To God First and Foremost

Feast of the Holy Family Dec. 27, 2009 (Lk 2:41-52)

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom.

After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them.

He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

In the latter part of our Gospel today, we hear of Jesus' obedience. The Son of God who humbled Himself by becoming man also humbled Himself by becoming obedient to human parents, by becoming a normal man with a normal family. What makes Jesus and His human family special is the presence of God in their lives. The Holy Family has God at its center, not only because Jesus was in that family, but because they follow God's will.

Being in a family, the smallest social institution, will not assure anyone a perfect life. Every member of the family has to make it work. Every member must do his part. And, of course, God must be in the center. His will must be the law in the family.

In the Gospel today, Jesus leads us from the natural family to the bigger family - the Family of God. Jesus says that He must be in His Father's house, doing God's will. We too, as sons and daughters of the Father, ought to be in our Father's house, doing His will. Our families should not hinder us from being good children of God.

Parents should remember that it was God who gave them their children. They should, in their gratitude, remember to raise their children as true Christians; they should not hold them back from God. Many parents prevent their children from pursuing careers that make full use of their children's God-given abilities and, instead, coerce them to pursue fast-earning careers. The saddest situation is when parents prevent their children from entering the seminary, arguing that there are many ways to serve God. But what if God chose their children to serve Him specifically as His priests? Should they not give their children back to God, as Hannah did in our First Reading (1 Sm 1:20-22, 24-28)?

Children, on the other hand, ought to obey their parents and accept what they are trying to teach them. But, again, parents have the responsibility to teach only good things to their children, raising them as true children of God.

God has created the natural family to reflect His own family, in which He is Father and we are His children by virtue of adoption. The natural family should, therefore, open itself to the will of God, the Father of all. Yes, we are family to all our biological relatives, but we are family to God first and foremost.

Sharing God's Gift of Himself

4th Sunday of Advent Dec. 20, 2009 (Lk 1:39-45)

During those days, Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

I have often wondered why the Angel Gabriel punished Zechariah for disbelief when Zechariah only asked him the same question Mary asked in the Annunciation, "How could this be?". Why was Mary not punished for disbelief? Probably, Zechariah's question had a hint of doubt while Mary was merely wondering about the message of the angel. After all, only God can discern the hearts of men.

"Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled," says Elizabeth in our Gospel today. Mary believed the message from God, even if it seemed impossible. Even if she would be in danger, as becoming pregnant before marriage would mean death through stoning, she trusted in God, knowing that God takes good care of His obedient children. Indeed, Mary was blessed because she believed. Yes, blessed are those who believe in God's promises. And blessed are we for we believe that Jesus will come.

Like Mary and Elizabeth, our faith enables us to realize that God's plan is unfolding. Our faith assures us that God came into this world as man to save us. This faith further tells us that this God who dwelt among us is, indeed, still with us, as He promised us, "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Mt 28:20). Like Mary, our faith should give us the courage even when many dangers beset us; we should be courageous because God is with us.

Christmas is, of course, not only about faith. Christmas challenges us to make our faith incarnate, to make it concrete, visible through our actions. Like Mary, who believed the news of the angel and who immediately went to her cousin Elizabeth to share the news to her and to assist her in her pregnancy, we too are challenged to share the news that God is among His people, that God is working in our lives, that God was born on earth and is still here with us. For all we know, the people around us might not have had Jesus born in their hearts yet. God's gift to all of us is His own self. And, as people who have received God's gift of Himself, we ought to share Him to all who haven't received Him yet.

This Christmas, there is a greater need of taking on the challenge of sharing God's gift of Himself. As many were left without possession, without home and without family after the onslaught of typhoons in our country and after the horrors left by a massacre, many might not be able to hold on to their faith. Many might not be able to feel God's presence, much less realize that Jesus will be born in their hearts. We must make then remember that, in the first Christmas, Mary and Joseph also had nowhere to stay, nobody but each other and God to help them in their situation. Nevertheless, they had faith in God. And the joy they felt that night was not because of the luxuries of home and of the company of friends; their joy was from the child who lay in the manger, the little baby who is the incarnation of God's immense love for men. This Divine infant is the cause of our joy for this season. This is the good news we need to proclaim: God is still with us. We need only to have faith and to share the faith.

Despite the many reasons for us to grieve, the immensity of God's love made flesh gives us joy. God's love is enough to dispel all fear and all loneliness. We need only to believe, like Mary who believed. And as we rejoice because of what God has done for us, we must pass the joy because God's gift of Himself is for all of us.

Echoing the Joyful News

3rd Sunday of Advent Dec. 13, 2009 (Lk 3:10-18)

The crowds asked John the Baptist, "What should we do?"

He said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise."

Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?"

He answered them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed."

Soldiers also asked him, "And what is it that we should do?"

He told them, "Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages."

Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.

John the Baptist instructed the people on how they should live their lives. His message was simple - being faithful to one's duties and treating one's neighbors well, being just, to put it simply. But despite the simplicity of this message, apparently there was a great need to preach it. People were forgetting to live good lives that the basic moral teaching of doing good and avoiding evil had to be reiterated. John's preaching made the people realize the coming of something new, a radical change of the corrupt spiritual situation in which they have found themselves. The Messiah is coming!

John confirmed this news, that, indeed, the Messiah was about to come. But He was not the Messiah. He was only a herald. John was only sharing the joyful news that the Lord is present among His people. But, aside from that, he was exhorting the people to be part of this good news, to be the good news to others by treating others well. By this, we make God present, not only among His people, but also through His people who live godly lives.

The readings for today invite us to rejoice because the Lord is near and He is coming to save us. We are further invited to emanate this joy, to show our neighbors, through our kindness and love, that God reigns and that God has come to save them too.

As Christmas draws near, the joy we feel also increases. May we not forget that our joy ought to come from the longing for Christ, not from the many distracting outer joys that festivities bring. Also, may we not forget to pass the joy and love that we have received from the Lord to those whose misfortune prevent them from rejoicing this season.

As we receive the good news of God's great love symbolized by the helpless baby on His crib, may we pass the joy and the love this news brings. May we be the good news to those who have not heard or who refuse to hear God's "I love you!"

The Humble Manger of Our Hearts

2nd Sunday of Advent Dec. 6, 2009 (Lk 3:1-6)

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"A voice of one crying out in the desert:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "

We prepare a lot of things for Christmas. We prepare food, gifts, parties and many other things that we usually associate with joy. We know Christmas is the birth of Jesus so we do all the things we do when we celebrate birthdays. But today, it seems that Christ is disregarded in His own birthday celebration. Christ, the true light has been replaced by thousands of Christmas lights that give us a sense of joy but does not really remind us of Christ.

Last Sunday, the Gospel warned us to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Jesus told us that we should not be busy with the pleasures of the world, so as not to be caught by surprise when the world ends. Today, the Gospel gives us an example of how to prepare for Christ's coming. John the Baptist tells us to prepare the way of the Lord, to fill every valley and to make low every mountain and hill. This means that we should do away with what is not pleasing to God and instead, have the values that He wants us to learn. To prepare for Christ's coming, what we need to do is prepare our hearts. Like the candles of our Advent Wreath, the light in our hearts must shine brighter and the sin must melt away.

Preparing the way of the Lord means preparing ourselves. Jesus will be born in our hearts. Are our hearts free from sin and worthy for our Savior to dwell in? The best preparation for Christmas is spending Advent as a season of repentance, of doing away with sin, like John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord with a baptism of repentance. If we prepare so many things for friends and family this Christmas, if we clean our houses for our visitors, all the more should we prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. After all, it is His birthday.

Like the John the Baptist, we must also be heralds of the Lord. As faithful Christians, we ought to remind our neighbors of how to truly prepare for the joy of Christmas. We can party and give gifts. But we must not forget, and must not let others forget, that the celebrant in the party is Christ, and that gift-giving means radiating the love God expressed by giving us His Son. The joy of Christmas is folly if Christ is removed from it. Therefore, we can best prepare for Christmas by focusing on Jesus and preparing the most comfortable place for Him, in the humble yet worthy little manger of our hearts.