Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Author: A Dose of God Today

  • Absence makes the heart grows fonder

    Absence makes the heart grows fonder

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    May 24, 2020 – Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

    Click here for the readings (http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/052420-ascension.cfm)

    As the world we lived in these days is getting limited, sick and quarantined, we should not forget that what we are going through now is but particularly a constant daily struggle of migrants living and working abroad even before our COVID19 pandemic world today.

    For migrants living and working abroad away from our families and loved ones, separation, distancing, isolation and above all homesickness have been a usual constant struggle in their day to day lives. With or without COVID19 pandemic, migrant or resident we might be, nevertheless our experiences of distancing and homesickness (of not being at home, or of being away from home) are indeed never been easy to deal and content with in our journey through life. 

    Difficult as it may be,  but we also know that our day to day wrestling with separation and distancing could also provide us opportunities for growth in meaning and values in life. Because during these life-moments, we can and may become more in touch and conscious of who are most important people in our own life, and what, why and how are they valuable in one’s life.

    Separation and homesickness could be a chance for us to discover, claim and commit once again to what is important and essential in our own lives.

    Since, like “one cannot see the forest for the trees” at times, we need to detach, separate and be distant  (even worse, be deprived or quarantined) from our attachments in order to see and discover once again for ourselves the values, principles and meanings that are most dear to us now and in effect inspire us to move on forward with life. In other words, separation and homesickness can move us to be more appreciative, responsible and hopeful in life. Thus, “Absence makes the heart grows fonder”. Ang mawalay nakakabusog rin ng puso. Ang mahibulag makatambok pud sa kasingkasing. This can be the UPSIDE of life-separation and homesickness. 

    However, the DOWNSIDE of separation and homesickness is “Out of sight, out of mind”. Ang mawalay nakakawala ng landas at nakakasira ng ulo rin. Ang mahibulag makasaag ug makabuang pud. If you don’t see, you don’t mind, and you even don’t care. Separation and homesickness can also render us lost, directionless, meaningless and hopeless in life. 

    What is crucial then in our experience of isolation, distancing and homesickness is the once-again longing search, giving importance and making a promise again & anew to our values and missions in life.

    Today, we celebrate the 2nd Glorious Mystery, the Ascension of the Lord. Tradition has it that forty days after His appearances before his disciples, the Lord has ascended back to Our Father, leaving behind and separated away from us His disciples. This reminds us that the mystery of God’s glory is made known to us through Jesus’ departure from our lives.  This would mean then that in our life and faith, our  homesickness and separation share a part in the story of our normal life and salvation as well. Like the experience of the two disciples in Emmaus where the Lord appeared to them and then disappeared when they recognized Him, salvation also requires the Lord’s resurrection and departure (His coming and going into our own lives).

    Part and parcel of our faith and life story is the paradox of homecoming and separation, of the hellos and goodbyes. And during moments of departure and distance, separation and homesickness – though with a downside of pain, anguish, and lost, there could also be the upside and opportunity to discover and claim once again what is important and valuable in our life as well as what is our mission in life now, that is, our life-values and life-missions.

    Our readings remind us that in the Lord’s ascension, the Lord empowered and gave his disciples the task and mission to be His witnesses in the world, saying “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them” with the assurance “I am with you always forever.”

    This explains why the Lord’s ascension is more than just about the Lord’s departure, separation and disappearances but more so about ourselves Christians, once again and anew finding, claiming, committing and fulfilling our life-missions. In a way, the Lord’s Ascension is the day when the Jesus started to WORK FROM HOME… so also that we could do and fulfill, here and now OUR Work, Mission and responsibility in this life.

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    The Lord’s Ascension teaches us also a lot about Jesus Christ himself and us, being Christian. Like our risen Lord himself, we Christian, as Easter followers of the risen Lord, are both Migrant and Missionary in our faith and life.  As migrant, we are now IN this life but we are not OF this life for we are OF God’s home and life.

    Ours now is not our Home, we are just  but transient passersby – coming and going, on our way back to our Home with our Father. However, while still here, as missionary, we are on-mission. We have a special task to fulfill in life here and now. And through the Lord’s seeming departure and absence, and perhaps through periodic sickness and pandemic, at times we need to be detached, isolated, distanced, homesicked, and even deprived and quarantined in order to be reminded of our true identity and mission in this life now, and to more directed and committing in fulfilling our life-missions in our daily lives.

    Like the two disciples of Emmaus, we pray then that may our difficult experiences of distancing, detachment and deprivation in life now, and the usual Lord’s disappearance, distance and seeming absence from us, move and inspire us to recognize and go on discovering and upholding our values, principles, and meanings in life, as well as fondly reclaim and actively fulfill our hopes and missions in life, and above be assured that whatever happens, He will be with us always and evermore until the end of ages. Amen.  

    (By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist  Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)

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  • Ask anything and you will receive. Really? Anything?

    Ask anything and you will receive. Really? Anything?

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    May 23, 2020 – Saturday of the 6th Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052320.cfm)

    What do I usually ask and pray? 

    We have realized how Covid-19 brought us so much difficulties these days. During the Enhanced Community Quarantine, the world seemed to stop spinning. Our movements have been halted and so our economic/financial concerns also heightened. As more and more infected cases were confirmed we have become so worried. Perhaps others have come to the point of paranoia for fear of being infected. And for those who have been infected, and succumbed to death, most surely, they have been more embattled by fear and uncertainty.

    Hence, these must have been the concerns that we bring up now to God in our prayers. These are evident in the countless comments and prayer requests we received in our Facebook page (@OMPHRedemptoristDavao).

    We believe in the power of prayer and many of us can testify how God pours His blessings and graces to a prayerful heart. Moreover, Jesus told his disciples in today’s Gospel to “ask anything in my name and you will receive.”  Really? Anything? 🙂

    Hmmm, what does it really mean?

    Does Jesus mean that we can just ask anything we want? Does it mean that I can also ask Jesus to give me a lifetime premium subscription on Netflix with an unlimited supply of popcorn and bottomless four-season juice drink? Or can I also ask a top managerial position in a company though I don’t have the qualification?  And then expect that everything will certainly be given to me? Or to make the virus disappear by tomorrow and to bring the world back as it was before the virus came?

    Some of my close friends shared with me that at some point in their life, they felt that God was unfair to them. They have earnestly asked God to grant their prayers and so they visited Churches as many as they could. They would attend the mass faithfully and did novenas to the Saints. They would do these so that God may hear their prayers and their wish will be granted. However, those prayers were unanswered. Consequently, feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness, guilt for the sins committed and even disappointment and being upset may arise. This may lead to a spiritual confusion believing that God is not fair.

    However, we might not be aware also that what we are praying could be filled with selfish reasons. Our prayers might be more focused on ourselves, on what “I shall have and on what I can gain.” Then, our prayer remains self-centered.

    Today, Jesus tells us to ask and to pray “in his name.” The beauty here lies in the prayer that considers the desire of God for us. It means that in our prayer we do not forget Jesus, we do not forget his desire for us and his will for us. 

    Jesus did not say to just ask anything because he, then, would merely be a magician or a genie in a bottle or like an automated money dispenser. Jesus tells us “to ask anything in his name.” 

    Our prayer, then, includes a discernment of God’s will for me and of God’s desire for me. God is not a mere “dispenser” like a machine or a “biometric device” that records our time-in and out to record how much time we spent in our novenas and rosaries. However, God is a person who wants us that he becomes part of our thoughts, of our decisions and actions.

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    Thus, in the Gospel, the disciples had actually already prayed. They asked God many things. However, their prayers were also filled with their own desires and personal wants. This was the reason why Jesus said, “until now you have not asked anything in my name…” The self-centered prayers and requests to God did not make the disciples joyful and contented. They remained insecure and lacking in faith because they did not ask in Jesus’ name.

    Instead of praying – “this is what I want and wish Lord,” ask and pray rather first in this way, “what is your desire for me Lord?” Only then that we will be able to get away from our selfish tendencies and intentions because we shift our focus from ourselves to God – from praying that comes only from personal wants to praying in his name.

    Certainly, God will never say no to a sincere heart that seeks His desire. Jesus will answer our prayers when our hearts and minds are one with him. As we continue to brawl in this time of pandemic, we may also discover more God’s desire for us in our troubles and in our prayers. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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  • God intervenes to bring us comfort and confidence

    God intervenes to bring us comfort and confidence

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    May 22, 2020 – Friday of the 6th Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052220.cfm)

    One day I received a sick call from a hospital asking for an anointing of the sick for a dying man in his 90s. Honestly, I personally do not like going to sick calls to the dying because of the emotional baggage that I may carry when I leave the room. Aside from the scary machines and tubes applied to the patient, it is surely heart-breaking to see a dying person holding on to his/her last remaining breathes. The sorrow and the grief of the family members who gather around the suffering patient would also creep into my heart and mind. However, I have to appear “okay” in order to do the rites properly and accompany the dying and the family in prayer.

    Yet, with this particular old man who was holding on to his last breathes, there was something different in him that caught my attention. Behind his transparent respirator, he was smiling as soon as I introduced myself to him. He was actually smiling during the whole rite while looking at me. He was fully conscious but cannot move. He was definitely in pain at that moment. He too must have been so loved by his family gathered around him. They were keeping to themselves, as much as possible their cries, as I did the rite and told him to go in peace.

    After the rite, he removed gently his respirator to tell me something (this happened before Covid-19 brought disaster in our community). He told me with a smile (saying in the local language), “Father, thank you. I will go now.” The family members could not hide anymore their tears as they too heard those words. It was truly heart-breaking that I have to keep myself from breaking down in tears to assure him of my presence. But, I also felt the confidence behind those words. This old man was confident that he was not alone. His loved ones were with him and the Lord was with him too. He was not afraid anymore despite the deep sorrow and pain at that very moment. He knew that after this, everything will turn into joy.

    True enough, as I left the room and bid my goodbye, fifteen minutes after, the parish office received a call to inform me that the old man has rested in peace.

    This is a testimony that completely trusts in God’s presence and promise of joy. It is a particular situation and a concrete human experience of struggle and confusion, of fear and anxiety, of pain and sorrow. Moreover, such human experience paved the way for the Lord to intervene and bring comfort and confidence.

    The readings today convey this message to us. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was mistreated by those who refused to believe in Jesus. He was harassed and was accused wrongly to put him in prison and to death. With this kind of situation, Paul must have been so confused and afraid for his life. He must have started to question the Lord for sending him into this kind of trouble in his ministry.

    Consequently, such difficult situation of Paul became the entry point of Jesus to assure him and to give him comfort and confidence. Jesus appeared in a vision to Paul. The Lord told Paul, “Do not be afraid, continue speaking and do not be silent. I am with you. No one will harm you.”

    In the same way, Jesus also gave this assurance to his disciples. This conversation with Jesus happened just before the Lord was betrayed and arrested in Chapter 18 in this Gospel of John. Jesus prepared his disciples for the horrible and unimaginable events to happen in the coming days.  Thus, the words of Jesus, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy,” are the Lord’s assurance to us. 

    We might be struggling at this very moment. There might be some of us who experienced being humiliated, harassed, oppressed or abused. Or perhaps who are ill at the moment, or in trouble at work, perhaps lost a job or failed in business because of the economic crisis brought by Covid-19. There might be some of us too who are now having problems in their relationship or who are in great sorrow for losing a loved one during this pandemic.

    With all of these difficult and painful human experiences, God also comes to us through this sacrament, through the scriptures, through the love and support of our family and friends and through the gift of the Holy Spirit abiding in us, that God intervenes to bring comfort and confidence in us. 

    As Paul and the disciples were comforted by Jesus, the Lord also is telling us now, “Do not be afraid, go on and continue because I am with you. Believe that this sorrow you have now will pass away and will turn into joy.”

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    Moreover, this calls us today to truly believe that God is the God of our life. Then, in that faith, we shall see the many good things we enjoy in this life despite the many difficulties and hardships we encounter. When we also truly believe that God is the resurrection and the life that we also begin to become true Christians who see light in the midst of darkness, who find joy in the midst of sorrow, who capture a smile in the midst of pain, who embrace hope in the midst of impossibility, who find healing in the midst of so much sickness and who find life in death.

    And again, this is what I found in the life of that old man. Though I had a short encounter with him but that gave me a profound realization of God’s presence. Through the person of that old man, God also intervened in my life to bring comfort and confidence in me.

    Hopefully, each of us too will allow God to intervene in our life today. We may allow God to be present there in our struggles and sorrow, in our pain and anxiety. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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  • Grace and Freedom in letting go

    Grace and Freedom in letting go

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    May 21, 2020 – Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/052120-day.cfm)

    When a thing or a person becomes important, essential and vital in our life, we also find it hard to let go of it when time calls us to. Moreover, there are also cases when a thing or a person, or an experience, though not so important and vital in our daily existence, that it becomes inseparable from us. Thus, when it becomes so attached to us emotionally/psychologically, we find it then, so difficult to let go.

    When I was already about 6 years old, I would still carry my baby bottle with me and drink any liquid – milk, coffee, water or soda out of that. Once, I brought it with me at school during my Kindergarten and then my older sister found it out. The next day as I searched for my baby bottle in its usual place, I could not find it. The baby bottle was gone. My sister threw it away. So cruel! 🙂

    I was so mad and cried really hard for throwing that away. Perhaps, I thought the world was about to end at that time of losing my “dear baby bottle.” Yet, the day after that and the next day and the following days seemed to be just okay without that baby bottle.

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    Now, I realized, I must have been so attached to that baby bottle that letting go of it was surely difficult. In one way or another, others may find it challenging also those that have become so attached to them. These are not just limited with material things but also our dreams and aspirations in life, relationships and even our memories.

    Thus, when we talk about letting go, we certainly find it  difficult especially with those that we love so much or so attached to our emotions. Our basic tendency is to keep those closer to us because we do not like them to leave from us. That is why, when we are confronted with the reality of loss, then, we experience pain. It breaks our heart. We become anxious and fearful because life may not be the same.

    As a response, we may refuse to let go and in the process become controlling, suffocating and manipulating particularly towards those people we do not want to let go. Moreover, we could become paranoid and obsessed because we continue to linger and attach ourselves with a painful memory, or to a material thing or in a desire.

    What really is the concern here?

    Going into the process of letting go and the letting go itself is what makes our life wonderful. It is in letting go that we actually find more life and express life, to find love and express love. This manifests grace and freedom in us.

    This is what Jesus was asking from his disciples. The disciples who thought that they have lost Jesus when he was crucified rejoiced at his resurrection. However, when Jesus told them that soon, he will no longer be with but will go back to his father, the disciples also became anxious and fearful. They wanted to keep Jesus closer to them. The disciples believed that they were more confident if Jesus was nearby. They were not willing to let him go.

    However, this is not what God wants. Jesus had to go so that he will be able to join and be one with his Father in heaven. It will only be in this way that Jesus will be able to bring us closer to the Father. By returning to the Father, Jesus will open a way for us to the heart of the Father. By this also, Jesus will become ever closer to each one of us, closer than what we can imagine because Jesus will be in our hearts and minds.

    Hence, the words of Jesus to his disciples, “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me,” means that Jesus becomes ever present in each of us.

    In this process of letting go of the Lord, then, the disciples also allowed God to work in them. This was how the early Church found grace and freedom in letting go.

    Today, we are also asked to let go whatever is hindering us to encounter the Lord. We may ask ourselves, “What is it that I continue to linger? What is that attachment that I find difficult to let go for me to grow?”

    In identifying these, let us also ask the grace to courageously let go of those that hinder us so that we may find the grace for more life, more love and freedom. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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  • On Idols and Obsessions

    On Idols and Obsessions

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    May 20, 2020 : Wednesday – 6th week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052020.cfm)

    The Community Quarantine and Lockdowns caused the closing of malls, shops, small and big businesses. We are all asked to “stay at home” as a preventive and protective measure against the Corona Virus. At the beginning of this “stay at home,” more and more people also found ways to entertain themselves while staying at home. One of the most popular entertainments that one could easily observe now is how people where drawn towards their screens to watch South Korean Drama Series.

    Somehow, the audiences “idolized” South Korean actors and actresses because of their good looks, good acting qualities and the good chemistry that a particular couple show in a movie. With these qualities of South Korean actors and actresses, they captured their audiences internationally. They are truly entertaining that netizens began to post on Facebook mimicking how South Koreans speak, dressing and wearing make-up just like famous South Korean actors and actresses do, posting memes and short clips of the series they have watched. This craze is all over Facebook.

    From https://ramenswag.com/crash-landing-on-you-quotes/5/
    From https://images.app.goo.gl/rSdD1KCATcpoV5Ca9

    This form of idolizing an actor or actress or a culture is a kind of admiration. However, there is another form of having idols that can be pretty serious. This is what St. Paul identified in our first reading today. 

    Paul was in Athens and saw the many idols the Athenians had. The Greeks were known to have many gods and goddesses. Yet, Paul also realized how deeply religious the people were because of that expression. But what touched Paul the most was the shrine dedicated to the “Unknown god.” With this, Paul being a witness and apostle of the Risen Jesus had the responsibility to introduce the Athenians to the one True God.

    Paul preached to them about Jesus, the Son of God, who became like us, and who lived among us. For it is through Jesus that we are saved by dying on the cross and by rising from the dead. However, this is the very reason as well why many of the Athenians did not believe him, only few of them.

    Many could not accept that kind of God who died for us and was being resurrected. This was something beyond their imagination and beyond any human explanation. But what hindered them also to believe was their own absorption of their many idols, of their many gods. This was something, they could not give up.

    This form of “idolizing” was not a mere admiration but rather, obsession.

    Though this happened long time ago, yet, at present this reality is still happening. Idolatry is still creeping in our culture today. We are still somehow captivated by some idols in one way or another that make God a lesser priority, making our Christian life and faith less significant. We may ask, in what way then?

    When a thing or a person is being loved, wanted, desired and even treasured and enjoyed “more” than God to the point that we have become obsessed, then this could be the “idol” that we worship. That could be your boyfriend or girlfriend or even your good looks. It could be the approval of other people, your attractiveness that tend to seek recognition from others. It could also be your successful career or business or work. Or could be your own passion in sports or any hobbies.

    Nonetheless, reflecting on these, they are actually not evil or bad in themselves. These things are good but they become bad when they do not serve the purpose – which is to be closer to God, by knowing him better, by being grateful to him and by being generous to others. 

    In one way or another, these forms of idolatry are also forms of addictions in us. It means that we may tend to be selfish, prioritizing only our own satisfaction – as a result, we will become insecure and not free at all because we are imprisoned by our own obsessions.

    This is not what God wants us to be. God wants us to be free by knowing and loving him more and more. And so, let us remember what Jesus told us in the Gospel. “The spirit of truth will lead us; the spirit will guide us to discover God and know him better.” 

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    What do those words mean to us now? Jesus wants us to pray, to converse with God truly and that is not just to tell God what we “want” but also to ask God what God “wants” for us; not my own “selfish desires”, but to ask what is “God’s desire for me.”

    Today, I would like to ask you to include in your prayers, to ask God to help us identify our actions, attitudes or things that preoccupy us. This may hopefully lead us to recognize our “idols” that hinder us to know God better, to be closer to Him and that continually prevent us to be generous to others.

    Let us ask, then, the guidance and prayers of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, who is a model for all of us. Hinaut pa. 

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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