Tag: conversion

Advent is for healing

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul

Second Sunday of Advent-A, 08 December 2019

Isaiah 11:1-10 ><}}}*> Romans 15:4-9 ><}}}*> Matthew 3:1-12

Cathedral Basilica Minore of the Immaculate Conception, Malolos City, Advent 2019.

Advent is a season we are invited to look forward, to dream of the ideal, of the best things we wish we all have in this destructive world we live in.

It is the time for healing our wounds and brokenness as we look forward to the fulfillment of God’s promise of lasting peace brought by Jesus Christ’s coming more than 2000 years ago.

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him… Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted… Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea.

Isaiah 11:1-2, 3, 4, 5-9
“Peaceable Kingdom”, a painting based on Is.11:1-10 by American Edward Hicks, a Quaker pastor (1780-1849).

Jesus is coming again to heal our destructive world

Last November 28 we celebrated Red Wednesday to remember the more than 300 million Christians worldwide persecuted in various forms because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Many of them were tortured and/or murdered while others were denied of work, housing and liberty for carrying the cross and confessing their faith and love for Jesus Christ.

According to some reports, about 80% of wars and conflicts in the world today are due to religion. How tragic – and scandalous – that religion is tearing us apart than bringing us together as peoples believing in a God who is loving and merciful!

But despite all these destructions going on, Isaiah’s prophecy challenges us to keep our hopes alive for a better future, to look forward for the coming again of Jesus Christ, “the shoot that shall sprout from the stump of Jesse” to heal our destructive world.

Advent assures us that it is never too late for the Lord to make peace and justice spring forth in our dying world like a stump of tree.

Isaiah’s vision is an imagery of God’s test of faith to us all to make it Jesus Christ’s peace a reality in this fragmented world, calling us into conversion so that we shall be “filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea.”

It is a call made louder and clearer by St. John the Baptist at the wilderness that still echoes to our own time today.

Healing our destructive world starts within me

Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, September 2019.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance… Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 3:7-8,10

The season of Advent is not only inviting us to look forward for a new world order where there would be lasting peace and justice, when all our tears would be wiped out, with perfect joy replacing our pains and sufferings. Advent is calling on us to look forward in renewing our relationships with God and with one another by beginning within our own hearts.

And make no mistake that St. John’s preaching and call were not only meant for the Pharisees and Sadducees of his time but also to us all Christians of today to “produce good fruit of our repentance” because being sorry for our sins is just the first step to conversion.

Whenever there is true repentance in our hearts, there must also be a change in our very selves, in our living. And only then can we expect of a better and more beautiful world coming like Isaiah’s vision because from true repentance comes justice and mercy.

St. John was very clear: it is Jesus Christ who is coming whom we shall await and prepare to meet right in our hearts. He is coming not to destroy the world – and us – but to restore everything into life anew.

Skies over the desert of Sinai in Egypt, May 2019.

Meeting Christ in the desert

Sometimes we get discouraged by some people and many situations that throw us off-balanced, tempting us to abandon all our efforts to be healed of our wounds and brokenness, in striving to become better persons.

Like St. John the Baptist, we have our own desert of desolation and bareness that purifies us further in preparing the way of the Lord, in meeting the Lord to be healed.

It is in our own desert of desolation and bareness where we are healed as we learn to be empty of ourselves like St. John in order to conquer first our selfish desires with silence and prayer, not with activities as we are all bent in doing these days.

In our world saturated in media with cacophony of voices telling us to do everything to be rich and popular and famous, the more we become empty and lost, broken and wounded.

“St. John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderness” by German painter Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779). From Google.

Like St. John the Baptist, we have to break free from the trappings of the world by retreating into our own desert right inside our hearts in order to listen more to the voice of the coming Christ we must proclaim fearlessly in words and in deeds.

St. Paul assures us that all that scripture foretold in the past has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is coming again at the end of time. Despite the many destructions in this world, despite the many setbacks we have in life, may we imitate St. John the Baptist in awaiting Christ in our own desert for he is most faithful in his promise and presence. Amen.

“Never Existed Before” by Minnie Riperton (1979)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 03 November 2019

My cousin Joyce Pollard-Lopez with Tony during their honeymoon 40 years ago in Greece, still together and very much in love with each other!

It’s the end of a long weekend of bonding and prayers for the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day that ushered in the penultimate month of every year that is November.

Let us not forget that on these days dedicated for our departed loved ones, we are also reminded to remember more of God and those people he sends us to experience his immense love for us.

They are the people who have profoundly changed us into who we are today, that made us live like we never existed before…

So you ask me what do I see
When I look in your eyes
I see things that have never existed before
Shall I tell you all that I find
In those beautiful eyes I can try
But it never existed before
The silvery moon… a walk in the park
The tunnel of love… a kiss in the dark
The light of the stars… the clouds in the sky
The fireworks on the fourth of july
And you ask me what do I hear
When you whisper my name
Music plays that has never existed before
Oh, and I don’t know why
But it’s there just the same
And it’s plain that it never existed before
The song of the rain the flowers in spring
The wind in the willow trees murmuring
The laughter that falls the children at play
Like church bells that call all the people to pray
So you ask me why do I glow
Well, I think you should know
I’m in love and I never existed before

Minnie Riperton co-wrote this song released in May 9, 1979 as part of her fifth and final album called Minnie.

Two months later, Minnie died of cancer at the age of 31.

Never Existed Before speaks so well of how Minnie had experienced the great love of her husband Richard Rudolph especially in her long struggle against cancer.

The song leaves no trace of her great sufferings as Minnie herself was filled with joy by actively working for her advocacies in cancer prevention and research.

Beautiful voice, beautiful woman, and beautiful song.

Just like Zacchaeus.

He only had one desire – to see Jesus who surprised him by coming into his house as a guest!

It is a story of faith, no matter how little it may be for as long as there is that desire for God.

Jesus comes first in our hearts, to those who truly seek him in their hearts.

And the mark of being saved and loved by Jesus is to be filled with joy like Zacchaeus who promised to change his life and even repay those he had cheated.

Truly, any encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ can change us deeply to live differently, like we never existed before.

Meeting Jesus our Saviour

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXXI-C, 03 November 2019

Wisdom 11:22-12:2 ><}}}*> 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 ><}}}*> Luke 19:1-10

A giant sycamore tree at the center of Jericho, the world’s oldest city. Photo by author, May 2019.

Jesus is now on the final leg of his “resolute journey to Jerusalem” as he passed by the world’s oldest city of Jericho. Next week, he would be teaching at the Temple area in Jerusalem where his enemies would gang up against him, eventually sending him to death as we shall hear on the 24th of this month, the Solemnity of Christ the King.

Today we find a very interesting story that is in stark contrast with last Sunday’s parable of the Pharisee and tax collector praying at the Temple.

And this time, our story is not a fiction but an event found only in St. Luke’s gospel about a real tax collector named Zacchaeus, a very wealthy man indeed.

The fictional Pharisee Jesus narrated in his parable last week was a very proud one, of high stature literally and figuratively speaking that he would always stand and pray inside the Temple to be seen by everyone.

He was a self-righteous man who despised everyone else, especially tax collectors.

But, according to Jesus, the Pharisee’s prayer was not heard by God because he was not really seeking God but seeking adulation for himself!

Treetop of a sycamore tree in Jericho today.

Contrast that Pharisee with the chief tax collector in Jericho named Zacchaeus: he was of small stature, literally and figuratively speaking, that he had to climb a sycamore tree in order to see “who Jesus was” (Lk.19:3).

We can safely surmise that from St. Luke’s narration, nobody loved Zacchaeus in Jericho: he must be really so small in their eyes that he is hardly noticed maybe except when people paid taxes.

And that is why when he learned Jesus of Nazareth was passing by their city, he went to climb a sycamore tree to have a glimpse of the man he must have heard so often performing miracles and doing all good things for sinners like him.

Then, a strange thing happened…

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Luke 19:5-10

Was it serendipity or divine destiny?

Jesus was just passing through Jericho while Zacchaeus was merely interested in seeing the Lord. Never in his wildest dream, so to speak, did he intend to meet him personally.

From Google.

But, as we all believe and have realised, there are no coincidences or accidents in life.

Everything that happens in our lives has a purpose, a meaning that may either make us or unmake us.

It all depends on us whether we make the right decision in making the most out of whatever life offers us, of what comes to us. Either we become better or bitter – so choose wisely.

More so with salvation from God who never stops coming to us everywhere, anytime like with Zacchaeus when Jesus suddenly came to meet him.

The Catholic Parish Church in Jericho run by the Franciscans, May 2019.

Here we find again a story about faith that leads to conversion and salvation or justification.

It does not really matter how little faith we have like when the Apostles asked Jesus on the first Sunday of October, “Lord, increase our faith in God” (Lk. 17:5,Wk. 27). What matters is that we always have that option for God, a desire for God.

This is specially true as St. Paul assures us in the second reading that Christ will come again at the end of time. Nobody knows when or how he will come again but like Zacchaeus, we must have that desire for Jesus who first comes into our hearts before entering into our homes or churches, no matter how grandiose they may be.

Every desire for God in itself is an expression of faith in him. And God comes to those who truly seek him because that is how great God is: not in his power to do everything but to be small and forgiving!

Before the Lord, the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls.

Wisdom 11:22-23, 26
Inside the Catholic Parish of the Good Shepherd in Jericho, May 2019.

Like in the parable of the persevering widow and judge as well as that of the Pharisee and tax collector praying at the temple last Sunday, today’s story of Zacchaeus meeting Jesus shows us how God never abandons us his children, always ready to grant our desires and wishes even beyond what we are asking for — if we have faith in him.

Our salvation depends solely in our faith to God in Christ Jesus, like Abraham in the Old Testament that we can now rightly be called as his children like Zacchaeus.

No one is excluded from this tremendous grace of God brought to us through Jesus Christ who had come to seek those who are lost.

Like Zacchaeus upon receiving salvation from the Lord on that simple day, may we joyfully turn away from sins and most of all, cheerfully rid ourselves of so many other things that hamper us from following Jesus resolutely to Jerusalem. Amen.

“Where” we pray

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, Wk. XXX-C, 27 October 2019

Sirach 35:12-14. 16-18 ><}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8. 16-18 ><}}}*> Luke 18:9-14

Photo by the author. Baguio City Cathedral, January 2019.

We have reflected last Sunday that prayer is an expression of our faith.

Where there is faith and prayer, there is always love.

And when we have prayer, faith and love, we have a relationship and community of two or three and more persons together as one, rooted in God.

Today we hear another parable by Jesus only St. Luke has, that of the Pharisee and the tax collector to show us another dimension of faith expressed in prayer.

Photo by the author at the Wall of Jerusalem, May 2017.

Like last week, St. Luke tells us anew the Lord’s purpose in narrating this parable:

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

Luke 18:9

Were you moved or affected in any way upon hearing our parable today?

Did you feel a silent but swift, sharp thud inside your heart while your mind tried to reason out that the parable is not meant for you?

Listen again and pause, let the Lord’s words sink deeper into your heart:

“Two people went to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous —- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

Luke 18:10-13

If prayer creates a relationship, Jesus is teaching us today the right attitude we must have to keep this communion we have in faith and love. Any relationship is bound to fail, or would not even exist at all despite the formalities of having ties and links like what we see or even have in our various social circles where roles are just acted out.

We call it “plastic” or fake. Untrue!

Praying at the Garden of Gethsemane, May 2019.

Prayer to be efficacious like any relationship must always be true.

Here Jesus directs our attention in the “where” when we pray – not just the location or locus of our prayer but our “place” in that relationship first with God who is our very foundation.

When all we see is our self in prayer like in any relationship, there is always a problem. It is clearly a one way street, a monologue.

Worst of all, it is an indication of the absence of God or even others because the pray-er is so preoccupied with his or her very self!

The Pharisee was clearly not in God even if he were in front of the temple. His very self was very far from God and all he had was his bloated ego. He may be a very pious person but not really good at all for he has no space for God and for others. He is a very closed man without any room for others.

The tax collector, on the other hand, may be physically far outside the temple but was the one actually nearest to God with his self-acceptance and ownership of his sinfulness, of his need for God. He was closest to God because he was more open with God and with others by admitting his own sinfulness.

Again we find the key to tis Sunday’s parable towards the end:

(Jesus said) ‘I tell you, the latter (tax collector) went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.'”

Luke 18:14
Photo by Dra. Mai B. Dela Pena, Germany, 2016.

Prayer is more than entering a church or a prayer room, or finding our most suitable spot or space to pray.

Prayer is being one with God, of being suffused in God.

“Where” are we when we pray?

First, we become one with God, one in him in prayer when we first admit our sinfulness, when we confess our sins to him, and own them without any “ifs” and “buts”.

God always comes to those who truly open themselves to him by emptying themselves of their sins and inadequacies.

The tax collector was justified in his prayer more than the Pharisee because in confessing his sins, he admitted his need for God. He knew very well his place, so unlike the Pharisee who felt God owes him so much!

When Pope Francis granted his first media interview (to their Jesuit Magazine!), the first question asked of him was, “who is Jose Mario Bergoglio?”

The Holy Father quickly answered, “I am a sinner.”

No wonder when he was elected Pope on March 13, 2013 at the Vatican, he first asked for prayers from the huge crowd gathered before he bestowed his apostolic blessing to them. It clearly showed that despite his holding the highest post in the Church, he considers himself a sinner, so weak needing prayers from the people.

I always tell couples during weddings that when they have a quarrel, the first one to speak and make the move for reconciliation is the one with most love, the one who is most willing to bow to start anew.

Most often in life, friendships and relationships are kept when we are willing to take the lower stance, not necessarily admitting fault or guilt in any misunderstanding because being lowly indicates the person’s need for the other person and of one’s love to work on that relationship despite its fragility.

Ordination of deacons, Malolos Cathedral, 12 June 2019.

Second, we are in God and with God in prayer when we have that attitude and inner disposition of being poor and lowly. Being lowly or poor means having the conviction to leave everything behind and go down with God into the lowest point because one is so confident of the efficacy of prayer like what Ben Sirach tells us in the first reading.

Most of all, like Mary the Mother of Jesus during the Annunciation of the Christ’s birth.

The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heaven. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.

And thirdly, we are in God in prayer when there is an offering daily of one’s self to God.

It is not enough to be lowly and sorry for our sins in prayer. It has to be sustained because prayer is also a discipline like any sport. In the second reading, St. Paul calls us to persevere and endure until the end for Jesus Christ.

We need to be passionate with our prayer life, willing to go to all extent to offer everything for the Lord, to fulfill his will “who shall award us with the crown of righteousness in heaven.”

We are all sinners forgiven and beloved by God.

May we find ourselves in God and with God always both in our sinfulness and lowliness. Amen.

Hope for our difficult personality

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Monday, Memorial of St. Jerome, 30 September 2019

Zechariah 8:1-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 9:46-50

St. Jerome painting by El Greco portrayed as wearing the Cardinal’s robe to represent his highly esteemed works and contributions to the Church as one of the Four Western Fathers along with St. Augustine, St. Ambrose of Milan, and St. Gregory the Great. Photo from Google.

Praise and glory to you, God our loving Father! Thank you very much for giving us saints, men and women like us who were sinners with so many weaknesses but through your grace were able to lead holy lives.

Through your saints, you give us so much hope to be become better persons despite our many imperfections like our great Doctor of the Church, St. Jerome, the Father of Catholic biblical studies who immersed himself in the study and prayer of the Sacred Writings right in the Holy Land.

Considered as one of the great theologians of the Church, St. Jerome is said to be approachable but notorious for being a difficult person too due to his temper as well as sarcasm and being argumentative at times.

I confess, O God, that I am exactly the opposite of the kind of person Jesus Christ is telling us to be like – a child. Instead of being childlike, many times I have become childish, difficult to handle with my burst of temper and sometimes annoying sarcasm.

Like St. Jerome, fill me with your grace, with courage and willpower to conquer my irascibility and direct all my negative energies in pursuing you in prayers and good works.

Help me to follow St. Jerome in his call to “let us translate the words of the Scriptures into deeds.”

Fill me with your words, O Lord, cleanse me of my sins and iniquities so that your Holy Spirit may dwell in me, suffuse me with your holiness. Amen.

My favorite depiction of St. Jerome by Italian painter Antonello da Messina (c.1430-79), “St. Jerome in his Study.” Again, we see St. Jerome in red robe and hat like a Cardinal at his study desk with his faithful lion in the background which tradition says he had helped in the forest by removing a thorn in its paw. At the foreground are two birds: a peacock which is an ancient Christian symbol of eternal life that our saint meditated often (reason why he always has a skull in other paintings), and a partridge, a reference to St. Jerome’s notorious temper as the bird often represents jealous rage. Photo from Google.

The grudges that fester within us

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Thursday, Passion of John the Baptist, 29 August 2019

Jeremiah 1:17-19 ><}}}*> ><}}}*> ><}}}*> Mark 6:17-29

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Today, O Lord, I pray for my hardening heart. I have a festering anger deep in my heart against some people who have hurt me. And I am harboring a grudge against them like Herodias, the mistress of Herod.

Herodias harbored a grudge against John the Baptist and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. She had an opportunity one day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for is courtiers, his military officers, and the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’s own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.”

Mark 6:19, 21-22, 24

What is so shameful, O Lord, like Herodias, I want to have the heads of those people. I want to get even with the pains they have inflicted against me. I want revenge.

But more shameful, Lord Jesus, is, unlike Herodias, I have not done anything wrong against these people. And no amount of pain can justify my grudge, my anger, my hatred against them.

This is what makes it more painful with me: the festering anger in my heart is slowly poisoning my soul, my very being.

Teach me, Jesus, to bear all pains like John the Baptist, suffering for you, suffering with you.

Give me the courage and strength to “gird my loin” as you told the Prophet Jeremiah so I may be able to control myself and be on guard against becoming like Herodias or, worst, Herod, who beheaded John in prison.

Let me rise above my instincts and feelings to be not like the evil doers and fake people who fight and malign me because you have assured me that they will never prevail over me, that you will deliver me for you are always with me. Amen.

“The Severed Head of John the Baptist”, a sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin in 1875. This is probably a representation of a guillotined criminal’s head during that time. From Google.

Perennial Pentecost

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul
Solemnity of the Pentecost, 09 June 2019
Acts 2:1-11 >< }}}*> Romans 8:8-17 >< }}}*> John 14:15-16, 23-26
From Google.

Today we close the Easter Season.

After the last Mass tonight in every parish, the Paschal Candle is extinguished and from the ambo where it had stayed since the Easter Vigil, it is brought back to the baptistry to signal the start of Ordinary Time tomorrow.

As we have been reflecting these past days, life is a series of coming than of leaving. This is very true in today’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Pentecost: when Jesus ascended into heaven last Sunday, the Holy Spirit now comes to fire up the disciples to continue God’s presence in the world. Last Sunday we said the Ascension does not mean Jesus going to a particular place “up there” but his entry into a higher level of relating with us. Today is the fulfillment of that promise he made, that he would remain with us until the end of time in the power of the Holy Spirit sent by the Father.

Pentecost means fifty. After God handed to Moses the Ten Commandments at Sinai, the Israelites ratified that covenant 50 days after. Eventually when they entered the Promised Land, Pentecost became an agricultural celebration of their harvests that eventually extended into a celebration of weeks. When the Holy Spirit came on that Pentecost day in Jerusalem, it became the “coming out party” of the Church when the Apostles were emboldened to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone.

In this evolution of the Pentecost from Sinai to Promised Land to the early Church, it has remained true to its essence as life in God. As such, we must keep in mind it is not an isolated event in the past but a reality we must allow to happen every day in our lives. If there is one thing very much missing in the Church these days, it is the Holy Spirit. We need a “perennial Pentecost” to fill us with life and zest in living the Gospel, from the bishops to the priests to every baptized Catholic. See the vibrancy among other Christian denominations. They are so alive while we Catholics as so rigid and lethargic. We need to be “fired up” by the burning fire of the Holy Spirit everyday. It is Pentecost or nothing!

Chair of St. Peter at the High altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. From Google.

Above the Chair of St. Peter at the Vatican is a stained glass depicting the coming of the Holy Spirit like a dove. According to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, that is in essence the Church which is like a window where God and man get in contact. At the middle of that meeting point or contact of God and man is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we can never be in touch with God and with others. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of love that binds us all with each other and with God in the same manner it unites the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity to remain as One God. This explains why we heard again today the Gospel three Sundays ago of Jesus teaching about love at the Last Supper.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep the commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you always. Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

John 14:15-16, 23

These words are repeated today to present to us the new and definite context of the Pentecost flowing from that Last Supper discourse of Jesus about love, keeping his commandments, and coming of the Holy Spirit.

During his Last Supper, Jesus clearly showed that in the new covenant sealed by his blood, the Law is more than the personification of God: obedience to his commandments and to the Father is first of all an expression of love. Jesus is the new Torah, the new law of love found in his oneness with the Father. On this Pentecost Sunday, we hear again the Last Supper discourse of Jesus to remind us that being Christian is becoming united as one in him as “indwelling of the Father and the Son.”

That can only happen when we allow ourselves to be small. See that at the Ascension, we were presented with an upward movement that called for the need to be light and powerless in order to rise above. Now, Pentecost’s downward movement shows us the need to be small in order to be mixed or fused with God and with others. Every downward push leads to spreading out, of thinning out, of getting small.

As limited beings, our greatness can only be found in our ability to share, to be small to participate and become a part of a larger whole. In our very selves, we cannot do anything. I am so amused to realize this basic truth while watching those crime shows in Netflix like Narcos and Bad Blood where even the most evil men need to be small, to band together to be powerful. We all need conversion which is very essential to be truly great!

For true conversion to happen, there has to be love, even at least, an openness to love. It is no wonder that love is always presented in the fiery shades of red and orange because almost everything is purified and broken into little particles by fire. When love is intense, expect fire to be hotter with its hues of red and orange more aglow. Only when we are willing to be subjected to love’s purifying fire can we be truly filled with the Holy Spirit and its gifts, particularly joy.

Conversion and love demand constant dying into one’s self, of living in the spirit and not in flesh that St. Paul explained in the second reading. We can never be one in Christ without conversion, without getting off our ivory tower of pride and arrogance. We need to go down, if we have to lie face down, so be it. Most of all, oneness with others is impossible without conversion because we cannot insist on ourselves on others. We need to be broken, we need to smash our high walls that keep us away from others. That is what the Holy Spirit’s fire did on that Pentecost Sunday in Jerusalem, the very same thing needed to happen these days in our Church.

Every Sunday when we gather like the Apostles at the Upper Room during the Lord’s supper, we are invited to keep his commandments in love. This can only happen when we pray for conversion through the fire of the Holy Spirit. Let us be open to receive this fire of the Holy Spirit again every Eucharistic celebration so that after our gathering, we may set the world anew in fire with Jesus Christ’s loving presence. Amen.

From Google.

Lent and the Contemplative Spirit

40 Shades of Lent, 5th Sunday-C, 07 April 2019
Isaiah 43:16-21///Philippians 3:8-14///John 8:1-11 
From Google.
Sunrise at Lake of Galilee. Photo by author April 2017.

Today is the last Sunday of Lent. It is hoped that by this time since Ash Wednesday, we have slowly acquired or even regained our contemplative spirit of prayerful silence. It is something very essential not only during these 40 days and in the coming Holy Week. It is only in silent prayers can we truly find balance in life as we discover what is valuable and what is worthless, things that last and things that pass. Prayerful silence teaches us to slow down, to be more discerning, and more trusting. The contemplative spirit thus leads us to grow deeper in our faith, hope and love in God. It is in the contemplative spirit where God works best in us.

We find this invitation to a contemplative spirit in our beautiful gospel today of a woman caught committing adultery whom Jesus refused to condemn. Unlike the previous four weeks when we heard all gospels taken from Luke, this Sunday’s story is from John that perfectly fits last week’s parable of the prodigal son to show us God’s immense love and mercy for us sinners. Every conversion, every contrition of sins presupposes silence. Recall how the lost son last Sunday realized his sinfulness while silently tending swine in a far away land.

From Google.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.

John 8:1-6

From Google.

We have seen how Jesus foiled other insidious plots against him through tricky questions but this one involving a woman caught committing adultery shows us a fine image of him as the Christ. His silence, his bending down and his writing on the ground are moving moments that touch our hearts and make us wonder all the more, who is this man?

More than addressing a question that concerns the many dilemmas we face in life, this episode shows us that it is something that directly concerns Jesus Christ himself, his being our Savior. Notice at the start of the story where Jesus is presented always going to the Mount of Olives to pray, to be one with the Father. This episode happened after he had entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, showing us how Jesus became more intense in praying, in being one with the Father when his final days were approaching. That is the contemplative spirit.

Now feel the atmosphere of those tense moments when people brought the woman caught committing adultery to Jesus: everybody was saying something, emotions were running high, just like us in our own time with social media around us. We live in so much noises where everybody and everything is talking that we fail to listen to our very selves, to others and most especially to God always silent. See how Jesus was so cool – or “chillax” as young people would say. It was an astonishing reaction to the situation. Only a person with deep contemplative spirit like Jesus can be so composed and silent in a tense situation like that. It is always easier to react and say something than be silent to weigh everything. Too often in the world today, words are so empty that they have to be shouted all around and repeated so often in the hope they become true, exactly what every election candidate is doing!

From Bing.com.

Jesus chose to be silent so we may realize that issues of sin and evil are best resolved in a contemplative spirit where we find the value of every person that we condemn the sin not the sinner. History has shown time and again how wars and violence or any other harsh methods like death penalty have proven ineffective in correcting any injustice or wrongdoing and preventing crimes. Where there is severity in measures against evil, we find only more deaths and burials happening but never peace and justice.

Now more than ever in Jesus Christ, we have found and experienced God’s mercy so abounding and closest to us sinners if we are truly sorry and ready to change. Like the woman caught committing adultery or the prodigal son last Sunday, we have to reach out to Christ to be forgiven from our sins. He assures us of never being condemned, of deleting our past sins and assuring us with a bright future to receive his promises if we “go and sin no more.”

We have to stress that Jesus does not approve sins. Never. He recognized the sinfulness of the woman when he told her “go and sin no more.” Likewise, Jesus never asked us to stop fighting sins. When he dared the people of whoever has no sin be the first to cast the stone, Jesus never meant us to be silent with the evil and wrongdoings happening around us. This encounter between Jesus and the woman committing adultery invites us to examine first, our own attitudes toward others guilty of serious sins. And secondly, to examine our own reactions when our misery meets with God’s mercy especially in the sacrament of penance or reconciliation.

Do we choose to be harsh like the crowd or be gentle like Christ?

How sad that even with our very selves we are so unforgiving, so severe that we hardly move on in life. Only in a contemplative spirit can we truly experience God’s liberating mercy and forgiveness within us and with others. The contemplative spirit enables us to trust God that no matter how sinful we are, his love and mercy are more powerful, able to transform us all into better persons, even saints! This is the promise of God in the first reading that he would do something greater than what he had done in liberating his people from Egypt – that he would send our Savior not only to forgive our many sins but even to share in his glory as saints.

Assumption Sabbath Baguio, January 2019.

St. Paul in the second reading could speak of “considering everything as a loss in knowing Christ Jesus” because of the contemplative spirit he acquired after his conversion. His letters all reveal to us St. Paul’s contemplative spirit and intimacy with Jesus Christ that flowed out into his daily life, reaching its summit in his martyrdom.

As the season of Lent comes to a close on this fifth Sunday, we are reminded of the path of conversion we have followed these past four weeks under St. Luke’s guidance. Conversion leads to contemplation, a daily communion with God in prayerful silence and allow him to suffuse us with his love. Its fruits are seen in our daily lives. It is the work of God, not us. It is God who renews us in silence into a new creation. We simply have to remain in Christ and strive always “to go and sin no more”. Amen.

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears (1985)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 24 March 2019

It’s a very humid third Sunday of Lent, perfect for a New Wave music from the 80’s to remind us of the season’s call for conversion. But before going to our music, a little background about our gospel today that sounds like our news headlines.

Pontius Pilate massacred a great number of Galileans while many others were killed in an accident at Siloe. People were talking about the tragedies, blaming all victims as sinners being punished by God. But Jesus stopped all their blaming games, warning them that unless they repent and change their ways, they could also perish and suffer the same fate.

For Jesus, all the problems and sufferings in the world are either directly or indirectly caused by sins. He is not trying to offer a simplistic approach but invites us to see events in history as well as in our personal lives as calls to conversion, that is, turning our hearts back to God so we may experience the deeper meaning of life.

How sad that since His coming, after offering Himself on the Cross and rising to new life on Easter, mankind has continued to ignore Jesus Christ and His call to conversion. This is the reality presented by the English band Tears for Fears in their 1985 hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. Wit its superb instrumentation and vocals, this signature song by Tears for Fears next to “Shout” (1984) can immediately catch our attention with its lyrics that confront us with the shameful truths and realities within each one of us like dominion and power, arrogance and corruption, wealth and fame, and total disregard for the environment. Its message remains very true to this day that ironically, has fallen on deaf ears. May its lyrics finally hit us and move us to a conversion of the heart!

Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep 
We will find You acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world

It’s my own desire
It’s my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

There’s a room where the light won’t find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do, I’ll be right behind you
So glad we’ve almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world

I can’t stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world

Say that you’ll never, never, never, need it
One headline, why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world

All images from Google.

Lent is Conversion

40 Shades of Lent, Week III, Year C, 24 March 2019
Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15///1Corinthians 10:1-4, 10-12///Luke 13:1-9

From the desert of temptation to the mountain of transfiguration, the gospel on this third Sunday of Lent dives directly into its central message of conversion by bringing us closer to realities of life that are as timely as the news headlines.

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

Luke 13:1-5

Conversion is confronting our true selves by admitting and owning our many sins that may have contributed to the worsening crises we are facing in our personal lives, in our family as well as in the church and in the society. It is doing away with our favorite past time, the blaming game. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, we have always been blaming somebody else including God for every bad thing that happens to us and in the world. We tend to forget or even refuse to accept that every misery in our lives and on earth are the direct or indirect results of our sins like sickness and diseases, wars and terrorism, famines as well as economic and environmental disasters. Everything is by our own doing when our sins mar the human face including Mother Earth.

Jesus Christ in today’s gospel is not offering us with a simplistic view on the many sufferings and problems we have for that would also be getting into our own blaming game. He has no intentions of getting involved with our political and economic discussions to solve our many problems. What Jesus is telling us with His strong words only Luke had recorded is for us to read everything from the spiritual point of view by finding God in our human and personal history. And that is conversion, finding God first in our hearts to find Him in our history and in our world.

In the first reading, we are reminded how the whole earth is a sacred ground, the abode of God who told Moses to remove his sandals as he approached the burning bush in the desert. Moreover, God introduced Himself to Moses in the burning bush as the perfect presence, the “I AM WHO AM” who is all encompassing directing our history into His divine will and plan. With Jesus Christ’s coming as the Emmanuel or “God-is-with-us”, God has become more present among us not only on earth but right in every person.

And that is conversion, having Jesus in our hearts in order to find Him among others. Conversion does not mean we change into another person but more of reorienting our life directions in Christ by allowing Jesus to dwell in our hearts. How sad that so often, we would look into others to blame and to change when we forget the fact that the only heart we can convert is ours. It is said that anyone wishing to change the world must first change one’s self. And that is what Jesus is telling us today.

Jesus came to the world so we may experience the Father’s gentle mercy, kindness and forgiveness. By following His direction in our conversion, it is hoped that we find better ways in solving our many social and personal problems. The recent terrorist attacks in New Zealand that killed almost 50 people, the gruesome rape and murder of that young lady in Cebu, the worsening problems on drugs and crimes as well as traffic and the environment invite us all to a conversion of our hearts in Christ to experience His humility and tender, loving care for the lost, the sick and the suffering. See how our arrogance and harshness have only worsened the many social ills throughout history, not to mention man’s continued alienation from self and from one another.

Throughout history, God has always revealed Himself to us in so many ways through Jesus Christ to show us that the only way to salvation in all forms of human life is the way of conversion, to always find Him in the many events happening around us, in the world, and most especially in our hearts. Let us heed Paul’s warning that “whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall” (1Cor.10:12) by learning from the lessons of powerful men and women in the past now gone and forgotten. As we walk in history, God walks with us too, listening to us, sharing with us Himself. Sometimes, changes do not happen right away or as we want it to be but in His time, God’s plans always prevail. In the mean time, He patiently awaits our conversion in Him.

All images from Google.