ANOTHER KIND OF DYING

13^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Ps. 30; 2 Cor. 8: 7, 9, 13-15, Mk. 5: 21-24; 35b-43

To die is to fall down. No matter how high an eagle soars in the sky, it always falls to the ground in death. No matter how green the leaves are, they too fall to the ground. No matter how powerful and mighty a person is, he/she at the moment of death falls to the ground. One can never see a dead person or animal standing mightily at the moment of death.

Our narrative today taken from the Gospel of Mark tells us about Jairus who pleads Jesus to visit his house for his daughter is at the point of death. Despite the large crowd following Jesus, he acceded to Jairus’ request. However, when they arrived, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said to him, “Your daughter has died!” Such news must have troubled Jairus’ so much. However, Jesus assured him saying, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” And true enough, when Jesus arrived, he asked the fallen girl, “Talitha koum!” (Little girl, I say to you, arise!) Indeed, death makes us fall down to the ground. But, the words of Jesus can make us rise up and live!

Thus, we are reminded in our Gospel story today that even death which causes us trouble has no power over the mighty power of God. Yes, death is inevitable. We all experience death because it is the result of evil. Our first reading today reminds us that death does not come from God. It cannot come from God because he does not rejoice “in the destruction of the living” and that “he fashioned all things that they might have being.” However, “but by the envy of the devil, death entered into the world.” Despite the inevitability of death in our lives, we must never forget too the intervention of God’s grace like the woman who was afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years yet a mere touch of Jesus’ clothes gave her complete healing.

However, St. Paul in our second reading today invites us to experience another kind of dying, of falling down. He calls this dying as a gracious act. “For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” This gracious act is our own dying from self and sin. This gracious act is our emptying of ourselves. It is gracious because through such act others will become rich, other will live. Just as physical death is inescapable, we, too Christians, are not to escape from this kind of dying – the falling down of our sinful lives; the decentering from ourselves to others. While on earth, we are called to practice this form of dying so that when physical death comes to our lives, we shall no longer fear, for we have already learned and practiced how “to die” through a life of generosity not selfishness, humility not pride, and others not the self.

And so, as we mark today the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, let us be aware that death is inevitable yet God’s grace is inescapable. However, while on earth, we are challenged to experience another kind of dying – death from our sinfulness so that we and others will experience God’s life in abundance.

Let us then beg the Lord to grant us the grace of learning how to die from our sinful selves so that at the moment of physical death, God will rescue us. Thereby, making our responsorial psalm today our own worship to the Father, “ I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me!”

Photo taken from www.testimoniesofheavenandhell.com

WHAT TROUBLES YOU?

TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Jb 38:1.8-11; Ps.107; 2 Cor 5:14-17; Mk 4: 35-41, Cycle B

What troubles you? For students, being called in class by their strict teacher chills them. For teenagers, sitting beside their “man/woman of their dreams” gives them discomfort. Kaya nga minsan nagiging tanga tayo kahit gaano pa man tayo ka talino nakita lang si crush. For parents, seeing the long list of payables from electricity, tuition, water, food, etc., makes them worry a lot. Probably for some who are here, standing in front of a mirror is like being tossed by strong waves in the ocean. What troubles you?

In our readings today, we find two contradictory scenes. In our first reading, we met the troubled Job who was visited by his friends who tried to explain to him his experience of losing his wealth and the source of his health, his family. However, we also heard God who spoke to him about his divine wisdom and power. “Who is this who darkens counsel with words of ignorance? ... Where were you when I founded the earth?... Thus far shall you come but no father, and here shall your proud waves stop?” In our Gospel, the disciples were troubled because there was a “violent squall and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.”  However, amidst the trouble, “Jesus was in the stern asleep on a cushion.” He was probably soundly asleep and never bothered because the disciples had to wake him up. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

These two realities are also happening in our lives today. Early on, I asked you, “what troubles you?” And I believe that all of us are troubled in one way or another. We are troubled because of many reasons – financial, relational, emotional, psychological, and even spiritual. However, if we look at the big picture, we realize that there is also a peaceful God. Amidst the troubled world, we find the “Creator who does not abandon us; who never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us (Laudato Si no. 13).” Despite our troubled lives, God remains peaceful like “sleeping on a cushion amidst the violent squall.”

Thus we ask ourselves why do we continue to linger on troubled waters despite having a God who is at peace? Pope Francis in his latest encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, has this to say, “when people become self-centered and self-enclosed, their greed increases.” True enough, when we focus on ourselves; we all the more realize that we need more. We ask for more! When we center our lives on ourselves; we want more money, more fame, more power, more attention, more and more! Naturally, it makes us troubled! We become insecure because others have more while we have less. In the end, we fail to recognize the presence of Jesus in our lives because we have focused so much on the waves of greed and selfishness.

In this 12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we are challenged to unite ourselves to Christ for Paul in our second reading today has assured us that “whosoever in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” Like the disciples who called on the Lord in the midst of the violent squall, let us also call on the Lord through prayer. Let us ask him to quiet our troubled lives which have been tossed by the waves of greed, selfishness, and insecurity. In Baptism, our old lives have ended for grace has covered us. Let us also remember that every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we are once again reunited with Christ who turns the old into new things. After Jesus was awaken by his disciples, he commanded the sea and the wind to be quiet and be still. Our troubled lives right now can only become peaceful if we call on our Lord, if we unite ourselves always with Him.

What troubles you? I hope and pray that not the lack of money, fame, power, glory, and attention makes us troubled. Rather, I hope that every time we detach ourselves from Christ because of our sins is the real cause of trouble. When this happens, let us hasten to unite ourselves immediately to God, for our Responsorial Psalm today has assured us that “his love is everlasting.” Amen!

Photo taken from http://images.rapgenius.com/60d2378f46ca54815e352c724151c1b3.448x322x1.jpg

BEING PART OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Ezk.17: 22-24; Ps.92; 2 Cor.5:6-10; Mk. 4: 26-35

According to the United Nations World Food Program, 21,000 people die every day because of hunger or hunger-related causes. This is one person every four seconds. The Missionaries of Africa also noted that more than one billion people do not have enough clean water to provide for their needs. Thus, 2,500 children die each day due to thirst. With these horrifying figures, we are made to ask ourselves, if Jesus has established the Kingdom of God here on earth, why such a high number of deaths?

Early on in Mark 1: 15, Jesus proclaimed that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand.” Moving forward in our Gospel today, Jesus explained to the people in parables what the Kingdom of God is like. And so, in this 11^th Sunday in Ordinary time, let us reflect on three characteristics on the Kingdom of God and how these qualities challenge our lives today.

In our first reading today which is another parable, we read that the Lord will tear off a tender shoot from the topmost branches of the cedar. In our Gospel, Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed which is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. These images therefore teach us that the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth started small. When Jesus announced that the kingdom is at hand, such announcement remained insignificant among the people.

We have to accept the truth that in life, we cannot stop and end problems with a single bang. As an example, look at the apostolate of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa. For quite some time now, they have been trying to uplift people below the poverty line. However, until today, there are still many poor people. Yes, we cannot end problems grandiosely. Yet, we are part of the Kingdom of God. It is a different thing to do a small act and to do nothing at all. As members of the kingdom, we are also called to start small. And this is what Mother Teresa taught us. If we want to help the poor, start from your own backyard. We do not need to begin big because great things start from small beginnings. What is important then is our small and insignificant decision to choose that which sets our human hearts free.

In our first reading, Ezekiel tells us that after tearing off a tender shoot, the Lord will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. Soon it shall grow, put forth branches, bear fruit, and becomes a majestic cedar. In our Gospel, the Kingdom of God is likened to a man who scattered seed on the land. Later on, without him knowing how, the seed would sprout and grow. It will bear fruit and be ready for harvest.  These imageries tell us another quality of the Kingdom of God – that it is in progress. Establishing the kingdom of God here on earth does not happen overnight. It goes through a process of development.

Our fight against the injustices in the world and our own share of human suffering will continue to linger on in our lives. As the saying goes, “if it is not yet a happy ending, then, it is not yet the ending.” As members of the Kingdom of God, we have to remind ourselves of this reality – the ongoing struggle for peace in the world. Along the way, there will be a lot of challenges. But what is important is not success but our faithfulness to such “small and insignificant” decision we once made in our lives.

Finally, Ezekiel tells us that once it has become a majestic cedar, “birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.”  In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that the mustard seed once it becomes the largest of plants, birds of the sky will dwell on its shade. These tells us the final characteristic of the kingdom of God – it is meant to be shared for all.

We cannot put an end to human suffering all by ourselves. As members of the kingdom of God, we are called to share in the mission of Christ here on earth. Poverty, hunger, and the other problems in society cannot end if only a minority works. Everyone must do his part. Family problems cannot be solved if only the mother or the father is working. Everyone must cooperate. All must work so that everyone can truly and freely dwell in this world.

Poverty, hunger, and suffering in this world is only one side of the coin. We must not forget that Christ has long established God’s kingdom here on earth. And so, we are filled with hope to continue with our fight against the darkness of evil and sin. We do not act alone and in greatness for surely it will not last. Rather, let us begin with our “small and insignificant” choice to do better. Let us persevere along the journey and never forget that we have a companion. In the end, we can truly re-echo the words of St. Paul in our second reading today who said, "for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are courageous, and we would rther leave the body and go home to the Lord.” Amen.

THE "IN-Thing" IN MARRIAGE

A Homily on Marriage

John 2: 1 – 11 (The Wedding at Cana)

In the 2007 Marriage Statistics report, NSO has recorded 490, 054 registered marriages in the country. The report also notes that most of these marriages happened during the month of May. The marrying age for women is between 20 – 24 years old while for men between 25 – 29 years old. 41% of these marriages took place in civil courts while only 36% had their marriage solemnized in the Catholic Church.

I am sharing with you these figures because a few moments from now you will become part of this sector in society. After exchanging your vows and promising to hold on to each other before God, you will become one body. You will share one dream, one vision, one direction in life. That is why before I proceed, let me ask you a final question, “ Sure na ba kayo?” “Game na ba kayo?”

Our Gospel today taken from John is about Jesus together with his mother and the disciples being invited to a wedding. Noteworthy in this narrative is that the first miracle of Jesus took place not during his preaching or feeding of the five thousand but in a wedding. Thus, we have the impression on the significance of marriage in the life and ministry of Jesus.

Since marriage is the “IN Thing” these days rather than the priesthood or the religious life, let me then share with you three “IN” terms which we can draw from the Gospel story: INvitation, INtercession, and INspiration.

INVITATION

The Gospel begins with John telling us that Jesus together with his mother and his disciples were invited to a wedding feast in Cana in Galilee. This is probably the reason why the wine ran out because of the Twelve who were in attendance.

I know that months before this wedding day, you have sent a lot of invitations from friends and loved ones here and abroad. You were busy preparing the text, the lay-out, and the design of your invitation. However, I would like to believe that you have chosen to get married in the Church because this is your way of INVITING the Lord to join you in your married life. Let me then thank you for inviting the Lord to be with you at this very moment. However, such invitation does not end after the party and honeymoon. Friends, I ask you to continue inviting the Lord in your family life soon. How? By developing a prayer habit in your life. As Fr. Patrick puts it, “the family that prays together, stays together.” Just as conversations with your loved ones are needed for your relationship to last, you also need to converse with the Lord in prayer so that you can stay together as husband and wife and later on as parents to your children. As the famous lyrics of a song tells us, “in good times, in bad times, I’ll be on your side forevermore, that what friends are for." Please start befriending PRAYER today for the Lord will be on your side forevermore.

INTERCESSION

When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told his Son about the situation. At first, Jesus was hesitant. But in the end, he conceded to the request of his mother. Mary’s intercession worked!

In you married life, you too will experience a “running out of wine.” You will run out of time, talent, and treasure. You will become tired, lonely, worried, and wearied. However, do not forget to ask the intercession of those people close to you. After your wedding party, you try to go over the video of this Mass. Look at those people who joined you in your celebration. These are the people whom you can ask for help when you feel that you are running out of wine. Go to your parents, to your siblings, to your sponsors, to your friends, and to those who love you. Never ask help from “illegal wives or husbands!” But most especially, ask the intercession of Mary and the saints. Ask help from our Lord to give you not just an abundance but the choicest wine in your married life. Since you have invited him today, for sure, he will be most willing to help you soon.

INSPIRATION

After the experience of the first miracle, the narrative concludes with the disciples starting to believe in Jesus. The disciples were inspired by their Master.

Hindi ako naniniwala sa “isang linggong pag-ibig.” Let me tell you straight that marriage has no expiration date. Only death can end your married life. Thus, there is a need for each one of you to draw inspiration from one another. As you grow older in your married life, you will experience a lot of changes. Beauty, glory, and even your treasury will fade away. However, this fading away does not give you the reason to expire. Rather, you must be inspired to move on. The older the wine, the better. Your married life must be like an aged wine. Magkalami, magkadugay ug dili magkadugay, magkagutay-gutay!”

Friends, after this homily, before God and your loved ones, you will promise not to leave each other in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, and only death can set you apart. I pray that you will always INVITE the Lord through your prayer life; INTERCEDE help from your loved ones; and INSPIRE one another come what may.

Marriage is an “IN Thing” today! Therefore, INVITE…INTERCEDE…AND INSPIRE!

Ed Sheeran has this to say “How many times do I have to tell you. Even when you’re crying, you’re beautiful too. The world is beating you down; but I’m around through every mood. ‘Cause all of me, loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections. ‘Cause all of me, loves all of you.”

Marriage is a proof that God loves you; that He loves all your curves and all your edges, and all your perfect imperfections. Friends, be like God! Though you are crying, though the world is beating you down, promise not to leave one another ‘cause all of me loves all of you.’ Amen!

Congratulations and best wishes!

Photo taken from http://cliparts.co/cliparts/piq/8Bo/piq8Boj5T.gif

A EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Ex. 24: 3 – 8; Ps. 116; Heb. 9: 11 – 15; Mk. 14: 12 – 16. 22 – 26

It was in the 8^th century at Lanciano that the greatest Eucharistic miracle took place. After the two – fold consecration, as a response to the doubt of the Basilian monk on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the bread changed into living Flesh and the wine into living Blood. Twelve centuries later, a scientific investigation concluded that the flesh is a human heart with its essential structure while the blood contains the elements of a normal human blood. The preservation of the flesh and blood until today remains to be an extraordinary phenomenon. The miracle at Lanciano is just one of the many stories which we have heard on the Eucharist. However, that Eucharistic celebration which happened in Lanciano is the same Holy Mass celebrated in far – flung barrio chapels. The Eucharist even without those miracles continues to be the “source and summit” of our Christian life. Thus we ask ourselves, what is really the Eucharist? What is its meaning in my life right now?

Today, Holy Mother Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we give honor and praise to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Let us then take our reflections on the Eucharist from our liturgical readings today.

In our first reading, to ritualize the people’s assent to the covenant of the Lord, “Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar…Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.’” Scholars would interpret the sprinkling of both the altar and the people as the bringing together of the two parties to the covenant – God and man. Thus, a sort of sacramental union is achieved. Indeed, this is the drama of the Chosen People of Israel! Their story is all about the graciousness of God to the covenant and their struggle to remain faithful to the God who has delivered them from slavery.

In the Eucharist, we are not merely sprinkled by blood of animals. Rather, we partake of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, we too establish a union with God. If we try to look into the term, “eucharist,” we can find to Greek words – “eu” (good) and “charis” (gift). The Eucharist is a good gift. And what is this gift? The gift of unity with our Lord Jesus Christ. God is not someone who lives up there. But as the holy bishop Camomot would say, “God is in the heart!” It is our challenge then that as we go home after this Mass, we experience a “Eucharistic joy,” a union with God who has loved us first.

In our second reading, the letter to the Hebrews tells us that “if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.” In the Old Covenant, blood of the animals were used for purification and sanctification. However, in the New Covenant, it was already the blood of Christ himself poured out on the cross which washed away humanity’s sin.

In the Eucharist, when we receive the Lord and give him a dwelling place in our hearts, our lives are also made clean and given direction. We move away from “dead works” to “worship of the living God.” Pope Francis in his address to the priests in Rome has this to say, “ Stopping for a moment before the tabernacle can also lead priests to examine their consciences: “In the silence of prayer Jesus make us see if we are working as good workers, or if we have become a little like ‘employees;’ if we are open, generous ‘channels,’ through which His love, His grace can flow abundantly; or if instead we place ourselves at the center, and so instead of being channels we become screens that do not help the encounter with God, with the light and the strength of the Gospel.” A devotion to the Blessed Sacrament then can help us stay attuned to our vocation – to be channels and not screens of the grace of God.

Finally, in our Gospel taken from the Last Supper narrative of Mark, Jesus after taking, blessing, and giving thanks, shared both his body and blood to his disciples. The story ends with Jesus and his chosen friends going out from the Upper Room to the Mount of Olives. We have to remind ourselves that this narrative finally marked the beginning of Jesus’ passion.

From the story, we learned that the Eucharist is meant to be shared. However, sharing does not only mean giving the Eucharist to others. To share here means to be one in the suffering of others. Pope Francis in his homily during this year’s Corpus Christi celebration in Rome asked everyone who will be joining in the Eucharistic procession “to perceive ourselves in communion with our many brothers and sisters who do have the freedom to express their faith in the Lord Jesus…And we venerate in our hearts those brothers and sisters from whom the sacrifice of their lives has been required for fidelity to Christ: let their blood, united to that of the Lord, be a pledge of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.” To receive the Lord in the Eucharist carries with it a challenge to share in his passion; to be ready to drink from the cup of suffering. We do not worry, however, because we know that it did not end on Calvary but in the empty tomb. The Eucharist is not an “anting – anting” or a magic potion that every time we eat and drink of the body and blood of Jesus, life becomes problem and worry free. Rather, partaking of the Eucharist is accepting suffering with the assurance that we are never alone in the journey.

The late Vietnamese Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was imprisoned for 13 years, nine of which were spent in solitary confinement. Since, the Mass was not allowed in prison, he asked the guards to provide him with wine as “medicine for his stomach pains.” And every day at three in the afternoon, he would celebrate the Mass with only three drops of wine despite the terror and darkness surrounding him. When asked by reporters what made him survived such ordeal, he exclaimed, “the Eucharist!” We do not need to go to Lanciano in order to experience a Eucharistic miracle. Rather, every time we experience a “Eucharistic joy;” every time our consciences are made clean; and every time we share in Christ’s passion and accept our suffering with hope all because of the Eucharist, then, we experience a miracle! Amen!

P.S. Photo taken from http://www.acfp2000.com/popefranciswithmonstrance2.jpg