13th Sunday in 2015

Our Gospel is taken from Mark 5: 21-43 which I call “The Double Miracle” Story. It is a double miracle not only because there are two miracles in this one Gospel event but more of the following considerations: First, there were TWO women as subjects of healing and they were opposite in age and circumstances. One was young and the other was an adult. The young one was at the point of death while the woman was suffering for years and yet she was not dying! The young one had her family, Jairus being her father but the woman seemed to be alone. (There is a legend that says this woman is St. Veronica.) The only similarity they had during the time of Jesus is that both were considered second class in their society. Second, there were TWO wills in this event; one was known and the other unknown. Jairus made known his will to Jesus that he wanted his child to be healed while the woman’s will was unknown to Jesus. Further, Jesus manifested His will before He healed the daughter of Jairus but with regard to the woman, Jesus manifested His will after she got healed. Then lastly, there were TWO different acts which moved Jesus to make miracles i.e., the act of Jairus wherein he begged on his daughter’s behalf for healing and the act of the woman by touching the garment of Jesus. My dear friends, this exposition on two different acts in this particular Gospel passage make us appreciate our identity as Catholics. Why? Because these two acts which resulted to a double miracle in the said Gospel passage, are embedded in our Catholic Tradition which until now most if not all Catholics practice them. Though some Christian denominations criticize us for such religious Tradition, but with this Scripture passage, we can say we do right in our Church. The two different acts which are described in our Scripture, one that of Jairus is now known in our common parlance as “Intercessory prayers” or “Intercession” which means that we pray for the sake of another person. The other is the act of the woman which is known to us today as “Expressions of Pop Religiosity” which are religious practices which keep the faith of many simple people alive and lively outside the Church’s liturgy. The first act, the “intercession”, we always do it especially when dates for board exams or Bar exams are fast approaching. The second act, “pop religiosity”, we can observe this during the celebration of the feast of Black Nazarene in Quiapo,  Senor Santo Nino in Kalibo and in Cebu, during Holy Week rituals, etc. Now, my dear friends, every time someone criticizes us for being fanatics or lunatics because of what we do to express our faith, well remember this “Double Miracle” story. What (act of faith) Jesus never condemned, let no one condemn it. To end, allow me to share my experience about “intercessory prayers”. One Sunday afternoon, after celebrating the mass with the Charismatic community, the elders of the said community had a meeting with me as their new Spiritual Director. After our meeting, one elder approached me and asked me to lay my hands on her because she was going to have her medical check-up with her husband in Manila. According to her, she badly needed an immediate medical attention. I was doubtful about myself that I asked all the elders to extend their hands toward her and pray together with me. I did not say anything except that I told God He could heal her if He wills it. Then we all went home after that. My dear friends, few days later, I was happy when she sent me a message while she was at the hospital telling me that the doctor could not find any trace of her sickness. It means she needed not to worry because everything was normal despite her previous medical results which pushed her to go to Manila for treatment. My dear friends, I myself could not explain what happened, but I believe that because of the community of elders who prayed for her, she has been healed. The power of community praying for a person reminds us of the power of intercessory prayers which is one of the two acts in our Gospel today. My dear friends, starting today, please pray for your priests as we also pray for you in our mass. Let our intercessory prayers for each other make miracles in our parishes. Amen.                              

12th Sunday in 2015

In our Gospel which is taken from Mark 4: 35-41, it is said that Jesus invited His followers to go across to the other side of the sea. In so doing, we could observe two acts which interplay in the scene i.e., the acts of the disciples and the acts of nature. In the first instance, we could imagine the action of the disciples as they took Jesus in the boat. They were secured and confident to take Jesus in the said boat because they had fishermen with them who were expected to be familiar with the course of the sea. We know that Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen, so they knew if it was safe for them to sail on that day. But the acts of nature entered into the scene. It is said that a great storm of wind arose and the waves beat into the boat. At this point, the security and confidence of the disciples were somehow failing and fading. Here we may say, in relation to the boat, the acts of the disciples were constructive but the acts of nature were destructive. It was at this point too that they awakened Jesus and said "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" My dear friends, if we reflect on these words, was it appropriate to utter those words to someone who was awakened from a deep sleep? Was it not inappropriate that someone who was expected to be familiarized with such kind of situation being fishermen themselves uttered those words to a son of the carpenter? Anyway, the acts of the disciples here towards Jesus were somehow destructive in the sense that they would seem to question Jesus whether He cared about them or not. They were restless and unsteady even in the presence of Jesus. Then Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Here the acts of nature were somehow constructive that in the sense nature became at peace and steady in the presence of Jesus.   

From these two acts i.e. of the disciples and nature, we could also reflect on our own acts in relation to things and to Jesus. In our Gospel, the boat was the thing which became the object of the acts of the disciples and of nature. Just like the disciples, we too feel secure and confident with things which we are familiar with. Some of us have our cars, cellphones, iphone, etc. and we use them for our purpose. We take care of them because we know it is important for our life. However, if the acts of nature have to take its course, we cannot expect that nature would spare the things we love and destroy only those things of which we would care less. Our Gospel made a statement on this, the boat was already filling because of the acts of nature. It also happened in our parish, at San Lorenzo Ruiz de Mla in Aklan, our native-style convention hall which was built in May and finished in September but was only destroyed by Yolanda (in November). Hence, in relation to things especially those which are beneficial for man and woman, we try to protect and preserve them. We even cry to God for help.

How about the acts of nature and our acts in relation to God? Well, in our Gospel, nature obeyed Jesus. The wind and the sea could not therefore go against God. Nature could never destroy the will of God. But like the disciples in the Gospel, we sometimes fail to see that we little by little severe our relationship with God just because of the things we love. The disciples experienced that the damage done to their boat was also a threat to their lives, such is sometimes what we feel when we are about to lose the things we love or when we actually lose them. I for one lost my newly-bought cellphone, and I could neither eat nor sleep thinking of it. And just like the disciples, we say some words which show our desperation, “Lord, do you not care if we perish?” We have not realized that we make “things” more important than God in saying those words. We have not realized who we are before God. We have not realized that if we protect the things we consider important, then how much more for God to protect us as we are important to Him.

My dear friends, today we are called to evaluate our own actions in relation to things and to God. When all things are eventually destroyed by nature (Don’t get me wrong. I am not praying for the Big One to happen), let us ask ourselves with the question Jesus asked His disciples -"Why are you afraid? And if our life is in danger due to the course of nature, then we ask ourselves with the question Jesus asked His disciples –“Have you no faith?" My dear friends, in God alone we can find our rest. Amen.

11th Sunday 2015

In our Gospel according to  Mark 4:26-34, Jesus gave His listeners a description of the Kingdom of God using two parables.
In  the first parable where He talked about the Kingdom of God, He mentioned -"the harvest has come" and in the second -"the mustard seed becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
In both parables, Jesus revealed to His listeners that with the dawning of the Kingdom of God, there comes happiness. In other words, God wills to share His happines with us His creatures. But this seems to be difficult for some of us to understand. If God wants us to be happy, then why is there suffering? Why is there sickness, death, famine, poverty, etc. in this world? How can there be happiness? My dear friends, with all these questions, happiness seems to be a mere impossibility. Instead of providing us some answers for all these questions, Jesus maintained to describe that there is happiness. First, this happiness does not happen abruptly or instantly. Then this happiness is imperceptible that it is something beyond what the senses can perceive.

First, happiness does not happen abruptly or instantly. This is indicated in the first parable when Jesus said, "the earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear"  while in the second He said, "it is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth". With these descriptions, we get the impression that happiness happens through a gradual process. My dear friends, we believe that God being omnipotent can give us an instant solution by eradicating all of these problems once and for all. Yet our God prefers that things happen in His own time. It is therefore necessary for us to wait for God to address all our concerns while we continue praying to Him. This is what most sick people experience when they say "God, if you want me to be happy, heal me right now", healing does not take place immediately. For some, it takes years to be healed. They have to be patient as they gradually improving their health condition. We have to remember, happiness does not happen abruptly or instantly.

Now we go to the next character, happiness is imperceptible that it is something beyond what the senses can perceive. This is indicated in the first parable as Jesus said, "a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how", and in the second He said, "a mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up..." With these words, we get the impression that happiness somehow is uncapable of being perceived by the senses. This means my dear friends, that despite the many problems we see in this world, those problems cannot stop God in sharing us His happiness. There is happiness. But we have to go beyond our senses to discover it. We cannot rely on just what we see or hear or touch. We might not understand why certain painful event must happen to us but time will come for us to realize why it should happen. What matters on that day is that after all the sufferings, we can find happiess in the end. In short, despite the many discomfort and difficulties in life, God assures us that He shares His happiness with us.

To end, allow me to share my experience. In 1988, after I graduated from elementary, I entered the seminary to fulfill my only dream, that is to become a priest. But it was very difficult for me then to adjust myself in the seminary because it was my first time to sleep without my mother at my side. I also had the difficulty to follow our seminary schedules as well as to pass our subjects especially in Math, Latin and Spanish. I always got sick that I thought I could not make it anymore to become a priest. This situation went on until I was in the second year, when our priest-professor in Latin scolded me during our class with him because I was actually academically poor. He even warned me saying, "You better go home and plant camote." It was on that day that I prayed to God that at least I could finish my high school in the seminary and get out after our graduation. My dear friends, I do not know how and why but I stayed in the seminary after graduating from high school. Then after thirteen years in the seminary, I could not believe that I was ordained priest on September 19, 2001, which was also the birthday of the priest who scolded me when I was in High School. I admit my dear friends, he served as my model-priest while I was studying in the seminary. On that day, I experienced what happiness means. Happiness is a gift from God. It does not happen instantly. It is not always perceptible yet it exists. Happiness comes in God's time. Amen.

Corpus Christi Sunday

Today is Corpus Christi Sunday or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. I cannot but share to you how I witnessed a miracle resulting from one’s devotion to our Holy Eucharist when I was in college. We were in our Philosophy years that we seminarians experienced great pressure to study due to the seminary’s academic demands. One of our classmates had to study using his penlight during our “lights off” or sleeping time. Because of this, he suffered from an eye defect. So he was brought to the hospital, (Makati Med) and he was advised to undergo surgery because there was something in his brain that needed medical attention. So he agreed with the doctor. When the scheduled time arrived, one of the doctors was not there and so the mother of our classmate decided not continue their plan of having any surgery. They went back home and our classmate went back to the seminary with his defective eye covered by an eye mask. Every day we had our mass, he would take off his eye mask as the priest elevated the sacred host saying, “My Lord and my God.” Of course, all of us prayed for him too. Then after sometime, he regained his normal sight. They went to the hospital to ask how it happened, well the doctors could not explain it. But for us, we believe that it was the power of the Holy Eucharist who healed him.

My dear friends, the Holy Eucharist is important for us Catholics. It is in the Eucharist that we receive the Body of Christ as Jesus Himself said in the Gospel of Mark 14: 22 “This is my body.” In receiving Jesus in the Eucharist we are also reminded by His words in the Gospel of John 6: 54 which says, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” This is why even if some Catholics say that our celebration of the Mass is boring, we cannot change its essence that it is a sacrament instituted by Christ for our salvation. Yes, it is nice to pray while dancing and singing praise and worship songs, but such can neither equal with nor a substitute for the Eucharist which has a saving effect being a sacrament. Moreover, it is never written in the Scripture that when a community has a good preacher, with good dancers and singers too, that eternal life is possibly bestowed on them by God. Rather, what is written, that Jesus commanded His apostles to continue doing what He instituted as a sacrament saying, “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). To go further, the Holy Eucharist is the great source of our assurance of salvation. This is why satan hated the Holy Eucharist because many souls are saved every day through this sacrament. So satan needs to stop people attending the mass; and if satan could put an end to the celebration of the mass, then he would do so. This is why the first ones being attacked by satan are the priests. If there is no priest, then there is no one who celebrates the mass. If there is no mass, then one cannot receive the Body of Christ which gives us eternal life. So you see, my dear friends, as we celebrate the Corpus Christi, we are once reminded to love the Eucharist. We are called to attend mass every Sunday and if possible, we celebrate mass together every day. And by the way, our classmate who was healed by the power of the Holy Eucharist is now a parish priest -Fr. Kenn Martin G. Estocado. Let us therefore bless the Lord, and give Him thanks. Amen.