GRATITUDE

28^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

Luke 17: 11-19

         Ingratitude in one form or another is one of the most distressing human attitude most especially after we have given someone a gift, favour or service.   It breaks our hearts when our gift is rejected and never acknowledged or appreciated.

         The Jews expected favours after all they were the chosen people of God.   The ingratitude of the nine Jewish lepers was a testament to such an attitude.   They felt it was their due and there was no need to say Thank You.  The Samaritan who was considered a foreigner turned back praising God in a loud voice and throwing himself before Jesus, gave thanks for the gift of healing.

         The word hospital comes from the Latin word hospes which means host or guest.  A hospital is not just a place of healing but a spiritual respite when we encounter God through pain and suffering.   It is a short period of rest or relief from something unpleasant when we are taken cared of as special guests.  Through the hands of doctors, nurses and staff and with the help of medical science and technology, we experience healing and revival.    It is an institution where we encounter the joy and wonder when a mother gives birth to her new born or when miracles happen beyond the explanation of medicine.  We also encounter frustration and distress most especially when death beckons in spite of the advancement of technology and science.  The hospital is a passage of life where we encounter God!    When a person leaves the hospital after being revived surely give thanks to the doctors, nurses and staff but the question is “Did the person encounter God while he/she was a guest in the hospital?”

         The nine Jewish lepers represent those who take the wonders of life without acknowledging God who is the source and the giver of all gifts.   These are the takers who think it is their due because they work for it so they deserve it.    Some think that these wonders are part of the accidents in nature and nothing else.  The Samaritan leper is the Christian who always goes back to God, acknowledging, thanking and praising Him for such wonders. 

         We say “Thank You” to God verbally, sometimes mentally when we receive favours from Himmost especially when our prayers have been answered.    But how do we “go back” to God just like leper did?  We do it when we praise God together with those who experience the same favour through the liturgy.   The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharistein which means to give thanks.  The Eucharist is the highest form of prayer and thanksgiving.  It is the apex of our liturgy when we come together like “a community of lepers” needing God’s mercy and at the same time thanking Him for gift of healing which is our salvation.

         Pope Francis in a recent interview saw the Church as a “field hospital” where sinners are like lepers encountering the mercy and hospitality of God.   This is the reason why we always go back to the Eucharist because it is not enough to say “Thank You” to God alone and privately.  We need the other members of the Christian community to ritualize our gratitude through a liturgy which is acceptable to God.   This is the wonder of the Holy Mass!

TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD

27^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

Luke 17:5-10

         What if one morning you wake up to know  that you don’t have much time left because you lost your battle against a disease or cancer?  Or to realize that your loved one left you for good?  Or when a painful tragedy strikes your family? When your dreams have fallen apart, left without inspiration and no drive to move on? When at the end of the long tunnel you don’t see light at all, hit rock bottom and you feel alone?   The words of the prophet Habakkuk in our First Reading becomes our own: “O Lord how long must I cry for help and you pay no attention?"  Isn't this also our cry?
    

         In the same manner, the words of the apostles in our Gospel today becomes our own, too: “Increase our faith.”  Jesus responded that if we have faith at least as big as a mustard seed, we can do the impossible.  Faith here is not just belief which is the ascent of the mind to a religious conviction.  It is rather the deep personal trust and unwavering confidence in the God we believe in.  When we are besieged by evil that seems to triumph in the eyes of the world, the Lord calls for fidelity!  Faith in God most especially during horrendous moments when things just don’t fit in together and without meaning; faith in God even if it seems that He is not responding the way we want nor we feel He is not present at all.   The same resolute faith of Jesus when He was hanging on the cross, abandoning Himself to His Father who, in the eyes of the world, had abandoned Him.  The faith of the saints have been tested in moments when they were tortured and suffered the most horrible pain in the midst of a taunting world looking for God who seemed absent or silent.  We may not have such a huge faith; all we need is faith as tiny as a mustard seed to battle the worst storms in our lives.

         
     It is the same faith that does not expect any entitlement or reward.   We live in a world of legal entitlements as our right over the amount of time and effort we have exerted.  That’s what our jobs for; that’s how we build up our careers.   It is the law of commerce which determines our lives and status in the society.  But our lives as disciples of Jesus is far different from the commerce of the world.   God is not indebted to us in anyway whatsoever that we should expect Him to spare us from pain nor tragedies nor to reward us because we deserve it after doing something good.   God has His own ways of rewarding those who are faithful to Him, more than we can ever imagine.

         Our fidelity with God is mirrored in many different ways but most especially in the nuptial relationship of husband and wife.  Take the example of a couple who after celebrating their  wedding anniversary feel as if they are just starting their love story again.  Having been faithful to each other in the midst of tragedies and suffering or even after discovering each other’s unpleasantries, they vowed always to be together for the rest of their lives, for better or for worse.

         
      It is also mirrored in the life of a missionary who spent his/her whole life in the mission or an unknown monk in a far away monastery who left the world. To most of us who live ordinary lives, it is our day to day entrustment  to God believing He is in charge and that nothing will harm us because we are safe in His hands.   These are some expressions of humanity’s fidelity to God which does not expect rewards nor entitlements but is always ready to give oneself unselfishly to God because of love.

         
      At the end, we will realize that no matter what happens in our life journey, God will always be faithful to us otherwise He stops being God.

LAZARUS IN OUR DOORS

26^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

Luke 16:19-31

This parable is not a social commentary against  material wealth nor the canonization of poverty; otherwise the rich will all go to hell while the poor will all go to heaven, which is not the case.  In the reversal of social roles at the end of the parable, the rich man was not condemned because of his wealth nor Lazarus was rewarded because he was poor.   In the context of the hospitality of God, how do we use our resources to make a difference in the lives of others particular the poor?

We see the contrast between the rich man and Lazarus both when they were alive and after death.   The rich man was dressed in fine linen and feasted everyday while Lazarus was covered with sores and begged for scraps falling from the rich man’s table, with dogs licking his sores.  After death, the rich man was buried and was tormented in hell while Lazarus was carried to the bosom of Abraham.  Now the rich man was the one begging Abraham for a little water from Lazarus and pleaded for his five brothers not to suffer the torments he was in.

The parable did not say that the rich man defrauded anyone nor his wealth was ill-gotten. Definitely the rich man saw and knew Lazarus laying at his gate but it was not mentioned that the rich man was mean to Lazarus.  So what was the rich man’s crime against Lazarus that he deserved to be punished with such horrendous fate in hell?   He was punished not because he did something evil against Lazarus but because he failed to do something good to him  We call it the sin of omission.  In contrast to the parable last Sunday, the dishonest manager made use of his master’s wealth to practice charity even though it was unlawful.  The rich man kept everything unto himself and was forgetful about the needs of Lazarus.

This parable is a reminder not just to the rich but to all of us who might be enjoying the status of our comfort zones and yet indifferent to the needs of the poor.  We might not be doing evil against others but we might not be doing good either.  During judgment day, we will be judged not by the prayers we have said nor the acts of piety we have practiced but by the charity we have done or failed to do to others:  “Lord when did we do this to you?”  “As long as you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it unto me.”  “Lord when did we not do this to you?”  “As long as you did not do this to the least of my brethren, you did not do it unto me” (Mt. 25:31-46).

     This parable speaks to any corrupt government in the world or institutions and individuals that capitalize on the poverty of people.  In this crime against humanity, the cry of justice by the poor pierces the heart of God!

We have to recognize that Jesus is the Lazarus who gives us opportunities to be truly rich otherwise we fail to encounter God in the many surprised divine visitations in our lives. The only things we can bring with us after we die are not those we keep unto ourselves but rather those we have given away to the Lazarus in our doors.  

THE DISHONEST MANAGER

 25^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

Luke 16:1-13

         The manager in the parable this Sunday is probably one of the most crooked characters in the all the parables of Jesus:  selfish, dishonest, shrewd, forger, unjust and most especially devious. It is most unlikely that Jesus would ever praise such a character which is the complete opposite of goodness, nevertheless it gives us a lesson in handling an unexpected crisis most especially when eternity is at stake.

         The employer upon knowing the manager had wasted away his wealth decided to fire him outright.  But because of the employer’s goodness, he did not file a case against the manager nor did he do anything to exact justice against him, which  in this case is most extraordinary.  The manager thought that he was old and proud to take on other forms of living and facing such a huge crisis being his future at stake, he did not waste time to sentimentalize but instead thought of using his employer’s generosity to secure his future, although through illegal means. Before his unemployment was made public, his dealings on behalf of his employer would still be valid and legal.   It could have been possible that he had taken out his commissions hence lessening the debts of the debtors.  By doing this, he definitely would have made a very good impression to the debtors who would be indebted to him as to do him good in the future in return for his generosity.  The twist and surprise of the parable is that the employer even praised the deceitful skill of the manager.  The lesson of the parable is more than that.

         Since we were little children, we were taught that “honesty is the best policy” and in whatever we do, “God is watching us”.  The manager was not praised because of his dishonesty but rather in his quick  and creative ways of dealing with the crisis he was facing.   The word crisis comes from the Greek word krisis which means decision.  When we are in crisis, we always think of difficulty because we face a turning point that calls for a decision.  If the worldly people could be as astute like the manager to secure their future in using even ill-gotten wealth, how much more with us Christians when our eternity is at stake?   Eternity is our ultimate crisis.  It is the absolute turning point of our life which we have to decide on not during the last minute when we are gasping our last breath but in the here and now of our existence.  

         We are given all the means such as time, talents and treasure.  Some have more, others less depending on the mission entrusted to us. It is up to us how we use them as tickets in securing our entrance to eternity.   The gospel concludes with a warning not to turn them into idols as to take us away from the goal for which it was given us.  Not just money but anything that we idolize to the point of complete dependence becomes a mammon.   The deification of such a person, a thing or ideology is a form of idolatry which eventually leads us towards worshiping them as our “little gods” and away from God.

          

THE POWER OF ONE

 24^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

Luke 15: 1-10  (Short form)

If you imagine yourself standing on the globe together with the other 7 billions of peoples, do you think God is still looking at you and loving you personally?  

The parable of the lost sheep and coin tells us the value and the power of one: a shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to look for the lost sheep; a woman searches for one lost silver coin.  When they find them, there is joy and informing their friends and neighbours, they will call for a celebration.

God is almighty, omnipotent, omniscient and immutable.  These are just but few of the attributes or characteristics we know about God.   Theology tells us that God is the ultimate mystery and the only way of knowing or understanding Him is through the negative way, that is by affirming what He is not.   So how do we approach God who is a mystery?  By encountering Him in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus who revealed God to us in his life, death and resurrection.   

In the Paschal Mystery God enters into a personal relationship with humanity.  He is not just one god among many!   In this unique revelation, God opened the doors of the sacred to each one and calls us His child.  In this remarkable association, we find our worth as individual human beings.   In all the perfections of God, He finds pleasure when He relates to us as a Father as was shown to us by Jesus.  In relation with Jesus, fatherhood was everything to God.  As adopted children of God through Jesus, we share in this filial relationship with God as our Father.   But a father is not a father without his child.  It is the child who defines the fatherhood of his father.  In this context, each one of us defines the fatherhood of God.   Although we owe our existence to Him as God our creator but we hold the key to His greatest attribute which is fatherhood.  Unless we accept Him as our Father He cannot celebrate His fatherhood; on the other hand if He does not accept us as His children, we are nothing but merely creatures.  It takes one to accept and acknowledge the other to complete this filial joy!  It defines our worth as children of God!

The parable of the lost sheep and coin became real in the life of Jesus in His public ministry when He healed the woman suffering from hemorrhage and the daughter of Jairus, gave sight to Bartimeus and the man born blind, raised Lazarus and the son of a widow from the dead, called Zaccheus and Matthew, and many others.  These are testimonies that  Jesus was concerned with individuals; He related Himself with individual human beings with special kinds of needs.   He is like the shepherd who would look for the lost sheep that completes his being a shepherd.  He is like the woman whose one single silver coin completes her womanhood.

From among the billions living on earth at this time, do I matter to God?  Yes, I do!  Because He loves me as if I am the only one in the whole world who deserves His love and attention.  That’s where I get my value as a human being:  I am my Father’s joy!