​Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19
Feast of The  Chair of Saint Peter
 
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
   he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
   still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
   “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
   and upon this rock I will build my church,
   and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
   and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Preacher: Francis Santos

​Gospel: Mark 8:34-9:1
Optional Memorial of Saint Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church 

Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
   “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
   take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
   but whoever loses his life for my sake
   and that of the gospel will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
   and forfeit his life?
What could one give in exchange for his life?
Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words
   in this faithless and sinful generation,
   the Son of Man will be ashamed of
   when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
 
He also said to them,
   “Amen, I say to you,
  there are some standing here who will not taste death
  until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.”

Preacher: Joanne Mendoza

​Gospel: Mark 8:27-33
 
Jesus and his disciples set out
   for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
   “Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
   “John the Baptist, others Elijah,
   still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
   “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
   “You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
 
He began to teach them
   that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
   and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
   and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
  rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Preacher: Ace Penano

​Gospel: Mark 8:22-26
 
When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
   people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on him and asked,
   “Do you see anything?”
Looking up he replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on his eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
   his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”

Preacher: Jou Marquez

​Gospel: Mark 8:14-21
 
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
   and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
   guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
   and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
   it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
   “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
   when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
   how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
   how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

Preacher: Lucio Pulmones

Gospel: Mark 8:11-13
 
The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
   seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
   “Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
   and went off to the other shore

Preacher: Mila Abigan

​Gospel: Mark 8:1-10
 
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,
   Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
   “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
   because they have been with me now for three days
   and have nothing to eat.
If I send them away hungry to their homes,
   they will collapse on the way,
   and some of them have come a great distance.”
His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
   to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”
Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They replied, “Seven.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
   and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
   and they distributed them to the crowd.
They also had a few fish.
He said the blessing over them
   and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people.
 
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples
   and came to the region of Dalmanutha.”

Preacher: Sandy Dunckel

​Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius
 
Jesus left the district of Tyre
   and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
   into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
   and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
   and, spitting, touched his tongue;
   then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
   “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
   his speech impediment was removed,
   and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
   the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
   “He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Preacher: Rey Bagares

​Gospel: Mark 7:24-30
 
Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
   but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
   and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
   and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
   “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
   and the demon gone.

Preacher: Choi Relampagos

​Gospel: Mark 7:14-23
 
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
   “Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
   but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
 
When he got home away from the crowd
   his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
   “Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
   that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
   since it enters not the heart but the stomach
   and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
   come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
   adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
   licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Preacher: Patrick Tesorio