"Have faith in God, and faith in Me"
Since the beginning, Jesus has always encountered either unbelief from His own people or a lack of faith in His apostles and disciples. They sometimes misunderstand Him. At one time, because of the hard and difficult sayings He pronounced some of them went away and did not follow Him anymore.
In the gospel today, the apostles are troubled because Jesus said that He was going to the Father. We know that He will ascend into heaven and leave the apostles. But He will not leave them orphaned because He promised another Advocate for them - the Paraclete - the Holy Spirit.
Thomas wanted to know who the Father that Jesus was mentioning. Jesus pointed out that the Father they already know through He Himself - since He and the Father are one. And He further stresses that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
If we look at our present context, wherein we just had a pope elected by the college of cardinals, "Habemus Papam", we are all positive and optimistic that this will usher in a new time, a new era for the Church - perhaps a springtime - after the long hard "winter" of problems and difficulties that our most holy father, John Paul II, had to carry on his shoulders. In this new era and this new "springtime", we must not be sorrowful because John Paul II has left us. He continually tells us, as Christ also says, "Be not afraid". Christ says, "Be not afraid" because He wants us to have faith in God and to have faith in Him. When we do place our entire trust and faith in Christ, then we shall realize why He tells us that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Nothing can compare to the word and spirit of Christ.
This is certainly a time wherein we are called to greater faith in God and in Christ - whom He has sent to the world to show us that the way to Life is to deny ourself, take up our cross, and follow Him. It is not an easy way. In fact, it is a way of suffering and pain. But let us not be discouraged or frustrated or disappointed or become tired of doing good. We will have our reward if we endure and follow God's will. And that reward starts now as we will receive the Spirit of God at Pentecost - and every personal Pentecost in our life.
May the Lord God bless us all and increase our faith in Him.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Sunday, April 17, 2005
4th Sunday of Easter, Year A
"I came that they may have life and have it to the full"
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and also the Day of Prayer for Vocations.
The text of the gospel speaks of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who calls all those who know Him and hear His voice. Jesus calls us by name because He knows us. And we will follow His voice if we get to know Him more and more through the frequency we celebrate the sacraments and the regularity we do our spiritual exercises. And when Jesus calls us, it is usually to do some act of service to the Church or to the people whom we serve in society and thus are given the opportunity to tell them about the love of God for all of us. When Jesus calls the young, there is an opportunity for these young people to follow Jesus in the form of religious life or the priesthood. When a young man or a young woman hears the call of Jesus and follows Him in either of this states of vocation, he or she "will be blessed and indeed have life and have it to the full".
Those of us who have come to follow Christ in the vocation of the lay state are also called to be blessed by the Lord and have life and have it to the full. Our life will indeed be full of the Lord and this will come to us in simple blessings both in the spiritual and material realms. What is important though is that we continue to recognize the voice of our Shepherd all the time and to distinguish it from the voice of the flesh, the voice of the world, and the voice of the Evil One. Once we know the voice of the Lord, then all we need to do is to follow His will and apply it according to the particular circumstances we are in. To recognize more the voice of the Lord, it is important that we get familiar with the Scripture, with the celebration of the Eucharist, and the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, the knowledge also of official Church teaching, and the practice of regular prayers that we have learned from our Tradition. Anything other than this may be suspect to the voice of the flesh, the voice of the world or the voice of the Evil One.
Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, is ready to go out of Himself and find the one sheep that is lost from the fold. If ever we have strayed from the fold of Jesus, Jesus Himself will go out of His way to seek us and to bring us back. And He will not be happy and rejoice unless that one sheep is back in the fold. It is because He wants to give all the fullness of His life and to share in the blessings He receives from the Father.
So whenever, we find ourselves straying a bit from the fold of the Church, let us go back to where we have always been. Let us not close our ears nor close our eyes to the presence of Christ calling us or seeking us out. And when we do encounter Him in our prayer and find ourselves called back to His fold, let us thank Him for doing so and saving us from a direction of sin and death. He is the Sheepgate of Life and He calls each one of us by name to be in His flock of Life - that we may pasture forever and be like trees that are planted by the stream and whose roots stretch out to the waters of the stream.
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and also the Day of Prayer for Vocations.
The text of the gospel speaks of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who calls all those who know Him and hear His voice. Jesus calls us by name because He knows us. And we will follow His voice if we get to know Him more and more through the frequency we celebrate the sacraments and the regularity we do our spiritual exercises. And when Jesus calls us, it is usually to do some act of service to the Church or to the people whom we serve in society and thus are given the opportunity to tell them about the love of God for all of us. When Jesus calls the young, there is an opportunity for these young people to follow Jesus in the form of religious life or the priesthood. When a young man or a young woman hears the call of Jesus and follows Him in either of this states of vocation, he or she "will be blessed and indeed have life and have it to the full".
Those of us who have come to follow Christ in the vocation of the lay state are also called to be blessed by the Lord and have life and have it to the full. Our life will indeed be full of the Lord and this will come to us in simple blessings both in the spiritual and material realms. What is important though is that we continue to recognize the voice of our Shepherd all the time and to distinguish it from the voice of the flesh, the voice of the world, and the voice of the Evil One. Once we know the voice of the Lord, then all we need to do is to follow His will and apply it according to the particular circumstances we are in. To recognize more the voice of the Lord, it is important that we get familiar with the Scripture, with the celebration of the Eucharist, and the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, the knowledge also of official Church teaching, and the practice of regular prayers that we have learned from our Tradition. Anything other than this may be suspect to the voice of the flesh, the voice of the world or the voice of the Evil One.
Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, is ready to go out of Himself and find the one sheep that is lost from the fold. If ever we have strayed from the fold of Jesus, Jesus Himself will go out of His way to seek us and to bring us back. And He will not be happy and rejoice unless that one sheep is back in the fold. It is because He wants to give all the fullness of His life and to share in the blessings He receives from the Father.
So whenever, we find ourselves straying a bit from the fold of the Church, let us go back to where we have always been. Let us not close our ears nor close our eyes to the presence of Christ calling us or seeking us out. And when we do encounter Him in our prayer and find ourselves called back to His fold, let us thank Him for doing so and saving us from a direction of sin and death. He is the Sheepgate of Life and He calls each one of us by name to be in His flock of Life - that we may pasture forever and be like trees that are planted by the stream and whose roots stretch out to the waters of the stream.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A
"Were not our hearts burning inside us..."
The death of Pope John Paul II was a great loss for the Catholic church. We thank the Lord for the gift of his person not only to the Church but also to the world. Without his personal charisma and his extraordinary penchant for mission and the stress of holiness of life, we would be without a light to guide us in this beginning of the new millenium where everything is still dark and unknown.
The loss of John Paul II was not a total loss. He left to us a spiritual legacy which we will always remember. Even if he is physically not present with us anymore, the spirit that lives in his writings and in the memories of all peoples who know him shall continue to be present and alive in us.
Isn't the death of John Paul II similar to the death of Christ in today's gospel? Two disciples who experienced seeing the death of Christ were so dejected, so discouraged, and so disheartened that they left Jerusalem and went on their way to Emmaus. Along the way to Emmaus, they met Jesus, although they did not recognize Him. Jesus was upset that these two disciples of His did not understand all that He taught and what the scriptures foretold about His rising from the dead. And so He opened up their eyes by quoting from the Scriptures and from the breaking of the bread. The disciples were heartened once more and within them their hearts burned with inspiration from the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Life - the Spirit of Christ Himself who rose from the dead. It was this rekindling, so to speak, that sparked within them to not to continue on to Emmaus but to return to Jerusalem - back to the place where they experienced the death of Christ in order to tell the others that they have seen Jesus and that He is alive.
This gospel passage is a poignant reminder to all of us who have experienced some disheartening news, or who have felt a great loss of a loved one, or something that was so tragic that we want to leave the place where we experienced the loss. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we were so discouraged that we would not want to do with anything of that past again. However, when we experience the Lord in our lives and feel His presence in our life again, the rekindling of our original inspiration to serve Him returns. We feel a new surge of life. We feel a new inspiration to strive to follow Him again in the manner taught to us by the Church. Instead of going to the direction we are headed - which is a direction of loss, grief, death, disappointment, dejection, discouragement, disheartedness, and maybe even depression, we head back to were we came from: from the original inspiration to seek life and God Himself as peace, unity and love in all His fullness. The direction of the two disciples to Emmaus was negative. Jesus does not want any one of his sheep to get lost and so He appeared to them and told them what should be. They thus, redirected their direction, and went back to a positive way - believing in Christ and in the fact and reality that He is the resurrection and the life.
At certain times of our life, we may be directed towards something negative or morose or destructive because we of a great loss or tragedy in life. But when we suddenly by the gift of God's grace find Christ alive in our mind and heart again, we feel the fullness of life pulsating in our being again. Christ lives in us once more through His Spirit. Once we do, all we need to do is to continue nourishing ourselves with the gift of His Spirit through the sacraments - especially the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation and penance. By these two sacraments, we shall "always be redirected back to Jerusalem and not go to Emmaus." And when we indeed go back to Jerusalem, "our hearts will be burning within us with the fire of God's love".
The death of Pope John Paul II was a great loss for the Catholic church. We thank the Lord for the gift of his person not only to the Church but also to the world. Without his personal charisma and his extraordinary penchant for mission and the stress of holiness of life, we would be without a light to guide us in this beginning of the new millenium where everything is still dark and unknown.
The loss of John Paul II was not a total loss. He left to us a spiritual legacy which we will always remember. Even if he is physically not present with us anymore, the spirit that lives in his writings and in the memories of all peoples who know him shall continue to be present and alive in us.
Isn't the death of John Paul II similar to the death of Christ in today's gospel? Two disciples who experienced seeing the death of Christ were so dejected, so discouraged, and so disheartened that they left Jerusalem and went on their way to Emmaus. Along the way to Emmaus, they met Jesus, although they did not recognize Him. Jesus was upset that these two disciples of His did not understand all that He taught and what the scriptures foretold about His rising from the dead. And so He opened up their eyes by quoting from the Scriptures and from the breaking of the bread. The disciples were heartened once more and within them their hearts burned with inspiration from the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Life - the Spirit of Christ Himself who rose from the dead. It was this rekindling, so to speak, that sparked within them to not to continue on to Emmaus but to return to Jerusalem - back to the place where they experienced the death of Christ in order to tell the others that they have seen Jesus and that He is alive.
This gospel passage is a poignant reminder to all of us who have experienced some disheartening news, or who have felt a great loss of a loved one, or something that was so tragic that we want to leave the place where we experienced the loss. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we were so discouraged that we would not want to do with anything of that past again. However, when we experience the Lord in our lives and feel His presence in our life again, the rekindling of our original inspiration to serve Him returns. We feel a new surge of life. We feel a new inspiration to strive to follow Him again in the manner taught to us by the Church. Instead of going to the direction we are headed - which is a direction of loss, grief, death, disappointment, dejection, discouragement, disheartedness, and maybe even depression, we head back to were we came from: from the original inspiration to seek life and God Himself as peace, unity and love in all His fullness. The direction of the two disciples to Emmaus was negative. Jesus does not want any one of his sheep to get lost and so He appeared to them and told them what should be. They thus, redirected their direction, and went back to a positive way - believing in Christ and in the fact and reality that He is the resurrection and the life.
At certain times of our life, we may be directed towards something negative or morose or destructive because we of a great loss or tragedy in life. But when we suddenly by the gift of God's grace find Christ alive in our mind and heart again, we feel the fullness of life pulsating in our being again. Christ lives in us once more through His Spirit. Once we do, all we need to do is to continue nourishing ourselves with the gift of His Spirit through the sacraments - especially the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation and penance. By these two sacraments, we shall "always be redirected back to Jerusalem and not go to Emmaus." And when we indeed go back to Jerusalem, "our hearts will be burning within us with the fire of God's love".
Sunday, April 03, 2005
2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A
"Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!"
For us Christians following the life commitment of Christ, it is not always that we are tiptop in our faith. There are times when we feel we don't believe this or that - anything in relation to what He says in the Gospel or how the Catholic church interprets His teaching in our contemporary times. And not only that, even in our prayer life, there are times when He seems "dead" to our senses - "dead" to our feelings - as if His presence was not anymore with us.
If we look at the Gospel this Sunday, we see Thomas who learned about the rising again of Jesus from his fellow apostles. His fellow apostles actually saw the Risen Lord while Thomas did not because he was not present when the Lord manifested His Risen Self to them. For Thomas, Jesus had died. He may not have died in Thomas' memory or in Thomas' heart, but it is a fact and reality Thomas knows. Now that Jesus had risen and manifested Himself to his fellow apostles, He could not believe it because He does not believe unless He really sees what his fellow apostles had seen. For Thomas, "seeing is believing", is his truth. But, Jesus, who always loved His apostles and never wanted anyone of them to be lost from Him, took the initiative to make Thomas believe. He appeared again to the apostolic band and Thomas was now present among them. Jesus told Thomas to put his hand on his wounds. And Jesus said, "Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe". And Thomas not only believed but he expressed it openly by saying, "My Lord and my God!"
We are all like Thomas in a certain degree or in one way or another. But since the Lord loves us and does not want any of those who follow Him and truly love Him be lost in faith, He will take the initiative to tell us in many ways, "Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe". In times when we feel depressed or discouraged or bogged down with so many problems and difficulties in life, these are the times when our faith gets really tested. Sometimes we are tempted not to believe anymore that the Lord is really with us - that He lives in us and cares for us. But we only need to express ourself to others and the Lord in prayer that if only we can "spiritually" see Him again in our life, we shall have faith in Him again and follow Him committedly. And true to His word, that He will not let anyone of those the Father had given Him be lost, He will manifest His love and concern and care for us in ways we will recognize - through ordinary human experiences - through a gesture of friendship, through a welcoming smile, through the help of a co-worker, through the kindness of many people, and through the constant companionship of our spouse and our children. We are even blessed than Thomas because even if we don't physically see the Lord, we believe in Him and we hope and trust in Him with our whole life.
Now that we are strengthened by those experiences wherein we feel the Lord's presence in our life, we are then called, like the apostles, to make known to others too that the Lord Jesus cares for them and would wish them to live life in all its fullness through an openness to His Spirit. It is a gift we need to share with others too - the Easter gift of new life and renewal and rebirth and a renewed faith and trust in Christ.
For us Christians following the life commitment of Christ, it is not always that we are tiptop in our faith. There are times when we feel we don't believe this or that - anything in relation to what He says in the Gospel or how the Catholic church interprets His teaching in our contemporary times. And not only that, even in our prayer life, there are times when He seems "dead" to our senses - "dead" to our feelings - as if His presence was not anymore with us.
If we look at the Gospel this Sunday, we see Thomas who learned about the rising again of Jesus from his fellow apostles. His fellow apostles actually saw the Risen Lord while Thomas did not because he was not present when the Lord manifested His Risen Self to them. For Thomas, Jesus had died. He may not have died in Thomas' memory or in Thomas' heart, but it is a fact and reality Thomas knows. Now that Jesus had risen and manifested Himself to his fellow apostles, He could not believe it because He does not believe unless He really sees what his fellow apostles had seen. For Thomas, "seeing is believing", is his truth. But, Jesus, who always loved His apostles and never wanted anyone of them to be lost from Him, took the initiative to make Thomas believe. He appeared again to the apostolic band and Thomas was now present among them. Jesus told Thomas to put his hand on his wounds. And Jesus said, "Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe". And Thomas not only believed but he expressed it openly by saying, "My Lord and my God!"
We are all like Thomas in a certain degree or in one way or another. But since the Lord loves us and does not want any of those who follow Him and truly love Him be lost in faith, He will take the initiative to tell us in many ways, "Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe". In times when we feel depressed or discouraged or bogged down with so many problems and difficulties in life, these are the times when our faith gets really tested. Sometimes we are tempted not to believe anymore that the Lord is really with us - that He lives in us and cares for us. But we only need to express ourself to others and the Lord in prayer that if only we can "spiritually" see Him again in our life, we shall have faith in Him again and follow Him committedly. And true to His word, that He will not let anyone of those the Father had given Him be lost, He will manifest His love and concern and care for us in ways we will recognize - through ordinary human experiences - through a gesture of friendship, through a welcoming smile, through the help of a co-worker, through the kindness of many people, and through the constant companionship of our spouse and our children. We are even blessed than Thomas because even if we don't physically see the Lord, we believe in Him and we hope and trust in Him with our whole life.
Now that we are strengthened by those experiences wherein we feel the Lord's presence in our life, we are then called, like the apostles, to make known to others too that the Lord Jesus cares for them and would wish them to live life in all its fullness through an openness to His Spirit. It is a gift we need to share with others too - the Easter gift of new life and renewal and rebirth and a renewed faith and trust in Christ.
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