Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Category: Ordinary Time

  • GENEROUS HEART

    GENEROUS HEART

    November 7, 2021 -32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110721.cfm)

    I remember once on a Sunday mass, after preaching about the boy (our so-called accidental hero) in the gospel about the Multiplication of Loaves, a small boy went up in the sanctuary during the offertory bringing with him his offering. He did not quite know where to put his five pesos offering. So, when I noticed him coming up, I postpone preparing the altar. Instead, I fetched the boy and led him to our collection box.

    For me, it was a moving experience. Here I was, preaching about the boy in the gospel who gave everything (his two loaves of bread and five fishes) to Jesus as his generous contribution for the people’s need, and calling people to share something themselves for the church mission.  And right there after, a little boy coming up in the sanctuary, offering his everything (n.b. for a three or four year old boy, a five peso coin is not only something but everything) for the mission of the church. Such gesture for me is not only something (because that little boy and his family heard my homily and responded to it), but EVERYTHING because it is Good News manifested right before my very eyes. Gospel as witnessed.

    As you might notice, for the past Sundays, we have been reflecting about Christian values fitting for Christian discipleship. Blind Bartimaeus reminded us of the importance of seeing again God’s will in our lives. Then, Jesus emphasized the commandment of Loving God, others and ourselves as our right faith response to God’s grace.  Then, particularly today, we reflect about Generosity.

    Moving from the whole issue of what is the greatest commandment, here in our gospel today, Jesus discussed with his disciples about the whole issue of who or what can truly please God. By comparing the rich and the widow’s offering, Jesus pointed out to his disciples that what matters most is not What but HOW we give our offerings to God. The rich people gave from the excess or surplus of their plenty so that others may notice them, while the poor widow contributed from her poverty and helplessness everything that she has as her sacred offering. As Jesus upholds, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more that all those who gave offerings. For all of them gave from their plenty, but she gave from her poverty and put in everything she had, her whole livelihood.”

    For Jesus then, what could truly please God is Generosity. God is pleased with generous people who wholeheartedly contributed and gave up everything they got for the betterment of others, (if not all). This is clearly portrayed by the poor widow who gave her family’s food to Elijah in our first reading; by the temple offerings of the poor widow in our gospel, by that boy in the multiplication of loaves, by that little kid who offered his five pesos for the mission and by Jesus who laid down his life for the redemption of many. They all wholehearted gave up and shared everything they got to the point of denying themselves for the good of others. Well, that is Generosity, that is Christian charity and love.

    And generosity usually happens whenever we have sympathy & empathy towards others. Whenever we have the heart to feel with others (sympathy) & to feel for others (empathy), Generosity happens in our lives & grace abounds. We give credit to the spirit of generosity nowadays as we face the challenges of pandemic times. In our generosity via our sympathy & empathy with one another, somehow we are able to withstand in faith these trying times.  

    We pray then with St. Ignatius of Loyola as he described what Generosity is, through his Prayer for Generosity. 

    Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as I should. To give and not to count the cost. To fight and not to heed the wounds. To toil and not to seek for rest. To labor and ask not for reward. Save that of knowing that I do Your Most Holy Will. Amen. Hinaut pa unta.

  • WANTED: Responsible Leaders

    WANTED: Responsible Leaders

    October 17, 2021 – 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101721.cfm)

    “Great power comes with great responsibility”. Surely you have heard of these words before. These are the very words of Peter Parker alias “Spiderman” and the very message of the movie “Spiderman 1”. Perhaps you may have only heard these words now, Stan Lee, the creator of the cartoon-animation “Spiderman” however is wise-enough to remind and teach us that indeed “Great power comes with great responsibility”. And the same message we can learn from our gospel today.

    In today’s gospel, we hear how the disciples were indignant and quarrelling about some members who were asking from the Lord for favor. Wanting to have a share in the coming Lord’s glory, all of them were into power-tripping and power-struggle as to who is and should be the greatest amongst them. Not giving in to their own hunger for power and greatness, Jesus instead reminds them of His mission and identity as “not to be served, but to serve and to lay down one’s life for the many”. He also warns them of the demands of following Him towards God’s glory and salvation. For Jesus, to have a share in God’s glory by means of following Him as His disciples, requires great responsibility, for it involves power and authority as well as coming persecutions and sufferings. To be disciple of Jesus – to be His follower towards God’s salvation and glory then is indeed not only a great honor and privilege but moreso, a great responsibility. Thus “Great power comes with great responsibility.”

    Like his disciples of old, we do wish to have a share and privilege in God’s glory. As we try our best to follow the Lord in our life now, we also do need to be great and to feel great in life. Normally we do need to be recognized, acknowledged, and rewarded for all our efforts and struggles in life. We do aspire for a place – a honorable seat or office in God’s glory. We do want to be credited and honored for ourselves at the Lord’s glory in God’s salvation. Be as it may, Jesus however teaches us a lot today about having our share in His glory and God’s greatness.

    First, to be in God’s greatness is not all about us, you and I, having a share but moreso about we having participated and involved in God’s work of salvation for all. Being in God’s greatness then is not all about we having honored, credited, and rewarded with God’s glory, but instead about how we allow ourselves to be instruments of God’s grace to and for others. In others words, our greatness in God’s glory is not about us – being great, but about how God’s glory and greatness are revealed in us and shared through us. Moreover, our greatness in God’s glory lies in our selfless service for God and others. To be great in God’s glory is possible then because we serve and can serve God and others. By our loving service for God others, we can be great. As Jesus reminds us, greatness is not about being first and lording over others, but instead about being servant of all. And above all, our greatness in God’s glory happens whenever we take responsibility for God and others.

    Having a share then in God’s glory aims at giving one’s life for many – i.e. to be responsible leaders for God and others than oneself.

    Simply said then, we may and can have a share of our own greatness & power in God’s glory if and whenever we allow ourselves to participate in God’s work of salvation now by our loving service and being responsible for God and others more than own selves. As a wise man once said, “Your gifts are not about you; your leadership is not about you; your purpose is not about you. A life of significance is about Serving those who need your gifts, your leadership and your purpose.” Greatness then comes not only with power but also responsibility and service for other than oneself.

    As nowadays election fever & politicking virus is in the air, beyond buying & selling power & greatness, at the end of the day, we don’t need great & powerful leaders but we want & choose Responsible Leaders for such political power & authority requires Responsibility.

    With these thoughts, we pray with St. Ignatius…

    Dearest Lord,

    Teach us to be generous, teach us to serve you as we should, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and ask not for reward, save that of knowing that I do you most Holy will. Amen. 

  • THE STORY OF US

    THE STORY OF US

    October 10, 2021 – 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101021.cfm)

    In a recent Facebook post, a young man named Seth Adam Smith who, after being married for a year and a half, realized, and said: “Marriage is not for me.” Why…? After all these months of marriage, eventually he comes to appreciate that his father’s advice before his wedding. Before wedding, His dad said to him: “Seth, Marriage is not for you. You don’t marry to make yourself happy. You marry to make someone else happy. More than that, marriage is not for yourself. You are marrying for a family and for your future children. Marriage is not for you. It is not about you. Marriage is about the person you married.”

    Surely married couples could relate to such realization or advice. For marriage is indeed not really for the sake of oneself but for the sake of your lifetime partner. Eventually married couple has to learn along the way that marriage is not all about “I” or about “Me” but all about “US”. And surely such realization is a hard-learned lesson, for such wisdom only happens through trial-and-error experiences. To be selfless, i.e. to be not selfish and self-centered then is the very challenge of committed love we called marriage. For love is more than just a feeling or emotion but a commitment and decision to go beyond and give up oneself for the sake of the other.

    In other words, in marriage – in committed love, couples are to love their own spouse and children as much more than they love themselves and one another. Their love should be other-oriented than self-directed. A married life in committed love is thus, not for your own but for the sake of your loved ones and for the sake of loving them, same way as Jesus loved us. Love then should not be a story of I nor a story of me, but is & should be a story of us.

    In our gospel today, wanting more than just observing and obeying God’s commandments, the rich man asked Jesus for an advice as to how to inherit eternal life. As Jesus, with and in love, counselled and challenged him to give up and share everything to the poor and follow Jesus instead, the rich man however went away sad for he had many possessions. With this, we hear Jesus’ well-known words, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom” – harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. And sadly, we also unwittingly misquote & misuse these words as our usual excuse for our failures and shortcomings in life-commitment, as well as for thinking and even believing that God’s salvation and eternal life is difficult, impossible, and even exclusive only for the few.

    Nonetheless Jesus teaches us in our gospel today that Eternal life with God’s salvation is more than just our longing for sacredness and holiness in life, and our search for contentment and happiness in life. For Jesus, life with God is all about having and being in covenant & committed relationship with God. In other words, eternal life is all about being married to God, and also requires of us to have Marriage with God. No wonder why ordained, consecrated, and married life is sometimes described as: “a life married to God” for it is indeed a marriage – a loving commitment to God. And since eternal life is our Marriage to God, we may also say that our marriage to God is not FOR us, because committed life with God is not about us, and not for ourselves alone, but for the sake of, and all about God’s glory and salvation for all others than just us.

    Jesus also somehow teaches us today that like any marriages, our life with God involves detachment, charity, and discipleship. Same way as the rich man is asked to give up and share everything to the poor. To live life with God, we must also learn detachment, i.e. how to give up, even deny ourselves, and share what we have to other and for others. As married to-God people, our life: our time, talent, and treasure are not for us alone but for God and others than ourselves. Life with God also requires us to be and do everything with and for charity, i.e. not for a prize or reward, but for free and out of love, and in responsibility for others.

    And above all, life with God is to be a disciple – a follower of Jesus in life. As people married to God, we must also then learn to lead our lives same way as Jesus lives, serves, and loves God and others. Detachment, Charity, and Discipleship are somehow key ingredients in our Marriage to God, and as to any committed-relationship as well.

    As Jesus forewarned us, difficult and impossible for us it may be, such life in marriage to God is also possible, since “All things are possible For God”. In other words, Life with God is possible and meaningful, if and when we do things and have our being not for ourselves but for God’s sake, and for others than ourselves.

    Lord guide us continually in life for us to know God deeply, love Him dearly, and follow Him faithfully especially now, during these trying pandemic time & always. Amen.  

  • ANGELS WITH ONE WING

    ANGELS WITH ONE WING

    October 3, 2021 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100321.cfm)

    A wise man once said, “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.”

    Reflecting on these words, such wisdom somehow reflects our daily experience and journey of being human and Christian in this life. Human as we are, these words of wisdom affirm our being HOLY – our promise and desire to be holy and sacred in life. But Holy may we be, these words also reveal our being HUMAN – our limitations and constraints to become holy in life. “Angels with one wing” somehow describes our aspirations and our frustrations of being and becoming Human and Holy in this life, and highlights our experience of loneliness – of being alone in life, and our need for one another as well.

    However, as these words of wisdom suggest we can only fulfill our longing for sacredness in our human nature, by way of flying via embracing each other. This calls for us then not to be weighed down by our human limits, but to fly – that is to resolve and commit ourselves to rise up and respond to the occasion and chance to become angels in life. And also this calls us to do the flying together in relationship along and with one another. In other words, we are inter-related. Only by flying-journeying with others – not by walking alone, each and all of us can reach the destination we are promised and we longed for in life, as “angels with one wing.”

    Surely our readings today can teach us a lot of things about our life-experiences of being Holy & Human. But aside from the themes of creation, marriage, divorce, adultery, parents and children, our readings today are all about our human need to have a committed relationship in life, i.e. to be in covenant relationship with God and with one another.

    We are told in our first reading today that as God created us, He also sees our human need to have a partner in life for “It is not good for man to be alone” and even animals and pets are not enough for us. He ensures a suitable human partner for us in life, so that we can leave our parents and be with our God-given partner in life. God thus has created us not to be alone and/or be with our parents, but to be with our own God-given suitable partners, for us to live the life God has created us to be. Jesus in our gospel today reminds us not to block and be a hindrance in letting ourselves and others to come to God and live the life God has called us to be, and challenge us to remain faithful and steadfast in our relationship with one another as we live our life-mission God has called us to be as well.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/zencat/43327230/

    Both readings give importance to our human need to have and be in a committed relationship as God sees & wills it. More than just having a friendly, convenient, and secure relationship in life, God appreciates that we, human as we are, should be committed to the life God has chosen us to be, and to live such-committed life in relationship with our own suitable partner God has destined us to be with. In other words, though with one wing, we should be angels – flying, coming to God’s glory, rising up and committing to the occasion to live the life God has called us to be, and by means of interdependence, embracingly flying/journeying in relationship with our God-given suitable partners in life.

    Perhaps beyond our concern for our civil status or even FB Profile status, whether we are Single-Married, In relationship, in love or Complicated, we should moreso ask ourselves, “Am I committed to the life God has called me now to be? Am I also in a covenant-relationship with my God-given suitable partner in the journey?” Simply asked, “Am I committed and committing to where I am going and with-whom I am going with toward the life God has chosen me and us to be?”

    Nowadays we hear loud noises proclaiming “Walang Forever”, i.e. there is no promise of forever, eternity, constancy and always in life. True it may be for those who cannot commit, who refuse to rise to the occasion but be remain burdened by their limits and choose to be on their own and alone in their own life-struggles, still dependent on their own parents and others. But “There is forever, always, and eternal life”… for commit-able people, people who can commit, still committed and committing to live the life God has chosen them to be and to the partner they are to be with. We could say also that committed relationships are measured by faithfulness & not by success, for our journey in life is not about gaining heights but moreso about remaining steadfast/faithful in our efforts to fly & journey along with others.  

    Though not of this world but in this world, Christian and human as we are, we are Holy and Sacred for we are also God’s children and Jesus’ brothers and sisters. And difficult it may be, we can always be holy and sacred in this life, if and whenever we commit to the life God has called us to be and to the suitable partner God has given us to be with.

    Again as the saying goes:

    “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.” With these words, most especially during these trying pandemic times, may we learn and grow with holiness despite our human limits, in our Christian lives today. Amen.

  • INCLUSIVE GRACE

    INCLUSIVE GRACE

    September 26, 2021 – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092621.cfm)

    Once there was a madre who bought a box of munchkins from Dunkin Doughnut for pasalubong. While waiting for her flight at the pre-departure area, a family sat beside her. Giving in to her cravings, she took a munchkin from the box, and enjoyed eating one munchkin. Suddenly, the little boy also took and ate one from the same box. She did not mind at first, thinking that the boy must also be hungry. But then, the Ate (elder sister) also took and ate one. This had upset the madre but she just ignored it, and took one for herself instead. But so did the nanay and tatay. This really irritated her that she glared at the family who was consuming the rest of the munchkins. But what really infuriated her was when the nanay took the last munchkin and offered it to her. Now indignant and so enraged, the sister stood up and changed her seat. But later on, when she opened her bag to get her ticket, she saw, much to her embarrassment and shame that inside her bag was her box of munchkins unopened. “Opps, dili diay to iya.”

    Sometimes it is good to examine and ask ourselves: “What are the things that we claim as being rightly ours and yet are not truly ours?” This may not only be material possessions but could also be our status in society we use to lord over others,.. titles we use for personal advantages,… our prejudices and biases we harbored towards others,… or our self-righteous behaviors what makes us feel morally better, privilege or important than others. Sometimes, we are not different from that madre. We sometimes claim these privileges – which do not really belong to us, though we come to think and believe that they are only ours to have. Worse, we sometimes claim that we are the rightful owners of the munchkins and it is exclusively for us to have and eat.

    Here in our first reading, we heard Joshua complaining to Moses for letting two elders who were absent during the meeting, receive the spirit of prophecy. Joshua was thinking that only those elders who attended the meeting are the rightful recipients of the spirit of prophecy.

    A similar story here is depicted in our gospel today. John reported to Jesus: “Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting our devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.” Meaning, John and other disciples tried to exclude a non-member from exercising the ministry of healing and exorcism in the name of Jesus. Just like Joshua, the apostles believed that they are exclusively the privilege persons to invoke the name of the Lord.

    But as we all know; Jesus did not stop the estranged but effective exorcist. Like Moses, Jesus was not concerned about how the exorcist got the spirit of exorcism but was simply glad he had it. Clearly, Jesus perceived the situation differently. He said, “If anyone who is not against us is with us”. In other words, the Kingdom of God is beyond and wider than our human standards.

    Salvation is non-exclusive. It is God’s gift for all. Consequently, God’s blessings for us are Shareware – meant to be shared, and not to be kept selfishly & owned exclusively. He challenged us instead to be open-minded to others, to “Let God’s spirit blows where it will” since God rewards those who show even the smallest courtesies to those who teach and share in Jesus’ name.

    On the contrary, he warned the disciples then & us now against our tendency to be selective, downgrading, arrogant, jealous, and intolerant of one another – as if we have the monopoly of the gift of God’s graces & spirit, and the exclusive rightful owner of the munchkins, or person to invoke Jesus name. Instead of selfishly thinking for ourselves & of ourselves, he challenged us to be what we claim to be:  Christians.

    That is, if we claim to be Christians – a follower of Christ let us also be Christians in our attitude and behavior in our discipleship and relationship with one another & others. Since we call ourselves as Christians, we must also be Christ-like: tolerant open-minded, creative, non-exclusive at the same time determined and non-compromising in our faith in God’s salvation for all humanity through Jesus’ name.

    In other words, it is not for us to forbid and impose limitations on God’s capacity & ways. It is not for us to program God’s own Plans & Ways for all which are far way better than our human standards and ways.

    Somehow our Pandemic realities nowadays are wake-up calls for us to realize not only our self-centered ways and attitudes in life demand our conversion & transformation, but most of all, these challenging times are our moments & opportunities for us to cooperate and share with one another God’s non-exclusive all-embracing intervention, protection, salvation, healing, and blessings that we do pray & really need at these times.

    During these trying times, may Our Father & Your Will be always upon Us, Lord. Whatever & however our gifts, talents, limits & blessings we have now may be, allow us to contribute & cooperate with Your plans of saving us now and always. Amen.