First Luminous Mystery: THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Holy Friendship Day [Thursday] Rosary

The Luminous Mysteries 

First Luminous Mystery: THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

'I did not know him myself, and yet my purpose in coming to baptise with water was so that he might be revealed to Israel.' And John declared, 'I saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven and rest on him. I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me, "The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptise with the Holy Spirit." I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.'

- John 1: 31-34

Reflection:

Today let us reflect on the virtue of HUMILITY. First on the side of John the Baptizer. He was considered as a prophet and was respected as such by the people. The authorities themselves did not try to argue with him because they were afraid of the people who believed in him. He had some kind of influence and power. But he knew that it was not his but that it came from God. He did not have the right to claim it for himself and to be proud of having such influence and power. He did not claim the respect and honor that the people were giving him. Fact is, when it was Jesus' time to begin his ministry, John did not hesitate to tell his followers that "he must decrease while Jesus must increase". Secondly, the Lord Himself showed humility when He subjected Himself to be baptized by John though John did not want to do so because He knew that He was greater than him. But then the Lord tells John that they must do what is necessary. While in an earthly setting, many people of influence and power would rather enjoy their advantage to the detriment or even damage to the proper and legal processes, here we have the Lord humbly letting Himself, God made man, be baptized by John, a mere human, lower than His stature. We seldom see men and women of influence and affluence bow down to those lower in rank even if these people have the duty to subject them to processes and procedures. Thirdly, John does what he had to do because he had to do it. It would have been false humility not to obey the Lord just because he thinks He is greater than him. Whatever our role in this life is, we must fulfill it even if we have to subject someone of influence or affluence to the rules and regulations for even the Lord who is clearly above all made Himself subject to what is necessary in accordance with the Father's will.

Second Luminous Mystery --->

Image from dominicancooperatorbrother.blogspot.com via google.com

Biblical passage from Jerusalem Bible at catholic.org 

Christian Love will be Our Witness to Others

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of all and the Catholic Church does not exist on earth solely for the sake of "Catholics". This is the very reason why the Catholic Church involves herself in matters that affect the spiritual and moral aspect of each and every person, not merely of Catholics, because it is her mission to proclaim the Gospel to all people. 

Image taken from the catholicherald.co.uk via google.com

In Nostra Aetate, or the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions, there are two main reasons stated why the Church should relate itself with others even those who do not share the same Faith that we Catholics have:

[1] The community of all peoples - since all of us have been created by the One God the Father; and

[2] Our common final end - eternal union with the same God in His heavenly city.

While other religions tend to be exclusive, that is, focused on their own and concerned only of their own, the Catholic Church understands that it is her mission to embrace everyone since the Lord Himself said that He has other sheep and that there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd [see John 10:16]. It is to His Apostles that He entrusted the Church, particularly the Apostle Peter [see Matthew 16: 13-20], and this is what the Church has been fulfilling as an important mission and obligation ever since the Holy Spirit descended upon them during Pentecost [see Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2]. It is the same Holy Spirit whom the Lord promised to send and to remind the Church of everything that He has taught her through the Apostles [see John 14: 16-17].

The great sending out of the Apostles during the Lord's Ascension is a very basic command which the Church has received and which she has faithfully followed ever since [see Matthew 28: 19-20, the whole of Acts of the Apostles particularly 1:8]. No period in the history of the Church did she fail to accomplish the task of proclaiming the Gospel even amid many tribulations, persecutions, misunderstanding of its role by political powers, and more. She faithfully obeyed the command and proved to be truly guided by the Holy Spirit even in areas where the Church faced the threats of death.

However, in our dealings with non-Christians, we must be guided by the spirit of charity. Most non-Christians would  not welcome us if they feel that our purpose in relating with them is all about proselytizing, or merely for the purpose of converting them into our Faith. This is because many of them have had their own unique awareness and experience of God. As Nostra Aetate states [Number 2]:

"From ancient times down to the present, there is found among various peoples a certain perception of that hidden power which hovers over the course of things and over the events of human history; at times some indeed have come to the recognition of a Supreme Being, or even of a Father. This perception and recognition penetrates their lives with a profound religious sense."

We could do much more to inspire them to become one with us by our example of loving one another for the Lord Himself said that it is by so doing that others would know that we are His disciples and friends [see John 13:35, 15: 12-17]. It is through this that we could guide them to the profound mystery of the true God who have manifested to them in other ways [such as natural reason and through His creation] and yet have fully revealed Himself through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ [see Catechism of the Catholic Church for more about this including the Biblical citations].

There is an ocean of difference between aiming merely to convert persons and true evangelization. True evangelization seeks to proclaim the Gospel, conversion follows through the action of the Holy Spirit within the person hearing the Gospel. Mere purpose of converting others lack the Spirit. It is more of a human design to seek appreciation and recognition. It is initially enough that we proclaim the Gospel, then set examples about the truth of the Gospel through loving each other and others, and then conversion will naturally follow in accordance with the movement of the Spirit. The same document we mentioned [Number 2 also] above says :

"The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and LOVE [emphasis mine] and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men." 

and also [Number 5]:

'We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he is in the image of God. Man's relation to God the Father and his relation to men his brothers are so linked together that Scripture says: "He who does not love does not know God" (1 John 4:8).'

We can do more by loving one another than by trying to convert others through others means like eloquence in argumentation and debate.

To be continued 

Love - the Bond that Unites a Family

Image from marypages.com

According to Fr John A Hardon, SJ, the one phenomenon that characterizes the modern world is the breakdown of the family. He says that this is particularly true with the western world. He further states in the same article that stable parishes before were animated by united families but in many countries now are merely "fond memory and for some people an outdated anachronism". 

Some people say that the breakdown of the family starts when a couple starts having a communication gap, this is followed by misunderstanding, then the amplification of simple and very common problems which seem to be unsolvable later on due to lack of trust between husband and wife, etc. The breakdown may also be caused by unresolved compatibility issues especially among couples who have not gone through enough period of courtship, or among couples who have decided to get married due to unwanted or unplanned pregnancy of the girl, and many more.
In his homily on the Feast of the Holy Family, Fr Tommy Lane declares a very important reality: that we call the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the "Holy Family" and yet we forget that this very same family is far from having "the perfect" life on earth for they also had to face many troubles which were even more life-threatening than that which any other human family here on earth has faced, presently experiencing or has to overcome. He enumerates those troubles here and the list includes the case of Mary's out-of-wedlock conception, the lack of a decent space when it was her time to give birth to the infant Jesus, the threat to the baby's child which led them to flee to Egypt, and more.

But in all these troubles, the Holy Family continued to be united. They sustained their family because of one very important virtue: love. And it was not just an ordinary human love which keep them close and cohesive. It was divinely inspired charity founded upon strong faith in God and boundless hope in His promises. No problem or trouble ever kept them from their concrete practice of charity. Instead, their charity for each other kept their problems and troubles away. In no way did they disregard those problems and troubles. But they did not let those problems and troubles affect the "holiness" of their family. Fr Lane further says that, "Whenever our families are successful, it is because they are places of love."

In an article Alex Colvin lists some possible real and major root causes of the breakdown of the modern family. In his discussion, he mentions the erroneous notions of modernism such as [1] God, religion, and questions of morality are matters of personal opinion which have little or no relevance to social problems; [2] Man as Animal: Evolution as a Result of Random Mutations; [3] Relative Values; and [4] The Nature and Role of Human Sexuality. He also mentions the institutionalization of secular relativistic ideas which unfortunately can even be found being promoted through the educational and legal systems and most particularly through entertainment media and the advertising industry. His discussion can be found here. Though he speaks about family breakdown in a US setting, we can probably apply the same things in a way or another here in the Philippines or in some other societies - with a few considerations.

Let me share what Fr Hardon shared as the way to avoid the breakdown of the family. He speaks about the qualities of the Holy Family which if every human family would practice, then there would probably be no more breakdown that will place:

"First quality of the Holy Family relative to all families: all families are born of God. No Christian group of people come together as a society, whether domestic or religious or parochial or, on a world scale, ecclesiastical, except by a special providence of God.

"We can say more. Every family comes into existence in order to be a reflection on earth of the Eternal Family, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which constitutes the Holy Trinity. There was from all eternity a divine Holy Family of the three Persons. Hear it! God as God is not a solitary. God as God is a community.

"Families on earth are to be created manifestations of the uncreated Family, which is the triune everlasting God. If there is no such thing as chance with God we may be sure that no earthly family is just a happening. Our father and mother didn’t just happen to meet one another and coincidentally happened to marry and by some quirk of fate happened to have us as offspring. No! Every family, I repeat, domestic, religious, parochial or ecclesiastical is the providential creation of God who is Himself the infinite community of the most blessed Trinity.

"Second quality: all members of a family are different. I could almost skip the observations I want to make. But let’s get beneath the difference. This difference is part of God’s all wise plan for His children. He makes us different from the moment He creates a different soul for each one of us. And that, by the way, is an article of faith. What’s an article of faith? That each soul is individually, distinctively, therefore differently and uniquely created by the Almighty God at the moment of our conception in our mother’s womb.

Variety in creation is a glorious reflection of the infinity of the all-perfect God. No one creature, no ten thousand times ten thousand creatures, could adequately manifest the ocean of attributes in the all-perfect God. And to further dramatize it as scientists tell us, did you know not even two snowflakes out of the millions that fall on a winter’s night are the same? Did you know that? God wants us to be different. He made us that way.

"Third quality: the different members of a family should be united. No less than the three Persons in God are not the same. Father is not the Son. Father and Son are not the Holy Spirit. Yet all form together the one God. So the members of every family should be united. A family ceases to be a family when each person, who is notoriously and for us painfully embarrassingly, different. A family, I repeat, ceases to be a family when each person so different pursues his own interests without reference to or concern for the other members of the family. A family is a family! It is not a mere group or a cluster or a crowd or a chance gathering of different people.

"My subway rides in New York, crowded trains, a perfect symbol of different people who happen to be on the same train. Dead silence, except for the screech of the wheels and the deafening noise of the New York subways.

"Fourth quality: love is the bond that unites a family. Only love can unite different, even disparate, people. Only love brings them together, keeps them together and enables them to work together as a family. Where this love is missing or weak, the family as family falls apart. This is the verdict of history."

Every family must be truly and fully united by love - a love that is more than human, a love that is divinely inspired. Unless every relationship is founded upon such kind of love, we shall never see perfect union of every family and every group here on earth. For it is love that would set us above problems and troubles, unite us against divisive forces and issues, and keep us stable when the storms of life and the threats of death surges!

No wonder that our Lord Jesus Christ made only one very significant requirement for us to become his friends for it is the only thing that truly matters: to love one another [see John 15: 12-17].

_________________________

More about our sources here

[1] Fr John Hardon 

[2] Fr Tommy Lane

[3] Alex Colvin

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time [Cycle C]

Image from ocarm.org

It's the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time and today we listen to the Lord's proclamation of the fulfillment of what the Prophet Isaiah has written centuries before him as recorded in the Gospel according to St Luke:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." [Isaiah 61: 1-2].

This was "good news" and it made the people react joyfully as the continuation of the reading would tell us especially since they have been hearing about the miracles that he worked in other cities of Israel. They also wondered how he could have worked those miracles and how he could have such eloquence in speaking identifying him only as the "son of Joseph, the carpenter".

Their initial reaction of joy and wonder changed when he mentioned how they, his fellow Nazarenes, would probably use the quotation, "Physician heal thyself" since he had been performing miracles in other places - why not here on your own town? They became so enraged when he started talking about how God sent Elijah to a pagan widow instead of Israelite women when famine ravaged the land and how Elisha cured only the Syrian army officer Naaman of leprosy though there were many Israelites leprose who needed  the same help during his time. They felt insulted about the comparisons - especially with Gentiles and leprose people and they wanted to throw him our of their city but he just walked through them without being harmed.

The Jews were very proud of their being a Chosen People and even if they were then under the rule of the Romans and have been subjugated by foreign powers many times and were even exiled to Babylon, they still considered themselves free and "un-enslaved" [see John 8:33]. Hence comparing them to heathens, gentiles or pagans especially leprose people was an insult for them. This attitude was the cause of their failure to recognize the Lord and to acknowledge the presence of God-made-flesh among them. Isaiah have already prophesied that the "Emmanuel" would come and yet their pride blocked their ability to experience his coming and his presence. 

Many times we, Christians, also fail to recognize the Lord when he comes to be present among us. We are many times so focused on material things and temporal influences and happenings that we forget that God comes into our lives in many simple ways though ordinary people, everyday events, the usual things we all consider so trivial that God could not be found there at all! We wait for the Lord's coming in a grandiose manner forgetting that when that  moment comes he would be as a judge judging us as to how we "treated" him through those ordinary people, everyday events, and usual things.

In every moment of our life the Lord manifests himself and fulfills the Scriptures. May we never be so engrossed about earthly matters and fail recognizing him when he comes in so simple and ordinary manner. 

The Conversion of St Paul: A Reflection

The Acts of the Apostles [Chapter 9] tells us about the activities that Saul, former name of Paul before he became an Apostle, performed against the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The most prominent event was his being a witness to the martyrdom of the deacon Stephen [Acts of the Apostles 7:58], whom the Jews killed because of his testimony in favor of the Lord and his fearlessness to say even at the point of death that he saw the heavens open where the Lord Jesus Christ was standing at the right hand of God the Father [see Acts 6-7 for the full account]. Acts 8:1 states that "Saul approved of the killing."

Chapter 9 of Acts of the Apostles also tells us about his conversion and how he became a zealous preacher of the Gospel. Soon after his conversion, St Paul worked hard to preach the Gospel, particularly focusing on the work among the Gentiles since the Jewish Christians feared him at first due to his former activities against many of their brethren. There also arose some differences between him and other Jewish Christians which made him decide to work among the Gentiles [Acts 18:6]. It was actually also an agreement reached after the Council of Jerusalem that the original Apostles would preach to the Jews while Paul and Barnabas would proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles [Galatians 2:9].

Some people misuse the "disagreements" between St Paul and the other followers of the Lord, including St Peter, as a way to advance their own understanding of the Church, the Gospel and many other things about Christianity in particular and religion in general. On one end of the pendulum, some Protestant use this as an avenue to say that the Pope who succeeded St Peter cannot claim primacy because St Paul even corrected St Peter about his relationship with Jews and Gentiles [Galatians 2:11ff] ] while on the other end, followers of Islam claim that St Paul corrupted the Gospel [see this link and the related links and this forum for details]. 

Among the Apostles, St Paul made the most trips called Missionary Journeys in order to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Aside from being chosen by the Lord through a vision which led to his conversion, we could say that he also had a very good preparation being a Pharisee. He trained under Gamaliel, the one who cautioned the Jewish leader against acting harsh against the Apostles because they might be fighting God Himself telling them examples of previous rebellions which were all inspired by human leaders and so ended unsuccessfully. He told them if the activities of the Apostles were purely human in origin it will also die a natural death like the other movements such as those which had been led by a certain Theudas and a Judas the Galilean [Acts 5: 34-39]. The Acts describes Gamaliel as a teacher of the law respected by the people. He must have been a truly good teacher for he was able to produce a very eloquent preacher of the Gospel, St Paul.

Of course the greatest contribution to the success of St Paul was God's grace through the Holy Spirit. But we must also give importance to proper preparation. The Twelve Apostles that have been chosen by the Lord were unique in their own ways and indeed they have been thoroughly prepared by the Lord during His entire public ministry in order to carry on His mission. St Paul also had his own blessings which sets him apart and which had led him to perform more than others. Though God does not really look upon our work and ministry in accordance with human standards, we must remember that to him whom much has been given, more will be required [Luke 12:48]. St Paul was particularly chosen by the Lord not only to stop him from persecuting Christians but because he had been given much blessings - talent in speaking, knowledge of Scriptures and the Law, zeal for what he believes in, and more - which the Church needed during her infancy. It is not that the other Apostles could not do so much for the Church but it is because God has provided enough room for everyone in the Church to perform various and diverse roles and has not limited the success of her growth to just a few chosen people.

As we reflect on the Conversion of St Paul, may we never forget that each one of us has the most perfect role entrusted by God in accordance with our personal capacities amplified by the grace that He bestows upon us. 

_______________________________________________

More about St Paul at Catholic.org. It is also the source of the image.

The Communion of Saints

Image from the romancatholichomilies.blogspot.com

According to St Paul, the Church is the Body of Christ [I Corinthian 12:27]. Members of the Church are like parts of the human body and our head is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ [Colossians 1:18]. This image of the Church is just one of the many images which the Holy Bible tells us about the reality that is the Church.

Since we are all members of the One Body of Christ, we must work together. St Paul himself discusses this in I Corinthians and says that if one part of the body stops working in coordination with the other parts, the whole body will surely suffer. It is the same with the Church. If any member fails to fulfill his or her role as member of the Church, then the whole Church suffers. The suffering will be in accordance with the gravity of the role just like how the body would suffer in accordance with the importance of its "sick" part.

As one Body we should work together toward the fulfillment of the purpose of the whole. No one lives and dies for him or herself, says the recessional song. We are all connected one way or another and we cannot disregard any member as insignificant or unnecessary. There is some kind of an interdependence among us. We are all members of the Church however numerous and diverse [Romans 12:5]: first of all we all share the great gift of being created by the Father, then the grace of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the divine life through the Holy Spirit by our baptism and confirmation and the other sacraments.

This One Body of Christ is definitely given emphasis through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This sacrament is also called Holy "Communion" leading us to reflect on the mystery of being one community in the Lord. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states 

"... by this sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body" [CCC 1331].

The bread which becomes the sacramental Body of Christ represents also our Communion: first, as the bread which is whole is broken to be distributed to us we are also one whole body "broken" to go and be "distributed" to all so that others may know, believe and follow the Lord; second, as we receive the broken pieces of the sacramental Body of Christ we declare our faith in Him by saying "Amen" which also includes our assent to the fact that we are indeed ONE with the entire Church.

As one Body we are called to care for one another. The Lord tells us to wash each other's feet [John 13:14]. The command to love one another is therefore should not be a mere lip service. One do not merely say to a sick body part, "be well" but looks for a way to heal it. The same manner as any "sick" member of the Church. We cannot just tell him or her to "be well" when he or she is sick but must do something concrete and appropriate to address the condition of such a member [see James 2: 15-16].

To be continued

The Second Mystery of Light: The Sign at the Wedding at Cana

Image from ocarm.org

It's the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. It is as if we are reciting the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary with the Baptism of the Lord last Sunday and now with the Miracle at Cana.

Let me focus here on the role of the Blessed Mother as "mediator" or "intercessor" during this event. Being the Mother of God, she has a special role to play in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle John gives importance to such a role by mentioning what she did during this special occasion. But what we will notice is that the Apostle emphasizes the significance of her simplicity and humility by stating that what she told the servants was, "Do whatever He tells you." Nothing less, nothing more. No bragging of her being the mother of the Lord nor no doubt as to what He could do. The Apostle never wrote a more proud declaration of, "Oh, no problem. My son will take care of that" nor a less consoling, "He isn't concerned about such things."

The sign was performed by the Lord during the important occasion of a wedding. This site explains many significant things about the entire event. What we notice here significantly in relation to our mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Holy Friendship [John 15: 12-17] is that our blessed Mother acted as a true friend to the newly-weds. She never disregarded the possible negative consequences of having a feast without wine. She didn't say, "That would be better because there would be less drunks!" It was a joyful celebration and she understood the importance of "wine" on such an occasion.

The Lord also grants the request though it was not that important if viewed in the general perspective of His mission which probably made Him remark, "Woman, what do you want from me? It is not yet my time," [John 2:4]. But He did extend help performing the first of the seven important signs recorded in the Apostle and Evangelist John's account of the gospel.

It's the second mystery of the light. And as light, it manifests important brightness into our lives and ministry. We must also be faithful friends, asking assistance for the sake of others even if we think it's not that important in our judgment or perhaps in the standards of the Lord but still probable instruments or channels of His divine grace and blessings by which others would be led to believe in the love and goodness of the Father and the friendship of our dear savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

May Mama Mary, Mother Most Amiable, help us fulfill our roles as "mediators" or "intercessors" so that many more would know and experience the great friendship of the Lord.

See complete readings here.

Our Relationship with God: An Introduction

Image from en.wikipedia.org via google.com

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you," [Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31]. Hence our first concern is essentially establishing our relationship with God before anything else. 

This is simply logical since God is the maker and source of all things, and it is also in His power to provide us anything that we need. We only need to ask and ask properly. Therefore, if we could establish a strong relationship with the One who could provide all that we need, then we need not seek far and wide just to be able to get our fill. For as the Lord also said, "The Father knows what we need before we ask of Him."

God Himself actually, in creating us, has made the first move to relate with others outside of Himself. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, 

"God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength." [Prologue I.1]

We are therefore merely making a response to His initiative when we seek Him in order to establish a relationship with Him. We are not doing God a favor. Instead, we are being given the chance to experience and enjoy His generosity when we relate with Him. God does not need us in order to BE. But because of His infinite love and generosity, He wanted others to enjoy His blessed life, as stated above. it is because of His great love that He opens the gates of Paradise to everyone who would respond to His call to live that blessed life with Him. Such love did not only make Him create us but also, when we were mired in the mud of sinfulness, led Him to send His only begotten Son "so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have an eternal life" writes the Apostle John [3:16].

God does not want anyone to perish. If it was His intention, He would not have created us in the first place. He would not have sent His only begotten Son to save us from our sins. He would not have sent the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate. He would not have established the Church to become the continuing presence of His salvific acts. He would not have sent many Saints to become light of the world and salt of the earth. 

We are therefore being called and challenged to respond to God's love by establishing a very close relationship with Him - something that no other god or idol since the beginning of time and even until now has done - even giving us the grace to become His children and friends in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God makes the  First Steps in Establishing our Relationship with Him