Greeting the New Year with Hope

A few days from now, 2006 comes to a close, and 2007 comes in. It's difficult to feel optimistic and excited when we know that it is election year in the country (May 2007), when the Charter Change campaign will be resurrected again, when the Bikolanos suffering terribly from the destruction of supertyphoon Reming have hardly recovered from the traumatic tragedy.

But perhaps this is precisely the meaning of hope, which differentiates it from optimism and excitement. Hope springs from a deeper source than optimism. While optimism simply looks forward to a situation better than the present, hope is that, but more. It is hoping "IN SOMEONE", rather than just waiting "for something".

And we know that this someone is not one who has not come. He is one who has already come, who has been with us all these years, in our sufferings and pains, experiencing the same helplessness and vulnerability as we do, as He was born amidst the poverty and misery of the manger. He is with us, for He is Emmanuel, God-with-us.

And thus, even though we are facing another chaotic election season, we are not afraid to what we can to make this country a little better, and move it a step forward, for we are not doing it alone. We are doing it with Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Mary.

May we, like Mary, ponder these things in our hearts, and greet the New Year with A NEW HOPE IN HIM.

Indeed Not Impossible

Two Sundays ago, Jesus said the things we think are impossible are actually possible for God. The Bartimaeus episode in today's Gospel is but a proof of this. Perhaps Batimaeus had given up hope of being able to see again. But when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, a ray of hope was kindled in him, and he tried as loud as He can to call His attention. And Jesus did notice, asked him what He wanted and gave him what he desired. Indeed what Bartimaeus and perhaps even the people around him have given up as impossible was actually made possible by Jesus.... with Bartimaeus' persistent, persevering prayer.

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

The Mind of Christ

In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus teaches His disciples another way of greatness,
and that this by becoming a servant. It is a totally different way path, unknown and perhaps unacceptable to the disciples. That is why they were reserving for seats in the Kingdom of Heaven. Their idea of greatness is being seated in places of honor. But Jesus' idea, his mind (Phil 2:5) is different. His way, His mind, is that of a servant. It is:
- the way of suffering (first reading),
- the way of sympathy with the weak (second reading), and
- the way of serving others (gospel)

Are you of the same mind...the same way as Christ?

INA in our Hearts

"Can a mother forget her child? Even if she forgets, I would never forget you!" These are Yahweh's words through the prophet Isaiah. But it is very much the words of INA, too, Our Lady of Penafrancia, to her Bicolano children scattered all over the Philippines and the world. For on this weekend, Bicolanos all over are united in celebrating the fiesta of INA.

Last Sunday, we had our own here in Cagayan de Oro, complete with a fluvial procession, in the Cagayan River. After the fluvial was the Mass in Bikol, over which I had the privilege of presiding. Then there was a fellowship dinner and program afterwards.

Truly, one need not be in Naga to honor Ina, forever, she is not only in the Basilica or in the Naga Cathedral, but in the hearts of every Bicolano.

Viva la Virgen!

Follow Me

It's striking how Jesus puts it in today's Gospel: "Take up your cross and follow me." He does specify where He is going or where He is leading the person who will follow Him. Of course, we know that He is going to Calvary to die. But in the concrete, in our lives, that Calvary can take many forms. Oftentimes, it is not where we would have wanted to go, if we had the choice. But precisely, Jesus says 'follow me.' He will lead the way. Or He is THE way. Where the destination is is not important. What is important is that we are with Jesus, we are following Him, and not carrying our cross and going our own way.

Have a nice week ahead!

God Provides

The Gospel (John 6:1-11) on Sunday, July 30, narrates the Feeding of the Multitude. Three things are worth noting here:

First, Jesus knows of the needs of the people. They had been with him for several days now. He taught them because He saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. He knew that they were hungry. He is not oblivious to the situation and needs of the crowds. Jesus knows the needs of His people.

Second: And so, he decided to provide them with food. Jesus made use of the little that was presented to Him to provide some food for the people. Jesus did not stop at knowing what the needs were. He acted on the problem. Jesus provides for the needs of His people.

Third, the food that Jesus provided went beyond what was needed. There was more than what was needed. They were able to fill several baskets of left-overs. This shows that when Jesus provides, it is always more than what we need, more than what we expect.

Thank you Lord, for knowing our needs, providing for us, more than what we need. May we always be grateful to you, o Lord!

A Sleeping God?

"Natutulog ba ang Diyos?" asks Gary V. in his song which became popular some years back. If we look at this Sunday's Gospel, the answer is "yes! the Lord is asleep!" and as the apostles asked, "don't you care that we are drowning?" The experience of the apostles is very much our own too. Oftentimes, we ask whether the Lord cares at all, especially when we are beset with problems that seem like strong waves that hit the boats of our security one after the other.

Yes, the Lord may be sleeping, BUT He is PRESENT nonetheless. And WITH Him in our midst, there should be nothing to fear. After all, as the Lord says in the first reading: "it is who sets the limits of the waves."

O Lord our God, strengthen our faith in our presence!

My Precious Blood

When blood is involved in a discussion, whether it be coughing or vomiting blood
or unceasing flow of blood from a wound, or donating blood, it always means a serious matter. It can not be triviliazed, as when we say, "I've purchased and worked on this land with my sweat, tears and bloo!" It's no small thing!

Hence, it must be the same when Jesus speaks of shedding his blood. When He says, "This is my blood which will be shed for you and for all." He is talking about something precious, something of great value, which we can not trivialize. In saying he is shedding his blood, Jesus means that He is giving His all, His everything, holding back nothing, for us and for all. His is a giving that leaves nothing for Himself. And in the process, He gains everything. In his total self-offering, the Father gave Him back the gift of Himself, of the Spirit, in His resurrection.

May the feast of Corpus Christi inspire us to love as Jesus loves...

The Trinity and Independence Day

Yesterday's solemnity of the Trinity may help us recapture the meaning of Independence Day of our country. In many ways, our country is not yet fully free. We are prey to many forces that continue to enslave us...poverty, graft, corruption, culture of mediocrity, palusot, ignorance etc. And one of the possible causes of these is the absence of sharing among our people, especially the "haves" to the "have-nots".

The life of the Trinity is characterized by sharing. The Father shares everything to the Son, and vice versa. They share their love for each other, which is the Holy Spirit. Everything is shared, nothing held back. If there is genuine sharing among our people, then maybe we can come closer to freedom which is every Filipino's cherished treasure.

May the Father, Son and Spirit bless us!

The Spirit of Freshness

In most schools, classes open on Monday, Juen 5. New students are especially excited about going to school, what with their new bags, new notebooks, new raincoats! They look forward to knowing and meeting new teachers, new classmates. They expect many new things!

Isn't it a happy coincidence that the beginning of the new schoool year is preceded by Pentecost Sunday, the feast of descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the disciples gathered in the Upper Room. With the coming of Holy Spirit preceded by the blowing of a strong wind that shook the place and startled the disciples. The windows flew open and a breath of fresh air blew upon them and they felt like new creatures. They suddenly felt brave and courageous and began to preach the Good News! Thus, the Church was born!

Come Holy Spirit, blow in us, refresh us, encourage us!

What is your Name?

The fourth Sunday of Easter is usually called the Good Shepherd Sunday,
and the readins for tat Sunday and for the new few days are about Jesus as
the Good Shepherd. One striking thought in Jesus' discourse about the Good
Shepherd is his calling each of his sheep by name.

We don't call just anyone by their first names. We call by name only those we know personally and with whom we are related in one way or another. And with those
with whom we are closer, we have names of endearment, which only we and the person
to whom we have given the name can appreciate. For every person in every kind of
relationship, we have a name. The closer the relationship, the more special the name.

Perhaps Jesus has a special name for each of us? What could be Jesus' name for you?
And what is your name for Jesus?

THE PRIESTHOOD AND GOD’S FIDELITY

Homily for Fr. Angelo Silerio’s Thanksgiving Mass
Christ the King University Church; Ateneo de Naga University
11 April 2006

If face value and good looks were to be basis for admission to the priesthood, you will all agree that Fr. Boboy qualifies unquestionably. Because as you can see, he has that angelo-ic innocent looks that have caused the hearts of ladies and (hrmm) gentlemen beat faster than usual, at the mere sight or smell of Fr. Boboy. Even that receding hairline, they say, makes him even more desirable and delectable.

Or if intelligence and were to be the basis of admission to the priesthood, again Fr. Boboy qualifies undeniably. Both in Naga Parochial School and Ateneo de Naga, Fr. Boboy was always in the honors class and graduated with honors in all of grade school, high school and college. And in Loyola School of Theology, like our two other new priests, he recently finished with the distinction Magna Cum Laude.

If capacity and endurance were to be the basis of admission to the priesthood, again Fr. Boboy qualifies undoubtedly. He has these qualities; otherwise how could have survived the long years of preparation for Jesuit priesthood which started way back in 1995 and, in one sense, ended three days ago on his ordination day? How could he have stood triumphant through the various tests and trials he had to face throughout those years of formation?

But if we reflect on the readings for today, we realize that there seem to be another set of criteria by which the Lord chooses His servants, other than good looks, intelligence and endurance. And while Fr. Boboy has been fortunately gifted with these, he has been chosen by the Lord to be His priest by way of another standard. And these are: God-centeredness, availability and fidelity.

First, God-centeredness. The prophet says, “Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God.” In the responsorial psalm, the psalmist says, “For you are my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. On you, I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb, you are my strength.” The Servant of Yahweh, then, is one who centers his life on God. The famous song “In Him Alone” beautifully expresses the prophet’s view of his identity and mission: “In Him alone is our hope. In Him alone is our strength. In Him alone are we justified. In Him alone are we saved.”

Focusing on one’s good looks, intelligence and capacity puts the self at the center of one’s concern. The self becomes the capital, the motivation and the reward for one’s efforts and strivings. And if an endeavour does not boost the ego, one leaves that project for another more popular, more affirming, more rewarding work or task. This does not seem to be the tendency of Fr. Boboy. My experience of 10 years with him in the Society tells me that Fr. Boboy is a quiet yet hardworking fellow. He does not mind being at the background, doing supporting roles. Yet when called hold leadership posts, he stands to take up the challenge, like being the area and cluster head in our apostolate in Payatas.

Second, availability. In the first reading, Yahweh says: “You are my servant Israel through whom I will show my glory…to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations…” It is Yahweh who determines what the mission of his Servant will be. It is Yahweh sends Him wherever He wishes to. It is God who will dispose of His servant however, wherever, whenever He wants. The Servants needs only to be available, to be at the pleasure of His Master. St. Ignatius expresses this in his prayer, Take and Receive: “Do what thou wilt, command, and I obey.”

And this is probably what the Lord saw in Fr. Boboy: the spirit of availability, of willingness to be His servant, however, wherever, whenever the Lord wishes. If I am not mistaken, at one point in his journey, Fr. Boboy considered pursuing another way of life, or another way of being a priest, one that will allow Him to design His life the way he wants it, the way He likes it. But that was not to be the case. The Lord has prevailed. He wanted Fr. Boboy to be a Jesuit priest. Through Fr. Provincial, the Lord has expressed His will that Fr. Boboy goes to the far-flung barrio parish of Cabanglasan in Bukidnon to minister to the indigenous peoples of Bukidnon and Agusan. There it will be the culture and the needs of the people who will determine how Fr. Boboy will serve them. He needs only to be available to them.

Third, fidelity. In today’s Gospel, we see the two disciples whose discipleship are put to the test by the turn of events in Jesus’ life. Judas, as we know, have turned traitor. He has failed in returning the fidelity of Jesus to Him. Peter, similarly, was to fail in his fidelity to His Master. Hence, the remark of Jesus, “Where I am going, you can not follow me now, though later, you will.” And Peter proudly says to Jesus, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” And Jesus answered, “You will lay down your life for me, will you? Amen. Amen. I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

Fidelity, then, is the third, and perhaps the most important virtue the Lord looks for in His servant. Fr. Boboy’s fidelity, especially to people who have been part of his life in varying degrees of intimacy and intensity, is probably evidenced by the presence of many of his friends during the ordination, coming as far as Davao, Aklan, Bulacan and, of course, Camaligan. When Fr. Boboy becomes your friend, it is for keeps. It is forever, for life, but always relative to his primary commitment as a chaste celibate Jesuit priest.

God-centeredness, availability and fidelity. These, then, are the virtues that the Lord may have seen in you, Fr.Boboy, that made Him call you, choose you, to become His servant. Not that you possess them in their fullness and totality, but that the potential, the seed is there in your heart. And in the generosity and sincerity of your desire, you responded to the call by pronouncing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience on May 30, 1997, and receiving the gift of the priesthood just last Saturday, April 8, 2006.

I wonder, Fr. Boboy, whether last Saturday, when you said “I do” to all the questions of the Bishop, you fully understood what you were talking about: what this awesome gift of the priesthood is all about, what it means, what it takes, what it costs. Looking back to my experience of being a priest for one year and two days has made me wonder whether I knew what I was saying on the day of my ordination. Maybe I was like Peter who did not fully understand what Jesus was saying to Him, much less what he himself was foolishly saying to Jesus. Only later on, when he had actually denied knowing Jesus, when he had cowardly fled to save His skin, when he would weep bitterly at his shameful predicament, would he understand how unfaithful He had been. And only later, later on, after the Resurrection, when Jesus gives Peter another chance, when He allows Peter to make up for his denials, by professing his love for Jesus three times, only then does Peter realize how faithful His Master, His Lord, His friend had been despite and amidst his infidelity.

To my utter shame and embarrassment, I realized that the priesthood is not about me and me alone. Your parents, Fred and Conching, and the married people here present would probably agree that this can be said, too, about marriage. It is not just about the husband and wife period. In the priesthood as well as in marriage, it is not about working at it with all your might to make the relationship or the celibacy work. It is not about having successful projects and six or eight-digit salaries or stipends. It is not about up to what age you have lived, or to how far a continent you have travelled to, or to how many fan texts you have received for a well-delivered lecture or homily.

Rather, it is primarily about God and His fidelity to His promises. Our priesthood is about how God has been faithful to us, even in our unfaithfulness. I think this is what “being a priest forever” means: that once God has given His word, He means it and He will do it. He will not take it back. You, Fr. Boboy, are a priest forever, because the God who has called from among His people, and for His people, is a faithful God, who invites you to center your life on Him, to be available to Him, to be faithful to Him. This is what we are giving thanks to the Lord for, today in this Eucharist, and in every Eucharist that you will offer all your life: the fidelity of God. This fidelity of God is what are celebrate this Holy Week: the God whose Word has became flesh, to live among us, to die for us, to rise again for us.

So when you travel along that long and winding, bumpy and shaky road to your parish in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon, imagine that road as the version for you today of that ancient road to Calvary, a road that will test your God-centeredness, availability and fidelity. But do not be afraid! Many of our Jesuit forebears have taken that road, following the Call of the Christ the King. Foremost of them are our first companions whose jubilee we celebrate this year: Loyola, Xavier and Favre. Our Jesuit giants here in Naga whose edifying lives of God-centeredness, availability and fidelity have inspired and nurtured our own vocation are certainly praying for you as they join us from above: Frs. Rooney, Phelan, Bonoan and Dolan. Living Jesuit giants, yes, there are: Frs. Sanz, Belardo, Carretero and Tabora, and the rest of the brethren. We wish you all the best. Please pray for us as we shall do for you.

Welcoming Jesus Christ Today

On the first Palm Sunday, people gave Jesus a royal welcome proclaiming Him the Son of David. By calling 'Son of David', the people were pinning on Him their messianic hopes...that He is the one who will free them from their enslavement under the Roman powers. But Jesus's Messiahship was not according to their perspective. He was a Messiah that would suffer and die. Only later on, after His resurrection would everything make sense.

Today, Jesus comes to us in the poor, sick, suffering and marginalized. Ought we not to give Him the same royal welcome that He was given two thousand years ago. Would he not feel much honored if we feed the hungery, clothe the naked, etc,
as he himself has said, "whenever you do this to the least of my brethren, you did it to me?"

We pray that this Holy Week may truly be a blessed one for all of us!

The Cross That Heals

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son...
that all who believe in Him might not perish but may have eternal life."

Because of the 10th World Youth Day, and perhaps even before the event, this has
been one of the most loved lines in Scriptures. For in a way, it sums up the entire history of salvation. This lines from John 3 are preceded by the comparison of the lifting up of the Son of Man with the lifting up of the serpent by Moses. Those who were bitten by the serpents and would look at the bronze serpent would be healed and would live. In the same way, those who would look at the crucified Lord would be healed and would live.

Hence, the comparison points to the healing power of the cross, which does heals us not from snake venom, but from the venom of sin, which will certainly kill us if we are afflicted by it. All of us have been attacked and penetrated by the venom of sin, both by the acts of others and by our own. But we are not in a totally hopeless condition. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son...
that all who believe in Him might not perish but may have eternal life."

O Crucified Lord, hear us, heal us!

When Tempted As Jesus Was

Temptations are all around us. Even if we don't look for them, we are bombarded by them. And oftentimes, we find ourselves just seemingly powerless to resist them. In our Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent, we see Jesus tempted by the devil. But unlike us who have succumbed to temptations, Jesus emerged triumphant in the struggle between Him and the devil. What is His secret?

The short account of Mark does not give the details of the temptations. Matthew and Luke do, and they tell us what Jesus did before he was tempted. Jesus fasted and prayed before He was tempted. Perhaps this is Jesus' secret. Why prayer and fasting?

In prayer, we acknowledge that our strength comes from God alone. Without Him, we would not have life. Only with God's help can we really fight and triumph over the many temptations in our life. This is certainly very clear for Jesus. In key moments of His life, He prayed. Thus, He came out victorious over the many trials and tests throughout His life. For He knew where and from whom to draw strength.

In fasting, we complement God's assistance by practically guarding the gates of our senses, through which temptations usually come into us. We refrain from the things and activities which potentially lead us to sin. In saying "No" to things that usually preoccupy us, or even enslave us, we already declare victory over the usual tactics of the evil spirit.

But prayer and fasting should be accompanied by works of mercy. This is not explicitly mentioned in the Gospel. Implicitly, it is alluded to when Jesus proclaims the Kingdom. The Kingdom comes when the Good News is preached to the poor. To believe in the Good News is to preach it to the poor, for whom the Kingdom must be a concrete reality. And works of mercy is the way to do this. We deprive ourselves of things, only so that we can give these to the poor.

Hence, prayer, fasting and works of mercy should come together.
For prayer without fasting and works of mercy is individualistic emotionalism.
For fasting without prayer and works of mercy is self-centered stoicism.
For works of mercy without fasting and prayer is condescending philantrophism.

When tempted and even when not, during Lent and beyond Lent: prayer, fasting
and good works.

Dust to Dust

Once again, we go through the annual ritual of Ash Wednesday: we approach the priest or his representative to place ashes on our foreheads while we listen to the words: "Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return." A reminder, a warning, an invitation.

It is a reminder: a statement of an undeniable fact: that in the beginning and in the end, we are dust. We are mere earth. The Scriptures attest to this. Genesis tells us how Yahweh formed the first human being from clay, how He breathed life into it, making it a human being. Experience attests to this. We see how a dead body decomposes and turns into a mound of earth after cremation. There is no fable or fiction here: pure fact. From dust to dust.

It is a warning: a warning precisely against making a fable or fiction of who or what we are. Don't we spend much money, much energy, much time turning the fact of our mortality into a fiction? Think of age-resisting creams, death-defying technologies, forever young vitamins peddled to us by media. And we are all-too willing gullibles. In the end, it all comes to dust, inevitably! What a waste, in the end, it all is!

It is an invitation: to turn to God in Jesus Christ, for the real meaning and purpose of human life. Not in the dust, not in the decay, not in the dead, but in Christ, alive and risen. And it is for the joyful celebration of the Easter of His Resurrection that we are actually preparing for in Lent. We are invited "to turn away from sin and believe in the Good News!" The Good News is that the dust of death is not the dead end of the story of our life. The end is the glory of life, with Jesus Risen...

...but only if we follow Him on His way to the Cross!

For Our Beloved Country

These days, our thoughts travel back to memory lane to reminisce the first EDSA which happened 20 years ago. There has been efforts by various people to retell the story of EDSA from the point of view of those who really made it possible, the countless and nameless ordinary people who trooped to EDSA, unmindful of the real possibility of being machine-gunned by the military men deployed by the dictator. They are the real heroes of EDSA. Them we salute and for the future generations of Filipinos, we continue to renew, even if only in our hearts, the spirit of EDSA.

The readings at Mass for Sunday, Feb. 26, answers the question raised by many people after having observed how our beloved country hasn't seem to have moved forward after the first EDSA? Where have we gone wrong? What should we do/ have to be able to move on? The readings tell us: consistency, accountability, Christocentricity.

Consistency: The Gospel suggests that if you have a new wine, you put in new wineskins. If you have a new element, you put it in a new container as well. The product and its environment should be new, too. Internally and externally, there should be renewal. This did not happen in our case. After a few months or years after EDSA, people of the old regime were back in power. Corruption and nepotism have stayed. The change was only on the outside, not in the inside. Or inside, but not the outside. There has to be consistency.

Accountability: The first reading tells us how Yahweh plans to lead Israel to the wilderness and there to speak to her. In the context of Israel's story, this means starting with the relationship all over again, but not without testing and purifying, not without making Israel responsible and accountable for her sins and crimes. The same thing should happen to our country. It's not enough to be sorry and to apologize. One has to take responsibility for one's wrongs and crimes. Wrongdoers have to answer for their misdeeds, which is not happening in this country.

Christocentricity: This seems like a pious word without social import. This is not about more rosaries or more novenas or processions. This means centering one's life on Christ, and in the process imbibing his worldview and values: one that stands for fairness and justice, one that cringes at the sight of hungry and sick people, one that is angered at hypocrisy and pure showmanship. To be Christ-centered is to think and act like Christ. While the Philippines is predominantly Catholic, it is a stinging irony that we are in the list of most corrupt countries.

May this 20th year of EDSA be an opportunity to rekindle love for our country, especially among young people. As Rizal, through Padre Florentino, exclaims in El Filibusterismo:

“where are the youths who will dedicate their innocence, their idealism, their enthusiasm to the good of the country? Where are they who will give generously of their blood to wash away so much shame, crime and abomination? Pure and immaculate must the victim be for the sacrifice to be acceptable. Where are you, young men and women, who are to embody in yourselves the life-force that has been drained from our veins, the pure ideals that grown stained in our minds, the fiery enthusiasm that has been quenched in our hearts? We await you, come for we await you!”

A Big Heart

Someone asked, "What does Valentine's Day mean for celibate priests (and nuns)?" Indeed, if priests and nuns do not expect to give and receive roses and chocolates and heart-shaped balloons on Valentine's Day, then what is Valentine's Day for us?
I guess it's a day to remind myself/ ourselves of the importance of having a big heart which is necessary if one is to live a truly fruitful celibate life.

While physiologically, a big heart or enlarged heart will certainly lead to death, spiritually, a big heart brings life. This is because a big heart enables a priest or anyone who wants to truly love inclusively to receive and accommodate every person who comes to him/her or who is entrusted to him/ her...a priest his parishioners, a formator his/her formands, a teacher her students, a parent his children, a physician her patients.

Not all parishioners, formands, students, children, patients are like-able, pleasant, easy to handle. Not all the time will they be passionate and enthusiastic. Sometimes, they will be lost sheep or black sheep. But with a big heart, the priest, the formator, the teacher, the parent, the physician can always welcome them anytime, and they know they can always come home for this is always a place for them in their heart of the one who loves them truly.

Love That Heals and Restores

It's a terrible thing to experience being avoided by people. If it is because of some perceived contagious disease, the pain of being excluded by people is perhaps more painful than the physical illness itself.

When Jesus heals the leper in this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus instructs him to show himself to the priests so that they may give him a "clean bill of health" and officially reinstate him to the community. This is because a sick man, more so a leper, is considered unclean and is not to join the community.

Jesus, then, not only heals the physical pain of the leper, but also the psycho-emotional pain involved in his being excluded from the community. Jesus' healing restores him not just to physical wholeness but into the community as well. Hence, Jesus heals not just one aspect of our life, but all the other areas of our life that need to be touched by His grace. May we allow Him to fully restore us to health...totally, fully, lovingly.

Jesus: Food for the Hungry

On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (Feb. 11), the daily Gospel happen to be the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mark 8:1-10). A gospel passage like this makes us reflect on the reality of hunger in the world. Maybe we ourselves do not experience hunger, but certainly someone in our neighborhood is hungry this very moment. In Africa, a child or perhaps hundreds of children are dying because of hunger. The recent Ultra stampede which killed 74 people is just another instance of how hunger has become a life-and-death situation in this country.

How can a feast like this spur us to address this urgent problem? How can devotion to the the Blessed Mother move us from pious rites and rituals to a real concern and concrete action for our hungry brothers and sisters? Perhaps we can ask how Mary has become blessed by all generations and among all women. What has she done for the millions of hungry children and people all over the world?

I don't know if the answer: "She has brought Jesus to the world" will convince you. But isn't it true that if, like Mary, we bring Jesus to our hungry brothers and sisters, we can not but give them something to eat, or teach them to find something to eat. Because when Jesus Himself saw the crowds who were exhausted and hungry, He had compassion for them and He did something to feed them.

What to do in the face of hunger in the world? As Mary did, bring Jesus to the world that is hungry, yes for physical food, but more so, for spiritual food, Jesus Himself.

Jesus, the Healer, A Man of Prayer

Where does Jesus' healing power come from? Today's Gospel seems to highlight Jesus' healing activity: he healed Simon's mother-in-law who was suffering from a fever; he cast out demons from those possessed by them; he cured all other sickness in people brought to him. Jesus seems to be a wonder worker, a miracle worker, with supernatural, spectacular powers. But where does his healing power come from? From himself, from his own authority? The answer lies in one seemingly insignificant detail in the Gospel: that of Jesus taking time to pray very early in the morning.

This is where Jesus' healing power comes from: from his prayer. He is able to heal because he is a man of prayer. His communion with the Father is the source of his power. Were he not receiving strength from His Father, He could not heal. Were he not strengthened by the love of His Father, he could not have absorbed all the "negative energies" from all the sick and possessed people brought to him. Jesus is the healer because He is a man of prayer.

In various ways, we are called to be healers, whether as physicians or as ordinary people: to heal broken bodies, broken hearts, broken psyches, broken relationships. But where shall we get the power and the strength if not from prayer? May we make prayer an essential and non-negotiable element in our daily life.

Blessed be the Lord who heals the broken-hearted!

Jesus' Power over Demons

In today's Gospel, Jesus drives out a demon from a man. This is Jesus' first miracle as reported by Mark. Immediately, Mark presents Jesus driving out a demon at the outset of his public ministry. Why? Because Mark wants to show that Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom by word (as announced by Jesus a few verses earlier) is accompanied by a proclamation by deed. If indeed the Kingdom of God has come, then the kingdom of Satan, prince of demons has come to an end. This episode shows that. In Jesus, the reign of Satan has come to an end. Even the demon knows who Jesus us: the Holy One of God!

Let us allow Jesus to come into our hearts and lives. Let us allow God to truly reign in our hearts and lives, that the demons inside us may be driven away. For only Jesus has the power and authority to drive them out...by His words.

Let the responsorial psalm be our earnest prayer: If today, you hear His voice, harden not your hearts!

Being Nourished by the Word

This week is National Bible Week. Although we are to be conscious of the central importance of the Bible the whole year round, this week are asked to reflect more intensely on the power of the Bible, the Word of God, to nourish our souls. To be nourished by the Bible, three things are essential: Read the Word, Live the word, Proclaim the Word.

READ THE WORD. It is a beautiful practice to read the Word everyday. Just as we feed ourselves with physical food to strengthen our bodies for the day's work, so must we feed ourselves with the Word of God to strengthen our souls. Each day, we have to face many trials and tests, and only with the Word of God read at the beginning of each day can we weather these tests of faith.

LIVE THE WORD. It is not enough to read the Word. If we only read the Word, then we make it no different from a textbook or a magazine. Living the Word is the way to let the Word penetrate our hearts and allow it to shape our hearts. This, of course, is a grace from God. However, we can be assured that the Holy Spirit is there to assist us in this process.

PROCLAIM THE WORD. Finally, the reading and living of the Word of God issue into proclamation. This means announcing to others what we have discovered as we read and live the Word of God. This means telling them as Mary Magdalene did to the other disciples on Easter morning: "I have seen the Lord!" It is to allow others to have a glimpse of the mystery and beauty of the Word.

Read the Word. Live the Word. Proclaim the Word. May the Word of God burn in our hearts that we may be light for the world and draw others to the true Light which is Christ Himself!

I NEED YOU. I TRUST YOU. I LET YOU.

Feast of the Sto. Nino
(Mark 10:13-16)

Why is there a “second childhood”? Is it a second and last chance to enjoy the things we were not able to enjoy much on our first childhood? Or is it a second and last chance to learn what we failed to learn during our first childhood? Or is it the second and last chance to be “like a child” as the Gospel says, so that we could enter the Kingdom of God?

What does it mean to be “like a child?” What does a child do which an adult should imitate? Presumably because the adult does not do such a thing, or no longer does it or does not want to do it. But only in doing it can one enter the Kingdom of God. I guess, a child, unlike an adult, has no difficulty saying, “I need you. I trust you. I let you.”

I need you. A child needs his/her parents to live, to survive, to have a decent and human life. From the very beginning of its existence, it depends on its mother for its nourishment. It can not do without the mother, and later on, the parents. A child does not hesitate to express its needs. But when the child becomes an adult, he ceases to need other people, and rightly so perhaps, because he/ she has to grow as an independent individual. But many succumb to the tendency to declare total independence from others, from the world, from the environment, and ultimately, from God.

I trust you. A child trusts that his mother will take care of him. She trusts that people around him care about her. The child experiences his first frustrations when he suddenly realizes that the people he trusts has betrayed him. When the wounds of these betrayals are not healed, the adult becomes suspicious of other people, of the world, of God. He lives in paranoia, trusting no one, not even himself, not even God.

I let you. Because a child realizes that he could not many things, he lets other people do it for him. He allows people whom he trusts to provide for his needs, to help him in tasks still beyond his capacity to complete. He acknowledges his needs. He trusts. He lets go and lets be. But an adult who has become self-sufficient, who has because suspicious of everyone would not let anyone, even God, to do anything, to be anything for him/her.

To be a like a child? It is to be able to say, to others, to God: “I need you. I trust you. I let you.”

Talk of Being Starstruck

Epiphany of Our Lord
(Mt. 2:1-11)

In the Philippines, "Starstruck" is a reality search on TV for new young stars. There, hundreds of young people audition to get a chance to be included in the Magic 14 who will be qualified for the Finals. The show’s motto is “DREAM, BELIEVE, SURVIVE!” Indeed, these young people are there because of their dream. And they do believe that their dream will come true. That is why they try to survive the various challenges along the way to stardom.

Is it possible that the wise men from the East who traveled in search of the Christ were starstruck too? But they were starstruck in a different sense! And so, their motto is not "dream, believe, survive", but DREAM, BELIEVE, SURRENDER!

DREAM: The wise men said that they had seen the star of the Messiah rose in the sky. This means that they had been watching out for this star. In a way, they had been dreaming of seeing one day the rising of this star, for they knew what it meant. The rising of star means the fulfillment of the age-old promise of Messiah for Israel and for the whole world. Their lives have been shaped by this dream. And they did not stop until their dream would be realized.

BELIEVE: Not only did the wise men dream. They also believed that the sign of the star was pointing to a reality. They believed in the promise of God, so they eagerly awaited for the rising of the star. They believed that by following the star, they would be led to the Messiah. They believed that they would find the Christ even if it meant leaving homes, traveling through dirt roads and cold nights, even if it meant facing King Herod who would be threatened by their purpose.

SURRENDER: The wise men’s search and the finding of the Christ-child was not to be a game of survival. It was not of their own efforts alone that they would find the Messiah. That is why they have to be led by the stars and by advised by the experts in Jerusalem. They would have to surrender to powers greater than themselves. And upon finding the Child, they bowed down in adoration, a gesture of surrender to the majesty of the King laid on the manger.

DREAM, BELIEVE, SURRENDER! On this solemnity of the Epiphany which brings us closer to the end of the Christmas season, and as we begin a New Year, let us be starstruck, not by fame or fortune, but by Christ Himself, the Star of our lives.