May 19, 2024*Pentecost Sunday – Mass during the Day*Freedom from Fear

Dss . Norma P. Dollaga,  KASIMBAYAN

Source: https://www.drawn-to-the-word.com/shop/jesus-appears-to-the-disciples-behind-locked-doors/

Acts 2:1-11

Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13

Jn 20:19-23

It is courageous to recognize that we are afraid. Great people – heroes, and martyrs alike,  and those who are willing to give their lives for the sake of others are people who acknowledge their own fears and anxieties.

Upon the death of Jesus, his disciples were together collectively feeling the chilling effect of the state/empire terror. Their leader was slapped with trumped-up charges, arrested, humiliated before the public and meted with capital punishment (death penalty) by hanging on the cross. The once leader who healed the sick, and preached radically about God’s Kingdom, who saved the woman from stoning to death, who exalted the humble and meek, who was in the company of the dirty, marginalized and outcasts is now dead. He, the champion of the poor who critically engaged the ruling system and never shown any favorable, patronizing attachment with the hypocrites and powerful is now gone. His disciples must be weary and anxious. They could be the next victim of injustice. If the intention of the empire is to eliminate its perceived enemy, it would want to “get them all.”

The disciples were afraid. They could not deny their close association with him. It was dangerous then to be identified with Jesus. The security officers must have done a dossier of them and their whereabouts. Besides, the state must have suspected them that they were hiding the body of Jesus.

They were hiding, as a way to handle their own fear. The fear is borne out of reality that they could be apprehended and attacked by state agents at any time. They rather not expose their vulnerability. They still have a mission to carry on. In the meantime taking a side step was a wise decision.

However, fear did not immobilize them. The Spirit – the Life-giving power, the resurrection had given them hope to overcome their fear. The fear was replaced by PEACE. They received the SPIRT (BREATH) – the power that will transcends their worries and anxieties, which came upon them. They were not forever locked down by fear and side-stepped. The “retreat” was just temporary, and they went ahead with the work and the mission. Perhaps they were still afraid. The enemy must have constantly watched their moves. The church was founded by faithful disciples who were given the power of the Spirit and the message of resurrection to carry on what was entrusted to them.

Today we still have prophets and missionaries who, in the midst of fear and terror of the empire, are steadfast in their calling. The church, the movement of prophets and believers of God’s Kingdom is a testimony that the teaching of the righteous, the love of humanity and genuine interest to serve the people will never die. It is like the message of the hymn by Frederick William Faber,1849:

“Faith of our fathers (ancestors)! living still

In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword.

O how our hearts beat high with joy

Whene’er we hear that glorious word!

Faith of our fathers (ancestors), holy faith!

We will be true to thee till death.”

Like the disciples of Jesus, we feel how dangerous it is to transform our grief and anger into prophetic action through the power of the Spirit. There will be an assurance of PEACE in our hearts . In the name of those who suffer from bigotry, discrimination and exploitation, the Spirit will empower us to pursue the cause of overcoming evil within the systems of our society. The inspiration of the life, work, ministry and mission of Jesus will be the LIGHT that will guide us. Those who went ahead of us who dared and risked their lives for the sake of others will be our inspiration to carry on. They shall live in our hearts and in our daily prophetic and pastoral work.

I am in awe of those who were persecuted, abducted, tortured, imprisoned, and threatened but can still work for what they believe in as they face dangers, toils and snares.  There were political prisoners who, after their release continued their work – back to the communities, to the advocacies, to serving the poor, to defending human rights and in pursuing justice and peace, knowing well that the agents of the state are still watching them, and anytime laws can be weaponized against them.  

Neri Colmenares, was once arrested, jailed and tortured during Martial Law of Marocs, Sr. He was 18 years old then. He was very active in religious organizations like the Student Christian Movement (SCM) and the Student Catholic Action of the Philippines (SCAP). He had just been elected as National Council member of the SCAP when he was arrested. He strongly believed that the church’s teaching on loving our neighbors is compatible with working for social justice. During his detention, his favorite day would be Sunday. Sundays were the visiting days of church people where they brought food, greeting cards from all over the country and even people from other countries. He was so amazed by the spiritual connection of those imprisoned and those outside detention who prayed and worked for their release. Upon his freedom, he promised himself that he would dedicate his life serving others. He had never been unafraid. But his spirit of courage, the spirit of solidarity, and the solid vision to serve the people make him and many human rights defenders carry on the work.

Breathe on me, Breath of God

As we are mourning and grieving

The deaths of many people–

Young, old, and vulnerable ones.

Breathe on me, Breath of God

When we are anxious and scared

Breathe on me, Breath of God

When we are angry and enraged

With a hostile policy that is anti-poor,

Leading the lowly into greater vulnerability.

Breathe on me, Breath of God

As we repent for our insensitivity

And privilege of having more

That led us to blend thoughts and perceptions

In a discourse of resilience and obedience to laws,

Now weaponized against our own people.

Awaken us to our connivance

with anti-poor policies.

Help us to see that

We benefit because we have means,

We are secure and privileged

Raise our awareness that

The attacks against the  poor in the  communities

Means suffering, hunger, and tears,

Even as we preach sacrifice for the benefit of all.

Breathe on me, Breath of God

As we pray for those who care for the sick and dying

Release us from ignorance and myths

that may proclaim what is factual and true.

Breathe on me, Breath of God—

Spirit, Ruah, She Who Hovers Over,

The MOVEMENT THAT NEVERS EXPIRES,

Movement like the Wind

That cannot be locked down.

Peace. ##

May 12, 2024 *Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord* Radical Waiting and Radical Witnessing

         Weena Mieley, Association of Women in Theology (AWIT)

https://stmatthew-lutheran.org/ascension-open-house/ascension-of-jesus-rectangle/

Acts 1:1-11 

Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9            

Eph 1:17-23

 Mk 16:15-20    

As I write this, I am now on the seventh sojourn of my life as a solitary pilgrim. I began this life after retirement when homelessness was imminent and that’s when I decided to embrace uncertainty. Embrace what is yet to come.  Embrace what you don’t know. Embrace life as it comes. And that’s when I thought of volunteering for food and a place to lay my head.  And it has been a most meaningful life of retirement one could ever live. A life in solidarity with the poor and marginalized is a life that is so much worth living for. A life of freedom and a life that gives the best lessons on humility. (As you age, you need more help from people, right?)

Every day is a challenge to learn a lesson on the gospel of love. What should keep me going? What fuel drives this life, but love? And to love even the difficult and unlovable ones. While I try to keep a contemplative/monastic life of prayer, I feel the need to balance this with the life of work. At this juncture in my senior life, when you feel like anytime you may be hurled six feet under the ground (!), you think of really making each day special and hopefully well-lived. Making little random acts of kindnesses, smiling and greeting people I meet (because I’d always say, I may not be seeing them again), doing the tasks given to me to the best of my elderly energies! But never have I been deeper into my reflections than these senior –aged times. Take for instance the acts of waiting and witnessing. I have come to that point where slowing down is a must and is such a gift. Then when I used to be so impatient and want to be fast and hurrying up things, I’ve finally reached that age when waiting is such a beautiful thing. 

In our First Reading I was struck by Luke’s writing, “‘wait’ for the promise of the Father”. I imagined the disciples must have been so anxious, when will this be? Are we waiting a long time? A short while?  WAIT.  Waiting is coming to grips with patience, perseverance, sad realities, and length of time. There are many things that might happen while we wait. There are many things we do not know. There are many uncertainties, unknowns. And yet a helper, an advocate, the Holy Spirit will be sent to strengthen our hold on this Christian life and become witnesses to this life of following.  And witness here being not an eyewitness account, but one that bears the marks of being followers of Jesus. And as the Gospel itself has implied…

“Confirm(ing) the word” and “accompanying signs”, mean becoming living witnesses to the Word of God, a total following as in following Jesus to the end bearing the marks of compassion, mercy and love; a following what was an imperative, to tell everyone of this “good news”; that there is an end to people’s suffering, as communities are formed, created, according to love, according to the Sermon On the Mount  the Christian Manifesto, as Dorothy Day (founder of the Catholic Worker Movement) has said.

But in living the life of following Jesus, there are warnings for when you are a peacemaker, merciful, gentle, journey with the grieving, struggle for the good to prevail, and pure in your intentions, your principles pose a challenge to those in the edgy kind of life.   Your bias for doing good, for those marginalized, your heart for organizing people and opening up their sense of awareness that their human dignity is trampled upon and should be reclaimed is feared. The invitation for rejoicing and being glad about this persecution is a blessed assurance that it is what following Jesus is all about. 

Many crucifixion experiences are repeated nowadays. Not in the literal sense of course, but in a more terrifying sense, a powerful control of a nation’s leadership gone mad. The people suffer. Day-to-day living has perennially been a problem.  Finding work (a decent, well-paying job that fits what one has been trained for), keeping that work, struggling to put food on the table; the factory worker, farm worker, occasional worker, that daily wage earner are not experiencing real improvements in their lives as this government has been reporting. According to studies by IBON Foundation, Inc.:

the number of employed persons increased by 572,000 to 49.2 million in March 2024 from 48.6 million in March 2023. There were declines in the number of unemployed by 416,000 to 2 million from 2.4 million, and the underemployed by 51,000 to 5.39 million from 5.44 million.

However, IBON pointed out that these seemingly “encouraging” figures are alarmingly not being felt as real improvements on the lives of millions of Filipinos.

The poor jobs situation of precarious work and low incomes (Precarious workers are those who fill permanent job needs but are denied permanent employee rights; read more here: https://laborrights.org/issues/precarious-work ) is resulting in worsening hunger and widespread poverty. According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), Filipino families that experienced involuntary hunger (being hungry and not having anything to eat) at least once in the past three months increased to 14.2% in March 2024 from 12.6% in December 2023. SWS also reported that 46% of Filipino families rated themselves as poor and 33% as borderline poor in March 2024.

Across all regions, the average minimum wage is only Php441 or around one-third (36.5%) of the Php1,208 average family living wage (FLW) for a family of five, as of April 2024. In the NCR, the Php610 nominal minimum wage – the highest nationwide – is just 51.2% of the Php1,192 FLW. Meanwhile, BARMM has the lowest minimum wage nationwide at Php361 which is only 17% of the region’s Php2,069 FLW.

The administration of Mr. Marcos Jr. is hyping some “encouraging trends” and is saying that there is an “improvement” in the labor market despite rising hunger and extensive poverty.  IBON has said that by ignoring the cruel reality of millions and millions of poor Filipinos,  the government is avoiding and not really interested in implementing meaningful measures that could actually improve the people’s welfare. 

IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues. Read more at www.ibon.org . 

And the suffering does not stop there. There are suffering women and children whose families have been lost, victims of extra-judicial killings due to the senseless war on drugs that still continue up to this writing; the continued disappearances of human rights workers, and church workers who have been red-tagged; landless farmworkers; the forests as victims of land-use conversion; continuous rise of prices of basic commodities; the need for socialized health services, an exemplary educational system, and housing for the homeless… 

As a people who have gone through a long history of colonization, suffering, and resilience, still we cling to a hope for the crimson-blood-covered-sunset of our story will soon transform into the sunrise of life-giving love. We cling from the resurrection and hope into ascending and living beyond the powers of terror and filth…  

When demons have been driven out, and all good and peace prevail…

When new languages are being spoken where understanding, and acceptance of the differences of one another have prevailed…

When serpents can now be touched and held, where the absence of anxiety and fear prevails

When we can drink of any poison because hope and freedom has prevailed

When we can heal the sick because love, compassion, mercy, and healing means we are living an abundant life.

The ascension had to happen so that Jesus may return.  The return of Jesus being the radical witnessing of Jesus’ followers when communities are built up from the ground of poverty, healing suffering thru radical compassion and an unconditional love that Jesus has taught and lived.

When we have learned from the suffering of the poor and those pushed to the fringes of society,

When we have recognized the Christ in the poor and the marginalized, 

When the poor and the marginalized can celebrate their freedom from oppressive practices…

Then Jesus has indeed ascended and returned! 

May 5, 2024*Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts* Abiding in God’s Love

Rev. Felipe Bautista, United Methodist Church

 

artwork by Eleanor Llanes , ICM

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4         

1 Jn 4:7-10     

Jn 15:9-17      

            Today’s Gospel reading is taken from an extended narrative, a farewell discourse by Jesus before His arrest (John 13-17).  And thanks to the Gospel writer (s) for including this poignant and comprehensive account of the last hours of our Lord before leaving the then-frightened disciples of His. 

            By this time, the disciples had already heard from the Lord about His imminent death in the hands of the Empire, the betrayal from one of them, and even the denial by one of His trusted disciples – Peter.  And amid the disheartening atmosphere at the Upper room that night and the horror of what was to take place in the ensuing few hours, Jesus affectionately consoled His disciples, prepared them for what was going to happen, and encouraged them to abide in His love, the same love that the Father has on the Son (Jesus) and the Son to His disciples. It was as if the Lord was saying that this is the only way the disciples can successfully face their fears and the worst of times.

Abiding in His Love

            If the Lord is about to be persecuted and eventually die, how is abiding or staying in His love possible? The Lord explicitly stated that if the disciples keep and obey His command – that is to love one another – the love of the Lord will surely be upon them.  The Lord may never be physically present with them just like before, but when they love one another, His love will surely dwell on them and them in the Lord.  Consequently, there are at least two possible advantages that can be drawn from this:

1. The Power to Overcome Life’s Adversities

            Life’s adversities can be overwhelming if handled alone.  That is why the Lord wanted his disciples to look for one another and to stick together. And if there is one loftier expression of solidarity with one another, it is love. To love one another as the Lord has loved them (John 13: 34). And when that bond of love was established among the disciples, overcoming the worst of times can be much easier than confronting it alone. 

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone,

two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12

• So that the Disciples’ Joy Maybe Complete

“I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full.”

John 15: 11

Joy is one of those qualities that are hard to get hold of.  We see and experience it when it’s there but cannot hold on to it.  Most, if not all the time, it depends on pleasant happenings and can easily disappear when the situation changes. It is a fleeting experience for some, but nevertheless, it has the power to lift one’s spirit.  What, then, is the difference between this kind of joy and the joy that the Lord is offering to us? 

            The fact that we are limited beings suggests that joy can be short-lived when we try to create it on our own.  But when our source of joy is God and we stay connected to Him, we are like a “tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17: 7-8). We may experience unpleasant situations and frustrating conditions along the way. Still, when we remain connected to God, our joy will never run short, for God is the only source of unlimited joy.

Conclusion

            Many centuries have passed since then, but the threats and challenges among the people of God remain the same, especially when we are dead serious in proclaiming good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, to help the blind see and to liberate those who are under the bondage to oppression (Luke 4: 18).  In a world where money, power, and fame are idolized, and reign supreme, living our calling to be God’s instrument of transformation in the world is like taking the road less traveled. It is sometimes lonely, discomforting, and dangerous.

            Many have sacrificed, misunderstood, suffered emotional and physical hurts, imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, tortured, red-tagged, and some even died. However, those who abide in God’s love remain steadfast amid all these.  Not that they do not experience fear, frustration, and anxiety, but because they know perfectly well that they are not alone. Someone is journeying with them and that they can draw strength from God’s love to overcome difficult situations thus, enjoying the fullness of joy.