Prepare your own coco milk. Cook it slowly.
It may take a while but it’s worth all the wait and effort.

Today’s Gospel calls us to take the same road with Jesus: “Whoever wishes to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24). St. Paul also exhorts us to run hard to win the race: “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).

No to shortcuts and instants.

In heaven, only fruits of hard labor and sacrifice are recognized. And they don’t serve instant ginatan there.


Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ
St. Joseph Parish

The Quiz

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 16:13-20 “But who do you say that I am?”


I love History subjects when I was in high school. I enjoyed memorizing famous names, important dates and exotic places. But I struggled a lot when reflection paper would be required with topics such as “If Rizal is alive today, what will he say to the Filipino youth?” To answer it well, we need to know Rizal beyond facts and figures. We need to know his values, aspirations and sentiments in order to know him well.

In our gospel today, Jesus suddenly gave a surprise quiz to the disciples to test their knowledge about him. Much to the disciples’ surprise, Jesus posted two questions to them. The first question was a general knowledge inquiry, but the second was a heart to heart inquiry – a check of personal knowledge.

The first question was a curriculum vitae material: “Who do people say I am?” And they answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Easy! It was just a re-echoing of what others have said about Jesus.

But the second question was a hard one. Only those who were intimately close to Jesus could answer this: “Who do you say I am?” Everybody was caught in surprise. It was a re-echoing of what’s inside their hearts.” Surprisingly, Simon answered it correctly, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.” I could imagine a smiling Jesus when Peter answered his second question correctly.

In our experience, students who are intellectually motivated spend a great deal of time in reading and researching. They have this unquenchable thirst for deeper knowledge. In the end, they become what they read and contemplated.

On the other hand, Peter was not only intellectually motivated to know Jesus. He was spiritually moved by Jesus. He was captivated by Jesus’ charism, passion and ministry. He wanted to know what keeps Jesus so passionate in everything. Thus, Peter decided to stay close with Jesus and learn more of Him. In the end, he decided to follow the footstep of Jesus. He became what he contemplated. It was Peter’s intimacy with Jesus that led him to say, “You are the son of the living God.” It was also his intimacy with Jesus that led him to say, “If it is you Lord, allow me to walk on water.”

But far more revealing in the story was the reply of Jesus, “Peter, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” I suddenly realized that the more we know Jesus, the more we know ourselves and our hidden gifts and potentials. Thus, we are challenged to continually fix our eyes on Jesus in our prayer if we want to know ourselves. Our identity is in Jesus.

In our society, educated people benefits a lot. They always win in Quiz Bees, get freebies from the Cebu Pacific in-flight contest, and frequently consulted for bright ideas. Intelligent people are sources of right information and sound opinion of anything under the sun.

On the other hand, prayerful and spiritual people are sources of inspiration and strength. They are emotionally stable, balanced and happy. Such peaceful and cheerful disposition is the fruit of their deeply rooted prayer life and intimacy with God. Spiritual giants like Mary, St.Ignatius of Loyola and St.Francis of Assisi were people of prayer. Like Peter, because of their intimacy with Jesus, they found God and found themselves in the process.

But what about us? How is our intimacy with God? If Jesus will give us a surprise quiz today and ask us the same question, “Who do you say that I am?” What is your answer? Evaluate yourself.

Is your knowledge of Jesus comes from:


Your Rate
Your personal experience of Him in prayer? ----------- 40 % _______
Your personal experience Him in your daily life? ----- 40 % _______
Your Bible Study and Catechism? -=-------------------- 10 % _______
Other people’s experience of Jesus? --------------------- 10% _______

Total ________

What is your score?
Your score will tell you how deeply you know Jesus.

Knowing Jesus through Bible study and Catechism will give us a trophy in a Bible Quiz Bee; but knowing Jesus intimately through our prayer will give us heaven in our hand.


- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ
Sacred Heart Chapel
Ateneo de Zamboanga University

The Wall

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 15: 21-28


In the middle of our conversation with regard to the latest GRP-MILF peace negotiation, somebody suddenly blurted out, “I cannot trust the Muslims.” When he saw my reaction, he said, “Sorry Father. I am just disappointed with the recent atrocities caused by this arm conflict. I just want peace in Mindanao.”

We may not be aware of it, but we need to acknowledge that biases and prejudices, caused by our long and painful history of violence in Mindanao, unconsciously affect how we relate with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We have created an invisible wall of division. This is not what God desires. He wants to bring the whole humanity to Himself. Thus, we need to purify our minds and hearts from any destructive biases and prejudices that bring animosity and division among us.

In our gospel today, it showed that even the disciples were not free from the prejudices and discrimination. When they realized that the woman was not a Jew, they said, “Master, send her away” (Matthew 15:23). Initially, we may find Jesus’ reply to the Canaanite woman inappropriate: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel… and it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:24,26). His intention was just to test the woman’s faith; but after testing her faith and good intention, Jesus healed her daughter in the end.

In the Scripture, it is clear that everybody has a space in Jesus’ heart, Jews or not. His unconditional love allows him to transcend all cultural, social and religious boundaries and embrace the whole humanity. Real love melts animosity, division and fear. Jesus forgives his enemies, eats with tax collectors and other public sinners, heals the lepers, talks to the prostitutes, and spends a lot of time with the poor and marginalized. He even chooses ordinary fishermen as his disciples. And He continues to love and trust us in spite of our unfaithfulness. If Jesus has one bias to speak of, it is his decision to love everybody without any reservations.

This unconditional love of Jesus is also true to our God the Father. Our first reading from Isaiah shows Yahweh welcoming the Gentiles in His holy temple: “The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servant.” (Isaiah 56:6). Therefore, as children of God, we are challenged to follow the footsteps of Jesus and recognize everybody as our brothers and sisters without any reservation.

The way relate with one another shows us the need to continue purifying our hearts. We don’t trust an ex-inmate. We look down on someone who are less educated than us. We treat people differently according to their social status. We have lost our trust to people who committed a mistake. We don’t mingle with the poor. We give our undivided attention to people of high status; but not to the needs of our house helpers. We are not aware that our hidden biases and prejudices affect how we relate with others. We are insensitive to their needs. We don’t see their inner beauty. Thus, we don’t see them as our brothers and sisters.

We need to identity our hidden biases and prejudices. It is only in naming that we can tame them. Prayer will help us to purify our hearts. Our gospel challenges us to leave our comfort zones, transcend the walls of division and reach out to a stranger. Let us learn to trust one another, including those who offended us and have asked for another chance.

All of us - whatever is our color, background, religion, culture and social status - are children of God. Only true love can compel us to destroy the walls that separate us from the poor, enemy, marginalized and strangers. Peace is within reach when we begin to accept that God is present in every person; and to respect them is respect the God who created us. We also need to forgive one another and remove from our hearts all traces of distrust. Let us not forget the words of St. Paul, the disciples of the Gentiles, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32).


A disciple asked his master, “When can I say, it is already dawn? Is it when I can say this tree is a mango tree and that one is an acacia tree?” The master said “No.” The disciple asked again, “Is it when I can recognize a cat from a dog from a distance?” The master replied, “No.” “Is it when I can say that the man coming is a Muslim, Christian or Buddhist? The master replied, “No.” Then the disciple said, “Then when can I say, it is already dawn?” The master smiled, “It is when you see a stranger coming and you said to yourself, that’s my brother. Then it is already dawn.”


- Fr.Willy M. Samson, SJ
Cagayan de Oro City
August 14, 2011

Why Pray?

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 14: 22 – 33

One of the activities we do in Ateneo is the “Trust Walk.” In this activity, each participant is blind folded and asked to walk under the guidance of a companion. We realized it is easier to walk when guided by someone whom we know well than by a total stranger. The voice of a good friend gives us the confidence that everything will be fine.

Our gospel today is a classic example of trust walk. When Peter learned that it was Jesus walking on the water, he said, “Lord, if it is you, allow me to come to you.” And Jesus said, “Come.” Although Peter could not clearly see Jesus, his voice was enough to encourage Peter to walk on water. Faith is indeed connected to our ability to hear God’s voice. The more we listen to God, the more we gain trust and confidence. Unfortunately, in our present world where noise is part of our life, we are slowly losing our capacity to keep quiet and listen to God.

People nowadays are so busy and distracted with many things. We are multi-task human beings; we do many things at the same time, but lost our focus in the process. Like a machine, we can accomplish many things, but the quality of our relationships suffers greatly, especially our relationship with God. We go home exhausted from daily work, but no sense of fulfillment. We excel in different fields and praised by our colleagues, but no inner joy and satisfaction. Many of us are simply tired, discouraged, or almost dead inside. We have lost our simple joys, spontaneity, and peace. We have lost the depth and breadth of our Christian life. We don't like this feeling of "sinking" but we are. Like Peter, distracted with many worldly concerns, we cry out for help, “Lord, I am sinking! Help me!”

The only way to regain ourselves is to pray again. Prayerful people could hear God in their prayers. The deeper we pray, the more we see God in all things. Our first reading tells us how God revealed Himself to Prophet Elijah. God did not reveal Himself in the strong wind, earthquake and fire, but in the tiny whispering sound. In our present society where everything must be loud, dramatic and grand to win our attention, the God who reveals Himself in silence loses in the competition. If we want to hear God, we need to pause and pray silently.

It is simply absurd to say that we don’t have time to pray. To pray is a decision compelled by our love of God. Even the busiest person can still drop his work and do something urgent and important. Unfortunately, we don’t see the necessity and urgency of daily prayer in our life.

Why pray? When you look at the gospel today, it is Jesus who did the seeking, and not the disciples. When we pray, we create a space and allow God to seek and find us. And when God finds us, He gives us the grace of serenity to face our storms in life. An unknown author defines the meaning of serenity…

To walk when everybody is running
To whisper when everybody is shouting
To sleep when everybody is restless
To smile when everybody is angry
To pause when all are in a hurry
To pray when all are in doubt
To think when all are confused

Fr. Roque Ferriols,SJ shared something about God who constantly looking for him when he celebrated his 70th year as a Jesuit:

“Seventy years ago, I joined the Society of Jesus. I thought I was beginning a lifetime looking for God. But it was given me to know that throughout my lifetime, God has been looking for me. With infinite tenderness, patience, and with great humility, God has been looking for me. God is humble. He waits for me to allow him to find me. Yet in the mystery of his grace, I need his grace to be able to allow him to find me. I have to pray: Lord, grant me the grace to allow you to find me.

As a novice and later as a scholastic, when they sang the Office of Tenebrae during Holy Week, I was always thrilled when they came to the verse: "Bonum est praestolare salutare domini in silentio." "It is good to wait for the saving help of the Lord in silence."


- Fr. Wilfredo M. Samson,SJ
St. Joseph Parish, Zamboanga City

The Fireworks Within Us

18th Sunday in the Ordinary Time
Matthew 14: 13 – 21

One day, Jesus called a press conference at the Manila Hotel. The reporter asked Him, "The Philippines is burdened with lots of personal, family and social crisis. What are your plans to help us?" Jesus replied, "I will ask my disciples to help." "You trust them a lot? Suppose they failed, what’s your Plan B?" Jesus smiled, "I have no other plans. I’m sure, they can do it."

In today’s gospel, the death of John the Baptist must have had caused deep pain to Jesus. By this time, Jesus was also tired of moving from one village to another, doing all sorts of work alone. He may have felt the fatigue of the ministry that he suddenly decided to withdraw from the crowd. But when Jesus saw the big crowd, he felt pity on them. But he could not do it alone. The ministry was getting bigger. He needed help. He knew it was time to bring his disciples in the frontier. He needed to wake his disciples’ potential as leaders and healers of the society.

And so Jesus said to his disciples, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food themselves.” And they hesitantly responded with five loaves and two fish. But that small act of generosity was enough for Jesus to make a miracle and feed five thousand souls. Thanks to the disciples’ five loaves of bread and two fish. But honestly speaking, Jesus could easily make a miracle without his disciples’ contribution. But he wanted to encourage his disciples to get out of their comfort zones, be empowered and have their own miracles in God’s name.

We need leaders. Our society is in need of good leaders who can inspire and bring us to greater heights. Sad to say, we have a short list of possible good leaders in our midst. Our gospel today is challenging us to start forming leaders by encouraging individuals and groups to start sharing their loaves of bread and fish. No miracles will take place in our lives unless we share our loaves and fish. When one discovers his giftedness, he also discovers his mission. Like Jesus, we are duty bound to empower others to help themselves.

But do we know the art of empowering people? One day an old lady invited me for lunch in her house. Knowing that she was really poor, I politely turned down her invitation. But in tears, she replied, “Bakit po Fr.Willy? Dahil po ba mahirap lang kami, wala na kaming karapatang pakainin kayo? Yung mayayaman lang po ba ang pwedeng maglibre sa inyo?” I was taken aback. She was right. The poor are not just beneficiaries of our kindness; given full trust and encouragement, they could also be potential helpers, leaders and evangelizers as well.

But how do we empower people? Do I believe that each person is unique and capable of making a difference to our society? Do I consciously encourage anybody to develop his/her talents? Can I trust them to do something big and important? Can I entrust my pet project to my assistants? We are good leaders or managers, if the people under us can manage themselves even without us; or our ministry survives and flourishes even when we are gone. We are good parents, if our children can take care of themselves while we are away from home. We need to form confident, independent and highly motivated individuals who can stand on their own and lead. The measure of success of our evangelization program is when our subjects become evangelizers themselves.

We need to form leaders, and not mere followers and admirers of us. Sometimes, the cause of our fatigue comes from our inability to delegate some of our work to others, because we don’t trust them. And in the process, we don’t inspire them to wildly dream and empower themselves. Remember this – to trust is the key to confidence build-up. If Jesus could only sing a song today, he will sing the “The Fireworks” of Katy Perry to remind us of who we are. Here are some lines:

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go, oh
You're gonna leave 'em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon

Let’s remember, it is better to commit a mistake for trusting somebody and failed, than to commit a mistake for not trusting somebody for the fear of failure. Jesus has no plan B. He has only one plan for us – to assist Him in His vineyard.


- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ
St.Ignatius of Loyola Parish, Brgy. Tetuan,
Zamboanga City.