musing in paint

This was sent via email by Bernice Rio. This he says is part of the collection of paintings he did, exhibited and opened for sale for the benefit of their seminary.

Three voices...

In this Sunday's Liturgy, three voices speak to us: the Prophet Amos (Amos 8:4-7), St. Paul (1 Timothy 2:1-8), and our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 16: 1-13).

Amos lived in the 8th century BC. He saw the prosperity of Israel, but side by side with it was the exploitation of the poor, and the corruption and injustices being perpetuated. The needy were trampled upon. The capitalists overpriced their merchandise. They cheated on the scales, and the quality of their products. The powerful buy up the poor for money, and the needy, even just for a pair of sandals!

This condemnation was made centuries ago, but the situation still persists. And as in the days of old, Yahweh, our God promises: "I shall never forget their deeds."

The situations of injustice, corruption, poverty and exploitation of the poor continue to exist in our present time, and have even taken on new forms. Talk about bribery and influence peddling in the government, red tape, bribery, "SOP" for projects, commissioning (ABZTEFG!). Talk about vote buying and results manipulation. Talk about the trampling of human rights. Talk about unjust trade practices, imbalance in trade liberalization. Talk about unequal opportunities in business, agriculture, education and employment. Talk about garapal employers and agencies. Talk about plunder and misuse of public funds. Talk about syndicates for drugs, gambling (jueteng!), prostituion, illegal recruitment.

Faced with these, we cannot be complacent. We may not accept these as normal - no matter how common they have become, no matter how embedded they have become in our social system, government, consciousness and culture. We may not accept injustice, corruption, poverty and exploitation of the poor as the norm.

Our first response may be to heed the call of St. Paul - to pray for each other, and in a special for our leaders - "for rulers of states, and all in authority, that we may enjoy a quiet and peaceful life in godliness and respect." We pray for those in positions of power – so that they will use the power they have been entrusted with for the good of all, and not for their personal gain. We pray that they may rise above the system of corruption, and stand up for the values of truth, justice and the common good.

We should not underestimate the power of prayer - for in the end, everything is in the hands of God. But we should not renege on our task. And so we are called to heed the call of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. In today's Gospel parable (Luke 16, 1-8), Jesus deliberately uses the word "steward". Truly, we are STEWARDS. We do not own what we have; we have only been entrusted with it. This is to be a fundamental attitude. We have no right to amass more than what we need, because nothing is ours (except our sin). We are to share of the goods of this world, which is intended for all, not for a few. We are to make use of whatever we have been gifted with to earn for us an earthly life worthy of our dignity as children of God, but also to "store up for ourselves treasures in heaven" - to allow others, and to help also live an earthly life worthy of their dignity as children of God.

Jesus reminds us: "Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in little things, will also be dishonest in greater ones."

A biblical scholar rightly puts it:

"We have no absolute right to anything we have. "I can do what I like with my money and property because it's mine" is not a statement any committed Christian can make. So the question of a successful life is not "How much did you make?" but "How did you use what you had to creative purposes for the general welfare of all?" That is the way to make the friends Jesus talks about in the Gospel.... Upon earth you are in charge of things which are not really yours. You cannot take them with you when you die. They are only lent to you. You are only a steward over them. They cannot, in the nature of things, be permanently yours. On the other hand, in heaven you will get what is really and eternally yours. And what you get in heaven depends on how you use the things of earth. What you will be given as your very own will depend on how you use the things of which you are only steward."

2. In the parable, the master praises the dishonest steward - not because of his dishonesty, but because of his cleverness. The wish of Jesus is that we, his disciples may also be zealous, ingenious and driven - "For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light." As Jesus sent his disciples, he admonished them - "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves." (Matthew 10, 16) Jesus is sending us too, and he challenges us. If the people of this world could use all and any tactic to fulfill their scheme, we are also called to exert all our efforts, to exhaust all our creativity in doing good, and curbing evil, in going against a corrupt system. Yes, even a monstrous corrupt system.

If God is on our side, who can triumph against us?

These oft-quoted lines are fitting reminders: "It is better to light just one little candle than to curse the darkness." "For evil to triumph, it takes good men to do nothing."

Letting go and letting God...*

Letting God hold us and lead us will always be a struggle, as the initial step of letting go first of what we hold with our hands will always be difficult. But only when we have let go of what we hold and hold on to, that we can let God hold us.

Fr. Henri Nouwen has this illustration of really praying: moving from clenched fists to open hands - loaded imagery.

Again, it is and will be a struggle, given our situations and circumstances, and our own stubbornness. But God is bigger and more pervasive than any situation or circumstance. And he is far more "stubborn" in loving us, and wanting to have us share in his life.


By the way, I would appreciate if you would identify yourself when you comment. I think it is part of my calling to pray for people whose lives intersect with mine - yes, even only through the blogs.

(*Originally, this should have been a reply to a comment in my September 9 post. But i thought I might as well put it in as a regular post.)

Lost, and found.

This Sunday’s readings (Ex 32, 7-11.13-14;1 Tim 1, 12-17; Lk 15, 1-32) bring us face to face with the human condition: we are vulnerable to sin, and we have in fact sinned.

More importantly though, the readings bring us to the awareness of a more fundamental truth, in fact, the only truth that matters: before we have sinned, even when we have sinned, and even in our sinfulness, God has never ever ceased to love us. Since the beginning, God has loved us, and he continues to love us. In God's eyes, even when we have sinned, our value, our worth has never changed.

Sometimes we stumble and fall, stray foolishly like the sheep, get lost in the seduction of others like the coin, or stubbornly rebel like the sons. The constant invitation for us is to rise, and go back to the Father - whose gaze is compassionate, not condescending, whose arms embrace, not strike, whose love gives life and restores our lost sense of self and dignity.