Jesus Praying

Those who seek me with the eyes, see

Those who seek me with the mind, know

Those who seek me with the heart, feel

Those who seek me with the will, finds me in him

It had been a long day yesterday. His body felt tired but his spirit was brimming with the energy he too seeks to understand. It is pushing him forward although he does not know exactly towards where but he is sure for himself he is being called to do something.

It is strange. Being so sure but being so vague about it. It's as if it's already in the palm of your hands but you can't feel its texture yet. You can't even grasp it in your fingers and hold on tightly to it though you are sure you can and you will. It's not confusion but it is a disturbance deep inside you that just keep pestering your thoughts not allowing it to settle in a pool of calm. There is an upward movement, an active search for something you are sure you must know but not yet.

So, Jesus hid himself away from the crowd that had been surrounding him. Though he felt he belonged in their midst and felt fulfilled in ministering to them, the chirp of the crickets remind him that it is not yet the time. There us something he must do first before any other. He felt thirst.

It was not a physical thirst from the Mediterranean sun scorching everyones lips. It was a cool and silent early morning. The birds still asleep and so was the sun. Yet, he is uneasy and feels a pull towards somewhere and someone. It is a deeper kind of thirst for someone and he knew he had to be alone.

He got up from where he slept and silently walked away into the shadows disappearing from sight. And when he was alone he prayed. He closed his eyes and entered his inner abode. In the cover of darkness, Light met Light and no human eye has seen such wonder.

Peter awoke first. Unlike many mornings that had gone, he woke up with his heart pumping in his chest. It could have been just a dream but the faces and the murmur of those around him brings such dreams back to reality. It was real. It happened in time and space. A new prophet had arisen and he has been working wonders.

Except that this new prophet is strange. There is something odd about him. He exudes power in word and deed, a kind of power that bends one's knees. But such power is not subduing. Rather it is like a smooth flow of energy that invigorates the insides. Such power empowers.

Peter has not felt anything like it. He wanted to experience it more. He was searching for it. His heart was restless. Footsteps beat with his heart and he saw his friends coming. Their faces covered with worry just like the time when they lost their toy boat to the lake's current a long time ago. No, it was much more. There was tinge of sadness in their eyes, in the beads of tears at the corners, speaking of uneasiness at the thought that a treat has been taken away from them.

"He has disappeared," they reported to Peter. "They could not find him anywhere. Nobody saw him go."

These guys grew up with him and Peter is slightly amused at their helplessness. They already have families and children of their own, but it felt like they were young once more. He could feel his veins expand in excitement just like the time they had to search for some lost animal in the hills. He had been a hunter too but this time the game's much bigger.

He quickly got up to his feet, put on his cloak. He felt young again. He felt charged. "He cannot be faraway."

It was an unusual sound. The sun had just risen but the town seems to be in hush-hush. Something has happened. Someone has happened there. Peter and his companions took to the hills. They have grown worried. They could not find him still. They have followed the usual paths but there was no sight of him.

Why would he leave the village like that? Did he not see the amazement people had on their faces at the wonders he had done? They could have a messiah at last!

They stopped at their tracks. It was stupid enough to stray from the paved road to where there might be danger behind the end. Wild animals have been known to attack the villagers here. But when they saw him there, bent in total silence, his face full of peace, they realized they have entered a holy ground.

In this wayward part of town, a place seldom visited by people except for an occasional group of young men seeking adventure, Jesus is seen kneeling. The world just stops around him. Even the sycamore tree stooped to hear better the silence emanating from Jesus. It was an unmistakable peace and the world is struck at the sight.

The worries they were bringing along faded when Peter found him there. A few seconds after their feet stepped into that small circle, Jesus opened his eyes. He looked at them and smiled. They didn't know what to say an how to begin it."

"Everyone is searching for you." Peter was sure they were the only group who left looking for him.

"Let us go to neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."

This man is unusual! He seems to be so sure of himself. It's as if he just finished meeting his advisors. He spoke with real certainty.

His companions looked at Peter. Were they to go? Are they also willing to leave their village? They haven't even said their goodbyes, nor have their food packed. Peter, the leader of that gang, nodded at them. He was sure that this man was sure. They can all place their bet on him. He will work wonders just as he had before. If he comes to be the messiah, then they have struck gold.

Jesus took to the roads again together with the group. They visited towns and saw much wonder worked everywhere. Yet in Peter grew a little disturbance, a curious search of where this new prophet finds his strength. But this is yet to be revealed to him.

Jesus Preaching

Mark 4:1-9
Listen. He wants us to listen.

There were a multitude hanging to his every word. They reach out to him, ears wide open as a barren land thirsts for rain. He was unlike those they have heard before. He spoke with authority and power that makes their hearts melt in gentle submission. Too long has it been since their hearts were subdued by such a powerful call. They want to hear. There were many of them and they run the risk of overrunning him.

Yet he was not afraid of their numbers. He knew they were all reaching out to him. Although it isn't visible outside, their hearts were restless and fidgeting until he opens his lips. He is the Word. Each ear long for the Word.

In himself he longs to reach out to them too. He wishes to meet every heart and dwell in every heart. He wants to enter every heart. But in his state now, he cannot be united with each. Nor in their state now, they cannot be united with him. Both sides were consumed with the passion of reaching out to the other.

So he gathered them on the land as a shepherd gathers his sheep. He wants to see them as one and address them as one. They were entrusted to him.

And he himself got into a boat and stayed on the water, at a practical distance. It is not a distance that estranges but a distance that gives order. He wants to speak to them. But they would not be able to hear him if he were too near or if he were too far. He kept a healthy distance of space but not of heart. He was already one with them in their state.

He knew their hearts and knew that not everyone is keen on sincerely receiving his message. Not everyone can accept his message. Though some are already ready, more were in need of more work. But he wants everyone to come to him and be one with him. He knew that despite their limitations, eventually each must return to him. So as he had gathered them as one, he addresses them as one. He shouts: "Listen!"

It was a bold proclamation. It was a shepherd calling the attention of his sheep. He spoke and his voice rent the air. It rent the noise buzzing among the crowd. He subdued their restlessness when his words sprang forth and they recognized that he as speaking to each.

He was not just talking to a group but it was as if he was talking to each heart. The world melted away around them. That one word struck them like an arrow penetrating its target. There were no longer we and him but I and Jesus alone. It was just one word but it was enough to put them at ease and the noise died down, the tension relaxed. In front of their eyes was him and him alone.

He knew he captured their attention but he knew them all too well. He had the best of intentions but they were not ready yet. He had to prepare them. He had to teach them how. It all begins by making them aware of where they are.

So he told them the parable of the sower.

He preaches freely and passionately. He does not spare generosity but lavishes his word everywhere and to everyone. He does not choose those he wants to hear but rather wants that everyone hears and listens.

What is this listening? How is this listening? "Let anyone with ears to hear listen!"

It begins with opening the ears. Not just the physical ears but the ears of the whole being. It is disposing the whole self to receive Jesus. It is sweet silence. It is strong stillness. There is focus. The heart and the mind and the spirit is bent on receiving Jesus.

Then when the soil has been prepared, the seed is implanted within it. It falls down from heaven, cast by the very hands that fashioned the soil. It is God moving forth and striking and penetrating every heart. The soil is at this point a passive recipient if that word.

And when the seed had touched the ground, it disturbs the ground and the humous soul devours it. It become united with it. The passivity has ended. The word that has sprung forth from the lips of Christ, sends a tingling that disturbs my every being. I begin to look deeper into myself and the roots begin to grow deep. The seed has germinated.

In the silence and seclusion inside every heart, the word unravels its mystery. A revelation takes place. God manifests himself more clearly and man sees himself in more light. God and man is united to become one.

Then the germinate begins to grow. It dies not stop in growing roots but longs to breath the air outside. It shoots upright and manifests itself to the world. Although its beginnings were wrapped in mystery inside every heart, it begins to pierce the sky with its shoots. It wants to be known. It wants to make the message it once received reechoed to all around.

It grows, some slow, some fast. It all depends on how each soil provides the nutrients. Nevertheless it grows.

When it has reached maturity, it bears fruit and it multiplies the goodness that was planted initially. Just as the sower was lavish in sowing his seeds, so did the plants lavishly bore fruit.

This is how Jesus preached. This is how we should listen.

When Does Human Life Begin?

I write this blog as I search the internet on the debate on cloning. Stumbling across a whitepaper from the Westchester Institute gave me a strong recall of a discussion with one student in my Catechism class. (Warning: I'm quite philosophical in this essay.)

Everyone knows the heat that wraps the abortion, stem cell, and cloning issues. Arguments and counter-arguments have been presented at table and sadly, the discussion has been so muddled with controversy the truth is buried deep in the spoil and the impressionable is left to take a relativist stand on things. These issues touch on one value: Human Dignity, and a question, although already answered scientifically and proven empirically correct is placed in doubt: when does human life begin?


I was taken aback a few months ago when a student explained to me that the zygote in the womb of its mother is not yet human. My hair stood on end. It's the classic argument of misinformed abortionists.With all the science that have been taught in our classrooms how can one student state such statement. It is true that my student is not alone. Most Filipinos have the wrong notion of when humanity starts. But we defend and we declare that human life starts at the moment of conception.

This question is of such vital importance because people often contradict this fact. Reading through wikipedia's article on the question gave some counter-arguments that challenge this fact. I believe such arguments come from the Western philosophical habit of cutting everything of reality into distinct parts. The truth is every developing organism undergoes a smooth and continuous process and it remains substantially the same throughout. Otherwise, I would be a different individual than I was when in my mother's womb and killing that clump of cells in past would not mean killing me as I am in the future. Give it to the East for accepting a more unified view of reality.

It is sad that despite all the empirical and technological science we have today, skepticism continues to hound human knowledge. Others may question facts out of purely speculative and critical reasons in seeking the truth but there are minds out there who are driven by malformed motives who continue to attack Life. They start with questions and when everything is shaken up, the confusion is enough to obscure the truth. The media is not at all immaculate in advocating falsehood (it is interesting to note how individuals and corporations get whacked for telling lies while media as a whole is self-regulated with regards truth despite its many blunders in the past).

So please, let us give ourselves the respect we deserve. Everything that we are is based on our humanity. Our humanity can be proven by facts from whence our values rise up. Our humanity is the foundation of our human dignity. Let us not undermine the very ground we stand on.