Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Fr. Jom Baring, CSsR

  • An Appointed Time for Everything

    An Appointed Time for Everything

    September 22, 2022 – Friday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092322.cfm)

    We could easily lose track of time when we are overwhelmed by our workloads, business engagements, study loads and many other responsibilities in life. This makes our day tiring, stressful and hectic to the point that time has become so short in order to respond to all the things we have on our hands. And when we cannot meet all the demands, then, we also lose ourselves. We get sick psychologically and physically. Relationships tend to be left behind and not given more importance.

    Aside from these, people also lose time from hiding from their unfounded fears because our anxieties could eat up most of our time to think and discern. Others are perhaps petrified by their traumatic past unable to move and go beyond and losing the opportunity to grow and mature. Meanwhile, others could be busy in indulging themselves in compensating what have been deprived from them in the past to the point that their self-satisfaction is what only matters. All of these would certainly make our life unbalanced and our time disturbed and losing many chances to take life at a time.

    Indeed, there is an appointed time for everything, as the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us. An appointed time that would allow us to breathe, to relax, to begin, to be renewed and to be surprised by the many things that God has prepared in time.

    When we race against time or even take for granted time, then, we shall surely miss those surprising and wonderful things that are happening around us. We shall also lose the chances to behold the beauty and the goodness of people around us.

    That is why, Jesus in today’s Gospel teaches us a simple lesson. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was praying in solitude while the disciples were with him. His friends were there, but Jesus was in solitude, meaning, he was praying alone. We see from here that Jesus took the time to rest, relax, to gather his mind, to pray and to commune with his Father in heaven. Jesus was setting the example to his disciples to have a time for everything and especially a time to pray and a time to behold God’s presence.

    Indeed, such time and encounter allowed Peter to recognize that Jesus is the “Christ of God.” Peter in that opportune time understood that God has revealed the Divine Presence to him.

    This calls us now as well to have time for everything and to allow ourselves to have a quality time with the Lord. In the midst of our overwhelming demands in life, or in the midst of the chaos and internal conflicts we are suffering from, we may find time for Jesus to reveal his challenges and blessings to us. Find time to breathe. Find time to rest. Find time to pray. Find time for Jesus. Kabay pa.

  • LIFE? WHAT IS IT? 

    LIFE? WHAT IS IT? 

    September 22, 2022 – Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092222.cfm)

    Life? What is it? What do we have in life? Life can pretty be difficulty and overwhelming when one races to what only gives him or her pleasure and satisfaction. We may search for the meaning of our life, for the purpose of our life and mission of our life. Yet, life can be puzzling and confusing especially when we are faced with the painful realities of life.

    This is what the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes wants to tell us. All things in life is vanity, meaningless like a vapor that disappears in the wind. He may have sound pessimistic yet, true in his perspective. Nothing remains under the sun for everything passes away even life itself.

    However, not all actually. There is more in the suffering of life, there is more in the pains of life. But this is neither found in pleasure, in comfort, in riches, in power nor in any material possession we have accumulated.

    This was something Herod the tetrarch was after and looking for. He too was puzzled and perplexed at what life was revealing to him precisely because he was after vanity. He was after power and wealth. He was after pleasure and comfort. Such attitude made his heart hardened and cruel. As a result, John the Baptist who called him to repent and embrace life as it is, was beheaded by Herod. Thus, Herod became uncomfortable with the presence of Jesus whom he must have believed would take away his pleasure and privileges.

    What limited Herod was his belief that he will be satisfied with what he possessed and can accumulate in his life. Nevertheless, everything is vanity. Qohelet also says, “What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?” All that Herod had vanished like a vapor.

    What is rather more in life is in giving life itself to others which we can find there in the relationships we have built, in the friendships we have created, among our families, communities and friends.

    As Herod kept trying to see Jesus, we may also keep trying to meet Jesus, to encounter Jesus in our human relationships, in our many encounters with people and have the courage and faith to give life as Jesus does. Kabay pa.

  • Our True Hope and Freedom

    Our True Hope and Freedom

    September 11, 2022 – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time     

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091122.cfm)

    Where do we go in times of despair and hopelessness? Where do we find ourselves when we are confused, broken-hearted and afraid?

    The Hebrew people were looking for a “god” to worship, to lean on from their desperation. They were in the desert for many years since their liberation from the Egyptians. They felt hopeless and directionless.

    When Moses was nowhere to be found, they made themselves the “golden calf” and worshiped it instead of the TRUE GOD who brought them out of Egypt. The people had very short memory that in times of great difficulty, they turned to a false god believing to find security in it. Indeed, the people forgot God’s promise to them and God’s faithfulness in them.

    We are not also far from these people in the bible. We might have our own false gods too that offer false hopes. We may ask, who and what is our golden calf that we worship? Is it  ourselves or some others other than the Lord God? When we become desperate our minds and hearts may become crowded that we tend not to recognize the Lord who is at work in us.

    Thus, in times of difficulties in life we may develop some forms of attachments to compensate and appease our anxieties and the emptiness that feel from within. And so, a person who felt unloved by a mother may seek affection from many women. Or a woman who is rejected by a loved one, may retreat to loneliness and depression. A child who lacks the security of love and affection at home from parents may succumbed to drugs or alcohol addiction. A child who has been deprived of material things in the past may become a hoarder of things or worst a thief.

    These are forms of unhealthy attachments that only bring us to greater and deeper despair and misery. Consequently, there is a need for us to reconnect ourselves to God who gives us true hope and freedom.

    This was how Moses pleaded with God to show mercy to the people who turned to worship a false god. The people were lost because they were desperate. They attached themselves to a false security because of their overwhelming misery. However, as Moses pleaded with God, the Lord relented and embraced again the people to be his own. Such story of desperation, hopelessness and of being lost but, then, of being showed mercy, of being loved and of being found again by God, is the very invitation for us on this 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

    In fact, St. Paul also recalls the story of his life in his First Letter to Timothy. His past life of being a blasphemer, persecutor and arrogant made him so lost. It was a denial of God. Yet, God continued to search for Paul until they had an encounter. Paul’s encounter with Jesus turned Paul’s life completely because when Jesus found him, the Lord was so merciful to him. That experience of mercy led Paul to gratitude. And that gratitude inspired him to give glory to God by becoming a minister and servant of the Gospel.

    Moreover, in the parable, Jesus tells us of a shepherd who sought his lost sheep until he found it and a woman who lost her coin and searched for it until she found it.

    This image of God tells us of a God who searches for the lost. We are the sheep in the story who is driven by our selfish desires. We are the lost coin that has been longed by the owner.

    Nevertheless, God never tires to search for us and embrace us again. God invites us to be with Him, to join with Him and enjoy His abiding presence in our sacraments, in our liturgy and in our daily prayers, and in our community.

    Indeed, Jesus teaches us of a God who invites us and searches for us not just once but in every opportunity of our life.  And this is the truth; God searches for us and desires to embrace us so that we may find true hope and freedom. Kabay pa.

  • Blessing in God’s Perspective

    Blessing in God’s Perspective

    September 7, 2022 – Wednesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090722.cfm)

    How do we understand being blessed? Our usual understanding of a life being blessed has something to do with material wealth and prosperity – like having a good family, a prosperous business, a successful career, a good paying job, or having a good health. Thus, we think that being blessed has something to do with success and material possessions.  

    That is why, poverty is never a blessing; being persecuted, being sick and being rejected is never a blessing too. If we are experiencing such life, we consider ourselves being unlucky or worst being cursed.

    However, what Jesus told us today is quite opposite. Our human understanding of being blessed is different from God. Indeed, there is a need for us to understand blessing and our life from God’s perspective.

    In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warns those who in the standard of the world are blessed such as the satisfied, the rich, the powerful, the popular and the influential. The danger lies in the attitude of the heart that becomes independent from God, a heart that rejects God’s mercy and love. In fact, Jesus warns us when we tend to accumulate more wealth for ourselves at the expense of the poor, or when we gather fame and influence at the expense of others.

    Such attitude of the heart is filled with arrogance and self-centeredness that has no need of God. True enough, when we are so filled with ourselves and too satisfied of what we have gained and achieved, we don’t need God anymore. Our successes and we, ourselves, have become ‘gods.’ This leads us to worship our achievements, wealth, our power and ourselves. But then, all of these corrupt us because we will never be satisfied. We will thirst and hunger for more wealth, recognition and fame which will also lead to our own destruction and those who are around us and those blocking our way to gain for more, as any form of addiction will also result in this way.

    Indeed, dependence on these forms of material satisfactions is a mere arrogance and a false sense of security. This is actually the promise of addictions, in whatever form that may be, whether addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, influence and fame, wealth and power (political or economic power).

    However, in God’s perspective those who are poor, sick, persecuted, those who failed and rejected are blessed because it is in their poverty and difficulty that they also realize their weakness and need of God. Such insecurities bring us to understand that we are so small in this world and we are in need of God’s grace. That is why; Jesus addressed these Beatitudes to his disciples, assuring them of his presence. His disciples left their families and jobs. They went to places where sometimes they have to sleep without roof. Authorities ridiculed them and insulted them for following Jesus.

    Thus, the very presence of God in our life is what makes us “blessed.” Since God favors those who are weak, poor, suffering and struggling in life, they are the ones who are blessed because they understand their need of God. God comes to us when we are ready to accept God in our life and to let God be our God.

    God invites us then, to recognize our own poverty and anxieties because God blesses us with His presence. This is also the message of St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians. Though at that time, they must have believed that the second coming of Jesus was about to happen during their lifetime as he said, “for the world in its present form is passing away.” Paul reminded the people of the need to be more attached to God rather than to what was material and temporary. Paul recognized the importance of ones dependence to God and complete trust in God’s providence. Through the presence of God present in their life, they were indeed blessed.

    So, how blessed are you? The material wealth that we have gained, the influence and fame that we have received, the successes that we have achieved, our good health, our talents and abilities, our knowledge, intelligence and competence are signs of God’s grace and generosity. When we have these, these may lead us to humble ourselves and to recognize that these are gifts and we ought to share them to others. Thus, if you have received much, share the blessings to those who are in need, if you are enjoying success in life, share the experience with those who failed. It is in this way that the Kingdom of God will truly be present among us, and that we ourselves become God’s blessing to our communities. Kabay pa.

  • The Humble and the Arrogant

    The Humble and the Arrogant

    August 28, 2022 – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082822.cfm)

    In the first reading from the Book of Sirach, the author advices us to be humble because humility pleases God and because humility is God’s attitude. It says, “My child, conduct yourselves with humility… humble yourselves the more, the greater you are.” This was an advice and a reminder to Israel who had become powerful and rich. Their kings and princes were given honor and titles, power and riches, yet, it was not be forgotten that everything comes from the Lord.

    It is only in humility that the people will stay grounded and connected with God and with the people, who they were called to serve.

    Humility, therefore, acknowledges our nothingness before God and that everything we enjoy in this life are gifts from the Lord. We are not to hoard power and riches or material wealth for our own benefit alone but must be shared to all and especially to the least. This will make a nation, a community lifting up one another.

    Hence, this reminds us that not in pride and not in arrogance that we will be truly confident and assured. Pride and arrogance only reveal our insecurities and evil desires. The proud and the arrogant person expresses an unquenchable and insatiable desire to hoard and to have more, demanding others to be served, thus, becoming self-entitled. This attitude leads to corruption, to abuses, to oppression and hence, to destruction of the self and of the community.

    In fact, in the Gospel, this is what Jesus was saying in his encounter with the proud and arrogant Pharisees. The Pharisees, who at the time of Jesus, were at the pedestal of the Jewish Community enjoyed privileges, titles and honor. Indeed, in many encounters of Jesus with them, Jesus would challenge them to look beyond themselves, beyond their comforts, beyond their secured places, and beyond the letters of the law.

    Moreover, Jesus, with the parable he gave, now, challenges the Pharisees to look beyond their entitlements that made their hearts proud and arrogant to the point that they have become indifferent to those in need, and ungrateful to the Lord the giver of everything.

    The Pharisees in the Gospel, have become an image for us who have grown self-entitled, proud and arrogant. We may not be far from this because the moment we use our position, our status, our social class, our educational attainment, our influence, in order to advance our self-interest and to demand praises and honor from others, then surely, we do that at the expense of others. We, therefore, would not think of others, but only ourselves. Thus, having a bloated ego and a self-entitled heart is surely ungrateful, unkind, can be cunning and malicious, and even abusive and corrupt in his or her relationships and dealings with people whether in work, business and daily affairs with others.

    Thus, the parable in today’s Gospel reminds us of the advice in the first reading, to be humble – not to seek places of honor and the recognition of others through our pride and arrogance.

    This paves the way for us to be more connected, grounded and aware of the needs of others and not just our needs. That is why, we also find in the parable the call to be generous and kind particularly to those who cannot repay our generosity. This means that when we make ourselves humble enough, then, we are also able to see and recognize the least in our community by being generous and kind.

    There are now three invitations on this Sunday for us to be humble.

    First, be grateful. A grateful heart humbles a person because we will be able to recognize that we are not entitled at all to receive God’s graces in life. God remains good to us not merely because of what we have done but because, God us simply loving and kind to us.

    Second, seek love not praises. Remember, no matter how rich and powerful we have become, no matter how educated, influential, or famous we may have been, at the end of our life, people remember us on how loving we have become and how much love we have given for others.

    Third, give out of generosity, and not with the intention to gain favor, to seek praise nor to merely advance our self-interest because when that becomes our intention, then, it is not generosity. It is rather the work of the abusive and corrupt, the arrogant and of the evil one.

    So, be grateful, seek love, and give out of generosity. Kabay pa.