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Category: AUTHORS

  • There is Mercy and Fullness of Redemption

    There is Mercy and Fullness of Redemption

    March 26, 2023 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

    Who among us here who have not yet felt or experienced disappointment? Or a failure or a heartbreak? Well, definitely, most of us have these experiences in one way or another. There might be some of us who have also experienced being humiliated, oppressed or abused. Or perhaps who are ill at the moment, or in trouble at work, perhaps lost a job, failure in business or failure in a relationship or having an overwhelming family problem, or who are in great sorrow for losing a loved one.

    These realities cause a person to suffer and make our day turn into darkness, our bright tomorrow into hopelessness and our life bitter and horrible. This was the case of Nanay Celia whom I met in Cebu City when I was in the college seminary. She suffered and died of breast cancer. But before she died I had a deep conversation with her. She shared that her husband left her for another woman. When she got sick and she was completely abandoned. She was all alone. She began to be angry with everything and everyone. She got angry with God and cursed God for such suffering she endured. Life was so bitter. She wanted to end everything because she was hopeless.

    Yet, not until a group of missionary sisters found her in her house. She was brought to the sisters’ institution. It was in that institution that I met her. She knew that she was about to die but before she died, something changed. The darkness of being abandoned turned into light. Her hopeless life turned into a life filled with hope. Her anger, disappointment and loneliness were all gone because she found love, acceptance and forgiveness through the sisters.

    This story is not far from our readings today that concretely portray to us these human realities of failure, disappointment, heartbreak, doubts, and even of being helpless and hopeless. This was how the people of Israel felt at the time of Prophet Ezekiel. The Hebrews were exiled. They were in a land they did not know, where there was no Temple and no God. As a people they were humiliated by their foreign captors. They had no identity and were doubtful of God’s presence in their life.

    The same expression was presented to us in the psalms. “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice!” It is a lament of a person who is in great misery, who felt that God seemed to be deaf of his/her pleas, who felt of a God who seemed so indifferent to his horrible situation.

    This is what we find also in the Gospel. Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, were in great misery. They were inconsolable and heartbroken over the death of their brother. That is why Martha, in her sorrow said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died…” It was a statement of disappointment and even of anger. It was actually a statement of blaming God for not doing anything.

    But our readings also today reveal something very important to us. The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel conveys God’s promise of salvation where the Lord shall open the graves and shall have them rise as a people and will be restored to their homeland, Israel. This is entirely connected to our psalm that says, “With the Lord, there is mercy and fullness of redemption.” It means that God is indeed faithful to his promise, he is faithful to the covenant. God will never betray us. The Lord will never abandon us because God is forever with us and for us.

    These characteristics of God are most evident in our Gospel. Jesus reveals to us, not just to Martha and Mary but also to you and to me today, that God is never indifferent to our misery, to our feelings. Jesus reveals to us that he is a loving God and a merciful God. He is a God who feels like us who also feels lonely, feels afraid and even worried, anxious and sad. Yes, in the Gospel Jesus was described twice to have been perturbed. He was distressed and troubled because something happened to his dear friend Lazarus. And when he saw the dead Lazarus lying on the grave, (what happened to Jesus?), Jesus wept! He cried like us. He feels sad and in grief like you and me.

    What does that mean now? It means that our God is not a God who is so far away who cannot hear our cries or deaf to our prayers. God is not indifferent to our suffering, to our questions and doubts. God understands how it is to lose a loved one, or even to be humiliated, to be lonely and alone. God cries with us when we too are in deep trouble.

    This shows, then, the immensity and the greatness of God’s love for you and me. Jesus prayed to the Father to bring Lazarus back to life. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” What do these words mean to us now? Jesus also wants us to come out from our own graves. That we too will be healed from our own experiences of pain, bitterness, hopelessness and loneliness where we too seemed to be lifeless in many ways, as expressed in our relationships with others. Coming out from our own graves also means being freed from our own selfishness, arrogance and sins that come in many forms.

    We will only be able to come out from our own graves and lifeless situations when we become like the sister of Lazarus, Martha. Jesus asked her, “Do you believe that I can bring your brother back to life?” Mary indeed believed. Each of us is being asked by Jesus, “Do you believe in me? That I am the resurrection and the life?” It is only when we come to realize and believe in the goodness and love of God that God also works wonders in us.

    It is only when we come to believe that God is the author of life that we will also value more our life and the lives of others. It is only when we come to believe that God is the God of our life, that we also see the many good things we enjoy in this life despite the many difficulties and hardships we encounter. When we truly believe that God is the resurrection and the life, that we begin to become true Christians who see light in the midst of darkness, who find joy in the midst of sorrow, who capture a smile in the midst of pain, who embrace hope in the midst of impossibility, who find healing in the midst of so much sickness and who find life in death. Kabay pa.

  • 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.

  • God is a Loving Parent

    God is a Loving Parent

    March 22, 2023 – Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032223.cfm)

    Each of us has a father. Biologically, we need a father and a mother for a child is only born out of a male and female. As we grow up, we have different experiences with our parents and with our fathers especially. Not all of us have experienced a very good father who spends enough time to be with us, who will support us constantly as a child.

    Some of us even may have painful memories particularly when we talk about experiences with our fathers. Others might have actually experienced being abandoned by their father that caused them pain. Others might have fathers who were always away because of work that made a deep longing of their father’s presence. Others might have experienced also with a father who was abusive and irresponsible giving them deep emotional wound.

    Unconsciously, our experiences with our father has a connection on how we relate with God whom we believe as a Father to us. If we have a very good experience with our biological father, then, it might be easy for us to believe in a loving and merciful Father in heaven. However, if we have painful and traumatic experiences with our biological father then, sometimes that create doubts and hesitations to truly believe in God the Father who is loving and forgiving.

    Personally, though my father was indeed responsible, he too was quite strict when I was growing up. That experience of mine was carried on as I related with God. I too believed that God was like my father who was very strict. I should always be a good boy or else I will be punished. This means that our own experiences especially our negative and painful experiences with our fathers can sometimes prevent us to recognize God’s true character as a father to us.

    It is good for us, then, to reflect on the readings today as they reveal God’s true character as a parent to us.

    The Book of Isaiah tells us about a God who is so passionate about us. Isaiah tells us that God is like a parent who brings comfort to us, who is there to flatten the mountains so that life won’t be too difficult for us. Isaiah uses the image of a mother who carries her baby in the womb. A mother is always connected with her baby. However, a mother may forget about her baby but God will never forget us. God remembers us because God always carries us.

    This confidence to a loving and passionate God is expressed in today’s Gospel. Jesus tells us about how he loves his Father so much. Jesus shows his affection to the Father who will never leave him alone. This expression of Jesus is just a confirmation of that passion of God the Father to Jesus.

    Thus, this is the invitation for us today as revealed in the scriptures. Though we might have painful experiences with our own Fathers or mothers or with those who became our parents in the absence of our biological parents, the readings call us to be confident in God as a loving parent to us.

    Just like Jesus, let us take confidence in God who is both a Loving Father and Mother to us, who promised to be with us, who will never leave us and will always be there for us. This is how God is so passionate to you and to me. We may come to believe in this.

    When we ourselves are parents or standing as a foster parent to a child, may our parenting be an image of God’s unconditional love to that child and to our whole family. Kabay pa.

  • God’s Mercy and Compassion: A Personal Encounter

    God’s Mercy and Compassion: A Personal Encounter

    I wanted to write my second reflection for “A Dose of God Today” during the Christmas break last year. However, a series of unpleasant events prevented me to do so. One significant hindrance was the demise of my elder brother. He died of cardiac arrest at the age of 62 last December 23, 2022 in Manila. It was a shock to the whole family. I then flew to Manila with his daughter and 2 other nieces. It was during this painful and devastating event that I personally saw the hands of God – His mercy and compassion to me and my whole family. With God’s grace and providence, we gave our brother a decent wake and burial within a week. Having 2 funeral masses during the wake were so consoling given the fact that we are not from Manila. Everything fell in place.

    I felt the greatest joy when I heard a number of his neighbors narrating how kind, prayerful and highly spiritual my brother was. Indeed, the faith that was planted and nurtured by our parents was deeply internalized and lived out by my late brother. This is also the very reason why it was easy for us to cope well with this painful event. Our faith taught us to trust and embrace God’s will even if it is so difficult to accept that our brother will no longer be with us physically. I have to be strong myself since I am one of the pillars in the family.

    This is not the only event that I can truly say that God’s mercy and compassion are overflowing in my life. As an Associate Dean of the Graduate School of a state university in Iloilo is not an easy feat, being a counselor-educator at the same time.  This has been my 2nd year in the post. Even before the death of my brother, I was already contemplating of leaving my post.

    During the last 3 semesters, we had 2 major Accreditation visits, ISO re-certification once a year, Curriculum Review preparation, and many tasks in between.  I honestly told our Dean that I want to resign so I may be free from the many huge responsibilities. This was my 2nd attempt and to my dismay, the dean did not want me to leave my post. I prayed a lot and ask for God’s divine intervention. The result of my discernment was to stay for the rest of the semester until the end of this school year. I have to trust everything to a loving and faithful God. I tried to see the events in my life with the lens of faith.

    Overflowing Mercy and Compassion

    Looking back, I saw a merciful and compassionate God journeying with me as I tried to fulfill my responsibilities. We have successfully surpassed the major accreditation visits. I am truly grateful for the small victories that God has allowed me to savor so that I may shout out to the universe how faithful He/She is as a God. Indeed, my faith has been deepened. I see these uncomfortable experiences as a way of sharpening my person so I may be worthy of my role. As a reward for my hard work and dedication, I got promoted with 5 steps higher – with a commensurate pay. There is a long list of how God allowed me to enjoy the beauty of life – I was able to join our trip to Europe for our Project FORTH; my application as an Associate Member of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) was approved; the gift of good health of mind and body in the midst of a crazy daily schedule. I have to wake up at around 5 in the morning and sleep at 10 at night because I live 29 kilometers away from my work place.

    These indeed are clear manifestations that God’s mercy and compassion is overflowing in my life.

    With the challenging schedule in the academe, for the past 4 years, I have been serving as a volunteer counselor and head of the St. Clement’s Pastoral Care and Counseling Ministry. I always find joy in my encounter with my clients. Sitting for 2 hours in our comfy office made me realize that I am an instrument of God’s healing and forgiveness.

    At times, I have to deal with the clients during evenings and weekends- a call to get out of my way to be with these wounded persons. I have personally experienced how God has forgiven me for all my sins and imperfections. I do not even feel that I am worthy to be in this role, yet in humility, I acknowledge that God completes me, does things I am not capable of doing and guides me to make decisions that are life-giving and for the common good.

    Thus, paying it forward – sharing my gift and person as a counselor-educator is all worth it! I am trying my best to answer the call to participate in the Ministry of Healing so that many people – the needy and wounded may experience the FULLNESS of life.

    Being in this ministry made wonders in my own life. I have grown in all aspects of my life, mostly in the spiritual and professional aspects.  In the process, I am healed from the painful experience of losing a beloved brother.

    The recent recollection for the healing ministries of St. Clement’s Church facilitated by our Spiritual Director and a good friend of mine, Fr. Jomil C. Baring, C.Ss.R, who is also the administrator and creator of this blog – A Dose of God Today” moved me to share my personal journey with you. Revealing my innermost thoughts and experiences – my sacred stories and space seen with the lens of faith, seem not easy at the beginning. Yet, I am inspired and driven to share my faith story – as Fr. Jom puts it – Faith is always loud and daring.

    So here I am right now, sharing my testimony of how God’s mercy and compassion overflows in my life. I am sure God has been merciful and compassionate to each and every one of you! So dare to share your faith journey with the people you encounter with in your work place or wherever there is a chance to tell your stories of how God has touched your life; how God has been merciful and compassionate to you and your family. I just did!

  • KUMUSTA NA, MGA MILLENNIALS?

    KUMUSTA NA, MGA MILLENNIALS?

    Last March 16, 2023, I was struck with a short item in The New York Times. It indicated  in the paper’s Opinion Essay written by Jessica Grose, the author’s opinion that millennials today are already hitting middle age. The sub-text is that it is happening much sooner than other generations of the past.

    Just to review: who are the millennials of the world today? They are those born between 1981 and 1996  (ages 27 to 42 in 2023). Previous to this group is Generation X and on the other hand, those born in 1997 onward are now referred to as Gen-Z. Ordinarily the onset of a middle life crisis hits only after 50 years old or even in the 60s. One common belief about this stage of life is that one should expect to face a crisis that brings inner turmoil about one’s identity, life choices and the question of mortality.

    What are the causes of an earlier mid-life crisis among millennials, especially in First World countries such as the USA and Western Europe. Grose lists the following: the overlapping economic crises, growing fears about democracy, multiple wars and a pandemic that lasted two years. Thus, she claims that the generation’s once-mocked optimism has been deflated and a sense of precariousness has taken root instead.

    Grose adds that despite the fact that the millennials do not have the same income level as the boomers (the one of their parents), there has been an increase in the usage of Lexapro. Lexapro is brand name of Escitalopram an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class. Escitalopram is mainly used to treat major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. A disturbing fact, indeed, but then many psychiatrists and psychologists have complained that since the pandemic, the demand for their services have exponentially rose to higher levels.

    How relevant is this piece of information to Third World countries like the Philippines? Being underdeveloped perhaps there might be differences as to how the millennials in the Third World are coping with the global and national changes occurring. But then, the economic woes and the impact of the pandemic are worst in the Third World, so one can conclude that our very own millennials may not be too different from those in the West. Besides, especially the millennials of our urban centers (and even in rurban areas where the internet technology has reached the youth), they too have been captive to the gadgets made available by high-technology manufactured mainly from the West (and of course China!).

    What are the implications for institutions like the Church and cause-oriented groups (e.g. non-government organizations including those that are faith-based)? Specifically for the vocation recruitment program of dioceses and religious congregations? There are those who actually still recruit from senior high school to college level (who are mainly now the Gen-Z), but there are more efforts to recruit young professionals, who are mostly in the 27-42 age range, namely the millennials of today.  It is even said that where before of the boomer’s generation, at age 18 one was already considered an adult and presumed to be a matured person, today one is not even sure if some of the millennials are at this maturity level.

    Nonetheless there are more efforts now attracting the attention of this age range in the hope that they can be recruited to join the formation program to become either a priest or religious.  There goes the rub. As hard as they will try, vocation promoters may have a more difficult time these days attracting the attention of the millennials if it is true that they are into their inner turmoil! Or they will have to find more creative ways to convince those – who might consider the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood or religious life – to at least attend a search-in and hopefully to pursue a formation program.

    And once they have joined a formation program, there is great need as to how to assist them in dealing with their inner turmoil if this has remained an agenda for them.  Fortunately, formation programs today do incorporate processing through which the formands are provided psychological or other forms of assistance so they can deal with their troubled “inner child.”  The challenge, however, remains how these processing methods could be inculturated into our Philippine context.  And needless to say, the kind of formators required today are those adept at dealing with millennials with their issues, not intimidated with the peculiarities of this generation and have the required compassion to be true companions to a generation that are “wounded.”

    This, too is a challenge for those who are in civil society organizations (formerly referred to as cause-oriented groups) especially non-government organizations and faith-based agencies.  Second-liners are so much in demand as those who are still holding on to positions of authority are the remnants of the boomers generation and also the martial law babies (the Gen Xers). CSOs are greatly demanded in countries with pretensions to democracy and yet have authoritarian elements in its governance system.  However, the continuity of these CSOs is dependent on how present generations can take over from their elders. With this phenomenon of millennials faced with a crisis, how many can we hope to recruit from them to take over the leadership roles in CSOs?

    Or shall we pin our hopes on the upcoming Gen Z?  But as the world remains in a VUCA reality (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) Reality,   is there much hope for the future?  Are those in the Gen Z generation (age range from 6 t0 27) the upcoming youth  that might not fall into the same trap as the millennials and will face the future with greater optimism?  We can only hope so in the belief that in life there are ups and downs. And that possibly GenZ might emulate more the example of the boomers.

    And for as Redemptorists: if we are to be messengers of HOPE in the footsteps of the Redeemer, we can only hope that even among the troubled millennials we can still attract a few of them who would join us as they opt for a life where they can be instruments of plentiful redemption!