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Tag: Season of Lent

  • In Gratitude to God not in complaints

    In Gratitude to God not in complaints

    March 31, 2020 – Tuesday 5th Week of Lent

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/033120.cfm)

    Homily

    Have you ever met a person who complains a lot? Or have we noticed ourselves when we complain a lot?

    We would surely find ourselves in this situation especially when we are overwhelmed by our worries and anxieties of our personal struggles such as our failures and unfulfilled dreams and desires, or the overwhelming expectations from others, or the issues that our relationships are facing today, or the great demands that your family life is requiring you to do, or the illness of a loved one that pains you.

    When we let these one or more issues to overwhelm us, then, we will certainly become disturbed. We will be out of focus that may lead us to become complaining persons. Consequently, our relationship with others and even with God will be affected. We could become negligent and inattentive to our relationships because our worries and anxieties have grabbed us to what are more essential and important.

    When we become complaining, this makes us ungrateful too. Complaining persons, especially when complaining becomes our attitude or habit, we become very difficult to live with. When we become like this, we tend to be negative with what surround us. We also tend to see what is ugly and imperfect. We become sensitive to failures and mistakes of ourselves and of others. And because we seemed to seek perfection, then, we are also difficult to satisfy whatever there are in our hands.

    However, such attitudes are just reflection of our own negativity and bitterness towards ourselves. The ugly we see in our friend or the wrong that we tend to see from others could sometimes be mere reflections of our own mistakes and ugliness, which we abhor and cannot accept.

    Thus, a person who complains a lot is also a person who is anxious and worries a lot. And if we let these attitudes to control us, then, we shall also lose the opportunity to become aware of God’s presence. And what follows is the attitude that does not recognize the many gifts and blessings that we have. We shall surely find life difficult, dark, bitter and hopeless.

    This happened to the Hebrew people while they were in the desert. The people have grown tired of their journey. They have become impatient because of the hardships on the road. Hence, they began to complain at everything. They complained against Moses and God for bringing them in that place. They complained how difficult life was in the desert. They complained about and were disgusted of the tasteless manna that God gave them. However, they forgot that God saved them from slavery. They forgot that God saved them from the oppressive Egyptians.

    Again, this reminds us of our attitude when we tend to complain. When things are not going well as what we are expecting it to be, we begin to complain at everyone and everything.

    But let us also remember, when things are not going well, never jump to complains immediately. A Chinese proverb says, “every crisis that we encounter is always an opportunity.” This was the failure of the people at that time. The crisis that they faced was merely considered as difficulty and not as an opportunity for them to grow as people of God.

    That is why, the very crisis that we are facing now as a community and also as individuals is not merely an obstacle or punishment for our sins, but an opportunity for us to grow as persons and as a community, to discover ourselves better, to build relationships stronger, to be able to make a difference to people even in small ways and to be more intimate with this God loves us so much.

    Let us take comfort with what Jesus said in the Gospel today. “He who sent me is with me and has not left me alone; because I always do what pleases him. (Jn 8:29)”

    God also comforts us with his presence. This tells us that we are never alone in our journey. God is always with us and has never left us alone even in the most difficult moments of our life, not even with this dreadful Corona Virus disease.

    We are called then, that even in the midst of a very difficult situation never lose that attitude of gratitude to God. Gratitude will always make us hopeful because it helps us to recognize how God makes himself known to us in ordinary things and people and unexpected places and events.

    Thus, as the people were told to look up to the bronze serpent in order to find healing and life in their difficult moments, let us also look up to Jesus in our difficult moments now, so that we too shall find healing and life. And it is only in gratitude that we will be able to look up to him not in our complaints and bitterness. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

  • To see as God sees in the time of COVID-19

    To see as God sees in the time of COVID-19

    March 22, 2020 – 4th Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday

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    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032220.cfm)

    Homily

    What do we see now as our global community or just our local community is facing the Pandemic Corona Virus? We are anxious, fearful, tensed and panicking. Medical practitioners are quite helpless as there is no vaccine yet to fight the virus. Government leaders are struggling on how to combat this enemy and to protect and bring to safety the population.

    However, despite the anxiety and the fear that we feel in these difficult times this should not prevent us from becoming positive about life and about our relationships with one another. This Fourth Sunday of Lent also known as Laetare Sunday means “Rejoice.” This calls us to hope and gives encouragement as we all face this crisis and at the same time praying for God’s mercy to deliver us from this pandemic and to bring us to celebrate fully the joy of Easter.

    Brothers and Sisters, may I invite you then that we discover together God’s invitation for us this Sunday, that we may be able to see as God sees in the time of COVID-19.

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    In the first reading from the Book of Samuel, the Prophet felt the responsibility of finding a new king for Israel. The people needed a leader and so Samuel carried this burden. However, in his search for the new king he was struggling to find the right one because God rejected those Samuel thought to be fitting. But then, God confronted Samuel of his tendency. In his search for the new king, Samuel was merely looking at human appearance, to what was only pleasing to human eyes, and to what was easy for human comfort. God told Samuel to see as God sees, to look into the heart of a person.

    This tells us that even Prophet Samuel was somehow blinded by his own preferences and biases. God had to confront Samuel so that he will be healed from that kind of blindness. Indeed, when Samuel saw as God saw, David was chosen as king, the unexpected young man.

    The Gospel story according to John tells us also this scenario of a blind man who was seen by Jesus as he was passing by. In this story, the blind man did not ask Jesus to heal him unlike the other miracle stories in the Gospels. It was the initiative of Jesus to heal this man who was blind since birth.

    Now, the common belief at that time was that when a person is stricken with some kind of illness, it must be a punishment for sins committed by the person or by his/her parents. This kind of belief adheres to that idea that God is a God of punishment, a terrifying and angry God. However, as Jesus said, God’s power will be manifested through the blindness of this man.

    And true enough, through Jesus’ concern and compassion towards this blind man, he healed him from his physical blindness. However, healing this blind man physically was just the beginning of another healing. The man now can see as other people see, but not yet as God sees. The physical healing of that man became the space where this man could encounter and meet Jesus. Indeed, through the man’s encounter with Jesus, the man saw and met God. There was spiritual insight, a spiritual healing  from spiritual blindness through Jesus’ invitation to the man to believe, meaning to have faith. This was an invitation to the man to see as God sees. 

    Certainly, the man believed! This was what made him different from the Pharisees who refused to believe. They have seen and met Jesus yet, their spiritual blindness was too great that their own eyes could not see God who was just in their midst.

    Hence, these people continued to reject Jesus, and so rejected God. Like Samuel at the beginning, the Pharisees saw what surrounds them in their own eyes only. They never heeded the call to see as God sees.

    Each of us now is also invited “to see as God sees.” We are called to look beyond imperfections, beyond ugliness, beyond sins and beyond crisis and see God and discover His invitations for us.

    This calls us for discernment, for a deeper reflection so that we will be able to see and recognize how God reveals himself even in difficult situations. As we are advised to stay home, this is a call, then, for us to see more and to appreciate better the gifts of our families, of your wife, of your husband, of your children, the gift of your friends and relatives, the gift of community, the gift of your work and profession. And because Public Masses and other Church activities are being suspended now, it is surely a call for us also to have a better appreciation and devotion to our sacraments that are physically deprived from the public. 

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    Yes, this very situation for us now calls us to discover the things, experiences, relationships and people that we have not seen before or we have not appreciated or we have just taken for granted.

    To see more by healing our blindness and expanding our vision, then, hopefully, the more we see Jesus in our life and in the lives of our brothers and sisters. In this way, this may generously move us to bring healing for others in whatever capacity we are capable of. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR

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