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Paggunita kay San Lorenzo Ruiz at mga Kasama, mga martir
Tagapagdiwang: Rev. Fr. Arnold Layoc
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On June 22, 2026, news from Tacloban City shocked the nation: two minors, aged 14 and 15, entered a public high school and opened fire, killing three students and wounding seven others. Police recovered more than 40 spent shells and traced the weapons—one belonging to a police officer, another to a security agency—revealing how easily lethal arms slipped past supposed safeguards. This tragedy is not an isolated incident; it is a painful wake‑up call that our schools are vulnerable, our systems incomplete, and our children’s safety fragile. Violence in Philippine schools—whether mass attacks, bullying, or abuse—destroys lives, disrupts education, and betrays the trust families place in learning institutions. Drawing from the lessons of Tacloban and existing policies like DepEd Order 40 s. 2012 (Child Protection Policy) and RA 10627 (Anti‑Bullying Act), here are five practical, human‑centered strategies to prevent such horrors from happening again.
The tragedy in Tacloban must not be just another headline. It must be the turning point that compels us to move from policies on paper to real, lived safety in every classroom, campus, and community across the Philippines. Guarding our schools and youth is more than a matter of policy or security—it is a sacred duty rooted in the call to protect the most vulnerable among us. As Jesus taught, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14), reminding us that every learner is a precious gift entrusted to our care.
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23rd Sunday A
Ez 33:7-9
Th reading introduces Ezekiel’s prophetic work among Babylonian exiles, emphasizing God’s universal concerns as he was the first prophet called in a foreign land. He warns of Jerusalem’s destruction and describes the watchman’s role in warning of danger, emphasizing accountability for failing to warn. The passage highlights personal guilt and God’s concern, with the prophetic voice vital for repentance until the end, focusing on responsibility over response.
Rom 13:8-10
The passage highlights Paul’s teaching on Christian freedom from the law. This freedom isn’t license or anti-nomianism; observing the command to love ensures the law’s demands are met. Love respects the law but requires more. It’s the only debt Christians owe, fulfilling the law through unlimited love (Mk 12:28-34), making the law fully fulfilled (v10).
Mt 18:15-20
Considering the previous parable on the lost sheep (Mt 18:12-14) as the immediate context of the gospel reading today (vv 15-20), the motive behind the three-step procedure regarding erring brothers becomes obvious. In keeping the desire of the ‘heavenly Father that none any of these little ones should perish’ (v14), it aims to “win over” the brother who sinned (v 15). The verb “kerdainō” κέρδαὶνω generally means “to gain,””acquire” and could have as its object either things (material world at the expense of of one’s spiritual life, Mt 15:26) or someone (for reconciliation, Mt 18:15; 1 Pet. 3:1 or for St. Paul, gaining converts, 1 Cor. 9:19ff, and Christ himself, Phil. 3:8).
The first step in the process of correction is based on Lev 19.17: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart but you shall reason with your neighbor lest you bear sin with your neighbor because of him”. This sort of private confrontation should be motivated by love and concern. The second step is based on Deut 19,15: “Only on the evidence of two or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained.” The biblical procedure presupposes a criminal offense, but here the witnesses would help in a sort of “negotiation” in order to urge him to return to faithfulness. Lastly, the step that can be considered as the “adjudication”. If the brother still will not listen, the disciple must tell it “to the church,” the community of those who belong to the kingdom. The whole purpose of this action is to remove every stumbling block, to bring back the strayed into fellowship with the whole community. If that fails, however, “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-col-lector” a common proverbial phrase indicating those outside the kingdom (cf. 5:46-47).
In the concluding verses, the power to bind and loose, previously bestowed on Peter in 16:19, is now given to the disciples at large. That power would seem to concern either the imposing (and lifting) of decrees of excommunication or the forgiving (and not forgiving) of sins (v18). The ideas of agreement, common prayer, and Christ’s presence are here in the service of exercising the power to bind and loose in the case of the brother who sins (v19). When the community gathers in Jesus’ name to hear a legal case, Jesus is there. When the community agrees, the Father in heaven agrees (v20).
This Sunday’s message highlights our Christian duty to correct others when needed, based on Ezekiel’s call for admonition in prophecy and the Gospel’s guide for confronting unrepentant offenders. It stresses community prayer, love as the foundation of commandments, and the importance of addressing wrongdoings courageously without vindictiveness or inaction. Practicing this fulfills God’s desire that no one be lost. May we all have the courage to do so. Amen.
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Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 06 September 2026 Ezekiel 33:7-9 ><}}}}*> Romans 13:8-10 ><}}}}*> Matthew 18:15-20
Thanks be to God for Alex Eala – not only an excellent tennis player, a bright and intelligent lady but most of all, most kind and humble of all.
Her recent landing on the front page of New York Times that prides itself with the motto “All the News Fit to Print” in its 175 years of existence cemented Eala’s stardom. That’s real influence no blog stats nor Hollywood walk of fame could match.
Side by side with the major events and newsmakers in the world, the editors of New York Times featured Eala on their front page not entirely because of her prowess and grit in tennis but of her expressions of love, community and unity of Filipinos – a far, far cry from news coming from our forsaken country of calamities and crooks in government. Eala – along with other athletes like EJ Obienna – are the only good news we now have, with her practically a walking gospel like St. Paul in today’s second reading.
Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8).
What kind of love is Paul exhorting the Romans then and us today? For St. Paul, love is the self-sacrificing love that Jesus showed us when he offered himself for us on the cross.
Recall last Sunday St. Paul reminded us “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1) like Jesus. In that same chapter, he spoke of not retaliating or seeking vengeance while in the following chapter we now have, he expounded the themes of obedience to authority and a sort of social responsibilities like justice (Rom. 13:1-7).
And while justice demands we pay off our debts and other dues to one another, to the state and public officials, it is a totally different scenario when it comes to love. For St. Paul, love is the imitation of Jesus Christ, a love that can never be measured at all and even be demanded and decreed.
Love is not a possession that anyone can receive nor give in an exactly measured quantity like a pound or a kilogram of love. St. Mother Teresa said the measure of love is when you love without measure. It is either you love or do not love! And when we do not love, then we sin which is a refusal to love.
That sin can only be repaired and corrected by love.
Therefore, to overcome sin, you have to love more!
That is why we hear Jesus teaching us today the importance of fraternal correction based on love not anything else.
Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two other along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17).
Jesus is now heading to Jerusalem to fulfill his mission. Along the way, he taught his disciples important lessons about the Church he had just established upon Peter, the Rock, while at Caesarea Philippi the other Sunday.
For three Sundays beginning today, Jesus will touch on three moral issues we face with seeming complexity in our modern time like fraternal correction, forgiving, and work. These are crucial because they are expressions of mutual love for one another. Most of all, it is in these realms we fall into “sin of omission” particularly with fraternal correction as we tend to detach ourselves from others when they are committing sin. By distancing from them or refusing to make a clear stand against evil, we unconsciously allow sin to persist.
The dark side of the sin of omission lies in that tendency within us to not care at all with those into serious sins when we separate and distance from them, even telling them “bahala ka na sa buhay mo…pinili mo iyan, pagdusahan mo.”
Fraternal correction is the antidote to sins of omission because it is about keeping our relationships intact as family, friends, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ who becomes truly present in the world among us when we live in harmony because “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20).
This is the good news of Eala, whether she wins or loses a match, she speaks of love and kindness. And she has been consistent with it!
Since the Old Testament, God had already insisted on this moral precept as his children that we look after one another like a sentinel – a watchman or a guard – as he told the Prophet Ezekiel in the first reading.
At that time, the enemies of Judah were closely approaching their borders that they designated watchmen as their first line of defense. Failure by these watchmen to warn the people – as it turned out later – could spell disaster for the kingdom.
The same thing is true with us. We are all interrelated with each other. One rotten tomato can spoil the whole batch like allowing corruption in every form to continue as well as electing corrupt officials into office. How sad we have not learned our lessons; maybe not until we have sank deep into flood…
We cannot be indifferent and be mere bystanders amid the evil and sins happening around us perpetrated especially by those closest to us. It is not enough either that we do no wrong on others yet allow those into corruption to continue with their evil doings. Fraternal correction is an expression of our love – for God and for others. We correct those into sin because of love, not because we are better or holier.
St. Paul beautifully declared in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “Caritas Christi urget nos” – the love of Christ urges, impels us – to love more especially in these times of calamities and disunity in the country.
This love of Jesus Christ the Lord himself described as “new commandment” at his last supper (Jn.13:34) is a love rooted in God himself, a love that “levels up” every disciple into the mystical plane of existence.
Recall those moments you have truly loved without strings attached, unselfish and selfless: that is when we realize that love is a debt we can never pay off because love is a gift from God, something that is never exhausted nor depleted. In fact, we realize that we too can love like Jesus Christ!
God does not “order” nor “command” us in the strict sense to love him. He asks for our love because he loves us, because he is love. When we love, we fulfill the commandments of God, we live in peace and harmony with one another like in heaven. That is why it is only love that will remain in heaven where there will be no more fraternal corrections. Most of all, love can never be paid off as a debt because love is all that shall remain to become our very person in Christ. Amen. Have a blessed, loving week!
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