We are Responsible

Mt 2.13-18

As we remember the solemn martyrdom of the Holy Innocents today, my prayers go to the innocent victims of tragedies all over the world, either caused by nature or humans. Recently the southern part of the Philippines suffered a great loss of hundreds of innocent lives. Worse of the scenario, it happened several days before Christmas. I can imagine a similar “Rachel wails for her children, for they are no” situation among the victims’ loved ones. Any tragedy has a devastating effect in one’s life, oftentimes shaking one’s faith in God. Perhaps you would agree with me in asking ‘can the Church’s celebration of the feast of the Holy innocents be a consoling hope to the people of the said tragedy?’ Or ‘can there be an appropriate word or gesture to comfort them?’ It takes a leap of faith, courage and similar experience to tell them that everything will be alright.

To understand the wisdom behind God’s plan of salvation is to look deeply in the ‘order’ of things and how our negligent participation breaks its harmony. Chaos is never to be denied because Scriptures (Gen 1.2) made clear of its existence as part of creation account. However, we should distinguish that creation is about order, chaos is a disorder. Thus, disorder cannot be attributed to God (Creator), although God permits it to exist. St Augustine speaks that the power of God is so great that He can extract good out of ‘chaos’. But the question becomes more serious now, is it just to sacrifice many lives so that good can come out of it? Justice now speaks of our liberty and capacity to either avoid or cause chaos.

In the Gospel today, Matthew did not concern himself on the question in connection with the suffering of the innocent lives of children (and their ‘mothers’). It does not bother him that ‘God saves his Son at the expense of innocent people’. St John Chrysostom has another and rather quite bizarre position when he said “nothing good would have come from them anyway, since there can be no innocent human suffering.” While other interpretations claim that the children were ‘permitted’ to die for Christ because it is better than living in sin. Indeed, this explanation is easy to understand for a man (woman) of faith; Martyrdom after all is an act of faith.

But “chaos’ is also our doing when we neglect our duty to become good stewards of earth; when we refused to take responsibility to be our brothers’ (sisters) keeper; when we removed ourselves to God’s order. It will drive anyone insane to acquire power, fame and wealth by and for himself (herself), like Herod’s struggle for power which caused the lives of innocent children of Bethlehem. In relation to this, many critics blamed the tragedy in Iligan and Cagayan De Oro cities to the ‘illegal, irresponsible and evil’ mining businesses in the areas owned and managed by wealthy families and government heads. We all know what these critics are pointing out. If such was the cause of the martyrdom of hundreds of innocent lives, such tragedy is not only unjust but morally wrong. If proven, they should be held responsible.

But we are responsible too. For as long as we allow such self-imposed policies, negligent and careless attitude towards our environment and welfare of others, we will be held responsible for every innocent life and our future loss will be more than the wailing that is being expressed in the Gospel, for our soul will forever be void. The martyrdom of the Holy Innocents expresses grief and loss, but it also convince us to hold on to our faith, that God is in control, and that we are in good hands.

May I take this opportunity to ask your generosity (material, humanitarian or spiritual) to help the victims of the recent tragedy in the southern part of the Philippines. May God bless us!

Martyrdom with the correct attitude

December 26, 2011

Basilica de S. Pudenziana

Feast of St Stephen, First Martyr

Mt 10.17-22

Acts 6.8-10 7.54-59

1.    Life is full of CONTRADICTIONS.

2.    Life is UNFAIR (our common understanding of being fair is “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.)

3.    GOD is always Fair (not equality but EQUITY).

4.    Are we aware of what we have? What do we do with what we have? Are we living the life we are supposed to live, or doing the task we are asked to fulfill?

5.    WE are full of CONTRADICTIONS, We are UNFAIR. (v21 speaks of man’s contradiction. The use of familial relationship made the contradiction graver).

c/o catholictradition.org

     6.BIRTH and DEATH are necessary course in life. Indeed a difficult process (especially if they are caused by man’s fault) but part of a greater purpose, a noble plan of a loving, caring, compassionate and merciful Creator God (v22 makes sense by highlighting the promise of a reward to them who will endure).

.    7.  Profession vs. Vocation – service for a fee vs. service for free (sacrifice).

      8.CHRISTIAN VOCATION – “Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and love your ‘brothers and sisters’ as you love yourself”. Love is our vocation and it involves sacrifice, even to the point of martyrdom.


   There are people who allow themselves to be 'martyred' for the wrong reason. Martyrdom is never an act of foolishness nor about fad but martyrdom is about true and noble act for the sake of the Beloved.

          9. St Stephen, pray for us. Amen.

The Road to HOME

As clock ticks faster to Christmas day people are doing a lot of different and exuberant preparations. Some people may frown on the idea of the hustles and bustles the Yuletide season brings, which after all being celebrated every year, so what’s the point? But still for many, this time of the year is one of the most anticipated celebrations. It brings everybody ‘together’ to a dwelling place where we feel safe and loved. This is the reason why we claim that Christmas makes all roads lead to home. But what is the true idea of home?  How familiar are we to our true ‘dwelling place’?

In the First Reading (2Sm 7.8b-12, 14a, 16), we heard of David ‘dreaming’ of building a house for the Lord (the Ark). His conscience dictates the ‘righteous’ thing to do. But the Lord through Nathan spoke of a promise instead – a sure and everlasting establishment of David’s house (for the people of Israel, and all generations). It must be a sweet and melodious music in David’s ears; a perfect Christmas gift in the use of our language today. Here we have a God assuring us of a dwelling place which nobody can afford, not even a great king like David.

Unfortunately, we are not convinced. We still entertain the idea of “promises are made to be broken”. We may foolishly ask how, after all the collapse, landslide and devastating attack in our lives, can we still hold on to the promise on whether ‘David’s house’ was really confirmed, blessed and established forever? Or can we not?   

Let us ‘examine’ the Gospel Reading today. (Lk 1.67- 80) We have heard of a ‘speaking’ and joyful Zechariah, blessing God for what He had done. Is it not true that we only value the importance of health after we recovered from illness, or we appreciate life after a loss of someone dear to us? or the need of God after going through a difficult journey? Poor Zechariah shared the same sentiments with us by posing the ‘wrong’ question at the ‘right’ time.  And after not being able to say a word for nine months, it is but natural for him to be grateful for having regained his speech. Obviously those ‘silent nine’ months humbled him and made him say the Benedictus.

Benedictus is one of the three great hymns (Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis) in the Gospel of Luke. This hymn in particular expresses three elements:

1.    The emphasis on the mercy of God. (as symbolized by having regained his speech)

2.    On the fulfillment of God’s promise. (as symbolized by the birth of his son, John)

3.    “God has been gracious”. (as symbolized by the realization of the ‘Messianic’ hopes of the  nation)

Just as God used the many exiles of his people as a moment of reawakening, so is the “sounding off and on” of Zechariah symbolizes the same message to us. God would not be so hard hearted as to give us a taste of new life only to abandon us to our weaknesses. God has been gracious to the point He ‘uses’ our stubbornness to show that a change of heart will bring about the fulfillment of His promise.

God speaks of what He will do for us more than what we may be able to do for Him. David dreams of building the Lord a house, a dwelling place he thought fitting for God. However, God promised David that He will build a ‘royal’ house for him and his descendants, where his people and everyone will dwell forever.

That promise was never and will never be in vain as Zechariah proclaimed his praise and thanksgiving, recognizing the fulfillment of the covenant God made to Abraham and his children.  This point erases our foolish questioning of God’s ability to keep his promises, rather convince us that there is none like our God. It does give us a picture on two things we should be confident about all the time: be grateful for everything, and never cease to hope, because after all, it is “not because of who I am, but because of what God has done; not because of what I’ve done but because of who God is”.

Though it is proper to say thank you for all the blessings we receive, however, it is important that we find the reason(s) for our thanksgiving. As we joyfully await the Birth of The Messiah, may we find the road that will bring us to our real abode. Amen.

Muted Messenger

Gospel: Lk 1. 57-66

First Reading: Mal 3. 1-4, 23-24

Both the Gospel and First Reading speak of the idea of a “Messenger”, whose duty is to go before and prepare the way of the Lord. In the strict sense, the messenger does not bring the Good News, because it is Christ who brings the Good News, and the Good News himself. What the messenger does is to:

1.  Remind – God cares. That even life is complicated, God cares; that even our decision and liberty sway, doing evil than doing what is pleasing to God, God cares; that even there are multitudes of suffering and evil things around us, God cares.

2.    Convince – God’s plan of salvation will happen and will succeed. It would seem that the plan of God is thwarted by the unfaithfulness of the ‘many’ but fortunately, there are ‘some few’ who remain faithful to Him, and through them we have hope that it will happen in due time.

There is Salvation because of two great truths:

1.    We have a loving, forgiving, merciful and good God in our midst. His faithfulness is to the extent that He will never give up on us, nor will abandon or leave us.

2.    We sinned and therefore in need of salvation. We need to be saved from our ‘forgetfulness’, from our ‘failures’, from our being 'complacent' and being 'arrogant'.

The first reading speaks of the promised Messenger after pointing out to the priests and the people of Israel how they turned their backs on the Lord. As I see it, “condemnation” is not the message of God’s salvation, but it is “mercy and compassion”.

God is actively working as we have already realized. Now, our cooperation is what is being asked from us. We have to do our part. We can never be passive in the work of God.

Faith is an important element in our participation and cooperation with God. Faith is but the complete submission of will to the highest Truth. It will be tested in the course of time which may prompt us to make a detour: doubt, give up, arrogantly challenge God. This is precisely what happened to Zechariah who posed the wrong question, “Really??” As a consequence he became ‘mute’ for a long period of nine months. Sometimes it takes us that long to realize and acknowledge the goodness of the Lord, to believe that He is God.

Faith motivated by love makes our hope stronger, clearer and more desirable.

Things happen for a reason. Things happen, whether good or not so good because it is motivated by love, by that Great Love, who is the reason why despite of everything we can still have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

I look (am) like Him! (Luke 8: 19-21)

In 2007, when my father came to Taiwan to attend my solemn profession to the Order of Preachers, many of my friends told us that he looks like me or vice versa. In other words, the similarity is very obvious that there is no way we can deny our father-son relationship.  Some of them even pointed out how I would look like when I reach (hopefully) the age of 60. I am grateful my father is naturally good looking (laughs).

On a serious note, in today’s Gospel, Luke narrated an incident on Jesus and His biological family. His mother and brothers (kin) wanted to have a word with Him but they could not reach him because of the large crowd gathered in the room. As soon as Jesus was notified that they are waiting outside, He asked and told the crowd, “He/she who listens to the word of God and acts on them is my brother, (sister), my mother.” Jesus is pointing out that to be part (member) of God’s family, we should be like Him in everyway, doing His will and doing every service out of love for God and men.

In this way, when people see us, they will be reminded not only of our biological familial relationship but most especially they will see the family of God – how God cares and willing to accept His people; how happy it is to be part of His family. As the psalmist said today “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Ps 122: 1-5)

Firm Foundation

Luke 6: 43-49

In today’s Gospel two ordinary but useful things – sand and rock – were mentioned in the parable. Both of them are very useful in building a stronger house if use wisely. But if use as a foundation of the house obviously one outdoes the other.

If we are to write our name on either one, some people would prefer to write on sand because it can be done effortlessly. Some people would labor to write their name on a rock because they think differently. The huge difference lies on the fact that foolish people want the easy way; they avoid to toil and are short-sighted. Wise people on the other hand know exactly what is essential and aim for it even if it takes them ‘forever’.

In the Bible we heard Jesus as saying, ‘do not trouble your self about tomorrow for tomorrow has its own worries’. I could not agree more. But foolish people think only of today and as they think the day is already over, while wise people do not need to think of today because they know exactly what to do.

In life, everyone aims for happiness. But happiness is built on a foundation. Some people have ‘karma’ as its foundation; some would use a certain kind of law like the ‘lex talionis’ and still some others would use ‘science’ as everything. For a Christian like me, we have faith as a tool towards happiness and we have Jesus as our faith and happiness’ firm foundation.  

堅實的基礎

路六: 36-49

在今天的福音有兩個很普通但有用的東西 - 沙子和岩石 - 被提到的。若明智地使用這兩個東西都是非常有用的為建設一個更強的房子。但是，如果以此為基礎的房子顯然 一個優於另一個。

如果我們把我們的名字寫在這兩個東西，有些人寧願寫在沙子，因為它可以做到毫不費力。有些人勞動地會寫自己的名字在一塊岩石上，因為這些人有不同的想法。巨大的區別在於一個事實，即愚蠢的人想省事，他們避免勞累且他們的看法很短視。聰明的人在另一方面確切地知道什麼是必要的, 即使需要永久的時間就瞄準把它完成。

在聖經中，我們聽到耶穌的話說，“你們不要為明天憂慮，因為明天有明天的憂慮”。我同意。但是愚蠢的人不只想到今天，而且想的太長日子已經結束了，而聰明的人並不需要考慮的，因為他們知道今天究竟該怎麼做。

在生活中，每個人的目的是幸福的。但幸福是建立在一個基礎。有些人依靠“因果報應”為基礎，有些人會使用某一種法律，如“以眼還眼, 以牙還牙”，仍然有些人會用“科學”作為一切。對於一個像我這樣的基督徒，我們有信心，對幸福的一種工具，而我們的信仰和幸福有耶穌基督為堅實的基礎。

I am Chosen (Lk 6: 12-19)

Jesus went all night to pray, listening and perhaps bargaining with the Father as well regarding the choosing of the twelve. Then from among the many disciples He chose them. It’s like ‘take it or leave it’, only with an attitude: confidence in God. We should be thankful to God we are chosen too, ordinary as we all are but called to do extra ordinary things. It also means Jesus has put His confidence in us because He prayed first before He chose us. The most beautiful truth about this is He chose us not ‘because of’ but ‘in spite of’. Indeed, what a great God we have in our midst!  

Don’t go to Fixers. Fix it yourselves!

My recent visit to the Philippines was both official and unofficial vacation. It is official upon the agreement we had in the community. It is unofficial because I have to obtain one document (NBI clearance) which requires a lot of different processing and definitely did consume most of my time. Seemingly it’s my loss but I am glad however to have noticed the improvement in our country’s system. But hey, obtaining an NBI clearance nowadays requires one to queue as early as 1am in order to avoid the 2,000 cut-off of applicants per day. It also means a 10 working-day period before you can finally have the document in your hand. So where’s the improvement? This scenario is due to the change in the system at the NBI – from manual finger printing to biometric system. The agency with this new system just operated a month ago and literally, everybody is adjusting to it. Hopefully, in the not so distant future it will become less tiring and irritating especially to thousands of applicants. With the world’s unstoppable digitalization, it’s good to see we’re in to adapt.

After having obtained my NBI clearance, I proceeded to DFA to have the document authenticated. Since my time in the Philippines is limited, I opted to go through ‘a third party’ who can help quick process the said document. With all honesty I sternly condemned the use of ‘bribe’, the reason I did not give in to pay PHP1,000 to have my NBI authenticated by the DFA. Instead, I did it ‘my way’ and found out to have done the right action. It took me only an hour to have my document authenticated, a big improvement from two hours or more way back then. Moreover, the place was pleasant and spacious to the convenience of the applicants. I did affirm this good sign that change for our ‘everything poor’ nation is really possible.

Although the use of bribe still exists, the new system is more ‘service friendly’, allowing us to regain trust in our government in general and oneself in particular. Change is on the way and will definitely succeed if we will all work for the common good of everybody. Of course, the challenge remains the same: the change of attitude (heart). Patience is a key factor because it allows us to hope; hope on the other hand encourages us to see the positive side of the situation. Oftentimes the problem lies in the narrow mindedness and erratic behavior of many of us, who think change and improvement are the sole responsibility of our government leaders. It is not the question of the degree of responsibility, it is the internalization of the truth that everyone is responsible for the betterment of one’s and other people’s lives.

So before even thinking of going through a ‘third party’, think of what you can contribute to yourself and to your nation if you go through the right and legal way. You will be elated to find out it is more efficient and will do you a great favor. Never allow fixers to do it for you, rather fix it yourselves.  

Doing The Reverse...

The Transfiguration of the Lord

(Mt 17: 1-8)

We must have heard of people who were once rich and famous but being broke and almost forgotten now. Then we ask the same question: what have gone wrong when they were at the height of their career? The answers could be a bad and complicated relationship, health related problem, economic recession, mismanagement and more. Such realities make us want to come back to those old good advises whose wisdom lie at the realization of each: keep your feet on the ground, spend wisely, save for tomorrow, opportunity knocks only once, don’t forget your roots,  get an education (degree), be grateful and appreciative and the list goes on. Some people soar high because they memorize these advises by heart but for some it is going back to the basics. Again for others it remains a dream. 

Whether in business, entertainment, religion, science and the academe, success and failures are inevitable. This is one of the certain truths about life and we should know it by now. Therefore we should not be afraid of failures and overjoyed by success rather we do the reverse: be afraid of success and overjoyed by failures. Sounds absurd, right?

c/o photos8.com

Today in the feast of our Lord’s transfiguration we have a narrative from Matthew. We have Jesus and the ‘magnificent’ trio on ‘top’ of the mountain and above all we have the experience of Jesus’ transfiguration. All interpretations on the event point out to Jesus’ apparent ‘glory’, his lordship, the authentication of his identity revealed at Caesarea Philippi.  Being on ‘top’ of the mountain with his three chosen ‘agents’, this must be the highest point in Jesus’ “career” and makes us claim like Peter: “Lord it is a fine thing for us to be here.” But the message of Jesus’ transfiguration goes on to say: “guys, there is more than meets the eyes.”

And so by saying be ‘afraid of success and ‘overjoyed by failures’ I am pointing out to the attitude we should possess in dealing with life’s reality: by being cautious on the wondrous things we receive and experience, and by looking on the positive side of the not so good things in our life. We often perceive like Peter does that we often conclude we need to ‘build three tents’ and yet Jesus has eyes to see the real deal: while the Cross seems to be a huge failure yet it is the epitome of the saving power of God; while our Lord’s Messianic title may make our ears clap, but it causes distress for many.

The narrative has a lot of things going on, the characters, the succession of events, and mixed emotions. But one message remains true: life must go on.

Asks for Quality not Quantity (Mt 9:35 – 10:1)

The Gospel today emphasizes on the following certain truths:

1. Jesus saw the needs of the people and pitied them. Among us are people who have eyes but cannot see; who can see but are afraid of the troubles and responsibilities.  It takes a compassionate heart like Jesus to see the needs of others.
2. Jesus appeal to pray to God to send laborers is both an invitation and a reminder: It is an invitation to acknowledge that it is God who sends laborers, that He is the source of help and grace. It is a reminder that being sent means to serve and not be served, and that service entails doing the will of He who sends.
3. Jesus’ appeal proves that He wants us to participate in His mission. Thus, we must pray not for the increase in numbers of laborers but for those who agreed to labor for the sake of the Gospel; the one ready to serve and do the will of the Father.
4. Jesus being a Servant himself labored for our salvation. In the same manner he/she who knows his/her role and purpose in life is he/she who is ready to do the ‘job’. Because one sees not with one’s eyes but with one’s heart. The Cure of Ars, whose memorial we celebrate today exemplifies a ‘laborer’ who by seeing the needs of his parishioners sees for himself his role and the purpose why he was called and sent.