We cannot deny Life during Covid pandemic times had rendered our lives unstable, unclear, and unknown. With the challenging reality upon us then, we found ourselves disable & limited. Somehow someway, not unlike Blind Bartimaeus in our gospel today, if not blinded by the overwhelming difficulties we were facing, we were sightless & without a vision.
And when the Lord would ask us then, “What do you want Me to do for You?” without a doubt, we do have a lot of wants and needs from Him, to at least save our day. But over & above our urgent needs & wants from the Lord, we do want always some clear vision & direction as we face the life-challenges. Like Blind Bartimaeus, our difficult condition calls for more than just sympathy, concerns & assistance but most of all, a new clear set of meaning, ability & purpose in life. Like Bartimaeus, deep inside we cry before the Lord praying: “Lord, I want to see”. Somehow this is what we want the Lord to do for us: “Lord, we want to see.”
Without question, the Lord will show us & reveal to us life amidst, behind & beyond challenging realities. He will give us sight, direction & vision in life as we struggle with it now and ahead. But we also have to do our part for the miracle to happen & blessings to be revealed to us, for us to see not only in sight, but in Faith. And we have much to learn from Bartimaeus here.
First, same way as he listens of the Lord’s arrival, we do need to be sensitive of the Lord’s presence in our midst. Second, we do need to call the attention of our Lord & others about our own presence: “Lord, have pity on Me.” Third, we need to throw ourselves on His mercy & express our needs & intentions, praying: “Lord, I want to see.” And above all, we must trust & have faith in Him with His plans, ways & will for the grace of sight, vision, inspiration & direction to happen.
The LORD’s Presence, OUR presence, our Needs & His Graces with our Faith are somehow the essential ingredients for us to taste & see God’s greatness in our lives despite challenging times. Same as Bartimaeus, somehow we are to (L.O.N.G. : L-ord’s, O-ur presence, in our N-eed of His G-races) LONG in FAITH for miracles to happen in our lives.
Lord, as we look in sight what is going on with us & ahead of us, make us also long to SEE in faith what better You in store for us now & always.
In Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word governance is synonymous to the word “stewardship”. This is to signify that to be involved with governance is to be a steward. Stewardship is a charge and responsibility entrusted to someone, an office appointed to or a mission delegated to a person who is to manage, administer and supervise the affairs of the master or superior individuals or community. A steward then is not the Lord master-owner himself but the OIC- the officer in charge, administrator, piniyalan, sinaligan, inkargado – acting in behalf of the superior Lord, body or institutions.
St. Paul knew his place. His tasks and charge is not to lord over but to be God’s steward for the gentiles. He is God’s OIC – officer-in-charge for the gentiles with the task of making known to all that the gentiles are our coheirs, co-members of God’s body and co-partners in the promise of God’s salvation.
Jesus in our gospel today reminds us also that we are not lords, earls or señoritos/señoritas but just mere stewards-OICs of God’s salvation. Everyone of us who follows Jesus is the servant-in charge of His affairs & mission. In whatever capacity, talents and vocation, we are tasked to manage, entrusted to govern, commissioned to administer and charged to steward God’s concerns & blessings for All. Freed from sin, like Paul, as Christians we are responsible now to become disciple servant-witnesses of our Lord’s righteousness.
And Jesus is quick to teach us that as God’s steward, more are required and demanded, and much is expected of us for we are not to abuse such charge since great power, blessings & talents come with great responsibility.
Beyond then our preoccupations with being first in life, be reminded that we are mere servant-stewards task to be able “to drink the cup that has been prepared for us”. Ours then is to be responsible for our special charge to perform & our mission to fulfill what we are & ought to do in this life.
We pray that we may be always truly and diligently responsible for our charge and mission as God’s stewards of redemption to all and for all.
In a recent Facebook post, a young man named Seth Adam Smith who, after being married to his childhood sweetheart for a year and a half, realized, and said: “Marriage is not for me.” Why…? after all these months of marriage, eventually he comes to appreciate his Father’s advice before his wedding. Before wedding, His dad said to him: “Seth, marriage is not for you. You don’t marry to make yourself happy. You marry to make someone else happy. More than that, marriage is not for yourself. You are marrying for a family and for your future children. Marriage is not for you. It is not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”
Surely married couples could relate to such realization or advice. For marriage is indeed not really for the sake of oneself but for the sake of your lifetime partner. Eventually married couple has to learn along the way that marriage is not all about “I” or about “Me” or about “You” but all about “US”. And surely such realization is a hard-learned lesson, for such wisdom only happens through trial-and-error experiences.
To be selfless, i.e. to be not selfish and self-centered then is the very challenge of committed love we called marriage. For love is more than just a feeling or emotion but a commitment and decision to go beyond and give up oneself for the sake of the other. In other words, in marriage – in committed love, couples are to love their own spouse and children as much more than they love themselves and one another. Their love should be other-oriented than self-directed.
A married life in committed love is thus, not for your own but for the sake of your loved ones and for the sake of loving them, same way as Jesus loved us. Love then should not be a story of “I” nor a story of “me” or “you”, but is & should be a story of US.
In our gospel today, wanting more than just observing and obeying God’s commandments, the rich man asked Jesus for an advice as to how to inherit eternal life. With and in love, Jesus counselled and challenged him to give up and share everything to the poor and follow Jesus. Instead, the rich man however went away sad for he had many possessions. With this, we hear Jesus’ well-known words, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom” – harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
And sadly, we also unwittingly misquote & misuse these words as our usual excuse for our failures and shortcomings in life-commitment, as well as for thinking and even believing that God’s salvation and eternal life is difficult, impossible, and even exclusive only for the few.
Nonetheless Jesus teaches us in our gospel today that Eternal life with God’s salvation is more than just our longing for sacredness and holiness in life, and our search for contentment and happiness in life. For Jesus, life with God is all about having and being in covenant & committed relationship with God. In other words, eternal life is all about being married to God, and also requires of us to have marriage with God. No wonder why ordained, consecrated, and married life are sometimes described as: “a life married to God” for it is indeed a marriage – a loving commitment to God.
And since eternal life is our marriage to God, we may also say that our marriage to God is not FOR us, because committed life with God is not about us, and not for ourselves alone, but moreso for the sake of, and all about God’s glory and salvation for all others than just us.
Jesus also somehow teaches us today that like any marriages, our life with God involves detachment, charity, and discipleship. Same way as the rich man is asked to give up and share everything to the poor. To live life with God, we must also learn detachment, i.e. how to give up, even deny ourselves, and share what we have to other and for others. As married to-God people, our life: our time, talent, and treasure are not for us alone but for
God and others than ourselves. Life with God also requires us to be and do everything with and for charity, i.e. not for a prize or reward, but for free and out of love, and in responsibility for others. And above all, life with God is to be a disciple – a follower of Jesus in life.
As people married to God, we must also then learn to lead our lives same way as Jesus lives, serves, and loves God and others. Detachment, Charity, and Discipleship are somehow key ingredients in our marriage to God, and as to any committed-relationship as well.
As Jesus forewarned us, difficult and impossible for us it may be, such life in marriage to God is also possible, since “All things are possible For God”. In other words, Life with God is possible and meaningful, if and when we do things and have our being not for ourselves but for God’s sake, and for others than ourselves.
Lord Jesus, guide us continually in life for us to know God deeply, love Him dearly, and follow Him faithfully especially now & always. Amen.
A wise man once said, “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.” Reflecting on these words, such wisdom somehow reflects our daily experience and journey of being human and Christian in this life. Human as we are, these words of wisdom affirm our being HOLY – our promise and desire to be holy and sacred in life, as somewhat angel-like. But Holy may we be, these words also reveal our being HUMAN – our limitations and constraints to become holy in life, as one-winged angel.
“Angels with one wing” somehow describes our aspirations and our frustrations of being and becoming Human and Holy in this life, and highlights our experience of loneliness – of being alone in life, and our need for one another as well. However, as these words of wisdom suggest we can only fulfill our longing for sacredness in our human nature, by way of flying via embracing each other.
This calls for us then not to be weighed down by our human limits, but to fly – that is to resolve and commit ourselves to rise up and respond to the occasion and chance to become angels in life. And also this calls us to do the flying together in relationship along and with one another. In other words, we are inter-related. (Magkaugnay). Only by flying-journeying with others – not by walking alone, each and all of us can reach the destination we are promised and we longed for in life, as “angels with one wing.”
Surely our readings today can teach us a lot of things about our life-experiences of being Holy & Human. But aside from the themes of creation, marriage, divorce, adultery, parents and children, our readings today are all about our human need to have a committed relationship in life, i.e. to be in covenant relationship with God and with One another.
We are told in our first reading today that as God created us, He also sees our human need to have a partner in life for “It is not good for man to be alone” and even animals and pets are not enough for us. He ensures a suitable human partner for us in life, so that we can leave our parents and be with our God-given partner in life.
God thus has created us not to be alone and/or be with our parents, but to be with our own God-Given suitable partners, for us to live the life God has created us to be. Jesus in our gospel today reminds us not to block and be a hindrance in letting ourselves and others to come to God and live the life God has called us to be, and challenge us to remain faithful and steadfast in our relationship with one another as we live our life-mission God has called us to be as well.
Both readings give importance to our human need to have and be in a committed relationship as God sees & wills it. More than just having a friendly, convenient, and secure relationship in life, God appreciates that we, human as we are, should be committed to the life God has chosen us to be, and to live such-committed life in relationship with our own suitable partner God has destined us to be with.
In other words, though with one wing, we should be angels – flying, coming to God’s glory, rising up and committing to the occasion to live the life God has called us to be, and by means of interdependence, embracingly flying/journeying in relationship with our God-given suitable partners in life.
Perhaps beyond our concerns for our civil status or even FB Profile status, whether we are Single-Married, in relationship, in love or complicated, we should moreso ask ourselves, “Am I committed to the life God has called me now to be? Am I also in a covenant-relationship with my God-given suitable partner in the journey?” Simply asked, “Am I committed and committing to where I am going and with-whom I am going with toward the life God has chosen me and us to be?”
Nowadays we hear loud noises proclaiming “Walang Forever”, i.e. there is no promise of forever, eternity, constancy and always in life. True it may be for those who cannot commit, who refuse to rise to the occasion but be remain burdened by their limits and choose to be on their own and alone in their own life-struggles, still dependent on their own parents and others.
But “There is forever, always, and eternal life”… for commit-able people, people who can commit, still committed and committing to live the life God has chosen them to be and to the partner they are to be with. We could say also that committed relationships are measured by faithfulness & not by success, for our journey in life is not about gaining heights but moreso about remaining steadfast/faithful in our efforts to fly & journey along with others.
Though not of this world but in this world, Christian and human as we are, we are Holy and Sacred for we are also God’s children and Jesus’ brothers and sisters. And difficult it may be, we can always be holy and sacred in this life, if and whenever we commit to the life God has called us to be and to the suitable partner God has given us to be with.
Again as the saying goes: “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.” With these words, may we learn and grow with holiness despite our human limits, in our Christian lives today. Amen.
This Sunday we celebrate the National Seafarers & Migrant Sunday. This is not only to recognize the contribution of the OFW & Migrant families to the betterment of our quality of life here at home but also their struggles of living life afar from their loved ones in long-distance relationship, and their steadfast Christian faith to live & share Jesus to others at home & abroad.
My father & elder brother are Seafarers. I have also lived as Migrant student & missionary abroad. I know & have experienced how to live life in distance & away from my families, friends & loved ones.
For us who have live & work abroad & also who have been raised in a long-distance relationship family, living & giving witness to our Christian faith is particularly challenging. Much that we have to adjust & manage with the unusual circumstances & culture we are in – afar from our comfort zones & support groups in a totally in a different foreign culture & lifestyles, OFW families have also to contend with faith & church life.
Here at home, we have to do with going to Sunday Eucharist with less & absence of loved ones. And more challenging, when we find ourselves alone abroad in a non-Christian countries. And even much more challenging, when we are in a mostly Christian nation, but we cannot fully relate because they tend to think that they are the only Christians around & their version of Christianity is & should be only observed by all. In other words, we may find ourselves with exclusive, non-welcoming & critical Catholic church abroad.
Sometimes it is good to examine and ask ourselves: “What are the things that we claim as being rightly ours and yet are not truly ours?” This may not only be material possessions but could also be our status in society we use to lord over others,.. titles we use for personal advantages, … our prejudices and biases we harbored towards others,… or our self-righteous behaviors & beliefs that makes us feel morally better, privilege or important than others. We sometimes claim these privileges – which do not really belong to us, though we come to think and believe that they are only ours to have. Worse, we sometimes claim that we are the rightful owners of Christian life & faith that we impose on others should practice & observed.
Here in our first reading, we heard Joshua complaining to Moses for letting two elders who were absent during the meeting, receive the spirit of prophecy. Joshua was thinking that only those elders who attended the meeting are the rightful recipients of the spirit of prophecy.
A similar story here is depicted in our gospel today. John reported to Jesus: “Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting our devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.” Meaning, John and other disciples tried to exclude a non-member from exercising the ministry of healing and exorcism in the name of Jesus. Just like Joshua, the apostles believed that they are exclusively the privilege persons to invoke the name of the Lord.
But as we all know; Jesus did not stop the estranged but effective exorcist. Like Moses, Jesus was not concerned about how the exorcist got the spirit of exorcism but was simply glad he had it. Clearly, Jesus perceived the situation differently. He said, “If anyone who is not against us is for us”. In other words, the Kingdom of God is beyond and wider than our human standards. Salvation is non-exclusive.
It is God’s gift for all, not only for privileged few. Consequently, God’s blessings for us are Sharewares – meant to be shared, and not to be kept selfishly & owned exclusively. He challenged us instead to be open-minded to others, to “Let God’s spirit blows where it will” since God rewards those who show even the smallest courtesies to those who teach and share in Jesus’ name.
On the contrary, he warned the disciples then & us now against our tendency to be selective, downgrading, arrogant, jealous, and intolerant of one another – as if we have the monopoly of the gift of God’s graces & spirit, and the exclusive rightful owner of what we have, or exclusive person to invoke Jesus name. Instead of selfishly thinking for ourselves & of ourselves, he challenged us to be what we claim to be: Christians. That is, If we claim to be Christians – a follower of Christ let us also be Christians in our attitude and behavior in our discipleship and relationship with one another & others.
Since we call ourselves as Christians, we must also be Christ-like: tolerant open-minded, creative, non-exclusive at the same time determined and non-compromising in our faith in God’s salvation for all humanity through Jesus’ name. In other words, it is not for us to forbid and impose limitations on God’s capacity & ways. It is not for us to program God’s own Plans & Ways for all which are far way better than our human standards and ways. Jesus offers us then inclusive grace than exclusive privileges.
Somehow our readings today are wake-up calls for us to realize not only our self-centered ways and attitudes in life demand our conversion & transformation. Somehow we are challenge to do away our exclusive global-thinking that we don’t mind the locals, and to resist our mere mainstream mentality that we suspect alternatives.
Most of all, that even we are alone on our own abroad, and incomplete family here at home, w e challenge to cooperate and share with one another God’s non-exclusive all-embracing intervention, protection, salvation, healing, and blessings that we do pray & really need at these challenging life, especially in a long-distance relationships.
May Our Father & His Will be always upon Us, Lord. Whatever & however our gifts, talents, limits & blessings we have now may be, allow us to contribute & cooperate with Your plans of saving us now and always. Amen.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 