Tag: 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.

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.