At the Foot of the Cross

Mondays and Tuesdays are low days in the Bilibid prisons because no visitors are allowed on these days. The prison camps come back to life starting Wednesdays up until Sundays when visitors are again given permission to enter the camps, the cells and the holes of the prisoners. Amidst the hardships and diffculties of life in prison, the presence of the visitors, especially of the inmates' wives and mothers, is the source of consolation and strength of the prisoners.

Mary at the foot of the cross certainly provided Jesus with the strength and courage which he badly needed during the hours of his ordeal on the cross. A mother's presence, even without words being uttered or lullabies being sung, is enough to make a son sturdy as steel and brave as a beast to endure the terrible sufferings he has to go through.

May we, too, be encouraged by the Blessed Mother's constant and consoling presence at the foot of our respective crosses.

The Way God Thinks

The Gospel contrasts God's way of thinking with (wo)man's way of thinking. What is the difference between the two? At issue in this Sunday's Gospel passage is the value of suffering. While for humans, suffering is a dead-end, in which there is no way out, for God, suffering is an opening that leads to something greater, something bigger. But since that "something" is not readily experienced, it is difficult to believe in it. Here is where "faith that does good works" is necessary, as the second reading emphasizes.

My 3 months experience in prison ministry (National Bilibid Prisons, Muntinlupa City) has taught me to believe in this promise. The prison is a place of suffering: physical, psychological, spiritual, for the inmates, and for us who minister to them, who journey with them. But our daily celebration of the Eucharist, most often with utmost fervor and devotion, and the real felt need for God's mercy and hope, awakens in us the conviction that beyond, and even in the midst of the suffering they are going through, an opening towards a new life is showing forth. And this new life can begin not only after they have served their sentence, but and even during the time they are in prison.

Hence, our church volunteers: sacristans, readers, eucharistic lay ministers, and others, are all inmates. Many of them have seen that "opening' and have entered through it. Some are still stumbling along the way in search of the way to it. You and I may think they won't find the way. But God thinks otherwise, and that makes the big difference.

The Gateway

For Manila and Quezon City dwellers, the word "Gateway" refers to the mall in Araneta Center in Cubao that links the Cubao stations of the 2 train systems in Metro Manila, the MRT3 Edsa Line and the LRT2A. Gateway, therefore, serves not just as a mall where people do shopping or watch movies, but also a bridge through which passengers can cross from one train system to the another.

Gateway comes to mind because today, birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our parish celebrates this feast under her title, Nuestra Senora de la Porteria, Our Lady of the Gate. Mary, indeed, is the Gate, since it was through her that Jesus our Savior, Word made flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, entered our world. And it is through her, again, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we enter the Kingdom of her Son. Mary is Christ's Gate, and ours, too.

Dear Mother Mary, we thank you for allowing your Son Jesus to pass through you that he may come to us. May you let pass us through you to your Son Jesus, our Lord, our Heaven, for you truly are the Gate of Heaven. Amen.