Peace! Kalilintad! Shalom!

Tag: Complacency

  • Disturb our complacency, O Lord

    Disturb our complacency, O Lord

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    October 22, 2020 – Thursday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102220.cfm)

    Homily

    We desire for peace. We long for harmony. We want a life without disturbances and troubles. This is the reason why we also ask God for peace of mind and peace in our homes because in one way or another, we are experiencing some sort of difficulties. One may be having some sleepless nights because of some personal or family issues or conflicts and misunderstanding. Another must be bothered by an illness or because of demands at work. Some students these days, must be having some troubles too in fulfilling their school projects and finishing their modules.

    However, one may be disappointed with what Jesus told us in today’s Gospel. The Lord said, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”

    We heard it right. Jesus does not bring peace but division. He is here to disturb us. Yet, what does he really mean? It is very important that we understand the words of Jesus in the context of those who wanted to follow him. The very environment where Jesus spoke these words was characterized by corrupt and self-righteous leaders. The Pharisees and the scholars of the law represented those people who wanted to stay in power, preserve the status quo and secure their comfort. There were Jewish leaders too who became puppets to the Roman Empire in order to secure their wealth and influence.

    And these people who succumbed to the cycle of corruption at the expense of the common people, did not want anybody to challenge their peace. Thus, anyone who will dare to confront them was deemed to be a threat to that peace they were enjoying. However, was this “true peace” at all?

    This peace is about the comfort and routine of life or ‘business-as-usual.’ This means that one goes and proceeds to what one usually does in life. We may do what we want by satisfying our desires, from mere complacency. This peace only knows about maintaining the status quo, that we are comfortable with and preserving an environment that will not disturb us. Yet, this peace is shallow and remains self-centered. It focuses on our ego. This is not true peace.

    That is why, the Lord comes to disturb us when we have grown so attached with our comforts and when we are so caught up with maintaining to what is only beneficial for us.

    When we become complacent and passive, we do not want to be challenged, we do not want to go beyond and become life-giving. We do not want to confront ourselves and others because it might cost us conflict and division or to sacrifice the contentment that we apparently enjoy. We might find ourselves to settle to what is only easy, comfortable and beneficial by doing the same things, thinking the same thoughts and imagining the same ideas to the point that we refuse to do more and give more.

    However, Jesus does not want us to just settle with this seemingly peaceful environment. God does not want us to become a person who becomes a prisoner of his/her own selfish desires who will become abusive and corrupt yet  most insecure. Jesus does not want us also to just go with the flow and remain passive.

    The Lord wants us to find freedom. Jesus is not in favor in making ourselves passive, complacent, and self-satisfied yet stagnant. Jesus wants us to grow, to be mature and to become the person He wants us to be.

    The invitation for us is to allow the Lord to touch and to disturb our complacency and passivity so that we will be able to see things differently and wonderfully. As Christians, we too are called to call and confront others when our community and our leaders become passive and complacent.

    As we allow the Lord to disturb us, we may be able to see new perspectives in life despite its monotony, more dynamic and life-giving ways of relating with people around us, and a deeper and life-changing encounter with God through the ordinary expression of our faith. And remember, this calls us to be pro-active, honest and courageous in expressing our faith and to the values that we believe as Christians. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • When complacency and indifference grip us

    When complacency and indifference grip us

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    July 13, 2020 – Monday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071320.cfm)

    Homily

    In the first reading, Prophet Isaiah proclaimed to the people God’s message. It was addressed to the rulers of Sodom and to the people of Gomorrah. Isaiah particularly called their attention “to hear and to listen” because they pretended not to hear God at all. These people were identified as citizens of the “sin cities” in the biblical times.

    Moreover, as Isaiah served as God’s messenger to the people, God also expressed the divine dismay and disappointment over these people. God basically expressed how fed up He was with the practices of the people and sick of those facades portrayed by them. The sacrifices made by the people were found unworthy by God. God was not pleased. God even despised them.

    Why? Why would God close his eyes and not listen to their prayers?

    The reasons for these are found at the evil and unjust practices committed by them against the weak and the poor. Yahweh called the people to remove their evil deeds and to put an end on their wickedness. The people are called to seek justice and to do good. And how? It is by ending their selfish desires, stopping the abusers, caring the orphans and defending the widows. Meaning, the people are rather called to respond in concrete actions in the way God wants them to be and that is to be people for others.

    To become people for others is to take the side of those who are helpless, homeless, sick and poor. Only then that they also become true people of God.

    Hence, when our rituals, our prayers and other forms of devotion will stop to be just mere religious practices, then, these are all in vain. When we are too strict in our observance of our prayers, too sophisticated in performing our rituals but remain unmoved to the plight of the poor, unkind to those who need our help and indifferent to unjust practices around us, then, we are not different from the rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah.

    They had grown complacent and corrupt. They had become too attached to their comfort that they also tended to only focus on what was easy and beneficial for them. Their sacrifices and oblations were not for Yahweh. Those were merely shows to display how spectacular their rituals were.

    They found pleasure in them, but not God. They found contentment in their practices, but not God. They were extravagant for themselves but unkind to the homeless. They were sophisticated people but blind to the difficulties of the poor. They would not dare take sides of the oppressed because it would require more sacrifices from them. Thus, the rulers and the people would just keep the abusers among them because they too enjoyed their benefits. This is how Yahweh found displeasure in them and in their attitude.

    No matter how expressive we can be in our religious practices, we are not immune to the virus called INDIFFERENCE and COMPLACENCY. These are attitudes that may grip our hearts to become passive, unmoved, unkind, ungenerous to the needs of others.

    However, just as Isaiah was sent to the people to call them back to Yahweh, each of us today is reminded to beware of this tendency in us. This is what Jesus calls us in the Gospel of Matthew.

    He asked, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”

    The peace that Jesus talks about here, is most likely the peace that we believe, the peace that is only about comfort and routine of life or ‘business-as-usual.’ This means that we go and proceed to what we usually do in life by doing what we want and by satisfying our needs and desires, from mere our complacency, unchallenged and unconfronted. Thus, this peace only knows about maintaining the status quo and the order that we are comfortable with and a kind of relationship that will not disturb and will not challenge us. Yet, this peace is shallow and remains self-centered. It simply focuses on our ego.

    However, Jesus is not bringing this kind of peace but sword that will pierce and disturb us. This includes piercing and disturbing our comfort, our current situation, our complacency, indifference and even routine.

    Hence, we may choose to be passive because, we do not want to be challenged, we do not want to go beyond and become life-giving. We do not want because it requires more effort from us, more time and more presence from us. As a result, we would not want to confront ourselves and others because it might cost us conflict and division, as Jesus said clearly in the Gospel. Because we do not want to sacrifice the contentment and the comfort that we apparently enjoy, so we distance ourselves from what God calls us to be.

    But, God does not want us to become a person like this because we will become prisoners of our own selfish desires. We will become abusive and corrupt yet the most insecure of all.

    Moreover, Jesus does not want us also to just go with the flow of life and remain passive. We might find ourselves to settle to what is only easy, comfortable and beneficial by doing the same things, thinking the same thoughts and imagining the same ideas to the point that we refuse to do more and give more.

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    The Lord wants us to find freedom. Jesus comes to disturb our seemingly peaceful lives. Jesus is not in favor for making ourselves stagnant. However, Jesus wants us to grow, to develop, to mature, to give life and to become the person He wants us to be.

    This means that our relationship with God becomes the first of all our other relationships. Yet, this will surely cause division in our other relationships because others may not understand us why we take the side of God and not them.

    Despite these challenges, we way find the courage to allow the Lord to disturb our complacency, indifference, passivity and routine so that we will be able to see things differently and wonderfully. We may become life-giving then as we express our faith and show to others the presence of God in us through our prayers, through our devotions and concrete actions of kindness and generosity. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR