Tag Archives: Reading (legislature)

Sep 16 2012

Personal Encounter with Jesus: ground for discipleship

Homily for 24th Sunday 2012

  1. Today’s gospel gives us the ground of our Christian faith- the profession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the messiah, the anointed one of God,  that Peter has confessed in Jesus. Peter has come to believe in Jesus as the Christ, not just one of the prophets, or  Elijah, or John the Baptist, as the others would say of him. Peter has come to recognize Jesus as the one sent by God to be saviour of all. But this realization didn’t come to Peter out of the blue. Peter and the other disciples of Jesus came to see and believe in him because of something more fundamental that had happened in them. They not only met Jesus, but they have encountered him. This encounter happened not because they were driven to Jesus but because they were drawn by him individually and personally.

  2. This is the beauty of our God when he calls us to follow him. He addresses us personally: ‘And You! Who do you say I am?’ And he also freely calls us, thus we are also to respond in freedom. When Jesus calls and we respond in freedom, this is encounter, and this encounter calls for a personal relationship. Because it is only in and through personal relationship with the Lord Jesus that we can profess freely, confidently and even proudly that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour.

  3. This encounter therefore calls us for two things as we can deduce from our gospel today. First to celebrate this encounter by committing ourselves to follow Jesus everyday. Following him means ‘to renounce ourselves, take up our cross and follow him.’ Following him means devotion to the truth- that is to stand up for the truth that there is God, and that he is sending us the Messiah, and that we who are here today are witnesses to this wonderful truth of our faith. Following him means to be single-minded as Jesus was, towards the fulfilment of his mission from the Father- that is to go to Jerusalem, to be captured by the authorities and even to die on the cross. This single-mindedness towards our mission in life as Christians is always a challenging one, because this can mean we can disappoint others, even our own friends. Jesus himself was a victim of this. When he said to his closest friends what is going to happen to him, Peter was disappointed and thus he was trying to block his way to Jerusalem. Peter’s reaction however is typical of any human relationship. We don’t want something bad happens to our friends, we don’t want to lose our friends. But we have to know and understand God calls each one of us personally and in a more unique way. This then leads us to the second way to celebrate this personal encounter with Jesus and that is to be Christlike in the world today.

  4. To be Christlike in the world today means to be reflection of Christ to others, to be bearers of the light that Christ has shared with us in our baptism, to  be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. To be Christlike today is to harmonise our faith with good works as St James urges us in our Second Reading today. To be Christlike is to be humble and meek as the suffering servant that the Prophet Isaiah tells us today in our Second Reading. St Teresa of Avila captured it quite well how to be Christlike in her poem that she wrote: Christ Has No Body. This mystic said: Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

  5. It is a big call. But we are drawn to follow Jesus not driven. So we are free. He may not make the mountains in our path smaller but he can always make the climb easier. He may not take our load away, but he can always make our burden light. He may be showing us the ultimate way of discipleship which is to embrace the cross and even die, but he also shows us that there is glory, resurrection, and eternal happiness behind it all.

  6. So as we continue our Eucharistic celebration today, let thank Jesus for this wonderful encounter with him. Let us also pray that we may be strengthened, encouraged and be braved enough to be his living witnesses in the world today through our faith in him and our actions that are motivated by the values of the gospel that he taught us. Amen.

Sep 15 2012

Being true to ourselves: Key to genuine discipleship

Homily for 24th Sunday in Year B Ordinary time 2012

  1. Friends, I might have mentioned this already in my previous homilies, but it is worth repeating. When I entered the seminary almost 12 years ago, I wasn’t really sure what my motives were. All I can remember is that I was wanting to become a priest, in fact I was really dying for it, not literally though. So as I went on with my seminary formation I always had to ask myself:  ‘Why do I want to become a priest?’

  2. Many reasons have come and gone. Security was one. Family expectations also played a great role. In my little village in the Philippines, having a priest in the family is just like marrying a beautiful princess or a queen. Social expectations also had emerged as a top contender. A priest always has a special place on the table of families, on the public events, even to play ‘judge’ in a dancing contest even if the priest has two left feet.

  3. Overtime though, I realized that to be a priest is not all about living in people’s expectations. Being a priest is someone who acts in the person of Christ the head. Being a priest is one who according to Lacordaire:

‘[Lives] in the midst of the world; without wishing its pleasures; To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; To share all suffering; to penetrate all secrets; To heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; To have a heart of fire for Charity, and a heart of bronze for Chastity; To teach and to pardon, console and bless always.’ 

 4.It takes time for me to realize this. It takes time for me to go beyond the expectation of people in me. It takes time for me to know and understand my mission in this life. It was so because my vision was clouded with many social expectations, personal ideals and unrealistic goals. And I thought that was all there was being a priest. However, this does not mean that I would no longer  live in the people’s expectations of me. It is part and parcel of our humanity. It would be hypocritical if I would dare not to. In fact, living out with the expectations of people and the society is helpful and beneficial. If it were not, we would not have order in our society and harmony in our social milieu. However, we could not just continue living in those expectations to the extent of losing our own identity and mission in the world. So we need to ask the question often: Who am I? What is my purpose in this world?

5. Pope Benedict XVI, in his Catechism for youth or YouCat, said it quite simply: He wrote: ‘We are here on earth in order to know and to love God, to do good according to his will, and to go someday to heaven.’ [(#1 YouCat). This is not only our purpose. Yet this is one of the reasons why God sent his own Son to us- to serve as our way, our truth and our life’ (Jn 14:6) in living, in loving and in serving Him. Jesus knew who he is, what he needs to do and what his ideals are and he put all his heart into it. Yes, Jesus was also caught up with the social expectations of the messiah, and he could have easily got into this, but he knew who he really is. In fact, he not only knew who he is, He also revealed the real trait of a Messiah, a messiah who is not what people expect, a messiah who would rather choose to die for his people to live, and for his followers to learn from, a messiah who would rather be a suffering servant that we can hear from our first Reading today, than to make his people suffer the eternal consequence of sin and the loss of eternal life in heaven.

6. Jesus was true to himself and to his mission. And so are we? What can we do then? St James in our Second Reading today again shows us that he was indeed very practical. He urges us to express our faith in action. He urges us to exercise our faith and action in harmony with each other.  There are many ways to express our faith in action. We just have to look around, opened our windows and doors to people in need, ring someone whom we believe needing someone to talk to, or listen to someone who are needing listening ears.

7. We just have to remember, we can only express our faith in action more effectively and more productively if we are true to ourselves and our mission, and only if really grounded in Christ. There is not  much benefit for us and for others if we just extend help because our society expects us to, or because this is what is expected of us. But if we stand to who we are, no matter what people expect of us, or think or say of us, we can assure God is on our side…as he was, as he is and always will be with Jesus.

8. So let’s pray that like Jesus, we would stick to our real selves and go on with our mission in living, loving and serving God and others. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aug 5 2012

What does it take to give up everything for Christ?

Homily for Youth Mass (Bendigo, Australia)

Giving up everything for Christ

Four years ago, a young man made an international headline because of his surprising move to give up his very promising career and entered the seminary to become a Catholic priest. Chase Hilgenbrinck, a very promising soccer-player who made it to the Major League Soccer in 2008 (the New England Revolution), let go of his celebrity-status and joined the Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in northern Maryland. His decision caught many by surprise except those who knew him.

Because Chase did well in the Sports Arena, he became a celebrity. As a celebrity, he became, famous and popular. As a celebrity he could have gathered millions of followers now in his Facebook and twitter if he didn’t sacrifice his passion for soccer to pursue his dream to become a priest. 

He has no regrets  so far, as it seemed. Few months ago, his former teammate caught up with him and one of the things he said really made me appreciate him all the more. He said: Looking through human eyes, it seems impossible that I would leave behind everything that I knew and everything that I worked for. But when I look with the eyes of faith and I realize that there’s so much more to life than the game, I realize just how blessed I am to be in a seminary.’

Friends, you might have heard his story or have read it somewhere, but it’s worth repeating. Stories like Chase’s, always inspire us, especially for  young people of today who may have all the ideals in life but are also caught up with the many detours, distractions and diversions along the way.

Chase realized that there is more to life than the game. Good on him. Jesus in our gospel would also have the same wish for the crowd who had followed him. Yet as he said in the gospel: ‘You are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.’

But Jesus here is calling them to faith in him, ‘to believe in the one [the Father] has sent.’ He is sort of saying: ‘Following me is more than just getting the bread that you need for free. Following me is much more than just getting something out from me. Following me means accepting me as one of your circle of friends  and allowing me to form a big part of your life.

This is what Jesus wants to tell the crowd in today’s gospel. And he is reminding each one of us here and now this  same invitation: to be his friend.

The good thing is it’s always God who makes the initiative to reach out to us. As a Jesuit priest wrote: ‘We will never find God, but surely He’ll find us first.’ He is calling us to be his friends, and as any friendship entails, it has to be two way, meaning we have to do our part as well to meet God half-way so to speak.

But how? That is the question.

Pope John Paul II, in his homily given at the 10th World Youth Day held in Manila Philippines in 1995, would answer this question for us. The late Pope said:

‘Beloved ones, sisters and brothers: build your lives on the one model that will not deceive you! I invite you to open the Gospel and discover that Jesus Christ wants to be your “friend” (Cf. Jn. 15: 14). He wants to be your “companion” at every stage on the road of life (Cf. Lk. 24: 13-35). He wants to be the “way”, your path through the anxieties, doubts, hopes and dreams of happiness (Cf. Jn. 14: 6). He is the “truth” that gives meaning to your efforts and your struggles. He wants to give you “life”, as he gave new life to the young man of Nain (Cf. Lk. 7: 11-17), and gave a whole new future to Zacchaeus who was dead in spirit through ambition and greed (Cf. ibid. 19: 1-10). He is your “resurrection”, your victory over sin and death, the fulfilment of your desire to live forever (Cf. Jn. 11: 25). Because of this he will be your “joy”, the “rock” on which your weakness will be turned into strength and optimism. He is our salvation, our hope and happiness and peace.’

To grow into friendship with him though demands of us an attitude of gratefulness to God for taking care of us in all our needs  as we can reflect on our First Reading today. We need to thank him everyday and every Sunday when we go to mass for his gift of himself as the bread from heaven that sustains us in our Christian journey. To become a real friend of God, not just in theory but really in our practical life, means we must stop living ‘the aimless kind of life that pagans live’, as St Paul would tell us in our Second Reading today.

And I can tell you, if you have this sense of friendship with God, you can tell him everything because you can rely on him on everything. One way to do this is by writing a journal. And it is just amazing every time I read my journal, the experience comes back to me. And it is always a consoling experience, or a healing one even. I have to admit though, that yes, God is  my friend now, but I am not the very faithful of friend. Sometimes I would tend to do my own thing by not allowing him to play his part, but it always comes up either bad or a failure. I can sense God saying to me: ‘I told you so.’

So as we continue our celebration of the Mass today, let’s pray that we now open ourselves more to friendship with God. Because it is by this that we can come to realize that there is more to life than just eating, or drinking, or becoming popular. Life is walking alongside with our real and  the most dependable of friend, Jesus Christ.