LISTEN (DON'T JUST LOOK!)

2nd Sunday of Lent
Lk 9:28-36

Lent is like a song that calls us to conversion, to return to God and be reconciled with Him. Ps 95:7 is its refrain: “If today you hear His voice harden not your hearts.” Almost sounding like a broken record, the Lenten season echoes this very important call to us. Who cannot be moved? Who will not respond? Not the deaf, but only he who plays deaf.

Every second Sunday of Lent, the gospel is about the Lord’s Transfiguration. With three of His closest disciples – Simon Peter, James, and John, Jesus went up the mountain to pray. While absorbed in prayer, His face changed and His clothing became white as a lightning. The three disciples saw this and also Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Moses symbolized the law while Elijah represented the prophets. The two Old Testament luminaries were discussing with Jesus the ‘exodus’ Jesus had to go through in Jerusalem. Sleepy though they were, the gospel says, Simon Peter, James, and John kept awake and witnessed the glory of Jesus. While Moses and Elijah were leaving, Simon Peter said, “Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; let us built three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Luke immediately adds a comment after this: Simon Peter did not know what he was saying. Thereupon, a cloud covered the three frightened disciples. And a voice from the cloud was heard saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One. Listen to Him.”

“Listen to Him.” We are all viewing the events; we seem to have forgotten to listen. Like Simon Peter and the two other disciples, we are amazed at the transfiguration of Jesus and our attention may be fixed on what we see only. “Listen to Him,” the voice of the Father from the cloud said – this crisp command is the climax of the transfiguration of Jesus and not the transfiguration itself. The truth is that this command to us to listen to Jesus is the key to the meaning of the whole transfiguration story. To the three closest disciples of Jesus was given the privilege of seeing the glory of Jesus not for their self-gratification but for them to realize that it was very important that they listen to Jesus. Jesus is the “Chosen One” of the Father. He is the Christ, the Messiah, who came to teach us how to live. The apostles were the first ones to hear His teaching. Thus, the future of Christianity depends on how well they have listened to Jesus.

The command to listen to Jesus is not a vague command. In the gospel of St. Luke, the command to listen to Jesus is specifically pointing to the doctrine that Jesus was teaching before He went up the mountain of His transfiguration. That teaching is the doctrine of the cross. Before Jesus went up the mountain, with Simon Peter, James, and John, to pray, He revealed to His disciples how His earthly life would come to a horrific end: instead of being crowned as king of Israel, as His disciples were expecting, He would have to suffer much and be rejected, crucified and die, and on the third day rise again (Cf. Lk 9:22).

And not only that! His disciples must expect that the same fate. They must willingly carry their cross and follow Him. They must die to their selves. In the words of the gospel of St. John: “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). To follow Jesus, the path one must tread is the way of the cross. Christian life is the doctrine of the cross. A renowned Jesuit theologian, Fr. Lonergan, calls the same doctrine as the “Law of the Cross”. This law states that to share in the glory of God, we must share in the death of His Son on the cross. This is our teaching. This is our law. This is our life.

Of course, this doctrine was not only disturbing for the disciples. It was dreadfully frightening. Though the Jews were expecting the Messiah, most of them were not waiting for a suffering Messiah, despite the fact that the prophets already saw and prophesied this kind of a Messiah. Though they believed that God rewards those who are faithful to Him, they (and us as well) still needed to be taught that this reward is not always received here on earth and that the road to glory is often painful.

This explains the presence of Moses and Elijah, conversing with Jesus when He was transfigured. Though Jesus had not yet preached the doctrine of the cross, the life of Moses and Elijah already foreshadowed it. Moses and Elijah are honored today, but both endured persecutions from their fellow Jews on account of their divinely mandated missions. Their presence in the transfiguration of Jesus was not only to emphasize the truth the Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and of the prophets, as most commentaries say, but also to affirm that Jesus is the first, original, and best example of living according to the doctrine of the cross. They were discussing with Jesus the ‘exodus’ He had to go through, a new Passover where the sacrificial offering would not be a lamb from the market but Jesus Himself, the Lamb of God, a new freedom from the ultimate slavery, the slavery of eternal death brought about my the curse of sin, a Passover and a freedom – not only new but the summit and perfection of all Passovers and freedoms.

Did the three closest disciples of Jesus really listen well to Him? We know they did! Among the twelve apostles, James was the first who was martyred for preaching the gospel. He was beheaded by Herod Agrippa almost just a decade after the Pentecost event. Simon Peter also shed his blood for the gospel when the widespread persecution of Christians, under Emperor Nero, began in Rome. And John, although he was the only apostle who did not die a martyr’s death, suffered greatly nonetheless for the spread of the gospel before he passed away a blind and very old man in Ephesus.

Every second Sunday of Lent, this is the gospel we read because the Church wants us to hear every Lent the same command that Simon Peter, James, and John heard on top of the mountain of transfiguration. If we are indeed disciples of Jesus, we must likewise listen to the doctrine of the cross and make it the standard of our life. Discipleship demands sacrifices, but sacrifices, like that of Christ, should be life-giving sacrifices always.

The meaning of the Lord’s transfiguration for us is in listening to Him and not only in looking at Him. The voice from the cloud said, “This is My Son, My Chosen One. Listen to Him” and not “This is My Son, My Chosen One. Look at Him.” If we really want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we must obey His teachings. Obedience is impossible unless we listen.

“If today you hear His voice harden not your hearts” (Ps 95:7).

YOUR DREAM: EGYPT OR THE PROMISED LAND?

1st Sunday of Lent
Lk 4:1-13

At the heart of the Old Testament is the great story of freedom. God intervened to set His People free.

When a severe famine hit the land, the Israelites migrated to Egypt. But as they grew in number in the land of Pharaoh, the Egyptians felt threatened. Thus, they started using the Israelites as cheap labor and adopted a policy of systematic killing of newborn Israeli male infants. For many years, the yoke of slavery pressed unbearably heavy on the shoulders of the Israelites, but God heard the cry of His People, and, through Moses, set them free. The book of Exodus celebrates this momentous event of freedom from slavery and the beginning of the journey of the Israelites unto the Promised Land. The first reading in today’s Mass tells us how the Chosen People of God in the Old Testament kept alive this beautiful memory.

But after freedom from slavery, the Israelites faced a new problem: the wilderness. Their new freedom meant new hardships. The euphoria of liberation soon melted in the heat of the desert sand. The price of freedom is the desert after all. Many among the Israelites complained, wanting to return to Egypt rather than go through the wilderness. Some were very vocal in arguing that slavery with security in Egypt was sweeter than freedom with pain in the wilderness. Others even turned violent. All of them, at some point during their sojourn in the desert, became unfaithful to the God who gave them their freedom.

“For forty years, I endured that generation; I said, ‘they are a people gone astray and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My anger, ‘They shall not enter into my rest’” (Ps 95:10-11). For forty years, the Israelites were tested in the desert. Many times they were tested, many times they failed. At all times, God never gave up on them.

When the Israelites went hungry, they wonder if God cared at all. Their hearts were divided about God: they wanted to trust Him, but their groaning intestines made them doubt. The Promised Land seemed to be too far away while their hunger was here and now. Yet through their every experience in the desert, God was forming the Israelites to be a People uniquely His own. Deut 6:4 reveals the lesson God was teaching them through their experience of hunger: “…man does not live on bread alone, but on ever word that comes from the mouth of God.” Thus, when God finally gave them His commandments, there was really only one thing He was asking from them: their wholehearted dedication to Him. But Scripture testifies to the Israelite’s infidelity to so faithful a lover such as God. The very life of the Prophet Hosea spells out this love affair between God and Israel.

Jesus is the new Israel. Today, the First Sunday of Lent, we find Him in the same place where the Israelites lived and sojourned for forty years. Jesus is on retreat – praying and fasting – for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness.

Like the Israelites, Jesus is hungry and now being tested. Will He keep the ancient law of His People: to serve God with all His heart, with all His strength, and with all His soul? Is Jesus like the Israelites in the desert whose hearts were divided about God’s plan? Will He still trust God even with an empty stomach? Will He remain focused on His mission despite the defocusing effect of hunger?

We see in the gospel today that Jesus remains wholeheartedly loyal to His Father. “Where your treasure is there will your heart also be” (Lk 12:34) – this claim comes from more than His lips, it emanates from the core of His whole value system. His treasure is the Father’s will; thus, all His heart is there so do His mind, His arms, His feet, and, yes, even His stomach.

Jesus is tested about His attitude toward power and material wealth. Will He do anything and everything if only to be powerful and rich? Will He love God with all His strength? Is His strength found in the physical and material securities the world offers? Or is His love of God the might He wields? Will He cling to the kind of power and prestige that most people aspire for and admire? Will He entrust His kingdom to twelve weak apostles or to goons, guns, and gold?

The entire life of Jesus is now being previewed in the wilderness: a life of saying ‘no’ to this kind of power, possessions, and popularity. He is the best commentary to His teaching when He says, “You know that among pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:24-8).

Jesus is also tested if He believes that He can serve God without any hardships. Will He remain loyal to God with all His soul even if His own life is at stake? Will He risk His life for the sake of fulfilling His mission or will He value more His self-preservation? Will He continue loving God even if that very same loving kills Him?

Clearly, we see Jesus in the desert today saying ‘yes’ to fidelity to God even unto death. He is well aware that loving God does not, in any way, mean exemption from dangers and pains. He declares that we are saved but not safe. On the cross, where no angels come to His rescue, Jesus proves that His love for the Father is greater than His love for His own life. His soul He commends to Him.

Jesus is the new Israel. But unlike the Israelites in the desert, Jesus is faithful to God with all His heart, with all His strength, and with all His soul. We, the Church, is the new Israel formed by the Father through Christ Jesus His Son. How do we fare as we are being tested just as the Old Israel and Jesus Himself were tested in the wilderness? Do we strive, do we struggle, do we fight to be faithful to God? Or do we give in to our hunger, succumb to power and wealth at all cost, and preserve our life rather than lay it down for God? Are we Jesus or are we the Israelites in the desert?

We are being tested. We go through our own wilderness. The battle may take many forms, but there is only one fight for God. And there is only one weapon: the word of God, about whom St. Paul reminds us through his letter to the Romans, in the second reading today, “…is very near to you, it is on your lips and in your heart.”

In Gal 5:1, St. Paul likewise admonishes us: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

So, what do you dream about: Egypt or the Promised Land?

ALAM MO BA KUNG NASAAN?

Ika-anim na Linggo sa Karaniwang Panahon
Lk 6:17, 20-26

Kamakailan, nabasa ko ang isang artikulo na pinamagatang “The American Fairy Tale”. Sa artikulong ito, tinatalakay ni Dr. Harold Treffert, director ng Winnebago Mental Health Institute sa Wisconsin, ang laganap na mga pananaw tungkol sa kaligayahan. Inilista niya ang limang mga ideyang karaniwan at walang-pangingilatis na tinatangkilik ng karamihan bilang kahulugan ng kaligayahan. Isa-isahin natin sila at suriin natin kung ang mga iyon din ang pananaw natin sa kaligayahan.

Una, ang kaligayahan ay mga bagay. Mas marami kang meron, mas merong kang kaligayahan. Sori na lang sa kaunti lang ang meron, kaunti lang din ang kaligayahan nila. Kawawa naman ang walang-wala dahil wala rin silang kaligayahan.

Ikalawa, ang kaligayahan ay ang mga nakamit. Kung marami kang nakamit, mas maligaya ka. Ang kaligayahan ay tuwirang nakaayon sa iyong mga nagawa na sa buhay. Parang sweldo sa trabaho ang kaligayahan. Kapag kaunti ang kita, kaunti rin ang kaligayahan. Ang kaligayahan ay ang pagiging isang “accomplished” na tao. Ang “accomplished” na tao ay taong naka-“accomplish” nga.

Ikatlo, ang kaligayahan ay pakikibagay. Mas “in” ka, mas maligaya ka. Huwag kang maiiba sa lahat. Huwag lalangoy kontra sa agos ng tubig. Malungkot ang mga naiiba dahil ine-etsepuwera. Kaya ika nga ng isang kawikaan, “If you cannot beat them, join them!” Makibagay at maging maligaya. Maiba at magdusa ka!

Ikaapat, ang kaligayahan ay kalusugang pangkaisipan. Mas kaunti ang problema mo, eh di mas maligaya ka. At tandaan: ang isa pang pangalan sa kaligayahan ay kawalang-inaalala. Pero kapag biglang sumulpot sa harap mo ang problema, madaling bumaling sa alcohol, drugs, at sex. At dahil malamang hindi malulutas ng alcohol, drugs, at sex ang mga problema mo – sa halip, palalalain pa nila ang mga ito – andiyan naman ang “rehab”, hindi ba? Sana nga lang hindi pa huli ang lahat.

Ang ikalimang ideya ay akmang-akma sa ating panahon: ang kaligayahan ay ang pagkakaroon at paggamit ng electronic gadgets. Talaga namang nakakakuryente ang kaligayahan! Mas maganda ang cellphone mo, mas maligaya ka. Mas moderno ang appliances mo, mas maligaya ka. Mas mamahalin ang kotse mo, mas maligaya ka. Mas marunong kang mag-computer, mas maligaya ka.

Ito ba ang mga ideya natin tungkol sa kaligayahan? Kung ito rin nga, naku, hindi tayo endangered pero in danger tayo. Mapanganib ang mga ideyang ito.

Ayon kay Dr. Treffert, ang limang mga pakahulugang ito sa kaligayahan, sa tutoo lang, ay mga mito. Hindi tunay na kaligayahan ang binibigay nila sa atin; sa halip, kabaliwan. Sinabi niya na ang limang mapapanganib na ideyang ito tungkol sa kaligayahan ang karaniwang sanhi ng mga sakit sa kaisipan. Kung gayon, saan natin natatagpuan ang wagas na kaligayahan?

Isang matandang mito ang naglalahad ng isang kuwento tungkol sa kaligayahan. Isang araw, ika, nagtipon ang mga diyus-diyosan para sa isang paligsahan. Gusto nilang mapatunayan kung sino sa kanila ang pinakamarunong. Napagkaisahan nilang itago ang kaligayahan. Sinumang makapagtago sa kaligayahan at hindi ito matagpuan ng tao ay siyang ituturing na pinakadakila sa kanila at paglilingkuran siya ng lahat ng mga diyus-diyosan.

Isang diyus-diyosan ang kaagad na tumayo at dinala ang kaligayahan sa pusod ng dagat. Naramdaman kaagad ng tao ang kawalan ng kaligayahan at nagsimula itong maghanap. Hindi nagtagal, naimbento niya ang submarine at iba’t ibang mga sasakyang pang-ilalim ng dagat. Sinisid niya ang pusod ng dagat at natagpuan doon ang kaligayahan.

Isa pang diyus-diyosan ang kumuha sa kaligayahan mula sa tao at itinapon ito sa kalawakan. Matapos ang ilang panahon, nadiskumbre rin ng tao kung paano makukuhang muli ang kaligayahan. Tinungo niya ang mga kalangitan at sinakop ang kalawakan sa pamamagitan ng rocket ships, satellites, at inter-gallactic missions. Wala pang katulad ang nakamit ng tao sa larangang ito, kaya madali niya itong tinawag na kapangyarihan.

Nang magkagayon, isang pang diyus-diyosan ang humarap sa hamon at tinago ang kaligayahan sa cyber space. Subalit hindi lamang nilakbay ng tao ang fiber optics at mga gaya nito, hindi nagtagal ginawa na niyang virtual reality ang cyber reality. Ang kanyang mundo ay hindi lamang lumiit; naging tahanan na rin ito ng bagong nilalang na kung tawagin ay “anime”. Tila laging abot-kamay lamang ng tao ang kaligayahan.

Susuko na sana ang mga diyus-diyosan. Hindi nila maitago sa tao ang kaligayahan. Gayon ang kanilang kalagayan nang mula sa kawalan ay kinuha ng isa pang diyus-diyosan ang kaligayahan at itinago ito. Saan? Hindi malaman ng tao ni maging ng ibang mga diyus-diyosan. Ikaw, alam mo ba?

Ako alam ko! Pero hindi ko sasabihin sa inyo. Tanungin nyo na lang po si Kristo.

YOU HAVE BEEN CAUGHT!

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lk 5:1-11

There comes a time in our lives when we face the stark reality of our own weaknesses and failures. We clearly see our sins written in big strokes, and we know that, alone, we cannot correct our mistakes in life. Our feeling of helplessness, and, sometimes, even hopelessness, is very overwhelming that any dream for change seems to be just that – a dream. Tired and losing hope, we seem to be stuck. We wonder if anyone notices our depression. We doubt if God cares at all. Why should God give importance to sinners like us?

This seems to be the predominant sentiment in our readings this Sunday. With his vision in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Prophet Isaiah’s awareness of God’s holiness grew intense. But when he turned his attention to himself, it was not much of a vision: “What a wretched state I am in,” he said, “I am lost.” The Prophet saw God’s holiness as a very beautiful reality that highlighted his own sinfulness. He was very sad. But he did not wallow in his self-misery. When God offered him forgiveness, he accepted it. His belief in the truth of God’s forgiveness freed him to respond to God’s challenge. He was no longer preoccupied with his unworthiness and, released by God’s forgiveness, he committed himself to the mission God was inviting him to share: “Here I am, send me.”

The same is true with the gospel today. Simon Peter and his friends were seasoned fishermen. They knew that it was during the night when fish swim to the surface; thus, evening fishing was a logical routine for them. But they were out in the sea all night long catching nothing. The Carpenter then taught the fishermen. Jesus gave Simon Peter this advice: “Put out into the deep and lower down your nets for a catch.” Confident about his experiential knowledge of marine life, Simon Peter replied: “Master, we have worked all night long and caught nothing.” Perhaps, it was mere fatigue that kept him from arguing with Jesus. We do not discount growing faith in Jesus though. Thus, Simon Peter told Jesus, “…but if you say so, I will lower down the nets.” And, alas, a great catch! So great was the catch they made that the nets started to tear and the boats were about to capsize.

The Carpenter from Nazareth caught the fishermen from Galilee. Each of us, who follows this Carpenter, has his own fish-story to tell. All of us have been invited to go out fishing with Him. And all of us are also challenged by our sense of unworthiness. We all have been caught by Jesus and realized more than ever our “fish-iness”. But despite everything, Jesus is a stubborn fisherman: He makes fishermen out of fish.

When Simon Peter saw the hand of God in the events that unfolded before him, he likewise saw his own sinfulness before God. His pastoral advice to Jesus was to go and leave him because a sinful man like him should never be worth God’s trouble.

Happily, Jesus did not follow Simon Peter’s advice. Had Jesus listened to him, this gospel would not have been good news at all. For the good news in the gospel today is the miraculous catch of fish but the loving catch of fishy people like Simon Peter. The entire gospel, in fact, is about Jesus seeking and saving the lost (Cf. Lk 19:10). He journeyed into people’s lives. He approached them, not ran away from them. He mingled with sinners and sat at table with them, listening to their stories and challenging them unto a new way of living. Come to think of it, throughout His entire earthly life, Jesus was never far from sinners. Even in death, He hang between two of them.

Jesus wanted Simon Peter to share in the same mission; thus, He called Simon Peter away from his fixation with his own sinfulness and self-preoccupation. Simon Peter accepted his own unworthiness. That was already enough. That was already a good start. Jesus would continue the journey of conversion and guide Simon Peter in seeing himself as a leader who leads people closer to God, a leader whose convincing authority comes not from his own credentials but from the mercy of God whose first recipient he was. Jesus brought to fore Simon Peter’s importance and challenged him to do the same with others by becoming a fisher of men. This, Jesus does to us, too.

There is a wonderful lesson here for all of us. Yes, we are sinners but we are not worthless. Jesus never throws us away because we are dirty with our sins. He believes that each of us is not the sum total of his or her weaknesses, mistakes, failures, and sins. Jesus has other plans for us because He believes that sinners have a future, not only a past. For Jesus, we – sinners though we are – are not only worth dying for; we are worth rising for.

“Be not afraid” – Jesus tells us. “Come and let’s go fishing today” – He invites us. More than the catch we make with Him, it is our transformation from fish to fishers of men that is truly miraculous.

Jesus has caught us and our hearts are His forever. With Him, let us catch the others. For Him, let us lower our nets into the deep. There are more fish stories out there waiting to be heard. But they will never be heard, for their owners will not even dare speak, unless someone tells them – in a truly convincing way – that they are loved more than they know.