My brothers and sisters,
As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, let us remember also our baptism. I believe that most of you were baptized when you were still a child. So you become catholic because you follow your parents. Now I can ask you: are you followers of your parents or are you followers of Jesus Christ? I was baptized when I was 19 years old. I chose my own name: Aloysius. So I can tell you proudly that I chose to follow Jesus and leaving my parents’ traditional religion. Then after a couple of years my sister first followed me, then my brother and his family, and finally also my father decided to be catholic, but I told them not to follow me, because I am not the savior, but follow Jesus. That’s why I had never asked my father to be catholic, because I don’t want him to follow me. About five years before my father passed away he was baptized, not by me and not because of me. At that time I was in Madagascar for four years. I even didn’t know when he decided to be catholic.
Now we see what happens when a parent come to ask a priest or a deacon to baptize a child. First of all, don’t think that as if we follow the tradition only. It is not because of our tradition. It is because of our faith. By asking the baptism for our children, we want to share our faith: that through this way, through this faith, we will come to salvation. We love our children and we do hope that they also can come to salvation promised by Jesus. So it is because of our faith in Jesus we baptize our children … and also it is because the faith of your parents in Jesus Christ that you were baptized.
In a child who is baptized, the faith is still like a seed that will grow well if we keep giving the seed good fertilizer during his or her life. The fertilizer that will give growth for the child’s faith is: good example, good affection, such as love, caring …etc. When the child comes to his or her age of independence, he or she will be able to say: yes to the way given by parents. They will find their personal faith. They will confirm their parents’ choice as their own choice. This should happen when they receive the sacrament of confirmation: to confirm the choice to follow Jesus. So they are not followers of their parents anymore.
In Indonesia, I heard from some other Churches about baptism, they don’t baptize children. In their opinion, if we baptize our child, we force our child to follow our religion. It will destroy their human right, the right to choose their own religion. So, according to them, let the children choose for themselves when they grow older. Do you agree with this? You, Americans, appreciate human freedom, do you?
I can answer this opinion like this: first, as parents of the children, they themselves are not sure with their faith. If we baptize our children, we want to give them the best that we have, because we love our children, don’t we? So we believe that our faith, our church, is the best way for their salvation too. Secondly, if we follow their idea, so we cannot give food to the child. If, like we do in my country, if we give the child rice from the beginning, so the child is not free anymore, he will look for rice all his life. But we cannot say: don’t give the children rice; let them grow until they can choose for themselves whether they want to eat rice or taco or bread.
Once again we give our children the best that we have. My parents were sure that by feeding with rice it would be good for me and they are right. I’m not disappointed, even tough now when I eat tacos as my lunch, four or five tacos, I feel that I have not yet eaten, I am still hungry! So do you believe that your faith and your catholic church are the best for your salvation and you want to share this to your children whom you love so much?
But we have to realize also that baptism is not automatically a guarantee to salvation. Baptism is a new born as children of God. When we are baptized we are washed clean and we received God’s spirit. We become God’s beloved like Jesus. We become brothers and sisters of Jesus. But this status should be proved all the long of our life: that we truly live as children of God. You know, as children of God, we are heir and heiress of heaven. But if our life is not in accord with God’s will, he will erase our name from the list of his heir. The same thing can happen in your life. You can skip one of your sons as your heir if his life is very bad and you see that he is not worthy to have a part of your heritage.
But of course God is different from us human being. God is full of mercy and love. In the second reading St. Paul says that we might be justified by God’s grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. One thing we should not forget that like the prodigal son, we should/can always come back to the Father in repentance, every times our way get too far from Him. May we always be the beloved son and daughter of God. Amen.
Wednesday 16 July 2008
St. Peter and Paul
My Brothers and sisters,
There was a wise man who said, if a finger points to the moon, look not at the finger but at the moon. That’s true. It is a stupid man who stops at the finger and who admires it, because the finger is only a medium, a tool. The moon is the importance. We have to make difference between the medium and the object; and we have to know which one is the most important of all.
Today as we celebrate the feast of St. Peter and Paul, we have to remember that they are all fingers who point to the moon. The moon is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as fingers, as medium, the two apostles had played a very, very important role in the history of the Church. That’s why we have to remember them, to honor them and to thank them for their services for the Church. They are the pillars of the Church faith. We know Jesus because of their testimony. So because of Jesus we thank them. Jesus is the most important for us.
In fact, we have many fingers and many kinds of fingers, who can point to the moon. You see, there is a short fat finger like Fr. Wasser, there is also a long thin finger like Fr. Eugene in Our Lady Parish, and also there is a good looking finger, handsome … like me. Each one has his own characteristic, each one has his plus and minus, but they have the same mission, namely: to point to the moon. We can see the same thing in the two Saints. St. Peter was not a perfect man. We know the story, once he was rebuked by Jesus, saying: Go behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me; and also the story of Peter’s denials. According to the History when the Emperor Nero was persecuting the Christian in Rome at the beginning of the Church history, Peter as the first Pope, run away from Rome, and then he met Jesus in apparition, taking up His cross, Jesus walked to Rome. Peter asked Him: quo vadis Domine? Where are you going Lord? Jesus answered: I am going to Rome to be crucified again because my successor runs away leaving my flock. Peter was so embarrassed that he returned to Rome and then we know how he was captured and was crucified up-side down. He felt not worthy to be crucified like Jesus his Lord.
We know also who St. Paul was before he became an apostle. He persecuted the followers of Jesus. So they were not perfect fingers and there is not a perfect finger. All the saints are ordinary human being. So you also can be a saint. Because you are also fingers at least for your family. Even though we are not perfect, Jesus used us; he is using us and he will use always. How can it be?
As a finger, we only can work well if we are connected to the Body and to the Head. As apostles the two Saints only can do their mission as far as they are connected to the Body, namely: to the Church and also connected to the Head, namely: to Jesus the Lord. Connecting to the Church means that we are in the Church or we are sent by the Church. We are part of the Church. Connecting to Jesus means that we not only know Him but we have a personal relation with Him. When Jesus asked the disciples who he was, and Peter answered: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter meant that not only he knew by heart the Name, but he experienced Jesus as Christ, as Messiah, as Son of God. I can compare my knowledge about George Bush the President and about my father in Indonesia. I know both of them, but I know Bush not in the same sense as I know my father. I have no relation with Bush. It is different with my father, I know him in the sense that I love him, I experience him.
Now when Jesus asks you: who do you say that Jesus is? You also have to answer according to your experience with Jesus, not according to anyone else, not also according to the Gospel? Gospel is the norm to justify that our experience with Jesus is right or wrong. If we say Jesus is my savior or my best friend, it’s okay. It is in accordance with the Gospel. But if we say that Jesus is only an ordinary teacher, only a man; so we are wrong. So who is Jesus in your experience? This is important because, we also will be sent as finger for others. We also have to point Jesus for our brothers and sisters. We only can do that if we have a personal experience with him, we know him in a sense that we have a special relation with Him; so our testimony about him not only according to what people said, nor according to what I’ve read or I’ve heard about Him. To be a witness for example in a court, we have to be there in the incident, we cannot be a witness because we know the case from news paper. Like St. Peter and Paul, we can experience Jesus in our life. We can have a special relation with Him in faith. When we do know Him, we can be a good finger. A good finger will not point to itself. A good finger will not point to something else but to the moon. A good finger also will not take advantage of its service. It only will feel happy if people can admire and enjoy the moon.
May the two Saints pray for us that we can continue their mission in this world for the glory of Jesus’ name and for more people can experience His salvation. Amen
There was a wise man who said, if a finger points to the moon, look not at the finger but at the moon. That’s true. It is a stupid man who stops at the finger and who admires it, because the finger is only a medium, a tool. The moon is the importance. We have to make difference between the medium and the object; and we have to know which one is the most important of all.
Today as we celebrate the feast of St. Peter and Paul, we have to remember that they are all fingers who point to the moon. The moon is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as fingers, as medium, the two apostles had played a very, very important role in the history of the Church. That’s why we have to remember them, to honor them and to thank them for their services for the Church. They are the pillars of the Church faith. We know Jesus because of their testimony. So because of Jesus we thank them. Jesus is the most important for us.
In fact, we have many fingers and many kinds of fingers, who can point to the moon. You see, there is a short fat finger like Fr. Wasser, there is also a long thin finger like Fr. Eugene in Our Lady Parish, and also there is a good looking finger, handsome … like me. Each one has his own characteristic, each one has his plus and minus, but they have the same mission, namely: to point to the moon. We can see the same thing in the two Saints. St. Peter was not a perfect man. We know the story, once he was rebuked by Jesus, saying: Go behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me; and also the story of Peter’s denials. According to the History when the Emperor Nero was persecuting the Christian in Rome at the beginning of the Church history, Peter as the first Pope, run away from Rome, and then he met Jesus in apparition, taking up His cross, Jesus walked to Rome. Peter asked Him: quo vadis Domine? Where are you going Lord? Jesus answered: I am going to Rome to be crucified again because my successor runs away leaving my flock. Peter was so embarrassed that he returned to Rome and then we know how he was captured and was crucified up-side down. He felt not worthy to be crucified like Jesus his Lord.
We know also who St. Paul was before he became an apostle. He persecuted the followers of Jesus. So they were not perfect fingers and there is not a perfect finger. All the saints are ordinary human being. So you also can be a saint. Because you are also fingers at least for your family. Even though we are not perfect, Jesus used us; he is using us and he will use always. How can it be?
As a finger, we only can work well if we are connected to the Body and to the Head. As apostles the two Saints only can do their mission as far as they are connected to the Body, namely: to the Church and also connected to the Head, namely: to Jesus the Lord. Connecting to the Church means that we are in the Church or we are sent by the Church. We are part of the Church. Connecting to Jesus means that we not only know Him but we have a personal relation with Him. When Jesus asked the disciples who he was, and Peter answered: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter meant that not only he knew by heart the Name, but he experienced Jesus as Christ, as Messiah, as Son of God. I can compare my knowledge about George Bush the President and about my father in Indonesia. I know both of them, but I know Bush not in the same sense as I know my father. I have no relation with Bush. It is different with my father, I know him in the sense that I love him, I experience him.
Now when Jesus asks you: who do you say that Jesus is? You also have to answer according to your experience with Jesus, not according to anyone else, not also according to the Gospel? Gospel is the norm to justify that our experience with Jesus is right or wrong. If we say Jesus is my savior or my best friend, it’s okay. It is in accordance with the Gospel. But if we say that Jesus is only an ordinary teacher, only a man; so we are wrong. So who is Jesus in your experience? This is important because, we also will be sent as finger for others. We also have to point Jesus for our brothers and sisters. We only can do that if we have a personal experience with him, we know him in a sense that we have a special relation with Him; so our testimony about him not only according to what people said, nor according to what I’ve read or I’ve heard about Him. To be a witness for example in a court, we have to be there in the incident, we cannot be a witness because we know the case from news paper. Like St. Peter and Paul, we can experience Jesus in our life. We can have a special relation with Him in faith. When we do know Him, we can be a good finger. A good finger will not point to itself. A good finger will not point to something else but to the moon. A good finger also will not take advantage of its service. It only will feel happy if people can admire and enjoy the moon.
May the two Saints pray for us that we can continue their mission in this world for the glory of Jesus’ name and for more people can experience His salvation. Amen
Pentecost - B
My brothers and sisters, to understand what happened on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and then they could speak many languages and they could understand each others, we can compare it with the thing happened when God confused the builders of the Tower of Babel. In the Bible, it is said that God made them confused. But that is biblical language. But what happened exactly with the Tower of Babel?
The Tower of Babel is a symbol of human pride and arrogance. They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves …” If there is arrogance in our heart, what we think is only our ego, ourselves, our name; what concerns us only ourselves, our benefits, our pleasure; and we don’t care about the others. So the language that we use is only the self- message: I, me and my or mine. We don’t speak about you, yours or others. It means that we are egocentric. If this happens in our lives, so there will be some Towers of Babel, and we will not understand each other anymore, even if we live in the same house. This is not only a story that might happen but truly we can find a family like this where there is no communication between wives and husband, parents and children. Because they have their own language, they don’t understand each other and they build their own city with high wall around them. No communication, no talk, no telephone call, no letter and no love … there is only hell. Can you imagine a family like this? Or may be this is your experience? I hope not.
My brothers and sisters, this is human experiences, whose life is contaminated by sins, by egoism, by hatred, by anger, by wounds ….
And Jesus came to restore it. The descending of the Holy Spirit is the completion of Jesus mission. He is the Spirit of truth, who will guide us to all truth that Jesus has taught us. And his principle truth is: God is love and so we have to love one another. If the Holy Spirit guides us to the truth, he will guide us to love, and love can change everything. Love can destroy the wall of our arrogance and the language of love can be understood by all the people.
Do you know what impressed me first when I come here in the US? I tell you: I like jogging in the morning. And while jogging, I usually meet other people jogging too. And they always say: hi or good morning, smiling at me. We don’t do that in Indonesia to anyone we don’t know. I think that you are very nice and that is a language of love. We can understand each other; I feel not as a stranger anymore, I am one of you. You know, I experience Pentecost here, I can speak other language, you can understand me and I can understand you. How about you? Is there any Pentecost also in you, in your family?
My brothers and sisters, we have received the Holy Spirit. But please let the Holy Spirit work in you. Don’t tie the Spirit that is going to renew our lives. Open our heart. If you remember someone, your son or your daughter, or maybe your Mom and/or your Dad or someone else, that you haven’t talked since a long time, because you and he or she have built your own city and your own tower, now it is the time of Pentecost coming! It is the time to understand each other; it is the time of reconciliation. Pentecost is not only a mere celebration in the church. We have to live it in our lives. So after the mass, you can destroy your tower by calling him or her, even though it was not you that caused the separation. It was God who made confused our language because of our arrogant tower. Now it is God also who wants us to restore it again, to make us unite one with another.
There is a song in Indonesian that I want to sing for you, just the refrain: Alangkah baik cemerlang dan damai, hidup bagai saudara; Indah bagai cakrawala, menebarkan terang di bumi, cinta diri tlah dikalahkan, demi saudara. It means: how nice and wonderful to live as brothers and sisters.
Yes, the Pentecost makes us all brothers and sisters. There are no more walls of separation. There is no more the tower of arrogance; there is no more hatred and anger. Bad people and sins are still there because we are still in this world, but if people are going mad, we don’t have to be mad too. We have to pray so that the Holy Spirit may come also to the whole world, that many people can find the truth that Jesus taught; that many people can find peace and joy. Amen
Let us pray together the Prayer to the Holy Spirit: in … page …
The Tower of Babel is a symbol of human pride and arrogance. They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves …” If there is arrogance in our heart, what we think is only our ego, ourselves, our name; what concerns us only ourselves, our benefits, our pleasure; and we don’t care about the others. So the language that we use is only the self- message: I, me and my or mine. We don’t speak about you, yours or others. It means that we are egocentric. If this happens in our lives, so there will be some Towers of Babel, and we will not understand each other anymore, even if we live in the same house. This is not only a story that might happen but truly we can find a family like this where there is no communication between wives and husband, parents and children. Because they have their own language, they don’t understand each other and they build their own city with high wall around them. No communication, no talk, no telephone call, no letter and no love … there is only hell. Can you imagine a family like this? Or may be this is your experience? I hope not.
My brothers and sisters, this is human experiences, whose life is contaminated by sins, by egoism, by hatred, by anger, by wounds ….
And Jesus came to restore it. The descending of the Holy Spirit is the completion of Jesus mission. He is the Spirit of truth, who will guide us to all truth that Jesus has taught us. And his principle truth is: God is love and so we have to love one another. If the Holy Spirit guides us to the truth, he will guide us to love, and love can change everything. Love can destroy the wall of our arrogance and the language of love can be understood by all the people.
Do you know what impressed me first when I come here in the US? I tell you: I like jogging in the morning. And while jogging, I usually meet other people jogging too. And they always say: hi or good morning, smiling at me. We don’t do that in Indonesia to anyone we don’t know. I think that you are very nice and that is a language of love. We can understand each other; I feel not as a stranger anymore, I am one of you. You know, I experience Pentecost here, I can speak other language, you can understand me and I can understand you. How about you? Is there any Pentecost also in you, in your family?
My brothers and sisters, we have received the Holy Spirit. But please let the Holy Spirit work in you. Don’t tie the Spirit that is going to renew our lives. Open our heart. If you remember someone, your son or your daughter, or maybe your Mom and/or your Dad or someone else, that you haven’t talked since a long time, because you and he or she have built your own city and your own tower, now it is the time of Pentecost coming! It is the time to understand each other; it is the time of reconciliation. Pentecost is not only a mere celebration in the church. We have to live it in our lives. So after the mass, you can destroy your tower by calling him or her, even though it was not you that caused the separation. It was God who made confused our language because of our arrogant tower. Now it is God also who wants us to restore it again, to make us unite one with another.
There is a song in Indonesian that I want to sing for you, just the refrain: Alangkah baik cemerlang dan damai, hidup bagai saudara; Indah bagai cakrawala, menebarkan terang di bumi, cinta diri tlah dikalahkan, demi saudara. It means: how nice and wonderful to live as brothers and sisters.
Yes, the Pentecost makes us all brothers and sisters. There are no more walls of separation. There is no more the tower of arrogance; there is no more hatred and anger. Bad people and sins are still there because we are still in this world, but if people are going mad, we don’t have to be mad too. We have to pray so that the Holy Spirit may come also to the whole world, that many people can find the truth that Jesus taught; that many people can find peace and joy. Amen
Let us pray together the Prayer to the Holy Spirit: in … page …
Palm Sunday
My brothers and sisters,
We are in Holy Week now. Have you ever asked why this week is called Holy Week? In fact it is the week of the suffering and the death of Jesus. The answer is quite simple: to be holy we have to pass by suffering and death. The suffering and death are the other side of holiness. It means that if we want to be holy, we should not be afraid of suffering and dying faithfully in Lord Jesus. Jesus told us, if anyone wishes to come after him, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Him. He himself did it. He denied himself by not sparing his life for our sake; he took his cross, the cross that should not be His.
In this Holy week, Jesus asks each one of us: where is your cross? Do you want to suffer with me? Do you want to be holy? Maybe we can answer him: Yes Jesus, I want to be holy … but I don’t want to suffer, it’s difficult, and I don’t want to die with you, at least: not now, for I still have many things to do.
But the question if we want to be holy, needs not our answer, because Jesus himself wants us to be holy. And He will give us the way to that holiness, by our suffering. He will and he did. Now let us look at many kinds of suffering that we have in our daily life.
First, one can suffer because of his sin, like a thief captured by the police and put into jail. He suffers because of his guilt. This kind of suffering will recall us to repentance if we are opened to grace of God and it will lead us to holiness as well. If we are not opened to the grace of God we often do the same sin again and again or even worse and worse. But God never stop to remind us to repentance by suffering we have.
Second, one can suffer because of love for another, like Jesus did or Moses or other prophets did to his people. We can also have this kind of suffering because of our love for our children or for someone else. The troops suffer in a war because of their love for their country. A father works hard because of his love for his family. This kind of love can be like a sacrifice that will guide us to holiness. We can accept this kind of suffering, can’t we? Because we know for what or for whom we suffer.
But there is the last kind of suffering that we don’t know why; we don’t understand why it happens. It is not because of our sin or others sin, nor because of the love for another. For example, the suffering someone has in an awful accident, or in a grave illness, like cancer or other terminal illness and so on … you see! We really don’t know why this happen to us. I know a mother who lost her 2 sons in one accident, hit by a truck and the driver was drunk. This truly caused great suffering to the mother, she can cry and protest to the Lord. She doesn’t know why this happened. But one thing we know in faith: that even in our suffering God never leaves us alone. Have you ever heard the story of the footprints on the sand? It shows us that at the height of our suffering, the Lord never leave us, on the contrary He holds us in his arms. Suffering is needed to test our faith, as gold is tested in the flame of fire. Bigger and bigger the fire so is more purified the gold. Bigger and bigger our suffering so is more purified our faith.
My brothers and sisters, I myself have to acknowledge that I don’t like suffering. But if Jesus wants me to share in his own, I will humbly accept it. I remember a mother said in TV that his son, a soldier, doesn’t want to go war, but he has to go. To follow Jesus is the same. We don’t like the way of the cross, but we have to. It is the only way to holiness. Only Jesus himself can make it possible for us to follow him in his way. Let us come closer to him. Let him work in our weakness that we will not be afraid anymore to suffer with Him, to walk with Him and to be holy in Him. Amen
We are in Holy Week now. Have you ever asked why this week is called Holy Week? In fact it is the week of the suffering and the death of Jesus. The answer is quite simple: to be holy we have to pass by suffering and death. The suffering and death are the other side of holiness. It means that if we want to be holy, we should not be afraid of suffering and dying faithfully in Lord Jesus. Jesus told us, if anyone wishes to come after him, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Him. He himself did it. He denied himself by not sparing his life for our sake; he took his cross, the cross that should not be His.
In this Holy week, Jesus asks each one of us: where is your cross? Do you want to suffer with me? Do you want to be holy? Maybe we can answer him: Yes Jesus, I want to be holy … but I don’t want to suffer, it’s difficult, and I don’t want to die with you, at least: not now, for I still have many things to do.
But the question if we want to be holy, needs not our answer, because Jesus himself wants us to be holy. And He will give us the way to that holiness, by our suffering. He will and he did. Now let us look at many kinds of suffering that we have in our daily life.
First, one can suffer because of his sin, like a thief captured by the police and put into jail. He suffers because of his guilt. This kind of suffering will recall us to repentance if we are opened to grace of God and it will lead us to holiness as well. If we are not opened to the grace of God we often do the same sin again and again or even worse and worse. But God never stop to remind us to repentance by suffering we have.
Second, one can suffer because of love for another, like Jesus did or Moses or other prophets did to his people. We can also have this kind of suffering because of our love for our children or for someone else. The troops suffer in a war because of their love for their country. A father works hard because of his love for his family. This kind of love can be like a sacrifice that will guide us to holiness. We can accept this kind of suffering, can’t we? Because we know for what or for whom we suffer.
But there is the last kind of suffering that we don’t know why; we don’t understand why it happens. It is not because of our sin or others sin, nor because of the love for another. For example, the suffering someone has in an awful accident, or in a grave illness, like cancer or other terminal illness and so on … you see! We really don’t know why this happen to us. I know a mother who lost her 2 sons in one accident, hit by a truck and the driver was drunk. This truly caused great suffering to the mother, she can cry and protest to the Lord. She doesn’t know why this happened. But one thing we know in faith: that even in our suffering God never leaves us alone. Have you ever heard the story of the footprints on the sand? It shows us that at the height of our suffering, the Lord never leave us, on the contrary He holds us in his arms. Suffering is needed to test our faith, as gold is tested in the flame of fire. Bigger and bigger the fire so is more purified the gold. Bigger and bigger our suffering so is more purified our faith.
My brothers and sisters, I myself have to acknowledge that I don’t like suffering. But if Jesus wants me to share in his own, I will humbly accept it. I remember a mother said in TV that his son, a soldier, doesn’t want to go war, but he has to go. To follow Jesus is the same. We don’t like the way of the cross, but we have to. It is the only way to holiness. Only Jesus himself can make it possible for us to follow him in his way. Let us come closer to him. Let him work in our weakness that we will not be afraid anymore to suffer with Him, to walk with Him and to be holy in Him. Amen
Holy Trinity
My brothers and sisters,
Before my mother died many years ago, she gave us her children her last message, that we should not stay in our home town, but we have to go far if we want to succeed in our life. The last message of someone who is to leave us for ever is very important. Usually we will do every effort to accomplish the message, and we will not feel at peace before it is accomplished.
Jesus had two chances to leave his disciples. The first time, during the last supper, the vigil before he gave his life for our salvation, he gave His last message for His disciples to do Eucharist in remembering of Him. This then becomes the source of our spiritual life. We keep His message about Eucharist as our precious heritage in this world. Then the second chance before he ascended to heaven, leaving his disciples for ever after his resurrection, he gave another message, the last one, as same as important as the first one, a message for the disciples to go into the whole world to proclaim the gospel to every creature, to spread the good news to all nations, to continue Jesus work as a missionary.
I said that this is as same as important as the first one, because mission is one of the characteristic of the living faith, one of the sign of a living church. So we can say that mission is a continuing part of the Eucharist. We only truly celebrate the Eucharistic celebration if after that we are sent to the world, to mission, to where ever we are, to proclaim the good news. Have you ever done this?
So this task, to be missionaries, is not only a task for a certain persons, not only for priests or religious or catechist, but also for all of us who believe in Jesus. But it doesn’t mean that then you have to leave your daily life to go to mission to the South of America or to Asia or to Africa as I do, to come here. It doesn’t mean also that you have to go from door to door with the gospel in your hand. No, that is not our way of proclaiming the gospel.
We know that there are two kinds of way how to proclaim the gospel, how to spread the good news, the first is by our way of life and the second is by our words. (Do you know which one of them is easier to do, to proclaim the gospel by our life or by our words? To proclaim the good news by our words is easier, what we need is only: we can talk or we can teach, but how we live what we teach … it is not easy!)
My father once told me a story about one of his friends who were converted to a church. He came to my father to convert him to his church, saying: join us quickly; the door of heaven will be shut soon! And my father answered him: you said that you have been saved, but why didn’t you talk to each other, you and your wife who live in the same house? Yes, in reality, they hate each other for years. And also, once Nietzsche, an atheist philosopher, said: how can I believe that the Christians have been saved if their way of life does not show that. So the first way to proclaim the gospel is by our life. We live as a people that have been saved. We live as Jesus brothers and sisters; and this is obligatory for all of us. When people see our way of life, our good deeds and then they are interested in becoming catholic, then the second way of proclaiming the gospel, by words, by teaching will follow.
In my country I found several cases like this. Some people came to me asking to become catholic. The reason is they saw good catholic family, their neighbor who are full of love and care, not only for themselves but also for the people around them. They can see a true love in these catholic families. They can see the living gospel in them. And this is more interested than many other good preaching.
My brothers and sisters
Jesus is leaving us by his ascension to heaven. But he will not abandon us as an orphan. He promised to send us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide our life to a life that Jesus wants us to be. He gives us His last message to continue His mission. This message is very important and we will not feel at peace until we accomplish it in our life. Jesus believes that we can do that by the help of His Holy Spirit. We can do that and He will help us. We can make our life as a living gospel, so that many people not only can hear about Jesus, about love, but they can see it and they can feel it in our presence. So don’t forget this: when the mass is ended, we are all sent to mission. And your mission may be in your family, in your school, in your neighborhood or even in the street … As Jesus said, Go into every corner of your life and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Be His ambassador of love! … and God bless you.
Before my mother died many years ago, she gave us her children her last message, that we should not stay in our home town, but we have to go far if we want to succeed in our life. The last message of someone who is to leave us for ever is very important. Usually we will do every effort to accomplish the message, and we will not feel at peace before it is accomplished.
Jesus had two chances to leave his disciples. The first time, during the last supper, the vigil before he gave his life for our salvation, he gave His last message for His disciples to do Eucharist in remembering of Him. This then becomes the source of our spiritual life. We keep His message about Eucharist as our precious heritage in this world. Then the second chance before he ascended to heaven, leaving his disciples for ever after his resurrection, he gave another message, the last one, as same as important as the first one, a message for the disciples to go into the whole world to proclaim the gospel to every creature, to spread the good news to all nations, to continue Jesus work as a missionary.
I said that this is as same as important as the first one, because mission is one of the characteristic of the living faith, one of the sign of a living church. So we can say that mission is a continuing part of the Eucharist. We only truly celebrate the Eucharistic celebration if after that we are sent to the world, to mission, to where ever we are, to proclaim the good news. Have you ever done this?
So this task, to be missionaries, is not only a task for a certain persons, not only for priests or religious or catechist, but also for all of us who believe in Jesus. But it doesn’t mean that then you have to leave your daily life to go to mission to the South of America or to Asia or to Africa as I do, to come here. It doesn’t mean also that you have to go from door to door with the gospel in your hand. No, that is not our way of proclaiming the gospel.
We know that there are two kinds of way how to proclaim the gospel, how to spread the good news, the first is by our way of life and the second is by our words. (Do you know which one of them is easier to do, to proclaim the gospel by our life or by our words? To proclaim the good news by our words is easier, what we need is only: we can talk or we can teach, but how we live what we teach … it is not easy!)
My father once told me a story about one of his friends who were converted to a church. He came to my father to convert him to his church, saying: join us quickly; the door of heaven will be shut soon! And my father answered him: you said that you have been saved, but why didn’t you talk to each other, you and your wife who live in the same house? Yes, in reality, they hate each other for years. And also, once Nietzsche, an atheist philosopher, said: how can I believe that the Christians have been saved if their way of life does not show that. So the first way to proclaim the gospel is by our life. We live as a people that have been saved. We live as Jesus brothers and sisters; and this is obligatory for all of us. When people see our way of life, our good deeds and then they are interested in becoming catholic, then the second way of proclaiming the gospel, by words, by teaching will follow.
In my country I found several cases like this. Some people came to me asking to become catholic. The reason is they saw good catholic family, their neighbor who are full of love and care, not only for themselves but also for the people around them. They can see a true love in these catholic families. They can see the living gospel in them. And this is more interested than many other good preaching.
My brothers and sisters
Jesus is leaving us by his ascension to heaven. But he will not abandon us as an orphan. He promised to send us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide our life to a life that Jesus wants us to be. He gives us His last message to continue His mission. This message is very important and we will not feel at peace until we accomplish it in our life. Jesus believes that we can do that by the help of His Holy Spirit. We can do that and He will help us. We can make our life as a living gospel, so that many people not only can hear about Jesus, about love, but they can see it and they can feel it in our presence. So don’t forget this: when the mass is ended, we are all sent to mission. And your mission may be in your family, in your school, in your neighborhood or even in the street … As Jesus said, Go into every corner of your life and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Be His ambassador of love! … and God bless you.
Easter Sunday 7 - B
My brothers and sisters,
Before my mother died many years ago, she gave us her children her last message, that we should not stay in our home town, but we have to go far if we want to succeed in our life. The last message of someone who is to leave us for ever is very important. Usually we will do every effort to accomplish the message, and we will not feel at peace before it is accomplished.
Jesus had two chances to leave his disciples. The first time, during the last supper, the vigil before he gave his life for our salvation, he gave His last message for His disciples to do Eucharist in remembering of Him. This then becomes the source of our spiritual life. We keep His message about Eucharist as our precious heritage in this world. Then the second chance before he ascended to heaven, leaving his disciples for ever after his resurrection, he gave another message, the last one, as same as important as the first one, a message for the disciples to go into the whole world to proclaim the gospel to every creature, to spread the good news to all nations, to continue Jesus work as a missionary.
I said that this is as same as important as the first one, because mission is one of the characteristic of the living faith, one of the sign of a living church. So we can say that mission is a continuing part of the Eucharist. We only truly celebrate the Eucharistic celebration if after that we are sent to the world, to mission, to where ever we are, to proclaim the good news. Have you ever done this?
So this task, to be missionaries, is not only a task for a certain persons, not only for priests or religious or catechist, but also for all of us who believe in Jesus. But it doesn’t mean that then you have to leave your daily life to go to mission to the South of America or to Asia or to Africa as I do, to come here. It doesn’t mean also that you have to go from door to door with the gospel in your hand. No, that is not our way of proclaiming the gospel.
We know that there are two kinds of way how to proclaim the gospel, how to spread the good news, the first is by our way of life and the second is by our words. (Do you know which one of them is easier to do, to proclaim the gospel by our life or by our words? To proclaim the good news by our words is easier, what we need is only: we can talk or we can teach, but how we live what we teach … it is not easy!)
My father once told me a story about one of his friends who were converted to a church. He came to my father to convert him to his church, saying: join us quickly; the door of heaven will be shut soon! And my father answered him: you said that you have been saved, but why didn’t you talk to each other, you and your wife who live in the same house? Yes, in reality, they hate each other for years. And also, once Nietzsche, an atheist philosopher, said: how can I believe that the Christians have been saved if their way of life does not show that. So the first way to proclaim the gospel is by our life. We live as a people that have been saved. We live as Jesus brothers and sisters; and this is obligatory for all of us. When people see our way of life, our good deeds and then they are interested in becoming catholic, then the second way of proclaiming the gospel, by words, by teaching will follow.
In my country I found several cases like this. Some people came to me asking to become catholic. The reason is they saw good catholic family, their neighbor who are full of love and care, not only for themselves but also for the people around them. They can see a true love in these catholic families. They can see the living gospel in them. And this is more interested than many other good preaching.
My brothers and sisters
Jesus is leaving us by his ascension to heaven. But he will not abandon us as an orphan. He promised to send us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide our life to a life that Jesus wants us to be. He gives us His last message to continue His mission. This message is very important and we will not feel at peace until we accomplish it in our life. Jesus believes that we can do that by the help of His Holy Spirit. We can do that and He will help us. We can make our life as a living gospel, so that many people not only can hear about Jesus, about love, but they can see it and they can feel it in our presence. So don’t forget this: when the mass is ended, we are all sent to mission. And your mission may be in your family, in your school, in your neighborhood or even in the street … As Jesus said, Go into every corner of your life and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Be His ambassador of love! … and God bless you.
Before my mother died many years ago, she gave us her children her last message, that we should not stay in our home town, but we have to go far if we want to succeed in our life. The last message of someone who is to leave us for ever is very important. Usually we will do every effort to accomplish the message, and we will not feel at peace before it is accomplished.
Jesus had two chances to leave his disciples. The first time, during the last supper, the vigil before he gave his life for our salvation, he gave His last message for His disciples to do Eucharist in remembering of Him. This then becomes the source of our spiritual life. We keep His message about Eucharist as our precious heritage in this world. Then the second chance before he ascended to heaven, leaving his disciples for ever after his resurrection, he gave another message, the last one, as same as important as the first one, a message for the disciples to go into the whole world to proclaim the gospel to every creature, to spread the good news to all nations, to continue Jesus work as a missionary.
I said that this is as same as important as the first one, because mission is one of the characteristic of the living faith, one of the sign of a living church. So we can say that mission is a continuing part of the Eucharist. We only truly celebrate the Eucharistic celebration if after that we are sent to the world, to mission, to where ever we are, to proclaim the good news. Have you ever done this?
So this task, to be missionaries, is not only a task for a certain persons, not only for priests or religious or catechist, but also for all of us who believe in Jesus. But it doesn’t mean that then you have to leave your daily life to go to mission to the South of America or to Asia or to Africa as I do, to come here. It doesn’t mean also that you have to go from door to door with the gospel in your hand. No, that is not our way of proclaiming the gospel.
We know that there are two kinds of way how to proclaim the gospel, how to spread the good news, the first is by our way of life and the second is by our words. (Do you know which one of them is easier to do, to proclaim the gospel by our life or by our words? To proclaim the good news by our words is easier, what we need is only: we can talk or we can teach, but how we live what we teach … it is not easy!)
My father once told me a story about one of his friends who were converted to a church. He came to my father to convert him to his church, saying: join us quickly; the door of heaven will be shut soon! And my father answered him: you said that you have been saved, but why didn’t you talk to each other, you and your wife who live in the same house? Yes, in reality, they hate each other for years. And also, once Nietzsche, an atheist philosopher, said: how can I believe that the Christians have been saved if their way of life does not show that. So the first way to proclaim the gospel is by our life. We live as a people that have been saved. We live as Jesus brothers and sisters; and this is obligatory for all of us. When people see our way of life, our good deeds and then they are interested in becoming catholic, then the second way of proclaiming the gospel, by words, by teaching will follow.
In my country I found several cases like this. Some people came to me asking to become catholic. The reason is they saw good catholic family, their neighbor who are full of love and care, not only for themselves but also for the people around them. They can see a true love in these catholic families. They can see the living gospel in them. And this is more interested than many other good preaching.
My brothers and sisters
Jesus is leaving us by his ascension to heaven. But he will not abandon us as an orphan. He promised to send us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide our life to a life that Jesus wants us to be. He gives us His last message to continue His mission. This message is very important and we will not feel at peace until we accomplish it in our life. Jesus believes that we can do that by the help of His Holy Spirit. We can do that and He will help us. We can make our life as a living gospel, so that many people not only can hear about Jesus, about love, but they can see it and they can feel it in our presence. So don’t forget this: when the mass is ended, we are all sent to mission. And your mission may be in your family, in your school, in your neighborhood or even in the street … As Jesus said, Go into every corner of your life and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Be His ambassador of love! … and God bless you.
Easter Sunday 4 - B
My brothers and sisters!
Today is Mother’s Day. Happy are those who are mothers! What will you do on Mother’s Day? I have no idea about your custom here. In my country we celebrate Mother’s Day on December 22. I also don’t know much about this celebration. I have no mother anymore. She returned to her maker when I was still a boy of twelve years old. One thing I remember when she died. One of my cousin said that I had no love for my mother because I cried the least not as my brothers and my sister did. But she didn’t know how I cried in my room, in secret. I loved my mother but I let her go after having seen her suffering very much during her illness for a couple of years.
After a year of her death, I heard from my cousin that my father was looking for a new wife. I was angry. I didn’t agree. I said: If he marries again, I won’t know him anymore, I will go, and I will leave him. You know, these words that I said were told to my father. Before I went to bed that night, he called me and he said: Fut, he called my name, don’t worry, I will not marry again, because I can see your Mom in your face! I couldn’t hold my tears going out. I knew how he loved my mother.
He said that he could see my mother in my face. It means that I bring in myself the characteristic of my mother. That’s true because I am her son; I am her own flesh and blood. If you want to know how my mother looks like, just look at me. But she was prettier …
My brothers and sisters,
In the second reading we hear St. John said: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yes, we are children of God. Jesus has made us His brothers and sisters by his death and resurrection and by our faith in Him. If we are children of God, we also should take upon ourselves the characteristic of our heavenly Father.
Now the question is: what is the character of our heavenly Father? Jesus says in Luc 6, 36 “Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful” That is our Father’s character. He is merciful. We can see His mercy when He accepts the sinners, when He pardons the people who hate Him, the people who persecute Him.
If we love reading the Bible, we will find many wonderful characteristics of our Father in Heaven. Jesus himself presents the Father. If we know Jesus better, we will know better the Father.
In the Gospel today, Jesus talks about one of His characteristic: to care as a shepherd. We can see His love in the image of the good shepherd. We can see what relation he has with his sheep. He knows the name of each of his sheep and the sheep know his voice. He lays down his life for the sheep and the sheep obey him wherever He leads them.
Actually this image does not differ from an image of a mother. We can see a life of a good shepherd in the life of a good mother. How she loves her children, how the children love her. The children, even as a baby, know her voice. How she cares of her children. I remember how my mother helped me in bathroom, when I was a young boy of course, how she brushed my feet; how she shampooed my hair … She was a true shepherd.
When I came to know Jesus and to have faith in Him, especially when I entered into the religious life, I realized that the love that Jesus taught was the same love as I experienced in being loved by my mother. I am sure that for most of us, the first and the greatest love that we have ever had is the love from our parents, and especially from our mother. We have to thank God because of this. I know some people may find it difficult to love because they didn’t have this experience of being loved, while they were young. In Latin it is said: nemo dat quod non habet. It means: we cannot give what we do not have. So we only can love if we have love, or if we have been loved.
My brothers and sisters, if there are some among you who have a different experience; maybe you feel that your mother did not love you as you wished she would have … I want to tell you. Don’t be angry with her. Forgive her! Maybe she also had a poor love. She might have had a very, very little experience too in being loved. Maybe her father or her mother didn’t know how to love her when she was young, so she also didn’t know how to love you.
But we have to cut this chain of unknowing to love. We have to love our children with a true love, so that they can grow as God wants us to raise them. We have to learn how to love. So come to the source of love itself, Jesus Christ. We will learn from Him. He will teach us. You will be a good parent; you will be a good mother, like a good shepherd, like Jesus the Lord. Happy Mother’s Day! God bless you! Amen.
Today is Mother’s Day. Happy are those who are mothers! What will you do on Mother’s Day? I have no idea about your custom here. In my country we celebrate Mother’s Day on December 22. I also don’t know much about this celebration. I have no mother anymore. She returned to her maker when I was still a boy of twelve years old. One thing I remember when she died. One of my cousin said that I had no love for my mother because I cried the least not as my brothers and my sister did. But she didn’t know how I cried in my room, in secret. I loved my mother but I let her go after having seen her suffering very much during her illness for a couple of years.
After a year of her death, I heard from my cousin that my father was looking for a new wife. I was angry. I didn’t agree. I said: If he marries again, I won’t know him anymore, I will go, and I will leave him. You know, these words that I said were told to my father. Before I went to bed that night, he called me and he said: Fut, he called my name, don’t worry, I will not marry again, because I can see your Mom in your face! I couldn’t hold my tears going out. I knew how he loved my mother.
He said that he could see my mother in my face. It means that I bring in myself the characteristic of my mother. That’s true because I am her son; I am her own flesh and blood. If you want to know how my mother looks like, just look at me. But she was prettier …
My brothers and sisters,
In the second reading we hear St. John said: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yes, we are children of God. Jesus has made us His brothers and sisters by his death and resurrection and by our faith in Him. If we are children of God, we also should take upon ourselves the characteristic of our heavenly Father.
Now the question is: what is the character of our heavenly Father? Jesus says in Luc 6, 36 “Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful” That is our Father’s character. He is merciful. We can see His mercy when He accepts the sinners, when He pardons the people who hate Him, the people who persecute Him.
If we love reading the Bible, we will find many wonderful characteristics of our Father in Heaven. Jesus himself presents the Father. If we know Jesus better, we will know better the Father.
In the Gospel today, Jesus talks about one of His characteristic: to care as a shepherd. We can see His love in the image of the good shepherd. We can see what relation he has with his sheep. He knows the name of each of his sheep and the sheep know his voice. He lays down his life for the sheep and the sheep obey him wherever He leads them.
Actually this image does not differ from an image of a mother. We can see a life of a good shepherd in the life of a good mother. How she loves her children, how the children love her. The children, even as a baby, know her voice. How she cares of her children. I remember how my mother helped me in bathroom, when I was a young boy of course, how she brushed my feet; how she shampooed my hair … She was a true shepherd.
When I came to know Jesus and to have faith in Him, especially when I entered into the religious life, I realized that the love that Jesus taught was the same love as I experienced in being loved by my mother. I am sure that for most of us, the first and the greatest love that we have ever had is the love from our parents, and especially from our mother. We have to thank God because of this. I know some people may find it difficult to love because they didn’t have this experience of being loved, while they were young. In Latin it is said: nemo dat quod non habet. It means: we cannot give what we do not have. So we only can love if we have love, or if we have been loved.
My brothers and sisters, if there are some among you who have a different experience; maybe you feel that your mother did not love you as you wished she would have … I want to tell you. Don’t be angry with her. Forgive her! Maybe she also had a poor love. She might have had a very, very little experience too in being loved. Maybe her father or her mother didn’t know how to love her when she was young, so she also didn’t know how to love you.
But we have to cut this chain of unknowing to love. We have to love our children with a true love, so that they can grow as God wants us to raise them. We have to learn how to love. So come to the source of love itself, Jesus Christ. We will learn from Him. He will teach us. You will be a good parent; you will be a good mother, like a good shepherd, like Jesus the Lord. Happy Mother’s Day! God bless you! Amen.
Easter Sunday 3 - B
In 1960s in China, when the Christians lived their faith in secret, there was a catechist who was captured, tortured and killed by the communist police. One of his catechumens sold him for a sum of money like Judas did to Jesus. Then the Christians took his body to be buried. While they were washing his body, they found in his pocket a note written: Luc 24, 39 “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself” Jesus was recognized by His disciples through His wounds, he said, and so His disciples will be recognized through their wounds as well. This was the belief of the catechist, that people will know him as a follower of Jesus through his wounds and suffering. He got that.
Now my question is: what is your belief? How do people know that you are catholic?
Maybe some peoples will say that the sign of the cross is our identity. But I found in my country, where catholic is only 2% of the population, many Catholics were ashamed or afraid of the making sign of the cross in public. For example when they have lunch in a restaurant, they will make the sign of the cross under the table … or in secret.
In John 13, 35 Jesus said, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” So according to Jesus, the mutual love is the characteristic of our discipleship. But talking about love, Jesus doesn’t ask us to love only our brothers and sisters who love us, but also our enemy. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them,” Jesus said in Luc 6, 32.
Now we can see the relation between the belief of that Chinese catechist and Jesus teaching. According to the catechist, wounds are the characteristic of Jesus’ followers. Who made the wounds? It was our enemies and also it often happened that it was our loved ones, who ate at the same table or who slept in the same bed, your husband or wife or our parent, who hurt us! But anyhow we have to love them, even though it hurts us in our heart, even though they wounded us.
The wounds that will be our discipleship characteristic must not be bleeding anymore because they were cured by our love for those who did it. They still leave a scar, a mark left on the skin after a wound but they did not hurt anymore. Do you have this kind of wound? A mother may have this scar when she bore her child with surgical operation; this is a sign of love too. But more than this physical wound, we also have mental scars because of rejection, curse or evil words, because of being despised etc.
I want to share you my experience about this kind of wound. When I was in the seminary, I realized that there was something wrong with my emotional life. I was very vulnerable. My friends said that they had to be careful with me because I was like a cracked mirror. If someone touched it, it would break with a loud strike. It means that I could easily get angry when someone harassed me. I realized that I had too much anger, my reaction was not normal, but I didn’t know why. The time came, when I attended a healing retreat, I found the source of my over-reaction to anger. I remembered what happened one evening, when I was six or seven, my parent quarreled and my Mom cried. I heard why, because that morning my Dad was asked to come to my grandmother’s to slay a pig for the feast of her anniversary. There was my Grandma’s younger brother. He despised my father saying, poor son-in-law is coming for meals early in the morning! When my father heard that he returned home soon without doing his job, without coming to the feast. My mother knew about this incident in the evening when we were home, and I heard them talking about the incident. This really made me hurt and I was very angry and I kept this anger and hurt for years. I hated that man who despised my parent. I was wounded.
So I carried the wound for years. Every time someone touched the wound in any way I felt hurt … I knew that I had to cure the wound by forgiving that man. I prayed and I prayed to Lord Jesus. It was difficult for me to forgive him but I asked Jesus to forgive him. I could not do that but Jesus could. Little by little I found peace in my heart. After a few years I returned home for my first mass, I visited that man … and at that time I realized that I had no anger for him anymore. I had forgiven him. The wound was healed. My friends could see that I was changed. The wound didn’t hurt me anymore. But the scar is still here as a sign of love and forgiveness.
So I understand the Chinese catechist’s belief that we will be recognized as disciples of Jesus through our wounds, but the wounds are not bloody anymore. Jesus showed the wounds in his hands and his feet. At that time, because of His love for us, the wounds were drying and did not hurt Him anymore.. He had no anger but peace. The peace He gave to his disciples: “Peace be with you!”
We do receive this peace if we also have no bloody wound but only scars of the wounds. Let us thank Jesus. He wants us to keep His peace in our life, He wants us to forgive everyone that hurts us, and He wants us to be free, free from our wounds and free to love and to serve Him in our brothers and sisters in peace. That is the fruit of resurrection. We are raised with Jesus. Amen
Now my question is: what is your belief? How do people know that you are catholic?
Maybe some peoples will say that the sign of the cross is our identity. But I found in my country, where catholic is only 2% of the population, many Catholics were ashamed or afraid of the making sign of the cross in public. For example when they have lunch in a restaurant, they will make the sign of the cross under the table … or in secret.
In John 13, 35 Jesus said, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” So according to Jesus, the mutual love is the characteristic of our discipleship. But talking about love, Jesus doesn’t ask us to love only our brothers and sisters who love us, but also our enemy. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them,” Jesus said in Luc 6, 32.
Now we can see the relation between the belief of that Chinese catechist and Jesus teaching. According to the catechist, wounds are the characteristic of Jesus’ followers. Who made the wounds? It was our enemies and also it often happened that it was our loved ones, who ate at the same table or who slept in the same bed, your husband or wife or our parent, who hurt us! But anyhow we have to love them, even though it hurts us in our heart, even though they wounded us.
The wounds that will be our discipleship characteristic must not be bleeding anymore because they were cured by our love for those who did it. They still leave a scar, a mark left on the skin after a wound but they did not hurt anymore. Do you have this kind of wound? A mother may have this scar when she bore her child with surgical operation; this is a sign of love too. But more than this physical wound, we also have mental scars because of rejection, curse or evil words, because of being despised etc.
I want to share you my experience about this kind of wound. When I was in the seminary, I realized that there was something wrong with my emotional life. I was very vulnerable. My friends said that they had to be careful with me because I was like a cracked mirror. If someone touched it, it would break with a loud strike. It means that I could easily get angry when someone harassed me. I realized that I had too much anger, my reaction was not normal, but I didn’t know why. The time came, when I attended a healing retreat, I found the source of my over-reaction to anger. I remembered what happened one evening, when I was six or seven, my parent quarreled and my Mom cried. I heard why, because that morning my Dad was asked to come to my grandmother’s to slay a pig for the feast of her anniversary. There was my Grandma’s younger brother. He despised my father saying, poor son-in-law is coming for meals early in the morning! When my father heard that he returned home soon without doing his job, without coming to the feast. My mother knew about this incident in the evening when we were home, and I heard them talking about the incident. This really made me hurt and I was very angry and I kept this anger and hurt for years. I hated that man who despised my parent. I was wounded.
So I carried the wound for years. Every time someone touched the wound in any way I felt hurt … I knew that I had to cure the wound by forgiving that man. I prayed and I prayed to Lord Jesus. It was difficult for me to forgive him but I asked Jesus to forgive him. I could not do that but Jesus could. Little by little I found peace in my heart. After a few years I returned home for my first mass, I visited that man … and at that time I realized that I had no anger for him anymore. I had forgiven him. The wound was healed. My friends could see that I was changed. The wound didn’t hurt me anymore. But the scar is still here as a sign of love and forgiveness.
So I understand the Chinese catechist’s belief that we will be recognized as disciples of Jesus through our wounds, but the wounds are not bloody anymore. Jesus showed the wounds in his hands and his feet. At that time, because of His love for us, the wounds were drying and did not hurt Him anymore.. He had no anger but peace. The peace He gave to his disciples: “Peace be with you!”
We do receive this peace if we also have no bloody wound but only scars of the wounds. Let us thank Jesus. He wants us to keep His peace in our life, He wants us to forgive everyone that hurts us, and He wants us to be free, free from our wounds and free to love and to serve Him in our brothers and sisters in peace. That is the fruit of resurrection. We are raised with Jesus. Amen
Easter Vigil
My brothers and sisters,
One day I asked Jesus why, after his resurrection, did he present himself alive for the first time to a woman? I asked this not because I am a man and I am jealous to the woman. No I am not. I asked Jesus this because I know a little about Jewish traditional customs: that a woman cannot be a witness. If there is a case in court and the witness is a woman, so her testimony is not valid, her witness has no value. This was the custom in Jesus time. Jesus knew this and Jesus knew that his resurrection must be proclaimed to everybody, especially to his disciples. So why did he appear to Mary Magdalene for the first time? Not to Peter or other disciple? Jesus gave me no answer. So I was thinking of several possible answers.
First, maybe Jesus knew that women have a special talent to transfer news, such as rumor or gossip. Excuse me! I’m talking about women in Indonesia that I know. I don’t know how about you here. Maybe you are different. In Indonesia people says: If two women see each other, there will be a market, very noisy. They cannot keep news for themselves, especially great news. And Jesus wanted to use this talent to spread his great news of resurrection. Maybe!
The second possibility, it might be because Jesus loves women more than men. But I thought that Jesus loves all mankind. In the Bible we know that John was the one that Jesus loved. So I didn’t believe this was the answer.
The third possibility is: maybe women love Jesus more than men do. I can see in many churches that there are more women than men, not because of the man-priest! Maybe Mary Magdalene loved Jesus more than the eleven apostles? Maybe!
The last possibility that I found is: we know that Jesus was raised from the dead very early in the morning. And in my experience I know my mother is the first person who wakes up early in the morning in my family. And my mother is a woman too. So woman used to wake up when the day is still dark. That’s why a woman had the honor to find Jesus risen from the dead for the first time. But this answer is not very scientific. So I surrendered to Jesus. Whatever his choice, he appeared to a man or to a woman, that was His choice. That was the fact that had happened. Not a story made up by His apostles or by any other man, the fact that Jesus was truly raised. The most important thing for us is Jesus has really been raised. He is alive. If Jesus has not been raised, then empty is our preaching, said St. Paul and empty too your faith, and there is no sense for me to be a priest (or to be a religious), and there is no sense as well for me to come here, to be with you to celebrate this Eucharist. And the most pitiable of all if Jesus has not been raised is we still live in darkness, we have not yet been saved. But fortunately Jesus is really alive. Alleluia!
What does it mean for each of us? For me, the resurrection of Jesus means that I am not a stupid man who leaves the normal life for something in vain to follow Him. The resurrection of Jesus makes me aware of the reason for what I was born, why I live and for what aim I’ll die. It means that my life has a meaning and an aim in Lord Jesus. Our faith in Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope that our life is not only in this world, that the suffering in this world is not the end of all.
I know an old man who had been lying in bed for a couple of months because of his grave terminal illness. One day I visited him. He posed me a question that needed not my answer: Father, he said, do you know why the Lord Jesus let me lie like this for months? Why? I asked him. To let me look upward always! He said. He saw his suffering as a way from God to help him to think of God and eternal life with God, to prepare his new life with the Lord Jesus in heaven. In this man’s faith I could see the resurrection, while he was still in this world.
I know a mother who lost her two only sons in one accident, hit by a truck and the driver was drunk. She was really in deep grief, but at last she could say: the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, as Job said. In this suffering mother I saw: there is resurrection.
There is another mother who was left by her husband. Her husband ran to another woman. And she had to work hard to take care and to raise her three children. One day he told me that if her husband wants to return back, she could accept him. In her forgiveness I can see the resurrection.
You see, my brothers and sisters, where there are faith, hope and love we can find the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Jesus is alive in us! The resurrection is not a matter of the past but it is now, in you and in me, in our family. Let us make it really present so that our life will be the light for others. Happy Easter! Amen
One day I asked Jesus why, after his resurrection, did he present himself alive for the first time to a woman? I asked this not because I am a man and I am jealous to the woman. No I am not. I asked Jesus this because I know a little about Jewish traditional customs: that a woman cannot be a witness. If there is a case in court and the witness is a woman, so her testimony is not valid, her witness has no value. This was the custom in Jesus time. Jesus knew this and Jesus knew that his resurrection must be proclaimed to everybody, especially to his disciples. So why did he appear to Mary Magdalene for the first time? Not to Peter or other disciple? Jesus gave me no answer. So I was thinking of several possible answers.
First, maybe Jesus knew that women have a special talent to transfer news, such as rumor or gossip. Excuse me! I’m talking about women in Indonesia that I know. I don’t know how about you here. Maybe you are different. In Indonesia people says: If two women see each other, there will be a market, very noisy. They cannot keep news for themselves, especially great news. And Jesus wanted to use this talent to spread his great news of resurrection. Maybe!
The second possibility, it might be because Jesus loves women more than men. But I thought that Jesus loves all mankind. In the Bible we know that John was the one that Jesus loved. So I didn’t believe this was the answer.
The third possibility is: maybe women love Jesus more than men do. I can see in many churches that there are more women than men, not because of the man-priest! Maybe Mary Magdalene loved Jesus more than the eleven apostles? Maybe!
The last possibility that I found is: we know that Jesus was raised from the dead very early in the morning. And in my experience I know my mother is the first person who wakes up early in the morning in my family. And my mother is a woman too. So woman used to wake up when the day is still dark. That’s why a woman had the honor to find Jesus risen from the dead for the first time. But this answer is not very scientific. So I surrendered to Jesus. Whatever his choice, he appeared to a man or to a woman, that was His choice. That was the fact that had happened. Not a story made up by His apostles or by any other man, the fact that Jesus was truly raised. The most important thing for us is Jesus has really been raised. He is alive. If Jesus has not been raised, then empty is our preaching, said St. Paul and empty too your faith, and there is no sense for me to be a priest (or to be a religious), and there is no sense as well for me to come here, to be with you to celebrate this Eucharist. And the most pitiable of all if Jesus has not been raised is we still live in darkness, we have not yet been saved. But fortunately Jesus is really alive. Alleluia!
What does it mean for each of us? For me, the resurrection of Jesus means that I am not a stupid man who leaves the normal life for something in vain to follow Him. The resurrection of Jesus makes me aware of the reason for what I was born, why I live and for what aim I’ll die. It means that my life has a meaning and an aim in Lord Jesus. Our faith in Jesus’ resurrection gives us hope that our life is not only in this world, that the suffering in this world is not the end of all.
I know an old man who had been lying in bed for a couple of months because of his grave terminal illness. One day I visited him. He posed me a question that needed not my answer: Father, he said, do you know why the Lord Jesus let me lie like this for months? Why? I asked him. To let me look upward always! He said. He saw his suffering as a way from God to help him to think of God and eternal life with God, to prepare his new life with the Lord Jesus in heaven. In this man’s faith I could see the resurrection, while he was still in this world.
I know a mother who lost her two only sons in one accident, hit by a truck and the driver was drunk. She was really in deep grief, but at last she could say: the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, as Job said. In this suffering mother I saw: there is resurrection.
There is another mother who was left by her husband. Her husband ran to another woman. And she had to work hard to take care and to raise her three children. One day he told me that if her husband wants to return back, she could accept him. In her forgiveness I can see the resurrection.
You see, my brothers and sisters, where there are faith, hope and love we can find the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Jesus is alive in us! The resurrection is not a matter of the past but it is now, in you and in me, in our family. Let us make it really present so that our life will be the light for others. Happy Easter! Amen
Body and Blood
My brothers and sisters,
Today as we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we ask ourselves what the Eucharist means to us, how we recognize the presence of Jesus in our lives through receiving the Eucharist every Sunday or even every day. Do we really love to go to church or do we feel it as a burden or duty that we have to do?
What is your motivation to go to church? We can see there are some people who go to church because they feel that it is an obligation. Such people go to church every Sunday according to the Church Law. But there are also some people who go to church not because of the law but because they need it or they love to go. The reason is a necessity from inside, not an obligation from outside but it comes from within. You see the difference between them? Consider, for example, a child, who doesn’t like his meal, we have to push him to eat, because he doesn’t realize yet the meaning of eating. But for an older boy, normally nobody will push him to eat. He himself will look for food, because he needs it. Eating for him and for most of us is not obligatory from outside but from inside: it is a necessity. How about you? Do you feel that going to church as an obligation or a necessity?
I know an old man, who loves going to daily mass every morning. One day his daughter told me, that from Thursday to Saturday the Old man fasts, he only eats rice without meat or vegetables. He wants to prepare himself for the Sunday mass. Three days fasting for him is a worthy preparation to meet Jesus in the Eucharist. I was amazed by his faith, how he appreciates the Eucharist.
You know, we can explain how to go to church as if a young man is going on a date. For example, if he has a date on Saturday evening at six, he is thinking of that all the days during the week, on Thursday he is thinking of the clothes he is going to wear, on Friday, he is thinking of what he is going to talk to her about, on Saturday noon he takes a bath, sprays himself with perfume … he is ready, but he still has to wait 3 or 4 hours more before the time and he feels that the time moves very slowly … he is not patient anymore. Did you have such experiences? I did!
When we go to church on Sunday we are like that young man, we want to meet our loved one. Do you see Jesus as someone that you love? That is the problem! Many people have not yet seen Jesus as the one that he or she loves. In fact Jesus does love us. What he did at the last supper is the proof of His love. When he gave himself in the form of bread and wine, saying: Do this in remember of me, He wants us not to forget Him. It is the same as we do if our best friend or our loved one would go far for a long time, we give him our picture, saying: don’t forget me or remember me always. That the sign of our love. Eucharist is a sign of love from Jesus. The Eucharist is Jesus’ sacrifice for us. When he did the last supper, he did it as a self-giving that he actualized it in a true sense on the cross the day after. So every time we celebrate Eucharist, we recall Jesus and proclaim our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again. The Eucharist becomes the center of our faith celebration.
Do you realize how precious the Eucharist is? For us who can receive communion every Sunday, or even everyday if we want, may be we think that it is normal, we don’t see the depth of its meaning. But imagine a place where there is no available priest such as in many out-station parishes in Madagascar, or also in some regions in Indonesia. They only have mass once a year. In Madagascar in 1997, I was visiting several churches in a mountain, walking by foot 5 or 6 hours a day, when a group of men came to me from another mountain, asking me to visit their church also, because it had been 5 years since they had had a mass, because the missionary who was in charge for that outstation was too old to go to the mountain. It was very sad. I told them that I would come. When I arrived there, they welcomed me as if I were a King. First I heard their confessions and then we celebrated the Mass. It was really a great celebration of faith after 5 years without a mass. They joyfully sang and danced during the mass. They were really hungry of the food of faith.
Sometimes it is good if we have bad experiences, for example to have no house, so we can appreciate our home; or an experience of starving, no food to eat, so we can appreciate our food and also an experience to have no priest for a long time to celebrate the Eucharist … so we can realize how we need Jesus who is present in the Holy Communion. But you don’t have to chase away your pastor … to have an appreciation to the Eucharist. This feast of the Body and Blood of Christ will remind us how lucky we are and how we should thank God for His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus that we experience through the Eucharist. May He bless us all who participate in His Body and Blood; may he give us strength through the Holy Communion that we receive; and may we know how to response to His love by our devotion to Jesus the Lord and by our love for others. Amen
Today as we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we ask ourselves what the Eucharist means to us, how we recognize the presence of Jesus in our lives through receiving the Eucharist every Sunday or even every day. Do we really love to go to church or do we feel it as a burden or duty that we have to do?
What is your motivation to go to church? We can see there are some people who go to church because they feel that it is an obligation. Such people go to church every Sunday according to the Church Law. But there are also some people who go to church not because of the law but because they need it or they love to go. The reason is a necessity from inside, not an obligation from outside but it comes from within. You see the difference between them? Consider, for example, a child, who doesn’t like his meal, we have to push him to eat, because he doesn’t realize yet the meaning of eating. But for an older boy, normally nobody will push him to eat. He himself will look for food, because he needs it. Eating for him and for most of us is not obligatory from outside but from inside: it is a necessity. How about you? Do you feel that going to church as an obligation or a necessity?
I know an old man, who loves going to daily mass every morning. One day his daughter told me, that from Thursday to Saturday the Old man fasts, he only eats rice without meat or vegetables. He wants to prepare himself for the Sunday mass. Three days fasting for him is a worthy preparation to meet Jesus in the Eucharist. I was amazed by his faith, how he appreciates the Eucharist.
You know, we can explain how to go to church as if a young man is going on a date. For example, if he has a date on Saturday evening at six, he is thinking of that all the days during the week, on Thursday he is thinking of the clothes he is going to wear, on Friday, he is thinking of what he is going to talk to her about, on Saturday noon he takes a bath, sprays himself with perfume … he is ready, but he still has to wait 3 or 4 hours more before the time and he feels that the time moves very slowly … he is not patient anymore. Did you have such experiences? I did!
When we go to church on Sunday we are like that young man, we want to meet our loved one. Do you see Jesus as someone that you love? That is the problem! Many people have not yet seen Jesus as the one that he or she loves. In fact Jesus does love us. What he did at the last supper is the proof of His love. When he gave himself in the form of bread and wine, saying: Do this in remember of me, He wants us not to forget Him. It is the same as we do if our best friend or our loved one would go far for a long time, we give him our picture, saying: don’t forget me or remember me always. That the sign of our love. Eucharist is a sign of love from Jesus. The Eucharist is Jesus’ sacrifice for us. When he did the last supper, he did it as a self-giving that he actualized it in a true sense on the cross the day after. So every time we celebrate Eucharist, we recall Jesus and proclaim our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again. The Eucharist becomes the center of our faith celebration.
Do you realize how precious the Eucharist is? For us who can receive communion every Sunday, or even everyday if we want, may be we think that it is normal, we don’t see the depth of its meaning. But imagine a place where there is no available priest such as in many out-station parishes in Madagascar, or also in some regions in Indonesia. They only have mass once a year. In Madagascar in 1997, I was visiting several churches in a mountain, walking by foot 5 or 6 hours a day, when a group of men came to me from another mountain, asking me to visit their church also, because it had been 5 years since they had had a mass, because the missionary who was in charge for that outstation was too old to go to the mountain. It was very sad. I told them that I would come. When I arrived there, they welcomed me as if I were a King. First I heard their confessions and then we celebrated the Mass. It was really a great celebration of faith after 5 years without a mass. They joyfully sang and danced during the mass. They were really hungry of the food of faith.
Sometimes it is good if we have bad experiences, for example to have no house, so we can appreciate our home; or an experience of starving, no food to eat, so we can appreciate our food and also an experience to have no priest for a long time to celebrate the Eucharist … so we can realize how we need Jesus who is present in the Holy Communion. But you don’t have to chase away your pastor … to have an appreciation to the Eucharist. This feast of the Body and Blood of Christ will remind us how lucky we are and how we should thank God for His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus that we experience through the Eucharist. May He bless us all who participate in His Body and Blood; may he give us strength through the Holy Communion that we receive; and may we know how to response to His love by our devotion to Jesus the Lord and by our love for others. Amen
23rd Sunday - B
Have you any experience to be freed or to be liberated by Jesus? The story in today’s gospel is not only a story of healing, but a story of liberation. The man was under the shackles of Satan. He lived in darkness. It is a symbol of human agony under the pressure of slavery. Jesus came to make him free. Can you imagine how thankful he was …?
Are you a free? How do you understand your freedom?
I remember when I came to the US; I stayed about 2 months in St. Louis. Fr. John welcomed me saying, “You are in a free country now.” But one day while I was jogging in one sunny evening, there were two teenagers followed me and then suddenly one of them punched me in my cheek. Then they run away laughing. When I told this to Fr. John, he said that the neighborhood was not good. You will be killed only for one dollar, he said. He and other priest don’t go out walking in the street. It is not safe. If they want to do physical exercise they only walk in the Church. They don’t dare to go out. Then I answer him: How can you say that you have your freedom in this country, if you cannot go out for a walk?
Fear or anxiety can make us not free. Sometimes we can do nothing because of fear. If we want to go abroad by plane, but we are afraid if the plane will crash down or be hijacked by terrorist, then we can go nowhere. We cannot go to a mall, because of the fear of bomb attack. We cannot go out side of the house, because we are afraid there would be an accident. We cannot cook food, because we are afraid if it will burn the house … so what can we do unless just waiting for the funeral?
About this, there was someone who tried to count how many times that the Lord said “don’t be afraid” in the bible. You know, he found 365 times. It means that each day God says to us “don’t be afraid” for all the year. So the key is we believe in God; we have faith. Jesus doesn’t want us to live in fear. He wants to free us. Believe in Him and you will be free.
But the problem in today’s gospel is not about fear, but about blindness and deaf. This problem is more difficult than fear because in fact most of us can see and hear. We don’t realize that sometimes we are blind and deaf too.
Saint James in the second reading gives us an example. We are blind if we welcome people according to their appearance, according to their clothes, according to their credit card. We are deaf if we cannot hear the yearning of people around us … I remember a story of a husband who thought that his wife was already deaf. One day he called his wife from another room in the house. He heard no answer. Then he stepped forward at the door and called again. He still heard nothing. Finally he came closer behind his wife and called her again. This time he heard his wife saying, “Yes my dear, for the third time I answer you, what’s matter?” So who is deaf?
This kind of blindness and deafness also makes us not free. If we have criteria about who will be my guess, it means that our door is limited. We cannot accept every one; we limit or restrict ourselves so we are not free. If we cannot hear other people’s yearning, it means that we don’t care about others. We see nothing about others’ suffering; we live in our own world and usually it is not a big world but a narrow one, narrow minded, like in a cell. So we are not free.
On the contrary, if we are opened, we can accept every body, the poor and the rich, if we can talk to every one, we can be friend to all … so we can really enjoy our freedom. So also if we can hear the weakest yearning of the suffering, we have heart opened, we have compassion; we can leave our own life for others … this is a true freedom.
My brothers and sisters, you know it is easy for me to preach you about these things. But frankly I tell you that some times I have difficulties also to practice it in my life. For example when I was in Indonesia, people came to me many times to ask financial help or to consult their problems … and some times I felt full … but I had to hear them not only with my eras but also with my heart. So even though I am also still striving to be freed by Jesus, I am not in doubt to preach you these. Because there was a saint who said: let the preachers be taught by their preaching. So while preaching for you, I preach for myself too. That’s why I ask you, let us make a race: who will be freed most by Jesus, who will arrive at the finish line first, who will gain the crown of eternal life. Don’t be in haste. Life is struggle and challenge, but Jesus is always with us.
Are you a free? How do you understand your freedom?
I remember when I came to the US; I stayed about 2 months in St. Louis. Fr. John welcomed me saying, “You are in a free country now.” But one day while I was jogging in one sunny evening, there were two teenagers followed me and then suddenly one of them punched me in my cheek. Then they run away laughing. When I told this to Fr. John, he said that the neighborhood was not good. You will be killed only for one dollar, he said. He and other priest don’t go out walking in the street. It is not safe. If they want to do physical exercise they only walk in the Church. They don’t dare to go out. Then I answer him: How can you say that you have your freedom in this country, if you cannot go out for a walk?
Fear or anxiety can make us not free. Sometimes we can do nothing because of fear. If we want to go abroad by plane, but we are afraid if the plane will crash down or be hijacked by terrorist, then we can go nowhere. We cannot go to a mall, because of the fear of bomb attack. We cannot go out side of the house, because we are afraid there would be an accident. We cannot cook food, because we are afraid if it will burn the house … so what can we do unless just waiting for the funeral?
About this, there was someone who tried to count how many times that the Lord said “don’t be afraid” in the bible. You know, he found 365 times. It means that each day God says to us “don’t be afraid” for all the year. So the key is we believe in God; we have faith. Jesus doesn’t want us to live in fear. He wants to free us. Believe in Him and you will be free.
But the problem in today’s gospel is not about fear, but about blindness and deaf. This problem is more difficult than fear because in fact most of us can see and hear. We don’t realize that sometimes we are blind and deaf too.
Saint James in the second reading gives us an example. We are blind if we welcome people according to their appearance, according to their clothes, according to their credit card. We are deaf if we cannot hear the yearning of people around us … I remember a story of a husband who thought that his wife was already deaf. One day he called his wife from another room in the house. He heard no answer. Then he stepped forward at the door and called again. He still heard nothing. Finally he came closer behind his wife and called her again. This time he heard his wife saying, “Yes my dear, for the third time I answer you, what’s matter?” So who is deaf?
This kind of blindness and deafness also makes us not free. If we have criteria about who will be my guess, it means that our door is limited. We cannot accept every one; we limit or restrict ourselves so we are not free. If we cannot hear other people’s yearning, it means that we don’t care about others. We see nothing about others’ suffering; we live in our own world and usually it is not a big world but a narrow one, narrow minded, like in a cell. So we are not free.
On the contrary, if we are opened, we can accept every body, the poor and the rich, if we can talk to every one, we can be friend to all … so we can really enjoy our freedom. So also if we can hear the weakest yearning of the suffering, we have heart opened, we have compassion; we can leave our own life for others … this is a true freedom.
My brothers and sisters, you know it is easy for me to preach you about these things. But frankly I tell you that some times I have difficulties also to practice it in my life. For example when I was in Indonesia, people came to me many times to ask financial help or to consult their problems … and some times I felt full … but I had to hear them not only with my eras but also with my heart. So even though I am also still striving to be freed by Jesus, I am not in doubt to preach you these. Because there was a saint who said: let the preachers be taught by their preaching. So while preaching for you, I preach for myself too. That’s why I ask you, let us make a race: who will be freed most by Jesus, who will arrive at the finish line first, who will gain the crown of eternal life. Don’t be in haste. Life is struggle and challenge, but Jesus is always with us.
22nd Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters!
In today’s gospel we hear how Jesus criticized the Pharisees who honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. Jesus hates hypocrites. Let us look also to ourselves what it means if we say that we are believers; how we live our faith; how we understand as a member of the church.
As a believer first we should understand that it is not about having religion, but having faith. A believer can be seen as a member of a church or of a denomination, as we can say about ourselves as a catholic, a member of the Catholic Church. But this identity is very artificial. The most important to be a believer is we have faith. In the creed first we say that we believe in God, and then in Jesus Christ, and last but not least we say that we believe in the Holy Spirit. In the relation with the Holy Spirit who guides the Church we also say that we believe in the Holy Catholic Church with all his teachings about the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the eternal life. But faith is not only an acknowledgement on our lips. Faith is relational. If we say that we have faith, we have a relation with the God the Trinity. In reality, the relation in faith with God we realize in a relation of love. We will have a close relation, a true faith if we have much love to God and to our brothers and sisters.
Second, if we acknowledge that we are believers, we can see ourselves, if being a catholic is a burden for us or a privilege; we are happy and proud as a catholic or religion makes us stress. Jesus came to the world to save us, to make us free. If we experience our religious life as a burden, it means that we misunderstand our faith. We have to be re-evangelized; we have to deepen again our understanding about our religion, about our faith.
If we understand that the laws from God and from the Church as something that make us in fetters, we are not a true believer. A true believer is a free man. A true believer doesn’t see the laws as obstacles in his or her life, but as guides and signs that help us to get a true direction in our journey. We can liken all the laws in the church as traffic signs on the street. There is limitation for our speed; there are regulatory and warning signs and so on … and all of this is for the benefit of our safety. Hope that we can see the values behind every rule and law in our church. For example:
Do you know why the Catholic Church holds tight the rule of the inseparable catholic marriage? We cannot answer that the Bible or God says so. But why does God say so? He has a reason with this. So this is the task of theologian to seek the reasons and they found three reasons why God insists the inseparable marriage.
First, we believe that a catholic marriage is God’s will. The couple is united by their love for each other, and we know that God is love. If once God has united you, He will not change His mind after a couple of years. God doesn’t play with our life. It is the same as my vocation as a priest.
Second, we believe that a marriage or a family life is also a way to holiness. If a couple has many problems in their family life, it means that there is something wrong within each one of them. If they decide to divorce, it means that they run away from the problems. It’s childish! But if each one of them tries to control one self and to see what’s wrong within one self and then tries to change one self … so each one of them will grow to a more mature personality, that means that they will grow to perfection, they grow to holiness. God wants that by your marriage, you also can gain heaven.
And the third reason why God wants the inseparable marriage is because of the children. The children will suffer most when their parents get divorce. God loves children and He wants them to be raised in a family, full of love.
My brothers and sisters, we have many rules in our Church. For me I understand that as our riches, not as our burden or obstacles, if we really get the values behind the rules. I know that many of the catholic do not really understand all of the rules and laws, because you have no chance to study them. And it was sad then when some of them leave our Church and join another one. You know, a few weeks ago in San Antonio Express – News, there were news about them. They left the Catholic Church because they cannot accept the church teaching about the sacrament of penance, the devotion to saints and also they say that they don’t like our monotonous liturgy and they want to study more the Bible.
They said that they didn’t get what they were looking for in our Church. But did they really look for the truth? Did they deepen the riches of our Church? In my opinion they didn’t find because they didn’t make any effort to deepen their faith, to look for a better understanding of their faith.
I want to encourage all of us: don’t be satisfied with our spiritual life as what we have now. We have to deepen our faith always. To attend the Mass every Sunday is not enough. That’s why we have look for another way how to nourish our faith. Don’t be afraid to make your Shepherd busy.
In today’s gospel we hear how Jesus criticized the Pharisees who honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. Jesus hates hypocrites. Let us look also to ourselves what it means if we say that we are believers; how we live our faith; how we understand as a member of the church.
As a believer first we should understand that it is not about having religion, but having faith. A believer can be seen as a member of a church or of a denomination, as we can say about ourselves as a catholic, a member of the Catholic Church. But this identity is very artificial. The most important to be a believer is we have faith. In the creed first we say that we believe in God, and then in Jesus Christ, and last but not least we say that we believe in the Holy Spirit. In the relation with the Holy Spirit who guides the Church we also say that we believe in the Holy Catholic Church with all his teachings about the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the eternal life. But faith is not only an acknowledgement on our lips. Faith is relational. If we say that we have faith, we have a relation with the God the Trinity. In reality, the relation in faith with God we realize in a relation of love. We will have a close relation, a true faith if we have much love to God and to our brothers and sisters.
Second, if we acknowledge that we are believers, we can see ourselves, if being a catholic is a burden for us or a privilege; we are happy and proud as a catholic or religion makes us stress. Jesus came to the world to save us, to make us free. If we experience our religious life as a burden, it means that we misunderstand our faith. We have to be re-evangelized; we have to deepen again our understanding about our religion, about our faith.
If we understand that the laws from God and from the Church as something that make us in fetters, we are not a true believer. A true believer is a free man. A true believer doesn’t see the laws as obstacles in his or her life, but as guides and signs that help us to get a true direction in our journey. We can liken all the laws in the church as traffic signs on the street. There is limitation for our speed; there are regulatory and warning signs and so on … and all of this is for the benefit of our safety. Hope that we can see the values behind every rule and law in our church. For example:
Do you know why the Catholic Church holds tight the rule of the inseparable catholic marriage? We cannot answer that the Bible or God says so. But why does God say so? He has a reason with this. So this is the task of theologian to seek the reasons and they found three reasons why God insists the inseparable marriage.
First, we believe that a catholic marriage is God’s will. The couple is united by their love for each other, and we know that God is love. If once God has united you, He will not change His mind after a couple of years. God doesn’t play with our life. It is the same as my vocation as a priest.
Second, we believe that a marriage or a family life is also a way to holiness. If a couple has many problems in their family life, it means that there is something wrong within each one of them. If they decide to divorce, it means that they run away from the problems. It’s childish! But if each one of them tries to control one self and to see what’s wrong within one self and then tries to change one self … so each one of them will grow to a more mature personality, that means that they will grow to perfection, they grow to holiness. God wants that by your marriage, you also can gain heaven.
And the third reason why God wants the inseparable marriage is because of the children. The children will suffer most when their parents get divorce. God loves children and He wants them to be raised in a family, full of love.
My brothers and sisters, we have many rules in our Church. For me I understand that as our riches, not as our burden or obstacles, if we really get the values behind the rules. I know that many of the catholic do not really understand all of the rules and laws, because you have no chance to study them. And it was sad then when some of them leave our Church and join another one. You know, a few weeks ago in San Antonio Express – News, there were news about them. They left the Catholic Church because they cannot accept the church teaching about the sacrament of penance, the devotion to saints and also they say that they don’t like our monotonous liturgy and they want to study more the Bible.
They said that they didn’t get what they were looking for in our Church. But did they really look for the truth? Did they deepen the riches of our Church? In my opinion they didn’t find because they didn’t make any effort to deepen their faith, to look for a better understanding of their faith.
I want to encourage all of us: don’t be satisfied with our spiritual life as what we have now. We have to deepen our faith always. To attend the Mass every Sunday is not enough. That’s why we have look for another way how to nourish our faith. Don’t be afraid to make your Shepherd busy.
19th Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters!
When Jesus talked about himself as the bread of life and about His flesh He would give for the life of the world, the Jews were thrown into confusion. They murmured among themselves saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” They didn’t understand Jesus’ teaching. Yes Jesus’ words were difficult to be understood. If we were there among the crowd, we would think the same. But now we have no difficulty to understand what Jesus meant when He said that unless we ate His flesh and drank His blood, we would not have life within ourselves. This doesn’t make us surprised. We understand that Jesus talked about Himself as the Eucharist.
At the last supper, the night before Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice on the cross, He performed the Eucharist. He gave His body and His blood in the form of bread and wine. What Jesus did that night is what we call sacrament, that means a sign or a symbol of his self-sacrificing on the cross the day after. On the cross Jesus truly gave his body and his blood literally. So we have to understand the feast of Holy Thursday in relation with the Memorial of Good Friday in the light of the resurrection. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we represent Jesus’ sacrifice that brings salvation for us. That’s why we use the word Eucharist; the word comes from Greek word eucharistia that means praise and thanksgiving. In the Eucharist we want to praise and to thank Jesus the Lord for His sacrifice for our salvation. We want to thank Him for His love for us, because of His love He give His flesh and blood; because of His love He died that we may have life within ourselves.
That’s why I understand if we go to church or if we go to a mass celebration, it is not a duty as a catholic or an obligatory because of Law but a necessity. We need to praise God for what he has done for us. Because by going to Church, by receiving the Holy Communion, we express our faith in God, we thank Him for Jesus’ redemption upon us, we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior, as our Lord.
In one of the liturgical prayers, it is said that our praise and thanksgiving to God will never increase the glory of God but it is necessary for our salvation. So whenever we go to church or we pray, we do that not for the benefit of God, but for the sake of our salvation.
There is an old lady who loves going to church everyday. Her grandsons always make laugh of her, by asking her about the reading and the Homily of the mass. And their grandma always says that she doesn’t remember. And one of her grandson says, “So what for going to church if you get nothing?” Then she asks the grandson to bring her water from the river in a basket. The boy answers her, “How can I do that.” His grandma says, “Just do that.” The boy tries and tries to fill water in the basket and finally he returns home saying, “I cannot do that.” Smiling his grandma answers him, “You got no water in the basket, but at least the basket becomes clean.” And then she explains what she means by that, “The basket is me” she said, “it seems that I got nothing from church, but at least I am cleansed.”
How about you, how do you experience the Eucharist? How do you understand the life or the salvation you get in the Eucharist?
One thing I want to remind all of us. You know, every time we enter the church, we bow or kneel toward the Tabernacle. We want to honor Jesus the Lord who presents in the Blessed Sacrament. But do you realize that when we receive the Holy Communion, we are the tabernacle? Jesus is in us. This means that if we really want to honor Jesus who also presents in us, we should bow or kneel one to another after the mass. But in order that people will not think that we are going mad if we bow one to another every time we meet, just show your love by saying hallo one to another or giving a hug with a nice smile after the mass or wherever we meet. This will be an expression of our love for Jesus who presents in others.
And maybe a naughty boy will misuses this teaching by saying that Jesus is in him so his mother cannot punish him, when he does bad thing. But remember if Jesus is in us we will never do bad things anymore. Talking about the lives in God, St. Paul said, “How can we who died to sin yet live in it?” (Rom 6:2). Do you know what does it mean by dying to sin? There was a disciple in a monastery asked about this to his spiritual director. Then he was sent to a cemetery and there he was supposed to say bad words to the dead in the cemetery. When he got home, his spiritual director asked him, “How is the response of the dead?” The disciple answered, “There is no response!” The spiritual director said, “So is the man who died to sin, he will never be influenced by sins anymore.”
But the problem we have is we still live in this human flesh. At the one hand, we are saved by Jesus and we have tasted the heavenly food. But in other hand we still live in this world full of struggles and temptations. Jesus understands our human weakness but still he asks us to be holy and to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. Jesus understands that we cannot be holy by ourselves. Only be with Him we can. That’s why He promised us to be with us always until the end of the world. The Eucharist is one of his ways, the best way, in order that he will be with us always, to strengthen us.
Like the prophet Elijah, we are on our journey in this world, and some time we say, “That is enough, O Lord.” We want to stop when all life seems to offer us is frustration and misfortune. But God comes to help us. Jesus gives us himself as the living bread. Let us come to Him in faith and devotion. May He give us strength, that we are able to continue our journey in this life with joy and hope. Amen.
When Jesus talked about himself as the bread of life and about His flesh He would give for the life of the world, the Jews were thrown into confusion. They murmured among themselves saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” They didn’t understand Jesus’ teaching. Yes Jesus’ words were difficult to be understood. If we were there among the crowd, we would think the same. But now we have no difficulty to understand what Jesus meant when He said that unless we ate His flesh and drank His blood, we would not have life within ourselves. This doesn’t make us surprised. We understand that Jesus talked about Himself as the Eucharist.
At the last supper, the night before Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice on the cross, He performed the Eucharist. He gave His body and His blood in the form of bread and wine. What Jesus did that night is what we call sacrament, that means a sign or a symbol of his self-sacrificing on the cross the day after. On the cross Jesus truly gave his body and his blood literally. So we have to understand the feast of Holy Thursday in relation with the Memorial of Good Friday in the light of the resurrection. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we represent Jesus’ sacrifice that brings salvation for us. That’s why we use the word Eucharist; the word comes from Greek word eucharistia that means praise and thanksgiving. In the Eucharist we want to praise and to thank Jesus the Lord for His sacrifice for our salvation. We want to thank Him for His love for us, because of His love He give His flesh and blood; because of His love He died that we may have life within ourselves.
That’s why I understand if we go to church or if we go to a mass celebration, it is not a duty as a catholic or an obligatory because of Law but a necessity. We need to praise God for what he has done for us. Because by going to Church, by receiving the Holy Communion, we express our faith in God, we thank Him for Jesus’ redemption upon us, we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior, as our Lord.
In one of the liturgical prayers, it is said that our praise and thanksgiving to God will never increase the glory of God but it is necessary for our salvation. So whenever we go to church or we pray, we do that not for the benefit of God, but for the sake of our salvation.
There is an old lady who loves going to church everyday. Her grandsons always make laugh of her, by asking her about the reading and the Homily of the mass. And their grandma always says that she doesn’t remember. And one of her grandson says, “So what for going to church if you get nothing?” Then she asks the grandson to bring her water from the river in a basket. The boy answers her, “How can I do that.” His grandma says, “Just do that.” The boy tries and tries to fill water in the basket and finally he returns home saying, “I cannot do that.” Smiling his grandma answers him, “You got no water in the basket, but at least the basket becomes clean.” And then she explains what she means by that, “The basket is me” she said, “it seems that I got nothing from church, but at least I am cleansed.”
How about you, how do you experience the Eucharist? How do you understand the life or the salvation you get in the Eucharist?
One thing I want to remind all of us. You know, every time we enter the church, we bow or kneel toward the Tabernacle. We want to honor Jesus the Lord who presents in the Blessed Sacrament. But do you realize that when we receive the Holy Communion, we are the tabernacle? Jesus is in us. This means that if we really want to honor Jesus who also presents in us, we should bow or kneel one to another after the mass. But in order that people will not think that we are going mad if we bow one to another every time we meet, just show your love by saying hallo one to another or giving a hug with a nice smile after the mass or wherever we meet. This will be an expression of our love for Jesus who presents in others.
And maybe a naughty boy will misuses this teaching by saying that Jesus is in him so his mother cannot punish him, when he does bad thing. But remember if Jesus is in us we will never do bad things anymore. Talking about the lives in God, St. Paul said, “How can we who died to sin yet live in it?” (Rom 6:2). Do you know what does it mean by dying to sin? There was a disciple in a monastery asked about this to his spiritual director. Then he was sent to a cemetery and there he was supposed to say bad words to the dead in the cemetery. When he got home, his spiritual director asked him, “How is the response of the dead?” The disciple answered, “There is no response!” The spiritual director said, “So is the man who died to sin, he will never be influenced by sins anymore.”
But the problem we have is we still live in this human flesh. At the one hand, we are saved by Jesus and we have tasted the heavenly food. But in other hand we still live in this world full of struggles and temptations. Jesus understands our human weakness but still he asks us to be holy and to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. Jesus understands that we cannot be holy by ourselves. Only be with Him we can. That’s why He promised us to be with us always until the end of the world. The Eucharist is one of his ways, the best way, in order that he will be with us always, to strengthen us.
Like the prophet Elijah, we are on our journey in this world, and some time we say, “That is enough, O Lord.” We want to stop when all life seems to offer us is frustration and misfortune. But God comes to help us. Jesus gives us himself as the living bread. Let us come to Him in faith and devotion. May He give us strength, that we are able to continue our journey in this life with joy and hope. Amen.
18th Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters,
When Jesus talked about himself as the bread of life, the Jews were thrown into confusion. They quarreled among themselves saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” This would be cannibalism. Jesus’ disciples also didn’t understand this until the last supper, when Jesus performed the first Eucharist. Today, we have no difficulty to understand what Jesus meant when He said that He is the Bread of life; we know that He is the Eucharist.
Now let us look more carefully what Jesus said in the Gospel about this. First, He says that He is the bread from heaven. This is evident since we know and we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He comes from God. So He is truly the bread from heaven, He is a heavenly food. Second, He is the bread that gives life to the world. We have to understand the bread not only as our ordinary food, but also as our spiritual food. As you know we need food or bread to make this body live, so also the bread from heaven will make our soul and our spirit live for eternal life. This is what we call salvation done by and through Jesus. But this is not done automatically. Because Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe the one he sent.” So the Eucharist or the celebration of the Eucharist or the receiving of Holy Communion will not automatically save us. It is the work of God that will save us, and the work of God is that we believe in Jesus whom God the Father sent. In other words, it is the faith that will save us. Because of faith we believe that the bread and the wine in the Eucharist celebration become the body and blood of the Christ Jesus. To receive the Holy Communion means to receive Jesus in faith.
Talking about faith, it is like a coin with two faces. The first face is an expression and the second one is its realization. If we say that we have faith, on the one hand, we have to express it in our prayer, in our devotion, in this mass celebration and so on. But faith is not enough to be expressed only. On the other hand, faith needs to be realized in our daily lives.
There is a story of two ladies which can explain this. The first one loves praying. She goes to church everyday; she prays the rosary twice a day. She prays the angelus at every six o’clock and divine mercy at every 3 pm. But one day her cat ate her fish on the table and then she punished the cat by keeping it in the basement until it starved to death. The other lady is a prostitute. One day she had an accident and she found herself lost in a dessert. Then she met a dying dog and she gave the dog her last supply of water. When the two ladies die, who will enter heaven?
The lady who loves praying is rich in expression of faith, but zero in its realization. She has no love even for her cat. This was what Jesus hates in Pharisees. The other lady who did bad things during her life, whatever her reason for choosing to be a prostitute, showed in her critical situation her real self as a woman full of love. This is what I mean by realization of faith: love and compassion.
Maybe you can make a conclusion that to have a realization of faith is more important than to have its expression. That’s true. Because love is the greatest of all from: faith, hope and love. But we cannot say: So it is not necessary to pray or to go to church if we have love for others that will be enough. No, this is not true. We have to express our faith, by going to church or praying personally in order that our faith can grow. We need the expression of faith to raise the faith. We can compare going to church or praying as a man charging his battery in order that he can give light to the world. Going to church is like as if we feeding ourselves with energy of love that enables us ready to share that love in our daily lives.
In this sense we understand that when we receive communion, we received the bread from heaven which gives us life. We receive energy for life, not the energy from the bread itself but from Jesus whom it represents. The energy is Jesus’ energy of love, for the Eucharist is Jesus’ self giving to us as a proof of his love.
Mother Teresa from Calcutta said, “How we can support ourselves bowing to serve the dying from early in the morning until late at night, if we don’t bow first in front of the Holy Eucharist.” Mother Teresa acknowledged that she and her sisters get the energy to serve from the source of the power of love in the Eucharist. They find Jesus’ love in the Eucharist.
The last thing that Jesus says in today’s gospel about the bread is: whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. This doesn’t mean that after the mass we don’t want to go to El Ranchito anymore or we need not eat anymore. But spiritually we will be satisfied. Jesus is enough. Jesus makes us full of joy and hope. That’s why St. Paul said, when he found the Christ Jesus in his life, he thought of others things as garbage. He found the most precious thing in his life; therefore he did not need other things. This is the criteria for us if we come to church to celebrate mass, we find Jesus or not, we can see ourselves if we are satisfied or not. It doesn’t depend on the priest who gives the homily; it depends on our relation with Jesus. It depends on our heart, on our faith and our love for Him.
I remember a story of an old farmer who always stopped at the church before he gets to work in his farm. He puts his tools outside the church and spends a couple of minutes in silence. One day the priest of the church asked him about the petition that he prayed every time he visited the church. The old farmer said, I ask nothing, I just look at Jesus in the Tabernacle and Jesus looks at me. He said that he asked nothing but what he did is a profound prayer, because he expresses his deep relation with Jesus. Deep relations do not need many words, because they are full of understanding.
May we grow in such a relation with Jesus, that we can find Him present in the Eucharist and in our daily lives. May He satisfy us so that we will grow in faith, hope and love.
When Jesus talked about himself as the bread of life, the Jews were thrown into confusion. They quarreled among themselves saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” This would be cannibalism. Jesus’ disciples also didn’t understand this until the last supper, when Jesus performed the first Eucharist. Today, we have no difficulty to understand what Jesus meant when He said that He is the Bread of life; we know that He is the Eucharist.
Now let us look more carefully what Jesus said in the Gospel about this. First, He says that He is the bread from heaven. This is evident since we know and we believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He comes from God. So He is truly the bread from heaven, He is a heavenly food. Second, He is the bread that gives life to the world. We have to understand the bread not only as our ordinary food, but also as our spiritual food. As you know we need food or bread to make this body live, so also the bread from heaven will make our soul and our spirit live for eternal life. This is what we call salvation done by and through Jesus. But this is not done automatically. Because Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe the one he sent.” So the Eucharist or the celebration of the Eucharist or the receiving of Holy Communion will not automatically save us. It is the work of God that will save us, and the work of God is that we believe in Jesus whom God the Father sent. In other words, it is the faith that will save us. Because of faith we believe that the bread and the wine in the Eucharist celebration become the body and blood of the Christ Jesus. To receive the Holy Communion means to receive Jesus in faith.
Talking about faith, it is like a coin with two faces. The first face is an expression and the second one is its realization. If we say that we have faith, on the one hand, we have to express it in our prayer, in our devotion, in this mass celebration and so on. But faith is not enough to be expressed only. On the other hand, faith needs to be realized in our daily lives.
There is a story of two ladies which can explain this. The first one loves praying. She goes to church everyday; she prays the rosary twice a day. She prays the angelus at every six o’clock and divine mercy at every 3 pm. But one day her cat ate her fish on the table and then she punished the cat by keeping it in the basement until it starved to death. The other lady is a prostitute. One day she had an accident and she found herself lost in a dessert. Then she met a dying dog and she gave the dog her last supply of water. When the two ladies die, who will enter heaven?
The lady who loves praying is rich in expression of faith, but zero in its realization. She has no love even for her cat. This was what Jesus hates in Pharisees. The other lady who did bad things during her life, whatever her reason for choosing to be a prostitute, showed in her critical situation her real self as a woman full of love. This is what I mean by realization of faith: love and compassion.
Maybe you can make a conclusion that to have a realization of faith is more important than to have its expression. That’s true. Because love is the greatest of all from: faith, hope and love. But we cannot say: So it is not necessary to pray or to go to church if we have love for others that will be enough. No, this is not true. We have to express our faith, by going to church or praying personally in order that our faith can grow. We need the expression of faith to raise the faith. We can compare going to church or praying as a man charging his battery in order that he can give light to the world. Going to church is like as if we feeding ourselves with energy of love that enables us ready to share that love in our daily lives.
In this sense we understand that when we receive communion, we received the bread from heaven which gives us life. We receive energy for life, not the energy from the bread itself but from Jesus whom it represents. The energy is Jesus’ energy of love, for the Eucharist is Jesus’ self giving to us as a proof of his love.
Mother Teresa from Calcutta said, “How we can support ourselves bowing to serve the dying from early in the morning until late at night, if we don’t bow first in front of the Holy Eucharist.” Mother Teresa acknowledged that she and her sisters get the energy to serve from the source of the power of love in the Eucharist. They find Jesus’ love in the Eucharist.
The last thing that Jesus says in today’s gospel about the bread is: whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. This doesn’t mean that after the mass we don’t want to go to El Ranchito anymore or we need not eat anymore. But spiritually we will be satisfied. Jesus is enough. Jesus makes us full of joy and hope. That’s why St. Paul said, when he found the Christ Jesus in his life, he thought of others things as garbage. He found the most precious thing in his life; therefore he did not need other things. This is the criteria for us if we come to church to celebrate mass, we find Jesus or not, we can see ourselves if we are satisfied or not. It doesn’t depend on the priest who gives the homily; it depends on our relation with Jesus. It depends on our heart, on our faith and our love for Him.
I remember a story of an old farmer who always stopped at the church before he gets to work in his farm. He puts his tools outside the church and spends a couple of minutes in silence. One day the priest of the church asked him about the petition that he prayed every time he visited the church. The old farmer said, I ask nothing, I just look at Jesus in the Tabernacle and Jesus looks at me. He said that he asked nothing but what he did is a profound prayer, because he expresses his deep relation with Jesus. Deep relations do not need many words, because they are full of understanding.
May we grow in such a relation with Jesus, that we can find Him present in the Eucharist and in our daily lives. May He satisfy us so that we will grow in faith, hope and love.
17th Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters!
Do you believe in miracles? Some people don’t believe it. They are very proud of their rational thinking. They think that they can explain miracles with their reason. For example, what happened in today’s gospel, according to them, is simple. At that time, it was not only the boy who brought bread and fish, but nearly most of the crowd. When the boy gave his bread and fish to Jesus, the other people were ashamed to keep their own food for themselves, so they shared their food also … and all took out their own food. And usually people bring more then they can eat. That’s why they had twelve baskets of fragments left. So the miracle, what Jesus did, is just to open their heart for the need of others. This explanation seems reasonable.
But I don’t agree with this. I believe in miracles. So in my opinion, there was nobody coming to hear or to see Jesus with their sack of supplies. They didn’t come to Jesus as if they had planed it before, as if they were going to a picnic. They didn’t plan it. It was a spontaneous crowd following Jesus, after they had seen the healing of a sick. So the crowd really didn’t have anything to eat. They didn’t prepare it.
How about the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish? Yes, he was the only one who had food with him. How and why? In my opinion, he might have been sent by his mother to buy some food in a market, not far from the Sea of Galilee. He was on his way home, when he saw a vast crowd following Jesus. As a boy, of course, he was curious and he wanted to know what happened and who Jesus was. So we can imagine what happened, as a young boy, he came just on the first line of the crowd, not far from Jesus’ disciples. And Andrew saw him and what he had with him: five barley loaves and two fish. The boy was caught up with admiration to Jesus, and then he could not refuse when Jesus used his food to be shared for others. The miracle happened and the boy saw that. Can you imagine, what happened then when he returned home with plenty of bread and fish in a basket? How could he explain that to his mother, to his brother and sister that Jesus used his bread and fish to be multiplied to feed 5000 people? Joyful and proud was he and he would not forget it all his life.
I believe in miracles. It is still happening. What we need is faith, a faith like the young boy, a simple faith like the woman with hemorrhage who said to herself, if I can touch his cloak I will be healed; a faith without any doubt, a faith like the Phoenician woman who likens herself as a dog eating fragment of bread under the table, a faith like a crazy man. Sometimes it is difficult to see the difference between a mad man and a man who act according to his faith. You know, when I left my job, a very good job, to enter a seminary, my older brother thought that I was mad. What I did is a decision of faith. And at that time, my brother was not catholic. He could not understand about vocation to be a priest. He really thought that I lost my mind. So was Hanna when she prayed in the temple to ask a child, she prayed like a mad woman that the priest Eli thought that she had drunk too much wine. But I didn’t mean that we have to be crazy in order that to be man of faith. Anyhow it is important to let you know that we should have a simple faith.
But to have a faith doesn’t mean that we are just waiting for the miracle. Don’t be like my grandma who always prays that she can win a lottery but she never buy one. Faith needs action. St. Ignatius of Loyola said that God will help you if you try to help yourself. God needs our participation. God needs your bread and fish to be multiplied. You’ll be proud of that …
I believe in miracle, but a real miracle will happen if we come to our limit. We have to try first as best as we can to do our part. At the end of our effort we can trust God that he will continue it with His miracle.
I remember the story of many apparitions of St. Mary Mother of God. These apparitions are miracles from God. What for? Usually an apparition happened in a place where faith is going to die. People don’t go to church anymore. They don’t pray. They use the name of Jesus only to curse or to say bad thing. In this situation, people cannot help themselves anymore. It is only an intervention from heaven can save the people. In such a critical situation an apparition of St. Mary or of Jesus or a miracle happened. This happens if we can do nothing to help ourselves anymore. The situation is very bad. But as far as we can do something, we have to try to do our best.
Last week I talked about compassion and how we should be the Eucharist for others. If we apply this to ourselves, we have to remember that, as baptized Christians, we are called to feed the hungry. The hungry are not only in Africa or in some parts of Asia. There are also here … we can see them in some traffic lights in San Antonio. In my opinion, it is not good to give them money on the street here and there. We have to do something more efficient, such as operation rice-bowl or “Loaves and Fishes” programs.
I heard about that program, but I don’t know yet what exactly you do for the poor. In Indonesia, we have a motto: don’t give to them fish, but casting net or fishing rod. It means that we try to help the poor not by giving them food but by providing them work or training skill and a small capital that they can earn their own money to buy food. Giving food to them only makes them dependent on us, and this won’t change their lives.
In the second reading St. Paul reminds us to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received, as sons and daughters of God, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, especially with those who are in needs, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit. This is the reason: because we are one: the rich and the poor; as we are also called to the one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. May we grow in faith that we can see the continuous miracles happened in our daily life. God is still at work until now and for ever. Let us be His partners by sharing our bread and fish. He will multiply them and we will not be far from His grace and blessing.
Do you believe in miracles? Some people don’t believe it. They are very proud of their rational thinking. They think that they can explain miracles with their reason. For example, what happened in today’s gospel, according to them, is simple. At that time, it was not only the boy who brought bread and fish, but nearly most of the crowd. When the boy gave his bread and fish to Jesus, the other people were ashamed to keep their own food for themselves, so they shared their food also … and all took out their own food. And usually people bring more then they can eat. That’s why they had twelve baskets of fragments left. So the miracle, what Jesus did, is just to open their heart for the need of others. This explanation seems reasonable.
But I don’t agree with this. I believe in miracles. So in my opinion, there was nobody coming to hear or to see Jesus with their sack of supplies. They didn’t come to Jesus as if they had planed it before, as if they were going to a picnic. They didn’t plan it. It was a spontaneous crowd following Jesus, after they had seen the healing of a sick. So the crowd really didn’t have anything to eat. They didn’t prepare it.
How about the boy with the five barley loaves and two fish? Yes, he was the only one who had food with him. How and why? In my opinion, he might have been sent by his mother to buy some food in a market, not far from the Sea of Galilee. He was on his way home, when he saw a vast crowd following Jesus. As a boy, of course, he was curious and he wanted to know what happened and who Jesus was. So we can imagine what happened, as a young boy, he came just on the first line of the crowd, not far from Jesus’ disciples. And Andrew saw him and what he had with him: five barley loaves and two fish. The boy was caught up with admiration to Jesus, and then he could not refuse when Jesus used his food to be shared for others. The miracle happened and the boy saw that. Can you imagine, what happened then when he returned home with plenty of bread and fish in a basket? How could he explain that to his mother, to his brother and sister that Jesus used his bread and fish to be multiplied to feed 5000 people? Joyful and proud was he and he would not forget it all his life.
I believe in miracles. It is still happening. What we need is faith, a faith like the young boy, a simple faith like the woman with hemorrhage who said to herself, if I can touch his cloak I will be healed; a faith without any doubt, a faith like the Phoenician woman who likens herself as a dog eating fragment of bread under the table, a faith like a crazy man. Sometimes it is difficult to see the difference between a mad man and a man who act according to his faith. You know, when I left my job, a very good job, to enter a seminary, my older brother thought that I was mad. What I did is a decision of faith. And at that time, my brother was not catholic. He could not understand about vocation to be a priest. He really thought that I lost my mind. So was Hanna when she prayed in the temple to ask a child, she prayed like a mad woman that the priest Eli thought that she had drunk too much wine. But I didn’t mean that we have to be crazy in order that to be man of faith. Anyhow it is important to let you know that we should have a simple faith.
But to have a faith doesn’t mean that we are just waiting for the miracle. Don’t be like my grandma who always prays that she can win a lottery but she never buy one. Faith needs action. St. Ignatius of Loyola said that God will help you if you try to help yourself. God needs our participation. God needs your bread and fish to be multiplied. You’ll be proud of that …
I believe in miracle, but a real miracle will happen if we come to our limit. We have to try first as best as we can to do our part. At the end of our effort we can trust God that he will continue it with His miracle.
I remember the story of many apparitions of St. Mary Mother of God. These apparitions are miracles from God. What for? Usually an apparition happened in a place where faith is going to die. People don’t go to church anymore. They don’t pray. They use the name of Jesus only to curse or to say bad thing. In this situation, people cannot help themselves anymore. It is only an intervention from heaven can save the people. In such a critical situation an apparition of St. Mary or of Jesus or a miracle happened. This happens if we can do nothing to help ourselves anymore. The situation is very bad. But as far as we can do something, we have to try to do our best.
Last week I talked about compassion and how we should be the Eucharist for others. If we apply this to ourselves, we have to remember that, as baptized Christians, we are called to feed the hungry. The hungry are not only in Africa or in some parts of Asia. There are also here … we can see them in some traffic lights in San Antonio. In my opinion, it is not good to give them money on the street here and there. We have to do something more efficient, such as operation rice-bowl or “Loaves and Fishes” programs.
I heard about that program, but I don’t know yet what exactly you do for the poor. In Indonesia, we have a motto: don’t give to them fish, but casting net or fishing rod. It means that we try to help the poor not by giving them food but by providing them work or training skill and a small capital that they can earn their own money to buy food. Giving food to them only makes them dependent on us, and this won’t change their lives.
In the second reading St. Paul reminds us to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received, as sons and daughters of God, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, especially with those who are in needs, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit. This is the reason: because we are one: the rich and the poor; as we are also called to the one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. May we grow in faith that we can see the continuous miracles happened in our daily life. God is still at work until now and for ever. Let us be His partners by sharing our bread and fish. He will multiply them and we will not be far from His grace and blessing.
16th Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters!
When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them. This is what we call compassion! The story of Jesus’ redemption is a story of the compassion. Before He came to the world, He was with the Father in heaven. He knew human history from the sins of Adam until the coming of John the Baptist; that is a history of struggling and surviving. He knew how men were looking for God all through human history. Before the time of the prophets, men made trial and error in seeking God. When they saw a big tree or a huge stone, they thought that they had a supernatural power and they would bring offering worshiped in front of the tree or of the stone. Or they made images of gods. They tried to communicate with the Almighty Being. They tried to deal with the Creator of the universe, because men realized that they are limited and vulnerable. They needed a protector, on whom they could rely their lives. But because of human weakness, men could never really find God even though God sent them many prophets. That’s why God saw how men suffered and got lost and His heart was moved by pity, so He sent His only Son to save mankind. Because of His compassion God became man in order that men become sons of God.
Compassion comes from love. If there is no love, there is no compassion as well. God is love so God is full of compassion. It means that He understands human suffering and He cannot keep still with our problems. God cannot be indifferent with our lives.
Jesus is the representation of God. He is the Son of God. He has the same heart of God the Father. Jesus loves us. That’s why he has compassion with us especially with those who suffer many problems and have a heavy burden, with those who are treated with injustice, with those who are forgotten etc.
I remember the story of St. Damian of Molokai. He was a missionary from Belgium who worked in Hawaii Islands. Then he heard about Molokai Island, a place for lepers. At that time, there was no doctor and no nurse who took care of them. Fr. Damian had the same compassion as Jesus. He asked his Bishop to go to Molokai to serve the lepers. First many people didn’t agree with him. But he insisted. Having spent a couple of years there Fr. Damian himself was infected by leprosy. At that time whenever he encouraged the lepers he could say: we as lepers …. Fr. Damian became one of them. This is compassion that brings Fr. Damian to solidarity. Jesus’ compassion is still at work until now.
What does it mean for us now? On the one hand, the compassion of Jesus will encourage those who are suffering now, those who have many problems in their life, so you will not get despair but have faith and confidence that Jesus will not leave you alone with your difficulties. On the other hand, we, the Church as the Body of Christ, should have the same compassion if we are to represent Jesus in this world. It means that we also should have the same love as Jesus has. It is a love for the poor, love for the sick, love for the aged persons, those with disabilities etc … maybe they are in our own family or someone that we should find in our neighborhood. So we have to open not only our hearts but first to open our eyes for the needs of others. Because I myself, I am new here, I don’t know if there is anyone that needs our help.
For me, I understand compassion as a sign of a living faith. Because faith has its partners according to St. Paul, they are faith, hope and love; the greatest of all is love. Compassion is an acting faith in love that brings others hope. Compassion is not only a feeling but an action, a life giving for others.
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist; we have compassion with Jesus and with others. Literally, we can understand this as “com” means together and “passion” means passio or suffering. Compassion means to suffer together, to suffer along with, with Jesus and with other. Compassion takes its shape in solidarity. That’s why we do really celebrate the Eucharist then, when after that we become Eucharist for others. As Jesus gave his life for us, so also we have to give our lives for others. How can it happen? We come to church not anymore to look for ourselves salvation but for others. If we come to church only for our benefit, we won’t get it … it is true. This is the same as my experiences in prayer. If I pray for myself, it seems that God will not give me what I ask. But if I pray for others, they said that they got it, God hears my prayers for others. Since then if I have a petition for myself, I used to ask an old religious sister to pray for me.
To become the Eucharist for others is our mission after the Mass. You know the word Mass comes from the conclusion of Mass in Latin: Ite misa est, that means: you are sent, you are sent to continue the Eucharist in your real lives, to share with the others what you have got, the blessing, the communion, the words of encouragement. You are the blessing for others now as your presence makes others blessed. You are the holy communion when you can share your life for others who are in need. You are the words of God when your presence makes other people find joy and hope. The Eucharist spreads out of the wall of the Church because of you and the world becomes a huge Church. This is the idealism of a Eucharist celebration. Is it possible to realize it? Or will it stand as a dream or as a theory only? I hope not. It is possible to make this comes true; we may hope that, because we have faith in Jesus. We have love for others. We can have compassion as well.
In the second reading St. Paul said that God had reconciled us and made us new person in Christ, through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. This new status as sons of God, as a saved community, together hand by hand we can make our dream become real. Let us ask the help from the Holy Spirit, that we may be cleansed from our sins, from our egoism; that we may live with compassion for others, that we have more love for Jesus and for others. I believe that Jesus the Lord whose heart was moved with pity for many people like sheep without a shepherd will not leave us alone in our struggling lives. And finally, let us be good sheep for Jesus … God bless you. Amen!
When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them. This is what we call compassion! The story of Jesus’ redemption is a story of the compassion. Before He came to the world, He was with the Father in heaven. He knew human history from the sins of Adam until the coming of John the Baptist; that is a history of struggling and surviving. He knew how men were looking for God all through human history. Before the time of the prophets, men made trial and error in seeking God. When they saw a big tree or a huge stone, they thought that they had a supernatural power and they would bring offering worshiped in front of the tree or of the stone. Or they made images of gods. They tried to communicate with the Almighty Being. They tried to deal with the Creator of the universe, because men realized that they are limited and vulnerable. They needed a protector, on whom they could rely their lives. But because of human weakness, men could never really find God even though God sent them many prophets. That’s why God saw how men suffered and got lost and His heart was moved by pity, so He sent His only Son to save mankind. Because of His compassion God became man in order that men become sons of God.
Compassion comes from love. If there is no love, there is no compassion as well. God is love so God is full of compassion. It means that He understands human suffering and He cannot keep still with our problems. God cannot be indifferent with our lives.
Jesus is the representation of God. He is the Son of God. He has the same heart of God the Father. Jesus loves us. That’s why he has compassion with us especially with those who suffer many problems and have a heavy burden, with those who are treated with injustice, with those who are forgotten etc.
I remember the story of St. Damian of Molokai. He was a missionary from Belgium who worked in Hawaii Islands. Then he heard about Molokai Island, a place for lepers. At that time, there was no doctor and no nurse who took care of them. Fr. Damian had the same compassion as Jesus. He asked his Bishop to go to Molokai to serve the lepers. First many people didn’t agree with him. But he insisted. Having spent a couple of years there Fr. Damian himself was infected by leprosy. At that time whenever he encouraged the lepers he could say: we as lepers …. Fr. Damian became one of them. This is compassion that brings Fr. Damian to solidarity. Jesus’ compassion is still at work until now.
What does it mean for us now? On the one hand, the compassion of Jesus will encourage those who are suffering now, those who have many problems in their life, so you will not get despair but have faith and confidence that Jesus will not leave you alone with your difficulties. On the other hand, we, the Church as the Body of Christ, should have the same compassion if we are to represent Jesus in this world. It means that we also should have the same love as Jesus has. It is a love for the poor, love for the sick, love for the aged persons, those with disabilities etc … maybe they are in our own family or someone that we should find in our neighborhood. So we have to open not only our hearts but first to open our eyes for the needs of others. Because I myself, I am new here, I don’t know if there is anyone that needs our help.
For me, I understand compassion as a sign of a living faith. Because faith has its partners according to St. Paul, they are faith, hope and love; the greatest of all is love. Compassion is an acting faith in love that brings others hope. Compassion is not only a feeling but an action, a life giving for others.
Every time we celebrate the Eucharist; we have compassion with Jesus and with others. Literally, we can understand this as “com” means together and “passion” means passio or suffering. Compassion means to suffer together, to suffer along with, with Jesus and with other. Compassion takes its shape in solidarity. That’s why we do really celebrate the Eucharist then, when after that we become Eucharist for others. As Jesus gave his life for us, so also we have to give our lives for others. How can it happen? We come to church not anymore to look for ourselves salvation but for others. If we come to church only for our benefit, we won’t get it … it is true. This is the same as my experiences in prayer. If I pray for myself, it seems that God will not give me what I ask. But if I pray for others, they said that they got it, God hears my prayers for others. Since then if I have a petition for myself, I used to ask an old religious sister to pray for me.
To become the Eucharist for others is our mission after the Mass. You know the word Mass comes from the conclusion of Mass in Latin: Ite misa est, that means: you are sent, you are sent to continue the Eucharist in your real lives, to share with the others what you have got, the blessing, the communion, the words of encouragement. You are the blessing for others now as your presence makes others blessed. You are the holy communion when you can share your life for others who are in need. You are the words of God when your presence makes other people find joy and hope. The Eucharist spreads out of the wall of the Church because of you and the world becomes a huge Church. This is the idealism of a Eucharist celebration. Is it possible to realize it? Or will it stand as a dream or as a theory only? I hope not. It is possible to make this comes true; we may hope that, because we have faith in Jesus. We have love for others. We can have compassion as well.
In the second reading St. Paul said that God had reconciled us and made us new person in Christ, through Him we have access in one Spirit to the Father. This new status as sons of God, as a saved community, together hand by hand we can make our dream become real. Let us ask the help from the Holy Spirit, that we may be cleansed from our sins, from our egoism; that we may live with compassion for others, that we have more love for Jesus and for others. I believe that Jesus the Lord whose heart was moved with pity for many people like sheep without a shepherd will not leave us alone in our struggling lives. And finally, let us be good sheep for Jesus … God bless you. Amen!
15th Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters,
From 1994 to 1999 I worked as a missionary in one of a remote parish in Madagascar Africa. There was no electricity, no telephone, no TV. The people were very poor. Once there was a young boy asked me of what we eat in Indonesia, I said that we eat rice like them, and three times a day. O je .. like in heavens, he said. He thought that it was wonderful to have rice meal three times a day, because they only eat rice once a day for dinner and for breakfast and lunch they eat manioc or cassava … and during dry season, even they don’t have rice to eat about three or four months. They used to suffer starving. That’s why every year our Missionaries of the Holy Family from Switzerland and France send two containers full of food, medicines, used clothes and other equipment for agriculture and carpentry and also some spare parts for automobile.
This is good for helping the poor, but not well for evangelization. Why? When the Government charged taxation for the importation of clothes, the Church could not help the poor by giving them free clothes anymore … and one day I met an old man saying to me, “Father, it’s difficult now to be a Catholic.” “Why?” surprising I asked him. He said. “Now we don’t get used clothes anymore.” Looking at his clothe I understood. I knew that he had no other clothe to change … but is it because of the clothe you want to be catholic? I asked this only in my mind. I could not answer him.
Then I remembered of what Jesus said in today gospel when He sent His disciples with no food, no sack and no container also of course, no money and no clothe except the clothe they used on their body. They can bring a stick in case they would be tired. With these restrictions, Jesus hoped that His disciples would not rely themselves on other things except on Jesus himself. Jesus wants that the proclaiming of the gospel would not be veiled by many other things. Jesus wants that when His disciples heal the sick and drive out demons, they do this only in Jesus’ name, only by the power of Jesus, and not by any other things. Jesus wants that many people will have faith in Him and will not be attracted by any other thing, not also by the appearance of the disciples.
Now for you here, I’m sure that you don’t have the same motivation as those in Madagascar and also in Indonesia. In 1960s there was a mockery appellation from the Indonesian Muslim for new converts to the Catholicism when they talked about: Wheat and Milk Catholics. This is because of the missionaries from Dutch distributed wheat and milk to promote the people’s health. And the Muslims were afraid and thought that it was a way to attract people to be Catholic. It was good such a critic that we realized then we became catholic, not because of wheat and milk, but we had faith in Jesus; and our charity work is not to covert people to Catholicism, but only because of love for others. Do you have such a love for others?
As St. Paul said in the second reading, God has chosen us in Christ to be holy and without blameless before him. God Has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. Can you imagine this … every spiritual blessing in heavens that you have? I tell you the secret of this blessing. We only can see that blessing if we become a blessing for others. A blessing is not something in a refrigerator that we can keep for ourselves. A blessing is something on a stove, ready to be served and must be served. A blessing is something at work, active and aimed to others. So as the twelve disciples, we also are sent by Jesus to proclaim the gospel … by distributing and sharing the blessing that we have. How? I don’t know how you can do that. But I do that according to my vocation as a priest: to serve you, to pray for you, to be with you. And you, you have to find for yourselves what is suitable for you to do, to make the blessing real in your family, in your neighborhood, in society.
In the first reading, the prophet Amos did his part to share the blessing he received as a prophet by reminding the King of Judah to repentance. And this made Amaziah, the priest and advisor of the King angry, because Amaziah always supported the King even when the King committed sins. Because of his faithfully mission, Amos suffered many persecutions from the Amaziah. We know that Jesus has the same experience. To share blessing until the extreme sense means to offer our lives for others. Jesus gave all His blessing by dying on the cross. Also the twelve disciples gave their lives so that we can inherit the blessing from Jesus. A mother suffered when she bore a child, with this she shares a life, a blessing to a new creature. So where is your blessing? Don’t be afraid to show them. By giving blessing for others, you will be blessed more and more. Let us be a blessing for others and may all the earth then be blessed. Amen
From 1994 to 1999 I worked as a missionary in one of a remote parish in Madagascar Africa. There was no electricity, no telephone, no TV. The people were very poor. Once there was a young boy asked me of what we eat in Indonesia, I said that we eat rice like them, and three times a day. O je .. like in heavens, he said. He thought that it was wonderful to have rice meal three times a day, because they only eat rice once a day for dinner and for breakfast and lunch they eat manioc or cassava … and during dry season, even they don’t have rice to eat about three or four months. They used to suffer starving. That’s why every year our Missionaries of the Holy Family from Switzerland and France send two containers full of food, medicines, used clothes and other equipment for agriculture and carpentry and also some spare parts for automobile.
This is good for helping the poor, but not well for evangelization. Why? When the Government charged taxation for the importation of clothes, the Church could not help the poor by giving them free clothes anymore … and one day I met an old man saying to me, “Father, it’s difficult now to be a Catholic.” “Why?” surprising I asked him. He said. “Now we don’t get used clothes anymore.” Looking at his clothe I understood. I knew that he had no other clothe to change … but is it because of the clothe you want to be catholic? I asked this only in my mind. I could not answer him.
Then I remembered of what Jesus said in today gospel when He sent His disciples with no food, no sack and no container also of course, no money and no clothe except the clothe they used on their body. They can bring a stick in case they would be tired. With these restrictions, Jesus hoped that His disciples would not rely themselves on other things except on Jesus himself. Jesus wants that the proclaiming of the gospel would not be veiled by many other things. Jesus wants that when His disciples heal the sick and drive out demons, they do this only in Jesus’ name, only by the power of Jesus, and not by any other things. Jesus wants that many people will have faith in Him and will not be attracted by any other thing, not also by the appearance of the disciples.
Now for you here, I’m sure that you don’t have the same motivation as those in Madagascar and also in Indonesia. In 1960s there was a mockery appellation from the Indonesian Muslim for new converts to the Catholicism when they talked about: Wheat and Milk Catholics. This is because of the missionaries from Dutch distributed wheat and milk to promote the people’s health. And the Muslims were afraid and thought that it was a way to attract people to be Catholic. It was good such a critic that we realized then we became catholic, not because of wheat and milk, but we had faith in Jesus; and our charity work is not to covert people to Catholicism, but only because of love for others. Do you have such a love for others?
As St. Paul said in the second reading, God has chosen us in Christ to be holy and without blameless before him. God Has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. Can you imagine this … every spiritual blessing in heavens that you have? I tell you the secret of this blessing. We only can see that blessing if we become a blessing for others. A blessing is not something in a refrigerator that we can keep for ourselves. A blessing is something on a stove, ready to be served and must be served. A blessing is something at work, active and aimed to others. So as the twelve disciples, we also are sent by Jesus to proclaim the gospel … by distributing and sharing the blessing that we have. How? I don’t know how you can do that. But I do that according to my vocation as a priest: to serve you, to pray for you, to be with you. And you, you have to find for yourselves what is suitable for you to do, to make the blessing real in your family, in your neighborhood, in society.
In the first reading, the prophet Amos did his part to share the blessing he received as a prophet by reminding the King of Judah to repentance. And this made Amaziah, the priest and advisor of the King angry, because Amaziah always supported the King even when the King committed sins. Because of his faithfully mission, Amos suffered many persecutions from the Amaziah. We know that Jesus has the same experience. To share blessing until the extreme sense means to offer our lives for others. Jesus gave all His blessing by dying on the cross. Also the twelve disciples gave their lives so that we can inherit the blessing from Jesus. A mother suffered when she bore a child, with this she shares a life, a blessing to a new creature. So where is your blessing? Don’t be afraid to show them. By giving blessing for others, you will be blessed more and more. Let us be a blessing for others and may all the earth then be blessed. Amen
14th Sunday - B
My brothers and sisters!
Jesus said, “A prophet is not with out honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in own house.” This was Jesus’ experience. But I have a different one. As a priest, I don’t have any rejection in my home town, on the contrary, the people in my native place honor me, they welcome me every time I come home for my vacations. They hear me when I give them a sermon … even some of them ask me to stay there to be their pastor. Why do I have a different experience from Jesus? I asked myself and then I found the answer.
The answer is because of the Church. At Jesus time, Jesus was alone. There was not an institution like our Church. The Jews at that time had synagogues and a Temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus did not belong to any one of them. Jesus was alone … He made a new era. So that’s why people, even his own kin and relatives, had difficulty to see who Jesus was, except as a carpenter. But now I belong to the Church. I am a Catholic Church priest. So I realize that if the people honor me and accept me, not because of me as a person, but they honor and accept the Church. This is the same as you do here or I experience here. You hear my teaching; it is because I am a priest of the Church. Consider if I were to leave the Church and I didn’t want to be a priest anymore, would you still accept me? Will you still hear me as you are listening to me now? I’m sure that you won’t. The people in my home town also will not honor or welcome me anymore. So with this experience I realize that I am saved in the Church.
Every time I celebrate the Eucharist I pray a prayer of peace before communion and I say: Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church. You see how the faith of the Church saves us. Of course we have to understand that the salvation offered by the Church comes from Jesus Himself as the Head of the Church.
I just want to say how important the Church. We cannot say, “If I’m all right with Jesus, then I don’t need the Church.” No, it is wrong because we will not be all right with Jesus without the Church. The reason is we, human beings, need a family to grow up. We need a community to develop. I know that you Americans are very proud of your Individualism. You appreciate the sacredness of the individual. Whenever you can you want to be independent and set apart yourself from your parents, from your core family. But radical individualism brings people to loose connection. That means that people are not plugged in very tightly to groups or associations and no institution can hold individuals very securely, such as marital institution. That’s true when I read an article about marriages in the US, I found that: in 1960 one in four marriages would fail, today one in two will. So 50% American families break! It is not something that we should be proud of, especially for us the Catholics.
Do you know why the Catholic Church holds tight to the indissolubility of marriage? There are three reasons: First, we believe that a catholic marriage is God’s will. The couple is united by their love for each other, and we know that God is love. If once God has united you, He will not change His mind after a couple of years. God doesn’t play with our life. It is the same as my vocation as a priest. Second, we believe that a marriage or a family life is also a way to holiness. If a couple has many problems in their family life, it means that there is something wrong within each one of them. If they decide to divorce, it means that they run away from the problems. It’s childish! But if each one of them tries to control one self and to see what’s wrong within one self and then tries to change one self … so each one of them will grow to a more mature personality, that means that they will grow to perfection, they grow to holiness. And the third reason why God wants the inseparable marriage is because of the children. The children will suffer most when their parents get divorce.
In the second reading we heard St. Paul talk about “thorn in his flesh.” He suffered with this thorn, and he prayed that God would take away the thorn. But God answered him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” God didn’t want to take the problem away, but He made it as a grace in disguise. We all have our own thorn in the flesh, our own problem. It may be chronic illness, a fractured relationship, deep disappointment, or any number of things. But if we humbly acknowledge before God that we have our own weakness also, He promises us His grace.
You know, we will find his grace in a community, in a family and especially in His Church. As same as you were hurt by others, you will be cured also by others’ love. As same as you grow in a family, you will give growth also for others in a community. So love your family, love your community and love you Church. Say to them that you need them. Jesus had been rejected in his native place, but he will never reject anyone who comes to Him. Let us come to him through his mystical Body, the Church. Amen
Jesus said, “A prophet is not with out honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in own house.” This was Jesus’ experience. But I have a different one. As a priest, I don’t have any rejection in my home town, on the contrary, the people in my native place honor me, they welcome me every time I come home for my vacations. They hear me when I give them a sermon … even some of them ask me to stay there to be their pastor. Why do I have a different experience from Jesus? I asked myself and then I found the answer.
The answer is because of the Church. At Jesus time, Jesus was alone. There was not an institution like our Church. The Jews at that time had synagogues and a Temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus did not belong to any one of them. Jesus was alone … He made a new era. So that’s why people, even his own kin and relatives, had difficulty to see who Jesus was, except as a carpenter. But now I belong to the Church. I am a Catholic Church priest. So I realize that if the people honor me and accept me, not because of me as a person, but they honor and accept the Church. This is the same as you do here or I experience here. You hear my teaching; it is because I am a priest of the Church. Consider if I were to leave the Church and I didn’t want to be a priest anymore, would you still accept me? Will you still hear me as you are listening to me now? I’m sure that you won’t. The people in my home town also will not honor or welcome me anymore. So with this experience I realize that I am saved in the Church.
Every time I celebrate the Eucharist I pray a prayer of peace before communion and I say: Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church. You see how the faith of the Church saves us. Of course we have to understand that the salvation offered by the Church comes from Jesus Himself as the Head of the Church.
I just want to say how important the Church. We cannot say, “If I’m all right with Jesus, then I don’t need the Church.” No, it is wrong because we will not be all right with Jesus without the Church. The reason is we, human beings, need a family to grow up. We need a community to develop. I know that you Americans are very proud of your Individualism. You appreciate the sacredness of the individual. Whenever you can you want to be independent and set apart yourself from your parents, from your core family. But radical individualism brings people to loose connection. That means that people are not plugged in very tightly to groups or associations and no institution can hold individuals very securely, such as marital institution. That’s true when I read an article about marriages in the US, I found that: in 1960 one in four marriages would fail, today one in two will. So 50% American families break! It is not something that we should be proud of, especially for us the Catholics.
Do you know why the Catholic Church holds tight to the indissolubility of marriage? There are three reasons: First, we believe that a catholic marriage is God’s will. The couple is united by their love for each other, and we know that God is love. If once God has united you, He will not change His mind after a couple of years. God doesn’t play with our life. It is the same as my vocation as a priest. Second, we believe that a marriage or a family life is also a way to holiness. If a couple has many problems in their family life, it means that there is something wrong within each one of them. If they decide to divorce, it means that they run away from the problems. It’s childish! But if each one of them tries to control one self and to see what’s wrong within one self and then tries to change one self … so each one of them will grow to a more mature personality, that means that they will grow to perfection, they grow to holiness. And the third reason why God wants the inseparable marriage is because of the children. The children will suffer most when their parents get divorce.
In the second reading we heard St. Paul talk about “thorn in his flesh.” He suffered with this thorn, and he prayed that God would take away the thorn. But God answered him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” God didn’t want to take the problem away, but He made it as a grace in disguise. We all have our own thorn in the flesh, our own problem. It may be chronic illness, a fractured relationship, deep disappointment, or any number of things. But if we humbly acknowledge before God that we have our own weakness also, He promises us His grace.
You know, we will find his grace in a community, in a family and especially in His Church. As same as you were hurt by others, you will be cured also by others’ love. As same as you grow in a family, you will give growth also for others in a community. So love your family, love your community and love you Church. Say to them that you need them. Jesus had been rejected in his native place, but he will never reject anyone who comes to Him. Let us come to him through his mystical Body, the Church. Amen
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