June 25, 2023*Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time*Random Thoughts On Fear, Adventure, and the Dance Of Life

  Weena Salvador Meily, Association of Women in Theology (AWIT)

https://bertmonterona.com/portfolios/tribal-spirits-mingling-on-contemporary-cultural-dance/

Jer 20:10-13

Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35

Rom 5:12-15

Mt 10:26-33

Matteo and Sophie

I was blessed by children today.  Two children, actually.  A young girl, 10-year old Sophie, and a 3-month old baby boy, Matteo.  Sometimes, one can’t contain oneself, by the joy these two pure souls may offer this poor, weak soul.  Life can be so burdensome. Once you reach this age, at 62, patience can be so remote. But when once in a while there unfolds something that makes you just sigh, take a deep breath, and smile, that is blessing. And this blessing can take away fear! And what did these two beautiful creatures teach me? Thanks to Matteo’s mother who is an advocate of breastfeeding and is dedicated to bringing up this little one close to her heart. What touched me is this baby’s complete total trust as he clings to Mama, as she holds him, carries him dearly in her arms. Love casts out fear.  And Sophie? Her simplicity, her appreciation of the Retreat House surroundings and her closeness to family, shows her complete trust in this extended family of aunts, uncles and a loving grandmother. Truly, family love, casts out fear.   

A Nasty Disorder

Anxiety Disorder can be nasty.  It is a type of mental health condition that can creep into your innermost parts and drag you deep down into a dark abyss. Pretty much like a depressive disorder. Actually, depression and anxiety are partners.  But fortunately, they are manageable and treatable.  I can pretty well manage my episodes that don’t visit regularly anymore. On occasion, yes, but never on a regular basis at this point in my life.  And what causes this mental health condition?  FEAR.  If you did not experience a happy childhood, you may be one who was traumatized by events in your early childhood or even earlier at the onset of conception in your mother’s womb.   You may be a survivor of an attempted abortion. You may be a survivor of your parents’ violent episodes. You may have been a victim of physical, sexual or verbal abuse.  Children tend to carry within them the imprint of these experiences as fears and if not addressed, in later years may be manifested in anxiety disorders and depression.   But there is always good news. Always GOOD NEWS.  And the good news is that there is healing! As human beings, it is our nature to desire control over things in our everyday life. Of course, this is an impossible task. We cannot control things. Even if my AD can be medicated it cannot be cured. But I am healed. And when the human spirit takes over, healing takes place.  The healing path is wide open for possibilities.  When the open path to healing welcomes and acceptance of my condition takes over, I begin to manage my challenge.  The greater challenge is to transform this condition into the grace much needed to grow.  

Have Fear And Do Not Delay

And lo and behold for those wielding power and might, tyranny and dictatorship.  They think they have all the wealth and a mighty hand that can bring all their worldly desires at their feet. They think their wealth can make them forever young and enjoy life’s pleasures at the expense of the oppression and exploitation of the poor and of Creation. Listen to the cries of the poverty of the land, the lamentations of the homeless, the wailing of the widows and orphans.  Listen, and have fear! Fear for their lives deprived of their basic needs. Fear for their suffering because of your excesses! Fear now and do not delay!

The Prophet, the Psalmist and the Assurance of Jesus

In the readings today, Jeremiah and the psalmist both cling to a stubborn hope, a firm conviction that they will see the wrongs against them righted in their lifetimes. They may have been so wrapped in fear that they can only “cling to a stubborn hope”! The hope that is so stubborn that God has indeed given them the strength and assurance that the prophet and the psalmist needed. “But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.”(v.11)  A prophetic life is not easy. Pinpointing the wrongs of others in order to “make the way straight”, “forge a path in the wilderness”, “prepare the way of the Lord”, must be a daunting task.  The price can be your head! Remember John the Baptist?!

In the Gospel reading, Jesus gives a guide for his disciples who may still live in fear. Here is a set of signposts of Jesus’ assurance for discipleship living.  This was not given by Jesus exclusively for his disciples but this is for all of us, lay people too, who, in our everyday lives are hounded by how to put food on the table…

1. Fear is inevitable, but with faith we can overcome this, and it should not prevent us from doing what God wants us to do.
2. God is always with us and will provide for our needs in whatever we do.
3. Jesus assures us that he will acknowledge us in heaven as we acknowledge him before others.  

It must have been difficult for the disciples of Jesus to go forth and begin the mission of evangelization! Just think about all the things Jesus forewarned them about.  Rejection and persecution are part of the mission.  But Jesus’ assurance should have kept their fears at bay.  And they continued, and persevered to the end.  I am reminded just now, about our Brother Administrator in this Retreat House, who will be going to a foreign country for further cultural and spiritual studies.  His fears are well-founded. Imagine a country totally alien – people, culture, traditions, language, etc.  But the assurance of Jesus in the gospel will guide him through and through.   The graces transforming this my Brother’s fear, are faith and hope.

The Gift of Fear

Fear can be a problem, but it also can be a gift.  We can call on fear to guard our hearts.  When some ill intentions overpower us, as Christians we can call on our Fear of the Lord, a fear that keeps us on the right track, keeps us in check, and secures our good intentions and lovingkindness are at the forefront.

Some Collected Thoughts

Here are some beautiful collected thoughts from some spiritual writers that have guided me throughout my Solitary Pilgrim journey.  A big part of my healing these writings are.  More of a healing from the pains brought about by fears of aloneness, deep shadows, and the vastness of the ocean of life…

From A Desert In The Ocean, by Rev. David Adam

“No matter what our age, we need to continue to be aware and moving or we begin to die. Adventure and moving is a sign of life:

‘Old men ought to be explorers

Here and there does not matter

We must be still and still moving

Into another intensity

For a further union, a deeper communion

Through the dark cold and the empty desolation

The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters

Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is

    my beginning.  (T.S. Eliot, 1944)’ “

From The Dance Of Life, by Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Any dance of celebration must weave both the sorrows and the blessings into a joyful step…

To heal is to let the Holy Spirit call me to dance, to believe again, even amid my pain, that God will orchestrate and guide my life.”

From the great Eastern Poet, Hafiz…

A reminder that in my heavy heart, my depressive state, I forget…in my unmindfulness there is no space for remembering.  I ask God then,  to untangle my feet from all my fears so that I may dance the Sacred Dance of Life!

“I sometimes forget

That I was created for joy.

My mind is too busy.

My heart is too heavy for me to remember

That I have been called to dance

the Sacred Dance of Life.

I was created to smile

To love

To be lifted up

And to lift others up.

O Sacred One

Untangle my feet

From all that ensnares.

Free my soul.

That we might dance and

That our dancing might be contagious.”

June 18, 2023*Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time* God will carry us on eagle’s wings

Joey Ganio Evangelista, MJ  ,Baguio City

https://pixels.com/featured/eagle-flying-erma-clarkson.html

Ex 19:2-6a      

Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5           

Romans 5:6-11            

Matthew 9:36—10:8   

“Do you know where you’re going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you?

Where are you going to?

These are the words that come to my mind as I survey the things that are happening around us, the lyrics of the theme of the film Mahogany in 1975 and sung by Diana Ross. The question is not only for me, I think, but for all of us as a society today at this point in history. The Philippine government’s priorities are skewed, far removed from what a government that is of, by and for the people should be. War continues in Ukraine and there is fear that another is brewing not far from our shores. Minorities and migrants worldwide continue to be systematically demonized and dehumanized as far right extremists and fascists gain support in governments. All this is happening while we brace for the catastrophic effects of climate change. We are sending more rockets into space, know more about other people we have never met living in places we have never been to, and are both dazzled by and wary of artificial intelligence. And yet, despite this immense progress we have made, nine out of ten Filipino children aged ten struggle to read simple texts. We have accomplished so much as a human society and yet the divide that separates the haves and have nots continues to stare us in the face, our progress contributed very little to eliminate this divide, it has, in numerous instances, even exacerbated it. If we continue on this path we are on, it could grow exponentially to become an abyss.

Do you know?”

Where are we headed? We seemingly are a flock without a shepherd. The Church reminds us through this Sunday’s readings that we need not be so. Our God is a God who always reaches out to us. Jesus had shown this to us through his ministry, life, death and resurrection. Likewise, each one of us is called to reach out to those who are in need.

The Israelites were liberated from slavery in Egypt and led through the wilderness by God. They often forgot this during their journey and yet God remained faithful to them. Not that they deserved God’s faithfulness, on the contrary! God was just infinitely merciful: God had rescued them and carried them on eagle’s wings! All that God had asked for in return was their faithfulness to the covenant that they had made, which benefited the Israelites more than it did God. God’s kindness extends to us today because of Jesus Christ. His very life is the epitome of God’s mercy. In his very person the people who drew near to him experienced God. Like God carrying the Israelites on eagle’s wings, Jesus offered his life to show his love that comes from the Father. Jesus remained undeterred despite the constant threat to his life because of his ministry of proclaiming the reign of God. He preached that the poor, sinners, strangers, the sick, women and children are first in the kingdom of God. This cost him his life. He was mocked, tortured and killed in the most cruel fashion. However, God brought him back to life; God never abandoned Jesus. This is why God’s mercy and faithfulness extends to us today. This is why we can claim, together with the psalmist, that “We are his people: the sheep of his flock.”

As God’s people we cannot but do the same. Like he did with his apostles, Jesus also calls each and every one of us by name to become laborers for his harvest. This call to be Christian is not random as some people may think. The circumstances by which we had become Christian may make us think that it is, but if we look deep in our hearts we know that it is not. The command that he had given to his apostles then is the same command that he gives us today: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.” In a world where the future seems uncertain despite immense progress, God calls us to be shepherds to each other. We are not just random people looking on as our insatiable appetite to consume merchandise slowly but surely destroys the only home we have, as minorities and migrants continue to be dehumanized, as the technologies that we have created fragment our families and twist our perception of reality and truth, and as the news of war at our doorstep persists we are called to be proclaimers of good news! We can still turn this around. It is in this context that we are called to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and drive out demons. We can still change things for the better.

It is a daunting task if we think of it without God in the equation. This call of God to discipleship today is not far more or far less formidable than in the time of the apostles. The contexts are very different but there is one constant: it is God who calls us to be laborers for his harvest. When the going gets tough, God will carry us on eagle’s wings. When faced with death, we know that it is life in God that awaits us.

June 11, 2023*CORPUS CHRISTI SUNDAY*Bruised and Broken, but Shared, and Remembered

Jonel B. DALIMAG, CICM (Baguio City)

https://www.jesuswalk.com/lords-supper/10_preparation.htm

First Reading: Deut. 8: 2-3, 14B-16A

Res. Psalm: Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20.

Second Reading: 1 Cor. 10: 16-17

Gospel Reading: JOHN 6: 51-58

‘Do this in Remembrance of Me‘

We are just pilgrims here on earth. We are all travelers. We are just passing through this world. Our worldly existence is very much finite. Our worldly existence could not overpower time. We will all bow to the power of time. However, we have a consolation that could somehow tame the grip of time -MEMORY. It is always our goal to make our journey in life memorable, not only for us but for those who know and love us. Almost every day in our life, we try to create memories that would become part of our project called existence. Even Jesus Christ advised his disciples to eat and drink together “in memory or in remembrance” of Him. At the Last Supper, He said to His disciples: “Do this in memory of me.” And since then, His memory lives on in millions, if not billions of people. It may sound anachronistic, but I believe it is along this line that Moses, in the 1^st reading, asked his people to remember the experiences of their ancestors: “Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert… He, therefore, let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:2-3). Indeed, it was not by bread/manna alone that the Jews survived the desert for 40 years, but by their faith with the reinforcement of the memory of their ancestors who worshipped God as pilgrim people. It was not by bread alone, but by the relationships, they built together in their journey. It was not by bread alone, but by the stories they shared as they journeyed toward the promised land.    

Memory Lane

Memory is a great tool of faith for us Church workers and social advocates, and Moses is reminding us again today. Memory gives sense and meaning to our faith experiences, just as it provided the context of the struggles of the Jews in the desert. “In every culture, memory (the capacity or remembering) is a faculty without which every experience can result to non-sense. Memory is necessary in order to remember what one has seen, learn, and acquired in time” (Martin Nkafu Nkemnkia, Interculturality, and Multiculturalism: Social and Anthropological Perspective, in Sedos Bulletin 2016, Vol. 48, No. 5/6 -May-June).

 Memory connects us to the roots of our very own identity. To completely disregard the memory of our faith ancestors who have gone ahead of us means cutting the root of our very being, of who we are. Lolo Kiko warned us that “The lack of historical memory is a serious shortcoming in our society. A mentality that says, “Then was then, now is now”, is ultimately immature…Memory is necessary for growth.” (AL, 193) Memory is an engine that keeps our family, our community, our values, and our principles up and running. We could almost hear our loved ones who have gone ahead of us into the next life say: ‘Do that in memory of us.’ And indeed, every time we celebrate important family and community events, we do it in remembrance of our loved ones. This memory lane assures us that our community has a well-grounded and solidly-rooted future. It assures us that we all have a place in the memory lane and history of our family/community, just like our loved ones who have walked this memory lane once. Memory is not just a mental activity. It is an energy that enlivens our new ways of caring and relating with our loved ones. As a form of energy, it regenerates dynamism in our relationships.

The ‘Bread of Life’: Taken, Broken, and Shared

The Solemnity of Corpus Cristi brings to the fore two opposite realities of life: food and hunger. While we Blessed Sacrament as the Bread of life: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”; let us not forget that in our midst, there are thousands, if not millions, of people who are experiencing hunger every day. The ‘Body’ of Christ that we celebrate today, is the same body that came into our world as a human body that took the form of a slave and was born in, perhaps, the most inhuman condition, being surrounded by darkness, cold, and by animals. The ‘Body of Christ’ that we celebrate today came bruised, rejected, and vulnerable. He came to us as a refugee. He also took up our stories, struggles, aspirations, and hopes by coming to us in a human body. It was his personal stories, his parables, and his acts that the His followers missed so much when He was killed. The first Christian community was formed because they gathered together to share and reminisce about the stories of Jesus, their joys, and hopes when Jesus was with them. It is these human stories, our stories, and the stories of our brothers and sisters, especially the poor, marginalized, and abandoned, that make up the ‘Body of Christ’. This is perhaps the reason why Pope Francis prefers a “Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should really disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light, and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures that give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them something to eat (Mk 6:37)” [Evangelii Gaudium No. 49].

May this Solemnity of Corpus Christi open our eyes to the stories of our brothers and sisters who are suffering, whose bodies are bruised, broken, and hurting. After all, the Blessed Sacrament that we celebrate and share every Eucharist is taken, broken, blessed, and shared. There is a human and divine story in this sacrament. “When Jesus hands over his body to the disciples he is vulnerable. He is in their hands for them to do as they wish. One has already sold him, another will deny him, and most of the rest will run away… The Last Supper shows us with extreme realism the perils of giving ourselves to anyone… The Last Super is the story of the risk of giving yourself to others” (Timothy Radcliffe, OP, What is the Point of Being A Christian, 2005). Indeed, Jesus has handed His Body to us. It is up to us if we take His challenge of handing or rendering our efforts, energies, resources to the needy, the marginalized, the abandoned, and the displaced. If we truly believe and love Jesus, let us follow his example of taking the risk. In the Last Supper, Jesus exposed his body to so many dangers. Jesus took the risk because he loved. “Love is the only impetus that is sufficiently overwhelming to force us to leave the comfortable shelter of our well-armed individuality, shed the impregnable shell of self-sufficiency, and crawl out nakedly into the danger zone beyond, the melting pot where individuality is purified into personhood” (Mak Patrick, OSB, 2000).

Our Lord Jesus embraced all the risk when he instituted the Eucharist in the Last Supper. “The Last Supper was a moment of crisis in Jesus’s relationship with his disciples. The community collapsed, the bonds of fellowship were denied and subverted. Jesus embraced that crisis and made it fertile. Perhaps almost every intimate relationship will know its moment of crisis. When we give ourselves most deeply to other people, then, almost inevitably, there will be a moment of potential disaster. The Last Supper invites us not to run away from a crisis, but to embrace it, confident that it can bear fruit” (Timothy Radcliffe, OP, 2005). 

June 4, 2023*The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity*Showing Love to all Gods community

Dss. Joy Prim, United Methodist Church

https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/philippines-history-migration

Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9

Dn3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56

2 Cor 13:11-13

Jn 3:16-18

In 2 Corinthians 13:11-13: Paul closes his letter to the Corinthian church with what has become a well known benediction invoking Christ’s grace, God’s love and the call to show that same love and grace to those around them.

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings.

The Gospel this week is another well known verse in John 3:16-18 that talks of how God so loved the world, God sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we may have eternal life. But John goes on in the following verses that are less familiar to many to say remind us that Jesus was sent to save the World not to condemn it.

These verses remind us of how God’s love for us flows freely as long as we believe but its not about just keeping that to us as individuals. If we strive for restoration and encourage others in God’s community, we have to interact with each other. Not to condemn or talk bad about others in God’s family but to lift them up and encourage them. In today’s day and age, with the digital world being so advanced,we are connected to so many others with social media apps like facebook or the internet. We can get news from countries we’ve never heard of. Stay in touch with friends and family in other countries in almost real time. For many this ability to stay connected is a blessing in all aspects of their life.

When connectedness looks difference.

Serving in ministry with Filipino migrant domestic workers here in Hong Kong, I see first hand how the ability to stay connected through digital means allows them so stay in touch with their families. Forced to migrate abroad to find work to support their loved ones back home. Its the digital apps like facebook that allow them to stay in touch back home. This became even more important during these past three years as vacations back home during the pandemic were impossible.

Regular facetimes and calls to support and encourage those back in the Philippines, to help their children with homework, and to mark lives milestones together even if its virtual. Birthday parties were celebrated on line with cake in both locations. OFWs were able to see their children graduate live, watch grandchildren be baptized or even marriage is made possible with the connection online.  Now, even as travel has resumed, many rely on these connections to still feel part of a family.

Yet they did not limit their connection to online. At the same time, they took time to build and strengthening friendships with friends in Hong Kong building a chosen family. Not one that was limited to Filipinos only. Instead they recongized their connectedness with other nationalities who face similar working conditions and struggles here in Hong Kong also as migrant domestic workers, and built friendships and partnerships together to address these issues.

 For churches ministering to OFWs and their families, they find that sometimes the ministry is helping with these ability for digital connections.  Yet at times, these and other ministries to communities in the margins such as those with urban poor communities can be be viewed as seperate from the rest of the church, its for “those” people not “us”.

Questions to think about:

What could the church learn from the OFWs when it comes to the importance of showing love and encouragement no matter how the connection is there, regardless of our differences? What might it mean if we begin to identify ourselves by our connectedness, rather than our differences? What might ministry become if we were motivated and guided by the ways we are connected to those we are trying to reach, rather than focusing on how ‘they’ are different from ‘us’?

A new way in a new normal

When we strive to build these different connection with the “others”, beyond the four walls of our church buildings. We live into the benediction from Paul. To strive for full restoration in our communities whether just across the street or around the world with our OFWs. That in encouraging those we reach, we too are changing lives for the better. Finding that those we reach outside the four walls are too part of God’s extended family.

And together we can work toward communities that are rooted in love and peace. A peace that is rooted in justice of full restoration for everyone, especially those we often overlook.