Category: Feasts

August 1, 2019 – Thursday: Solemnity of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Homily

Who among us here who is not seeking one’s happiness? I am sure each of us desires it. However, we may be prevented by many things especially when expectations from our families and friends are different from what we truly desire. People around us may have something in mind for us, believing that what they think is better for us. Yet, this is not always the case. That is why, there would be individuals whose lives become miserable because they have to follow the desires from others for them.

This reminds me of the life of Alphonsus whose feast we celebrate today. That is why, as a Redemptorist priest myself, I also wonder of the kind of life Alphonsus had when he was young and what led him to affirm his vocation by giving his life for the poor and the most abandoned.

Alphonsus came from an aristocratic family in Naples, Italy. As the eldest in the family, his father had so much expectations from him. At an early age he had many books on his hands instead of toys. He must have been deprived of playing with other children because as an aristocrat, he needed to receive instructions from various teachers. He was indeed an exceptional boy who even finished his studies in both civil and ecclesiastical laws at the age of 16. In his twenties, he was already a known lawyer in Naples. Not just that, he also excelled in arts and music and authored many books.

With all these things on him, Alphonsus had felt so much pressure from the family and particularly from his father. His father expected him to succeed and follow him as what had been practiced in their family. His relatives and the whole clan had surely expected him also to follow the footsteps of his father as an aristocrat. This was the reason why that at an early age he was expected to follow whatever was told to him. Alphonsus was very careful to follow everything and not to commit any mistake.

At that time, any mistake will go unpunished. We could imagine how Alphonsus had to endure the corporal punishments and the shame, every time he would commit a mistake or a failure. This kind of upbringing had actually a deep influence on the spiritual life of Alphonsus. He was a very scrupulous man. Alphonsus was very afraid of hell and of eternal damnation. He was indeed very careful not to sin and not to commit any mistake because he believed that God would not be able to forgive him.

Being scrupulous prevented him actually to be free from shame. He was always haunted by guilt too. Now, we understand how family pressures and his severe upbringing affected his relationship with God. At his lifetime, he struggled to believe that God could forgive him. No matter how small was the mistake or the sin he committed, he would go anxious and worried.

However, there was something in Alphonsus that really desired freedom, to be free from pressures, from shame and guilt, and from that severe childhood upbringing. Deep within, Alphonsus desired to express what he really wanted. He searched ways were he could truly express his true self without any pressure or expectation from others. Alphonsus was searching to what would really give meaning and true happiness in his life. This was the reason why he excelled in many things but most importantly with his encounter with the common people.

It was with the patients at the House of Incurables, the prostitutes in Naples, the men and women in the marketplace and later on with the people in a remote area of Scala, that he found himself, and found God more alive.

This was the beginning of the continual conversion of Alphonsus. By becoming more in touched with his struggles and questions, he too became more aware of God’s desire for him more than the pressure of the people’s desire around him. Hence, Alphonsus gave up his profession and his status as an aristocrat by becoming a poor priest. With this decision, it greatly upset and broke the heart of his father to the point of disowning Alphonsus as his son.

However, God’s desire for Alphonsus cannot be prevented by anybody. God has so much plan for Alphonsus. And for Alphonsus, he willingly sought God’s desire and he found it among the people. This was where Alphonsus also found how good God is to him. He realized how God loved him so much despite his imperfections and weaknesses.

Our Psalm today proclaims to us, “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.” Alphonsus was indeed singing the Lord’s goodness not just expressed in his paintings, music and writings but also in his person, in the way he related with people. And this happiness in Alphonsus touched many men and women including his father. Later on, his father discovered too how God worked in the life of his son and that God has a bigger and better plan for Alphonsus than him.

Despite the deprivation he had and the strict upbringing in his childhood, he did not become a bitter person but rather, his negative experience allowed him to become understanding and generous to those who were deprived with many things in their life. Consequently, Alphonsus affirmed that the spirit of the Lord is upon him because the Lord anointed him and chose him.

Today, on this feast day of Alphonsus, the Lord is also inviting each of us to continually seek our own happiness, and in seeking it, we will surely be able to seek God with all our heart because seeking one’s happiness is seeking God.

Let us allow the Lord then, to unfold before us his desire for us by being open and welcoming to his invitations to change and to be converted in his ways and thinking. And may our encounter with people will allow us to affirm God’s desire for us whatever that may be, in bringing happiness, joy and peace not just to ourselves but also to people around us. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR

June 28, 2019 – Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Eze 34:11-16; 

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I will lead them out from among the peoples
and gather them from the foreign lands;
I will bring them back to their own country
and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel
in the land’s ravines and all its inhabited places.
In good pastures will I pasture them,
and on the mountain heights of Israel
shall be their grazing ground.
There they shall lie down on good grazing ground,
and in rich pastures shall they be pastured
on the mountains of Israel.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.

PS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6.

R.(1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Rom. 5:5b-11; 

Brothers and sisters:
The love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Lk 15:3-7

Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes:
“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance.”

A friend of mine once posted of his Facebook account his thoughts, he said, “I am so tired of searching for God.” From his post, I thought that God seemed not to be found. He was searching for God as he said he felt empty within, he felt that he could not find joy. And God seemed to have lost his way!

How could that be possible? That was what I thought when he said that God seemed not to be found! I heard this many times not just to that friend of mine. We have this belief that it is us who are searching for God, it is us who has been looking for Him, yet, at the end, we surrender because we have never found God in our life.

The difficulty lies in the fact that we have been looking and searching for something or someone that has never been lost. And it is very true with God. God has never lost his way. God stays with us and is always with us. Yet, a point in our life we claim that we were looking for him and did not find him.

Yes, we naturally look and search for something or someone that we have lost. But how could we find something if it is not lost after all? In fact, our search for God is useless because we tend to search God outside instead of recognizing Him in our very life.

However, our first reading from the Book of Ezekiel and the Gospel of Luke present to us an image of God that Jesus wants to show to us today. Ezekiel affirms that it is God who will search and lead back the strays. In the parable, Jesus also tells us of the Shepherd who seeks the lost and rejoices when he finds the lost sheep.

This image of God tells us of a God who searches for the lost. Thus, God never lost His way. In fact, it is us who will be lost. We are the sheep in the stories who are driven by our selfish desires.

Is it not that we tend to be unmindful and unconscious of many things in life except for our personal desires and wants, except with those that will give us comfort and pleasure?

We might be full of ourselves, of what others can give us and of what is only beneficial to us without minding the needs of others. Like the sheep, we might also wander to the other side thinking that there is more security in addictions and vices, in depression and loneliness. So, we stray away from the comfort of our brothers and sisters, and from the presence of God.

These attitudes of ours are basically refusal to God’s invitation. And our reasons? We have other priorities. Thus, this reminds us of our passive and complacent attitudes towards the many invitations of God.

Nevertheless, God never tires to invites again and again. God invites us to be with Him, to join with Him and enjoy His abiding presence in our sacraments, in our liturgy and in our daily prayers, and in our community.

Jesus is teaching us of a God who invites us and searches for us not just once but in every opportunity of our life.

And this is the truth; it is God who has been searching and inviting us. He has been looking for us and he patiently waits for us to allow him to find us. And God takes the risk of being rejected. But though he has been rejected many times he never lost his confidence to invite us again and again. God always searches for the human heart and once he has found us he invites us to come to him.

And this is the message of this feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – this God who loves us so much cannot and will not give up on us, no matter what because we are always so dear to Him. Indeed, love is the language of Sacred Heart of Jesus expressed in God’s desire to search and find us so that we will be given the fullness of life.

Thus, we don’t search for God because it is Him who has been searching for us. So, let us allow God to search for us and to allow him to find us. It is in this attitude that we will be able to listen to his many invitations and will inspire us to say YES to him. To say Yes and to affirm his invitation to recognize his presence in our life and with others. And when we are able to recognize him, then we will truly be joyful; our hearts will be filled with love of God, as St. Paul says to us. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR

June 11, 2019 – Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle

Acts 11:21b-26;13:1-3; Mt. 5:13-16

“a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).”

People who encourage others would always bring support and growth because encouragement nurtures confidence and hope. Parents who would give generous encouragements to their growing children would find children to be happier and lively. Teachers who would also express words of encouragements to their students would find them animated to perform well in their studies. It is also true among employers or corporate leaders. A leader who is generous in expressing encouragement to his/her workmates or colleagues or employees would surely find people around him or her to work confidently and competitively.

Moreover, when words of encouragements are expressed whether at home, at school or at work, they lessen unnecessary stress, avoid unnecessary conflicts and rather promote self-confidence, trust and hope.

This attitude of encouraging others had been shown to us through the person whose feast we celebrate today. St. Barnabas, an apostle, was a man of encouragement. During his lifetime, in his ministry, he never forgot to encourage people around him. In fact, it was through his encouragements, together with St. Paul, that they helped and nurtured the early Church to grow and to mature. It was in the Church of Antioch, through Barnabas too, that the Church is indeed Catholic or universal in its nature. In Antioch, Jews and Gentiles lived together. Despite the differences in culture, language, and history, the Church became one in faith but so dynamic and vibrant in living as Christians.

Indeed, it was in Antioch that we, believers of Jesus, were first known as “Christians.” Thanks to that attitude of Barnabas, his encouragements to the first Christians made them confident in living together. Actually, the name Barnabas means, “the son of encouragement.”

The Acts of the Apostles reminds us of the attitude of Barnabas that he was “a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).” This tells us that when we welcome and allow the Holy Spirit to satisfy us, then, we also become discerning on how the Holy Spirit works in the life of those people around us. Certainly, we become familiar to the movements of the Spirit.

This makes us then, to be become welcoming of others. We shall surely see more opportunities of growth and rooms for developments for ourselves and for those people around us. Accordingly, we see more value in expressing encouragement rather than in blurting out destructive criticisms that may only damage one’s self-confidence and the hope to redeem oneself after a failure.

Thus, on this feast of Barnabas, each of us is being reminded and called to be more welcoming of the Holy Spirit in our life so that our hearts and minds will be filled with wisdom, understanding and compassion. In this way, then, we too shall become persons of encouragements that promote growth, confidence, trust and hope in our own context; whether at home, at school, at work, or wherever we are called to be. Hinaut pa.

Jom Baring, CSsR