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Tag: Moved with pity

  • GIVING LIFE BY TOUCHING THE LIVES OF OTHER WITH KINDNESS

    GIVING LIFE BY TOUCHING THE LIVES OF OTHER WITH KINDNESS

    February 14, 2021 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021421.cfm)

    When I was on my first year college in the seminary in Cebu, I met Nanay Elisabeth, an old lady, sick with leprosy. Despite her illness she was very welcoming. She was in fact the most talkative in their ward. Like a Nanay, she was very affectionate to us seminarians. I usually would come to visit the ward where Nanay Elizabeth was on Saturday afternoons to mingle with leprosy patients and make friends with them.

    The many visits I made formed friendship with them and especially to Nanay Elizabeth who always would offer her leprosy-infected-hand, but healed, for us seminarians to receive her blessing. In one of those visits, Nanay Elizabeth shared her life story which touched me very much.

    Due to her illness, she never got married. Life was so difficult because she was poor. In her younger years, she was into scavenging garbage in Cebu. One early morning, as she approached a garbage bin to collect recyclable materials she found something. She actually found “someone” inside the garbage bin that others might have thought, was a trash.

    Nanay Elisabeth found a newly born baby girl in that garbage bin. She named her Nancy. Nancy, perhaps, a reason why she was thrown away was because Baby Nancy had a cerebral palsy. Nancy was sick and in the minds of many, they might have believed that she was a cursed baby and useless. But what was more heartwarming there, was Nanay Elisabeth’s unconditional love for the baby. The baby was unwanted but for this young woman, Elisabeth, all her love and affection were for Nancy. She brought Nancy home and did all her best to let Nancy feel that she was loved and treasured.

    However, when the signs of leprosy began to appear to Nanay Elizabeth, that became a painful part of her life because she had to leave Nancy to a group of Religious Sisters while she had to be in the leprosarium to be treated. Nanay Elizabeth’s heart ached daily because she longed to see Nancy.

    With some of my classmates, we went to that center where Nancy was, visited her and took pictures of her so that Nanay Elizabeth would have a glimpse of her daughter.

    This is a story and an encounter that proves kindness and love in the human heart that values human life and worth despite its seemingly ugliness. It tells us that no matter how poor we are, wounded or imperfect we are in the eyes of many – we can give life to others by touching the lives of those who need most of our love and kindness.

    This brings me into the story of the Gospel. A leper found love and kindness in Jesus. In the Biblical times, a leper was nobody. A person who has leprosy is removed from the community. It means that the person is forced to leave from the comfort and presence of friends, family and relatives.

    The Jews at that time believed that leprosy was an ultimate punishment for sin. A leper was considered a terrible sinner punished by God and thus unclean, unworthy and worthless person. This became a form of treating a leper as less than human or not human at all.

    Jews would avoid them at all times. This is what we find in the Book of Leviticus that prescribed on what to do with lepers. They are to stay outside the camp, that is, outside from the daily affairs of his/her family and community. A leper has to make known himself by shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn the people of his presence. Everybody will never get near and come close to a leper for fear of being infected and worst of being considered as unclean too. Though there was a medical explanation for this, as isolation of the infected will protect the community. However, later on, this also fostered a culture of indifference and discrimination to the sick.

    Yet, our Gospel conveys to us a shocking and moving turn of events. A leper should never get near to a Jew and a Jew should also immediately avoid any contact with a leper. But then, it was so shocking for all the Jews to see a leper coming closer to Jesus asking the Lord to cure him. What was more surprising there was the gesture of Jesus towards the leper. Jesus touched the leper!

    The Lord touched a worthless person, an unclean and less human leper. And when that touch of Jesus happened, it destroyed the wall of indifference among the Jews towards the poor leper. The touch of Jesus assured the leper that he was not worthless at all, that he was not less human but, he was loved and cherished by the Lord who longed to see him joyful and healed.

    Jesus was moved to touch the leper because the Lord looked with pity on him. This feeling of pity described in the Gospel is not a “shallow feeling” that we usually have when we see a beggar or a person with difficulty, and we feel pity for him/her, but then we go along with our life and forget about the person. No, it is not that way. What Jesus felt was true pity where he too felt the sorrow and pain of the leper. In fact, Jesus was so distressed and disappointed to see the situation of the leper. This moved him to do something, and that is, to touch the leper in order to cleanse him. By doing that, Jesus broke the barriers of disgust, shame and fear that prevented the leper to be accepted by the community. Jesus changed those negative feelings and indifference with kindness and love.

    This is how the Lord calls us on this day of Feb-IBIG, on this day of love, that we too will recognize persons in our community today who have been left out, abandoned and disgusted by many, so that, like Jesus we may also be able to touch them and show kindness and love.

    As we remember and celebrate today what love can do, let that love in us also counter the growing indifference towards those whom our society identifies as worthless, useless and less human. To counter such injustice and indifference, never ever treat anybody as less human or useless because of their imperfection, because of their sickness or because of their failures in life.

    Let us also not forget that each of us has our own leprosy, imperfections and sins that would qualify us as unclean before God. However, God showed pity upon us and became human like us so that Jesus may touch us to heal us.

    Let us now share to our families and communities the touch of God that we have experienced so that like Nanay Elizabeth who despite her own situation, we too may be able to give life to those who need it, to give joy to those who are sad, and to give hope to those who are hopeless. Hinaut pa.

  • The Cycle of Blaming

    The Cycle of Blaming

    February 13, 2020 – Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021321.cfm)

    “No, not me! It was her!” The Man must have pointed his judging finger to the woman who gave him the fruit. Yet, the woman too responded, “Not me either. It was the serpent!” Both of them denied responsibility of eating the fruit and realized that they were naked. Both succumbed to the blame-game to deny full responsibility to their disobedience.

    However, what was really the issue in this story? Was it because of eating a desirable fruit? Was it because of the presence of the serpent that tempted them? Or the presence of evil around?

    Both of them, the woman and the man, were tempted not just by the desirable fruit to eat. The fruit was only a symbol of a greater temptation. The serpent that was very cunning, engaged the woman in a conversation by asking, “Did God really say that you will die?” It was only an opening of the serpent’s temptation for both man and woman to believe that they can become like God. This means that the temptation was in believing that they will be in complete control of everything. They must have believed too that they did not have everything in paradise. And so the unquenchable desire to have everything must have consumed them. They can only have everything if they too will become like God.

    Yet, the moment they tasted the fruit and came to know what is good and what is evil, they too realized their smallness before God. This was how they hid from the Lord God. They knew that they have sinned and that sin led them to fear. Fear is filled with guilt and shame. This is the reason why Adam and Eve were hiding. Their nakedness tells us of their guilt. Yet, their guilt never assumed the responsibility that they have sinned. As a result, they became trapped in the cycle of blaming. Adam blamed Eve. And Eve blamed the Serpent. And perhaps, we as readers, might also blame God for putting the serpent among them.

    Because of this, the intimacy between man, woman, and God was shattered. In the same way, man and woman lost their closeness with God. It was them who distanced from God. Thus, sin, without acknowledgment makes us hide yet, it leads to destruction and to death.

    However, this is also how God intervenes. God calls us and God continues to find us not to condemn us or to destroy us but to renew us, to recreate us, to give us the fullness of God’s grace and presence. This is how the Gospel tells us also of the heart of Jesus. Jesus felt the hunger of the people. Jesus felt their need to be filled and be satisfied.

    That is why, God calls and finds us when we try to hide because of shame and guilt. God does that because as the Gospel said, the “heart of Jesus is moved with pity.”

    Let us also remember, when we ty to separate and distance from God, God initiates to come to us to invite us to come closer to Him in humility and to end the cycle of blaming. Thus, let not our fear, guilt and shame prevent us from seeking God’s mercy. God offers the abundance of grace through the sacraments, let us come and be renewed, be recreated and be given the fullness of God’s grace. Hinaut pa.

  • Because Love is of God

    Because Love is of God

    January 5, 2021 – Tuesday after Epiphany, Memorial of St. John Neumann, CSsR

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010521.cfm)

    John who is believed to be the author of the 2 Letters of John and the Gospel of John is known to be Jesus’ beloved disciple. Among all the disciples of Jesus, it was only John who died out of old age and missed martyrdom. John who had grown old revealed to us now his consciousness and deep faith in Jesus who loved him so much.

    This is the reason why we have the 1st letter of John talking about one thing, love, not just any ordinary love but the Love who is God. Throughout the life of John, the very reason that drew him to follow the Lord was the love of God for him.

    John reminded us how this love of God works in our Christian life. In his first letter, he proclaimed, “to love one another, because love is of God.” When we have God in us, it moves us to love. John realized how the love of God was revealed to us. This love is revealed through the birth of God’s only-begotten Son, Jesus.

    From Jesus, who is the Father’s concrete expression of love and the face of God’s love, life is gifted to us. John truly felt the weight of this love through his life. It was because of this love that made him to stand strong even in the midst of confusion at the arrest of Jesus. John remained fearless even when Jesus was persecuted. He followed Jesus on his way to Golgotha. John was also present at the foot of the cross of Jesus with Mary and witnessed the death of his Lord. John was also the first to believe in Jesus’ resurrection upon seeing the empty tomb despite his confusion and fears.

    It was this love that made John confident and affirmed. The love that he truly believed is life in itself. He believed that God first loved him and because God is faithful. God will always love him even if everyone and everything goes wrong.

    It is the same love that God tells us today. God wants that we too will have the fullness of our life. Fullness of life means being in love and remaining in love. In other words, fullness of life also means being in God and remaining in God in all the days of our life.

    It should be this the same love that would hopefully lead us to see the light and joy even in the midst of suffering and pain in life, even in the midst of rejection and betrayal of people who are close to us. This love should also inspire us to respond in love, to express our love to God, to ourselves, and to others even to those who have hurt us and people we do not like.

    This is what Jesus also showed us in today’s Gospel. Seeing the vast crowd of people who were in pain and suffering, hungry and abandoned, Jesus was moved with pity. Jesus did not only looked at them but he also responded in love. With this, Jesus allowed his disciples to join him in that response of love by giving what they had. The five loaves and two fish as their food were given out of generosity so that others may be satisfied and be filled. This, indeed, is love.

    Again, John reminds us, “love!” Because it is of God, and we will never go wrong. Loving the way God loves can be painful, but, God’s love heals and comfort, empowers and liberates us. May we enjoy and cherish that love in us today. Hinaut pa.

  • God’s Heart is Moved with Pity

    God’s Heart is Moved with Pity

    December 2, 2020 – Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120220.cfm)

    Homily

    My heart is moved with pity. The words of Jesus must have been ringing into the ears and hearts of his disciples. God is moved. God feels our pain. God feels the emptiness and longing of our hearts. The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us about this too, “The Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.” God shall take away our pain and sadness. Again, on this first week of Advent, we take comfort in this promise of God who is with us. The journey of this Advent is to make our heart and mind more confident in God, to be more assured of God’s abiding presence in us.

    Hence, the Gospel of Matthew reminds us how Jesus attended, welcomed and healed those crowds who brought the heaviness and hungers of their hearts and different illnesses to him. Jesus cured and satisfied them all. He made the mute speak, the deformed whole, the lame walk, and the blind see.

    Moreover, Jesus wanted his disciples to be also moved with pity. Jesus wanted that the hearts of his disciples will also experience the power of being moved by others. To be moved with pity allows us to feel the heart of another. This allows us to understand them, to be in solidarity with them and to journey with them. Such solidarity will lead us into healing and freedom, which is the very experience of those people healed and freed by Jesus.

    This means that the journey towards healing, freedom and fullness of life is not achieved when we are alone. It cannot be achieved when we distance ourselves from our friends and family, our community, and from the Church.

    That is why, as the heart of Jesus was moved with pity, he too asked his disciples to participate and join with him. His question, “How may loaves do you have?” must have been a question with a deeper meaning. Jesus was not just asking about the number of the physical loaves of bread, but also the availability of the hearts and presence of the disciples. Indeed, that question meant more than loaves.

    The disciples responded not just with seven loaves, but also with few fish. This food was all they had, yet, God asked everything. And they all gave them up for others. It must not be easy to give up all you have for the sake of others. That food, if one would think, would not have been enough just for the 13 of them. How could that little they have, feed hundreds of people?

    We usually think for ourselves and prioritize our own needs. However, the disciples, out of obedience to Christ, gave everything they had at that moment for the sake of those in need at that moment. This was the beginning of the wonder and amazement.

    Those seven loaves and few fish given out of generosity and obedience to Christ were blessed, given thanks, and broken. Those were distributed to all of those who were hungry, to satisfy them and fill their emptiness. Yet, what was blessed, given thanks and broken and was shared became abundant before the eyes of the disciples. As people partake with their bread and fish, people were satisfied and there was more than enough. This was how they collected the left-over that filled seven baskets. The number of fullness.

    What had been satisfied were not just those who were hungry but also the givers. Indeed, the journey taken by the disciples to fill the hunger and emptiness of the people became their own journey also to experience both physical and spiritual satisfaction and fullness of life with the people and with the Lord.

    Today, Jesus also invites us to be moved with pity that with him and with the disciples, we too shall bring out those little things that we have, and to offer them to God so that many will be able to receive. We shall see the wonder, then, when the small or little things from us are given generously because we will surely be able to respond to the different forms of hungers around us. Hunger is not just limited with physical hunger for food but also for love, for affection, for justice and for peace.

    The symbol of seven loaves and few small fish are not just limited with material possessions that we have. These also include our talents, capacities, expertise, our time and effort, our presence and our very person.

    While the Lord assures us and promises satisfaction from our own hungers in life, hopefully, we too will be like his disciples who became instruments of satisfying not just ourselves, but also our brothers and sisters. Hinaut pa.

  • When movement to love gives life

    When movement to love gives life

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    July 7, 2020 – Tuesday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070720.cfm)

    Homily

    The Book Hosea speaks to us of Israel’s continuing guilt and of God’s boundless love and mercy. What Israel had done reflected through Gomer, the wife of Hosea, who broke the covenant with God. Israel deliberately became unfaithful to God because Israel believed that there will be more power and wealth with other gods. She was seduced by the promises of others. Yet, she was being blinded by her desire to have more and did not realize the fullness of life with God.

    Israel was led to believe that with those other gods, Israel will have life at its abundance and security. However, this was not the case, Israel in fact experienced her downfall and destruction. What Israel always wanted was immediate satisfaction of desires as to the hunger for power, for wealth and security.

    Thus, as Gomer fell again and again and lost her way every time, Hosea would always come to bring her back to his side. Gomer might have been blinded by the glamour of others and fell into sin against her husband, yet, Hosea never failed to be faithful to her. Hosea never gave up on Gomer. Hosea would always assure her of his love and faithfulness. This is love indeed that brought freedom and assurance to the troubled Gomer.

    Moreover, our Gospel today speaks of a  man possessed by a demon and could not speak but when Jesus freed the man, he began to speak. The man was prevented to speak by the demon in order to hide what was wrong with him. Thus, the demon’s work here is also in silencing us, keeping us quiet so that the demon will continue to torment us and others around us.

    Yet, as the demon was driven out, the man also spoke because he found again his freedom. The man found himself again as Jesus found him.

    This was how the heart of Jesus was also moved as he saw the multitude of people who were suffering. Jesus’ encounter with those people made him more connected to them and to the struggle they had to endure.

    This tells us of a God who is being moved upon seeing us just as Jesus’ heart was moved with pity because he felt their pain and troubles in life.

    In a way, this is the very picture we have in the first readings. Hosea, most of all, understood his wife Gomer. Hosea was always moved with pity and so would come to her rescue. Hosea’s action was not just limited with his pity but it was ultimately a movement from his heart, a movement of love.

    Jesus too upon seeing the man possessed by the demon and the many people who were troubled and abandoned was moved with pity because of his love for the people. Jesus’ action to respond was a movement of love, a movement from the heart.

    This movement of love is truly liberating and saving. Gomer who represented the people of Israel and the man possessed by the demon and those many people had experienced that liberating and saving movement of God’s love.

    This is the invitation for us today. We may be moved also with pity that comes from our love and not just of pity itself. Indeed, the Lord invites us that like him we too our heart will be moved to respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters around us. Hopefully, this will also move us to respond with love to the different needs in our own capacity and gifts. Thus, be moved with pity and love today so that we may also give life, comfort and assurance and Jesus has shown us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR