SHOULD NOT BE AN OPTIONAL MEMORY

30 June 2006
Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome

SHOULD NOT BE AN OPTIONAL MEMORY
Mt 24:4-13

One evening in the middle of July of 64 A.D., the city of Rome was engulfed in flames. Spreading rapidly and burning for a week, the blaze turned half of the imperial city into ashes. It was said that while the flames was consuming the city, Nero, the reigning emperor, was playing his fiddle. The fiddle is probably legend, but the fire was all too real.

In the minds of his subjects, there was little or not doubt at all that Nero was responsible for the burning of Rome. However, to escape suspicion that he had anything to do with the fire and in response to public clamor, Nero set up a fact-finding commission that was tasked to determine the arsonists.

Needing a scapegoat, Nero easily blamed the Christians who were regarded as devotees of a new religion named after an obscure Jewish prophet. There began a series of dreadful persecutions against the Christians. To be a Christian meant to be a criminal, an outlaw, an enemy of the people. To be identified with the Galilean named “Jesus” was to incur the penalty of death. Many Christians – men and women of different professions and levels of society, including even children –therefore were killed with atrocious torments. In his Annales, even the pagan writer Tacitus testifies to these events and says that a huge multitude perished in the persecution Nero mounted against the Christians. In his letter to the Corinthians, Clement, bishop of Rome, praised the first martyrs of Rome and placed them before the Christians of his time as brethren who gave the finest example by their death for the Lord.

The memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome is an optional celebration in the liturgy today. But today, when many find it so easy to compromise their faith, these martyrs – and all heroes and heroines of our faith – should not be an optional memory.

UNLIKELY BEDFELLOWS

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles
Mt 16:13-19

Sts. Peter and Paul were unlikely bedfellows. They were like two opposite forces. But they were not necessarily opposing each other. On the contrary, they complemented each other very well.

Peter maintained tradition while Paul symbolized a driving force to adapt and expand the Gospel to as far as he could go. Peter was the centripetal force that sought for the center while Paul was the centrifugal force that reached out to various cultures. They represented two complementary aspects of the Church.

The Church must always remain rooted in the tradition of the Apostles even as it must continue reaching out to all peoples. Without the centripetal force symbolized by Peter, the Church will become fragmented. Without the centrifugal drive of Paul, the Church will not become anything but a Jewish sect in Jerusalem.

Because we are the Church, what is true of the Church is true of our spiritual lives. We must hold on to the center, to the core of our faith: relationship with Christ. This relationship is the rock that fastens all the changes in our life brought about by sincere desire to respond to the needs and signs of the modern world. Like Paul, we also need to expand our horizon and inculturate the Faith.

Peter and Paul are two pillars of the Church. They were not the same but the Church stands firmly upon them until today.

GLORIA DEI

Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
Jn 17:20-26

“Gloria Dei vivens homo” – have you already come across this expression? Literally translated in English, it is “The glory of God is man living”, but the same statement is more commonly rendered as “The glory of God is man fully alive.” These words came from a treatise against heresies, written by St. Irenaeus whose blessed memory we celebrate today. The exact excerpt from the treatise reads: “Life in man is the glory of God, the life of man is the vision of God.”

Irenaeus was born around the year 130 and was educated in Smyrna where he became a disciple of the bishop of that city, St. Polycarp. In 177, at Lyons, France, he was ordained a priest and later on became bishop of the same diocese. Vigorously, he fought Gnosticism, the heresy of his time. Around the year 200, Irenaeus was martyred.

Aside from his defense of the Faith against the Gnostics, what is unusually important about St. Irenaeus? A lot.

Before Irenaeus, Christianity was more of a fluid movement rather than the form of Catholicism we know today. Every Christian community seemed to have its own theology prior to the emergence of Christianity as a universal religion. There was no canon of sacred books. Many preachers wandered around. Irenaeus stressed on apostolic authority which means historical link with the Apostles; a creed which is a set of core beliefs; and a canon of Scripture. Apostolicity, creed, and canon of Scripture eventually became the defining marks of early Catholicism.

Irenaeus lived his life fully for God. He is indeed God’s glory.

THREE D's

Tuesday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 7:6.12-14

What are behind doors? A new world.

What is beyond heaven’s gate? A totally whole new world. Not only a better world, but the best world.

The gate that leads to heaven is narrow though. If we want to enter through it, what should we do?

When the gate is narrow, we should not rush getting through it. We must pause and discern before we move. The same is true if we want to enter heaven’s gate. We must be able to stop from our busy lives and discern the ways of the Lord because we can enter through heaven’s gate only through the Lord’s ways.

When the gate is narrow, we must enter it alone. Of course, no one can enter the gate for us. We ourselves must enter through it. But that is not only what entering heaven’s gate means. Entering heaven’s gate alone means that we hold on to nothing and no one, that we are free from any inordinate attachments. Too many baggage and attachments hinder anyone from entering through heaven’s narrow gate. We need to learn the spiritual art of detachment as we strive to cling to the Lord alone.

When the gate is narrow, we may have to shed off some of our body fats. We may enter the narrow gate sideways, but still we cannot enter it if our tummy bulges. The same is true with entering heaven’s narrow gate. Our body fats may symbolize our self-indulgences. We have to shed them off. Overweight can sometimes reveal over self-centeredness. We need to go on a spiritual kind of dieting that demands spiritual discipline.

Discernment, detachment, and discipline – these three recommendations certainly help anyone go through a narrow gate. As far as heaven’s narrow gate is concerned, prayer, almsgiving or charitable works, and fasting may well take the definite forms of discernment, detachment, and discipline. Discernment happens in prayer. Detachment means letting go and sharing with others what we have. Spiritual discipline in the form of fasting involves not exclusively and not always food.

Entering a narrow gate is indeed difficult but not impossible. Entering through heaven’s narrow gate is impossible for man but not for God. Heaven is always God’s gift; and it always pleases the Father to give us the Kingdom. But still, we must enter through its narrow gate.

NOT A CLOSED BOOK

Monday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 7:1-5

It would be difficult to go about our day-to-day affairs without having an impression on things and people. We need to be able to somehow predict how things react and how people respond so that we may know how to react and respond ourselves as well. Impressions are judgments. But Jesus today tells us that we should not judge others.

The kind of judging others that Jesus tells us to refrain from is the kind that considers anyone as a closed book. While we may have temporary judgment on others to be able to relate with them, we should never condemn any person to his past neither to his present. Every person deserves a future that may surprise us more than him. Past sins may be repented from and forgiven. Present mistakes may be corrected and learned from.

Each of us is a mystery. We continue to unravel our selves each day. I read a poster once that said, “Please be patient with me. God is not finished with me yet.” Each of us is God’s creation at work. Never close the book on anyone.

For Jesus, no one is a lost cause. Indeed, He is the Good Shepherd who searches for every lost sheep; and when even only one sheep is lost, He goes out of His way and leaves the ninety-nine to find the lost one. He does not say, “Well, it is the sheep’s fault why it is lost. I told it so. I told it so. But it disobeyed me nonetheless. Let it find its way back to the fold on its own.” No, these words can never come from the man we call “Christ”.

When His enemies arrested, judged, and crucified Him, they closed the book of Jesus. But Jesus never closed the book on them. On the cross, the first of His final words was “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” Jesus, our Lord and Master, simply never closes a book on someone. Should we?

OUR BEST WORLD

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 4: 35-41

We cannot have the best of both worlds. But we can have a better world if we have Him who turns the worst of situations into the best. It is Jesus, and Jesus alone, who makes of our moments of crisis moments of grace. In Him is found the best of both worlds.

What seems to be the end of the road for us, is just a bend for Jesus. What appears for us as death is just the beginning of real life for Him. What we consider to be a moment of despair is for Jesus, an opportune time of faith. It is kairos. It is a moment of grace.

Thus, when we are sick, problematic, betrayed, abandoned or dying, and think that we are condemned to pain, endless anxiety, loneliness, helplessness or total annihilation, let us keep our focus on Jesus. He is not asleep; the waves that make our sailing rough keep Him awake. He knows. He understands. He feels. He listens. He moves. All that He asks from us is to give all our cares to Him because He cares for us. And unless we keep our faith in Him in the midst of the threatening waves and the strong winds in our life, there is no way by which we realize that indeed He can give us the best of both worlds.

To have faith in Jesus is to believe. Belief is a way of knowing not by physical evidence. We come to believe because of the testimonies of those who came to believe first. Mark, our evangelist today, is one of them. He gives us in the Gospel today one of the most dramatic and powerful story of the true identity of Jesus. Jesus is truly man; thus, Mark paints for us in the Gospel today a Jesus who is greatly exhausted and asleep after a long day of preaching and healing. Jesus is truly God; thus Mark describes to us in the same Gospel how Jesus calms the wind and the sea by a mere command.

The whole of Mark’s Gospel revolve around one and only one issue: Who is Jesus? Supported by historical data and miraculous accounts in the life of Jesus, Mark, writing to believers in Rome when the widespread persecution of Christians began in 64 A.D., tries to encourage the latter to remain steadfast in the faith. He proclaims that truly the man called “Jesus”, whom he and the persecuted believe in, is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

We may not be persecuted on account of our faith as the early Christians were. But certainly our faith is challenged on many occasions, most especially when life seems to be unfair with us and trials blur our vision of God’s loving hands upon us. Sometimes, like the disciples in the Gospel today, we say, “Lord, do you not care?”

Faith is the ascent of the mind. It is believing unconditionally. But we must believe only he who knows the truth and is truthful. Knowing the truth does not always mean being truthful. It is dangerous to believe in someone who knows the truth but is not truthful and it is foolishness to believe in someone who is truthful but does not know the truth.

Faith is the confidence of the heart. It is trusting unconditionally. But we should trust only he who can and who cares. Having the power to do what one says is not the same as having the love to do it. Thus, when a five-year-old kid tells his father to jump from the top of a staircase, his father does not jump, unless his father is a fool. Certainly, the child cares for his father but the same child simply cannot catch his father when his father jumps from the top of a staircase. However, it is equally suicidal to trust someone who simply cares but cannot. Someone may have the power and ability to catch you when you jump from the top of a staircase but if that someone happens to be someone you have grievously wronged, you would most probably think more than twice if you are to jump because you wonder if that someone really cares enough to catch you when you fall.

When faith has a mind and a heart, when truly it means believing and trusting, then it struggles to have hands and feet. When this happens, faith is not merely the ascent of the mind and the confidence of the heart, it grows into the submission of the will. This submission of the will is clearly manifested in loving obedience.

While other human individuals may prove to be worth our belief, worth our trust, and worth our loving obedience, Jesus stands out among all of them. He is not merely human. He is divine.

We cannot have the best of both worlds but in both worlds Jesus can always give us the best. You see, it is not in both worlds where our true joy and unfailing security rest. It is in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Unless we have enough faith in Him, we cannot even have what is better in either world. Without Jesus, we can only have the worst.

NOMEN EST OMEN

Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist
Lk 1:57-66.80

Many Filipino fathers name their sons after them. When there is already a “junior”, they resort to “the third”, “the fourth”, and so forth and so on. My father was different. He did not want to name me after him. Funny but he reasoned out that if my name were similar to his and people badmouth me, it would sound like they are badmouthing him.

Zechariah did not name his son after him. He named his son after God’s choice. “John” was God’s choice.

It was not Zechariah who named his son after all. It was God who named his son. Zechariah simply wrote the name God gave his son.

Very often, in the Bible, when God chooses a person for a special mission or a unique role, He gives that person a new name. Take for example, Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Levi became Matthew, and Simon became Peter. The mission or role is given in the name. As the Romans would say, “Nomen est omen” (“The destiny is in the name”).

John’s name meant “God’s graciousness”. John fulfilled that role. He was God’s kindness to his otherwise old and barren parents. He was God’s favor upon the Jews, preparing them for the eventual coming of the Messiah. He was God’s compassion to the repentant sinners who came to him for baptism. He was God’s graciousness to us by testifying to the Christ in life and in death.

John’s mission was to bring about God’s graciousness. But what is ours? We may not be named “John” but we also go by the name “Christian”, do we not?

PIERCED SIDE

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Jn 19:31-37

The “love of God” is different from “God Himself who is love” (Deus caritas est cf. 1 Jn 4:16). The devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is not only the devotion to the love of God but to God Himself who is love. Thus, the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is the highest form of devotion. If all devotions in the Catholic Church were to be gone, the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus would prevail. Karl Rahner, a respected Catholic theologian, rightly said that the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is summa religionis.

Even before the Lord Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque from 1673 through 1675, the image of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus had already been revealed. The Gospel today gives us the icon of our devotion as Jesus hangs on the cross between heaven and earth, between life and death. The fundamental image of our devotion is the pierced side of Christ. Unlike in His apparition to St. Margaret Mary in Paray-le-Monial, France, the Lord did not have His heart exposed on top of Mount Calvary. However, from Calvary, love was already exposed for all the world to see – yes, it was not merely the love of God but God Himself who is love, offering life and salvation to all men and women.

We see in the pierced side of Christ, the heart of God. It is a heart that is both human and divine in the person of Jesus Christ. In it man’s deepest cry to God and God’s greatest response to man meet. Karl Rahner wrote, “The infinite emptiness which lies at the innermost center of man cries out to be filled with the infinite fullness of God. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the heart that has been pierced, weighed down by angst, drained to its last drop, overcome by death and yet it signifies a love which is selfless and beyond all conception, the love which is victorious in failure, which triumphs when it has been deprived of its power, raises to life when it has been slain. Such is the Heart of Jesus. It is the love that is God” (not only “of God” but is God)! Thus, “When we say ‘heart of Jesus’”, Rahner said further, “we evoke the innermost core of Jesus Christ, and we say that it is filled with the mystery of God. We say…in a way that contradicts all our experiences of emptiness, futility and death, that there reigns in this heart the infinite love of God’s fundamental mystery…”

Authentic devotion necessarily involves a persevering struggle to become like the focus on the devotion, the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus essentially achieves its ultimate purpose when we become more and more like Christ. Very appropriately, the prayer to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine.” The measure of our devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is the measure of our daily cooperation with the grace of God and our day-to-day struggle against the pull of our basic instinct for self-preservation to love as Jesus loves. Indeed, the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus gives us the mandate to love as Jesus loves.

In all Catholic churches, chapels, and oratories, the Act of Reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Ordo prescribes, is to be prayed by the faithful. While reparation indeed is an essential component of the devotion, we must realize that the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus cannot and should not be reduce to mere reparation. Reparation is the role of Jesus. Our role is to configure our selves to Him.

Are we ready to have our side pierced? And if it were pierced, would blood and water flow out as it was with Christ on the cross, signifying that His supreme act was not merely life-sacrificing but, most importantly, life-giving?

OUR FATHER, OUR PRAYER

Thursday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 6: 7-15

Dearest Jesus, teach us to pray. Pray with us. Pray in us. Pray through us.

“Our.” Not only theirs, not only mine, but ours. God is not exclusively theirs neither is He mine alone. He is ours.

Forgive me, God, for making You exclusively mine.

“Father.” He is not only God. He is also a Father to us. Because He is our Father, we are His children.

Forgive us, Father, when, by the lives we live, we seem to be not Your children.

“In heaven.” Since He is our Father and His home is heaven, heaven is also our true home. We do good deeds not for us to win heaven but because we are from heaven. We cannot buy heaven even by our good deeds, for heaven is our Father’s gratuitous gift to us.

Forgive us, Father, when we try to bribe You by our good works.

“Holy be Your name.” He is our Father and we are His children. He has given us His name because we are His children. We should honor His name by bringing honor to it.

Forgive us, Father, for, by our sins, we are a disgrace to Your Holy name.

“Your kingdom come.” This kingdom is His gift and our task. It has already been given and so it already is, but it is also something we help establish fully and so it is also something that is yet to be. We make His kingdom come.

Forgive us, Father, we delay the coming of Your kingdom.

“Your will be done on earth as in heaven.” We pray for the coming of His kingdom and yet we fail to do His will. The kingdom of God is the reign of God. The reign of God begins when, with total faith, hope and love, we submit to the holy will of God.

Forgive us, Father, we are stubborn and proud with our own desires.

“Give us today our daily bread.” We need to beg our Father for our bread each day. We must learn to trust Him each day. He takes care of us every single moment of every single day.

Forgive us, Father, we trust our selves too much that we trust You so little.

“And forgive us our sins.” The Father loves us more than we know. What do we give Him in return? Our sins.

Forgive us, Father, for our ingratitude to Your kindness.

“As we forgive those who sinned against us.” Just as we need forgiveness so do we need to forgive. Just as we forgive so shall we be forgiven. The logic is so simple but, for those who refuse to forgive, forgiving is always illogical.

Forgive us, Father, and please bring us to forgive those who sin against us.

“Do not bring us to the test.” We have our weaknesses through which the evil one may bring us to ruin forever. We pray to be delivered from temptations but we do not consciously avoid them. It is we, not God, who bring us to the test.

Forgive us, Father, when we blame You for our sins and failures.

“But deliver us from evil.” We beg our Father to spare us from evil but we bring evil to others. There are times when we are the evil ourselves. All is fine so long as we are not the ones maligned.

Forgive us, Father, for our indifference to the evils around us.

“Amen.” So be it. Is it? Will it be so?

Forgive us, Father, when we think we mean what we pray but we actually do not.

Dearest Jesus, teach us to pray. Pray with us. Pray in us. Pray through us. Be our prayer.

THE NOVICE WHO TEACHES NOVICE MASTERS

Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Mt 22:34-40

Born in 1568, Italy, Aloysius, whose blessed memory we celebrate today, was from the princely family of Castiglione. He became a page in the court of Medicis and of Philip II of Spain. However, he renounced his inheritance to enter the Society of Jesus and showed great devotion to the Holy Eucharist, interior prayer, and charitable service. Robert Belarmine, another Jesuit and saint, was his spiritual director. While nursing the plague-stricken in 1591, Aloysius contracted the disease and, while still a Jesuit novice, passed away at the young age of 23 years old.

Aloysius exemplifies for us the inseparable love of God and neighbor. One who professes love of God but does not love his neighbor is a handicapped lover. Real love of either kind is not complete without the other. Aloysius’ love for God found its expression not only in his intense devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to interior prayer, but also and simultaneously in his charitable service to his brethren who were victims of a plague. His charity towards the plague-stricken was such that he himself contracted the disease. He was a novice in the Jesuit order, but he was indeed a master in the order of love. Today, even Jesuit novice masters learn from this novice.

HE CAN BE PERFECT AT 5" TALL OR LESS

Tuesday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 5:43-48

When a friend of mine said that his son would someday play basketball very well, I agreed. My friend played basketball so well when we were in high school. Thus, that his son would become a basketball player was very probable. However, when my friend beamingly said that his son would grow 6” tall, I simply smiled and took his words as the usual that can come from parents only. I wondered where his son would get the attribute of being 6” tall. You see, my friend is 5’3” while his wife is 5” flat. That his son would grow 6” tall – you wish!

It seems at first that it is easier for my friend’s son to grow 6” tall rather than to be perfect as Jesus tells us to be. But truly, it is easier for us to be perfect rather than for my friend’s son to grow 6” tall. The reason is that God, our Father, is perfect. It is from Him that we can get the attribute of perfection. Moreover, we were created in His image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-27), remember?

Because God is love (1 Jn 4:8), perfection means loving like God Himself. To gauge how perfect we are, we must examine how we love. If we love only those who love us, we are not perfect. If we love our friends but hate our detractors, we are not perfect. If we are not perfect, we are not true to our image and likeness.

To love is a decision. To be perfect, therefore, is a decision too. We have to decide to be perfect and love even the unlovable. We work on being perfect as we strive to love both friend and foe. We pray to be perfect as we pray for both friend and foe.

My friend’s son is, by the way, in the 7th Grade now. My friend and his wife are proud and happy about their son’s good character combined with good brains and good looks. I do not know if he plays basketball though. But am very sure, by just looking at him and his parents, this kid will not grow 6” tall. No big deal though, he can be perfect at 5” tall or even less.

TAKE NO REVENGE BUT DO NOT BE A MORON

Monday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 5:38-42

One day, a man went to visit the wise man of the village. “Teacher,” the man said, “my brother hit me on both cheeks and so I fled. What should I do?” The wise man looked at him and asked, “Were you able to count how many times he hit you?” “49 times, Master,” the man answered. The wise man smiled at him and said, “Go back and tell him to hit you another time to make it fifty.” “But what for?” the man shouted, surprised by the wise man’s advice. “Well, my friend,” replied the wise man, “the 50th is for your stupidity, you, moron! Why let your brother hit you 49 times and never do anything about it?”

When Jesus said that we should offer our other cheek if anyone hits us on the right cheek, He did not mean that we have to stupidly submit our selves to violence. His point was that we should not take revenge for any wrongdoing done to us. Jesus, of course, does not want us to end up mangled and violated. He wants instead that the vicious cycle of violence cease. Taking revenge never ends violence; it aggravates it.

When someone strikes us on our right cheek, give him our other cheek. But when he aims for another round, would we be morons not to take cover, would we be vengeful and strike him, or would we be Christians enough to take his hand and start a dialogue to understand where he is coming from with the hope that reconciliation would be reached? The choice is always ours. We become what we choose to be. But Jesus never wants us to be morons nor vengeful.

PURITY OF HEART

Friday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 5:27-32

Our Gospel today cannot be any clearer: Purity is not only what we do with our bodies but, equally important, what we do with our hearts. Purity is not only what other people see in us but also how our hearts see other people. People around us may not see us sexually permissive or carrying on an illicit relationship, but God sees what is really inside our hearts. Before God, we all stand naked.

Sometimes, I wonder how we would carry our selves if we have a super faculty like that of Superman. What if we have what is called an “x-ray vision” and can see what lies behind doors, walls, clothes, and even skin and bones? Would we be more careful of what we think, plan, and fantasize? The revelation would certainly be very surprising, even shocking.

Perhaps, the reason why we are not given such super faculty is so that we can always have the chance to decide whether we will allow what comes to our minds and what enters our heart to be translated into bodily action. God is merciful and He knows that more often than not impure thoughts and immoral suggestions simply appear in our minds and hearts. But to hold on to them and eventually to act them out remain our free choice.

It is therefore not enough to be careful with what we see, hear, and expose our selves to. We must also always exercise our freewill to decide for God in any course of action we take. This is what separates us from the other members of the animal kingdom. We are not ruled by instinct. We are blest with freewill. Biology says we fall under the animal kingdom, but theology tells us we belong to the Kingdom of God. And Jesus says in the Beatitudes, “Blest are the pure of heart for they shall see God.”

OUR OFFERING CAN WAIT

Thursday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 5:20-26

“Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift,” said Jesus. There is something strange about His words.

Do you notice that while the subject is “you”, the point of reference is “your brother”? Jesus did not say, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that YOU have anything against your brother….” We overlook this nuance quite often.

The Lord’s declaration immediately confronts us with a question: “Does my brother have anything against me?” The same declaration does not at all beg this question: “Do I have anything against my brother?” That my brother has anything against me is actually enough to make me unworthy to offer my gift to God.

How often we remember the hurts others inflict on us, but we tend to easily forget the hurts we cause them. We recall how others sin against us, but we take our sins against others quite lightly. Very often, we are quick in pointing an accusing finger on others but slow in striking our breast in admission of our guilt. Moreover, we regard the hurt we cause others as faults, weaknesses, or defects on our part, but we hold the hurt others inflict on us as sins, transgressions, or malice. We gloss over the truth and effects of our sins against others while we tend to magnify the faults others commit against us.

Jesus said in the Gospel today that unless our virtues do not go deeper than that of the scribes and the Pharisees we would never enter the Kingdom of heaven because the scribes and the Pharisees were guilty of hypocrisy. They considered themselves significant on account of their gifts on the altar but brushed aside their sins against others as insignificant. They had gifts to offer to God but no hearts to seek forgiveness from those they hurt. Because they did not give any serious thought about the hurt they inflicted on others, it was easy for the scribes and Pharisees to fall prey to hypocrisy. Hypocrites may be offering sizable amount of gifts to God but their gifts are never pleasing to Him.

Our offering can wait. Our hurting brethren cannot. God waits for us to remember.

LEADING AWAY AND LEADING TO

Wednesday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 5:17-19

Today, let us be sorry for leading others away from God. Let us ask for forgiveness for causing others to sin. Let us repair the harm we have done them by leading them back to God and helping them obey His commandments.

Just as we lead others away from God by our words and actions, so too we must lead them back to God by our words and actions. We must be models for them to follow. Let us be examples of genuine Christian living. We lead others back to God by leading the way to Him. We lead the way to God by obeying what God commands us to do.

Our prayers will bring others closer to God but our lives can also bring others far from Him if our prayers do not mold us unto the likeness of His obedient Son, Jesus. It is never enough to pray and live our lives in whatever way we want. We must pray and live our lives in the way of Christ Jesus.

We must always be conscious that we do not lead others to sin. But let us be conscientious in leading others to God, too. We should always be vigilant never to give anyone any reason to disobey God. But we also must strive to show others the reason for loving Him.

ONLY WITH LOVE

Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua
Lk 10:1-9

Today’s memorial is very special to me. My first assignment after priestly ordination was the Parish of St. Anthony of Padua in Singalong, Manila. I was parochial vicar in the parish and a vice director in its parochial school. Because it was my first assignment, I have many memorable experiences there. I cannot choose even one to share with you today because all my experiences at St. Anthony Parish and School are worth mentioning!

The first thing that comes to my mind, however, when I think about my first priestly assignment is the poor. I remember my meals and afternoon chats with the vendors right outside the church. I also recall the beggars that beg from both the parishioners and from us, priests in the parish. Not a few among the beggars I met were either mentally challenged or physically handicapped. It just seemed then that the church was a natural home for the poor – financially, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

St. Anthony of Padua’s love for the poor was renowned during his time. Thus, the “St. Anthony’s Bread” that is blest every feast of the saint and is distributed among the poor. The poor had a very soft spot in the heart of Anthony when he was still on earth; they still have now that he is in heaven.

I suppose, this is what it means to proclaim that the Kingdom of God. Of course, the Kingdom of God is more than just a piece of bread that is blest and given to the poor annually. But it is not the bread that satisfies the hunger of the poor. It is love. Without love, no proclamation of the Kingdom is possible and no poor can be fed. There may be bread available but without love, the bread will never reach the poor. The Kingdom of God is near but without love, it will never arrive.

CHRISTIAN MAGNA CARTA

Monday in the 10th Week of Ordinary Time
Mt 5:1-12

There is so much debate going on in the Philippines today over the issue of changing its Constitution. Some advocate charter change while others, even while believing that the present fundamental law needs a second look, do support any attempt to change the Constitution…at least, not now yet. Those who disagree with charter change now think, among other things, that the present political climate is not conducive to any constitutional revisions. There is also the whole question of who should modify the fundamental law of the land: Should a constitutional commission be created or a constituent assembly – from the present legislators – be tasked? It is such a complicated issue.

Jesus gives us today the Magna Carta of Christianity. If Christianity were a form of government, the Gospel today forms its Constitution. Unlike the fundamental law of any nation, the Beatitudes need no revision or any change at all. It is valid for all times and at all places for every disciple of Jesus. Unlike the Constitution of any country, it is not the Beatitudes that is changed; rather, it is the Beatitudes that change us. Thus, when we feel uncomfortable with the demands of the Christian Magna Carta, we should not water down what it requires from us. We do not modify the Beatitudes; the Beatitudes should modify us.

Not all Filipinos are happy with their present Constitution. But every Christian is sure to find real happiness in the Beatitudes.

PART OF THE MYSTERY

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Mt 28:16-20

Today we celebrate a mystery. There is something unusual about our celebration today. Usually, we do not celebrate a mystery. We try to solve it instead. Yet we gather together today as Church not to solve a mystery but to celebrate it.

We celebrate today’s mystery because it is the mystery of God Himself. We acknowledge the three Persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We celebrate the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. We have a great reason to celebrate because God revealed Himself to us. We could have not known God unless He Himself took the initiative in making Himself known by us. He revealed Himself to us through deeds in the whole economy of salvation: the Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Spirit sanctifies. While each has His own role, they are nonetheless together in bringing about the great original plan for us: that we share in His divine life. He revealed Himself to us through words as well. In the Gospel today, Jesus Himself mentions the name of the Holy Trinity. It is very interesting to note here that while Jesus mentions the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, He uses the word “name” in its singular form only. The Most Holy Trinity is not only about who God is but also what God is all about. Our celebration today, therefore, is not only acknowledging the three Persons in one God but is also thanking God for making Himself known to us.

We cannot, however, know God fully. Otherwise, we are gods ourselves. Our finite minds cannot contain the infinity of Him who created us, redeemed us, and sanctified us. God’s fullness will remain a mystery to us. This does not, in any way mean, that we do not know anything about God. Mystery is not ignorance. This means, on the contrary, that we know something about God but not everything about Him. Even in heaven, St. Thomas Aquinas, once said, God will remain a mystery to us. Thus, celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity and being confronted by God’s tremendous mystery do not only teach us something very important about God but also remind us of something very significant about our selves. We are not God. We cannot replace God. We cannot contain God. God contains us instead.

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, therefore, is not about numbers. It is, as Fr. Jerry Orbos, S.V.D., a well-known Marian priest in the Philippines, said, about members. Confronted by the truth about having three Persons in one God is not about counting numbers but, more importantly, striving to be counted as members of God’s community. The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity teaches us that God is a community in Himself. Are we part of that community?

By baptism, we become part of the divine community of the Most Blessed Trinity. However, we go against our incorporation into the community of the Most Blessed Trinity if we do not love, simply because God is love. Love is the essence of God. The Most Blessed Trinity is all about love. It is the love among the three Divine Persons. It is the love of the three Persons in one God to us. Thus, while baptism makes us part of the divine community of the Most Blessed Trinity, our love bears witness to the reality of that membership.

The solemn feast of the Most Blessed Trinity is, therefore, our feastday, too. Happy feastday! Happy loving!

BLANK CHEQUE

Saturday in the 9th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 12:38-44

This is a lesson I heard from Bishop Socrates B. Villegas, Bishop of the Diocese of Balanga.

If I have one million pesos and donate half of it to a charitable institution, am I generous? No, am not. You may call me kind, accommodating, merciful, or concerned, but not yet generous. You see, it is very easy for me to dole out half a million pesos because I still have half a million in the bank. Through time and wise management, my half a million can grow not only twice but also thrice and even more. I am pretty much secured and so I can dish out that much.

We have in the Gospel today a poor widow, an anawim. She had nothing to rely on but God. God was her only security. The two small coins were all that she had next to God. But even those, she gave away as alms to the Temple. Having donated the little she had, she became greater than the rich who put in a sizable amount into the treasury. When she had given her equivalent to a penny, all she had left was God. When the rich had dropped their “half a million” into the collection box, they still had their “other half a million” in their banks.

Generosity is not giving half of what we have. Generosity is not giving some of what we possess. Generosity is not tithing. Generosity is giving all we have. It is putting into disposal for what is loving all that we possess. It is surrendering everything – not a mere fraction of what we have and are, not just ten percent – to God for His use. Confident that God provides for those who resign everything to Him, generosity is writing God a blank cheque.

SENSUS FIDEI

Friday in the 9th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 12:35-37

Even in our days, there are people who question the divinity of Jesus. From the days of the priest-turned-heretic, Arius, until today, there are people who hold that Jesus is only human. Still others, believe that Jesus is the Son of God only in the sense that He was adopted by God and, thereby, divinized.

Jesus posed this question to the people in the Temple: “How can the scribes maintain that the Christ is the son of David?” His question was not meant to ridicule His human genealogy. The point He wanted to put across was that even David recognized his descendant, the Christ, as kyrios, meaning “Lord”. Courageously, Jesus was actually saying that He was the Messiah. And the people reacted rather unexpectedly: they were delighted, according to the evangelist.

While their religious leaders – who thought that they knew everything that Scripture says about the Messiah – were infuriated by the claim that Jesus made about Himself, the people were happy to know that He was actually the One they were waiting for to come. This shows that there are times when the leaders – religious and otherwise – can be wrong. In the teaching of the Catholic Church, there is what we call sensus fidei. Literally, sensus fidei means “sense of faith”. It is the inherent ability of the faithful to recognize what is congruent or incongruent to the Faith. In the reaction of the people to Jesus’ claim in the Gospel today, we have an early glimpse of sensus fidei. Church history records how many of what we now consider as part of the Church’s doctrine are actually fruits of this “sense of faith”.

WHAT DETERMINES OUR FINAL MARK

Thursday in the 9th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 12:28-34

Jesus said to the scribe who questioned Him about the greatest of commandments, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” The scribe received a high score but it was not a perfect grade yet. Yes, the scribe was not far from the Kingdom but he was not there yet.

The scribe knew the greatest of commandments afterall. But it is not knowing what to do that brings us to heaven; it is actually doing what the commandment says. Wisdom may help us see the path that leads to the Kingdom of God, but it is obedience to God that brings us there. When all is said and done, what really matters is not what we know but what we do. Let us keep this in mind because we when the final exam in life comes, it will certainly determine our final mark.

WHOSE SIDE TO TAKE?

Wednesday in the 9th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 12:18-27

The Sadducees were a group of Jewish men who did not believe in life after death. For them, the resurrection is a big baloney. For them, death is the end of everything. There is nothing beyond this life. Moreover, they believed in neither spirits nor angels.

The Pharisees stood on the opposite ground. They believed in life after death. Because they believed in spirits, they acknowledge the existence not only of angels but of the human soul as well.

The Sadducees tried to find an ally in Jesus today. They wanted to ridicule their opponents, the Pharisees, by using the Lord. But Jesus did not fall into their trap. Instead, He showed them how gravely they were mistaken by affirming that in God all are alive.

There are times when we may find our selves in the same situation as Jesus found Himself today in the Gospel. We may be sandwiched by opposing groups. Worse, either group may try to use us against each other. Let us always remember that the best stand to take is always by the side of God. May we always have the wisdom to know whose side that is and the courage to take it.

In the Gospel today, it just so happened that the truth was on the side of the Pharisees. But there can be times when the truth is on neither opposing sides because there are always three sides in an issue: your side, my side, and the side of the truth. Find the side of the truth because that is always God’s side.

STOLEN FROM GOD AND GIVEN TO CAESAR?

Tuesday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Mk 12:13-17

The enigmatic saying of Jesus in the Gospel today, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”, is often quoted to defend the principle of separation between the Church and the State. Doing so, Jesus is gravely misquoted. Jesus did not mean to separate the Church from the State. He did not mean that the Church must confine herself on the spiritual realm only while the State must attend to the temporal affairs of men and women.

When we hear Jesus say, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”, do we not also hear our selves asking the question, “And what really belongs to Caesar that does not belong to God?” Our question will yield only one simple answer: nothing except one. All things that belong to Caesar came from God, except Caesar’s sins. Inversely, all that belongs to Caesar, save his sins, belongs to God, too. But not everything that belongs to God belongs to Caesar.

Therefore, Jesus is far from making a declaration that separates the Church from the State. When we invoke His words today to hinder the Church from doing her pastoral duty to safeguard morality in politics, we are misquoting Jesus. Do we not find it funny, to say the least, when at election time, political candidates are seen courting the support of religious leaders but the same politicians, after being elected into office, call the same religious leaders names if the latter raise their voices against an immoral governance or against policies that run counter to the values of God? It seems that, for those politicians, the principle of separation between Church and State depends on what side the Church takes on particular issues.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. All things belong to God, including Caesar. Anything we hold from God, our sins not counted, is something we steal from God.

THE APOSTLE TO GERMANY GAVE US A GERMAN POPE

Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Jn 10:11-16

Joseph Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI. He is a native of Germany. Perhaps, he would not be pope without the saint whose blessed memory we celebrate today. St. Boniface is the Apostle to Germany. English by birth, Boniface was a Benedictine monk who set out for Germany to evangelize its inhabitants. He was later on consecrated as the first bishop of Germany and organized the church structure there. He is said to be a powerful teacher, outstanding preacher, and zealous missionary. While preaching to the Frisians, Boniface was martyred in the year 754.

The Gospel prescribed by the liturgy for the Mass in honor of St. Boniface presents Jesus as our Good Shepherd. Every bishop is a shepherd. His crosier or pastoral staff reminds both the bishop and the people entrusted to his care of his office as shepherd of the flock. Jesus delineates how every bishop should conduct himself in the pattern of His own Self as the Good Shepherd.

As we honor St. Boniface today, let us whisper a special prayer for Pope Benedict XVI who, in a sense, numbers among the fruits of his missionary zeal. Like Boniface, may Pope Benedict XVI be a pastor according to the heart of the Good Shepherd. Incidentally, while Boniface was a Benedictine, our present Holy Father from Germany chose to be known as Benedict, a saint who gave us the rule Ora et Labora (“Prayer and Work”). Together with Benedict XVI, our Shepherd, Christ’s Vicar on earth, may we pray and work as missionaries of the values of God’s Kingdom in a world threatened, as he himself said on his inauguration, by relativism.

NOT DETERMINED BY ETHNICITY

Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs

Mt 5:1-12

When we think of Africa, we usually think of the missions. Even in the present millennium, the African continent remains a common destination for most missionary congregations of priest, brothers, nuns, and lay catechists. But today, we look at Africa to be evangelized as we celebrate today the African proto-martyrs.

Refusing to give to the pagan king, Mwanga, the young boys in his care as catechist, Charles Lwanga was martyred with twelve companions on June 3, 1886 in Uganda, Africa. They refused the homosexual advances of the Ugandan king. The persecution that lasted for about two years produced almost a hundred martyrs, mostly young and newly baptized Africans.

Martyrdom is not determined by ethnicity. Whatever our cultural roots are, we are all candidates for martyrdom. Will we be ready when our names are called?

NOT PERFECT LOVE BUT LOVE PERFECTED

Friday in the 7th Week of Easter
Jn 21:15-19

Because Simon Peter’s profession of love is threefold, the Gospel today also often reminds us of his threefold denial of Jesus. Just as Simon Peter denied Jesus three times so did he express his love for Jesus thrice. Various writers have said much about Simon Peter’s denial of Jesus. However, what can we say about his love of Jesus?

First, Simon Peter’s love for Jesus was not a perfect love but love perfected. It was not a perfect love on day one. However, as the days went on, even as he blunders every so often, as he experienced how much Jesus loved him and not how much he loved Jesus, he grew more and more in loved with Jesus. His was a love for Jesus that is similar to ours. We do not begin with a perfect love for Jesus; our love for Him is perfected, as His love is made perfect in us.

Second, Simon Peter’s love for Jesus was more than the love that the other disciples had for Jesus. “Simon, son of John,” Jesus asked him, “do you love Me more than these others do?” Simon Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, You know I love You.” Interestingly though, Simon Peter did not qualify his love for Jesus. He did not say that he loved Jesus more than those others did. He simply said, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Here, perhaps, Simon Peter was being truthful and careful. He was truthful in saying that he loved Jesus but, at the same time, careful not to boast that he loved Him more than the others did because he knew that. like the others, he, too, was guilty of loving the Lord less. Yet, still, Simon Peter loved Jesus more than the others did because his failure did not deter him from following Jesus. Quite often the measure of our love is not in the number of times we do not fall but in the number of times we rise again for love of Jesus. Bl. Teresa of Calcutta said, “Jesus does not call us to be successful but to be faithful.” The fidelity of our love is seen not in our success; failures have their way of making fidelity shine even through our lack of success in loving.

Third, Simon Peter’s love for Jesus was a call unto greater love of others. His great love for Jesus must be translated into his sacrificial love for the Church that Jesus entrusted to his care. Each time that Simon Peter professed his love for Jesus, Jesus commands him to feed and tend His sheep. Loving Jesus can be very easy if loving Him means having no responsibility for others whom Jesus loves too. The challenge of loving Jesus is in the ability to see, recognize, serve, and love Him in others. The ultimate test of loving Jesus, as it was for Simon Peter and many lovers of Jesus, is in dying for others whom the love of Jesus reaches out to. It is worth noting that after Simon Peter professed his love for Jesus and after Jesus entrusted to Simon Peter the feeding and tending of His sheep, Jesus described to Simon Peter the manner by which he was to give glory to God.

We have denied and continue to deny Jesus many times because of our sins. Nevertheless, this should not give us reason to give up and stop loving Jesus. On the contrary, we should all the more cling to Jesus and tell Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know I love You.” Because St. Paul says, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” (Rom 6:20), even sin makes perfect the love we have for Jesus.

A SALT AND A LIGHT FOR THE LAW

Memorial of St. Justin, Martyr
Mt 5:13-19

Today we celebrate the blessed memory of the second century martyr, Justin. He was a convert to Christianity and a great philosopher born in Samaria. Thirsting for truth, he found in Christ the answer to many of his questions. Through his writings, particularly the “Apologies” and “Dialogue”, he defended Christianity. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Justin was martyred in Rome.

The Gospel prescribed for the memorial of St. Justin speaks about three symbols: the salt, the light, and the Law. Jesus tells us that we are the salt and the light of the world. As salt, we give flavor to life and we preserve the world from corruption. But when we become tasteless, we cannot regain our saltiness and, therefore, we become useless. We must remain salty. As light, we should not hide our selves; rather, we should, like a lamp, expose our selves so that we may give light to everyone in the world. Not only is our light from God; it is also for God, for we shine in the sight of men and women not for them to praise us but our Father in heaven. The Law, however, is Christ Himself. He is the fulfillment of the Law. Whoever keeps the Law and teaches them obeys Christ and teaches Christ Himself. As salt, we make the demands of the Law “tasty” for anyone even as we preserve the integrity of the Law from corruption. As light, we make the Law understandable and acceptable. Whether as salt or as light, we are at the service of the Law, at the service of Christ.

A martyr is a witness. He or she is a salt of the earth and a light of the world, always at the service of Christ who is the fulfillment of the Law. He gives witness to Christ not only by dying but, equally important, by living for Christ. Justin is a martyr not only because he died for Christ but also because he lived for Him who quenched his thirst for truth.