A God who cares

Salvation history is a narration of the myriad ways God manifested His sublime paternal care for the people He created to the point of sending His only Son to redeem man from sin and show the true way to the Home where Jesus has prepared a room for each one of us—in Heaven (Jn. 14:2).  The Father’s care in Jesus is never-ending, as we experience each time we celebrate the Eucharist and ‘see and taste’ the living Body and Blood of our Savior that is our nourishment-guarantee to Eternal Life (cf. Jn. 6:53-54).  Let us profusely thank this God who cares for the gift of the Living Bread of His Son on the feast of Corpus Christi’. If we could only FEEL the heart of Jesus throbbing with LOVE to give / giving His All to us, always and FOREVER.  This love in us is also the presence of the Blessed Trinity that makes our lives fruitful.

It is now our turn to care.  As God cares, so do we, as our own thanks to this All-giving Father.  We have to thank God for His care over us.  He has placed many people in our way to guide us, to care for us, namely our parents, our friends, acquaintances, mentors, and models.  As it is “more fulfilling to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), we too should care for those who come in our way.  God’s providence has seen it so that we could also take care of them.  Remember Jesus says: “The measure you extend to others is the very same measure that shall come back to you overflowing” (Lk. 6:36).  Others need us.  Out of gratitude to God from whom all good things come, we too should extend our goodness and sincere care to them. 

Amazing hope!

    The result of the recent presidential elections indeed reveals, with shocking amazement, the Filipino people’s trust and hope in a down-to-earth president who is incredibly fearless to face any battle to wipe out crime and restore peace and order and a future for the needed growth and development of the entire.  A Mindanao mayor who becomes president is evident of the people’s faith in a man who is simply true to himself and has shown transforming results in his own bailiwick. This also throws the limelight on leadership coming from the southern end of the country that apparently aspires for recognition and the opportunity to bring about change for the better, especially for the advantage of the underprivileged citizens that populate the ‘Island of promise.’

    No one knows the future for certainty but God, whose loving providence works mysteriously in response to our prayers.  The president-elect may be the person the country needs at this time of transition, and, as Archbishop Socrates Villegas wrote in his pastoral letter, we exercise a vigilant cooperation in respect for the decision cast by our fellow countrymen. 

    Let continued prayers for national and local leadership sustain our trust and readiness to cooperate so that we all journey with a common vision and prayerfully continue the quest for eternal truth and happiness amidst earth’s transiency.  Let us pray that Jesus the Good Shepherd be the model of our new president and that he be filled with the blazing fire of the Pentecost Spirit and see himself as a God-sent instrument to care for the sheep gone astray.  A good shepherd ‘knows the smell of his sheep and is ready to sacrifice his life’ (Jn. 10:1-16).  May our prayers enlighten our leaders to be authentic seekers of true freedom and human dignity, so that joyfully, we can acclaim: “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created” (Ps. 104:30).

A listening presence

We acknowledge the myriad blessings from above, including the elections that have just passed and given us hopes of new and honest leadership; and in our environment, the showers of rain on our dry land that has revived dying crops and restored hope and confidence that God indeed listens to our crying needs.  The coming of the Spirit this Pentecost Sunday also awakens us to the challenge of continuing Jesus’ legacy of ongoing evangelization and to the ever-living presence of a God in touch with His people, His redeemed children in Christ.

As our Philippine Church continues the ‘journey wake’ to the Year 2021 ‘Missio ad gentes’ the focus especially on this year of the Family is that families remain the seed-bed of evangelization, and parents and children listen to each other. The listening gesture will generate towards a healthy spirit of dialogue that will steadily expand into the outer, larger community being served.  Many Filipino missionaries were born from mission-conscious families where parents have sown the seed of a ‘Christified’ spirituality that seeks to sacrifice the self for the sake of service.

This will also serve as preparation for the Year 2020 of Ecumenism and Inter-Religious Dialogue.  Dialogue will call for a spirit of ready listening, first to the God of love in prayer and to different members of society in inter-actions towards building community and strengthening solidarity in the struggle for social change, unity in healing social ills, integrity and social justice in our land.  A dialogue has also to put on the atmosphere of patience and put aside all biases and prejudices as Jesus made that a consistent rule: “Judge not and you will not be judged; because the judgments you give are the judgements you will get” (Mt. 7:1-2), but the greatest of them all is love (1 Cor. 13:13).

Well-informed vigilance

Joining public gatherings such as demonstrations and rallies may be beneficial or disastrous depending on the intent of the organizers.  As a general rule, one must search for the truth and not aimlessly jump into the fire, which may result to damage or injury instead of resolving the issue at hand.  There is always wisdom in asking questions to dispel ignorance of certain matters, especially when attractive words and promises are made, or perhaps threats and harassments are attempted, but facts are wanting.  No well-intentioned person or follower of the Good Shepherd wants to be deluded by “wild wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Mt. 7:15)and so he/she must constantly listen to and discern the teachings of the Master Teacher who also speaks through the apostolic leaders of the Church.  This is the call for vigilance for all, indicating the need for responsible leadership to stick to facts and conduct objective surveys and consultations, relaying genuine results for people to choose for their own good.  The sheep will verify the reality for themselves, and recognize the voice of the true shepherd. “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

May innocent/lost lives and misled adherents be guarded from false prophets, and may the latter learn to adhere to the voice of Him who said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6).  Humanity continues to yearn for peace.  No one can talk peace if there is no basic respect for all, respect for human rights—whatever be the age, color, culture, position or social status of a person.  In this way one lives in fraternity and recognizes each person as a child of God.  As Pope Francis wrote in his message for world Day of Peace, January 1, 2014, “In God’s family, where all are sons and daughters of the same Father…there are no ‘disposable lives.’  All men and women enjoy an equal and inviolable dignity. All are loved by God.  All have been redeemed by the blood of Christ…This is the reason why no one can remain indifferent before the lot of our brothers and sisters.” Thus may we continue to serve with love and mercy, and share our goods with the needy.  And whatever be the situation we face, the answer is to sincerely act in faith, and to declare in the words of St. Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:69)

Heroic intimacy

“It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless” (John 6:63).  It is possible to acquire the courageous tenacity of St. Peter and the apostles by the creative power of the Spirit within us, helping us to focus on the heroic following of Jesus our Redeemer and Model.  It was the Spirit sent by Jesus who miraculously transformed the timid, fearful apostles to courageous proclaimers and witnesses of the Good News of the Risen Lord.

As baptized and confirmed Catholics, we are wont to witness to the mission of our Redeemer who showed us His unconditional Love beyond measure, to the shedding of His Blood as sacrifice in payment for our sins, to win for us eternal life.  As the disciples drew closer to Him, we can also grow in intimacy with this Greatest Lover of humanity by surrendering to him our ‘all’ just as popular songs nowadays put it in words of exchange like ‘you give your all to me; I give my all to you’ but of course we mean God as ‘you’.  For God is love and he who lives in love is in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16).

 ‘Love conquers all’ as a saying goes. A heart that truly loves and has given one’s all to Jesus, follows the Lord day by day, sharing the joy of this love by word and the witness of one’s daily life.  When confronted with worldly opposition, we shall be driven by the Spirit to keep on courageously, armed with God’s love in our hearts, ready to face and conquer the demon of darkness.  Then, like St. Peter and the apostles who withstood the threatening interrogations and orders of the Sanhedrin to stop using the name of Jesus, we too shall boldly declare: “Better for us to obey God than men” (Acts 5:28).