BEFORE MIDNIGHT STRIKES

Saturday in the Octave of Christmas
Jn 1:1-18

Today, New Year’s Eve, I enjoin you to do three things before midnight strikes with a loud bang.

Be silent. It will be very noisy soon. Enjoy silence while you may. But more important than the absence of noise, let your silence be an abundance of love. Silence is not mere absence of words, but an overflowing of love. Silence is listening love. Be silent that you may hear God speaking to you.

Breathe. In a few hours or minutes from now, the air will be polluted like in no time of the year. Breathe while you can, while you may. When God created man, according to the book of Genesis, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Breathe God.

Speak. As the hours tick their way to midnight, the noise and air pollution will make it almost impossible for you to speak. Speak while you can. Speak with the calmness of the Spirit and the clarity of God’s word. Speak not only with words but also with the catching force of your good deeds.

Be silent; God has spoken His Word. Breathe; His Word is life. Speak; Proclaim His Word and be life-giving.

Be silent, breathe, and speak…your time starts now!

WHAT MAKES A HOUSE A HOME

Feast of the Holy Family
Lk 2:22-40

The family is the door through which we enter into human history. The same door, the Lord passed through to reach us. By becoming part of a human family, Jesus sanctified all families.

But what has become of many of our families today?

The family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is called “The Holy Family”. What makes their family holy? Jesus, the Son of God, makes the union of Mary and Joseph holy.

Is Jesus really in our families? If He is, how does He count: a guest or the head?

Our families today suffer from various attacks on all sides. Abortion, divorce, same sex marriages are but three of the realities that run counter to our professed belief that the family is sacred. Hedonistic values that permeate mass media nowadays are gradually but surely eroding family ethics. As a result, the family is rendered an accident rather than essence of coming into life.

Let us pray for our families. Let us work together to defend and promote the sanctity of family life. Let us keep Jesus in our families. Let us have holy families like the family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Three “P’s” for a holy family:

Pray together. Have we not heard enough: “The family that prays together stays together”?

Play together. Do good things together, things that are worthwhile and yet at the same time enjoyable.

Persevere together. Never quit and never give any member of the family even a single reason to break the bond of charity that exists in the home.

Praying together, playing together, and persevering together may not make families wealthy and famous. But they certainly produce holy families. If given a choice between wealth and holiness, choose holiness. It made to decide between having a famous family and a holy family, opt having a family that is holy. Since holiness is the perfection of charity, a holy family is a family where real love reigns. And it is love, not wealth nor fame, which makes a house a home.

JUST A FEW ARMS AWAY

Thursday in the Octave of Christmas
Lk 2:22-35

Jesus was presented to God. He was presented to His Father. He was Joseph’s and Mary’s first-born Son. First-born sons, according to the Law of Moses, must be consecrated to Yahweh. First-born sons belong especially to God; hence, parents offer a prescribed sacrifice to “buy back from God their first-born sons.

A first-born opens his mother’s womb. The Jews believe that a barren womb is an accursed womb. Life is God’s greatest blessing; life belongs to God – no one can cause it, no one can take it away, no one except God.

God is the Father of Jesus, but He is our Father, too. Jesus, according to the Pauline epistles, is the first-born among the dead. God, our Father, bought us back from sin and death. Jesus, His own Son, was the price He had to pay. The First-born Son became the ransom price!

At the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where I am presently serving, the Christmas crèche at the foot of the sanctuary is just a few arms away from the crucifix. During our Christmas Eve Mass, I was looking intently on the two biblical tableaus: one showing us the humble birth of the Savior and the other reminding us what awaits the newborn Baby after thirty-three years. Then I catch my self whispering a prayer: “Lord, I hope they notice…I hope they really do….” Bethlehem and Calvary are indeed just a few arms away.

CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Mt 2:13-18

In any war, there are no winners; all are losers. And many innocent people die in the crossfire. Today, we remember the children caught in a rather peculiar battle.

Herod wanted to kill the Baby Jesus because he felt threatened by His birth and the prophecies linked to Him. Herod was ready and willing to sacrifice other people’s lives to keep his grip on the throne. Such madness! Such evil!

But Herod represents us when we put people in danger in our pursuit of self-centered gains. Some of us are even willing to victimize on others for selfish ends while some are unwilling victims.

Today, let us remember people we have sacrificed for our personal agenda. While we beg for forgiveness, let us do our best to set aright whatever we have rendered wrong.

Christmas is not about sacrificing others for the self. It is about sacrificing the self for others instead. As we linger by the Christmas crèche, we see Jesus who comes as a sacrificial lamb, lying in a manger, like food for the beasts. Christmas should remind us that we are called to sacrifice our selves for others, to die to our selves so that others may live.

The Holy Innocents who died thousands of years ago – because of a king whose love for power turned him into a bloodthirsty dog – continue crying today. They are the aborted infants, the abandoned babies, the children caught in crossfires, the boys and girls who are exploited in many horrific ways. Their cries pierce our hearts. We cannot but be disturbed so as to act on their behalf.

Today’s feast is not a day for making practical jokes on each other, as many people think it is. It is a day to stand with those caught in the crossfire and to shield them from death. Not again should the innocent die. No one should suffer again.

BELOVED DISCIPLES

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
Jn 20:2-8

When Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple heard Mary’s story about the empty tomb, they ran to see for themselves the veracity of what men of their times would say “another woman’s tale”. The Beloved Disciple, John the Evangelist, outran Peter and reached the tomb first. The Gospel reported that he did not enter but waited for Simon Peter at the entrance of the tomb. Though John was called “The Beloved Disciple” among the Twelve, he knew and respected the first in authority, Simon Peter.

When Simon Peter entered the tomb, he saw the burial clothes, according to the Gospel narrative. But the same story tells us something more about John: When the disciple whom Jesus loved entered the tomb, he saw and believed. Such is the case; beloved disciples always reach the tomb first! Beloved disciples reach the tomb first because they get to the heart of the matter faster. The heart of the Resurrection is love.

The urgency of John’s love got him to the tomb first. The sensitivity of his love made him the first to believe as well. And later when Jesus stood unrecognized on the shore of Lake Tiberias after the Resurrection, it was also John who informed Peter: “It is the Lord!” His was a love that got him there first. His was a love that knew Him so well. Such is the love of beloved disciples.

If Simon Peter enjoyed the primacy of authority, John, the Beloved Disciple, enjoyed the primacy of love. This takes nothing away from Simon Peter. It just means that, in the words of Paul the Apostle, “if love can persuade” it can get you to the point quicker!

As we celebrate the feast of John the Beloved, two days after Christmas day, may we be able to give an honest accounting of our love for Jesus even as we continue reflecting on how much we are loved by Him. The birth of Jesus tells us how beloved we are. The lives we live tell Jesus how much we love Him. We are beloved disciples; let us be loving disciples, too.

LIGHT BEYOND CHRISTMAS

Feast of St. Stephen, First Christian Martyr
Mt 10:17-22

A day immediately following Christmas, the liturgical color suddenly turns from white or gold to crimson or red. December 26 is the feast of the first Christian martyr, Stephen.

St. Stephen was one of the seven deacons who helped the apostles. The book of the Acts of the Apostles describes him thus, “filled with faith and with the Holy Spirit” and “full of fortitude”. Stephen was stoned to death outside Jerusalem and died while praying for his executioners. While being stoned, he said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and echoing dying words of Jesus, he breathe his last with, “Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

With Christmas Day behind us, we are made to focus on the Jesus without the melodic backdrop. Jesus, the Light that “shines on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death”, reveals things in the world we may never have seen before and things about our selves that we may never have realized. Christmas is not a day for us to romanticize, for quite early the disciples of Jesus, those who welcomed the Light, realized that discipleship was not a romantic interlude in a hostile world. Having seen the Light that first shone in Bethlehem, the pivotal issue for us now is whether the same light continues to shine today, whether we can see the Light in darkness and our world in its true light.

Stephen, like all the martyrs down the history of Christianity, testified to that Light. The same testimony is expected from us who believe in the Incarnation of the Son of God and have been enlightened by His Holy Birth.

Christmas is a feast of lights, literally and figuratively. Christmas continues way beyond December 25 and the light is no longer in the lanterns we hang. The light must shine through from the lives we live. May that light never be put out.

FAITHFUL GOD

Saturday in the 4th Week of Advent
Lk 1:67-79

The Jews are called “People of the Covenant” because their lives revolve around their covenant with Yahweh. That covenant is the center of their individual and communal lives. Everything gains meaning in the light of the covenant and all things should be anchored on the same covenant. Today, Zechariah, upon regaining his faculty to speak, declares God’s faithfulness to the covenant and the great things yet to come because of God’s fidelity.

Christmas is a time for us to renew our covenant with the Lord. It is a special time to look at the love and power of God that took shape in the womb of Mary and came among us in a flush of blood and water both in Bethlehem and in Calvary. It should also be an important chance for us to honestly examine how faithful we are to our covenant with God and how much of God’s fidelity we mirror to one another.

Faithfulness is the breaking of dawn upon a world darkened by infidelities. The world suffers from the absence of light that comes from faithful hearts. Faithfulness is the virtue that guides our feet into the way of peace, for peace is built on trust and trust is the fruit of fidelity.

When we strive to be faithful, we imitate God. Faithfulness may well be another name for God. He keeps His promises and His word become flesh.

We have Christmas because God kept His word. Christmas is celebrating God’s fidelity to us and striving to be as faithful as He is.

NO PRECEDENT

Thursday in the 4th Week of Advent
Lk 1:57-66

My mother told me that before I was born my father already had a name for me: Carlo Magno. My father’s name was Carlos. For some reason, he did not want me to be a “junior”, but he wanted me to carry his name somehow. Thus, the “Carlo” and the “Magno” put together as in the original “Carolus Magnus” or “Charlemagne” or “Charles the Great”.

My mother, however, wanted to name me “Joselito” or “Raulito” or “Angelito”. She reasoned that when there is a “lito” attached to my name, my name would sound a young man’s name no matter how old I become.

But I was christened “Roberto”. The story goes that the first time my father saw me he immediately noticed that I looked very much like his brother who had passed away just a few months before I was born. My uncle’s name was “Robert”; he was the most handsome and well built among my father’s siblings.

Today, people in the Gospel are trying to find any connection in the family as regards the choice of name for the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. But they cannot. The child’s name came from heaven, given by the angel to Zechariah. It was God’s choice, for the mission the child was born to came from God as well. And so shall the child be called, John.

John’s name means, “God is gracious”. John is God’s graciousness to Zechariah and Elizabeth. He is God’s special gift to them who were for a very long time considered barren; and, therefore, according to Jewish thinking, accursed. John is God’s graciousness to the people of Israel, too. He is the Lord’s precursor, calling the people to conversion of life and extending God’s forgiveness to those who repent from their sins.

John’s name has no precedent in his family because he is the one who makes a precedent in the life of Israel. He signals a new beginning. He breaks the prolonged silence of God even as his birth loosens his father’s tongue. In John, God now speaks again; and His word is graciousness to all who seek His face. He speaks about not only the Messiah, but rather points directly to Him as the Lamb of God. John’s name signifies a new beginning, not because God was not gracious in the past, but because God’s graciousness starts to unfold itself in a new and better fashion in the person of Jesus Christ whose herald John is.

It is never too late for a sincere Christmas to begin, to break from the past marked by the absence of graciousness and grace. Let this Christmas be a time of new beautiful beginning for us. Let us strive even more to be God’s graciousness to others. We are graced. We are graces!

DAILY DIET

Wednesday in the 4th Week of Advent
Lk 1:46-56

There are three dishes for our meal today; and they all begin with the letter “R”: Rejoice, Remember, and Reach out. Have a hearty meal! Feed your heart.

Rejoice. “Mary said, ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God, my Savior; because He has looked upon His lowly handmaid. Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is His name.’”

Remember. Mary recalls, “…and His mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear Him. He has shown the power of His arm, He has routed the proud of heart. He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry He has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away. He has come to the help of Israel His servant, mindful of His mercy – according to the promise He made to our ancestors – of His mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.”

Reach out. The Gospel today concludes: “Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.”

These are the three dishes for a healthy life. We all need them to be spiritually healthy and stay happy. Never cease rejoicing, for, with great loving favor, the Lord looks upon us and our loved ones. Remember how good the Lord is; and He is good all the time. Remembering is the secret of rejoicing. People who easily forget are sad people. But rejoicing and remembering must motivate us to share with others the blessings we have. We reach out to serve the others. Reaching out, therefore, completes our healthy meal. If all we do is rejoice and remember, but not reach out to others, we will suffer spiritual indigestion.

For a healthy life, we must feed on these three dishes all together. It is not a matter of choosing only one or two of them. We need the three dishes to nourish our soul and be truly happy.

God was the first to have rejoiced, remembered, and reached out. He rejoiced over Mary, His lowly handmaid. He remembered the promise He made to Abraham and His seed forever. He reached out to us and became one like us in all things, save sin. When we rejoice, remember, and reach out, we imitate God and share in His joy.

Since Christmas is a special time for table fellowship, let us not forget to serve these three dishes for true nourishment. Let us make it sure that in the table of life, rejoicing in the Lord, remembering His goodness, and reaching out to others are all together served. This is our daily diet, not a special Christmas meal. Bon appetite!

CHRISTMAS AND THE EUCHARIST: VISITING AND STAYING

Wednesday in the 4th Week of Advent
Lk 1:39-45

In the Philippines, as it is in many places in the world, Christmas is a time of visiting loved ones, relatives, and friends. I wonder though if we know why. Let me suggest a beautiful reason why people make so many happy visits during Christmas.

God was the first to have made a visit on Christmas day. He visited us, His beloved creatures. His visit was such that He took upon Himself our fallen nature and appeared as one like us in all things, but sin. He was not a visitor; He was of our own.

However, God was not contented with a passing visit. He stayed with us. Christmas is Jesus coming to us. In the Holy Eucharist, we have Him staying with us.

While God was the first to have made a visit on Christmas, Mary was the first to have welcomed Him. And with God in her womb, Mary went in haste to make her Christmas visit. The Gospel today paints for us that beautiful visit of the Blessed Mother to her cousin, Elizabeth. Both Mary and Jesus, the God in her womb, paid the favored couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, a visit. But she, too, was not satisfied with a momentary visit. She stayed with Elizabeth about three months, attending to her cousin’s maternity needs, before she went home. Mary, with Jesus in her womb, is like Jesus in the Eucharist. She came, she stayed, and she served.

The same thing should happen as we received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Our visits should be visits that bring Jesus to the people we visit. Then our visits become Eucharistic as we linger, not merely pass by, to attend to the needs of the people we go to. When this happens, we ourselves become Eucharistic. If Christmas is Jesus coming to us while the Eucharist is Jesus staying with us, Christmas is receiving Jesus while the Eucharist is becoming like Jesus to others. It is not a choice between the two; rather one should flow to the other. Christmas has its fullest meaning in the Eucharist. Welcoming Jesus in Bethlehem must necessarily lead us to bringing Jesus to everywhere.

This Christmas let us not forget to make our visits truly Eucharistic. Let us stay; and let our presence be the presence of Jesus in us in the lives of the people we linger with. This Christmas let us not visit only our loved ones, relatives, and friends. Let us not forget the forgotten. Visit them. Stay with them. Bring them Jesus.

God has visited us. We surely owe Him a visit. The church is His house; we can always find Him there. But His favorite address is the least of our brethren; we always have them with us.

God stays with us. He truly is Emmanuel, God-With-Us. The Eucharist is His real presence. But we, who receive Him in the Eucharist, are likewise His Body. We are His presence, too. We should be what it means to say that God did not only visit us but stays with us until the end of time.

Christmas is Jesus being born to us. The Eucharist is we becoming Jesus to others.

HEADLINE NEWS

Tuesday in the 4th Week of Advent
Lk 1:26-38

Not all news is worth hearing, but today we have good news. It is the best news ever: God is becoming man! As He promised of old, He is sending His Son to be our Savior. God keeps His promises.

When we give flesh to our words – that is good news! When we keep our promises – that is good news! When God shares our humanity – that is good news! When man shares God’s divinity – that is good news!

Jesus’ Incarnation is not only an event in the past. Everyday, Jesus becomes the living Word of the Scripture; we listen to Him. Everyday, Jesus becomes flesh in the Eucharist; we feed on Him. Everyday, Jesus becomes human in the person of each one of us; we serve Him in one another. Everyday, Jesus becomes tangible in all creation; we touch Him and He touches us.

Everyday is a day of the Lord’s Incarnation; let us be the presence of Jesus. Everyday is the day of the Lord’s Annunciation; let us proclaim Jesus. Everyday is a day when the Word becomes flesh; let us be like Jesus.

An advertisement of Caritas Manila shows a man begging in the street. Another man, dressed in office clothes and carrying a pouch of food, walks towards his direction. As he approaches, the beggar’s face changed into the face of Jesus. When he gives the beggar the pouch of food he is carrying, the camera shifts focus from the beggar’s face to his. And his face likewise changed into the face of Jesus. The ad then shows these words: Charity changes the giver not only the receiver. This ad should be a headline everyday!

WILD DREAMS

Monday in the 4th Week of Advent
Lk 1:5-25

I heard a priest say that when a woman is in her early twenties and is single, her prayer goes this way: “Lord, please give me someone who’s handsome and rich.” By thirty, the same woman prays this way: “Lord, please give me someone who’s rich.” When she is already thirty-five and still single, the same woman prays, “Lord, please give me someone who’s earning.” But beyond thirty-five and still single, she pleads, “Lord, please give me someone!”

When positive answers to their prayers are long delayed, the expectations of some people are tempered and they tend to bargain with having even just the minimum of what they pray for. They learn to settle for something less. Experience teaches them to be more realistic and eventually expect nothing at all. Christmas runs counter to this tendency.

People who truly believe in Christmas are entitled to have wild expectations. Yes, wild! By wild, I mean, virgins conceiving without the help of a man and barren women giving birth even in their old age. God becoming human in all things, save sin, is the wildest dream ever. But they all came true. Mary conceived while remaining a virgin; Elizabeth bore child though advanced in age and was barren; and the Son of God became man.

It took more than twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, or thousands of years before God gave man what he had been praying for: the Messiah. No matter how long the delay was, there remained people who never allowed the fire of their hope be extinguished. They settled for nothing less than the Son of God Himself. They carried on the “wild dream” of Christmas. And they were proven right for dreaming so wildly.

If Christmas were to remain in our hearts, we must never stop dreaming. We must dream even for the impossible. I can almost hear my bishop, Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales, saying, “Bob, habang may buhay, habang may Panginoon, may pag-asa.”

Dream and believe. Believe and continue dreaming. Dream, believe, and act.

Pray and never give up. Hope and expect. Believe in miracles, but always remember that miracles begin with an act of love.

“You can do miracles
if you believe.
Though hope is frail,
it’s hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles
you can achieve
if you believe?
Somehow you will.
You will if you believe” (refrain of the song “You Can Do Miracles” from the movie The Prince of Egypt).

"TAO PO!"

4th Sunday of Advent
Lk 1:26-38

King David wanted to build Yahweh a worthy dwelling place, a temple for the Ark of the Covenant. But he, who desired to give God a precious house, received the promise of a glorious household from God instead. Through the Prophet Nathan, God reminded David of his humble past and foretold the magnificent future of his posterity. God’s favor would remain upon the house of David and from his loins would come forth the glorious King whom God Himself would love as a father loves his son.

The Gospel today brought into a grand fulfillment this promise God made to David. From David’s lineage came the very Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Promised One took residence not in a house made by human hands but in a dwelling made of human flesh. The Son of God was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Preserved from every stain of sin, even from the moment of her conception, she was the most worthy house of God.

Mary was God’s choice. But the choice remained Mary’s. Predestined to be the mother of God’s Son, she nonetheless had to give her consent to God.

“Tao po!” – this is what Filipinos say while knocking on a door, seeking entrance into a house. “Tao po!” – this is the beautiful picture of the Annunciation. God knocked on the heart of Mary so that He might enter her womb to make it His home for nine months. With all respect and without any forcing Himself on Mary, God requested Mary to let Him in. God respected Mary’s freedom; and Mary used her freedom for God. “Tuloy po kayo” (“Welcome. Please come in”), Mary said. God entered. The Word was made flesh. The Virgin’s womb delivered the Son of God. And indeed, the Son of God was tao po (“a human being”)!

This is what Christmas is all about: it is not us making a house for God made of precious materials, but allowing God to make our hearts His home. God has no fancy for golden temples. He desires to dwell in temples made of flesh. We are His temples. His address is our hearts.

Without forcing Himself on us, but with deep respect for our freedom, God carefully knocks on our hearts and requests that we take Him in. We may be His choices, but the choice is always ours.

Let us give God a home. Let us give Him our hearts. May we never tell Him what He was told on that first Christmas night: “Sorry, there is no room at the inn.”

A SURPRISING AND PROTESTING GOD

Saturday in the 3rd Week of Advent
Mt 1:1-17

Boring – you may not be saying it but am pretty sure that this is how you feel about the Gospel today. What with a mere list of names! The litany of names, with the refrain, “was the father of…was the father of…was the father of…”, may even sound like a lullaby for those attending the dawn Mass on this second day of the Misa de Gallo.

According to Matthew (a competent tax collector therefore very good at recording names), the people whose names he had listed were the great, great, great, great grandfathers of Jesus. They were the ancestors of the Messiah. The Gospel today is the family tree of Jesus.

We may be bored while reading or listening the genealogy even of Jesus but that is in itself the first lesson for today. We are bored because there seems to be nothing happening for a very long while. If God would send His Son, why not send it right from the start? Why did He not send the Savior immediately after the Fall so that sin would had been defeated without much delay?

The proclamation of the Word of God, just as His Holy Incarnation, reminds us about the value of waiting. Great things take time to happen. But no matter how long the wait is, the fullness of time arrives. Kairos is the Greek word for “fullness of time”. It is also the word for “grace”.

Thus, just when we think that there is nothing happening, we should stay alert even more. Next time we are halfway to yawning, brace ourselves, for the best is yet to come. The Messiah came fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the Babylonian captivity, and fourteen generations from the Babylonian captivity to the “fullness of time”.

The boredom ends when there is a sudden twist in the list. At the end of the lineage of men, the lyrics of the refrain change: “…Joseph, the husband of Mary; OF HER was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” A woman, Mary, signals the great things to come. For a highly patriarchal culture such as the Jewish society, this is an absurdity. Women do not count. Yet, Mary herself sings, “For He has looked upon His lowly servant…. He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast the might from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things while the rich He has sent away empty.” The coming of the Messiah would reverse the order of things. He would not be determined by the past. Rather, the past would be seen in His light.

Another lesson for us is that our past should now be viewed in the light of Christ. We are not the sum total of our mistakes, wrong decisions, and even sins in the past. Welcoming Jesus into our life sheds new light upon whatever we have done and whoever we have been in the past.

Even with little knowledge about some of the people mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus, we can easily conclude that the family tree of the Messiah was not a perfect family tree after all. He had prostitutes, relatives in incestuous relationship, murderers, and adulterers among His ancestors. But these dark spots in His lineage did not frustrate God’s plan. The Light, who is Jesus Himself, still shone; and the inclusion of Mary’s name in a highly patriarchal genealogy of the Messiah tells us that God is never determined by what comes before neither by what comes after.

Christmas is the dawning of hope amidst boredom with the present and imprisonment in the past. It is God’s surprise to a sleeping world and protest to a world of regrets and resentment. It is the birth of hope against all hope because Jesus is the hope of the world. In Him, hope and its fulfillment meet.

Stay alert! God is surprising us. Rise up! God is protesting.

ALIGHT AND SHINING FOR ALL

Friday in the 3rd Week of Advent
Jn 5:33-36

Today is the start of the Filipino tradition called by three different names: Misa de Gallo, Aguinaldo Mass, and Simbang Gabi. For nine consecutive days, churches in the Philippines, more than on any time of the year, are filled to the brim. This is a religious tradition very uniquely Filipino. It cannot be found elsewhere in the whole world except where Filipino communities thrive.

Misa de Gallo are Spanish words meaning, “Mass of the Rooster”. Yes, the name sounds funny but it does not refer to the sleepy heads that seem to peck while the homily is being preached during the Mass. In the early days of Christianity in the Philippines, the faithful would go to Mass during nine consecutive days in preparation for Christmas. More than church bells, cocks crowing between three and four in the morning would wake up the faithful who were mostly farmers. The Mass was celebrated at dawn so that the farmers could be in the field before the sun rose and finish the day’s work before the heat of the sun became scorching.

Aguinaldo Mass is a combination of two words: aguinaldo is Spanish while “Mass” is, of course, English. Taken together, Aguinaldo Mass is transliterated as “Gift Mass”. On the one hand, the faithful go to Mass to receive the greatest gift from God: His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the nine consecutive Masses are the faithful’s gift to the Blessed Mother and the Sto. Nino (Holy Child). Both the Blessed Mother, under her title “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe”, and the Child Jesus, popularly and fondly called “Sto. Nino”, are linked to the beginnings of Christianity in the Philippines.

A prevalent belief among the faithful up until today is that completing the Aguinaldo Masses is an assurance that their prayer requests will be granted. More often than not, it is from this belief that many of the faithful go to Aguinaldo Masses.

Simbang Gabi is a more recent terminology among the three. As anticipated Masses (or “Vigil Masses” as they are called in some countries, such as in the United States of America) became more popular, the dawn Masses started to be celebrated in the evening, beginning on December 15 and ending on December 23. Perhaps, this development was brought about by the demands of modern times when people living in the city have to beat the traffic in going not to farms but to offices. Simbang Gabi is usually at eight or nine in the evening, but in some churches, it can be earlier.

These three names – Misa de Gallo, Aguinaldo Mass, Simbang Gabi – give three emphases on the meaning of the novena Masses in preparation for Christmas.

Gallo should echo that Advent is a wake up call for us. The Lord Himself, not only Christmas, must find us vigilant when He comes at any hour and on any day. We have to be ready to rise and welcome Him as the five wise virgins in the parable are prepared, with lamps burning, to meet the bridegroom and go to the wedding feast with him.

Aguinaldo should first lead us to a deep consideration of the great gift God has given us in the birth of His Only Son. Deep consideration must move us to greater appreciation for the gift of the God-Man, an appreciation that has to be translated into deeds of love for Him who identifies Himself with the “least of His brethren”. Then we bring these deeds to the manger and lay them at the feet of the Holy Child. They are the best aguinaldos, the best gifts we can give Him and the Blessed Mother, more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Gabi should remind us what life could have been were not “a Child given us, a Son not born to us” who is Christ the Lord. Were Jesus not born, we would still be living in darkness, under the curse of sin. But despite the fact that He was already born and He already accomplished the work of redemption, many are still living in darkness. As we make Jesus present again in the Eucharist we celebrate during Simbang Gabi, it is our calling to bring Jesus to “the people who walk in darkness and to those who dwell in endless gloom”.

I barely have unpacked my luggage from a pilgrimage to Naju, South Korea last October when I received an invitation from a former parishioner who married an Englishman recently. She was inviting me to the United Kingdom to give an Advent retreat and say the first Simbang Gabi Masses ever in their parish. Were I not already had two trips abroad this year, I would have obliged. There are also gallos, aguinaldos, and gabi in England. The tradition may be uniquely Filipino, but the message is certainly not exclusive, just as John the Baptist, Jesus says today, "was a lamp alight and shining" for all.

"BAIT"

Thursday in the 3rd Week of Advent
Lk 7:24-30

The name “John” means, “God is gracious”. I like it better in Tagalog: “Ang bait ng Diyos!”

Bait may mean either of the two: kindness or sanity. Both meanings may apply to John the Baptist, the precursor of the Lord.

When I say, “Ang bait mo naman”, I do not only mean that you are kind but that you are kind unexpectedly. This is the kind of bait that the neighbors of Zechariah and Elizabeth said about God when their son, John, was born. God’s kindness was unexpected not because God was not normally kind neither was it because Zechariah and Elizabeth were a couple undeserving of divine favor. God’s kindness was unexpected because both Zechariah and Elizabeth were already advanced in age when John was born. Moreover, Elizabeth, was known to be barren. John the Baptist was out of the ordinary right from the start. He was God’s kindness surprising not only Zechariah and Elizabeth but, perhaps, even more their neighbors.

When I say, “Nawawala siya sa kanyang sariling bait”, I am saying that he or she is out of his or her mind. When he grew up, John made the wilderness his permanent address, garbed himself with camel’s hair, and fed on locust and wild honey while calling people to repentance, baptizing them for the forgiveness of sins, and confronting King Herod of his adulterous relationship with Herodias. From being an out-of-the-ordinary blessing, people regarded John to be an out-of-his-mind guy. When John was born, people said, “Ang bait naman ng Diyos!”, but when he fulfilled his mission, many ridiculed him, “Heto na naman ang isang nawawala sa sariling bait.”

Bait – it can mean graciousness, it can mean sanity. To show it is to be kind. To be it is to be a blessing. To have it is to be sane. To have it not is to be mad.

John was God’s kindness and God’s folly at the same time. John was an absurdity in life. And that is exactly what graces are! Graces are absurdities in life. People who always go by the logic and technique, who always want to be in control of everything, very often miss the beauty and power of an unfolding grace. But when they finally realize the grace that has been given them, they call it a “blessing in disguise”. But there are no blessings in disguise because God does not give us blessings only to hide them from us. It is always our failure to recognize the grace that is given us. Just as in the case of John the Baptist, many people, sadly those belonging to the so-called “taong-templo”, “taong-simbahan”, the scribes and the Pharisees, failed to see the grace that was John.

Is there a John in your life?

DELA CRUZ...DELA LUZ

Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lk 14:25-33

While the Americans have Uncle Sam, Filipinos have Juan dela Cruz. I do not know, however, the story how Juan dela Cruz became the symbol of Filipinos. I do not also know if Filipinos are aware that Juan dela Cruz is the name of a famous saint.

Juan dela Cruz was born in Fontiveros, Spain in 1542. He joined the Carmelites and became a priest in 1567. Persuaded by St. Teresa of Avila, he started the reformation of the Carmelites in 1568. The renewal movement he led among his brother Carmelites brought fresh vigor in the Carmelite Order but also caused him great sufferings. He was persecuted and imprisoned. He went through his own paschal mystery, so to speak, and died in Ubeda, Spain in 1591 at the age of 49 years old.

His work to reform the Carmelite Order brought upon Juan dela Cruz the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God! Indeed, as he called it, it was his “dark night of the soul.”

Yet, the paradox is that in this dying of imprisonment Juan dela Cruz came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, Juan’s spirit came into the Light, Juan dela Cruz became “Juan dela Luz”.

Among many other mystics and poets, Juan is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in his writing entitled, “Spiritual Canticle”. Juan gave us a detailed account of the stages of spiritual growth. The first stage, the “night of the senses” is characterized by total detachment whereby we relinquish all our desires. The second is the “dark night of the soul” which is experiencing God without words, images or concepts. It is called a “dark night” because we are left without maps or familiar landmarks. Silence falls upon not only our mouths and minds, but upon our whole being. This brings us to the highest stage, which is silent communion with God. It is that height of spirituality wherein we let God take over. We are no longer in control; God is!

Juan dela Cruz taught us that the seeming dryness in our spiritual life may nothing be less than a prelude to fullness of life. What seems to be a “dark night of the soul” is actually God’s re-creating us. Spiritual life is therefore more than pious thoughts. As Juan himself said, “We are changed not by our loving God but by letting God love us. The lover is transformed by the Beloved.”

Thus, we see in the life of Juan dela Cruz how, in the light of the paschal mystery of Christ, agony leads to ecstasy. As he named it in his prose masterpiece, Juan called this paschal experience as his “Ascent to Mt. Carmel”. As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself this purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings, stressing the cost of discipleship as the path of ultimate intimacy with our loving God. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the Gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. Juan is, indeed, “dela Cruz”. John is truly “of the Cross”.

In his lived and written word, Juan dela Cruz has a crucial reminder for us today. Quite often, we are inclined towards that which is comfortable, convenient, soft, and opulent lifestyle. We reject even the mere thought of self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism, and discipline. We run away from the cross. Juan dela Cruz echoes to us the Gospel truth, loud and clear: Don’t – if you really want to live!

Juan dela Cruz is the symbol of all Filipinos. San Juan dela Cruz should be the example for all Christians. As a People identified with the name of this mystic-poet, Filipinos, whose nation is the only Christian in the Far East, must learn from the example of San Juan dela Cruz as they struggle under the weight of their crosses, as they go through their own paschal mystery as individuals and as a nation. By following Christ through and through, like Juan dela Cruz, you and I should be transformed from dela Cruz to dela Luz.

OBEDIENCE

Tuesday in the 3rd Week in Advent
Mt 21:28-32

When I ask people which among the vows of a priest they think to be the most difficult for priests to be faithful to, they almost without any thought say, “Chastity!” Interesting presumption but, like most presumptions, it is incorrect.

Having been a priest for ten years, I can say with more certitude that the most difficult vow of a priest is obedience. While all the vows – poverty, chastity, and obedience – are all forms of dying to one’s self, obedience can be the most painful daily dying to one’s self. While all the vows are loving self-surrender to God, obedience is the total resignation of one’s freedom to the Divine Will. Priests obey their bishop or religious superior as they obey God, in view that the Divine Will is expressed in the will of His human intermediary. And that can be truly painful more than seldom!

When I was ordained to the priesthood, I had an idea of what I was getting my self into. After ten years, however, I have a tight grasp of the reality. It is through faithful obedience that I fully offer my self as an oblation to God. It is only through an immeasurable generosity of an obedient heart that I can become more and more like Jesus, who was obedient even unto death, death on the cross. But I cannot be obedient by mere willpower. Very often, willpower indeed breaks. An obedient heart is grace. To have the heart like that of Jesus’, one must ask for it. Daily the priest asks the Father to give him the heart of Jesus until he becomes like His obedient Son. When the priest becomes truly like Jesus, then the gift and the giver become truly one.

There is no other way by which we can approach God except on our knees. I do not mean simply a posture of the body or a bending of the knees. I mean a constant and consistent attitude that is defined by how much of the self is actually surrendered to God. It requires a heart strong in faith, an attitude that sees the good even in the worst of circumstances, and a will that know how to bend.

Obedience is not only for priests; it is also for each and every disciple of Jesus. It is for us all. Pray for it. Beg for it. From the Lord.

On the day of my ordination, Jaime Cardinal Sin imposed his hands on me in silence, and, by divine decree, I became a priest. After a short while, the Cardinal withdrew his hands but the Hands of Jesus remained. They still remain on me. They are the Hands that help me obey. Without them, I cannot obey.

IN THE CROSSING OF HER ARMS

Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Lk 1:26-38

I am presently serving as Vice Rector and Parochial Vicar of the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Today is our fiesta.

On December 9, 10, 11, and 12, 1531 the Blessed Mother appeared to an elderly native, Juan Diego, on top of the Tepeyac Hill in Guadalupe, Mexico. She appeared as a woman heavy with child. She attested to the veracity of her appearance by causing her image to be imprinted on the tilma of Juan Diego through the roses she instructed him to gather though it was winter, a time when roses do not normally bloom. She wanted a church to be built on top of the hill and promised special favors to those who would come to that church to pray to her.

Because it is made of a poor local fiver, the tilma should have disintegrated hundreds of years ago. But it remains intact to this day. Sometime in the 1790’s nitric acid was accidentally spilled on the cloth and in the 1920’s a bomb detonated beneath it. Still the tilma remains intact. It underwent various scientific investigations in the 20th century. The conclusion reached is unanimous: the origin of the image came about not with natural paint, brushstrokes or tracing. Moreover, scientific researches claim that the image, though created in 1531, has almost photographic qualities. As in modern photography, the eyes of the Blessed Mother contain images of those standing in the room where and when Juan Diego opened his tilma.

As the tilma remains intact, the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe endures. It is an invitation to trust in the care of the Blessed Mother has for her children and an inspiration to recourse to her maternal affection at all times: “I am your merciful mother, the mother of all who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping and their sorrows, and will remedy and alleviate their sufferings, necessities and misfortunes…. Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. AM I NOT HERE WHO AM YOUR MOTHER? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?

Come and visit us at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Makati City. The Blessed Mother waits for you. She longs to embrace you.

REJOICE!

3rd Sunday of Advent
Jn 1:6-8, 19-28

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent. It is Gaudete Sunday. The imperative verb, Gaudete, means “Rejoice”. It comes from the Latin noun, gaudium, which in English is “joy”. Gaudare is “to rejoice”. Gaudete is “Rejoice!”

It strikes me and I request you to note that gaudete is neither a noun nor an adjective but a verb. Moreso, it is an imperative verb. Thus, it is a command. It does not describe an actual state of being or a present condition of things. It does not say that everything and everyone are jumping with joy. Gaudete Sunday is not “Joyful Sunday”; it is, rather, the Sunday that commands us to be joyful.

But can we command joy? Can anyone of us simply jump with sincerely overflowing joy at anyone’s command? We can teach the heart, but can we order it to experience what emotion to feel? Can we really, possibly order the heart so that the heart automatically and sincerely follows what we command it?

The heart normally searches for at least one reason to feel what it feels. It is never sad for nothing. It is never happy for no reason. There is a reason for every tear and a cause for every smile. What is the reason for today’s command for us to rejoice?

Jesus – the reason for the season.

Life may be harder for us this year and there may be so much frustration, pain, and fear in our hearts, but through all the onslaughts of our daily living we can find joy in the gift of God to us: His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, who is Emmanuel, “God-With-Us”. He is the Joy that never fades. He is the Joy that does not depend on whatever happens around and inside us. He is the Joy of the world yet the Joy that the world cannot give nor take away. He is the Joy that raises us up no matter how down we are:

“When I am down and all my soul so weary,
when troubles come and my heart burdened be,
then I am still and wait here in the silence
until you come and sit awhile with me.

“You raised me up so I can stand on mountains.
You raised me up to walk on stormy seas.
I am strong when I am on your shoulders.
You raised me up to more than I can be.

“There is no life, no life without its hunger.
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly.
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
sometimes I think I glimpse eternity” (You Raised Me Up by Josh Groban).

Gaudete! Rejoice! The Church tells us today, “Rejoice!” We command our hearts today, “Rejoice!” We tap our loved ones on their backs and say to them, “Rejoice!” We reach out to the downtrodden and raise them up, saying, “Rejoice!” The First Reading today (Is 61:1-2, 10-11) proclaims, “I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God….” The Psalm today (Lk 1) sings, “My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” The Second Reading today (1 Thes 5:16-24) commands us, “Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus.” But John the Baptist in the Gospel today tells us that though Jesus, our Joy, is already in our midst we fail to recognize Him.

Failure to recognize Jesus in our midst is the reason for sorrow. If we cannot rejoice with the Church, with the liturgy and the readings today, with the Advent season, and with those who are rejoicing, it will help us to know why by reflecting on the presence or absence of Jesus in our life. Have we forgotten the reason for the season? Have we exchanged Him for Sta. Clause instead? Do we recognize Jesus in our midst? If we do then we know that the joy of life, not only of Christmas, is truly in giving rather than in receiving, in loving rather than in being loved, in serving Jesus in one another rather than being served by others.

As we light the pink candle for the third Sunday of Advent, may the Light to which John the Baptist gave witness enlighten each of us and see it burning in our hearts and in the hearts of all. Like John the Baptist, may we speak for that Light by becoming joy in the lives of everyone.

Gaudete! Be happy the Lord is Emmanuel, “God-With-Us”. Rejoice! Be the happiness of others. Give them Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus.

SIGNS OF HIS PRESENCE

Saturday in the 2nd Week of Advent
Mt 17:10-13

Elijah is a legendary figure for the Jews. He is a legend not because he did not actually exist, but because of three things: the sings that accompanied his prophecies, his zeal for Yahweh, and his ascent to the heavens.

Not all prophets performed miracles. Elijah did! The 17th chapter of the First Book of Kings begins thus: “Elijah, the Tishbite in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As Yahweh lives, the God of Israel whom I serve, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except at my order.’” So did it happen that drought set in and famine spread throughout the land. As Elijah spoke so did it happen.

Elijah’s zeal for Yahweh was dramatically manifested when he slew all the prophets of Baal at the wadi of Kishon. We find this story in 1 Kings 18:20-40.

Having slain all the prophets of Baal, Elijah put an end to the drought that scourged the land. “…except at my order,” so said Elijah when he caused the dry spell over the land. When he ordered the drought to end, the words of Elijah to his servant were, “Go and said to Ahab, ‘Harness the chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” And so did the rain come!

When the days of his prophecy were over, Elijah did not die. 2 Kings 2:1-13 tells us that Elijah was taken up to heaven by fiery chariots in the sight of Elisha who succeeded him as prophet in Israel. Because he did not die, the Jews, up to this day, believe that Elijah is alive in the heavens as he was alive here on earth. The Jews likewise hold that Elijah will come back before the Messiah comes. The Jews today, of course, are still waiting for both of them.

In the Gospel today, the disciples are said to have considered John the Baptist as Elijah. John the Baptist signaled for the disciples that the Messiah was already in their midst in the person of Jesus. How privileged John the Baptist was! Such a privilege is also extended to us. We are neither Elijah nor John the Baptist, but we should be signs that indeed the Lord is among us.

Have you seen Him lately? Have you shown Him to others today?

WHO SHOULD SUIT WHO?

Friday in the 2nd Week of Advent
Mt 11:16-19

Advent is a season of waiting. It is a period of expectation. The excitement that goes with our waiting and expectation becomes more and more intense as Christmas day approaches. But what are we really expecting? What are we really waiting for?

We are not waiting for Jesus to be born. He was already born, more than two thousand years ago. We rather commemorate His birth.

What we are expecting is the second coming of Jesus. We wait for Him to come again, not as a feeble, tiny, helpless baby, but as a just and merciful judge. How, when, and where it will actually happen, we do not know. But we are certain it will! The most important thing we must do, therefore, is be prepared for it. The Advent Season, particularly its first part (the first week of the season through December 16) underscores this by calling us all to conversion from sin and focusing our consideration on the “last things”.

Advent is a time of waiting, expecting and preparing. We are not passive as we wait and expect. We prepare our selves for the coming of Him whom we wait for and the occurrence of that which we expect to happen.

How are we preparing so far? Do we heed the call to repentance and conversion of life? Or are we indifferent because the call is sounded to us by someone who does not suit our taste? Are we like the Jews in the Gospel today, who turned a deaf ear to the voice of John the Baptist and played blind to the witness of Jesus because both John and Jesus did not suit their expectations?

Come to think of it: should Jesus suit our expectations or should we instead be the ones to strive fulfilling what Jesus expects of us?

HER NAME

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Lk 1:26-38

When Bernadette Soubirous asked the beautiful lady who was appearing to her at Lourdes, France, in 1858, who she was, the lady answered, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” It is surprising that the beautiful lady wanted to be known not by a personal name but by a mysterious event in her life. Of course, we all know by now that the beautiful lady who appeared to Bernadette Soubirous is Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus.

The Immaculate Conception – this is the name by which Mama Mary revealed herself to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes. The Immaculate Conception – this is the name by which Mama Mary wishes to be known and remembered. The Immaculate Conception – this is what God did to her. The Immaculate Conception – Mama Mary wanted us to remember God more than herself. The Immaculate Conception – this is what we celebrate today.

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX defined the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, making this feast celebrated in the East since the 8th century a part of the article of faith of the Universal Church. The dogma states that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, in view of her unique vocation as mother of the Son of God, has been free from the stain of original sin.

In view of her vocation as mother of the Son of God – this was the reason why Mama Mary was conceived without original sin. The Immaculate Conception was because of the Divine Motherhood. The Immaculate Conception was God’s work just as her becoming the mother of His Son was purely God’s unique grace given her. We celebrate the Immaculate Conception to remember three things and so live by it.

First, the Immaculate Conception was the triumph of good over evil, of grace over sin. Eve, the first woman, though called “mother of all the living”, became the “mother of all the dead” because of her disobedience. God reversed the effect of Eve’s disobedience by the obedience of Mama Mary. The ‘yes’ of the Blessed Mother is a ‘yes’ to God’s will, a ‘yes’ to goodness, a ‘yes’ to grace. The Immaculate Conception showed us that sin cannot and can never frustrate God’s plan. Goodness is and will always be more powerful than evil. Grace is and will always triumph in the end. The Immaculate Conception was God’s victory even before the ultimate battle on the cross was won by His Son.

Second, the Immaculate Conception affirmed that Mariology is a function of Christology. Mama Mary was conceived without original sin because she would become the mother of Christ. Her preservation from all sin had a definite orientation: her Divine Motherhood. She was given this unique privilege not for her own sake but for the sake of Christ and, therefore, for the whole plan of salvation.

Third, the Immaculate Conception assured us that God supplies the grace needed for the vocation He calls us to. As stated earlier, it was for her conceiving Christ the Savior that Mama Mary was conceived without original sin. Mama Mary was prepared by God for the sublime and unique vocation she would eventually be called to by the grace of the Immaculate Conception. While it was true that she remained free as to what response she would give to God’s calling, Mama Mary was nonetheless readied, nurtured, and supported by God’s grace. Without it, she would not have responded to God’s calling the way she did. Without a prior grace from God, Mama Mary would not have been able to accept and fulfill her vocation.

The Immaculate Conception was therefore the fruit of God’s grace and the redemptive mission of Christ. It was not and never was the result of Mama Mary’s efforts. It was not and never was given to her because of her credentials or personal virtues. It was not and never due her. It was pure grace, a gift from God gratuitously given for our sake.

At Lourdes, France, barely four years after the definition of the dogma we solemnly celebrate today, Mama Mary gave Bernadette Soubirous the name by which she wished to be known and remembered. She was and always is the “Immaculate Conception”. She wanted us to know God even more and remember God always. She wanted us to bear in mind that grace always triumphs over evil, that we should be at the service of God, and that God never fails to supply the grace needed for the vocation He calls us to. Remember these and know Mama Mary. Know Mama Mary and remember God. Let us allow grace to triumph over evil by keeping our selves always at the service of God with the aid of the grace that God Himself never fails to give us.

The Immaculate Conception – this is the name of Mama Mary by which all generations call her “blessed”.

HOLIDAYS

Wednesday in the 2nd Week of Advent
Mt 11:28-30

The Christmas season is often called “holidays”. Quite often, too, people take holidays to mean fun, vacation, and leisure. But the first Christmas was far from what people today mean by the word “holidays”.

The first Christmas came upon Joseph and Mary while they were traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They were to register in the city of David as required by the oppressive regime of the Roman emperor. Mary was heavy with Child. It was in Bethlehem when the days of her confinement ended. She delivered her Baby, Jesus Christ the Lord. Joseph, like any loving husband, wanted to provide Mary a decent and safe place to give birth. Joseph, a good father he was, wanted to welcome his Son in a warm and clean delivery room. But there was no room for them at the inn. Mary had to deliver her Boy in a stable, wrap Him in swaddling clothes, and lay Him in a manger. Joseph himself had to attend to the needs of both mother and Child. Their companions were the beasts of the field. It was certainly not a holiday for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Their Christmas was indeed remote from the holidays we are soon to have in two weeks time. But theirs was the real holiday. The Christmas of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph was truly a holy day.

It is sad to note that holidays have become almost exclusively synonymous with fun, vacation, and leisure. There is nothing wrong with clean fun, much-needed vacation, and temperate leisure. But they are not necessarily what holidays mean. A holiday is a holy day. Holidays should primarily mean a day of holiness.

If we spend Christmas holidays only with fun, vacation, and leisure, we do great injustice to the real spirit of the season. Let us focus our selves on being holy as we celebrate the holidays. As early as today, barely two weeks shy from Christmas day, let us heed the invitation of Jesus: “Come to Me…shoulder My yoke…learn from Me…find rest for your souls.”

Happy Holidays! Be happy. Be holy.

THE LOVE THAT FINDS US

Tuesday in the 2nd Week of Advent
Mt 18:12-14

I said it several times in my reflections and homilies, and I run the risk of sounding like a broken record by now, but it is true: We lose only people we love! People we do not love we do not even notice their absence. It is love that makes the difference.

God loses us not because He abandons us, not because He is careless with us, not because He does not care about us. On the contrary, God loses us because He loves us so much and values us infinitely. But if God is powerful, how does and how can He lose us?

God loses us when we choose sin over holiness, when we favor evil over Him who is all good and deserving of all our love. God loses us not because He departs from us. He loses us, instead, because we decide to wander far away from Him. It is never God’s fault when He loses us. It is always ours.

However, always God takes the first initiative to find us. From the very beginning, God has always been searching for us. The very first question recorded in the Bible is a question from God who seeks us out. In Gen 3:9, the primal question was thrown: “Where are you?” It was God’s question to Adam. In the fullness of time, God was no longer contended with throwing questions to man, He rather sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to become man Himself. Though sinless, Jesus appeared in our fallen nature. He came to share in our humanity so that we may come to share in His divinity. His incarnation is God’s most dramatic, decisive, and definitive move in seeking us out. In Jesus, the Father has found us.

The birth of Jesus is God becoming part of our human history. He decided to search for us right where we are, in our own cultural, social, and historical milieu. He chose to find us right who, not only where, we are, in our very humanity. The power of God’s love for us is incomprehensibly intense that, as it were, it burst into flesh and became part of the flesh that constitutes our personal and communal history. St. Augustine wrote, “Since God became human, we can be sure that in everything human we can find something of the divine.”

Now that God has found us, we have to do two things. First, we should never leave Him. Second, we must help Him find the others. While remaining in Him, we labor with Him to incarnate Jesus in the lives of every person we meet. But we cannot accomplish these, unless we have a love like His.

Advent is a special season to conceive, nurture, and deliver that love to the world. Let our hearts not be barren; conceive this love. Let our hearts not be dry; nurture this love. Let our hearts not die; deliver this love to the waiting world. May God, who opens wombs of the barren and the virgin, penetrate the hearts of even those who refuse to either hear or answer His primeval question: “Where are you?”

MAKING ROOM FOR JESUS

Monday in the 2nd Week of Advent
Lk 5:17-26

Jesus was inside a house. The house was jam-packed. There was no way for four men, carrying their paralytic friend, to inch through the crowd. But the four men were clever. They lowered down their patient through the roof of the house.

Was there already a hole in the roof through which those four caring men could lower their friend or did those four daring men have to make a hole, thereby destroying the roof? If there was already a hole, there was no problem. But if those four daring and caring men needed to make a hole through the roof, that could have been a very big problem. They could have picked a fight with the owner of the house! But if you were the owner of the house, you would not mind a hole in your roof, right? Or would you?

The house in the Gospel today may well symbolize the hearts of those who were crowding around Jesus. Jesus had to break open their hearts to accommodate the crying need of the paralytic man.

In the same fashion, Jesus teaches us an important lesson: We must learn to accommodate the needs of our fellowmen. But such a lesson can only be learnt if we are willing to let Jesus break open our hearts. If we allow Him to do so, miracles happen because miracles begin with an act of love. Breaking our hearts for others, like break broken for the life of the many, is an act of love.

During this Advent season, there is so much talk about welcoming Jesus in our hearts. We welcome Jesus in our hearts when we welcome in our hearts the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the marginalized, the least of our brethren.

What is it in our hearts that Jesus needs to destroy so that He may break open our hearts and, through our neighbors, most especially the least of our brethren, enter into it?

Welcome Jesus in our life. Let us give a room in our hearts for the least of our brethren. Let us give our hearts Jesus. May Jesus possess our hearts even more than our hearts possess Jesus.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus found no room in the inn. Will we not dare change that very sad story today?

HIS VOICE, HIS HAND

2nd Sunday of Advent
Mk 1:1-8

God was silent after the death of the last of the writing prophets. The Jews took that silence to mean that the spirit of prophecy had been quenched and only by the echo of His voice could God be heard. John the Baptist’s voice broke that silence.

John the Baptist was the voice of God but he was not God’s word. Jesus was the Word spoken while John the Baptist was the voice that spoke. Just as the voice finds fulfillment in having a word to announce so was John the Baptist at the service of Jesus Christ, the Eternal and Redeeming Word of the Father.

John the Baptist was the most privileged of all the prophets. He did not only speak about the Messiah; he pointed to the Messiah as he said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” While all the prophets before him prophesized about the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist announced that Jesus was already in their midst. John the Baptist was not only the voice of the Word; he was also the hand that showed the way to the Lord.

Today, we hear this voice and see this hand. This voice proclaims the imminent arrival of the Lord. This hand leads people to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it was on the first time this voice was heard and this hand was seen, the message and the invitation are for each of us. Let us heed this voice and be always aware that Jesus is already in our midst. Let us see this hand and travel the road unto conversion of life.

But we are not only to heed this voice and see the hand of John the Baptist, we are to be like John the Baptist, too. By our shining witnessing to the presence of Jesus everywhere, let us be the voice that testifies that Jesus is indeed Emmanuel, “God-with-us”. By our sincere concern, let us be the hand that shows the way to Jesus to those who thirst for His loving forgiveness.

Advent is a season of profound silence so that we may hear the voice of God that speaks deep within us. We hear and so we speak. Advent is a season of vigilance so that we may recognize the hand of God in our midst. We are vigilant and so we see. The best gift we can give to Jesus on His birthday is becoming like John the Baptist to others. Let us be the voice and hand of the Word in the world. By our Christian witnessing, we break the silence of Advent. By our Christian love, we extend the hand of God. Let God speak. Let God touch. He is here!

DIFFERENT TIMES BUT SAME MANDATE

Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, Priest
Mk 16:15-20

Today we celebrate the blessed memory of St. Francis Xavier. Together with St. Therese of Lisieux, Francis Xavier is the patron of the missions.

Born in 1506 to an aristocratic family in the Castle of Xavier, near Sanguesa, Navarre, Spain, Francis studied in Paris, France. Inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola, he joined his company and became one of the founding members of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits. Francis labored tirelessly for and in the missions, particularly in India and Japan. He baptized thousands and thousands, convinced that there is no salvation outside the Church. His right hand that opened the gates of the Kingdom to countless souls through baptism remains uncorrupt until today and is venerated in the Church of the Gesu in Rome. It is said that his dying wish was to go to the Philippines to spread the Gospel. Death in 1552, however, hindered Francis Xavier from coming to our shores.

Francis lived in a time different from ours. It was a time when the belief that there is no salvation outside the Church was very prevalent. This belief was the driving force that immensely motivated Francis to convert as many as he could to the faith and administer baptism to countless souls.

Today, the Church already acknowledges the “anonymous Christian”. The “anonymous Christian” is he or she, who, through no fault of his or her own, has not yet heard the Gospel, but strives to live moral lives by following the voice of their conscience. He or she, too, according to Vatican II, by God’s mysterious designs and unfathomable mercy, may also be saved. Without explicitly saying that there is also salvation outside the Church, the Church, however, reiterates her belief that God wishes that all men and women be saved and her role in the world is to be the sacrament of that salvation offered by God to all through His Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus is the one and only one Redeemer of the world and the sole mediator between God and man. The Church, His spouse, is the privileged channel of redemption and mediation in and through Christ.

If Francis were still doing mission today, he would be very much surprised about the development of the Church’s understanding of herself in the world. But Francis would still burn with zeal for the conversion of the whole humanity to Christ and labor without rest for the incorporation of all humankind into the Body of Christ, the Church, through baptism.
We live in a time very much different from the time of Francis. But the mandate remains the same: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation” (Mk 16:15). This mandate is ours just as it was Francis’. Francis fulfilled his by laboring for and in the missions. How do we accomplish ours?

PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT

Friday in the 1st Week of Advent
Mt 9:27-31

The faculty of sight is not enough to make us see. We may not be blind but sometimes our sight is blurred or, worse, even totally gone. It is not because our eyes are defective but because the light is not enough. To see an image, to read a book, to behold a person we need light, not only eyes. Thus, though we have a 20/20 vision, we still grope in the dark, we complain of hazy vision, we search for light and more light.

By now, houses, commercial establishments and the streets are already well lighted for the holidays. The city is no brighter than during this time of the year. The evening glitters and the lights are simply fascinating to behold. Indeed, Christmas is a feast of lights!

But the true light that should enlighten us is the light that truly makes us see. Among other characteristics, that kind of light does not call attention to itself; it is always at the service of the subject of our vision. It is like the sun. We do not look straight at the sun lest we go blind. Rather we see the presence of the sun through the light it sheds upon the world.

Jesus is the Sol Invictus, the Victorious Sun. In fact, December 25, the day we annually celebrate the birth of Jesus, used to be the pagan feast for the sun god. It is the end of the winter solstice, when nights become shorter and days become longer again, when light of the day triumphs over the darkness of the night. The early Christians were geniuses to mark the birth of Jesus, the Light of the world, on this pagan feast because Jesus is the real Sol Invictus. He Himself is the light; and in His light, we see light. At Him alone can fix our eyes without hurting them, without us going blind. The Psalm today tells us this. The Gospel affirms this.

There are many dark corners in the world today. Sometimes, the whole world seems to be a dark place to live in. The strove lights, the neon lights, the flash bulbs, the glow and glitters of the holiday decors – they are all helpless and hopeless to cure the world of its blindness. We can only restore the sight of our neighbors if we cure the world of its blindness by shining upon it the light of Jesus. Let us make Jesus shine through us.

Let us be what we are meant to be: a People of the Light.

R--O--C--K

Thursday in the 1st Week of Advent
Mt 7: 21. 24-27

I grew up in a house that was built in 1953. It was my grandmother’s house in Quezon City. When she died, my aunts and uncles requested us to take care of our ancestral house. The house made mostly of wood but it was very strong. It weathered all kinds of storms and swayed steadily with all the earthquakes that rocked the city. The secret: strong foundation.

I had a teacher in high school that kept on reminding us, “If you want to build high, dig deep.” She was right. She still is. Height should be directly proportional to depth. People who succeed in life are people whose foundation is deep and strong.

The foundation of our life should be both strong and deep. The Word of God is life’s strongest and deepest foundation. If our life is constantly and steadily anchored on God’s Word, no calamity can devastate us and no anxiety can overcome us. The Word of God is our firm foundation. The Word of God is our refuge.

The Word of God is Jesus. Jesus is God’s Word-Made-Flesh.

As we prepare for the coming of the Lord at the end of time and for the commemoration of His Holy Birth on Christmas day, Advent is a special time of getting our selves more rooted on the Word of God. Remember R O C K during this season:

R – remember the reason for the season: the Incarnate Word of God
O – open the Bible, read it, and reflect on it
C – communion with God through the sacraments
K – kick all bad habits

Build our life on the Rock. Build our life on Jesus. He alone is our strong and deep foundation.