Sin and Grace (1st Sunday Lent A)

Satan summoned three demons to be sent for a mission with this instruction: "Go to the ends of the earth and deceive as many people as you possibly can, causing them to be lost.”  Before they set off Satan asked them about their plans.  The first demon stepped forward and said, "I’ll tell them there is no God."  Satan disagreed saying, "That would work on a few people, but most wouldn't buy it. There is too much evidence that a Creator God exists.” The second demon confidently laid out his plan: "I will teach everybody that there is no hell." Satan just laughed. "No, that would not work either. People know better than that! They have clear concepts of punishment.”  The third demon rose and said, "I will tell them that there is no sin, they can relax, enjoy and do whatever they feel like doing.” Satan said, "Hmm… I like that. Many people would like that. Go then and deceive them!” 

Our contemporary societies are increasingly losing the sense of sin. What used to be clearly evil and immoral can now become normative and even claimed as rights. People demand respect for doing what feels good and true to them ignoring objective norms that have guided societies for centuries.  The individual person becomes now the reference of what is good and true as manifested in this assertion, “My mind, my body, my choice!”

The season of Lent is a grace-filled opportunity for all of us to face this moral crisis squarely and see the realities of our lives through the perspective of our faith. The light of faith can expose the deception of the evil one just as Christ laid bare the emptiness of Satan’s lure in the desert.

As we enter the first week of Lent, our liturgical readings right away reminds us about what people of today seem to deny—the reality of sin. Yet these same readings point us more importantly to God’s grace overcoming sin and its effect in and through Christ.

The first reading (Gn 2:7-9, 3:1-7), by way of the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, reminds us that sin is a reality.  It is not part of God’s design but finds its source in the human’s disobedience to God. For St. Paul, in the second reading (Rom 5:12-19), the sin of the first parents has become a universal condition which has brought death to all. “Through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all inasmuch as all sinned” (v. 13).

We need not deny, then, the reality of sin. It has entered the world and has become like an ambience around us which our weakened will ratifies by our personal sinfulness. But the season of Lent does not stop at this reminder of the reality of sin. This season is not just about our sinfulness. It is more about our need for forgiveness and the liberating truth of our redemption through Christ.  As St. Paul continues to say, “For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ” (v. 17).

Hence, we enter the season of Lent with humility.  We enter with the awareness of being sinners in need of God’s love and mercy.  We enter with hope. And that hope is offered by Jesus Christ.

In the gospel reading (Mt 4:1-11), we find our hope of overcoming the temptation of sin through Christ who has overcome it.  Three lessons we can discern from the narrative of Christ’s temptation:

Proper Ordering of our Values.  We must always value God’s will over and above the natural demands of our physical and sensual appetite. The world insists to “obey your thirst.” Satan tempts Jesus in the gospel reading to “gratify his hunger” by turning stones to bread. Both are invitation to live according to the natural desire of the flesh.  Jesus points out that there is a higher invitation to live a life in the spirit whose source is not the bread but the will of God.  To overcome the temptation of sin, we have to put order to our values. When God is always our top priority, nothing can go wrong.

Acting with Responsibility.  This means doing things with good reasons. Satan tempts Jesus to jump off the cliff. What for? What is good in jumping off the cliff? Nothing.  Perhaps, for the heck of it or just to show off.  This is akin to the just-do-it advertisement.  Jesus, of course, does not jump for there is no good reason to do it. We cannot live by the popular slogan, “Just do it.” We have to live and do things with purpose. To overcome the temptation of sin, we have to act always with responsibility.

Not Justifying Evil Means to a Good End. Just like my reminder to my students during exams: Do not cheat in order to earn more points; it’s not worth it. Jesus, in the gospel reading, is tempted by the devil to possess all the kingdoms of the world by worshiping the devil.  What an empty proposal!  Many times we are tempted to justify evil means to achieve something good.  For instance, we want a good life for our family but we engage in dishonesty and corruption in order to achieve it. The Lord is reminding us not to succumb to this temptation for we will end up with nothing. Never justify evil means to a good end and you’ll be doing fine.

Again, we enter the season of Lent with humility. We are sinners. We participate in the sinful condition of the world.  But, at the same time, we enter this season with hope because we also possess the grace of Christ. And his grace is far more encompassing and penetrating than sin. This season invites us to cooperate more intimately with the grace of Christ who restores whatever sin has destroyed.

The Vow of Non-violence (7th Sunday Ordinary A)

Edsa Revolution: Love vs. Military Force

I made a private vow several years ago when I was completing my graduate studies at Loyola School of Theology. I made a vow of active non-violence inspired by today’s gospel  reading (Mt 5:38-48) and by the witnesses in modern history, like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to its transformative power in our personal and social lives.  After years of conscious and, sometimes, unconscious living out of this private vow, I believe it has changed me for the better. I believe I have become kinder in my words and thoughts, gentler in my ways and approaches, more positive and hopeful in my outlook amid discouraging circumstances, and more peaceful in my disposition in the midst of continuing turmoil in the external world.  This is such good news; so I am extending with joy at the end of this reflection the invitation to anyone touched by the Spirit to make the same private vow. Wink.

Today’s gospel reading has usually been viewed by many as the most difficult invitation of our Lord to his disciples as He enjoins them to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. Indeed, this invitation is not easy as discipleship is not.  But this does not mean that it is not doable. We just need to start somewhere and grow, even gradually, from there.  This invitation to perfection is all about the vocation to love as God loves and to unleash the gentle power of love that we may overcome violence and transform the world into God’s kingdom.  Let us focus on two significant injunctions of our Lord in today’s gospel which is actually a part of the Sermon on the Mount: First is the injunction to turn the other cheek and, second, to love one’s enemies.

Turning the Other Cheek.  The Lord pronounces in today’s gospel reading this disconcerting precept: “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” What?! Isn’t this insane? Well, our human nature would have us striking back to get even.  But again, Jesus invites us to be like the loving Father who does not retaliate violence with violence.  God conquers our rebellious hearts with love.

An interesting commentary on this passage is illuminating: When one strikes you on your right cheek, he uses the back of his hand to hit you. When you offer the other cheek, he has to use his open palm. But the palm has always represented one’s person; that is why we make an oath with it or welcome someone with a warm handshake and when we give, we do it with our open palm. Hence, the other cannot use his open palm to hit you without demeaning his own dignity as a person.  

Therefore, to offer the other cheek is not being passive to violence.  It is an active decision not to retaliate and, furthermore, it is a peaceful, gentle, and loving way of reminding the other to value the integrity and dignity of his own person and hence to stop the cycle of violence.  To strike back satisfies our thirst for justice; but to offer the other cheek is to exercise a far superior principle of Christian ethics—love.  Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Loving the Enemies.  “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt. 5: 44-45).  Jesus does not speak here of the romantic and sentimental type of love that is always accompanied by “kilig” as one feels in the presence of an irresistible funny valentine.  Love here is not about feeling good towards one’s enemies. It is, instead, in its fundamental essence, an act of the will. Love is willing whatever is good for the other. While we usually do not feel good towards our enemies, we can still will what is good for them.  We can pray and bless them for instance as Jesus explicitly taught by his words and example: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

The commitment to love our enemies is an active non-violent stance.  When the world tends to resort to the use of brute force in order to eliminate the enemies, the followers of Christ uses the superior but gentle power of love to conquer the hearts of the enemies.  Force and violence may destroy the enemies. But Christian love restores the goodness of the enemies and thus turns them into friends. Violence is destructive; love is restorative like the love of the heavenly Father who wills to restore everything destroyed by sin. Again, it is to such loving attribute of the Father that Jesus invites us towards perfection—be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Yes, this is no mean feat.  But with God’s grace, we can follow with joy what the Lord wishes us to do and to become.  As with any daunting journey we take in life, we need to start somewhere with the first step. We can make a private vow of non-violence intending to learn and to live each day by the precepts of our Lord on turning the other cheek and loving the enemies.

Personal Vow of Non-violence:  Recognizing the violence in my own heart and confiding in God's goodness and mercy, I MAKE A VOW (FOR ONE YEAR which may be renewed every year) TO PRACTICE THE NON-VIOLENCE OF CHRIST AS HE TAUGHT IT TO US IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.  Before God the Creator and the Spirit who sanctifies, I promise to witness by my life to the love of Christ and especially: to live peace and be an artisan of peace in my daily life, to accept suffering rather than inflict it, to refuse to respond to provocation and violence, to persevere in non-violence in words and in thoughts, to live conscientiously and simply in order not to wrong anyone, to work in a non-violent manner to suppress causes of violence within me and in the world.  Amen.

What’s in Your Heart? (6th Sunday Ordinary A)

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” St. Teresa of Calcutta, in saying this, was giving us the key to the potential greatness of our human endeavor whatever that is.  The key lies in the interior disposition of the heart. When the heart is totally involved in what you do, no matter what it is, how important or insignificant it is, it naturally acquires meaning.  One of the saddest human predicaments is when one finds his life given to things without one’s heart in them. It is sad as it is meaningless.

The heart is important in whatever we do.  External gestures and actions may be impeccably correct and meticulously perfected but without the heart they are but mechanical or even morally hypocritical. Jesus is sensitively aware of this fact.  His recurring criticism of the scribes and Pharisees is directed towards their splendid following of the letter of the law (the Torah) while missing out on the crucially important interior disposition of a heart that truly loves God.  Jesus sees the bottom line of such form of righteousness:  There may be an admirable external appearance of love of God but beneath what meets the eye is a damning emptiness or, most probably, self-love.

Hence, in today’s gospel (Mt 5:17-37), we hear once again Jesus’ warning:  “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20).    

Christ looks to the heart. The different lessons that he teaches in the gospel reading are all pointing to the essential place of the heart in Christian morality. Certainly, our exterior behavior must follow God's will. But Jesus is trying to tell us that exterior behavior and appearances are not enough. To truly fulfill the law, the interior motives and the desires of the heart must first be in harmony with what God wills.

It is therefore crucial that as followers of Christ we make sure that our hearts beat for God.  It is important, as Jesus points out, that we safeguard our hearts from corruption.  Jesus identifies in the gospel reading three interior dispositions of which our hearts need to be purified: anger, lust, and dishonesty.

Anger.  The law of Moses clearly forbids killing; and violation to this commandment deserves judgment. But Jesus looks to the heart and warns us of the first instance of the desire for murder—anger:  “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”  Jesus is telling us not to allow anger to consume our hearts and to destroy our relationship with our brothers and sisters in the faith.  Instead of harboring grudges in our hearts, Jesus teaches us to desire and seek reconciliation so that before we offer gifts to the altar, we make it a point that we first settle peaceably with anyone whom we had some form of conflict.  

Lust.  The law commands thus, “You shall not commit adultery.” Again Jesus perfects the law by looking into our hearts and warning us of lust as the first instance of adultery: “But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Lust destroys our love and respect for others as we begin to desire in our hearts to use them as objects of our pleasure and self-indulgence. Jesus commands us to do what is necessary to avoid succumbing into this temptation as he instructs, “Cut your eyes off if this lead you to sin…” Instead of allowing lust to corrupt our hearts, our invitation is to exercise the virtue of purity of mind and heart and cultivate fidelity in marriage in order to strengthen all the more its unbreakable bond which is presently being challenged by a growing divorce mentality.

Dishonesty.  The law forbids taking a false oath.  Some Jews of Jesus' time had developed the habit of swearing oaths in the name of God if they meant to keep them, and swearing on something else if they meant to break them. Jesus again looks to the heart and warns us of dishonesty.  Jesus instructs us not to swear at all but to be truthful with what we say: Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Simple but clear. In our present social context of rampant corruption, our challenge is to be credible witnesses of truth and models of integrity.

Again, in whatever we do, the interior disposition of the heart matters most. It is incumbent in us then as disciples of Christ to always purify our hearts of sinful desires and malicious motives. Let us beg the grace of God always to fill our hearts with nothing but love of Him. With love in our hearts, we can surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. We may be incapable of doing grandiose things but we can certainly do small things but with great meaning.