One Step at a Time

It’s really hard not to make comparisons between oneself and other people.  It is all too easy to look at others in one’s peer group and see all the ways in which other people seem to be doing so much better or be further along in their career paths and to dwell on one’s own perceived shortcomings.

God made each of us unique for a reason.  God has a plan for each of us, and it is impossible for us to know what that plan is.  That doesn’t mean that each individual’s choices don’t have an impact, or that it might not be discouraging for it to seem like one is behind or constantly trying to catch up to one’s peers.

Progress is made one step at a time.  For some, the steps are larger than for others.  For some, the steps are surefooted and certain.  For others, they are more hesitant.  One moves forward at one’s own pace, trying to make sure not to slip and fall backwards.

It is important to have trust in the process.  It is important to recognize when God provides challenges as an opportunity for growth.  God never gives us more than we can handle.  Trust that He knows what He is doing.

Pursuit of a Good Life

There is a Capuchin priest-psychologist, commonly known as Bro. Marthy.  His real name is Martin Pable.  He said:

“The ceaseless pursuit of a good life, the drive to achieve material symbols of success, and the easy availability of recreational drugs and sex all combine to steer people away from reflecting on religious-existential issues.”

These words remind me of my own struggle as a priest coming from a third world country.  I lived a very simple life in the Philippines.  In the first three years of my religious life, I lived in an old abandoned house.  Our young congregation tried to make it a little conducive and transform it into a simple Formation House.  My first four years as a priest were no different.  I served as a missionary priest in a small province in the Philippines.  I lived in a very old house and my bedroom was much smaller than my bathroom here in the United States.  I didn’t even have my own bed.  I slept on a mat during those four years.  It was not misery; it was a life of pure simplicity and happiness while doing missionary work.

Now that I’m here in the United States, I feel that it is so easy to be carried away by the comforts and benefits of being a priest.  By my personal standard, the rectory is like a Five-Star hotel and the food is always great.  I also have my own office to work in and a car assigned to me to do ministry.  I never had these privileges before and it’s all overwhelming!  I feel that I am living in a dream.  I feel that I am a very rich person every single day.  I am always tempted to say that all of these are symbols of my hard work and success.  Very tempted!  These things and opportunities are very satisfying.  I am tempted to say that God is rewarding me for my hard work in the parish.  I am lured to be self-centered and it is easy to be materialistic.

I arrived in the United States on May 22, 2014.  On the day of my arrival, I vowed to myself that I would strive to live a simple life in a first world country.  I made a firm decision to never let go of my prayer life no matter what happens.  I promised to be vigilant and practice virtues.  After over 4 years in the US, I have been faithful to those promises.  I am equally humbled and at the same time grateful, because I know it is only by God’s grace that I was able to keep my promises.  I am also completely aware that if I let my guard down I can fall into the trap, into the “mundane ceaseless pursuit of a good life” that Pable is referring to.

There is nothing wrong with our pursuit for a good and comfortable life, but we have to remind ourselves every moment that this pursuit should not lead us away from what is the most essential in our life.  Let us remember that the most genuine pursuit to a good, meaningful and happy life; is a life filled with God and a life filled with healthy relationship with others.

Reality Check

This past Monday, we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is famous today.  He gave this speech fifty-five years ago, in the summer of 1963.  King’s inspiration was the plight of African Americans, and his motivation was the burgeoning civil rights movement.

His words continue to resonate with Americans even today.  “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.  It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”

I see it as no coincidence that Martin Luther King Jr. Day fell right in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18th-25th).  King’s message was that all people should be treated as worthy of respect and dignity.  No one race should be seen as superior or inferior to another.  Similarly, it would be beneficial to all Christian denominations to see themselves in unity with each other rather than in opposition to one another.  The world would be a better place if we worked together rather than against one another.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website states:  “By annually observing the WPCU [Week of Prayer for Christian Unity], Christians move toward the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper ‘that they all may be one.’  (cf. John 17:21)”

At the same time, it is sobering to see where we are today, observe the progress that has been made in the last fifty-five years, and wonder what more we could and should be doing to promote unity, both among Christian faiths and among cultures.  It’s a reality check for us today to think about how the actions of one man, Martin Luther King Jr., fanned the flames of a social justice movement.  The actions of one person can have far-reaching impact.  What impact are we making in our daily lives?

Do You See Jesus?

I’m so inspired to see that many of our parishioners, both the young and adults, are really concerned to find ways and means to improve their spirituality.  Some of them even ask priests, nuns and lay leaders to be their Spiritual Director.  Parishioners ask these people for Spiritual Direction.  What is Spiritual Direction?  This is a spiritual exercise that explores a deeper relationship with the spiritual aspect of being human.  I liked the analogy used from the biblical text; The story of Road to Emmaus, to describe certain aspects of Spiritual Direction.  There are two reasons why I am inspired by it.

First, I like it because it is a journey of two friends conversing about Jesus.  They tried to discern and to understand the words and actions of Jesus.  It depicts the aspect of nurturing relationships.  The two disciples shared companionship as they walked and talked together.  The disciples found support in one another during their moments of grief, depression, anger, fear and even stress on their way to Emmaus.  They trusted one another enough to share their feelings and found in each other a trusted listener, to help them each express their emotions in a constructive and healing manner.  It is also beautiful to take note, that as they try to nurture, console, and help each other, Jesus all of sudden came into the picture and accompanied them in their journey.  I believe that Spiritual Direction is like that.  When people try to love and help each other through listening and a genuine desire to guide, the presence of God will surely be in their midst.  The scripture says:  “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Mt 18:20).

Second, the disciples failed to recognize Jesus because of their state of desolation.  Desolation kept them from seeing and from recognizing Jesus.  Sadness, loneliness and desolation are all valid human emotions.  In Spiritual Direction and in psycho-spiritual therapy, a person should not deny nor resist these emotions.  On the contrary, a person should acknowledge these emotions as part of human life.  And after the acknowledgement,  learn to discern and discover that the God we worship in the heavens is the same God who journeys with us here on earth.

Jesus is present when you call him.  Jesus is present in your pain.  Jesus is our companion, not only in the most joyful and glorious moments of our lives, but also accompanies us even in the most turbulent and disastrous experiences of our lives.  The only question is; do we have the eyes of faith to see Jesus?

Plan B

Today is my grandmother's birthday.  She passed away in 2010, but it is still a day of celebration of her life for my family.  It also puts me in mind of other members of our family we have lost.  

Next month, it will be four years since my uncle passed away suddenly.  It left his immediate family, as well as our extended family, reeling with the loss.  Why did God take him so soon?  How were we supposed to go on if he wasn’t here anymore?  People who experience a sudden loss often feel like they are adrift for some time after the event.  My aunt is still trying to come to terms with what she and my cousins refer to as “Plan B.”  

There have been many changes in our lives since then.  One of my cousins got married.  My aunt moved halfway across the country to be closer to her sister.  We made the decision as a family to sell my grandmother’s house, which we had kept and rented after her death.

The Utah contingent of our family lost our link to Southern California.  My brother commented at the time that it was like a line out of Tolkien:  “The time of the elves [or in this case, the immigrant members of our family in California] is over.”  For us as well, there have been implications:  new health tests, lifestyle changes, and different vacation plans (if any at all) than we were used to.

Life throws curve balls at us.  It can be a test of the strength of our will and our faith how we respond to these challenges.  This week, a parishioner shared with me some wisdom that had been shared with her at the time of her own loss:  “God didn’t take him.  He welcomed him home.”

Going through dramatic and traumatic changes can alter us as individuals.  Do we turn away from God at times like these, or do we embrace Him and turn to Him to console us?  It is a choice all of us will have to make at one time or other in our lives.

The Quest of the Heart

What are you longing for at this stage in your life?  What is the desire of your heart?  What can make your heart happy?

In the story of King Solomon, we find a very unusual desire, an extraordinary kind of longing, the desire of his heart is to gain wisdom and prudence.  Many worldly comments would say, “Oh Solomon how unwise you are, how foolish you are, you are stupid.  You could have ask for riches, treasures, fame, power, strength and greater sovereignty and not simply wisdom."  But the heart of King Solomon desires nothing else but wisdom.  What makes his heart happy is to be able to serve his people better by his wise judgments as a King.

In the story of the rich young man in the Gospel of St. Mark 10:17-30, we have a story of a rich young man who went to Jesus because he was longing for something.  He approached Jesus and asked:

“What should I do to inherit everlasting life?”

Seemingly, this rich young man’s heart desires a noble aspiration and that is eternal life.  It seems that the rich young man was like Solomon, he seeks not something material but EVERLASTING LIFE … and so Jesus said, obey the commandments.  The rich young man answered:

“I have done all these things since my Youth.”

We see here again that the man seems to be aware of the word of God, aware of the commandments, perhaps he allowed the word of God to take root in his life.  It seems that he allowed the word of God to form him.  But Jesus wanted to truly purify his heart and said:

“There is one thing more, go and sell what you have, give it to the poor and follow me.”

And with those words, the rich young man’s heart was exposed,.  He was not ready to consider EVERLASTING LIFE as more precious than all his material possessions and wealth.  His face fell and with a heavy heart, he turned his back to the true joy of the heart which is EVERLASTING LIFE.  Jesus here issues a warning to all of us, If our hearts are not pure and determined like Solomon, if our hearts are not fully purified and tested by the Word of God , a great test might come to us and we might choose to turn away from God as well.

If our hearts are not pure and determined, a test over the grief of the death of a loved one might make us abandon God.  If our hearts are not pure and determined, a test of losing a job might make us abandon God.  If our hearts are not pure and determined, a test of sickness might make us abandon God.

St. Augustine once said:  “My heart is restless until it rests in God”  Let us find our happiness in God, let us desire nothing else but everlasting life with God.  In every decision we make concerning our desires, let us be enlightened by the grace of God.  In every longing that we face each day, let us beg the Lord to direct our hearts to the right way.  May we find our hearts one day resting in the heart of God.

Creating a New Status Quo

We’re over a week into the new year, and at this point you might be asking yourself, what happened to all of my shiny new year’s resolutions?  Most people see the beginning of a new year as the perfect time to make lofty goals for themselves.  And even if those goals are phrased in such a way so as to make them more achievable, most new year’s resolutions are doomed to failure.

Why?

Well, that’s an interesting question.  We’re back at work, the kids are back in school, and we’re settling into the status quo of our lives again.  Maybe that’s exactly why our resolutions fail.  The status quo or “the way things are” is resistant to change.  It’s comfortable… too comfortable.

We need to challenge ourselves to get past the comfortable, comforting status quo we are used to and find a new normal.  Here are some suggestions to help you strengthen your faith as you initiate a new status quo:

1. Make an effort to pray more.  Say an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be before bed.  Work up to a decade of the Rosary, then a full Rosary.  Or, make time during the day to say the morning prayer, evening prayer, or another prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.
2. Try to get to Mass during the week as well as on Sunday.
3. Create a prayer journal, and use it to write your own prayers.  This could start as stream of consciousness recording and grow into bringing your struggles, praise, and thanksgiving to God.
4. Read the Bible.  Maybe not cover to cover, but read the readings for the day.  The USCCB website has a calendar with the readings for each day on a single page, and you can sign up for a daily e-mail that contains the readings.
5. Get involved in the parish.  We are always looking for people to help out in various ministries.
6. Volunteer your time at the St. Vincent de PaulDining Hall, the Good Samaritan Program, or Catholic Community Services.
7. Study the Saints.  Each day, our Facebook page highlights the Saint of the day with a link to a brief article about him or her.
8. Become more familiar with the Catechism.  You can access the complete English text of the Catechism online here.
9. Make an effort to include the pope’s intentions in your daily prayer.
10. Make a renewed effort to live the Golden Rule in your life.

Whatever you choose to do or focus on, try to commit to creating a new status quo.  Then next year, it will be even easier to create another new status quo, and watch your life grow closer to God.

Eyes of Faith

Do you see God’s divine presence in the ordinary things and events in your daily life?

In the Book of Exodus, after the people of Israel were liberated from the slavery in Egypt, they dramatically changed their perspective when they are confronted with hunger and difficulties in the dessert.  They suddenly want to go back to Egypt, they have forgotten that they were slaves in Egypt.  Egypt suddenly became a place of plenty; they have forgotten that they are freemen in the desert.  Desert now became for them a place of danger and even a place of death.  But God’s saving action came.  God sends sweet bread in the morning called manna and large flocks of quails in the evening so that they can have enough food to eat in the desert. …and manna for food and the people questioned.  “What is it?”  They even fail to see God’s gift of food for them through this ordinary quails and manna.

Will they see it?  How can they see it?  They cannot see it without putting on the eyes of faith.

Jesus fed five thousand men (excluding women and children) and at the end of the story the people would like to make Jesus their King, but Jesus doesn’t want to be a political king, and so he left them.  People saw the miracle as something political.  Seemingly, the people are saying:

Let us make him King because HE can feed us, He can make our food multiply by thousands, we don’t have to work anymore, all we need to do is sit and listen.

Jesus saw their way of thinking and said NO … “you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves”.

Meaning the people failed to see the deeper reality, the deeper meaning in the multiplication of the bread.  And so as a way of leading them to the meaning he said,

“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you”

And so the people asked, “What should we do?”  And Jesus answered to the meaning of the multiplication of the loaves when he said,

“BELIEVE IN THE ONE SENT BY THE FATHER”  “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”

Eat my flesh and hunger no more, drink my blood and thirds no more!  Now brothers and sisters, who can understand that?  Who can understand the words and actions of Jesus?  No one except those who have put on the EYES OF FAITH, without the eyes of faith you cannot and will never understand Jesus.

Epiphany and Delayed Gratification

The Twelve Days of Christmas actually refer to the twelve days following Christmas (rather than the twelve days leading up to Christmas), which conclude on January 6^th.  This year we are very lucky.  We get to celebrate Epiphany on the traditional date of Epiphany!

Christmas is not a “one and done” event.  It is not over as soon as the clock ticks over to December 26^th.  In some traditions, the Christmas season ends on Epiphany.  In other traditions, it extends all the way to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  We can and should extend our celebration.  We spent four weeks of Advent preparing for the Lord to come.  Now that He is here, He deserves our happiness and rejoicing at His coming.

Some cultures emphasize Epiphany, the day that the magi arrived to venerate the Christ child, more than they do Christmas itself.  Imagine how much greater the celebration might be if we allowed ourselves to be joyful for the twelve days following Christmas, but we saved the real party for Epiphany.