Quest for Eternal Life (20th Sunday Ordinary B)

Was it in the mid-90s that we heard of the health product “Forever Living?” It is a variety of food supplements that promise better health and, therefore, longer life. The name even bears the audacious suggestion of immortality! No wonder that a good number of people have been taking it even if its maintenance costs them an arm and a leg. After all, life is precious.

Among the hoi polloi though who couldn’t afford expensive health supplements, Ernie Baron, known to be the “walking encyclopedia,” popularized his “Pito-Pito”— a blend of seeds or leaves of seven traditional medicinal plants—as a cure-all tea for health problems.

To date, countless health products mushroomed in the market, the latest being that of a stem-cell booster to keep our cells and tissues young. What a wonder! Good news for the “baby boomers” who wish to feel and look a generation younger.

Despite the “culture of death” that is gradually creeping in, e.g. the conspiracy of legalizing measures that suppress the flourishing of life, I believe, humanity’s love for life is inextinguishable. We all see this as people swim for dear life and heroically rescue one another in the face of super typhoons and heavy rains that have flooded thousands of houses. Needless to say, we see life as precious. And not only that, the human spirit will always refuse to die as it has an incontrovertible sense of its eternal destiny.

The gospel reading this Sunday (Jn 6:51-58) is the third sequel of the Bread of Life discourse. This is already the third Sunday that we’ve been reflecting on the theme: Jesus, the Bread of Life. This gospel is the real good news. It has to say about the human spirit’s quest for eternal life.

I think, for all of us who consciously or unconsciously desire to live forever, the gospel today has something to offer that food supplements and health tea cannot. Jesus’ body is the “true food” and his blood the “true drink.” The gospel promises that whoever eats the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks his blood has eternal life (v. 54).

I would like us to reflect more deeply on that promise of eternal life. Almost always we take “eternal life” to mean everlasting life or, as the name of the food supplement suggests, “forever living.” And this is to be experienced in the hereafter. People are always concerned about the length of life. But essentially eternal life is more about the quality of life than just about the length. For who would want longevity if such a life, corrupted by sin, is not worth living on the first place?

Essentially eternal life is divine life. Jesus explains in today’s Gospel, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me (vv.56-57). So Jesus is actually sharing the divine life he received from the Father to whoever receives him. Jesus is sharing with us the quality of life that is divine.

When we receive the Lord in our life, first in baptism and in the Eucharist, we are given new life and this is sharing in the divine life, for we remain in him and he in us. How do we live out this divine life? I think the answer is: To live as God lives, i.e., to love! Deus Caritas Est. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). Pope Benedict’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est describes God’s love as agape—a self-sacrificing love… a love that forgives… even on the cross!

The kind of life that Jesus is giving us is the life that is characterized by agape. And this is the highest quality of life one can ever have! This is a life of self-giving rather than self-serving, a life of forgiving rather than forsaking and hating. Without Jesus, the true food and the true drink, this highest quality of life would be impossible for the sinful and self-centered human being. But with him we can have eternal life, his divine life the essence of which is love. We can have it in the “here and now” and in the hereafter.

Forever living also means forever loving! We will still die of course... naturally. But the death of someone who has lived the life of Christ is but a glorious culmination of a life well-spent and a birth to the everlasting life where one permanently shares in the eternal agape of God.

Do not be Afraid. Have faith. (13th Sunday Ordinary B)

In the movie, First Knight, the free-spirited and bohemian character who lived by the sword, Lancelot, fearlessly rescued from the attack of the soldiers of the ex-Round Table Knight, Malagant, the beautiful and attractive Lady Guinevere who was betrothed to the King.  Lancelot was immediately taken in by Guinevere’s beauty. So in another occasion, Lancelot displayed his wanton bravery when he nonchalantly made it through the Gauntlet, a seemingly-impossible obstacle course set up for amusement by the King. His aim was to impress Lady Guinevere and to get closer to her.  By King Arthur’s invitation, Lancelot became one of the Round Table Knights.  The secret mutual attraction between Lancelot and the Queen continued to grow.  The free-spirited Lancelot began to learn how to care and love.  When the King was forced to go to battle one last time to defend the city of Camelot against Malagant, Lancelot, for the first time, experienced fear.  This time, he was very afraid of death because he was in love.

Aren’t we all afraid of death?  Looking at it without the eyes of faith, death can represent the tragic nature of human existence. We unconsciously avoid confronting the issue of death; we just ignore it and wish it away. When at last we muster our courage to come to terms with it, we are faced with the problem of the meaning of life altogether.  What is the point of living when by all indications we are condemned to die?  The famous Existentialist Erich Fromm, for instance, noted that at the time a person is born, he already begins to die and he always dies before he is fully born.  At birth, man begins to suffer and he will suffer until he dies.  And what makes life tragic and suffering unbearable is that an individual usually dies before his loved ones or they before him and there is no comfort in either case except pain and suffering.

Without faith in God, the origin and destiny of life, we are left with fear.  We fear our own death and, more so, that of our loved ones.  Without faith, we fear that life itself is pointless.

In today’s gospel reading (Mk 5:21-43), Jesus assures us of the triumph of life over death and suffering.  He is the answer to the riddle of our human existence.  Jesus cures the woman with a haemorrhage and restores the life of the daughter of Jairus.  These two connected incidents portray Jesus’ immersion into the suffering of human existence.  He is amid a large crowd hoping for some kind of help or relief from the different faces of suffering.  One of these is the woman who has been afflicted with haemorrhages for twelve years. The other is the synagogue official, Jairus, who is tormented by the prospect of the death of his 12-year old daughter.  Jesus is right there in the midst of the crowd’s search for hope, for meaning, for life.  And Jesus responds in accordance to the faith of those who come to him.

To the woman freed from prolonged haemorrhagic sufferings, Jesus says: “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”  To Jairus who is greeted with the sad news of the death of his daughter, Jesus says: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” And He restores the life of the child.

Only with the eyes of faith that we can grasp the ultimate beauty of life—that life is not just pure pointless suffering that culminates in death; that life is our destiny in eternity; that the abundance of life with God is our ultimate fate. 

Today’s readings invite us not to be afraid.  But to trust in God and have faith.  Jesus makes good of the assurance of the book of Wisdom that “God did not make death nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living…. That God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him” (Wis 1:13-23).  Death is the work of the devil and Jesus has overcome its power by his own death and resurrection.  Jesus is our salvation. Jesus is our life.

“Do not be afraid. Have faith.” We can make this our mantra when we feel we are being overcome by doubt and fear amid the sufferings and seeming contradictions in life.  To trust in God, the God of the living, allows us to embrace life to its fullest, freed from the unnecessary torment of the prospect of dying. To be unafraid sets us free to be joyful in serving, unreserved in self-giving, quick in forgiving, and courageous in loving.

With faith in Jesus, life prevails and has a beautiful eternal purpose. And even our physical death can be something beautiful. In the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Death, in the final analysis, is only the easiest and quickest means to go back to God. If only we could make people understand that we come from God and that we have to go back to Him!

Again, we listen to the words of Jesus who reassures us: “Do not be afraid. Have faith.”

A Treasure that Gives Life (Corpus Christi Sunday A)

After almost three hours of exhausting walk to a far-flung barrio chapel, I and Alfonso, who graciously carried my things throughout the long trek, were at last met by the community.  There were only fifteen of them waiting to celebrate the Eucharist as we arrived!  While we rested, still catching our breath, Alfonso couldn’t hide his disappointment and asked me why must we travel on foot that far for only fifteen people.  Before I could offer a consoling answer, I was handed a pitcher of fresh Buko juice which I mercilessly gobbled down to the dregs.  After such a refreshing treat, I told Alfonso, “I know the answer to your question: The longer the walk, the sweeter the Buko juice becomes.”

In a more serious note, I wish to reflect on the question as we celebrate today the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.  The celebration, I believe, lends itself to our quest for meaning as regards our true Eucharistic piety.  My answer to Alfonso should have been: “Because the Eucharist is a treasure.  We have to go out of our way, cross the same river for over ten times under the scorching sun, brave the perils of the jungle, and pant for air to survive because we are up for a treasure—the pearl of great prize—long held by the Christian communities for generations.”

Pope John Paul II, in his spiritual reflection Ecclesia de Eucharistia, presents the Eucharist as our treasure as he says: “The treasure of the Eucharist... impels us towards the goal of full sharing with all our brothers and sisters to whom we are joined by our common baptism. But if this treasure is not to be squandered, we need to respect the demands which derive from its being the sacrament of communion in faith and in apostolic succession. By giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves, and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions or demands, we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this gift.”

Source of communion as Brethren. In other words, the Pope reminds us of the greatness of the gift of the Eucharist and calls us to safeguard it as our treasure because it is in the Eucharist that we derive our life as Christian communities.  It is in the celebration of the Eucharist that we live out our communion as brothers and sisters in Christ sharing in the one and the same baptism as attested to by the second reading, 1 Cor. 10: 16-17—“We, many though we are, are one body for we all partake in one loaf.” In my pastoral experience, I can attest to the fact that the more a community gathers to celebrate the Eucharist, the more they burst with life with more and more people participating in the communal life and celebrating the diversity of their gifts as one community of faith.

Source of eternal life for Christ’s disciples. The Eucharist is a treasure because it is the source of the life of Christ’s disciples. The Body and Blood of Christ, in the humble signs of bread and wine, give life to those who receive them.  Our first reading (Dt. 8: 2-3, 14-16) reminds us that God’s people were fed with manna, a food unknown to them, in order to show them that man lives not by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord (v. 3).  In the same vein, the Gospel of John (Jn. 6: 51-52) instructs us that it is Jesus who is the living bread that comes down from heaven.  The real manna of everlasting life. “He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal (v. 54).

Source of perfect union with Christ.  The Eucharist is a treasure because it makes possible the unique experience of “mutual indwelling” of Christ and the disciple in each other.  It is through the reception of the body and blood of Christ that we experience Christ living in us and us living in Christ. “The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (v. 56). We can say therefore that through our participation in the Eucharist we attain life eternal. And this eternal life is not so much about the length of life (and one which we shall have in the hereafter) as it is about the quality of life that we possess in the here and now. We speak of the life of Christ in us. It is divine life throbbing in us, impelling us to live as Christ lived—a life of love. 

No wonder then, that a priest takes all the troubles in going to the far-off communities in order to share this treasure to them. No wonder then, I was often told, that our overseas Filipino workers hunger for the Eucharistic celebration in foreign lands where they are deprived of this treasure.  They are there to “eke out a living.” But only the Eucharist can grant them true life—the life with Christ.

As we celebrate, then, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ today, let us approach the altar and feed on Christ in the signs of bread and wine turned to his body and blood. As we approach, let our hearts well up with gratitude for being so blessed as to receive this great gift of the source of eternal life. As we receive the Lord, let us do it with an interior devotion that shows how we truly treasure Jesus Christ who gives life by living in us.

Then, in silence, we pray for all Christians in foreign lands who are deprived of this great treasure—they may be your father or mother, husband or wife, brother or sister, or your friend. Pray also for all priests consecrated primarily for the celebration of the Eucharist, that they may draw their own life from it—from the treasure that gives life.

Life is a Gift (10th Sunday Ordinary C)

Years ago as a seminarian, I used to visit a sickly widow who was taken care of by her only son.  I would read her the Sunday Gospel, share with her my reflections, listen to hers too, and give her the communion for the sick. One Sunday morning, after a short Christmas break, I went to visit her. To my bewilderment, she wept vigorously on her chair as she saw me came.  Her neighbor, who was taking care of her that day, informed me that her only son died in an accident during the Christmas season. I was shocked and dumbfounded. How could this thing happen to her? I could only sit in silence beside the grieving widow wishing I had the power to bring back her son.  My heart was moved with pity but I felt my own helplessness too. I just kept on visiting her every Sunday until she overcame her grief and wept no more.

Today’s gospel reading (Lk 7:11-17) tells of a similar situation in the city of Nain where the Lord encountered a widow whose son died.  The Lord was moved with pity.  He revived the dead to life and gave him back to his mother. The first reading too (1 Kgs 17:17-24) is a parallel story: the Prophet Elijah called out to God in order to bring back the life of the son of the widow in whose house the Prophet was staying. And God did bring back the life of the child.

Allow me to dwell on the gospel reading (Lk 7:11-17) and bring out three things for our reflection:

“Do not weep.”  The Lord, in his compassion, could not stand the grief of the mother who was a widow.  As a widow, she was already poor for there were no job opportunities for women then.  Losing the only son, would make her the poorest of the poor having no social security system to lean on.  The widow could only weep because of her pitiful plight, losing her husband and now her only son. With the death of her son, she just actually lost everything.  The Lord sees the grief of the poor widow and with compassion told her, “Do not weep” (v. 13).

It is helpful to note that in this incident the initiative came from the Lord. The widow was not begging or asking him to bring back her son. She was just lost in her grief weeping. Unlike other but similar incidents, this one did not mention about the faith of the widow as requirement to God’s grace. This allows us to see the initiative and gratuitousness of God’s merciful and compassionate acts.  Somehow, this assures us that God sees, even before we formulate and articulate our prayers, the intense yearning of our hearts, the longing to be freed from our deepest grief and sufferings.  This is the prayer of the heart.  God sees through our hearts and acts out of his compassion.  Haven’t we experienced God’s gracious interventions in our lives even if we feel undeserving of his grace?

“I tell you, arise!” Jesus commanded the dead man to rise! The young man sat up and began to speak. Jesus gave him to his mother (vv. 14-15). What Jesus did was resuscitation of the earthly life and not yet the resurrection of the dead.  But this event certainly foreshadowed the definitive victory of life over death in Jesus’ resurrection through which He won for us the gift of eternal life.

Life is a precious gift.  God is its author. Only God gives life.  We ought to be grateful for our lives. In the spirit of gratitude, we ought to protect and celebrate life. We need to be wary of the misleading secular philosophies that views life as liability rather than as gift and resource. We need to overcome the “culture of death” that is conspiring against life, espousing measures that both oppress and suppress life in favor of economic gains and maintenance of the concentration of wealth among the powerful and the rich. Life is of the highest value; all social systems ought to be at the service of life, not the other way around.

“And they glorified God.” When life was brought back, both in the incidents involving the prophet Elijah and Jesus Christ, God’s power was acknowledged. In the first reading, the mother, upon seeing that her son was brought back to life through the prayers of Elijah, acknowledged that indeed Elijah was a man of God and was speaking of God’s word (1 Kgs 17: 24). In the gospel reading, all who witnessed the revival of the dead man’s life, glorified God exclaiming that “God has visited his people” (Lk 7:16).

God’s power is felt wherever and whenever death is overcome and life triumphs. He is the sole author of life and no one else.  We all died because of sin. But God in his compassion and great mercy gratuitously endows us with the gift of life and, in Jesus’ resurrection, has overcome death and has assured us of eternal life.  Indeed, we are a people who have seen the visitation of God; we have experienced God’s compassion and love.  Let us then be the people who glorify God—the God who hears with compassion the prayer of our hearts and tells us to stop weeping because death is no more; what He gives us is life as a precious gift.