SAKSI!

First Day of the Misa de Gallo

Is 56: 1 – 3, 6 – 8 / Ps 67 / Jn 5: 33 – 36

A wife once caught her husband in one of the streets of the city’s red light district. Upon coming home, the wife confronted the husband saying, “Earlier this evening I saw your car parked along the street while you were surrounded by young women.” To avoid his guilt, he insisted that it was not he. The husband replied, “You were wrong. Maling akala lang yun. You do not have any witness.” And so, the following day, the wife made a move in order to catch her husband. She went to the red light district and joined the group of young women. After a while, the car of her husband arrived and saw him coming out from it. While the husband was busy with the young women, his eyes were led to his wife. Approaching his wife, the husband said, “My goodness, you look like my wife. You’re as ugly as her!” Indeed, a witness is very important in society today. A witness can prove someone as either guilty or innocent.

In our Gospel today, we learn that John the Baptist was a witness to Jesus Christ. “But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf if true… He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.” However, Jesus also tells us that all his works on earth are witnesses to the truth that he was sent by the Father. “The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.”

Thus, we ask ourselves, who is the faithful and effective witness? If we try to look at the moon, we observe that the light we see from it comes from the sun. The moon simply reflects to earth the light it receives from the sun. In the life of Jesus, John the Baptist is the moon. The content of his preaching is not about himself but Jesus, the Truth. He simply reflected to the people the Light who is Christ. He was humble enough to accept that he was not the Christ; that even he himself was unworthy to untie the straps of hi sandals.

My dear friends, a faithful and effective Christian witness is someone who is aware of his/her mission on earth– the he /she speaks and acts not about him/herself but Christ. A Christian witness is someone who illuminates the Light of Christ and not his own. A Christian witness is someone who is humble to accept that everything is about Christ and not about him/herself.

However, we have also to remind ourselves that just as the works of Jesus bear witness to the Father, we can also become authentic Christian witnesses if our works reflect the works of Jesus, our Lord. This is therefore our challenge today – that our lives reflect the life of Christ who is merciful and compassionate; that our words and works reflect the words and works of Christ who is true and loving.

Today, we begin our traditional Misa de Gallo – nine Masses before the rooster crows in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Misa de Gallo is not a wish granting factory that after nine days of Masses, your dream will come true. Rather, the Misa de Gallo is a witness to Christmas – that after nine months in Mary’s womb, Jesus, the witness of the Father, has finally become one like us except sin. May this Misa de Gallo 2015 help us become effective witnesses to Christ, our Lord. Amen!

Photo taken from genius.com