Red Wednesday in Memory of Persecuted Christians, 27 November 2019
Revelation 15:1-4 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 21:12-19
From Google.
Today, O dear Jesus, we gather as one nation to remember the 300 million Christians worldwide who are persecuted in various forms because of their faith in you: those who were denied of work, housing, liberty, and most especially, life.
We remember and pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who were unjustly tortured and murdered because of carrying a cross and confessing their love for you, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to the crowd: “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair of your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
Luke 21:17-19
May those who have suffered and those still suffering be consoled with your love and peace, Lord.
Have mercy on their persecutors, let them realize that religion should bring us together and not apart.
Most especially, Lord Jesus, teach us to remember in carrying and embracing our crosses in the midst of these persecutions. Wash away our sins of indifference. Give us courage to follow promptings of your Holy Spirit in working for genuine peace and justice.
Empty ourselves of hatred and mistrust of one another to always remember we are all brothers and sisters in the Father. Amen.
Red Wednesday poster of Bacolod Diocese last year.
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.
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.
We have reflected last week that prayer is an expression of our faith by citing Dione Warwick’s 1967 hit, “I Say a Little Prayer”.
When there is faith expressed in prayer, there is also love.
And when there are faith, prayer and love, then we have a relationship like family and friends, and community.
Today in our gospel, Jesus tells us the right attitude we must have in maintaining our relationships, not only with him but also with others.
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up 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, thank that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.’ 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.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former.”
Luke 18:9-11, 13-14
From Dione Warwick’s 1967 “I Say a Little Prayer”, we move to the following year when Sylvia Robinson and Bert Keyes composed Love on a Two-Way Street recorded by The Moments as a filler for their 1968 album Not on the Outside, But the Inside, Strong!
It did not fare well in the charts and was released again as a single in 1970 when it spent five weeks at number one on Billboard’s Soul Singles chart. It become one of the greatest R&B song of that year that was later covered by other artists.
In 1981, 14-year-old Staci Lattisaw did a cover of the song that became so popular that others have thought it as her original.
But with all due respect to Staci, I have also always felt her version very cheesy that I prefer the originals singing it because they give more character and soul to the song.
I found love on a two way street and lost it on a lonely highway Love on a two way street and lost it on a lonely highway
There was no specific experience behind the composition of Love on a Two-Way Street except that it was just a product of a play on words and poetry by Robinson supported by Keyes’ music.
The moment we become convinced of our righteousness that we despise everyone else (cf. Lk.18:9), then we shut ourselves in and leave no space for others even God.
Love as a two-way street based on today’s parable by Jesus requires three attitudes so our relationships would mature and grow deeper: a sense of sinfulness, self-surrender, and self-offering.
No love and faith would ever grow on a lonely highway, with no one else to relate with. That’s when we stop communicating and relating until we break up with others and end up alone and isolated.
That is when we become a “lonely highway” with nobody else but I, me, and myself.
Go back to the two-way street of God and others.
Though crowded with some traffic jams, there is always a space for everyone.
The Lord Is My Chef Recipe for 40th Wedding Anniversary
Tony and Joyce Lopez, 20 October 2019
Presentation of Our Lord Parish, Filinvest 1, Batasan Hills, QC
Tony and Joyce on their 40th Wedding Anniversary, 20 October 2019 at the Presentation of the Lord Parish, Filinvest I, QC joined by their son Atty. JA and wife Kathleen with two kids, and youngest daughter Rosella.
Every Sunday I write a blog connecting the gospel with a secular song.
As I prepared my homily for your anniversary, Joyce and Tony… “the moment I woke up and before your Mommy Fely put on her make-up, I said a little prayer for you.”
Joyce mom Fely Pollard with late husband Charles’ cousin, Beth Javier.
Of course that is not the theme song of Joyce and Tony. They haven’t met yet in 1967 when Dione Warwick recorded I Say a Little Prayer. But they were already married when it became one of the tracks in the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” starring Julia Roberts.
And since this is my “best cousin’s wedding anniversary” in this part of the city, I have thought of reflecting on married life as a form of prayer.
In our gospel we have heard Jesus Christ narrating the parable of the unjust judge and persistent widow to underscore “the necessity to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk. 18:1).
Prayer is an expression of faith.
When there is faith, there is also love.
And when there is prayer, faith, and love, what we have is a relationship, a community of believers who love each other.
People who love and believe with each other always talk and communicate. They make time to be with one another. And most often, that is what really matters with people who love and believe – simply to be together.
Even in silence.
Like prayer.
Joyce: “During our first few years as couple, I was the one always embracing Tony; but, later until now, it is Tony who often hugs and embraces me! Nabaligtad ang scenario.”
Prayer is more than asking things from God but most of all, prayer is a relationship with God expressed with others. That is the beauty of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony: husband and wife are bound together in marriage to become signs of the saving presence of Jesus Christ.
Marriage as a sacrament means it is a prayer as well, a relationship of a man and woman with God as its source and foundation.
I am sure, Joyce and Tony along with all the other married couples here today will agree that married life requires a lot of prayers. In fact, married life is a prayer, a very difficult one that is much needed.
Like in that movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, there are real forces of evil that are trying to destroy couples. So many couples have already fallen, going their separate lives after several years of being together while on the other hand, more and more couples are refusing to get married at all due to this reality of breakups and separations.
And that is why we are celebrating today on this 40th anniversary of Joyce and Tony’s wedding! We are praying with them in expressing our faith and love for them in Christ Jesus. Prayers have kept them together, transforming them into better persons.
At the end of the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge, Jesus posed a very crucial question for us, especially to every married couple here today: When the Son of Man comes again at the end of time, will he find faith on earth? (Lk.18:8)
Tony and Joyce at Villa San Miguel, Mandaluyong 1979.
And what shall be our response?
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony!”
Like Moses in the first reading, they both prayed hard with arms outstretched on many occasions as they battled life’s many challenges and struggles.
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” because they have both proclaimed your word with persistence, whether it is convenient or inconvenient like St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy. They have weathered so many storms in the past 40 years and your words, O Lord, have kept them together, sharing these with their children and with everyone in their life of fidelity and love.
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again in Joyce and Tony” now before your altar to renew their vows to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives!
“Yes, Lord, you shall find faith when you come again” among the many couples gathered here who have remained faithful to each other despite their many sins and failures, weaknesses and shortcomings.
Joyce and Tony, you are not only a prayer of faith but also a homily of the Holy Matrimony, showing us the light and power of Jesus Christ to transform people in prayer and bring them to fulfillment.
Prayer does not change things like typhoons and earthquakes. We cannot ask God in prayer to spare us from getting sick or be exempted from life’s many trials and sufferings. Prayer cannot stop those from happening.
What prayer does is change us, change our attitude so we may hurdle life’s many blows and obstacles. Especially with couples who always find God in their lives, in good times and in bad.
Prayers transform us into better persons as children of God, especially couples who eventually look like brothers and sisters after living together in faith, hope and love.
Tony and Joyce, I am sure everyone in our family and among your friends here can attest to the many good things that have transformed you in the past 40 years.
You have changed to become the best for each other.
In the bible, the number 40 means perfect.
May God continue to perfect you, Tony and Joyce.
Keep us too in your prayers as we pray for you. Amen.
God our Father, so often we profess our faith in you.
But so often, it is not authentic faith at all because it is more of manipulating you for we can actually see all possibilities.
Like that someone in the crowd who said to Jesus:
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Luke 12:13-15
Forgive us Lord in believing more in our selves than in you, in believing our selves that we can use you for our selfish ends even if it something rightly ours.
Give us an authentic faith like that one Abraham had when he believed in you, O God, that you would still fulfill your promise to make him the father of all nations despite his advanced age as well as Sarah’s condition.
As explained by St. Paul in today’s first reading, teach us to have the same faith of Abraham who showed a kind of resurrection faith – of faith that God could bring forth life from the barren or “dead” womb of Sarah.
A “faith that justifies” like that of Abraham is a faith that saves because more than fulfilling his promise, Abraham believed that God can bring back to life anyone already dead like the womb of wife Sarah who was already old and barren.
Let us grow in having an authentic faith like Abraham who entrusted his total self to you, Lord, even if human reason reason tells us there is no hope at all. Amen.
Kindly say a prayer for the recovery of our brother priest, Fr. Federico dela Cruz, who had brain surgery last night due to a head injury he sustained in an accident Saturday night. Thank yo.
It’s a lovely Sunday especially for all married couples.
I am officiating the 40th Wedding Anniversary later today of a dear cousin when I remembered the 1997 movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” with one of its most romantic scene with the singing of I Say a Little Prayer.
Composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1966 for Dionne Warwick, the song is meant to convey the woman’s sentiment for her man serving at the Vietnam War. It was finally released in 1967 and became an instant hit not only in the US but around the world. Since then, I Say a Little Prayer has been covered so many times even by male vocalists and went back to the charts again in 1997 as one of the tracks in the romantic comedy that starred Julia Roberts.
Prayer is the expression of our faith that always presupposes the presence of love. If there is love, there must be a community, a relationship.
Like people who love each other, believing in each other, they always speak and communicate even in silence. What matters most is their being together, their being one in faith and in love.
Exactly like in prayer.
If we love God, then we must always speak to him and most of all, be one with him, like most people who truly love.
We have chosen that lovely scene from “My Best Friend’s Wedding” singing I Say a Little Prayer because it evokes a lot about prayer: faith and love and relationships.
Most of all, in that movie, the prayer was heard loud and clear for Julia’s best friend.
See the movie again and have those kilig moments back with your loved one 22 years ago.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Week XXIX-C, 20 October 2019
Exodus 17:8-13 ><}}}*> 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 ><}}}*> Luke 18:1-8
A pilgrim writing petitions inside a “cave” chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. George’s Church in Madaba, Jordan. May 2019.
We have seen these past two weeks the importance of faith in our lives. The other Sunday Jesus assured us that faith is a gift freely given to us by the Father that enables us to make it through this life’s many challenges. It is also faith that heals and saves us as seen in the healing of the ten lepers last Sunday.
For the next three Sundays beginning today, faith would still be the main theme of our gospel but, each week we are offered with its different aspects that enrich and fulfill our lives.
Today, Jesus shows us that where there is faith, there is always a relationship that springs forth nourished by prayer.
Jesus told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'”
Luke 18:1-5
Mirador, Baguio City, January 2019.
Everybody is saying we should pray. Especially us priests.
But rarely do we explain why we should pray. Worst of all, many among us teach the misconception that we have to pray so God would pour out his blessings upon us, the so-called “health and wealth” preaching to collect more donations!
Prayer is not merely for asking favors from God because he knows what we need and grants these even before we ask him or even without us asking him. Praying for special favors is the lowest form of prayer, the one at the bottom, if you remember our acronym “ACTS”: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
Prayer is primarily about relationships, of keeping our ties with God closer and personal. It is an expression of our faith in God, something innate within us that we must cultivate for it to blossom and bear much fruit for us.
Prayers do not change things and situations like typhoons and earthquakes.
Prayers change us – our person and attitudes in dealing with life’s blows. It makes us more humane, more kind, more like God to whom we cling to when we pray.
See how the widow pleaded to the heartless judge because she not only believed she deserved justice but she saw a glimmer of humanity in him that even for a small chance he would render her with a just decision because she’s a fellow human being.
And she succeeded in pursuing it!
The widow had such deep faith that the evil judge would recognize their “link” or relationship as humans.
This we find clearer in Jesus explaining the parable.
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa at Palo, Leyte, September 2019.
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Luke 18:6-8
The title “Lord” is a post-Resurrection address given to Jesus Christ by the disciples when their faith had been deepened by the Holy Spirit. Here, Jesus is introducing something more profound about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary – we pray to be with God, to be one in him by being “justified” or being saved!
Here now is the deeper reason why we must pray always: to be one with God.
And from that comes the crux of the gospel today when the Lord asked, “will he find faith on earth when he comes?”
That question sheds light to the parable which is more than praying unceasingly to God for some favors but to deepen that faith and relationship with God who is our very life, our healing, and our salvation.
That question sheds light to the parable which is about the need to constantly reawaken that faith with prayers as expression of our deep love for Jesus Christ, himself the “word who became flesh” we must proclaim always until he comes again according to St. Paul in the second reading.
That question by Jesus challenges our faith to be like Moses and Joshua remaining focused with God in prayer as we battle life’s many trials and difficulties, challenges that sometimes force many of us to abandon him or change our religious affiliations as if there are different Gods!
Finally, that question probes our hearts not only for faith but also for love for God expressed in our prayers. Where there is faith, there is always relationship, and therefore, there is also love.
And here, we do not merely mean reciting prayers but having a “prayer life” – a communion and intimacy with the Lord cultivated in a disciplined life of prayer because people who truly love always talk and communicate with each other.
Most of all, people who love and have faith in each other always spend time together even in silence. Just like in prayer!
Handle life with prayer always. Have a blessed week ahead!
“Losing One’s Head and Self in Prayer”. Photo by Ms. JJ Jimeno of GMA-7 News at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Holy Sacrifice Parish, UP Diliman, QC, June 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe Week XXVIII-C, 13 October 2019
2 Kings 5:14-17 ><}}}*> 2 Timothy 2:8-13 ><}}}*> Luke 17:11-19
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, September 2019.
This Sunday readings tell us about the skin, the healing of people afflicted with the dreaded “Hansen’s disease” or leprosy. Since ancient time, it has always been seen with deeper implications than mere wounds on the skin that scars not only the leper but also the community. At its worst, it is regarded as a divine punishment that lepers have to be separated from others to live in designated areas for their treatment.
Skin plays a major role in our social status and mobility. Being the largest organ of the human body, the skin is always the first to be seen and noticed that whatever its condition would always have a big impact on the person, for better or for worst.
This is specially true for us Filipinos who are so concerned with our skin color that we still regard being white or maputi is maganda (beautiful) and having dark skin or maitim is pangit (ugly). No wonder everybody is going crazy to get whiter skin with all those soaps and creams and medicines advertised on billboards everywhere!
In a very funny twist unknown to most Filipinos who idolise white skin, many of our popular devotions in the Catholic faith actually have dark skin like Quiapo’s Black Nazarene and Our Lady of Antipolo?!
But, that’s another story of how skin-deep we can be…..
Going back to our reflection of today’s readings, Jesus is inviting us to go deeper than the skin to realize the richer meaning of having faith in him.
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
Luke 17:11-16
View from the walled city of ancient Jerusalem, May 2019.
Since June 30 of this year, the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we have been following Jesus when “he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51). More than a destination to reach, Christ’s journey to Jerusalem is about directions in life because it is spiritual and theological in nature than spatial or geographical.
It is the same truth every pilgrim to the Holy Land realizes too!
And now that Jesus is nearing Jerusalem to fulfill his mission, his teachings are getting clearer and closer to home, indicating also our own “passing over” or pasch with him with the many verbs and movements found in our gospel scene today.
Let’s try reflecting on them one by one. Please bear with me…
“As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem” …. Jesus never stops in his journey to Jerusalem to suffer with us, to cry with us, to die with us. He is committed in being one with us in our many struggles and battles in this life until we make it with him to heaven.
“he travelled through Samaria and Galilee.” This is beautiful. Samaria and Galilee are the regions where the poor and marginalized lived, where sinners abound. But, that is where Jesus would always come. When we are in our darkest moments in life due to sickness, failures and disappointments, especially sin – that is when Jesus comes closest to us! In the first reading, we have heard how God’s Prophet Elisha told the Syrian Army General Naaman to bath in the Jordan River to be healed of his leprosy even if he were a pagan and an enemy of Israel! God loves us all.
“As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.” Keep in mind that Jesus came for the lost like us. Be open and ready for him for he is always passing by. Jesus surely comes to those who patiently wait for him.
“They stood at a distance from him, and raised their voice, saying, ‘Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!’ and when he saw them, he said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ As they were going they were cleansed.” This episode of the healing of ten lepers can only be found in St. Luke’s gospel filled with many meaningful expressions. First is how “the lepers stood at a distance from Jesus.” This is our usual stance with the Lord when we are full of sin, so ashamed to look at him. But, it does not really matter with the Lord who looks more into is our hearts full of contrition than into our ego full of pride as we shall hear three weeks from now in the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector (Lk. 18:9-14).
The lepers cried to him, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” and when Jesus saw them, he told them to see the priests and they were cleansed. This is an extraordinary profession of faith in Christ by the ten lepers who were crying out not only for pity but also mercy. There are only three instances in the gospels when Jesus is addressed in his name, once in Matthew and twice in Luke. This is the first and the second is when Dimas the thief called on him saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” To say his name “Jesus” in itself is a prayer, an admission of guilt and sin. That is why, as the ten lepers went their way to the priests, they were “cleansed” like Dimas on the cross was instantly promised with paradise.
“And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.”
Here we find every encounter with Jesus in prayer and the sacraments as well as in various events in our life is a passage to salvation and new life. See the transition from being cleansed into being healed: that is something deeper than the skin, so to speak. The Samaritan was not merely cleansed of his skin blemishes but most of all, his soul and inner being that Jesus later told him to “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”
Sometimes in life, we stop at being cleansed by the Lord; after obtaining our prayers and wishes, we never go back to him until we face another problem again. Are we willing to keep on going back to Jesus to kneel before him and to thank him?
Last Sunday we prayed to Jesus to increase our faith and today like the ten lepers from a distance, we cry out to him as our Master to have pity on us. We always have that gift of faith in us but we have to deepen and cultivate it daily in our prayer life and most especially in the Sunday Eucharist, the highest expression of giving thanks to God.
Let us live in our faith and trust in God’s gift freely given to everyone regardless of who we are. Let us rely in the words of St. Paul that
“if we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”
I was a newly ordained priest assigned to an all-boys’ high school in 1998.
People were looking up to me as a priest or a “man of the cloth” but my students and the younger generation counted me in as “one of them” when they learned my favorite bands at that time were the Eraserheads, Sugar Ray, and New Radicals. And like this blog, I would spice up my homilies in the Mass and reflections in class and recollections with modern music so our students could make “sakay” (ride) with God’s words and lessons from the Bible.
Just like our featured song on this lovely Sunday by the New Radicals released in 1999 from the only album they have released a year earlier called “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too”, “Someday We’ll Know” is a song about love at the beginning was thought to be so perfect that later ended up in separation.
Two years after their split, the man was still wondering what happened to their seemingly perfect love, at why he was dumped for another guy by his beloved.
And the bittersweet part is the that the man in the song is wondering not out of desperation but because he still loved the woman, believing and hoping that…
Someday we’ll know Why Sampson loved Delilah One day I’ll go Dancing on the moon Someday you’ll know That I was the one for you I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow I watched the stars crash into the sea If I could ask God just one question Why aren’t you here with me
Faith and love always go together. People who truly love are the most faithful!
In the gospel today, the Apostles asked Jesus Chris to increase their faith upon learning from him the many trials they have to go through in fulfilling their mission from him.
Sometimes in life when things do not go according to our plans, when bad things happen to us despite our efforts to become better persons, we cry out to God in pain, even complain at all the destruction and disorder we go through in life.
And every time we pray to cry out to God in pain or complain, it is a sign of grace that he is within us. Prayer is an ability we can only do with grace from God; that is why, when we pray, our prayers are already half answered because prayer is definite sign of God being with us.
When things are not going well with you now, have faith in God.
Keep praying, keep believing, keep trusting God because someday we’ll know….
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