LOVE LETTERS

Seventeenth Sunday in the Ordinary Time

Jer 18: 1-6/Ps 146/Mt 13:47-53

Women are very good at collecting things. They seem to collect almost anything – from cosmetics to antiques, from seashells to jewelries, from hairpins to shoes. Women do not only love collecting things, they seem to keep almost everything. And they are very good at it! Unused paper napkins are slid inside their bags. Dry leaves are placed in-between pages of their diaries. Used gift wrappers are neatly folded and ribbons are carefully rolled, then stored for future use. Most mothers I know have the habit of keeping even old plastic and paper bags. Is my mom their “patron saint”?

When I was in grade school, my mother used to have a tall pile of old magazines because, she reasoned out, we might be assigned to do some clippings in school. Back in our old house, we used to have a very old closet made of wood where, for many, many years, my mother kept all my grandmother’s baro’t saya and other personal effects (including the plastic flowers and cards of condolences sent during lola’s wake!). She had to eventually let go of them though when we had to move into a new house. But the pile of old magazines? They keep on getting taller and taller for her grandchildren this time around.

When I was in high school, I discovered a wooden box that my mother kept under our closet. It was the find of my life then! It contained the love letters sent by my father to her. They were love letters before and after their marriage. I found my father’s love letters corny but I smiled at almost every word of every letter. But not my mother, of course. Those letters tell her how much my father – now departed – loved her. For her, those letters value more than anything.

In our Christian life, there comes a time when we need to bring from our storeroom both the new and the old. We bring them out to discern which has real value and which has none. The old may not necessarily be more valuable than the new, but the new may not also be necessarily more essential than the old. The gift of discernment is most needed to know which between the new and the old is truly worth keeping. Our storeroom is limited. We can keep only so much.

Jesus tells us today that we need to be instructed in the ways of God if we are to develop the gift of discernment. We must be familiar with the ways of His kingdom. To be instructed in the ways of God, we have to keep our selves always attuned to God. Personal and communal prayer, scripture-reading, recollections and retreats are important aides in this regard. Practicing what we pray for, read about and hear is equally essential to remain attuned to God. By doing so we are trained to make our ways God’s ways always.

There is nothing wrong about collecting and keeping things. Many times I cannot understand why my mother has to collect and keep things that I think are rubbish. But perhaps, she is right in doing so because more often than not her collections prove to be very handy even up until today.

However, even with the wisdom there is in my mother’s collecting and keeping things, she also periodically brings from her storeroom both the new and the old. She discerns which among her collections should remain in the storeroom or go somewhere else. Her storeroom is limited. She can keep only so much in it. Yet through the years, she treasures my father’s love letters to her. They remain inside the wooden box I once opened.

One who is learned in the Kingdom of Heaven knows that the Father’s love letters to us are infinitely more valuable than anything. They never lose their meaning. In our storeroom of the new and the old, those love letters are kept and read. Our hearts are like my mother’s wooden box where she kept my father’s love letters. In our hearts the God keeps His love letters to us. Have you read yours lately? Or have you already thrown them away?