Faith, as the late Pope Benedict XVI said, is a human response of love to the Lord who first loved us. The Letter to the Hebrews reminded us of this as well. We were reminded on how those Biblical personalities responded to God’s invitations for them. Faith has become a way of life of those who are close and deeply in love with God. This way of life led them to pay more attention to the divine presence of God who surrounds them. Thus, praying and listening are two essential attitudes of the heart as we nurture our faith-relationship with God.
In today’s Gospel of Mark, we are brought to the experience of the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. Going up and coming down from mountain is an expression of journeying with God. And in journeying with God, it is very essential that WE LISTEN TO GOD, of God’s action in our life, of God’s Word in the Holy Bible and of God’s presence in our sacraments in the Church.
To “pray and listen” is Jesus’ invitation for us today as we are reminded to grow in our faith-relationship. Remember, Jesus went up to the mountain to pray and through prayer he was transfigured. The disciples too where praying and it was through their prayer that they were made aware of that mysterious event in their lives.
So it means that we too, are called to “pray and to listen,” to commune with God and to relate with God more intimately through our prayer. It is only when we become reflective and prayerful that we also become aware of other people around us. We become more connected with God and with others.
Transfiguration becomes a reality in us when we see and recognize the face of God in our brothers and sisters, when we learn and take the courage to watch out for those who feel unrecognized, to give a room for the stranger, to listen to those who are troubled and hear the cry of those who are desperate in life, to walk with those who are afraid and those whose hearts are broken and to give a helping hand to those who stumbled.
Through these, we become a community centered on the Eucharist that is welcoming, embracing, loving and forgiving that may hopefully move to gradually transform ourselves into the way God wants us to be. Hinaut pa.
A friend shared to me how she has lost her faith. She had been in a depressing situation in life. She did not know what direction she will take. She was totally lost and confused. She was emotionally abused at home and suffered the effects of a broken-home. She was misunderstood by many, among her other friends and colleagues. Her personal and family problems keep adding to the point that she felt suffocated by all of these.
This was how she felt that her prayers seemed to be unanswered. The many times she cried during her prayers seemed to be in vain. God appeared to be very far from her to the point that she claimed, God is absent, thus, losing her faith.
Yet, as she opened up and began to tell her narrative that became an opportunity for me to journey with her being a friend. In one of our conversations, I asked her if she still believed that God was with her. She answered a very big “no.” She neither can feel God’s presence nor believe that God was with her at that moment. She was indeed very hurt, confused and lost. She stopped going to Church. She stopped praying because everything seemed to be useless. I could not blame her for that. She has been through a lot already. What I can do was to listen to her and let her know that she was not totally alone.
I asked her once if it’s okay that I will pray with her. She seemed to be hesitant but said yes. I prayed with her, recognizing God’s presence even in times of not being able to feel His presence. I prayed with her asking the Lord for comfort and assurance from the gift and embrace of friends, family and community. And I prayed with her to ask for the grace of humility to recognize our nothingness before God, for the grace to see light in the midst of dark experiences in life, for the grace of hope in midst of many uncertainties in life, for the grace of peace and freedom in the midst of overwhelming difficulties and grace of faith to believe even when it is hard to believe.
When I opened my eyes after that, I saw her shoes all wet with her tears because she was sobbing while we were praying together. She found strength in there and comfort. “God is with me,” those were her words that touched me very much. Indeed, this is how I also realized the power of praying with others, praying with our friends and finding at the end how our faith grew together, and how we become closer to God’s presence. Such encounter brings a change of perspective in life as well as growth in our relationship with God and with one another.
This encounter I had with a friend reminds me very much of the invitations we have on this 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Praying with our friends is what our first reading in the Book of Exodus tells us.
We were told how Moses grew tired while he was praying. This happened when an enemy, Amalek waged war against Israel. Moses prayed to God for strength and victory. As long as Moses raised up his hands, they were winning. However, when he grew tired and rested his hands, they were losing. And so, Aaron and Hur helped Moses and supported his both hands. As a result, Moses’ hands remained steady until sunset. Thanks to the two for helping in that prayer.
This story may sound primitive but there is wisdom behind here. We find it there in the power of praying with our friends. Surely, praying can be tiring as Moses experienced it. It is also time-consuming. It can be emotionally exhausting especially when we are internally and externally troubled. Yet, praying with our friends is different. The company and the assurance that we are not alone, gives us hope.
This is what Jesus also wanted his disciples to realize as he gave them the parable of the judge and the widow. The judge in the story even though he was not at all righteous, did not fear God and did not respect any person, but gave in to the request of the persistent widow. Yes, it was because of the persistence of the widow that he granted her plea. This was the image Jesus used to bring out the character of God who is merciful. God will surely answer us because God listens to his people.
Indeed, the parable is an invitation of Jesus for all of us to realize the need to pray always without becoming weary or exhausted. But how do we not grow weary? Well, this is where we find the importance and significance of our friends, of our community. As this was addressed by Jesus to all the disciples, it is to be understood that prayer becomes our strength, source of comfort and growth in faith when prayer also becomes our way of life as a community of disciples of Jesus.
Now, these are the invitations for us today as well as your take-aways.
Pray with our friends. Do not be shy or hesitate to ask your friend/s to pray with you. Even if you are in a public place, pray with your friends. Even if that is through a simple meal that you share, pray with your friends. Pray with your friends not just during bad and difficult times but also during celebrations and in times of gratitude.
Pray with the Holy Scriptures. St. Paul tells us in his second letter to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspire by God.” And so, as we pray with our friends, maximize also the gift of the Holy Bible because praying with the Holy Scriptures allows us to discover God’s wisdom and invitations.
Pray to confront, to encourage and to embrace. Praying with our friends is not just about mumbling words or repeating memorized prayers but this also becomes our way of confronting ourselves of our sins and failures, to encourage one another through our presence and to embrace each one with love and affection despite our limitations and differences.
In this way, we allow our faith to grow together as friends and as a community of believers and certainly, Jesus will find faith among us. Kabay pa.
I often wonder why many Catholics, when asked to lead in prayer, during some social gatherings and family events, would often decline. Even those who are regular mass-goers would do the same. They reason out by saying: “I don’t know how to pray.” Well, the early disciples of Jesus had the same concern. That is why they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Lk. 11:1).
But what really is prayer? Is prayer simply fulfilling personal devotions and novenas? Not at all! We hear Jesus saying: “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans did; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them.”
However, by saying this, Jesus did not discourage us from praying. But he was exhorting us to go beyond our usual and routinary approach to prayer.
Because prayer is more than a verbal exercise; more than litany of petitions. It is basically a relationship we have built with God, and which relationship extends to others.
And since it’s a relationship, then it consists of:
1.) Communication with God which engages us in talking and listening. Prayer is not a one-way traffic where only us who do the talking while God is listening. In prayer, we sharpen our capacity to listen to the voice of God;
2.) Recognizing and Affirming God’s presence in our lives, in season or out of season, which aids us in cultivating gratitude and cheerfulness;
3.) Humble acceptance and admission of our human frailties and sins which ushers us in repentance and renewal of our lives; and
4.) We are also afforded with time and space where we lift our burdens and petitions, believing that God is the only and ultimate source of all that is good.
Corrie Tin Boom, a Christian writer, wrote something about prayer: “The wonderful thing about praying is that you have a world of not being able to do something and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for his almighty power. Nothing is too small for his love.“
Brothers and sisters, as we enter and immerse ourselves in Prayer this season of lent, may we be given the grace to grow more in prayer and in the knowledge of God, so that our prayer is not borne out of obligation nor compulsion; but from a grateful heart so desirous to draw deeper into the very heart of God. Amen.
The Season of Lent invites us to be closer to God. As Christians, we are challenged by the Gospel today to make ourselves available and free for God and for others. There are three best practices that by tradition would make this desire of closeness with God and others to be possible.
First, PRAYER. It is an invitation to be closer to God by becoming more aware of His presence in our life. Prayer is not limited with expressing and blurting out what we need and want. Prayer is our way of relating, communicating and being intimate with God who is so good to us, faithful and loving to us despite our sinfulness and imperfections. Prayer brings us closer into God’s presence. It allows us to encounter Him makes us humble before God to recognize our own limitations and sinfulness. Moreover, when our prayer focuses on God rather than our personal wants and needs, the more we also see and know clearly who we are. Hence, awareness of God brings us into self-awareness.
In prayer, we do not have to use plenty of words. To sit in silence for few minutes and being aware of God’s tremendous presence in those very moments would also suffice and bring us into a greater consciousness of ourselves and of others.
Second, FASTING AND ABSTINENCE. When we become aware of God, then, it helps us to be more aware of ourselves. Fasting and abstinence, then, is an invitation to recognize our thoughts, habits, behaviors and attitudes that continually prevent us from becoming closer to God and to others. To fast and to abstain is not just limited with abstaining from pork and beef or to our comfort foods. These are forms of self-denial to help our heart and mind be freed from what chained us. Thus, it would be good to ask, what is it that I will make myself free in this Season of Lent, what vice shall I stop or regulate? What habit or attitude shall minimize? – So that in doing this, I will make myself available for others, more generous and kind.
Third, ALMSGIVING. The Lenten practice of almsgiving is a way of making ourselves generous to those who are in need. If prayer makes us aware of God and ourselves, and fasting and abstinence is to make ourselves free for others, almsgiving is to become LIFE-GIVING. Almsgiving is, therefore, not limited to giving few coins to a poor beggar or a spare of our resources, but to generously give what is dear and special from us. Hence, we allow ourselves to be a gift to others. What is it then that I can generously give to others from myself in this lent? Is it my time and wealth? It is my presence and comfort? My helping hand and listening ear? My understanding and love? My concern and honesty?
Hopefully, in giving ourselves, we too shall be able to encounter real faces of our brothers and sisters even in this time of pandemic. Such encounter will certainly allow us to recognize God’s presence, making ourselves freer, closer and available for God and for others. Hinaut pa.
During the Season of Advent, we have been invited to wait patiently and to long lovingly God’s coming. The season was to prepare our hearts and minds to consciously welcome the Lord and celebrate fully the day of his birth.
In today’s Gospel, we were told about Prophetess Anna who had been waiting and longing for the birth of the Messiah. This old and wise woman, Anna never waivered and never stopped waiting and longing for God’s coming. In those many years of waiting, she must have endured many boring, tiring and heartbreaking days of waiting. Yet, Anna persisted to be in the Temple day after day, to pray, to fast and to at last behold the face of God. Her patience and her persistence indeed bore fruit because God granted her longing.
Anna at last saw the face of God. She must have been filled with so much joy. When that day came, it was not difficult for her to recognize Jesus, because her heart always longed for him. Her instinct and her heart guided her towards God.
She reminds me of the presence our senior citizens who are mostly our regular church goers. They are mostly the first ones to arrive and those who sit near the altar. At the beginning of this lockdown due to Covid-19, Senior Citizens were strongly discouraged to come to Church. Others even imposed strict prohibition to them. Being a Parish Administrator in my previous assignment, I also imposed such measure in my parish as a response to the health protocols imposed by the City.
However, this has become a great longing in the hearts of many senior citizens whose only desire is to be in the Church and celebrate the Eucharist. This was something also that I did not understand at that time – of that longing to meet the Lord, to receive God, to embrace the Lord and to be embraced by Him in our sacraments.
Prophetess Anna reminds us to always long for God because this makes our day filled with hope and filled with joy. To long for God is characterized by our prayer which Anna also showed us by not leaving the Temple. Anna dedicated her life after being widowed in prayer and in fasting. This was her own way of serving God. This prayerful attitude of Anna made her to become a powerful witness of God’s action in the lives of many. By being conscious of God in her life, Anna also saw how Go worked in the lives of those people she encountered in the Temple
This was how Anna recognized the Lord. In her awareness of God’s presence in Jesus, Anna teaches us now of two important lessons from the Gospel.
First, to always long for God. Our longing for God, grants us discernment and wisdom. To discern is to be able to feel God’s presence, thus, guiding us to know God’s desire. Wisdom will allow us to recognize the Spirit of God hovering over us, leading us to where God wants us to be. By being able to know and feel the Spirit of God allows us to celebrate Christmas every day.
Second, pray for others and pray with others. This will help us become more aware of God’s wonderful actions in our life and in the lives of those who are around us. This awareness helps us to respond to God rather than to react. A response is a conscious action towards God and others characterized by our willingness and generosity. A reaction is rather an unconscious action that would come sometimes from our strong negative emotions. By making our generous response to God and to those who are in need, this allows us to encounter and meet the Lord.
May these invitations lead us to God and lead us to that awareness that God has come and visited us. Like Anna, let us also preach to others what we have seen and experienced in God. Hinaut pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 