Keeping the Faith Alive and Awake

1st Sunday of Advent Nov. 28, 2010 (Mt 24:37-44)

For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.

Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Advent is all about being ready. When we know that someone is going to visit us, we prepare a lot for them. This is why we have an Advent Season. As Catholics, we know Jesus came to this world as man; we remember that in our yearly Christmas celebration. We also know that He comes to us everyday in the Mass. Lastly, we believe that He will come again in His glory, at the end of time. Therefore, Advent is our commemoration of Jesus' coming in the past, and our preparation for His coming again.

Jesus talked a lot about His second coming. An example of this would be our Gospel for today. Jesus reminds everyone of us that His second coming would be like a robbery. We are aware that robberies may happen anytime, but we don't know when we might be robbed. The common solution for robbery is locking our doors well. In the same way, we must lock our hearts so that sin cannot enter. We must let only goodness enter our hearts. That way, when the Lord comes, we may open the doors of our hearts to Him, and He will be pleased about how well we maintained our hearts clean for His coming.

In today's Gospel, Jesus exhorts us to stay awake. This means that we should keep our faith burning. We must nourish our faith and live it everyday. As we wait for Jesus, we don't just remain idle and simply live in this world while keeping our faith to ourselves. We must not be content with just having faith and simply believing that there is a God whose story we read from the Bible. The Lord asks us to keep our faith alive and awake in everything we do, even as we live our earthly lives.

We must not treat our faith as if it was just a thing we set aside and then use whenever we need it. We do not just "re-activate" our faith every time we need to have someone baptized, when we get married or when we need to have our houses blessed. Faith is something we must live everyday. It is something that must work in our lives, as familiar and as common to us as our breathing. We must not separate our faith from every thing we do, no matter how temporal our activities may be. If we keep our faith even as we do temporal activities, we avoid committing sinful acts and we remain true followers of Christ

Indeed, this materialistic world is not our true home. Nevertheless, the Lord asks us to remain here to wait for Him, and to build His kingdom here on earth while we wait. He expects us to live our lives as His true followers so that the whole world may see Him and come to believe in Him through our example. St. Paul, in our Second Reading, asks us, "Throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Rom 13:12)".

As we begin this new liturgical year, we are reminded of our mission as Catholics. We are reminded that it is our task to tell the world that there is a Christ who came, comes and will come again. By word, and most importantly, by deed, we are to show the world how to become citizens of God's kingdom which is already arriving.

Finally, when He comes in all His glory, may we not be caught unprepared. Instead, may He find us steadfast in faith, untiring in building His kingdom here on earth, and zealously living as citizens of this eternal kingdom.

Jesus Crucified: The Greatest Image of His Majesty

Solemnity of Christ the King Nov. 21, 2010
(Lk 23:35-43)

The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God." Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews."

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

At first glance, there is nothing majestic about the image today's Gospel reading is trying to present to us. Jesus is hanging on the cross, mocked by the soldiers and the rulers of the people. He is even mocked by one criminal beside Him who is suffering the same fate He was suffering. The inscription above Jesus, although it calls Him a king, only highlights the irony of the whole situation. We behold one who is called a king, but is suffering the fate of a criminal. So finally, we ask, what kind of king is this?

Jesus Himself gave us the answer even before His crucifixion. "My kingdom does not belong to this world. ...My kingdom is not here. (Jn 18:36)" Jesus is King of this world, but He is not a worldly king. He is against the ways of this world. While the world espouses selfishness and cruelty, He taught, by word and deed, the value of love and mercy. His crucifixion is the greatest demonstration of the love He preached. The repentant thief in today's Gospel is a receiver of the mercy Jesus taught. The crucified Jesus, therefore, is the greatest image of Jesus as King of Love and as King of Mercy.

In Jesus' kingship, we are reminded that there is a kingdom which is built on mercy, faith, hope and love. This kingdom is where Jesus reigns. But it is not of this world, for the world has come to hate these virtues, and thus, has also hated Jesus. That is why the world gave Jesus His proper throne and crown - the cross and the thorns.

For us who hail Jesus as king, we must remember that the kingdom we belong to is not of this world. We follow the law as dictated by God's commandments and by Jesus' teachings, even though these laws are not acceptable to the world. Our King expects our loyalty. And because of our allegiance to Christ the King, whom the world hates, the world will also hate us (cf. Jn 15:19).

Therefore, because we are followers of Christ, it's going to be difficult for us living in a world who hates our King. People who value love and mercy above all usually end up suffering in this materialistic world. It's like the world is telling us that it is impossible to live here on earth without being greedy, cruel and deceptive. The world persecutes those who live as Jesus did.

Nevertheless, the King we hail will be our salvation. If we follow His laws, it may lead to our exile from this world's kingdom. But because of our faithfulness to Jesus, the King, we shall live happily with Him in His everlasting kingdom, in the Paradise where He brought the repentant thief, where there is no longer pain nor persecution. So let us be strong and faithful to Him. As our King tells us, "In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world. (Jn 16:33)"

When Eternity Begins

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Nov. 14, 2010 (Lk 21:5-19)

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said, "All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"

He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!

When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."

Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.

Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.

It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

There is much fuss over end-of-the-world claims of many people, either based on religion or on science. Some try their best to explain to all how the world will end and why they say it's about to end soon. They present signs, scientific data, historical facts and biblical references to support their claims. But a few people talk about how we need to prepare for the end of the world. Fact is, the world will end. It doesn't matter when. The fact that it will end should make us reflect. How does this fact affect our lives? Since we can't stop it, what do we do about it?

After speaking about the terrifying events that will take place before the end of the world, Jesus instructs us, His disciples, to be calm. He tells us not to fear tribulations. As Christians, we will be hated by the world, as our Master was. But we need not fear, for Jesus has conquered the world. Whatever problems we encounter becomes easy if we remain in Christ, for He never abandons His flock. We should not fear the wars and all the other disasters of this world.

Being faithful to Jesus' teachings and obeying the commandments, there is no need to fear even the end of the world. Our faith assures us that no matter who or what can kill us in this world, they can no longer hurt us when we are reunited with God in eternal life. If we truly believe in God and in His mercy, we can courageously face anything this world scares us with.

Jesus reminds us that we must not prepare what to say in tribunals beforehand. He Himself will speak through us. We must not fret too much about the end times. It is enough that we have Jesus. He is our salvation, our true judge. His wisdom will shame this world, and He will inspire us with this wisdom.

For us Catholics, the end of the world is not something to fear and to be nervous about. It is a reminder for us that this is not our home. This world will end and our real home awaits us. God has prepared the real dwelling of His faithful ones in eternal life with Him. So we must not fear, for, as Jesus said, not a hair on our head will be destroyed.

Our Father's Inheritance

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Nov. 7, 2010 (Lk 20:27-38)

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her."

Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Our recently concluded double commemoration of all the saints and of all the faithful departed is deeply rooted in a firm belief in life after earthly death and in the immortality of the soul. Of course, we could go on and on arguing philosophically whether man's soul is immortal and whether there is an afterlife, but that would only prove the immortality of philosophical debates. As Catholics, we firmly believe in the resurrection of the dead that is stated in our Creed. Christ's own glorious Resurrection reassures this faith.

Our First Reading presents us a very tragic story of a mother and her sons choosing to die rather than to disobey God's laws. It is inspiring how they were unafraid to face death because they believed that God raises His faithful ones from the dead. This mother and her seven sons remind us of the stories of our martyrs whose firm belief in the resurrection lead to their cruel yet glorious deaths, which they accepted courageously.

With these stories in mind, we come to wonder why today, we fear to die. It is natural for us as humans to dislike death, but to fear it is perhaps not Christian. Do we fear death because we don't believe in the afterlife? Probably the only Christian answer is that we fear death because we haven't lived good lives and are not yet ready to face God. But that only proves that we do not take our faith seriously. Our belief in the everlasting life God promised must be made manifest in the way we live. As Catholics, we must not give undue value to this world. We must treasure everlasting life more than we treasure our lives here. As Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. (Mt 6:33)"

Everlasting life is often viewed as a reward from God for those who are good. It is. But it is more fitting to say that everlasting life is God's inheritance for His faithful children. An inheritance has always been the right of a Father's children. In the same way, everlasting life has always been in store for all of us, since we are all God's children. But we need to be faithful children of God. If we run away from Him, He cannot force us to accept His promised eternal life. If we disobey His will, we act as if we were not His children and we denounce Him as Father.

In our Gospel today, Jesus clarifies that everlasting life is not like the life here on earth. As St. Paul said, "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Cor 2:9)" Eternal life with God will never be boring no matter how endless it is. The divine life He has in store for us is a life of eternal joy that is always new. The problem with us is that we believe in the eternal life but we treat it as a fairy tale, or something that has little relevance and urgency. We fail to see the great things that are in store for us and we give more value to what can be of use to us here and now. When we are old and are near death, only then will we realize the value of a life lived in accordance to God's law. Let's not wait.

A life that never ends awaits us after our earthly life. It is up to us to choose whether we want to spend it with God or without Him. The death which we will all face becomes only a birth to eternal life, as St. Francis puts it. We will no longer fear death but wait with Christian hope for the moment when we get to meet God face to face. All this is we only live a life of true faith. For if we work hard and study for how many excruciating years just to be "ready" to live our lives here on earth, how much more must we prepare for eternal life with God?