Mary: Bearer of Forgiveness

A woman bought a parrot for a pet. All the parrot did was treat her bad. It insulted her and every time she tried to pick it up, it would peck at her arm. 

One day she got fed up with the parrot and as it was insulting her she picked it up, it continued with the insults.."you're ugly! I can't stand you!" and it pecked at her arm as she carried it. She opened the freezer door and threw him in and closed the door. From inside, the parrot was still going on for about 5 seconds and then it was suddenly quiet.

She thought, "Oh no, I killed it!" She open the door and the parrot just looked at her. She picked it up. Then the parrot said:

"I'm very sorry. I apologize for my bad behavior and promise you there will be no more of that. From now on, I will be a respectful, obedient parrot."
"Well OK" she said. "apology accepted". The parrot said "Thank you". Then he said, "Can I ask you something?" She said, "Yes, What?"
And the parrot looked at the freezer and asked, "What did the Chicken do?"

My dear confreres, this February night, let me speak to you of, as to catch the Love Wave and Vocation Wave during February, that which is the most powerful fruit of Love: Forgiveness. Being 24th of the month let me speak of the Virgin Mary, the bearer of Forgiveness.

What is forgiveness? Psychology defines it as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and/or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives including forgiving themselves, in terms of the person forgiven and/or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, forgiveness may be granted without any expectation of restorative justice, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is incommunicado or dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, apology, and/or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe himself able to forgive.

It is a curious thing when children were asked why forgiveness is important:

Ericke, 10: "Forgiveness is important because everyone makes mistake. If you didn't forgive them, you wouldn't have any friends.”

"Forgiveness solves the whole problem, and you don't get into a fight," concludes Carson, 6.

If you forgive, "you can keep friends and families," says Justin, 10. "You can be happy, not grumpy."

"Forgiveness is important because if you don't get forgiveness, you will be without love," says Karoline, 9.

We must forgive "so we can become like God," says Casey, 8.

One thing that I couldn’t forget in my stay in Lawaan was a talk given by Fr. Ronel Vilbar. In his input, he shared that we have one great need: it is not money, nor beauty, nor time, nor progress, nor technology. Our greatest need is forgiveness. We all need to be forgiven and that is how we have come to need a Savior. This Savior is born of Virgin and her name is Mary.

The Blessed Virgin has so many titles attached to her but I realized the title Bearer of Forgiveness was not on the list. I am quite sure because I googled it. She is not forgiveness herself, just as she is not the sun but the white dawn announcing the rising of the sun. She is the Bearer of Forgiveness because she bore Him who brought forgiveness of our sins.

Is she not the one disciple who would help a sinner to approach Christ? It is oftentimes through her intercession that graces from God have been obtained, starting from her intervention in Cana down to the miracles she had obtained for countless souls who have recourse to her, to the time of Don Bosco who attests to this fact (“Only in heaven shall we know how much the Virgin has done for us.”), until our present generation. Notice this too, that with her every appearance and manifestation, from Fatima to Lourdes, Guadalupe to Akita, she has always been offering counsel: God’s forgiveness and repentance of sins. As she carries the baby Jesus in her arms, she is offering the one Offering that could satisfy God’s Justice, the One Lamb for the Forgiveness of Sins.

I once read an article commenting on how Peter fared better than Judas when both denied their Master. Peter, after denying Jesus three times, tradition says, in his grief and horror of the deed bumped into Mary while escaping the crowd. It was Mary who comforted him and assured him. Judas, on the other hand, took things to himself and missed seeking the comforting arms of the Virgin and ended his life by his own doing. What if Judas had met Mary too, would he be able to redeem himself? Most likely for it is always in our Mother’s arms that we find Him who we deny so many times.

“Every neighbour of ours has his own little place in the heart of our Savior. And who will have no heart to love and bear the imperfections of one who is in such a holy place?” St. Francis of Sales asks. We have all been called to be forgiving by Christ just as we have been forgiven in Him. Our Blessed Mother exemplified this when she did not hold a grudge against the world for crucifying her only Son. The Forgiveness that she once carried has become a part of her. Don Bosco once wrote, “The revenge of a true Catholic is pardon and prayer for the offender,” (BM IV, 312). Sons of Don Bosco and sons of Mary, we are called to become bearers of forgiveness to one another. It is in fraternal correction and charity that Don Bosco asks us, “Pardon means to forget for all time,” (BM VI, 363).

With every sin comes along a true fear of punishment and fear of exacting justice. Yet a sweet smile from a mother, whose face is filled with tenderness and reassurance, keeps us at peace and invites us to lay clean our own consciences, and we learn to trust that with her prayers and support we will never be sent away. God never sends away a repentant sinner, and a Mother who has always accepted with open arms the people who betrayed her Son will not keep to herself the baby in her arms. Mary will always assure us of God’s love.

What is Forgiveness, then, for us Salesians? Forgiveness is the Person who so loved us, he called us from obscure ordinary into our Society for us to be loved by Him and for us to love Him in return. Forgiveness is the One Teacher who gave little Johnny a teacher without whom Wisdom is lost. Forgiveness is that little baby cradled in Mary’s arms, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

Forgiveness is no longer a “what” but a “who”. It is Christ, who once is presented to the world in the Virgin’s arms, who once became alive in the person of Don Bosco, and who now wants to be alive in us. The Virgin who showed the world True Forgiveness, now sends us, in the Congregation she herself put up, to show young people that there is forgiveness for the world after all. We are bearers of God’s love and forgiveness to the young. We no longer are motivated by fear when we seek for reconciliation with God like the parrot in my little story, because we have our Blessed Mother by our side, she who once comforted Peter, will comfort us also and show us Forgiveness, and in turn we become forgiveness to one another and to everyone, especially the young.

Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.

***

This sermonette was given on February 24, 2011 during the monthly commemoration of Mary Help of Christians, before the Post Novitiate Community.

I am Human Becoming

Our Metaphysics class never fails to inspire me, thanks to our great mentor Fr. Michael La Guardia, SDB. This morning we just discussed the "person". What is a person, we ask. Not to suck you in the vortex of philosophy, a person is the perfection of a being, that existing being that has an intellectual nature. You and I are persons and each of us have his sacred dignity.

When I heard these things, my heart beat faster than I realize. It felt like good news to someone who was in the dark all these time. It was the best explanation for all the anger that I have ever felt these past months over something that refuses to be helped, that refuses to see.

We remain persons, with the powers of reason and freedom, and remains so even if these powers cease to function. Thus, a zygote, a fetus and a person in coma is still a human person. Think about the ethical repercussions of this statement! We share the same dignity despite the skin color, the shape of nose, the height, the weight, the talents and skills, because we are all persons based on the One Person, who made us in his image and likeness. As human persons, we are all equals.

With this, each one of us possess rights and with it duties. We have the right to be loved, and perhaps the duty to love. We have the right to be recognized, and the duty to recognize others. We have the right to laughter and joy, and an invitation to be contagious with it. No one is less deserving for the things that God has abundantly poured out.

Then, Fr. Mike posed this question: Am I only nature and nurture? Are we limited to our nature and to the environment we live in? No, we are not limited to it for there is another element: choice. We choose who we are, so we can actually transcend our nature and nurture. How many people have gone beyond their poverty, their environment, their limitations, and their handicap? That's why we have what we call self-transcendence. To say that "this is who I am and you must respect me for remaining so", is resoundingly false. You can choose to be better. I can choose.

We choose, and we never stop choosing between choices, day by day, moment by moment. We choose to wake up or not, not take showers or not, to eat or not, to go to school or not, so on and so forth. We are always in a process, a movement forward. This is the process of human becoming. We are not just humans, we should become more human with each choice that we make. Your birth tells you you are a human being but it is you who chooses to remain so and even better.

The pinnacle of our being persons is God himself. We move forward not just in any direction but, as C.S. Lewis puts it, further up and further in! We just don't remain in the limitations of humanity, we transcend our humanity and take upon ourself the divinity that Christ has shared with us with his victory on the cross. As Christians, and quite contrary to the natural, we are called to love and pray for our enemies; we are called not to seek revenge but to forgive. This is the supernatural call that each follower of Christ has: to become more and more like Christ himself - Love.

And so, I am human becoming. I am not content with my level of "I" now, I have to become a better me, and there is no better me than becoming more like Christ.

***

This brings me to my own personal experience of betrayal, of trust and friendship. I was angry because I was not treated with respect as a person. I was angry because forgiveness was tarnished. I got depressed because I can't accept that some things refuse to change (for the better). But with acceptance, an invitation to forgive more, and self-transcendence I am brought to inner freedom. He who has eyes, see. He who has ears, hear.


There are people who refuse to grow, to become human. And there are worse people who refuses to be helped. That in their fear of being taken in, they do not allow themselves to be taken out, that not even God can help them.

Biking across the Hills

It's Sunday once again and I was very excited to bike once more. Few days ago, Bro. Donnie and I agreed to go on a biking trip, dreaming of reaching Barangay Bunggo near Tagaytay where Bro. Ramil lives. After weeks of intense Philosophical studies, I say intense because the second years' fidgeting and uneasiness is brushing on me (and that's because of the great de Universa), exams and quizzes with our venerable teachers Fr. Michael La Guardia and Fr. Reggie Porlucas, I thought it best to take a break and ease my mind.

We left at around two in the afternoon and started to bike uphill the gentle slope of Tagaytay. I recently realized that Canlubang sits on the foot of the extinct and titanic bigger-of-the-Taal's volcano. The sweet and fresh Tagaytay perches on the rim of this huge volcano whose crater is the Taal Lake which in the center is the Volcano Island where you can find the smaller and more active volcano. So much for Geography 101, we pushed ahead and lovingly embraced the scorching sun, on our backs our supplies of fresh clean water from the dispenser, a pack of Rosquillos and four pieces of polvoron.

Having watched last night the movie "127 Hours", we made sure we told our respective communities where we were going and brought along a mobile phone, just in case. I brought along my camera to capture the wonderful experience of biking with the great Donnie Duchin Duya.

The route we took was not really challenging, since it is a gradual climb. Even so, it is still a climb and I had to struggle with the Post Novitiate bicycle whose gears are on the brink of breaking and whose transmission chain has a playful habit of jumping away from them. We had to stop several times to fix my bike while at the same time catch our breath and regain strength.

The rural view was quite wonderful. It was my first time to see a plantation of tomatoes, rows and rows of them blanketing the hills like a thick green carpet. Bro. Donnie remarked how abundantly the flowers grow in these sitio's. There was a point in the road where you have this fantastic view of Mt. Makiling, a panoramic view of Southern Luzon plains with the distant Manila skyline as background. On one stop, we observed a colony of Fire Ants, where my curiosity got the better of me and I tried to poke a hole into the pasted leaves they consider their nest. I wasn't able to see what's inside because the ants were quick to detect the intruder and scared him when he saw the soldier ants rushing out of the little hole.

We weren't able to reach our intended destination because time ran out for us. We were already in Barangay Laguerta, a few kilometers away from Bunggo. We surrendered to fate and sat down on a grassy area sheltered by a towering tree. We consumed our provisions, the polvoron and all, before making a U-turn and head home. I had to admit I suffered some cramps in my knees because of all the hard pedaling uphill. Other than this, there was nothing more wonderful than feeling the blast of air across your face as you and your bicycle glide down the slope towards home.

It was wonderful to bike again while chatting along the way. Thank God for the great Donnie Duchin Duya. Thank God for biking. Cheers!