All is Grace

Once a friend who is a lawyer asked me if there is a short version of the “Act of Contrition.” He complained that the traditional formula is too long and he has difficulty in memorizing it. I responded affirmatively and shared a shorter form: “O God, have mercy on me a sinner!” Then I quipped: “Pray this sincerely and you go home justified. Meaning, you’re forgiven.

I saw his face light up: “Thank you padz. Ako ning memorizon kay mubo ra.” (I shall memorize this because its short).

I challenge you: memorize this verse. It’s an alternative “act of contrition.” It is not only short, it is also biblical from Luke 18:13.

In today Gospel (Lk 18: 9-14), Jesus narrates a parable about two men at prayer: a Pharisee and a publican. The Pharisee’s prayer was full of pride and arrogance: “God, I’m so good! You should reward me. I’m doing everything for you. I have made you the center of my life. You see how good am I!”

Instead, the publican’s prayer was “God – I admit I deserve nothing. Just be merciful to me.” Jesus concludes that the man who prayed with a humble heart went home forgiven.

Why? Because whoever humbles himself will be exalted; whoever exalts himself will be humbled.

Our Readings teach us 3 Valuable Lessons:

1.     All is Grace

Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, who earned his doctorate in theology in the Catholic University of America, claimed that he knows of a professor who conducts a survey with his incoming students. He asks this question: “If you were to die today, what would be your entry ticket to heaven?”

He says that 9 out of 10 would answer: Good Character or Good Behavior. It’s the same attitude with the Pharisee. Maybe that is also our attitude: I deserve heaven because I do good!

Here we need conversion – a change of attitude, outlook; a change of paradigm. We need to realize that all is grace!

What is grace? God’s unmerited favor; kindness from God we don’t deserve. Gift from God and the greatest of which is salvation; our sanctification!

The basic requirement of understanding grace is understanding who we are. Reality check: we are creatures while God is God! A theologian said: between God and us there is an “infinite qualitative distance.”

Thus all that we are and all that we have is simply grace of God!

2.     God is allergic of proud people

In the Gospel, Jesus is shown to be considerate and compassion to sinners. But to the proud Pharisees, he has strong condemnation and censure.

Pride is a satanic attitude! Lucifer used to be God’s brightest angel. But then he arrogantly became infatuated with himself. Pride is the devil’s #1 vice. Pride results to self-sufficiency which is a completely “anti-God” state of mind. It creates a “we-don’t-need-God” mentality. Moreover, pride is deceptive. It makes us fall into the illusion that we are better than others; that we don’t need grace and we don’t need God mercy. A proud person can never say: “God have mercy on me, a sinner!”

3.     Humility is pleasing to God

Humility can disarm God. It can melt God’s heart. In scripture who were God’s favorites? The humble ones.

We can speak of David – this sincere and humble man who upon realizing he had sinned, repented and sat on ashes. Mary was a simple girl from Nazareth. Joseph is an example of a simple working man who was full of faith and humility.

God loves them because they don’t belong to the “mahangin family.” They have no airs. They have no pretensions. I would like to end with this story.

A young man went to an old, wise rabbi. He asked “Rabbi, why is it that people could not see the face of God? Is it because God is so high, He can’t be reached?”

The rabbi replied: “No, that’s not true. People can’t see God because very few can stoop so low. It’s sad but that is the truth. Learn to bend, to bow, to kneel and stoop and you will be able to see God face to face.”

In the end, God’s way is the way of humility – in the Incarnation and in the Cross.

We Will Rise

        Houses and buildings shaking violently. Panic-stricken residents running for safety outside in streets and open spaces. Fear and fright mixed with consternation and concern for loved ones. Death and devastation in the aftermath. Such were the vivid scenarios of the 7.2 earthquake that struck Central Visayas and other parts of Mindanao at 8:12 morning of October 15. A neighbor commented: “I thought it was the end of the world!” Another said: “Nawala akong poise!” (I lost my poise). Good thing, its timing was perfect. It was a holiday, students were home, morning masses were done and the malls were still to open. Otherwise, the harm could have been bigger.

          When natural disaster like this happens, we tend to lose our sense of control. We literally loose our poise because our survival mode takes over us. When the dust settles down, we are just thankful and blest we are still alive. Others, in fact, lost theirs. The saddest part of it, many families and communities especially in the province of Bohol suffered a greater damage in quality of life. They even lack the most basic such as food, water and medicine.

Cebuanos are quick to respond to the call of the moment. Though reeling from the same experience, many private organizations immediately conducted relief operations through donations in cash or in kind. The most notable is the campaign dubbed “#Bangon Sugbohol Movement,” a unified effort spearheaded by key business organizations, concerned individuals, institutions and non-profit groups in Cebu to raise funds to aid the earthquake victims. Today a benefit concert at 4 pm at the Ayala Terraces will kick off the campaign with over 20 bands, singers, choral groups and dance troupes performing.

#Bangon Sugbohol Movement is a social media-led campaign established by the Island Souvenir Group to unite the Sugbuanon givers. For organizers, this advocacy is a clear message that Cebuanos can set aside their respective business interest and unite for one meaningful cause. Jay Aldeguer, one of the key prime movers of the movement and CEO of the Island Group affirmed: “Yes, we’ve been set-backed but the rest of the Philippines and the world will see that Cebu and Bohol will rise from this fall.” Optimism fills this man and it is contagious!

Who would not feel down by what had happened? A day after that powerful tremor, I went to see the damage sustained by the centuries-old Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino. It was a disheartening sight. Its bell tower at the right collapsed with debris filling the entrance. The basilica is the first church established in our country. What is more heartbreaking? Ten of such national treasures in Cebu and Bohol were damaged just in a day. I asked myself, what is God’s message for us here? It happened precisely while the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE) was about to start at the University of Sto. Tomas, Manila the day after.

While we are to reach out and help the victims of the earthquake, God is also telling us collectively we need to build a stronger church. Experts said that these centuries-old structures were built by organic materials such as coral stones, egg whites and lime. Unfortunately, they were not built to withstand a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Hence we need to build a stronger Church! Those that conform to new engineering standards. A church that can withstand the test of time, tide and tremors.

That’s the physical Church as a structure! What about the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ? We need to have a spiritual re-engineering! The Church of Jesus is each individual, baptized member. Each build and form the Church “like living stones.. built into a spiritual house” (1 Pt 2:5). We have to build a stronger body of Christ by empowering, educating and energizing each member through catechesis! Christian education of the mind and heart is the key. From this comes our love for Christ, our love for His Church and our eagerness to share our faith with joy. In his video message that concluded the 1^st Philippine Conference on New Evangelization, Pope Francis gave this challenge: “Bring Jesus now into the world of politics, business, arts, science, technology and social media.”

On 2021, eight years from now, we shall celebrate 500 years of Christianity which started in Cebu. As we look forward to this event, let us re-build. We will pick up the pieces and move on! From this fall, we will rise stronger. This requires that we become the leaven of Jesus in the lives of our people in our times. 

(This article also appears in the Faith Section of Cebu Daily News, October 20, 2013. )

 

Gratitude

Somebody said that there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who wake up in the morning and say “Good morning, Lord!” And those who wake up and say “Good Lord, it’s morning!”

The first wake up grateful and enthusiastic; ready to face the challenges of a new day. The other are those who are fed up and tired of life. They are just surviving!

The question is: which one are you?

The Sunday Readings teach us of the value of gratitude. The First Reading (2 Kings 5:14-17) tells the story of the Syrian General, Naaman who was cured of his leprosy. Grateful to the God of Israel, he becomes a believer. His thanks-giving becomes a thanks-living! The Gospel (Lk 17:11-19) has the same theme. It narrates about the ten lepers whom Jesus cured. Only the Samaritan came back to give thanks!

Jesus teaches us that we need to be grateful.

We ask ourselves: why be grateful? In the first place, God has no need of our thanks. It adds nothing to God’s power if we are grateful or not. Instead, gratitude is beneficial to us. It doesn’t cost us much.  There are 3 Reasons why we should be grateful:

1.     It reminds us of what is truly important.

It helps us focus on the good and beautiful things that we have and those things that are happening to us. We are able to celebrate the present.

2.     It reminds us of the positive things in our life.

Yesterday, I met a one-year old boy named Rajah. I asked him of his favorite subject and he says: Math! Next, I asked him to demonstrate some of his lessons. In a graphical way, he explained what he learned from his teacher: 1 mango plus 1 mango, you have 2 mangoes. 2 classmates plus 3 classmates, you have 5 classmates. I asked him if he had 5 toys and I take away one, how many are left? He could not answer. The teacher has not taught them subtraction yet!

This boy only knows about the pluses in his life. He has so much to count! A grateful person focuses on the plusses; he has so many positive things to count in life. And they say, positive things block toxic emotions and make us feel better.

 

3.     Gratitude turns bad things into good.

It makes us more stress resistant. Dr. Robert Emmons, the world’s leading expert on gratitude and professor of psychology at the University of California has a book: “Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.”

He claims that gratitude not only makes you happy, it also makes you healthy. It makes us healthy physically, psychologically and socially. Gratitude increases the body’s natural antibodies; it strengthen one’s immune system. Psychologically, it make us less vulnerable to depression; one becomes more optimistic and it gives us a happier mental state. Socially, it makes us become more compassionate, more forgiving and makes us feel less lonely and isolated.

The greatest benefit of gratitude is that it gives glory to God! We honor God through what we do. In this way, our life becomes “Eucharistic.” This “thanks-giving” must also become “thanks-living!”

Meister Eckhart, the German Dominican, theologian, philosopher and mystic said: “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

Dr. Steve Maraboli, a behavioral scientist specializing in motivational psychology wrote: “Those with a grateful mindset ten to see the message in the mess. And even though life may knock them down, the grateful find reasons, if even small ones, to get up.”

Before the day ends, be grateful for at least 3 things today. Find reasons to thank God also for  the “negative things” you experience. And every morning don’t fail to say: “Good morning, Lord!” 

Faith in God

I saw a video in CNN of a child prodigy. Akiane Kramarik is a very gifted, 12-year old artist. What makes her unique is not so much how well she paints, but the subject of her work and her inspiration. When she was 4 years old, she had many visions of meeting God. God told her she needs to paint and help less fortunate people. He’d be there to guide and teach her. So she was able to produce so many beautiful art work. In fact one of her paintings, a self-made portrait, was sold for $10,000!

What makes her story fascinating is that, when she began seeing visions and discussed them with her parents, her mother was atheist. Religion was never discussed in the house. She began to paint about her visions. She is a self-taught painter and claims that God taught her. She started drawing at 4, painting at 6, writing poetry at 7. She has started to learn piano and she is not composing her own music.

Her art work depicts life, landscape, people inspired by her visions of heaven and personal conversations with God. She works 4-5 hours each day, 5-6 days a week. She produces 8-20 paintings a year. Much of the money is donated to charities. He life goal is to share her love for God and people around the world.

I was really inspired by her story. In that interview, she expressed many times her frustrations. But then she talks to God! She says God calms her down. God tells her “everything will just be okay. She feels a deep sense of peace and is convinced that God is real!

Our Readings today speak about Faith. The Gospel (Lk 17:5-10) shows the Apostles making a sincere request: “Lord, increase our faith!” Like them, we are to make the same request. “Lord, make our faith grow. Convince us that you are real; that you are alive!”

Our Readings teaches us 3 things:

1.     Willingness to Trust in God

I am sure we can relate with the experience of the Prophet Habakkuk in the 1^st Reading (Hak 1:2-4). We also ask why? Why so much violence, ruin, misery, poverty, corruption, selfishness, greed and abuse of power. In such experience, we may also ask God – but you don’t do anything!

We need to be willing to trust that God knows best; that His justice may be delayed but surely it will come. Just have faith!

2.     Wait Patiently

In the midst of hardships, we need to be firm and steadfast. In the midst of corruption, injustice and frustrations, we need to be patient and faithful. These hardships are just temporary. God is in control. He tells us: just hang on!

St. Paul tells us in the 2^nd Reading:

a.     God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but a of power. He says: be courageous!

b.     Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. In other words, be strong.

3.     Work Confidently

The 2^nd part of the Gospel, Jesus speaks of servants. Servants need to do their job. Servants should work. God invites us to be good stewards.

I read this true to life story of Brenda (cf. Inspire 21.com). She went rock climbing with friends. However, her contact lens fell. Upset and desperate, she had blurry vision during the climb. In her heart she prayed to God to find it so that she could be safe. As they were resting, a new party of climbers arrived. One of them asked: “anybody lost a contact lens?” She was surprise. She was even more amazed how it was found. A strange thing occurred because one of them saw an ant carry it!

Brenda’s dad made a cartoon after hearing of the ant, the prayer and the contact lens. In this cartoon, the ant was praying: “Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But, if this is what You want me to do, I’ll carry it for you!” God wants us to be obedient to Him, like this ant!