Passion Sunday

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;
weep instead for yourselves and for your children."
Luke 23:1-49

Once I was called to give anointing of the sick. I was led to a large room with many people. In the middle was a rocking chair. There was an old man there whose eyes were closed but who continued to turn left and right. He was suffering from cancer and he was dying. That is physical suffering.

A man was so fed up with his 18-yr. old son that he told him to leave the house (lumayas). And he did. When the father was calm and discovered that his son had left home, he regretted what he said. He was worried about his son and looked among his friends. That is mental suffering.

At one point in his life, St. Francis de Sales, our patron Saint, could not shake off the fear that he was going to hell. That is spiritual suffering.

Once in my theology class among engineering students, a student raised his hand and asked: “If there is a God, why is there suffering in the world?” It is as if God is the cause of suffering. If we open the book of Genesis, we discover that suffering only entered the world when man sinned.

And if we ask, “What is God doing about it?” we are asking the wrong question. The question we should ask is, “What are we doing about it?” For many of our sufferings come from us or our fellowmen. That old man was suffering from lung cancer because he smoked. If you don’t want to get cancer, don’t smoke. The town of Ormoc was buried in mud because of illegal logging. If we don’t want disasters of that kind to happen, we have to stop illegal logging. We have to act not God.

If we open the book of Job in the Old Testament, we are faced with another question: “Why do good people suffer?” The book had no answer. It just said: “We don’t know why good people suffer. We just have to keep trusting in God.” God will not lead you where his grace can not keep you. St. Paul who was suffering from an painful illness was told by God: “My grace is enough for you.” We just have to keep on trusting in God.

Can anything good come out of suffering? Christopher Reeve suffered from a bad fall and he became a paraplegic. He championed the cause for more funding to find a cure for spinal injury.

Tony Meloto came from a poor family. A scholarship from Ateneo enabled him to finish schooling and get a good job and became rich. Now he has resigned from his job and went full-time to Gawad Kalinga. Gawad Kalinga seeks to build 700,000 homes in 70 communities in 7 years. His experience of poverty made him now give himself to alleviating the poverty of others.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross. And what good did it do? It opened the gates of heaven for us again.

When Jesus met the women of Jerusalem who were weeping for him, he told them: “Daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children.” In other words, Jesus is telling us not to be sorry for him. Instead we should be sorry for our sins. For if we remain in our sins, his suffering and death would not do us any good. Masasayang lang ang kanyang kamatayan para sa atin.

Fifth Sunday in Lent (C)

“Neither do I condemn you.Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
Jn 8:1-11

Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.

Adultery is not a minor offence. It is a great evil. In fact, in the Old Testament, the infidelity of Israel against God was called adultery in order to show how big a sin it was. While we can readily admit that we are sinners, we can claim that we are not big sinners like that woman. And maybe it’s true. We have not committed adultery. We have not killed anyone. And yet we are perhaps unaware that we do have the capacity to commit such grave sins if we just find ourselves in a given situation.

A Saint saw a man being led to execution. He thought to himself: “There go I but for the grace of God.” That is, if not for the grace of God, he could have also become like that criminal being led to his death.

And it is precisely because we are capable of doing great evil that we can not place ourselves in the occasion of sin. I was working in a depressed area in Mandaluyong on weekends. I met a man who was working at the customs. I was happy to hear that he wasn’t involved in corruption and I congratulated him for that. He was honest enough to tell me that he was never involved in corruption because there was never an opportunity. He was just rank and file.

Given the opportunity we can fall into temptation and commit grave sin. It is, therefore, common sense to avoid the occasions of sin.

Take note that the woman was caught in adultery. She was caught in the act. We have to comment on two things here. First, why is it that only the woman was to be punished? Where was the man? There is injustice here. Why is the Philippines so corrupt? Because justice is not consistently upheld in the Philippines. Japan has sent at least two former prime ministers to jail. Has any ex-president in the Philippines ever gone to jail? How many poor people are in jail? How many rich and influential people are in jail?

The second is how we raise our children. While we have to take into consideration the differences in gender and in age, in important matters what we demand from our girls, we must demand from our boys as well. It is not right that girls are given responsibilities at home while the boys are given none. In my opinion, it is not right for parents to forbid their girls certain things because “may mawawala sa iyo” and allow their boys certain things because “wala namang mawawala sa iyo”.

The woman was told to stand in the middle. They wanted to put her to shame. How often we use shame to punish? But the consequences can be devastating. Can we justify a teacher telling a student in class: “Hoy, makinig ka. Ang bobo-bobo mo na nga e hindi ka pa nakikinig.”

When I was principal, when I had to scold the fourth year students during morning assembly, I would tell everyone to go up the classroom and let the seniors remain. Only then would I scold them. I was told by the APSA that the seniors appreciated that.

A father told me that when he had to scold their eldest son, he would call him to their room and give him the scolding. The father didn’t want his son to be embarrassed in front of his younger siblings.

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Jesus saved the woman from death. The Church today is against capital punishment. Life is sacred, even that of the criminal. There are some who say that killing criminals is a way of deterring crime. But studies show that what deters crime is when justice is carried out swiftly and consistently. When people see that criminals are caught, when trials do not go on for years and years, when the guilty no matter who they may be are punished, these deter crime. Why do the people in the United States pay the right taxes? Because the citizens know that the IRS is serious about sending tax evaders to jail.

Punishment should not be vindictive. Killing a criminal is vindictive. Instead, punishment must rehabilitate the criminal. We must give the guilty a chance to redeem himself. When I was principal, I made it a point that a boy who commits an offence should do something good in order to make up for the offence he has committed. His negative deed should be erased by his positive deed. The APSA would ask the boy what good deed he can do in the school to erase his offence. The word punishment was not used. I remember one case of a boy who volunteered to replant all the flower boxes in the Dona Cecilia building. He did that on a Saturday. And he did a good job. On Monday during the morning assembly, I publicly acknowledged the good work he did without mentioning anything about his offence. Is this a good way of helping a boy to be better? You bet.

A PS. Don’t ever punish when you are angry. When you are angry and you pun-ish, more often than not your punishment will hurt rather than help.

We might think that Jesus was being too soft on the woman. But no. He takes her sin seriously. That is why he told her: “From now on do not sin anymore.” Dur-ing this Lenten season God calls on us to repent. He also asks of us: “From now on do not sin anymore.”

Third Sunday in Lent (C)

But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!

Lk 13:1-9

Some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingles with the blood of their sacrifices.

Is Pilate capable of killing people? Josephus, a Jewish historian, wrote in his book “Antiquities” two incidents of mass murder. He killed the Samaritans who were at Mt. Gerizim for a religious gathering. On another occasion he killed those Jews who objected to his using Temple money to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem.

Lessons

1. Not all tragedies and misfortunes are punishment due to sin. In fact, bad things can happen to good people.

• A long time ago a student asked me this question: We are involved in our Parish. My father is a lay minister. My mother is a Mother Butler. Why did God allow our house to be broken into?
Why can bad things happen to good people?

• Job suffered one misfortune after another. He lost his property and became poor. He lost his children. He suffered boils all over his body. His friends who came to condole said that he was probably being punished for his sins. But Job said that it was not so. He tried to be faithful to God. So why was he being punished? The answer of the book to the question: “Why do bad things happen to good people.“ was “We don’t know. We just have to keep trusting in God.” And in fact, because of his trust God restored to him his health and his wealth. His wife gave birth to other children.

2. Hell

• Is there hell? Yes. But it is not a place. Heaven is not also a place. Souls are spirits and spirits do not occupy space. Instead it is state of being (katayuan).

• Is there fire in hell? Probably not. The gospel speaks of the fire of hell because among the Jews used Gehenna to describe hell. Gehenna is the place outside the walls of Jerusalem where the garbage of the city was dumped. There garbage was burning day and night.

• Is hell a torture chamber? Bad people are being tortured by the devils. Certainly not. That is the product of the imagination of some people. But hell is really punishment. But what kind of punishment? We do not know.

• Does God sent people to hell? Some theologians say that it is actually people who send themselves to hell. Hell is being separated from God. It is not God who separates himself from us. It is we who separate ourselves from God.

Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.

Jesus has been preaching repentance and inviting his countrymen to enter the Kingdom of God. But the majority have not accepted his preaching. Yet God remains patient. When Jesus was not accepted by a Samaritan village, James and John asked Jesus whether they can call fire from heaven to destroy that village. Jesus scolded them.

Lessons

1. Why is God patient with us? Because God doesn’t want anyone of us to go to hell. He wants all of us to be with him in heaven. God loves us so much. Would any parent want anything bad to happen to his/her children? Of course not. Why? Because you love your children.

There is a painting that to me illustrates best God’s patience with us. It is called Light of the World. Jesus is holding a lantern. He is outside the door. The door has no knob. It can only be opened from the inside. He is knocking. He will not leave. He keeps on knocking. He will wait even forever for us to open the door of our heart to him. For the door is the symbol of our heart. This Lenten season is not just about going to confession and being converted. It is about welcoming God into our hearts.

2. If we are to become patient, we must know how to wait. We must know how to hope. To hope means not to give up.

Francis Kong told us that he was a top-notch student in college. But you wouldn’t believe that if you knew him in high school. Because he was irresponsible in high school, he took him 6 years to finally graduate. His parents did not give up on him. His conversion came when one day he finally came to his senses. He realized he was the eldest. His parents were depending on him. His siblings were looking up to him. His parents were working to send him to school. And all he did was to enjoy himself and give them suffering. His parents did not give up on him. Their patience paid off.

3. If we are being asked to be patient with others we have to be patient with our-selves. If God is patient with us, we don’t have the right to give up on ourselves.

Who invented the light bulb? Thomas Alba Edison. He is also the founder of GE, General Electric. How many times did he fail before finally got it right? 12,000! He could have said: “It’s no use.” He could have said: “I’m no good.” He never gave up on himself. He never gave up on the project. And because of that we have the light bulb.

Conclusion

1. When bad things happen to you, hold on. Keep trusting in God.
2. There is hell. But God doesn’t want us to end up there.
3. God keeps knocking at the door of our hearts. Maybe it’s now time to open up.
4. God is patient with us. Let us learn to be patient, not only with others but also with ourselves.

Second Sunday in Lent (C)

THE TRANSFIGURATION
This is my chosen Son; listen to him.
LK 9: 28-36

About eight days after he said this...

The transfiguration happened about a week after he said this. What did he say? He said two important things. The first was a prediction of his passion and his resurrection: "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." The second was the condition to discipleship: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
The transfiguration it seems was meant to prepare them (palakasin ang loob) when his prediction of his passion and death started to be fulfilled and also to give them an idea of the reward awaiting those who follow him.

Jesus went up the mountain to pray.

In St. Luke’s gospel more than in the other gospels, Jesus is often portrayed in prayer. Why mountain? Because in the bible the mountain is often the place where God meets man.

While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.

For a moment the three apostles were given a glimpse of the divinity of Jesus.

And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Moses represented the Law; Elijah the Prophets. Both of them represented the Old Testament. In fact the Jews when referring to what we call the Old Testament used the term: “the Law and the Prophets”.

They also appeared in glory. But this glory is the glory of people in heaven.

The exodus referred to is the death of Jesus. In fact, Jesus was brought outside the walls of Jerusalem and crucified at Golgotha.

Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents.

Do they want to put up tents because they wanted to remain there and enjoy the vision?
Or is Peter referring to the joy they were experiencing as they beheld the vision? The feast of tabernacles (or feast of tents) was the feast celebrated at harvest time. During the harvest time people lived in tents in the fields. It was a joyful time of the year precisely because of the harvest. The feast of the tabernacles came to be associated with joy as we associate Christmas with joy.

While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them.

In the OT the cloud signified the presence of God. For example, when God would meet Moses at the Tent of Meeting, it would be covered by a cloud.

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”

The voice was the voice of the Father. The first time he said this was at the Baptism of Jesus. And with his Baptism began his public ministry. Now at the Transfiguration, the Father repeats what he said at his Baptism. And with the Transfiguration, Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem where his passion and death will take place.

Listen to him would mean accept his teachings. But I think the Father is also telling the three apostles to pay attention to Jesus when he speaks of his passion, and death so that their faith won’t be shaken when it comes true.. In fact, Jesus predicted his Passion, death and resurrection three times. Unfortunately, they weren’t listening and so when it came to pass, their faith crumbled and they abandoned him.