Who do we follow? What do we follow? What matters to us most? These are three questions that brings us into the message of the readings today. These will allow us also to see what is in our heart as we are about to close the Liturgical Calendar of the Church and begin a new one.
Thus, on today, John in his Book of the Revelations tells us of the end of time. It will be a time of gathering and harvesting what God has planted. Yet, it will also be a time of throwing away what were not of God’s harvest. Moreover, the Gospel of Luke today speaks as well of the end of time. However, Jesus warns us to beware with whom we listen and follow. Though the Gospel speaks of destructions and other horrifying events, yet, as Jesus assures us, this is not the end.
This is why, Jesus comforts us, “Do not be terrified! Do not be afraid!” The end of time and God’s time will be a moment of truth, a moment of joy, a moment of everlasting peace to all who listened and followed Jesus. This is a moment of contentment and fulfillment of what we desire most and long for because the presence of God will rest upon us.
As we await Jesus’ second coming, we are invited to evaluate our life and change our way of life according to the way of life of Jesus when we called. Hence, we ask ourselves, who do we follow? Is it the Spirit of God or the Evil spirit? What do we follow? Is it our personal desires, whims and wants? Or God’s plan and desire for us? What matters to us most? Is it success and wealth? Comfort and self alone? Our contentment and happiness? Our relationships and faith?
May these questions brings us closer in the mind and heart of God who longs for us and desires that we will be in communion with the divine. Kabay pa.
The bacteria that caused the bubonic plague in the middle ages claimed 25 million lives – about three-fourths of Europe’s population. The survivors wondered where God was in this disaster. “Where are you, Lord? Don’t You care?” Today the Covid 19 virus causing the pandemic poses similar questions on God’s role and presence in this global havoc and tragedy!
Indeed, when we feel drowned by misery we often cry out, “Where are you, Lord? Don’t You care?” We don’t seem to recognize the Lord’s abiding presence even in the midst of storms, adversity, sorrow, temptation! Yet, He is always by our side with blessed assurance, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” “It is I, do not be afraid.” When the Lord calms our storm and calls our name, we have to realize that great indeed is His loving mercy that elicits faith and longing to entrust to Him all our needs and cares.
Loving Father, our faith is Your gift, empowering us to relate to You with trust by accepting Your life-giving word. Your love strengthens our faith, enabling us to do justice and act with kindness to the poor and voiceless even in the face of trials and difficulties. How blessed are we whenever we allow Your love to rule in our heart and mind goading us to choose what is good and in accord with Your will!
Brothers and sisters, may the Lord deepen our faith in His redeeming power and love. May we always recognize His abiding presence with us and take courage in doing His will in all circumstances. Amen.
Perhaps nowadays we find ourselves confronted quite frequently with these questions about our near future, as raised to us by others and/or even we ask personally ourselves. However, unlike before when it was easy to see opportunities ahead, today’s quarantined and lockdown world during pandemic times renders our foreseeable future bleak and unpredictable. Wherever, whatever, whenever and however we find ourselves now, to plan ahead for what we want to happen next is quite difficult and challenging. This is not only because possible opportunities for our future can be impossible to discern and predict, but also the normal lives we used to live with have to adjust and adapt to the new and unfamiliar realities of the pandemic world and times we now live in. Whether we like it or not, our life is changing. Our world is changing, We are changing. Challenging it is to deal with and manage our present realities, how much more difficult than it is to foresee and make plans for the near future.
And it is and would be difficult and challenging for everybody. Making plans would surely be difficult for people who know what they want, for they also see how limited and constricted they can now be, considering available resources, mobility, programs, systems and schedules. It would also be much challenging for people who does not know readily what they want because they have to tend first to the immediate needs of others. We think here of people who are in helping professions, those who are in the frontlines of public services, medical-mental-spiritual health, education, and above all our parents who have to postpone, numb and even forego their own personal plans just to accommodate and address other people’s needs while also worrying about available resources and possibilities. We could understand then that raising the question now about future plans can be difficult and challenging, if not, already distressing and depressing. How game-changing indeed our world now we live in.
Somehow however, we may also wander what would Jesus say about our plans. What would Jesus say about our difficult and challenging realities now and ahead?
Like a teacher giving pointers to students before an exam or a coach giving advices to players during the game, we hear Jesus in our gospel today telling His disciples and us now words like: “Fear no one… do not be afraid… worry not… you are worthy… acknowledge me… have faith.” As we struggle with our present life and worry about our future, Jesus is saying us here words of assurance, encouragement, affirmation, faith and confidence on us, as His on-going guidance and directives for us. Moreover, Jeremiah & our Psalm today also reminded us how God protects and answers those who remain faithful and loyal to Him in the midst of life-adversities, same way as Paul wants us to recognize the promise of God’s grace and Christ’s gift that “overflow for the many”. What is very important here is that God has a plan in Jesus; and we are to acknowledge, believe and trust in it. Somehow in our game of life – stable or changing it might be, we need to believe and trust that “God got our backs for He has a plan for us”.
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It is once said: “When we get what we want, that is God’s Direction. When we don’t get what we want, that is God’s Protection.” True indeed, when our wants and plans are in sync with God’s plan, we are being directed on the right track. But when our plans and wants are not in sync with God’s plan, we are being protected for we are off the tracks. This is not about us surrendering to fate or have an irresponsible “do or die, que sera sera” attitude towards life, but is all about doing our part, involving with and being responsible not only for our own actions and plans but moreso, in God’s grand plans and ways of being in life. Not getting what we want while also not knowing and unsure of what our next plans then is perhaps God’s way of protecting us from possible failure and death, and His constant invitation to believe in Him and trust in His plans for us.
So, what’s the next plan?
Since God got and has a plan for us in Christ, we abide and trust in His plans, His directions, and His protection…. That’s the Plan. In other words, Be part of God’s plan.
And may this be our prayer to Him: “As we abide in Your plans during these trying times, Thanks you, Lord for protecting us from what we thought we wanted, and for blessing us with what we don’t know we needed.” Siya nawa. Hinaut pa unta. Kabay pa. Amen.
(By: Fr. Aphelie Mario Masangcay CSsR, a Filipino Redemptorist Missionary stationed in Gwangju South Korea, though now still stranded in Cebu until further notice for available flights.)
One day I received a sick call from a hospital asking for an anointing of the sick for a dying man in his 90s. Honestly, I personally do not like going to sick calls to the dying because of the emotional baggage that I may carry when I leave the room. Aside from the scary machines and tubes applied to the patient, it is surely heart-breaking to see a dying person holding on to his/her last remaining breathes. The sorrow and the grief of the family members who gather around the suffering patient would also creep into my heart and mind. However, I have to appear “okay” in order to do the rites properly and accompany the dying and the family in prayer.
Yet, with this particular old man who was holding on to his last breathes, there was something different in him that caught my attention. Behind his transparent respirator, he was smiling as soon as I introduced myself to him. He was actually smiling during the whole rite while looking at me. He was fully conscious but cannot move. He was definitely in pain at that moment. He too must have been so loved by his family gathered around him. They were keeping to themselves, as much as possible their cries, as I did the rite and told him to go in peace.
After the rite, he removed gently his respirator to tell me something (this happened before Covid-19 brought disaster in our community). He told me with a smile (saying in the local language), “Father, thank you. I will go now.” The family members could not hide anymore their tears as they too heard those words. It was truly heart-breaking that I have to keep myself from breaking down in tears to assure him of my presence. But, I also felt the confidence behind those words. This old man was confident that he was not alone. His loved ones were with him and the Lord was with him too. He was not afraid anymore despite the deep sorrow and pain at that very moment. He knew that after this, everything will turn into joy.
True enough, as I left the room and bid my goodbye, fifteen minutes after, the parish office received a call to inform me that the old man has rested in peace.
This is a testimony that completely trusts in God’s presence and promise of joy. It is a particular situation and a concrete human experience of struggle and confusion, of fear and anxiety, of pain and sorrow. Moreover, such human experience paved the way for the Lord to intervene and bring comfort and confidence.
The readings today convey this message to us. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was mistreated by those who refused to believe in Jesus. He was harassed and was accused wrongly to put him in prison and to death. With this kind of situation, Paul must have been so confused and afraid for his life. He must have started to question the Lord for sending him into this kind of trouble in his ministry.
Consequently, such difficult situation of Paul became the entry point of Jesus to assure him and to give him comfort and confidence. Jesus appeared in a vision to Paul. The Lord told Paul, “Do not be afraid, continue speaking and do not be silent. I am with you. No one will harm you.”
In the same way, Jesus also gave this assurance to his disciples. This conversation with Jesus happened just before the Lord was betrayed and arrested in Chapter 18 in this Gospel of John. Jesus prepared his disciples for the horrible and unimaginable events to happen in the coming days. Thus, the words of Jesus, “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy,” are the Lord’s assurance to us.
We might be struggling at this very moment. There might be some of us who experienced being humiliated, harassed, oppressed or abused. Or perhaps who are ill at the moment, or in trouble at work, perhaps lost a job or failed in business because of the economic crisis brought by Covid-19. There might be some of us too who are now having problems in their relationship or who are in great sorrow for losing a loved one during this pandemic.
With all of these difficult and painful human experiences, God also comes to us through this sacrament, through the scriptures, through the love and support of our family and friends and through the gift of the Holy Spirit abiding in us, that God intervenes to bring comfort and confidence in us.
As Paul and the disciples were comforted by Jesus, the Lord also is telling us now, “Do not be afraid, go on and continue because I am with you. Believe that this sorrow you have now will pass away and will turn into joy.”
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Moreover, this calls us today to truly believe that God is the God of our life. Then, in that faith, we shall see the many good things we enjoy in this life despite the many difficulties and hardships we encounter. When we also truly believe that God is the resurrection and the life that we also begin to become true Christians who see light in the midst of darkness, who find joy in the midst of sorrow, who capture a smile in the midst of pain, who embrace hope in the midst of impossibility, who find healing in the midst of so much sickness and who find life in death.
And again, this is what I found in the life of that old man. Though I had a short encounter with him but that gave me a profound realization of God’s presence. Through the person of that old man, God also intervened in my life to bring comfort and confidence in me.
Hopefully, each of us too will allow God to intervene in our life today. We may allow God to be present there in our struggles and sorrow, in our pain and anxiety. Hinaut pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 