Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, February 14
Gn
3:9-24/ Ps 90/ Mk 8:1-10
Finally,
the most awaited, or in some cases, much hated, day of February has come. It’s
Valentine’s Day! Facebook and the rest of social media will be very busy today
accommodating posts, pictures, and tweets on love and loving. And for sure,
anywhere you go, you can always see heart-shaped balloons flying or
heart-shaped cakes sold in bakeshops. Hearts everywhere! Even our Gospel today
talks about the heart. Shall Valentine’s Day be a sad day for us celibates?
In our
Gospel, we heard Jesus say, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd because
they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat.” We see
Jesus as a man very much in touch with his emotions. We also see him as a man
who was very sensitive to the needs of the people and he was not afraid of
having his innermost being moved, shaken, or even broken with compassion. This
is important for us celibate lovers and those preparing for this life. In
staying within the comfort zone of our academic and intellectual pursuits, we
could end up like the dry pages of a book. In our effort to secure our life of
celibacy, we could end up sterile, calloused, or unaffected, even bitter. Pope
Francis told us “to learn how to weep” and this involves getting in touch with
our emotions, with our heart, with our innermost self. Jesus in our Gospel was
not afraid to tell his disciples how he felt: “My heart is moved with pity.”
And he claims responsibility for the needs of the people. As Antoine de St.
Exupery wrote in the The Little Prince, “You become responsible forever for
what you have tamed.”
Pity,
mercy, compassion, then is God’s response to the hunger of the people, a hunger
that could be traced back to our First Reading, when Adam and Eve were expelled
from the garden and forbidden to eat from the tree of life. Humanity hungered
for the word of God and the signs of God’s closeness to his people. And Jesus
satisfied this hunger as he also satisfies their physical hunger. This feeding
of the crowd also foreshadows the spiritual food and drink that truly
satisfies: the total and unconditional self-giving love of Jesus on the cross
made present in the Holy Eucharist.
Here
in the Eucharist, “when Sacred Scripture is read, God Himself speaks to His
people” and he feeds us with his own Body and Blood. In the Eucharist, we
encounter God, his mercy and compassion, and we are assured of a heart that
beats for us, a love that Pope Francis says “always goes ahead of us,” “open
arms where broken hearts go, a love that’s waiting there.” As celibate lovers,
we need not go to Rome, Baguio, or Sagada. We only need to come to the foot of
this altar, before this God “who gives joy to our youth” and has been “our
refuge in every age.” He will teach us how to be in touch with our true selves,
with our deepest emotions. He will teach us how to weep, and with our tears, he
will make our lives and ministry fruitful.
This
is therefore our challenge today: to claim that we are in love, that we are
truly, madly, and deeply in love with the God who calls us, who has loved us
first despite our sinfulness. And he sends us forth to radiate his love in a
world so much in need of real love, so much in need of God. This truth becomes
the firm ground of our being, and we can truly focus on our vocation so that
when dark and dry days come, we will never fall out of love nor be overwhelmed
by the brokenness of this world.
And so
as we go about this day, we need not be forlorn nor be part of those who hate
this day. We might not have someone to hold, but we know that we are held by
the one who called us, one whose “heart was moved with pity,” who truly, madly,
deeply loves us. As we offer bread and wine, let us also once more offer
ourselves; let us offer our “seven loaves and a few fish”—our all. And as we
receive him in Holy Communion, let us tell him, “Make me cling to you; never
permit me to be separated from you.” Amen.
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