For Andrew

My dear friends in Christ, you no longer see your beloved Andrew since last year. And yet in celebrating his birthday today,  you allow us to see who Andrew is for you. You made us see what you see in him. We see how you his family loves him. We see that though Andrew is out of your sight, he is never out of your mind. He is still in your memories, and from your memories, he has been making his way into the depths of your hearts, and from your hearts, he enters, ever so quietly and gently, into your every day life. At this point, it reminds me of the first letter of Peter1:8 which states: You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. This bible passage reminds us of the power of love. It is love that makes you see Andrew whom the world couldn't see. It is love that makes you believe that he is in your midst though the world could not feel his presence. It is love that makes you hope to see him again and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. It is love that keeps you waiting for him. I remember last year, during the first few weeks when Andrew was missing, the family hoped to see him coming home. In fact, the family has never been tired of waiting for him. As days went by, the family never realized that it takes too long to wait just as the proverbs say, A WATCHED POT NEVER BOILS. It seems it takes forever to wait for Andrew. The time seems to be too fast for this world yet in searching and finding Andrew everything seems so slow. Though waiting itself might give anybody an uncomfortable feeling, the family has never bothered the discomfort while waiting for Andrew because their love for Andrew is beyond contestation.It is love that keeps you waiting for him. Today, one year has already passed and still the family hopes to see Andrew again. They are not tired of waiting. They are not tired of loving him. Some people would say it is useless to wait for Andrew. Others also say it is now time to make a closure in the family and accept that Andrew is gone. Well, they may be right. But who can stop the power of love? Though the intellect takes the matter of waiting for Andrew as impossible, it is love that makes Andrew worth waiting for.  If one has to understand why the family keeps hoping to see Andrew, he must know how to love first. Jesus once said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to the childlike. -Matthew 11:25 As of now, we do not know where Andrew is and how is he. The only truth we have about him is that we have not seen him. And by not seeing him, we can only speculate and give our presumptions. Yet let us be comforted by the Scripture which we have taken from the first letter of Peter1: 8. You will rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. It means you will see Andrew again and be filled with joy. This will all take place in God's way and in God's time. Watch out! Stay alert! For you do not know when the time will come. -Mark 13:33. Amen.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the history of the Church, the first Christians were persecuted by hanging them on the cross, burning them at stake, fed them to wild beasts and were even decapitated. But before they faced the final execution, they were put first in prison. There they prayed to God, keeping their faith alive. Yet there were some who denied their faith in exchange for their freedom. They valued their life, liberty and property more than their faith in God. It was in this kind of situation therefore that those Christians who were about to face death, needed more graces from God to keep their faith alive. It was in this kind of event that Tarcisius, a thirteen year old boy was sent to those Christians in jail to give them the Body of Christ. But on his way to jail, some unbelievers saw him and tried to take away the sacred host, the Body of Christ from him. But Tarcisius never allowed them to get hold of the sacred host. So the unbelievers threw stones on him until some  Christians arrived to help the little boy, Tarcisius.  Before he died, he made it sure that the sacred host, the Body of Christ was on a safe hand of a bishop.   My dear friends in Christ, this story of Tarcisius, the patron saint of altar servers reminds us of the meaning of Christianity. What it means to be a Christian? We know that to be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And in being a follower, early Christians would mean it literally as they were not afraid to face death for the sake of their faith in Christ. But in our time, how do we follow Christ? Well, we are lucky enough that in our time, we do not face death because of our faith. We are never persecuted because we follow Christ. So how do we follow Jesus Christ now? In our Gospel according to Luke 9:58, it is implied that Jesus would tell us that in following him, we have to realize that he did not promise us a comfortable life. From time to time, we face problems of life. Can we still believe in Him when life becomes difficult?  In Luke 9:59, it is also implied that Jesus did not promise us he would erase death. Can we still believe that there is God when death visits our beloved ones? In Luke 9:60, it is implied that Jesus did not promise us that there is no distraction in life. Man needs to exert more efforts to focus on following Christ. All these mean that it is not easy being a Christian even today in our easy world. We need God's grace. We need grace in order to sustain and maintain the faith we have in Christ. If we receive God's grace, then we can be able to follow Christ and be like Christ. We will not just sit down and do nothing for our faith. Like Christ, we have to preach the message of God. Like Christ, we have to become God's channel of his love. With Christ, our faith should always be seen in action. We cannot allow ourselves to be indifferent if we are true followers of Christ. If we want to follow him, then we have to follow him all the way. Amen.