Power and Authority, Love and Service

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Spirit Moments

When given or vested with power and authority, the usual tendency of many people is to use these to dominate and control others. And often, there will be those who would use these for their own personal benefit. I am thinking of the Senators involved in the PDAF scandal who thought of these public monies as their own personal funds.

Jesus had the power and the authority. People around him recognized this fact and said so. He did not keep these for himself instead shared and gave them to his apostles and disciples. He did not use them for control and domination of others, much less for his own personal benefit. Instead, he combined his power and authority with compassionate love and humble service. He used them not for his personal benefit, not even to save his own life, but in healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the afflicted and teaching those who were seeking wisdom and enlightenment.

Indeed the ways of the Lord are the ways of the world. Imagine a world where those with power and authority worked with compassionate love and humble service. Imagine the rich and the powerful feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. Imagine those in high places going down to the lowly to bring them wisdom and consolation. Imagine those vent on control and domination reaching out in peace and brotherhood to those they would subjugate.

It would seem that these things will happen only when hell freezes over. And yet, there is one voice today that clearly echoes the call of Christ for compassionate love and humble service even as he has been vested with great power and authority. Pope Francis has consistently called for healing the wounds from the past; going out the edges and peripheries to bring love and compassion to those who have been among the lost, the least and the last for such a long time; reaching out and embracing those who have kept away from the Church; moving from petty bickering to substantial acts of service. I draw great inspiration from Pope Francis to do my share in proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
Luke 9:1-6

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We Are One

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Spirit Moments

One of my first impulses in meeting new people, specially fellow Filipinos, is to find connections and common bonds. In so many ways, I ask where they are from, where they went to school, where they have worked. Then, I proceed to find out if we have common friends and acquaintances from the places they have lived, studied or worked. And more often than not, we would soon realize there are no more than six degrees of separation between us.

Being a human person is being with others in the world. Our humanity is defined and made possible by our relationships. We exist in a web of relationships – with our fellowmen, with God, with ourselves and with nature. Fr. Boyle in talking to us about his work with the gangs in LA, shared that he tries to build and foster a kinship among the gangs that will be stronger and more powerful than the hate and anger they have for one another. Pope Francis, from Day One of his Papacy, has been tearing down walls and building bridges, reaching out and welcoming all in need of care, compassion, love and understanding.

For all the differences that divide and keep us apart, there is a lot more that binds us together. Under the electron microscope, we are all made of the same atoms and elements. In the ecosystem that the planet earth is, we live in symbiosis with one another. Even in the world of business and economics, we are realizing that a financial crisis in any one country easily becomes a worldwide contagion. And now we are seeing that pollution and the degradation of nature in one part of the world brings about climate changes to the entire planet. And in our deepest being, we are all children of the One God, no matter how we imagine Him to be.

And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 8:19-21

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Letting My Light Shine Through

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Spirit Moments

Like the rational thinking human being that I am, I try to make sense and understand life and what goes on around me. Yet much of life is a paradox and a mystery to me.

News item: CEO pay is 380 times average worker’s.
News item: $0.45 Hourly Wage Increase for American Workers in Last 7 Years, While CEO Pay Increases by More than $5 Million
News Item: Poor in America: A record 46.5 million below poverty line; rate remains stuck at 15 percent
The poverty threshold in the US is $23,492 for a family of four. Billions in the world live on barely a dollar a day. Many will not survive today because of hunger. Many more did not wake up today because of the wars in Syria, Zamboanga, and several other places. Poor nations become poorer and rich ones become richer because of unjust socio-political and economic structures. Indeed it seems that to those who have more will be given and from those who don’t have even the little that they have will be taken away.

And yet, in the midst of all that darkness and misery, I am told – and I believe – I have a light that I can share. I am told to hold it up high, flickering in the dark and dancing in the wind. I can bring light, no matter how dim, into this darkened environment. I can bring joy, no matter how slim, into this benighted world. I can choose to bring healing instead of harm. I can choose to give blessings instead of curses. I can choose to bring laughter instead of tears. Drop by drop, like water dripping from the ceiling forming beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, I will help and contribute to bring about a new and better world where there will be no more weeping and no more tears.

Jesus said to his disciples, “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.”
Luke 8:16-18

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Towers as Beacons

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Spirit Moments

ImageBabylon was the center of ancient civilization. Its inhabitants were rich and prosperous and considered their city as the seat of life itself. In their affluence and hubris, they decided to build a tower that will reach up to the heavens so that they might come upon even bigger and greater riches. God confounded their pride by inflicting them with a Babel of languages, thus ending their efforts in confusion and miscommunication.

Modern man wants his own Tower of Babel. He builds higher and bigger buildings, more and more impressive and innovative products and technologies. He creates and accumulates more and more wealth. Yet in the midst of this wealth and plenty, there is unrelenting emptiness and loneliness in more people. In the midst of affluence and conspicuous  luxury, there is unending want and poverty. With more and better tools of communication and connection, never had there been so much divisions, misunderstandings and confusion.

I might not be serving wealth nor mammon. But I might be building my own tower to isolate and insulate myself against the messy world I live in. I just want my little corner of the world and remain uninvolved with the pain and sorrow of others, with those who are hungry and poor. I have enough troubles of my own to be troubled by the troubles of others.

Yet, as I try to take the words of Christ seriously, I feel compelled to go out of myself and seek Him in the others that come into my life. Serving Christ is serving Him in and through others. I have to come down from my tower and get my hands and feet dirty in this messy world we live in. Let me build instead a tower that will be a beacon of love and service.

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’
Luke 16:10-13

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Salvation for Us Sinners

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Spirit Moments

Christ did not come to write books nor expound a philosophy. Neither did he intend to teach a theology that would be the answer to all of men’s questionings. Instead, he lived to serve others, to teach them how to love, to show them that life is beautiful and how it can be lived to the fullest. He showed that in our sinfulness, change and redemption is possible and he showed us how. He gave him person to us in encounter so we can answer life’s questions with him in our lives.

Pope Francis has the heart of the Good Shepherd that was Jesus. He wants us to go to the edges and the peripheries to seek and serve the least, the last and the lost. He invites us to recognize our shortcomings and receive God’s tender mercy and loving kindness. And when this happen, he challenges us to share the good news we have been blessed with.

If I am good, I am in need of no salvation. I know I am a sinner and I need Christ in my life.

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Matthew 9:9-13

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Thanking and Praising God for the Gift that is Pope Francis

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Spirit Moments

I thank God for the gift that is Pope Francis. Yesterday, he again astounded the world with his interview where he expressed refreshing thoughts on what it means to be a disciple of Christ in this day and age.

He continues to proclaim and bring the good news of the kingdom of God as Christ did: “We need to proclaim the Gospel on every street corner, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing, even with our preaching, every kind of disease and wound.”

He continues the healing ministry of Christ, wanting to bring about healing not only of the body but of the total human person: “I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds…. And you have to start from the ground up.”

He challenges us out of our mediocrity to bring the Church and the Good News to all: ”This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.”

He would lead us to a deeper and more vigorous effort in our search and desire to encounter God: “When we desire to encounter God, we would like to verify him immediately by an empirical method. But you cannot meet God this way.”

He reminds us not to forget the root and source of our faith and hope: “Christian hope is not a ghost and it does not deceive. It is a theological virtue and therefore, ultimately, a gift from God that cannot be reduced to optimism, which is only human. God does not mislead hope; God cannot deny himself. God is all promise.”

“Soon afterwards Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.”
Luke 8:1-3

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Love and Forgiveness

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Spirit Moments

This is a new report about what Pope Francis told the pilgrims at St. Peter’s last Sunday:
Forgiving our sins is “the joy of God,” Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican yesterday to pray the Angelus with him and hear his Sunday Angelus address. “What is the joy of God? It is to forgive!,” the Holy Father exclaimed, declaring the truth of God’s rich and infinite mercy to be “the whole Gospel, it is all of Christianity!” The Pope said, “forgiveness is not a sentiment – it is not ‘feeling good’ – on the contrary, mercy is the true force that can save man and the world from the cancer that is sin, bad morality or bad spirituality.”

Love is the great commandment that Christ gave us: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” To love others who love me is easy. To do good to those who do good to me is a pleasure and the natural thing to do. But to love those who have hurt me, I must first forgive. Otherwise, the rancor in my heart will prevent me from actively willing what is good for them, much less go the extra step and actually do good to them. Christ taught us that love and forgiveness go together. Prayers and sacrifices will do us no good if we have not made peace with and have forgiven those who have hurt us. And as he hang dying on the cross, He only had words of forgiveness for those who have brought Him all that pain and suffering.

I must also be humble to be able to acknowledge that I have hurt others and caused them pain and sufferings. I pray for the humility to acknowledge my shortcomings and the courage to ask for forgiveness from those I have wronged. There are times when the best way to say “I love you” is to say “I am sorry” And when saying “I am sorry” is very difficult for me, I will start by saying “I love you.”

“Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’”
Luke 7:37-47

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More Things to Enjoy Than There Are To Worry About

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Spirit Moments

The world today has never seen so much affluence, such fantastic developments, so many resources to make lives better and living easier. And yet at the same time, the world has never experienced so much fear, anxiety and uncertainty about life and the future. With all the networks and communication media available, people have never been as interconnected as before. And yet, we are seeing records regional wars and conflicts because people can’t and wont come to the negotiation table to talk things over. With even less acreage for farms and planting, the world today produces more than enough food to feed everyone here on earth. And yet, many people still go hungry because some countries stockpile their food supplies in an effort to manipulate prices and keep them high; and therefore some people have to go hungry. Companies turn in profits quarter after quarter. And yet their stock price goes down because their profits are lower than the analysts’ expectations.

And yet if we just look around more seriously, there is so much in the world to enjoy and to be truly thankful for. There are babies born everyday. Even if some may be unwanted, every baby born is a sure sign of life wanting to express itself anew in yet another way. For every baby born is one of a kind. It is like every morning that dawns. We do nothing but the sun comes around every single day for us to enjoy yet another 24 hours. Nature and Mother Earth may be struggling against all the pollution we have been thrashing them with. And yet they will always put a show with the changing of the seasons: the bright and bold explosion of colors with the falling leaves in autumn, the serene whiteness of winter snow, the coming back to life of spring rebirth and wild and carefree mirth of the summer sun.

Then there are the many kindnesses we receive from people around us, some unexpected, many undeserved. There are the presence of loved ones that make the being around such a happy experience. There are the events we share that make us wanting more of such happy occasions. Yes, indeed, there are more things to enjoy and be grateful about than there are things to be worried and fret about.

‘For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.’
Luke 7:31-35

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Living On the Edge With Fr. Boyle

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Spirit Moments

We went and listened to a talk by Fr. Greg Boyle last night at Notre Dame High School in San Jose, an event organized by Kathleen. Fr. G works with gangs in the ‘projects’ in East LA. He described how the poor live on the edge in such an environment amidst all the squalor and violence. And challenging us his audience to imagine what it is living on the edge, he left me with something to really think about: “Stand in awe at what the poor have to bear. Do not stand in judgement over how they have lived their lives.”

Faced with the reality that is East LA, Fr. G affirms the goodness that is in everyone. He does not romanticize the misery of the poor and the gang members he lives and works with. He just keeps on giving and giving his time, his energy and his influence (known in the neighborhood as “juice”) to the young people of the Pico/Aliso District in East L.A. He keeps at it till the goodness and the beauty hidden deep in his homies finally come shining through.

Taking the words of Jesuit founder, Ignatius of Loyola to heart, he seeks and sees God in everything. He seeks and sees God in the midst of the squalor and violence of East LA. He seeks and sees God in every homie he gets to meet and work with as he goes around among the gangs and their members. In the process, he has transformed thousands of lives. He has set up a whole support infrastructure for those who would want to see real changes in their lives. (He says he works with those who want to change and not those who need to change.) He has developed a system and technology he can share with other communities on how to transform lives.

For me, he left me with this inspiring thought: Think of the worst decision you have ever made or the worst act you have ever done. You have it in you to decide and do something good that will be better than the worst you have ever done. For even in the face of total defeat (as in death), God can still transform my life (as in giving me eternal life).

As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
Luke 7:11-17

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We Are All Bound Together In a Common Core

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Spirit Moments

It is very disheartening for me to see how some people whose being a Christian is so public and visible to be embroiled in something so unchristian and downright immoral. I am thinking of (and praying for) our leaders and legislators involved in the pork barrel scandal. How can they in conscience literally take food out of the mouths of the poor and the hungry? These are the people the official Church had tried to foist on the people to vote for because of their stand against the RH Bill. These are the people whom Sen. Santiago have named as ‘adulterers’ and one she labelled as a ‘serial adulterer’.

It is equally a paradox for me how professed agnostics and atheists consistently act in love and service to others, with some even dedicating their lives and resources to better the lot of others, specially the poor and the hungry. There a lot of good and dedicated people who would put Christians to shame for they take and act out the teachings and the principles of Christ more seriously than we do. And how sad it is that these days so many Church officials have found themselves embroiled in all sorts of scandals, from sexual abuses to financial shenanigans.

During his times on earth, Christ himself was amazed at the faith of the Roman centurion and the Syro-Phoenician  woman. They were not of his fold but they showed great faith in Him. Deep in every human heart, there beats an energy, a force that binds us all together in our humanity. This energy pushes us back to our common source. This force impels us towards goodness, truth and beauty. In prayer, in silence, some times in solitude, some times in communion with others, we get in touch and come into the presence of this common core that binds us all together.

‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.’
Luke 7:1-3,6-7,9-10

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