Paying the Price

A story is told about a King who gave out a challenge to all his subjects. He announced that anyone who can cross a river full of crocodiles will be rewarded. The winner can choose either One Billion Dollars or the hand of his beautiful daughter – the princess of the kingdom.

On hearing it, the people were challenged. The thought of glory and wealth brought great excitement on every corner of the kingdom. But nobody volunteered because the challenge was just too difficult. The river was so wide and the crocodiles were hungry and wild.

One day, however, a man leaped on the cold and dangerous waters of the river. He swam so fast that the crocodiles were not able to catch him. He succeeded in crossing to the other side! The king, then, rewarded him for such an incredible feat. “What will you choose?” asked the king – One Billion Dollars or the hand of my beautiful daughter?

The guy replied: “I have no need of your rewards, O king. I just want to know.. who pushed me to jump into the river?”

One lesson we can learn from this Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 9:38-48) is Paying the Price. Jesus tells us, his disciples, of a very challenging demand. To paraphrase his words, He says: If your hand causes you to sin or your foot lead you to evil, cut it off. Better go maimed or crippled in heaven than be in hell. If your eye will lead you astray, pluck it out. Better go blind than lose your soul.

Definitely, Jesus did not mean these words to be literal. He was actually using a hyperbole to make a point about sin. As in other teachings of Jesus, he would use exaggerated and forceful language to make an unforgettable image in the mind of his listeners. In history, though, Church historian Eusebius of Ceasarea (263-339 AD) reported that Origen – a brilliant writer and 3^rd century Christian thinker castrated himself after reading Mt. 19:12. Being the son of the martyr St. Leonides, he played a great influence on Greek monasticism. This was never the point of Jesus.

Jesus wanted to teach us two things:

1.      There is a need to pray the price to enter heaven.

In a similar way, if one would like to enjoy, relax and see a movie, one has to pay the entrance fee. Last week, I was invited to a blessing of a new condominium at Fuente Osmena. It is just beside Crown Regency – the tallest building in Cebu  City. The condo’s location is on the 27^th floor way up above the skies. As I observed, it is not very spacious but its very elegant with two bedrooms, a sala and kitchen. Its exhilarating height gives you a panoramic view of Mactan Island and the sea. How much does it cost? P12.5 Million. Heaven costs even more!

There are certain demands to go to heaven. We need certain spiritual attitudes. Jesus speaks of sacrifice and self denial. He strikes us deeply by suggesting that whatever causes us to sin should be removed in us. He cautions us to cast away what is causing us to sin and even sever the connection. It can also mean taking ourselves out of the situation because for Jesus spiritual health is more important than physical wellbeing.

2.      There is a need to choose a greater good.

In order to choose Jesus, we need faith and love. Faith is needed to believe that we have chosen rightly. It is believing that God will reward our choice. We also need love. Much love is needed for us to overcome courageously all the demands of following Jesus. Love bears all things, believes all things and endures all things. Love never fails.

October 1^st is the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. She found, in her own little way, a path of childhood that will lead to heaven. She chose the path of love. In her autobiography “The Story of a Soul,” she wrote: "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." For her, it was enough to “rejoice to be little because only children will be admitted to the heavenly banquet.” Such is her path of childhood and her way of love.

Let us ask Jesus to shower us with more faith and love so that we can pay the price for heaven.

Year of Faith

          The bald pep squad of the University of the Philippines claimed their third straight crown at the 2012 UAAP Cheerdance Competition at the Mall of Asia Arena recently before an almost 20,000 crowd. In contrast to their flashy Madonna-inspired routine last year, they came garbed simply with nude-toned unitards to honor the “oblation symbol” of their university. They danced to the theme of freedom and equality.

        Showing a lot of jumps, tumblings and tosses, the 8^th-time champions moved with ease and confidence in a near perfect technically tough performance highlighted by three pyramid formations. Despite a fall by one of the dancers in the final stunt, they still grabbed the judges' overall approval. It was a visual feast of proficiency and creativity executing stunts of high degree of difficulty.

          Watching their performance in Youtube, it left me awed. The dancers, I presume, were ordinary university students whose only edge with the other contestants was long term preparation. Yet they looked like professional gymnasts who achieved great dexterity of movements. The performance of the entire squad was all about trust in one another. It was about surrender. They were so brave to surrender even their hair for consistency of purpose especially the ladies. This is what faith is all about.

At the start of the school year, I gave a leadership training seminar to a group of student leaders. One of our activities is the “trust fall.” It’s a trust-building exercise I conducted to the group in which each person allows himself to fall on an elevated position relying on the other members of the group to catch him. I thought it would just be a routine where everybody would go through the exercise. But as it turned out, one was too scared to fall. He tried twice but in both instances he had to cut corners. It dawned on me that faith, for some, is something difficult. They needed to surrender. It’s a trust-fall in the arms of a loving group. 

Faith is an act of total surrender of ourselves in the arms of a loving God.

           In October last year, Pope Benedict the XVI wrote an apostolic letter “Porta Fidei” (The Door of Faith) to usher the Year of Faith. It will start on October 11, 2012 and conclude on the solemnity of Christ the King on November 24, 2013. The opening will coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council as well as the 20^th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. During the Year of Faith, Catholics are invited to rediscover and deepen their faith-journey in their “conscious and vigorous adherence to the Gospel.”

           In his letter, the Holy Father observes that times have really changed. There was a time when faith was culturally accepted by society and its values were inspired by it. This is no longer true today. Society is affected by a profound crisis of faith. There is now a divorce in faith and culture that makes its practice even difficult. Many even consider faith as a private matter. Thus he offers a challenge by reminding us that faith has a social responsibility. There is the need to  make a public profession of faith. He exhorts us that “it is the love of Christ that fills our hearts and impels us to evangelize.” Hence the challenge is to be made concrete by a “need for a stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization.” The Year of Faith is an opportunity for Catholics to experience a conversion of heart and deepen their personal attachment to Jesus.

            The Visayan-proto martyr Pedro Calungsod will be one of the icons of the Year of Faith. The Church presents him to us especially to all young Filipino as a model of faith and courageous witness despite the hardships of Christian living. Like our new saint, we are invited to appreciate our faith, receive it with love and practice it with courage. In the midst of the tosses and tumbles of life, the Christian is asked to make a stand. For if faith is a rose, this year, we are asked to fertilize it with God’s Word and water it with charity so that it blooms with greater fragrance.

           

 (This article appears in the Faith Section of Cebu Daily News – September30, 2012)

Someone Worth Dying For

Mikeschair is an American contemporary Christian band signed to Curb Records. The group has charted on the Amerian Contemporary Christian music charts with the song “Can’t Take Away,” which was the 7^th most played Contemporary Christian music song in the United States for the week of June 13, 2009 as reported on the R&R magazine chart (Wikipedia).

In 2011 it released their second full-length album, A Beautiful Life. Included in this track is this affirming ballad about one’s self-worth in God’s eyes "Someone Worth Dying For." Yes indeed! Every human person is sacred and worth dying for. Here are the lyrics and music video of the song.

You might be the wife,
Waiting up at night
You might be the man,
Struggling to provide
Feeling like it's hopeless

Maybe you're the son,
Who chose a broken road
Maybe you're the girl,
Thinking you'll end up alone
Praying God can you hear me?
Oh God are you listening?

(Chorus)
Am I more than flesh and bone?
Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah, I wanna believe, I wanna believe that
I'm not just some wandering soul
That you don't see and you don't know
Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe that I
Am someone worth dying for

I know you've heard the truth that God has set you free
But you think you're the one that grace could never reach
So you just keep asking, what everybody's asking

Chorus

You're worth it, you can't earn it
Yeah the Cross has proven
That you're sacred and blameless
Your life has purpose

You are more than flesh and bone
Can't you see you're something beautiful
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe
He wants you to see, He wants you to see
That you're not just some wandering soul
That can't be seen and can't be known
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe that you
Are someone worth dying for

You're someone worth dying for
You're someone worth dying for

Service and Sacrifice

A story is told about a man who was shown by an angel the difference between heaven and hell. The angel invited him “come, I will show you hell.” They entered a room where a group of hungry people sat around a long, big table filled with sumptuous food. But everyone in the room was starving. Each person held a spoon that reached the table but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arms that it could not be used to get the food into their own mouths. So they ended up pale and emaciated despite so much food. Their suffering was terrible.

“Come now, I will show you heaven” the angel said.  They entered a room identical to the first, the long and big table filled with sumptuous food, the group of people and the same long-handled spoons. But here everyone was happy and well nourished. “I don’t understand” said the man. “Why is everyone happy here and miserable in the other room? Everything is the same.” “Here, said the angel, they have learned to serve each other.”

Heaven is a place where people are happy because they love and care for each other. They show their love by serving each other. Instead hell is a sad place because each just thinks of himself.

In today’s Gospel (Mk 9:30-37), Jesus reveals to us the way to heaven and the secret of happiness. Our reading is situated on the road to Capernaum where Jesus makes a second prediction of his passion, death and resurrection. He was teaching them again that he was a “suffering messiah.” They just left Mt. Tabor where Jesus was transfigured. He showed them his glory to strengthen their faith when the dark hours would arrive. Still, after all these instructions on selflessness, the disciples did not understand what the following of Jesus would entail. Along the way they were arguing who was the most important among them. They could not resist the lure of power and prestige. They were still ambitious men seeking glory and importance.

Jesus uses this occasion to teach them (and all of us) three things:

1.      Service

Jesus insists that his followers serve. He came to serve and not to be served. This is the measure of greatness in God’s kingdom. When I entered the seminary, one of the first things that “shocked” me was manual work. Everybody was given a chore to do – washing dishes, sweeping long corridors, mopping the dormitory or scrubbing toilets. It was something done daily, 7 times a week. At first I had a feeling of disgust. At home, I acted like a boss. Somebody else would clean up my mess. But in the seminary, there were no janitors. So everyone has a share in the cleaning. We were trained to serve one another. Now as a priest, I realize that training formed my character. Service has become a 2^nd nature to me – a habit I have acquired. My former companions in the seminary, who now have families of their own, are also grateful for the training. It made them responsible and service-oriented persons who work not just for the pay-check. Jesus wants us to learn the joy of serving each other.

2.      Sacrifice

To be disciples of Jesus, one has to follow the Master. Jesus openly shared his impending sufferings. It is necessary to carry the cross. One video I saw in Youtube on “Discipleship” depicts people carrying their own crosses. They were travelling in one direction and each one really felt the pain of their individual burden. Then one among them stopped. Put down his heavy cross and complained to God. “Lord, my cross is so heavy, can I shorten it a bit?” Without waiting for the Lord’s reply, he took a saw and cut a little piece of his cross. Then he continued to move on. Further on, he stopped again and complained. He again took a saw and shortened his cross that it became much lighter. It became so light that he did not feel anymore pain. He carried his cross whistling along the way. However, they came to a cliff. The only way to crossover was the use of their individual crosses as bridge. Everyone was able to cross except this complaining guy. He was stranded because his cross was not long enough. Lesson: our cross is the bridge to reach God’s kingdom. It is a necessary sacrifice.

3.      Simplicity

Jesus uses a child as an icon of simplicity. Children are not pretentious nor are they prone to be ambitious. Once I was talking with a mother, she told me that her son at first wanted to be a doctor because he wanted to help his many sick neighbors. Later, he changed his mind. He was inspired to be a security guard so that he could help children cross the streets. Such is the ambition of a little child. Instead, adults often times, have much sophisticated ambitions not really to help others but to help themselves.

Let us ask for the grace of service, sacrifice and simplicity from Jesus.