Sana ay huwag ninyong masamain
itong aking puna at pansin
sa marami nating kababayan
ngayong panahon ng COVID-19
palaging daing walang makain
ating sinasambit
saan mang bahagi ng mundo sumapit
kapag tayo ay nagigipit.
Hindi naman sa kung ano pa man
pagkain lamang ba ang sadya nating kailangan
na siyang laging pinahahalagahan
kaya naman kadalasan ito ang sanhi
ng ating mga alitan at di pagkakaunawaan?
Anong sakit mapakinggan, malaman na
nag-aagawan, pinag-aawayan
ay pagkain lamang?
Larawan mula sa Google.
Sa Banal na Kasulatan ating matutunghayan
habilin ng Diyos sa ating unang magulang
maari nilang kainin mga munting butil
pati na rin mga bunga ng punong kahoy sa hardin
huwag na huwag lamang nilang kakanin
mahigpit Niyang bilin
bunga ng puno ng karunungan
dahil magiging sanhi ng ikasasawi natin.
Hindi napigilan kanilang tinikman
pinagbabawal na bunga kaya lumuwa mga mata
sa katotohanang lumantad sa kanila na di nakaya
kaya't dating kapwa hubad ay nagdamit na!
Nang pumarito si Jesu-Kristo upang tubusin ang tao
unang tukso na kanyang pinagdaanan sa ilang
sa gitna ng kanyang kagutuman
ay gawing tinapay mga bato upang busugin Kanyang tiyan.
Hindi nalito si Kristo nang sagurtin niya ang diyablo
na hindi lamang sa tinapay nabubuhay ang tao
kungdi sa bawat salitang namumutawi sa bibig ng Diyos;
kaya noong gabing ipagkanulo siya habang kumakain sila,
nangunsap Siya sa mga alagad Niya
habang hawak-hawak ang tinapay na pinaghati-hati
"Tanggapin ninyong lahat ito at kanin
ito ang aking katawan na ihahandog para sa inyo."
Mula noon hanggang ngayon
nakikilala, naaalala natin ang Panginoon
sa hapag ng kanyang piging, sa mesa ng Misa
nang kanyang inangat katayuan at kahulugan
nitong pangkaraniwang gawain natin na kumain:
hindi lamang upang busugin mga tiyan at laman natin
kungdi upang punuin din kamalayan at kaluluwa natin
ng diwa ng piging na mismo tayo ay maging pagkain din!
Larawan ng “Supper at Emmaus” ni Caravaggio mula sa Google.
Nakikila pag-uugali ng tao
kapag nakita paano siyang kumain
sapagkat doon lamang sa mesa ng piging
nawawala mga pagkukunwari natin
nabubunyag tunay nating saloobin
kaya naman sa bawat pagdiriwang natin
palaging mayroon pagkain upang
magkasalu-salo, magkaniig at magkaisa mga kumakain.
Alalahanin si Hudas noong Huling Hapunan
lumisan na kaagad dahil siya ay tumiwalag
di lamang sa hapag kungdi sa kaisahan at
pakikipag-kaibigan kay Jesus at mga kasamahan;
iyon din ang sinasaad sa bawat piging ng mga
dumadalo at hindi dumarating
mga kumakain at nanginginain
kay daming pagkain ngunit makasarili pa rin!
Sa tuwing tayo ay kumakain
laging alalahanin kaisa palagi natin
Diyos na bukal ng lahat ng pagpapala sa atin:
huwag mangangamba o mag-aalinlangan
kung sakali mang tayo ay gutumin
sapagkat hindi iyan ikamamatay natin
kungdi pagkabunsol sa labis na pagkain
lahat-lahat ay inaangkin.
Ang tunay na sarap ng pagkain
nalalasap pa rin
maski tapos nang kumain
kapag nabusog di lamang tiyan
kungdi puso at kalooban;
mga alitan nahuhugasan sa inuman
mapanghahawakan pagsasamahan at pagkakapatiran
upang huwag masabi ninuman na wala silang makain!
Lawiswis Ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-20 ng Abril 2020
Nakita lamang kita
kamakalawa sa balita
ng social media
karga-karga isang matanda
habang lumilikas mga nasunugan
sa gitna nitong lockdown
doon sa inyong tirahan
kung tawagi'y "Happyland"
sa Tondo na napakaraming tao.
Hindi ko sukat akalain
sa sumunod na pagtingin
naiba at nabago ang lahat sa akin
sa larawan ng naturang balita pa rin
matapos ito ay guhitan at kulayan
dahil kinabukasan ay kapistahan
ng Divine Mercy
at ikaw pala iyan, Jesus
aming Panginoon at Diyos.
Sa gitna ng naglalagablab na apoy
nag-aalab mong pag-ibig Panginoon
ang umantig sa pananalig
ng Iyong dibuhista at pari
Marc Ocariza kaagad nagpinta
gamit bagong teknolohiya
upang ipakita kakaiba niyang nadama
na sadyang tamang tama naman pala
upang itanghal iyong Mabathalang Awa talaga.
"Panginoon ko at Diyos ko!"
ang panalanging akin ding nasambit
katulad ni Tomas na apostol mo
nang muli Kang magpakita sa kanila;
tunay nga pala
mapapalad ang mga nananalig
kahit hindi ka nakikita
dahil hindi itong aming mga mata
ang ginagamit kungdi aming pagsampalataya.
Nawa ikaw ang aming makita
mahabaging Jesus
sa gitna ng dilim nitong COVID-19
Iyong Dakilang Awa aming maipadama
sa pamamagitan ng paglimot sa aming sarili
at pagpapasan ng krus upang Ikaw ay masundan
tangi Mong kalooban ang bigyang katuparan
upang Ikaw ay maranasan at masaksihan
ng kapwa naming nahihirapan.
Turuan mo kami, maawaing Jesus
na muling magtiwala sa iyo
kumapit ng mahigpit
hindi lamang kapag nagigipit
at huwag nang ipinipilit
aming mga naiisip at mga panaginip
na kailanma'y hindi nakahagip
sa ginawa Mong pagsagip at malasakit
upang kami ngayo'y mapuno ng Iyong kariktan at kabutihan! *
*Maraming salamat kay Marivic Tribiana (hindi ko kakilala) na nagpost sa kanyang Facebook ng unang larawan ni kuya pasan-pasan lolo niya sa kainitan ng sunog sa Happyland noong Abril 18, 2020.
At higit ding pasasalamat ko kay P. Marc Ocariza sa pagmumulat sa aking mga mata ng kanyang pagninilay at obra gamit ang Digital Art Timelapse na kanyang tinaguriang “Nag-aalab na Pag-ibig”.
Ang lahat ng ito ay para sa higit na ikadadakila ng Diyos na nagbigay sa atin ng Kanyang Anak “hindi upang tayo ay mapahamak kungdi maligtas” lalo ngayong panahon ng pandemiya ng COVDI-19.
At sa inyo, maraming salamat po sa pagsubaybay sa Lawiswis ng Salita.
What have you been praying for since the start of this Holy Week amid the threat of COVID-19? Aside from being spared by this dreaded corona virus, what have you been praying for?
For almost a month, I have always been praying to God for one special thing: that we may all go back to our “normal lives” soon.
Since the first Sunday of our lockdown last March 22 that happened to be my 55th birthday, until after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, I have been going around our parish with the Blessed Sacrament and Santo Entierro on Good Friday mounted on a truck to bless the people.
And every time I would go around – with strict orders on the people to observe social distancing – I have strongly felt how they were so hungry and thirsty for Jesus, kneeling along the highway, some with lighted candles while others have their little altar in front of their homes.
Photo by Mr. Randy Cajanding, 09 April 2020.
Except for some few people, almost everyone would make the sign of the Cross, take a bow or raise their hands, asking for blessings, praying silently in their hearts.
I really wonder what they were praying for.
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, 22 March 2020.
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 10 April 2020.
Me?
Next to the request that we may all be spared of the corona virus in our parish, I always prayed silently to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and in his Santo Entierro, to please, “bring us back to our previous normal lives Lord… I am will to sacrifice everything, to bear all these pains and hardships… just bring us back to our previous normal lives… magbalik lang kami sa dating normal naming buhay, Lord, lahat titiisin ko po.”
Photo by Ms. Anne Ramos, 10 April 2020.
Easter is moving forward to new life, never a going back
But early this Holy Saturday morning as I prayed, I realized God is not going to answer that special prayer of mine.
God will never bring back our previous normal lives before this time of the corona virus when we take control of everything because Easter is leaving the past behind, the old misconceptions, the old sins, the old ways of life far from God.
Easter is moving forward to Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus.
Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.”
Matthew 28:5-7
After this time of the corona virus in the year 2020, we shall never go back to our previous normal lives because Easter is a call to renewal, to going back to God, to going back to love and kindness.
Easter is going back to God, centering our lives anew in him because he is our life!
Entrance to our church during our Easter Vigil, 11 April 2020. Photo by Ms. Ria de Vera.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of COVID-19 to come to him in his new life, to leave the previous normal lives when we spend Sundays on our own, when we just pray and celebrate Mass on special occasions or when we have problems or when going through calamities and disasters.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of corona virus to come to him in his new life to renew our ties with our family and friends, to forgive and bridge gaps among us because life is too short, so fragile.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of COVI9D-19 to come to him in his mercy and justice, to leave our previous lives when we take people for granted, especially those in the health sector like nurses or ordinary folks we call like janitors and garbage collectors.
Easter is rediscovering anew the more essential in lives like the value of each person, the value of health and education, the value of wisdom and sound judgement and decisions.
Jesus is demanding us on this Easter 2020 in the time of the corona virus to never go back to our “normal lives” of before when it was normal to be corrupt, to use foul language, to lie and malign others, to kill and disregard human life, to use violence and force.
Never again must we be silent when people and nature are taken for granted.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 to never go back to our old politics of trapos and vote buying, to rediscover how blessed is our country with great, talented people equally blessed with a country rich in natural resources ravaged by greedy politicians.
Jesus is inviting us on this Easter 2020 in the time of the corona virus to come to him in his new life by working for justice and truth, speaking against violence and disregard for lives, fighting corruption, rejecting the normal things of life of deception and lies in government, in the church, in school, and in our own families.
Photo by author, 02 April 2020.
If you have listened to our readings, from the story of the creation to the time of Abraham and Moses and then Jesus, people were blessed materially and spiritually because they never went back to old ways of lives but always moved forward in God, in selfless giving of self in service to others.
Without any doubt, Holy Week 2020 is the most unforgettable – even unbelievable we have ever had in our lifetime or even in recent history. And with the extension of the ECQ until the end of April, that makes our Holy Week 2020 as the longest one too!
But, it is not that bad at all.
Holy Week is “Mahal na Araw” in Filipino: mahal means valuable that is why it is the same word we use for expensive. Most of all, mahal is the root of pagmamahal or love because to love is to value another person.
Extended lockdown, extended Holy Week means longer “Mahal na Araw” — that is, more time to love God, others, and self.
So, it is still a blessed Easter to everyone!
Photo by Ms. Ria De Vera, Easter Vigil in our parish, 11 April 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe, Holy Monday, 06 April 2020
Isaiah 42:1-7 ><)))*> +++ 0 +++ <*(((>< John 12:1-11
Photo by author, Tabernacle of Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Bagbaguin, Santa Maria, Bulacan, 05 April 2020.
In the midst of this most trying time in our modern world while we get into the holiest days of the year, grant me, O Lord Jesus Christ, the grace to be like you, a servant of the Father, filled with the Holy Spirit, “not crying out, not shouting, not making my voice heard in the street” (Is.42:1-2).
Teach me the path of non-violence when brute force is preferred by those in authority, to strive for what is just so that there may be peace and joy throughout the land as well as healing and health among the sick.
A bruised reed he shall not break, a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
Isaiah 42:3-4
Help me O Lord, to bridge the gaps among people separated by pains and hurts in their past, differences in beliefs and color and status in life.
Give me the strength to grip and steadily hold those about to give up on life, in God, in their family, and in humanity.
May I open the eyes of those blinded by worldly possessions to see beyond material things, most especially the warmth of your loving face found in every child and persons we meet trying to make ends meet.
In my own struggles may I set free the many prisoners of sins and addiction as I try to bring your light, dear Jesus among those in darkness especially the poor who have always been with us but we have always forgotten. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-01 ng Abril 2020
Pamangkin.
Ibig sabihin ay "para namang akin":
mga anak ng iyong kapatid
kaya para mo na ring
anak sila kung ituring.
Pinsan.
Ibig sabihin ay "kapisan"
sa higaan o sa banig
doon sa bahay na matanda
dahil magkakapatid inyong mga magulang.
Kapatid.
Ibig sabihin ay "kadugtong"
na kung wala ang isa
ikaw ay "patid"
at tiyak nag-iisa.
Kabutihan din sa COVID-19
mayroon tayong quarantine
kaya't asikasuhin pamilya natin
linangin at buhayin
pagsasamahang nakalimutan na yata natin.
40 Shades of Lent, Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, 19 March 2020
2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16 +++ Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22 +++ Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24
Photo from zenit.org, “Let Mom Rest” figurine
Praise and thanksgiving to you, O God our loving Father in giving us your Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. In sending him to us, you have asked St. Joseph to be not afraid to be the husband of the Blessed Mother of Jesus, Mary Most Holy.
…the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Matthew 1:20-21, 24
We pray today on this Solemnity of St. Joseph that we may also not be afraid in fighting this pandemic COVID-19.
Let us be not afraid to stay home to be with our family again, together and longer.
Photo by author, Chapel of St. Joseph, Nazareth, Israel, May 2017.
Let us be not afraid to talk and converse really as husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters. Help us to be more open and more silent like St. Joseph to hear our family members’ innermost thoughts and feelings again with love and understanding.
Let us be not afraid, O Lord, to seek and work for real peace in our family now disintegrating as we disregard each other, choosing fame and wealth than persons.
Let us be not afraid to reach out also to those living alone like the sick, the elderly, the separated, those abandoned by family and friends or society, those widowed.
Let us be not afraid to share food and money to the needy, time and talent, joy and hope to those living in the margins.
Let us be not afraid to ask for forgiveness, to say again those beautiful words “I am sorry” to those we have hurt in words and in deeds; likewise, let us be not afraid to say also those comforting words “I forgive you” to those who have hurt us in words and in deeds.
Let us not be afraid to show respect anew to our elders. Forgive us, O God, in making disrespect a way of life in our time, in our society, in our government and right in our homes and family as we disregard the dignity of one another.
Let us not be afraid to pray again, to kneel before you, and humbly come to you as repentant sinners, merciful Father.
Let us be not afraid to bring Jesus your Son into this world with your love and kindness, sympathy and empathy so we may be healed of so many brokenness and pains deep within.
Let us not be afraid to be humans again and realize we are not gods, that we cannot control everyone and everything in this world.
Let us be not afraid to be open to you and to others, especially the weak and needy because the truth is, we need you O God and one another.
Please, like St. Joseph, let us not be afraid to wake up to the realities of this life to follow you always in your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
O blessed St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, pray for us!
Photo by author, site of St. Joseph’s shop in Nazareth beneath a chapel in his honor, May 2017.
40 Shades of Lent, Sunday Week II-A, 08 March 2020
Genesis 12:1-4 +++ 2 Timothy 1:8-10 +++ Matthew 17:1-9
“Creation of Adam” by Michaelangelo at Sistine Chapel, the Vatican. From Wikipedia.
Touch is a very powerful word – literally and figuratively speaking. We say “we are touched” when we are deeply moved by words or music, gestures, acts, and scenes that need not be so spectacular because to touch is about making a connection, a communion of persons.
A touch can be so powerful that when filled with love and sincerity, it can transform the person being touched. Experts say that a touch of about five seconds is worth more than 300 words of encouragement and praise!
And that is why our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God is a certified “touch person” who always reached out to people by physically touching them, embracing them to make them feel his loving presence, his mercy, and most of all, his healing.
Almost all his healings were done by touching the sick when he would lay his hands on them like with the blind Bartimaeus on the street of Jericho.
There were times Jesus held up the hand of the sick to raise them up from their bed like Peter’s mother-in-law and the daughter of Jairus. Sometimes in rare occasions, Jesus healed in the most bizarre ways with his sense of touch like with that deaf in Decapolis.
He (Jesus) put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).
Mark 7:33-34
In Nain, Jesus raised to life the son of a widow by touching the coffin – not the dead – by saying, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” that everyone was amazed, saying “the Lord has visited his people”.
Jesus never missed an occasion without personally touching another person, especially the children like when he caught his disciples driving them away.
“Jesus blessing Little Children”, painting by British North American Benjamin West PRA (1781). Photo from wikipedia.
It is perhaps one of the most touching story of Jesus touching others when he told his disciples to “let the children come to me for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, after which he embraced them, laid his hands on them and blessed them.
How blessed were those children must be to be embraced and laid with hands on by Jesus! According to tradition, one of those kids embraced and blessed by Jesus was St. Ignatius of Antioch who became a bishop and martyr in the early Church.
That is the transforming power of the touch by Jesus that children are blessed, the sick are healed by restoring their sight or cleansing their skin of leprosy, forgiving the sinners, giving hope to the poor. His touch is always a part of his proclamation of the good news to the people.
Jesus continues to touch us today in every Mass we celebrate when he first speaks to us in the scriptures, trying to make us feel our “hearts burn inside” like the disciples going home to Emmaus on Easter Sunday; and secondly, when he gives us his Body and Blood to partake in the Holy Eucharist.
Most of all, Jesus continues to literally touch us today through one another in our loving service to one another as a community of his disciples.
But, in this age of social media when every communication is mediated by gadgets and other instruments, this kind of personal communication is something we have all been missing because we have stopped touching Jesus, touching others too.
And this is what the second Sunday of Lent is trying to remind us today in the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Transfiguration of Jesus, communion of God with us
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them… a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
Matthew 17:1-2, 5-7
“Transfiguration of Jesus” by Raphael from wikipedia.
We hear this story of the Transfiguration of Jesus twice every year: the Second Sunday of Lent and the sixth of August for the Feast of the Transfiguration. At this time of the year, the Transfiguration story is heard in relation with the Lord’s coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
At his Transfiguration, Jesus made it very clear that his glory and divinity must always be seen in the light of his Cross for it is only with his Cross that he can be correctly recognized as the Christ. It is on the Cross where Jesus truly touches us too in our personhood, in our humanity.
See how the three disciples were seized with fear upon hearing the voice of the Father while a bright cloud cast a vast shadow over them; but, it was right in that “tremendum fascinans” that we also find the intimacy, the closeness of God to us through Jesus Christ when he touched the three disciples.
Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
Matthew 17:7
And that is the good news for us all!
God had chosen to be so close to us in his Son Jesus Christ who touches us most not only in glory but most especially in moments of trials and tribulations! It is on the Cross where humanity and the divine truly become one in Jesus, when that personal and loving touch of Jesus becomes transformative and even performative.
This is the reason St. Paul exhorted Timothy to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2Tim.1:8) because oneness with Jesus always starts at the cross!
This is very true with us too when we only come to realize who are our true friends, our BFF’s when they are personally one with us in our trials and tribulations, not only in times we are well and good.
True transformation in Jesus can only happen when we are willing to be one with him, to be in touch with him in his passion and death for it is the only path to his Easter glory of transfiguration.
Touch communication vs. mediated communication
From Forbes.com
How sad that in this age of modern communications that have shrunk the world into a “global village” with instant communications that instead of growing together we have grown more apart than ever from each other.
We have lost real communications that lead to communion of persons or unity of people because we have become more concerned with the techniques of communication, more of skills and gadgets than of persons.
That is the meaning of media or “mediated communication” where there is always a medium between or among persons like cellphones and gadgets.
No more interpersonal relationships, making us more isolated and alienated, leading to growing problems of loneliness, depression, and suicides.
How frustrating sometimes to attend social functions like dinners and weddings where everyone is more busy and interested with their cellphones than with persons beside them!
Aside from isolation from persons, we have also grown “out of touch” with reality itself when more and more people are retreating into their own small worlds like cocoons with wires attached into their ears while their eyes fixated on screens oblivious to the world around them.
We have become so out of touch with ourselves and with others that more and more we are becoming like porcupines – we have not only stopped getting in touch with others but even hurt others if ever we touch them!
From Google.
Parents, lovers, couples, even people we trust like priests and religious sometimes hurt us with their touch instead of healing us, comforting us. Nobody would want to go through the Passion of the Cross anymore that we would rather stay on top of the mountain, of everything to be delighted with our perceived power and glory.
So unlike in our first reading where we get the feel and touch of real encounter in persons between God and Abraham. Note how in just four verses the word “bless” used five times by God to Abraham, promising to bless him more if he leaves his kin to follow him to the land he would give him.
In their conversation, we find a very personal and engaging communication, as if God and Abraham were literally in touch with each other, where there is personal contact and communication.
We know this for a fact at how effective and more reliable are personal interactions in communication than mediated ones through phones and email – personal communications always have that feel and touch that enable us to negotiate further and be more fruitful.
This Season of Lent, the Father is asking us to be in touch with him again by listening to the words of his Son Jesus who asks us only one thing: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. Let us heed him, touch him, and allow him to touch us again to be healed and transformed.
May you be touched as you touch also others in the most loving way this Sunday throughout the whole week! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Week VII-A, 23 February 2020
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 ><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 ><)))*> Matthew 5:38-48
Altar of the modern Minor Basilica of the Holy Trinity at Fatima, Portugal. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2017.
Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount this Sunday just in time for the start of Lent this coming Ash Wednesday. He taught us last Sunday that righteousness is not only measured by acts but most of all by the purity of the heart’s intentions that we call “education of the heart”.
Today Christ comes to the demands of charity and love, the fullness of the Laws in himself.
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well… You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father..”
Matthew 5:38-39, 43-45
See again the Lord’s pattern in his preaching like last Sunday: a recall of the laws to show his adherence to them contrary to claims of his enemies, and then his infusion of his teaching that perfects the laws: “You have heard… But I say to you…”
Jesus focuses only on two laws today, that of revenge or “lex talionis” (from Latin talio for the word such) and that of hate for enemy which needs some clarifications.
Nowhere do we find in the Laws of Israel “to love your neighbor and hate your enemy”. Experts say Jesus must be citing a popular saying of his time in this part of his teaching. Besides, the Aramiac spoken by the Lord does not connote the harsh meaning we have today for the word “hate”. In short, Jesus is correcting here the norm among Jews of his time to “just love those who love us”.
This is why he adds this beautiful explanation with the most unique conclusion of all.
“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:46-48
Photo by Lorenzo Atienza, 12 June 2019, Malolos Cathedral.
A fraternity of humanity in the Father
Here we find a beautiful dimension of Jesus Christ’s assertion last week that he had come to fulfill the Laws: more than having a broader approach to the spirit of the laws, education of the heart leads us to see everyone as a brother and a sister.
No one is different. Every one is a family – a kin! which is the root of the word “kind”.
Being kind is more than being good as we say in Filipino, mabait or mabuti.
Being kind is treating the other person as a kin, a relative or family; someone who is not different from us. When we say “he is kind to me”, it means more than being good to me but treating me as a family, a brother or a sister – not as “another” or “iba sa akin” as we say in Filipino.
Photo by author, Mt. St. Paul, Baguio City, 03 February 2020.
This is the essence of our “Year of Inter-religious Dialogue, Ecumenism, and Indigenous Peoples” in preparation next year of our 500 years of Christianity in the country.
Everybody is included in that celebration as we reach out to peoples of other faith and beliefs as well as to the indigenous peoples whose forefathers were actually the first settlers of the country.
This is very important in any dialogue and relationship and partnerships including marriage: there must always be the acceptance of everyone in equal footing with same dignity as a person. It is from here we start that fullness of the Laws in Christ in love.
Human holiness as a reflection of God’s holiness in love
Love can only happen where there is equality and fairness. Love demands we are first of all at equal footing with each other. This is why Jesus became human like us: the Son of God became human to stand on equal footing with us that we cannot argue that he is greater because he is truly human, too, going through everything we have gone through except sin.
When he said that we offer our other cheek, to give our cloak, and go for another mile, he is not referring to criminal or penal codes but more into our humanity, that spirit of universal brotherhood so that even our oppressors and enemies come to realize within them that we are one, that we should be caring for one another, not hating and hurting each other.
Loving our enemies does not mean we let evil continue; loving our enemies means continuing to “love” perpetrators of evils until they realize we are brothers and sisters, keeping each other, caring for each other.
Loving our enemies is making them realize that there are nobody else here on earth for them except us – why fight and perish?
Yes, these are easier said than done. And admittedly, I must confess it is the most difficult part of the gospel, of being a Christ-ian. But it is something Jesus is asking us in the most personal manner.
From Google.
Let it be clear that Jesus is not asking us to behave with naiveté that we give in to injustice, evil, and violence but that we always be peacemakers, the blessed ones he said in his Beatitudes. In our fight for justice and peace, we fight with the moral persuasions of love which is the morality of Christ.
The American civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had shown in our modern time that the Lord’s teachings are doable: we just have to be convinced and must truly believe in Jesus.
“Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force is the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security.”
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When we love truly in Jesus Christ, asserting what is true, what good, what is just, we make God truly present in the world. When that happens, the more we allow him to do his works of changing us within, of transforming us within. It is in our imperfect love that we make God present, the perfect I Am.
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:1-2, 18
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Peña, Santorini in Greece, 2016.
Hubris, our greatest temptation and sin
The Season of Lent is fast approaching us, set to start with Ash Wednesday this week. It is a season characterized by barrenness: no Gloria and Alleluias, no flowers, no decorations, no images to make us turn back to God again, our Lord and Master alone.
St. Paul reminds us today in our second reading that we are “God’s temple… that there is no need to boast of anyone including one’s self” (1Cor. 3:16, 21). Instead of embracing or holding on to anyone including one’s self, we have to embrace the scandal of the cross of Christ, that is, power in weakness, wisdom in what the world considers folly.
For the ancient Greeks as depicted in their epics, the greatest temptation and sin of man is hubris – the arrogant presumption that he is god, that he can do everything, he can have everything that he defies the gods.
Hubris is the sin of pride that has led everyone from Adam and Eve to all the powerful men and women of history into their downfall. It is absolute power crumbling absolutely, always tragically.
In his Sermon on the Mount where we heard many of the Lord’s teachings this whole month of February, Jesus shows us the path away from hubris, his path of love and holiness in the Father. Let us heed his calls, give his teachings a try and a chance to be fulfilled in us.
Saturday, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, 22 February 2020
1 Peter 5:1-4 ><)))*> 0 <*(((>< Matthew 16:13-19
Chair of St. Peter at the altar of St. Peter’s in Rome. From Google.
Many of us today are wondering, O Lord, about our unusual celebration, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Because deep inside to most of us, chairs and seating mean a lot, whether at the dining table, conference room, the church, or even the bus and other modes of transportation.
Chairs and seats connote position and power. You have noticed it so well when you were invited to a banquet when people scrambled for the best seating positions.
How funny, O Lord, that we try to fool ourselves many times choosing to take the last seats at the back to make it appear we are humble and simple, choosing to be away from the limelight when in fact, the more we insist on having some seats, regardless where it may be, the more we insist on our ego and self, on who we really are!
A sculpture of St. Peter by Edwin Layug near the main door of the Malolos Cathedral. Photo by Lorenzo Atienza.
Remove our masks, Lord. Stop our hypocrisies! Let us heed the words of your humble servant, your first Pope.
Beloved: I exhort the presbyters among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. Tend the flock of God in your midst, overseeing not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock.
1 Peter 5:1-3
Pray for us, dearest St. Peter, to see that chairs and seats are signs indeed of primacy – not of prestige or honor but of charity and service in our family and community.
Help us to keep in mind that what really matters for the Lord, in this life, in the church we belong, is not where we are seated but where we stand in him, “the Christ and the Son of the living God” (Mt.16:16). Amen.
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