EXPERIENCE CONVERSION

In early days, when one enters religious life, his or her name is changed. They adopt a religious name. Sisters would add the name of Mary before their given name. Changing of name in seminary is still true, in some instances. I have a classmate whose name is Jayson. His nickname in their home is Ays (pronounce as “Ace”), an abbreviated version of his name. When he entered the seminary he was christened as Ays (pronounce as “eyes”), because he has big eyes. Nabinyagan na siya, so to say. Changing of names signals the opening of a new chapter in our life.

In the scriptures, people receive a mission as their names were changed: Simon to Peter becoming the rock on which the Church was built. As Saul was named Paul in Damascus, he assumed his new vocation as apostle to the pagans. After my ordination, people began calling me Father as I assumed a new responsibility in our Church. When we were baptized, we were converted from a simple creature of God to a special creature. We have become adopted sons and daughters of God. The giving of our name marked this conversion. More than our particular names, our name as Christians was bestowed upon us. When we received our name as Christians, we too received our identity as children of God. Our identity entails a mission: to go out to the whole world and tell the Good News.

Conversion takes place with an encounter with the person of Jesus. Few of us may remember the moment of our baptism. But everyday we encounter Jesus in our life, in the Eucharist we receive, and in the scriptures we hear. And each day becomes a recollection of our baptismal day when we first met Jesus and received our new identity.

How do we truly live this conversion experience? Have we really been converted? Obedience to God involves a genuine conversion to His fold. Such is manifested in our actions. Actions of Christ's believers are characterized by wonders and miracles: casting out demons, speaking new languages, picking up snakes and being unharmed by poison and being able to heal the sick.

Many of us here, in this country, are Christians. In principle, our country should be a place of wonders and miracles, for that is what our identity demands. But if you examine our society at present, you will wonder how come a Christian nation is leading in the list of most corrupt countries where criminality and immorality thrive.   

Have we done wondrous things in the name of our identity as Christians?

Have we become faithful to our name as Christians?

Have we sincerely been converted? Have we truly met Jesus?

BE AT HOME

I had a friend who once experienced a crisis in his vocation. Upon knowing this, his mother visited him in the seminary. Seeing and embracing his mother, my friend cried his heart out. Moved by the tears of her son, the mother uttered "Ano anak, gusto mo na bang umuwi? (Would you like to go home?)  

Home is place of acceptance, affirmation, and love. When one finds life troublesome, we go home and rest on the lap of our mother or be comforted by our father's embrace or be encouraged to go on in life by our siblings. In Filipino, home is “tahanan”: a place where one stops to cry.

But sometimes, home can be a violent place too where one may experience rejection and discouragement. When I told my family that I would be entering the seminary, my grandmother expressed her disbelief. She knew me as one who often stayed at the window of her house, unceasingly looking at passersby. Perhaps she thought I was too eager to meet the girls in their neighborhood, and therefore may not be able to fulfill the rigors of a chaste and celibate life of a priest. Years later, after entering the seminary, I came to know that she was able to say so because she knew a lot of priests from our place who ended up being unfaithful to their vows. She was concerned that far from becoming holy, I might end up becoming a sinner.

Our family always takes our goodness into consideration. At home, people desire what is best for us, though sometimes we might not understand them (or they might not understand us). Thus, discouraging statements may ensue.  When we enter the religious life, others may see us as crazy or out of our mind. Why should one waste his talents and youthfulness in a monastery? We are misunderstood.

The good news is that we will find a home that welcomes us and understands us. We will encounter in our life people who will encourage us to keep chasing our dreams and vocation. Timothy and Titus found in Paul a brother with whom they were truly at home with through Paul's letter of encouragements, fanning the flame of God’s gift which they had received. Ultimately, God prepares for us a home in His heavenly kingdom where no one will be misunderstood, but everyone is encouraged and accepted.

When my friend's tears subsided, he replied to his mother: "Ma, I don't have to leave the seminary. I am home." He is now a priest at home in our community.   

May we find ourselves at home wherever and whoever we are with right now.

If not, may we find our way back home.

MEETING JESUS

The first time I met Jesus is through an anime show titled "Flying House." It amazed me how modern kids were transported through a time machine in a form of a flying house. They time-travelled from the present to the time of Jesus. They saw Jesus face to face and learned His teachings first hand. They witnessed His miracles with their naked eyes. Young as I was, it seemed to me so real, though I was just in front of a TV screen, as if I too time traveled; I too met Jesus for real. 

God reveals Himself to us in ordinary things, so much so that even unbelievers can see Him through ordinary things in our life. St. Thomas Aquinas enumerated to us five ways to prove the existence of God by merely observing the wonders around us. God is the unmoved mover of all things that move. God is the uncaused cause of all causes. God is necessary being essential for the contingent ones. God is the Supreme governor who put things in order. God is the most beautiful being and source of all beauty in this world. Don't tell me you cannot recognize God. Even evil spirits can recognize Him (Mark 3:7-12) as the Son of God. Are you worse than evil spirits?

What disables us to see Jesus or to experience God? Sin separates us from God. Sin is a cloud that blurs our view of God. Our offenses to God distance us from Him. If only we seek and approach Him despite the blindness caused by sin, we can embrace Jesus, for He constantly approaches us whenever we fall from the snares of sin. If we desire to see Him, we will indeed see Him, for He is greater than our sins.    

The Good News is that God revealed Himself through Jesus Christ in a more familiar way to us: through concrete things, through flesh and blood, through the sacraments especially in the Eucharist. Through Christ, we have a God whom we can hear, see, touch and taste. Through Christ, God became sensible to us. But all these things are vividly visible in the eyes of a faithful one. Have you met Him?