AT HOME WITH CHRIST

Martha, Mary and Lazarus are considered the closest friends of Jesus. In his journey to Jerusalem, when he passed by Bethany, He dropped by the their house perhaps to relax a bit before he continued with his journey. The episode in which Jesus seems to have reprimanded Martha for being busy about so many things is sometimes taken to be a lack of appreciation on Jesus' part of Martha's anxiety over details.

But some people have noted that the exchange between Jesus and Martha shows that it is not Jesus alone who is "at home" in Martha's house. Martha, too, is "at home" with Jesus. She is comfortable and familiar with Him that she can speak to Him that way ("Are you not bothered...?" , and Jesus answer her that way ("Martha, Martha...". It is an exchange between two close friends who can speak out frankly their minds and hearts.

How we wish we can also be as comfortable and familiar with Christ as Martha was! And whether we believe it or not, Jesus allows us to do so. Let us then open our hearts and pour out our anxieties and worries to Him. And let us allow Him to give us a friendly reprimand,

too =)

Loving Unto Death and Beyond

The phrase "till death do us part" is usually associated with weddings because it concludes the prayer of the married couple after they have pronounced their vows. But this phrase can very well be uttered by friends to each other, because true friendship is one that lasts until death. In the case of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, their friendship is unto death and beyond... into the risen life.

The story of St. Mary Magdalene is a very inspiring one in many ways because it shows one woman's capacity to be loyal to someone whom she considers her friend, someone who must have given meaning to her otherwise wayward existence, someone whom she must have wanted to keep for herself, but could not. Yet she remained on his side until his death on the cross.

The appearance of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene shows Our Lord returning the love and loyalty of Mary Magdalene. She who was (among) the last to leave his side was given the privilege to be (among) the first to encounter Him in His Risen Life. The death and resurrection of Our Lord, which we take to be one single event/ mystery shows both Jesus and Mary as friends whose friendship has remained warm and tender despite death's attempt to break and bury it cold and numb in its grave.

Indeed, for friends, the last word is not "goodbye" but "hello".

I HAVE ENOUGH

When we were students, some of us were forced to be thrifty because we only had a small amount of money to spend for our needs. We lived on a limited allowance and tight budget. We just had enough for our fare, snacks, projects and a weekend movie, if there is extra. Our needs were many, our wants were few. But when we started to have a job and to earn our own money, suddenly we realized that our wants became as many as our needs, even more than our needs. And we wonder how our hard-earned money simply leaves our pockets, disappearing in a few moments, just as fast as it came.

Having bought our personal necessities and finding out there is some extra cash, we think of something we have not had before (example, a cellphone or a branded pair of shoes); we buy it, but in a few days, there is a new model that is marketed as more efficient, more durable than what we have, and we buy. And the cycle continues, to the delight of the multi-millionaire owners of these products and services, to our regretful dismay.

This Sunday's psalm says: "The Lord is my shepherd. There is nothing I shall want.' Will I mean this if I say this?

HANDLING REJECTION

"Fear of rejection" is a very common reason why people hesitate to venture into a new relationship, to apply for a new job, to submit a new proposal. We could not stand the pain of being rejected, especially if it will be for the nth time.

Jesus was not spared that feeling of being rejected. It must have been doubly painful because it was his own people who did not accept him. Instead of being proud of the good works he was doing, they looked down on him as a carpenter's son, as someone too familiar to them to be able to do such marvelous works.

But the Gospel does not report Jesus sulking in one corner and wallowing in His pain. Surely he must have been pained and must have dealt with it in prayer when he would retreat to a quiet place. But He did not allow the rejection of people to get in the way of His mission.

May we find in Christ the strength to move on after being rejected, even by people most dear to us.

Fixing One's Gaze on Jerusalem

How did Jesus feel while entering Jerusalem? Did he indeed feel like a King triumphantly entering his city after a victory at battle? Did He rejoice at the sight of all the people acclaiming Him as Son of David, laying their garments on his way?

Probably not, because He knew at that point that death was already a real and inevitable possibility. And anyone confronted with death trembles
at that the sight.

But going to Jerusalem is something he has firmly decided on much earlier, in Luke's Gospel, as early as Chapter 9. V. 51: "and he has set his face to go to Jerusalem". Jesus enters Jerusalem, then, with determination and firmness, albeit certainly with the usual human fear and anxiety before an impending suffering and possible death.

May we, too, enter our own Jerusalems with the same firmness as Jesus did.

Testing the Faith, Risking the Friendship

The readings for today mention Abraham, whom the Jews claim as their father, the father of believers. The first thing that most people remember about Abraham is his prompt obedience in carrying out God's will to sacrifice his son, Isaac. They take note of how it must have been very painful for Abraham to lose his only son who was the most precious treasure he had. The Genesis account does not bother to tell the reader about how Abraham felt. It leaves to the reader's imagination or contemplation to enter the mind and heart of Abraham and feel the suffering and dilemma, probably confusion and frustration at such a brutal demand from God.

What if we enter the mind and heart of God?... and try to discover, at least in our imagination and contemplation, how he felt as he placed Abraham in such a difficult situation. Could it be that God himself was suffering, feeling the same dilemma and confusion as Abraham did, first because He himself is a Father (and would in fact undergo the same experience when He will have to sacrifice His own Son for our sake). And also because Abraham is not just any creature or person to Him. Abraham is His friend, to whom He has revealed Himself, whom He allowed to have an intimate relationship with Him, to whom He promised the very same son He now is asking for from Him. Who would want to hurt a friend?

Whatever pain or suffering Abraham went through in obeying God's will, God, too, felt in His own heart. If the risk on Abraham's part was big enough, the risk on God's part was even greater. For what was at stake was the faith, and the friendship, the relationship which has already been established between the two of them. But God was not afraid to risk. And so was Abraham. They tested each other. The proved each other worthy of faith, of trust, of friendship.

Rejoice in the Love of God

The fourth Sunday of Lent is also called Laetare Sunday. In the middle of Lent, we are asked to look forward with joyful expectation to that day when the angels will sing "Gaudete at laetare, resurrexit sicut dixit" Rejoice and be glad. He has risen as he said. At the cause for rejoicing is the love with which God did not spare His only Son from death to give us life. The love of God which loves us to the end is indeed a cause for rejoicing. As Pope Benedict said in Spe Salvi, "He who has experienced this love of God is the person who has hope."

Yes, in the midst of all the paperworks and reports and requirements that await completion as the school year comes to a close, let us quietly rejoice for we are loved, to the full, to the end.

If You Love Him, Set Him Free

This is the advise usually given to someone who has difficulty giving up a loved one... a boyfriend who's got a new girl, a son wanting to enter the seminary, a friend who died to suddenly. We have to let go, but we won't, we can't,,, because it can be very painful, because we so love that person.

But that is not the case with Abraham. He loved his Son, but there was a love in his heart which was greater than his love for his Son, His love, His reverence for Yahweh. But love for God does not cancel out love for neighbor. In fact, the first leads to the other. Can't we say that precisely because of his love for his Son, he wanted him to be with God the soonest possible. Hence, paradoxically, it is in giving up that we truly know we are. When we give of ourselves, we know we are Christians indeed.

In the Gospel it is very clear. Jesus is proclaimed as Son of God. He is the beloved Son of God, who precisely bec of His being the beloved, He is given up to be delivered unto death. Because of God's love for Him, He allowed Him to explore the greatness, the depths and beauty of humaity and of the world. God has "set him free" "to humanize world." A tall order indeed. And that is the meaning of the Resurrection.

That We may Feel our Deepest Hunger

In his message for Lent, 2009, Pope Benedict talks about fasting, one of the 3 pillars of Lenten observance. He shows how fasting is grounded in Scriptures, and how it goes all the way back to the creation of man/ woman. In this message, the Pope continues/ reiterates the point he made in his homily for last Sunday, where he talked about the absence of God as man's deepest illness. Of fasting, he says:

Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by His saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God.”

May this season of Lent and our joyful observance of fasting truly allow us to feel the God alone can satisfy our deepest hunger.

Our Deepest Illness

The first 2 chapters of Mark presents Jesus as a healer, a miracle worker. People flock to him from all sides. This last couple of Sundays, we heard Jesus expelling the demon, healing Simon's mother in-law, cleansing the leper, and now, healing the paralytic, and forgives his sins. Pope Benedict follows the Scriptural understanding of these miracles as "signs"... signs of what?

"I refer to these healings as signs: They guide toward the message of Christ, they guide us toward God and make us understand that man's truest and deepest illness is the absence of God, who is the fount of truth and love. And only reconciliation with God can give us true healing, true life, because a life without love and without truth would not be a true life. The Kingdom of God is precisely the presence of truth and love, and thus it is healing in the depths of our being" (Angelus Message, Feb, 8, 2009).*

May the healing love of God touch us through Jesus that we may truly be healed from the depths of our hearts, and be fully reconciled with God.

*cf. http://www.zenit.org/article-25037?l=english

AS YOU ARE!

Jesus' healing of the leper brought him not only physical cleansing and restoration, but also, and primarily, psychological and spiritual healing, because the leprosy ate up and destroyed not only the physical body, but more so, the dignity and sense of self of the leper. The first reading illustrates how the early Jewish society imposed restrictions on the lepers' movements and isolate them from the community.

But Jesus act of touching the leper and curing him of his leprosy restored to him his dignity and sense of wholeness, and reunites him back to the community. This is the reason why he needed to show himself to the priests and make the necessary offerings.

Jesus comes close to us and touches us as we are. We only have to be humble enough to admit our sickness and therefore our need for healing. "If you wish, you can cure me."

Let Your Servant Go In Peace!

Since the examen serves as the night prayer of Jesuits, I did not develop the habit of praying the Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. But I recently realized how beautiful a prayer it is, especially the canticle of Simeon, which he recited (or sang) upon receiving the baby Jesus in his arms when the latter was presented in the temple:

Lord, let your servant go in peace

For your Word has been fulfilled.

My eyes have seen the salvation

you have promised to your all peoples,

a light of revelation to the Gentiles,

and glory for your people Israel.

How consoling is the thought that at the end of each day, we can indeed pray wholeheartedly this song of Simeon. Or at least, as a reminder that each night we close our eyes, we might not be able to open it again, that is, in this world. That would not be a frightening thought if and only if we are ready to face the Lord the next time we open our eyes... in the next life.

God's Blinding Light

The conversion of St Paul (celebrated on 25th January) after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus reminds us of the famous lines from the Confessions of St Augustine, where Augustine speaks of the light that shone on us and shattered his blindness, thus giving him a totally new sight, enabling him to see things from the perspective of God. This is the same experience St Paul went through in his conversion...

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new late have I loved you. You were within me, but I was without. Unlovely, I rushed onto the lovely things you have made. You were with me, but I was not with you... You called and cried aloud, and forced open my blindness. You gleamed and shone and cahse away my blindness. You breathed fragrant odors, and I drew in my breath, and now I pant for thee. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me and I burnt for yoru peace! (Book 9, Chap 27).

God of New Beginnings

Each year we celebrate the feast of Sto Nino, we reflect on the God coming down to earth as a human being, as an infant. The coming of a child to a family always signals the beginning of a new chapter in that family's life. Routines change; the sleeping patterns and arrangements change; budget change. New schedules and patterns and attitudes are begun. A child brings new beginnings.

The prophet Isaiah proclaims: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing.... For a child is born to us, a son is given us..."

The feast of Sto Nino, the feast of the Christ Child reveals to us who our God is... a God of new beginnings... a God who always begins anew. Once upon a time, He began creation, but continues, or begins each day. By the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He began a new covenant, He re-created the world, He renewed humanity. Many times, we tried to end our relationship with God. But He always takes the initiative to begin anew.

May this feast of Sto Nino, on this New Year, inspire us to begin a new, to start a new chapter in our lives, full of hope and trust in the God of new beginnings.

An Image of Security of Self

John the Baptist is a striking image of someone who is so secure of himself that he does not claim to be who he is not. Honestly he says, "One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals." He could have taken advantage of the situation and proclaimed himself as the Messiah; but he did not.

Although he himself was unsure whether or not Jesus is the Messiah (that's why he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one we are waiting for or will we wait for someone else?"), still He did not claim to be the one. He know who he was and he knew where he stands. He is the best man and Jesus is the bridegroom. He is the voice and Jesus is the word.

May we know who we are, that we might know who Jesus is.

JESUS, OUR LIFE

January 1, the octave of Christmas is the feast of the Society of Jesus, because it is the day when the name "Jesus" was given to the child born on Christmas day. And our Society is named after Jesus. Hence, today, I find these words from Fr Longhaye very appropriate as matter for reflection:

Love Jesus, strive to love his adorable person passionately everyday more and more even to your last breath. study, scrutinize, dig, bring to light without ceasing both for yourself and for others His unfathomable riches. Gaze upon Him stubbornly until you know Him by heart; better yet, until you become Him, absorbed in Him. may He always be more and more the center of your thoughts, the link between all of your understandings, the practical goal of your studies whatever they may be. Make Him the morally unique aim, the overriding argument, the triumphal arm of your apostolate.

Professor, preacher, writer, missionary, who knows what?... may you have, it please God, a great and noble renown; but, obscure or celebrated, occupied in the greatest of ministries or the most humble, at least be known in your sphere of action as a man filled and possessed by Jesus Christ, as a man who, when it seems appropriate and even when it doesn't - if that is possible - speaks unceasingly of Jesus Christ and speaks of Him out of the abundance of His Heart.

Jesus Christ contemplated, Jesus Christ known, Jesus Christ loved with an ever growing passion; this will be everything for you!

Happy New Year! Happy Feastday!

They Are Families Too!

The "holy" family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, does seem to be a difficult model to imitate and identify with. After all, Mary is full of grace. Joseph is the righteous man and Jesus, the Son of God.

But a closer look at their situation makes us realize that while they may be described as "holy", they are not "usual" or "normal" in the way we conceive a family... a child made by a husband and wife through their conjugal act. Mary got pregnant prior to their marriage, and not even by her husband Joseph (such a shameful thing to happen to a respectable woman, according to social norms). Joseph learns of the pregnancy only later. He is asked to take Mary and her child as his own (according to cultural norms for males, such a stupid thing to do; why get a "package deal" when you can get a certified virgin and make a child of your own with her). And the child, born in untimely of circumstances (while they had to travel to Bethlehem) and in the most unfavorable location, devoid of hygiene and sanitation. The child provoked conflict from the start, getting a threat from the King, and prophesied by Simeon to cause more conflicts and contradiction later on.

So what about families formed by women who get pregnant out of wedlock, ending up as single mothers, of men getting the jeers for having fallen for a woman with a child, of unwanted children, perceived as threats to security and comfort, and sources of problems and conflicts? What about families of single mothers, single fathers, childless couples, separated spouses, orphaned and abandoned children? and all those "unconventional", "un-usual", "ab-normal" families?

Happy Feastday to all families!

Silent Night, Silent God

Indeed, "silent night" is an appropriate description of the night the Son of God was born, because He is the Son of a Quiet God who prefers to act, to work, to labor, in silence.

On that first Christmas night, Bethlehem must have been a noisy, crowded, busy place because of all the natives coming home for the census ordered by Augustus, which was why Mary and Joseph did not find a vacant room to stay. They ended up in a manger, somewhere perhaps at the outskirts of the city, at the backyard of the house, away from the chatter and banter of the people. There in the obscure corner of the kingly city of David, the "Son of David", the Son of God, was born.

God does seem to love the quiet places, the hidden corners, the silent nights... there He is born, there He is to be found... there He is... to find those left out in these hidden places, those lost for having made the wrong turns in the twisted corners of life, those screaming in silence during the dark nights of their souls.

May we find the hidden God this Xmas, or rather, may we, who are hiding, be found by this God this Xmas!

A Blessed Christmas, my friend!

How Can This Be?

The iconography of the Blessed Virgin Mary usually portrays her as a demure, sweet, "Maria Clara" type girl, almost naive to a fault. She is described as a woman who readily submitted herself to the will of God that she be the mother of the Son of God.

But a close reading of the Annunciation narrative shows that she did not immediately, unthinkingly and passively just agreed to what God planned to do with her. She "wondered what this greeting meant". She thoughtfully inquired how God's plan was to be accomplished in her: "How can this be since I do not know man?" She dared to ask, to question, to probe into the ways of God. She was actively involved throughout the exchange with the angel. And all through her life as a mother, she would always be pondering, reflecting, perhaps continually asking, questioning, probing, even at the foot of the Cross. This makes her "fiat" not a blind submission to God's will, but an acceptance offered after an involved and intense 'discernment.'

May the Blessed Mother place us with her Son as we celebrate His birth this Christmas!

God Is Preparing a Place

On this Advent season, we are exhorted to make preparations for the coming of the Messiah: for His second coming at the end of time (or at the end of our time here on earth, meaning our death), as well as for the commemoration of His first coming, on Christmas Day. We are given many suggestions for spiritual preparations, which we are supposed to undertake amidst the material preparations, like putting up Xmas lights and Xmas trees, buying gifts, booking tickets for Xmas break etc.

As we make all these Advent preparations, we celebrate the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a feast specially celebrated in many parishes and chapels all over the country. The opening prayer for today's Mass says: "Father, you prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy mother of your Son. You let her share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by his death, and kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Help us by her prayers to live in your presence without sin. We ask this..."

This opening prayer reminds us how God Himself prepared the way, the place for the coming of His Son, the Redeemer. It is not the world that prepared itself or a way or a place for Christ. It is God who made the necessary preparations in the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that Christ may find a fitting dwelling place when he comes to the earth.

Perhaps God does the same in our hearts. In the end, it is not we who will ultimately prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ, whether this Xmas or at the end of time. It is God who prepares a place... but we have to open our hearts and let Him come in so that He may undertake the cleansing, the healing, the washing, the purifying of our hearts, as He did to Mary.