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“Life as Pilgrimage: From the Father Back to the Father by Way of Jesus”, by Fr. Baltazar Obico, OFM, 5th Sunday of Easter Reflection

Intro
Majority of us go through life and living without pondering on the question of life itself. Who am I? A question that can be answered if prior questions of “Where do I come from?”“Where am I going?” are answered. Or “What’s the point of being here?” Our time and energy are not sufficient to cope with our daily concerns; we are glad to leave those questions about the meaning of life to armchair theologians and pulpit preachers.

However there are times when we are forced to pause because something happens that throw our routine off balance. Like the sudden death of someone very close to us which leaves us dumbfounded. Questions which we don’t bother to raise suddenly preoccupy us. Ventures, dreams and activities, goals which we considered to be important and which consume our energy and time, begin to look inconsequential against the reality of loss.

We ponder “Where are we going?” We might going in circles, not really getting anywhere. We feel like children taking those carnival rides – ferries wheel or roller coaster – arriving at the same spot where we depart, dizzy and dazed after the ride.

GOSPEL (John 14:1-12)
An experience of profound loss makes us question our direction in life. Jesus shows us that it is not different for the disciples. Today’s Gospel belong to Jesus’ farewell discourse before leaving his close followers. Jesus knew the pain and anxiety that this departure would cause on the hearts of his disciples. He counsels them not to be afraid, for he is going to prepare a place for them and will return to take them with him. Jesus’ remedy is faith in God and in Himself. But if faith is going to calm emotional distress, it needs to be understood. Jesus is trying to give his disciples a different mental framework that will bring them peace. But it goes right overtheir heads, as all they fathom is loss and this sense of loss triggers sadness and fear. Since theology did not help the disciples, Jesus tried a metaphor. Jesus envisions reality as his Father’s house. A comforting image of a home where we can all be together. He will come back and take us there. Love can endure temporary separation. But it can not abide permanent loss. Jesus assures them that they know where he is going and the way he is taking.

WORD
1. Life is a journey, a voyageto explore who at depth we really are. This entails not only discovery, but requires also an integration of their newly found aspect of their lives. New life means letting go of the known, the practiced. We seek to hold on to what has served us well in the past, whether it be values, dress, behaviors, look. We try to put the clock back (some with unfortunate results). That is why beauty products and the cosmetic industry are one of the most lucrative business nowadays. We refuse to let go of our youth, fearful of growing old, wrinkles and all!

If life is a journey, then we must constantly be on the move; there is never a point in this life that we can say we have arrived; there will always be an ongoing process of conversion.

2. Life as a journey entails different ways of looking at death as the concluding moments of our journey. Jesus is seeking to calm their hearts by re-interpreting death as departure and their loss as temporary because they will be reunited in the Father’s house. Hence death is a homecoming. It is coming back to where we came from, the bosom of the Father. It need not take us by surprise. The whole of life is filled with opportunities to rehearse this final massage. The letting go of youth, of health, of plans, of friends, when this is asked of us can all become a preparation for the last great renunciation that each of us is called upon to make. To befriend death throughtaking time a ponder on the richness of its meaning will help come to peace with the thought of dying. It is step each one must take alone.

No one else can share it as they have shared our living. A fuller appreciation of where life leads to in death is the bringing back to our consciousness a truth which we have conveniently and aggressively set aside – the truth that we all come from God. We take time to recall how surely God has held us through the many little deaths of life; any fear should be allayed. We know that he will sustain us surely at those concluding moments of our pilgrimage.

Brothers and sisters, we come from the Father, unto the Father we shall return, by the way of the Son.We have an astonishing origin, and a marvelous future that awaits us, because Jesus is the WAY.

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2nd Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy Sunday By Fr. Baltazar Obico, OFM

Introduction
Today some of our parishioners are in Rome, together with many other pilgrim-Filipinos as they join the whole church in celebration of the canonization of two Popes, John XXIII and John Paul II. Those of us who are familiar with the life of John Paul II, know the reason for setting this date as canonization day. It was he who established this feast at the canonization of Saint Faustina in April 2000. Not only did he establish this feast of Divine Mercy but by God’s Providence, he died on the vigil of that feast, 5 years later on April 2, 2005.

MESSAGE OF THE FEAST
John Paul II last words, written from his deathbed, called for greater acceptance and understanding of Divine Mercy. Those words which he exhorted the faithful to pray, ended with the words, “Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

The message of Divine Mercy was given to the whole world by the Lord, through St. Faustina, who is primarily for the final outpouring of a whole ocean of graces and for the total forgiveness of sins and punishment for any soul that would go to confession and receive communion on the feast of Divine Mercy.

GOSPEL: Divine Mercy, an Earlier Gift.
St. Faustina wrote in this diary – that Jesus said, “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to God’s mercy, Divine Mercy.” This is the Easter gift that the church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity.

The gospel helps us to grasp the full sense and value of this gift. John makes us share the emotion felt by the apostles in their meeting with Christ after his resurrection. Our attention focuses on the gesture of the master who transmits to the fearful, astounded disciples the mission of being ministers of Divine Mercy, showing them His hands and His side. Immediately afterwards, “He breathed on them and said to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven, if you retain it, they are retained.” Jesus entrusted to them the gift of forgiving sins, a gift that flows from the wounds on His Hands, His feet, especially from His pierced side. From here a wave of mercy is poured out over all humanity.

Today, the Lord also shares with us His glorious wounds and His heart, an inexhaustible source of light and truth, of love and forgiveness. The two rays denote blood and water, the blood recalls the mystery of the eucharist and the water, the symbol of baptism. Through the mystery of this wounded heart, the restorative tide of God’s merciful love continues to spread to our homes. Here alone can those who long for peace find its secret.

WORD
Today the feast invites us to abandon ourselves trustfully in Jesus’ mercy. Often our distrust of mercy is not a clear-cut attitude, but takes on the form of resistance and reluctance. Very soon we procrastinate. We are frustrated at our shortcomings, like being short-tempered, impatient and lacking charity; we become frustrated even more that we have to admit to them, even to ourselves, never to God, not to speak of the priest. Without even being conscious of it, we rationalize it; justify it; then we start calling sins psychological hang-ups. We blame the church for giving us guilt-complexes; for being out of date in its moral doctrine. We blame our parents, whether living or dead, for these hang ups. We blame our siblings, teachers, government. We don’t want to accept responsibility and culpability. At the root of this resistance lie the mystery of iniquity. It is what the Bible calls original sin – Sin of Pride. Pride would have us believe that we are beyond right and wrong, grace and sin, redemption or perdition. Behind the societal and personal loss of objective morality lies a distrust of Divine Mercy.

1.) Today the gospel invites us to experience the Divine mercy in the means he gives for sins to be forgiven, especially in the sacrament of reconciliation. Do I postpone going to confession or simply rebel against the sacrament? Why should I confess to a priest? Isn’t private, personal prayers as good as a sacramental confession?

2.) Sin is what saps our energy, disturbs our peace, creates wrinkes in our countenance, makes our blood and pressure rise and makes us insomniacs. Divine Mercy sought in the sacrament of confession flush out the negativities caused by sin and open our hearts to the waters of divine mercy. How many marriages and homes would be preserved, strengthened and be the locus of wholeness, joy and health if we have but the courage, and trust to pour fourth our pain, sorrow and guilt before Jesus and learn to be compassionate and forgiving of one another.

Brothers and Sisters, Jesus desires that this feast be a refuge and shelter for all….especially for poor sinners.

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“Feast of the Lord’s Baptism” by Fr. Baltazar Obico, OFM

Francesco Albani's 17th century painting

NEW LIFE WITH CHRIST
Incorporation into the Church and Sharing in the Trinitarian Life
In baptism, we are made “beloved children” of the Father.

The word padrino or ninong comes from the church-religious vocabulary to mean godparents, someone who will assist the parents of the child in order that the baptized child grows to be mature Christians. In other words, they serve as 2nd parents to their godchild that the latter should grow into Christian discipleship.

The word padrino has deteriorated into what is known as the padrino system in our culture that is contributive to our inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy. It has eroded the merit system; what is important is who your well-placed padrino is, who can facilitate favors on your behalf either through employment or government contracts.

The deterioration can be traced to the reduction of baptism becoming merely social events. Chief concern is given to the numerous ninongs and ninangs and to the lavish feasts for these invited guests. Less interest is shown in the explicit religious dimension of the sacrament itself. The obvious result is nominal Catholicism sometimes labelled as K.B.L. (Kasal, Binyag at Libing) as those are the only occasions where the baptized go to the Church.

Today, we celebrate the Lord’s Baptism. In Matthew’s account, John is reluctant to baptize Jesus due to his awe of Jesus; to the fact that he perceives in Jesus the “more powerful one.” While the Pharisees and Sadducees apparently lack remorse and a sense of sinfulness, Jesus appears to John to have no need for baptism. Jesus responds, “It is proper… to fulfill all righteousness.” The adjective “all” means that it is not simply a special requirement for the Son of Man, but one that joins Him with fellow Christians in carrying out all that God requires. It is Jesus’ solidarity with the messianic community that he allowed himself to be baptized. Secondly, the baptism of Jesus means the public recognition of His divine Sonship; the Spirit descends like a dove and a voice reveals who Jesus is, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And lastly but not part of the Gospel proclamation, immediately after baptism, Jesus begins His public ministry.

In baptism, we are made “beloved children” of the Father. Traditionally we have associated Baptism with the cleansing of original sin. We experience a painful moral weakness in trying to do what our conscience tells us but also an inclination to evil which is traditionally called “concupiscence.” As a consequence we find ourselves in a society structured by sinful structures, injustice and moral observations. The struggle against sin must go on, but with our baptisms we are marked with Christ, indwelt by the Spirit and supported by the Christian community. Therefore baptism focuses on our having new life in Christ, not our washing away of original sin.

In baptism, we are with others as members of Christ’s body, the Church. This means our personal relation with Christ is never a private affair but always a loving relation that originates, develops and grows in union with fellow members of Christ’s body. Our baptismal life is never a solitary, isolated thing but a communal sharing with others.

Lastly baptism enables us to share in its three-fold ministry of Jesus; as Prophet, Priest and King. In baptism we are not only recipients of the privilege of being the children of the Father but we are also tasked to proclaim His message and establish His Kingdom through our words, deeds and courageous initiative. This ministry entails that we have to bring to the political arena our commitment to establish God’s Kingdom of justice and peace.

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“Cost of Discipleship” by Fr. Baltazar Obico, OFM

Following of Jesus confronts us with hard choices and jars any notion that being a Christian leads to social enhancement and personal betterment. Carrying our crosses means to love others by denying ourselves, a life of self-sacrifice.

One of the ten commandments is to honour our parents. The entire Sacred Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, is full of admonitions to children to honour and respect their parents. We can also presume that as a son, Jesus held Mary and Joseph in high esteem. Jesus truly loved his relatives and even told us to love our enemies, so why not our parents? How are we going to understand Jesus’ demand to hate one’s parents?

There are those who think that today’s call for discipleship, with its radical demand of detachment from family ties and possessions, refers only to a group of professed religious and celibates, and does not pertain to all Jesus’ believers and followers. Our experience tells us that many priests, especially the diocesan ones have not left their parents literally and are living with them in the convents. Many relatives also of religious are employed in the institutions like school and hospitals.

GOSPEL: In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to the crowd who continues to follow him. It is not addressed to a select few. Luke says a great crowd was with Jesus. Therefore to the large crowd travelling with Him, Jesus delivers these sharp words about the demands and priorities of discipleship. If they are contemplating being more than hangers on and intend to be regular diners at Jesus’ table, they need to know what they are getting into and decide whether they can sign on for the long haul. Jesus is no demagogue, intoxicated with popular success, who incites the crowd to follow him blindly not knowing where he would lead them.

1.First, Jesus asks us to detach from family ties. Hating one’s parents is a Semitic hyperbole to mean preference at once deliberative, absolute and complete. It implies that our family ties need to be purified by making Jesus our priority. Our love for the members of our family must be purged by the self-emptying love of Jesus. We know that what ails us as a nation economically and politically is rooted in strong family ties, as the interest of the family is pursued at the expense of the common good. Foremost of which is graft and corruption. It used to be the husband, now it is the brother-in-law. Political dynasty is another. We here in Makati are not strangers to this political chimera. Another ill that afflicts us is the bloated government bureaucracy to give way to the long list of extended family members. The love of the family members should not be sought in themselves but in order that the love experience within the family should overflow into the greater society.

2. Secondly, Jesus asks us to renounce all material possessions. Material possessions have a seductive appeal that can turn them quickly from being servants to being masters. The whole issue that grips the nation today about pork barrel says it all. Billions of taxes are collected from ordinary people to finance the lavish lifestyle of some of our politicians. Money has a way of making us callous to the cries of the people. Our honourable legislators have brought disrepute to our revered institutions. Those who languished in shame before, look like angels with the magnitude of this pork barrel scam. This danger of possessions and wealth is not only happening in the corridors of power. It is also a danger in the inner sanctum of the Church. One Vat. II official was arrested because of money laundering. Charismatic groups have gone separate ways because of money matters.

3. Lastly, detachment from family and possessions can be summoned up in the invitation to carry our cross. Following of Jesus confronts us with hard choices and jars any notion that being a Christian leads to social enhancement and personal betterment. Carrying our crosses means to love others by denying ourselves, a life of self-sacrifice. There are fundamentalist groups and catholic charismatics preaching prosperity gospel seducing others by promises of riches at hand. A new generation today that calls itself, “SELFIE”, a new breed of young adults who pride themselves without financial dependents and whose typical two year priority is to splurge on lifestyle-related consumer items like gadgets and cars. It is a generation that has made selffulfilment, not self-denial as a goal in life. They are bound to be disappointed for we are creatures of the spirit and only spiritual realities can satiate us.

as published on Sept. 8, 2013 Parish Bulletin

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“Vigilance” by Fr. Balltazar Obico, OFM

“Be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.“

It has been said by many cultural anthropologists that one of our cultural traits as Filipinos is the mañana habit; to postpone tasks to be done for some other days with the thought of having ample time to finish them. In most cases people wait for the deadline, either in the payment of taxes, registrations in the Comelec, enrollments; we have students cramming in the last few days before the final exams or rushing their research papers. Basketball players trying to make up in the last two minutes in the ball game. I think we don’t have the monopoly of procrastination; it is fundamentally a human weakness to think that we are in control of the events in our lives, that everything is in our hands.

The gospel begins by once again speaking of the goods we possess and of their prudent use. As addressed to the community of believers, it clearly concerns men’s preparation and vigilance for the return of their Lord. They are constantly admonished to be on guard, to remain ready, wide awake, busy during their master’s absence in order not to be surprised by the arrival of the Son of Man. Be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. Similarly, the steward will render accountability of his stewardship. He can get distracted with the presumed delay of the master’s return. He will be shocked to find the master is coming at an unknown hour. All of life is lived in expectation of the Lord’s return, the time of his arrival is unknown, his coming certain.

At first reading we can argue that it seems unfair on the part of the master to be assuring us of his return without giving us the specific timetable. Justice demands that at least we know some approximate time. Our objection loses its force because God does not exist in time. With God, all is eternal. There is no yesterday, today or tomorrow in God. All time is eternal present; every second, every minute is a potential grace encounter with Him if we are faithful stewards. For one who is in love, time does not matter. He does not exist in time. One lives in the eternal present.

1. To live in the eternal present is to be vigilant. If God were to give specific time, we are most likely to squander time and opportunity with the thought that it is still a long way off. If God says it is next month in September, with our tendency to procrastinate, we will say to ourselves we still have plenty of
time. The absence of a timetable is an invitation for us to live in the sacrament of the present moment, not to pine for the lost golden ages of yesteryears or to be anxious for a future that is yet to come.

2. Secondly if God were to give us the exact timetable of His return, then our response to his invitation will be tainted with ulterior motives other than loving him freely in return. It is like a patient who is terminally ill and the doctor has given him three months to live. The patient will give up his old ways of unhealthy lifestyle so that he can still prolong his life. He will be forced to shape up, motivated by fear, not by a free response to the invitation of God. If there is one characteristic that makes us children of God, it is freedom. Grace is freely offered and it must be freely accepted.

3. There is something beautiful in the absence of a timetable, apart from the fact that every moment is a potential encounter with Him. The best way of preparing for the Lord’s return is not by trying “to get in under the wire” by doing some great things just in time; but by being faithful, all the time! Imagine every day is the potential day of His coming. If that is the case, then each day I become a faithful steward; spending quality time in my daily work and quality time as well with my loved ones. If I take each day as the potential last day, then every thing I do is my last performance; I shall be doing my best in the task at hand; there is no waste of time and effort as I focus on the last performance. In the same way, with my relationships; if every time I leave home, I take it as the last time I will see my loved ones, then I will hug them tight, and express my love to them with all the warmth that I can muster.

as published August 11, 2013, Parish Bulletin
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“Efficacy of and Persistence in Prayer”, by Fr. Balltazar Obico, OFM

Our prayers are efficacious not because of their forms. They are helpful and facilitative, but because of the goodness and generosity of the Father, prayer is rooted in the kindness and generosity of God.

Introduction.
There was a time during the height of the popularity of the Cursillo
Movement when every Cursillista addressed Jesus as Brother Jess. He is not considered as a brother but can be called by his nickname. It gives one a weird feeling as calling Jesus in a very casual, intimate manner borders on disrespect and too much familiarity. It gives one an eerie feeling. It was most natural for us to realize and stress the gap and distance between God and us, that we feel unworthy to even pronounce the name of God. In fact there are still many, especially the old, the pious and the devout today, who when speaking about God won’t pronounce his name, simply point upwards to the sky and say it is up to someone up there.

GOSPEL.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus was requested by his disciples to teach them how to pray. They were expecting that Jesus would give them some kind of effective formula that would give them assurance that they will be heard by the Father. Instead, Jesus taught them the Our Father. For the Jews, it was bordering on the scandalous, that they cannot call God their father like someone very close and intimate with them. They have always related to Him as a transcendent deity so far removed from our earthly reality. God is totally unlike us. Any insinuation of anthropomorphism on God is considered blasphemous and sacrilegious. In Jesus he has bridged the immense gap between the transcendent realities and earthly ones.

Now God is our Father. He is so near, the head of our household, so intimate that we are his children. Matthew even used the Aramaic word Abba, which is the informal address, akin to the youth’s lingo as Erpat. Try visualizing calling God as Erpat! How does it grab you? It’s edgy. Jesus is saying what is important in prayer is not the methods and strategies but first of all our relationship with God whom we are calling upon. God is our Father, we are his children. What is crucial in prayer is our filial trust and confidence.

When we address God as our father, we are invited to pray with the
same familiarity that Jesus showed when he prayed. The fact that the
one to whom we pray can be thought of in such an intimate way, markedly affects the confidence with which we offer our prayer. God is not some withdrawn figure, unmoved by our pleas. He is not the impersonal deity who is arbitrary and capricious. He is not even a domineering figure up there watching us from a distance, ready to pounce on us whenever we fail. He is a Father, generous and kind.

We need to pray. Its indispensability emerges from the fact that it puts us in touch with the incredible generosity of God. “Successful prayer” depends not on the methods and strategies (what day of the week and what time of the day we pray or the posture we assume.) In this age of charismatic renewal of our prayers, other forms have evolved. There is more singing, dancing, clapping, amid other body movements.

Most prayers are spontaneous, scripture based and are prayers of worship. It is a laudable development. On the other hand we have no right to look down on others who are still comfortable in the traditional forms, formulas, novenas, rosaries, saint-inspired. What is important is regularity, persistence and trust. Our prayers are efficacious not because of their forms. They are helpful and facilitative, but because of the goodness and generosity of the Father, prayer is rooted in the kindness and generosity of God.

published on July 28, 2013 Parish Bulletin

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“LUKE 9; 51-62” by Fr. Tasang

Discipleship therefore is about following Jesus, calling us to a life in common and in communion with him. The common ground of communion of life with Jesus is: detachment from material things so that one is open and ready, freedom from fear of death, and finally a rejection of any fetters from the past so that one will be open to the event, newness to the initiative and the unforeseen.

Luke 9:51 sets the stage and hints at what is coming. Two points are made; the determined intent of Jesus to go to Jerusalem and that the trip will conclude with his exaltation, the completion of divine purpose. The persistence of Jesus in the final events of his ministry is not to be equated with fate or some unavoidable social force, but a fulfilment of divine plan for the salvation of God’s people. Jesus’ single-mindedness in finishing his task paves the way for the later words to his disciples that they too must not let even plausible distractions deter them from persistent discipleship. Thus, in this verse which clearly foreshadows the mystery of Christ’ death, we have the key to the whole message. The evangelist goes on to consider the conditions necessary in order to be Christ’ disciples, not only just now in the journey to Jerusalem, but also in a definite way in the conduct of daily life.

1. The first condition is patience under trial. James and John thought they should have fire from heaven to deal with the hostile Samaritans. However, Jesus consistent with his teaching of the parables of the darnel, recommends his disciples to allow time
for conversion and development.

2. The second condition is common life with the master. As in all rabbinic schools, this is manifested by the material services which the disciples perform for the rabbi. Christ being an itinerant master above all, common life with him entails discomfort and poverty. The disciples may have to live in the open air, or content with whatever hospitality is offered, something that will train him to share the tragic destiny of the suffering servant.

3. A third condition of the disciple must be his missionary involvement, to which everything else is subordinated. Christ demands from his disciples the severance of ties necessary for proclaiming the kingdom and he brooks no delay.

4. Finally, the disciples must renounce all human ties. Following Christ then becomes really a state of life, of common life which parallels a family life. (Thierry Maertens – Jean Frisque)

Discipleship therefore is about following Jesus, calling us to a life in common and in communion with him. Christianity is not primarily about dogmas and doctrines, not about performing rites and rituals, and not about observing laws and ethical standards. It is about relationship with the person of Jesus. Following Jesus in a sense involves matter of home and social responsibilities. Homelessness is a condition that involves not only physical but social dislocation; one is no longer related to family of origin, but becomes a member of a community of wanderers. Rejecting the sacred obligations to bury one’s parent entails separation from the structures of biological family. Not saying goodbyes and not even looking back, vividly depicts the stark choices to be made. It confronts the family oriented social system that everything revolves around the family. Accommodation to social structures rather than separation from them, divided loyalties rather than single mindedness are most likely the characteristics of modern Christians. These recommendations of Christ seem harsh; it seems to be intended for those who vow to live in poverty and celibacy. Jesus does not intend these for certain states of life; this call is for all. The common ground of communion of life with Jesus is: detachment from material things so that one is open and ready, freedom from fear of death, and finally a rejection of any fetters from the past so that one will be open to the event, newness to the initiative and the unforeseen.

as published on June 30, 2013, Parish Bulletin

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“Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ” (Corpus Christi), by Fr. Tasang

Corpus Cbristi means above all the mystical body of Christ, the community of believers.

Background: Today’s feast is in a sense an unexpected feast for
several reasons: It duplicates Holy Thursday, we are repeating the Last supper celebration without the sadness of Good Friday. Secondly, because every Eucharistic celebration is a feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Unexpected, because of the origin of its feast. An Augustinian nun, Juliana if Liege reported a vision. She had seen a full moon in splendour, save for the dark area on one side. As she understood it, the moon was the Church, the area that was dark was because the Church had no feast of the Blessed Sacrament. Fifty five years later, Corpus Christi became a universal feast of the Church.

GOSPEL: Today we hear Jesus’ feeding the hungry multitude of five thousand. The actions of Jesus, taking loaves, looking up to heaven, breaking the loaves and distributing them are the very same actions of Jesus at the last supper. The memory of feeding, points to the Eucharist at the Last Supper, when Jesus finally gives the bread that comes down from heaven. The multiplication of the loaves is the same miracle that John the Evangelist uses as a starting point of his presentation of Jesus as the Bread of Life in John 6. In this sense, the feeding of the multitude is not a simple act of satisfying the people’s hunger. Early Christians gave a Eucharistic interpretation to this event, the reason was that bodily nourishment is closely linked to the nourishment of the heart. The Eucharistic bread provides nourishment of the heart only when a man is led to more intense love of ills brothers and to provide them with the bread which they lack. Within the miracle of Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fish is the parallel event of conversion and transformation of the disciples. From people turned only on themselves to disciples who share and are sensitive and responsive.

WORD
1. Corpus Christi means first of all the physical body of Christ. It is this body that suffered torture, bloodied by whipping. It is the same body that took all the cruelty thrown at him, the same body that was nailed and hung on the cross. Jesus took all of them not in stoic indifference neither with a revengeful spirit but in dignified silence. His body took all these without eliciting sympathy and exhibiting anger. There is serenity and strength that an only spring from a heart in communion with God – his words are only forgiveness. When Jesus took upon his physical body all the injuries inflicted on him and breathed his last on the cross, he acted out and fulfilled the words he said on the Last Supper when he said “This is my body which will be given up for you.” Therefore when we receive the Body of Christ, we want to conform ourselves to the depth of Christ’s love. We should be able to bear the suffering for the sake of others. We too are willing to give up our bodies for others. When Jesus asks us, “to do this in memory of me” he was referring to that kind of love for others.
2. Corpus Christi also means the Eucharistic body of Christ in the
Eucharistic species. In the Eucharist we have Jesus himself, body and blood, soul and divinity. When we receive Holy Communion, we have a closer contact with Jesus than was possible to anybody during his earthly life. In the Eucharist the actual distance between ourselves and Christ vanishes. The God-man out of sheer love gives the lowly bread and wine as his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. We can only respond in awe and wonder because something marvellous and enrapturing has broken into our common place world. As we grow older, most of us lose our sense of wonder. We get blase, wordly wise and sophisticated. We have grown up. Heschel saw it as modem man’s trap, believing that everything can be explained, that all of reality is simply an affair which has only to be organized in order to be mastered. All enigmas can be solved and all wonder is nothing but the effect of novelty on ignorance. The enemy of wonder is to take things for granted. We need to recover this sense of wonder. We have nothing to rely on except the words of Jesus, when he said “this is my body”. He did not say this is the symbol of his body. His words are trustworthy.
3. Corpus Christi means above all the mystical body of Christ, the community of believers. The Eucharist is essentially a meal. It intends to bring together not only us with God but with one another. When we receive the body of Christ in communion, we are also accepting the presence of Christ in one another. We can’t share fruitfully in the first if we are unmindful of the second. When we as a family have a meal at home together, we are drawn closer by that sharing more’than anything else. When we provide hospitality to friends by way of a meal or they for us, we have the opportunity for closeness too. In the Eucharist, God is providing us the same opportunity, with the addition that the closeness, intimacy and union are provided for by God in abundance. The more we eat together, the more we become his mystical body.

published, June 2, 2013 Parish Bulletin

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“Pentecost”, by Fr. Tasang

The Gift of the Spirit is Unity in the Midst of Differences and Diversities. The month of May is a month

The month of May is a month of festivities in many parts of the country. Last May 15, we had the famous tourist-drawing Pahiyas of Lukban, Quezon, with their colorful display of food and agricultural products in the facade of their houses. Neighboring towns that are located at the foot of Mount Banahaw have similar versions of this harvest festival. The month of May is a month of harvesting and it is the most opportune time for thanksgiving and festivities.

The feast of Pentecost is originally a feast of harvest, people thanking God for the abundance of his blessings. Later on, following the development of Jewish liturgy from the cosmic to the historic, this feast became rapidly the celebration of the deliverance from Egypt, particularly the Sinai covenant which took place fifty days after the Jews’ departure from Egypt. The Sinai now becomes the symbol of abundance of life as God considered them as his people.

Literally, the word Pentecost means fifty. Today is the fiftieth day after Easter and we celebrate the outpouring of the Spirit on the disciples. It is the fullness of God’s gifts, the abundance of God’s love. It is the beginning of the Church’s mission to the world, a harvest of people instead of agricultural produce. At its heart is the gift of the Spirit that created the Church and continued to move people to undertake the preaching of the word.

The gospel today is the same one that we read on Easter Sunday. It is an account of how Jesus gave his disciples the Holy Spirit wherein they were recreated. They in turn were sent to forgive sins. The word used is “ruah”, the same word the sacred scriptures used in the Genesis creation account. Christ in breathing on them reproduced the creative breath of the Genesis. As new creation, the disciples are empowered to preach the Good News of God’s mercy, the heart of which is the forgiveness of sins.

1. Today, the charismatic movements, especially in Metro Manila, have their annual gathering. They consider this feast as their feast day. It seems that they have also appropriated this feast as their own. Since most of us are not into the renewal/ charismatic movement, it makes us feel that we are not filled with the Spirit. There is a tendency to highlight the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit, like gifts of tongues and gifts of healing, to the detriment of the far more numerous routine outpouring of the Spirit. There is a penchant for unabashed emotionalism, enthusiasm on prophetic trances and orgiastic frenzies. Sometimes our charismatic brothers/sisters can make us feel insecure if we don’t experience radical change in bodily temperature or what they call, “slain by the spirit” as if it is the sole mode of being Spirit-filled. The bottom line criterion for determining the authenticity of an alleged gift of the Spirit is whether it strengthens faith and the bond of unity.

2. The Spirit breathes where it wills. It is through the individual with his unique gifts that the Holy Spirit operates par excellence. Everybody has experienced his gentle urgings. Those moments in our lives when we are tempted to surpass ourselves, to do something bordering on the heroic, to reach and help out someone in trouble, to sacrifice our time and well-being for totally unselfish reasons, those are moments when we are spirit-inspired. In reality, those moments are rare and the number of times we yielded to those temptations is rarer still. Probably the real failures in our lives are not bad temptations we succumbed to, but the good we resist to do. We should give way to our generous impulses instead of pulling back at the last moment, thereby thwarting the promptings of the Spirit.

3. Most importantly, the gift of the Spirit is unity in the midst of
differences and diversities. The Acts of the Apostles implies that Pentecost is the reversal of the Tower of Babel. The biblical imagery of confusion, division and despair that reigned among the people is contrasted with the unifying gift of the Holy Spirit. With the descent of the Spirit, people of different races understood the disciples’ proclamation in their own language. Unity is not uniformity. We should see differences as enriching, not threatening the unity of the community. We should be able to harness, rather than alienate others with their various gifts, affirm and appreciate them but putting them into service for the common good.

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Articles Pastoral Team

“Good Shepherd”, by Fr. Tasang

FOR us to admit that we are sheep is to put our trust completely, unreservedly in Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

The English language uses the word herd mentality; it comes from the pastoral setting of tending the sheep. It means a mindless grouping! congregation of people very similar to our concept of the so-called HAKOT SYSTEM, where people are grouped together in a place not knowing why they are there in the first place, except that everybody is there. The basic disability of the sheep is its lack of vision, hence it is almost half blind. Therefore, their basic security is being together. Their sense of smell is their source of action.

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, the image of the shepherd and the sheep dominates the readings; from the Psalm 100 to the second reading, Revelation 7; from the gospel acclamation as well as the very short gospel proclamation, John 10:27-30. There is no better image to illustrate the intimate nature of our relationship with God than the image of shepherding.

When the image of the sheep is applied to us it signifies dependence; that we are weak and in need of help. Sheep are not endemic to us, except those who get to eat roast lambs in fine dining places. Sheep are the dumbest of all animals. They go to the gullies, become entangled in brambles, fall into ditches and wander into the predators’ territory. It is because they could hardly see. No domesticated animal is as defenseless. A dog has enough intelligence to find his way home. (Remember Japan’s Hachiko) It has some acute senses of smell and hearing to find food; it can defend itself against other animals or run away from one if needed. A cat is a loner with enough cunning to take care of the worst situations. It has been said that cats have nine lives. (Harold Buetow)

It is neither of those ways with the sheep. It is so trusting that it mistakes anybody as its shepherd including the marauders. It can be beaten black and blue, bloodied without giving a fight or signs of pleas for help. Hence we hear the expression “like a lamb led to slaughter.” No groan, no sigh, only tears in its eyes when it is being slaughtered. This is how vulnerable the sheep is without a shepherd to guide him to the grazing lands and protect him from predators.

For us to admit that we are sheep is to put our trust completely, unreservedly in Jesus, the Good Shepherd. With him we shall not only “never perish”, not only be protected from danger and harm, but will be led to eternal life, where we would not want anything, for God is the only necessity in our life.

1. Like a sheep, we are almost half blind. We won’t be able to see what lies beyond the horizon that awaits us. Neither can we see the dangers around us trying to exploit and mislead us. It is Jesus alone who can lead us to the eternal pasture. The grind of the daily life can lull us to contentment and we lose sight of the beyond. We can get so engrossed with cares and concerns that we are not able to see the marvelous future ahead of us.

2. Jesus is not only content in giving us the vision. Aside from images of security of giving us the basic necessities, he leads us to the right paths, to mean all danger is averted. At the moment of greatest danger, God still provides, thus the Psalmist can say “fear no evil.” God’s scepter/rod connotes royal authority hence his guidance and provision are reliable because God is sovereign. Jesus as Good Shepherd will put his life at risk in the face of danger.

3. The caring and tending of the sheep includes knowing the sheep
personally, each by name. An intimate relationship between the Good
Shepherd and the sheep binds them in an inexplicable way. The shepherd knows each one. Who is missing; who is sick; who has no appetite. There is no stranger in the flock. We are all known. None
should feel she/he is unrecognized. But more than recognition, knowing means involvement in our lives.

In this age where many communities, neighbors are strangers to one another, whose neighbors scarcely know the name of those living next door and when many in fact seek anonymity, let us put away our isolation and alienation. Let us start hearing the voice of and follow the Good Shepherd; that we may become one flock, where one knows and is known in the process.

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