Steadfast Waiting

1st Sunday of Advent Nov. 29, 2009 (Lk 21:25-28, 34-36)

"There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, and on earth, nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

"But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads, because your redemption is at hand."

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

We begin our Liturgical Year with the Season of Advent. Advent means "coming". In this season, we reflect on the coming of Christ. We prepare for the second coming of the Lord at the end of time, as we remember how He came to us in time, as a child, some twenty centuries ago. Advent, therefore, is a season of waiting. We wait for the coming of Jesus in our hearts and as judge at the end of time.

We are living in between Christ's coming two thousand years ago and His coming at the end of time. The early Christians used to cry, "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!". But now, more than two thousand years after, that cry seems to be getting softer and softer. Christianity has survived through time, but the longing for the return of Christ seems to be weakening. Faith has become limited to just admitting that there is a God. People attend Mass as if it were a program. They stand, sit and speak whenever needed, but do not pray. We no longer nourish our souls, as we are too busy with worldly affairs.

This is what Jesus warns us about. We must not be too preoccupied with the anxieties of life. All these things to which we give value will all disappear anyway. They are ephemeral. And the tasks that we are so busy with are not as important compared to the task Jesus expects us to do - steadfast waiting. Jesus expects us to be steadfast in faith, hope and love. He expects us to follow His teachings and to hold on to His words. He expects us not to belong to the world. He expects us not just to wait, but to be loyal Christians while we wait for Him. This is what steadfast waiting means.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul says that we ought to be holy before God. He exhorts us to live in a manner pleasing to God. A life of holiness entails imitating Christ, living according to how Christ taught us to live. This life is characterized by a steadfast faith that consists in knowing, loving and serving God. Our faith should be active, producing fruit, not only in our lives, but also in the lives of those around us.

As Christians, we should realize that the happiness this world offers is never permanent. Hence, we must not burden ourselves with the pursuit of these things, to the extent that we forget to prepare for the life beyond this world. If we hold on to the things of this world, Jesus warns us that the day of judgment shall catch us unprepared, by surprise, like a trap.

Jesus said to Martha, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed" (Lk 10:41-42). He makes the same exhortation to us today. "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life."

At the end of time, when there shall be tribulation, we cannot hold on to the things we own, nor to the things we have accomplished. We can only hold on to the fact that we have become faithful. With this steadfast faith, we shall have the confidence to face the Son of Man, the assurance that we shall belong to those whose redemption is at hand. We shall be able to stand erect and raise our heads.

King of Our Hearts

Solemnity of Christ the King Nov. 22, 2009 (Jn 18:33-37)

So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?"

Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?"

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here."

So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Today, as we end the Liturgical Year, we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. In the Gospel today, we are presented with a Christ who is under trial, the King of the Universe questioned by an earthly ruler and persecuted by His own people. Jesus was brought to Pilate by the people to whom He preached, the people for whom He worked miracles, the people who hailed Him when he entered Jerusalem. He was rejected and His kingdom was refused because His Kingdom was not of this world and because His message challenged the the way people were living their lives.

"Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." With these words, Jesus explains that His Kingdom is founded on truth and that anyone who lives in truth, anyone who lives according to God's will is part of His Kingdom. The people who condemned Jesus to death were, therefore, refusing His Kingdom and rejecting Him as king because they did not accept the truth that He preached.

We Christians claim to have Jesus as our king. We hail Him as King of the Universe. Indeed, He is God and He commands the entire cosmos. But are we part of his Kingdom? Do we live in truth, in accordance with God's will? Are we not also like the Jews who refused Jesus' Kingship? When we live in sin, we reject the Kingdom of God, we disobey Him whom we call king. From this, we can conclude that becoming part of God's Kingdom does not mean just being a member of the Church. It entails a lifestyle that is in accordance to what God has planned for us. It means living not as children of this world, but as heirs of the Kingdom which is not of this world.

In other words, we should let Jesus reign in our hearts. Everything we do should be in obedience to His will and should be for the building up of His Kingdom here on earth. We should be His loyal subjects, offering our very selves as a soldier or a statesman offers himself to the king, for his service and for the good of the kingdom. We become genuine members of God's Kingdom and Jesus is truly our King when we live in truth and love. For everyone who belongs to the truth hears the voice of Christ, the King.

May Christ reign in our hearts! And may His Kingdom have no end!

Holding on to the Word

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Nov. 15, 2009 (Mk 13:24-32)

"In the days after that time of trouble the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send the angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather God's chosen people from one end of the world to the other.

"Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When its branches become green and tender and it starts putting out leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the time is near, ready to begin. Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

"No one knows, however, when that day or hour will come - neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the Father knows.

Jesus warns us to be ready for "the hour" of judgment. He tells to learn to read the signs of the times, as we are able to read the signs of nature.

Today, we give much value to the things of this world. We are afraid to die because to die means to let go of this world, to let go of the things or of the people we hold dear. We are losing the sense of the spiritual. We are becoming too materialistic that we forget to prepare for the world that is to come. We call on God only for our worldly needs. We forget to pray for spiritual health, for a better relationship with God and for salvation.

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away", said the Lord in our Gospel today. With these words, he reminds us that everything is ephemeral. Everything in this world will pass away. Only God is eternal.

In our desire to find happiness, we should seek that which shall remain. We can never find happiness in things that will pass away. Therefore, we should seek God. We should find comfort in His Word. His words should be our guide as we take this journey we call life.

Many people are rejecting God's Word today. They say God's commands no longer fit the needs of the times. But, as faithful Christians, we should hold on to the words of our Lord and God. We should hold on to Him because His Word is truth and His words are the words of everlasting life (Jn 6:68).

Therefore, we should live according to God's commands and according to the laws of the Church, the authority in interpreting God's Word. Others might call us conservative, but is it wrong to hold on to what can save us?

Only if we hold on to Jesus' Word can we say that we are ready for the end of the world. Even if we do not know the day or the hour of judgment, we have no reason to fear that day if we hold on to Christ. We shall not even fear death if we're with Him. Truly, if God is with us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31)? Whom shall we fear (Ps 27:1)?

The Gift of Self

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Nov. 8, 2009 (Mk 12:38-44)

As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on."

Giving the graces we have received back to God is a way of showing gratitude to Him. He is God, and He needs nothing, but our desire to thank Him is a gift from Him and it makes us grow in love for Him. In giving back to God, we recognize the fact that everything comes from Him, even our very existence.

In the Gospel, Jesus praises a poor old widow as having given the most in the treasury, even though the others gave huge amounts. Jesus points out that the woman gave out of her poverty. She gave even if it meant that she will not have any left for herself. The others gave large amounts from their surplus wealth. But the widow gave everything she had. She gave herself. Even though it was not much, it was the most.

The widow's generosity teaches us that nobody is too poor to give. Every one of us, even those whom we call poorest of the poor, has something we can offer to God. He has given us so much. The problem is that we disregard His graces and call ourselves poor. We hoard everything we have and refrain from giving, reasoning out that we ourselves need these things. We do not realize that we can give, even when it seems that we, too, are in need.

I've heard of a story that demonstrates my point. This took place in a seminary. After a fire devoured some houses near the seminary, some of the victims sought refuge in that eseminary. The priests and seminarians welcomed them. Then, a group of monks (I'm not sure from which religion) asked the seminary administrators if they could extend help. They requested for the evacuees to assemble in one place. When the seminary administrators gathered the evacuees in a chapel, the monks passed collection baskets around, obviously asking for money from the evacuees. While this was happening, the priests were already confused with what the monks were doing. Why would the monks collect money from those who just had their houses burnt?

After the collection, the monks told the evacuees that the money they collected will be used in buying goods for other people who are in need, probably people who are in a worse situation than that of the evacuees. True enough, nobody is too poor to give. Even those who are in dire need are still able to extend help to others.

Even when we do not have money or any material object, we can still give. After Ondoy left many people homeless, those who extended help are not only limited to those who gave money and other goods for the victims. Those who had nothing to donate had the opportunity to give by offering their time in volunteer work. Their God-given abilities to clean, to repack goods and to distribute them were all they needed to say that they have truly given. In short, they had nothing to give but themselves.

The woman in the Gospel teaches us the value of giving ourselves to God. We all belong to God and we should offer ourselves only to Him. The greatest gift we can ever give Him is ourselves, not the things we possess, because it is us that He loves and longs for.

Our daily living should become an offering to God. We don't need to become priests or lay servants to say that we are offering ourselves to Him. We don't even need to become martyrs. No, not necessarily. We just need to offer everything we do for Him, even if it's not a church-related work. When we offer our daily lives to Him, we become a pleasing offering. We become stronger against temptation. We become truly His.

The widow's offering is a measly amount, but it was the greatest gift to God. Similarly, we are nothing before God, but we can offer Him nothing better than our selves.