Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Christmas Season

  • When God was a refugee

    When God was a refugee

    December 28, 2019 – Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122819.cfm

    Homily

    King Herod was hungry for power. When he heard the news that there will be a new-born king, he was threatened. In his hunger for power, he did not want anyone to share in what he enjoyed. In fact, Herod murdered his own children so that no one will take the power and riches from him. Hence, how much more if the one who is to reign is a baby? Herod was indeed frightened and threatened.

    God reveals Himself not to the rich and the powerful, not to politicians and famous personalities of our society, but, to simple and poor people – because the rich and powerful, the famous and the “big shots” do not need God. They believed that they themselves are “gods.” This is the attitude of Herod and the reason why he felt threatened upon hearing the news of the new-born king.

    Sadly, because of so much insecurities and the corrupted heart of Herod, he would do whatever he can in order to eliminate that baby who threatened his power, wealth and comfort. What had been sacrificed were the lives of many innocent baby boys. They were murdered right before the eyes of their mothers and fathers. There was no mercy! It was just evil!

    Today’s feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us of all the innocent people who have died and who are dying because of the cruelty and oppression of others. The Gospel also tells us that Joseph through the instruction of the angel brought baby Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Egypt was a common place for Jewish refugees and people who seek safety. Egypt had become an important place in the life of Jesus as it had become a safe place for him. This tells us, that even God became a refugee because of the people who rejected him.

    Thus, there are two invitations that I would like you to remember today. 

    First, let us be aware of our insecurities and of our tendency to be threatened by the goodness of others. Being aware of these, allows us to come to the light as the first letter of John tells us. It is by coming closer to God that we also come to light, therefore, making ourselves exposed to God. This will lead us to recognize our own insecurities and tendency to be abusive, corrupt and insecure. 

    Second, as Egypt had been a safe haven for Baby Jesus, allow ourselves also to be the “Egypt” for others – that we become a safe haven for people who need help, love, care and protection. This will not be easy as it will be demanding us of our time, presence and resources. However, let us also remember, in some ways, we have taken refuge to others, friends and family members when we needed help. It would also be good to return the goodness that we have received to others.

    In this way, we may be able to make Christmas a memorable and holy day. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • He saw and believed

    He saw and believed

    December 27, 2019 – Friday – Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122719.cfm

    Homily

    It is just fitting for us to celebrate the feast of St. John the Evangelist soon after Christmas Day. The opening lines of his gospel sum up in a few words what we are celebrating at Christmas, he wrote and ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’

    This, the last of the four gospels to be written, is based on the eyewitness testimony of the favoured one described as the Beloved Disciple of Jesus. This could give us the impression that Jesus loved this disciple more than all the other disciples. But other texts in the gospels suggest that Jesus loved and loves all his disciples equally. He said to them all as a group, and indeed says to us also, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.’ Yes, we are all Jesus’ beloved disciples.

    What distinguishes John from the other disciple is that he received and responded to the love of Jesus more fully than all the others did. As we have heard in the gospels, John, the youngest of them all was the only male disciple who was present at the foot of the cross; he remained faithful when others had shown themselves to be unfaithful; he remained fearless when others ran away and hid because of fear.

    John’s faithful love brought him to the empty tomb faster than Peter; and because of this, it made John to understand the empty tomb and recognize God’s power because, ‘he saw and believed.’  

    Yes, John saw the empty tomb and believed that Jesus was raised from the dead even in the midst of fear, doubts and confusion. He is the disciple who encourages all of us to give ourselves wholeheartedly in love to Jesus as he has given himself fully to us.

    Each of us has seen and experienced God’s love and generosity in our own lives. I would like to invite you to be more aware of those moments, of those experiences so that they may lead us to Jesus. Let us truly believe, then, in Him who has come to us to live with us. Let us also come to him, to come closer to God in this season of Christmas. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Happy Birthday Jesus

    Happy Birthday Jesus

    December 25, 2019 – Christmas Day

    Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122519-the-nativity-of-the-lord-day.cfm

    Homily

    Why do we celebrate birthdays? It is to “remember” a happy day, like the day of our birth. It is a happy day because our parents and relatives had been “waiting” for us. We also celebrate because we give “thanks” to God for the “gift of life.”

    There are two words that are very important here. First, “to remember” – memory is humanity’s greatest treasure. Memory makes us “who we are.” It makes us connected with others, with our friends, family and relatives. Thus, our memory makes us “rooted,” to let us know where we come from. 

    Second, “giving thanks” – it comes from our grateful hearts. This is our response to God who has been so generous to us in so many ways. And because of our memory we are able to remember the goodness of God and so we celebrate and give thanks. The act of saying “thank you” to God is a statement of our dependence to Him, of our faith to God who is so good to us.

    This is basically what we are doing right at this moment in this Holy Eucharist. 

    Eucharist means “Thanksgiving” – we thank the Lord as a community of faith as we also REMEMBER the greatest gift that has been given to you and to me – and that is, the birth of Jesus, the Emmanuel, the God-with-us.

    That’s why, Christmas, like our own birthdays is a very happy day because we remember how God fulfilled his promise to be with us. Today, we remember as a community how our almighty and powerful God took the form of a defenseless baby to tell us that he is with us in our weaknesses, in our failures, in our problems and sorrows.

    Our Gospel from St. John has described to us this mystery of the birth of Jesus, he said, “and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” Yes, God has at last come to us. He is here in our midst. He lives among us. It means that our God is not someone who is so far away and so distant from us. No, in Jesus, God assures us that he is truly with us! That we can easily find him, feel him and call on him.

    This is the message of joy, of peace and comfort in this Season of Christmas. God has come to us and so let us all come to him! Let us visit him, look at him and cuddle the Lord. But how do we do that? How do we visit, look and cuddle the Lord now? 

    God makes himself present in the lives of the homeless, the poor, the weak and vulnerable, the bullied, with the victims and the oppressed, with the broken-hearted and the depressed, with the lonely and the grieving, with the inmates and the sickly, the problematic and the dying, the addicts, refugees and the victims of war and calamities.

    Our God is He who identifies himself with the weak and the poor and chooses to reveal himself with the powerless and insignificant people in our society.

    My friends, God is waiting for you and me. Jesus is born and is right there in our own stables, there in the helplessness of our neighbors. Jesus is there in our lonely and alone friend. Jesus is resting there in our hungry brothers and sisters. God is there in the person whom we have not forgiven, whom we have hated for so long. The Baby Jesus is there in our loved ones who distanced from us. Let us come and visit Jesus in the lives of others.

     In this Season of Christmas we may be filled with joy, with smiles on our faces as we proclaim to our neighbors, classmates, co-workers and relatives the goodness of God, his faithfulness and love for you and for me. 

    A blessed Christmas to all!

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Christmas: Meeting God in the most unusual place

    Christmas: Meeting God in the most unusual place

    December 24, 2019 – Christmas Eve Mass

    (Readings are taken from the proper of Mass during the Night. Click here for the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122519-the-nativity-of-the-lord-night.cfm)

    Homily

    Click this Video: Eating Twinkies with God.

    It was an encounter with God in a very surprising manner. But how about you? Especially when you first watched this video, were you surprised by that? I am personally surprised by this video especially towards its end when the mother of the boy asked him if he ever found God. It was also surprising when the woman herself said that she too found God on that day. 

    For the boy, what was surprising was to realize that God was a woman and she was there waiting and sitting at the park. The boy was in search for God and so he did search for God and only to find God sitting on a bench in a park. Perhaps the boy did not know that that woman was homeless and lonely but through her, the boy encountered God, through the beautiful smile of the woman the boy has witnessed God’s most beautiful smile he has ever seen.

    For that homeless, hungry and lonely woman, what was surprising was to realize that God was a boy, much younger than what she has expected. The woman was waiting for something to happen, waiting for some coins to be dropped, perhaps. She might have been waiting for some miracle. And indeed, a miracle happened before her eyes. A boy sat beside her, offered her a cake and ate with her. That moment, the woman witnessed God’s generosity and encountered God’s self through the goodness and innocence of the boy.

    That video shows us that encountering God and being able to experience and witness God’s presence happen even in our common and ordinary dealings with others. The video brings us into that experience of surprise from God because God reveals his presence in ways that we do not expect.

    This is the good news being preached to us tonight. There was a great surprise from the shepherds when the angel appeared to them announcing the birth of the savior. But they were more surprised to have found God in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes in a form of a vulnerable and defenseless baby.

    What does it mean to us now? For me personally, what the video showed us and what the Gospel told us were quite disturbing for me at the beginning. I found it hard to reconcile the almighty and powerful God with that encounter of God in the image of a homeless woman or a young boy and worst in the image of a defenseless and poor baby in the manger. If we have been looking for God amidst the world’s power and riches, we might not see God. In these days, if we have been looking for God in our endless Christmas parties, in our extravagance and in our shopping spree at SM, Abreeza or G-Mall, we might not find God there. In fact, we might miss God in our Christmas celebration.

    Tonight, God reminds us where to find him. God is right there on that bench, in the person of a homeless woman. God is there in that generous boy. God is there in that baby in the manger. Yes, God makes himself present in the lives on the homeless, the poor, the weak and vulnerable, with the victims and the oppressed, with the broken-hearted and the depressed, with the lonely and grieving, with the inmates and the sickly, the problematic and the dying, the refugees, the victims of war and calamities.

    Our God is he who identifies himself with the weak and the poor and chooses to reveal himself also with the powerless and insignificant people in our society. This is symbolized by the shepherds in the Gospel. They were the first ones to have heard the good news. These shepherds who were considered as outcast and irrelevant to Jewish culture and society were favored by God because of their standing in the community. Our God reveals God’s self to them because God is making a statement. God is saying to us that he is the God of the outcast and the insecure, the God of insignificant people, the God of the weak and the powerless, of the poor and the broken-hearted.

    This is the good news that the angel proclaimed to the shepherds and reechoed by the shepherds themselves when they encountered the baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. God is telling us now that “He is truly with us.”

    My friends, God is waiting for you and me. Jesus is born and is right there in our own stables, there in the helplessness of our neighbors. Jesus is there in our lonely and alone friend. Jesus is resting there in our hungry brothers and sisters. God is there in the person whom we have not forgiven, whom we have hated for so long. The Baby Jesus is there in our loved ones who distanced from us. Let us come and visit Jesus in the lives of others.

    When we are able to do this, we will surely encounter God, his generosity and goodness to us like that homeless woman. We will surely be delighted with the most beautiful smile that we shall ever see like that little boy. We shall surely find peace and comfort like what the shepherds found.

    In this Season of Christmas we may be filled with joy, with smiles on our faces as we proclaim to our neighbors, classmates, co-workers and relatives the goodness of God, his faithfulness and love for you and for me. Hinaut pa.  

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • Christmas Message 2019

    Christmas Message 2019

    and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us… John 1:14

    (This Christmas Message prepared by Fr. Mario Masangcay, CSsR – Filipino Redemptorist Missionary in Korea, will be shared by Gwangju Archbishop Hygino Kim during Christmas Day Mass with all the migrant workers and residents in Gwangju City, South Korea.)

    For the secular consumerist world today, Christmas celebration is all about shopping, year-end bonus, parties, holiday break and others. But for our whole Christian world, it has a deeper meaning, because Christmas is our celebration of our Lord’s birth into our lives. For us who believe in Jesus Christ, Christmas is God’s incarnation – “the Word made flesh, and dwelt amongst us”. It is about God’s child and our Lord Jesus. 

    Through the birth of Jesus, God visits our world and decided to stay with us, and we welcome Him into our lives. Pope Francis said: ‘For us Christmas has always been about this: Contemplating the visit of God to his people”. Christmas then is all about God as our guest, visiting us and we, as His hosts welcoming Him into our lives. Thus, Christmas is our joyful celebration of meeting God into our world, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

    Here we come to know and proclaim our God as a Migrant God, who came into our lives and decides now to live with us. Jesus, the beloved Son of God, who is not of our world but now in our world, resides in us & becomes part of our lives. While our world today considers immigration as a social issue, problem and concern, Christmas is our reminder to the world today that through migration God came and visits us, and lives with us now, as a Migrant God. What then we may considered as problem could be and may have been God’s saving way of meeting us, sharing us His grace and redemption. 

    Also we come to know and proclaim here that our God is a missionary God. The Lord Jesus visits our lives for a mission. He is with us and in our world today on-mission and at-work. He came to share the world God’s love, introduce us God’s kingdom, and invites us to join him in spreading God’s grace to the whole world. Jesus thus migrated into our lives on mission, purpose and work to share us our Father’s love and way. While our world today is becoming godless & unknowing of God, Christmas reminds us that God is always in our midst and at work in our lives.

    This is how meaningful and blessed Christmas is, for us followers of Christ: our migrant and missionary God is always with us and at work in us, and thus we now share in God’s life.  Again Pope Francis proclaims: “Christmas reveals the immense love of God for humanity. From that flows also the enthusiasm, the hope of us, Christians, that in our poverty, we know that we are loved, we are visited and accompanied by God.” Christmas – the birthday of Christ, God’s visitation, our meeting with God, welcoming our migrant and missionary God in our lives, marks the beginning and gives way to our story and history of our salvation. 

    Our Christmas celebration this year somehow invites and challenges us to contemplate the presence and mission/work of migrants in our midst. Somehow migrants residing and working with us now in our lives remind us of the meaning and blessing of Christmas in our lives and into the world. Being here abroad as Christian, we are invited to welcome and be welcoming to host our guest Jesus Christ and our migrants with us into our daily lives. As the Lord decides to reside and be part of our human lives, we should also make our Lord and other migrants part of our world. Being Catholic Christian in Korea, it is also our mission to share Jesus and His mission in proclaiming and spreading God’s love and work to today’s secular world. In other words, as followers of Christ here and now, like our Lord Jesus, let us be witnesses and living-testaments of our Migrant and missionary God in sharing God’s sacred life and mission of salvation to our world today.

    Through Christmas, God has already and always blessed us and the world. May we Christians become now a continuous God’s blessings to our world today. Amen.