EXCEPTION

Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist
Lk 1:57-66, 80

Today we have an exception. We celebrate today the birth of St. John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. The celebration of his birthday is an exception from the Church’s usual liturgical norm. Usually, the Church celebrates the feast of a saint on the day of his or her death, not on his or her birthday. We observe the day of a saint’s death as feast because it is that saint’s day of entrance into heaven. Aside from John the Baptist, the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is also an exception to this liturgical rule.

Today is an exception not only because we are celebrating today the birthday of John the Baptist rather than his day of death. Today is an exception because the liturgy for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time gives way to the observance of John the Baptist’s birth. This is so because the birth of John the Baptist has the liturgical rank of a solemnity. According to liturgical norms, when a solemnity falls on a Sunday, the usual Sunday Mass gives way to the observance of the solemnity. That is exactly what happens today.

Thus, today we have an exception. Our exception is John the Baptist.

John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus Christ, was already an exception even before we made the observance of his birthday an exception. But he was not an exception simply because he was the cousin of the Lord. John the Baptist was an exception for three more important reasons.

First, Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist not only in her old age but also despite the fact that she was barren. He was not a menopausal baby; he was an infertility baby. John’s birth was an impossibility. But with God, for whom nothing is impossible, John the Baptist became a possibility and, as we celebrate today, an actuality, a reality. He was conceived not only by a virgin’s womb, as in the case of the Lord Jesus, but by a barren womb. He was given birth not only by a young maiden but also by an aging woman. In this regard alone, John was already an exception.

Second, it was God who chose his name. In ancient times as well as today, parents are usually the ones who choose their children’s name. But John’s case is different. As his conception and birth were exceptions, so was his name. There was no one in his clan who had the same name as his.

Scriptural characters attached great importance to names because they believed that a person’s name expressed their hopes for a child’s future. But in some cases, as we have today in the Gospel, God Himself decided on the name. When He did so, it expressed more than a hope; it was God’s promise for the child’s future. Thus, the name “John,” meaning, “God has shown mercy,” sums up John’s calling. In the first place, his coming into the life of his parents was a clear sign of God’s mercy to them whose childlessness in those days was a source of painful shame. In fact, for Zechariah, the prospect of a son was a news so good that he doubted it could be true. Mercy never fails to surprise its recipient. Later on in John the Baptist’s life, his very presence among the Israelites, preparing “a people fit for the Lord,” was an expression of God’s mercy.

God’s mercy is always an exception because it does not follow the natural logic of things. As St. Paul says in Rom 5:16, “…after many transgressions came justification.” Mercy is a gratuitous gift. It is totally unmerited, and though the receiver does not deserve it, mercy is given nonetheless. For if mercy is merited, it is not mercy at all. John’s name and role in the history of salvation remain up to our days reminders of how mercy is an exception to the rule.

Third, because John’s father, Zechariah, was a priest in the Temple, he was, due to lineage, a Jewish priest himself. John should have practiced Judaic priesthood, keeping himself busy in the affairs of the Temple. The temple for him though was the desert and his preoccupation was preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins rather than offering incense in the Holy of Holies. As the priests in the Temple were offering sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins over and over again, John was shouting over and over again in the wilderness that that forgiveness was already and is always waiting to embrace those who come to ask for it with contrite hearts. John was an exception from his father’s priestly clan not only because of his name but also because of his ministry. His father was a priest; he was a preacher. While his father was offering sacrifices to win God’s mercy, John was already offering God’s mercy instead.

The birth of John the Baptist broke the long silence of God. For a very long time, there were no prophets in Israel. When God decided to break His silence, He sent His people a prophet who reminded them of His mercy. Truly, as Zechariah said in his canticle when John was named, God “has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of His servant, David.” That Savior is Jesus, God’s Word of peace. But before He raised up for us a mighty Savior, God has first raised up for us the greatest prophet, about whom, even Jesus said in Mt 11:11 and Lk 7:28, “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” Today, we take exception in celebrating the birth of this greatest prophet of God.

John the Baptist was God’s miracle of mercy, God’s gift of mercy, and God’s prophet of mercy. In him, we behold how impossible things can happen because of mercy, how we should understand mercy, and how we must respond to mercy. As mercy is always an exception to the rule justice, so is the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist an exception to Church’s liturgical rule.

In our society, where countless people want to be exempted from this or that law, let us, as disciples of Jesus Christ, strive even more to be exceptions from a world where justice can be very brutal and mercy can be very weak. Let us surprise the world with God’s mercy. Let us be God’s mercy to all. Through us, may God, who once showed His mercy by the birth of John the Baptist, show His mercy over and over again.

UTANG-NA-LOOB

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lk 7:36-8:3

For Filipinos, the most painful comment anyone can give about anyone is “Wala kang utang-na-loob”. Utang-na-loob has no direct and perfect translation in English. The closest translation perhaps is “debt of gratitude”. Thus, a person who is said to be walang utang-na-loob is a person who has no sense of gratitude. And for Filipinos, that sense is really a deep sense. You may call a Filipino anything, but never tell him, “Wala kang utang-na-loob!” Doing so can spark a big and violent fight.

The woman who suddenly came in while Jesus was dining with the Pharisee and waited at His feet expressed her utang-na-loob to Jesus. The sins from which Jesus forgave her must have been great, for her sense of gratitude was deep.

This sense of gratitude, the Pharisee did not have. For all we know, the Pharisee perhaps even thought that it was Jesus who owed him much because he invited Him into his house and dined with him. But the truth is Jesus was, is, and will never be indebted to anyone. On the contrary, we are all indebted to Him. Jesus is God.

Everything is grace. We cannot boast of anything, for all have fallen short of the grace of God. But God’s response to our sins is merciful love. No matter how many and how grave our sins are, God readily forgives us when we beg for His mercy.

Our utang-na-loob to God is infinite because God, to whom we are indebted, is infinite. We cannot fully repay Him for His goodness to us. Only God can repay God. Jesus alone, who is truly God and man, who is the Son of God and the Son of man, can pay our debt to God. And He already did on the cross.

We can only rejoice with Jesus as He freely dispenses His mercy on sinners. If we cannot rejoice with Him because He forgives sinners, then we must have forgotten our indebtedness to Him. Wala tayong utang na loob.

Today is Fathers Day. Happy Fathers Day to all of you, dear fathers! Incidentally, it is also my 12th Sacerdotal Anniversary. Kindly include me in your Mass today. Help me thank the Lord and ask Him to make me a priest according to His heart. Thank you.

OUT OF SIGHT BUT NOT OUT OF HER HEART

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Lk 2:41-51

To think that the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph lost the Child Jesus sounds almost like a sin. How could Mary and Joseph lost Jesus? The thought of it seems to make any believer shudder. The Blessed Mother and St. Joseph must have panicked!

But the parents of Jesus lost Him because He decided to be left behind in the temple. The loss of Jesus was not the fault of either Mary or Joseph. Neither was it the fault of Jesus. It was the consequence of Jesus’ mission to be busy in His Father’s “business”. In Jesus’ fulfilling the will of His Father in heaven, His parents here on earth had to endure many trials. The Gospel today tells us only one of the many trials that parenting the Son of God entailed. By enduring the difficult consequences of their Son’s obeying the will of God, Mary and Joseph shared in Jesus’ mission. Losing Him here may be seen in the positive light of obedience to the will of the Father. The Father allowed Mary and Joseph to lose Jesus so that Jesus might find the lost.

In doing the mission that God has given each of us, there comes a time when the people closest to us, our loved ones and friends, are called upon to suffer. By their suffering, they come to share in our mission.

The Blessed Mother played this role in the life and mission of her Son, Jesus Christ. She was a sharer in His sufferings and many times had to suffer on account of His mission to redeem humankind from sin and death. She was able to participate in the mission of the Lord because she kept her heart free for Him. Her heart was Jesus’ alone. Her Son did not only belong to her; she belonged to Him. As His mother, she did not only pass on life to Jesus; Jesus was her very life.

As we celebrate the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us remember three ‘M’ to keep our hearts like that of Mary:

M – Meekness. Let us strive to be humble always, bowing low before the will of God even if it entails sufferings in this life.

M – Modesty. Let us struggle to be pure in every way, mindful that our hearts belong to Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus.

M – Magnanimous. Let us learn to be generous, noble, upright, and loving in all things, doing everything as an act of love for God.
Mary, together with Joseph, once lost the Child Jesus but found Him again in the Temple because He never left her heart. For three days, Jesus was out of her sight, but not out of her heart.

HELP OTHERS OBEY GOD

Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest
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 any way; 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. We should always be vigilant never to give anyone a reason to disobey God’s commandments.

May we be like St. Anthony of Padua, whose blessed memory we celebrate today. He was only 36 years old when he passed away in 1231. Despite dying at a rather young age, he accomplished much as a Franciscan friar in leading many souls to God. He was an eloquent preacher. However, his eloquence was not merely in the use of words as he preached about God but equally also in his deeds as he showed love for the poor and for sinners. He is invoked today for lost things and even lost persons. No wonder why because he labored so much so that no one may be lost from obeying God.

INTRODUCING JESUS

Tuesday in the 10th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mt 5:13-16

One day a catechist started teaching his students. His lesson plan said that he was to teach them about Jesus that day. He began by saying, “Today, I want to you to meet Someone you all should get to know. He loves you more than you know. He is always smiling at you and wants only the best for you. He is kind, generous, and forgiving. He is very thoughtful and is always concerned about how He can be of any help to you.” As the catechist continued his introduction of the day’s lesson, a little boy could hardly contain himself in his seat. Just before the catechist mentioned the name of Jesus, the little boy excitedly raised his hand and shouted, “I know who he is! He lives next to our house across the river. He is our neighbor, Mr. de la Cruz!”

O, how I envy Mr. de la Cruz! But envy him, I should not. I should rather emulate him. He indeed served as light that shone across that river. He was what it means to be the kind of Christian Jesus wants us all to be.

When we introduce Jesus to those who do not know Him yet, we cannot convince them that we know Him unless they see Him in us. This is perhaps what Mohandas K. Gandhi meant when he gave this comment: “I believe in Christ but not in you, Christians. If you were like Him, I would have been a Christian myself.”

AN APOSTLE TO THE APOSTLES

Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle
Mt 10:7-13

St. Barnabas, whose blessed memory we celebrate today, hailed from Cyprus. He was of great importance to the spread of the Gospel because he was the one who introduced St. Paul to the other apostles and testified to the latter’s conversion. The work of Paul in preaching the Gospel to the gentiles needed the apostles’ approval, since the apostles were the pillars of the Church.

Having gained the approval of the apostles, Paul went to an extensive preaching of the Gospel and building up of Christian communities. Barnabas was his companion in his first missionary journey. In the First Council of Jerusalem, Barnabas was also there with Paul.

After converting many souls for Christ, Barnabas suffered martyrdom at Cyprus where he preached during Nero’s reign. He is considered an “apostle” too.

We are sometimes called to be like Barnabas. We are needed to introduce someone to the Christian community and testify to his or her conversion. We do not realize the importance of our role until we see its fruit. Barnabas’ role produced a “St. Paul”. Thanks be to God! Barnabas was an apostle to the apostles.

BREAK YOUR SELF

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Lk 9:11-17

Once, a seminarian was sent to a poor village for an “immersion”. Immediately upon arriving and seeing the wretched condition of the people living in that village, the seminarian whispered to himself, “Kawawa naman” (“How miserable they are”). For his “exposure”, he lived with one of the poor families, eating what the family eats, sleeping where the family sleeps, sharing practically in everything – if there was anything – that the family had. He “tasted” poverty raw and plain. While there, the seminarian ended each day with the thought: kawawa naman sila (“what a pitiful lot they are”). In the course of his stay, one of the children of the family he was living with became so sick but because the family did not have the money to bring their child to the hospital, the child died after a few days. During the wake, the seminarian kept saying, “Kawawa naman” (“How pitiful”). When the period for his “immersion” was over, the leader of the village asked the seminarian what he thinks about their community. The seminarian answered, “Kawawa naman po kayo” (“I pity you”). “Is there anything you can do for us?” asked the leader. “Do?” asked the seminarian. “Do I have to do anything? I thought I was sent here to simply observe,” he said. The leader told the young priest-to-be, “Hijo, kawawa ka naman” (“How I pity you, young man”).

The Twelve saw the hunger of the people in the Gospel today, but they were at a lost how to satisfy it. They themselves were hungry and all they had to stop the churning of their stomachs were five loaves and two fish. They did not even have enough for themselves. Thus, they advised Jesus to send the people away to find lodging and food for themselves. But Jesus thought otherwise: “Give them something to eat yourselves.” Notice that as the Twelve’s solution to the crises was to dismiss the people, Jesus told them to gather the people instead.

When the Twelve brought to Jesus the little they had, Jesus ordered them to make the people sit into groups of fifty. Taking what they gave Him, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven, said the blessing over the donation, divided it, then gave it back to the Twelve for distribution among the hungry crowd. What followed was a miracle: All had eaten as much as they wanted, and there were even twelve baskets filled with leftovers!

The lessons learned by the apostles are still lessons for us today. It is not enough to recognize the needs of our brethren. We must do something about them. Compassion for others is not simply feeling sorry for those who are in need. Compassion should lead us to empathy whereby we experience what others experience. Their hunger becomes our hunger, their pain becomes our pain, their need becomes our need. This empathy should be so strong so as to move us to serve those whom we observe. The suffering of our brethren that rends our hearts into pieces must open our hands and stretch our arms so as to attend to their plight and welcome them among our important concerns.

Running away or sending the people away was not the solution to the problem that confronted Jesus and the Twelve in the Gospel today. Staying, gathering together, and sharing what they had was! The same advice Jesus gives us today. The solutions to the many and varied hungers of others are in us because we ourselves are the solutions. It was not the five loaves and two fish that satisfied the hungry crowd in the Gospel. It was the Twelve themselves – surrendering to Jesus whatever little they had – who fed the hungry crowd. They satisfied the kind of hunger that went beyond craving for food because the crowd was, in the first place, hungry for the word of God. By giving away whatever little they had after Jesus blest it, the Twelve became the best statement of what the word of God says. The word of God invites us to be the same: Be the best example of what we proclaim.

And what do we proclaim? We preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead. We proclaim that He is alive and made Himself food for the life of the world. This is our message. This is our belief. This is our feast.

As we celebrate today the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we feed on the Lord. But our celebration is only half done if we are the only ones whose hunger is satisfied. After feeding on Him, we must go and feed others with the same Christ by our words and deeds. The more we feed on Him, the more we should become like Him. The more we receive the Eucharist, the more our lives should be Eucharistic. A Eucharistic life is a life that is spent not in observing others but in serving them.

When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist today, let us truly mean what we say when we answer the minister, “Amen.” Let our “amen” signify our readiness to go forth and serve our brothers and sisters even to the point of being “food” for their hunger. The Breaking of Bread, as the Holy Mass was called the early Christian community, flows into the Breaking of Selves.

BLANK CHEQUE

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

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

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 most 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.

Would we dare?

GOD AND MAN: HOPING IN EACH OTHER

Monday in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Mk 12:1-12

We hope in God. God hopes in us.

In our need, in our confusion, in our uncertainties, in our pain, and in our death, God is our hope. We trust in Him and He is ever faithful. He never fails us and we take risks because of Him. He is strong and so we rely on Him.

In His self-sufficiency, in His certainty and clarity, in His glory, and in His immortality, God still puts His hope in us. We are unfaithful but God trusts us. We fail Him and yet God does not mind the risking on us. We are weak but still He counts on us.

Even when we deny God, He continues considering us as His very own. We forget Him but He always remembers. No matter how much we hurt Him, God forgives us. Cold we may have become to Him, He is ever warm to us. His offer of salvation remains no matter what and His love for us is steadfast.

This is what the Gospel today reminds us. Indeed, the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. Denial of God does not erase God. Rejecting Him does not and cannot frustrate His loving plan of salvation. God is God no matter what. And thanks be to Him!

God is our sure refuge. Can we give refuge to Him? God satisfies our needs. Can we fulfill His expectations on us? God never fails us; let us not fail Him.

Of course, it is quite impossible for us, frail creatures that we are, not to fail God. For indeed, we are bound to fail if we rely on our selves alone. We must always put our trust in Him who also hopes in us. In Him and through Him, the keystone that once was rejected is always a wonderful thing to behold because it is His work.

FEAST AND CHALLENGE

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Jn 16:12-15

We celebrate today the deepest and greatest mystery of our Christian faith: the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. This is the mystery of God Himself. This is the mystery of what and who He really is. Today is the fiesta of God Himself.

First of all, this is what the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is telling us: There is only one God. He is not two, three, or one thousand. He is only one. He was the God of the Old Testament and He still is the God of the New Testament. He was God before anything existed, He is God today, and He will still be God until the end of time. And beyond the end of time, He will still be God who has no beginning and no end. He does not fade, and neither does He increase nor does He decrease. Yesterday, today, and forever, He and He only is God. There is no other like Him and no one is equal to Him. God is one.

Second, though He is the one and only God, He is not alone. There are Three Persons in One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Divinity, however, is not divided into three. On the contrary, the fullness of divinity resides in each of the Three Persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit enjoy individual divine existence; thus, each is indeed a Person. Each also has His own role in the economy of salvation and in sustaining the whole of creation: The Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies. However, when each fulfills the role proper to Him, all Three Persons are actively present. Thus, the Father creates by the power of His Eternal Word, who is the Son, and breathes His breath, who is the Spirit, into His creation. The Son redeems, as He was sent by the Father out of love, and makes it possible for us to share in His divine life through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sanctifies, as He was proceeds from the Father and the Son.

God is a community where mutual love, respect, and collaboration of Three Persons reign. Despite their individualities in existence, identity, and tasks, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit do not fight over the one Godhead; instead, they are one God. They do not contrive against one another. They congregate as one God. And we, together with all of creation, benefit from the love, respect, and collaboration They have for and with one another. The effect and benefits of Their being a community do not remain within Their community of Divine Persons; it naturally flows out and makes their community inclusive rather than exclusive. As each Divine Person exists, God pours on us grace upon grace and the gratuitous share in His very life. Clearly, we see that God, though He is a community in Himself, is not a community for Himself. He is a community for others, for us.

Third, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity commands us to mirror God in His being a community. As there are three different Persons in One God, so it is with us. We are different from one another – in physical features, in knowledge and skills, in existence, and in tasks to fulfill – but we are one body with Jesus as Head. The meaning of our being different parts of one body whose Head is Jesus is this: We are the Church, the temple of God made of living stones. We are the image of the Most Holy Trinity. The well-respected theologian, Fr. Bruno Forte, says it well in his book, “The Church is the icon of the Trinity.”

We should celebrate our differences. Instead of being the reason for deep-seated conflicts, unhealthy disagreements, and divisions that refuse to heal, the fact that we have differences should be ironically the very reason for our greater unity. Through generously contributing our unique gifts and giftedness, we can make our Christian community a more and more a mirror of the Most Holy Trinity.

As mentioned earlier, God’s being a community is not for Himself, but for others. The same should our community be, whether we are referring to our parish or our dioceses or even the universal Church herself. We exist not for our selves. We must live for others. And by “others”, we mean not only the others who share our Christian faith, but also those who do not. “Others” include all humanity and the whole of creation. Our being Church is for others – friend and foe. Being Church is being men and women for others. The graces of our unity, respect, collaboration, and love should never remain exclusively within our community. They must continually flow in and out of our community. We are Church not only in the world but also for the world.

On this day of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we declare three things: first, God is one; second, there are Three Persons in One God; and third, we, the Church, are the icon of the Trinity in the world and for the world. Today is the fiesta of God Himself and so it is our fiesta today as well. Happy feastday to all of you! Let us face and take the challenge of this feast: Mirror the community of the One God in and for our one, but fragmented, world.

TRAPPED IN THEIR OWN SNARE

Saturday in the 8th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 11:27-33

Jesus is courageous. He does not cow in fear even when threatened by death because of His relationship with God. He stands firm and does not shudder, much less, run away when questioned by those who attack Him for His radical teachings about God. He perseveres in doing what is good even when the very good He does is used against Him. Jesus is courageous.

Jesus is wise. He knows what His mission is all about. He understands the consequences of His radical teachings that clash with the lifestyle and paradigm of the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders of the people. He is sure with the origin of His message and the authority with which He proclaims it. He teaches what He believes and lives by what He teaches. Jesus is wise.

The courage and wisdom of Jesus are clearly shining through the Gospel today. Courage and wisdom – we need both as we strive to follow Jesus.

Courage without wisdom is dangerous. It may lead us to an untimely death, to a useless death, to a senseless death. Jesus needs not dead people for the work of the Kingdom. Jesus needs people who are alive and kicking. Wisdom is required to tame us in our courage lest we unnecessarily expose our selves to danger and die just when we are needed alive.

Wisdom without courage is useless. It may save us from senseless death, but may condemn us to a senseless life. People whose lives are without meaning are detrimental to the meaning of the Gospel of Christ. Jesus needs people who can give meaning to the lives of others. Formal education may give knowledge, but it does not always guarantee wisdom. Using common sense is the manifestation of wisdom. While courage sets us on fire lest we are cold just when we are needed hot, wisdom tells us just when that need presents itself.

“John’s baptism: did it come from heaven, or from man?” Jesus asks the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders who tried to trap Him by His own words. “We do not know,” they reply. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people answer this way because they have neither courage nor wisdom, or both. “Then neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things,” with courage and wisdom, Jesus ends their discussion, exposing the trap they laid for Him. The predator became the prey.