Catholic Church: Sacrament of Good News and Healing

“So they set out and went through the villages, proclaiming the Good News and healing people everywhere” (Lk 9: 6).

Today, lots of young people are not so familiar with the Church anymore: they see the Church as an institution with sets of rules: “Do this, don’t do that”, a court that judges people: “You’re immoral”, an old-fashioned organization that still clings to traditional way of looking at and doing things: napag-iwanan na ng panahon! Oftentimes, our perception and understanding of the Church determines our attitude and behavior towards Her, Her ministers and Her mission.

Yet, Luke tells us what the real Church is and what Her mission is according to the will of God. God, when He wants to save us, established a Church, the people of God, as the sacrament and instrument of salvation. “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” (Outside the Church there’s no salvation). It means that if someone is saved, he/she is saved through the Church. The Church is, therefore, the depository of Good News and the instrument of God’s healing.

Depository of Good News: we hardly read and hear good news today in the media. What is news today is what is sensational and shocking, which, in turn, may not necessarily be true. But what truly is good news? When someone tells you “I love you”, isn’t that good news? (Ew!) What if that person tells you “You are important to me!”, will you not be glad? Then, it’s good news. How much more if that someone informs you that your utang is already cancelled, how will you react? That’s exactly what the Church is telling us: God loves us; we are important to God; God cancels our debts when Jesus died for us!

This is why the Church must always talk about God’s love for the whole humanity. The Church must always preach that what is important is that we strive hard to love God, no matter how many times we fail. The Church assures us that we can now approach God because He already cancels our debts. Because Jesus died for us, we can now be saved. We only have to trust God once more, even though we see ourselves as sinful and unworthy, and God will slowly but surely heal us of our wounds of pride and sinfulness!

Instrument of God’s healing: In order to heal us, God employs the sacraments of the Church, especially the Sacrament of Confession. Inside the confessional, Jesus Himself comes down to listen to our repentance and to bring us back to the embrace of the Father. Whenever we say to the priest, “Father, forgive me for I have sinned”, we can hear the words of God, the Father, to His servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate”. You see: once you say to God, “Forgive me”, the Father will say “Let’s have a party!”

My dear friends, the Church is never judgmental to any person. But She is very firm and clear in pointing out what actions are evil and should be avoided, and what actions are good and should be done. Recently, Pope Francis was interviewed and was misquoted when he said: “We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods…. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context”.

Then, Congressman Lagman commented: “Pope Francis enjoins Bishops to temper religious dogma with a merciful and compassionate understanding of the differing attitudes of Catholics on issues like contraceptive use, lest the moral ascendancy of the Church 'crumble like a house of cards'”. This is a clear misunderstanding of the Pope’s words. What the Pope really wanted to say is that he wants the Church to talk more about what She’s for rather than what She’s against. The Pope wants the Church to be more positive in Her approach: to preach more about the Good News, rather than about the things that She is against. But that doesn’t mean that the Church won’t still be against those things that contradict Her teachings and traditions.

The Pope states: “I see clearly that the thing the Church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds....”

If you will be asked by your friends what is the Catholic Church and Her mission, you must say “The Catholic Church is the depository of Good News of my salvation and She heals my wounds”. She tells me that I should not be sad because God loves me. Then, She forgives my sins in the Sacrament of Confession.

Why God pursues sinners?

Homily: 24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine upright who do not need to repent”.

In a family of five, seven or nine children, they say that there is always a black sheep, one who consistently gives headache to the parents; one who always causes troubles among the siblings. When parents talk about achievements in the family among their children, the mention of the black sheep would hardly cause a smile in their faces. Frown is easier to evoke. But today, Jesus presents to us a Father who does not frown on the black sheep of the family. On the contrary, “there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner”.

The parables in the Gospel picture God’s desire to find sinners and bring them back into the fold. God is willing to leave the ninety-nine just to find the lost sheep. When a sinner turns to God, heaven throws a party. Recovering a lost sinner is God’s priority. This was perhaps the reason why God gave in to Moses’ intercession for mercy, in the First Reading, and did not punish the Israelites after they offended the Lord by making a molten calf as their god. God, who never takes joy in the death of sinners but that they repent, forgave the Israelites because they repented. St. Paul, in the Second Reading, also claimed to be a recipient of God’s mercy and forgiveness. He said, “Christ Jesus wanted to display his utmost patience in me so that I might be an example for all who are to believe and obtain eternal life”.

That God is constantly on a search and rescue operations for sinners should be a source of great hope for all of us, sinners. In one way or another, we too can identify ourselves with the lost sheep or the lost coin. Oftentimes, when we are lost, we get the feeling or the sensation that nobody cares to find us. Today, we are assured that we are loved. And that despite our being lost – I would say, precisely because we are lost – God searches for us and assures us that when He finds us, there’s a party. But what is more tragic is when some sheep refuse to be found. They know the shepherd is searching for them. Yet, they prefer to be lost and would hide from the shepherd. They think there’s more fun in being lost than being in the fold.

Why would God pursue sinners? Why would God pursue me, a sinner? First reason we can give perhaps is that because we are sinners. Sinners need God even though many times we don’t admit it or aware of it. When you ask a mother why she would still pursue her son despite the son’s rejection of her help or of her presence in many occasions, I’m sure the mother would say, “He is my son and he needs me”. God, who is also a mother to us, would surely think the same way when He pursues sinners.

The second reason, perhaps, why God pursues sinners is that because He is God and God is Infinite Goodness. St. Thomas Aquinas said that it is proper to God to forgive sins. Hence, it is fitting that God pursues sinners. It fits the Infinite Goodness of God to be concerned not only with the righteous but also with the sinners. A God who’s interested only with the righteous is not really an infinitely good God. We often claim that God is good, all the time! Well, here is the reason why God is good all the time: He pursues sinners as well!

However, the fact that God pursues sinners does not give us permission to commit sins so that God may search for us. No! But, yes, it gives us great hope that despite the many sins we may have committed, God is still interested in us. Isn’t that reason enough to go to the Sacrament of Confession more often?

God’s attitude to search for the lost sinners should give us also a lesson. Disciples like us, Christians, Catholics, should also diligently engage in the search and rescue operations for sinners on behalf of the Master. Jesus provides a clear example for us to follow. Finding lost “sheep” and missing “coins” must also be a disciple’s priority. Jesus involved himself with sinners; so should we.

But how do we react when we find the lost sheep? Nowadays, we are confronted with a nationwide search for big public sinners related to the pork barrel scam. How should we react in a Christian way upon finding out the names and faces of the lost sheep and the missing coins in our society? Will there be more rejoicing in the Senate or Congress? Will the government throw a party?

St. Josemaria Escriva said: “Consider what depths of mercy lie in the justice of God! For, according to human justice, he who pleads guilty is punished, but in the divine court, he is pardoned”. If “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine upright who do not need to repent”, then, we’d better repent every time we commit sins. And we should rather choose to plead guilty before the divine court, the Confessional.

May our Blessed Mother, the Refuge of sinners, intercede for us!

Detachment

Homily: 23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

There was a man who went strolling by the woods one afternoon. Without knowing that he was already approaching a high precipice, the man suddenly slipped and slowly glided into the cliff. Fortunately, he was able to grasp a small trunk of a plant and was hanging on to it for some time. He cried to the Lord, “Lord, save me from here!” He was repeating this prayer desperately until midnight.

At around 3 A. M. he heard a voice telling him, “Let go of the trunk… Let loose!” The man did not heed the voice. He thought this could be coming from the devil. God would not command him to let loose and let go of the trunk. Again and again, the man kept praying, “Lord, help me. The devil is tempting me. Save me, Lord”. But again, the voice said, “Let go… let loose”. The man continued to hang on. He thought that to let go would be to commit suicide.

So, he remained hanging on the cliff until the first streaks of dawn. When the sun was up, the man was able to see where he was and as he looked down, he realized that he was only one foot from the ground.

My dear sisters and brothers, oftentimes we don’t understand why God would ask us to detach ourselves from the things that offer us security and certainty in life. Our human understanding is so limited and we fail to grasp God’s designs. Indeed, the Book of Wisdom, in the First Reading, has already hinted it: “Who can know the intentions of God? Who can discern the plan of the Lord? For human reasoning is timid, and unsure are our plans”.

Perhaps, Paul’s request to Philemon, in the Second Reading, to consider Onesimus, Philemon’s runaway slave, as his own brother, might not have been quite intelligible to the people of those times when slavery was so prevalent, or even to Philemon himself. Paul tried to make Philemon understand God’s plans saying “Perhaps Onesimus has been parted from you for a while so that you may have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but as a brother”.

Even Jesus’ words in the Gospel appear intimidating to us because we can’t fully grasp His intentions. He said: “If you come to me, without being ready to give up your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not follow me carrying his own cross cannot be my disciple”. Perhaps, God wants us to be detached from what we consider our security and comfort so that we may learn only to rely on Him and nothing else. Our attachments to material possessions, to people, and even to ourselves can be hindrances to our union with God.

In order to correspond to God’s grace, if we are to imitate Jesus Christ, our hearts need to be entirely free from attachments from earthly goods. Although the world is created good, our hearts tend to be disorderly attached to creatures and things. A Christian, therefore, needs to be vigilant throughout his life so that these goods could not hinder his union with God. On the contrary, he should make use of these goods as means to love and serve the Lord.

The Second Vatican Council teaches: “Let all then have care that they guide aright their own deepest sentiments of soul. Let neither the use of the things of this world nor attachment to riches, which is against the spirit of evangelical poverty, hinder them in their quest for perfect love. Let them heed the admonition of the Apostle to those who use this world; let them not come to terms with this world; for this world, as we see it, is passing away”.

One way, perhaps, to detach ourselves from material possessions is to avoid creating false necessities and to evade from acquiring superfluous things. St. Augustine once wrote: “Man looks for things to satisfy his necessities, and when he finds them in abundance, his heart begins to be filled with pride (Questions about the Gospel, 2, 29). What is superfluous to rich people is a necessity to the poor (Commentary on Psalm 147).

 It is also necessary to purify our hearts of disordered love, oftentimes manifested in our love of self: we are so excessively attached to our own opinion and creative ideas. When we perceive that others do not agree with them, we take it as an offense against our person. Our disordered self-love and self-centeredness often cause us lots of troubles. Conflicts between husbands and wives, between friends and colleagues often proceed from an unbridled selfishness.

St. Josemaria Escriva wrote in his book Friends of God: “if we really want to follow our Lord closely and be of real service to God and the whole of mankind, then we must be thoroughly detached from ourselves, our intellectual talents, our health, our good name, our noble ambitions, our triumphs and successes... We can ensure our detachment by tailoring our will to this clear and precise rule: ‘Lord, I want this or that only if it pleases you, because, if not, I’m not the slightest bit interested’. By acting in this way, we are dealing a mortal blow to the selfishness and vanity that lurk in every conscience. At the same time we will find true peace of soul through this selfless conduct that leads to an ever more intimate and intense possession of God” (no. 114).

My brothers and sisters, like that king in Jesus’ parable in the Gospel who, upon waging war against another king, first sits down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent, we too must begin to examine ourselves: Am I too attached to people, material possessions and myself to the extent that these attachments prevent me from following the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind? Do I still surrender my life to God even though oftentimes I don’t understand His will for me?

With the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose birthday we celebrate today, September 8, let us all say to the Jesus: “Lord, free me from all my earthly attachments so that I can attach myself totally to you and to you alone. Amen!”

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate”

          “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”

          This question posed to Jesus is crucial as it touches profoundly God’s eternal plan for man’s salvation. Today, this question is also posed to us because we are often bothered by some of our Christian brothers and sisters in other sects or denominations who claim that, for instance, only 144,000 will be saved (the Jehovah’s Witnesses said, although there is a correction to this: the Jehovah’s witnesses hold that the 144k will rule in heaven, while there will be a great multitude of others saved as well). But we have to emphasize that this assumption is totally false. Why?

First, it is because the number 144,000 in the Book of Revelation is simply the product of 12 multiplied by 12,000. Now, 12 is a very significant number in the Biblical tradition as it refers to the 12 tribes of Israel, the chosen people of God in the Old Testament, and to the 12 Apostles who are considered the pillars of the new people of God, the Church, that Jesus established. Besides, multiplying 12 by 12,000 signifies “vastness” or “multitude” so that the number 144,000 means two things: that salvation is through the Church, the people of God, and that a “vast multitude” will be saved as described in the Book of Revelation as worshipping the Lamb (Cfr. Rev. 7: 9). Besides, St. Thomas Aquinas warned against this type of speculations saying that it is better not to speculate about the number of those who are to be saved, for such is known to God alone.

Second, the assumption is false because it presupposes a wrong notion of the doctrine of predestination. By asking whether only a few will be saved, we imply that there are those who are predestined to heaven (hence, no evil deed or sin that they committed could bring them down to hell) and also those who are bound to hell (hence, no good deed could save them). But this concept of predestination is wrong because it abolishes or nullifies human freedom. Men and women go to heaven or hell depending on how they use their freedom. Sin is the abuse or wrong use of freedom. God will not throw you to hell. If you go there, it is because you wanted to: because you reject God and His grace, and you chose to live in sin. If you go to heaven, it is not because you are forced by God’s will or grace alone: it is because you love to and you fought for it. St. Augustine once said: “God who created you without your consent, will not save you without your consent”.

Now, I said, if you could enter heaven, it is because you fight for it. Notice how Jesus answered the question of the Jews: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough”. First, He means that salvation is for everybody. All men are called to a life of holiness, to be in communion with God. The First Reading testifies to this: “The Lord says, ‘I come to gather nations of every language;” It adds: “They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord”. For this reason, we pray in the Psalm: “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News”. Why would Jesus command His disciples to go to the ends of the earth if He didn’t mean that salvation is universal? This is the correct understanding of the doctrine of predestination: God, in his eternal plan of salvation, predestined (willed) that everybody should be saved. This notion of predestination does not violate human freedom because God leaves it to man’s free decision whether to accept or to reject His invitation. Remember St. Augustine’s words: “God who created you without your consent, will not save you without your consent”.

Secondly, by saying “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”, Jesus tells us that the only way to win our salvation is to wage war against our defects and sins. In this context, we understand our Lord’s words in the Gospel according to St. Matthew 11: 12: “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force”. Only those who will struggle to enter through the narrow gate will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Today, the gate of heaven is becoming narrower. If you want to uphold the truth about God’s design for human family, sexuality and marriage, the world will make it hard for you. A Catholic senator or congressman, for instance, who may want to be coherent with his faith will find a narrower road ahead of him, either because of his own weaknesses or because of a corrupt system. The same is true in the case of a Catholic government doctor or health worker who will have to choose between the dictates of her conscience and her obedience to the State that promotes a law that is contrary to her morals and faith.

Each of us will have to confront our “narrow gates” in life if we really want to win heaven. Some will have to be very patient in facing their trials and difficulties. The Lord allows them because He can get something good out of them. The Second Reading assures us that our trials are God’s ways of treating us, His children. As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it: “Do not lose heart when (you are) reproved by (God); whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. He scourges every son He acknowledges. Endure your trials as ‘discipline’; God treats you as sons (and daughters)”. When your doctor tells you that you have to be operated in order to take away the cause of your illness, you will have to endure the initial pain knowing that what comes after is healing. The same is true with the Lord. In one of her mystical experiences, St. Teresa of Avila heard Jesus telling her, “This is how I treat my friends”. She answered, “No wonder you have very few friends”.

Even for those who feel they are already very close to Jesus will have to struggle and suffer a lot. A small frame that contains a very beautiful prayer hangs on the wall of my room. It says, “I asked God to spare me pain. And God said, No! He said, ‘Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to Me”. Then, it continues, “I asked God to make my spirit grow. And God said, No! He said I must grow on my own. But He will prune me to make me fruitful”. Pain and suffering can make or unmake us. But if we know how to unite them with the cross of Jesus, they can draw us closer to Him. How we deal with our daily crosses can be a litmus test of how well we know our Lord and identify ourselves with Him. Haven’t you heard in the Gospel that those who were knocking at the door cried out, “Lord, open the door for us… We ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets”? They did not say, “We suffered with you as you taught us to carry our cross”. Jesus answered them, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!” They were not able to enter because they did not share in the Cross of Jesus. These are the Christians who wanted only to follow Jesus in His resurrection, but would abandon Him in His passion.

Do you still want to know if “only a few people will be saved”? The answer is this: Everybody is invited to enter heaven. But only those who are strong enough to struggle and to fight against sin and their defects will enter it. We may be the last to enter through the “narrow gate”. Yet, it is never too late. Let us just ask the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to help us so that we may be counted among those who are last but who will be first. Amen.