Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Author: A Dose of God Today

  • SEEK LOVE, SEEK PEACE

    SEEK LOVE, SEEK PEACE

    February 19, 2023 – Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021923.cfm)

    As my niece was growing up, it was also the time that we directly and indirectly taught her ways of behaving and of different attitudes, which may be good or bad. Unconsciously, there were many things and ways that we taught to the child that were not really good. For instance, when she would misstep and fall, she would cry because of pain. Our immediate response is to comfort the child and tell her, “hapaka ang salug aron makabalos ka” (hit the floor so that you may have your revenge).Then, this would somehow bring comfort to her as if hitting back would take away the pain.

    A situation like this can easily be taken for granted since this looks and sounds normal to us. However, what we are not aware of is that we are actually introducing a very unhealthy attitude to the child. In fact, this kind of situation would only teach children the “culture of revenge” and the “culture of hate.” It is a form of teaching a child not to be comfortable with pain but to take comfort with vengeance. Hence, this is an unconscious way of teaching hatred to a young heart. Yet, is this the attitude and way of life that Jesus is teaching us as his disciples now?

    Well, we have heard from the Book of Leviticus what the Lord said to the Israelites, “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart… Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Lord God commanded this because this is how the Lord shows his heart and compassion to the people despite their unfaithfulness and sins. Moreover, the Psalm today also expressed God’s nature, “The Lord is kind and merciful.”

    This nature and attitude of God is the call for all of us Christian believers. Jesus also tells us, “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This perfection, which is much better translated as completeness or wholeness, that Jesus said, is meant to love all, not just loving those who are close to us but also those whom we do not like, those who caused us pain and shame, those who betrayed us and those whom we hate and those who have hatred against us.

    Indeed, it is also true that this sounds impossible to do especially if we would follow what Jesus said, “when someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well.” This really sounds ridiculous and outrageous not just to us now but also to people who listened to Jesus at that time. We can possibly ask, “How can I love someone who betrayed me? How can I love the person who abused us, physically, materially, emotionally o sexually?”

    Let us remember that it is certainly true that there may be people who caused pain to us and even unrepairable damage to us, but then, let us also be honest that we too, may have caused pain and damage to others in one way or another, or in many ways which we may not be totally aware of.

    So, what is this message of Jesus really all about? Love and peace, not hatred, not vengeance, not violence. This is what Jesus revealed to us. This is the very experience of Jesus with his Father in heaven as well. Indeed, the Lord God is not a violent Father. The Lord God cares for all sinners and righteous alike. And that God’s power rests in unconditional love and not in bringing us to damnation and eternal death because the Lord is slow to anger and does not hate.

    From this realization of God’s nature and attitude towards us, we are called to grow and become more like Jesus – in the sense, that we become “a complete person or a whole person” as Psychology says. Being a complete and whole person means a person who is healed through forgiveness, love and peace, who does not nurture grudges and not being controlled by anger or hatred.

    Indeed, we are called to get rid of that culture of hate, revenge and violence because healing, reconciliation and peace are not possible when we linger on these attitudes.

    This challenges us now that in our relationships, as we may face the possibilities of being hurt, let us also do our best not to keep feeding our hearts with hate and the thirst for revenge and violence. Let us also consciously teach our children of the culture of forgiveness and not the culture of hatred. Kabay pa.

  • All-Ready LOVE

    All-Ready LOVE

    February 19, 2023 – Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021923.cfm)

    In the comedy film Evan Almighty, God said to Evan Baxter: “If you want to change the world, build an ARK.” Only later after the fuss of exactly building a big ark that Evan Baxter realized that an ark simply means: one single act of random kindness at a time, i.e. one single ARK (act of random kindness) at a time.

    Days after Valentine’s Day, with all the decorations around us, we could say that until now, love is still in the air or we still got valentines’ day hang-overs upon us. Valentine’s Day is the day we honor and celebrate LOVE as we experience it in Life.

    Human as we are, we know how it is to love and be loved by others. We celebrate Valentine’s Day because we live life with love, in love and out of love. We know that Life without love is worthless. Though it’s a constant challenge, living life then with love, in love and out of love make life more meaningful.

    In our gospel today, while preaching to His disciples His Sermon on the Mount, we get a glimpse of Jesus’ take on our experience of love in life. Here He invites us that in our loving, we must “love our enemies, go another mile, offer your cloak and other cheek as well and be perfect as our Father”. Surely, we are already familiar with these words, which are nice words to listen. But easily falls into deaf-ears and slogans because they are difficult to practice. The kind of love Jesus is asking us here are very unusual and demanding, and even Stupid Love, as Salbakuta (Filipino rap-band) would say.

    Jesus knows already that human as we are, we are loved and loving people. But now he requires us to go beyond with our human ways of loving and follow His and God’s way of loving, i.e. Christian Love: To love one another AS (like, same as) He and the Father has loved us. 

    But why is Christian Love, the love Jesus requires of us, is difficult and demanding in our experience of love in life? What makes LOVING AS JESUS LOVES, unusual, hard, and tough, and even stupid?

    Though we live life with love, in love and out of love, human as we are, we do have the tendency to place love at the distance both in place and time. We place love at the distance in time, because we are more willing to postpone doing good than do bad things right away. Easy for us to delay faith, hope and love but attend readily to fear, greed and anger. Why only during Valentine’s Day you remember and celebrate that you are loving and loved, and that you need love in life?  Yes, we do tend to postpone love, but we also know in our experience of love that love is for Now or Never.

    We also tend to place love at the distance in place. We rather love others from a distance and at a distance. Why is it that we have more virtual friends in Facebook and others social media than our actual intimate personal friends? Why is it that we are more open, chatty, and relax in Facebook and messengers but silent and awkward face to face with others? This is because we are afraid to love because love makes us vulnerable, exposed, and weak before others. However, if we are afraid to love then it is not Love but Fear.

    In other words, though we tend to distance from love, Love really is Here and Now, not There and Later.  

    For Jesus then, Christian love, to love and be loved like His and the Father’s, is Here and Now – not there and later, not at a distance and from a distance. Love for Jesus then is and should be an All-READY LOVE – an ARK, act of random kindness. This is the kind of Love Jesus requires us to live and practice in life in the here & now. If we want to change our world with Love, we must change our love into Christian love by building our love into ARK – by living in one simple Act of Random Kindness at a time.

    Unusual, difficult, tough, and stupid it maybe, Loving others same AS (like) Jesus and the Father love us in the here & now, & not there & later, leads us to our redemption towards God’s presence in our lives.

    May we be known as Christians, by our love here & now.  Amen.

  • PRAY AND LISTEN

    PRAY AND LISTEN

    February 18, 2023 – Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021823.cfm)

    Faith, as the late Pope Benedict XVI said, is a human response of love to the Lord who first loved us. The Letter to the Hebrews reminded us of this as well. We were reminded on how those Biblical personalities responded to God’s invitations for them. Faith has become a way of life of those who are close and deeply in love with God. This way of life led them to pay more attention to the divine presence of God who surrounds them. Thus, praying and listening are two essential attitudes of the heart as we nurture our faith-relationship with God.

    In today’s Gospel of Mark, we are brought to the experience of the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. Going up and coming down from mountain is an expression of journeying with God. And in journeying with God, it is very essential that WE LISTEN TO GOD, of God’s action in our life, of God’s Word in the Holy Bible and of God’s presence in our sacraments in the Church.

    To “pray and listen” is Jesus’ invitation for us today as we are reminded to grow in our faith-relationship. Remember, Jesus went up to the mountain to pray and through prayer he was transfigured. The disciples too where praying and it was through their prayer that they were made aware of that mysterious event in their lives.

    So it means that we too, are called to “pray and to listen,” to commune with God and to relate with God more intimately through our prayer. It is only when we become reflective and prayerful that we also become aware of other people around us. We become more connected with God and with others.

    Transfiguration becomes a reality in us when we see and recognize the face of God in our brothers and sisters, when we learn and take the courage to watch out for those who feel unrecognized, to give a room for the stranger, to listen to those who are troubled and hear the cry of those who are desperate in life, to walk with those who are afraid and those whose hearts are broken and to give a helping hand to those who stumbled.

    Through these, we become a community centered on the Eucharist that is welcoming, embracing, loving and forgiving that may hopefully move to gradually transform ourselves into the way God wants us to be. Hinaut pa.

  • The Tower of Babel

    The Tower of Babel

    February 17, 2023 – Friday 6th week Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021723.cfm)

    The Book of Genesis speak of the human tendency to be proud and arrogant. And the tower of Babel tells us of this human aspiration to be powerful and become like God, as people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and  tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves.” Yet, this made the people to be exclusive and arrogant.

    Indeed, the tower of Babel expressed earthly power and riches. Humanity believed that these things were enough for them to make a name for themselves and become powerful like God who created the world. Hence, as those who built the city and the tower, became exclusive, they also refused God’s command to fill the earth. The people decided to just stay in that place, in that city and not anymore share their knowledge, experiences, graces and riches in other parts of the earth. They have become comfortable there to the point that they did not want to go out from their comforts.

    However, it was said that the Lord had seen this and realized as well the evil intentions in the hearts of the people. This was the reason why the Lord scattered them by confusing and dividing them. When they spoke differently, people did not understand and did not care to understand each other.

    From here, we realize that our human efforts and aspirations when they only come from greed, pride and arrogance to become great and powerful like God, are certainly worthless. Our mere human success, wealth and power are not the keys to be great in the eyes of God.

    This realization brings us then into the message of our Gospel today. Jesus expressed a way of life that was different from the people who tried to build a city and the tower of Babel. Jesus tells us that to be a true disciple of him is not about boasting oneself, of our successes in life, of our influence and power over others. A true disciple, rather, is a person who denies himself for the sake of others, who carries his own cross and follows Jesus. A true Christian then is a person who remains humble before God, who recognizes his/her smallness and dependence, yet, also embraces the presence of God who gives him/her the strength to carry the cross.

    Let us remember, that human effort and strength and our successes in life are not evil. In fact, these are gifts from the Lord and not reasons that we become greedy and self-righteous people. What we have received, achieved or accumulated in this life give us the opportunities to be able to share our gifts, our talents and ourselves to our community.

    This calls us now that our families, groups, organizations, and communities become inclusive and welcoming. Indeed, to be inclusive and to be hospitable are natural to a Christian home, to a Christian organization or community. May that spirit lead us to give, to share and to reach out even to those who are different from us. Hinaut pa.

  • I am now establishing my covenant with you

    I am now establishing my covenant with you

    February 16, 2023 – Thursday Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021623.cfm)

    The Book of Genesis in the story of Noah with God, we have heard how the Lord renewed the covenant with the whole human family. The Lord God still sees hope in us. And the wonder of this renewal of the covenant with God, as God says, “I am now establishing my covenant with you,” carries with it the call and responsibility to nurture, cherish, develop and give life.

    What does it mean? As the Lord renews the covenant, God also demanded an accounting for the life of every animal and an accounting for every human life. This is not a threat from God but rather the Lord wants us to value every life. This is how the Lord wants us to flourish and discover the wonder of life here on earth and be embraced by life itself through the whole creation of God. Every creature of the Lord reflects God’s goodness and love and every human being also reflects and carries God’s image.

    Thus, the call to be fertile and multiply must be understood within the context of life, in nurturing, cherishing, developing and giving life. This indeed, calls us to defend life from anything that will suppress life, abuse life and destroy life.

    The very covenant that we have with God is a testament of that life and promise of the fullness of life. The rainbow is not just some ideological color, however, it is a biblical sign of God’s presence among us, a sign of life and a sign of renewal.

    This calls us further to commit ourselves into that covenant with God so that we too shall become cooperators of God’s action and presence in the world in bringing and giving life. This can be fully expressed in our homes, communities and organizations, and into our relationships. Every time we give hope to those who felt hopeless, every time we give a helping hand to those who need it, every time we give more attention in taking care of animals and of nature – these are simple ways of expressing that covenant and call to give life.

    In a way, the Gospel today tells us also how Peter recognized the fullness of life in Jesus as he confessed that indeed, Jesus is the Christ. However, after realizing that Jesus is to be persecuted, will suffer and die, Peter retreated from his commitment to be with Jesus, the Christ.

    Like Peter, if we confess that Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and Savior, then, this confession implies commitment and risk. After all, when we commit ourselves to somebody we love, risks and sacrifices are implied.

    Thus, as we embrace the covenant God made with us, may we come to fully commit in that relationship with the Lord. Let us therefore, allow our human relationships and relationship with the rest of the created world to be fertile where we can multiply love and multiply life. Hinaut pa.