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Ika-6 Linggo sa Karaniwang Panahon (A)
MASS PRESIDER: Rev. Fr. Vhong Turingan
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Gospel Reading for September 29, 2026 – John 1: 47-51
ANGELS ARE REAL
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
————
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Archangels:
MICHAEL — who brings God’s power against the evil one (Revelation 12: 7–9);
GABRIEL — who brings God’s message (Luke 1: 19 and Luke 1: 26–38); and
RAPHAEL — who brings the healing power of God (Tobit, Chapters 3–12).
Even if our human minds cannot fully understand the existence of angels, or even if we do not actually see them, their existence is affirmed by what Jesus says in today’s Gospel — ANGELS ARE REAL.
In their early catechesis, children are often taught about angels who guard them day and night. As a matter of fact, a traditional 17th-century bedtime prayer was taught to children (though it has since been revised in many ways):
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless this bed that I lie on.
Before I lay me down to sleep,
I give my soul to Christ to keep.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch, one to pray,
And two to bear my soul away.
I go by sea, I go by land,
The Lord made me with his right hand.
If any danger come to me,
Sweet Jesus Christ, deliver me!
The line, “And two to bear my soul away,” was later changed to “And two to keep all harm away.”
It is so good to teach our children that parents are not always around to protect them, but they can always pray to their guardian angel to keep them safe from all harm. This is also one way of introducing spirituality at an early age.
Lord God, we thank you for the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, who are your instruments through whom you manifest your power and accomplish your will. Amen.
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Mga Kapanalig, umabot na naman sa mahigit sandaang piso ang presyo ng diesel!
Nanawagan ang mga operators ng provincial at city bus na alisin ang suspensyon sa fare hike dahil “dumudugo” na ang kanilang industriya. Anila, umaabot na sa 45% hanggang 60% ng kanilang operating costs ang napupunta sa pagpapagasolina.
Noong Marso, inaprubahan ng Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (o LTFRB) ang provisional fare increase para sa mga pampublikong transportasyon. Pero bago pa ito maipatupad, ipinahinto ito ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos habang nagpapatuloy ang giyera sa Middle East.
Ngayon, nananawagan na ang mga bus operators na alisin na ang suspensyon na ito. Lumalaki na rin kasi ang iba pa nilang gastusin gaya ng modernization loans, spare parts, maintenance, insurance, toll fees, at iba pang regulatory requirements. Dagdag pa sa mgma ito ang inaasahang pagtaas ng sahod ng kanilang mga empleyado. Nauunawaan nila na makaaapekto sa mga mananakay ang pagtaas ng pamasahe. Pero katwiran nila, kung hindi sasabay ang pamasahe sa operations costs nila, maaaring umabot sa puntong hindi na makapagbibiyahe ang mga bus nang ligtas at maayos. Baka mawalan din ng trabaho ang mga driver, konduktor, mekaniko, at iba pa.
Hindi simpleng usapin ang taas-pasahe. Totoong may pinagdaraanan ang mga operators at drivers. Totoo ring naghihigpit ng sinturon ang mga pasahero.
Hindi lamang mga bus operators ang nananawagan ng fare hike. Nagpaplano ng pambansang welga ang grupong PISTON at Manibela dahil sa kalagayan ng sektor ng transportasyon. Hinihiling din nilang tanggalin ang mga buwis sa langis, pagbaba ng presyo ng krudo, at pagrepaso sa Oil Deregulation Law, na nagbibigay sa mga kumpanya ng langis ng malaking kalayaan sa pagtatakda ng presyo.
Ayon naman sa gobyerno, “last resort” na ang taas-pamasahe. Patuloy nitong sinusuportahan ang mga PUV sa pamamagitan ng fuel discounts at iba pang ayuda. Mas pabor ang gobyerno sa tinatawag na targeted subsidies para sa mga sektor na higit na nangangailangan kaysa sa malawakang pagtanggal ng excise tax sa diesel at gasolina. Ayon sa Department of Finance, maaari kasing mawalan ang pamahalaan ng humigit-kumulang 12 bilyong piso na kita bawat buwan kung sususpindihin ang buwis sa petrolyo.
Sa gitna ng magkakaibang panawagang ito, ano ang nais ng Simbahan na magsilbing gabay natin?
Paalala sa atin ng 1 Corinto 12:26, “Kung nasasaktan ang isang bahagi, nasasaktan ang lahat; kung pinaparangalan ang isang bahagi, nagagalak ang lahat.” Ipinaaalala sa mga salitang ito ang prinsipyo ng solidarity—magkakaugnay ang ating buhay at may pananagutan tayo sa isa’t isa. Kapag nahihirapan ang mga operators, apektado ang mga pasahero. Kapag hiráp ang mga pasahero sa mas mataas na pamasahe, apektado rin ang kabuhayan ng mga drivers at operators.
Ang hamon sa gobyerno ay tiyaking hindi sa isang sektor lamang mapupunta ang bigat ng krisis. Kailangang timbangin ang pangangailangan ng mga operators at drivers na mapanatili ang kanilang serbisyo at kabuhayan, gayundin ang kakayahan ng mga ordinaryong mamamayan na tustusan ang mga pang-araw-araw nilang pangangailangan. Ito ang diwa ng common good, ang panlipunang kapakanan at kaunlaran ng buong komunidad. Kaakibat dito ay ang patuloy na panawagan para sa pagtatapos ng digmaan sa Middle East at suporta sa makatarungang peace process.
Mga Kapanalig, wala pang malinaw na katapusan ang oil crisis, pero malinaw na hindi lamang ito problema ng mga bus operators, jeepney drivers, at mga commuters. Problema ito ng lahat dahil magkakaugnay ang ating buhay at kabuhayan. Nawa’y magkaroon ng karunungan ang ating mga pinuno para makahanap ng tugon na makatarungan at isinasaalang-alang ang kapakanan ng lahat. Dapat tandaan ng pamahalaan: ang tao ang dapat manatiling sentro ng bawat tugon sa krisis.
Sumainyo ang katotohanan.
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My French friend Eric Nicolas, a native of Marseille, sent me a message yesterday that made me look at one particular moment of Pope Leo’s visit to France in a different light.
Eric admitted that before the visit he had been worried: would France still turn out to welcome a Pope? Then he saw the enormous crowds and wrote to me: “How wrong I was. What Pope Leo did to France is incredible… What is happening in France is like a miracle.”
But what struck me most was something else he noticed—the place where Pope Leo celebrated the great Mass in Paris: the Place de la Concorde.
Eric reminded me that during the French Revolution this was called the Place de la Révolution. The guillotine stood there, and more than a thousand people were executed on that square during the Revolution, including King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette, Danton, and many others.
“Silently,” Eric wrote, “it became a Mass for reconciliation as well… away from death and looking forward in love and peace. Was it done on purpose? I don’t know. But wow, what a symbol!”
I thought: indeed, what a symbol.
The relationship between France and the Catholic Church has been marked by deep wounds. Before the Revolution, the institutional Church had become closely identified with the monarchy and the social order of the ancien régime. Bishops and clergy enjoyed privileges that made the Church, in the eyes of many revolutionaries, part of a system they were rebelling against.
But revolutions can also devour their own ideals. The struggle against privilege eventually gave way, especially during the Terror, to violent dechristianization and persecution. Churches were closed and desecrated, priests and religious were imprisoned, exiled or killed, and the revolutionaries who had risen against tyranny themselves became capable of terrible tyranny.
And yet France did not cease to be a land of extraordinary Christian spiritual vitality. It gave the universal Church St. Vincent de Paul, who organized charity and service to the poor into a powerful Christian movement. It gave us St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Paray-le-Monial, from which devotion to the Sacred Heart spread throughout the Catholic world. It gave us St. John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars, patron saint of parish priests.
It gave us St. Thérèse of Lisieux, whose “Little Way” taught generations of Christians that holiness does not necessarily consist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing the smallest things with extraordinary love and childlike trust in God.
It gave us St. Charles de Foucauld, who dreamed of becoming a “universal brother,” living the hidden life of Nazareth among people of another faith and culture.
France gave us Lourdes and St. Bernadette, and the remarkable ministry to the sick that grew around that sanctuary. And in our own time, a little village called Taizé became one of the places where generations of young Christians—Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox—have discovered the beauty of silence, Scripture, simple prayer, fraternity and reconciliation.
And one could add Chartres, the Assumptionists, the Good Shepherd Sisters, the great French missionary congregations and schools of spirituality and theology that have left their mark on the Church throughout the world, including our own Church in the Philippines.
Perhaps this helps explain why I have been so moved by Pope Leo’s visit. He has not come to France to reopen the wounds of the Revolution, to reclaim some lost political privilege for the Church, or to resurrect the ancien régime. He has come with a very different language: human dignity, fraternity, dialogue, healing, reconciliation and peace.
And so I keep returning to that image of the Mass at the Place de la Concorde. The square itself has undergone a kind of conversion. It was once the Place de la Révolution, associated with the guillotine and the Terror. In 1795, it was renamed the Place de la Concorde—the Place of Concord—as France sought reconciliation after the bloodshed.
And there, more than two centuries later, hundreds of thousands gathered around an altar. Pope Leo began the Mass by recalling the words of the Psalm: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.” He spoke of Christ as the source of the deepest things for which the human heart thirsts—for life, truth, unity, peace, communion and happiness.
I do not know whether the historical symbolism of that particular location was deliberately intended by the organizers. Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was not.
But sometimes a place itself preaches the homily. Where once stood a guillotine, there stood an altar. Where crowds once gathered to watch people die, an enormous crowd gathered to celebrate the Eucharist. Where France once spoke the language of revolution and counter-revolution, Pope Leo spoke of communion.
From death to life.
From division to concord.
From violence to reconciliation.
From an armed world to what Pope Leo has repeatedly called an “unarmed and disarming peace.”
Perhaps that is one of the quiet miracles my friend Eric was seeing in France.
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