The Lord is With Me

30 March 2007: Friday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time
John 10, 31-42 The Lord is with Me

Both Jeremiah in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel have things in common. God has given both of them messages which they boldly preached; but their messages fell on deaf ears. In the most difficult times, both of them cry out the same line: “The Lord is with me.” Jeremiah entrusts himself to God while he was in prison. Jesus puts his trust in God in the midst of his assertion that God has sent Him to the world.

There are occasions in our lives when we are beset by difficulties that afflict us. Often we find God absent during these times. We may have suffered long standing sorrow, pain that penetrates our bones. We may have suffered from rejection and abandonment by our friends. We may have endured the times when our loved ones have not appreciated the things we do for them. But, like Jeremiah and Jesus, we are challenged to put our trust in God and not forget him.

If Jeremiah and Jesus endured numerous trials and troubles in their lives, we trust that God will also give us the courage we need to carry on our lives and bless our pains.

Those Who Will Not See Death

29 March 2007. Thursday of the 5^th Week of Lent
John 8, 51-59 Those who Keep God’s Word will Not See Death

Two days ago, the grandmother of a choir member passed away at 92. A former student from Xavier School met an accident while driving. He was 16 years old. I bring communion to a terminally ill cancer patient and a few months back, I said mass with children with cancer. The Gospel today talks about Jesus claim against the end of life. He said that if anyone who keeps His word will never die. But the Jews countered that all the great people of the bible like Abraham and the prophets. They all kept God’s word and yet they died. Likewise, people today wonder why the good ones die young. Many of these people were kind and selfless.

But Jesus meant not physical death, but something far deeper. If a person accepts Jesus, death has lost its finality. He has entered into a relationship that is timeless and eternal. And thus, death is not an end to our life. Science claims that human life begins from life and ends in death; but our faith teaches us that our life begins from life to a better life. Death is a transition where “life is changed not ended” (Preface, Christian Death).

As I write this homily, a hostage crisis looms in Manila. Jun Ducat who brought them to school holds children in a school bus captive. The kidnapper demands from the government an end to graft and corruption, scholarships to all the children in the bus, etc. The parents face the possibility of death.

There are many instances when in the course of our life we are faced with the possibility of death. In sickness, for example, our lives are threatened thus, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick with confession is done once for every situation. If a patient is in the hospital for surgery, the patient is given the anointing; however, if the patient has recovered but has relapsed, then the anointing can be repeated.

In these situations, we are faced with our limitations; but we are also faced with the question of eternity. If I die, what will be my timeless contributions to my family and to those I love? What are the things that stay?

*My former high school students who are graduating from college this year: Sheena Andeo, Jon Manlunas, Joefree Semilla, Arthur Dela Llana.

What makes a Disciple?

28 March 2007. Wednesday of the 5^th Week of Lent
John 8, 31-42. What makes a disciple?

When we claim that we are disciples of Jesus, what do we truly mean? Does being a disciple mean minimally as going to mass every Sunday and other holidays of obligation? Does it mean going through faithfully the rituals and traditions of the Church? Does it mean just believing in Jesus, as many nominal Catholics or Christians do? Does it mean knowing the vocal prayers and having devotions? The Gospel of John today points out what Jesus really mean by discipleship.

First, a prerequisite: disciples totally believe their master. They accept what Jesus says and does. Disciples assent with their whole heart, will and soul on what Jesus says. Jesus addressed His words in the Gospel to the Jews who have come to believe in Him.

Second, a maintenance: disciples remain faithfully in the words of their Master. How do they remain in the word of Jesus? Disciples constantly listen to the words of their master. Thus, if we are sincere with our discipleship, we listen to the word of God. Listening does not only involve reading the Scripture, but listening to God in prayer. What is God saying to us now? In addition, we do not only listen, but we constantly desire to know Jesus. Knowing a person means knowing the facts of the person. We must know Jesus since childhood --- grounding our knowledge of Him from Scripture.

For example, if you say that you love a person, but you do not know the facts of the person, then your love is empty. What is the name of the person? The circumstances of his birth? His family’s background? His likes and dislikes, beliefs and values, etc. Love begins with something concrete. Or else, we might be loving an idea of that person, than the person himself.

Third, a discovery: disciples discover the Truth in their life, on which they build the foundation of their life. When we anchor the Truth on Jesus, all else that is not within Jesus’ teachings becomes unacceptable. In the truth of Jesus, we see what is important to us and what is not.

Finally, a freedom from: disciples become free from their fears such as being alone; free from themselves such as being controlled by their own despairs and hopelessness; free from their sin such as being determined by our inordinate attachments. There are many instances of unfreedom that addicts experience: We are helpless when gripped by them --- proof we are unable to resist them even though we know we can.

With these four elements of belief, maintenance, discovery and freedom, we might be able to evaluate the quality of our discipleship to Christ.

We are Not What We Are Meant to Be

27 March 2007: Tuesday of the 5^th Week of Lent
John 8, 21-30 The Kosmos

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus talks about contrasts between the world and the heavens. The world in Greek is kosmos (κόσμος). It is the changing, transient life we live in. Pythagoras was the first who used it to refer to the physical universe as opposed to what is divine. Kosmos refers to the created universe, the inhabited world, and all that exists. Thus kosmos is the opposite of heaven. Kosmos does not include God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus says that He came from heaven into the world (John 1, 9). He was sent by God into the world. He is not from this world; but his opponents are.

But the kosmos is not separated from God. It is God’s creation (John 1, 10). It was through God’s word that it was created. Thus the world – κόσμος --- might be different from heaven, but there is no unbridgeable gulf between them. In addition, God loves the world. Thus, the kosmos is the object of God’s love. God so loved the world that He sent His Son. God has never abandoned the world; even if it is so different, the kosmos is still the recipient of God’s supreme love and gift.

Nevertheless, there is something wrong with the kosmos. The kosmos is blind: it does not recognize its very Creator when He came. Moreover, the kosmos hates Him and his followers.

In summary, the world is separate from God; yet there is no unbridgeable gap. God created the world and loves it that He sent his Only son. Yet, there is a blindness and hostility.

GK Chesterton once said that there is only one thing certain about us, that we are not what we are meant to be. There is one thing certain about the kosmos: that the kosmos is not what it was meant to be. There is something wrong: that something is sin. It is sin which separates us from God.

Therefore, Christ comes into the world that has gone wrong. Christ comes to heal and cure what has gone wrong. Like a doctor who has to tell the truth to his patient or else he dies; Christ also tells us the truth or else we will not be saved.

In the Season of Lent, we ask what is wrong in us, in our lives and how we live it. Usually we know what is wrong. We get to feel it too! (Especially when we say, “There is something wrong! I just can’t put my finger on it!). Usually, we know the cure (When we cry, we just need someone with us. We usually know what to do!). The solution is already before us, but we refuse to see it.

Niké offers us the advice: Just do it!

How the Hail Mary Came About

26 March 2007. Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Luke 1, 26-38. The Hail Mary

Catholic devotion to Mary exists all over the world and at time, take a distorted role, but its origins and basic impulse are sound and solidly rooted. Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. Reserving a place for her in our faith is not an end in itself, but she reminds us that salvation is not just about ideas. She was the physical mother of the Savior and also his first disciple. She shows us who Jesus is --- fully human, as well as divine. She reveals to us who we will be --- human beings but partakers in the very life of God, truly children of God.

In the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, we will look closely at the most important prayer dedicated wholly to our Mother that expresses the basic simplicity and devotion to Mary. The Hail Mary begins with a passage from Luke (1, 28) as the Angel Gabriel appears to a Jewish girl, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you’. When the early Christians translated the Greek Scripture to Latin, the Church fathers translated it into, “Ave, gratia plena!” meaning, “Hail! Full of Grace!” This became the common way to repeat this passage, and thus made its way into common prayer. The second part is also from Luke (1, 42), when Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, greeted her. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.” In the evolving life of the Church, people see the connection between these two passages and thus brought them together as every Christian came to greet Mary themselves.

What is the evidence of these? First, the greetings became part of one prayer in the 4^th Sunday of Advent in the liturgy in Rome, and it is also found in a shard of an Egyptian pottery in the 6^th century. Many prayers to Mary already existed at the very early history of Christianity, that in the late 3^rd century, a Christian church was dedicated to her in Alexandria, Egypt. In the 11^th century, the prayer appeared in what they call, the “Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary” which contains themes in the life of Mary, with the frequent repetition of “Ave Maria, gratia plena. Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus.”

What about the 2^nd part? People realized that the first part was a greeting and every greeting was attached with a prayer or intention appealing Mary’s help. In Florence 1498, a Dominican heretic, Girolamo Savonarola, was burned. In his writing appeared the 2^nd part of the prayer (except for the word, nostrae) which was very orthodox. It made its way to being the official Ave Maria approved by the Church and placed in the Church book, the Roman breviary. Pope Pius V published the breviary in 1568 that standardized the church prayer in the chaotic world of the Reformation.

It did not take long for the Ave Maria to make its way to popular devotions and the arts. One of these devotions was the rosary which was the laity’s way of following the monk’s 150 Psalms. They were also repeating the Pater Noster by the fifties and the hundreds as they mimic the Psalms in the monastery (note that most of the ordinary folks were uneducated, so to recite these oral prayers repeatedly became the counterpart of the Psalms recited by the monks within the monastery walls).

All of these prayers have one definite purpose: greeting Mary who leads us to Christ. Mary became popular to us because she was one of us. The basic impulse is the recognition that we can turn to Mary any time, all the time.

*Gladys and James Vibar's Wedding Photo. James is my relative.

Writing in Sand

24 March 2007: 5^th Sunday of the Lent
John 8, 1-11: The Adulterous Woman

The lesson in the story of the adulterous woman is simple: “No one has the right to condemn anyone even those who have gravely hurt or sinned.” In the story of the adulterous woman in the Gospel, I think it is Jesus who has the right to condemn her, because he has NOT sinned. But Jesus did not. On the other hand, those people who have sinned were the very persons who condemned the woman. Those sinners think that they have the right to kill her.

Therefore, Jesus tells us that God does not condemned sinners. God does not keep his anger --- as we have seen also in the Parable of the Prodigal Father last Sunday. What matters to God is the return of the sinner, when the lost has been found.

There is one thing about the story though: Jesus writes on sand when the Pharisees asked him to comment about stoning the woman as Moses prescribed. There are many theories about what Jesus wrote. I will attempt an answer.

There is a story tells about two friends who were walking through the desert. In a specific point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without anything to say, he wrote in the sand: “Today, my best friend slapped me in the face.”

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who got slapped and hurt started drowning, and the other friend saved him. When he recovered from the fright, he wrote on a stone: “Today, my best friend saved my life.”

The friend who saved and slapped his best friend, asked him, “Why, after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone?”

The other friend, smiling, replied: “When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone, in the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it.”

We are no different from the Pharisees and scribes who would like to throw a stone to any sinner. It is what we do when we gossip. It is what we do when we are angry. It is what we do when we are hurt. We write the sins on stone but goodness we write on sand.

But Jesus wrote the sin of the adulterous woman on sand. Perhaps, today we evaluate our relationships and actions. And more importantly, begin to engrave the goodness of people on stone and to write the sins of those who hurt us in sand.

Reading the Bible

22 March 2007: Thursday of the 4^th Week of Lent
John 5, 31- 47: Reading the Bible

Let us reflect on what Jesus says in the Gospel, “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is they which bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

To the Jews, as to many other beliefs, the Scripture is everything: sola scriptura. The Jews searched the Law and the Scriptures about the Messiah, but failed to recognize Christ when he came. The best scholars of the Law failed to recognize the Messiah; the experts of the Law, who studies the Scriptures meticulously, rejected Jesus. How did the Jews miss the Messiah, which until today, they yearn for? Maybe they read scriptures the wrong way.

Some people would find a solution to a problem or a dilemma by closing one’s eyes and randomly opening the bible and putting his finger on any passage. In addition, some people read the Bible without regarding its historical context and background as if everything has been written apart from them.

Jesus tells us that the right way to read Scriptures is to read the Bible as pointing to Him who gives life. Therefore, the many things that you find in the Old Testament that distresses us, disturbs us, puzzle us, should be seen in the context of history, as leading to Jesus Christ, who is the Supreme revelation of God and whose other revelations are tested. For example, in the Old Testament, the 3rd Commandment says, "Keep Holy the Sabbath Day." The Sabbath is Saturday. When Jesus resurrected on a Sunday, Catholics believe that Christ's resurrection is the inauguration of a new creation --- as St. Paul says of Jesus as the New Adam! Thus, we now declare the new Sabbath, Sunday. Thus every Sunday, including the Sundays of Lent, we celebrate Christ's resurrection!

Thus the function of the Bible is not to give life, but to point to Jesus WHO gives life! All of the stories and people in the Old Testament points to Jesus, bearing witness to Him; and all other stories and people in the future also points to Jesus and bears witness to Jesus. And thus all that is written should lead us to the very source of life!

In the season of Lent, we can ask ourselves: How do we read the Bible? Do we read the Bible to support our arguments or our positions in life?

Or do we read the Bible to get to know Jesus more? Do we use the Bible as a means to get to know Jesus?

My Father is at Work Until Now

21 March 2007: Wednesday in the 4^th Week of Lent
John 5, 17-30: My Father is at Work Until Now

Jesus says in the Gospel, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” Let us reflect on this words. Physics defines work as a force applied through a distance when the two share the same direction: Work = force x distance. That means that work has been done when there is effort expended and a movement. If you push a wall, and it did not move, there is force, but no movement, then there is no work. If you push a chair and it moved to cover a distance, then there is work done. Thus, in Physics, there are two basic elements: force and distance.

Second, in Project Management, work is defined as the effort applied to produce a deliverable or accomplish a task. Thus, there is effort and there is movement which is an accomplish task.

Third, in Art, as artwork or work of art, work is a creation, such as a song or a painting: an effort has been creatively done to produce a creation.

In all of these fields of activities, there are two basic elements: there is effort and there is movement, whether the movement is a distance, a new accomplishment, or a new creation.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, says in his Contemplatio ad Amorem, that God continually works in all of creation, and that includes us --- work is done if God has exerted his effort on us, and we have moved somehow, whether the growth is physical as we grow taller and our body organs maximizes its performance, emotional as we improve on our relationships, psychological as we mature in our outlook and response to the external environment, and spiritual as we acquire depth and wisdom. Thus, Ignatius says that God exerts effort on us through grace, and we move because of it. If we have to evaluate the work of God, we do not have a doubt about his excellence on his job.

There is a parallel process though: that as God exerts tremendous effort on us and Jesus labors for us, we are challenged to make use of our talents and to take the initiative. Second, just as God makes things move in all creation and Jesus tries to help us develop, we are challenged to cooperate with God so that we are able to move on in our lives; we are able to walk a certain distance in our lives; we are able to accomplish some things or contribute or create some things to society.

Therefore in this Season of Lent, we can reflect on our lives: Have you moved on in your life after some painful pasts? Have you covered some distance? Have you achieved some thing that contributed to the development of humankind? Or, are you stuck in life? What or who prevents you from moving on, from accomplishing something, from creating something? Even if God has done His job, if we are not able to cooperate with Him, as Jesus who also participates in the work, then you have not gone somewhere at all. In Scripture, it means to bear fruit. All of us are expected to bear good fruits. Thus, all of us are expected to work.

Slander

14 March 2007. Thursday of the 3^rd Week of Lent
Luke 11, 14-23: Slander

The present election fever will grow worse. And the scenario will be of people from different sides discrediting, belittling, defaming, or gossiping about the other; hoping that their words would persuade voters not to vote for them. The Gospel today therefore comes at the right time. The Gospel story tells us about the slander the enemies of Jesus took when they realized that they couldn’t oppose him fairly even in debate.

We slander another person if we say things that are false and defamatory about them. It consists of lies or false reports circulated maliciously, usually behind the back of the person concerned, with the purpose of injuring his character or his reputation. Gossip is slander. Whether true or false, gossip is repeated from maliciousness, thoughtlessness and spread abroad. You know what people say about secrets? They said that some secrets are worth keeping. Others are too good to keep.

In addition, there is another form of slander: it is called aspersion. Aspersion is accomplished by insinuating, by casting reflections, making damaging implications, by discrediting, especially in a slight or belittling way. For example, you say that a certain abstract painting is excellent, while implying at the same time, that any normal person could do it also, “Alam mo, super ganda ng abstract painting mo! Naaalala ko nga ang anak ko.” (You know your abstract painting is incredible! It reminds me of my son!”)

Slander has an immediate and a lasting effect. First, it is immediate, because the human mind has the tendency to see the worse in people. Our ear has the tendency to hear the misfortunes of others, the bad side of people, or the wrong other people commit. Proof: for many newspapers, real news is bad news --- it is what makes it to the front pages. The ‘good’ news you find somewhere in the inside pages. Second, it has a lasting effect. People tend to remember these malicious stories. For the victims, it is worse: it takes time to regain lost reputation. Just remember table conversations: we repeat and repeat these stories over a bottle C2, a coke or a beer. Gossip makes long stories juicier and meatier! They said, nothing makes a long story short, than the arrival of the person you are talking about!

Jesus said in the Gospel, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” When we slander others no matter what the reason, whether losing in a discussion or as a form of retaliation, we become like the very person whom we are against. We put ourselves not on the side of Jesus, but stoop to a lower level. Furthermore, slander does not form friendships and community life; it divides people; it scatters them. Thus, conscious or not, we sadly contribute to the scattering --- entirely opposite to the Kingdom of God who unites people in love.

Forgive us AS we forgive others

13 March 2007: Tuesday of the 3^rd Week of Lent
Dan 3, 25. 34-43, Matthew 18, 21-35 On Forgiveness
Weyms Sanchez SJ

Note: Another wonderful homily from a Jesuit scholastic on a Tuesday morning mass.

In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus invite us to forgive our enemies seventy times seven. Seventy times seven--that makes 490. That is a hell lot of forgiving! Even if we are to forgive daily, it would take us almost a year and a half to forgive—one year four months and 8 to ten days to be more specific! Surely, Christ did not mean that we take this literally for in biblical times, the number 7 is a perfect number that has an eternal and infinite quality. Considering this, Christ therefore invites us to forgive beyond the limits of time and space. That is, there should be no borders to our forgiving people, events or even places.

What then does it mean to forgive without limit? I would like to invite you to reflect on one particular line of the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that is unwittingly a dangerous prayer. In the prayer, we say, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” The word “as” can mean two things—either similitude or contemporeneity.

First, let us dwell on the word “as” as a similitude. When we say the line, it seems that we are asking the Father to forgive us the way we forgive our neighbor. And how do we forgive the other? Don’t we wait for them to be sorry for what they did and in a way demand that they ask for forgiveness? Don’t we look for the remorse and humility in the other before we can forgive them? But is this the way God forgives? Doesn’t he forgive even before we even ask for forgiveness the way the father forgives his prodigal son? Like the father of the prodigal son, doesn’t God patiently wait for his wayward sons, having forgiven them even before they return to ask for forgiveness? Surely, similitude must not be the meaning behind the word “as” for God does not forgive the way we forgive.

This brings us to the second possible meaning of the word “as”—cotemporeneity. When we ask the Father to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, do we ask the Father to forgive us at the same moment when we are forgiving those who have wronged us? And what if we refuse to forgive? Does it mean that we ourselves are not forgiven by the Father? This is Christ’s answer to the question: “So will my heavenly Father do with you unless each of you sincerely forgive your brother or sister.”

The answer is clear: we cannot expect to be forgiven unless we forgive those who have wronged us. However, I guess this is not because God first expects that we forgive before he forgives us. The logic behind this is not cotemporeneity nor conditionality for God is never conditional. Perhaps, what Christ is telling us is that before we can experience God’s tremendous love and mercy, we first must be able to have a material experience of love and forgiveness through our neighbor. We ought to experience the contrition and humility whenever we ask for forgiveness from the other. And to complete the experience, we too ought to experience the joy of forgiving a contrite and humble offender. It is only through such twin experience can we understand the economy of forgiveness—what it means to forgive and to be forgiven. Then and only then will our experience of God’s love and forgiveness take the character of a momentous and meaningful experience.

In the first reading, Azariah begs the Lord that his people be accepted by virtue of their “contrite heart and humble spirit” even if they have nothing to burn as offerings. A contrite heart and a humble spirit—may we ask the Lord for this twin grace throughout our observance of Lent. Lent is about coming back home to God and being received back home. Such experience will only be meaningful for us if we experience both the giving and receiving of forgiveness from our neighbor. Perhaps this is the reason why Christ asks us to forgive 490 times. Not to keep us busy all throughout the year but in the hope that our many experiences of forgiveness—both in giving and receiving it—we may truly know our God who loves and forgives us.

* Scholastic Weyms Sanchez SJ

Becoming Saints

6 March 2007: Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent
Matthew 23, 1-12 Becoming saints
Ronnie Angelo Duñgo, SJ

Note: On Tuesday mornings at 6:30, I preside over the mass of the Jesuit Juniors & Philosophers. The scholastics take turns in giving the homilies or sharings. This is one of them.

How young I was at the period of my youthful Lenten crisis then, I do not remember. Young enough to crawl beneath the pews. Short enough to stand up on the seats of pews, when the congregation arose to sing hymns, and still be hidden. Old enough to want to see Jesus. Young enough to believe that the mortal eye could see Jesus. I wanted to see Jesus. There was the core of my crisis. I mean, see him as eyewitnesses are able to see: his robe and the rope at his waist, his square, strong hands, the sandals on his feet, his tumble of wonderful hair, and the love in his eyes, deep love in his eyes-for me! For it seemed to me in those days that everyone else in my parish must be seeing him on a regular basis, and that I alone was denied the sight of my Lord. They were a contented people, confident and unconcerned. I, on the other hand, I felt like a little Cain among the Christians, from whom the dear Lord Jesus chose to hide particularly. No one seemed to tremble in the Holy House of the Lord. But I … Well, the knowledge of my peculiar exile came all in a rush one Sunday, when the priest was preaching a mumbling monotone of a sermon. One sentence leaped from his mouth and seized me: "We were eyewitnesses," he said. Eyewitnesses. We! I sat straight up and tuned my ear. This seemed, suddenly, the special ability of a special people to which the priest belonged: to be eyewitnesses. Who are these we? What did they see? I glanced at my seatmate, whose expression was not astonished. Evidently, eyewitnessing was familiar stuff to her. She was one of the we. I took a fast survey of the faces behind me. Sleepy-eyed, dull-eyed, thoughtful-eyed; but no one's eyes were dazzled....

Yes, even those sleepy ones are called to be a saint by being an eyewitness… in The Autobiography, we learn that reading the lives of saints transformed him, provided him with a new horizon of life, and challenged him about the exalted destiny of service of Christ our Lord. This awareness has become part of our Jesuit heritage – of Jesuit heritage as Roger Hazelton puts it…

"There is need today for a theology of courage - of holy daring, saintly boldness - which may serve to justify the way of human beings with what has immemorially been called God."

The church in every age needs models, people in whom the passion and victory of Jesus Christ are palpably manifest. As Christians, we are all called to be saints, but there are some who have been specially chosen by God to make a public witness that patently reveals the judgment of God upon human sin. We are all called to radiate the light of Christ, but only some are given the privilege of bearing this light in the face of open and flagrant opposition. We are all expected to take up the cross and follow Christ, but only some carry a cross that poses a direct challenge to the principalities and powers of the world. Only some therefore can be considered saints in the special sense of being public signs of the passion and victory of Jesus Christ. But there are those called to be an eyewitness… to be a new kind of saints.

This lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, and heed the call to be a new kind of saint.

*Scholastic Ronnie Dungo SJ.

Experiencing the Transfiguration

4 March 2007. The 2^nd Sunday of Lent
Luke 9, 28-36 Experiencing the Transfiguration

There is one big fact in the Gospel story today: after the Transfiguration experience, Jesus set out to Jerusalem and to the Cross. Jesus knew that the consummation of His whole life, the step towards the final destiny of all of His principles and His work, was in Jerusalem. So before He set His eyes and took His final step, Jesus prayed and then had this tremendous experience with God. I believe there was something significant that happened in the mountain of the Transfiguration. It was in that experience that Jesus was assured that the direction He was about to take was correct. He was assured by the great law-giver himself, Moses, and the greatest prophet of Israel, Elijah and finally, God who said, “This is my Beloved Son.”

So today, in the 2^nd Sunday of Lent, we are asked to look at our transfiguration experiences. Let me first illustrate with examples what I call our own transfiguration experiences.

I remember a conversation I had with my Dad --- who incidentally celebrated his first day in heaven yesterday (March 3). When I was very young, my mom who is a pharmacist had all of us vaccinated. I never liked needles, and I was afraid of them. I would ask Dad to stay beside me, and he would assure me that vaccination was indeed necessary for my well-being and my health. With his comforting words, I would just hold on my Dad’s arms and then I was ready for that inevitable pain that a needle prick would give me. Therefore, when one is assured that the darkness and pain to be faced is a necessary step for growth, and then one experiences a transfiguration. This kind of darkness is something we should not fear.

On the other hand, there are dangerous experiences of pain and darkness. These kinds of darkness we definitely need to fear to protect ourselves from anything that would wound, destroy, abuse, torture, or kill us. Wherever there is an intimidation or a brutal death in any form, there is a dangerous darkness.

But there is holy darkness or a holy pain: this darkness is a kind of darkness we just don’t want to have, but which is essential for our growth. It stands in the way of our comfortableness (such as vaccination) or convenience (such as taking the long queue to the jeepney bay as part of our college days), our familiarity (such as being with people whom we have to be nice, but we don’t personally know, like our clients), our security (taking the dark road to the dormitory), our desire to control (such as when we are not anymore in control like the decisions that our children make), or our need to “have it all”. The emotions associated with this holy pain are the ones we often experience in times of grief because such darkness means losing a part of ourselves. But in the face of this fear, we have to let go and embrace the fear, the pain, and the darkness.

But it takes a great leap, like the great Transfiguration experience of Jesus. It does become easier to live in the darkness the more we can see that this phase of our lives, is just that, a phase, a necessary part of our humanity, and that eventually it will pass --- but we have pass through it and go through it. A friend of mine once asked me if the pain and turmoil he was experiencing ever ceased when his father died a year ago. A few months ago, after he had been through the darkness, he told me: “The one thing that I kept clinging to and which gave me hope was when you answered my question, “Does it get better?” with “Yes, it does. It may take awhile but it does get better. I have been there. My dad died years ago.”

But we must also believe that we will never be exactly the same as we were before the darkness. When one leaves, whether in a goodbye, a break-up, or death, we are never the same again. This life event or situation will affect our life. Thus this is another reason for opening up to change --- to finally take the leap, to finally risk, to finally face your Jerusalem, to finally carry the cross just as Jesus did after the Transfiguration. It is in these crucial Transfiguration moments that we have the courage, like a confessed drug dependent, finally saying, “I need rehab. I am sick. I am going to go through it.” In the Lord of Rings trilogy, it is what Gandalf called, “The sigh before the storm.” But the storm is necessary. Because at the end, there is a surprising positive development. There is the Resurrection.

We have a proof in UP. Years ago, former UP President Noel Soriano had a stroke and was paralyzed. He faced his paralysis but did not give up. He went through art therapy. He went through the physical and psychological pain. Today, at the Delaney Hall, he had produced beautiful watercolor paintings. His life is a testimony that our transfiguration experiences leads to another world.

Let us reflect on our lives: What are our experiences of the transfiguration. What part of our lives that needs our attention, but giving it our focus will cause us pain? For example when we experience the break-up of a relationship and we need to face the reality of being alone and lonely; the experience of goodbyes whether death or a temporary separation; having failed and owning up to one's accountability.

Would the Father Mock our Prayers?

1 March 2007. Thursday of the 1^st Week of Lent
Matthew 7, 7-11 On Prayer

There is a part of this Gospel that is puzzling to us. When Jesus reasoned to the Jewish Rabbis, he means that God will not refuse the requests of his children just as a father cannot refuse the needs of his children. Jesus thus gives us two examples as Matthew relates it. Luke, adds a third (If a son asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?). Let us just tackle Matthew’s examples.

First, Jesus said, if his son asks for bread, will his father give him a stone. Remember they were living near the shore. The stones on the shore, like the river stones we use for Zen fountains and gardens, look like loaves of bread. Thus, if a son asks for a loaf of bread, will a father mock him by giving him a stone to eat --- or something impossible to eat?

Second, Jesus said, if a son asks for a fish, will his father give him a serpent. In the old days, the eel was a forbidden animal to eat because they consider it as unclean. Leviticus (11: 12) says that anything in the water that do not have scales or fins is an abomination. Thus, if a son asks for a fish, will a father mock him by giving him something forbidden to be eaten? Would a father make a joke of his son’s hunger?

Thus, God will not mock our supplications and our pleas when we pray. So, how do we pray? When we ask, and ask, and ask repeatedly. When we seek for answers, we pray repeatedly about what we are searching. When we knock at God’s door, we knock repeatedly, perhaps a little insistently, and God will open the doors for us. It is said that our sincerity and the intensity of our need is seen at our insistence and perseverance.

And how does God answer our prayers? The prayers that we have need answers, whether it is a yes or a no. A refusal is also an answer: Jesus’ plea at the Garden of Gethsemane was a refusal, an answer to His prayers. You see, God’s answers are never mocking: He gives what is good for us, even waiting for the right time to give it.

This is entirely different from the Greeks. When the Greek gods answers the prayer, there is sometimes a bait. When Aurora, the goddess of the dawn, fell in love with a mortal youth named Tithonus, Zeus, the king of the gods, offered her any gift that she would give Tithonus. Aurora asks that Tithonus live forever, but forgot to ask that he retain his youth. So Tithonus grew older and older and older but could not die. Eventually, the gift became a curse.

Not so with God.

Believing in those God Sends

28 February 2007. Wednesday of the 1^st Week of Lent
Luke 11, 29-32 Receiving the Word of God

Jesus tells us that when the Queen of Sheba heard of the wisdom of Solomon, she traveled a great distance to hear his words. When Jonah preached repentance to the Ninevites, the pagans listened to him and did penance. Jesus reminded the people that the pagans such as the Queen of Sheba and the Ninevites, accepted the word of God through Solomon and Jonah. But Jesus, who is greater than Solomon and Jonah, they did not listen or believe.

I have two points.

First whom do we first believe? If we look into our lives, we would rather believe the words of our friends, family, teachers, than Jesus himself. We think that their opinion is far better than what Jesus says to us. Were there instances in your life that you followed other people’s word, than follow the call of Jesus?

Second, God acted like a close friend to the pagans by sending someone to tell them their weaknesses and their sins --- including the manner of repentance. God told Jonah to tell the Ninevites. God told Solomon to share his wisdom to the Queen of Sheba. God sent Jesus to tell us of our sins and ask of us to return to God who loves us.

In our lives, who are the people who tell us of our wrongdoings? Usually our friends tell us of their opinion about ourselves. They give us feedback so that we will turn out to be better by beginning from self-awareness. There are things which our friends see, that we don’t see. However, our notion of friendship oftentimes is eschewed. We think that friends should tell us what we would like to hear. If they say something about us, we usually withdraw from them or give them a dose of our anger. A true friend is someone who rejoices in the truth, and thus would tell us the unadulterated truth.

So, we can ask ourselves today: Do we listen to the people whom God sends to convince us and to make us aware of our weaknesses, our sins or the wrong we have committed?

The Bread in the Our Father

27 February 2007. Tuesday of the 1^st Week of Lent
Matthew 6, 7-15: The Our Father

I would like to talk about one of the simplest and well-loved phrases in the Our Father: Give us this day our daily bread. What do we mean by the word “bread” in the Our Father?

First, bread has been identified with the bread at the Lord’s Supper. Since the beginning, the Lord’s Prayer has been closely related to the Lord’s Table. In the very first orders of service in the early Christian communities, it has been instructed that the Lord’s Prayer should be prayed at the celebration of the Lord’s Table --- which is today’s mass. Thus, when we pray the phrase, “Give us this day our daily bread” we are saying that the Lord grant us the privilege of being at the Lord’s Table daily. Since we experience the Lord’s table also at our daily meals, then perhaps, the Our Father can be a substitute for the Prayer Before Meals.

Second, bread has been identified with the spiritual food that is the word of God. So, when we say the phrase, “Give us our daily bread” we are saying that the Lord grant us the essential truth and teaching of our faith. That knowing and taking this spiritual food, it would nourish our daily lives as Christians.

Third, the symbol of bread is Jesus Himself, as John would call Jesus as the Bread of Life. And the bread we take at communion is indeed partaking of Jesus. Thus, when we utter this phrase, we say that the Lord may grant us the grace of being joyful, nourished and strengthened by Jesus, Himself, the Bread of Life.

Finally, the bread can also mean our physical bodies. That God is also concerned for our health. Jesus’ healing miracles is first of all, a healing of the body --- whether it was of disease, hunger, etc. For Jesus, bodily healing is also healing for the soul and the mind. Thus, we are also praying that the Lord provide us with the basic necessities we need to keep our bodies healthy.

Having said all these, we hope that when we begin to pray the Lord’s Prayer, we will now have a deeper appreciation of its meaning.