Wednesday, June 25, 2008

June 25, 2008 Reflection

The date for this reflection is a day faster than the one this blog site uses - apparently American, hence I entitle this sharing with the date I actually wrote it since it is so here in the Philippines. The readings are taken from the 12th week in Ordinary Time Year 2.

1st Rdg - 2 Kgs 22: 8-13. 23: 1-3
Gospel - Mt 7: 15-20

In the Gospel, Jesus warns us about "false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them...Every good tree bears good fruit, and rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit... By their fruits you will know them."

The Israelites in the first reading have heard again the Word of God, the Torah which was found in the Temple. The king asked the priersts and his servants to consult the Lord for him "about the stipulations of this book that was found" for he realized that "our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book, nor fulfill our written obligations." The king together with all the Israelites, they made a covenant with the Lord to "follow HIm and observe HIs ordinances, statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls,..."

Much like their experience in the first reading, one feels humiliated and challenged to ask oneself: "What fruits do/did I bear?" No one wants to be a false prophet and thus bear bad fruit. And yet this Word today challenges us to do something - remove the bad fruit and try our best to bear good fruit, lest we risk being cut and thrown away into the fire.

Going on deeper, it dawned on me that God must have wanted to show us that His fruits are good fruits. Look at His creation - all the filth that we see nowadays seemingly much similar to those at the time of Noah - and all the acts the Old Testament have shown us - remember Moses and Yahweh when the Yahweh wanted Moses to wipe them away, angry at their idolatry in the desert while Moses was in the mountain receiving the Decalogue? Can we then say that since we may not have been good fruits, then He must be a bad Tree?

Indeed, God must have been challenged by Christ's word, and showed us the Resurrection - His fruit is LIFE, and if we follow Christ, we can be this good fruit too - our own Resurrection - even on a daily basis, from our deaths and evil.

Today, He challenges us to start bearing good fruit if we are to really participate in the prophet-hood of Christ. For as baptized, we share in the kingly, priestly, and prophetic roles and identities of Christ, our Saviour.

God bless

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Christianity & Religious Behavior

This is a rephrasing of my first reflection which I thought was erased after publishing and losing it. Am thankful that it was saved in the previous post. Anyway, for comparative purposes let me have it published here so we can document this computer glitch today.

June 18, 2008
2 Kgs 2, 1.6-14 / Mt 6, 1-6.16-18

The Gospel speaks of three behaviors in religion: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus practiced these Himself. Didn't we hear Him tell Judas, when Mary (Lazarus' and Martha's sister) at Bethany a few days before He was crucified "The poor you will always have but me you will not" (Jn 12, 8). The Gospel of Mark even adds "...and you can be kind to them whenever you wish" (14,7). We have read that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and even shared them (and us too) His own prayer - the Our Father. He fasted too, didn't he? 40 days after His baptism at Jordan!

When the words in today's Gospel Matthew attributes to Jesus hint at is the pride and false belief these three religious behaviors can give us. The legalese in these pious behaviors can make us so self-righteous before God and deride others before the divine Presence. Didn't Jesus tell us to beware of the Pharisaical attitude: "I thank you Lord for I am... not like this tax collector..." It can make us think that our prayer can make God work for us. Our fasting can make God have mercy on us.

What Jesus came to tell us what the fact that God Has His will, and a plan which He Himself came to fulfill, respecting Him in its disposition - didn't He tell the apostles that "sitting at my right is not for me to give for it is reserved by my heavenly Father...," that the restoration of Israel is not up for me to decide but it is the Father's (see Acts, in Luke's account of the Ascencion). No amount of our piety can ever manipulate God to act. Our bargaining - I do this if you do that - therefore is something we may really need to rethink and reconsider.

What is then left for us to do is this: when we pray, we are called to be sensitive and docile to His will, making ourselves as ready and willing as Christ to live out that will for us. Our fasting is to make us master ourselves so that we live not as we like but as God likes. And our fasting is to make us remember that whatever we have is not for ourselves alone but for those whom He gives us to share "whenever we wish."

Indeed, Christ came to bring us the freedom of the Kingdom, for in Him we have all become beneficiaries of His generous mercy and love.

"May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace, and may the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen."
- St. Arnold Janssen

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Christianity & Religion

June 18, 2008 Reflection

2 Kgs 2, 1. 6-14; Mt 6, 1-6, 16-18



The Gospel mentions three things religion is usually associated with: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus learned these things himself. Didn't he say "The poor you will always have, but me you will not always have" (Jn 12, 8). This was when Mary (Lazarus' and Martha's sister) annointed her with expensive aromatic nard and Judas wished it were sold and given to the poor. We read of Jesus' going alone to the mountain to pray; and most especially, the 40 days he fasted after his baptism prior to his active ministry. In a way we can say that Jesus was every inch trained and lived a religious and pious life.



As he lived out these three things though, he saw how these became the leverage in one's relationship with God. Didn't he tell us how the Pharisee made it an object of pride before God and a reason to deride others - "...I thank you Lord for I am unlike this tax collector; I fast twice a week, pay tithes on all I get..." (Lk 18, 11-13). The legalese in religious behavior seems to make one so self-righteous as to forget that God cannot be manipulated by our religiosity. God remains to be God, simply an Other Whose acts are not effects of our acts. Yes, He hears our prayers and grants them when it is His will. What we do then in prayer is to seek for His will, giving time and space in our lives so that we become familiar and docile to His plans for us. Fasting then becomes sorrow for our sins, for the loss of the Savior in our lives. And almsgiving is not so that others may have some good impression of us, but that we may remember that whatever we have is not only for us.



The faith Christ came to sow in us then is one that makes us know Who God is and respect and fear Him and His ways. It calls us to master ourselves, and most of all reach out to those He gives us in our lives. In this way our religiosity becomes God Himself in our midst - generous, loving and forgiving.



"May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace and may the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen."

St. Arnold Janssen