P. R. O.

Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle
Mt 4:18-22

In every organization, a Public Relations Officer (P. R. O.) acts as a middleman. He links people with one another. Today we celebrate the feast of the P. R. O. of the Twelve Apostles. His name is Andrew, brother of Simon Peter, from Bethsaida, Galilee.

Among the Twelve, Andrew is always mentioned to be bringing someone to Jesus. He links people to Jesus. He seems to enjoy introducing others to Jesus.

In Jn 1:41-42, Andrew introduces Simon, his brother, to Jesus. In Jn 6:8-9, he brings to Jesus the boy who is the source of the five barley loaves and two small fish of the miraculous multiplication. In Jn 12:20-22, he arranges a meeting between some Greeks and Jesus, after Philip informed him about the request. This last incident is quite important because it seems to imply that even the apostles recognize Andrew as the P. R. O. of their group.

As we celebrate the feast of the P. R. O. of the Twelve Apostles, let us offer grateful prayers to God for the people who led and continue to lead us closer to Jesus. Let us not forget to also offer contrite prayers to God for the people we led and continue to lead away from Jesus. Having prayed thus, let us strive to lead more souls to Jesus. Let us be Jesus’ P. R. O.

NEED A TOUPEE?

Wednesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 21:12-19

Are you bald? Are you experiencing receding hairline?

I heard this joke from one of the bishops I emulate most, Bishop Ted Bacani. He said, “When God created men, He created them bald. The ugly ones, He covered with hair.”

Of course, the good bishop was only joking. There is no theological basis for what the good-humored bishop said. But is it not true that if one is really good-looking he does not need a hair covering to be pleasant to behold? If one is truly good-looking, he should be attractive with or without hair.

But the world has a different way of describe beauty. Very often, we are bombarded with material things we can apply on or wear in our bodies to look pleasant. Very often, too, such a pleasant-look is deceiving. Quite frequent, it goes against the values that Jesus holds.

Jesus alone makes us beautiful – hair or no hair. Perhaps, that is the reason why no hair will be lost by one who makes a firm stand for Jesus. No hair is needed to look truly beautiful. And losing some of it, if ever, due to our witnessing to Jesus accounts for nothing. All we need is Jesus to be truly beautiful.

May we stand beautiful when Jesus comes again – hair or no hair. Those who are not ready for His coming might still scramble to find something to cover their heads with. Perhaps a toupee. Ugly…people always know you are wearing one when you are wearing one.

WHY THEY BELIEVE

Tuesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 21:5-11

I often wonder if people really listen to Jesus when they read this part of Jesus’ apocalyptic teaching. Every so often, some people or some groups appear claiming to know more than what the Bible says about the end of the world. Sometimes, these people and groups even announce an actual date when the end will come. Others also declare knowledge how anyone can be saved from the often-frightening events that come with the end. Unfortunately, many believe them.

What makes people believe in false prophets who claim that they know exact details about the end of the world? Three things I suppose.

First, ignorance of the Bible. If they really know the Bible, they should know that Jesus Himself said that no one knows when the end will be. “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,” said Jesus in Mt 13:32. So how can anyone claim he or she knows better than the Son?

Second, distrust in God. If they really trust God, even as they may have some fears about the apocalyptic details of the end times, they would not panic. Believing in false prophets about the end times is very often the result of panicking about the end of the world. Panic is the child of fear. Fear is the sister of distrust. Distrust is the enemy of faith in God.

Third, laziness. Some people think that by simply being counted in a group they will be spared of the trials that accompany the coming of the end. But the end will fall on every single living creature. When the end comes, it will be the end for all and the beginning of a new order for everyone. No one can run away or hide from it. Affiliation with a particular doomsday prophet or sect will not make things easy for anyone in the end. Even belonging to the Catholic Church or positions of office in it spare no one the difficult task of remaining vigilant and prepared for the Second Coming of Jesus. Lazy people just wait for the end of the world, but the rest prepare for it by converting from their sinful ways.

If in my preaching I tell you that I know exactly when the end of the world will be, please do not believe me. I am lying. Know the Bible. Trust in God. Do not be lazy.

THE GIFT

Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 21:1-4

We are in the final week of the present liturgical year. Advent begins this coming Sunday. As a song says, “It’s beginning to feel like Christmas.”

What gives us the feeling of Christmas?

It is not the snow because even in countries where there is no snow, people also feel like Christmas. It is not Santa Claus because even grown ups who know that Santa Claus is an imaginary figure feel like Christmas. It is not the Christmas decors because even the homeless know it is Christmas. What then gives us the feeling of Christmas?

Christmas is the birthday of Jesus. He is the Father’s precious Gift to us. The Father gives us the feeling of Christmas as He gave us Jesus, His only Begotten Son. He invented Christmas both by His Gift and giving.

Christmas is the special season of giving. Of course, we give gifts any time of the year. Even when there is no occasion, we can give gifts. But Christmas is that time of the year when we are reminded of the most important element in giving. The Gospel today emphasizes that element.

We have not yet truly given until we feel the pain in our giving. The rich can give expensive gifts because the have much money. The poor can likewise give gifts because gifts do not always have to be something one can buy in a store. But the wealthy can give because they have much to spare even as they spend anyway. The poor can also give if they realize that the self is the best gift to give. When we give our selves away, we feel the pain in our giving.

Gifts are tokens of the self. They are not the extras of what one has. They should be all that a person possesses because a person has only one self. The Father was the first to have given. When He gave us Jesus, He gave us all that He had – His ONLY Begotten Son. What else can the Father give us besides? Nothing because by giving us His only Begotten Son He already gave us everything.

We are gifts to one another. Let our gifts be true tokens of our selves. Let our gift-giving be truly self-giving. The poor widow in the Gospel today, by giving her two small coins to God, is many times richer than us if all we give are extras of what we have. What is left with us after we have given testifies.

NOT ABOUT JESUS, BUT ABOUT US

Solemnity of Christ, The King of the Universe
Jn 18:33-37

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.
Getting to know you, putting it my way, but nicely.
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.

Getting to know you, getting to feel free and easy.
When I am with you, getting to know what to say.
Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day.

When I was a young boy, this song was very popular. We used to sing it in school presentations, in family reunions, and in almost any “getting-to-know-you” occasion. That is precisely the title of the song: “Getting To Know You”.

The song “Getting To Know You” comes from the musicale entitled, “The King and I”. The classic was created by Rodgers and Hammerstein for Broadway. Later on, it was filmed, featuring the acting prowess of Julie Andrews and Yul Brynner. Julie Andrews played the role of Teacher Ana while Yul Brynner gave life to the character of a bald autocratic King of Siam (the former name of the present-day Thailand). Yul Brynner won an Academy Award 1956 for his role in this classic.

In “The King and I”, the King of Siam hires, Ana, a governess from Great Britain to educate his dozens of children. Because they come from two different cultures, the King of Siam and Teacher Ana often argue over almost anything. However, the king’s heart eventually softens and he develops a beautiful friendship with the English governess. As the story makes a wonderful twist, the King of Siam and Teacher Ana, together with the dozens of royal children, sing “Getting To Know You”.

Today, we remember and celebrate another King. He is, however, a different kind of king, rarely, if ever, associated with the typical manifestations of grandeur and royalty. Nonetheless, His kingship is more far-reaching than any kind of sovereignty. He is King of kings and Lord of lords: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

But our King seems to be on trial today. Or is He?

The Gospel of John has the most dramatic narration of the Lord’s passion. It seems that John the Evangelist used theater techniques in telling us his story. Our Gospel today is like an act in an entire stage play. The stage is Pilate’s praetorium. The characters are two: Jesus and Pilate. But the main theme of the entire drama is only one: the kingship of Jesus. The interrogations of Pilate, the Lord’s mock coronation by the soldiers, and the meaning of the inscription ordered by Pilate to be affixed on top of the crucified Jesus – in three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek – has the kingship issue as their focal point.

If the Gospel today were a dramatic stage play indeed, many have already given it a subtitle. It is often referred to as “The Trial of Jesus”. But is it really Jesus who is on trial here?

For John the Evangelist, Jesus was not a victim of a death He wanted to run away from. On the contrary, Jesus met and courageously faced His death. Even already in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus looked at death straight in the eye. He endured the suffering and death brought about by His total obedience to the Father with a truly majestic heart because He believed that God cares for His children. Even as He suffered, Jesus was always in control during His passion.

A deeper reading of the 18th and 19th chapters of the Gospel of John reveals to us something very remarkable about our suffering King. Perhaps, many have yet to discover this. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, they were not able to arrest Him until He Himself allowed them to do so. Twice, Jesus asked them, “Whom do you seek?” Twice, He also identified Himself to them, “I am Jesus whom you seek.” However, even then, only after Jesus ordered them to spare His disciples who were then with Him in the Garden, were they able to arrest Jesus. And when Jesus had to meet Pilate, it was Pilate, on the first of their two meetings, who had to go out of his palace to face Jesus. Later on, when Jesus was already hanging on the cross, who ordered that the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” be nailed above the head of Jesus for all the world to see? Was it not Pilate, too?

Was it really Jesus who was tried? Or was it Pilate?

In the Gospel today on the Solemnity of Christ the King, many think that it is Jesus who stands on trial by Pilate. But this is the truth: It is Pilate who is in trial in the Gospel today.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked Jesus.

Jesus threw back to Pilate’s face the question, ““Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate threw another question. But this time, the way the question was posed sounded rather funny. Was Pilate still interrogating Jesus or was Pilate already asking himself?

After Jesus described, in rather very calculated words, His kingdom to Pilate, it was Pilate himself who said, “Then you are a king.” And Jesus had nothing better to say but “It is you who say it.”

Pilate did not realize – never did he – that he already switched places with Jesus. Unwittingly, Pilate put himself on the spot. He was the one on trial already.

Pilate could have made a stand for Jesus, but he missed his chance. He got to know Christ the King, but he did not have the faith to believe in Him. Pilate came to know Jesus but he refused to recognize Him. Though Pilate washed his hands after sentencing Christ the King to death, up until today all humanity see in Pilate’s hands the precious blood of Jesus.

In the Gospel today, the Solemnity of Christ the King, it is Pilate, not Jesus, who is on trial. And Pilate, in our world today, may be you and me. Yes, we know Christ the King but do our lives really give Him the recognition He deserves? Our Christian faith puts us on trial too often than we realize. Do we make a stand for Jesus? Is He really our King?

TRAPPED IN THEIR OWN SNARE

Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 20:27-40

If I were one of the seven brothers mentioned in the Gospel today, my initial reaction is that I refuse to marry my dead brothers’ wife because it will be like drinking poison! It seems that marrying her is committing suicide. What with all the seven brothers dying after marrying her!

But the issue that the Gospel today confronts is not about marriage. It is about the resurrection.

We have two groups of people: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Together with the Essenes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees form the three prominent parties of Judaism. Among these three groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were at odds with each other. On the one hand, the Sadducees were an aristocratic, politically minded group, willing to compromise with secular and pagan leaders. They controlled the high priesthood during the time of Jesus and held the majority of the seats in the Sanhedrin. They did not believe in the resurrection or an afterlife, and they rejected the oral tradition taught by the Pharisees. On the other hand, the Pharisees were the most influential party. The Semitic definition of the word “Pharisee” is “the separated ones”. They were also called “chasidim” or “loved by God”. They adhered to the literal observance of the Law and measures righteousness in direct proportion to strict obedience to the Decalogue and the other laws derived from it. In contraposition with the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection or an afterlife, in angels, and the reality of the spiritual world. Both Sadducees and Pharisees, however, no longer exist today – at least, not publicly or formally.

Today their paths crossed and Jesus happened to stand right at the center. Each was trying to get the sympathy of Jesus. Why not? After all, Jesus, though without any formal rabbinic training, was popularly acclaimed as a great rabbi. Both the Sadducees and Pharisees wanted to get His stamp of approval on their opposing doctrine. In the process, they were likewise setting a trap to indict Jesus with His own words. But, as always, Jesus knew better.

The real issue between the Sadducees and the Pharisees was their twisted view on life. The Sadducees saw nothing beyond earthly life. With God as the only exception, spiritual realities were a big baloney. Such a view can easily lead one to follow the misguided principle that says, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you will die.” And when you are dead, you are gone forever. The Pharisees, however, while seeing life beyond the earthly, considered eternal life as a much deserved reward or a credit slavishly gained by mere human observance of every minute detail of the Law. But eternal life is not a reward or a credit won by our own individual merits. Eternal life is a gift. It always was and it always will be.

The resurrection is not resuscitation. It is an entirely and radically new type of existence. It is real and it is a gift.

Jesus tried to set the two parties that crossed paths on the right path. He refused to be absorbed by their petty quarrel. There are more important things that one should focus on than worrying about whose wife or husband we will be in the afterlife. While they attempted to trap Jesus, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were really the ones entangled in their distorted doctrine.

GENERAL HOUSE CLEANING

Friday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 19:45-48

Every year, I am the most excited in the family to see our very modest house lit with Christmas decors. Even now that I am no longer a kid, I am always the first to say, “When are we going to put up the Christmas decors?” Just last week, I asked my mommy and elder sister the same question. And as always, mom’s answer was, “We’ll start decorating only after we have a general house cleaning.”

Jesus seems to be doing a general cleaning today. As the liturgical year comes to a close and the Advent season is barely a week away, the Gospel today presents to us the cleansing of the Temple. This Gospel is a fitting reminder for us to have a cleansing of our selves before we celebrate the commemoration of the Lord’s birth and as we wait for His final coming whose exact time we do not know.

My mom believes that it is not the Christmas decors that truly bring in the Christmas spirit to our house. It is the cleaning prior to the decorating that really welcomes the spirit of the season. A house may be well furnished for the yuletide season but unless it undergoes a thorough cleaning, its household simply welcomes with the signs of the season but not the spirit of the season.

Have we already put up our Christmas décors? I hope we had a general house cleaning first. And lest we forget, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. We need cleansing more than our houses do.

HE WEPT FOR BOTH

Thursday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 14:41-44

The gospel accounts record only two occasions when Jesus wept. One is in our Gospel today. The other is in Jn 11:35. In the Gospel today, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, His city. In Jn 11:35, Jesus wept over Lazarus, His friend. In the first instance, as we are told in the liturgy today, Jesus wept because Jerusalem was bound for destruction and its inhabitants would suffer greatly. In the second, Jesus wept because Lazarus died and he was already four days in the tomb when Jesus arrived. However, while Jesus was able to raise Lazarus back to life, He could not save Jerusalem from the devastation He predicted. While crushing a Jewish revolt, the Romans razed the city in 70 A.D. The Wailing Wall in modern-day Jerusalem stands as its painful reminder for the Jews. Lazarus was raised but Jerusalem was razed. On both occasions, Jesus wept.

The tears that Jesus shed for both Lazarus and Jerusalem were tears of affection. Jesus wept over Lazarus because He came rather late to save him from dying. Nonetheless, the faith of Martha and Mary in Jesus gained for them Jesus’ favor to bring their brother back to life. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He saw beforehand the horrors that would befall it. He could not save Jerusalem because it had no faith in Him. His own city failed to acknowledge Him as the Messiah it had been waiting for since time immemorial. While Jesus shed tears over Lazarus and Jerusalem because He loved them both, His tears for Lazarus were tears of bereavement while His tears for Jerusalem were tears of regret. Jerusalem would be destroyed because, as Jesus Himself says in the Gospel today, “you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

While God does not wish the suffering of anyone, He can only save those who acknowledge their need for Him. He can raise only those who have faith in Him because, as St. Augustine once said, “God who created you without asking you cannot save you without consulting you.”

Jesus weeps over every sinner. But it demands on every sinner if he will be raised or razed.

NOT UNTIL THERE WERE NO MORE NOTES TO SING

Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr
Mt 25:1-13

Today is the memorial of the popular patron of music – St. Cecilia. She was a virgin and martyr.

Cecilia was Roman by birth and lived around the 3rd century. When ordered to sacrifice to the idols, she refused. Thus, she was beheaded under the reign of Marcus Aurelius.

Beheading came only after several attempts to kill her by her executioners. According to the account of her martyrdom, she was first locked up inside the Roman bath that was heated by live coals. Once padlocked inside the bath, her executioners raised the temperature of the sauna by placing more than twice the amount of coals underneath. However, instead of dying, her executioners heard her singing praises to God with an angelic choir. They therefore released her from the bath-turned-oven and proceeded to decapitate her.

According to the accounts of eye witnesses, Cecilia was beheaded with a sword that was not sharp enough to severe her head from her body with one blow. Cecilia, therefore, with her head dangling from her neck, was left in the street, and died after a few days only. Her suffering was slow and unimaginable, but she continued singing songs to God as she laid there on the road waiting for death to come. Her voice could be heard all day and in the night, it was even clearer. No one dared to come to her aid for fear of execution.

When she finally died, her fingers were found to be arranged thus: the index of her left hand pointing outward signifying that there is only one God while the ring, middle, and index fingers of her right stretched out representing the three persons in one God. Thus, she is popularly claimed to be the patron of musicians because she literally sang her way through death for the greater glory of the one and true God.

In the light of the Gospel today, Cecilia certainly falls under the category of the wise virgins. She was ready when the time came and went with the bridegroom inside the wedding banquet. Her witness to the Faith was a shining lamp that kept not only burning but truly kept burning brightly until finally the exact time when her Bridegroom, Jesus, took her by the hand and led her to the eternal wedding feast in heaven. The songs she sang in praise of God while she heroically waited for death as a Christian witness kept the people around her awake in the Faith.

If Cecilia were a professional singer, she indeed gave the greatest performance of her life. Her stage was the world. Her song was her faithfulness to God. Her voice was her life. And she sang her song not until there were no more notes to sing but until there was life to give.

A PRESENTED PRESENT

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mt 12:46-50

The details about the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary come from the second-century apocryphal writing of St. James, the “Protoevangelium”. The date of its feast, however, comes from the year 543 – the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary the New in Jerusalem. In 1585, this Marian feast was extended to the Universal Church.

According to pious tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was brought to the Temple at the age of three and lived there for the next twelve years. She learned the Jewish scripture and prayers from the temple priests whom she served while she grew up in the Temple. When she left the Temple, she was a lady perfectly beautiful in body and soul. Without anyone knowing it, she was ready for God’s election to be the mother of His Son.

We do not know if the details about the Blessed Virgin Mary’s presentation are historical or, at least, accurate. We know, however, that when the angel Gabriel visited her to announce to her that she would become the mother of God’s Son, Mary was perfectly ready for the divine choice. She willingly submitted her self to God’s will and placed her self entirely at His complete disposal. She who was presented at the Temple as a child was then a present to He who dwelt in the Temple. She who dwelt in God’s Temple then became the human temple of God. From being presented, she became a present.

When I was baptized on April 30, 1967, my parents offered me to God. As a remembrance of their modest offering to God, they had a picture of me taken. In the picture, I was dressed in my baptismal garment and was lying on the altar in front of the tabernacle of our parish church. My parents presented me to God. When I became a priest, I became God’s present not only to my parents but also to His entire People.

It is likewise our vocation to be God’s presents to others. We may view our baptism as our presentation to God. How we live out our baptismal consecration is our present to God and God’s present to others. Through it we affirm our being members of God’s family.

NEVER SURRENDER

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mk 13:24-32

I confess that while preparing for the liturgy this Sunday, I feel a bit hesitant regarding proclaiming the assigned Gospel. No one wants to be an alarmist. But the Gospel today sounds more of an alarming news rather than good news.

“In those days,” Jesus said to His disciples, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” Not very consoling forecast, is it? Honestly, I rather give you the weather forecast today even if I would have to say a typhoon or a twister is coming our way within twenty-four hours. I had to think for a long while if I would introduce the Gospel reading today with my usual words “The Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark”.

But was I not missing something very important? Last night, I realized that indeed I was missing three most important points in the Gospel today. First is the gathering. Second is the coming. Third is the remaining.

Gathering. The end of the world that the first lines of the Gospel today describe is not the main event. The main event is actually the beginning of a new world. The angels said Mark, will gather the elect, according to Jesus, from the four winds, from the frontiers of earth and sky. Some of our brethren insist on labeling this event as “The Rapture”. I prefer calling it as “The Gathering”.

It is the gathering of the blessed – mind you, I mean “the blessed” not “the perfect” or “the sinless”. The gathering of the elect is the get-together of the favored ones. The elect are favored not because of their credentials or clean record but essentially because of God’s merciful love. Thus, this kind of gathering is when sin and mercy meet, where mercy triumphs over justice and love, as it were, explodes into an eternal bliss in a new world that no eye has yet sin nor ear has yet heard.

Coming. Because its forecast is initially frightening, even our attention can sometimes be paralyzed by the opening words of the Gospel today. Yes, the light of the sun will be gone and, therefore, the radiance of the moon will likewise fade. The stars, too, will be no more in the sky, and the stillness of the heavens will vanish. But it will not all be about going, fading, being no more, or vanishing. Something is coming. Someone is appearing. The end of the world is not fundamentally the departure of the familiar. The end of the world is primarily the advent of the Totally Other: Jesus – the God-Made-Man. The brightness of the sun, the glow of the moon, and the luster of the stars in the sky give way to the incomparable brilliance of the One who is coming: the Son of God who has become the Son of Man. The tranquility of the heavens is broken by the Prince of Peace: Jesus the Christ, Jesus our Peace.

For one who loves Jesus, how can the Gospel today not be good news? He is coming! We shall see Him! He will take us with Him! Losing the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything in the world is nothing compared to gaining Christ the Lord. Let the heavens shake and the Son of Man appear!

Remaining. The end of the world will prove dramatically that all things fade, all things except one: the words of Jesus. And, as Simon Peter says, Jesus has the words of eternal life (Cf. Jn 6:68). If Jesus’ words of eternal life will never pass away, the end of the world is not really about the horror of death but the joy of everlasting life. Death indeed is simply a passing away because it passes so that unending life may come in. Or should we say, so that we may come into eternal life.

The world is fading – let us not fool our selves, for indeed the world is passing away even as we reflect now – but the words of Jesus that gives eternal life endures. One may have everything in the world but he is pathetic unless he has the words of Jesus to live by. He whose hands are filled today with all that the world offers will see none remaining in his hands if his heart is empty of the words of Christ.

Gathering, coming, and remaining – these are the three very important, but often overlooked, reasons why the Gospel today must be proclaimed despite its initial lines that may send shiver down anyone’s spine. The elect will be gathered. The Lord is coming. His words remain.

Beyond the darkest forecast shines the brightest vision: the vision of Christ. The vision of Christ is not only about seeing Jesus. It is rather what Jesus sees beyond a world that surely passes away. Jesus sees a future beyond suffering and death, where all tears will be wiped away and life will be unending. This capacity of Jesus to see beyond the darkest circumstances of earthly life is what we call “hope”. And in Jesus, hope is never a wishful thinking or an analgesic for a pain-laden humanity. In Jesus Christ, hope is certitude about what is yet to come.

Some months back, I learned from the National Geographic Channel the hypothesis that dinosaurs died and became extinct because a very huge meteor hit the earth and embedded itself unto the farthest deeps of our planet. The impact caused immeasurable amount of dust to rise and scatter above the surface of the earth. Due to this catastrophe, our planet was engulfed in darkness for thousands of years, no ray of the sun could penetrate our atmosphere and the earth was literally frozen. Thus, the Ice Age and the death of the last remaining dinosaurs.

The cartoon series about dinosaurs entitled, “Land Before Time” has a beautiful twist though. The dinosaurs in that movie believe in what they call “The Great Beyond” or sometimes “The Mysterious Beyond”. They have a vision. They have hope. And refuse to surrender it.

This kind of hope we need. This kind of hope is what the Gospel today proclaims. This indeed is good news for you and me.

Our challenge? Never surrender that hope, for the Lord is coming to gather us through His words that remain even as the world and everything in it fade.

MANY THINGS QUITE EARLY

Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Lk 6:27-38

St. Elizabeth of Hungary had many things quite early in life. She married Louis of Thuringia at a very young age. She, however, became a widow at a young age, too, leaving her with three children. She also passed away at a very young age; she was only 24 years old. Born in 1207, Elizabeth died in 1231.

While she had many things rather early, Elizabeth also had a rather short earthly life. But her life was far from being wasted. It is for this reason why her feast is an obligatory memorial for all Catholics. She showed us that life is not a matter of quantity but of quality, not about length of days but about strength of love.

In her rather short life and despite her royal status, Elizabeth was a friend of the poor. While she could have simply sent food to the hungry, she herself fed the hungry. She was said to welcome to her own table even the contemptible. She distributed generously to the needy in all the territories of her husband’s empire and even converted one of her castles into a hospital in which she herself cared for the sick. Her love was the kind that dirties the hands of the lover because it is not vicarious love. Hers was a personal love as she herself personally attended to the sick, particularly those who were inflicted with repulsive diseases, and served the poor. Her compassion was real because her love brought her truly and physically close to those whom she loved – the poor and the sick.

When her husband, a good man himself, died, and after securing the welfare of her three children, Elizabeth followed the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi. She joined the Franciscan Tertiary and, despite her being a queen, lived the life of a servant of the poor. St. Elizabeth is the Patroness of the Secular Franciscan Order.

When death came, she requested that all things that were still in her name be given to the poor. She received the last sacraments and seemed to have only gently fallen asleep. At her burial, she wore no crown, no bejeweled robes, or anything that signifies her royal status. She was clad with a worn out dress.

But even in death, she who was said to be beautiful in life, was even more stunning. Elizabeth was truly lovely because she truly loved. The Church could not ignore it; she canonized Elizabeth only four years after her pious death – another in the list of her early things in life.

IN OUR HEARTS

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 17:20-25

When we look around us, we see so much evil. Terrorism lurks at almost every corner. Graft and corruption seem to be our national scourge. Oppression and violation of human rights continue. Poverty and starvation are perennial reasons for crime and even death of the many. Total annihilation of the human race by nuclear warfare is a constant threat. Sin is within and without us.

In the midst of all these, Jesus proclaims today, “The kingdom of God is among you!” But if the kingdom of God is among us, why all these evils? Where is that kingdom that Jesus points to?

The kingdom of God is in our hearts. It is in us rather than we are in it. It awaits our discover and we discover it only when we allow the innate goodness in us to take hold of our lives. It makes its presence felt each time we make others loved. The more we love the more that kingdom establishes itself in the world. Our refusal to surrender in despair to the evils around us reveals that that kingdom is far greater than any malevolence. The kingdom of God is among us because it is in us.

When we spend all our time and energies predicting the end of the world, we miss the whole point about the second coming of Jesus. The second coming of Jesus has already began and continues to progress. He comes each time we love. The criteria against which we shall be judged at the end of the world will reveal that Jesus, after all, has always been in our midst in the person of one another.

The kingdom of God is among us. The kingdom of God is in each of us. We are that kingdom because we are God’s dwelling places.

A boy looks intently on a sculptor finishing his work on a huge block of wood. He asked the sculptor, “Sir, how did you know that there is a lion inside that wood?” The sculptor turned to the boy and replied, “Son, I saw the lion first in my heart before I saw it in this piece of wood.”

See that lion in your heart! See the kingdom of God in your heart! See God in your heart. He is in our midst.

WE ARE THE LEPERS

Wednesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 17:11-19

Have you thanked God today? I mean, thanked God verbally, orally, expressively, loudly, even with singing and dancing, and not silently or inwardly or quietly only as most people do?

Remember the Blessed Virgin Mary. God considered her lowliness and chose her to be the mother of His Son. Without ceasing to be humble, she sang the “Magnificat” in thanksgiving to God. Zechariah, too, when he regained his speech at the birth of his son, John the Baptist, sang the “Benedictus”. The same is true with old Simeon who trusted God’s promise to him that he would not see death without seeing the promised Messiah. He sang upon recognizing the baby Jesus in the temple. In the Old Testament, people say thank you to God through songs. Moses, his brother, Aaron, and their sister, Miriam sang after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. David, the shepherd-king, has a whole book in the Old Testament containing his psalms to God. Daniel sang with three angels in a burning furnace

Filipinos are a singing people too. We love to sing. We also love to dance. Have we sang and dance for God lately? Have we given Him a PDA – Public Display of Affection – today? Have we thanked God?

Somerset Maughan is a well known English writer. It is said that his Spanish royalties earned him a large sum of money. Unfortunately, the law banned him from taking his money out of the country. He thought he found a solution by going on the most luxurious vacation he ever had. He got himself billeted in a very expensive hotel and feasted lavishly. Everything was cheap for him. Finally, when Maughan thought that he had spent a huge fraction of his money, he decided to end his deluxe holiday. He went to the manager of the plush hotel he was staying in and asked for his bill. But the manager stood motionless to the confusion of Maughan. The manager told him: “Sir, it has been a great honor for us to have you here. Your stay with us brought great publicity to our hotel. We would like to show you our gratitude. Therefore, there is no bill.”

On the one hand, when we do not expect it, gratitude confuses us. On the other, when we expect gratitude but no gratitude is shown us, we often easily feel upset. There seems to be some uneasiness surrounding gratitude and expressing it publicly. Another great writer, Mark Twain, said it bluntly: “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” Thus, sometimes, as experience taught us, doing someone a favor is risking the friendship we have with him. Not a few people say, “Why bother getting hurt by helping some people?” Is it not true that some people treat you as a leper after you have helped them?

In the Gospel today, Jesus cured ten lepers but only one returned to show him gratitude. Of them who were once avoided by everyone because they were lepers, only one ran back to Jesus. And he was a Samaritan, someone who even if he were not a leper was being looked down upon and avoided by Jews. This man, moreover, did not simply return to his Healer. He went back to Jesus with a charismatic shout in praise of God.

While Jesus appreciates the Samaritans’ PDA, the absence of the other nine visibly hurt and confused Him. He reviewed His arithmetic and asked, “Were not all ten made clean?” His question even sounded like He was starting to have qualms about His healing power. If it were so, the ingratitude of the nine, therefore, made Jesus doubt. But why did the other nine not return?

It is totally incorrect to say that the other nine healed lepers who did not return to Jesus were not thankful. Neither the Gospel is quick to call them ungrateful. We are left guessing why they did not bother to thank Jesus personally and publicly. We can only guess why the other nine did not return to show their gratitude to Jesus because they can be us, and our reasons for a rather reluctant gratitude are likewise theirs.

We are the ten lepers. Jesus heals us. If we are not the Samaritan, we can only be one of the other nine.

A SLAVE OR A SERVANT?

Tuesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 17:7-10

A slave has a master. A servant has a master too. A slave is expected to obey the wishes of his master. So is a servant. A slave attends to his master first and so does a servant. But we are not slaves. We are servants.

God does not treat us as slaves. A slave is not free. God respects our freewill. While, similar with a slave, we are expected to fulfill our God’s commands, God leaves us free to obey or not to obey Him. Even as we are God’s servants, we never lose our freedom. We do not go around bound by some kind of spiritual fetters. We are servants of God but we are always free to serve or not to serve Him.

In the Father’s house, there are no slaves, only children. Children can never be slaves in their own house. But they can be servants of their parents. For to be a servant is not to be a slave.

How do we regard our selves in relation to God? Do we look at our selves as slaves or as servants?

For a slave, to serve his master is a burden. For a servant, to serve his master is joy. A slave hopes to be rewarded, but rewards seldom, if ever, come. A servant, however, serves without any thought of rewards because to serve his master is in itself his reward.

Are you a slave or a servant?

God makes us servants. But some of us make our selves His slaves instead.

SEVEN

Monday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 17:1-6

Do you have favorite numbers? What are they?

I have four favorite numbers: three, seven, eight, and twelve. I like the number three because of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Eight is the number of my birth. Three and eight together stands for my birthday. The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe included the number twelve in the list of my favorite numbers. But the number seven makes the list complete.

Seven stands for perfection and holiness.

According to the book of Genesis, by the seventh day, God finished the work He had been doing and so He rested on the seventh day (Cf. Gen 2:2). When God works, He always works perfectly. Thus, when He had finished creating by the seventh day, everything was perfect. God rested on the seventh day not because He was tired. God can never be tired. He rested on the seventh day because everything was already perfect; there was nothing else to be done.

But God did not only rest on the seventh day. Genesis 2:3 says, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.” Thus, the seventh day is a holy day. It is a holy day because God had a holiday; He rested on the seventh day.

For the Jews, seven is a perfect and holy number. It is the Sabbath number. It is God’s special number. The Jews prohibit heavy work on the Sabbath Day not because they are lazy but because they want to imitate what God did on the seventh day. Seven is also the number of renewal for the Jews. They celebrate every seventh year the Sabbatical Year when all debts are cancelled, the land is given rest, slaves are freed, collaterals are returned, and feasts are unending.

For me, seven is a reminder that I should be perfect as my Heavenly Father is perfect and holy as He is also holy. It is the number of Jesus for me. Because Jesus reveals the Father to me, I should strive to become more and more like Jesus. He is perfect and holy. Certainly, left with my own efforts alone, I cannot be perfect and holy. That is why I need Jesus to dwell in me. In every Eucharist I receive, Jesus comes to me and helps me to be perfect and holy. It is a lifelong task.

The number seven is mentioned in the Gospel today. Jesus gives it as the number of times we must forgive those who sin against us. Knowing that seven is the number of perfection and holiness, we now understand that forgiving those who trespass against us is always a perfect and holy act. The more we forgive the more perfect and holy we become. This is the reason why after forgiving anyone, we cannot put into words the peace and joy we experience. That is the experience of being perfect and holy. We feel complete. We feel satisfied. We are at peace.

Because sin remains with us while are here on earth, we continue to transgress and be transgressed. We sin and are sinned against. Thus, we need to be forgiven and to forgive more than seven times.

When asked how many times we must forgive those who wrong us, Jesus multiplies seven by seven. Jesus, however, does not refer to a numerical figure. He multiplies perfection and holiness by perfection and holiness too. It simply means that we must always forgive.

Finally, Jesus does not invite us to forgive. He commands us to forgive. It is similar to the mandate He gives us to love one another as He loves us. But can forgiveness be commanded? Yes, forgiveness can be commanded just as love can be commanded too.

“Love can be commanded because it has first been given,” says Pope Benedict XVI. Jesus can also command us to forgive because He has first forgiven us. And He forgives us no matter what are sins are.

Let us be perfect. Let us be holy. Let us love like Jesus.

FAKE OR GENUINE?

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mk 12:38-44

Nowadays, there are so many fakes and counterfeits. There are fake signatures, fake diplomas, fake passports, fake certificates, fake titles, and fake identities. Even some faces are also fake. Cosmetic surgery has also become a very lucrative business because of the need for body features that are other than the original if not the natural. Gender-reclassification is common. The rise in a woman’s breasts or the drop in a woman’s fats is directly proportional to the increase of cosmetic surgeons. By the way, sometimes wives or husbands are also fake.

Recently, news broke out. Fake five Philippine peso coins are circulating. Authorities, however, are quick to inform us how to detect if a coin is counterfeit or real. All we need to have, they say, is a magnet. A magnet attracts a fake coin while a real coin is never magnetized.

God is never magnetized by our offerings. He is never after our material gifts. What use does God have for money? He is infinitely self-sufficient. He is never impressed by anything we can give Him except one. God is after our hearts.

God cannot be deceived by the quantity or quality of our offerings. He sees through them and knows what really lies in our hearts as we make our offering. Whether our gift is large or small, if our gift comes not from the heart, our gift is rubbish.

When we see a person makes a large donation, we say “Wow!” When small, we are careful not to react with an “Oh!” God simply says thank you when a donation – large or small – comes from the heart.

Because God sees our hearts, He knows if our gift is fake or real. As far as God is concerned, it is not the karat that makes gold genuine but the heart. It is not the cut that make a diamond brilliant but the heart. It is not the sum that makes a donation valuable but the heart. And the heart is always truthful; it is the lips that lie.

The widow in the Gospel today dropped more than two small coins to the temple treasury. She gift was all that she had. She gave her heart. She donated her life. Her offering was not fake but real because she must have felt the pain of her offering as her two coins touch the bottom of the horn-shaped coffer with a tiny “cling” sound. But she was not sad about the pain of her sacrifice. She was glad to give all that she had. She gave not only with her whole heart; she gave her heart away.

As we offer our gifts to God, let us appraise if our offerings are fake or genuine. There are three questions we need to answer.

First, do we give more than what we can actually give? It sounds illogical and impossible to give more than what we have, but it does happen sometimes when we give more than what we can give because what we give is actually not ours.

I remember a well-respected Jesuit professor, Fr. Gerald Healy, during my seminary days when corruption was already very rampant in Philippine society. Fr Healy’s words were very disturbing when he said, “And how do the rich justify their ill-gotten wealth?” “By supporting seminarians,” he added. While not all the well-to-do families I know fall under Fr. Healy’s generalization, we are lying if we say his claim is false.

If we give more than what we actually have, where do we source out what we give? When we give more than what we actually have, our offerings are fake.

Second, do we give less than what we can really give? This second question is a reverse of the first. While some give more than what they can honestly give, others give less than what they can truly give. They are stingy when it comes to God. He is never their first priority. Worse, sometimes, He is even last in their list. God never complains. But their offerings – because lesser than what they can truly give –do not even reach Him at all.

A man appeared before God in the afterlife. God welcomed and brought him to his afterlife dwelling. “But God,” the man complained, “why is my assigned house here in heaven made of paper and straw only?” “You see, My son,” God explained, “this is all you sent Me when you were still on earth.” “Oh my,” the man regretted, “I should have sent all the granite piled up in my bodega.”

If we give God less than what we can really give Him, where goes what we withhold from Him? When we give God less than what we have, our gifts are not genuine.

Third, do we feel the pain in our giving? True generosity is determined not by what we give but by what we have left after we give. This criterion can be very painful.

St. Bernard said, “The true measure of love is love without measure.” Gifts are tokens of love. Their real worth is in the love that makes them possible. For Jesus, unless we feel the pain in our giving, we have not truly given. It can be very easy for a millionaire to give half of his million away because he still has the other half in the bank and, given the right financial strategy, it will grow even more than his original one million. Real Christian generosity, however, requires not a fraction of his million but all of it. St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians has this to say:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death –
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:5-11)

When we give not more than what we truly have, when we give not less than what we actually have, and when we feel the pain in our giving, then our gift to God is genuine, not fake. Such a gift does not need a large sum but a large heart for God. Fake gifts may come from the pocket but true gifts come from the heart.