26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

GOSPEL EXPLANATION

The gospel for today may be divided into three parts:
• The exorcist. Jesus teaches tolerance.
• Reward. A good deed done to a disciple of Christ will be rewarded.
• Scandal.

He who scandalizes one of these little ones who believe, it would be better if a the millstone of an ass is tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea.

The phrase “he who scandalizes…” may be translated as “He who causes one of these little ones who believe to fall…” Others translates it as “he who casues one of these ones who believe to sin….”

In the gospel “to scandalize” does not mean to give a bad example or to do a disgusting deed. The Greek word means to put an obstacle, or to trip. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells Peter who has been reproving Jesus for talking about his passion and death: “Away from me, Satan. You are a scandal to me.” Jesus was not telling Peter: “You are giving me a bad example.” No. Instead, he was telling Peter: “You are an obstacle to me. You are preventing me from obeying the Father’s will.”

What are the possible sources of scandal? The gospel speaks of hand, foot and eye. But there are other sources as well.

Surprisingly Jesus may be a source of scandal. In what sense? When Jesus was brought to the Temple, Simeon uttered this prophecy: “He will be the cause of the fall and rise of many in Israel.” Jesus may be the cause of your fall (scandal also means to trip) if in the face of his teachings, we reject them or refuse to live by them.


Persecution may be a source of scandal or fall. Remember that not all of the companions of Lorenzo Ruiz died for the faith. Some of them denied Jesus to avoid torture and death.

The world may be a source of scandal or fall. Technology may be used by some to cheat other people. We just have to recall the Nigerian scam through email.

People are often the source of scandal or fall of others. A high school student was caught shoplifting at SM Mega Mall. He did it because he was prodded to do so by his classmates.

When Jesus spoke of the little ones who believe, he was not talking about children. He was speaking about adults with a simple faith or whose faith is still weak.

There are two kinds of millstone. The small one can grind wheat with the use of one hand. The bigger one grinds wheat with the use of an animal, like an ass. The millstone Jesus was speaking of is the big one.

What about Gehenna?

This Greek word, as all authorities admit, is derived from the name of the narrow, rocky Valley of Hinnom which lay just outside Jerusalem. It was the place where refuse was constantly burned up. Trash, filth, and the dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown into the fires of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom. Ordinarily, everything thrown into this valley was destroyed by fire—completely burned up. Therefore, Christ used gehenna to picture the terrible fate of unrepentant sinners! (from Bible Tools)

25th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME ( B)

“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

Mk 9:30-37

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

Jesus had been teaching his apostles that he must suffer and die. If that were the case, then who would become leader when he is gone? That was probably what they meant when they were discussing who was the greatest among them.

Jesus took the opportunity to explain the kind of leadership that is expected among them. The leader is the servant. The servant-leader is he who seeks the wel-fare of the community. In this community the servant-leader has authority but this authority is meant to enable him as servant-leader to effectively work for the good of the said community. But in this community it is the weakest that are closest to his heart.

Two well-known figures who are poles apart may serve to illustrate the concept of servant-leader.

The first is Lee Kwan Yew. In 1965 Singapore was expelled from Malaysia. As its first prime minister, he transformed Singapore into a financial and industrial pow-erhouse, despite the lack of natural resources. He turned a malarial land into a mod-ern city-state. However, he is an authoritarian, by Western standards. Nevertheless, he qualifies as a servant-leader for he had the welfare of his nation at heart.

The second example is Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She best exemplifies that special concern of the servant-leader for the weakest members of the community. She founded the Missionaries of Charity. Its mission was to care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a bur-den to the society and are shunned by everyone."

EXEGESIS

Perhaps Jesus did not want people to know where he was so that he could instruct his disciples without disturbance. The topic of his instruction was of utmost importance: his destiny and its significance.

Jesus and his disciples…began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples….

Perhaps Jesus did not want people to know where he was so that he could instruct his disciples without disturbance. The topic of his instruction was of utmost importance: his destiny and its significance.

But they did not understand the saying….

The disciples did not understand the instruction of Jesus because the suffering messiah did not fit into their concept of the Messiah. A person can not possibly un-derstand celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom if for him marriage is the only possible option for a human being.

Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst….

Jesus did not put forward a child because of its innocence. Rather Jesus wanted to put its powerlessness and dependence as a response to the apostles’ desire for power and position.

Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me…

Other translations make use of the word “welcome” instead of “receive”. “To welcome” and “to receive” mean to respect and serve, that is, to be concerned about the well-being of the powerless.

24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.

Mk 8: 27-35

The gospel this Sunday is divided into three parts:

• Part 1: The identity of Jesus. Who is this Jesus?
• Part 2: The destiny of Jesus, the Messiah. What will happen to Jesus?
• Part 3: The cost of discipleship. What is required of those who follow Jesus?
  

Who is Jesus?

According to the people, Jesus is a prophet who will prepare for the coming of the Anointed One (Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek). But they are wrong. It is Peter who perceives the true identity of Jesus. Jesus is the Christ.

What is the destiny of Jesus, the Messiah or the Christ?

According to Jesus, he must suffer at the hands of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhed-rin is the supreme religious governing body of the Jews. It is made up of 71 members coming from the aristocracy, the priestly families and the scribes. At that time, Caiaphas was the high priest.

Hearing this, Peter reacts by telling Jesus not to talk this way. Jesus responded by calling Peter, Satan, for like Satan Peter is preventing Jesus from ful-filling the Father’s will.

“Get behind me, Satan” is meaningful. Peter was probably in front of Jesus. In the position, he was blocking the way of Jesus. It symbolizes Peter preventing Jesus from doing the Father’s will. By telling Peter to get behind him, Jesus was telling Peter not to be a Satan but a disciple. For where do you expect the disciple to be but behind the Master, following his footsteps?

It is interesting to note that Peter seems to not have heard completely the words of Jesus. He seems have missed Jesus saying that after having been killed, he would rise after three days. In other words, the destiny of Jesus was not tragedy but victory.

What does it cost a person to become a disciple of Jesus?

If you want to maintain a master-disciple relationship with Jesus, you must be prepared to suffer rejection and death like Jesus. But the story does not end there. Like Jesus, the disciple will also experience victory.

DESTINY

Jesus perceived that his destiny was to suffer at the hands of the Sanhedrin. Jesus sees the Father’s will in his destiny. For this reason, he feels he MUST face it even if it appears to be a tragedy. But by accepting the Father’s will, he wins the salvation of mankind and becomes its Savior.

Ninoy Aquino felt the need to leave the comforts of exile in the United States and return to the Philippines. He wanted to convince the dictator Ferdinand Marcos to give up power and return the Philippines to democracy. He knew that it might cost him his life for he had been warned by Imelda Marcos. But he felt he MUST do it. It was his destiny. He did return. He did die. It may seem at the time that his destiny was tragic. But looking back now, we know that his death was a turning point in Philippine history. Three years later the dictator and his family fled Malacanang. Democracy was restored and Ninoy Aquino was hailed a hero.

Destiny in Pilipino is “kapalaran”. Its root is the word “palad”, that is palm. Destiny is often understood as already written in the palm of one’s hand, that is, one’s destiny is already determined. It is unavoidable. There is no way out of it. In this sense, you are a helpless victim of destiny. This is not how we understand the destiny of Jesus and Ninoy.

But there is another way of looking at destiny and it is to understand destiny as something that is in your hands, that is, your destiny depends on you.

First, it depends on you because you and you alone have to discover your des-tiny. By looking at the world and by listening to your heart, you will discover your destiny. Ninoy Aquino looked at the situation of the Filipino people. He saw them suffering at the hands of the dictator Marcos and his cronies. He listened to his heart. His heart told him that it was his duty to try to set the people free. It looked like an impossible dream. But he felt he had to do it.

And second, it depends upon you because you have to make a decision to fulfill your destiny. At least three times, Jesus could have avoided suffering and death at the hands of the Sanhedrin but he chose not to. These times were: the temptation in the desert, the rebuke of Peter and the agony in Gethsemani.

Ninoy could have decided to remain in the United States and enjoy his exile there with his family. He could have decided not to go because there was a threat of assassination. But he decided to return. He declared that the Filipino was worth dying for. And die he did.

By looking at the world in which we live, by listening to what our heart is telling us what to do in this world and by deciding to do what our heart is telling us, we shall fulfill our destiny, our kapalaran. And in so doing, we not only become better for it. We also leave this world better than it was before.

23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

“He has done all things well.”

Mk7:31-37

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis.

Jesus was in pagan territory, that is, the inhabitants were non-Jews.

And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.

Curing the deaf and mute was expected of the Messiah. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe” (Is 35:5-6).

He took him off by himself away from the crowd.

To keep the healing secret and his identity as the Messianic.

He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.

These actions were what healers during the time of Jesus were doing. However, the difference was that these actions of those healers were thought to produce healing by themselves, that is, they worked like magic. In the case of Jesus, it was the power of Jesus that produced healing.

Then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!”

Ephphatha was incorporated into the ancient rite of baptism.

But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it.

The verb used here is “kerusso” (κήρΰσσώ) from which the noun kerygma is derived. That noun is used to translate the proclamation of the good news. The proclamation about the healing of Jesus is an anticipation of the proclamation of the good news (gospel).

“He has done all things well.”

Astonishment and awe is the response of Christians before the work of God carried out by Jesus Christ.

PRAISE

I heard someone say this: “Don’t praise anyone, otherwise he will become proud. When he is dead, that is the time to praise him.” What do you think about this statement? Would you agree with it?

In my opinion it is the fear of appearing proud that makes us belittle our suc-cesses and achievements outwardly. When someone tells us, “ang galing naman!”, we respond with “hindi naman.” When someone tells us: “Congratulations for winning”, we respond with: “Chamba lang ‘yon.”

But humility is truth. The only proper response to praise is “thank you”. I once heard an actor who received a trophy begin and end his speech with thank you’s. In fact he began by saying, “First of all, I would like to thank him (pointing his fingers upward) for this trophy.” And he followed that by a litany of thanks. He mentioned his director, his fellow actors, his wife and children, etc.

Educational psychology and parenting manuals state that students and children thrive when there is more praise than blame. This is because a child who is often praised feels encouraged while a child who is often blamed is feels discouraged.

Moreover, a teacher or a parent who is seen as a source of encouragement is able to get the cooperation and good will of the student or the child. Whereas the parent or teacher who is seen as a source of discouraging remarks are disliked. Would you want to cooperate with someone who you dislike?

For this reason, when I was principal, I made it a point to praise publicly the senior students for a job well done. But when I had to scold them, I made it a point to do so away from the hearing of the lower years. I also made sure that I explain why I was scolding them. I would end by expressing my confidence in them.

In connection with parenting, fathers should keep in mind that a boy desper-ately needs his father’s blessing. The boy must know that he has the approval of his father. Consider the tragedy of this story. The team of a high school student won the gold medal in the school intramurals. He was excited to show it to his father. He wanted his father to be proud of him. When he arrived home, he went straight to his father to show him the gold medal. The response of the father was: “Where did you buy that gold medal?” The boy burst into tears.

One characteristic of a happy family is mutual affirmation and appreciation. Affirmation and appreciation makes you feel that you are valued.

One religious community made it a tradition to hold an appreciation circle for the birthday celebrator. After the special supper, each one takes turn in telling the celebrator the good that he sees in him. You might want to do it differently; you might want to write your words of appreciation on a birthday card.

Affirmation and appreciation are not only needed in families. The workplace can also benefit much from it. In some stores, the manager gathers the employees before opening time. One manager uses that time to congratulate a team or an individual for work well-done.

Does God need our appreciation? In a sense, yes. In as much as he has decided to create us and to relate with us as a father with his children, he desires the appreciation of his children. The prayer of praise and thanksgiving is precisely the way by which we express our appreciation to God.

I suggest that at the end of the day, before you go to sleep, review the day and discover how God has been good to you. Your discovery should lead to prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

I have told you in the beginning about the advice of an elderly person. He said we should not praise a man while he is still alive for fear that it would make him proud. He said we should wait until he is dead. Do you agree with him?

I for one, don’t. I feel that even if the only good that praise brings is a happy person, it is still worth the effort of being generous with our praise towards others.

22nd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.

Mk 7:1-9. 14-15. 21-23

The issue of ritual purity involves keeping distance from certain things that were considered unclean. For example, pigs, blood, lepers and the dead were considered unclean. A person becomes unclean when he touches things that were ritually unclean. He has to undergo ritual purification or cleansing.

Jesus castigates the Pharisees on two counts. The first, for their hypocrisy. A hypocrite is someone who puts on a show in order to draw attention to himself. The second is for putting man’s law above God’s law. The Law of Moses is not just the Ten Commandments. It also 613 precepts. These observance of these pre-cepts is governed by rules and regulations which according to an author can fill up 50 volumes. The Pharisees have made these rules and regulations more important than God’s Law.

Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.

From where do the things that defile a man come from? From within, that is, from his mind and heart. I shall speak about the mind and heart from which come not only evil but also good.

Because the mind and heart can be the source of evil, we not only sin in word and deed but also in thought. For example, when a colleague gets a promotion, I may react by being envious. We feel sad at the food fortune of another. When I accept that feeling of sadness, then I commit the sin of envy.

Sometimes envy leads to a sinful deed. For example, I can back stab that colleague who was promoted by criticizing him behind his back.

Another way by which I can sin is by entertaining wicked desires. The Ten Commandments forbids us from desiring what belongs to our fellowman. You shall not desire your neighbor’s wife. You shall not desire neighbor’s goods.

I met someone from the customs. He tells me that he has never been involved in corruption. I praised him for that. But he replied by saying that it was because there was never an opportunity. Although he never actually engaged in corruption he still committed evil because he entertained the evil desire of financial gain through corruption.

If the mind and heart is source of evil, it is also the source of good. A com-munist was engaged in organizing labor unions because he wanted to do something to improve the plight of the working class. One day he realized that his work among the labor unions did not produce as much good as he liked. He left the communist movement and now works an NGO. The desire to help the working class is a good desire. That good desire made him work with an NGO.

Sometimes the good thoughts planted in a person’s heart becomes an intense desire that leads to wonderful results.

One day Dominic Savio heard Don Bosco say these words in a sermon: “It is God’s will that we become saints. It is easy to become a saint. There is a great reward in heaven for those who become saints.” Those words inspired him. He went to Don Bosco and said: “I will never be at peace until I become a saint.” Don Bosco became his spiritual director. Today Dominic Savio is Saint Dominic Savio, a 15 yr. old Saint.

If the good is to take root in our hearts and minds, then we have to feed them with good thoughts and holy desires.

One way is through spiritual reading. When I was in high school, I read the life of St. Dominic Savio. I was inspired to imitate him. When I was in the novitiate, I read the book “The Family That Overtook Christ”. It was about the father and brothers of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. They either became Saints or Blesseds. That book also inspired me.

A second way is by prayerfully reading the Bible. God has touched the hearts of many saints who read or heard the Word of God, among them was St. Ignatius of Loyola who left the army and became a priest and founder of the Jesuits.

A third way is by keeping the company of people who are optimistic, who live by gospel values and who are motivated to achieve. This implies that one should avoid the company of people who are a bad influence.

One other saintly student of Don Bosco was Michael Magone. Don Bosco met him for the first time at the train station. When Don Bosco invited him to his school and learn a trade, he quickly accepted Don Bosco’s offer because he said that many of his friends were already in jail and he knew that he would also end up in jail if he did not leave their company.

How do we act in the face of depressing events? How do we get rid of our minds and hearts of negative thoughts?

The first is by counting your blessing. When we are depressed or discouraged, the natural tendency is to focus only on the bad news. By doing so, we become more depressed or discouraged. In order to drain our minds and hearts of negative thoughts, we should get a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. On one column we write what is causing us the depression and discouragement. On the second column we recall all the good things that have happened to us. We will be surprised at how long list will be. And we shall start to feel better.

The second is by making an act of faith. When the her husband died suddenly, she was left with three sons. One was already in college. She had to be strong for her sons. Where did she find the strength? In her faith in God. She told her sons: “Wag kayong mag-alala. Hindi tayo pababayaan ng Diyos.”

The mind and the heart is the source of both good and evil.

Hence, we should not entertain sinful thoughts and desires. On the contrary, we should nurture positive thoughts and desires.

In order to do that, we should engage in spiritual reading and keep the company of optimistic people, of good people, of people who aim high.

When we are depressed and discouraged, we can counteract the negative thoughts by counting our blessings and by making an act of faith.

ADVISORY

Since I'll be away many times these coming weeks, I will probably not be able to upload anything these coming weeks. Perhaps by August I'll be able to upload regularly.

12th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

"Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

Mk 4:35-41

Jesus was sound asleep at the rear end of the boat. He was probably very tired so that even with the noise of the wind and the pounding of the waves, he remained asleep. The apostles were experienced fishermen. They knew they were in a dangerous situation. So they woke Jesus and reproached him: “Don’t you care that we’ll all die?” Jesus commanded the wind and the waves to keep still. And the sea became calm once more. Now Jesus turned to his apostles and reproached them: “Why are you so afraid? Don’t you believe that I care about you?”

Today we will confront the problem of evil in the world.

During World War II in a Nazi concentration camp, four men were hanged in front of all the prisoners. One of them was just a teenager. It took him a while to die because he was not heavy enough. One of the prisoners survived the concentration camp. After World War II, he wrote about his experiences in that camp. Talking about the hanging, he wrote that at that moment he asked: “Where is God?”

Hundreds of years before during the persecution of Catholics in England, many Catholics were tortured and put to death for remaining firm in the Catholic faith. One man wrote: “God must be asleep.”

Stated simply the problem is: If there is an all-powerful and good God, how come there is so much evil in the world? Either there is no God or there is God but evil is more powerful than God.

Some will say: “Let us trust God. He knows what he is doing that is why he allows evil to happen in the world.”

Others will say that God allows evil to happen but he will find a way to bring good out of that evil. This is the meaning of the statement: God writes straight with crooked lines.

Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist. He died in 1997. He was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp. He did not ask question: “If there is a God, how come were are suffering here in a Nazi concentration camp?” But he did offer the secret of surviving suffering. The secret is faith. He said once you lose faith, you will not survive. In fact, many committed suicide by flinging themselves on the electrified barbed wires of the concentration camp.

Rabbi Kushner lost his son to premature aging. This caused in him a crisis of faith. He survived that crisis and wrote a book to help people to survive suffering and evil. The title of the book is “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”. He is not a Christian. He is Jewish. But he does give an answer that we find in the book of Job. And it is this: “If we want to find an explanation as to why good people suffer, we will discover in the end that there is no satisfying answer.” Where does that leave us? It leaves us with the advice of Viktor Frankl. Keep your faith in God. It is that faith that will give you the strength to survive and go on living meaningfully.

Let us turn to Scriptures regarding the problem of evil and suffering.

What does St. Paul say? He complains of a thorn in the flesh. It may refer to a sickness, to a temptation or to a person who was giving him a hard time. He asked Jesus to free him from this thorn. But Jesus replies that his grace is enough to help Paul withstand this thorn. “Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2Cor 12: 7-9). Someone had this in mind when he said: “God will not lead you where his grace can not keep you.” Here again the Christian response to suffering and evil is faith.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about the providence of God. Providence means that God takes care of us. He does not abandon us. “Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?” (Mt 6: 26-30). We have been told that the Christian response to suffering and evil is faith. In this passage this faith is explained. We are told to believe in the providence of God. It means that God takes care of us because we are important in the eyes of God.

St. John Bosco experienced surviving a famine because of his mother’s faith in the providence of God.

St. John Bosco’s father died when he was barely 2 years old. On his death bed, his father encouraged his mother, “Margaret, have confidence in God.” Francis Bosco died leaving Margaret three children and his ailing mother.

That year there was drought. There was hunger everywhere. They found dead people in the fields with grass in their mouths. They were trying to relieve their hunger.

The Bosco family were farmers. They, too, were hungry. They asked a neighbor to buy food at the surrounding villages even at an exorbitant price. But he returned empty-handed. Margaret gathered the family and they knelt in prayer. Rising to her feet, Margaret said that her husband recommended confidence in God. She decided to kill the calf to provide food for the family. That calf was their insurance for the future.

With faith in the providence of God, but also with hard work, thrift and resourcefulness, the Bosco family survived the famine of that year.

Evil and suffering are inescapable. It is part of our life on earth. What is the secret to surviving evil and suffering? Faith in the providence of God.

CORPUS CHRISTI (B)

This is my blood of the covenant.

Mk 14:12-16, 22-26

When I was in the minor seminary way back in the late 60’s, I applied to be a member of the brass band. I was given to learn the piccolo. It’s a small clarinet (hence, piccolo) in the key of E flat.

One day our band master told us we had to learn to play several traditional church songs fast. Not only that we had to learn playing those songs while on the move.

It turned out that we were invited for the procession of Corpus Christi in one of the big parishes nearby.

The solemnity of Corpus Christi is the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This solemnity is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday. But some countries have chosen to celebrate it on a Sunday in order to allow as many Catholics as possible to celebrate it.

For this year’s solemnity of Corpus Christi, I have chosen this passage as our jumping point: “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.”

The word “covenant” means a solemn contract, oath or bond. In the Bible “covenant” refers to the solemn contract between God and his people. The Bible speaks mainly of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant was ratified on Mt. Sinai. The New Covenant, on Mt. Cal-vary. The mediator of the Old Covenant was Moses. That of the New Covenant was Jesus. The Old Covenant was between Yahweh and his people, Israel. The New Covenant, between God and his people who are believers in Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant was ratified with the blood of bulls. The New Covenant, with the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

Let’s focus our attention only on the New Covenant. What are the important consequences of the existence of the New Covenant?

First, it means that a Christian is at the same time a member of the Church. There is no such thing as a Christian who does not belong to the Church. That is why two of the effects of Baptism are: becoming a child of God and becoming a member of the Christian community, the Church.

Second, if I behave in a way that is seriously contrary to being a good Christian, I can be expelled from the Church. This is called excommunication. For ex-ample, anyone actively involved in abortion is automatically excommunicated or expelled from the Church. This includes the woman who underwent abortion, the doctor and the nurses who performed the abortion and those people who advised the woman to undergo abortion.

Third, Gawad Kalinga is no longer a church organization both because it has lost the official recognition of the bishops and because it has cut itself from the bishops. It is now just a civic or social organization. Official recognition from the bishop or from the parish priest is important if a group is to be called a church organization.

Fourth, if I am a member of the Church, then I have to participate in the life of the Church. Worshiping together at Mass is participation in the life of the Church. Joining a pilgrimage, joining a procession, supporting Pondong Pinoy are ways of participating in the life of the Church.

The New Covenant is a covenant between God and his People, the Christians. But there is also another covenant. It is between two human beings and which Christ has raised to the dignity of a sacrament—marriage or matrimony.

Marriage is so sacred that St. Paul uses the relationship between Christ and the Church to describe the relationship between husband and wife: “As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in eve-rything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her…” (Eph 5: 24-25).

Now some pieces of advice.

First, nothing gets better by being neglected. Your marriage will not become stronger by neglecting it. You have decided to get married because you have fallen in love with one another. But if you do not pay attention to one another, there is a danger that you will fall out of love with one another. On your wedding day, you became mag-asawa. But if you don’t nurture your married life, the time will come when “asawa” will lose the “a” and you will be “sawa” with one another.

How do you nurture your marriage? Take time out together. Go on a date. Only the two of you. Ask other couples for tips.

Second, on your wedding anniversary, celebrate. In my opinion, it is more important to celebrate your wedding anniversary than your birthday. Of course, this is true if your wedding is worth celebrating. And it is worth celebrating if you have been taking care of your marriage throughout the year.

How do you celebrate it? Go to mass together. After mass, renew your wed-ding vows. If a priest is available, do it before the priest. Go to a restaurant. Go ballroom dancing. Have fun together. If you have your unity candle, light it and say a prayer before going to bed.

This Sunday I said the following things.

Regarding the New Covenant. (1) To be a Christian is to be a member of the Church. (2) Excommunication is the penalty for serious unchristian behavior. (3) Recognition from the parish priest or bishop is necessary to be recognized as a Church organization. (4) I have to participate in the life of the Church. The Mass is a participation in the life of the Church.

Regarding marriage. (1) Nurture your marriage. Nothing gets better by being neglected. (2) Celebrate your wedding anniversary.

TRINITY SUNDAY (B)

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Mt 28:16-20

One day we are told that St. Augustine was walking along the seashore, re-flecting on the mystery of the Holy Trinity. He wanted to understand how could the Father be God, and Jesus be God and the Holy Spirit be God and yet there are not three gods but only one God.

He was distracted by the sight of a boy running to the sea, filling a sea shell with water and then pouring the water into a hole. Amused, he asked the boy what he was doing. The boy answered that he was going to put all of the water of the sea into the hole. St. Augustine smiled and exclaimed, “But that’s impossible!” The boy smiled in turn and said, “It is also impossible for you to understand the mystery of the Trinity.”

Neither are we going to attempt to understand the mystery of the Trinity. What we are going to do is to learn how to live by imitating the Blessed Trinity.

The fundamental Christian belief is that there is one God in Three Divine Persons. God is, therefore, like a family. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit live in a relationship with one another.

The Book of Genesis says that man is created in the image and likeness of God. From this we can conclude that we, too, are meant to live in a relationship with others.

We are born into a family. We work with others. We belong to the Church which is a community of believers. We have friends. We have textmates and chatmates. We are connected to others through Friendster and Facebook. All of these are relationships.

There is a song that expresses the truth that by nature man exists and lives in a network of relationships.

No man is an island, no man stands alone
Each man's joy is joy to me
Each man's grief is my own
We need one another, so I will defend
Each man as my brother
Each man as my friend.

But for these relationships to be happy relationships, there must be love. Without love these relationships become like hell. The Fifth Dimension has a song entitled, “There’s No Love in the Room.” It is about a marriage where love has died.

Sitting around the table watching each other
Feeling kinda sorry for my baby brother
There’s no love in the room
No love in the room.
Mama’s gone her way, daddy’s gone his
I wonder how long it’s been since they kissed.
No love in the room
Once before, long ago, it was here to see
Tell me what’s been happening to our family?

Without love, marriage and family life becomes hell.

Therefore, parents, if you want your child to grow up and have a happy marriage, then love them. You might be asking yourself what is the relationship between a happy marriage and loving your child.

If you want your child to have a happy marriage in the future, your child must be capable of true love. But true love must be learned. And your child will learn true love only if he or she has first experienced true love. And who will give him or her true love? Is it not you, parents?

And remember, it is not enough to love your children. They must feel that love.

Love has been used for so many things and in so many ways that it can be quite confusing at times. I love ice cream. I love my dog. I love my country. I love to swim on the beach. I love my friends. And so on.

Here we use love to refer to relationships between persons and that means human beings and God.

What is the test for true love? How do I know that I love in an authentic way? One criterion is this: My love is true if I seek the good of the one I love.

There were two sisters. One was successful. The other was not. The success-ful kept on telling the other sister to put in order everything so that by the follow-ing year she could go abroad and work. The following year the unsuccessful sister was still in the Philippines because she had not been able to put everything in order. So the successful sister gave her a deadline. My offer to finance your trip abroad is only good for this year. If you do not leave by the end of the year, you are on your own.

Believe it or not, this is an example of true love. It is tough love but true love at the same time. By setting a deadline, the successful sister was prodding the un-successful sister not to take things easy.

I have said in the beginning that the fundamental Christian belief is that there is one God in Three Divine Persons. God is, therefore, like a family. When we were baptized we became part of this family. We became God’s children. God became our Father.

The catechism speaking of Baptism states that we became adopted children of God. The term “adopted” needs to be explained. In ordinary speech, adopted means that a child has his own biological parents but through adoption another set of parents accept him as if he were their own child. AS IF is the operative word here. The child is not really their child but they treat him as if he were their child. This is NOT the meaning of adopted children of God.

The catechism uses the term “adopted” to differentiate our sonship from the sonship of the Word, that is, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Word was always the Son of the Father. There was never a time that he was not the Son of the Father.

Regarding us, on the other hand, there was a time we were not children of God. Before baptism, we were not children of God. After God’s baptism we became real children of God.

I use the word “real” because we really became God’s children. God does not accept us AS IF we are his children. No. Baptism transformed us into his children. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are” (1Jn 3:1).

As a practical consequence, when you pray to God address him the way you address your father. Is it Tatang, Itay, Papa, Dad, Daddy? Do this when you pray and at once you realize that there is now a difference. Iba ang dating!

They say that when you love someone, you make yourself vulnerable. It means that when you love someone, you give to that person the possibility of hurting you.

A friend is someone you love (ka+IBIG+an). Suppose it’s your birthday and you tell your friend to come for your birthday dinner. Suppose he or she doesn’t come. You will feel hurt, won’t you? Why? Because he or she is your friend. You might have invited the jeepney driver who gave you a discount because it’s your birthday. But if he doesn’t come, you won’t feel anything at all. Why? Because he is not your friend.

God loves us because we are his children. Because God loves us, he gives to us the power to hurt him. When we commit sin, we really offend God. That is why, when we pray the Act of Contrition we should really mean it.

“Oh, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. And I detest all my sins because I fear the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. But most of all I have offended you my God, who are all God and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.”

On this Solemnity of the Holy Trinity I have suggested four things that we can do:

1. Let us love our children so that they may learn to love. And having learned how to love, they may have a happy marriage and a happy family.
2. One of the criterion of true love is: Is this for the good of the one I love?
3. God is really our father. We are really his children. When we pray to God, let us call him Tatay, or Itay, Papa, Daddy or Dad.
4. When we commit sin, we really hurt God. Therefore, when we pray the Act of Contrition, let us really mean it.

PENTECOST (B)

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-11

Before Jesus was taken up to heaven, he gave his apostles this instruction: “And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high (Lk 24:49)."

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “power”. This means that the Holy Spirit would give the apostles the ability to do something which they by themselves can not do.

The New Testament reports two occasions when the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. And in both occasions we see the Holy Spirit giving power to the apostles.

The first occasion was on the evening of Easter Sunday itself. We read in John’s gospel: “And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained (Jn 20: 22-23)." With the sending of the Holy Spirit, the apostles were given the power to forgive sins.

The second occasion reported happened during the Jewish feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given in a dramatic way. First, there was a mighty wind coming from the sky and filling the house. Then there appeared tongues of fire that rested on each of those present. Clothed with the Holy Spirit the apostles were transformed into men of great courage. They went out of hiding. Then they were given the power to preach and to do so in different languages so that Jews from different parts of the world who were in Jerusalem on pilgrimage could understand them.

The Holy Spirit continues to be present today to be our companion. In fact, Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always” (Jn 14:16).

Our confirmation is our personal Pentecost. It means that just as the apostles received the Holy Spirit on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, in the same way we also receive the Holy Spirit on our confirmation day. And just as the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the power to witness to Jesus Christ so also the Holy Spirit gives to us the same power.

Our witnessing to Jesus may take different forms. It may be through the spoken word or through the written word. It may be through good example.

There is a short prayer to the Holy Spirit that expresses another power of the Holy Spirit: “Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.” The charismatic renewal is a dramatic expression of the power of the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth.

This does not mean that renewal happens only within the charismatic renewal. The Holy Spirit can touch the heart of anyone and if that person responds positively to the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit can transform that person. Some would call this transformation his second conversion.

Have you ever experienced wanting to pray but not succeeding? We may not know what to say. Or we might have started to pray but end up thinking of other things because of distractions. Or we don’t feel like praying at all. The Holy Spirit can come to our rescue. St. Paul in his letter to the Romans writes: “In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26). The Holy Spirit can give us the ability to pray.

ASCENSION (B)

Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

Mk 16:15-20

One teacher shared with me how she became a teacher. One day when she and her cousins were young, they were called to the house of their aunt. Their aunt had them stand in a file in front of her. Then she pointed to her and her sister and said, “You will become teachers.” Then she pointed to the next cousin and said, “You will become a nurse.” And to the third, she said, “You will become a pharmacist.” She was not prophesying their future. She was already deciding their future by telling them what courses to take in college. She felt she had the right to decide their future because she was the one who was going to pay for their college education.

When Jesus called his disciples, he had already their future in mind. He was already deciding what they were going to do. He was going to send them out into the whole world to proclaim the gospel to every creature. This was their mission. This was their vocation.

Don Bosco said that it was very important for us to discover our mission in life. He said among other things that our happiness probably depended on it. The reason for this is that when we carry out our mission in life, we will experience a sense of self-fulfilment. “I did what I was supposed to do in life.” St. John the Baptist suffered martyrdom, but I suppose he died feeling self-fulfilled because he was able to carry out his mission. He did what was meant to do in life. He pre-pared the way of the Lord.

Carrying out our mission in life is not just about feeling fulfilled and happy. When we fulfil our mission in life, we are leaving a legacy behind. This legacy means that we have made a difference in this world. We did some good and this good remains even after we die.

Ninoy Aquino stood up against the Marcos dictatorship. Sentenced to die by a military court, he refused to ask Marcos for clemency, saying “I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.” Beset by heart troubles, he was allowed to go to the United States for surgery. After he got well, he taught at Harvard and continued to give speeches assailing what he called the conjugal dictatorship of Imelda and Marcos. But what he enjoyed most was being with his family. Imprisonment had separated him from Cory and his children. He could just have stayed in the US.

But one day he decided to return to the Philippines, hoping that he can persuade Marcos give up power and to restore democracy. Warned not to return because of threats of assassination, he declared, “The Filipino is worth dying for.” He returned and he paid for it with his life. He was shot at the tarmac of the International Airport that bears his name today.

Ninoy Aquino’s has been dead for 26 years already. But his legacy remains - freedom and democracy for the Filipino people.

Not everyone can leave the kind of legacy that Ninoy Aquino has left behind. If we can not make a difference in the life of millions of people, we can at least make a difference in the life of some of them.

Consider what this parish priest did for six altar boys. They come from a far-flung town in Bicol. These boys have never been outside of Bicol. One day he had to go to Manila. As a reward, he brought these six altar boys with him. But he really had something else in mind. He wanted the boys to see that there was world out there that was bigger than their small town in Bicol. He wanted the boys to see for themselves possibilities for their future. By making them see these things, he planted a seed in their hearts. That seed grew and bore fruit. All of them without exception became professionals. This parish priest made a difference in the life of at least these six altar boys.

If I believe that everyone has a mission in life, if I believe that everyone is meant to make a difference in this world, then I have to believe that no one is useless. I have to believe that no one is good for nothing. And that includes me.

Henry Cardinal Newman wrote: "God has created me, to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. He has not created me for nothing. Therefore, I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am. I cannot be thrown away."

God has not created me for nothing. He has created me for something. He has created me to make a difference in this world. I only have to discover it. I only have to fulfill it. But the questions remain. Have I already discovered it? And more importantly, am I already fulfilling it?

6th SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Jn 15:9-17

This Sunday I am going to talk about love.

The NT uses two Greek words for “love”: agape and phileos. Agape is unconditional love, while phileos is love between friends. When Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?", Jesus uses “agape”. When Simon Peter answers: “"Yes, Lord; you know that I love you", he uses “phileos”.

Some have interpreted this to mean that Jesus was asking Peter for unconditional love. But after having denied him three times, Peter was not so sure of him-self and so could only offer Jesus the love of friendship. But Jesus accepted Peter’s love all the same.

There are two other Greek words for love which are not used in the NT. They are: eros and storge. Eros is physical love while storge may be used for the love of the parent for the child.

In 1 Cor 13 we find what they call the “Hymn to Love”. It does not define love but enumerates how love is expressed. “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Love is patient. Two siblings were quarreling. The mother intervened. She told the younger son to respect his kuya. But she also told the elder son to be patient with his younger brother. What was she in fact telling her eldest? To love his younger brother so much as to be able to bear with him.

When I was teaching Religion to 4th year high school students, we studied the definition of love. It was defined as “the power in us that moves us to go out of ourselves, to give of ourselves for the good of the one loved.”

Love as power means that it gives us the capability of doing something for the one we love, even giving up one’s life.

Jesus said: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” And he did. That is why the cross is so important for us Christians. It continually reminds us that God loves us.

I read a news item that a mother suffering breast cancer refused chemotherapy because she was pregnant. She chose to put her own life in jeopardy so that her unborn child may live. Love enables us to do heroic things for the sake of the one we love.

Love can be better understood and appreciated using pictures rather than definitions.

The picture of two newly-married couple speaks about love. But the picture of an old couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary speaks better about what love really is. Love is always being there for the beloved “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part”.


I read the story of twins. They were in the hospital nursery. The health of one of them was failing. The head nurse was very concerned. Although it was against normal procedure, she put the weak one in the same bassinet with her twin sister. It was then that the condition of the weak one started to improve. But what was touching was the photo taken of the twins. The arm of the stronger sister was around the shoulder of the weaker one. Does this not speak about the love among brothers and sisters?

In the museum called The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia there is a monumental painting of Rembrandt. It is called the Return of the Prodigal Son. The son leans on his father’s breast while both arms of father enfold the son in a gesture of acceptance and welcome. The prodigal son experiences his father’s love when his father shows him compassion and grants him his forgiveness. When Je-sus told the Parable of the Prodigal Son, all he wanted to say was that God’s love is compassionate and forgiving. And what the Prodigal Son experienced, we too can experience in the confession.

Love can also be better understood and appreciated using stories.

One man kept this particular story in his heart. When they were young, their parents had difficulty in making ends meet. They did not have enough to eat. He never complained but he did feel angry towards his parents for having not enough to eat. Then one day something happened that made him ashamed of himself.

His mother served their meal. She did not eat with them. Since there was not enough food, she tried to divide the food equally. After supper she would stay in the kitchen while the children did their homework. But that particular evening, he went to the kitchen for a glass of water. To his surprise and shame, he saw his mother wiping the inside of the cooking pan with bread and eating it.

Their mother contented herself with the sauce that was left so that they, the children, would have more to eat.

No sacrifice is too great for the sake of the one you love.

Someone observed that real love is a verb. A verb is defined as an action word. What he meant to say was that real love is not just something that you say but above all something that you do. Unless love passes from word to action, that love is probably a fake.

How is our love lately? Is it fake or real? Is it just a word or has it become an action?

5th SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)

He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.

Jn 15:1-8

The branches that do not bear fruit are cut off so that the nutrients of the vine are not wasted but go to those branches that bear fruit produce more and better fruits.

What are the things that we need to cut off from our lives that are useless? What things in our lives do not help us at all and need to be pruned away?

We may find ourselves carrying emotional baggage. They negative experiences which make us unhappy and keep us from living to the full.

A friend whom we trusted so much might have betrayed us. This betrayal might have hurt us so much that we refuse to trust anyone again.

A love relationship that we treasured so much might have ended and left a deep wound in our heart. For this reason we are afraid to love again because we are afraid of being hurt again.
We might have had an unsatisfactory relationship with our father. This might negatively affect how we see God and how we relate to him.

We need to find a way to let go of this emotional baggage if we want to be happy and if we want to live life to the full.

We form certain beliefs as we were growing up. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. Some of them are correct. Some of them are downright wrong. We need re-examine our beliefs and let go of those that are bad and wrong.

Some of us may believe that ONLY those things that go against our likes have value in the eyes of God. If this were true, then it means that if I like to sing and if for this reason, I join the Sunday choir, my singing in church on Sundays has no value in God’s eyes. But this is wrong. St. Francis de Sales said that what gives value to what we do is the love which we put into them. Hence, if I join the Sunday choir because I love to sing and because I want to serve God, my singing has value in God’s eyes.

Some of us may believe that EVERY misfortune that comes to us is a pun-ishment that God sends us for the sins we have committed. But this is wrong. Recall the case of the blind man in the gospel of St. John. The disciples asked Jesus whether it was the sin of the parents or the sin of the man himself that was the reason for his blindness. Jesus answered: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents” (Jn 9:3).

These wrong beliefs might cause us to be afraid of God rather than be trusting toward him. We need to do away with these wrong beliefs.

Sin and sinful habits should be the first to be cut off from our lives. They damage relationships and they make us unlikeable.

If someone likes to talk about the defects and shortcomings of other people, I will certainly not want to become close to this person. Why? Because I would suspect that this person is more likely to talk about my defects and shortcomings before other people. Sinful habits make us unlikeable.

If someone has a short temper and as a result he or she hits his or her spouse and children, should he or she be surprised if they have ill-feelings toward him or her?

Sin damages relationships. For this reason sin and sinful habits need to cut off from our lives.

Emotional baggage, wrong beliefs and sin and sinful habits—these and other similar things need to be pruned from our lives. They prevent us from being happy. They make Christian life something unpleasant rather than something beautiful. They damage our relationships and turn us into people whom others love to hate. The sooner we let go of them the better for us.

GOSPEL EXPLANATION

Jn 15: 1. "I am the true vine.”

Only through Jesus can we belong to God.
He is the one who fulfils the symbols of the OT.

The figure of the vine and vineyard is found in the OT. Israel is a vine.
• Ps 80: 9-17. You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove away the nations and planted it….

But it has gone bad.
• Is 5:7 - The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his cherished plant.
• Jer 2:21 - I had planted you, a choice vine of fully tested stock; How could you turn out obnoxious to me, a spurious vine?
• Hos 10:1 - Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth. The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built; The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up.

Jn 15:2. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.

Branches that do not bear fruit must be cut away so that the nutrients go to the branches that bear fruit and thus give better fruits.

Fruit refers to the faith that is lived.

This verse might refer to those Christians who hide their faith because of persecution.
• Jn 12:2-42 - Nevertheless, many, even among the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not acknowledge it openly in order not to be expelled from the synagogue. For they preferred human praise to the glory of God.

Jn 5:4-6. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.

This might have reference to the Eucharist.

Jn 5:5. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

Christian – Christ = ian = I am nothing.

The necessity of human effort is not denied here. What is affirmed here is that it is Christ who gives the value of eternity to our life. Hence, we may say: “without me you can do nothing of eternal value.”

Jn 5:6. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.

Those branches which do not bear fruit are cut off and hung on the vineyard walls to dry and later used for fuel.

The unfaithful disciple is excluded from the community of Christ and will not participate in the Kingdom that is to come.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)

Jesus said: "I am the good shepherd."

Jn 10:11-18

The Greek word which translates “good” is “kalos”. “Kalos” does not mean “good” as in “good for something. Rather it means “noble” or “ideal”. When Jesus calls himself the good shepherd, he is saying that he is what a shepherd should be, that is, that he is the ideal shepherd.

The image of God as a shepherd is already found in the Old Testament. In fact, in Psalm 23 the psalmist (David) describes his experience of God as a shepherd. It begins with the following words: “The Lord is my shepherd. There is nothing I lack.”

Jesus tells us what he does as the good shepherd. (1) “I will lay down my life for the sheep.“ He defends with his own life the sheep against the wolf. And (2) “I know mine and mine know me.” He knows his sheep and his sheep knows him.

When Jesus says that he KNOWS his sheep, what does that mean?

In the family day of the Filipino community of Sacro Cuore, there was one very interesting contest. The participants were husbands and wives. All of them were blindfolded. The challenge was this: would the husbands be able to identify their wives just by their smell? Interestingly but not surprisingly all the husbands were able to correctly identify their wives. They knew their wives so well that they knew even their smell.

This gives us an idea of what Jesus meant when he said that he knows his sheep. He knows us inside out. He knows us by name. He knows our past. He knows our “little” secrets. He knows our likes and dislikes. He knows our fears and our desires. He knows our character. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows us inside out. And because he knows us so well, he can also fully understand us.

What we say of Jesus in particular, we can say of God in general. God knows us so well that he can also fully understand us.

That is why he can be very forgiving with us. I think that the reason why he doesn’t strike us dead when we commit grave sin is because he knows and under-stands that many times we commit sin not because we’re evil but because we’re weak.

Because God fully understands us, he can be very patient with us. He gives us our whole life-time to learn how to live as good Christians. And if that were not enough, he also gives us all the time we need in purgatory to finally learn how to be good children of God. Why such patience? Because he know na tayo’y tao lamang (because we’re only human).

What is our response to this God who is so understanding? Should we take it easy because we know he is forgiving and understanding? Hindi ba ito nakakahiya? Is this not an abuse of his kindness? What then is the right response? To be more serious about living our Christian life. Never mind the results. The important thing is for God to see that we are making a real effort.

Jesus says that he will defend his sheep against the wolf, even to the point of giving up his life.

The wolf can be a ferocious animal, especially when hungry. Once, St. Francis of Sales was returning home from his priestly ministry. It was a cold winter’s night. Half-way he met a hungry wolf. He could do nothing to save himself but climb a tree. He stayed there all night, freezing. It was only when a villager saw him and took pity on him that he was saved from being frozen to death.

The wolf can be a symbol of evil, both spiritual and physical.

We can and should ask the protection of the Good Shepherd from these evils. When I was young, I was struck by the good example of a neighbour. Whenever she left the house, she would always make the sign of the cross. My guess is that she was asking God’s protection from any untoward event. Whenever I ride a plane, I would make the sign of the cross as it took off. I ask God that I would arrive alive and well at my destination.

I know of a mother who prayed for her son everyday. Her son had gone to study in the city. For the first time, he was away from home. She prayed to God to protect her son from the wolves of bad companions (masamang barkada) and from the wolves of robbers.

We find this confidence in God's protection in Psalm 23. "Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage" This psalm is so a powerful in arousing confidence in God's protection prayer that it has made the difference between life and death of soldiers during the second World War.

Here is such one story.

The tide was turning against the Japanese in the Pacific. The Americans were reclaiming one island after another from them. Then one day the kamikaze planes arrived and wave after wave attacked the American ships. Many of them were badly hit and sunk. Five sailors managed to get into a life boat. Days went by. They had no water and no food. No American ship was in sight. These five men, however, survived to tell their story.

What was it that gave them hope? What was it that made them not give up? Whenever they felt giving in to despair, they would pray Psalm 23.

Whenever the going gets tough, let us remember: The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

3rd SUNDAY OF EASTER (B)

And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Lk 24:35-48

Some years ago I was with a small group of fellow Filipinos in Padua. We had already visited the Church of St. Anthony and were walking along a nearby park. Suddenly we heard someone shout: “Balot!” We turned around and saw a group of Filipinos smiling at us. (They were seafarers waiting for their ship to leave port.) Only Filipinos understand the meaning of “balot”. Our responding to that word identified us as Filipinos.

When Jesus appeared to his disciples, his appearance had somewhat changed. His body was a glorified body. In order to identify himself, he had to show them the nail marks on his hands and on his feet.

If we were to enumerate the signs that would identify a Christian, what would they be? In general, we could say that a Christian is expected to be Christ-like. What traits makes him most Christ-like. There would probably be many, but let us name only a few of them.

First, Jesus had a strong sense of mission.

Right after Baptism, the Spirit led him to the desert. There Satan tried to make him deviate from the mission the Father had given him. But each time he refused to be led along a different path.

Jesus did not allow popularity to hinder him from his mission as we see in this particular episode. “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you." He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come" (Mk 1: 36-38).

A Christian knows that God also has a task for him to accomplish in this world. He seeks to discover that mission and then gives himself to carry it out. Two newly-graduated nurses felt that God wanted them to remain in the Philip-pines and work among their kababayans. For this reason, they gave up the possi-bility of working abroad like so many of their classmates.

Second, Jesus was clear about the values that he wanted his followers to live by.

Sometimes these values put him in trouble with the religious authorities. Mark reports this incident regarding the Sabbath. “As he was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus refused to stop his disciples from eating. He was clear about his values. He replied to the Pharisees: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2: 23-27).

Not only did the values of Jesus differ at times from the religious leaders, they also at times differed from what people commonly held. Again in Mark we read: “He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood" (Mk 12: 41-44).

A Christian lives by gospel values, even if at times he or she may appear foolish. A janitor who worked at the Ninoy International Airport returned $2,000.00 forgotten by a departing passenger. His relatives berated him for doing so and even called him “gago”! But he stood his ground and did not regret returning the money.

A PNB bank manager was scrupulous about maintaining her reputation for in-tegrity. Clients would send her expensive gifts at Christmas. She would thank them politely and then donate the gifts as prizes for the Christmas raffle of the employees. In that way she would not be beholden to anyone.

Third, Jesus was firm and courageous.

Jesus called a spade, a spade. He did not mince words. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence” (Mt 23:25).

Jesus was firm and courageous. He had no qualms about using force when the situation demands it. “They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area” (Mk 11:15-16).

A Christian acts even in the face of possible ridicule. A college student once told me this story. It was the time when the term “betamax” meant pornography. He was in the house of a classmate together with two other classmates. Their classmate inserted a tape on the betamax machine. A pornographic film started to unfold on the screen. He felt uncomfortable. He knew he had to act but at the same time, was afraid of how his classmates will react. But finally, gathering his courage, he suggested that they watch some other film. To his surprise and relief no one objected.

A young woman was not so lucky. She objected to the pornography her two brothers were watching. This resulted in a shouting match.

And finally, Jesus prayed.

We already saw how Jesus made time for prayer. He rose early in the morning just to pray.

A Christian can not be but a person who prays. A college student, following the example of Jesus, wakes up ahead of everyone else so that he could pray in peace and quiet. Others take advantage of the adoration chapels in our parishes. We see them praying there after office hours. Others who are more technically savvy make use of their mp3 players, ipods or smartphones in order to pray on their way to work. They download mp3 files from such sites as “Pray as you go.” Others prefer sacred songs as aids to prayer.

WE have identified four of the many traits that Jesus exemplified in the gospel. These traits are: one, he has a strong sense of mission; two, he lives by gospel values; three, he is firm and courageous; and four, he prays.

As the nail marks on his hands and feet identified Jesus to his disciples, so also these traits identify someone as a Christian before the world.

ADVISORY

I will probably not be able to upload any homily nor reflection for easter sunday and the following sunday as I am away from home base.

Palm Sunday (B)

Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!”

Mk 11:1-10

The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem must have caught the attention of the people for two reasons. One, it was a grand entry. People were almost proclaiming him as the Messiah. Second, the grand welcome accorded him was incongruous with the ass on which he was riding. He should have been riding a horse.

But by riding on an ass, Jesus seemed to be telling the people that he was a not a Messiah who was like a Roman general who would force people into submission. He was a Messiah who would only rule those who would willingly accept him.

This was precisely what the painting “The Light of the World” wanted to say. In that painting Christ is holding a lighted lantern on his left hand while knocking at the door with his right. What is curious about the painting is that the door has no outside handle. It can only be opened from within. Christ does not impose him-self on us. He waits for us to open the door to him.

There are many opportunities by which we can open the door of our lives and welcome Jesus in: in the blessing of our houses and cars, in Holy Communion, in the vicissitudes of life and in what is called the second conversion.

When our houses are blessed, we ask Jesus to come into our homes and be-come part of the family. His presence brings us blessings such as security, health, mutual love, and protection from evil.

When our cars are blessed, we ask Jesus to come and keep us company as we go our way. His presence will keep us safe.

When we receive Communion, we receive Jesus. He comes to us. How do we welcome him? We welcome him with humility. And for this we pray: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you.” We welcome him with love, that is, we receive him not out of habit but with conscious desire. We welcome him with attention, that is, without distraction. And we welcome him with faith. Our “Amen” must be a convinced “Amen”.

And after we have received him, it is but right that we do not leave our guest alone. We have to keep him company. We keep on praying to him, that is, we keep on talking to him.

First Holy Communion is not just one of those Catholic rituals in the life of Catholic child. St. John Bosco believed in its positive influence in later life. He says that we must make sure that it is Jesus who takes possession of the heart of a child. And by preparing him well for First Holy Communion, we make sure that it is Jesus and not the devil who gain entry into his heart. And when that happens, we are almost assured of a good man in later life.

The Old Testament speaks of God visiting his people. And when he does, he brings either punishment or a blessing. The Exodus from Egypt was a great bless-ing for his people while the Exile to Babylon was a great punishment.

When God comes to visit us, we must welcome him with faith. That is, we must believe that his visit will ultimately do us good, even if in the beginning it doesn’t appear that way.

Because of the global financial crisis, many workers are losing their job. A relative of ours in the States is in danger of being laid-off. His wife and kids have been praying hard. One relative have called and told him that if worse comes to worse, he and his family are welcome to stay with them. There have already been two rounds of lay-offs. He has survived both. And he thinks it is because of the prayers of his two young children. Whatever happens, he is sure that God is pre-paring something good for him and his family.

Baptism has been called the first conversion. There is also what is called the second conversion. This happens when a person makes a serious decision to live his Christian faith seriously. This does not only mean doing good and avoiding evil. Most of all this means a more serious relationship with God.

He will no longer treat God as if he were a fire extinguisher. He will not bring God into the picture only when there is a problem. Instead, he will welcome God as a permanent presence in his life.

St. Dominic Savio as a young boy was not afraid of walking some kilometres to school alone because he said that Jesus was with him. In fact, he called Jesus his friend.

St. John Bosco was two years old when his father died. He left his wife with three children and his old and sickly mother. At his death bed, he told his wife to have confidence in God. For Francis Bosco God was not someone up there. He was down here in the midst of people.


God knocks. He wants to come and become a part of our lives. He will not force his way in. He waits. It is up to us to open and let him come in.

5th SUNDAY OF LENT (B)

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

Jn 12:20-33

Here we have the paradox of death giving birth to life. But it is true.

The death of Jesus gives birth to life, that is, his death leads to his resurrection. And for us, his death brings new life as children of God and the promise of eternal life in heaven. This new life and this promise of heaven become ours in Baptism. And when Baptism is performed by immersion, the symbolic passage from death to life becomes more obvious. Immersion symbolizes death and burial. Rising out of the water symbolizes new life as God’s children with the promise of eternal life in heaven.

The passage from death to life is not a one-time event. This is because we continue to sin after baptism. Hence, there is a need to continually put to death our sinful selves so that we may regain the new life we have received in Baptism. This process is called continued conversion.

There are two things we can do that can help us in this conversion process. The first is through the sacraments of confession and communion. These sacraments are means by which God comes to our aid. In confession God forgives us our sins and at the same time strengthens us against sin. In communion Jesus also makes us strong against temptation and sin. In fact, St. John Bosco has called communion the Bread that makes us strong.

The second thing that we can do is through the practice of self-discipline. We have a saying: “Nasa Diyos ang awa. Nasa tao ang gawa.” The equivalent English saying is: “God helps those who help themselves.” If we want to become strong enough to say “No” to temptation, then we must have the corresponding will power. Self-discipline develops will power. If muscle power is developed through exercise, then will power is developed through the exercise of self-discipline.

Rising when the alarm clock goes off in the morning is an exercise of self-discipline. Coming on time and not being late is an exercise of self-discipline. Cutting down or even giving up on cigarettes is an exercise of self-discipline.

Dying in order to give birth to life is not just the law of the spiritual life. It is also the law of our earthly life. If we want to enjoy better things, then we must have the courage to give up certain things.

You had to give up the security of being in the Philippines in order to enjoy a better life for yourselves and your children.

You have to give up the freedom of being single in order to experience the joy of the marriage and family life.

You have to give up the fear of what people will say in order to teach your relatives to become independent and in order to provide for your future when you can no longer work. I am not saying that you should not help your relatives. But if it happens that they think it is your duty to die working here so that they will not have to work anymore or so that they will have an easy life in the Philippines, then you have the give up the image of being a “good kuya” or a “good ate”.

Are you unhappy? Do you feel empty? Are you not satisfied with your life? Do you feel something is missing? Perhaps you need to ask yourself: “What do I need to give up in order to be happy, in order to feel fulfilled, in order to feel contented? What needs to die so that I may have life.”

GOSPEL EXPLANATION

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

These Greeks were not necessarily from Greece. They were more likely Greek-speaking persons who either converted to Judaism or who were sympa-thetic to Judaism without actually taking up Jewish practices.

The Passover Feast recalls the liberation of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt. It is one of the three great feasts of Israel. The other two are the Feast of Pentecost which recalls the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai and the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles which recalls the protection God gave the Israelites during the Exodus).

Philip is a Greek name which means lover of horses. Andrew is also a Greek name and means either man or warrior. Did the Greeks go to Philip because he could speak Greek?

Bethsaida means “house of the hunt”. It is the birthplace of Peter, Andrew and Philip. Its exact location has not been identified.

To see Jesus meant to be talk to Jesus.

Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Here the word “hour” does not mean “chronos” but “chairos” . Chairos is God’s time, that is, the time when God intervenes in our history. In this particular passage God’s intervention is saving man through the glorification of Jesus.

In John’s gospel glorification means “passion, death, resurrection and ascension”. Ascension is not only Jesus going up to heaven but includes sitting at the right hand of the Father. The title “Lord” indicates this sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

Hate is an Aramaic expression meaning “to love less”. This is the meaning of the sentence of Jesus in Lk 14:26 ("If any one comes to me without hating his father 7 and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.)

"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.

Jesus is truly human being. He experiences the same feelings that we have.

This calls to mind the agony at the Garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-36).

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again."

The voice of the Father was heard at the Baptism of Jesus (Lk3: 21-22) and at the Transfiguration (Mt 17:5).

Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

John uses the word “world” in two ways.

First, the world refers to God’s creation. “He was in the world, and the world came to be through him….” Jn 1: 10a).

Second, the world refers to people as object of God’s love (Jn 3:16) or as those who refuse his love as “…but the world did not know him” (Jn 1:10b).