The Joy of the Kingdom

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:44-52.
Jesus said to his disciples:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

"Do you understand all these things?"
They answered, "Yes."
And he replied,
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."

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Reflection
The past Sundays' Gospel readings are part of the 'Day of Parables' with Jesus in Matthew. We have been tackling several parables of the Kingdom of God. These short stories are Jesus' way of explaining the mystery of the Kingdom and to think that there are many of them, the Kingdom must be inexhaustible. Jesus made it clear that to establish the Kingdom here on earth is his primary mission.

What makes Jesus so passionate about it? Today's readings speak of two men: one stumbled upon something valuable, while another found it in his search. The first was unintentional, the second intentional. These perhaps are the two ways we discover the Kingdom in our lives. Either we just stumble upon it or that we search for it throughout our lives. In both instances, the two men were filled with joy and excitement they were able to leave everything else for what they found.

The Kingdom of God is something that possesses us with joy and excitement. It captivates us and challenges us to leave everything else for its sake. It gives us meaning and reason. Whether we found it or it found us what matters is the encounter of love and joy. We can say that the Kingdom is a state where God's love is reigning over you. You suddenly find that your life has meaning and direction in the service of God or that a series of difficulties forced you to look at your life with the eyes of God and you find peace. A deeper look into the Kingdom would reveal that it is about Jesus. Jesus is the Kingdom of God made man. When you found him or that he found you, he gives meaning to your life and you can put down everything else to follow him.

Time and Growth in the Kingdom of Heaven

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:24-43.
Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said,
'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'
His slaves said to him,
'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;
but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

He proposed another parable to them.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.
It becomes a large bush,
and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

He spoke to them another parable.
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast
that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened."

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.
His disciples approached him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."

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Reflection
The Gospel this Sunday is exceptionally long. This is understandable since it tries to explain an ineffable reality in the Kingdom of Heaven. Ask any priest today what the Kingdom of Heaven is and you will get diverse answers. Today, Matthew gives us three parables to explain it: the wheat and weeds, the mustard seed, and the yeast and flour. Let us focus our reflection on two themes: time and growth.

In all three parables, a theme is evident - that of silent growth. The Kingdom of Heaven according to Matthew is not an instant Kingdom that appears out of nowhere. No, unlike our culture of speed and instant gratification, the Kingdom of Heaven grows in each of us in silence. Different species of wheat grow at different rates before being harvested, some in four months, the others up to eight months. Before the advent of microbiology with Louis Pasteur in 1879 and the proliferation of commercial yeasts, early bakers had to capture wild yeast from their environment, culture it, and add it to the dough. The process of fermentation or the 'rising' of the bread takes hours. Slower rises means tastier bread for them. All in all baking bread in the ancient world takes time. Contrast that today when how easily one could purchase bread from the bakeshop.

The point of the parables is clear. The Kingdom of Heaven works silently within us. St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans as this Sunday's second reading, points out the real reason for this silent growth. The Spirit who teaches us how to pray as we ought is the God that moves within each of us inspiring us to grow. The period of 'instant' creation belongs to Genesis. Our era is the period of rising 'doughs'. God is giving humanity the space and time to grow.

For those who allow God to work through them, a great promise is given. Jesus points out the seemingly impossible results that come out of Christian growth. Like the mustard seed, the 'smallest of all seeds', that grows into a majestic tree, a Christian in the process of conversion is meant to dominate the spiritual landscape so that the birds of heaven can rest in his branches. Remember our late bloomer in St. Augustine who once lived a life of decadence, has through the years of conversion and growth in the Spirit become a spiritual giant in the Church. Look at the life of St. Therese of the Child Jesus who was, like the seed planted in the ground, hidden from the world has become the patron of missions! The Kingdom of Heaven is marked by phenomenal growth, remarkable as the power that inspires its growth in every man.

If to provide a partial answer to the perennial problem of evil, "if there is a God why is there evil in the world?", we look to the parable of the wheat and weeds. The patience of God is given to both wheat and weed. God tolerates evil and evil men. Here we see a glimpse of God's Wisdom. Through centuries of reflection in the Church we have come to realize that humanity is inherently good and is capable of doing good and is meant to be so. God has made everything good. All of us are wheat planted in the world by God. Because of human freedom and human frailty we have the tendency to turn sour, to turn evil, to turn weed. There is a real enemy behind every resistance to the urging of the Spirit and he sows the weed within each of us if we allow him to. Yet in the presence of all these evil, God tolerates our failures. Why? Maybe because He still believes in the goodness that He has planted within each of us, if only we allow it to grow.

The main hero of this section on the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew is the God who according to the Book of Wisdom in the first reading 'cares for all' and the psalms proclaim as 'good and forgiving.' He is the ground of the Kingdom of Heaven in which we are to grow. If God has been provident, caring, and patient with us, shouldn't we be to others but most especially to ourselves?

Becoming Rich Soil for the Word

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:1-23.
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
"A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."

The disciples approached him and said,
"Why do you speak to them in parables?"
He said to them in reply,
"Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted,
and I heal them.

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

"Hear then the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one
who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it,
and the evil one comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."

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Reflection

I was in Tagaytay last Saturday to attend the perpetual profession of Friar Andrew Datoy of the OFM Conventuals. We would have wanted to attend also his diaconal ordination in order to welcome him to the sacred order but our apostolate schedule would not permit it. The experience of seeing other congregations than our very own Salesian order celebrate milestones in the religious life is certainly enriching. The now Reverend Andrew's choice of giving his whole life to the service of the Church under the Order of Friars Minor - Conventuals, I think, is the best expression of today's Gospel.

When the first reading proclaimed that God's Word is ever fecund, meaning it would always be fruitful and would always bring forth its intended effect, it was giving praise to the power of God. When God speaks, things happen. God never lies, He never contradicts Himself, and His truth is so creative. This Word is so powerful it was instrumental in the six days of creation. Throughout the week of creation a refrain is heard, "then God SAID...".

For Israel this Word is rendered as dabar.  John the Evangelist would later connect to this understanding of God's powerful Word and place it in the person of Jesus. Jesus is person of the Word (or in Greek, logos, which is equivalent to dabar). God's Word is not an abstract concept but a Person, the second Person in the Trinity who is the Son. In the ancient world, the 'word' or 'logos' or 'dabar' is something powerful. It holds the nature of a thing. It enables one to understand another thing by grasping the 'word' of that thing. For us today, it is likened to our concept of 'meaning'.

This is how religious life is able to proclaim the power of God's Word, Jesus Christ Himself. It would be downright foolishness for a person to give up everything in order to follow a Person he hasn't seen unless this person found meaning in his life choices. Religious people, both brothers and nuns, consecrated virgins, and priests, give up much of their life because they found meaning in Jesus. Friar Andrew then is a rich soil who has received the seed of the Word and is bearing fruit.

The great lesson behind the Gospel is the indiscriminate sowing of the sower. If God is the sower, then He clearly doesn't mind where the seed of the Word falls. That is the generosity and richness of God's mercy. He calls through His Word every human person although He knows some will not respond. Yet, He still sows everywhere.

We, who are recipients of this Word, will not always be the rich soil that receives the Word. More often we are soil with thorns or the rocky ground. Sometimes we are the footpath that is oblivious to God's call. We don't have to obsess over our capability to receive the Word for in fact the whole message of this Sunday's readings is the effectiveness of the Word of God. God would understand our state if we are as hard as the bedrock. Jesus just points out to us the patience of God which works to soften the hardness of our hearts that someday will turn it into lush fruitful soil.

Our invitation today is not about bearing fruit. Fruitfulness is God's gift to us through the Word and the Spirit. The invitation is to a disposition of sensitivity, openness, and surrender to God's Word. We are invited to allow God to turn us into rich humus so that His Word can grow in us. It doesn't matter if you find the Sunday liturgy today dry and boring, what matters is your commitment to the celebration of the Word and the Sacrament. It doesn't matter for parents if children doesn't always listen and obey, what matters is that they know they are loved. It doesn't matter if love is not appreciated and responded to, what matters is that you love. For it is in this moments of sensitivity, openness, and surrender that we find meaning, our logos, God's dabar in our lives. It is in that moment when we have allowed Jesus, the Word of God Incarnate, to influence us and live in us. The growing and bearing fruit will soon follow.

Friar Andrew does not know if he will do great things in the future or how much good will he contribute to the Church. What mattered was that he said 'yes'.  And by so doing, he allows the Word to germinate in him, and God's Word is always fruitful.

The Jesus Way

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11:25-30.
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

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Reflection

It would seem funny that the prophet Zechariah in the first reading foresaw the Messiah riding in an ass as He comes to Jerusalem. The ass is a beast of burden but the Old Testament would portray its leaders and noblemen as riding on asses. Although if you image search on Google the animals ass and horse, the latter is certainly more appealing to us. Yet Zechariah insists that the Just Savior, the Messiah, would ride on the animal close to the culture of Israel and not on chariots and horses.

What is this leading to? It points out to us the great reversals that is quite common in the Bible. While we think that horses are grandier than asses like Ferrari's to Jeepneys, the vision of God is the reverse of human standards. For Zechariah, the Messiah is a man of peace in contrast to leaders who ride horses and chariots to war. The Gospel today presents to us Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the peace-bringer and one who reverses our world.

There are two parts to the Gospel today. In the first part, Jesus presents Himself as the Revealer of the Father. Here, Jesus uses the absolute. The Father knows the Son and the Son knows the Father. Knowledge is the Scriptures is more than just about possessing the facts. Knowledge here means a deep relationship between two persons. We know our parents and children more than what other people know about them. That the Father and the Son know each other is Jesus' claim to Divinity, for He claims for Himself the hidden knowledge of Yahweh. Those who accept this claim, Jesus calls the 'little ones', the 'babes', tender names He uses for His disciples.

It was the disciples, who are not professionals about the Scriptures and the legalities of the Law, that believed Jesus. Contrast these to the scribes and the Pharisees who Jesus calls the 'wise and the learned'. The latter group already have their ideas of who God is and who the Messiah should be. Their hearts were not open and so they could not accept Jesus, nor believe His miracles, nor accept His claim. When we claim wisdom for our own, it the point when we actually lose Wisdom Himself.

The second part of the Gospel consists then of Jesus' invitation to us. "Learn from me," Jesus says. The way to the Father does not consist in human knowledge and effort. It is the person of Jesus. How is Jesus the way and revealer of the Father? He is "humble of heart," and in Him we find rest in true peace. This connects exceptionally to our first reading, to Zechariah's Messiah as bringer of peace.

To "take the yoke" means to be a disciple. Jesus is simply inviting us today to follow His person. For in the nature of His human and divine heart, the Father is revealed to us. St. Paul would say that those who are true disciples of Jesus are living in the Spirit of God who gives life. They shy away from the deeds of the flesh. Flesh for St. Paul is linked to worldliness, all that is opposite to Christ. So the Liturgy today challenges us to make a stand with Jesus the Way against the current and ideas of the world.

When today more than before we think that money, power, influence, and honor bring us lasting happiness, the Gospel presents a contrasting alternative in Jesus. As Christians we are to live like Jesus. To believe in Jesus is in itself an act of humility. To live like Jesus is an act of meekness. Jesus should be our standard and our model. He should be our selfie and our everyday hashtag.

Lastly, Jesus gives us consolation. His "yoke is easy" and his "burden light." Because if you live Jesus, you live the Way of Love. When everything is flavored with love, life becomes sweet. Having the latest iPhone is today's horse and chariot, but we choose to ride on the ass, the beast of burden yet the one that carries the Messiah: for in service, humility, and love we are disciples of Jesus. Think like Jesus. Live like Jesus.

The Believing Thomas

Image used under Creative Commons, no copyright infringement intended.

Most of what I write below are ideas culled from an inspiring homily by Fr. Stephen Placente, SDB tonight. I was simply amazed after reading today's Office of Readings from St. Pope Gregory the Great and after hearing tonight's homily that opened my horizons on St. Thomas the Apostle.

St. Thomas is often described as the doubting Thomas. As the Gospel account has it, after hearing proof of the Lord's resurrection, he demanded a physical experience of the Lord's resurrected body for him to believe the unbelievable. This view of St. Thomas has been used and misused for so long. It is too easy to miss the point that it was him who gave the highest profession of faith in Jesus Christ in the whole of the New Testament: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).

This great apostle could not become the patron saint of unbelievers and doubters for how could such profession of faith emanate from so deep a doubt? It would be a too far a jump if there were no faith no matter how little to begin with. What is in St. Thomas the Apostle is a faith that sought to be reasonable. It is a faith that proved that the Resurrection is not just a spiritual event but a real one! The Lord really had risen! For if he simply believed what the other apostles had told him of the risen Christ, his own conviction about his faith would be shallow. He heard the news yet his own need for the experience got the better of him.

After all, things become more real for us the moment we experience them. It was so for St. Thomas. And according to Pope Gregory the Great, it was out of God's providential plan that he was absent and his intellectual nature demanded a real experience of the risen Christ. In the same way that Israel believed in the power of Yahweh in their Exodus experience, St. Thomas professed his faith in his physical experience of the risen Christ.

And here we are, receiving only what was once oral tradition of the risen Christ now written in the Scriptures. Can we then demand to experience the risen Christ in order to believe? To us is addressed Jesus words, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29) For while we have not seen the risen Christ with our own eyes, we have been receiving his Body and Blood in the Eucharist and have been part of His Mystical Body, the Church. The Gospel account is not so much about proofs that lead to faith, but faith that is strengthened by reason and experience.

Above all is faith. St. Thomas' faith was strengthened by that encounter which for him was indescribably real it gave him strength to witness to the faith with his life. By tradition, he was believed to be martyred after preaching the Gospel in the subcontinent of India. If that faith were not real because his experience of the risen Christ was not real, he couldn't have shared the glory of the Cross. And so for us is the task of remembering our real experience of the risen Christ. It need not be through seeing and touching. It could be an interior experience that we cannot explain. It could be an experience of love, of communion, or of faith. But whatever real experience grace has given us, let it lead to real faith, a faith that allows us to give our lives for Christ and to exclaim "My Lord and my God!"

The Primacy of God and a Case for Hospitality

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10:37-42.
Jesus said to his apostles:
"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

"Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet's reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man's reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."

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Reflection

Just before we were sent out to our respective weekend apostolate assignments, our formator-in-charge warned us: "Do not think that people come close to you and praise you and compliment you because you are handsome. No, they come to you because they see the goodness in you." It was a fitting warning to a millenial generation of ministers who are fond of using social media and taking selfies. This generation after all is described as obsessively narcissistic. But I would say that people approach the ministers at the altar because they believe God is with them.

A Vietnamese priest who got recently ordained and who grew up with me in the theologate is unsettled at the lavish concern that Filipino Catholics give to priests. It is a point of teasing between us but it does show the Catholic culture we have in the Philippines. It is indeed unsettling for us who chose to serve at the altar since we very well know of our own weaknesses and how much we do not deserve the honor. Yet by faith, we accept it for by faith we believe that the devotion the People of God lavish on priests and ordained ministers are not to the persons themselves but to Christ.

It simply amazes me that the Spanish missionaries were able to inculcate in our society this instinct for Christ in the ministers. The danger these days however is to forget the faith that underlies the devotion. In fact, other sects deride Catholics for this seemingly unrealistic practice. Jesus in today's Gospel invites His believers to a culture of hospitality for those He has sent. It is not about the person sent but the message that the apostle (apostolos in Greek means "sent") bears for the Christian community. That is the reward for hospitality and devotion promised by the Lord.

The message or Good News is none other than Christ. So the reward for accepting the messenger into one's home and one's heart is certainly greater than that of the prophet or the righteous one. We ordained ministers bring Christ to the people of God. There is no proof for this other than our witnessing and preaching and only the eyes of faith can see Christ in the minister. The minister for his part has to believe this in a greater degree since the pull of doubts can sometimes douse the flame of the Gospel.

All in all, everything revolves around Christ and it is Christ who holds everything together. Thus our love for Him must transcend everything else even familial ties. For all other loves exist because of the Love of Christ. Only Christ gives meaning to everything.