My Daily Cross

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Spirit Moments

ISIS recently beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Libya and declared war against People of the Cross. Against all that hatred and anger, Pope Francis continues to call for peace, mercy and compassion. In the blood of these modern-day martyrs, Christians have found the unity that has long eluded them. When Christians are persecuted in the Middle East, they are not asked it they are Catholics, or Orthodox, or Lutherans, or Anglicans. They are persecuted because they are Christians, yes People of the Cross.

The Philippines is struggling with its own Muslim problem in Mindanao. After the massacre of the 44 SAF soldiers, there is a lot of anger and calls for vengeance and retribution. But there are many true Christians calling for peace, love, and forgiveness in the midst of all the hateful emotions.

Lent is a time for a deep soul-searching. How seriously do we take our being Christians, being People of the Cross? The Cross is not a weapon with which to conquer others; rather, it is the symbol of a humble and humiliating submission to another person’s will. The cross is death and Christ has challenged us to take up our cross daily. The cross means following the commandment of love even when other have only hatred and anger in their hearts. It means being willing to give up my life for others. It is in being too preoccupied with my own life that I eventually lose it.

There is a great temptation to interpret these words as mere metaphors or analogies. But what if Christ had meant them literally? If someone threatened me with the cross, with death, would I still confess Christ as my Lord? If everything I own and everything that give me comfort were taken away, would I still pray in love and gratitude?

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
~ Psalm 1
said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”
Luke 9:22-25
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Dust To Dust

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Spirit Moments

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Today is the beginning of the lenten Season, not only for Catholics but for all peoples of the Cross.

I know that there but for the grace of God, I would have remained but a clump of dust and mud, perhaps a handful of rocks and pebbles. And but for the love of God, I can look forward to living forever after my body has finally returned to dust. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the time to work for my salvation through the three acts of pity: fasting, prayers and almsgiving.

Fasting is denying myself. It is an emptying to make room and space for God to come into my life. I need to fast from the desires for more material wealth and possessions. I need to starve myself of my lustful desires for pleasures and the sweet and easy life. I must fast from the anger and the bitterness and the selfishness that roils my soul. I must realize that I am but dust despite my pretensions to greatness and substance.

After I have fasted and emptied myself of my pretensions, I can come as I truly am before God. In prayer, I acknowledge His presence and welcome Him in my emptiness. For indeed, but for His grace and love, I could have been but dust and unto dust I shall return. But if I let Him hold my hand, he will bring me to my real home –  in His bosom where I will live forever. In my emptiness, I make room for God to come in. With God in my life, I have everything I can possibly hope for.

With the richness God brings into my life, I find giving easier and more natural. When I have starved myself of the desires for material possessions, I can more easily share what I have with others. After, I have emptied myself of the lust for pleasure and the easy life, I am more open to serving and bringing happiness to others. When I am free of my anger and bitterness, I am readier to forgive others and ask others their forgiveness.

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
~ Psalm 51
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
When you give alms,
do not blow a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
to win the praise of others.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites,
who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners
so that others may see them.
Amen, I say to you,
they have received their reward.
But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

“When you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.
They neglect their appearance,
so that they may appear to others to be fasting.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

 
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Praying and Understanding

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Spirit Moments

I have always been kind of dense, slow to understand. I have eyes but do not see. I have ears but do not hear. And as I advance in years, I feel it getting worse.

I have often hurt people with my words and actions without even realizing it. People have cried out to me for help but I was deaf to their cries. In fairness, I have done some things that have been deeply appreciated by others but I did not even realize I was doing them. I need to be told several times and pause and think before I can fully understand.

It is in prayer, in the quiet and the silence, that I come to understand and see the many things I miss in the hustle and bustle of daily living. Without this daily moment of solitude, I would be totally confused and utterly lost.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.
~ Psalm 29
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Mark 8:14-21
 
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The Greatest Sign

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Spirit Moments

I shall not tempt the Lord and ask for a sign from heaven. Instead, I shall offer Him a sacrifice and a song of praise.

Life is a great gift. I cannot even start to fathom why I was given this wonderful present. The clearest sign of this life that was given me is my body. I can touch, see, feel and even taste it. And yet I know I am more than my body. My body may be weak and tired but I can still soar in the sky and take flights of fancy. My body may be fevered and sick but I can imagine myself healthy and going about my daily tasks. When I am asleep, I may be dead to the world but I am fully alive in my dreams.

I am always amazed how my past is ever with me. I only need to hear a song or smell a certain scent or be with special people and I am transported to my past with wonderful memories. And as I grow older I remember more of my distant past than of my recent memories. Yet even as I grow older, I can still feel stirrings, yearnings and desires in me crying for fulfillment. Somehow there is something deep within me that says I shall live on forever even when my body has reached its expiration date.

I love and am grateful for all the signs God has placed all around me. I love nature. I love the people around me. I love the events in my life. They are all signs of God’s love for me. But the greatest sign of His love He has planted deep within me. I only need to be still for me to encounter God Himself in my innermost being.

Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
~ Psalm 50
Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.
Mark 8:11-13
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Make Me

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Spirit Moments

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Photo courtesy of Lick Observatory, © Laurie Hatch

A leper came to Jesus and begged, “If you wish you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, Jesus touched him and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.”
And so it is that He who made the moon and the stars
Has lived among us and made His home in this world of ours.

I imagine myself to be but a simple piece of wood.
I plead with Him to make of me as He would.
Imperfectly grained and gnarled are my strands
I become a splendid statue through the work of His hands.

I imagine myself to be a shapeless lump of clay.
I ask Him to shape me in any fashion that He may.
He turns me around and around in His potter’s wheel.
He turns me into an elegant vase, magnificent in look and feel.

I imagine myself to be a blank sheet of paper.
I bid Him to write on me a poem, a story, whatever.
He composes a song with such moving melody and words.
It’s the story of my life: unique and never before heard.

And so it is that the Creator who made the moon and the stars
Can come into my life to heal and make whole all my wounds and my scars.
Those in the dark, He brightens up and the unhappy He enlightens.
The poor, He enriches and the dying and the dead, He eternally enlivens.

I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
~ Psalm 32
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched him, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once.

He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
Mark 1:40-45

 
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The Miracle of Love

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Today’s highly scientific outlook is keenly averse to the idea of miracles. Science dictates that to every effect, there must be a cause. Faith-healings are seen as nothing more than psychosomatic illnesses being made well by the mind healing the body. Childless couples finally having a baby are dismissed simply as finally having done the right things to have one. Typhoons dissipating because of prayers are explained away as some changes in the storm’s vectors to cause it to veer or even melt away.

I am usually not one who would easily believe what I see or hear but I have always believed in miracles. The biggest miracle for me is the miracle of life. In the vastness of our corner of the universe, that is the Milky Way and its neighborhood of the Virgo Supercluster, why is it that we seem to be the only place where life exists? There seems to be no real reason why there should be life on earth. A miracle. Then there is the personal question of why I even exist. There seems to be no real reason why I in particular, of the millions of sperms from my father, should be born. I am a one in a million winner in the lottery of life. Indeed, a miracle.

Then, there is the miracle of love. The law of life is self-preservation. The natural tendency of all living things is to look out for itself. And yet, why would people willingly sacrifice themselves for the sake of others? Why would a mother go through excruciating pain to give birth to a child? Why would a father slave it out to feed his family? Why are there people willing and able to give up their lives so others may live? There is no rational cause that will fully explain all of these effects. Indeed, a miracle.

Finally there is the miracle of Eternal Life. The natural order of things is that all things must end someday: autumn leaves must fall, the fire is quenched, flowers fade and people die. Thus, it was ordained in the beginning in the Garden:

Then the LORD God said: “See! The man has become like one of us,
knowing what is good and what is evil!
Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand
to take fruit from the tree of life also,
and thus eat of it and live forever.”

Then the biggest miracle happens: God became man and Love was incarnated in the flesh to give man life everlasting. Jesus turns the universe on its head and changes everything: the last becomes first, the first becomes last, life is all about serving and not making slaves of others, and death is no longer the end but the portal to eternal life.

Yes, I believe in miracles, specially that most wonderful miracle of Love.

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
~ Psalm 90
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,
Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.”
His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”
Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.
They also had a few fish.
He said the blessing over them
and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people.
Mark 8:1-10
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On Being Deaf and Mute

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Spirit Moments

I often feel like a deaf and mute. I hear the words spoken to me but I do not understand; I speak out words but I am not understood. Part of this frustrating experience is age. The synapses in my neurons do not spark and trigger off as fast as they used to. The lag might just be milliseconds but still enough to leave uneasy and even embarrassing gaps in my conversations. Then there is the language barrier. English is my second language. My expressions, intonation and accent are different from those of native speakers. And finally, there is the generation gap. I am a child of the 60’s. My expressions, paradigms and worldview are from that era. They do not often work as well in this day and age of technology and computers.

It is a humbling experience. And it has taught me how to be even more patient, mainly with myself. I love to be with people. Often, I chose to be by myself to avoid embarrassing situations. I’d rather read a book than watch a TV show because I can understand better what I see than what I hear. I love moments of silence and solitude to enable me to make heads and tails of events and conversations, to make sense of what is happening in my life and hoping for my ears to be opened and my speech impediment removed.

Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
~ Psalm 32
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Mark 7:31-37
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Crumbs From the Table

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Spirit Moments

Food scraps from the rich man’s banquet table often are a feast for poor hungry people. Old clothes or even those that have gone out of fashion can often be recycled and re-purposed for those with only bare threads on their backs. Cities have been built out of cardboard boxes and scrap lumber to provide shelter for the homeless.

The earth has enough bounty to provide food, clothing and shelter for everyone. Often, those who have less in life are more generous and more giving than those who have more than enough. The human heart has such insatiable desires that no finite good can ever satisfy. But if I just wait and join at the banquet that Jesus offers me, even just the crumbs from that table will sate all the longings in my heart.

Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
~ Psalm 128
Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.
Mark 7:24-30
 
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Living Is About The Giving

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Spirit Moments

There are certain truths that we know intuitively, without need of any proof – scientific or otherwise. Like, what goes up must come down. Or, what goes around comes around. Or, the quintessence of living is not in the receiving but in the giving. The sun exists to give out light, heat and energy. We love flowers for the color and beauty they give to their surroundings.

And so it is in my life. We are defined not by what we possess or by what we have received but by what we are willing and able to give. A man and a woman give each other their love and in the process are able to bring new life into the world. Friendships are built and nurtured by the amount of time we give and invest in the relationship. Families and communities are all about the giving and the sharing that the ties that bind them are made stronger.

One news item I came across recently has bothered me no end. The top fifty traders in Wall Street make more money than the five hundred thousand teachers who teach in the nation’s school. It is a sad commentary of our times how a few can be so grasping, greedy and grabbing. It is ennobling to think that there are more who are willing to give and in the process create real value in this world.

O bless the Lord, my soul!
~ Psalm 104
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
Mark 7:14-23

 
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Traditions

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Spirit Moments

I am a creature of habit. I like doing things the way I have always done them in the past. I love traditions and often become nostalgic of the past. I seek to put some degree of stability and predictability in my life through the practices and traditions I keep. Our family is rich in these practices and traditions: weekly movie dates, letters at milestone moments in our lives, flowers on significant occasions, special visits to family and friends. Over time, the reason for these traditions may dim or even be forgotten but the practices remain.

Life, however, is meant to be lived forward. New situations need new ways of doing things. New relationships require new practices. Traditions have to be set aside sometimes. Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” There is a dynamic tension between what has been and what will be that need to be addressed and resolved in the present.

The past offers me lessons, memories, and understanding. The future hold out to me hope, fresh starts, possibilities. These come together in the significance of the present, which is a gift I receive one day at a time.

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
~ Psalm 8
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,
as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
Mark 7:1-13
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