Give and Take Mercy

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Sept. 11, 2011 (Mt 18:21-35)

Then Peter approaching asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt.

Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."

We are made in the image and likeness of God. Because of this, we have the ability to emulate certain attributes of God. Being merciful is one of these attributes. Every time we forgive our brothers who have wronged us, we participate in God's mercy and forgiveness; we become instruments of Divine Mercy. We become "merciful as the Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36). And we prove to be "like God when mercy seasons justice", as Portia, from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, puts it.

In the same way that we are able to love God and our neighbor because it is God who first loved us, we are also able to show mercy because we have been shown mercy. We are all sinners and God is always ready to forgive us every time we come to Him with sincere sorrow for our sins. God forgives us no matter how grave our sins are and even when we commit the same sins over and over again. He went even further and sent His Son to die for us to be freed from sin. Such is Divine Mercy, and precisely because we experience so great a compassion that we are expected to be merciful to others who sin against us. We cannot pray for forgiveness from God if we ourselves do not know how to forgive. Again Portia says it well: "We do pray for mercy. And that same prayer doth teach us to render the deeds of mercy." We also say it well when we pray the Our Father: "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

God forgives us out of His great love for us. In the standards of justice, He should have let us be damned because of our sins. But because of His Divine Mercy, He forgives us and He even let His Son suffer our punishment; thus in the cross, God's mercy and justice met. It is quite unimaginable yet very marvelous that we would be worthy of God's forgiveness. We are merely His creatures and when we sin and wander far from Him, why should He bother to seek us, to forgive us and to restore a loving relationship with us? We can only wonder why God thought we were worth forgiving.

In God, we can find reason to forgive even those who have done the worst things to us. Sometimes, we excuse ourselves from forgiving by saying that we have been so good to our neighbors and they should not have wronged us. But God, who is the Supreme Good, never made this an excuse. He, most of all, does not deserve all the hurt we give Him, but He still forgives us anyway. So what else is our excuse?

Forgiving may be a difficult task. God never expected us to do it with ease, but He expects us to do it anyway. Forgiveness should slowly take place even as we go through the process of healing. God forgives us even if we are not worth forgiving and even if our sins are so grave. So too, we must forgive anyone who offends us no matter how badly they hurt us. And as forgiveness is an imperative from God, surely He will help us to accomplish this difficult task.

So let us make it our prayer that we may be more forgiving. May we pray that God help us to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. Through this, since to forgive is divine, we could make it a heaven here on earth!

To Be Our Brothers' Keepers

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Sept. 4, 2011 (Mt 18:15-20)

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.

Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

It is clear from Jesus' words that He wanted to establish a Church, a community of believers. Two Sundays ago, we witnessed how He established His Church upon Peter, the rock. His apostles and disciples are the first members of His Church.

In today's Gospel, we witness how Jesus instructs His disciples like a father gives advice to his children. Here, we can see clearly that Jesus desires that His followers should live as a community, living a common way of life that He Himself taught them. He constantly preached to them about many things, knowing that someday when He ascends into heaven, the Holy Spirit will remind them of all these teachings and empower them to carry these out (cf. Jn 14:26).

In exhorting His disciples to try and win back their brother who sins against them, Jesus is in effect reminding them of the importance of one another. Instead of holding a grudge, a Christian ought to be more concerned about the fact that his brother sinned and that sin ruins the harmony within the Church. In introducing this communal mentality, Jesus rejects the notion that men ought to be concerned only about his own salvation. Jesus reminds us that our fellow Christians are our brothers and sisters. And a Christian is always his brothers' keeper.

At the end of His exhortation, Jesus says that a brother who sins and does not listen even to the Church should be treated as if he were a tax collector or a Gentile. But this does not mean we must discriminate unrepentant members of the Church. After all, how did Jesus treat the Gentiles and tax collectors? Did He not treat them with respect and love? And did He not wait patiently for their repentance? So also must we treat our unrepentant brethren. After doing our best to win them back, we have nothing left to do but pray that they may find their way back to God and to His Church again.

To be a true follower of Christ, we must not avoid the community of believers who also wish to follow Him. And we must see others who do not believe in Christ as people who are as of yet lost but will soon be found. As He said in the Gospel, Jesus is present in His Church and His presence gives strength to this community of believers in order for its members to carry out His challenging teachings.

As the Church, may we also pray for what Jesus prayed for: that we may be one (cf. Jn 17:21). True enough, even as we need Jesus to strengthen us, we need our fellow believers to help us as we journey towards Jesus' Kingdom.

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.

God's Welcoming Embrace

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Aug. 14, 2011 (Mt 15:21-28)

Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." But he did not say a word in answer to her.

His disciples came and asked him, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."

He said in reply, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, "Lord, help me."

He said in reply, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."

She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."

Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour.

God's love is universal. This is a fact that was revealed little by little throughout salvation history. In the Old Testament, it is clear that the Israelites were the chosen people - the children of God. Nevertheless, reading forward until the New Testament, we come to realize that Israel was indeed God's firstborn, but the entire human race enjoys the Fatherhood of God.

Even in the days of the Israelites' journey towards the promised land, God has welcomed into His people some foreigners who have demonstrated faith in Him. He welcomed Rahab, the inhabitant of Jericho who helped the Israelite spies escape. God let Ruth, a woman who showed compassion and loyalty towards her mother-in-law Naomi, become part of Jesus' family tree. God has also shown favor upon a foreigner who came to His prophet for healing - Naaman the leper. All these stories tell us that God's goodness extends to all mankind.

In today's Gospel, though emphasizing that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Jesus acknowledges the great faith of a Canaanite woman who came to Him for her daughter's healing. At first, it seemed that Jesus was being rather rude and exclusive in His words. But here He was probably just giving the woman an opportunity to demonstrate her faith in Him.

What made this woman's faith remarkable? First, she came humbly asking Jesus for help. Her faith transcended the boundaries of culture and even of religious belief itself. Second, she addressed Jesus as the Lord, the Son of David. Even the Pharisees who were Jesus' fellow Jews did not address Him with this kind of reverence! And isn't it written that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3)? It is probably safe to assume, then, that this woman was filled by the Holy Spirit! Probably, this woman was moved by the Spirit of God, not only for her to find healing for her daughter, but to proclaim the message that God's love is universal and that faith is God's gift to all men. In the end, because the woman demonstrated her great faith, her daughter was healed.

Indeed, faith is a gift that we have received from God. Our faith is not a product of our own efforts, but a gift from God that we must nurture. And the nourishment of our faith, and even our healing, as we find in the Gospel today, can only be found if we come to Jesus. We grow in faith every time we come to Jesus in prayer, every time we reflect on His Words and most especially every time we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist. Faith is a gift that must be treasured and taken care of.

As we realize the necessity of cultivating our faith, we also come to acknowledge the fact that we are not the only ones who received this faith from God. Every man, even the most hardened sinner and even the most atheistic, received the gift of faith. Once we realize this, we see it as our responsibility to cultivate our faith together, as a community, as a Church where all men are welcome and where no one should be left behind. The Gospel today rejects the notion that "outside the Church, there is no salvation".

As believers building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, we see it as God's mercy at work when He welcomes new people to His Church. We must, therefore, also have a welcoming heart like our Father. We must have arms big enough to embrace the world as our brethren in Christ. We should look at non-believers and sinners as brothers who are as of yet lost, but are still loved by our Father.

An Image of a Mature Faith

Feast of the Sto. Niño Jan. 16, 2011 (Mt 18:1-5, 10)

At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

Jesus' childhood is forever immortalized in the popular image we call the Sto. Niño. This image, a common sight in homes and even in business areas, is often dressed up to portray different personalities. While it is merely a popular tradition to dress up the Sto. Niño as a farmer, as a fireman or as a construction worker, it serves as a reminder of Jesus' Incarnation, of the fact that He lived among us. Jesus indeed became a true human child as an act of humility and out of love for humanity. He lived a full human life, from childhood until death, precisely to demonstrate to us how to live as true children of the Father. The different portrayals of the Sto. Niño serve to remind us that regardless of who we are and what we do in life, we are children of God.

Jesus reminds us to remain humble, like little children. No matter how old we get and how mature and experienced we think we may be, we are still God's little children. We would never have achieved anything without His grace and we definitely cannot, by our own maturity and wisdom, save ourselves. Salvation requires a recognition of one's sinfulness and a humble, dependence on and surrender to God's fatherly love.

As we go on facing many responsibilities and accomplishing new achievements in life, we must never forget to remain humble before God. We must not forget that, as children of God, we should always remain obedient to His will and dependent on Him.

Our devotion to the Sto. Niño must not be a mere taking care of a statue as if it were an actual child that needs to be cleaned and dressed up all the time. The very point of immortalizing Jesus' childhood through this image is precisely to awaken the child in our hearts that has grown up and has rebelled against his Father, the child that has been fooled into thinking that he can survive without God. Maturity in faith is different from the maturity that the world values. While maturity and independence mean relying on one's ability to accomplish one's responsibility, maturity in faith means doing one's best while recognizing that one cannot succeed without God's help.

Jesus showed us His humility in becoming an innocent and dependent human child. And as He grew up, He remained obedient to the will of His heavenly Father. We must follow His example by being obedient children of God even as we grow up. As Jesus grew in wisdom and in age, He remained to be the Sto. Niño, the holy and obedient child of the Father, even until His death. We too, must be holy and obedient children of God no matter how old we may grow up to be. In growing up, may we not grow apart from God and apart from His heavenly kingdom, which is open only for children.

Anointed with Water

Feast of the Lord's Baptism Jan. 9, 2011 (Mt 3:13-17)

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?"

Jesus said to him in reply, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him.

After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

John the Baptist's baptism of repentance was a preparation for the coming of the Kingdom of God. In the advent of God's kingdom, John called the people to be in the proper disposition. This is what the baptismal ritual symbolized. One arises from the Jordan River a new person; he has emerged from the river and has let it wash away his sins. This resolve to turn away from sin prepared the way for the radical message of conversion that Jesus will bring.

But why would Jesus have to be baptized? Did Jesus have to prepare Himself for the coming of God's Kingdom? Actually, yes He did. He needed to prepare because it was Him who was to usher in the coming of this Kingdom. He was "bracing Himself" for the task ahead. His baptism, therefore, is the beginning of His mission, His commissioning, so to speak. With the Father and the Spirit, He begins His work of proclaiming God's Kingdom. But more than that, His baptism is a revelation that the work He will do is divine. The Trinity manifests itself and declares that they are about to work wonders.

Like Jesus' baptism, our own baptism also symbolizes our participation in the coming of the Kingdom. Our baptism bestows upon us the privilege of being children of God. Yet it also gives us the responsibility to live up to the name Christian. We must, therefore, live our lives as Jesus showed us, and our lives must be a testament that God is King over us. In short, we must live as obedient children of God.

Aside from living up to our mission as baptized Catholics in our personal lives, we must also recognize that we are part of the Church, the community of the baptized and the sacrament of God's Kingdom here on earth. Most Catholics do not go to church anymore. They do not join the assembly of the people of God. They must recognize the fact that, although personal devotion is good, worshiping God as a community is very important. The assembly gathered in the church is a sign of God's presence on earth. Christ Himself assured us His presence wherever an assembly gathers in His name.

Our Baptism reminds us to be true children of God, obedient to His will and participative in the mission He entrusted us with, that of building His Kingdom here on earth. Let us no longer be Catholics by name, but by the very life we live. May the waters of baptism remind us that we have been washed and that, therefore, we ought to remain clean. In the end, may we also hear the Father tell us, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

No More Hide-and-Seek

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord Jan. 2, 2011 (Mt 2:1-12)

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."

When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage."

After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.

They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

Today we celebrate Jesus' revelation to the Gentiles, represented by the magi. The Solemnity of the Epiphany is a celebration of God showing Himself to humanity. The invisible God whom no one has ever seen has now manifested Himself in the manger.

Man is in constant search of God. It is really quite frustrating to search for Him who is spirit and is, therefore, invisible. To be realistic, finding God usually meant to be in a good relationship with Him and to live one's life according to His will. But even so, finding God is still a difficult task. But, out of His wisdom, God has ended the hide-and-seek game and has made Himself visible to man. Yes, it was unthinkable, but to God, it was possible. He became man and showed us His glory in the person of Jesus. And Jesus, God Himself, showed us also how to find Him.

God knows the difficulty of our situation and the weakness of our human nature. Jesus is proof that God wants us to see Him. The star in today's narrative is another proof of this. God doesn't want us to have a hard time looking for Him. He Himself showed the way and He is the way.

All we have to do is to want to find Him. He has already revealed Himself in many ways in our lives. The presence with which He graced the magi is the same presence with which He graces us in the Mass. We see Him there in the sacrament. We see Him in the people around us. We hear Him in the loving advice of a friend. We feel Him in the comforting embrace of loved ones. We feel His presence in the people who help us in life. All we have to do is acknowledge His presence and allow Him to be part of our lives.

Like in the Gospel narrative today, there are different reactions to the news of Jesus' birth. Herod sought to kill the child as he considered Jesus a threat to his kingdom. The magi sought to do Him homage and to offer Him their gifts. We too, have our different reactions to Jesus' manifold ways of manifesting Himself to us. At times, we ignore Him and simply live as if we do not even have a God. Sometimes, like Herod, we are threatened by a new king. We want to be our own kings, to rule over ourselves and to live as we please; we therefore reject Jesus. The Gospel today shows us the better response to Jesus' manifestation. The Gospel invites us to accept Him and to try our best to get closer to Him.

Jesus makes His presence felt in our daily lives. He makes it easier for us to find Him. But the key to having an encounter with Him is to try look for Him. There is no encounter if we do not acknowledge His presence, even though He is just there revealing Himself. In God's act of manifesting Himself, we find out that it is not only man who is seeking for God; God is also seeking to be with us, for He loves us.

May we always make that effort to look for God, for it is no longer that hard to find Him. He no longer hides so it's easier to seek for Him. But the important thing is to seek Him and not to ignore His presence.

So let's not play hide-and-seek with Him anymore, because He Himself is looking for us.