CUTTING-EDGE AND FAITHFUL AT THE SAME TIME

Our first reading today narrates the well-known incident of Paul preaching in the Aeropagus of Athens. He boldly proclaims — somewhat diplomatically so as not to offend the Athenians with their many philosophies and ideologies, their gods and goddesses — the Resurrection of the Lord. The results were mixed, meager for the most part.

The Gospel, on the other hand, speaks of still another proclamation or announcement. As Jesus carries on with His farewell discourse, He somewhat concedes, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” Nevertheless, He assures us that “the Spirit of truth... will announce to you the things to come.”

Such an announcement is not necessarily a new revelation. It is really more of making the revelation of Jesus Christ relevant for each future age, which is, come to think of it, what Paul does in the Aeropagus.

The freshness of our faith truly consists not so much in novelties or in a fanatical adaptation of the latest fads and gimmicks. As society surely evolves and meanders through trends and tendencies, we are continuously challenged to “repackage” time and again the timeless Gospel message. Why, also catechists and youth ministers can and should be cutting-edge in their methods and approaches, for instance. All this, while remaining loyal to God as the very Source of that message.

Through it all, the Holy Spirit is the one who will accompany and assure us. We cannot even be sure if our Gospel proclamation will automatically produce positive results. But with the Spirit right behind us, we will be certain that the centrifugal force of our proclamation will be stably anchored on the centripetal force of our fidelity to God. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

How confident am I in proclaiming the Good News to the people I meet?

 

Give me, Lord, the boldness and the courage to proclaim Your message not just through my words, but most importantly through my actions.

 

St. Eneco, pray for us.

HUNGER FOR THE AUTHENTIC

In my many travels through Narita airport, I have often seen people being accosted by authorities on account of one and only one recurrent reason. They carry fake signature items like bags, or other personal items that steal the thunder from real products that fetch mighty sums from the real well-to-do people from around the globe.

No matter what the ultimate reason for that, there seems to be something that all of us can understand. We all long for the authentic. We hunger for the real, the true, the unalloyed truth in everything.

Matthew Kelly (2002) writes that “our age seems to be governed by illusion and deception.” He says “We have built a whole culture based on appearance.” I could not agree more. All the fake products that we see are really based on the value people attach to the real stuff.

We all hunger for the authentic, the tested and true.

One story that I remember an old Indian missionary kept telling us as kids was about the hunger for authenticity of the great Mahatma Gandhi. He would often quote the Gospels and talk about Jesus Christ. When asked why he did not become a Christian, his answer was as pithy as it was soul-searching: “If I had met one, I certainly would have become a Christian.”

The implication was clear. For all that statement was worth, it reminds us just how far we all are from genuineness and authenticity. I see the story of the visitation of the Blessed Mother to Elizabeth as one of authenticity. One who herself was visited by God, who was then most likely still reflecting on the reality that just hit her at the archangel Gabriel’s annunciation, went in haste to visit a cousin in need.

Mary was authentic in her need for complete understanding as well as in her desire to help a relative in need, though needy herself. And her authenticity and simple and humble attachment to a God of promises led her to a declaration of authentic faith, hope and love for the same God who fulfills His promises: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Are my actions reflective of who I am as a Christian?

 

Dearest Father, help me to be true to my identity as Your child.

 

St. Crescentian, pray for us.

WHEN THEIR HOUR COMES, REMEMBER!

Last year, the two catastrophic earthquakes that struck Haiti and Chile, just a little over a month apart from each other, sent shivers across the world, principally all around the Pacific rim. Tsunami warnings were issued in Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Australia and even Russia, and sirens blared in Hawaii, rousing people from their Sunday night’s restful sleep, making people scamper to higher grounds.

The worst was the idea of the dreaded “hour” at which the potentially destructive waves were projected to hit shores all over. Twitter and Facebook accounts, text messages and radio and TV announcements played up the “hour” projected, to tell people to be prepared.

The thought of the “hour” led many to “remember.” They prayed. Their thoughts were raised to the Lord, even as they prepared for the worst.

We Christians are a people of remembrance. Remembering is what we do best, especially in the Church’s official prayer, the liturgy.

The word “hour” stands for a multiplicity of meanings. The Lord Himself spoke about His “hour” not having come. He also referred to His “hour” of glorification.

Lorenzo Ruiz, who initially had a “selfish” motive to go far from Manila, eventually met his appointed time, his hour of martyrdom. So did the catechist Pedro Calungsod who died together with Blessed Diego de San Vitores in the island of Guahan (Guam). But at their “hour” they also “remembered.” Their hearts and minds were focused on God who is Master and Lord of time, of history, and of human destiny.

People who work at cross purposes with the Lord of history may have their own “hour” of infamy. Evil men may have their temporary moment of triumph and victory. Today, when our society seems to boast of nothing else but the triumph of corruption and sin on all fronts, the Lord reminds us, “I have told you this so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you.”

Believe. Remember. Celebrate. God’s hour is sure to come.Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Are you ready when your hour comes?

 

Lord, when my time comes, grant me the grace to remember You, to celebrate with You and to thank You.

 

Blessed Thomas Cottam, pray for us.

BETTER TO SUFFER FOR DOING GOOD

Philosophers, theologians and literary giants have said the same thing over and over again, in a million and one different ways. Suffering is part and parcel of the human condition. We actually share this with the rest of the animal world. We can’t have it all. Our nature as limited, finite beings entails with it the truth of necessary pain, what philosophers call “existential pain.”

The second reading today curiously refers to this reality of pain but connects it with two possible sources. Either way, St. Peter seems to say, one will suffer. But he reminds us of what the Lord Himself, in His righteousness and holiness, underwent… suffered and died for a good cause: our salvation.

In other words, we can suffer because of evil deeds and we can suffer on account of good deeds. The former is suffering that enslaves; the latter is suffering that liberates. Suffering for the good that is part of our human condition of finiteness is, therefore, salvific and redemptive, like that of Christ.

I have shared this with you in earlier reflections. I am an avid fan of the late Pope John Paul II for many reasons. But the top in my list has to do with precisely this: the great suffering he endured for doing good, simply for claiming his right and duty to teach and preach in season and out of season. He suffered exceedingly in life, just as Pope Paul VI suffered greatly in the aftermath of Vatican II, especially after he released his encyclical Humanae Vitae.

But this is the way of discipleship. This is the way of faith, hope and love. Peter counsels us to be “prepared to answer for the hope that is in us.” When we do, when we begin to remind people of the world that goes beyond this earthly reality, we will inevitably get some flak for it. He connects this readiness to proclaim the Gospel with pain, just as the Lord did when He said, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Take it from Peter and his Master: “It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Make an inventory of the sufferings you experienced in your life. Is it because of evil deeds? Or on account of good deeds?

 

Lord, purify me through my sufferings.

 

St. Votus, Felix and John, pray for us.

ON ACCOUNT OF CHRIST’S NAME

A young priest and a bishop were traveling from Siuchow to Linchow on February 13, 1930. With them was a group of young catechists on their way to a mission outpost. At some point in their river journey, some Bolshevik pirates commandeered the boat and took interest in one of the young female catechists. The bishop and the priest defended the hapless girl with all the strength they could muster. But the group of pirates would brook no opposition to their evil plans and they murdered the bishop and the priest. By God’s grace, the two heard each other’s confessions before they died. The two men of the cloth, Bishop Luigi Versiglia and Father Callistus Caravario, both Salesian missionaries from Turin, Italy, were beatified by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. They died, as they lived, true to their youthful dream of following the footsteps of Christ as taught them by St. John Bosco, father and teacher of the youth. Though uneducated men, they rose up to tell the story of Christ after He died and rose from the dead. The authorities did what the powers-that-be usually do to people they fear. They persecuted them, true to what their Lord and Master prophesied: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you…. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name.” Last year, in the run-up towards the national elections, tension ran high between and among the electorate. The electing public was sorely divided between so many candidates. Each group rallied behind a particular name. But in not a few cases, they rallied behind someone because they stood to gain, because their interests were at stake. They were supporters of a particular candidate, but they were never followers or disciples, like the first Christians and martyrs were… like Sts. Luigi Versiglia and Callistus Caravario were, along with thousands of others. The difference? They suffered on account of Christ’s name! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB   Reflection Question: For what cause are you willing to stake your life on?   Lord, to follow You more closely and to love You more dearly are what I desire each day.   St. Accidia, pray for us.

IF YOU DO WHAT I COMMAND

The social networking site explosion has not only redefined relationships but has redefined certain words that we thought everyone in the world understood. Not anymore. Take the word friend. Parents who are friendswith people in their own network are not necessarily “friends” with their teenage or young adult children. Members of the same religious congregation, who are meant to be “brothers” are not friends with one another in those sites.

Sociologists now distinguish between “digital natives,” “digital migrants” and “digital refugees.” Digital natives take to cyber world like fish to water, while digital migrants like me, though enjoying some of the convenience of the newfound digital world, keep on pining for the good old times of the analog world, replete with vinyl records, magnetic tapes and the clunky but reliable phonographs. Some are left on the wayside of the digital highway and are hapless and sometimes Clueless “ digital refugees,” unwilling and unable to get back to the old, yet not completely at home or downright lost in the new.

Friendship in social networking sites is as easy as pushing the “confirm” or “accept” button. In the same way, “unfriending” anyone is just as easy as pushing the “ignore,” or “reject” button (which, by the way, is not a button at all!). Being friends now is highly dependent on what technology you have or have not. Wireless G routers have given way to N or N+routers that spell the difference between nimble, quick and super fast — or hopelessly slow.

Today, friendship comes to the fore in our liturgical celebration. Analog or digital did not matter yet when the Lord taught us about friendship that is not the digital kind but one that is based on love that knows no limits. This love didn’t have to ride on any wi-fi contraption but was communicated, signed, sealed and delivered to us all. And yes, He declares us His friends, and friends we surely will be if we obey His commandments. Are we on “friend” status with Christ?Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

If Jesus were on Facebook, would you accept His invite to be your friend?

 

Thank You, dear Lord, for Your friendship and love that knows no limits.

 

St. Melangell, pray for us.

SAVED THROUGH THE GRACE OF THE LORD

The year 2009 was memorable, but not in a good sense. Our country was visited by twin typhoons that ravaged a big portion of the Philippine archipelago. The live media coverage of the hapless —and slowly growing hopeless — residents of the affected areas where water seemed to have simply surged in hours, threatening so many lives, was simply heart-rending. The live calls for help from panicking people atop roofs was too much to bear for someone like me who lived so many miles and so many hours away from the Philippines.

I felt so helpless. I wanted to do something on my end, but there was, of course, nothing I could do except pray. As I watched in horror, all I could utter to myself was, “It could have been me. It could have been anyone of us who were then on high and dry ground. It just so happened that we were someplace else.”

What I felt then, was not so much sympathy as empathy — the capacity to stand in the shoes of another human being; the ability to feel “for” others and understand up to some point what they are going through. In a very real sense, I felt that “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”

The disciples had to go through some kind of soul searching in this regard. For some time, they didn’t quite know how to deal with converts who were not formerly practicing Jews but Gentiles. One group believed they should all go through the rituals prescribed for Jews, but another group thought otherwise. The voice of Peter shines out in today’s passage — the voice of empathy and compassion. He basically told his hearers, “they have been saved through the grace of the Lord in the same way that we are.” The capacity for empathy is something we all could have more of. Given the so many tragedies and catastrophes that happen in many places all over the world, we can grow callous and indifferent to all that we see. But empathy is born of a common understanding of this reality: We were all saved through the grace of the Lord.  Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

How do I treat the people who seem to be living without God in their lives? Is it with scorn or with empathy?

 

Lord, grant me a compassionate heart so I may be able to respond to people and situations as You would want me to. Amen.

 

St. Mariana de Paredes, pray for us.

 

LOVING GOD AND KEEPING HIS WORD

More than 10 years ago, email was the craze. Everybody had an email address and forwarded messages that filled the limited mailboxes. Nowadays, email has been replaced by social networking sites which offer much more, in real time. One can now post continuous messages. One hears a blow-by-blow account of someone else’s thoughts and escapades. A plethora of words flood cyberspace, not to mention the billions of text messages (SMS) that send telecom companies in the Philippines laughing their way to the banks. But words are cheap (though not quite in the Philippines where a text message costs a P1.50 or more). Words have become so commonplace. We hear them, read them, text them, twit them and google them. But in many cases, we don’t keep them, for one simple reason. Words have been truncated from their source and ultimate object — the person, who is definitely bigger, more noble and more important than the words he or she can utter, or the words that can be uttered about him or her. Curiously, the good news today would have us put back that intimate link between word and person. The words that one utters stand for the truth about the person, the truth within the person, and the truth that is the person. Words, taken apart from the person as subject or object, are just letters put together,maybe “full of sound and fury, [but] signifying nothing.” The core of the good news has to do with the Divine Word, uttered from the beginning, the Word become Flesh, second person of the Trinity. Word and Person are intimately united in Christ. As Word of God, He is one with the Father, and was true to His nature as God, true to the Father. We are called to the same oneness and intimacy and to be incorporated in Christ so as to become sharers in this Trinitarian life and mystery. But we need to do our part. “If you love me, you will keep my Word.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB   Reflection Question: Am I careful with the words that I speak about a person?   Lord, tame my tongue so that I may never hurt anyone with the words that I speak.   St. Crispin of Viterbo, pray for us.

REPUTABLE, WISE AND APPOINTED

I have been in leadership for a number of years, and still am, in many ways. I have been under leaders, too, for all my life. Some of those who occupy positions of leadership are reputable; some are not. A number of them are wise; and a great many are dumb. (Just  look at the many “honorable” and “distinguished” people that hog the air lanes every day!)

There are leaders whom I like. They are prudent and charismatic, apart from being role models. There are leaders I dislike. They are narcissistic, focused too much on results, and please themselves more than they try to please God or their constituents.

I bet you know what’s coming next. Yes, in the Church that we love, there are leaders and there are leaders... pastors who are exemplary and pastors who are just a bit less than scandalous. The Church has had bad popes and good popes, sinful and saintly bishops, ambitious and humble priests, and men of the cloth who deserve to be called unsung heroes of our times. They do their work quietly and without fanfare.

It is easy to love many of them. Like the seven deacons of today’s first reading, a great many are “reputable, filled with the Spirit and wisdom,” and utterly selfless in their service.

But it is just as easy to hate, or at least, dislike a number of them, for reasons as many as there are people. People will always find reasons and motives to dislike them. They could be less than reputable. They may sound like they are filled, not with the Spirit, but with some kind of spirits of the liquid kind. They may not be doing right in our eyes. They may not be worthy from our point of view.

But they are appointed by God. Through them, “the Word of God continues to spread.” For God can write straight even with crooked lines. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

What kind of leader am I?

 

Mold me, Father, to be the kind of leader that You want your sons and daughters to be — a leader with a servant heart.

 

St. Fulk, pray for us.

LIGHT IN DARKNESS

There was a time in my life when electricity came for only 12 hours a day, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The small town’s generator produced just enough current to allow every home two or three 25-watt bulbs each. The bulbs flickered; the current dipped and surged intermittently, but we sure appreciated and valued the light that was available.

I don’t know how many of you have ever experienced pitch darkness in your lives. I don’t know if you ever got to experience hiking up a mountain in total darkness, like I did many years ago. On such occasions, any light, even that of a firefly, is very much appreciated.

But darkness, of course, does not only refer to physical darkness. There is so much darkness in the world even in these times of nuclear-fueled power generators —the darkness of ignorance, for one. But there, too, is the darkness of faithlessness, the darkness in a godless world, where people don’t know any better because there are not enough evangelizers to preach to them. I know that most of the Sabbath readers are evangelized enough. But I also know that we who have the time, money and leisure to read reflections like this are called to do much more — to become “light to the Gentiles” and “instruments of salvation.”

Beyond our neighborhood, beyond our cuddly and warm communities of faith, there lie innumerable pockets of unbelief and indifference. But there, too, are people in honest search, asking like Philip did, “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

For many the light of faith planted in infancy now flickers and even falters, smothered by the blitzkrieg of consumerism, hedonism and postmodernism. In such a situation filled with the darkness of individualism and indifference, the Church, the prime evangelizer, needs all the help she can get. She needs you to become “light to the Gentiles” and “instrument of salvation.”Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Look around you. Are there people who need God’s light? Share the candle of your faith to them.

 

Father, let my faith be a shining light for those in darkness.

 

St. Valens, pray for us.

EVEN GREATER ONES THAN THESE

 

Teaching for 33 years is long enough for anyone to make a list of memories, good and bad. Most of them, assuredly, are good, thanks be to God! I have made a few mistakes, uttered a few remarks that I knew I should never have said. I know I have done some very good things, and I also know I have done some pretty dumb stuff that I would rather not remember.

One of the dumb things I did was to send out of my class a young man who either always came in late or would often sneak out and cut theology classes. At first, I pretended not to care, but enough was enough at some point. I blew my top and expelled him from class. I knew he was mad at me.

I knew that if looks could kill, I would have died then and there. But I held my ground… and forgot about him during the many years I was working elsewhere.

Many years later, I got a call from that young man. He sounded cheerful on the phone and very friendly. “Father, do you remember me? I am so and so,” he said. I immediately told him, “I usually don’t easily forget those who made my life miserable and you were among them!” And then, when I asked how he was doing in life, what he told me brought instant tears to my eyes. He was busy with his job, of course. He was a doting father to his children and a responsible husband. But he did greater things. He has become an elder in a Catholic covenanted community, very busy doing what I have been doing for many years — preaching and proclaiming the Gospel to other lay people like him.

Care to know the reason why? He believed in the Lord. He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And he did greater things than I did. For “whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.”Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Do I look down on people who seem to be good-for-nothing?

 

Father, help me to always believe that each person is special, meant to do great things for Your glory.

 

St. Basilla, pray for us.

I KNOW THOSE WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN

When I was a young priest and principal of a big school many years ago, my assistant principal was someone who had been at his job for decades. He started as a classroom teacher (when I was a student), adviser, department head, and then eventually became assistant principal. In retrospect, I felt so small and unworthy before his towering, experience-filled presence in the school. But that was not what I remember him mostly for.

He had the knack of matching names and faces. He knew everyone by name, including alumni whom he had taught decades before. During morning assemblies, he would call by name anyone who happened to be misbehaving or fidgeting in the line, or not wearing the prescribed uniform.

I was impressed by the fact that he knew his students. For even if I could not do this feat, I knew that people appreciated being called by name, being known by their mentors and treated as unique persons. I must tell you that my most favourite passages in Scripture refer to the fact that God knows us personally, that our names “are written on the palms of his hands,” and that He knows us even more than we know ourselves.

Today, the Lord reinforces this truth for us, not just by words but more so, by deeds. After washing His disciples’ feet, after calling them “friends,” He reassured His disciples with words that are as comforting as they are heart-warming: “I know those whom I have chosen.”

I held on to these words during the lowest moments of my life, when I thought that everything good I ever did in my young and most productive years all went down the drain, thanks to certain influential individuals who went against me. I am sure my readers have their own share of similar pain, when one feels alone against a hostile world. For whatever reason, whether justified or not, your feelings can never be wrong. In such moments of utter aloneness, the words of the Lord can be more than just words of comfort, but words of salvation: “I know those whom I have chosen.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

When things get rough, do I trust in God’s words and promises to me?

 

Dearest Lord, teach me to always trust in You.

 

Blessed Peter de Duenas, pray for us.

SET APART FOR THE WORK FOR WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED

 

Being purpose-driven has become a byword in the recent years on account of a popular book by a well-known writer, Rick Warren. The idea, however, is by no means new. By nature, humans act purposefully. We always do things for a reason. What some of us often do not know, however, is the implicit purpose why we do what we do. More often, people are not even aware of the real motives behind their actions.

Today’s first reading speaks about the purpose-driven new life of Barnabas and Saul. But hold it, they did not attend a seminar given by Warren or any of our local religious gurus. It was not about them making their priorities. No. They were “called,” “set apart,” and tasked with some work — a work that they did not opt for.

We seldom hear people nowadays speak of vocation. That is just the Latin fancy name for “call.” In the world that we know, we choose jobs, professions, careers. We decide to become journalists, engineers, doctors or lawyers. That is not vocation, but avocation. But in biblical tradition, apostles did not decide to become apostles. Like Barnabas and Saul, they were set apart to do work for which they had been called.

“Work” in Latin is called “munus,” roughly translated as “office” or “task.” That is the root word of ministry. And the ministry of those who were called to the priestly office is one that necessitates a “call” from God, who chooses and sets apart men for His work of salvation.

Now, who represents the best example of this priestly ministry? The Gospel today tells us that. Jesus Himself claims His munus and priestly office: “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.”

People choose and decide to be lawyers and teachers. As a priest, I also decide to be a writer, a counsellor and a teacher. But priests did not just choose to be priests. They were “set apart for the work for which they have been called.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan,SDB

 

Reflection Question:

What has God set me apart to do?

 

Lord, grant me the spirit of discernment so that I may be able to know Your call for my life.

 

St. Elgiva, pray for us.

HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP US IN SUSPENSE?

 

Last year, the Scorsese movie Shutter Island, starring Leonardo di Caprio, was finally shown. It was a thriller, albeit a little abstruse, for those who were not too familiar with psychopathological issues. A little long, the movie kept people in their seats (unless they got bored and gave up midway through). I remember asking myself, “How long is this movie going to keep us in suspense?”

The Jews in today’s Gospel had a similar question. They could not wait. They could not understand why the Lord did not tell them who He really was, point blank. They were seeing wonders, but they were not hearing it from Him about His true identity as the much-awaited Messiah. And so they complained.

But there are seekers and there are seekers. There are those who pay lip service to being in search, but who never really want to know the truth. And there are those who seek and find, for they are already open to the truth that stares them in the face. “I have told you, but you would not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.”

Sometime through the film, those who patiently followed the story, saw the handwritings on the wall. The actions of Edward Daniels (di Caprio) betrayed who he was – someone being haunted by his own demons of unaccepted reality.

We need to see more such handwritings on the wall. We need to see the works that God, in Christ, does. The poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, complains about people  who, despite the fact that the world is filled with the glory of God and “every bush aflame with His love,” see nothing. She ruefully writes, “Only he who sees takes off his shoes and worships. The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.”

How long is God going to keep us in suspense? It all depends on who is searching and looking. Ignatius of Loyola had a one-word advice for us who are in search: “Mira!” Look! And he who seeks, finds… for “the world is charged with the glory of God.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Do I still search for God’s presence and action in my life?

 

Lord, grant me eyes that see and hearts that feel Your love for me.

 

St. Cathan, pray for us.

LIFE-GIVING REPENTANCE

 

One thing about getting old (or should I say experienced?) is you get to look back at all the young people you had a hand in educating. And now, with them as fully grown adults, you see individuals you never thought would make it to the top and succeed — with or without what the world calls necessary talents!

Success is obviously not the monopoly of the talented, the wise, the moneyed and the learned. I guess this is true about most everything in life, then as well as now. It was true during the times of the early Church, when Christians of Jewish extract would not know how to integrate with Christians who were not of Jewish descent. But as the telling lesson of Peter in the first reading shows us, salvation, repentance and justification were never to be the monopoly of a certain group of people. Being at peace with the God of all was never meant to be a closed issue for Gentile unbelievers (of the Jewish faith then). “God has granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles, too.”

It never occurred to me that repentance could be equated with life-giving. But that is precisely the point of the first reading. From the Biblical viewpoint, God, who raised Jesus from the dead, is seen and known as a God of life — a God of the living primarily, and of the dead. He has sent His Son “that we might have life, and have it to the full.”

A memory I can never forget as a child is the experience of being sick. I remember the sense of helplessness, the feeling that everything you eat tastes bitter and unpalatable, the impression that you are barely alive – that you are actually half-dead, like a walking zombie even before Michael Jackson popularized it.

And this is exactly what wallowing in sin is all about: being half-dead spiritually. But the good news of the Lord’s saving passion, death and resurrection is one of impartial and unconditional love, with only one condition: that we be open to God’s gift of life-giving repentance.  Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

How open am I to receiving and giving God’s unconditional love?

 

Lord of life, free me from my sins and let Your love flow through me.

 

St. Andrew Bobola, pray for us.