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Tag: Jesus is with us

  • Look at Jesus

    Look at Jesus

    February 1, 2021 – Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020121.cfm)

    “If you look at the world, you will be distressed. If you look within, you will be depressed. If you look at God, you will be at rest.”

    These are the words of wisdom and advice coming from Corrie (Cornelia) Ten Boom, a Christian Dutch Nazi-concentration camp survivor who experienced & surpassed not only the cruelty & inhumanity of Nazis people during the war the indifference of her fellow prisoners but also her own unfreedom/ helplessness in the concentration camps.

    We may not have the same experience with Corrie in life, but we do have a sense & we could easily relate with her words of wisdom & advice. It is distressing indeed to look at world today. With the limitations & difficulties we are going through not only now during but even before pandemic, life has been quite stressful & distressful nowadays. No wonder cases & concerns for mental health nowadays are also on the rise, because if & when we look within ourselves, life has also been depressing. The disappointments, frustrations, worries, anger, & helplessness we are going through now, caused by our distressing, inconvenient & limiting world, could be so depressing, bounding & possessing. (mahigtan ug matuok ta, sa ato pa makapabuang nato).

    Not unlike with our demoniac or the possessed man in our gospel today. Dramatic may our gospel be, we cannot deny that the man is already possessed & overburdened by his demons and crushed by people’s stigma on him. Like him, with our distressing world & depressing selves, we may also have felt possessed, burdened, & shackled by a lot of things going on & happening in our lives nowadays.

    But most significant in our gospel today is when the demoniac “catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him”. In other words, he looked & gazed on Jesus, went near, & bowed down not only in fear but more so in respect & honor to pray to Jesus. In the same way, if & whenever we also recognize, welcome & allow God thru His Son Jesus into our lives, we will be at peace & at rest, even in midst of our today’s distressing world & depressing self. Not only that, we will be also free from our life- shackles (kadena/higot) & receive a new direction & mission in life. So, For hope & direction, never stop looking at & looking for Jesus in life. 

    Corrie Ten Boom indeed is correct to advise us on life: “If you look at the world, you will be distressed. If you look within, you will be depressed. If you look at God, you will be at rest.”

    Another way of saying this: “If you cannot sleep, stop counting the sheep. Talk to the Shepherd.”

  • I tell myself today, “I am never alone”

    I tell myself today, “I am never alone”

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    May 25, 2020 – Monday 7th  Week of Easter

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052520.cfm)

    You can be in a place where there is nobody present, but filled with confidence and contentment with what you have in life. However, one can also be in the midst of hundreds of people, surrounded by friends and family but feeling alone and lonely. 

    It must be a terrible feeling to feel alone and lonely. The insecurities and the anxieties that we would feel could overwhelm us. People who are severely ill, those who are haunted by their traumatic experiences, and those who suffer chronic depression would mostly agonize these feelings of being alone and lonely.

    These kinds of feelings would make our day to be so dark. Thus, even when there are people around us physically, but these feelings detach us from their presence.

    No wonder, such kinds of feelings disturb our mental state that also affect our whole being – emotionally, physically and spiritually. This anguish would cause people to be so sad and depressed. And how much more when our loved one would leave us alone, physically? When someone we love and so dear to us would just go away and leave us, then, we could face an awful feeling of loneliness and pain.

    The separation from their families of those in the frontlines in fighting Covid-19 must have felt this kind of feeling. Those who have been sick but cannot be with their loved one, must have endured such worries, anxieties and disappointment of being not present during these trying times. 

    People who work away from their family would also feel being alone. They cannot help it but to work a far to give more opportunities for their family and children especially. Yet, as a consequence, they have to endure such loneliness for their sake.

    With this kind of human experience, Jesus has something to remind us today. In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminded us of his conviction of the presence of his Father. Jesus knew that his disciples would abandon him when he will undergo his passion and death. The disciples will retreat and hide because of fear even though that would mean that Jesus will be left alone to suffer and die.

    However, Jesus was filled with confidence that his Father will never abandon him. The Father was there with Jesus even on the cross where Jesus felt being abandoned. In his humanity, Jesus expressed that deep anguish within him as he cried, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

    Moreover, it was there in that deep sorrow of human suffering where Jesus also found his Father and became more convinced of the presence of his Father. Jesus said with confidence, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.”

    Today, Jesus also wants us to have that same conviction. We are never alone. The Lord is with us, always with us. This is the promise of Jesus to us today.

    His words to his disciples are also his invitation to us today, “I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.”

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    Therefore, when we feel alone, let it be known that we are never alone. When a terrible sickness strikes us, when a traumatic experience haunts us, when depression bothers us, when anxiety and uncertainty disturb us, remember, God is with us.

    Those of us who are away from home and away from our families, Jesus comforts us that he is always with us too. Those who feel alone and lonely for whatever reason you may have, those who feel uncertain of what is ahead of us, today, we tell ourselves, “I am never alone.” 

    Jesus promises us too that with him we shall have our peace. When we allow Jesus to come into our life, definitely, we will be at peace. We will never be lonely. We will be at peace because we will be assured, and we will be satisfied with Jesus. Jesus brings peace because he brings us confidence, courage and faith.

    Today also, may I invite you to be more sensitive of people who feel alone who could just be your friend, sibling, or child, or parent or co-worker. Let them feel that Jesus is with them and you too are with them. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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