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Category: AUTHORS

  • THERE IS JOY EVEN IN OUR POVERTY

    THERE IS JOY EVEN IN OUR POVERTY

    June 15, 2021 – Tuesday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061521.cfm)

    Why do people who tend to complain a lot, find life miserable? Why do people who love to keep things only for themselves always feel unsatisfied?

    When we tend to complain a lot then we only see the ugly, the mistakes, the failures and the not so nice in life . We find life miserable because we believe that life is so unfair to us. Hence, no matter how provided we are by our parents, or no matter how much wealth we have possessed, and no matter how many achievements we have succeeded, when we only see the ugly in us and in others, life will be miserable.

    When we also keep things for ourselves only, then, this tells us how insecure we have become. We shall only recognize what we do not have and do not see what we already have. Thus, we will always feel unsatisfied because our tendency to keep things for ourselves will remove us from the confidence of being graced and being gifted.

    If we have developed one or these two attitudes, then, we are missing many things in life. St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians recounts to us today the grace of God received in the churches of Macedonia.  Macedonia, a Greek territory, had been subjected to many trials and affliction. However, Paul recognized that despite those and their profound poverty, the Christians in Macedonia were filled with abundant joy. Within that joy was an overflowing wealth of generosity on their part.

    Paul happily tells us that through their joy expressed by their generous heart, then, they offered their lives to the Lord and to the Apostles for the sake of the Gospel.

    Such wealth of generosity has been my experience in a small Christian community in Talisay, Balabagan, LdS during our 3-month long mission.

    Such attitude by the first Christians in Macedonia tells us today that we can remain contented, happy and filled with joy in life despite the afflictions, the poverty and the sickness that we are suffering at this moment. This was the spirit behind the Macedonians because they recognized and were fully aware of the grace of God in their life.

    They very presence of the Apostles and the gift of faith were enough reasons of becoming conscious and confident in God’s loving and faithful presence. Consequently, that joy in their heart made them generous. Despite their poverty, there was an overflowing wealth of generosity, an expression of true joy.

    This is God’s invitation for us today. We are called to become more conscious of God’s grace, of God’s loving and faithful presence to us. In that awareness, we may grow in our confidence with God and be filled with joy in our heart even when we are suffering and poor. May it lead us to become generous in our words and actions even to the extent of loving our enemies and praying for those who have hurt us, persecuted us and insulted us for the sake of their conversion and peace. Hinaut pa.

  • TREATING EVIL WITH GOODNESS

    TREATING EVIL WITH GOODNESS

    June 14, 2021 – Monday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061421.cfm)

    Our common response when we are hurt is to react in retaliation. Among animals or even insects, when they are hurt suddenly they bite or attack us. Even when their territories are invaded, animals or insects react to protect themselves from possible threats.

    A similar reaction would also happen with us. Even among children, when they are hit or experience hurt, to hit in return is the usual response. This is most common even among adults. There are even people who naturally fight back when they are hurt. Even in some cultures the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is still observed.

    However, in today’s Gospel we have heard a different way of responding when we are hurt and when we experience the pain and suffering that evil brings. Indeed, Jesus tells us of a different response towards hatred and evil. Jesus said, “offer no resistance to one who is evil.”

    What Jesus is basically saying to us is not to repay evil with evil or not to respond to violence with violence. As Jesus addressed this to his disciples, and so he does also to us now. Jesus calls us not to allow hatred, anger, violence and evil to control us.

    Thus, not to resist to one who is evil, is not allowing evil to control us. Meaning, once we resist to one who is evil, this may bring us into the same position of the one who is evil. We shall respond to the same violence, then. Hence, responding evil with evil or responding to violence with violence will only bring us into an endless cycle of evil and violence.

    The wisdom of Jesus lies in the offer of peace. To offer the other cheek when someone strikes us on the right cheek, though this sounds ridiculous for many of us, is an opportunity for the one who have hurt us to embrace peace and reconciliation. Peace and reconciliation is truly a difficult path. A very unpopular one. However, this is the way to end the cycle violence and evil.

    But this will not be possible with our own ability to assess a situation. Our wisdom may not be enough to remain calm in a hostile environment. That is why, Paul is his second letter to the Corinthians reminds us, “not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Yes, we have been graced by the presence of God and it is by acknowledging God’s presence that we will be able to embrace peace and also offer peace.

    Moreover, this is not an excuse to remain passive to the abuses and other forms of oppression. It does not mean that when your spouse is physically abusing you, or a family member is sexually abusing you, or a friend or colleague is exploiting your goodness and generosity, that you remain passive and indifferent. The teaching of Jesus is meant to keep violence at the minimum and not to escalate more violence towards others and ourselves. In such situations, we are called to get out from the abusive relationship and to demand justice and show mercy.

    To demand justice then is to make the perpetrator take the responsibility and consequences. To show mercy is to get rid of hatred and anger within our hearts. This is our key to live free by offering peace and reconciliation towards those who have wronged us.

    God invites us today to live freely by not allowing evil to control us or to have an access to our hearts by holding on to grudges, hatred, anger and selfishness. Hinaut pa.

  • GROWTH AND FRUITFULNESS

    GROWTH AND FRUITFULNESS

    June 13, 2021 – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061321.cfm)

    Have you ever witnessed the actual growing of a seed, or any plant or of a person? We could have claimed that we have witnessed it just as parents looked closely as their child grows, or just as a farmer tends everyday his plants and animals. Yet, because growing is a process, it takes time and it’s very slow. That is why, we don’t usually see with our own eyes how a seed begins to sprout and becomes a tree, or how a flower begins to grow and bloom or how a person develops physically and grows old. We only notice the gradual changes as time also goes by.

    Thanks to our latest technology because a camera can capture this process of growing particularly of a plant or changes that happen in our nature. Through a photographic technique called “time-lapse” we can witness how a seed begins to sprout, take its roots and come out from the soil and become a full bloom plant. This always amazes me to see that.

    (I want you to watch this short time-lapse of a growing seed in silence to bring yourself also into reflection and into calmness in the midst of noise, stress and anxiety that are around us today.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyRw597JBVg

    With this amazement and wonder of the process of growing, this brings me into reflection for this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus tells the people about the two parables of the Kingdom of God. These are the parable of the seed scattered on the land and the mustard seed.

    In these two parables, what is common among them is the theme of growth and fruitfulness. From here, I would like you to see and recognize how God is growing in us and inviting us to be fruitful.

    I would like to begin with the parable of the mustard seed which brings us into the invitation of God to let us grow, to be mature and to develop. In fact, the first reading from the Book of Ezekiel has revealed to us how God would plant us so that we may become majestic and fruitful. Indeed, God allows growth and makes it possible for us to become what God wants us to be.

    In this process of growing, we now understand GROWTH to be dynamic. It involves changes, adaptations, shedding off of what was old and transforming into something new. Meaning, growing is a transformation.

    Thus, the parable tells us of the process of growth in a non-aggressive way because growth is gradual, silent and calm. Moreover, it is empowering and life-giving.

    This reminds us of the wonder of creation. Creation is silent and relaxed, yet, destruction is noisy, distressful, aggressive and violent. In destruction, there is no growing because it suppresses and destroys. Surely, this is how we would find life distressful, filled with anxiety and worries, because when we do not grow or when we stop growing then, it leads us to destruction and to death.

    God’s desire is that we develop into our full potential as what God desired us to be. We are called to continue growing no matter how our hair have turned into white or our wrinkles have become more visible.

    Likewise, growing leads us towards maturity which also leads us to fruitfulness. The first parable of the seed scattered on the land which grew in silence and bore fruit, leads us into this invitation, MATURITY and FRUITFULNESS.

    Remember, the man who scattered the seed did not know the entire process of the growth of the seed. The seed silently grew and became mature and bore fruit. This tells us how the Spirit of God works in our life silently. When we allow the Lord to work in us, then, God also make wonders in our life. God will surely transform us into persons that God desires us to be.

    This tells us that the Kingdom of God is already in us because God is with us. The seed has been planted on earth as Jesus was born for us. The Lord is already in our hearts as we are being baptized. Moreover, the Kingdom of God manifests in us when we also become mature in our faith and relationships with God and with others.

    How do we recognize that we have become mature? It is when we are able to give life to others, when we become persons for others. The seed produced grain for people to eat and the mustard seed became the largest of plants and puts forth branches where birds dwell in its shade.

    Now, these are the signs as well as the invitations for us to recognize the Kingdom of God and to let God to grow in us.

    First, as the mustard seed grows the Kingdom of God also begins in HUMILITY not in any form of aggression or arrogance. It is humble and simple. Thus, the kingdom of God can be very present in a family who makes the effort to pray together, in a couple who expresses their faithfulness despite their differences, in a person who shows true kindness and generosity to another who is in need of help, and of a neighbor who refuses to join in a gossip as his or her act of concern.

    Second, the kingdom of God is empowering and life-giving.  The kingdom of God is present when our community empowers the weak. A community that discriminates, judges, condemns and indifferent never empowers but it oppresses the weak. However, when our community empowers, then it also gives life. Let us remember, to be able to give life, we need to give more chances and opportunities for growth. To give life is to give hope. Therefore, our community is truly a kingdom of God when we uphold and protect every life to survive and to mature.

    As we recognize the Kingdom of God in us today, let us also allow the Lord to grow in us, to bring changes and transformation in ourselves, in our attitudes and relationships. As we continually grow and become mature, we may also become individually, a person for others and also a community for others that gives life, gives hope and allows opportunities for growth and maturity. Hinaut pa.

  • Mustard Seed

    Mustard Seed

    June 13, 2021 – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    + Manny Cabajar, C.Ss.R. D.D.

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061321.cfm)

    A grieving mother, unable to bear the burden of sadness due to her son’s death, goes to a wise hermit who tells her, “What you need is a special kind of mustard seed. Find a home where there is no grief like yours, get a mustard seed from the garden, bring it to me, then I will show you how to deal with your grief.” Strange advice! But she sets off on this unusual quest.

          The first house she approaches is that of a rich family. Is this by any chance where there’s no experience of grief as I have in losing my son? The woman who answers the door bursts into tears. “You just came to a worse place. Let me tell you about grief!” She describes the tragedy her family suffers. The woman who lost her son listens, amazed that one so rich can meet such a disaster. “My experience makes me the kind of person who may understand.” So, she stays a while, counsels the rich woman who appears able to cope a little better. She goes off to continue her journey.

          You guess what follows. The next house is exactly the same: nice on the outside, a sad story inside. Again she leaves but only after helping as best she can. Then, on to the next house of grief; and the next. The curious result is that she gradually forgets her own grief and becomes more focused on helping others. The quest for a mustard seed leads her to where her grief is but a memory while something else grows in its place. Truth emerges in imperceptible ways as in the mustard seed parable.

          The Kingdom of God grows in us like a tiny mustard seed. To find wonder in what is small is as good a place as any to start. Our own start in the Kingdom may be as small as the baptism of a child. But we see the potential in a tiny child introduced with the parents into the life of the Christian community through baptism just as Jesus saw the potential in His disciples entrusted with the next stage of growth. Might it be that, despite our humble beginnings, limitations and failures we too are needed, like the grieving woman who lost her son, as God’s Kingdom continues its mysterious growth? 

          We may not have the chance to do the big, heroic things. But we daily have the chance to do the small ones that show Christian values – the smallest act of kindness, the little gesture we offer a sick friend, the forgiveness we give in our family and to one who injured us. Small seeds, perhaps, but will bear fruit ten, twenty, forty years from now!

          Brothers and sisters, we ask the Lord to transform us into Christ-like holiness, increase our zeal for His Kingdom and instill in us a desire to live for His greater glory. Amen.

        

  • Me & We: Seed for the Kingdom

    Me & We: Seed for the Kingdom

    June 13, 2021 – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061321.cfm)

    A newly-graduated but non-working young millennial, while hanging-out at home and playing with his X-Box video games, was once asked by his mom to buy some fruits for meals. Though he prefers to go to a mall for convenient–sake, hesitantly he went to a nearby market. He tried to find his way looking for the fruit-stand since he was never been to this market before. Eventually he found the fruits he needed to buy at a particular fruit-stand. While paying, he jokingly said to the vendor: “Sir, I cannot help but notice you do look like Jesus Christ.” The fruit-vendor reply: “Others would say the same. But assuming I am who you seem I look alike. Do you have any questions for me?” Up for the challenge, he asked: “If you are said-to be the Christ, the savior of the world, how come the world is still a mess? Have you and God done and is doing something about these mess?” After giving much thought, the vendor answered, “For sure God has and is doing something about these mess – He created YOU.”

    Defensively, he countered: “Me, who am I to fix these mess? I am not rich, not  successful, still no-job. I am nobody, no hero. I am limited”. So the vendor further challenged him, “So what do YOU need then now to fix these mess?” He dreamingly replied, “Well if only I have more power, resources and opportunities, perhaps like in a computer game, I can be who I am and wish to be”. “That’s all?” the vendor disturbed him and then handed him something, “Take this. It got all what you need.” As he received it, he confusingly asked, “A seed? What am I do to with this seed?” The vendor replied, “Well, God has already done and doing something in creating You, and you have the seed now to do your part. It is up to you then whether to plant your seed and work out with God doing your part and growing your seed, OR do nothing with your seed, but complain, and let your world and our world still a mess.

    After Christmas, Lenten, Easter seasons where we celebrate our faith – what we believe, we are now in the Ordinary times of our liturgical year where we celebrate our life in faith, i.e. how we live, practice and witness what we believe. Jesus have much to teach us not only what we believe (Dogma) but how to live & practice what we believe (Moral). We have celebrated our Faith, but now we are celebrating our Faith-Life – our Faith & Life.

    To offer us meaning, inspiration and directions in our faith-life journey, Jesus made use of parables and our common life-experiences as life-lessons to live by. Like in our gospel today, by sharing us the parable of the growing seed and mustard seed, Jesus taught us not only about the Kingdom of God but also HOW to live our present lives along with our faith & mission in God’s kingdom.

    Here Jesus reminds us that nature and our usual human labor or work teach us that “Big things comes from small beginnings”. Yes, the sower & planter might have planted the seed and harvested the fruit but he does not know how the plant grows. And definitely he is not responsible for the seed to grow into full grain & for the smallest mustard seed to be the largest plant with large branches. It takes a lot of work on our part, AND working in partnership with God for us to fully enjoy the fruits of our labor with God. Yes, we can be the sower & planter, but God is the grower.

    With our advanced technology nowadays, we also tend to prefer to have things easy, instant, fast, disposable and convenient. In effect, we become impatient and intolerant with details and processes. We tend to value more the goals, and fruits that we undervalue & even become heartless to the growth-process, labor, and journey it takes. Like the young millennial, we tend to look at and concern more on the end-product and destination, without considering the process to make it and the travel-journey to get there.

    Never satisfied of what we have accomplished now, we rather tend to criticize & complain about our present mess without doing something about it except criticizing and complaining about it.  While we should enjoy & be satisfied to the advantages of what we have today, let us not forget the whole process-journey it takes to reach at this stage of advancement. Same as saying: While you and others enjoys and be satisfied with the fruits of your labor, let us not disregard and undervalue the efforts, work and sacrifices you have done as well as God’s work of creating you and with you for life to be better than before, better than the usual.

    In other words, to do away with the mess in life and to fully enjoy what God has given and can offer us in life now, we have to be RESPONSIBLE participants for God’s grace and work of creating and redeeming our life anew. As a wise man once penned, “Who & what you are is God’s gift to you & the world, who & what you BECOME is your gift to God & the world”.

    Especially during these pandemic times, teach & lead us Lord to cooperate with Your will & plans for us these days so that we may humbly recognize & fully enjoy the fruits of Your works for our betterment & the glory of Our Father’s Kingdom.

    So May it Be. Hinaut pa unta. Siya Nawa. Amen.