20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last Thursday, August 15, 2013, after our vesper mass in honor of San Roque at sitio Agsam, Camaligan, Batan, Aklan, three Altar Knights went to "binaylehan". They danced there together with their peers. At 2:00 A.M. of August 16, they went home to sleep. I thought they could not serve during the mass on that day as they were exhausted dancing the whole time they were in "binaylehan". Surprisingly, they were there actively assisting me in the mass while their peers were all sleeping. The values of these three Altar Knights are far different from their peers'. After giving them seminars for months what an Altar Knight should be, they learned to inculcate Christian values which are in conflict with their former values. They used to smoke and drink liquor excessively. They did not even go to church during Sundays. They were unruly. Actually it was not easy to introduce to them the values which they were not familiar with and unpopular at their age. There were some who quit attending the seminars. They laughed at those who became Altar Knights. They teased them that it is unmanly for a teenager who does not smoke or drink liquor. They also called them cowards as Altar Knights refused to engage in a fistfight. I myself witnessed how difficult to live with Christian values in a place with unchristian values. As a parish priest, I have to smile even when irreligious people insult me. I have to be patient with parishioners who spend their money for liquor and cigars while they do not contribute for the parish. I have to keep my temper even I know I have the right to be mad. With these experiences, I begin to understand why Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke 12:49-53, "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?" Jesus simply reminds us that Christian life is not a comfortable life. We are not called to be hypocrites, acting as if we are good though we are not. Rather, we are called to adhere to the values of Christ even if others do not like it. We are called to be Christlike to those who hate Christ. Through these, we become a living witness that Christianity is not just a noble ideal but a way of life. Amen.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let me begin with a story which I read from the Inquirer last November 24, 2011. It was about a wife, Aurelia Matias who was searching for her husband Luis who had been missing for weeks in the streets of Manila. She waited for him but she did not just sit down and did nothing as she waited. Rather she looked for her husband placing a sheet of bond paper pinned in front and the back of her dress with the picture of her husband. She said, "I don't want to just see him again, but I want to serve him. I want to serve him still." Her waiting reveals her patience but above all the quality of her love for her husband. My dear friends, in the Gospel of Luke 12:32-48, Jesus said, "You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." These words of Jesus indicate that we are called to wait actively for Jesus. But why should we wait for Him? What is our reason for waiting? We know that Jesus is the Son of God. We believe that He came to save us from eternal damnation. We hope that He comes again to judge the living and the dead. He will come again to judge us all whether we go to hell or to heaven. Are these the reasons then why we should wait for Him? These actually sound boring. Well, if these are so, then we can wait passively for Him. We just continue doing what we are doing at present and if He comes, let Him do what He must do. But the second coming of Jesus is not just about the judgment day; the day He comes to tell us either we go to heaven or to hell. Rather, it is the day when Jesus who gave up His life  because of His love for us returns as He has promised. He returns for us because He loves us. He wants to share His love for us in all eternity.  In short, He comes as our lover. And if we also love Him, then we can wait for Him not passively but actively. We wait actively by practicing love to one another. And when He comes again, He will make perfect the love that is found in us. In other words, while we wait for Jesus, it is but proper to make ourselves busy in love. So that when He comes He cannot find bitterness, anger, jealousy, lust, etc. in our hearts but love. As a young priest, I need to double my time in doing this. Most often, I would think of my heartaches, failures, resentments, etc. which make me forget that I am called to love and for love. Many distractions come into my system that my prayers and pastoral services become mechanical rather than a labor or fruit of love. I know I do not have enough love while waiting for Jesus at this point of time. I am thereof afraid that I run out of love before Jesus comes again. There is a need to prepare myself. A lot of preparation is needed. I must learn to love unconditionally and the timer starts now. If there is then the best reason why we have to wait for Jesus even for a long time, (Aurelia has also taught us this), we must have that  love which makes the waiting worthwhile. Using the words of Aurelia, we can also say to others while waiting for Jesus,  "I don't want to just see him, but I want to serve him. I want to serve him still." Amen.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

William Barclay once told a story. His story goes like this: one day a man met a beggar and said, "God give you a good day, my friend."  The beggar said, "I thank God I've never had a bad one."  "Then may God give you a happy life," said the man.  "Thank God, I am never unhappy."  The man asked, "What do you mean?"  "Well," said the beggar, "when it is fine, I thank God. When it rains, I thank God. When I have plenty, I thank God. When I am hungry, I thank God. And since what God wills is what I want, how can I say that I am unhappy when I am not?"  The man looked at him in astonishment and asked, "Who are you?"  "I am a king," said the beggar." And where is your kingdom? "  The beggar answered quietly, "Here in my heart." The man concluded, "A really religious person does not worry. Worry is basically irreligious." My dear friends, our religion does not teach us to hate money, property, inheritance, bank accounts, or anything like these. In fact, we need money to build churches, chapels, parsonages, etc. Why do some parishes make a second collection if our priests are allergic to money? Why do we accept the money given to us after we bless a vehicle or a bicycle if we do not need it? Well, we all need money or at least properties which we can exchange for money. And what our religion requires is for us to be prudent enough in dealing with these things. We are called to realize that we have to depend on God and consider those things including money as his gifts to us. We have to avoid depending too much on our money and property to the extent that we exclude God in our life. In our Gospel according to Luke 12:13-2, Jesus clearly said, "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." This reminds us today that we should not be confident enough that we have money, properties, insurance benefits, etc. to ensure a better life especially established for our future. Rather, we should treasure God who treasures us. This is what it means to be religious -to allow God to be the God of our life. With God, we can do in one year what our money can do in one day or what our money can do in one year, God can do it for us in one day. If God is with us, there are still troubles along our way. But we do not worry that much because he will make a way for us. We are God's treasure and he will always show to us that he takes care of everything. He will always provide us what we need in due time. To end, allow me to share my experience of God's divine providence. I remember when I arrived in this poor parish of CaMaCa last June 19, 2012, I first saw there are many things to be done especially for the repair and maintenance of the church and the convent. With 15 Altar Knights and with Reverend Adonis, I lived according to our means. We had noodles for breakfast, sardines for our lunch and miswa for our dinner. We had over 1000 peso for our electric bill and another over 1000 peso for our water bill. We only had a total of 700 pesos collection for our three masses on Sundays. No collections or stipends for the daily masses.  My personal savings ran out. A sack of rice which I brought with me was not sufficient for two months. If I were not the parish priest, I could have abandoned the parish. Despite all my worries, God has revealed himself that he takes care of everything. I never asked my friends yet in Aklan or in BF Homes to help me, because God has already been there to provide. All my bills were paid in no way I could explain. Rice was and is never a problem as each student from elementary schools would  offer a handful of it to me during my monthly mass in their schools. Believe me you, we could fill up our empty container with rice good for ten people and for our one month consumption. Our church and convent facilities were almost all repaired except for some areas left for a major repair. Our grotto was completely finished with one overseas worker financed the project because his prayers were answered through the intercession of our patron saint. At present, our Parish Finance Council always has to report to us our financial deficit, yet we never have debts enough to suffocate us. We only have 50 peso budget for our food per day, yet five to ten people who eat with me never go hungry. The most amazing fact I wish to share happened when I needed  to change the tires of my car. I decided to abandon my car because I did not have money to purchase its tires. Then a stranger called me up to seek for my advice. She never told me her name or address. She only told me her problems. Then she asked for my address after I counseled her. The next day I was surprised to receive 20 thousand pesos from her as her sign of gratitude. I was able to buy the tires I needed then. I never heard of her since then but God made her an instrument to restore my peace of mind. If God does not provide, how can I or we survive? I share my story not to boast myself but to boast God who has done great things to me. I am weak and sometimes have doubts, yet God has always the way to strengthen me to get rid of doubts. Truly, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possession but in God's divine providence. Amen.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This is the story about the burning hut.  The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forth coming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut was in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky! The worst had happened; everything was lost! He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could You do this to me?" he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied. My dear friends, it seems at times that God is unfair in answering our prayers. We can hear from others that their prayer-requests are often answered while for some of us, we hardly get what we have prayed for. There are Catholics who transfer to other religion because they thought our God is sleeping or hiding from them that nothing is happening with their prayers. There are also those people bartering or begging before God just to have what they are asking from him. They pray for the recovery of their health, they pray to win in a case against those who implicate them despite their innocence, they ask for justice, etc. They have a justifiable cause or even the noblest intention in requesting God for his positive response. They even think that because they are good people, so they deserve the positive answer of God. They go to mass and pray for their personal intentions expecting that God will never fail them. Yet in the long run they never get what they believe they truly deserve from God. Why? What is the reason for this? In like manner, we also ask: Are all the prayers of a parish priest answered by God because as a priest he is a chosen man of God? Obviously, not all the prayers of the priest are granted by God! Then why or why not? For a philosopher, he can philosophize about it. He can tell us that there are two kinds of responses -positive and negative. If God does not grant you your request, then he has given you a negative answer. If we ask why in a negative, then the philosopher will tell us that the reason depends on God. Though this is a good answer, it can lead one to think that our God is sometimes indifferent to those who are unjustly suffering. Thanks to Jesus! In Luke 11:1-13, Jesus revealed to us that God listens to all our prayers. But Jesus also wanted us to understand that when God answers our prayers, he does it according to how he sees our soul needs it. Whether we receive the particular thing we ask from him or not, we have to understand that God grants us what is good for our soul. Besides, Jesus did not say God will grant us all we ask of him. He rather said, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" This means whether we receive  what we ask from God or not, he gives the Holy Spirit to make us realize later, if not now, the reason why or why not. What we only need to believe when we pray is that God knows best. He answers our prayer not according to our plan but according to our divine purpose here on earth. Though how hard it is for us to accept that not all particular things we ask from him   will be given to us; we have to find comfort in realizing that God knows what is best for us and such thing he will give us in due time. Amen.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A lawyer's wife arranged a dinner for three to celebrate her mother-in-law's birthday at her favorite restaurant. However, her husband told her that he was busy with his works and he had no time to party. So the wife told him that she would still go out to dine with her mother-in-law  during the latter's birthday so as not to spoil the day. Before the evening arrived, the wife called up and informed her husband that she was not feeling well. The husband advised her to cancel the dinner with his mother. But the wife persuaded him to meet his mother instead of canceling the arranged dinner. She said his mother was already there at her favorite restaurant alone. So the husband was forced to dine with his mother. While dinning, he began to notice how aging affected his mother. She spoke softly, moved slowly and ate a little. They did not talk together that much because after they finished eating, the lawyer was in a hurry to go back to his office. But before they parted ways, the mother whispered to him how happy she was to see him on her birthday. She asked him to visit her whenever he would be available. The lawyer just nodded to her. After a month, the lawyer was informed his mother died.  My dear friends, there are many reasons to be busy nowadays. The cost of living is too high that we need to work double the time. We work hard for our family. We work hard to build our home. For us in the ministry, we work hard to build the church. We even bring our work to bed. We have been busy for so many years believing we do the right thing. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this. But in today's Gospel, we are being reminded that there is something better than this. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus said to the busy woman, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." There is nothing wrong with what Martha was doing. But she could do something better than what she was doing i.e., to stop for a moment to give time for their guest -Jesus. She could have listened to his story. On our part, we have been busy that we have not stopped to listen to each other's story. We work for our family, we work for our church, but we miss the opportunity to establish an intimate and meaningful relationship with one another because all we think of is work and never have time to enter into a dialogue. In the parish, we think of the ministry but we forget to listen to our ministers. We push our catechists to educate children but we do not have the time to listen to their problems. We think of our parish programs and projects, but we forget to listen to the stories of our parish workers, carpenters, etc. We send solicitation letters to our rich parishioners, yet we never know their spiritual needs. We think we already give everything, but in reality we never give ourselves. It is only when we stop for a while and try to give time for one another to share each other's story that we really give ourselves. This is the better part. Anyway, when we die, no matter how many projects we have materialized, it is still the people who have shared their stories with us will be the ones to pray before our graves. Amen.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Once upon a time, there was a long period of drought in the animal kingdom. As a result, almost every day the animals went in search of water. One day when Ant woke up, he realised that he did not have enough water in his barrel so he went in search of some. Fortunately, after walking a while, he came across a river and just as he was about to scoop some of it, he slipped and fell into it. He struggled to come out but to no avail. His continuous shouts for help did not help because of the obscure nature of the location of the river. Ant did his best to come out but anytime he tried he slipped into the river again. Soon, he got tired and stopped to rest. Minutes later, he heard Bird chirping from one of the trees. Ant realised that it was his last hope so with the little strength left in him he called out Bird's name. Bird heard his distress call and was able to trace it to the river. However, she did not know who had called for her help so she got closer to the river. 'Who is there?' Bird shouted. 'It's me,' Ant replied. Ant then begged Bird to rescue him and he would repay her later. Bird laughed over that statement because she considered Ant too little an animal to offer any assistance to her. Nevertheless, she agreed to help him. She threw a leaf into the river and shouted to Ant to climb onto it. The leaf then floated to the side of the river and with that Ant was rescued. Ant thanked Bird and reassured her that he would help her one day. Again, Bird laughed over that and flew away. 'How can small Ant help me?' she said to herself. Many months after that incident, a hunter went to the forest in search of an animal to kill for food. Luckily, he saw Bird making her nest. 'Ah,' thought the hunter, 'I will kill and eat this bird.' By that time the hunter had removed his gun which hung by his side and was getting it ready to kill Bird. Ant, who was close by, noticed that the hunter wanted to shoot Bird and thought that would be the appropriate period to repay Bird for her good deed to him. Ant climbed onto the hunter's leg. He ran through his back, then to his shoulders before landing on the arm that held the gun and bit it as hard as it could. The hunter jumped and fired his gun into the air. Bird was startled by the shot and flew away to safety. Bird moved to a safer place and when she looked down, she realised it was Ant that had saved her life. Later when they met, she thanked him. 'We will always be friends,' she said, and Ant answered, 'Remember, one good turn deserves another.' My dear friends, there are many reasons why we do good to others. Politicians do good to others so that they can get votes from them. Actors and actresses need to do good to please their fans. Priests do good because that is what they do. In our Gospel which is taken from Luke 10:25-37, we are reminded not only to do good to others but the reason why we have to do good. Jesus in this gospel pericope, announced the two greatest laws which are loving God and loving one's neighbor. With this  pronouncement, Jesus simply told his listeners that this is the main reason for doing good -love (of God). Then he told a story mentioning a priest and a levite    who ignored a victim of robbery. Notably in this story, priest was expected to do good to the victim because it is part of his job description, yet he did not. Then a levite was also expected to do good because it is within their bloodline to be good, yet he did not. But a Samaritan, who had a bad reputation and who was not expected to do good, was the one who did good to the victim. This story tells us that doing good to others is not made by virtue of one's office or lineage but by one's personal loving relationship with God. The keywords that the good Samaritan was a God-loving person though he had a bad reputation were found from the answer of the scholar to Jesus, “The one who treated him with mercy.” The samaritan, despite his bad reputation before the public, revealed his inner disposition (being merciful) by doing good to the victim. His  good inner disposition -merciful (in other translation, it is compassion) is only possible when his heart is full of love. (It is difficult for a person, full of hatred to be merciful.) And the fullness of love is possible only when one has established personal relationship with the source of love -who is God. This is who the good samaritan is. At this time, we are made aware through our Gospel that we have to do good not because of anything else except we love God who first loves us. In order to be called Christians, we do good to others for the love of God. Amen.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A story of an old priest who was sent to a hostile country is unknown to most of us Catholics. He was put in prison because he was caught celebrating mass in its territory. While in prison, he was asked to destroy the crucifix in exchange for his release. Instead of destroying it, he embraced the crucifix and kissed it. It was then and there that he was beaten up to death. The old priest chose to live and die as a Catholic. This untold story reminds us Catholics that though here in the Philippines we are free to move or act for our faith, there are those Catholics who are suffering for the sake of our faith. If ever we are given the same opportunity like them who suffer for our faith, can we still choose to be a Catholic? Being a Catholic, our focus is on our final destination i.e., heaven. No matter what is happening here and now, we do not want to lose sight of this final destination, our ultimate goal. That is why our Gospel (Luke 10: 20)  reminds us that our joy comes when our names are written in heaven.Nevertheless, we do not need to be in a hostile place and die as a martyr to be a Catholic. Here in our country, even if we are not persecuted because of our faith, we can be true Catholics. We can choose to be a Catholic when we go to mass, avail the sacraments, lead others to love God, and make our home a small Catholic church where every one lives in love. However, this is difficult to expect from all Catholics. There are many Catholics who were baptized but not Christianized. They are Catholics in names but never in action. There is even indifference towards Catholicism. They do not see that everything we do in the church leads to our final goal i.e. heaven. They never think of heaven. That is why the sacraments are there yet many do not see them as means of their salvation. Baptism, marriage and even burials become opportunities for social gathering without religious significance. Priesthood or marriage is not even seen as a vocation from God. There are many of us Catholics who become materialistic and love what the world offers us to the extent that we have forgotten what we aim for -heaven. There are many of us Catholics who live comfortably in this world that we have forgotten what heaven is. There are many of us Catholics who refuse or escape suffering and even forget we are Catholics and choose to live in sin. Well, it is now up for us to know where we are heading at. But if we choose to be a Catholic, whether today we suffer or not, let us aim high, aim heaven. Only in heaven that we can have endless happiness. Amen.