Thursday, December 17, 2009

Dec. 18, 2009 Reflection: JOSEPH and JESUS

Let me share here my reflection submitted to a confrere's blog for the Christmas season. Thanks Frs. Jerome and Randolf for the initiative to have this series of reflections.

The nursery home in every hospital has always been a very amusing place. That is especially true when the father gets to see his son for the first time. Together with his wife, they would look at the baby and oftentimes say the following words: Father: “Look at his nose, it looks like mine.” The wife would say, “Yes, look at his forehead, very much like yours and your father’s. He really is your son.”

Though we know that St. Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, there appear traces of Joseph’s influence on his foster child. Hoping that we can get some model for our fatherhood on our sons (and daughters, and modeling for motherhood as well for those matters), let’s look at some of them:

1. Joseph must have been really in love with Mary, his wife-to-be. The Scriptures we have just read tell us that he “was unwilling to expose her to shame.” He knew that a woman in Mary's situation would have very easily landed in a very precarious situation – being killed by stone-throwing at the city gate. But Joseph’s love became her security and that of the baby Jesus in her womb. Her honor was something that Joseph must have really treasured in his heart. When a man really loves a woman, that love is best expressed in protecting her honor and dignity before others. Haven’t we heard many a man with chivalry say that “this is the woman I married” ("siya ang pinakasalan ko"). Isn’t this the content of the covenant sealed in the sacrament of marriage – when both husband and wife pledge love and loyalty and preserve the good honor of the other?

Joseph’s love for Mary, a woman, may have become the primal example of the Lord Jesus’ sound respect for women. Didn’t he have a lot of women following and serving him in his many journeys? Didn’t he literally free the woman caught in adultery (“in flagrante delicto” as lawyers would love to quote) by saying that “if nobody is left to accuse you, neither would I.” This would have been Joseph’s line spoken to Mary, had the evangelist Matthew allowed a dialogue between them during this stage in their lives.


Before I bring in the second point, allow me to share a text message I had just received the other day. It reads: “Now it can be told why Jinky cried ang was very emotional during the homily at the Mass after Manny’s historic victory over Cotto. The priest pala made a mistake. Nasabi daw ng pari: “Manny, Jinky, ito ang payo ko sa inyo: hayaan ninyo na nasa gitna lagi ninyo si Krista.” Of course the priest was supposed have told Jinky and Manny to allow Christ – Kristo – to stay in their midst, in their marital life.


2. Joseph must have been a very God-fearing righteous man. From the example of Joseph we see two qualities of a righteous man: respect for the law, and fear of God. The law contains a capacity to make us in society live in order and decency. When we live against it or have committed an infraction against the law, we are accountable to its sanctions and penalties. However, we may notice that the law can be really cruel, particularly in the case of the law that imposes the death penalty. That is why the fear of God has to go side-by-side with our respect for the law. We often hear that “what is legal may not necessarily be moral.” The sound foundation of morality rests on the primacy of God over everything, and our fear of Him Who knows everything. Hence, we are shown in the readings today Joseph in a dream. As psychologists would love to say, dreams often tell us something about the conscious activities of every one during our waking hours. When something really bothers us, it can continue into the dream state. We can then imagine Joseph searching and asking questions like “How do I solve this problem (like Maria, as in that famous song)?” His heart must have been reaching out to God for an answer, and even praying “not as I will but as you will, O God,” which God answers through the dream.

When we extend that unwritten prayer dialogue between Joseph and his God, we may actually hear Jesus Himself, on the night before He died, in the garden of Gethsemane, praying to His Father, “take this cup away from me, but not as I will but as You will.”


We know the rest of the story of Joseph. He may not have been the biological father of Joseph, but we can see his evident impact on the way Jesus lived his life: Joseph’s love and respect for Mary’s honor became the sound bed of Jesus’ love and respect for the women who came into his life. Joseph’s righteous life is seen in Jesus’ willingness to do the will of God in his own life.

Fathers, and mothers included, your role in the lives of your children is very important. Live your lives with respect for each other’s honor, and always do your best to make sure the will of God is alive in your lives so your children will live as you do. In this way we can really say “As the tree, so the fruits.”

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

You owe more? Love more!

On my way to the 1st Mass today, I wore my cassock. People I passed by greeted me (whereas before when I was in casual wear no one would even greet me!); the beggars went and asked that I touch them. The vendors likewise extended their hands and asked that they kiss my hand (Mano Po Father!). Before I turned right to enter the compound of the Church, I heard loud voices coming from two women who were apparently in an argumentative mood (very early in the morning!!!), and I noticed that they toned down their voice as soon as they saw me coming closer. I thought “My cassock must be bringing to these people the awareness of God with us!

How I pray that this presence of God be likewise felt in the presence of every person. For that is what we have been given in Christ: the dignity of man, restored in Christ brings to us the enduring love and salvific presence of God!

Yes, that is what we have been given in Jesus: His sacrifice on the cross, His rising from the dead, His sending us the Holy Spirit after his Ascent into heaven, has given us back our dignity as beloved. Therefore, we each carry the love of God in our bodies and selves. That is why the Church stands for this dignity: in the one newly conceived in the mother’s womb, up to the one about to exhale the last breath (we even respect the dead, how much more the living!). Thus, every one of us alive has that dignity as a beloved who is called to live in love as He has loved us.

Therefore, the 1st reading challenges us to cherish the gift of salvation we have been given in Christ. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to always rekindle the fire of the Spirit of service bestowed on him upon ordination, when the hands of the elders were laid on him. No one is now so young as not to be able to stay focused on one’s ministry with much fidelity and conscientiousness. The Word for today thus calls us towards nurturing our dignity as beloved so it grows and bears much fruit – the salvation of all. To stay faithful and true to the One Who calls us until He comes again – that is the enduring challenge given everyday.

Interestingly, the Gospel reveals a reality each one of us is in: we owe God so much. But since we cannot pay back what we owe, God has forgiven us in His Son. Thus, the challenge is to love as much as we have been forgiven those debts. Loving is really that measure of being loved: we love as much as we have been loved. We love as much as we are conscious of our being loved. We love in as much as we acknowledge being loved. So we ask and pray for as much as we need in order to be able to love back.

Surprisingly, this Word today reminds us of St. James’ word last Sunday: you have faith? Have good works too! If we say we believe, we are thus called to also do good. As we have been loved, so we have believed! And as we believe, we live out our faith in loving works to those God sends us everyday.

May God bless us all. Amen

Monday, June 22, 2009

Fathers Day 2009 Homily

This is to just account for the sharing or homily I delivered on June 21, 2009, the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the 3rd Sunday of the month of June when we celebrate Fathers' Day. The Gospel then was from Mark where he described Jesus sleeping in the boat as it was crossing the Sea of Galilee.

Homily:

On this Fathers' Day, I'd like to share in this homily stories about fathers.

1. A few days ago, a friend told me about her family experience. They were 8 children, and after their father was assassinated, their mother single-handedly brought them up with such strength and discipline. They had to keep the curfew, study well their lessons, and always obey what they were told as children. Immediately after a low score was received, the mother would let them go up to the highest floor of the house where the picture of their father was there. They would be asked to kneel in front of that picture, and ask forgiveness for not doing well in class. Their mother was always noted for these words: "Your father has done everything good for you. He is a well-respected man in our village that even people from Taiwan come and pay respect to him when they come to the Philippines. So, do nothing to blur that good name. Do nothing to disrespect his good name."

Hence, their doing good in class, their coming home on time, their behaving well among themselves (although they'd quarrel every now and then the way siblings normally do) was always in view of the charge to keep their father's good reputation.

I believe that we as children need to remember this good motivation to keep the good reputation of our parents. As good Catholics, it would be good to live like Christ Who only gave good witnessing to the good reputation of His Father Who loves us all.

2. The "Divine Word" in our congregation name has a father-inspiration background. St. Arnold Janssen, when he was still a boy, remembered those times of storm and low harvest, and even when their cows were getting sick, when his father would call the whole family to kneel around the altar as he proclaimed the Prologue of St. John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..." The same father would even share at supper with his children the homily of the priest at Sunday Mass. Hence, when Rome tried to disagree with the name he wanted to give our congregation, St. Arnold simply asked them "How come you agreed with Society of Jesus?..."

St. Jude Catholic School and St. Jude Archdiocesan Shrine, two institutions built by our Chinese confreres here beside Malacanang, all have a father-background. The name of the father of one of the school founders happened to be Jude. I haven't heard anything about him, although I would like to believe that had it not been for the good they had left on their children, these children would have never even thought of extending their legacy in their lives.

Hence, this is a challenge for all fathers (and mothers for that purpose): you are their first catechists of your children. Teach them by way of your witnessing to our Catholic faith. Be good role models to your children who will most likely protect your good reputation and most of all, even extend your posterity to the generations behind the children.

3. The third father is a handsome priest my friend mentioned having met at the University of San Carlos in Cebu as a college freshman. "Father, I was an atheist before, but when I saw that handsome priest, I thought "God must exist." Why? Because such a handsome man was willing to offer his life in His service. If God did not exist, surely living like that would be utter foolishness." So, this friend of mine started really learning the catechism until baptism was chosen and administered.

We are really called to make others know that God exists, and that He is with us in our journey.

The early Church had many experiences of trials and tribulations. They were really scary moments, which the storms and the squalls one meets at the Sea of Galilee best symbolize. Jesus "sleeping in their midst" was a figure in their lives which became their refuge. They just had to "awaken Jesus" from slumber, awaken themselves to the fact that indeed they need not be afraid but trust because He is there to calm the storms and give us peace.

I hope this year's Fathers' day will bring us closer to our fathers, challenge us to be good fathers, and give us courage to life for the Father in heaven Whose only will is that we live and have our lives lived to the fullest in His Son.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Holy Trinity Reaching Out to Us

I may be late in writing this reflection because we had already celebrated last Sunday June 7, 2009 the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. But nonetheless, I'd like to share these thoughts here for those who are searching for some ideas about the Holy Trinity from an experiential perspective. They so spontaneously came as I was administering psychological exams to a seminarian in Tagaytay City. The seminary in Tagaytay is simply so serene and I savored it so much. As the examinee was answering the tests, I just made my silent prayer and reflection in preparation for the Sunday Mass homily as I walked outside the testing area. Thank God indeed for inspiring me with these thoughts which I shared in my Mass that Sunday at the Corinthian Hills. It was even a great coincidence(?) that the readers of that day were the Garcia family: the father, the mother and their only daughter. The human trinity?

As we celebrate one of the tenets of the Christian faith, an indispensable core of our faith and life, i.e., the Blessed Trinity, maybe it is good for us to ask WHO and WHAT is the Trinity for us as Christian. Yes, this dogma in Christianity is not so easy to understand, but the Holy Trinity is very much related to us, and yes, it is relating to us. There is this story of St. Augustine who wanted to go into the depths of the Holy Trinity, that he dreamt walking along the seashore and seeing a child digging a hole in the sand. He stopped and asked the boy what he was doing. The boy said, "I am digging this hole so that I can put the water of the sea into it." St. Augustine was supposed to have exclaimed, "Impossible!" At that the boy was supposed to have disappeared, and lo! he realized that it was an experience of the impossibility of understanding the truth of the Holy Trinity.

From our catechism we all know that the Holy Trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let me delineate here the three Persons in this One God, the Holy Trinity.

1. The Father, the First Person in the Holy Trinity is the Source and Origin of life - our life and the life of all around us. Isn't He called the Creator - of heaven and earth. Everything that we are, have and will be, everything above us, below us, and with us, both the seen and the unseen - came from Him, God the Father. We were taught that He created everything IN LOVE, OUT OF LOVE, FOR LOVE. Without Love, He wouldn't have created; without Love, He wouldn't be Father. The Father is thus, LOVE.

This implies that individually and socially, even globally, we all came from God. We have a divine origin, and a divine end. The Father is where we all came from, and we hope to end in Him.

2. The Son, The Father's Only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ - is the Second person of the Holy Trinity. In Him, God for us became a human person, a MALE one (why not female? Please ask God when you meet Him), born of a woman like all of us, had a body, mind and spirit. He walked, He talked, felt, related with others like and me do. The God that we have in Christ is no longer simply an idea. In Jesus Christ, we have seen how it is to live the life of a human person. If we'd like to really live as a human person, we have in Him an excellent MODEL - the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity.

This Jesus, our Lord, suffered, died and was buried like you and me. Everyone of us has sufferings, and we will all die. And how we hope to be buried. He died the most ignominious way of dying - the most shameful way - ON THE CROSS. Jesus Christ really showed us the truth of our lives, that we are all crucified to our sins and will die in them.

Yet this Jesus Christ rose from the dead to show us that our lives, borne from God, are not only meant for dying. He showed us that we are meant to live eternally, to rise from our own graves and deaths, living the Resurrection itself in our lives. He ascended into heaven. His life was brought up to heaven. And when we live like Him and follow Him, we are called to likewise go to heaven and be with Him at the side of the Father. Just look at His Mother who was assumed into heaven.

3. The Holy Spirit is the 3rd Person of the Holy Trinity. He was sent from above by the Father and the Son. He witnesses and points to the Son so we can follow and serve Him. he breathes on us the Father's Love Itself.

If the Father created us and gave us a model in life, He gave us the Holy Spirit to abide by us, protecting us, sustaining us. It is the Holy Spirit Who inspires us to pray, to be good to others, to love them and grow as human persons. When we are in the Holy Spirit, indeed we are blessed in every single moment of our lives. We are not alone, not abandoned when the Holy Spirit is with us. While we believe that God the Father and Son are in heaven, God the Holy Spirit tells us that He is with us, in us, and even through us.

When we look at the sacramental life we live in the Church, the Holy Spirit is there and has been given to us.

At Baptism, the Holy Spirit has made us children of God.

At Confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens us.

At the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Spirit gives us the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession, the Holy Spirit inspires us to be contrite of heart, amend our lives, and He forgives us.

At the Anointing of the Sick, the Holy Spirit heals us of our ills and restores us to health and life.

At Matrimony, the Holy Spirit makes the couple Jesus Christs, loving and being loved in their mutual service as husband and wife, in their love for their children, like Him Who gave His life for the service of everyone in the human race.

At Holy orders, the Holy Spirit shows us His preference for us, His Choice for us to belong to Him. He continues to teach and renew us.

Just looking at these celebrations of our life in Christ, it is the Holy Spirit Who leads us in every moment of our lives.

Hence now we see that the Holy Trinity is no longer simply an idea of God for us. God is a Person, in fact 3 Persons reaching out to us: in love, loving and constantly abiding. Indeed the Holy Trinity tells us that God is alive, the God of the living. He started life, gave us life, and will lead our lives to eternal life.

That is why we say WE LIVE FOR the FATHER, WITH the SON, IN the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Trinity is really our God, and we belong to Him, Amen.

God bless

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ash Wednesday 2009

Today, we break the cycle of the 7th week in Ordinary Time as we enter the Lenten season. We will not hear the bell anymore until it rings again on Easter Vigil; no more Alleluias until we say it again on Easter Sunday. The stole of the priest will be violet in color. We are encouraged to have more silence than ever in order to promote an atmosphere conducive for sober reflection.

The rites are so rich that they dispose us to start these 40 days with a spirit of openness to the life God wants to bestow on us fully in Christ. With this openness, we are shown and given the gift of humility, acknowledging our sinfulness. At the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we will receive His mercy and forgiveness, a reconciliation made possible only with Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the Cross and consequent Rising from the dead. With fasting, prayer and almsgiving, we spend this day in His presence so that we may see the glory He is preparing us for: the Resurrection and life in the Spirit.

The ashes tell us about this fact of life: that whatever we have today, like the palms we waved in last year’s Palm Sunday, will all become ashes in death. The specter of death always looms ahead, awaiting us like a hole in the cemetery, ready to close us in total isolation, unreachable to the loving hands of people who love us, making us unable to reach out and beg for help. It is only Christ, Whose Hands, stretched out on the cross, Who can bridge that hole in the cemetery of our lives with eternity in God the Father, making us see the light again, making us belong again, making us alive again. Indeed, these ashes have power to bring us back to our senses, making us ask ourselves again (who knows this may be the last time we are given to face and raise this question): WHAT IS IT THAT REALLY MATTERS TO US INDIVIDUALLY, COMMUNALLY AND UNIVERSALLY? It is only when we have known the love of this Hand and seen for ourselves its power to forgive, accept, and grant us a new life that we shall experience how it is to be saved. And knowing and believing we are saved, we proclaim this Good News. We thus pray that He abides by us through these 40 days so that we will celebrate His victory over death that keeps us locked in the darkness of being unloved.

Reflections for Feb. 24, 2009

Feb. 24, 2009

In our Mass today we include our seminarians in Tagaytay who are having their comprehensive exams. We know how good it was for us when we were seminarians to know that people are praying for us.

When we listen to the Readings today, we hear in the book of Sirach a father telling his son to be ready for difficulties once he ventures into serving the Lord. It’s like the Father telling His Son Jesus to be ready for his own sufferings and never forget the God Whose ways are evident throughout history. The Gospel shows Jesus telling his disciples about his impending suffering and death but the followers appear unmindful and unable to understand.

We are listeners of the same Word of God and are challenged today to keep in mind that history is the field where God shows us His saving power. When we learn this, may we grow in courage to face our own struggles and difficulties.