A boy gets his lunch left-over boxed up to take home. As he leaves the restaurant he ignores an old man begging. Feeling a sudden guilt, he gives him some coins. “How about the box, I’m hungry?” the old man begs. To part with his burger isn’t that easy, but compassion prevails. The boy gives it to the poor old man who smiles with gratitude.
In the gospel a boy gives his lunch to Jesus, which allows Jesus to do something extra-ordinary – feeding the crowd. This miracle is repeated at the Last Supper and at every Mass where Jesus gives Himself and makes us sharers in his body and blood. St. Ignatius of Antioch calls this “one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ.” This food unites us intimately with Jesus and heals us, body and soul. It gives us strength for our spiritual journey. Do we hunger always for this bread of life?
The feeding of the crowd demonstrates God’s kindness to us. He gives generously. He gives more than we need so that we may also share with others, especially the most deprived. God multiplies the little that we have, like the boy’s lunch, for the good of others. Do we trust in God’s provision for us? Do we share freely with the poor? Jesus is still looking for simple people, like you and me, who are willing to make selfless sacrifices that He may convert small love offerings into His glory. May our hearts be open to such kindness and generosity!
Lord, satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts and feed us with the finest food!
Brothers and sisters, generosity makes us joyfully share our God-given gifts with others. Amen.
A lady once went to visit a friend who is a public high school teacher. As they chatted at the school canteen, however, they were continually interrupted by students who came for his friend’s advice or opinion on something. Eventually she asked her friend, “How do you manage to get any work done with these interruptions?” Her friend replied, “At first, I resented interruptions in my work. But one day, it suddenly dawned on me that interruptions are part of my teaching work. Educating students is not so much what I teach them inside the classroom, but moreso about how much time and attention I spent them outside the classroom.”
That teacher could have devoted her time on her lesson plans. She could have attended much of her time to her private life and not be involved with her student’s lives. But being caring and generous that she is, she made her work consists of being available to her students’ needs. No wonder she was greatly loved and respected by the students.
We do experience interruptions in our life. Especially people who are in caring profession like teachers, priests, social workers, government and bank employees, frontliners, doctors and nurses experience lots of disturbances at work. And usually these interruptions are particularly difficult especially when the request is not of our own choosing, when we don’t feel in the mood to help, when we are forced to respond and when it causes a lot of inconveniences. In such cases, a real sacrifice is involved. Most of the time, we have to forget ourselves and set aside our feelings and present plans to address the pressing needs of others than ourselves.
Good for us to know that Jesus himself, like us, also had to cope and contend with disturbances & interruptions in his ministry. Jesus too had his plans upset and postponed because of other people’s needs.
In our gospel today Jesus saw the need of his apostles for rest and recreation. After sending them on a mission to proclaim the good news, to heal the sick and to cast out demons, Jesus understood his apostles’ need to recharge their energy. They had been through a lot while on mission that they need the time to eat, enjoy, & process their experiences with Jesus & the people. With this, Jesus planned to take them off to a quiet place for a break because frontliner caregiver as they are, the apostles also needed caring.
However, as we have heard, things didn’t work out as planned. The ordinary people sabotaged their rest and recreation. And how did Jesus react? Not with annoyance but with compassion. Jesus was moved with pity for them. Inasmuch as he attended and took care of his apostles’ need for a break, out of compassion for them, Jesus also responded to the pressing needs of other people.
Nobody likes interruptions. We know how annoying & limiting interruptions are. However, there will always be interruptions in life. They are inevitable – cannot be avoided. Be as it may. Somehow our readings today may also teach us some lessons about our experiences of interruptions in life.
First, interruptions can be God’s way of taking care of us. The Lord said in our first reading: “I myself…take care, gather, bring back, appoint..” Meaning, What God does Himself to us are His hands-on interventions in our lives that will definitely disturbs us. As Paul said, Jesus is God’s intervention in our lives, who totally can disturbs, change & renew our lives. Jesus is God’s cure to save & help us to live our lives for the better.
Second, interruptions can be our way of taking care of ourselves. As interruptions happen, we are moved to give more attention & value to what is important and we really need. The disciples needed to rest, recreation & recharge, and the people needs God’s healing, care, inspiration & meaning through Jesus’ words & ministry. In crisis-disturbance, we are to adjust, adapt & cope with our bare necessities. We evaluate – we put value on what we have & longs for the better than the usual.
Third, interruptions can be our way of taking care of one another. As it caused us to be conscious of our needs, life-interruptions make us also feel the needs of others & moves our hearts to compassion to help. It challenges us to do whatever we can to contribute & fulfill our mission in life for them & for us. Life-interruptions moves us to sympathize & empathize with one another.
Simply put, whatever, whenever & however it happens to us then, now & in the future, these interruptions can be the chance for our intervening, disturbing & interrupting God to take care of us, & can be our opportunity to take care & be a better versions of ourselves & of one another. Interruptions call us to faith, self-care, compassion & personal mission.
If we really come to think of it, our present experiences of Covid pandemic is & has been indeed a great interruption to our lives. Needless to say, the disturbance, crises, & challenges, Covid pandemic has done and cost in our lives nowadays. However, somehow like a major medical operation or dialysis procedure, perhaps this pandemic is God’s intervention to save from our own sickness & destruction. The interruptions we are going through might be God’s way of saving, curing & healing us from usual our toxic & abusive-lifestyle that make us sick & has brought cancerous diseases & infectious viruses to our nature, environment, physical bodies & personal lives. As we cope with the challenges of the pandemic times, we come also to see & value more the need for us to reimagine our lives, be more clear with our priorities & steadfast with our values, purpose & principles in life. And above all, we come to realize that we need each other, we feel for one another, & we contribute what we can for a much better life ahead.
Somehow the pandemic, virus, quarantine, immunization we are going through are God’s evasive, interrupted, inconvenient procedure for our upgrade, from corrupted & infected system to a better version of our humanity & our world. With the Lord and our compassion for one another, somehow what we are going through nowadays is God’s way of care-giving & care-taking us now & always.
Lord, Interrupt & disturb us, once in a while (if not always), … that we may realize how sick we are,…. how we need You & one another,…. how we can help & take care of one another and…. how God is working & intervening to protect & save our lives & world now especially during these trying pandemic times. Amen.
Let me tell you first about “Fr. Jo”. Fr. Jo is a Redemptorist Missionary from Germany who is now stationed and working in a Spanish-speaking Mexican community in United States. For years, he has lived with the Mexicans in the US, that he is now well loved by the people. Though he is a German by nationality, but his ways are like that of Mexican now. To the point, people would consider him more Mexican than themselves. They would take Fr. Jo as one of their own.
One day, in a catechism class, a religious sister intended to lecture the kids about the second person in the Holy Trinity. She started like this, “Kids, I like to introduce you to someone you should know. He is a person who loves you most. Until now, he takes care of you sincerely. He is always present whenever you need him. He is the most kind and very good person whom you should know. He has always been there whenever you need Him. I wonder, is anyone of you here already knows who he is?” Then, there was this little girl who raised her hands and said confidently, ”Sister, I already know him”. Glad that the little girl already knows about our Lord Jesus Christ, the sister asked her: ”So tell us, who this person is?” and the little girl replied: “Fr. Jo.”
Yes, we come to know Jesus not only through stories about him in the bible, and through our parents and catechists but we usually come to see, hear, touch, feel and experience Him through the faith and life of persons or people who reveals and represents to us the person of Jesus in our midst. These significant people, like Fr. Jo are God-sent and church-sent preachers, missionaries, and evangelizers who, by the witness of their words, actions and life, they become living witnesses and representatives of Jesus, for us to know Jesus personally in our own very lives now. Since then and until now, Jesus continues to send us his missionaries and prophets for us to recognize and know Him in our lives. And reviewing our life, we could identify people who have greatly influenced our faith – maybe a priest, a family friend, the tricycle driver, your neighbor, labandera, carpenter, a relative, teacher, or some stranger you meet along the way – that through them we come to know and believe in Jesus.
Yes, the best & most simple way for people to meet Jesus & know about Christ & Christianity is through & by means of us Christians ourselves – our Lord’s other christs – who are faithful believers, followers, and witness of Jesus to our world today.
We come to know Jesus in our life through Christians who comes in our way and has influenced our lives and faith. We also come to know Jesus because we let him come into our lives – because we welcome him into our lives. When Jesus sent his disciples, he advised them “stay in whatever house you are welcomed.” Meaning that we come to enjoy and share God’s grace because we welcome and allow Him into our own hearts and homes.
Missionary life is fascinating, if not intriguing for us. In my 29 years of being Redemptorist missionary, people usually asked me how I fend for myself as I live in the mission areas. People asked me, “Where do you live? Where do you sleep? How are you in terms of food?” I reply: “I usually rely and depend on God’s generosity and the hospitality of the people in the area”. Then with the usually follow up question: “Dili ba lisod? Is it hard?” My reply is: “usually when the people know that I am a missionary, who visits them and shares my faith with them, their doors (most times, those of the poor), are always open. They willingly welcome me in their homes, sharing their food, beds, stories, life and faith, same as I share with them my life and faith, as missionary of Christ. And honestly, as we share our faith-life experiences together, I come to witness that during my visits and conversation, people who welcome me into their lives and faith are so blessed as much as I am also with them blessed.
I always believe that God is never absent from any place in the world. He usually reveals himself in and through the faith and life of us, his followers and believers. And usually hospitality is the first sign of God’s presence. Whenever then we welcome someone, especially a stranger into our lives with the spirit of hospitality and faith, God’s presence and graces are always present. God’s offer of Salvation to us thus happens in the context of His visits to us. His grace and blessings thrive on our hospitality, on how we welcome Him, through today’s God-sent missionaries into our own lives now.
Remember what Yahweh said in the book of revelation: “Listen, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and eat with him, and he will eat with me.” And what Jesus assured us who welcome God into our lives, “My father will love them, and we will come to them, and make our home with them.” In other words, through His representatives & witnesses, we are blessed because the Lord comes to visit us & we willingly welcome Him into our hearts & our homes.
Through today’s Christian missionaries and prophets, especially during these pandemic times, may we be always conscious and open to welcome our Lord’s continuing “visits”, and be transformed and blessed by His offer of grace, salvation and life anew. Amen.
Being rejected is a terrible experience. When someone you love, a friend or family member rejects you for being who you are and for what you have done, is painful. This experience creates emptiness in us and feelings of not being loved and not being accepted. This makes us feel worthless and useless, thus, traumatic. This can also be experienced in workplaces when a co-worker and/or your employer gets angry at you and shows sour attitude towards you. Or when your work has been rejected or a proposal has not been approved because of their biases with you.
In our community, there are many forms of rejection also that sometimes we are not aware of. We could just reject those whom we think are useless. We could easily not pay attention to those who do not belong in our circle of friends. We could just dismiss a person just because of appearance, education, family background or culture.
Moreover, there is another form of rejection also that can be traced in the Bible. This is the rejection experienced by people who spoke in behalf of God, who preached and taught what God wanted for the community. Prophets are usually rejected by people because their words and presence disturb the peace and comfort of the rich and the powerful.
This is what our first reading from the Book of Amos told us. Amos was rejected by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel because Amos was prophesying the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Amos prophesied this by also pointing out the reasons behind. The Northern Kingdom who enjoyed prosperity and abundance also turned out to be oppressive to the poor and the weak in their society. Thus, Amos spoke of the injustice committed by the rich and the powerful against the poor.
Consequently, Amos irked the Amaziah who enjoyed influence and wealth from this kind of life. That is why, Amaziah wanted Amos to go back to Judah, the Southern Kingdom and do his prophesying there while earning income. For Amaziah, being a priest of the temple and being a prophet was just about earning something and enjoying privileges.
However, being a true priest or a prophet is not about earning something or enjoying the comfort of wealth and influence. A prophet is God’s voice that penetrates the heart of every man and woman, that penetrates and disturbs the heart of the community that has become indifferent and complacent, unjust and oppressive.
That is why, Amos who was a shepherd was called by the Lord to speak on God’s behalf and deliver God’s message. He was commanded to “Go, prophesy to my people, Israel.” Though he did not come from a family of priests or from a lineage of prophets, yet, God chose him. Being God’s prophet after all is not about what we have attained or achieved and not about an excellent family background.
This is what the Gospel of Mark also revealed to us. Jesus sent out the twelve Apostles, two by two, whom he chose. These men where not from any family background that one would expect. Yet, Jesus saw something beyond the ordinary life of these men. This was how God worked wonders in them. And thus, Jesus gave them authority to free people burdened and oppressed by the unclean or evil spirit and to cure the sick. This means that they have been given the gift to heal and free people.
However, they have “to take nothing” for the journey. This calls every Apostle to fully trust in God’s providence expressed through the generosity of the people around them. To take nothing for the journey will allow them to be free from any unnecessary burden whether physical, material, psychological or spiritual.
Yet, as they proclaim peace and grant blessing to many homes, it is expected that not all will accept. Rejection is part of life of a preacher and of a prophet who proclaims what God wants to be proclaimed. People won’t easily accept God’s invitation and God’s presence.
And the reason? God demands change or transformation of our heart and of our whole life.
Change can be thought by many of us as a mere “disturbance” to what we have already become comfortable and familiar. But then, the danger of complacency and indifference could grip our hearts to the point that we become unmoved in from of the suffering of those around us.
This reminds us of the life of Fr. Rudy Romano, CSsR, a Redemptorist Missionary who spoke about the crimes of injustices committed against the poor in Cebu. His voice and presence became a “disturbance” to the powerful, the rich and the privileged. Like Amos and many prophets in the Holy Scripture, he too was rejected and martyred. He was even told by his own father to only focus on his sacramental duties as a priest. But, Fr. Rudy responded to his Dad’s letter, that he won’t be a worthy priest anymore if he would follow his father’s advice.
Fr. Rudy chose to stand with the oppressed and committed himself to speak what God wants him to speak and to live the life of a prophet as God called him to be.
In consequence, Fr. Rudy was abducted on this day, July 11, in 1985 in Cebu City. For the past 36 years, his body was never been found. Such is the fate of a prophet yet relentless in his words and eternal is his spirit.
The confidence and the faith that Fr. Rudy showed must have been what St. Paul spoke about in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul proclaimed that God the Father blessed us with every spiritual blessing and this was made possible because of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
These spiritual blessings must have grown in the heart of Fr. Rudy. These spiritual blessings which St. Paul proclaimed are the grace of being chosen by God, the grace to be holy and without blemish, the grace of being an adopted child of God, the gift of redemption and freedom, the gift of forgiveness of sins and the grace to share in the mystery of God.
For us today, each of us, regardless of our background or profession or achievements and failures in life is called to be God’s prophet in the bigger picture of our society and even within our small sphere of influence like our homes, schools, workplaces or organizations.
As a prophet shall arose in our midst, hopefully, we too shall welcome now and learn to discern the words and the presence of the prophet among us whoever he or she may be. May the prophet’s voice and life disturb our complacency and indifference.
Let our conscience then, be guided also by our faith in God, be inspired by love and be moved by our hope to bring change and transformation into our life and in our community that will bring healing and freedom. Hinaut pa.
Jesus sends his disciples to announce the Good News of God’s Kingdom and cast out demons and heal the sick. With a great deal of trust and courage they obey Jesus and venture into the unknown. They take nothing and go two by two in their mission. The disciple is never alone as the Lord chooses another to accompany him. Because of their “yes” the Lord’s message spreads and the world begins to change.
Evaluating the dismal results, a parish evangelization team realizes that focusing on mission logistics leads to the message becoming buried. Getting engrossed with the means leads to neglect of the Good News!
Fidelity to the core of our baptism allows God to carry out His mission through us. We don’t have to worry about material needs. The almighty opens the hearts of believers to provide for His preachers. The important thing is to obey the Lord and proclaim the Good News. We preach His Cross and find consolation and joy in our trials.
We accomplish God’s work as community and always with reference to His will to preach the Kingdom of God. In His name, we cast out demons and heal the sick!
Heavenly Father, we do not rely on human resources in our ministry. You will always provide for whatever it takes to be Your humble and faithful disciples. We trust You in word and deed as one Body of Christ, united in spirit and in truth. We receive communion with fervor and allow You to make us channels of Your healing love so that others may find hope, freedom and life in the Kingdom You prepare for all of us.
Brothers and sisters, we witness to the joy of the Gospel in word and in deed. Amen.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 