Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Fr. Mario Masangcay, CSsR

  • Shake Well Before Using

    Shake Well Before Using

    April 9, 2023 – Easter Sunday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040923.cfm)

    What is the purpose of life? What is life all about? Why do we have to suffer through life? How can we move on with life? Where is God in all these?

    During pandemic times & even now in the New Normal period, I have been confronted with these questions from people, especially young people, who are looking and searching for meaning and directions in life. To be honest, I too had raised these questions and have grappled with finding answers. Not without difficulty however I somehow discover an answer that makes sense and suits me. I found it from a book called The Gospel according to Peanuts by Robert Short that was based on Peanuts comic strips with characters like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and others, created by cartoonists Charles Schulz. In one of its comic strips, it simply says: We are like a bottle of medicine where God puts a label on it to make sure: “Shake Well Before Using”.

    If we really come to think of it, such simple line says a lot about these questions in life.

    Yes, indeed we are like a bottle of medicine. On our own and for our own sake, we are no one… we are nothing. But with others and for the sake of others, we are someone…we are something. And to be and remain something effective and someone important in life, we have to go through a lot of shaking and moving. Even we like it or not, we need to be shaken and disturbed once in a while,… or else we remain nothing and worthless. So to make sure our value and sense in life, God has to shake us, not for the sake of shaking itself, nor only for our own sake, but for the sake of Him and others – that we may be a medicine to others and each other. The spiritual guru Henry Nouwen calls this “wounded healers”, in which, with and through our wounds and woundedness we also become healers & medicine of others and for others.

    If we also come to think of it, being shaken well by God has always been part of the story of our faith and life.

    Last night’s review of our salvation of history in the scriptures reminds us that shaking and to be shaken well has always been part of our growth in faith and life. Ever since the creation of the universe from chaos to order, the rescue of Israelites from the power of Egypt, the building of Israel as nation, the establishment of covenant with Israel, the empty tomb and the resurrection of the Lord, and our baptism now and again in Christ, we are continually been moved and shaken by God well, not for our own sake but for the sake of Him and others. The symbol of Fire and Water, the reading of scriptures and the celebration of Eucharist in our liturgy last night are witness to the whole passage of shaking we go through in life for us to have meaning, direction and worth in life.

    Today we proclaim Jesus has risen, Alleluia. We Christians remember, celebrate, and believe that Jesus has risen indeed in our lives. We can even dare to proclaim that He has risen Again and Anew in our life today. Again, because in almost every year of our Christian faith and life, we celebrate His resurrection.

    But he has also risen Anew with us now, because our encounter of His resurrection will never be the same as before. Yes, Jesus always resurrects in us, and He reveals to us as uniquely as before. Nabanhaw siya kanunay kanato apan lahi ra sama kaniadto. He is still Jesus, but He is now Christ, the risen Lord.

    Every Easter seasons, we may say then, are God’s time of year of shaking us before using. Just as the women & the disciples found an empty tomb and met the Lord on their way back, and the way we struggle & cope with the trying times of Covid-19 pandemic these recent past years, during this years’ Easter season, same as ever, there will be more shaking going on, and more to happen in our Christian faith and life.

    Let us not forget then whatever happens and how the shaking ever happens, all of these will not be on our own and for our own sake but with and for the sake of Him and others. Remember, We are part of His great plan of scheme. Let us be open and allow ourselves to be shaken, to be moved, to be disturbed again and anew, for in this way, we participate in His work of salvation in our lives. If and when however we get lost along the way and find life meaningless and without direction, perhaps we may be consoled by Charles Schulz words: We are like a bottle of medicine where, God puts a label on it to make sure: “Shake Well Before Using.”

    Happy Easter to All. At Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.

  • Take a Stand

    Take a Stand

    April 5, 2023 – Holy Wednesday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040523.cfm)

    Worse than their disobedience – for eating the forbidden fruit, Adam & Eve commit the sin of not taking responsibility for their actions. When God asked them why they disobeyed Him, they blame not themselves but rather each other & the snake. Simply put, they don’t own up their promise & responsibility for their actions. They don’t take responsibility for their mistakes. In effect, sin happens & sinfulness abounds – remains to exist. Same way, whenever we don’t own up our promises & our actions, & most especially continue not to take responsibility for our mistakes, we hurt ourselves; we hurt one other; we hurt others; & we ultimately hurt God & our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Today is Holy Wednesday, also known as Spy Wednesday, because of the treachery & betrayal of Judas Iscariot. As this story preludes the suffering, eventual persecution & death-caused by Judas’ betrayal, the passion of our Lord is about & also caused by irresponsibility of the other disciples. When Jesus told them that one of them would betray Him, they, even his betrayer, asked, “It is’nt me, is it, Lord?” Here they concerned themselves not so much of taking responsibility for Jesus & defending Jesus, but rather on suspecting who among them is the said betrayer, except themselves. Rather than taking responsibility for Jesus, they concern much on their self-image & finger pointing for someone to blame.

    With this, Jesus said: ‘You said it’, “Sugid mo, sinabi mo”. Here Jesus is not about who is the betrayer, but asking His disciples-then & us-now to take a stand & be responsible for our promise & action to Him. So, rather than be concerned about whether you & I, or one of us is & has been a Lord’s betrayer to blame, Jesus wants us to CLAIM & SAY to ourselves: “IT IS NOT ME” (period). By our sins, yes, we may have at times betrayed him, but this time on we may promise ourselves: NOW, I choose not to betray you, Lord. I stand & take responsibility for You, whatever may happen.”

    Today is more than just about our possible betrayal & abandonment of the Lord, but moreso, about our commitment in owning up & taking responsibility to follow and stand for the Lord in our lives, so that we may not remain a burden but rather be His responsible disciple of His passion.

    So Be it.

  • Getting Started

    Getting Started

    April 1, 2023 – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040223.cfm)

    “What would Jesus say? What would Jesus’ advice to us these days?” As we begin Holy Week today, we review first the lessons we might have learned about our faith & life from Sundays of Lent.

    In the 1st Sunday, with the Lord’s temptation, we are made aware that our experiences of life-temptations are but test of faith to rise & stand up for our faith. 2nd Sunday reminds us that like His transfiguration, our prayer life is our chance to meet Him & our Father personally, and to listen to God’s agenda rather than our own business. With the Samaritan Woman, 3rd Sunday teaches us that our experiences of dryness in faith & relationships invite us to remain steadfast & be open to know Him more deeply, and so renew our faith in Him intimately. The healing of the blind man in 4th Sunday shows us that our spiritual sight & blindness are limiting & limited, and so we need to widen our view of life & try to consider life from God’s perspective, will & plan than our own. The raising of Lazarus last Sunday challenges us that in our misfortunes, disappointments, & frustrations in life, we are to believe & trust in Him who is the Resurrection & the Life for all ends not in death but in God’s glory.

    Now today is Palm Sunday – marks the beginning of our Holy Week this year. These coming days of the week is our time and space to BE with our God. This week is our God-time and God-space. Particularly this week is more than just our chance to be with God but moreso, God’s chance to be with us. Meaning, this week is not only our time and space with God but more so GOD’s time and space with us.

    It is more like, God through Jesus must be first and foremost Be with us rather than We must be with God. The center or focus of this week then is not ourselves but God. This week is not about us and ourselves but about HIM and His being with us now. This is our chance then to experience, encounter and meet God in His own terms and not on our own terms. The best attitude then is to let Him set the agenda, activities, schedules, and venue of this week. Meaning, to let Him takes the steering wheel – let Him drive your life this week – let God be God, not be a god as we want or need Him to be. 

    To do this and make the best of this week, allow me to suggest some appropriate approaches.

    First, RECALL. As I have said, this is not about us but about Him. So, once again be reminded, that is to put into our minds – God’s story with Us which is the Jesus story. We are to call again and remember what God did, does and is doing to us through the life and mission of Jesus Christ. So, time and space to Recall, Remind, Remember God’s story with us through Jesus rather our story with God.

    Then, REFLECT. This is an invitation to mirror back God’s story with and along our faith-stories these past few months. In other words, Manalamin. To look and see our faith-life experiences from the point of view of God’s story and less from our own perspective. Meaning, Be moved. Be disturbed. Be influenced. Be shaken. Be challenged. Be transformed by God’s story, presence, words, movements, plans, agenda and will for us – you and I now.

    And above all, RESPOND to what, when, how, when and where God is calling, inviting, and leading you now in whatever faith-life commitment you choose to be. Meaning, whether you are ordained, married, professed, or baptized Christian, be a BETTER Christian as you choose and committed to be.

    We begin Holy Week today. Recall, Reflect, and Renew what God did, does and is doing in You and Us now by being with God, not in our own terms but in His own terms.

    Consider that it was once said: “Jesus did not say, ‘I am finished’, but said: ‘It is finished’. He is just getting started.”

    May we have a blessed and inspiring week ahead.

    So Be it. Amen.

  • Blessing-in Disguise

    Blessing-in Disguise

    March 26, 2023 – Fifth Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032623.cfm)

    So angry, disappointed, and frustrated with God for letting his mother get seriously sick, a seminarian once was about to leave to seminary. In prayer, he said to God, “Lord, I have been your obedient follower. I’ve taken care of your people, but how could you let my mother get seriously sick?” And in response, he heard God saying: “Son, I know how you love your mother, it’s good that you have been so concerned about your mother’s health. But can you please give a chance to heal her? She is also my concern. Did I not tell you to have faith? My plans for her are much better than yours, same as my plans for you are much better than yours.”

    How much of us here, have not been frustrated with God? Yes, in one way of another, we have sometimes experienced how it is to be frustrated & disappointed with God. There are times or moments in our lives that we have felt angry, disappointed, and frustrated with God, especially at times when we were helpless in life, needing His presence, but instead we experience His absence and seeming darkness or dryness in life. Yes, like sometimes we are disappointed and frustrated with our parent, sometimes we are also disappointed and frustrated with God, whether we like it or not.

    Like here in our gospel today, people were disappointed with our Lord Jesus. Mary and Martha, his friends were also frustrated with Jesus, saying “Lord, if you have here, my brother could have been saved”. Consider that days even before Lazarus died, they have already informed Jesus how sickly Lazarus, his friend who lived nearby, has been. But Jesus seemingly did not respond or did not care. Only four days after Lazarus death, that Jesus went to visit. Who would not be disappointed and frustrated with Jesus not able to respond to a family crisis?

    People might be disappointed or frustrated with Jesus then, same way, that we might have been disappointed or frustrated with God now.

    However, our gospel today reminds us again that God has a different view of life than the way we see things. For God, our experiences, perceptions and understanding of sufferings, deaths, problems, and crises in life – frustrating and painful they might be, play a great part or role in God’s plans. Jesus’ seeming passivity or insensitivity toward Lazarus was his way of teaching us to let God be God in our lives.

    When he learned that Lazarus was sick, Jesus said: “This sickness will end not in death but in God’s glory”. And when he performed the miracle of resuscitating Lazarus, he said: “so that they may believe it was you who sent.” Meaning, for Jesus, there is more to sickness and dying or more to illness and death. For Jesus, sickness and health, life in its greatness and sufferings are opportunities for us to witness God’s graces working in us – a chance for God to heal us or revive us not only from physical but also spiritual sickness or spiritual death, and to offer us fullness of life with Him. It is a chance for God to show us His divine Glory and Mercy and for us to benefit from it, and to know that He is the Lord. In other words, not misfortunes but blessings-in disguise.

    As one wise guru would say, “Being sick is an opportunity to experience yourself and God in a new way. It is the chance to teach the mind and the soul to remain independent from the body and so connect with your inner resources of peace and silence in God.”

    So whenever we get sick or have experienced death in our family, or is frustrated with God, let Him say to you…”Give up, Surrender, Let me Be God to You. Give me a chance to be God, not as you want me to be but as I choose to be. My plans, my ways, my glory are much greater than yours. So that you may have not only life, but life to its fullness with Me.” Consider then that whatever & however circumstances we may find ourself – whether in sickness, sinfulness, despair, desperations & sufferings, could be blessings-in disguise – great opportunities for God’s grace be known in us & God’s glory be revealed through us, and for ours to rise into the occasion to witness & proclaim our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, His son to others.

    While we grapple with life’s questions, frustrations, and challenges, may Thomas Merton’s prayer of abandonment express our true heart’s desire before our Lord whom we believe most….

    My Lord God,
    I have no idea where I am going.
    I do not see the road ahead of me.
    I cannot know for certain where it will end.
    nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

    But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

    I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

    Therefore will I trust you always though
    I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
    and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

    So May it Be. Amen.

  • Heart’s point of view

    Heart’s point of view

    March 19, 2023 – Fourth Sunday of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031923.cfm)

    It was told once that a prisoner happened to  escape prison by digging a hole underground. And it also happened that he came out into a  playground few distances away from the prison. And in his great joy, before a group of playing kids, he shouted at the top of his voice, “Yesssss. I’m free. I’m free”. Then a little girl approached him and said with confidence, “Oh, mister that’s nothing, I’m four”.

    Here is a prisoner, after long years of imprisonment, deprived of his freedom, now got a chance to be free: to do what he wants to do – to be what he wants to be. He finally now gains his freedom. However, here is a little girl, who witnessed the event differently because of her limited awareness. She is not concerned about his freedom at all, but only her being four years old.

    We could say the same thing with our gospel today. Here, a great miracle has happened. A man born-blind has been healed of blindness. He can now see. After years in darkness, he can now see the light and become conscious of life – of everything. However, despite of this great event, people still refuse to see, refuse to accept the reality that a miracle has happened.  They refuse to admit that life – creation has dawned upon them. In the midst of life & creation, their reaction is rejection – refusal to see. They don’t want to see and accept that the blind man can now see. They deny his sight and awareness and prefer he remains sightless and cursed blind man, same way as the girl is more concerned about her age than the prisoner’s freedom.

    Freed from of his blindness, the man also viewed his healing differently. He said, “I don’t know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see”. He doesn’t care of sinfulness or whether he or Jesus is a sinner, all he cares about is that he was blind and now gains sight through Jesus. For a blind man to gain sight is everything, just as for a prisoner his freedom and for a little girl her four years of age.

    For the blind man, it is his redemption from cursed life of darkness. But for the Pharisees and people, it is a violation of Sabbath. Life has been created, God’s glory has been revealed, a man born-blind can now see… but all they can think of is the regulation about the Sabbath. They still refuse to see and believe in God’s glory and power revealed through Jesus.

    Our readings today teach a number of lessons.

     First, whatever happens in our lives whether it is a creation or reaction depends on how we see (phonetically sound as letter “C”) it. Whether things are C-reation or reaC-tion depends on how you C it. How we create life or how we react to life depends on how we view and see things. And most of the time, our own ponte vista – our point of views of reality hinder us to see a much wider perspective of things. Our limited biases and prejudices can block or blind us to see a much wider picture of life or even to view life in the eyes of faith, based on how God sees it.

    Our readings today then are all about awareness, about how limited and how limiting our perspectives can be, about how we can be blinded by our own biases and prejudices.

    Our readings remind us also that God’s perspective is different from us and much wider than our own view. He judges life not on appearances but by our hearts. Like in our gospel today, Jesus sees the blindness of the man differently, not as a sin or curse but as an opportunity for God’s grace to reveal and create life. For Jesus, the healing of the blind man is not as commonly perceived as curse but as God’s glory being revealed. He said, ‘so that works of God might be displayed in him’. For Jesus, the blind man is not a sinner but a saint, because God’s works and graces are made known through the blind gaining his sight. Through his healing, Jesus makes people aware of God’s blessings in our midst – that it is He whom we believe.

    Lastly, we are called to widen our perspective of life, and try to see things, not only from our own eyes but also in the eyes of faith. As Christian, we are called today to go beyond our biases and prejudices, our own view of reality, and try to widen our perspective and try to see from God’s perspective, i.e. to be aware of God’s blessing, graces, miracles in our midst. We are invited to be like the blind man who after gaining his sight, now searches for his faith. Like him, we are to see not only physically but also spiritually. We are invited to change from blindness to sight toward faith, from being a cursed sinner to a staunch believer and loyal follower of Christ.

    During this Lenten season, may God free us from darkness of sins, teach us to go beyond our perspective, and enlighten us to be creative, not reactive to the life-miracles He offers everyday. Amen.