Friday Week

“Take up your cross and follow me”

Noong mga naunang panahon sa America, partikular sa Estado ng Colorado, ang ginto at tellurium ay magkahalo na lumalabas bilang isang “tellurite ore”. Dahil hindi pa moderno ang pagpoprosesso ng metal noon at wala pa silang kakayahang paghiwalayin ang ginto at tellurium ay itinabi na lang nila na parang basura ang mga “tellurite ore”. Isang araw, habang ang isang minero ay nagluluto, napagkamalan niyang “coal” ang isang tipyas ng “tellurite ore” at ito ay kanyang ipinanggatong sa kanyang kalan. Makalipas ang ilang araw, habang tinatanggal niya ang abo mula sa kayang kalan laking gulat niya sapagkat sa ilalim ng abo ay naroon ang ilang butil ng mga purong ginto. Ang pagsusunog sa apoy pala ay naghihiwalay sa purong ginto. Hangang sa ngayon, patuloy na ginagamit ang maiinit na apoy ang mga alahero para ihiwalay ang purong ginto mula sa ibang mga metal kung sila ay gumagawa ng alahas. Ang mga ito ay nagpapatunay na ang nagniningas at mainit na apoy ang siyang tumatanggal sa mga ibang metal para lumabas ang puro at tunay na ginto.

Katulad din ito ng pagsunod kay Kristo. Kinakailangan ng apoy upang makita ang tunay na sumusunod kay Kristo. Ang apoy na ito na tumatanggal sa mga di karapat-dapat na sumunod kay kristo ay walang iba kundi ang Krus. Sa katunayan, ang sabi ni Hesus sa ating ebanghelyo ngayon, “Kung ibig ninumang sumunod sa akin, limutin ang kanyang sarili, pasanin ang kanyang krus at sumunod sa akin.” Kung meron mang layunin at dahilan ang pagpasan ng krus ito ay ang maipakita ang isang tunay na sumusunod kay Kristo. Ang Krus ay apoy na tutunaw sa mga sagabal sa pagsunod kay Kristo.

Noong nakaraang linggo, nakausap ko ang isang kaibigan. May sarili na siyang pamilya at may tatlong anak. Nagrereklamo na siya sa hirap ng buhay hindi dahil sa mga anak niya kundi sa pag-aalaga sa kanyang na-stroke na kapatid! Sabi niya, “Father, sorry po, pero malimit naiinis na po talaga ako sa kapatid ko! Isipin n’yo Father, limang taon ko na siyang inaalagaan, binibihisan, pinapakain, at ang mas nakakainis, kung kailan tapos mu na siyang linisan at bihisan saka naman uli iihi sa salawal.. Grabe talaga father, nagagalit na ako sa kanya!” Tinanong ko siya, “nagsasawa ka na ba sa ginagawa mu?” “Hindi po Father!” ang sagot niya. Tanung ko uli, “Bakit mo ginagawa ang lahat ng ito?” Ang sabi niya, “Syempre Father, kapatid ko yon eh!”

Hindi ko man nasabi sa kanya noong magkausap kami, ang kanyang pag-aalaga sa kanyang kapatid ay isa sa mga krus na kanyang pinapasan. At ang krus na ito ang nagpapatunay na siya ay ganap at tunay na tagasunod ni kristo at ang pagsunod na ito ay hindi peke o pakitang tao-lamang. Dahil hindi siya umiwas o sumuko sa pagpasan ng krus mas lalong nagiging puro at tunay ang kanyang pagsunod kay Kristo. Ang kanyang pagsunod kay Kristo ay katulad ng isang ginto na tinanggalan ng ibang elemento at naging puro gawa ng apoy ng krus na naglilinis sa kanyang puso at sarili. Hindi madali ang sumunod kay Kristo dahil mahirap ang pumasan ng Krus. Ngunit ito ang tangi at nag-iisang paraan para maging tunay ang pagsunod sa kanya.

Hindi naman kailangan na lahat ng tao ay sumailalim sa isang mahirap na karanasan na dapat niyang pagtiisang pasanin para masabing tunay nga ang kanyang pagsunod kay Kristo. Ang krus na pasanin ng bawat Kristyano ay anumang problema, pagsubok, hirap, kabiguan, at pait na kinakaharap sa araw-araw. Ayun sa nga mga mga Chinese, “ang mga problema na dumarating sa buhay ay mga opportunities—crisis are opportunities.” Totoo nga na ang mga di magandang karanasan ay “opportunities” para subukin ang tatag ng isang tao na bumagon at magwagi sa mga pagsubok at crises. (Challengges bring out the best in the person) Ang isang kristiyano ay tulad ng isang gintong nakahalo sa isang “tellurite ore” kailangan siya ay padaanin sa apoy ng krus upang ang pusong gintong nasa kanyang dibdib na sumusunod kay Hesus ay tumambad sa paningin. “Let the treasure of gold in each person come out by the purifying fire of the cross. Take up your cross then, and be the best gold that you are.”

Saturday of First Week of Lent

Love your Enemies

One thing that many people find difficult to do in this world is to follow what our Gospel today teaches: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
It is easy to love one’s parents, sisters and brothers and close friends because there is something that bids us together. Loving the other becomes easy when we can connect most especially if this connection is blood or significant experiences that bridge the gap between two persons.

But to love one’s enemies is like asking what is impossible. Look at what is happening around us. See how Arab nations and most Muslims countries hate the Americans. See also how the Americans hate the world and could trust no one. We need not look far to see how this hatred had been fueling so much violence in our very own country. The rising number of slain journalists, missing persons and how our politicians quarrel over kickbacks are solid indications of all of these. From all of these, it seems that the command of the Lord: “Love your enemies” could never happen.

Certainly, we cannot love our enemies unless we stop loving only ourselves and give ourselves fully to God. For the love of God is the sole basis of loving our enemies. Unless we love God, we cannot love our enemies. I guess most of us knows that Pope John Paul II was once shot by a Turkish national, Mehmet Ali Agca on May 13, 1981. The Pope survived the assignation but was in serious condition. Soon after his recovery, the Pope visited Agca in his prison cell and spoke privately with him. This meeting caught the world in awe and admiration at the gesture of kindness, of friendship shown by the Pope to his aggressor. The world could only marvel at the greatness and love that made it possible for a victim to talk and extend peace to his killer and offer forgiveness.

As if words of forgiveness were not enough , the Pope requested the Italian President to pardon Agca. The latter then was released on parole in January 12, 2006. No doubt, Pope John Paul II did love his enemy. And it was possible for him to love because he loves God first. It is in loving God with all our heart, all our mind and all our being that we can love our neighbors and even our enemies.

“Who do you say that I am?”

Isa sa mga kababata ko ang kakaiba. Mabait naman ito at masunurin sa magulang, sa katunayan honor student pa ito noong kami ay elementary. Kami ay nagtataka sapagkat ayaw niyang pumasok sa simbahan. Minsan kinulit naming siya kung bakit ayaw niyang pumasok ng simbahan. Sabi niya, “Takot ako sa Dios!” Sabi namin, “Kami din naman ah, may takot sa Diyos. Bakit kami pumapasok sa simbahan?.” “Basta! Ayaw kong papasok ng simbahan. Natatakot ako.” Parang may phobia sa simbahan itong si Nelson. Nang tumagal nalaman namin na ito pala si Nelson ay pinapaluhod sa asin sa harap ng altar na nakadipa ng kanyang Nanay pag may ginagawang masama. Tuloy, pag may mga nakikita siyang santo o mga crucifix nanginginig na siya sa takot. Karaniwan nang nangyayari na kinukulayan ng karanasan ang pagkakakilala sa Diyos. Kaya para kay Nelson, ang Diyos ay mapagparusa.

Katulad ng aming barkada na si Nelson, nakulayan din ng karanasan ang pagkakilala ni Pedro kay Hesus. Noong sabihin ni Pedro na si Hesus ang Messias ay inaasahan niyang si Hesus ay mamumuno sa isang himagsikan para sila ay palayain mula sa kamay ng mga Romano at ng mapang-aping hari ng Israel. Kung kaya’t di niya matanggap ang sinabi ni Hesus na siya ay madurusa at mamamatay bago mabubuhay muli bilang pagganap sa kanyang nakatakdang layunin.

Hindi naging madali para kay Pedro na tanggalin o alisin ang karanasang kumukulay sa kanyang pagkakilala kay Hesus. Hanggang sa hiling sandali ng buhay ni Hesus umaasa siya na ito ay gagawa ng kababalaghan o gagamitin ang kanyang makadiyos na kapangyarihan para ibahin ang takbo ng mga pangyayari. Kaya di nakapagtataka na itanggi niya si Hesus ng makatlong ulit dahil di naganap ang kanyang inaasahang paraan ng pagliligtas ni Hesus.

Marami ang mga katulad ng kaibigan kong si Nelson at ni Pedro na di ganap na nakilala si Hesus sapagkat nakukulayan ito ng kanilang karanasan o hindi sapat ang pagkakilala sa Diyos. Meron akong isang kaibigan ang pagkakilala sa Diyos ay parang isang vending machine. Sa Vending machine, pag maghulog ka ng pera sa slot, kung ano ang gusto mu na naroon ay lalabas sa ilalim. Ganun ang tinging niya sa Diyos. Magsisimba lang ito pag may kailangan. Katulad noong nag-aaply ng US visa ang kanyang anak, araw-araw itong nag nonovena, lahat na ata ng simbahan sa Metro Manila ay pinuntahan. Ganitong pag-iisip din ang umiiral sa mga chain prayers sa kumakalat. Noon, papel lang na iniiwansa simbahan, ngayon e-mail na o di kaya ay text messages na. Ayon sa mga chain prayers na ito, pag ginawa mo ang sinasabi nito ay makakamit mo ang iyong mga kahilingan. Kawawa naman ang Diyos sunod-sunoran sa tao.

Anu nga ba ang isang tunay at maayos na pagkakilala sa Diyos na hindi nakukulayan ng karanasan at sariling pangangailang. Muli nating balikan ang sinabi ni HEsus, “walang nakakakilala sa Ama kundi ang Anak, walang nakakakilala sa Anak kundi ang Ama.” Samakatuwid, si Hesus ang tunay at ganap na nagpakilala sa atin ng Diyos. Ang kanyang mga gawa at aral ay mga pagpapakilala sa Diyos na mapagmahal at mapagpatawad.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary

SOLEMNITY OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

REV. ARNOLD C. BIAGO, SVD

Today is the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception

Immaculate conception calls our attention to the special privilege of Mary to be free from all sin from the moment of birth. Mary was exempted from the pain and difficulty of being separated with God. God was always with Mary from the beginning.

Also, Immaculate Conception directs us to that noble role of Mary of being the Mother of God. If Mary was (in all her life) always in the presence of God it was due to this very significant role she has to assume. By being the mother of God, Mary then is rightly our mother too. Indeed, she was the best of all mothers. She was never tired of caring for us all her children. Remember what we say in the prayer, Hail Mary: “Pray for us sinners NOW and at the HOUR of our DEATH.” Mary never gets tired of us, she wants us all to come close to her Son Jesus, that is why, she is always praying for us.

With Mary, we are reminded of who we are and what we shall become. First, Mary personifies what we are supposed to be as followers of the Lord, that is, as Christ’s disciples. Mary was the first to accept the Good News of Salvation by her “fiat”, “yes” to the announcement of Angel Gabriel that she will be the mother of the Son of God. Later, Mary spends all her life faithfully and literally following Jesus up to the Cross. Like Mary, God is offering us the Good News of Salvation and asking us to follow the Son of God in Jesus Christ. And like Mary, God is waiting for our “fiat”, our yes to the Good News of Salvation and hoping that we follow Jesus until and even on the Cross.

Second, Mary provides us the hope of finally coming to be with God at the end. Here I am referring to the Assumption of Mary. Because Mary was free from sin, we strongly believe that at the end of her life on earth, Our Mother did not experience the corruption of death. At the Moment of Mary’s death, God assumed her body into Heaven. That is also what will happen to us. We will be with God when we are freed from sin, when we have faithfully followed the Lord and remained in God.

Mary is especially chosen by the God to be the Mother of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. She is our model in faith and in her we see our future. If God trusted Mary to be the Mother of the Son of God, the more we should trust that she’ll help us get close to God, to her Son.

I have my own reason for entrusting myself to Mary. I remember, as a small kid, I like to accompany my grandmother in her regular house visit to the house of a family of a bereaved to pray the rosary for the repose of the soul of the dead. Initially, I do not understand what it was all about. What I was very much interested was the merienda served after the praying of the rosary. But later, I came to know that it was a prayer… That was my first experience of God, praying the rosary, praying through Mary. Looking back at that experience, I can convincingly say that it was Mother Mary who introduced me to God. Mother Mary awakens in me an awareness of God, an awareness of Jesus, her Son and our Lord. Being our Mother, I am confident and unafraid that Mary will never get tired of interceding for us once we entrust ourselves to her motherly care, because she will pray for us… Now and at the hour of our death…

Making Through The Storm

Making it through the storm

(Based on the Sunday Gospel Commentary of Nil Guillemette)

I tried some reading on the geography of the Sea of Galilee, and they say, its geographical make-up is quite unique. The surface of the sea is 685 feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, since the Jordan Valley, in which it lies, has there sunk to such a depth. On the other hand, high hills surround it on almost all its sides. This means that there is usually a great difference of temperature between the air on the top of the plateaus surrounding the sea and the air on the low-lying water. When a strong wind blows from the north-eastern high plateau of the Syrian desert, which is some 3000 feet about sea level, the rush of cold air falling on the surface of the sea and the rush of hot air rising under this pressure produce a vertical air flow or convection current of great power. The results of this are sudden, violent storms, which agitate the Sea of Galilee in a most frightful fashion. Thus, terrible squalls hurl themselves, even when the sky is perfectly clear, upon these waters, which are ordinarily so calm. The storms come literally unexpectedly, and the most experienced fishermen cannot predict them. Such storms can produce waves up to 20 feet high or more.

Today’s gospel reading reports such a storm, one that came with shattering and terrifying suddenness. It mentions that Jesus was occupying in Peter’s boat the placed reserved for any distinguished guest. As the Gospel puts it, “Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.” (It must be a very comfortable place indeed.) Not only that, exhausted by a day of preaching, Jesus was asleep when the storm broke out and he continued to sleep soundly until the disciples woke him up. And we know that he calmed it down.

A noted bible scholar Nil Guillemette, would say that this story was written or preserved for two obvious reasons (obvious at least for himself). First, it illustrated the power of Jesus over nature and indirectly therefore, hinted his true identity. The Bible often presents God as ruling the storms of the sea (Ps 107:23-30; 89:9; 29:3; 46:3; 93:3-4; Nah 1:4; Hab 3:15; Jb 38:8-11). Now, the fact that Jesus could command the sea showed that he shared the very power of God – in other words, that he somehow belonged to the sphere of the divine.

The second reason is its symbolic value. Peter, let us recall, was a fisherman whom Jesus called to become fisher of men (Mk 1:17). As head of the Church founded by Christ, the boat he steers becomes an image of the Church. And, consequently, the storms he meets become symbols of the various storms and crises of the Church. To complete the picture in this connection, the sleeping Christ represents the apparent absence or non-intervention of God during times of persecutions, schisms, heresies. However, the awakening and storm-calming Christ represents the eventual overcoming of crises by the powerful intervention of God through unforeseen events or through the raising up of great saints and charismatic leaders in the Church.

This scene was highly inspiring to Mark and the readers of his gospel. Mark wrote this gospel between the years 65 to 70 according to the almost unanimous opinion of the experts. Now that was at the time of the first Roman persecution of the Church, the one launched between 64 and 68 by the cruel Emperor Nero. Both the apostles Peter and Paul perished in that persecution, along with many other leaders of the Church. (So, the early Christians were asking): Where was God in all this? Why was he permitting all this bloodshed? Was he asleep amid the storm? Mark, by reporting this episode of the calming of the storm, was reassuring the storm-tossed Church of Rome. He was saying in effect: “Christ might seem to be sleeping now, but do not worry. One of these days he will wake up and calm the storm.” Mark was right. In the year 68 Nero committed suicide and the storm abruptly ended.

In the course history, the Church has experienced many storms such as persecutions, controversies that involve money and sexual scandals. However, it is not only the church as a whole that experiences storms and crises, the church as an individual, we too, ourselves, have and experience a lot of storms and crises in our lives. Very common among them is financial crises, in the form of debts, loss of jobs, bankruptcy among others. In addition, we encounter relationship crises, marriage crises and/or family crises. A lot of my classmates in HS who are married are having difficulties in their marriage, and that’s becomes my problem as well, because, even if I am in Congo, they would call or email me to just to tell me and consult about their marriage problems. Many think that priests are lucky because they have none of these problems. Yes it is true we have none of the many of your concerns like raising children or an unfaithful husband or wife, unless, we keep one. But we too encounter a lot of problems in our work, with our co-priests and even with ourselves, that is why, there are those who are living the priesthood.

My dear brothers and sisters, the fact is, there is no way we can avoid storms in life. There will always be storms coming on us because we are living in a not so perfect world. Given our imperfect situation, it is up to us, it is left on our hands to make the best of out of these limitations. I very well remember what the Chinese often used to say in trying moments: “Crises are not something to be avoided but are opportunities to be exploited.” Simply said, crises, difficult situations are opportunities, opportunities to renew and strengthen relationship, opportunities for us to discover and exploit our hidden talents and skills and opportunities to fully develop ourselves. I believe this is also, how God suggests us to see trying moments in our lives.

It is here that I am reminded of Ray Charles, a renowned Gospel singer in US, a man whose songs are filled with emotions, who collected for himself numerous musical awards counting among them several Grammys. He is considered an icon in the word of music, a genius in fact, so much so that a film is made out of his extraordinary life. Like all of us, he too was knocked down by a storm, a really hard one. At the age of six, he was completely blinded. But that did not stop him from becoming one of the greatest musicians of our time, one that many considers a genius, who inspired others with his songs for God.

We are not blind like Ray Charles, if Charles did make it through the storm, the more it would be so for us. The gospel story should then inspire us during and amidst the storms of life. However violent and frightening they may be, we must trust that God is always at our side. True, he might wait a bit before intervening, for his own good reasons. But if we pray for his help and trust in him, we will always be given the strength and the courage to weather our storms. With him on board our boat, there is nothing to fear.

Simplicity and Sacrifice

Simplicity and Sacrifice

Kenosis is a familiar yet oftentimes theologically misunderstood Greek word. The word means “emptying,” based on its root, kenos, meaning “empty”. In the Christian-Catholic traditions, kenosis is taken as a theological term to explain the self-emptying act of Jesus as mentioned in Philippians 2:6-7, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance.” In other words, by becoming man through the Incarnation, God who becomes Jesus subjected himself to human laws of suffering and joy, pain and gladness, etc. Taking in mind that Jesus is God, we understood this gesture of abasement as his self-emptying; the Greek word for it is kenosis. In the words of the (first reading today,) Second Letter of Paul to Corinthians, the poverty of Christ, “For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he become poor although he was rich, that by his poverty you might become rich.”

Complex might be this theological heritage of Paul; it has much to teach us in the way we can best live out our faith in Jesus and our vocation as missionaries. First, in putting into action our being Christians, Jesus’ teachings and life of poverty calls us to nothing but a life of simplicity--as simple as that. Yet we know that we are unable to live as simple as we want to be because we complicate things by being entangled into trends, fashions and the demands of the consumerist society. No wonder, we developed in ourselves such outrageous desire to wear this branded clothes and shoes or to acquire this latest model of cellular phone or that upgraded digital device. As a result, many of us Christians complicate our lives and find ourselves in difficult situation with so much unsatisfied needs and wants.

Second, as to our being a missionary, the call is constantly live in the Spirit of sacrifice. This is manifested in our professions of vows as a form of renunciation of ownership—poverty, of following my personal desires—obedience, and of exclusive relationship—chastity, for the sake of the Kingdom and our mission. Interestingly, the moment we embrace the religious-missionary vocation, we gain as much privileged as we have renounced. This privileged comes to us as people accord us with much respect and high regard in society. However, what happens, we, religious and missionaries claim for ourselves and even shamelessly demand this privilege and respect forgetting that in the first place Christ has called us to constantly live in the spirit of sacrifice. In effect, many lay faithful oftentimes complain of their priest, of nuns and seminarians no longer within their reach and unmindful of their flight and concerns.

Several years ago, I read an open letter addressed to priests, religious and seminarians coming from an African youth. She was complaining of the drastic change in the attitude and lifestyle of his friends who became seminarians. She was asking, “What happened to him? Why does he no longer play with us? Why does he no longer come to eat with us, and why does he become so different from us?” I read of his letter while I was a seminarian. Back then, I already believed the truths of his observations as seminarians becomes different in the sense that they become an elite in the eyes of common and ordinary people. More so now, that I am a priest, in many ways, many ordinary people finds it difficult to identify with their priest, to such a point that they are ashamed, discouraged and unable to approach them. It is because; the life of simplicity and spirit of sacrifice is gone.

The challenge remains the same for all. Be like Christ who humbled himself and has become poor for our sake. It is in simplicity and sacrifice that we become like Christ.

Jesus Sends the Advocate

Jesus sends the Advocate
(Tuesday 6th Week of Easter)

Let us say one night, a power interruption suddenly occurs and your room is completely wrapped in darkness. Now you find yourself with nothing to do except play with your mobile phone. Unfortunately, you have forgotten where you placed it. So, you reached for the lamp inside your drawer and started looking for your phone. But let me ask you an obvious question, how do you use your flashlight to find something in darkness? Of course, your response would be, point it away from you but to the things in front in order to illumine the things before you and let you see what you are looking for. Interestingly, the light is directed not to ones face; otherwise, it will blind him or her and fail to see properly.

My dear friends, this is also how the Holy Spirit, the Advocate works (more or less) in our lives of faith as Jesus has demonstrated to his disciples in our Gospel today. In the words of Jesus, “when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right, and about judgment.” (Jn 16, 8) Positively formulated, the work of the Holy Spirit is like a flashlight that illumines, and provides light for us to see the truth of things.

In our Gospel today, this work of the Holy Spirit of illumination is specified in three ways:

(a) that the basic sin was and is refusal to believe in Jesus. Sinning is not how much lies about this thing or that thing have we made this week. Rather it is about how our lives speak of our faith in Jesus. Do our lives speak of our fidelity to Jesus or of our denial of him? I believe your studies in theology have told you that sin is essentially the refusal, that is, denial of God.

(b) that, although Jesus was found guilty and apparently died in disgrace, in reality righteousness has triumphed, for Jesus has returned to his Father. Others would say that the peak moments of Jesus’ life is the Paschal Mystery, that is, the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is so, in as much as by his passion, death and resurrection, what Jesus lived and shared to his disciples by his extensive teaching finds not only its validation but its substance as well. Thus, without, the paschal mystery, our faith would make no sense.

(c) finally, that it is the ruler of this world, Satan, who has been condemned through Jesus' death. Satan, the devil, evil, death or whatever its name might be personifies all that is opposed to goodness. Greed, malice, hopelessness, indifference to the needs of others are some of its contemporary forms. Again, through the paschal event, more particularly Jesus’ dying on the cross, the prince of this world lost its power, that is, death no longer has the gripped upon humanity because Jesus has offered life to the full for all. Thus, a person of faith is not tainted by greed, malice but rather shows concern for others.

To end this short reflection, let me share with you a story of the great Norwegian explorer Ronald Amundsen, the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole and to discover the South Pole. On one of his trips, Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird's cage and set it free. Imagine the delight of Amundsen's wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. No doubt, she exclaimed, "He's alive! My husband is still alive!"

Brothers and sisters, in the coming Sunday is the feast of the Ascension of Jesus. This feast is a strong reminder that Jesus is no longer with us in person because he is now with the Father. But at the same time he remains and continuous to be with us in the Spirit because he has sent the Advocate, the indication of his presence in our midst. Let us then constantly remind ourselves of Jesus words in today’s Gospel, “it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”(Jn 16, 7)