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Christian Hope: Power over trials and tribulations

Posted by junix28 on November 18, 2012 in Homilies, Homilies and Reflections

Homily for 33rd Sunday in Ordinary time year B 2012

Many of us here might have heard of the story of Helen Keller. If you do, please bear with me if I have to repeat it to you because her story is such an inspiration that I can’t help but go back to it every now and again. Helen Adams Keller was born on the 27th of June 1880. Two years later she fell ill due to the then unknown illness which doctors now might call meningitis or something like that. Her illness cost her sense of sight, her sense of hearing and her sense of  speech. She became blind, deaf and mute. After few years of trying to help her by going to the specialists  including Alexander Graham Bell [the inventor of the telephone who was specialising in working with the deaf children then], the family asked the help of a teacher who had helped Helen progress tremendously with her ability to communicate. In 1887, Miss Anne Sullivan came to teach Helen Keller and  Beginning in 1887, Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to communicate, And so began a 49-year relationship between teacher and pupil. Because of Anne Sullivan’s courage and determination, she helped Helen Keller overcome her limitations and even went far beyond them. She went to college and graduated in 1904. During her lifetime, she received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments. She also became a humanitarian, a social activist, a  renowned speaker and lecturer, a popular icon for the people with disabilities, and wrote poems and essays about her life and her cause. One of the things she wrote was about her exposition of the things she would do and the places she would go to and see if she would be only given three days to see.  [See: https://junjunfaithbook.com/2011/03/20/three-days-to-see-an-excerpt-by-helen-keller/]

“The first day I devoted to my friends, animate and inanimate. The second revealed to me the history of man and Nature. (Third day) I shall spend in the workaday world of the present, amid the haunts of men going about the business of life. And where can one find so many activities and conditions of men as in New York? So the city becomes my destination.” She described in here in great details the things she really wanted to do and to see during those three days.

Friends I am telling you this story because this speaks of our typical human longing which is to know. For Helen Keller she wants to know what things are really like. I want to watch news on TV because I want to know what’s going on in the world. The Royal commission is being announced because apparently Australia needs to know the truth of the abuses or misdeeds of any organizations and institutions in the country. The disciples in our gospel today were also curious to know.

Our gospel today is a part of the Apocalyptic discourse of Jesus or the end of days and for his second coming. Earlier in the gospel, Jesus told his closest disciples about the imminent destruction of the temple, the coming persecutions, the coming of the Son of Man. Peter, James, John and Andrew was curious of this, so they asked Jesus: ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished? [Mk 13:3-4). In today’s gospel Jesus told them of some signs: ‘The sun will be darkened… the stars will be falling from heaven, etc…It is quite scary really. But this gospel is not meant to scare us. If we read on, there is a good news following: ‘Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.’ [Mk 13:26]. And the good News is that we have hope that after so much distress, turmoil or unrest, Jesus would come in all his glory. This  same message of hope is what St Mark wanted to convey to his audience when he wrote the gospel. We are to recall that during this time, the early Christian church was under persecution. So we can imagine how distressful it might have been for many of them. Everyday they had to face the possibility of being killed, being thrown into the arena to  be devoured by beasts, or to  burnt at stake.

This same message of hope is what Jesus tells all of us today. He is not playing blind and deaf of what happened in the world today. They might be frustrating for us Christians. They might be disappointing for so many of us but thank God we are here still celebrating this Eucharist. Because here, we are renewing our sense of hope and trust that even in the midst of distress we still can find God in there. With this hope of Christ’s glory, we need not know when really is Jesus coming, or when really is the end of the world. For Jesus, as in the gospels, what matters most is not when but how prepared are we for his Second coming.

So how are we preparing for his Second Coming then?

The First reading can be our point of reflection here. Prophet Daniel prophesied: “The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as the stars for all eternity. [Dan.12:3]” This calls us to continue living in hope, in active and in living faith and in selfless love. This also  urges us to look forward to that day with joyful hope and faithfully doing our Christian duties while waiting for Christ’ coming in glory.

Our Second Reading also tells us to keep focus on Christ as the one who offered his very life to save us from sin and eternal death. This gives us an assurance that with Christ always before us, within us and working through us, we would be able to stand firm on the faith. With Christ as our ground and foundation, though our knees might be shaking but we know we are standing on the right ground to borrow the words of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador.

The third way to prepare for second coming is to trust God that he’ll fulfil his promises and that he will never fail us. God is our hope, our portion and cup, our prize, says the psalmist. God keeps us safe. He will show us the path of life, the fullness of joy and happiness forever [Ps 15:5. 8-11].

With hope, Helen Keller was able to transcend her disabilities. The gospel today also tells us that with hope, we can overcome distress  and turmoil. Today, as Christians, as a Church we are challenged in many ways. So we are called to make this hope of Christ’s glory always before us, because it is by knowing and believing that Christ rose from the dead and will come again that we can withstand all trials and tribulations we might be facing right now.

 

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Generosity is not how much we give, but how much does it cost us

Posted by junix28 on November 10, 2012 in Homilies, Homilies and Reflections

Homily for 32nd Sunday in Ordinary time year B 2012

Jesus in the gospel last Sunday summed up the commandments into one commandment of love- love of God and love of our neighbor as ourselves.  Certainly many of us have our own ways of listening and fulfilling this commandment. Some of us went to a mission or voluntary works. Some lived this out by being a loving and caring mother or father of the family. Still, some have carried this out by being there- personally touching the lives of many people by our presence, by our witness and by our example. Certainly we can do this in  million other ways because ‘love isn’t a big thing, it’s a million little things’ according to the quote I found on the fridge in the house of our parishioners- a lovely couple who had just celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. 

Sometimes there is a temptation though, to think that we already know so much. We have heard this commandment to love God and our neighbors so many times already that it might just become a maxim or a  catchphrase for us. Jesus would tell us as he told his disciples to ‘beware’ of this. We might know so much but we don’t know how to put this knowledge into action. Sometimes also we just won’t do it.  This failure to act out what they have learned is the setback of the scribes as we have heard in our gospel today. They knew so much of the law but they missed the main point of it all which is to love God and  to love their neighbors as they love themselves. During the first century not all people were able to read and write. The scribes and few others were the only literate ones. Thus, they became learned of the law. So of course, people looked at them as scholars of the law. Because of this, people put them on a pedestal and the scribes liked it so much. They did everything they could do just to get more attention from the people. They dressed to impress. The most common place they would show off their social status was in the temple. There, they showed off their generosity by giving more coins.  In the temple then, there were thirteen collection chests for offerings. Each of this chest is for a specific purpose (e.g. to buy oil for the sanctuary lamps, etc). The rich people would show off by going from chest to chest and drop their coins for donation. Jesus noticed all this, so he left a word of caution to his disciples: ‘Beware of the scribes.’

This means ‘don’t go there’, ‘careful’, or ‘don’t imitate them’. Instead, look at this widow and pray you may grow in such love of God as she had demonstrated. Two small coins are all that she got, yet she selflessly gave it all as offerings to God and to the temple. Her selfless love of God caught the attention of Jesus and thus she is worthy to be commended to his disciples. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees who might be giving so much but still only the surplus of what they have actually got, this widow gave her all.

The widow’s offering is what the measure of generosity really is. It doesn’t matter how much we give. What matters is that how much does it cost us. For the widow in the gospel, it might cost her whole budget for meal for the day and for her son or daughter. Yet her love and generosity moved the heart of Jesus. For the widow of Zarepath in our First reading today, her generosity to the prophet Elijah had cost her of only remaining provision for her and for her son. And again, her generosity paid off. She and her son had enough sustenance and provision to last for a little longer than she thought. And Christ himself in our second reading today, his love and generosity cost him his own life. He laid down his life not only to save us but for us to live.

As Christians, followers of Christ, disciples of him, and baptized in his name, we are also called to be generous and to bear the cost of it lovingly. This is one way to express in a concrete way our love of God and our love of neighbours as we love our own selves. This means falling in love as we give. Love as the motivation of our giving is very important because as Fr Pat O’Sullivan, a Jesuit priest, wisely said: “Generosity without love is extravagance. Care without love is cold duty.”

Many a times, we give something away because we no longer need or want them. So love is less really of a motive there. So how can we give something, or ourselves with such a kind of love that Jesus has demonstrated in his life and death?

Three ways. First, the widow in Sidon in our First Reading today would show us to share generously and lovingly even the very little that we have for the ones who is in need. She did it to Elijah and God has repaid her a hundredfold. She was provided not only for the day but for more days to come. She listened to Elijah and trusted that he is really a man of God. In  a way by listening to Elijah, she was listening to God asking her to give up something for him. It is also our call that we take time to listen to God speaking to us now, and trust in him as he speaks to us in own particular situations and circumstances. We know this, if we come to an insight or an urge to live simply, and give generously.

The second way is to imitate the widow’s selfless act as we heard from our gospel today. She gave everything she had, no matter how little. She could have justified herself by not giving it away since as a widow, she has no one to rely on. But she gave all that she had to live on as Jesus spoke of her in our gospel. . She gave it to express her love of God, with all her mind, with all her heart, with all her soul and with all her strength. Moreover, she didn’t care how humiliating might it have been, to have only two small coins dropped into the treasury of the temple.

The third way to put love into our act of giving is in our Second Reading today. In the letter to the Hebrews read today, we heard of Jesus giving himself up, remember his very self for us. He sacrificed his very life by dying on the cross so that we may live. This is also a call for us. Like Jesus, we are also called to lay down our lives for others.  But it is not a one-off challenge. It is to be our life everyday. This means that we not only remember God on Sunday but every moment in our life.

For Jesus, the measure of  generosity is not how much we give but on how much does it cost us. For him it cost him his life. This calls us to reflect on our act of generosity, may it be in our giving of our time, our talent or our treasures. Are we giving some things away because it is our surplus or extra, like what the scribes did in our gospel today? Or are we really giving ourselves and our selfless love into it? 

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Prayer, Eucharist, and Friendship: Key to loving God and our neighbours

Posted by junix28 on November 4, 2012 in Homilies, Homilies and Reflections

Homily for 31st Sunday in Ordinary time  year B 2012

  1. Many of us might have heard of the extraordinary story of a Vietnamese Archbishop named Cardinal François Nguyen Van Thuan who was imprisoned by the communist government in Vietnam just three months after he was appointed coadjutor Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). He then spent 13 years of his being an Archbishop in prisons of the regime, nine of which was spent in solitary confinement. His extraordinary determination to be able to accomplish something good for God and for his people helped him survive in prison. The Cardinal then recalled that prayer saved him. ‘The Lord always helped me,’ he said. He also did write books about hope in prison. Another thing that sustained him in prison was the Eucharist. Because he couldn’t take anything of religions connotations with him he had to ask his friends to smuggle mass wine into the prison with a label ‘Medicine for Stomach Aches’ and also some hosts hidden in a container. ‘Every night I kept a tiny piece of bread for the following day’s Eucharist. And so every day for many years I had the joy of celebrating Mass with three drops of wine and one of water in my palm. This was my altar, my cathedral. For me it was the true medicine of body and soul something to stave off death in order to live for ever in Christ. One more thing he did that really made his life more remarkable was the friendship he had struck with his own jailers- or those who were assigned to guard him. ‘Those in charge had forbidden them to speak to me.’ The Cardinal recalled. ‘Initially my guards were changed every fifteen days. Prison authorities believed the guards risked being contaminated if left with me for any length of time. Eventually they stopped changing them because apparently they were afraid I would contaminate the whole force. And so the young students became my friends. The love of Christ has great power to change people.’

  2. What an extraordinary story of hope, of faith, and love. Yet it is also a powerful witness for all of us how to love God and our neighbour altogether. The Cardinal’s love of God was so deep that even the walls of the prison wall and the censor of the government didn’t stop him from taking him as his nourishment everyday as he celebrated the Eucharist on his palms as his altar. This love of God also reflects his love to his neighbours, which in his case his jailers. He made them his friends. He had no grudge against the people who have put him there.  Instead he showed the loving Christ to them.

  3. Friends, in our gospel today a scribe, one who knows a lot about the Jewish laws and prohibitions, all 613 of them, approached Jesus wanting to know which one of the laws is the key to all or the most important one. Jesus reminded him that it is love of God and love of neighbours one loves him/herself, taken as one commandment of love. Cardinal Van Thuan has concretely carried this out when he took his time in prison as an opportunity to be united with God all the more in the Eucharist and to show his jailers the love and forgiveness of Christ for all.

  4. ‘But what does Love of God and love of neighbour really mean?’ we may ask. Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical letter Deus caritas est while reflecting on the passage of the first letter of John (1 Jn 4:20 “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar’ for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.) reminds us that ‘one is so closely connected to the other that to say that we love God becomes a lie if we are closed to our neighbours or hate him altogether.’[#16]. The Pope adds that the ‘love of neighbour is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and that closing our eyes to our neighbour also blinds us to God.’ [#16].

  5. So what does it mean for us now? We need not only to know who our neighbour is but more so of taking the move to help them in any way. Our neighbour is one who needs us and whom we can help Pope Benedict XVI would say. (Deus Caritas est # 15). We are also to bear in mind always, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta would remind us that ‘At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.’ But this also means we must not just understand our neighbours as people who are helpless or needy or far less privileged than we are. Rather, we are to look at them, (not to look down) as a whole person, to be appreciated of who they really are, and not to be looked down because of what they have- very little.

  6. So it’s worth reflecting and asking ourselves: How in love are we with our God and our neighbours? If we say we love God, have we expressed and lived out this love by showing to our neighbours that we care, support, and love them as they really are, not on what they have, or what they don’t have? Cardinal Van Thuan expressed his love of God despite his being imprisoned, in constant prayer, in taking the Eucharist his spiritual support and nourishment, and in  showing to his jailers the love of Christ for them. Jesus, our High Priest is showing us how he sympathizes to all our human needs, weaknesses and limitations. He is a concrete example of one who is in love with God with  all his heart, with all his mind, and with all his soul. He is also a definite paradigm of a person who is in love with his neighbour as he loves himself. In him all is one. We who are free: What are we doing to show that we care for and work out our fundamental calling: to love God and our neighbour as we love ourselves? 

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One saint, One faith, One celebration…

Posted by junix28 on October 29, 2012 in F.Y.I. (For your Information), My personal notes & preferences

A multicultural thanksgiving celebration for the Canonization of San Pedro Calungsod at St Therese Parish, Kennington, Australia

A week after the canonization of San Pedro Calungsod with six other new saints by Pope Benedict XVI, the Filipino faithful in Bendigo area celebrated the thanksgiving mass in honour of this newest Filipino canonized saint.

The celebration commenced with a very multicultural celebration of the Mass at 10.30 in the morning. The mass was attended by so many Parishioners of St Therese, by our Australian friends, Sri Lankan community, Karen group, and Filipino friends from Bendigo and surrounding districts. Our Filipino friends from Pyramid Hill, Melbourne and Cranbourne (the Cebuano Association of Australia) also graced the occasion. Adding to the number Filipinos present in the celebration were the Filipinos from Mindanao who are currently studying the Australia as sponsored by the AusAid.

The Karen group sang the Karen version of the gospel ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God’. The Sri Lankan group was represented by the Singhalese version in one of the prayers of the faithful. The other prayers of the faithful were also prayed in Karen, in Filipino- Cebuano (Cebu) and Chavacano (Zamboanga) and in English respectively. The music in the liturgy which are mostly if not all composed by Filipino singers and writers, were sung beautifully and solemnly by The  Filipino Choir (TFC) headed by Mr Arnel Aquino. I was almost to the brink of shedding a tear when two young Filipinos sung the Responsorial Psalm ‘Ang Panginoon ang aking pastol’ or ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ in such a melodic voice and harmony. Adding to the solemnity of the mass was the presence of some Filipino seminarians from Melbourne (thanks a lot Junray, John, Novie, Kaiser and Rey) who shared their skills generously in serving at Mass with a couple of regular altar servers (Blaise and Gerard). Thanks mates for sharing your talents and energy in the preparation as well.

The next big thing to the Eucharistic celebration was the party afterwards with Don and Tita Jo as the Emcees. The rendition of children’ ensemble trained by Mrs Liesbeth Vannemerick was an amazing part of the celebration to represent the Australian culture. The singing of Karen group and the Sri Lankan choir also added more colour into the multicultural theme of the occasion. There was also presentation of Filipino folk dances (Tinikling, Binasuan, and Sinulog) that gave some of our Australian friends a glimpse of Filipino culture. There was also modern dance, games that involved children and adults alike (organized by Adi) which had definitely made everyone more involved and had more fun.

The abundant, sumptuous and delicious food contributed by Pinoys and Aussies alike was enjoyed by everyone there present. Thanks to all who brought a plate and shared your food with us. Adding more colour to the party and to the table were the lechon (pigs on the spit) (first) courtesy of  Cebuano Association of Australia, prepared by Mr Alex Sy and (second) courtesy of the Fernandez’ family in Pyramid Hill, prepared by Tita Evelyn and Tito Victor of Kangaroo flat.

However, it wasn’t all just fun and food. Another highlight of the event was the raffle draw. The  proceeds of which is to be used to transport (via LBC) the many donation of goods by so many generous parishioners and friends in Australia, for some families in Cebu, Philippines. It’s good to see some people going home with some winnings while at the same time sharing their resources to some people in the Philippines.

The finale of the program summed it all, when children came out bearing the letters ‘W-E- A-R-E-  T-H-E- W-O-R-L-D as few select singers sung the song ‘We are the world’ while at the same time prompting everyone there to gather towards the performing area and joined in the singing, as photos were being taken.

All credits and thanks from the bottom of my heart to Fr Andrew Fewings (for making the parish available for the occasion), Arnel-Gina Aguino (for the beautiful music and singing and overall organization) & Don- Bebie Ilagan (for organizing the program and logistics), Malay Verano & Will Ross (for the substantial financial assistance), Angela Stark (for the raffle and fundraising), Liesbeth Vannemerick (for the video and photos), the many Filipinos who have shared their time, talents and treasures. Definitely with your care, help and support our celebration was meaningful, more solemn and a very successful one. Kudos and more power.

For all who have shared their time, talents and treasures with us to celebrate the Canonization of our dear Filipino friend and intercessor in heaven, San Pedro Calungsod, MANY, MANY, MANY THANKS…

May God through the intercession of San Pedro Calungsod, bless you all in all that you do and in all that you are.

 

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