Stay Awake!

“Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42

I heard Bishop Barron say in one of his homilies that “much of our Western culture today is like the Decapolis.” He said it was  “not a culture shaped by the word of God, but shaped very much by secularist influences.” 

But what was the Decapolis he was comparing Western culture to? The word itself is derived from ancient Greek words déka which means ten and pólis which means city. It was a league of ten cities, which was the center of Greek and Roman culture. Jesus and His disciples also went around this region inhabited mostly by Gentiles, not Jews. 

In Israel, there were many who gave importance to God’s Word and His ways. But in the Decapolis, there were many dissenting voices, there was a lot of materialism, temples to different gods, individualism, and the search for meaning apart from God. We can see in today’s world there are many views drowning out the Word of God too! 

Jesus said, “Stay awake!” In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Lions hunt by stalking quietly like a cat, they stay hidden for as long as possible. The devil and his minions are like that too. They prefer to work in the dark, nothing blatant so they catch us unaware. They see our weaknesses and work tirelessly until we are already caught in their claws. But God is also on the hunt. His quest is us, each one of us, and He won’t rest until we see the light and reach out for Him. Yes, He will come for us! We can depend on it!

Just A Little Stone

“You have searched me and you know me, Lord.” Psalm 139:1

The Father knows us inside and out. He knows us better than we know ourselves.

I am reminded of a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest, Hans Urs von Balthasar, whose thinking for me is quite difficult to comprehend, too complicated. But when God called him, God used very simple ideas, so easy to understand for you and for me. 

God said: “You have nothing to choose, you have been called. You will not serve, you will be taken into service. You have no plans to make, you are just a little stone in a mosaic which has long been ready.” All Hans needed to do was “leave everything and follow,” without making plans, without wishes or insights. All he needed to do was to stand there and wait and see what he would be needed for. . . . At that stage it was just a matter of surrendering himself. 

This is the part I love: “You are just a little stone in a mosaic which has long been ready.” Aren’t we all little, insignificant stones in God’s beautiful, wondrous mosaic? He knows our gifts and talents, our idiosyncrasies, our weaknesses, yet He wants to use us to create this divine masterpiece that He has a design for already! All we need to do is trust, surrender, and say yes! 

More Than Wonderful

“Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain.” Psalm 139:4-6

Mother Teresa had a devotion to Jesus’ thirsting for us, for our souls. In the Chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious order that this Saint founded, there is usually a crucifix behind the altar with the words, “I THIRST” in big, bold, black capitals. We are familiar with these words, as these are some of the last words of Jesus as he was dying on the cross. 

Jesus not only sacrificed His life for us, He also wanted to satiate our longing for the infinite. St. Augustine’s prayer sums it up for us beautifully in the opening of his Confessions: “…our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Jesus constantly waits for us to say yes to Him. He is the hound of heaven that English poet Francis Thompson described, always after us, hemming us in, behind us and before us. Perhaps for some this is suffocating, but for those who realize how real God’s love and passion for us is, “it it more than wonderful”. 

As Sandi Patti’s song goes, 

“For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive

He's more wonderful than my heart can believe

He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams

He's everything (He's everything) that my soul ever longed for

Everything that He's promised and so much more

He's more than amazing, more than marvelous

More than miraculous could ever be

He's more than wonderful, (wonderful)

That's what Jesus is to me

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh

I stand amazed when I think that the King of glory

Would come to dwell within the heart of man

Oh, I marvel just to know He really loves me

When I think of who He is, and who I am…” 

Saints and Sinners

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.” Matthew 23:13

Hypocrisy is a constant temptation for us. We all want to appear good. There is so much we hide from the world. And I don’t just mean the junk in our drawers and cabinets when guests are expected. Much more serious are the sins that we repeatedly do. St. Augustine, whose feast day we celebrate today, is no exception. 

He is the patron saint of brewers because for many years he lived his life wantonly enjoying himself with parties and worldly pursuits.

As the story goes, he heard about two men who had suddenly been converted and he felt terribly ashamed of himself. “What are we doing?" he cried to his friend. “Unlearned people are taking Heaven by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are so cowardly that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!"

Full of bitter sorrow, Augustine flung himself out into the garden and cried out to God, “How long more, O Lord? Why does not this hour put an end to my sins?"

Just then he heard a child singing, “Take up and read!" Thinking God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book of the Letters of Saint Paul, and read the first passage his gaze fell on. It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St. Paul says to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. From then on, Augustine lived a new life! His writings and sermons are the foundation of much of our Catholic teaching and theology, and are still very much relevant today. 

How amazing that God gives us this priceless gift! We can just go to Him, ask forgiveness and we too are new creations! We can begin anew! This is not just for St. Augustine, and all the saints, but for each of us as well! 

St. Augustine, pray for us!

Who Do You Say I Am?

"Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked Peter in Matthew 16:15.

There is a letter that exists that purports to be a description of Jesus Christ, written by  Lentulus, the Prefect of Judea, to Tiberius Caesar. For me, it is wishful thinking to believe it is genuine, more a curiousity than an authentic record.

“There lives at this time in Judea a man of singular virtue, whose name is Jesus Christ, whom the barbarians esteem as a prophet, but his followers love and adore him as the offspring of the immortal God. He calls back the dead from the graves and heals all sorts of diseases with a word or touch. He is a tall man, well shaped, and of amenable and reverent aspect; He has hair of a color that can hardly be matched, falling into graceful curls, waving about and very agreeably couching about his shoulders, parted on the crown of his head, running as a stream to the front after the fashion of the Nazarites. His forehead is high, large and imposing; his cheeks without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a lovely red; his nose and mouth formed with exquisite symmetry; His beard of a color suitable to his hair, reaching below his chin and parted in the middle like a fork; His eyes, bright blue, clear and serene, look innocent, dignified, manly and mature.

“In proportion of body most perfect and captivating; his arms and hands delectable to behold. He rebukes with majesty, counsels with mildness; His whole address, whether in word or deed, being eloquent and grave. No man has seen Him laugh, yet his manners are modest and wise, a man for his extraordinary beauty and divine perfection, surpassing the children of men in every sense.”

The letter above was presented to the Vatican around the 9th century and taken for an eyewitness account for a long while. This was at a time when the finding of religious artifacts and relics were at their peak. Although it is exciting to have a physical description of Jesus, and an account of his manners and comportment, ultimately what is more important is what He said and did. 

Each one of us has to answer the question Jesus put to Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” If we can answer like Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” from a place of faith, Jesus can use us also to build His Kingdom here on earth. 

Do Not Follow Their Example

 “Practice and obey whatever they say to you but do not follow their example." Matthew 23:3

This is what Jesus said to the disciples about the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees. He most probably would say the same about me! I should be constantly careful about the things I write because it says in James 3:1, "We who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness."

Who were the Pharisees? "The Pharisees," as I read from pencilled notes on my Bible (probably from The Word Among Us) "got their name from the Hebrew word ‘Perusim’, meaning the separated ones- and they really did try to live up to their title. They were primarily a lay renewal movement that arose from a group of pious Jews who resisted pagan influence during the Greek occupation of Palestine in 4th C BC."

They wore phylacteries (prayer boxes) on their forehead or left wrist, which contained parchment with texts from the Torah, "in such a way that it hung from in front of the eyes! Thus the injunction to keep the law as a sign on the hand and as a memorial between the eyes was literally observed." (Jerome Commentary)

How about me? A lot of people have a junk drawer to keep their mess out of view. I have a junk ROOM! My spiritual mess is not on display either! So do not follow my example!

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Your God, My God

"Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." Ruth 1:16

That was the best decision Ruth ever made. It opened the door to blessing upon blessing. Ruth married one of the sons of Naomi and Elimelech. When Elimelech and his two sons died, Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to go back to their mothers and their Moabite people with their own gods. Orpah, one daughter-in-law, left them, but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi. 

"Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God." We can say that Ruth, who lived with Naomi witnessed Naomi's faith and was attracted to that. She was willing to go with Naomi to a strange place and be among a strange people. Perhaps she felt God calling her. Perhaps she felt a conviction of her purpose. Whatever it was that provoked her loyalty to Naomi, Ruth would never have guessed that she would eventually, through her marriage to Boaz, become grandmother to King David. In her wildest dreams she would never have imagined her name would be in the Bible (Matthew 1:5), along with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, King David and Solomon, and Saint Joseph and Mary! 

Our decisions every day may not have the same impact, but one thing is sure. If we decide to put God first, as Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind," it will open the floodgates of blessing. God is a God of surprises and He delights in blessing those who put their trust and hope in Him.

Under a Fig Tree

“I saw you under a fig tree.” John 1:48

Does Jesus see us under a fig tree the same way he saw Nathanael under a fig tree? “Under a fig tree” was a common place for prayer especially for young, rabbinic students, so Jesus was telling Nathanael that he saw Nathanael communing with God, and that he would see “greater things”. Indeed when we bow our head to God in prayer, our life will definitely be changed! 

There is a story of a beggar who was at the great David Livingstone’s funeral. He was heard muttering, “You were right, Davey, you were right!” A man asked him why he said that, and the beggar explained that when they were young, he was David Livingstone’s classmate in Scotland. One day a preacher came and told them about Jesus and Davey went forward and gave his life to Jesus. The beggar said he refused to follow.

David Livingstone went on to be a giant of a man. He lived a lot of it on his knees. When he was young, he prayed, “Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties, but the ties that bind me to Your service and to your heart.” And God answered, “Lo, I am with you always, even till the end of the age.” 

Henry M. Stanley, a journalist, was contracted to find David Livingstone, after the great explorer, physician and missionary went missing in Africa for 6 years. When he found the man, he asked the famous line, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” and continued, “I am the biggest swaggering atheist on the face of the earth. Don’t convert me!” Within 4 months, Stanley was on his knees accepting Christ because of Livingstone’s compelling faith and life. 

Livingstone died on his knees, weak and worn as he was, praying with the last breath in his body. He saw many wonders in Africa, and was influential in stopping the slave trade which he abhorred. But of all the wonders he saw, I am sure none can compare with meeting Jesus face to face! 

Pray for Us

August 23 is the Feast Day of Saint Rose of Lima. She is the first saint of the Americas, patroness of South America, and secondary patroness of the Philippines.

Isabel Flores de Olivia, the name her parents gave her, was born in 1586 in Lima, Peru and was known to be exceptionally beautiful. Even when she was very young, her desire was to be a nun, and she often prayed, and even fasted and did penance in secret. 

When her lovely face began to attract suitors, she cut her hair short, and  rubbed her skin with hot peppers to make it  blister. Although her parents were against her plan to remain unmarried, after years of conflict, eventually they relented and reserved a hut where she could live like a cloistered nun and spend long hours in prayer and acts of penance like wearing a crown of thorns. She was merely 15 when she became a Dominican tertiary and filled her days with prayer, acts of charity, caring for the elderly, the homeless and the sick. She would often bring them to her hut to nurse them. At 20 years of age, she joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic. 

She died at the age of 31 after a long and painful illness. Her constant prayer was, “Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart.” Many honored St. Rose at her funeral for her acts of charity. Many miracles occurred after, which prompted her beatification in 1668 and then  her canonization. 

St. Rose de Lima, please pray for the Philippines.

Treasure in Heaven

“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21

Many saints have given up their wealth to follow Jesus. How about ordinary people like you and me? When Charles Mully was only 6 years old, he was abandoned by his entire family to fend for himself. He became a homeless beggar and sometimes had to steal so he could eat. That was his life for ten years until a stranger took pity on him and invited him for prayer and fellowship. He heard a preacher’s sermon on the importance of faith, hard work and how nothing is impossible with God. 

He decided to change his life and walked to a more prosperous part of Kenya, where he knocked on doors looking for work. A wealthy Indian Catholic family opened their door and hired him. Charles worked on their property and within a year was promoted to manager of their farm. After that, he got married and had a family of eight children, all the while working hard. He started multiple businesses including Mullyways Agencies, a transportation business conglomerate in the 70’s, and became very rich with assets valued in millions of shillings. That was when the trouble started, because he made money his god, and he realized, “The more you get, the more you want.”

One day his car was stolen by one of the street boys he refused to pay to protect it. That day he realized he had forgotten what and where he came from. God spoke to him and said he had to sell everything he had and help the abandoned children. In 1989, he sold all his property and businesses. He used his money to help the street children, providing shelter, medical care and education. His family was shocked, but his wife Esther decided to help him and started caring for the orphans he brought home. Since that time, Charles and Esther have taken care of more than 23,000 abandoned children. 

God may not be asking us to sell all we have, but He is asking us to give, and give generously. Whatever we give adds to our treasure in heaven. Proverbs 19:17 is very clear: “If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD— and he will repay you!”

As For Me and My House

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

There are many 'kingdoms' here on earth. Politicians try to be kings. Some actors live their lives as if they are untouchable. Some people act as if they will live forever with no mind for tomorrow. Some wealthy people believe they can buy their way out of jail and even buy their way into heaven. 

But in the Kingdom where God is Master, we will be judged not according to what we have accumulated, how much power or popularity or influence we have, but how much we love God and our neighbor. We can build a big house here on earth, with the finest materials, and decorate it like the homes in Architectural Digest, but the Lord may prefer to live in a nipa hut with a loving, generous family. He will for sure enjoy staying in a cramped home filled with happy people serving Him and each other. Whether our house is big or small, in a nice subdivision, or a squatter area, let us make sure that the Lord will want to stay with us! 

Seventy Times Seven

“You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.” Matthew 18:32

God is the same today as He was yesterday. In the Old Testament there are several accounts where God’s favored people were punished for their sins. God allowed their captivity or defeat, and even in modern times, the Jews were victims of the Holocaust. Is it because He wanted to bring them low? Is it because He did not want to forgive them? 

“For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins,” Azariah acknowledged when the Israelites became captives of the Babylonians. And he asked with a contrite and humble heart for God’s forgiveness for his people. We need to do the same. 

We are indeed brought low by the bad state of affairs we find ourselves in, the lack of food supply, rising global commodity prices and soaring inflation. Even if the cases of the COVID virus are declining, we are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic, lack of jobs, and the decline of our economy. We do not even begin to realize what the confinement did to our children’s education and our people’s mental health and well being. 

Are we able to look at this time, this strange and terrible season, with eyes of faith, and see the extraordinary gift God is giving us? Do we make use of the time and opportunity we have, a time to ponder, to connect to God, and see where we have failed Him? 

God is calling us back to Him. We are His favorites as well, just like the Israelites. “The Lord disciplines those he loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son." (Hebrews 12:6) Let us look for the ways we have disappointed Him and ask forgiveness. Perhaps there is some unforgiveness in our heart we need to root out. Perhaps there is envy, or condemnation, or perhaps we like to gossip. We need to bring it out to light and ask God’s mercy for our sins. And God is merciful and will blot out our transgressions FOR HIS OWN SAKE; and He will not remember our sins. (Isaiah 43:25)

Keep the Faith

“Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated.” Deuteronomy 34:7

Moses, just like St. Paul after him, “fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith.” Do we have what it takes? Don’t we need to be a spiritual giant to fight the good fight? 

We can all get inspired by John Stephen Akhwari, a runner from Tanzania who competed in Mexico City for the 1968 Olympics. He was one of seventy-four participants in the 26.2 mile marathon. They all took off at 3 p.m., the hottest part of the day. One by one, 18 runners dropped out. A few hours later, everyone who was left crossed the finish line, all except John. Because John was from Tanzania which has an altitude of 660 feet, and the Olympics was held in a city high above at 7,350 feet, his legs started cramping. When he fell, he dislocated and wounded his knee and injured his shoulder as it hit the pavement. His wounds were bandaged and he rejoined the race, limping. 

He fell again, got up, hobbled, at times even dragged himself. Officials were already begging him to stop! But he refused and continued on, stumbling. Finally he shuffled into the stadium almost half an hour after the last runner had finished. The few remaining spectators cheered him on as he limped across the finish line with the little strength he had left. 

In a TV interview, John was asked why he did not drop out of the race. He answered, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race." Like John, we too have a mission to finish. Do we have the endurance, persistence, the hopeful fortitude to keep going even when the going gets tough? As Edwin Hubbel Chapin wrote, “Not in achievement, but in endurance, of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite.” 

God’s Plan

“Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth.” Revelation 12:4

In Genesis 3:15, we read the enigmatic words of God to Eve, the first woman, “He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.” If we look at the whole panorama of God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation, we can understand it a whole lot better. As St. Augustine once observed, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” 

Adam and Eve sinned and Eve said the “nahash”, the literal translation of which is serpent dragon, had tricked her. God then warned the “nahash”, “Because you have done this...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.” 

In Hebrew we see the word נָחָשׁ (nahash), and according to the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, “Throughout the Old Testament nahash is used to refer to powerful, even gigantic, evil creatures. Isaiah calls the nahash a sea dragon, the great Leviathan (see Isaiah 27:1). Job also uses nahash to depict terrible sea monsters (see Job 26:13).”

From the first book of the Bible, if we go to the last book, Revelation, we meet the “nahash” again (chapter 12). This same horrible, fierce serpent dragon with seven heads and ten horns intimidates “a woman clothed with the sun” about to give birth. The “nahash” was just so ready to devour the offspring of the woman. But was he able to? No. The offspring was snatched away from the “nahash” and was caught up to God. 

The “nahash” still intimidates us into submission, like it did the first woman. It deceives, feeds lies and misinformation so that we will disobey God, and not only that, follow what the “nahash” says. But it cannot frustrate God’s plans and purposes. Let us rejoice and meditate on God’s Word always. God has declared war on the “nahash” who wants to devour all of us! But with God on our side, we are victorious over evil! 

Learn from this Man

“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked.” 

Deuteronomy 10:16

This is a very strange verse but obviously it is important so we have to try to see what we can glean from it. First, we obviously cannot circumcise our physical organ, so Moses is speaking about our spiritual hearts, the seat of our emotions, and thoughts. In Christianity, the heart is the core of our being, from which prayer and moral actions originate. In the Cathechism, it says that “the heart is the dwelling-place where I am…” It is the place of decision, truth, and covenant with God. We encounter God though our heart.

If we are able to cut off our stubbornness, haughtiness or pride, then we will have the changed and purified heart that God desires for us. 

Let me give you a wonderful example of a heart that is not haughty at all. This is told by the late Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete to whom this happened in the 70s. The Monsignor was the theological adviser of Cardinal William Baum, and the Cardinal asked him to drive around a famous Polish Cardinal who was arriving in Washington for a series of lectures. “I want you to learn from this man and pick his brains. He’s a brilliant thinker.” 

Monsignor Albacete refused because he was leaving for Puerto Rico, his hometown, and it was only when Cardinal Baum bribed him with a first class ticket to Puerto Rico on another date that he agreed. The Monsignor picked up Cardinal Karol Wojtyla in a car so dirty, it had French Fries scattered all over the passenger seat and junk everywhere else. They spent five days together riding to different venues, and had late nights of long conversations about the state of the church. Monsignor Albacete was just so engrossed and he asked ,”Your Eminence, would you write me so we can continue these discussions? Could you give me books to read?” The Cardinal agreed and for the next two years the Cardinal would write him letters regularly which the Monsignor NEVER ANSWERED! 

Two days after Cardinal Wojtyla was elected Pope, he invited Monsignor Albacete to Rome. Pope John Paul II welcomed the Monsignor and said, “I hope now you will answer my letters.” Years into the Pontificate, they would get together, have dinner, and the Pope would still joke with the Monsignor about the French fries and the junk in his car. 

Imagine the simplicity of this Pope, how he did not feel entitled at all, and how he valued and appreciated each person he met. He makes me evaluate how I act towards others. Circumcise my heart of any arrogance or pride, Lord! 

A Still, Small Voice

“…but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” 1 Kings 19:11

Many of us expect that when God speaks, He will do it in a booming voice, a terrifying reverberating Ten Commandments sure-to-be heard powerful utterance. But usually when God speaks, we can easily miss it if we are not quietly listening, and waiting for Him. 

It is so easy not to hear Him. It is so easy to dismiss His overtures to us. I believe that all God does is draw us closer, a wooing, a loving. But because there is so much in the world clamoring for our attention, we miss it. We miss the flowers growing, the birds, the food on our table.... It really takes a decision on our part to LISTEN, to OBSERVE, to be filled with gratitude, to answer God's offerings of love with a song of praise!

Sometimes we look for miracles, demonstrations of great power, healings, to grow our faith. But our faith will grow if we get to know the God of the Bible, if we read His Word and listen for His still, small voice.