Called to be Faithful

One late afternoon, God was walking in the garden of Eden. "Adam! Eve! Where are you?", cried God. "We're here...hiding", Adam whispered. "Why are you hiding?", God asked. "Because we are naked", Adam replied. Sensing that something went wrong, God asked "Did you eat of the forbidden fruit?" "Eve told me to eat it", Adam said. When God confronted Eve, she said "The snake told me to eat it." 

Fast forward, an angel of the Lord appeared to a young lady called Mary to tell her that she would become God's Mother. Mary's response was "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word." In contrast to our first parents who did not take responsibility for their failure, Mary accepted the role God entrusted to her. If Adam and Eve said "No" to God, Mary said "Yes".

Day in and day out, perhaps without us noticing it, we have said "Yes" to God. We have said "Yes" to Him in fulfilling our roles as spouses, parents, professionals, volunteers, students, workers, etc. There are moments when are in a roll in doing any of these roles, but there are also instances when we struggle, when we start to think "Does God really want me for this role?" I am sure that Mary did not fully understand the whole scope of becoming God's Mother. Ditto St Joseph who was tasked to be the protector of Mary and Jesus. The Finding in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52) gives us an idea of how Mary and Joseph did not understand the young Jesus' behaviour. In spite of their struggles, Mary and Joseph continued to say "Yes" to God. They remained faithful.

“God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful.”, St Teresa of Calcutta once said. In a results-driven society, we are often pushed towards getting results. In the parish for example, we may be tempted to focus on how many attended the Mass or other religious activities, how many volunteered for this or that ministry, how much  money was collected for the fundraising project, and so on and so forth. All these are good in their own right, but what matters most is how faithful the community is. It is easy to give up when Mass attendance is dwindling, the collection is not enough, and the volunteers are few. Yet this is where God would see who would stay. Are we one of those?

Let us ask the Virgin Mary's help to always say "Yes" to God. He might be calling us to a particular role, but we do have a clear picture of what it may entail. For all you know you would have already been doing that role. Just the same, let's remain faithful. Think of the farmers who till our land. They do not know how the plants would grow and yet they look after it and later on harvest its produce. Being faithful shows dependence more on God's grace than our own efforts. Being faithful requires total surrender to God's will.

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I would like to take this opportunity to convey my heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Fidel Ty, my godfather when I was confirmed. A man of few words, he was kind and supportive. He was, as his name suggests, a faithful husband and father. One unforgettable incident was Christmas 1987. Fr Regino Cortez, OP said Mass at St Rita Hospital that evening. After the Mass, we waited for a taxi to pass by, to no avail. Ninong Fidel was with his friends across the road and offered to give the priest a lift. While on our way to Letran, both found out that they belong to the same province! Now, they are reunited in the Father's presence!

May God bless your kind soul, Ninong Fidel. Thank you.

Look Who's In Control

During the Good Friday Service at our parish last week, I was asked to be one of the readers of the Passion of Jesus according to John (18:1-19:42).  At one point I was the maidservant, later I was Peter then the soldier who slapped Jesus' face, and finally I was Pontius Pilate.

Reading through the Passion - before and during the service - I felt the tension experienced by most of the characters. Peter was a classic example with his denials of Christ before the cock crew. In the earlier parts of the Passion, this was the same apostle who drew his sword cutting off Malchus' right ear.  Another character who felt tense was Pilate who told the Lord: ‘Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?’.

And yet, throughout that Passion, Jesus was in control. Notice His reply to the exasperated Roman governor: ‘You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above; that is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.’. And towards the end of the story, He uttered: ‘It is accomplished’.

Jesus' being in control has been reiterated to the world through the visionary nun Faustina Kowalska.  To this 20th century nun - now a saint - Jesus appeared as the Lord of Divine Mercy.  To a world mired in sin, Jesus offers His mercy. To souls bogged down with despair and incredulity, Jesus offers His mercy. 

If Jesus was (and is and will always be) in control, what should we be afraid of? What should we worry? What is holding us back?

Only one response is necessary. And this response was taught by the Lord to St Faustina:  "Jesus, I trust in You"!

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I am one with the whole Catholic Church in celebrating the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II this coming Mercy Sunday.  Both popes strove to trust and mirror Jesus' mercy to the world.  A day after Christmas in 1958, Pope John XXIII visited the Regina Coeli prison in Rome where he told the inmates: "You could not come to me, so I came to you.". Before the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square on the day he announced the opening of the Second Vatican Council, this beloved pope said: "Dear children, returning home, you will find children: give your children a caress and say: This is the caress of the Pope!". Another touching moment was when he He 'opened' the Church through many efforts such as eliminating the description of the Jews as 'perfidious' in the Good Friday Liturgy, removed the word 'faithless' from the prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and convened the Second Vatican Council. 

In his encyclical Pacem in Terris, he wrote:  "Man has the right to live...the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood."

The last words of Il buon Papa (The Good Pope) were "I had the great grace to be born into a Christian family, modest and poor, but with the fear of the Lord. My time on earth is drawing to a close. But Christ lives on and continues his work in the Church. Souls, souls, ut omnes unum sint (That all may be one)". 

Pope John Paul II visiting Mehmet Ali Agca (a Turkish gunman who shot and wounded him in May 1981) in prison comes to mind when I think of the Divine Mercy.  In his pontificate, he built good relations with other faiths and apologised to those who suffered in the hands of the Catholic Church such as Galileo Galilei, the victims of the Holocaust, and the victims of sexual abuse.  During his visit to Yad Vashem (the national Holocaust memorial in Israel) in march 2000 he said: "We are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant".

On the sexual abuse scandal that hit the US, he told American cardinals who went to Rome in April 2002: "Priests and candidates for the priesthood often live at a level both materially and educationally superior to that of their families and the members of their own age group. It is therefore very easy for them to succumb to the temptation of thinking of themselves as better than others. When this happens, the ideal of priestly service and self-giving dedication can fade, leaving the priest dissatisfied and disheartened".

His last words were "Allow me to depart to the house of the Father".

Unfortunately, John Paul II's papacy comes under a cloud of doubt due to clergy sexual abuse: he recalled Cardinal Bernard Law (who was known to cover up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese) to a key post in Rome and supported Fr Marcial Maciel (founder of the Legion of Christ who abused boys, had relationships with women, fathered several children whom he also abused).  His 'centralization' of power at the Vatican made the Roman Curia behave as though it should be served rather than serve the local churches. (Look at how the new English translation of the Mass was implemented!) These issues have made some quarters uneasy with his canonization.

I'm aware that Pope Francis is facing these two issues head on. Perhaps that is the way forward. Definitely, the Holy Father needs our support.  Let's entrust him to Jesus, King of Mercy! May Sts John XXIII and John Paul II intercede for him and the entire People of God!

Yes, Daddy!

At this point, Chiara is learning how to say those words and, hopefully veer away from saying “No”. I could now understand why kids could easily pick up this word. More often than not, we parents give them instructions in the negative form – “No, it’s hot outside!”; “Don’t do that!” etc.

Hearing my daughter say “Yes, Daddy!” makes me feel that she is going to do what I told her and that she fully trusts me. Obedience and confidence are two things we expect from our children, right?

Speaking about these two fine qualities, I’m suddenly reminded of how one son obeyed and trusted his father in spite of the many hardships he has to face in order to fulfil his father’s wishes. In the desert without food or drink for 40 days and nights, he became too weak making him an easy target for the devil. What did he do? He confronted the devil head-on, upholding the importance of God.

His ministry seemed full of happiness – the sick were healed, the loaves multiplied, the dead came back to life. Yet towards the end of that three-year ministry, he was betrayed by a close friend. While praying in the garden, he would have imagined what kind of suffering he would be enduring. He was in anguish; an opportunity which the devil didn’t want to miss. And yet, what did he tell his Dad? “Your will be done!”

Having been arrested by the Jews and then sentenced to death by a kangaroo court, he was led to Calvary. Nailed to the cross, exposed to the scorching heat, hungry, writhing in pain his detractors asked him to come down from the cross. I bet the devil too was there, waiting eagerly for this man to be swayed by the crowd. To his enemies’ dismay, before he breathed his last, he said to his father “Into your hands, I commend my spirit”.

Unfortunately, not all would want to travel the path that Jesus took. Take for example Pontius Pilate who found Jesus not guilty of any crime, but feared the mob if he would side with him. Instead, he delegated that power to that hakot crowd.

Until now we could still see people who, although in power, could not make a decision on vital issues. The proposal to bury the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani should have been shot down by President Aquino from the day it reared its ugly head. Instead, he asked Vice President Binay to study the matter. Now Binay (dubbed as Pontius Binay in an editorial of Philippine Daily Inquirer) has asked the public to send his office their views on Marcos burial through e-mail or text messages. I actually sent him an e-mail message expressing my negative vote. I would encourage you to do the same. Send him a e-mail message in: blog@ovp.gov.ph or text through 0926-7468212 (for Globe subscribers) and 0949-6295575 (for Smart subscribers).

It’s very obvious that Marcos ruled the country with untold injustice and corruption. That his regime was evil and burying his remains at the Libingan would be tantamount to say that EDSA Uno is a farce and the likes of Ninoy and Cory Aquino (the President’s parents), Jovito Salonga, Rene Saguisag, Jejomar Binay (the Vice President himself who used to be a human rights lawyer) and the many Martial Law victims are fools (Saguisag, in an interview, was saying that if Marcos is buried there, his grandchildren would brand him a fool for fighting a hero.).

The President admitted he was partial to the issue. The Vice President confessed that if his personal answer were to be sought, there is no more need for any discussion on the matter. Being partial to an issue shouldn’t bar us from making a decision. At the end of the day, we have to make an option. If leaders can’t do it then there is no reason for them to stay in authority. If my heroine Cory Aquino were still alive, she would lead in protesting our leaders’ indecision.

This vacillation is not found in Jesus whose conviction was made clear to his followers. He may at times speak in veiled languages, but people around him know where he was coming from, that he would call a spade a spade even if it would cost him his life.

This is the challenge for us Christians especially as we enter the Holy Week. From being disobedient and doubtful, let us put on Christ’s obedience and trust. For the many times we said “No” to God, let Christ’s “Yes” to his Father be ours from now on!