Veritas PH

The WORD. The TRUTH.

 622 total views

Face to face with Jesus, Pilate wanted to ask him, “Who are you?” We ask the same question every time we start a relationship: “Who are you?” Today, Christians are still being asked the same question: “Who are you?”

We often politely answer this question, without revealing who we actually are. We give a standard, courteous answer because we are afraid that people might think we are proud or conceited. And so, we give a modest answer.

If we look at our lives, we can answer this question in three ways. We can say, “I am an engineer, or I am a dressmaker, or I am a contractor. I am what I do.” Some people answer it by saying “what people say I am.” They feign humility and say,

“Well, people say I am handsome, they say I am pretty, or gracious, or kind, or hospitable.” And there are some people who answer this question by stating “I am what I have.” “I have money, I have education, I have clout, I have influence, I have popularity.”

So, there are three ways people answer this question: “I am what I do. I am what people say I am. I am what I have.” In other words, “who I am” is: “I am my success. I am my popularity. I am my power. My power is me. My success is me. My popularity is me.”

I hope you realize how fragile this kind of self-identification is. If you only identify yourself with success, popularity, and power, when you die, you are just dead. When you die, you are perceived as having been defeated by death. When you are dead, you would want to still be remembered, so you decree that a monument be built for you. People will recognize the monument as a work of art, but they often forget the person for whom the monument is erected.

This kind of self-identification is weak. Pilate thought he was what other people thought of him. He said, “I am governor of Judah. I have the trust and confidence of the emperor of Rome. I can decide on your life or death.” Pilate had power, but what happened to that power?

Jesus did not like to identify himself with popularity and success. Jesus wanted to say, “I have no need for power, success, and popularity, because when I was baptized in the River Jordan, a voice was heard from heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.’” And because of these words from heaven, money, power, success, popularity are no longer important. We cannot even refer to them as icings on the cake, because icings make the cake beautiful. But power, success, and popularity do not add to our beauty. They do not make us more beautiful than others. They simply distract us from the fact that we are God’s beloved ones.

The beautiful thing is this: what the Father said about Jesus – “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” – is also being said about us. When you and I were baptized, a voice was also heard from heaven saying, “You are my beloved. You are special to me. I am well pleased with you.” That gift of being the beloved of God is even more beautiful than the love you receive from your parents, because long before your parents started to love you, God has already begun loving you. And long after your loved ones on earth have stopped caring for you, God would still be there, caring for you, understanding you. “You are my beloved,” he tells us.

That is why Jesus did not have to answer the question of Pilate, because Pilate would not understand him. But you understand the Lord. You understand that being God’s beloved is the greatest honor that you can ever receive. And all other things become unimportant and useless. And because Jesus is the beloved Son, you share in what he has. And because Jesus is King, you and I are also kings, because we are God’s beloved.

Let us be proud of this truth. Let us be thankful to God for it. Let us ask God to deliver us, to safeguard us, to protect us from the destruction that power, popularity, and success can bring us. Success can intoxicate. Power can make us blind. Let us not fall into that trap. You and I are kings because Jesus is king.

And when you close your eyes and imagine Jesus as king, do not put a crown of gold on his head, or royal robes on his back, or a glittering scepter in his hand, because stripped of all that Jesus is still king, and is God’s beloved. Stripped of your power, success, or popularity, you are still the beloved.

We have been chosen by God and all other things become unimportant and unnecessary. The power, the popularity, the success that we may gain all amount to nothing compared to the truth that we are God’s beloved. Let us allow Him to reign supreme in our hearts.

WE ARE BELOVED
Jn 18: 33b-37
Looking For Jesus

ads
2
3
4
previous arrow
next arrow

Veritas Editorial

Rev. Fr. Anton CT Pascual

Rev. Fr. Anton CT Pascual

President of Radio Veritas

Bagong mapa ng bansa

 42,468 total views

 42,468 total views Mga Kapanalig, may bagong opisyal na mapa ang Pilipinas. Dahil iyan sa pinirmahang batas ni Pangulong BBM na pinamagatang Philippine Maritime Zones Act. Ang mapang pinagtitibay ng batas na ito ay nakabatay sa mga pamantayan o standards na itinakda ng United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (o UNCLOS). Ang UNCLOS

Read More »

Damay tayo sa eleksyon sa Amerika

 57,124 total views

 57,124 total views Mga Kapanalig, makasaysayan ang muling pagkakaluklok ni President-elect Donald Trump bilang pangulo ng Estados Unidos. Makasaysayan ito dahil maliban sa muli siyang inihalal, siya ang unang pangulo ng Amerika na may mahigit tatlumpung kaso; nahatulan siya sa isa sa mga ito. Siya rin ang presidenteng humarap sa dalawang impeachment cases noong una niyang

Read More »

Resilience at matibay na pananampalataya sa Panginoon

 67,239 total views

 67,239 total views Kapanalig, taglay at nanalaytay sa mga ugat nating Pilipino ang katangian ng pagiging resilience at may matatag na pananampalataya sa Panginoon. Ito ang nagbibigay ng pag-asa, bumubuhay sa ating mga Pilipino na tumayo at bumangon kahit dapang-dapa na, kahit lugmok na lugmok na. Nilugmok tayo ng husto ng bagyong Yolanda, 7.2 magnitude na

Read More »

Phishing, Smishing, Vishing

 76,816 total views

 76,816 total views Kapanalig, ikaw ba ay naghahanap ng “love online”? mag-ingat po sa paghahanap ng “wrong love” sa mga cybercriminal. Lumabas sa pag-aaral ng global information and insight company na TRANSUNION na ang Pilipinas po ang top targets ng online love scams. Ang PHISHING ay uri ng scam sa pamamagitan ng pagpapadala ng emails at

Read More »

Veritas Editorial Writer Writes 30

 96,805 total views

 96,805 total views Kapanalig, sumakabilang buhay na ang isa sa “longtime”(matagal) na Radio Veritas editorial writer na si Lourdes “Didith” Mendoza Rivera noong ika-9 ng Nobyembre 2024. Tuluyang iginupo si “Didith” ng sakit na breast sa edad na 48-taong gulang. Naulila ni Mam Didith ang asawang si Florencio Rivera Jr., at dalawang anak na babae. Nagtapos

Read More »
catholink
Shadow
truthshop
Shadow

Related Story

Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

3 Cs OF MARY

 10,463 total views

 10,463 total views Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Today is September 8, Sunday. It is also Mary’s day. When we have a choice between the Lord’s Day and Mary’s day, the Lord’s day takes priority. That is why the Mass is not the Mass for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the Mass celebrating the 234th

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

Lord Save Us! We Are Perishing! (Matthew 8:25)

 25,512 total views

 25,512 total views Lord Save Us! We Are Perishing! (Matthew 8:25) Pastoral Letter for the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan to be read as homily for all Masses for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 15 and 16, 2024  Beloved people of God in the Church of Lingayen Dagupan:  The threat is no longer imagined.  It is

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

WOUNDED FOR LOVE

 29,525 total views

 29,525 total views I am sure you know at least one person who has left the Church due to a hurtful experience within it. This individual, once identifying as Catholic, has abandoned their religion because of disappointment with a priest or with people in the Church. Perhaps they encountered a priest who was unfaithful to his

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

ASTONISHED

 56,232 total views

 56,232 total views In one short paragraph, Jesus astonished the people around Him for two significant reasons. Firstly, they were astounded by His preaching. Secondly, they were astounded by His healing. Why were they astonished by His preaching? Because He spoke only the truth. Truth possesses its own power. It requires no sugar coating. It needs

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

ASTONISHED

 56,873 total views

 56,873 total views In one short paragraph, Jesus astonished the people around Him for two significant reasons. Firstly, they were astounded by His preaching. Secondly, they were astounded by His healing. Why were they astonished by His preaching? Because He spoke only the truth. Truth possesses its own power. It requires no sugar coating. It needs

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

GOD DOES NOT LIKE MIRACLES

 56,872 total views

 56,872 total views By nature, we like miracles. When we hear about a miracle or read about it, we rush to the miracle site because we want to experience the supernatural through those miracles. Human beings probably like miracles a lot, but God does not like miracles. That is why miracles happen very rarely. God does

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

DISBELIEF

 56,871 total views

 56,871 total views The story of Zechariah is our story as well. Zechariah received a blessing. We all have been blessed at one point or another in the past. After Zechariah received the blessing, his response was doubt. His response was fear. His response was disbelief. Isn’t that what we often do after we are blessed

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

INSPIRATION!

 56,888 total views

 56,888 total views Once in a while, we come across children who have plenty of toys and children’s books, and yet go to their parents and say, “I am bored.” We see college students shifting from one course to another, not knowing what career path to take, and then they say life is boring. This attitude

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

BLINDNESS

 56,918 total views

 56,918 total views The blind man could not see. That is a fact. Yet, he warns to me that even if he could sense or see with his being, he could not see with his eyes, but he could sense with his heart. That is why he immediately felt the disgust of the crowd. That is

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

BE GRACIOUS

 57,197 total views

 57,197 total views In Grade 3, I learned a poem about good manners: Hearts, like doors, will open with ease With very, very little keys. But don’t forget that two of these Are thank you, sir, and if you please. People who are grateful, people who know how to say thanks sincerely, win the hearts of

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

WHY DO YOU GIVE?

 57,851 total views

 57,851 total views Why do people give? Why do people do good things for other people? Unfortunately, our motivations are not always clear and good. Unfortunately also, we are not always aware of the impurity of our motives. Why do people give and why do people do good things for other people? The first motivation, unexpressed

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

CLAY AND POTTER

 59,593 total views

 59,593 total views Most of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” The prayer has been adapted by many rehabilitation programs for dependents on drugs, alcohol, gambling, and even

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

RESPECTFUL GOD

 60,581 total views

 60,581 total views Children are expected to respect their parents. Younger people are expected to respect their elders. The laity are expected to respect priests. The priests are expected to respect their bishops. And the principle is—the higher, the more experienced, the older, the more deserving of respect. If we follow the same principle, then God

Read More »
Father Soc - Everyday Jesus
Most Rev. Socrates Villegas

PRAYER IS STRENGTH

 61,006 total views

 61,006 total views Prayer is our strength. Prayer is a strong tool. Where does prayer get its strength? The strength of prayer does not come from the one who prays. The strength of prayer comes from the one to whom it is addressed. In other words, prayer does not become a strong tool because we pray.

Read More »

Latest Blogs

Scroll to Top