First Sunday of Advent

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24:37-44.

Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 
In (those) days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be (also) at the coming of the Son of Man. 
Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. 
Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. 
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
   

Reflection

We still find people lining outside Apple stores just to be one of the privileged ones to get their hands on an iPhone ahead of all creation. New technologies give us the craze these days. New features make us itch for the newest iteration of our gadgets. That Christmas is coming means many of us will be making our Christmas lists and fattening our wallets for the ultimate holiday shopping.

New things excite us because anything new brings with it hope. We want to be hopeful in this life. We want our lives to become a little better, a little bit lighter, a little bit easier. Sometimes we think that new technologies gives the solution to today's problems. But most of the time they bring with them their own new problems! But even so, we hope, we dream, and we strive.

The new liturgical season brings with it a new hope. This Sunday, the Church renews her cycle of worship synced with the life of Christ. It is the first Sunday of Advent and we are four weeks away from Christmas. Excitement is in the air. Rightly so, because Christmas is an event that brings with it great Hope. Advent prepares us to receive this Hope.

It is with a sense of mystery that the Gospel today speaks of the coming of the Son of Man. The title "Son of Man" is often used in the Old Testament, mostly in Daniel, to refer to the longed for savior of Israel, the Messiah. St. Matthew uses the title for Jesus. Here, Jesus speaks of his future coming at an hour we do not expect.

When we speak of hour we mean a time divinely set to fulfill something. Several hours have been set by God: our conception, our birth, and our death in the same way Jesus' hour of conception, birth, and death have been thought of by the Father before all the ages. The Church reminds us today of the threefold meaning of the hour of Jesus' coming.

The first hour was Jesus' birth which inaugurated His entrance into human history and with it the inauguration of our salvation won at the Cross. It has happened two thousand years ago and what we remember every Christmas. Yet it happened silently and peacefully without much fanfare. The second hour happens throughout our lives, when Jesus chooses to break through our lives. God surprises us with His Grace through events and people that lift us up and restores in us hope. Jesus lamented the fact that Jerusalem failed to recognize the hour of her visitation and He wept. The third hour is in an indeterminate future, in the final and definitive coming of Christ. No one really knows when despite the many claims of end-of-the-world that people have made.

The Gospel, however, does not speculate when these hours do happen. What it teaches us is to prepare because we do not know when the hour will come. We prepare for Christmas with the Advent season, preparing our hearts to receive Christ through repentance, going to Confession, and acts of charity. We prepare for Christ everyday by opening our lives to Jesus through a life of prayer and personal relationship with Him. And we prepare ourselves for our death and the future coming of Christ by living our lives well and holy.

This Advent season and Christmas shouldn't be something that happens every year in the same way it happened last year. Let us see our Christian lives in an ever closing spiral with Jesus at the center. As we go through His life throughout the year, from His birth, through ordinary life, together with His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, may we find ourselves getting closer and closer to Him every year.

A Different Kind of King

Solemnity of Christ the King

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 23:35-43.

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God." 
Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine 
they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." 
Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews." 
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us."
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? 
And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." 
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 
He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
   

Reflection

The most self-contradicting element in the crucifixion is the inscription that reads "This is the King of the Jews". Wishing to shame the Jews, Pilate had it installed on the cross. Unknown to him he is prophesying on behalf of the one who is hanging on it.

The human understanding of kingship, of authority, and of power naturally revolves around the concept of being able to exert influence and to compel others to follow our will. Sometimes we honor our leaders, our kings, not because we truly honor the way they are but we do it out of fear. We always have the tendency to submit to someone who is more powerful than us.

The word "Jews" have been used in the Gospels in two ways: one, pejoratively, when it refers to that band of men who oppose the teachings of Jesus; and two, generally, when it refers to the ethnic group to which Jesus belongs and to whom He addressed the Gospel first. The Jewish people pride themselves of being descendants of Abraham and the patriarchs, of having been set apart by God as His "chosen people" before the world. Circumcision and the Law are the binding elements of Jewishness.

To put that label on the cross, for Pontius Pilate, was to mock the Jewish leaders. For him, here is a man who they say claimed to be king. Now, that king has just been meted out with capital punishment by the superior power of Rome. The Jews are not special. They are a people subjugated by the Roman empire.

Yet that is how Jesus Christ overturned human ways of thinking. He was there hanging seemingly powerless. The soldiers jeer at him and test him. The two thieves find a misguided consolation that they did not go punished alone. Someone, worse than them, someone who claimed to be Messiah, was also there dying with them. At least all they did was steal. This one claimed to be from God.

Loud as they were, the silence of Jesus was deafening. And the other thief noticed this calm submission was in fact a display of power - a different kind of power. Here before them is indeed a king, but a different kind of king. He is the King who wields not human power but godly power.

Obedience is the key to understanding the power to Jesus displayed on the cross. Through His obedience to the Father, that He must suffer and die, He willingly submitted Himself to the Cross. True, it would have been easy for Him to move heaven and earth to save Himself from death. But He forego of control in order to submit to the Father out of love. This is the true form of divine power, something that we too often do not understand considering our natural tendency to want control.

The second thief in Luke noticed this and he began to understand who Jesus really is. Jesus obedience must have been very perfect that the thief instinctively understood that Jesus did nothing to deserve such punishment. He did not see a make-believe king. He saw Jesus' humility. He perhaps saw in Jesus the Lamb silent as it is being slaughtered. He saw beyond the politics of Pilate. He saw beyond the narrowness of mind of the Jews. He saw the True King in Jesus.

In that moment of recognition Jesus did something that transcends His vulnerability on the cross. Jesus commanded. In that position of vulnerability and weakness, the True King pronounces a decree. He is not seated on a golden throne, he was hanging on the cross. But even in that dark hour, Jesus gave out a decree of mercy: "Amen. I say to you, you will be with me in paradise." In an atmosphere of blood and sadism, Jesus still was able to show mercy.

That is the King who we honor today.

The End is Near

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21:5-19.

While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, 
"All that you see here--the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." 
Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?" 
He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end." 
Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky."
Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony. 
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, 
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 
You will be hated by all because of my name, 
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. 
By your perseverance you will secure your lives."
   

Reflection

Donald Trump is now the 45th President of America. He took the world by surprise. Whether he is fit for the presidency of the most powerful hegemony in the world is up for discussion. The USA as a democratic society gave its voice. Across the Pacific, social media in the Philippines is abuzz with different reactions. Some were happy for Trump, some were outraged he won, and some others asked why we should be concerned.

Scrolling down my feed, I saw one post decrying the events that have recently happened. The Supreme Court of the Philippines gave no legal block to the interment of the late President Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Now, Trump is the US president-elect. It was too much for the poster. I gave my own thoughts suggesting a morbid thought. Could it be that the end of the world is coming?

We do not know. I wrote it in jest. But the question of when the end of the world will come has always been an exciting question for some. The apocalypse has always been an interesting topic. See how many movies we have with that theme. The future is always up for speculation. Even Jesus peered into it.

We have to be aware that what Jesus spoke of is not exactly our concept of the end of the world. When Jesus speaks of the "time", he means a period of fulfillment of what has already been written in Scriptures, of God's promises. He spoke of these things with his disciples because he knew they were part of that fulfillment. But they were to concerned of the glory of the present they needed to be reminded of the glory of the end.

This prophecy were written in order to warn the disciples of the cost of their commitment in Christ. But they were written in such a way that it also warns the early Christians who have also put their faith in Christ. These are the Christians who were the first audience of the gospels. St. Luke was warning them about impending persecutions. But he also wrote for us today. St. Luke knew that a commitment to Christ necessarily puts you at odds with the world. In the world, when you are different you are most likely persecuted. Being Christian is basically being counter-cultural.

If President Duterte, President Marcos, and President-elect Trump are dividing public opinion it is because they touch something in our lives that matter to us. Jesus Christ touches our whole lives that is why our witnessing is to be total and with it the persecution of the world. Just bearing his name is enough for us to suffer even in our times. That is the end that Jesus paints for his disciples.

He speaks not of celestial wonders but of conflict because the end, the omega, is a period of purification. It comes to mind now that Jesus is the alpha and the omega. He is the point of conflict when the "time" has come. Because when our "time" has come our commitment to Jesus will be tested. Will we remain faithful to him even if following him and his teachings is against the public opinion of the world? Are we willing to sacrifice familial ties because of our faith? Are we willing to give up our lives for Jesus?

Our end is certain. We will have to face our own death in the future. The end of the world is certain. Nothing in the universe lasts forever. Time ravages everything. But in this bleak outlook Jesus assures us of his presence and help. Despite the persecutions and hate, our commitment and perseverance in him will secure our salvation. At first sight this future looks bleak and scary because it involves the present world passing away. What Jesus is indirectly saying is that in its place is a new world that will be established in Jesus' love. It is exactly in this love that we pass through purification and emerge victorious. This new world that we are hoping for is in Jesus.

Individually we pass through our periods of purification in Christ. A crisis comes into our life that tests our Christian commitment. Health, family, and financial problems come to raise questions we cannot answer but can only be faced with faith in Christ. Of course we also believe in the collective end of the present world when the "time" comes and the fulfillment is final and complete. As Jesus said, none will know when except the Father.

What he is proposing to us is that we put our end not in the transition of our world into the new, not in wonders and signs, but in his very person. Jesus is our omega. Being baptized as Christians we start to move toward this End. Living our Christian commitment will attract persecution but it will also bring us closer to the End. The End is near indeed. It is Jesus to whom we have given our 'yes' before and for whom we live that commitment.

The Concreteness of Being Human

We all need to be touched and to touch. Psychological studies have shown that babies who do not experience touch in the first hours of their birth tend to develop emotional problems later on in life. As children we all feel the need to be cuddled by our parents. If something is wrong we need a shoulder to cry on. When we are discouraged we need someone to lean on. When victorious we need someone to tap our back. And even later in life, we need someone to hold hands with in joy or in sorrow, in sickness or in health, till death do us part.

This is so evident now in the era of technology. We used to wonder at the marvel of the television when we have created something that allowed us extend our power of vision. Now, technology is developing in such a way where it seeks to engage us more than our sight and our hearing. The field is called Haptics Technology where we engage our sense of touch and proprioception. While it has developed well over the years in user interfaces like the touch pad and the touch screen and with movement sensors in the Xbox and other game consoles, research and development among technology companies are now seeking ways to allow devices to give us what they called a haptic feedback.

Tech companies want their devices their to respond to their users through touch. This means a touch screen that vibrates upon tap. This means being immersed in an augmented or virtual reality where virtual objects are experienced through touch. Engineers are hard at work on creating pressure feedback whenever you interact with virtual objects. It's like petting a virtual dog and you can physically feel its fur on your palms despite it a hologram.

Such movement in technology and science is a clear indicator that as human beings we beings of touch. We are also beings that are physically present in a physical world. This explains why we want our loved ones to be physically present during important events of life and why a phone call is still not enough to compensate. Such an experience is a gift of being a creature that is both body and spirit. Haptic experience, the sense of touch, is the gift of the physical bodies to us, something denied to spirits.

So I find it absurd that some people go so far as to dream to become pure spirits or be reduced to pure consciousness that run inside a computer. To be separated from the body means to lose the sense of touch. To lose the sense of touch is to experience a separation from the physical universe and its sensual pleasures.

Perhaps one good lesson we can learn today is to really take advantage of our sense of touch. How many times do we hug our parents and our children in a day? Who among our friends need a pat on the back or a shoulder to cry on? I believe many hearts are waiting as they lie imprisoned in their own loneliness. All we need is to reach out and touch those hearts.

If the psalms would say that we have a higher dignity than angels, then having bodies is one of those advantages of being humans. It is time for us to let go of the idea that the soul is imprisoned inside the body. No, the soul is expressed through the body in the same way that the external world is experienced through the body. No wonder then that Christ gives us His body and blood in the Eucharist. It is in touch that we become concrete.

The Anxiety of Not Doing Everything

Salesian life is a busy life. We often multitask in order to do as much good as we can. We put everything in to make good the adage of doing ordinary duties extraordinarily well. It is tiring. It consumes a lot of energy. Without grace from prayer and personal relationship with Jesus it becomes impossible.  

Oftentimes we fall into the trap of trying to do everything. We get so used to works and tasks and to do's that we forget everything else. We have become slaves. We have become needy for attention, glory, appreciation, greatness. We forget that we are but workers in the vineyard who were given a fair share of work that is to be completed in God's time. Therefore we are the grumpy ones, the stressed ones, the irritables. We become unkind and uncompromising. We have become the opposite of who we truly are.  

I often find myself fidgeting over things that I need to do and complete. I become anxious. My prayer becomes distracted. I am consumed by my work and tasks. Worst comes to worst I can't even complete one task. I simply don't know where to start. This is the anxiety of our age. We want to do everything. We forget that we are not God.  

God's plan for us is simpler than we imagine. All He wants is for us to walk with and beside Him in this journey of life. Whatever comes comes in His time and goes away in His time. Be it joy or sorrow, comfort or difficulty, they are not meant to last and they are not meant for us to obssess on. Our lives were meant to enjoy God in haapiness or sadness, in sickness or in health, and not even death do us part. All we have to do is trust our Father and we will be at peace.  

Life Beyond Death

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 20:27-38.

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, 
saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.'
Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 
Then the second 
and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 
Finally the woman also died. 
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." 
Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; 
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 
They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; 
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." 
   

Reflection

The month of November triggers a lot of questions of the afterlife.  What is to be expected after we die? How do we exist as human being in heaven? The Sadducees who posed the question to Jesus did not believe in life after death. They posed the question in order to trap Jesus in a logical puzzle. However, Jesus went beyond their trap when he shattered their misconceptions of the after life. Because of them, Jesus gave us a sneak peak into the life that awaits us after we breath our last.

Perhaps instead of talking about "life after death" we need to talk about "life beyond death". The resurrection of death imparts unto us God Himself. The children of God finally have inherited their Father that is why they rise from the dead. Life beyond death is a life in God. That is why it is a life of fulfillment because in Him we find the true meaning of who we really are and in Him we come to grips with our true identity. That is why we become alive once more because when we have arisen we are already living the life of God, that is, eternal life.

What is eternal life? It is not about life without end. It may be part of it but more than length of time it speaks of fullness of life. It is a life lived where each moment is an experience of being fully alive. We all had that experience when there comes a break in the mundane repetition of everyday life. What was ordinary, what was a boring cycle suddenly pauses and we enter into an experience of peace and tranquility. Suddenly, our minds are at ease and everything falls into place because we had an experience of God after an event, after looking at the beauty of creation, after talking to someone who touched our hearts. Multiply that moment for eternity and perhaps that is eternal life.

We no longer die because God lives in us. Today's world is so much concerned with the quest for the fountain of youth, for the beauty miracle in cosmetics that would defy aging. We are too concerned of staying in our young adulthood when our bodies are at their peak and there are no wrinkles nor joint pains nor high blood pressure. The life of God goes beyond these temporal things. No, it embraces these. Jesus was born, grew up and died on the cross. A life in God is a life that springs forth from a union with Him from the depths of our hearts and flows unto the world. God who is Life Himself springs forth from our deepest beings and He becomes our life.

The secret of eternal life is that it does not begin after death. It can begin and continue on in every heart that is open to God. It is the very life offered to us in Eucharistic Communion in the Holy Mass. The life in the Body and Blood of Christ becomes our food and drink. It is the very life that comes alive in us whenever we become aware that we are part of a bigger Church. But sadly it is a life that is oftentimes overlooked today. We are too afraid of death. We are too afraid of growing old. We cannot see the greater picture of an eternal life that encompasses everything.

In our fears we tend to get addicted only to the current moment. You Only Life Once, they say. We are too afraid of death and sadness that we try to suck out the joy in each day as if human life is a bottomless sponge of happiness. When it has become dry, we tend to find joy in other places only to end up brokenhearted. But human life is not always happy, that is a fact. What eternal life offers is the God in the ups and downs of daily life. It is God that makes life meaningful and sweet even with tears and disappointments. It is God that makes human life eternal and that is why it is able to defeat even death. It is life beyond death.

While alive we enter into eternal life when we have put our life in the perspective of eternity in God, when even here we are already living the life of God. It comes when we love without measure, when we forgive even if the other doesn't even deserve it, when we give until it hurts. And when death has come to wrap up this earthly life, Jesus promises an eternity of that fullness of life where we live like angels before God. Where at last we would be united with those we shared our life here on earth and come to the realization that this life is but a short moment and that there is such a thing as a life beyond death.