Daily Encounters

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Spirit Moments

I love books. I love mental challenges. I enjoy the intellectual life. But there is a danger of being caught up with books and the world of ideas as to be trapped in them and totally lose contact with reality. Thus, one can fall in love with the idea of ‘love’ and not really love another person. Or one can theorize about social justice but not really lift a finger to help the oppressed, the disadvantaged and those in the peripheries. Or one can wax poetic about what beauty is but never do anything to create or preserve something beautiful.

Christ did not write books; nor did He develop a philosophy or even a theology of everything. He simply lived His life in love and service to others. Where people were sick, He brought healing. When they were hungry, He gave them bread to eat. He joined them in their festivities and ate with them. He shared in their sorrows and wept with them. He did not lecture to people, instead told them touching and memorable stories. He described to them a better place He called the Kingdom of Heaven and how to get there. He did away with all the rules and regulations and left but one commandment, the commandment of Love.

Now, we are back to make things complicated again. We are embroiled in discussions of what is allowed and not allowed, of who are included and who are excluded, of what to do and how to treat those who are different from us. We need to go back and encounter the person of Christ. And then, we can perhaps find the grace to see Him in the people we encounter in our daily lives.

O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
~ Psalm 7

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Then each went to his own house.
John 7:40-53

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A Layered Existence

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Ours is a layered existence. The common understanding of life is to see it as a dichotomy: day and night, up and down, hot and cold, wet and dry. But life is more complex, it is one element layered upon another element, layered upon yet another element.

A forest is a living organism and it is a layered living organism. There is the canopy, then the understory, then the shrub layer, then the forest floor and then the underground. It is a total ecosystem and each layer is another ecosystem by itself. Each layer is supportive and dependent on the other layers.

A tree is a living organism and its age can be determined by the layers of rings around its trunk. Each passing season leaves a ring that the tree carries for the rest of its life. A bitter winter might perhaps leave a ring that is slightly thicker than the others as the tree tries to coat itself with a warmer coating. A drought might leave a more brittle layer as the tree struggles to live with less water. But all the layers taken together make for a sturdy and lively trunk over the years.

I am alive and I live a layered existence. There is the layer of the senses by which I perceive and recognize the world around me. Through my senses, I can see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Then there is the layer of my consciousness through which I understand and make sense of the world around me. My consciousness would include my intellect, my emotions, my imagination and my guts. Then, there is the metaphysical layer through which I become aware, beyond the senses, beyond my consciousness, beyond the space and time that bound me; I am aware that I have a Divine Source and a true home I am longing for. It is this layer that tells and teaches me that life is stronger than death, that light is stronger than darkness, that love is more powerful that hate and that good will triumph over evil. At this level, I am aware of my will and my freedom and that I can decide to be a part of or to be against the proper unfolding of the world around me.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
~ Psalm 34

Jesus moved about within Galilee;
he did not wish to travel in Judea,
because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,
“Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
“You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

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The Layers in My Life

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Today is the feast day of St. Joseph. Jesus, as a grown-up man, was referred to as the son of the carpenter – a testimonial to his being a father. But I often associate Joseph with sleep and dreams. He got the inspiration and guidance on what to do during important events in his life in his sleep and dreams.

Indeed, sleep does not only rejuvenate and renew. It can also inspire, direct and guide. There have been many times I would sleep on a problem or a question or even a project. And on waking up the next day, I would have the solution or the answer or the elements I was looking for to get the project started.

I see myself living life on several layer. There is the layer of the senses. I see, I touch, I smell, I hear, I taste the world around me. Then there is the deeper layer of the intellect, the emotions, my imagination and my guts. I can wrap my mind around goodness. I do not see nor hear goodness itself but I know when an act is good or bad. I cannot see beauty itself but I can feel what a beautiful experience is. There are people I have never met before but in my guts I might instinctively and spontaneously like or dislike them. Then there is the deepest level where beyond the senses and beyond my intellect and emotions I am aware of Something or Someone else present in my life.

I would like to believe I experience this third and deepest layer of my existence during sleep. My senses are all ‘turned off’. My mind, my emotions, my imagination and my guts are at rest. And yet I am during those hours of sleep. I am renewed. I am rejuvenated. I am probably most myself. I am alone with that Someone who is my Source and my Life.

I believe this is also what happens in real prayer. I shut off my senses. Then I shut off my mind, my emotions, my imagination, and guts. And in the empty space that remains, it is not darkness but Divine Light that is there. I get to encounter my God. I become suffused by the Divine Presence and then I slowly surface up again. I open my senses and try to see the world around me even as I am still soaked in the Divine Presence. I look at my thoughts, my feelings, my imaginings  and my guts and see how these have been touched and transformed by my encounter with God.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

The son of David will live for ever.
~ Psalm 89

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24

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Children Learn What They Live

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Spirit Moments

It is an amazing fact, often overlooked and taken for granted, how children catch, absorb and take on as their own the behavior, the values, the attitudes and even the expressions of those around them. I hear Jane singing and I only have to close my eyes to see Kathleen singing in the same style and voice. I watch Jonathan deeply engrossed with his Lego blocks and I am transported back in time when Martin was himself tinkering and creating with his own Legos.

There was a poem I first came across when I was teaching in Xavier. “Children Learn What They Live” has influenced my beliefs and practices on how to rear and raise children. I have seen how when given affirmation and acceptance, children learn how to have a positive self-image and this enables them to love others more spontaneously. I have seen how praise and recognition makes for better persons of children more than criticism and ridicule do.

I look at myself and I see today a lot of what I remember of Tatang and Ima. All the good things I like in myself, I remember seeing these in them as a child. And on a deeper level, all that is good and true and beautiful in my life, I can trace back to  Our Father.

The Lord is gracious and merciful.

~ Psalm 145

Jesus answered the Jews:
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
John 5:17-30

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A Throw-Away Culture

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Spirit Moments

We live in a throw-away culture where practically everything is disposable. When come thing breaks down, it is usually cheaper to throw it away and replace it with a new one rather than have it repaired. Most supposedly durable goods are designed to expire or become obsolete after a while so that they can be disposed of and replaced with newer and better models or versions.

Sadly, this throw-away culture finds another expression in what Popes in recent times have condemned as the culture of death. Unwanted babies are aborted. Broken people, like the terminally ill or the handicapped, are euthanized. Likewise, expired people, like the elderly and those who are considered threats to society, are disposed of.

Our God is a God who creates, who makes things right when things go wrong, who heals the broken and the sick, who makes something new and better out of the expired and the unwanted.

Today is the feast of St. Patrick, who as a youth was kidnaped into slavery. God used that unfortunate incident to make of him his apostle to the Irish. I make his prayer my own:

‘Christ as a light, illumine and guide me.
Christ as a shield, o’ershadow and cover me.
Christ be under me,
Christ be over me,
Christ be beside me, on left hand and right.
Christ be before me, behind me, around me.
Christ this day be within and without me. Amen.’ 

The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
~ Psalm 46

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
“Do you want to be well?”
The sick man answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
John 5:1-16

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Faith and Lotto

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Every now and then, I would buy a Lotto ticket. And for a dollar, I can go on hoping to hit the jackpot in the few days before the draw. I would imagine how that would change my life and what good things I could do with all that money. I know that it is mostly wishful thinking but there is still the possibility, no matter how slim, that I might just win. But realistically, I know that it is not going to happen and I still have to work to get the things I want get done.

Every now and then, I wonder if my faith is like buying a Lotto ticket. My faith gives me hope that things will be better and as I grow older that the best is yet to come. And in the face of the adversities and uncertainties of life, that gives me some grounding to boldly and confidently go forward. People do win in the Lotto. But not an awful lot. Many people, and I know many personally, are winners because of their faith.

But every now and then, I do wonder what if? What if death is stronger than life and that there is nothing after death? What if darkness is stronger than light and everything eventually ends in darkness? What if hatred is stronger than love and that we are all condemn to anger and violence? What is evil is more powerful than good and that there is no salvation at all for us?

Still, I keep on buying Lotto tickets even on the slimmest of chances that I would win. Still, I keep on believing even on the slim possibility that death is stronger than life or that darkness is stronger than light or that despicable hatred is stronger than love. My faith makes me a better person. And as a better person, I can make the world I believe in happen and come about.

I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
~ Psalm 30

he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.
Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.
John 4:43-54

 

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Death and the Cross

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Spirit Moments

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Our greatest fear is the fear of death.
Death can sometimes be so final and dark,
There seems to be nothing beyond it.

Sometimes, I would imagine how else could have Jesus died.
He could have died in battle, leading an army in some final Armageddon.
Then He would be remembered as a legendary hero-warrior.
But that would go against the grain of His commandment of love,
Of doing good to those who hate us.
No, Christ may fought many battles but He was not a conquering hero-warrior.

He could have died of a disease.
An acute one like a virulent pneumonia,
Or a lingering catastrophic one like a vicious cancer.
But then He could have just healed Himself.
Besides, Christ seemed to have lived a healthy lifestyle.
No, Christ may have healed a lot of sick people but He seemed like a healthy person.

He could have lived to a ripe old age
And just died a natural death.
He could have been remembered as a wise old man
Dishing our words of wisdom till his dying day.
Somehow, I cannot imagine Christ as simply fading out like a sunset.
No, Christ wanted to show us the worst possible death
And how he can transform such an ignominious event into a glorious one.

We all must die and we all wish and pray for a peaceful and painless death.
Christ choose the worst imaginable death,
A death He freely accepted:
He died, condemned as a common criminal.
He died a most violent and brutal death.
He died on the cross, the most gross penalty at that time.

In the end, he showed us death is but a portal to a new life.
Death, even in its worst possible manner of happening,
Is being born into a new life
Where all our fears, specially of death itself,
Are assuaged as we come into everlasting life
When death shall have lost its sting.

Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
~ Psalm 137

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
John 3:14-21

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Beyond Comparisons to Unconditional Love

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Spirit Moments

“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” Words of wisdom from “Desiderata” by Mar Ehrmann.

Comparisons are the beginning of a lot of frustrations and a lot of self-deception. I will always feel both worthless and self-righteous if I keep on comparing myself with others. I might envy others for their talents and achievements, forgetting my own or not being happy with what I have. I might feel righteous and justified if I dwell too much on my talents and achievements, forgetting that there are others who are more gifted and better accomplished than I am.

There are moments I am confronted with the paradox of the singular and the particular. I may be one of many but I am also unique and one of a kind. There is no other one like me. I may be but a speck of star dust in the the cosmic scheme of things; but there is only one ‘me’. Out of infinite possibilities, there only one ‘me’ in this here and now. And it is this unique ‘me’ that God loves infinitely. And God can love all the other singulars and particulars around me with the same infinite love.

Human love is by nature limited. What we often give to one, we can no longer give to another. We long for the unconditional and infinite love that can only come from God. I may not be capable of it but with my will and intellect I can try to approximate God’s love and love unconditionally. I find this thought and project very life-giving. For I have learned that the more I give love, the bigger my love becomes. Love is multiplied when given but it atrophies when kept and stored away.

It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
~ Psalm 51

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —
greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week,
and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14

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There is But One God

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Jews, Christians and Muslims all proclaim that “the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” For we are all children of Abraham our father in faith. And yet, when we look around our world today, much of the conflicts, wars and terrors are wrought by these very same adherents and believers in the One God. There can be no greater height of irony than to see the Kingdom of God proclaimed through wars and acts of violence and hatred.

In the same breadth, I know from my personal life and experience that God is in control and everything I have is a gift from Him. In my day, I was a very diligent and dedicated worker. Yet I was able to accomplish more than I thought was possible. This could only have been because God was alive and active in my work. A good friend once told me, “If this be the work of God, it will prosper.” But even when my work did not prosper and ended in disappointment, I still somehow felt God’s loving presence, holding my hand and guiding me as I navigated through difficult times.

I pray for our community of believers that we may fully understand and live by the thing that make us one – the belief in one God. I pray that God will finally lead us to the realization of His Kingdom, that we more and more experience events and situations that will tell us that “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
~ Psalm 81

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-34

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Disasters, Natural and Man-made

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Spirit Moments

The Philippines is regularly visited by natural calamities: typhoons, earthquakes, landslides, storm surges. These events often bring out the best in our people. During these times, we usually are able to come together as a caring community to show compassion and help one another. People become more generous, unselfish and totally giving. This is probably the reason why we are often able to rise up again and again disaster after disaster.

Alas, the Philippines is also visited often by disasters of our own making, like what we are going through right now after the Mamasapano debacle. And such events often bring out the worse in us as a people. During such times, people are so easily given to bickering, hatred, anger, selfishness, greed and lust. It is still the season of Lent and these are probably God’s signs to us calling us to repentance and meaningful changes in our lives.

The great theologian, Karl Barth, reflecting the horrors of the First World War saw the hand of God in the unfolding of those grim events. I reflect on these insights from Fr. Robert Barron:

From the quiet of his parsonage in Switzerland, Barth followed the horrors of the First World War, the slaughter of hundreds of thousands, the devastation of nations, the collapse of the European social order. Then something dawned on him: it was precisely the inflated self-regard and hubris of nineteenth-century liberalism that led to this disaster.

He saw the European powers as descendants of the Tower of Babel builders, attempting to reach up to God on their own terms and in their own way. Behind the sunny confidence of the liberal period, he discerned arrogance, imperialism, and colonialism. The advances of science were made possible through the rape of the environment and economic comfort for some was made possible through the enslavement of others.

In the end, bad personal habits have bad consequences, but bad national habits have bad consequences as well. 

I pray for the Philippines and our people that we listen to the stirrings of the Spirit in our hearts and harken to the Lenten call to repentance and reconciliation.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
~ Psalm 95

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
. . . .
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Luke 11:14-23

 

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