The Rich Fool

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23

Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11

Luke 12:13-21

 

 

 

July 31, 2016,  18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 12th Sunday after Pentecost

According to IBON Foundation’s Facts & Figures, there are 23 million Filipinos living in extreme poverty with a salary of only PhP 52.00 or less per day while the bigger portion of the country’s population – the 66 million are earning at least PhP 125.00 or less per day, still below the poverty line.  We all know with PhP 125.00 people can only afford to have a kilo of (NFA) rice, few fish (not even a kilo), two packs of Maggi instant noodles, a small pack of instant coffee and a few spoonfuls of sugar.  For an ordinary Filipino family, this everyday scenario of “isang-kahig, isang tuka” (hand-to-mouth existence) is very prevalent.  And up to now, I am still wondering how this Gospel passage of Luke will be relevant to the Filipino majority.

The Gospel of Luke 12.13-21 is warning us in our desire to acquire abundant possessions. Evidently, the Gospel writer came from a well-off background.  He knows investment schemes, banking systems, interest rates and accumulation of wealth.  He definitely did not experience the “isang-kahig, isang-tuka” reality.  It is easy for him to say “life does not consist only of material possessions” because he might have everything to lead a decent life.  I came from a family who lived within or a little above the poverty line.  We do not have big properties; we only have the house and the small piece of land where our house is.  My father was a tailor as well as my mother.  Their income for the day was enough to buy the daily needs and send us nine children to school.  No big savings, only enough to spend for emergency hospitalization and unforeseen needs.  Most of the time we acquired loans from neighbors and relatives when the expenses went beyond the norm.  I remember that one of our dreams was to win the PCSO lottery – so that we can pay for our loans and have a better life.  Nowadays, Filipinos are queuing for the different contests and reality shows that offer good opportunities and a sum of money.  In their interviews, contestants seem to have a common desire – to bring their family out of poverty, to acquire simple possessions that would let them feel they are indeed human.  I think all of us dream to become rich…materially.

The Parable of the Rich Fool is the most condemnatory story in the Scriptures.  Luke out rightly said:  Fool! The rich man is fool not because he is rich, but because he only used his wealth for personal advantage.  If only the materially rich can learn this lesson…If only the remaining 10% of the country’s population be generous enough to give just compensation to labor, abolish contractualization of labor, lessen or remove the value added tax to basic commodities, lower prices, give scholarship grants to poor students, create more jobs so Filipinos would not go to foreign lands to work…if only.

But , then, the poor  will not survive and live decently, by the acts of mercy and charity  alone. Justice and justice  will  save them  ( Deut 16:20) . The generosity of the super rich  would never be enough . If the  10% would provide  living wage and stop the contractualization,  release the land to the  tilling farmers,  there would be reform and  substantial change .

Once, when I was a student, I was walking along Acacia Road, New Manila, Quezon City.  I noticed the big houses with high fences and nice gates.  Then I realized that those houses are owned by two kinds of people – the Politicians and the Religious. Everybody knows how politicians are in this country – some are good, others are trying to be good and most are corrupt. It was once a noble profession.  I am a member of a religious congregation and I must admit that we own properties, not only in the Philippines but also in other 73 countries.  Abundant possessions…yes!  But the varied ministries are there, striving to meet the demands of the dynamic Spirit to uplift the lives of the lost, the last, and the least. Yes, acquiring abundant possessions can lead us to foolishness, but it can also lead us to nobility.

“Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven…”  This is not for the poor as I mentioned earlier, this is for the materially rich – the politicians, businessmen/women, celebrities, the religious and even the church.  We may be rich in the eyes of the poor, but how rich can we be in the eyes of God?

 

Submitted by:

Sr. Maria Gemma Dinglasan, RGS

Casa Generalizia – Suore del Buon Pastore

Rome, Italy

 

Photograph from: Rich fool, watchful servant by Nelly Bube

http://pericope.org/buls-notes/images/rich_fool_watchful_servants.jpg

Teach Us To Pray

July 24, 2016,  17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 11th Sunday after Pentecost

Psalm 138:1-3, 6-8

Genesis 18:20-32

Colossians 2:12-14

Luke 11:1-13

 

In our gospel of Luke 11:1-13, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them a distinctive prayer as his disciples. Jesus taught them what to pray and how to pray.

“Father, hollowed be your name

Your kingdom come

Give us each day our daily bread

And forgive us our sins

For we forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation”

Prayer is vital in the Hebrew culture . The Hebrew word Tefilah (תפילה) is generally translated into English as the word “prayer”. To pray means to beg, beseech, implore, and the like, but this is not the nearest  translation. Tefilah calls us to a deep, honest prayer, Not the calm, cool and collected prayer of a comfortable person but a cry in desperation. *

He also said, “I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” (Luke 11:8 ESV).  Jesus   taught   us that prayer is a persistent and ardent way of attaining our desires and goals   .

Today, we always limit the expression of prayer in “folded hands, closed eyes and bowed head”. Prayers could be   in the form of liturgies, poems, stories, songs, dances, arts, advocacies and campaigns.  Anything that   expresses our honest and deeper thoughts to God is a prayer in itself.   To long for the  fulfillment of  God’s  kin(g)dom is also a form of prayer.

“Your kin(g)dom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, ” is  a deep prayer  we utter as we embrace  the LIFE given to us and  as we nurture the seed of Faith sowed in us. Thus, prayer or our honest cries  are  not confined on  weekends or Sunday worship,  but it is in our everyday life.

We could not avoid to hear the   cries of the people  in the streets. These are the cries of the people of God, the honest despairs, and  the pursuit of Justice. The farmers are crying for their lands, workers  are demanding  for security of tenure, migrants are calling to stop labor trafficking, women are  longing  to end patriarchy, children and youth are longing  for a quality and people-oriented education, the LGBT  are calling to end discrimination, indigenous people communities are asserting for their  self-determination, and different sectors of our communities praying for  the provision of  what they rightfully  need  so they can live with    dignity.

As a youth, I once asked someone who is far more experienced than me in joining public actions like rallies and public ecumenical prayers  to save the life of  Mary Jane Veloso.  “Until when will you join the rallies?’’ His replied, “As long as there is  oppression, the actions and engagements   will never end.”

Nowadays, I realized that putting an end to mass movement  for justice and peace would mean the cease of people’s prayer. We should   pray for justice with sincerity and honesty? We should cry before God for justice .

We, as church people, are called to be prophets now. We should be persistent to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:9). A sincere petition to God will always be followed by our actions.  Pray without work is dead. What  are the ways and actions we can take  in order to become  channels of justice and love of God?  Did our life become prayer in itself  as we advocate, work, and engage  institutions, structures and systems   in the service of the poor and the oppressed?

Jesus said “…how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy spirit to those who ask him”. Yes! The prayer of God’s people will always lead in deeper understanding of God’s Kin(g)dom and the heaven will become reality here on earth.

May we rejoice always, and pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17).##

 

Hannah Santillan

United Methodist Youth Fellowship

 

*http://day1.org/7399-on_scripture_how_long_oh_lord_praying_without_ceasing_for_justice_luke_11113_by_onleilove_alston

photo grab:https://tillchrist.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/ordinary-time-sunday-17-c-pray-boldly-the-disciples-prayer-the-lord-teaches-faith-celebrated/

ORA ET LABORA

 

 

July 17, 2016, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 18:1-10
Psalm 15:2-5
Colossians 1:24-28
Luke 10:38-42

“Trabajo, trabajo, trabajo!” a radio announcer urges one and all.   And off to work you go, sometimes without enjoying breakfast well prepared by the lady or man of the house. There is no reminder to break for prayer for a minute or two or less.

Hereunder are some remarks on personal Christian prayer.

Prayer and work, not one without the other.  Mary and Martha are sisters in the house of God we call a busy world, and in the personal house I call me. Why do they relate, and how? What happens when they forget each other, and engage into each her own  practical life? I am Martha, I am Mary. Without Mary Martha dies; without Martha Mary dies. I must draw strength for life from the kitchen, the earth, and people, and from the living room with Jesus and from the heaven of God, of angels and saints.

Everyone is called to work, to human labor, for personal renewal and social transformation of the world – nature and neo-nature of social systems and works of human hands for service to neighbor and worship of God. To help build the Kingdom and its “civilization of love.”  “Thy Kingdom come”, we pray.

But my labor alone, good and wholesome it may be, will not do unless I-Mary connect with God in prayer.  Without personal and communal prayer with all of the earth and all of heaven, I-Martha will drop on the highway, or in the workplace, or in the field, or even at home – sapped of physical and/or spiritual strength, forgetful of the largeness of life. And specially if the system of work — feudal, capitalist or even socialist – where I am in is bereft of justice and mercy, necessary rest and play.

The love of family alone is not enough; the entertainment of radio and television, not enough; companionship of friends in a bar or pub, not enough. Illicit pleasures of whatever kind are of course verboten.  Daily must I be redeemed, restored, resurrected to newness of life for service to family and Community, Church and creation, and for worship of the Triune God.

We are familiar with different kinds of prayer and methods of prayer. There is community prayer of the Church, liturgical and para-liturgical, free-style or ceremonial. There are  prayers of adoration of God, of confession and asking forgiveness, of thanksgiving, and of petition for favors. There are intercessory prayers directed to angels and saints to pressure the Lord, so to speak, to grant us our petitions.

Today’s Gospel reading reminds us of the need for a special kind of prayer – personal “ora”,  prayer of contemplation, prepared for by a process of  meditation and ending with a prayer – no matter how brief — of adoration, penitence, thanksgiving, and petitions for the good of neighbor and one’s self.  Contemplation is the prayer of Mary listening to the special Guest of the house.

Meditation happens when one dialogues with friends or even disliked people – real or fictional – on a chosen topic, when one reflects on and dialogues with a work of art, or a Biblical text/event, or a feature of nature (“see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower”, remember?) allowing these to enter you to speak to you, and allowing yourself to enter them to speak to them. Meditation is dialogic until a eureka (aha!) event happens, unexpected lotus-

Insight, a special presence of God, blossoms from a pond of chaos. Then you are alone in contemplative silence. You simply listen. Silence sings: “Be still and know that I am God.”  The Holy Spirit, Breath of God, breathes on you. You are Mary holding one very special necessary thing. Contemplation is monological. It is God’s work.

But listening and stillness cannot be forever. There is kitchen and table work to do. Martha too must be given a chance to sit in the sala and dialogue with and listen to the Guest while Mary sets the table, prepares the salad bar and glasses of red wine.  Mary’s gift of contemplation, or that of yours and mine is God’s time. “We must know that God regards our purity of heart and tears of compunction, not our many words. Prayer therefore should be short and pure, unless perhaps it is prolonged under the inspiration of divine grace.”(The Rule of Benedict)

Then Mary or Martha, sensing the Guest has spoken enough,  says, “The table is ready,” and all rise,  Martha, Mary, the Word as Guest — the total you, the total me, or eucharistic integral union where we eat and drink one another, ready for the labors of life. This spiritual inner house event ends when the Guest and I/you leave for work in the outside world. With one or two concrete resolutions for the day to help establish Christ’s Kingdom step by painful step, brick by brick in areas of economic, political, cultural, spiritual life – in family, community, nation and the world. Labora!

We are so forgetful of the Mary part of us, so the need for Gospel reminders, Jesus at prayer far from the crowd and the disciples, worries and distractions.. Thus the advice, for example, that woman must have a “room of her own” at home or in a church (after office hours?) for quietude and Mary-like prayer of recollection: specially working-Mama who works twelve or more hours a day. A room of her own undisturbed by the family, baby included, for a least fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes is recommended for priests, pastors, religious. Students of Christian schools would do well to visit their chapels before going home. Blue-collar workers  need spiritual re-charging of batteries, and so too social activists to avoid pitfalls of being “grim and determined.”

The fruit of personal prayer is thankful grace-filled work – such undertaking a livelihood, engaging in an apostolate, or in works of mercy. Worker and work return to prayer as love-offering drawing from God the gift of revitalized energy and wellness.

I  dream of factory owners  kind enough to extend lunch time for prayer time in assigned prayer rooms for their workers of whatever religious persuasion.  For themselves as well. ###

 

— Rev. Fr. Francisco R. Albano

    Diocese of Ilagan

 

Photo grab from: http://www.womeninthebible.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Martha_and_Mary_by_He_Qi_China.jpg

 

Kapwa at Buhay na Walang Hanggan

July 10, 2016,  15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 9th after Pentecost

Awit 69:14, 17, 30-31,33-34, 36-37

Deuteronomio 30:10-14

Mga Taga-Colosas 1:15-20

Lucas 10:25-37

 

Sa ating aralin para sa Linggong ito, makikita natin ang isang dalubhasa sa kautusan ang lumapit kay Hesus upang siya ay subukin. Tinanong niya si Hesus, “anong gagawin ko upang magmana ng walang hanggang buhay?” (t.25b/SND).

Hindi ko masabi kung bakit itinuring ni Lukas na pagsubok ang tanong na ito ng dalubhasa kay Hesus. Sa palagay ko kasi, sa panahon natin ngayon maraming tao (kahit marahil hindi mananampalatayang Kristiyano) ang nagnanais malaman kung paano makakamit ang buhay na walang hanggang o eternal life. Kung hindi man “eternal life“, maaaring “long life” ang inaasam.

Madaling unawain kung bakit nais malaman ng dalubhasa kung paano makakamit ang buhay na walang hanggang (bagamat sa panahon ni Hesus, marami ang hindi naniniwala sa life after death). Takot ang marami sa ating mga tao ang mamatay. Mayroon tayo ng tinatawag na survival instict – lumalaban o umaatraas tayo kapag may banta sa ating buhay o kaligtasan. Naka-hard-wire sa atin ang pangalagaan o proteksyunan ang sarili.

Isang kapansin-pansin sa kwentong ito ay ang paggamit ng dalubhasa ng mga salitang “gagawin” at “magmana” o inherit sa kanyang katanungan. Kung gusto nating manahin ang isang bagay, mayroon ba talaga tayong maaaring gawin para mangyari ito? Madalas, magmamana o nagmamana tayo dahil tayo ay may karapatan para sa bagay (o kayamanan) na mamanahin o minana – hindi dahil mayroon tayong ginawa para manahin ito. Maaaring magulang natin o kamag-anak ang may-ari (pinanggalingan) ng kayamanan na mamanahin kaya kung hindi mo magulang ang magpapamana, malamang hindi ka maaaring makakuha ng mamanahin. Maiiba ang patakarang ito kung gagawa ng huling habilin (will and testament) ang magpapamana. Ito marahil ang nais mangyari ng dalubhasa. Gusto niyang malaman kung ano ang maaari niyang gawin upang makakuha ng bahagi ng ipapamana na alam niyang hindi talaga para sa kanya (dahil siguro alam niyang hindi siya deserving).

Pero ano nga ba ang dapat gawin upang magmana ng buhay na walang hanggan? Ayon kay Hesus, kailangan daw sundin ang sinasabi ng kautusan – ang mahalin ang Diyos at kapwa. Alam ito ng dalubhasa ngunit tila kulang para sa kanya dahil hindi niya kilala kung sino ang dapat ituring na kapwa (neighbor) na tinutukoy nito. Nagpatuloy si Hesus sa kanyang pagtugon sa pamamagitan ng pagpapakilala kung sino ang kapwa sa katauhan ng isang Samaritano na itinuturing na isang kaaway ng maraming Hudyo.

Ang gawin ang pagmamahal sa Diyos sa pamamagitan ng pagmamahal sa kapwa; ang kilalanin ang kapwang nangangailangan ng pagtanggap at pagmamahal kasama ang mga taong “iba”, “kaaway” o “makasalanan”; ang gawing daluyan ang sarili upang maramdaman at maranasan ng mas marami ang pagmamahal na pilit na ipinagdaramot sa ngalan ng pagiging makasarili at self preservation; at ang tumanggap ng pagmamahal at lakas mula sa mga taong itinuturing na mahina at mababa ng lipunan. ‘Yan marahil ang magtuturo sa atin kung paano uunawain, ire-redefine  at mararanasan ang buhay na walang hanggan. Dahil para kay Hesus ang sukatan ng buhay na walang hanggan ay hindi lang sa pamamagitan ng haba ng panahon kundi sa pamamagitan ng kung paanong naipapadaloy ang pagmamahal mula sa Diyos sa lahat ng tao. Life eternal does not only refer to the length of time lived, it also refers to the quality by which it is experienced through God’s love. Nararanasan natin ang buhay na walang hanggang habang nararanasan, tinatanggap at ipinapadama natin sa isa’t isa ang pagmamahal na unang ipinakita ni Hesus sa pag-aalay ng kanyang sariling buhay.

“Gawin mo ito at ikaw ay mabubuhay.” (t.28b/SND) ##

 

Floyd Castro, United Methodist Church

 

 

Photo grab:http://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/main-articles/good-samaritanhttp://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/main-articles/good-samaritan.aspx

 

 

 

Mission Possible

July 3, 2016, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 7th after Pentecost

Psalm 66:1-7, 16-20

Isaiah 66:10-14

Galatians 6:14-18

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

 

In the Gospel of Luke 10:1-12 and 17-20, Jesus sends out the 72 to do his work and assures them that their names have already been written in heaven for doing His work. I find this to be one of the sweetest promises from Jesus. However, if we take a closer look at the world’s issues, 72 workers trying to do Jesus’ work becomes laughable. Only 72? That’s not enough!  Though I believe there were more than 72 who opted to join the ministry of Jesus.

As it was the need before,  there is still a standing need today  for  more people to do God’s work.

I realized that the work Jesus was talking about requires the Church to step out onto the streets and meet God’s people—the marginalized, invisible, oppressed and forgotten. When was the last time we heard someone’s experience of abuse and exploitation and did we think to ask why this is happening? Did we try to get to the root of the situation or did we just tell them to pray about it and hope that it would change that person’s predicament? The mission of the 72 is enormous and challenging.

Like the 72 he sent out, it requires us to go out of our way and challenge what has become the norm. We are being asked to brave persecution for challenging the existing system, which truly causes oppression of God’s people. The 72 did not stay in the confines of of the temple. They were out on the streets and when needed, they crossed borders to reach more people. They were migrants, too.

In the same way, believers today are being asked to put actions into words in order to make it a material force to change the course of history. The Church is being challenged to stand at the frontlines of societal issues. We are being asked to make a stand for the poor, and stand we must! Only in doing so will we fulfill God’s work

With the agenda of God’s Kingdom on earth, there is no such a a thing as  mission impossible .##

 

Hessed Torres, United Methodist Church

 

Photo grab from: http://cost-of-discipleship.blogspot.com/2015/08/make-disciples.html