THE GREATEST OF GIFTS

1^st Sunday of Advent

Mk 13:33-37

          We begin today the joyful and holy season of Advent.  We regard this season to be focused on an intense preparation for the Lord’s two-fold coming: at the end of time and in history when He was born on Christmas day.  The term “advent” came from the Latin word “adventus”; meaning, “a coming,” “approach”, “arrival”.  And because it is the Lord Jesus who is coming, we are admonished to prepare well.  Moreover, while His birth already happened, His coming at the end of time is yet to occur.  And because we do not know when that coming of His at the end of time will be, we are always reminded by the Church to be vigilant less the Lord finds us in deep slumber.

          But Advent is not only about preparation and vigilance.  It is first of all about hope.  For what reason do we have to prepare and keep watch when we do not hope for the coming we are preparing for and keeping watch about?  We prepare and keep watch precisely because we hope.  We wait for the Lord because we hope in the Lord.  And we are certain of our hope not because we already see the object of our hope but because the Lord, who gave us His word, is always worthy of our trust.  Advent is a celebration of our unwavering hope in the Lord.

          Hope funds our waiting.  A wife glances at the door, expecting her husband to come in, for she hopes that he would be home safe and sound.  A child waits at the airport, scanning the horizon for its father’s plane to touch down, for it hopes that its family would be complete this Christmas.  A father or a mother is always at the lookout, waiting for a prodigal child to come home soon, for any parent hopes children would never forget the unconditional love of the home.  An old man sits each day in a nursing home, waiting for a visit, for he hopes someone would be kind enough to pay him one.  A board exam taker prays, waiting for the results of the board exam, for he hopes he would pass it.  Young couples wait with growing expectation for the birth of their baby, for they hope they would be parents soon.  A fetus quietly waits for nine months in its mother’s womb, for it hopes it would have a birthday someday.  All of them wait; and so do we.  For them and for us, waiting tests the quality of our hope.  To tamper with the needed waiting is dangerous, bringing about catastrophic results.  Indeed, we are simply powerless to bring about what we hope for; all we can do is wait.

          There is no life without waiting.  We all had to wait to be born, to be nourished, to be loved.  The fullness of life is not available to us like an instant coffee, for there is more to life and to people than we can ever deal with at any one time.  We must wait.

          Advent tells us that we also need to wait for God.  God is beyond our grasp.  We cannot possess Him.  We cannot see Him.  We cannot hurry Him.  All we can do is to let God reveal Himself to us.  So, we can only wait for God, with the hope that He would come to us, manifest Himself to us, speak to us.  There is really something very deeply moving about this view on Advent: when we wait for God, we acknowledge our own incompleteness.  Waiting for God is humbly recognizing that there is always more to God than what we already know about Him and what we already experience in Him.  Rightly understood, Advent is us proclaiming our hope in a God we can never “have”.  And when we wait for God, with hearts filled with hope, our waiting becomes a prayer: we give witness to the poverty of our humanity and the greatness of His divinity.

          What characterizes this prayer that emanates from our waiting?  The readings on this first Sunday of Advent tell us.

The first reading gives us a glimpse of the difficulty people face when their waiting for God seems to be in vain.  The Israelites are finally free from the Babylonian captivity and are already back in their own homeland.  But Jerusalem has been reduced to ruins.  God’s silence does not help either; it is very deafening.  He seems to be too far beyond their reach.  However, they continue hoping in Him.  But God sends no signs at all to confirm their hope.  Understandably, the Israelites become weary with waiting, tired of hearing nothing from God.  All they can do now is to remember what God actually and already did for them in the past, most especially in the Exodus story.  And when they remember God as their Redeemer they bring the past into the present, they re-live God’s fidelity to His covenant with them.  Through remembering their hope is renewed and they continue to hold on to their relationship with God.  The memory of God’s faithful love for His people gives people a reason to wait because it builds up their hope.  Thus, remembering becomes sacred.  That sacred memory serves as a light for them in the midst of darkness.

Advent must be for us a season of remembering.  We have to remember to hope.  Our prayerful waiting should sharpen our memory of God’s fidelity to us that is manifested by the graces we receive from Him as Church and as individual disciples of His Son, Jesus.  As our waiting is funded by hope so is hope funded by our memory of God’s faithful love for us.

          The Apostle Paul gives us the second characteristic of the kind of prayer that should emanate from our waiting for the Lord.  In the second reading for today, St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, thanks God.  Please note that he thanks God for all the graces that others (in this case, the people of Corinth) received through Jesus Christ.  He is happy that they have been enriched in many ways, most especially in terms of witnessing to Christ and of having the gifts of the Spirit while they wait for the revelation of the Lord Jesus on the last day.  Then he ends his litany of thanks by proclaiming the fidelity of God.

          Advent is a special time for us to be grateful to God.  And the specialty our thanksgiving must come from our gratitude for the people around us.  We are happy that others (and not only our selves) are blest by God’s fidelity in many and varied ways.  We rejoice in the blessings of others and are not envious of them.  They are precisely the reason for us to say as St. Paul did, “I never cease thanking God for all the graces you have received through Jesus Christ.”

Finally, the Gospel for the first Sunday of Advent this year tells us that the kind of prayer that should emanate from our waiting for the Lord ought to be vigilant.  We know from salvation history that the hope of God’s people went not in vain; however, so many others failed to recognize the Redeemer they were waiting for when finally He came.

God answers cries of waiting and prayers of hope: “Jesus” is the name of His response.  Jesus is the very incarnation of God’s fidelity to His people who, though struggling, remain unwavering in their hope in Him.  It is, therefore, the regret of all our regrets if, like the Jews of His time, we fail to recognize Jesus when He comes to us be it at the end of time or even now in many and varied ways.  We ought, therefore, to be vigilant, watchful, and discerning of the signs of His coming to us.

          As we light the first candle in our Advent wreath, may our hearts light up as well with the hope that this holy and joyful season should renew in us and actually move us to share with others.  Let us light not only the candles in the wreath; let us light one another’s life with the fire of hope that funds our waiting for the Lord, the kind of hope that only the person who never forgets how faithful God is, who can be grateful for the blessings of others, and who is ever-vigilant in the ways of the Lord.

          As long as there is Christmas I truly do believe that hope is the greatest of gifts we’ll receive.

BULAGA!

Dakilang Kapistahan ni Kristong Hari

Mt 25:31-46

            Mahilig po palang manggulat si Jesus.  Ang mga sirkumstansya ng Kanyang personal na buhay – punung-puno ng mga kagulat-gulat na bagay.  Ipinaglihi at isinilang Siya ng isang birhen.  Isang tala sa silangan at hukbo ng mga anghel ang nagbalita ng Kanyang kapanganakan, na siya namang umakay sa mga pastol at mga pantas sa Kanyang paanan.  Nang labindalawang taong gulang pa lamang Siya ay nagpaiwan Siya sa Templo at natagpuan Siya ng Kanyang mga magulang na nakikipagtalakayan sa mga dalubhasa sa Batas.  Nakisalamuha Siya sa mga kilalang makasalanan at ang barkada Niya ay labindalawang kalalakihan na karamihan ay mga walang-pinag-aralan.  Napakalaki at napakabigat ng Kanyang misyon pero naghintay pa Siya nang tatlumpung taon bago Niya sinimulan ang Kanyang hayagang ministeryo na siya namang tatagal lamang nang tatlong taon bago Siya humantong sa isang kahindik-hindik na kamatayan sa krus.  At maka-ikatlong araw matapos ang malagim Niyang kamatayan, ang balita na Siya ay magmuling-nabuhay ay kumalat na parang apoy.

            Hindi lamang ang mga detalye ng Kanyang buhay ang kagulat-gulat talaga.  Pati mga turo Niya ay tutoo namang bumubulaga sa kahit kanino.  Ipinangaral Niya ang isang kaharian na kung saan ang una ay mahuhuli at ang huli ay mauuna raw.  Gumamit Siya ng mga talinhagang kadalasan ay kagulat-gulat, kundi man kabagabagabag, sa Kanyang mga tagapakinig: ang Talinhaga ng Mabuting Samaritano, ang Talinhaga ng Alibughang Anak, at marami pang iba.  Itinuro Niya na ang meron ay bibigyan pa samantalang ang wala ay kukunan ng kahit ang kakaunting meron siya.  Para sa Kanya, ang pinakadakila sa mata ng Diyos ay yaong pinakaaba; inihalimbawa niya ang isang bata para bigyang-diin ang Kanyang aral.  Sabi Niya, ang lihim ng pagkakamit ng buhay ay nasa pagkawala nito.  Katakut-takot na bulaga.

            Ngayong dakilang kapistahan ng Kanyang pagiging hari at siya ring huling Linggo ng taong liturhikal, may mga pambulaga ulit si Jesus sa ating lahat.  Ang tagpo ay ang araw ng huling paghuhukom, kung kailan ang lahat ng tao – buhay man o pumanaw na – ay titinupin at paghihiwa-hiwalayin: ang mga pinagpala at ang mga isinumpa.  Sa Kanyang muling pagbabalik sa wakas ng panahon, may tatlo pang panggugulat si Jesus bilang Hari at Hukom ng sankatauhan.

Ang unang panggulat Niya ay ito: hindi Niya bibigyan ng partikular na pansin ang makikinang na sandali sa kasaysayan ng sankatauhan.  Wala Siyang babanggitin tungkol sa malalaking tagumpay ng sankatauhan na kadalasan ay itinatala at nababasa natin sa mga aklat ng kasaysayan ng mundo.  Hindi  interesado si Jesus sa pagsakop ng tao sa kalawakan ni sa mga pagtuklas ng agham, medesina, at teknolohiya.  Dedma Siya sa mga pagpapatalsik sa mga diktador at mga rehimeng pulitikal.  Walang dating sa Kanya ang mga pangalang Galileo Galelei, Copernicus, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, at iba pa.  Sa halip, ang pagtutuunan Niya ng pansin ay ang mga tila napaka-ordinaryong gawain para sa karamihan sa atin: pagpapakain sa nagugutom, pagpapainom sa nauuhaw, pagdaramit sa hubad, pagmamalasakit sa kapwa gaya ng mga maysakit, mga nakapiit, at mga dayuhan.

Ang ikalawa ay ito: sa araw ng paghuhukom, iisa ang tanong ng mga pinagpala at ng mga isinumpa: “Panginoon, kailan Ka po naming nakita?”  At iisa lang din naman ang Kanyang magiging sagot: “Anumang gawin ninyo sa pinakamaliit Kong mga kapatid, sa Akin ninyo iyon ginawa.  Anumang hindi ninyo gawin sa pinakamaliit Kong mga kapatid, sa Akin ninyo iyon hindi ginawa.”  Bubulagain ni Jesus ang lahat sa pagpapakilala Niya sa nakababagabag na katauhan ng mga dukha.  Kaya nga’t kung may darating na taga ibang planeta rito sa daigdig at itatanong sa atin kung saan niya matatagpuan si Jesus, kakailanganin din natin siyang dalhin sa mga kakaibang dambana at hindi lamang sa mga basilika, katedral, simbahan, kapilya, o kumbento.  Dapat din nating dalhin ang taga ibang planetang iyon sa squatter areas, refugee camps, mga ospital, mga bahay-ampunan, homes for the aged, mga bilangguan, at mga eskenitang madidilim, makikipot, at mababaho.  Sasabihin natin sa taga ibang planetang iyon na matatagpuan si Jesus sa mga suluk-sulok doon.  At sabihin na rin natin sa kanya na ang mga katulad ni Jesus ay matatagpuan din sa mga lugar na iyon, pinakakain ang nagugutom, pinaiinom ang nauuhaw, dinadamtan ang nakahubad, inaalagan ang maysakit, binibisita ang bilanggo, pinatutuloy ang dayuhan, at pinaglilingkuran ang sinumang may pangangailangan.  Anupa nga ba’t samantalang sa maraming mga simbahan natin ay nakaukit sa bato ang mga katagang ito, Domus Dei et Porta Caeli (“House of God and Gate of Heaven”), ang address pa rin ng Diyos ay ang puso ng tao.  Ang paborito pa rin Niyang tahanan ay ang mga dukha at hindi ang malalamig na simbahang bato, gaano man kagaganda ng mga ito.

Ang ikatlong surpresa ni Jesus ay talaga namang nakababagabag para sa marami sa atin.  Ang bigat ng pagkakasala ng mga isinumpa ay susukatin hindi ng mga pagkakasalang kanilang ginawa kundi ng mga kabutihang hindi nila ginawa.  Oo nga’t may mga kasalanan ang mga isinumpa; pero, pareho-pareho namang mga makasalanan ang mga isinumpa at ang mga pinagpala, hindi ba?  Ngunit pansin n’yo ba na sa Talinhaga ng Huling Paghuhukom ay walang binabanggit ang Panginoon na anumang masamang ginawa ng mga isinumpa?  Ang sabi lang ay “Nagugutom Ako ngunit hindi ninyo Ako pinakain.”  Hindi sinabing, “Nagugutom Ako at inagawan mo pa ako ng pagkain.”  Sa halip, ang hatol ay nakabatay sa mabuting hindi ginawa.  Hinatulan ng impiyerno ang mga isinumpa dahil sa mabuting hindi nila ginawa.

Sa wakas ng panahon, may tatlong huling panggulat si Jesus sa atin.  Ang higit na matimbang pala sa Kanya ay hindi ang mga makalaglag-pangang nagawa natin kundi ang pangkaraniwang bagay na ating ginawa.  Nakatatagpo na pala natin Siya sa mga dukha at aba bago pa natin Siya makaharap nang personal bilang Siya.  Malaking pagkakamali pala ang mabagabag lang sa masamang nagawa at maging manhid sa mabuting hindi ginawa.

Pagbalik ni Jesus, mabubulaga ka kaya?

HINDI PAGGAWA NG MASAMA – HINDI SAPAT YAN!

Ikatatlumpu’t Tatlong Linggo sa Karaniwang Panahon

Mt 25:14-30

          Ang ikadalawampu’t limang kabanata ng Ebanghelyo ayon kay San Mateo ay nahahati sa tatlong talinhaga.  Ang una, na siyang binasa nati’t pinagnilayan noong nakaraang Linggo, ay ang Talinhaga ng Sampung Dalaga.  Ang ikalawa, na siya namang Ebanghelyo natin ngayong Linggong ito, ay ang Talinhaga ng Mga Talento.  At ang ikatlo, na siyang babasahin sa susunod na Linggo, ang Dakilang Kapistahan ni Kristong Hari, ay ang Tallinhaga ng Huling Paghuhukom.  Sa kabanatang ito ng Ebanghelyo ayon kay San Mateo, napakalinaw na ipinaaalala sa atin ang tatlong mahahalagang bagay: una, magbabalik ang Panginoong Jesus sa wakas ng panahon; ikalawa, ang pagbabalik na ito ng Panginoong Jesus, na siya nga ring katapusan ng mundong ito, ay magaganap sa panahong hindi lamang na hindi natin alam kung kailan, bagamat tiyak na tiyak na magaganap, kundi sa panahon ding hindi natin inaasahan; at ikatlo, pagbalik ng Panginoong Jesus sa wakas ng panahon o sa mismong pagharap natin sa Kanya sa sandali ng ating kamatayan, alinman ang mauna sa dalawa, isusulit natin sa Kanya ang naging pamumuhay natin sa mundong ito.

          Subalit ang nakapupukaw-pansin tungkol sa tatlong talinhagang ito na bumubuo sa ikadalawampu’t limang kabanat ng Ebanghelyo ayon kay San Mateo ay ito: ang mga naparusahan sa bawat-isang talinhaga ay hindi inilalarawang mga masama o mga imoral o mga makasalanang tao.  Yaong limang dalaga sa unang talinhaga – mga hangal lang sila.  Yaong ikatlong lingkod sa talinhaga ngayong araw na ito, na sa halip na ipangalakal ang talentong ipinagkatiwala sa kanya ng kanyang panginoon upang sana ay kumita naman ito ay ibinaon na lamang ito sa lupa – takot lamang siyang magtaya.  At yaong mga hindi pinagpala ng hari sa Talinhaga ng Huling Paghuhukom – hindi naman sinabing mga mamamatay tao sila o mga manggagantyo o mga mahahalay o mga maninirang-puri o mga magnanakaw o mga tiwali o mga pusakal na kriminal.  Malinaw sa ikatlong talinhaga na isinumpa ang mga nasa kaliwa ng hari hindi dahil sa anumang masamang nagawa nila kundi dahil sa mabuting hindi nila ginawa.  Palibhasa, pareho namang mga makasalanan ang nasa kaliwa at kanan ng hari.

          Maaari nating maitanong tungkol sa talinhaga ng Linggong ito: “Ano bang napakalaking kasalanan ang nagawa ng ikatlong lingkod para parusahan siya ng kanyang panginoon nang gayon-gayon na lamang?  May nilabag ba siya sa Sampung Utos nang ibaon niya sa lupa ang talentong ipinagkatiwala sa kanya?  Mabuti nga’t hindi niya ito nilustay, at sa halip ay ibinalik pa nga sa kanyang panginoon na siyang tunay na nagmamay-ari niyon.  Anong masama ang ginawa ng kawawang lingkod na ito?”  Malinaw ang sagot.  Wala.  Walang ginawang masama ang ikatlong lingkod.  Pero wala rin naman siyang ginawang mabuti dahil ang mabuting hinihingi sa kanya ng pagkakaton ay ang palaguin ang ipinagkatiwala sa kanya.  Pero pinalago ba niya?  Hindi.  Binuro niya!  Ibinaon niya sa lupa.  Hindi nga niya winaldas, pero pinawalang-saysay naman niya.  Tama ang kanyang panginoon, sana nga man lamang ay inilagak niya sa bangko nang kahit paano ay kumita pa ito.  Ngunit hindi.  Wala siyang ginawang mabuti.

          Ikaw, may ginawa ka na bang mabuti?  Yun talagang mabuti?  Yung mabuting-mabuti?  Yung dalisay – hindi lamang basta mabuti – dahil wala kang hinihintay na kapalit kaya mo ginawa ang mabuting iyon, at hindi mo iyon ginawa para maging sikat ka o para magka-utang-na-loob sa iyo ang ginawan mo ng kabutihan?  Palagian mo ba itong ginagawa o depende sa ihip ng hangin?  Ang paggawa ba ng mabuti ay likas na ugali mo o libangan mo lang?  Ang paggawa ba ng mabuti sa kapwa sa pamamagitan ng mga kakayahan, mga pagkakataon, at iba pang mga biyayang ipinagkaloob sa iyo ng Dios ay mahalagang bahagi, para sa iyo, ng iyong pagiging Kristiyano o sapat na para sa iyo ang pananampalatayang pansarili lamang?  Ayos na para sa iyo ang pasimba-simba lang?

          Kailangan nating pag-isipan ang mga katanungang ito at katulad pa nito dahil halos ipagsigawan na sa atin ang mensaheng matalik na kaugnay ng pagsusulit natin ng ating buhay sa Panginoon: ang magiging pinal na hatol sa atin ay nakabatay hindi lamang sa masamang ating ginawa kundi pati rin sa mabuting hindi natin ginawa, o masahol pa, ayaw nating gawin.

          May dalawang uri ng kasalanan.  Ang isa ay “kasalanan ng paggawa” o sin of commission, kung saan ay may ginawang masama talaga.  Ang isa pa ay ang “kasalanan ng hindi paggawa” o sin of omission, kung saan naman ay may hindi ginawang mabuti.  Kung kaya nga’t, bagamat awa pa rin ng Diyos ang magliligtas sa atin, ang kaligtasan ay hindi lamang tungkol sa pag-iwas sa masama.  Ito ay paggawa rin ng mabuti.

          Iwasan nating gumawa ng masama.  Pero huwag din naman nating kaliligtaan ang paggawa ng mabuti, ng tunay na mabuti, ng dalisay na mabuti. 

          Nababagabag ka ba kapag may nagawa kang masama?  E kapag may mabuti na hindi mo ginawa – nakakatulog ka ba?

DON'T BE FOOLISH!

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mt 25:1-13

These last few days, we commemorated the departed in a special way.  We prayed for all of them – known and unknown to us.  We offered Masses for them – all who have gone ahead of us to the bosom of the Father.  But in an even more special way, we remembered our very own dearly departed – our family members, relatives, friends, and acquaintances who already crossed from this side of life to the other.  We visited their graves, brought them flowers, lit a candle or two for them, and prayed for them.  The desire to be closest as possible to the sorely missed urged many to trek the roads that led to their remains consigned to the earth.  And so, at the grave of our dearly departed we arrived.  And being close to their remains, we found our selves not only closest to the dead but closer, too, to the living.  The living gathered around the dead.  The meeting with the dead became the rendezvous of the living.

Remembering our dearly departed became an occasion for many of us for a petite family reunion.  We did not only pray for our beloved demised.  We did not only think about the days we shared with them, the ups and downs of life, the joys and sorrows of earthly existence, the dreams we weaved together with them, the many common experience we had with them while they were still physically present.  Rather, we, the living exchanged stories about the dead.  While we tried to make our remembering solemn, it was not always quiet.  We spoke about our memories of our dearly departed.  We did not only talk to them in our silent thoughts and prayers.  We also talked about them with those gathered with us around their remains.

But curiosity, if not piety, sometimes moves me to stroll around the cemetery, passing through several graves other than those of my loved ones.  These past few days, I went to the cemetery thrice: twice to my dad’s and once to my grandparents.  While there, I went around and visited their “neighbors”.  I noticed that quite a number of those buried were born in the same year I was born: 1967.  They were my batch mates in entering the world, but not in leaving it.  I lingered at one grave whose occupant was just a few months younger than me.  And as I stood pensive by his remains, I seemed to hear a voice within saying, “He could be you, you know.  The remains that lie here could be yours.  You could be dead your self.  But you are not.  Not yet.  Someday.”  This voice within did not send chills down my spine.  Rather, it caused me to reflect even deeper about something many of us, consciously or unconsciously, refuse to give a considerable thought: death, our own individual dying.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “In life, there are only two things we are certain of: taxes and death.”  Very true!  We do not know when, we do not know how, and we do not know where, but you and I will all die someday.  Our Christian faith tells us though that death is not the end of everything.  It is but a passage from this life to eternity.  But where we will spend that eternity depends on the kind of life we live today.  When that someday arrives, we all hope that we are ready.  Otherwise, we are no better than the five foolish virgins in the Gospel today.

We already know for certain that when we die, we shall give an accounting of our life to the Lord.  To continue living on earth without any serious thought about that day is therefore foolishness.  Only a fool will spend his days here like he will be here forever.  Only a fool will not use every means he has to prepare himself for that great wedding banquet in heaven.  How foolish is he who takes eternity lightly!  More foolish is he who doubts it.

The five virgins in the parable today were not bad or immoral or sinful individuals so that they were not allowed entrance into the wedding banquet.  The Gospel does not say anything about their moral state.  What the parable says is that those five virgins were foolish.  They missed the chance of entering into the wedding banquet for the simple reason that they were not prepared.

May we never be foolish.  May we always be prepared.  Let our lamps burn brightly to welcome the Lord anytime and anywhere.  May we never run out of oil for our lamps.  Our oil will be prayer and love.  Prayer keeps us vigilant and love makes us welcome Jesus not only in death but in the person of everyone we meet.

Not all can remain virgins, but some people can remain foolish for the rest of their lives.  When it is time for others to visit our graves, they will not know if we are foolish.  But we will know for sure.