WAY BACK HOME

As I child, I used to visit my relatives to a neighboring barrio with my family. I had such a great time playing with my cousins whom I seldom see. We ran and played in our grandparents’ garden, and spent long hours day dreaming. The food was overflowing since my aunts and lola would serve dishes prepared using the family’s secret recipes. The hamonado and biko (rice cake) were one of the best. But as they say, “There is an end to everything, to good things as well.” In the evening, my mother would be looking for me as we would be going home. I do not desire to go home just yet and wanted to spend longer hours with my cousins and playmates. I would hide from her at the back of the door of my lola’s house, praying my mother would not find me. I hid well from her, so much so that it took a couple of minutes before she found me. When she found me, she would tell me it’s time to go home. “But I don’t like to go home yet.” I retorted. She would reply “If you don’t go home, I would leave you here.” The thought of not having a mother at his side was unimaginable for a child. In fear of missing my mother, I immediately grabbed her hands and bade my playmates goodbye. Then, we were on our way home.  

God wants us to be home in heaven and to be at home in his presence. However, through sins and other things which we have preoccupied ourselves with, we have moved away from him. We hide from him in our desire to continue the things we thought are the best already in the world: a flourishing career, a comfortable life directed by our own wills and plans.

The Lord knows what is best for us; what is better than the best we can ever conceive for ourselves. Thus, God searches for us. He makes the initiative for us to find our way back to him, away from sinfulness that prevents us from having the best, the real goodness, in life. What could be better than being with God who created us and knows all the longing of our hearts! Thus, we seek His mercy and forgiveness for the transgression we have committed against Him.

The mercy of God is readily available for us. After all, he is our God who is rich in mercy and who has a heart for our miseries and pains. He desires the best for us. God is simply waiting for us to return to him and admit in ourselves our sinfulness. For us to avail His mercy, it necessary for us to admit the truth about ourselves. Nothing can be given unless we admit that it is needed. The truth is a prerequisite for mercy. We must do our part so that God may find us and give us the mercy we so desire, and that our relationship with God, broken by sin, may be restored. We must admit the truth of our faults so that mercy may be conferred upon us; that we ourselves may beg for it.

The good news is, God is waiting for us. Our merciful Father is waiting for us, to embrace us, as he brings us back home.    

ENTERING OUR OWN JERUSALEMS

Christ’s entrance to Jerusalem marked the beginning of the fulfillment of His mission; the salvation of man. He was welcomed by a rejoicing crowd with palm branches laid on the ground and waived through the air. It was a festive welcome as people shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David.” They welcomed Him as the Messiah who would liberate Jerusalem from her foreign invaders the Romans. They greeted Him as one who will deliver a political victory to them and freedom from their oppressors. But Christ intended to liberate not them but the entire humanity from a far greater oppressor than any human persecutor. He would free man from sin and death. These same people would grow frustrated in their expectation from Christ, so much so that they will be the same people who would later shout, “Crucify Him!” A cry of condemnation far from their words of adulation to Christ in His entrance to Jerusalem.

Christ comes to our life too; desiring to enter our hearts. Are we ready to welcome Him as the Messiah; as the Lord who will direct our life? Or are we welcoming Him because He can be of use to us in achieving our personal desires and personal plans in life? We will be frustrated should we seek Christ to enter our heart to fulfill our desires for worldly achievements. Christ will not bring to us victory for material wealth and worldly powers. He will bring to us far greater things we ever conceived for ourselves; liberation from sin and death; heaven as our destiny. May we allow Christ to be the Messiah He is supposed to be, rather than demand or make a role for Him to play in personal plans and schemes. Allow Christ to be Christ, the Messiah, in our life.   

God as He is, Christ knew that as he entered Jerusalem, He had to suffer so that He may redeem man. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, the Messiah is bound to receive biting on his back, his beard will be plucked, his face will be buffeted and spat on. He knew people will be frustrated since He will not give them the political victory they so desired. He knew He would be condemned to die on a cross, like a criminal. Human as He is, Christ must have been afraid too of the horror of suffering and death in Jerusalem. Despite these mixed emotions of joyous cheers from the crowd and the sorrows of His impending suffering and death, Christ proceeded to Jerusalem to obey the will of the Father. He proceeded for the love of God towards man.

We too, like Christ, enter our Jerusalems with the intent of fulfilling the mission entrusted to us by the Father: mission to become parents, friends, teachers, engineers, spouses, etc. As we entered our Jerusalems and assumed these missions, we experienced joy and excitement. We have received a lot of gifts and greetings, words of praise and encouragements. Like the fresh palms, we are filled with vitality and energy. But as time pass, the joyful crowd grows thin, and words of encouragement become rare, sufferings and difficulties take place in our journey through our Jerusalems. Our palms are dried and withered. 

In silence, we walk through our Jerusalems.

As we enter our Jerusalems, and experience agony and struggles, we may say “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Thus, how are we to fulfill the mission entrusted to us? How are we to remain in our Jerusalem? How can our palms remain evergreen? We can learn from Christ. By becoming obedient to God, like Jesus, who though was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. He emptied himself, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Obedience is the key to the fulfillment of God’s will in our life; not our will but the will of the One who sent to us to these Jerusalems. And obedience is only possible for those who know how to listen to the Lord. Obedience is only possible for those who know how to be silent and are thus able to listen to God who speaks to man through silence. Most of the time, in the passion narrative, Jesus was silent, uttering a few words. It is an image far from the Jesus who narrates parables, stories, and preaches in length. He was silent, meditating the will of the Father, drawing strength from the Father that He may carry out the mission He gave to Him. In the midst of challenges in our Jerusalems and plights of life, we are not to surrender and leave our Jerusalems. We are to remain there in silence so that we may hear the voice of the Father calming us and strengthening us to continue. The Father will be the water that will sustain and constantly renew our palms. Not by our strength but by God’s grace can we get through our miseries. The sufferings will not be the end of our Jerusalems. Christ never remained in the Calvary on the cross. His suffering was only a passageway towards His glory. And so are our sufferings. Let the Father sustain us in our struggles as He accompanies us in silence and walks with us in our Jerusalems leading to the everlasting joy of Easter.   

SACRIFICES FOR A BELOVED

There was a story of a 55-year-old mother who had a son whose lower extremities had been paralyzed due to a freak accident. Her son wanted to finish his studies and so to fulfill his wish, the mother carried her son to school by herself every day. For fifteen years, she had carried her son with her own arms to bring him to his classroom. When asked why she was doing so, she said: “Gagawin ng ina and lahat para sa kanyang minamahal na anak.”   Recently, the son graduated in Junior High School. He is now closer to his dream of becoming a computer engineer. All this wouldn’t be possible without the sacrifices of his mother for him, done in the name of her love for her son.

We offer sacrifices to the persons important to us.

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair. Such is valued by Judas as three hundred days' wages and could have been given to the poor. Mary gave something too expensive to the Lord, and Judas saw this as something that could better be given to others rather than to the Lord. Mary thought otherwise and deemed that such a precious thing be given to the Lord. Mary gave up an expensive perfume so that she may touch even just the feet of the Lord; that she may be close to Jesus.

What are we ready and willing to sacrifice for the Lord?

To be close to Jesus, we have to sacrifice some things and aspects of our life such as our sinfulness so that we may be holy in the presence of God; or maybe our personal dreams and plans so that his will may be done in our life.

The value of the sacrifices we give to the Lord is equally proportionate on how we value the Lord. Thus, more than asking what can be our sacrifice to the Lord, we first have to ask ourselves: How do I value Jesus in my life? If we perceive him to be important to us, we can readily give up important things for him, in exchange for attaining him in our life.

The Lord is worth more than anything in this world. He is our light and our salvation. He saved us from sin and death through his very own life. That is how Jesus values us. How do we value him in our life? If God is the most valuable person in our life, what could be the things which we most value that we can sacrifice so that we may be with Him? Pleasures of this world? Personal dreams? Pride?

The good news is that as we sacrifice to the Lord, it will do us something good. More than God benefiting from our sacrifices, it will be us who would benefit more for the things we give up in the name of our love to the Lord.

                                                                                    

What are we willing to give so that we may attain Him and so that we may be in his presence?   

VIA NEGATIVA

There is a saying in Filipino "Ang punong mabunga ay madalas binabato," loosely translated as “The tree that bears much fruit is often stoned at.” Those who are often hurled with various stones of criticism are those who had grown too noticeable for the good works they had been doing.

Jesus had proclaimed himself before the Pharisees and scribes as one who existed even before Abraham. He announced before them his divinity. He proved this by the wondrous deeds he did; deeds that can only be attributed to God: miracles, healing, the forgiveness of sins. Many people believed in him except some quarters of the Pharisees and scribes whose positions and situations in their society were shaken and threatened by Jesus’ coming to the world. Like in the case of the prophet Jeremiah, the enemies and critics of Jesus were on the watch for any misstep he might commit (cf. Jeremiah 20:10-13). Considering that they were always near Jesus as they often followed him, they should have been the first to believe him as eye-witnesses do. But instead of seeing the good in Jesus and in what he preached, they twisted the facts and decided to understand on the contrary. Instead of seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of God's promise of a Savior, they perceived him as a blasphemer. Thus, they criticized all things he did, and words he uttered. When he was criticized and false things were hurled against him, Jesus distanced Himself from his critics but nevertheless continued to preach.

People criticize others for various reasons; some, to help others so that they may improve themselves. We call this constructive criticism. While others do criticize so that their own failures may not be noticed. They stone the tree that bears much fruit, for they themselves have no fruit of their own and would hate to see another bearing much fruit. For this type of critics, nothing will be right or good for them. Everything is worth commenting (negatively). The reasons behind criticisms would often remain hidden from us. Thus, it is pointless to chase critics and seek their reasons for doing so. What can be more beneficial to us is how we handle criticisms; what we do from the denunciations hurled upon us.

We are to listen and explain our side against criticisms, especially if we are falsely accused. We have to enlighten them about the truth. But should they continue to hinder us from bearing many fruits, we must then ignore them and simply continue doing the good works we have begun in which we have been prospering. Gather the stones they hurled upon you and use them to build your house, that is, to improve yourself. Some would throw mud or dung. Gather them to strengthen and fertilize your soil. Surely even in the negative things they say and do to us, we can learn something.