Do you also ask signs from God? This is surely a common experience to many of us to ask signs from God especially when we are about to make a major decision in life or undergoing difficult situations. We take comfort and assurance when we also believe that we already have the sign that we have been asking. This belief must be coming from our need to see something physical or concrete because we want certainty and security.
However, the divine signs that we ask for may not appear to what we expect it to be. Meaning, we could be more focused to look for what is extra-ordinary and out of this world signs when in fact, the Lord reveals his presence and graces through ordinary means. This is something that we have heard in today’s Gospel which is both a warning and an invitation for us.
The people who were around Jesus asked for a sign from him. They want Jesus to do something extra-ordinary, perhaps, some kind of magic. This was the sign that they wanted to ask before they would believe in him. Yet, as Jesus said, no sign shall be given them.
They did not realize that Jesus himself, his very presence in their midst is the greatest sign shown by the Lord God to them. Jesus is the Word-made-Man, God who dwells among us, nevertheless, people were unable to recognize such Divine Presence because they were blinded and deaf. They were blinded by hatred and bitterness in their hearts. They have become deaf to God’s invitation because of being self-righteous and self-centered.
Indeed, we could become a person who is blinded and deaf of God’s self-revelation and invitations when we only think of ourselves and more busy of looking for extra-ordinary things to happen. Let us remember, God manifests himself in ordinary ways, through our human experiences, through the movements of the world and the whole creation. Let us be more welcoming of the presence of a person in our life, of an embrace of a loved one, of the kind words and generosity of our friends.
Thus, we are invited to be more attuned to God’s many manifestations in our life and in the world. It is by being able to discern and recognize God’s invitation that we also discover more God’s desire for us. Kabay pa.
The common belief among many Jews in Biblical times was that God was only for them. Yahweh chose them to be His people and thus, it was understood that the Lord God would only favor them and no other peoples except them. This belief made them exclusive to the point that outsiders are unwelcomed. More than this, God was as if being monopolized by the people and not wanting the Lord to be outside. This belief proved to be problematic and caused a lot of divisions, hatred and indifference among the people.
Such form of monopoly can also be present and creeping even in our culture today as Christians among our groups and religious organizations. Like for example, there was a choir-group in a small parish who seemed to be so exclusive and trying to monopolize their services for weddings, funerals and even birthday events in the community. There were even particular songs they claimed that only them should sing and no other groups. They went further by advertising their choir group to the people to advance their singing services. As a result, such actions caused divisions and unnecessary conflicts and tensions in the Parish Community. Their exclusivity and monopoly become toxic.
This belief and attitude of our heart, indeed, not just limit us but also limit God to be God. Our exclusivity and monopolizing attitude could make us unwelcoming and horribly indifferent towards others.
This is something that the readings we have today on this 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time are trying to convey to us that God is without borders and our Church and all our communities cannot be exclusive and cannot monopolize God. So, allow me now to journey with you through our readings and see how God calls us today.
In the first reading from the Second Book of Kings, Naaman who was a commander of a Syrian Army, went to Elisha to be cleansed from leprosy. Naaman was first told about Elisha by his captured-slave, a young girl from Israel. Naaman who was very desperate listened to her and went to Elisha. For the Hebrews at this time, their belief told them that this foreigner did not deserve to be cleansed of leprosy because he was different and an enemy. Yet, though it was not directly through Elisha, Naaman was cleansed as he was instructed by the prophet to plunge into the Jordan river seven times.
This was something very significant here. Elisha was telling something very important. He did not even touch Naaman but only instructed him. Elisha wanted Naaman to realize the power and grace of God directly working in Naaman. Naaman understood this, hence, he was grateful for that encounter with the Lord. The gratitude of Naaman was overflowing and was transformed into action through his new found faith in God. Though Elisha refused to accept his gift, yet, Naaman in response worship the Lord from then on.
This healing story of Naaman already tells us that God is not limited among the Hebrew people. God’s grace and favor cannot be monopolized by a particular culture or group. This is something we have heard as well in the Responsorial Psalm that clearly proclaims, “The Lord has revealed to the NATIONS his saving power.” Yes, the Lord’s presence is revealed to many nations not just to one nation, not just to a particular group of people or race or language. But to all.
Moreover, today’s passage in the Gospel of Luke tells us also of another healing of a group of despised people, the lepers like Naaman. There were 10 of them who asked Jesus’ mercy so that they will be cleansed. Nine were Jews and one was a Samaritan. People won’t come near them for fear of contamination. This was the reason why they stood at a distance and did not dare to come near. Here, we can already notice the indifference among the people against them. These lepers were unwanted and unwelcomed, believed to be cursed by God.
However, as the 10 lepers were on their way to the priest as instructed by Jesus, they were healed and cleansed from leprosy. This is where we find the turn of events and a seemingly more faces of animosity and indifference. Only one of the ten came back to give thanks to God for the grace of healing received. The nine did not, as Jesus also wondered. Well, we can also suspect that the nine Jewish lepers, they must have not believed that the Samaritan among them will also be healed and cleansed. It must be still in their hearts that bitterness and exclusivity.
Upon seeing the Samaritan who was also healed, they must have felt bad and turned bitter believing that the Samaritan did not deserve such grace. This could be the reason why they forgot to give thanks to God. Their heart must be heavy and could not accept the reality that God also graces even non-Jews.
However, God is not limited to any group of people. No one can monopolize the grace of God or claim that God is theirs alone because God remains faithful to all. Yes, God is faithful to all humanity and to all His creatures. This is what Paul reminds us in his second letter to Timothy. Paul who was already old and was in prison at this time reminded his friend Timothy, of God’s faithfulness even when we become unfaithful to the Lord.
Thus, on this Sunday there are at least two points that I would like you to dwell.
First, God is without borders. Meaning, we do not have the monopoly of God and of God’s grace. This invites us then to be more faithful to our identity as Catholics, which basically means, universal or inclusive. Thus, let not our differences become a reason to be indifferent with one another, or become hostile with each other. We are all brothers and sisters, no one should be left alone and be apart from God’s family.
Second, let our gratitude transform to active faith. Naaman’s gratitude made him worship God and the healed Samaritan Leper’s gratitude made him to give thanks to the Lord. So, let also our gratitude to the Lord become an expression of faith that recognizes God’s inclusive presence and grace to all. Hence, let our faith become inclusive and not discriminating. Let our faith gathers, not divides. Let our faith generates understanding and love, not hostility and apathy to those who are different from us. Kabay pa.
How does my faith in God mold may ways of thinking, behaving and speaking? How does my faith in God play a role in my relationships, in my career and profession, in my studies and endeavors? How does my faith in God transform me as a person?
These questions would be very good to take into our heart and see how our Christian faith works in our life. Having faith is not limited with doing religious practices and faithfully observing religious obligations. Having faith is not limited on Sundays as well or during seasonal religious celebrations during Holy Week or Christmas only. When faith is only a “part” in our life, then faith becomes our extra-curricular activity. Faith is a way of life and as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said, “faith is our human response of love to God who first loved us.”
Faith, therefore, is a human response, an active response of love. This response is basically spontaneous, neither obligated nor mandated by any law. It’s spontaneous because it comes from a heart filled with so much love and gratitude to God. Consequently, faith brings us into an intimate relationship with God who calls us and loves us first. “Through faith we become children of God in Christ Jesus,” as St Paul reminds us today in his letter to the Galatians. And because we are made children of God, it is only right that we call each other sisters and brothers and breaking any division caused by hatred and indifference among us. We become one in Christ Jesus. This is what it means to be a Community of Faith.
Moreover, in today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” And Mary, the mother of Jesus and our mother heard the word of God, accepted and embraced the word in her whole life and let the word to grow within her. This is how faith in the life of Mary transformed her life because the Word of God grew in her heart and was made flesh through her. In that way, the life of Mary became an instrument of bringing God’s presence to all.
This is also how we are called today as we accept and embrace the gift of faith, to let it grow in our hearts, in our lives and allow the Lord to transform our whole life. May our thoughts, actions, words and our relationships, work and our very person become ways of loving that bring blessing to all. Kabay pa.
We cannot help that sometimes our way of praying sounds like a demand to God. This could happen especially when we feel desperate. Though we believe that asking or begging God’s grace is certainly a way of praying, yet, this is not everything. When our prayers will only be filled with demands and requests for our own needs or wants, then, we might tend to believe that God is like a vending machine who is 24/7 available to grant our whims.
Prayer is ought to be our way of life as Christians and not just a mere religious practice to observe from time to time or when we only want it. Prayer as our way of life is a constant discernment of the will of God, of getting closer to the very heart of the Lord. This is what a disciple asked of Jesus in today’s Gospel. The disciple witnessed how Jesus lives a way of life in prayer. The disciple must have seen how prayer empowers Jesus and his ministry by being one with the Father in Heaven through prayer.
Indeed, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray which we know by heart as well. The Lord’s prayer allows us to put our complete and childlike trust to the Father. Such prayer brings us into a greater awareness of God’s presence working every day in our life and a greater awareness of our true needs, particularly of being at peace and reconciled.
The prayer Jesus taught and his way of life in prayer have a common thing to reveal to us and that is, to be “in the heart of God.” Others may all this as being “in communion with God or to be one with God.” Being in the heart of God is to be in a state of allowing the Lord to change us, to transform us that includes our thoughts, our desires, our plans and our very way of life.
Certainly, what Jesus desires for his disciples and for us is to pray as Jesus prays. The very life of Jesus is founded in being in the heart of his Father in Heaven. With this, Jesus constantly seek his Father’s will and desire for him and for the world. This is what Jesus also wants us to learn, that in our prayer, we may also be in the heart of God so that we may be able to discern and identify God’s desire over our impulses, to know and embrace God’s will over our demands and personal wants.
This is something that Paul wanted Peter to recognize and embrace as well. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, reminded Peter of his hypocrisy, biases and wrong belief about God’s desire. Peter refused to eat at the table with Christians who were non-Jews. Peter must have believed at the thought that in order to be a disciple of Jesus one must be first a Jew. Paul confronted him about this and called Peter that God is not like that. God is not limited with Jewish practices. God is not even limited among them and not limited on our personal prejudices. Definitely, Peter was challenged by Paul to rather seek the desire of Jesus and not his or a group’s desire. Such way of knowing Jesus’ desire is to be in the heart of God through prayer.
Thus, this calls us also today to make our prayer as our way of life so that we may come into the heart of God and know better God’s desire over our personal wants and whims. Kabay pa.
“I am losing my faith,” these were the words of my friend who has been in so much difficulties in her life recently. The pandemic affected so much their business and lost their investments. Then, her husband who was her inspiration and strength, her comfort and dearest friend, died of covid-19. She is left alone to take care of their three children and a burden to pay a surmounting debt. She was frustrated, in deep sorrow and angry at God for letting all these happen to her and her family. She felt lost and confused if God is listening to her and truly present.
“How long must I endure this?” This was a question from my friend that I cannot also answer. I dare not offer any advice to her because I realized that my words would not be enough to bring comfort to her. I was afraid that I might bring more confusion to her. And so I listened to her and prayed with her to rediscover faith in the midst of those great trials and to find God in her most depressing and grief-stricken moments in life.
Prophet Habakkuk in our first reading also expressed such distress and hopelessness in the midst of an overwhelming suffering. “How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!” Habakkuk seemingly felt the absence of God amidst the misery and violence he had witnessed.
At this time, the tragedy and suffering of the people were caused by themselves. Prophet Habakkuk lived during the time when their political leaders, their kings, committed grave sins against God and the people. In particular, King Jehoiakim led his people into evil. He was a corrupt and a godless tyrant who murdered his own people, violated the wives of the men who were against him and then seized their properties to be his own.
This was the situation of their nation under such ruthless leader. And with this, there was also an overpowering foreign kingdom of the Babylonians who threatened smaller kingdoms. There was a coming destruction that Habakkuk had already seen.
Thus, the prophet prayed in behalf of the people, “How long, O Lord?” The suffering of the people, the violence and misery that they were enduring seemed to be endless. Yet, the prophet still hoped and held on to his faith. This is what we have heard at the end of first reading, “and for the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
The invitation of faith is what we have also heard in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Indeed, God speaks to us and God remains present even in the darkest and most painful story of our lives. That is why the Psalm calls us to sing songs of thanksgiving in God’s presence, to come to God and recognize that God is our God. We are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. Therefore, we are not the one who is in total control of life, but God, something that could be very difficult for us to understand.
Such realization is what we also find among the apostles of Jesus, who asked the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The apostles realized the their faith might not be enough to become worthy of Jesus. They became concerned that they might not be in control of their lives and lose their way. Before this request, Jesus told them of the significance of a person who has faith and that is to be able to lead others to God’s presence and to be able to forgive.
This was the very context of that plead from the apostles. Their faith might not be enough to lead the people closer to God and might even lead many to evil just like Jehoiakim, the corrupt and godless tyrant. Their faith might not be enough to forgive others because they might turned to become bitter, hateful and vengeful. Their faith might not be enough when great suffering and persecution will come in their life. They might lose their faith.
Yet, the Lord assured them that even when faith is just as the small size of a mustard seed, that can make wonders in us. This is something that Paul also reminded in his second letter to Timothy. Paul who was already old and was in prison became more confident and assured in his faith despite the persecutions and the suffering he was enduring.
Paul reminded and comforted the young Timothy of the gift he received. Timothy was gifted with faith. Thus, Paul said, “stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands” (speaking of the gift of ordination). God gave Timothy power, love, and self-control. This was how Timothy was told neither to be ashamed nor to be a coward to become a witness of the Lord, a witness of God’s presence and of God’s goodness even in the midst of evil and suffering.
With all of these, this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time tells us and reminds us that…
First, faith is our loving response to the Lord who is ever faithful to us and ever present even when we feel that he is not.
Second, faith is our power and our strength especially in times of hardships or in times of miseries and in times of confusion and great trials.
Third, faith is not just a mere adherence to creeds or traditional religious practices that we have. Rather, faith is our active response to God who has called us to be his witnesses, to become Jesus’ present-day apostles who shall bring others closer to the Lord through our own experiences of God working in our life. Kabay pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 