We Become What We Worship

I was watching the first of Rev. Fr. Robert Barron's (now bishop-elect) series on Catholicism when one statement struck me. It struck me because it was something new to my ears but at the same time felt like it has been there all along: we become what we worship.

Like everyone else, I have had my share of questioning my faith and my religion. Why do we pray? Why go to mass? Why is God necessary to my life? In these six words I received a summarized answer.

The concept is basically Jewish and a mentality of ancient Israel. To detail it's background here would take more research and exposition. It's quite simple: for ancient Israel, there was only one God, YHWH and they are His people. This is their covenant with God. This covenant is not some static agreement. It is a relationship. But it is also not an ordinary relationship.

The beauty of the relationship between Israel and God is that the moment it was established it was already lopsided. Here is a people, obscure and weak, insignificant and powerless, but all the same gathered together before God because He wants to be with them. Even in the Old Testament writings, the theme of God wanting to be with His people is already very strong.

The worship that God asked from His people, mind you, goes beyond our concept of prayer and rituals. Worship for God is that man remain in His presence and is aware of God's intimate advances in his life. The Ten Commandments and the numerous laws in the Torah were but guidelines to this. And the prophets were quick to point out that this worship is not confined to sacrifices and offerings but a holistic and all-encompassing movement of man towards God. Here is the undertones of the great triad of faith, morals, and liturgy.

What we know about worship then is but a fragment of the worship that God demands from us. We think that going to church weekly on Sundays is enough to fulfill our Christian duties. Far from truth! The worship that God demands is a worship of being. That in who we are - how we think, feel, and love - we are united with Him and in His Being. God loves us so much He wants us to be always in Communion with Him in all that we are.

And here, I end with the great Sacrifice of the Mass where Jesus becomes food and drink for us. Jesus takes a step further in God's act of stooping down to embrace man. He embraces humanity not just spiritually but also physically. Jesus' sacramental presence in the consecrated bread and wine, that is His Body and Blood, is the most corporeal way He is present and consumed by man. Biologically, take in Jesus and His Divine Life whenever we receive communion.

In all these developments of God's relationship with man, from the ancient covenant with Israel to the definitive revelation of Christ, there is that God who call man to communion with Him. He calls him and sets him apart and teaches him how to stay with Him. This is true worship: that man should stay, commune, and in the process become as he was meant to be from the beginning - become like God.

True Measure

Not all beautiful songs are in the billboard list

Not all works of art are valued in millions

Not all talents are given Oscars

Not all humanism is given a Noble prize

Not all intelligent people receive diplomas

Not all hardwork requires big pay

Not all saintly people are exalted on the altar

Beauty is not measured in popularity

Nor is art measured in economic value

Talents can sometimes be found in small measures

But all the same we remain humans

Humans who seek knowledge and stay curious

Humans who strive against all odds

Humans who always have semblance of goodness inside

Seek then the transcendent

The higher values this world won't offer

Run after beauty, seek for truth

Accept with humility all reality

Yet remain steadfast in true freedom

For we are not measured in success, not even in joy

But in the measure of not measuring our love

We Need To Build More Bridges

A joke goes around during election time. A politician comes and entices the people. "If you would vote for me I will build a new bridge here!" One of citizens replied, "But, sir, we don't have rivers here." The politician answers, "Then we'll make rivers!"

I once observed a community where two of the members were at odds with each other. Both were barely speaking to each other. The matter became so bad it almost got to a point where they would pretend the other is non-existent. It is understandable that some personalities don't get along naturally. Like water and oil some people can't simply just mix. But, hey, that's the beauty of the religious community. You get diverse types of people bonded only by their faith and love of God.

What bugged me since then is not the length or the depth of their fight. It was actually the attitude of some of the other members who lived like nothing was happening. Smoke was already rising up their noses yet these members weren't minding the fire at all. Were they afraid of getting caught in the crossfire? Were they thinking it's none of their business or that such fires are not worth putting their noses to?

Edmund Burke once said: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." The false sense of human respect sometimes stops us from intervening in disagreements and fights. But as Christians we are called to be peace makers. Even more so, we have the vocation to be men and women of communion.

It is beautiful to note that the only real treasure that Christ left us is the gift of His body and blood in the Holy Eucharist. In the bread and wine of the mass, the sacred species, becomes the body and blood of Christ. God infuses himself into food that we might eat of Him and in turn become part of Him. This we call holy communion. All these people coming from all walks of life, eating the same food, becomes part the Body of Christ, the Church.

Jesus Himself was that one special point in reality where the Divinity meets Humanity. He is both God and man. In His person, humanity comes side to side with God again. The distance wedged by sin from ages ago has been bridged. This is the reason Jesus is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life because there is no other way to God except Him. Jesus then is the point of communion.

image credits: National Geographic

Black holes receive a lot of publicity in science news for the past decade. I can say then that Jesus is that black hole who draws all things unto himself (John 12:32). He is that singularity whose great force attracts everyone from everywhere into a point of convergence, to a point of communion. And so we can speak of a communion of saints, the communion of Churches around the See of Peter, the parish community, the religious community, and the family as the domestic church because these are all but reflections of God's call to communion.

Even in the theory of Communication, when a sender reaches out with a message for a receiver, the former's goal is to get the message across. When it does, then both sender and receiver share in and are united in the same thought. They become one in mind - that is, communication, or better yet, communion.

And so as Christians, we are missionaries of communion. No level of erudition, physical attractiveness, or polymathy can ever replace a person who can build bridges, heal divisions, and promote communication among people. We have to build bridges.

We have to because communion is the bigger movement of all reality. It is the calling of every Christian.

We are not afraid to risk it because it's easy. It can be difficult. People can be difficult to bridge. Yet in faith we believe that we are more alike than different.

Bridges can break and fall. Like physical bridges, we will feel the strain and the weight of our calling. But unlike physical bridges, when a point of communion has been reached, even if for only a second, the bridge may fade away but the communion has had its mark in eternity.

Let's build bridges.