Rejoice! He is Near!

3rd Sunday of Advent
Dec. 16, 2012
(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.

As St. John the Baptist continues his preaching, the people were filled with expectation, so our Gospel tells us. Indeed, the same feeling is ours now that we are nearing the Solemnity of the Lord’s Birth. The Church invites us today to rejoice as we celebrate Gaudete Sunday (“Rejoice” Sunday) in the midst of our Advent journey.

 

To rejoice is truly a Christian thing to do. St. Paul, in the Second Reading (Phil 4:4-7) urges the Philippians to rejoice always in the Lord and to show their kindness to all.

St. John the Baptist, on the other hand, in preparing the expectant people for Jesus’ public ministry, exhorts them to practice charity, to show love and concern for their neighbors and to always do what is just in their dealings with other people. St. John’s message applies to us today. As we wait for the Lord’s second coming and anticipate the joy of the Christmas celebration, we are reminded to take another look at how we relate to other people. In our love for our neighbor, we show our love for God and our deep longing for Him.

Our joy, of course, does not come exclusively from a life lived in love and justice, lest we fall into the error of believing that our joy comes only from what we do, from our own merit. After instructing the people, John the Baptist speaks about someone who will come after him – Jesus. It is Jesus who comes to us that give us true joy. “The Lord is near,” says St. Paul; that is why we are joyful! Being righteous is not the cause of our joy. We are joyful, rather, because of Jesus, Righteousness Himself, in whose example we follow.

In our Advent journey, we are again filled with joy because the Lord is indeed coming! May we find that true joy that comes only from Christ and not from Christmas decorations. Also, like John the Bapist, may we continue to point to Jesus, telling everyone that He brings salvation and joy to all. Thus shall peace, justice and love be our treasures not only for the coming Christmas season, but for the rest of our lives!

Good Sheep of the Good Shepherd

4th Sunday of Easter April 29, 2012 (Jn 10:11-18)

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father."

Jesus uses the image of a good and loving shepherd to demonstrate His relationship with us, His followers. He tells us that He is the Good Shepherd who loves each of His sheep, that is, each of us. He is ready to lay down His life for His sheep - for us. He is divine but is willing to die for mankind. Such is Jesus' love and care for us.

As our Divine Shepherd, Jesus leads us to the Kingdom of the Father, where we will find verdant pastures and restful waters (cf. Ps 23:2). He offers us not just guidance, but loving guidance. He guides us in our life journey because He cares for us so much and He doesn't want any of us to be lost. He desires all men to be saved (cf. 1 Tim 2:4).

Jesus' love for mankind is the reason why His Church is Catholic or universal. His love reaches out beyond His circle of followers and even beyond the Jewish nation. His love is for all. It is even for those who haven't yet heard of Him nor believed in Him. It is also for those who persecute Him, as we clearly see in St. Paul's story. Jesus loves those sheep who haven't entered His fold yet. Truly, Jesus' great love for the human race is magnificent and all-embracing!

The great love and care that our Good Shepherd has for us calls us to respond in faith and obedience. If we truly believe that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, then we will let Him lead us. As good sheep, we must follow the Good Shepherd and faithfully listen to His voice always. In times of trouble, we often feel that Jesus has abandoned us. But probably we only felt that Jesus was absent because we were too busy listening to other voices or to our own convictions. As good sheep, we cannot journey on our own. Being successful in our journey entails entrusting ourselves to Jesus, our shepherd. He is always there because our Good Shepherd never leaves His flock. But we must always keep close to Him.

Today, as we reflect on the great love of Jesus who laid down His life for His sheep, we also join the whole flock of Christ in praying for vocations. Inspired by the Good Shepherd's love, may young people courageously answer God's call for them to serve in the priestly or religious life. And may those who are not called to this service continue to live out their vocation as Christians in whatever state of life they are in.

May we continue our journey towards verdant pastures as good sheep of the Good Shepherd!

The Wisdom and Love in Suffering

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Aug. 28, 2011 (Mt 16:21-27)

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."

He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?"

"For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct."

After Peter was able to profess through God's revelation that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus explains what being the Messiah meant. The Jews were hoping that the Messiah will be the leader who will liberate them from the hands of their oppressors. But Jesus revealed to His apostles that He whom they have confirmed to be the Messiah will have to suffer, die and be raised on the third day.

This probably came as a shock for them. Peter could not accept this new revelation. He accepted and professed that Jesus is the Messiah; but he could not accept that this Messiah would have to suffer. Naturally, he was concerned for his Master so he didn't want him to suffer. But what he failed to realize is that the revelation that Jesus had to suffer, die and be raised is a revelation of how God, in His wisdom, has planned the salvation of men.

It sounded foolish to Peter and to the apostles that their expected liberator would have to suffer. As St. Paul said, "Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Cor 1:22-23)." Yes, since Peter was not thinking as God does, he could not see Jesus' suffering and death as wise. Even we, thinking as human beings do, cannot fathom why or cannot appreciate that Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God, had to suffer. But once we accept without doubt what God is revealing to us, we can see not only the wisdom of God's plan of salvation, but also the great love He has for us that He would let His Son die for us. Only then do we realize that "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom (1 Cor 1:25)." And we marvel at this.

After rebuking Peter, Jesus explained that anyone who wishes to follow Him should take up His cross and be willing to lose their life for Him. This is a radical call. Jesus seems to be forgetting that man naturally loves what is comfortable and that man always clings to dear life. But again, this is a revelation. Jesus is warning His apostles, and even us who wish to follow Him, that becoming a Christian is no easy task. It is rewarding, but it is not easy.

Being a Christian means living out the values that Jesus taught us and rejecting the values of the world. Sometimes, we may be inconvenienced, ridiculed or even persecuted because we live as Christians, but we must remain loyal to Christ anyway. Again, it may be foolish to accept these difficulties instead of escaping them, but as in the case of Jesus who died for us, we do it anyway because we do it out of love - even if the world does not get it.

Jesus exhorts us today to think with the wisdom of God and to love with the love of God. Once we do, accepting suffering and carrying the cross will not seem foolish to us. It will be an expression of our love and loyalty to our Master who did the same, and even more, out of love for us.

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)"

The Greatest Evidence of God's Love

4th Sunday of Lent Mar. 22, 2009 (Jn 3:14-21)

Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God."

God is love and He loves us all. This is something very elementary for us Catholics. We all know this. In fact, John 3:16, a verse which speaks about God's love, is a very popular Bible verse. But sometimes, being too familiar with this fact, with this verse, we forget what it means. We are no longer in awe when we here about God's great love.

The Gospel for today speaks about how God loved the world so much. This He showed by giving to us His only Son to die for our salvation. Jesus is the greatest evidence of God's love for us. This is how great God loves us: He allowed His Son to be subject to suffering and death in order to save us. All this He did even when we were still sinners. Imagine trying to risk your only son's life just to save criminals? But that is how God loved us.

Jesus is the greatest evidence of God's love. In the first part of the Gospel, Jesus foretold His redemptive act of love in a metaphorical way. He spoke about how he must be raised up like the bronze serpent Moses raised up in the desert to save the Israelites who were bitten by snakes. Just as the Israelites were saved from death when they looked at the bronze serpent, so all of us will be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

All the teachings of Christianity may be summed up in this one word: LOVE. The Gospel we proclaim is the Gospel of Love. God loved us first, and, in response, we must love God back and also love our neighbors.

God's love is so overwhelming that we ought to share it with other people. Therefore, God's love also gives us a mission - to make other people feel that God loves them too, just in case they might not feel it.

This Lent, we are invited to reflect on the magnitude of God's love. We ought to feel this love in remembering Jesus' redemptive act. We are also challenged to live according to the demands of God's love, in obedience to the commandment of love. We ought to love God and our neighbors, especially those in great need. We should not only speak about the Gospel of love. We must show it by loving other people. As a song goes, "And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love!"

I remember when I was in Grade School. I drew a picture of Jesus carrying the cross. Then I erased the cross and replaced it with many hearts, forming the shape of the cross. The picture below shows how the cross looked like. (Although I didn't draw Jesus carrying it anymore.) When I drew that picture years ago, I had this thought in mind: "Jesus is the greatest evidence of God's love!"

The Greatest of All - Love

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct. 26, 2008 (Mt 22:34-40)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment."

"The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

In the Gospel, Jesus is again tested by Jewish religious leaders. He is asked what the greatest law was. Jesus answered with great wisdom by saying that love of God and love of neighbor are the principal commandments.

Jesus, of course, was aware of the existence of more than 600 laws which burden the Jews. Many unlearned Jews are becoming paranoid if they are breaking a law or not. On the other hand, the Pharisees who asked Jesus the question feel very good about themselves as they are certain that they are following the law. Their self-righteousness is the reason why they are not to find salvation. And their observance of meaningless rituals makes them without love.

The law that anyone follows becomes meaningless if there is no love, for love is the essence of the law. This is what Jesus knew and taught. He abstracted love from the so many detailed rituals and strict prohibitions and imposed this love as the new commandment.

Saint Paul explains this in his first letter to the Corinthians, "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." (1 Cor 13:1-3).

In the Gospel, we are reminded to love God above all. As was said in last week's reflection, we all belong to God. Therefore, He is deserving of all our love. This imperative to love God is oftentimes overlooked. We always assume that we love God enough. I have heard people say, "Oh, God will understand! I'm very busy" just to justify their failure to attend Mass or to pray. Of course, if asked, many Catholics would deny that they don't love God. We would say we do. But how much do we really love God? Would He be on top of your list if you would be asked to honestly list down the ones you love in order of how much you love them?

Our love for God is required of us because it is God who loved us first. God thirsts for our love back. Remember Jesus' words, "I thirst" (Jn 19:28)? It is up to us to quench God's thirst for our love. People say that love hurts. Does it really? Or isn't it not getting loved back that hurts? Imagine how God feels when so many people refuse to love Him back.

The Pharisees would not have been surprised when Jesus answered love of God as the greatest commandment. But they might have been when Jesus added love of neighbor as the second and closely related commandment.

Love of God and of neighbor are often described as two sides of the same coin. Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me." (Mt 25:40). We cannot give God anything aside from our love, praise and service. God is not in need of any material object we can give Him. But, our love for God can be shown by caring for all His creation. And, of course, His greatest creation is man. We are His obra maestras, every one of us. We are images of the invisible God. Therefore, we must treat each other with love and respect.

Saint John makes this clear in his first epistle, "Those who say, 'I love God', and hate their brothers are liars; for those who do not love a brother whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers also." (1 Jn 4:20-21)

I have also heard people say, "Why should I help my neighbor when I myself am poor?" This is a silly statement. First of all, money is not always needed to help one's neighbor. One can help others by lending a helping hand, sharing time, talent and maybe a little treasure, but that's not required. So long as you have shared whatever you can, that's enough to make them feel loved. One can also extend help through praying for others. Secondly, we should remember that Jesus said in our Gospel, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself". He did not tell us to love ourselves first. He didn't also tell us to love our neighbor first. Rather, we shouldn't be selfish and we also shouldn't forget to take care of ourselves.

God loved us first. And just as God loved us though we are not worthy of His love, we should also love our neighbor.

Let us ask ourselves, are we the reason why Jesus thirsts for love? Do we break His already wounded heart by our sins and our refusal to love our neighbor? Are we the reason why God has a heartache?

Kingdom's Call: A Vocation to Love and to Love Back

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct. 12, 2008 (Mt 22:1-14)

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, ' Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast." ' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city."

"Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests."

"But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his handsand feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen."

In the history of salvation, we see God as the first and the greatest lover. He is Trinitarian, a community of love. He created man out of love. He redeemed man because of love. He continues to love man up to this very day. He is the God of Love. HE IS LOVE.

It is God who first loved us and He calls us all to love Him back. He invites everyone to His kingdom whose foundation is love itself. Nevertheless, He is met with so much rejection. His people would rather concern themselves with worldly affairs than attend His banquet.

One might find it strange that the people in the parable could easily turn down an invitation from their king. Since they know that the king is very powerful, there is a tendency for them to "suck up" on their king to gain influence. Or, if this is not the case, they should have been afraid of what the king can do if he gets mad. The people invited rejected the king's invitation as if it were no big deal. In the same way, isn't it strange that we sometimes refuse to accept God's call to His kingdom? The Kingdom of God is eternal. And considering that its privation means hell, I don't think anyone in his right mind will ever refuse it.

What we fail to do, most of the time, is to see the bigger picture. We always look at "living the kingdom of God" as burdensome. We do not see the eternal effects of the spiritual life we neglect. We give too much value to our life here on earth, not knowing that we have a wedding feast to attend - an eternal one!

In the second part of the parable, we see an unworthy guest thrown away from the feast. This shows us the reality that the Kingdom of God requires something from us. Being a member of the Church does not guarantee our salvation. The Kingdom of God is only for pure people. We must strive to be worthy of the call of God. Just because we are invited to God's banquet, it doesn't mean we can enter whenever we please. The invitation of God is not just to come to His feast, but also to be worthy of it. Thus, we must be properly attired.