Following Jesus

In today's Gospel (Lk 14, 25-33), Jesus renews his invitation for us to follow him.

v25...large crowds of people were going along with Jesus...

Jesus was moving towards Jerusalem. This is significant, since Jerusalem stood for the culmination of the ministry of Jesus, where he is to be tried and condemned unjustly, tortured and killed brutally. We see here the resoluteness of Jesus to fulfill his mission - no matter what it takes. And many went with him, but not all were followers, not all were disciples.

There could have been 4 kinds of people who went along with Jesus - (1) those who wanted to see a miracle performed, without understanding who Jesus is, and why he was doing all these things; (2) those who waited for him to commit a mistake, so that they could hold him in this; (3) those who thought that he was going to Jerusalem to fight against the Romans, to reconquer Israel and liberate them from these foreign colonizers; (4) a little who were trying to understand who he really was, and what his mission is about.

The first were mere drifters and spectators; the second schemers; and the third, misguided activists. The first three were the anonymous crowd - they just went with Jesus; the fourth, are those struggling to understand who Jesus was and what his mission was all about. They are those whom the Gospel would refer as disciples, true followers of Jesus.

Jesus taught 3 challenges of truly following him:

v26"Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well.

1) Jesus invites us to follow him in our relationships. He did not teach hatred, but love, the way he loved. In loving, Jesus loved passionately, and he loved everybody. Yes, Jesus had special preference for his mother, his friends and his disciples. But these relationships did not deter him from loving others too - in fact, it was what sustained him in his service for others, especially the poor and the needy.

v27Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples.

2) Jesus invites us to follow him at all times, even, and especially in the most difficult times - to love even when it is most difficult to do so. He invites us to take up our own struggles, and carry these with him. He does not promise to take our crosses, but he assures that he is with us.

v33..."none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have."

3) Jesus finally invites us to follow him in trust - let go, and let God. The metaphor of Fr. Orbos is fitting: Jesus, calling us to follow him, calls us to hold on to him. But real holding on is not we grasping the hand of God, in which case, we open the possibility of us letting go of God. Real holding on to God is letting God hold us, and asking him never to let us go. It is letting go of everything in our hands, of all our attachments, and letting God hold us and lead us where he wishes to bring us.

There is infinite joy and peace in following Jesus. And this joy and peace Jesus wants to give us. We are however to love as Jesus loved, to love even in the most difficult times, and to let go and let God hold us, and lead us to this joy and peace. Open your heart to him today.

Have a blessed Sunday.
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More than coffee and small talk

Together with the seminary fathers, and Fr. Gary, we had coffee with Prof. Randy David. A good brew is always a fine stimulant, to keep the mind active and the night infinitely young. But more than the coffee, the conversation was most stimulating.

It began with pizza and coffee. Then anchovies and annulment. The pizza was good, although the coffee was just okay. Then the talk shifted, thanks to the pizza which was named after a local political kingpin, to politics in the province and in Pampanga. Then, politics was followed by some remarks on ecclesiastical personages, the former and the latter, not always a good mix, but almost inseparable at times.

The meatier and more substanced talk began when Prof. Randy hinted about his talk tomorrow at the second day of the ICST Symposium (I hope I'd be able to write about the first day soon. It was greatly stimulating too.) - he was to venture into uncertain seas, so he said - "unfamiliar territory" but for which he was willing to "stick out his neck", though. He said he was to speak about theology, specifically on a nouveau thing in theology from an "unlikely mixed" theologian - the topic of kenosis as the the essence of God, and love as the heart of Catholicism, of Christianity. This of course is central in the Scriptures, but the current reading he shall speak of posits some uncharted (or maybe laid back) implications.

Then it got to Von Balthasar and his theological aesthetics which according to Fr. John was much like Prof. David's theologian's thesis, to Benedict XVI and his debate with Habermas, his facility with Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, and his great work, Deus Caritas Est, to his brilliance, piano prowess and smoking, to John Paul II's "theological time bomb", the Theology of the Body, to the dynamics of relationships and spirituality - awe and sublimity, beauty, sheer and pure sociability, to humanity and being human, to Levinas and Ethics and Infinity, to mysticism, conversion, faith, narratives and metanarratives, the Scriptures and worship, to passion about life and many more.

My temples warmed as I listened to the spirited exchange. I realized the brilliance of the man, Randy David, informed and reflective, indeed a man of postmodernity, and of the Rector, John Habawel, equally informed and reflective, a man in whom sentire cum ecclesiae becomes concrete.

Somebody said it well - shallow minds talk about people, average minds about events, and great minds about ideas. Tonight I had a glimpse at great minds. I was amused at the thoughts exchanged. But I know that would not be enough; I am to assimilate.

To begin with, I write this, and maybe tomorrow begin a good read.

Strain forward...

It is always natural to want to savor the fruits of one's labors, to linger in moments of fulfillment.

In today's Gospel (Lk 4, 38-44), Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law (4, 38-39) and a lot of sick people (4, 40) and he drove away demons, liberating many people from their bondages (4, 41). And the people of this place loved him. They begged him to remain with him (4, 42b). But Jesus replied, "To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent." (4, 43)

This I think highlights the wisdom of reshuffles/periodic change of assignments for priests and religious (aside of course from the fact that the parishioners or communities deserve a break and a change of guards =) - after the work we have done, we do not credit ourselves, and we are not to be exclusively attached - whether to people, to our work, or to anything of this world. After all, the work, the fruits of our labors, the success we may have achieved are not actually ours, but God's. We are but mere servants. We live for the mission of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom.

The words of Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Pauline Family (priests and nuns) is a fitting reminder - "Mi protendo in avanti". - "I strain forward". We strain forward. We always move forward, even if we have to strain - doing the mission - giving ourselves for the mission, for God and his people.

Laudetur Iesus Christus.

Blessed are the meek and humble...

In the Jewish culture, the meal is of great importance – it is a symbol of the Kingdom of God, it is an expression of intimacy, and an occasion to recognize each other’s worth and importance as persons.

Jesus was invited to a party, and he could not take the prevailing wrongful attitude and practice. And so he took the occasion to teach.

1) Jesus first noticed that the guests all wanted to be at the place of honor, and so he related a parable (Lk 14, 8-11):

"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, `Give your place to this man,' and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, `My friend, move up to a higher position.' Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Jesus reverses their usual understanding. They thought that their place in social functions determines their worth in the community, that how they are regarded by other people determines their importance. On the contrary, Jesus teaches, that these have nothing to do with the real worth and importance of anybody. One priest put it well:

The only status that counts is one's relationship with God and how one relates with other people, irrespective of their classification by race, religion, profession or class. Our real status is measured not by our rank or occupation but by the level of love and service offered to God through our relationships with those around us. What counts is not how we are looked on by others but the degree of care and compassion with which we look at them. This calls for a strong inner security, which is independent of arbitrarily conferred status or position.

2) Jesus also noticed that those who were at the party were always of the same group – those that they invite are those who could invite them in return. And so he related another parable (Lk 14, 12-14):

"When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Jesus recognized that the people actually invited each other, to serve their own personal agenda. Sadly though, since a meal in the Jewish culture is a sign of the Kingdom of God. But they have denigrated it to a self-serving affair, a ritual of status-recognition, and a show of position and influence. That is why people who think of themselves as important would wish to be seated at the best places. And that is why those who throw a party invite people who could and would reciprocate the invitation, so that the former could also sit at a privileged place in the party of the latter – something like, scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours – a show-off charade. Plainly, they used each other, to further their status and influence in the community.

Unfortunately, such attitude and practice are prevalent not only in Jesus’ time, but also in ours. We recognize how people (we?) use each other to further our selfish gains. We recognize how we manipulate people to fulfill our ambitions.

One priest illustrates this creatively – are we a ladder community, or a round table community? In a ladder, we turn our backs against each other, we occupy positions and rise in rank, and maybe even, when we wish to go higher, we have to step over another. In a round table setting, we see each other face to face, recognizing each other’s unique person and inviolable dignity, and we genuinely interact.

At the base of it all, Jesus teaches us the virtue of humility. We can only recognize our own true worth and value in humility. We can only recognize and serve each other’s true worth and value, in humility. Let us pray for humility – it is such a difficult virtue, but indeed a necessary one – it is like a glass being empty – it is only then that God can fill it with his loving and life-giving grace. A thought I overheard could be a fitting conclusion to our reflection:

Humility is not thinking less of yourself than you are. Nor is humility always talking about your faults and shortcomings as compared with anyone else's superiority and achievements. Humility is simply the recognition of the truth about ourselves; and then most often, a forgetfulness of self that allows genuine concern for others and a genuine worship of God.

The first reading reminds us:

The greater you are, the more you should humble yourself and thus you will find favor with God. For great is the power of the Lord and it is the humble who give him glory.

Have a blessed Sunday.