Never Cut the Thread (Holy Family B)

A father accompanied his son to fly a kite. The kite easily reached high up in the sky.  After a while, the son observed that the thread seemed to hold the kite from flying higher. So, he asked his father to cut the thread. The father obliged. The kite, to the son's delight, started to go a little higher. But then, slowly, it started to come down and soon fell on the top of a tree. The son, surprised by what just happened, asked his father, “Father, I thought that after cutting off the thread, the kite can freely fly higher. Why did it fall down?”

The Father explained, "Son, the thread was not holding the kite from going higher. It was helping it stay higher when the wind slowed down and when the wind picked up, you helped the kite go up higher in a proper direction through the thread.  When the thread was cut, the kite lost its support.” So it is with the support of our family. Our loved ones edify us and see us through the rough times, sustaining us as we reach higher heights in life. They are not holding us back; they provide us the thread of support for us to fly. So, never cut the thread.

The celebration of the Feast of the Holy Family encourages us to value our own families and to appreciate the "thread of support" our families provide us with. In the light of the scriptural readings for today, let us reflect on three areas of support our families may offer us inspired by the Holy Family: The area of obedience to God's will; of building our trust in God's faithfulness; and of extending our families to the wider family of God.

Obedience to God’s Will. The Gospel describes how Joseph, as the head of the Holy Family of Nazareth, presented Mary and the Baby Jesus in the Temple for the mother’s purification and the Child’s “redemption.” The Law of Moses taught that every Jewish firstborn male child belonged to Yahweh and therefore must be “bought back” by the parents with a lamb or turtledoves as a sacrifice in the Temple. Also, the mother had to be purified after childbirth by prayers and an offering made to God in the Temple. As an act of obedience to God, Joseph kept these laws. Hence, in the gospel reading, we see the Holy Family in the temple obedient to God’s commandments.

Joseph’s obedience to God provided the thread that trained Jesus to be obedient to the Father’s will; so that when his hour came, Jesus faced his harrowing passion and death on the cross, overcoming his agony by praying for strength to do his Father's will: "Father, not my will, but yours be done" (Lk 22:42). Jesus’ total obedience to God the Father reversed the disobedience of Adam, the cause of the downfall of man.  How crucial is obedience to God in the work of redemption!

The Holy Family reminds our families to become schools of this very important virtue, i.e., obedience. Through proper discharge of authority and by way of everyday witnessing of parents as Joseph and Mary did, children are moulded to become persons with deep respect to their parents and with fear of the Lord.  And there is a promise of blessing that await a family that lives in obedience to God’s laws: “How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments” (Ps 112:1). May our families be a school of obedience that leads each one to walk the ways of the Lord.

Building Trust in God's Faithfulness. The Holy Family has been a witness to God’s fidelity to his promise.  As God had been true to his promise to Abraham in the first reading (Gen 15:1-6; 21:1-3) giving him a son, Isaac—who would fulfil the promise of a multitude of descendants, God fulfilled the Emmanuel prophecy through Joseph and Mary by giving them Jesus, the Saviour born of a virgin (Mt 1:23). In today’s gospel, Mary and Joseph presented the child Jesus in the temple; there, they witnessed how the promise made to the righteous and devout Simeon and the prophetess Anna were also fulfilled. The Presentation in the Temple, we can say, was an event in the life of the Holy Family together with Simeon and Anna wherein the fulfilment of God’s promise of salvation for the people was revealed and celebrated.

God is a God of promise and a God of fulfilment. He is a faithful God as witnessed to by the Holy Family. Our families, too, experience the fidelity of God as He abides with us through all the vicissitudes of family life.  May we exclaim at all times what the Psalm proclaims: “The Lord remembers his covenant forever” (Ps 105:6). May the sincerity of the husband and wife to live together with faithful love be their own witnessing to the faithfulness of God.  May we make good of every promise we make to one another in our families; may we be there for one another in good times and in bad; and as we grow in integrity, honouring our every word, may we build the culture of trust—strengthening our trust in one another and in the faithfulness of God. 

Embracing the Wider Family of God.  In Simeon’s prayer of blessing, he prophesied that Jesus was meant to be the glory of Israel and the light of revelation to the Gentiles. And as he blessed Mary, he warned her that her child would be “a sign of contradiction,” and that she would be “pierced with a sword.” Simeon was prophesying both the universal salvation that would be proclaimed by Jesus and the necessity of suffering in the mission of the Messiah.  Right from the very start, the Holy Family was well aware of the mission of Jesus—He was not to be theirs alone. He belonged to the wider family of God. As the child Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and God’s favour, his family in Nazareth was there to provide all the support He needed for this mission.

Our love for the family must not be exclusive.  Our love should embrace the wider family of God.  The support our family gives to each other must be conscious of our mission to be of service to the wider community.  Families should provide that “thread” of support for each member to respond to God’s call to serve or even face sacrifices for the good of society. May our families be in solidarity with the wider family of God. May we see that the homeless out there in the cold are part of our family; the addict, the broken, and the lonely are members of our family; the sick and the dying, are our brothers and sisters; the persons in the prison cell are also sons and daughters of God, and as such, are members of our family. 

On this Sunday, the Feast of the Holy Family, we lift our families up to God for His blessing, thanking Him for the gift of our parents, our brothers and sisters, our grandpa and grandma. May we always draw our strength and sense of direction from our family who is there to allow us to fly like a kite with the guiding thread which reminds us to fear the Lord and walk in his ways, to trust in God’s promises, and to embrace the wider family of God. And remember, never cut the thread.

We Can’t Always Say Perhaps (4th Sunday Advent B)

Why does it take a lot of courage to say yes? 

Women, unsure of their feelings for their avid suitors who press them to give their answer, have a very convenient reply: “Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps!” (This is with or without a smile).  A variation in Filipino language is “ewan...” which means “Sorry. I don’t know. I’m not sure.”  Songs have been composed along this theme. They sure are amusing and cute.

While this reply is convenient when we find ourselves not ready to commit, a persisting non-committal attitude to life, however, can be disastrous or tragic.  We may lose our opportunity to make our choices and decide what ought we to do in life or what kind of person we want to become.  We may live life, taking our time, as if we’re not going to die and we die as if we have not lived.  Tragic indeed.

Life is a commitment.  So we can’t always say “Perhaps.”  In some life-defining moments, we need to say “Yes!”  Today’s gospel reading (Lk. 1:26-38), we witness once more the courageous fiat (latin for let it be done) of Mary.  This is Mary’s “Yes!” to God’s invitation for her to become the mother of Jesus, the awaited Messiah and Savior of Israel and of the whole creation. Let us allow Mary’s fiat to invite us, as part of our preparation for Christmas, to examine our own attitude to commitments to life and, ultimately, to God. 

Why does it take a lot of courage to say yes? Three ways to show why in the light of Mary’s yes:  Saying yes is a leap of faith.  Saying yes is realizing our destiny.  Saying yes is a commitment to serve humbly.

Leap of Faith. After hearing the angel Gabriel’s greetings and message, Mary “pondered” what this meant.  “How can this be?” She asked. Mary was in the face of something which, in her human reckoning, is impossible.  Yet, she said yes.  She said yes despite the clear danger that her having a child out of wedlock might bring her.

Saying yes to God’s invitation is a leap of faith.  One has to place everything in the hand of God believing that nothing is impossible with him.  To say yes is to trust in a faithful God—a God who fulfils his promise like his promise of a throne for David’s descendants that will last forever.

Like Mary, we say yes to God’s calling not because we are sure that we can deliver and succeed but because we are certain that God always delivers and succeeds through us. We only have to say, “Yes. Let it be done to me.” As the angel reminded Mary, we are reassured too:  Do not be afraid.  Take the leap of faith.

Realization of Destiny.  When God has promised, it is destined to happen in His own time.  Mary was placed at the threshold of the realization of what God has destined to happen and that is the coming of the long-awaited Messiah who will establish God’s Kingdom forever.  For this destiny to be fulfilled, Mary needed to say yes out of her freedom. Her fiat allowed her to participate actively in the fulfilment of God’s design.

We are not puppets.  We are not programmed to mechanically execute a design.  We decide whether to say no or yes.  Hence, we are responsible for the choices we make and their consequences.  Our decisions may thwart what is set by God for us.  To be able to fulfil our own destiny, to be able to become the kind of person we are called to be, we need to be decisive.  We cannot persist in our non-committal attitude to life like a shrivelled leaf adrift the river.  Destiny is not fulfilled this way.  God’s design calls for our active participation as it did for Mary’s fiat.

We say yes to God and allow the realization of God’s design in our lives.  We say yes and we fulfil our destiny.

Commitment to Humble Service.  Mary’s fiat came from a humble posture of a handmaid: “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word” (v. 38).  This is a decision to place oneself at the disposal of the Lord. This requires humility and readiness to be of service to God.

In this dog-eat-dog society, competition is the name of the game. When you’re into it, you want to show who’s the boss, who calls the shots, who’s the man.  It’s no mean feat to be committed to humble service in such an egoistic milieu.  

Christians who are in leadership positions in society are called to say yes to the ideals of humble service as Mary did.  We can make a difference.  Let us not allow the narcissistic style of this world to shape our way of being.  It’s our commitment to humble service that ought to teach the world.  Let our humble posture of service everyday convert the proud and self-serving inclinations of the world.

When our response to life’s opportunities and God’s invitations is always “perhaps” for wanting to be on safe grounds, we sure end up losing everything instead.  We ought to have the courage to say “Yes!” to life and to God.  In our preparations for Christmas, this last week of advent showcases to us the courage of Mary’s fiat.  With her brave and trusting yes to God, she made all the difference.  She made us all see that indeed nothing is impossible with God.

In this joyful season of Christmas, can we allow our contemplation of the mystery of God’s incarnation to evoke our own fiat?  

Finding Joy in God (Gaudete Sunday B)

Christian life, we have to face it, is quite demanding.  We speak of high cost of discipleship, of carrying our crosses each day, of self-denial and self-sacrificing love among others.  Without the correct disposition, our life in the Lord can end up as listless, unhappy and exhausting commitment of self-giving.  In fact, stern faces and humorless outlook in life are not uncommon among many serious Christians we meet.  Needless to say, this joyless witnessing is a source of discouragement for others to take Christian faith seriously. How can we be attractive when there’s no joy in the life we lead?

Joy is an essential disposition of a true disciple.  The demands of Christian life have to be carried out with a joyful heart.  Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, is meant to remind us of the fact that always God’s presence in our life is a cause for rejoicing.  All Advent biblical figures attest to this. We hear Isaiah exclaims, in the first reading (Is 61:1-2, 10-11): “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul…” (v. 10).  Mary’s magnificat, too, is read as the responsorial psalm and we hear Mary exults: “My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit finds joy in God my savior” (Lk 1: 46).  We recall too, though not in today’s readings, John the Baptist leaping with joy in her mother’s womb as Elizabeth and Mary greeted each other.

Do we find joy in God? Allow me to offer three ways of finding joy in God—the joy of gratitude, the joy of ministry, the joy of surrender.

The Joy of Gratitude.  There is joy in thanksgiving. No doubt about it.  St. Paul, in our second reading, tells the Thessalonians to rejoice and pray always and give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thes 5: 16). Christian life may be demanding but even before we are faced with the demands of our commitments to the Lord, God has favored us first as “He has looked with favor on his lowly servant”, Mary, that she may be called blessed in all ages.  Isaiah’s joy too is one of gratitude as he attests: “for He has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice” (Is. 61: 10).

When God asks our commitment, he sees to it first that he endows us with the gifts required for fulfilling what he expects of us.  When we see it this way, gratitude then is our first response to God’s goodness.  Whatever we do for God, we do it with the joy of a grateful heart.    

How often, deep in our hearts, we demand from God our reward for being good in this life! This we expect with a stern sense of entitlement oblivious of the fundamental fact that we have been blessed already prior to our achievements and that we are good only because God has been good to us first.  

Advent allows us to rejoice because of the goodness of God in our lives.  An important Advent preparation then is cultivating a grateful heart, one that truly brings forth joy, as it recognizes God’s favor on us.

The Joy of Ministry.  There is joy in serving.  We sure feel physically tired after serving, yet at the end of the day, we wonder why a serene sense of deep satisfaction invigorates us from within.  I believe it is the quiet and gentle power of joy that revitalizes us.

I once worked in a rural and mountainous parish with an aging missionary as my parish priest.  Because I was young, nimble and quick, all ministering that involved going through the rough roads and dangerous trails of the countryside were understandably left to my care.  Always upon my return from these difficult areas, the kind old missionary would come to me with much concern in his face making sure I was fine.  Sometimes, for one reason or another, I could not make it to the barrio, he would volunteer to go as we were left with no choice.  As he returned home, I would meet him to see if he was fine.  On those days, he surely looked tired and older but, to my amazement, a lot happier.  He would look at me beaming with a joyful smile and say, “I’m back and I’m great!”

Such is the joy of serving.  This I believe is the same joy that exudes and makes the face of Mother Teresa beautiful—more beautiful than the fresh and pampered faces of those hailed Miss Universe.

Do we find joy as we serve in our ministry?  In our professions?

The Joy of Surrender.  There is joy in trusting and in believing in the faithfulness of God.  This is the joy of placing our lives at the hands of the faithful God. 

Sometimes, in this result-oriented society we are living now, we can become control freaks.  We spend a lot of our energy making sure that everything goes according to our wishes and plans.  We begin to become strict, intolerant, stiff, unbending.  We lose our flexibility and spontaneity.  All because we want to see our design successfully materialized, our set goals met and our plans well-executed.  Failures and adversities have no place in our lives.  Yet, the fact is, they do happen.  Not everything goes according to our design.  Hence, our contemporary life is marked by stress and anxiety.

To surrender to God is liberating.  Filipinos are said to be the happiest people despite formidable adversities.  I suspect this is because we know how to place our lives into the hands of God.  “Bahala na!” in its positive sense expresses our trust in God’s providential care.  We trust that in God’s wisdom, everything will fit together, everything will make sense.  So we learn how to let go and let God and get a life.

In our Christian life it is not our own will but God’s will that matters most, not our own design but God’s design.  Advent reminds us that like the prophets and Mary who listened to God’s will and trusted in God’s fidelity, we too may do well to surrender to God.  There’s so much joy in it.  Promise.

Somebody’s Coming to Town (2nd Sunday Advent B)

I could still remember my delight when I was chosen among others to be part of the concelebration of the Mass with Pope Francis when he came to Manila in January of 2015.

There was so much preparation in all parts of the country because Pope Francis was coming. All over the nation a prayer was said in every mass in all our Churches that Pope Francis’ visit may bless us and that it may turn us into a people of compassion and mercy especially in our dealing with the poor in our society. In Pampanga a musical entitled “I Love Pope Francis” had been shown to help Catholics know more about the awaited Pope. In Palo, Leyte, Ground Zero of the world’s strongest typhoon ever, the construction of Pope Francis’ Center for the Poor was completed and Pope Francis himself was to bless it for the use of orphans and the elderly.  

A real sense of anticipation and preparation can animate people. It can evoke creativity and commitment. It can challenge the people to embrace the values that represent that which they are waiting for. It can indeed transform a people. The season of Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation. Someone mightier than John the Baptist, and than anyone else, is coming. We await the coming of our Lord, the Messiah. And our readings today instruct us on how we ought to prepare. Let us examine then the message of John the Baptist, a very important Advent figure, and second, the exhortation of Peter in the second reading.

John’s call for Repentance and Acceptance of the Messiah.  As a voice crying out in the desert, John echoes Isaiah’s call for the preparation of the way of the Lord: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” In the gospel reading (Mk 1:1-8), John offers two ways of a meaningful preparation—repentance and acceptance of the Mighty One.

John the Baptist knows what is needed in preparing the way of the Lord. He calls for repentance.  He invites people to change their hearts by submitting themselves to baptism, wherein the symbol of the water effects an interior cleansing.  An integral part of John’s baptism is the acknowledgement of sins. Hence, we read that “the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins” (v. 5).  When one confesses his/her sins, the person names his/her sins thus gaining control over its power while at the same time accepting the responsibility. 

Personal conversion involves our decision to be open to God’s power to cleanse us of our sins through his mercy so that we gain the strength to turn away from the ways of this world.

John’s message though is not just about turning away from sins and from the ways of this world. More important perhaps is where he points us to. John the Baptist, despite his growing fame and the admiration of his followers, never sees himself as greater than Jesus, the One who is to come.  He assumes a posture of a humble servant or even lower than a servant as he claims unworthiness even to untie the Lord’s sandals. He steadfastly fulfils his mission, which is to prepare for the coming of Christ and to point people to Him. So as he baptizes them and exhorts them to turn away from sin, he points them to Jesus that they may turn towards him and accept Jesus as their saviour.

In this Advent season, we ask the grace to be brave enough to turn away from our sinfulness and turn towards Jesus our Saviour. Repentance and loving acceptance of our Lord ought to be our advent aspirations.

Peter’s exhortation towards Holiness and Devotion.  In the second reading (2 Pt 3:8-14), Peter writes about the coming of the Day of the Lord like a thief. As the disciples await the Day of the Lord, Peter exhorts them in these words: “Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought (you) to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...”

Our lives ought to be marked by holiness. For Peter, the Greek word "anastrophe" refers directly to the way we act, our behavior.  Hence holiness is about how we follow the example of the goodness of Christ relating and treating other people with respect and love. It is about how we accept every opportunity to serve and to do what is good to those who are in need around us.

The second quality St. Peter exhorts us to have is devotion. The Greek word is "eusebia” which refers not so much to our actions as to the attitude underlying our actions. It’s the disposition of our hearts like the joyful reverence towards our Lord and our God. As such, devotion is not about saying a lot of prayers. It is more a matter of a consistent personal and intimate relationship with the Lord. To be devoted to the Lord is to joyfully and lovingly offer ourselves in relationship with Jesus whom we await.

Hence, in this season of Advent we aspire to grow in holiness in our dealings with others and to deepen our devotion to the Lord.

Again, real anticipation animates us. Let us be animated by the anticipation of the Lord’s coming in Christmas.  In this season of Advent, let us heed John’s call to turn away from our sins and turn towards the Mighty One, Jesus. Or in the words of Peter, let our lives be characterized by “holiness” in all that we do and marked by “devotion” to our Lord.

God Never Gives Up On Us (Immaculate Conception)

There’s so much brokenness in this world... in our communities... in our families... my family... in ourselves...  my self... that somehow sin and its effects become more apparent to us than the grace of God.  

Lest we succumb to the hopelessness of being forever subjected to the universal curse of sin, today’s Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception reminds us that God has never given up on us.  We gather to reflect upon the profound mystery of God's plan for the salvation of humanity. This feast reminds us of the consequences of sin and brokenness in our lives, but also of the immense love and graciousness of our Heavenly Father, who never gives up on us.

Sin has marred our existence as presented to us by the first reading from the Book of Genesis (Gen 3:9-15, 20) where we are reminded of the sin of humanity's first parents-- disobedience to God.  It has fractured our relationship with God and with one another. It has caused pain, suffering, and division in our world. We experience the effects of sin in our daily lives, in our thoughts, words, and actions. We fall short, we stumble, and we feel the weight of our own helplessness in the face of temptations and struggles.

But in this darkness, we find a glimmer of hope, a ray of divine light. God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, chose a woman named Mary and favoured her with “fullness of grace” since her conception so that, having been saved from the vicious clout of sin, she may bring forth the spotless saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, into this world... to heal it, to make it whole again, to re-create it.   

Mary, immaculately conceived, stands before us as a sign of hope and a source of inspiration. She is the exemplar of God's graciousness and His unwavering love for humanity. While we may feel helpless in the face of sin, God never abandons us. He chose Mary to be the vessel through which His Son would enter our world, to redeem us and offer us the gift of salvation.

In the gospel reading today, Mary inspires us with her response to God's grace: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk. 1: 37). Through Mary's fiat, her "yes" to God's plan, she embodies our own response to God's call for redemption. In her obedience, humility, and faith, she becomes a model for us to imitate. Mary's life teaches us that, despite our brokenness, God's grace can transform us into vessels of His love and mercy.

As we celebrate this solemnity, let us reflect on the depth of God's love for us. Let us acknowledge our own sinfulness, brokenness, and helplessness. But let us also embrace the hope that Mary represents, recognizing that God's grace has the power to heal, restore, and transform us.

Today, we ask for the intercession of the Immaculate Conception, the ever-virgin Mary, to help us on our journey towards holiness. May she guide us, inspire us, and teach us how to surrender ourselves completely to God's will. Through her prayers, may we experience the graciousness of God, who never abandons us, but continually calls us to newness of life.

May the feast of the Immaculate Conception remind us of the precious gift of God's grace and the transformative power it holds. Let us strive to live lives worthy of this grace, allowing Mary's example to guide us to our ultimate destination, eternal union with God.

* * *

Today, as I fix my eyes on Mary, I let my tears flow for I am humbled by my brokenness but I am lifted up by the confidence that God has not given up on me and He will never ever give up on me.

Vigilance for Peace (1st Sunday Advent B)

(An Advent message for the celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace 2023)

We gather here on the first Sunday of Advent, a time of joyful anticipation and preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today's Gospel reading from the Book of Mark (Mk. 13: 33-37) gives us important lessons about vigilance and being prepared. Jesus said, "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come."

As we reflect on this message, we also find ourselves in the midst of the celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace which started on November 30 and ends on December 6. Let us take this opportunity to be reminded of our Christian commitment in building a culture of dialogue among the diversity of cultures in Mindanao and, particularly to us, in the province of Lanao del Norte.  We ardently pray for peace especially as we witness with anxiety the rise of violence and conflicts in the world today. This week serves as a call for vigilance in actively praying and working for peace through harmony and acts of solidarity.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks to his disciples about being vigilant, always ready for the coming of the Son of Man: "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come." But vigilance must go beyond watching for the second coming of Christ. Vigilance applies to the challenges of our everyday lives, and extends to our relationships and interactions with others. Vigilance means being present and engaged with those around us, and being watchful for the presence of Christ among us every day.

The celebration of the Mindanao Week of Peace calls us to be vigilant for peace—vigilant in guarding the culture of dialogue which we have endeavored for many years already. Let us not allow misunderstandings, hateful sentiments, and forms of conflicts from within and from the different parts of the world to weaken our commitment to live in harmonious co-existence as children of God. This week of peace invites us to strengthen even more our continuing commitment of building the culture of dialogue whereby we actively seek to understand one another, to respect and embrace the richness of diversity, and to foster unity amidst our differences. Let us dearly hold our conviction that this culture of dialogue is an antidote to the conflicts and violence that plague our world today.

Dialogue requires humility, openness, and a genuine desire to listen. It is only when we truly listen to one another that we can bridge the gaps that divide us. It is through dialogue that we can find common ground, build relationships, and work towards genuine peace.

As we light the first Advent candle, let it remind us of the light of Christ that shines in our lives, illuminating the path towards peace. Let it also remind us of our shared responsibility to be watchful and vigilant, not just for Christ's second coming but also for everyday opportunities to build peace and foster dialogue in our communities.

May this Advent season be a time of deep reflection and renewal for each one of us. Let us commit ourselves to be agents of peace, builders of dialogue, and true witnesses of solidarity. May we work tirelessly to create a world that celebrates diversity, welcomes harmonious co-existence, and rejects violence and war. In doing so, we become living examples of God's love and mercy, living in peace together as His beloved children.

As we journey through this season of Advent and continue to celebrate the Mindanao Week of Peace, let us remember Jesus' words: "What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!" Together, through our collective vigilance and commitment, may our beloved Mindanao truly grow in peace and harmony.

May God bless you all abundantly in this Advent season, and may you anticipate the coming of our Lord as you allow His peace and love to dwell in your hearts now and forever.

Royal Disguise (Christ the King A)

A story was told of a well-loved king who was curious about how his people were treating one another.  To know firsthand what was going on in his kingdom, he went into the villages disguised as a street sweeper.  There, to his utter dismay, he was ignored by many and insulted by some.  Very few were charitable to him.  He went back to his palace and instructed his ministers to do everything in their power to teach the people how to respect one another especially the poor.  After a month, the king disguised himself again, this time as a poor beggar, and mingled with the people. To his surprise, no one jeered at him nor ignored him.  Instead he was greeted with respect and people were charitable to him.  The well-loved king went back to his palace satisfied and praised his ministers for what they had done.  

What had they done?  The ministers had sent the messenger to spread the word that their beloved king was in their midst.  

The awareness that their beloved king was among them trained them to treat one another with respect. 
Even a poor beggar had to be treated with dignity because he might just be the king!

Christ the King and his identification with the poor. “I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me” (Mt. 25: 40). Once again today, as we celebrate the end of the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King, we are reminded that our King has identified himself with the least of our brothers and sisters—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, and those who are in prison. To serve the King, we need not travel far and wide. We just have to see him in those who come to us in need.

Our generation is blessed to have known Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her life was known to the whole world as an eloquent witness to an authentic Christian life. Her eloquence was not in her words. It was in her deeds. Or should we find her words very powerful despite the simplicity, it is because her words flow from her acts of love and commitment to help the poorest of the poor. When asked how she could endure all that she was doing for the poor like cleaning the wounds of a leper or feeding a malnourished child or embracing an abandoned dying AIDS patient, she would explain that it was the suffering Christ that she saw in them. The love that she lavished on them was her love for Jesus Christ, the King. Her words continue to reverberate: “No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.”

Our passivity vis-a-vis the poor in our midst. The poor, the hungry, the abandoned, the homeless, the sick continue to beg for our concern and love. Their continued presence in our midst might have so much inured us to the horror of poverty and destitution that we begin to accept with utter passivity that’s just how things are. We need not do anything. Or the other way around, we might just be so overwhelmed that we react with hasty and convenient solutions, the immoralities of which we are happy to cover up by actually believing that we are concerned about helping the poor. But in fact, we just hate them and their number. We want to get rid of them effectively!

This is not unthinkable in a society which is practically getting rid of God and his precepts. The poor, to whom Christ the King identified himself, are helplessly dispensable. The rich and the powerful, however, enjoy their cherished prerogatives.

Kingship as a Christian call to service. Today’s feast reminds us that in the Christian perspective, Kingship means servanthood. Nowhere else is the reversal of values more apparent than in this humble calling of a Christian king. Our readings for today bring to the fore the image of the Shepherd King—a King whose concern is not his own glorification but the welfare of his flock. Like Yahweh, the shepherd in the first reading culled from the book of Ezekiel (Ez 34: 11-12, 15-17), Christ is the shepherd and provider of his flock. Moreover, He will come, at the last judgment, as a Shepherd King who will hold us accountable for our human conduct on the basis of whether or not we have served one another and especially the least among us (Mt. 25: 31-46).

To a sincere Christian, the face of poverty and destitution is the face of the suffering Christ.  Others may show some concern for the poor for different reasons, political expediency being one of them; but a true Christian serves the least of his/her brothers and sisters for love of Christ, the King.

Among the many faces of the poor I am confronted with everyday, where is Christ the King that I may serve him with love in whatever capacity I am endowed with?

  

Talents and Accountability (33rd Sunday Ordinary A)

I remember Lynlyn, a working student my mother sent to school several years ago. While staying in our home and assisting my mom with the domestic chores, she diligently completed her college degree in Education. Lynlyn was truly admirable.  Instead of complaining about life’s poverty and deprivation, she faithfully faced every single day doing what she could with the little that life had given her.  I remember whenever I was home, I would notice her industriousness in doing the house chores and her capacity to endure extended hours of studying and completing her class requirements. Eventually, she graduated and took the teacher’s board examination. I was, by chance, at home on the day of the release of the result.  I asked her if she made it. She smiled sheepishly and nodded! Lynlyn is now a teacher.    

When life seems to have given us very little as compared to the abundance the others enjoy, it’s so easy to wallow in the mud of self-pity.  I think, Lynlyn stands for a person who has been given less in life but does not succumb to the temptation of defeat.  Instead, she rises above the seeming unfairness of life by capitalizing whatever little she has got.

Today’s gospel is the Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25:14-30). Three servants are entrusted with five, two, and one talent respectively to be invested in the master’s absence.  Talent was the largest unit of currency known at that time.  Other translations render a talent as a thousand silver pieces.  Hence, the first servant is entrusted with five thousand silver pieces, the second with two thousand, the third with one thousand silver pieces.  Today we understand talents as some skills and personal qualities we are gifted with.  While the parable does not intend to legitimize, much less glorify, the inequalities in life, it instructs us about our sense of responsibility especially in view of the final accounting at the end of time.  We are accountable to our Master.  Our accountability is in direct proportion to the abilities with which we have been entrusted. 

Much is expected from whom much is given.  Hence, the master in the parable is happy with the first two servants who manage to double the amount they have entrusted with. But while the master does not expect much from him who has been given very little, he still expects at least whatever enterprising spirit that could be harnessed with whatever little resources made available.  Hence, the third servant who just buried his talent out of his negative notion of his master is rightly met with his master’s anger and punishment.

In application to life, I submit the following lessons:

There is no use complaining about what we do not have in life. Focusing too much in what we do not have can lead us to self-pity and defeat. We would rather do well appreciating who we are and what we have, even how little it is. This appreciation brings hope and strengthens our determination to overcome the lack in our life.  To those who are given less in life, God does not expect much more than what He has given them. But He surely invites them to show that they can be trusted even in small matters: “Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities” (Mt. 25:21). Mother Teresa of Calcutta is known to have said this: Not all of us can do great things but we all can do small things with great love.” So, stop complaining. Be faithful with the small things entrusted to you. Carry it out with great love. You’ll see that the world is a little better because of you.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” To those who are blessed with plenty in life, it’s good to remember that much is expected from you.  Many people end up as underachievers because they do not put to use the gifts they have been blessed with. Or they recognize their gifts but they refuse to accept the responsibility. So they spend life wasting what they have been given unable to contribute to the transformation of society and the world into a better place.  Underachievers are, needless to say, a real disappointment to God, the giver of gifts. When we experience God’s generosity, let us be grateful. Gratitude is appreciation of what we have been endowed with and a commitment to return the favor.

Whether we have received plenty or little in life, we will all be held accountable. Again, our accountability shall be in direct proportion to the capacities we have been endowed with.  After all, we are invited to be responsible and trustworthy stewards.  We pray and hope, then, that our life shall be a proof that we can be truly trusted with small matters on earth and, hence, deserving of greater things in heaven.

The Unexpected God (32nd Sunday Ordinary A)

To say that God is the unexpected God can mean two things:  Either He is the God of surprises whose ways and thoughts are far beyond human reckoning or He is the God whose presence many of us are not eager about.

The early Christians certainly awaited the God of surprises.  They waited vigilantly for the surprise second coming of our Lord.  Initially, they believed in the imminent Parousia—that the Lord will come again during their generation as evidenced in today’s second reading, Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thes  4:13-18), where Paul consoles the community by assuring them that the beloved dead will rise again in Christ as He comes and those who are living “will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (v. 17).  In this context of their belief in the imminent coming of our Lord, to be prepared is the order of the day. The Lord’s coming will happen just anytime. It will be a surprise.  So, everyone’s on their toes.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt. 25: 1-13), then, is obviously not about the moral value of virginity.  Thanks be to God! Rather, the parable is all about preparedness as the manifestation of wisdom. This is exemplified by the five wise virgins who prepared enough oil for their lamps to last them through the groom’s unknown but imminent arrival. Foolishness is exemplified by the other five virgins’ lack of foresight and vigilance which caused them their eventual exclusion from the banquet.  The moral of the parable is clear: Be wise. Be prepared for surprises! The Lord will come but no one knows the day or the hour.

The contemporary attitude towards God, I submit, lacks the wisdom of the urgency with which the early Christians manifested towards the prospect of the Lord’s coming. Today, the “unexpected God” assumes the second meaning:  He is the God whose coming to our lives is not met with eagerness. We are not expectant about God’s coming.  We are contented in maintaining a rather lackadaisical relationship with Him, that if we ever have one.  It is as if we have run out of oil for our lamps—that inner disposition of vigilance to match the surprises of God.

Today’s difficulty is not so much the unbelief of modernity.  It’s the indifference of this age.  There is respect for one another’s religious belief, only as recognition of freedom. But most people do not really care about relationship with God much less about setting the precepts of God as the norm for our social life.  Nowhere is this religious indifference more manifested than in the superficiality of the concerns of the youth of today.  This age is more concerned about the externals and matters that last for a moment than about the invitation to interiority, depth, and lasting commitment.  This is because the former is fun and cool. The latter is perceived to be weird and boring.

Today’s readings are an invitation to be wise.  Amid this prevalent religious indifference and superficiality around us, wisdom gives us the proper perspective and the ability to discern what is essential from among our overwhelming passing fancies.  To be wise means to order our life concerns towards its proper end—God.  To be wise is to have that interior disposition to recognize the surprises of God whenever He comes into our lives unexpectedly.

God is the unexpected God.  He is the God of surprises.  The wise are always prepared whenever God comes into their lives.  Wide-eyed, they welcome Him and his grace.  The foolish, with their indifference and superficiality, remain clueless about what they are missing.

Serving Better and Humbler (31st Sunday Ordinary A)

The hierarchy is a gift to the Church.  But like any other good things, it can easily be subjected to abuse.  It is a gift because it facilitates better service.  Since the early Christianity, levels of ministering to the needs of the people have been established.  The designated positions like diaconate, presbyterate, episcopate are positions of ministering.  These are always understood in the spirit of the gospel today:  The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest.

                                                             

In my homily for the thanksgiving mass of a newly ordained priest, I reminded him that the priesthood conferred upon him is foremost a position of service.  Since we both play tennis, I couched my message in tennis language:  Priesthood is a lot like tennis.  To be the best, you’ve got to serve well.  In order to serve well, you need to do a lot of practice. (I’m not sure now if he got me right. I heard he’s now spending a lot more time in tennis courts than in the church!).

Positions in the hierarchy can be abused. And it’s alarmingly easy.  It begins when positions held for the ministry turn into self-serving use of power and authority.  The abuse strengthens and becomes institutionalized when the higher one goes up the ladder the more one gains leverage to serve one’s own convenience and demands members to honor him properly with fantastic titles, front seats,  privileges, and what not.

In today’s gospel (Mt. 23:1-12), Jesus takes issue at the abuses of ministerial positions and authority by the scribes and the Pharisees.  Jesus affirms them as legitimate leaders following Moses. But he instructs his disciples not to imitate their example for “their words are bold but their deeds are few. They bind up heavy loads, hard to carry, to lay on other men’s shoulders, while they themselves will not lift a finger to budge them. All their works are performed to be seen... they are fond of places of honor at banquets, and front seats in synagogues, of marks of respect in public and of being called ‘Rabbi.’”

Jesus continues his instructions by telling his disciples that among them the desire to serve must be the motivation for assuming any community position and humility must be the accompanying attitude: “The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

The witnessing of St. Paul in Thessalonica is exemplary of an authentic Christian leader, an apostle.  In the second reading (1 Thes 2: 7-9, 13), we read Paul’s description of his service as a leader among the Thessalonians. He was caring, gentle, and dedicated. He did not impose any form of burden upon them. In fact, he even worked for a living in order to provide for his own needs while preaching to them the Good News. 

This Sunday, I believe, is a grace-filled opportunity for self-criticism and evaluation on the part of the leaders of the Church today.  Hierarchical positions, as I have noted, can easily be abused.  The person to whom the ministerial position has been conferred may gradually be intoxicated by the respect and endearment afforded by generous and loving members.  When the sense of entitlement creeps in, the minister may unwittingly begin to demand the privileges for himself and end up losing the original vocation to serve others.   The authority conferred may be wielded not for the good of all and of God’s Kingdom but for the advancement of personal agenda instead. Today’s reading is a healthy reminder that among the Christian communities any difference in position and any form of entrusted authority are justified only by the requirement of the ministry. 

Among the laity, in this time of lay empowerment when the lay are rightly tapped for important positions in the different ministries and apostolate of the Church, the same reminder is very helpful.  Our business in the Church is service and not to lord it over the people.  It is not uncommon to hear criticism among the lay regarding the authoritarian attitudes of lay leaders.  “Mas istrikto pa kay Father!” Or worse, we hear of pastoral council president competing with the authority of the parish priest.  The result: Division among the flock.

Let us not follow the example of the Scribes and Pharisees.  Jesus himself explicitly enjoins us that.  Instead, let us serve in the spirit of St. Paul’s gentle, caring and dedicated leadership and ministering among the Thessalonians. 

And in a healthy self-criticism, let us save the Church from our own abuses of the gift of authority. 

Forgive me Lord for the times I have marred the gift of hierarchy by attending first and foremost to my own convenience through the authority entrusted to me.  Give me the grace to serve much better and humbler. Amen.

A Disturbing Commandment (30th Sunday Ordinary A)

It is so easy to spiritualize concrete social problems like hunger and poverty by doing nothing about them except to pray for those who are suffering.  That is why many of us can be misled to believe that to fulfil our Christian obligation it is enough to express our love of God by our devotional piety.  We make sure that we go to Church for our prayers, devotions, and religious observance. 

Loving God by way of our pious activities is of itself praiseworthy as long as this does not lead us to spiritual escapism—meaning, the tendency to withdraw from the hard realities of life and seek easy solutions in devotional spiritual practices.  When we are confronted with the real needs of our poor neighbours and we offer no commitment in helping them in whatever way we can, our prayers may be a form of escape from the inconveniences of offering concrete and helpful solutions, our devotional piety may actually be devoid of authentic love of God.

Others may move towards the opposite direction.  They may be so consumed by the horror of human suffering that they commit their whole life in the service of the suffering neighbours and altogether forget about God.  Therefore, no more need for prayer or going to Church. This is the pitfall of activism. This happens when our love of neighbour does not stem from our love of God.

Today’s gospel (Mt. 22: 34-40) presents to us the two greatest commandments and allows us to see that the indissolubility of their essential connection is the foundation of an authentic Christian moral life. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all you heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (vv. 37-39).

Love of God and love of neighbour have to be seen as intersecting demands of love lest we fall into the traps of spiritual escapism, on the one hand, and of activism, on the other.  The Catechism for Filipino Catholics explains this interactive relationship between these two commandments of love in three levels:

As Christians, then, we know, first, that our genuine human love is a participation in God’s love. “Love consists in this, not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us” (1 Jn 4:10). Second, through Christ and the Spirit, God is really present in both our neighbour’s and our very own loving. “If we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn 4:12). Thus, our love for our neighbour contains within it a direct orientation to God. Third, our explicit love of God clearly brings out our deepest love of neighbour (CFC, par. 944).

Hence, one is a liar when he claims to love God whom he cannot see and not love his fellow whom he can see.  

Once, I was heading on foot to a chapel in Marikina to celebrate an anticipated mass as a guest priest. It was almost dark. While passing by a food chain, I smelt something repulsively foul as I saw the garbage was being scavenged by what I thought were dogs.  I was taken aback when I realized that they were not dogs. I saw a man, a woman and a child eating the left over thrown into the garbage.  The picture of a family having dinner in that garbage with its stomach-turning stench would haunt me until now. That evening while the community who invited me was celebrating Eucharist in praise of God’s name, a family was trying to survive by eating the community’s refuse. During the homily, I made mention of what I saw and how I was tremendously disturbed. How can we profess love of God as a community when all at the same time we just accept as a matter of fact a family to be reduced to such subhuman living conditions? The chapel was very silent. Probably we were all disturbed.

I realized today’s gospel is actually disturbing.  The commandment of love disturbs our otherwise complacent life.  Love, after all, is inherently disturbing.  When we commit to respond to God’s love, we find ourselves challenged to reach out not only to God but to those who need our love badly.

I was not bound to stay with the community for I was a passing guest priest.  But, at the least, I was able to share my feeling of disturbance.  The community ought to be disturbed so that the love they have for God may become the very force that propels them to respond to the hunger of their neighbours.

We all individually seem to be helpless in front of the magnitude of the call to love our neighbour.  But again, we can and we ought to face the challenge of loving our neighbours as communities.  This is the value of forming organizations.  Our religious organizations ought to empower each of us to respond to the challenge of loving—that through the love of God shared together by all members, they may have the collective means to respond to the neighbours’ evident hunger for love.

Love of God and love of neighbour are at the heart of our Christian moral life. If we take them separately and unrelated to each other we end up impoverishing the power of love.  Love becomes lame, unable to respond to the challenge of authentic change in our communities. But taken together, they make for the most disturbing principle that propels all Christians to live according to the vision of the God of love.

Kristiyano Ako, Kaya Makabayan! (29th Sunday Ordinary A)

 “Kristiyano ako, kaya makabayan!”  I saw this slogan around the Ateneo de Manila campus when I was studying at the Loyola School of Theology.  If I’m not mistaken, the slogan was crafted by the Jesuit’s social movement, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB). “I am a Christian and therefore a responsible citizen.” Faith in the God of Jesus Christ draws us to love our country by becoming responsible citizens. Our vertical loyalty to God is our motivation for our horizontal responsibility to our land and one another.  Loyalty to God is not just incompatible with love of country; more so, it is the very inspiration of the faithful to become agents of transformation in our land.

I submit that this is one constructive interpretation of the spirit of Jesus’ words in today’s gospel (Mt. 22: 15-21).  Outsmarting those who put him under the trap of choosing between loyalties to either God and the Emperor, Jesus gives an elusive answer but with a sound logic of its own when he says “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

One easy interpretation of this passage tends to see in these words the radical autonomy between political and religious spheres. These two spheres, in this view, may not be in opposition with each other but they have nothing to do with each other.  This is “to-each-his-own view” or the “two-kingdom theory.”  But this interpretation which simply juxtaposes the two spheres would imply that Caesar and God are of equal footing.  This is very unlikely because it is horrible to see Jesus proposing equality of authority between God and the emperor.  No! That’s the height of blasphemy!  Jesus has been clear and passionate about reserving the absolute sovereignty of God and his Kingdom. Everything else for him is secondary.

While we render basic respect to our earthly rulers, as it is demanded by the common good in the temporal order, we’ve got to uphold that respect under our total submission to the sovereignty of God. In the words of Roland J. Faley, TOR: “The response to God must be total, not in any way divided. Questions of civil authority are secondary, even peripheral.  In submitting totally to the sovereignty of God, the concerns of lesser authorities will be met. But allegiance to God must be seen as absolute.”

God’s will for humanity and the social order must be the vantage point from which we ought to cooperate with other necessary authorities in ensuring the common good.  God wills that we all live in peaceful, harmonious, just and loving communities.   Therefore, a Christian who believes in this loving God is necessarily a responsible citizen ever ready to throw his hat into the ring of nation-building.  The aim is to build our societies according to God’s design.  Measures that run contrary to God’s precepts will have moral repercussions.  

I’m aware that proclaiming God’s sovereign will is, at the least, unpopular particularly these days when societies are becoming more and more secular and even, I say this with shivers, Godless.  I think humanity has come to the height of its arrogance by relegating to the sidelines the God who sustains everything believing that humanity’s intelligence and creativity is sufficient.  The more power a sector of humanity wields, the more arrogant they become. And what is the result of this arrogance? See for yourself.  Look around.  I have a feeling that almost everything is falling apart.  When we realize how broken this world has become, it’s funny we ask “Where’s God?” “How can a loving God allow these things, these sufferings to happen?”

An appeal then to those who remain faithful to God:  Let our loyalty to God’s will propel us to become responsible citizens... not arrogant citizens... citizens who continue to hold God’s vision as our direction for establishing a truly humane society, respecting and cooperating with rightful and conscientious authorities.  Let us not be the cause of the brokenness of this world because of our human conceit.  Let us be the source of healing instead.  With unwavering faith only in God, we toil and pray that the Lord may heal our land—this includes Caesar or whoever represents him in our contemporary system of governance because, he likes it or not, he could use some sincere prayers.

“Kristiyano ako, kaya makabayan!”  God bless us.

God's Disappointment (27th Sunday Ordinary A)

As a young priest then, I had been given a rare opportunity to start a parish out of a rural community. The enthusiasm of the parishioners was its greatest asset.  But the material and financial resources needed to begin though gave me anxious and sleepless nights. I wrote to friends asking for help and, you see, the blessings came in pouring! Hence, the parish gradually took off quite decently. This privileged experience of being blessed with supportive friends awakened in me a deep sense of gratitude and faith in the abiding presence of God. Once in the silence of the night, I prayed in tears thanking God for the privilege.

Blessings are meant to stir up in us the sense of gratitude, service and worship. But I am aware too that blessings and privileges can lead us to opposite directions. They can be intoxicating like any other good things in life.  They can lead us to a sense of entitlement instead of gratitude. When this happens we begin to demand rather than serve; we crave for more blessings and privileges no longer as a gift but as a matter of right. We enjoy and love them even more than we enjoy and love the Giver Himself, the God of providence. If we allow this to happen, we end up a real disappointment to God.

Jesus, in today’s gospel (Mt. 21:33-43), narrates another parable to express his disappointment with the religious leaders and elders of the people of Israel.  The Parable of the Tenants is a criticism of their leadership. Symbolized by the tenants, they were the ones entrusted with the care of “the vineyard”-- the chosen people of God.  The privilege of being the guardian of the elect people of God intoxicated them.  They began to act as if they own the vineyard. They refused to give an accounting of their produce to the owner and worse, they rejected and killed the owner’s emissaries and even the Son himself.  The parable shows the fact that the Jewish religious leaders forgot their true mandate—to bring the people of God to authentic worship and fidelity to God’s covenant with them. They were so blinded by their revered religious position that they rejected the prophets’ call for reform. They rejected even Jesus and his proclamation of the Kingdom of God. In short, they were a real disappointment.  The privileges given them ought to be revoked: “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” (v. 43).

The privilege of the special election of the people of Israel was supposedly a blessing that ought to bring out a grateful response that leads to faithfulness in God’s will.  But, alas, this did not transpire. They were so engrossed with the privilege and their sense of entitlement that they grew oblivious of the God who elected them and made them special.

Moving beyond the original intent of the parable, I believe we can appropriate its challenge for us today.  Are we not disappointing God with how we manage every form of blessing and privilege he has entrusted to us? Looking around, I’m afraid I have to say that God must be disappointed.

God shares with us his abundance.  Wealth is a gift and a blessing. It ensures that we all live in dignity. But people tend to hoard this blessing only for the elite few. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. So that some are living in luxury while others are subjected to subhuman conditions for want of basic necessities in life.  God’s abundance is also manifested in creation. If we look at our natural resources, we have exploited it without qualms. Our unbridled consumerism and wasteful lifestyle are taking their toll on the sustainability of creation. Did we not hear it said that we need four planets like Earth for us to catch up with the on-going feverish demand of our consumption?

God shares with us his power and authority.  These are necessary for the service of the common good. But look how we have been misusing these blessings as the very force that sustains and builds up the culture of corruption in every nook and cranny of the corridors of power. See how we have transformed these very blessings into a Machiavellian principle of oppressing the weak in order to perpetuate self-aggrandizement. 

God gives us the blessing of human sexuality that we may have the capacity for intimate relationship and to be God’s co-creator.  But we have allowed this sacred gift to deteriorate into a lucrative commodity in pornography and prostitution.  We want to enjoy the pleasure it brings but we deliberately avoid the procreative responsibility for which it is naturally meant. And what more, our societies have enshrined into law the basis for contraceptive mentality and culture of “safe sex” in the guise of concern for the plight of the poor!  

We can go on and on with a litany of blessings and privileges God has conferred on us and come to an honest assessment that God is most likely disappointed with us. It’s good to ask this on a personal level:  What are the blessings and privileges that I am enjoying in life? Have these led me to a grateful disposition and hence to a loving service of God’s people and intimate relationship with God?

Let us not push God to the end of his rope.  When God is disappointed with us, we ought to remember that He who confers can take back the blessings and privileges when these no longer serve their rightful purpose.

Change of Mind (26th Sunday Ordinary A)

As held by an unwritten law, women have the privilege to change their mind. An old adage has it: "A woman's mind and winter wind change oft." Billy Joel’s “She’s always a Woman to Me” has this witty refrain many of us love to croon: “Oh and she never gives out and she never gives in, she just changes her mind.”  Apparently Billy gets away with this stereotyping as women themselves love the song too; they find it cute and even flattering!  Perhaps they find it actually expedient to be fickle-minded.

It’s not only women who change their minds though.  All of us do. I saw on a sticker: "The only person who can't change his mind is the one who hasn't got one." On the surface, today’s parable of the two sons is about changing minds.  One says “No” to their father’s injunction to work in the vineyard, only to change his mind later and goes to work. The other says “Yes” but changes his mind too and never reports to work.  So, the one who initially signifies refusal ends up actually following his father’s command and the other who starts off with a confident confirmation falls out of his father’s grace.

When seen in the context of the other readings for today, the parable is not simply a lesson on fickle-mindedness.  The "change of mind" in the parable is really not about the whimsical and capricious inconstancy of a woman's mind and winter wind.  The change rather refers to the profound movement of conversion:  The movement of turning away and turning towards.  Specifically, turning away from sin and turning towards God.  The first son is a sinner who later converted and turned towards God.  The second is a virtuous man but is fettered by his self-righteousness hence gradually moves away from God.  In the parable, the first son represents the tax collectors and prostitutes who mended their ways; the second represents the religious leaders of Judaism who were imprisoned by their own brand of holiness.

There’s irony here. The poignant paradox of moral life is already hinted at by the first reading: “When a virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if a wicked man, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life” (Ez. 18:26-27).  

In short, the sin of the virtuous man is his own undoing; the humility of the sinner is his salvation.  Let me treat this a little deeper for our reflection.

The sin of the virtuous person.  This is the yes-turned-no of the religious leaders of Judaism in Jesus’ time.  This is our own stance of self-righteousness today. The greatest temptation of a virtuous person is to be intoxicated with his sense of holiness as one can be intoxicated with power.  The person begins to be proud of himself, even without knowing it. And while he may honestly believe in his humility, he ceases to feel the need for conversion.  He’ll never be seen on his bended knees to beg for mercy. He does not need it.  He’s perfectly fine. He’s a virtuous man after all. And he loves the feeling. No one should dare take it from him.

The “pride of holiness” seems to be an oxymoron but, no, pride can perfectly thrive in a false sense of holiness.  This is the irony: He who prides of his holiness ends up falling out of God’s grace. Very sad and tragic scenario!

The humility of the sinner.  Many times we say “No” not because we don’t care but because we feel unworthy of something.  The feeling of unworthiness leaves a disturbing empty space in us that longs for wholeness.  That is why Jesus was powerfully appealing to the sinners of his time.  He spent time with them. He announced the Good News of God’s love and mercy to them.  He was the living spring from where they longed to drink in order to quench their parched and thirsty souls.

The humble stance of helplessness allows a repentant sinner to change his “No” to a “Yes.”  The change of mind here is not the stereotyped capricious fickle-mindedness of a woman.  It’s rather the profound movement of conversion which transpires in a person who is humble enough to admit his need for mercy and who begs for it.  Again, the irony: the unworthy sinner ends up rejoicing in the abundance of God’s healing grace. The happy ending scenario we all wish for!

To sum up: Jesus, in the second reading, is the epitome of humility. He was in the form of God but did not regard equality with God. He emptied himself taking the form of a slave, of human likeness. He humbled himself accepting even death on a cross! But because of this humility, God exalted him, gave him the name above every name so that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! (Phil 2:5-11).

We all need a change of mind—not in the sense of fickle-mindedness but in the profound sense of conversion. Jesus’ parable and own example all point out to the power of humility to set us off to the right direction of change—from a sinful life to a life of grace.

God despises the proud and self-righteous; He lifts up the humble of heart.

Love at the Eleventh Hour (25th Sunday Ordinary A)

Nothing is too late for this loving God.  His love and his grace are freely given to those who seek him even at the eleventh hour.  He is ready to offer his love just anytime.  To those who come at the last hour, he showers his underserved love just the same.

This loving God turns our world upside down.  We order our values and priorities this way; He shows us what is essential to life quite another way--oftentimes, the exact reversal of our human reckoning.  We establish consistent and obliging norms for our individual and communal acts; He intervenes in our lives beyond these norms we set.  In humility, then, we ought to listen to this God through his Prophet Isaiah:  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways... As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Is 55: 8-9). God’s ways are simply beyond us.

These words of the prophet in the first reading prepare us for the unpredictable God of the gospel today.  He is the landowner in the parable who hired labourers in his vineyard at five different intervals and paid all of them equally with the customary day’s wage.  In other words, those who came in early to work and those who came in at the last hour of the day received the same amount from him as their wage. 

Isn’t it unfair?  Our impeccable human sense of equity is tempted to say, “Yes, unfair! It is a complete disregard of commutative justice.” But we hesitate.  The parable invites us to ponder more deeply and come to a deeper insight into the free and loving acts of God.  Allow me to offer two points for our reflection:

First, God’s moment is not governed by chronos but is manifested in kairos.  Chronos and kairos are two helpful Greek concepts of time. Chronos is clock time. Calendar time.  Sequential time.  This helps us organize our lives well.  With a Rolex watch on our wrist, we can be precise with our time management... or so the advertisement goes.  We can quantify time and execute our plans by the hour from day one to the day we die.  With chronos, we have an accurate sense of who came early and who got in real late.  We even invented the Bundy clock to monitor and quantify work time.   Since we benefit so much from this time category we also take it for granted that God works within the same paradigm forgetting that He is eternal... timeless... hence beyond chronos. 

God’s actions in history are manifested in kairos which is use in the New Testament to mean “the appointed time in the purpose of God.”  It is any moment when God acts.  Freely.  Lovingly.  Not imprisoned by the rigidity of our time inventions.  If we come to think of it, the precision of Rolex time doesn’t matter much to the eternal God.  God’s only time is the one and lasting moment of the now.  The time that matters to him is every moment that his lost son or daughter finally comes home to accept his mercy and love.  It even doesn’t matter to him who came in early or late, who served him the longest or shortest.  He does not use the Bundy clock. All, including him who comes at the eleventh hour, receive the same grace He intends for his people. 

We have developed acute sense of chronos.  We have become time conscious in its chronological sense for our human purposes.  We even blow our tops when time is not observed as planned. But are we time conscious in the sense of kairos?  Can we go past the familiar tic-tac of the clock and recognize instead the glorious moments when God acts in our lives to accomplish his purpose?  Have we celebrated these precious moments in life when God bathed us with his grace?    

Second, God deals with us not with strict justice but with love.  If God were to use our human standard of justice in dealing with us sinners, who would survive?  Yet we expect God to be just.  While listening to the parable, what makes our eyebrows meet with disbelief is the part when the landowner gives the same wage for everyone.  We feel there’s lack of equity. Others have worked longer. How come those who worked for the last hour receive the same amount as those who worked the whole day? This smacks of injustice, so we think.  Again, we are invited to think deeper.  Justice is rendering whatever is due by right. Those who worked the whole day actually received what is due as agreed upon beforehand.  So, there isn’t a real justice problem here. The issue at hand is actually this: that those who worked in fewer hours received more than what they deserved.  The issue here is not of justice but of our sense of envy in the face of God’s generosity to those whom we believe are undeserving.  God’s action is beyond justice. God deals with us with love. And God’s love is gratuitous. God renders not just what is due by right but grants even what is undeserved!

The landowner in the parable asks, “Are you envious because I’m generous?”  Oftentimes we cannot believe that God still acts lovingly to those who do not deserve his love.  All too often we wish that God be the strict God of justice.   We want him to be like us—calculating and exacting.  But sorry, or shall I say, thank God, God’s ways are not our ways.

Again, I would like to say what I have said: Nothing is too late for this loving God.  His gratuitous love shines even more at the eleventh hour.  He is ready to offer his love just anytime.  To those who come at the last hour, he showers his underserved love just the same.