Greed or Generosity

The Yanson Group is the country’s biggest bus operators carrying a quarter of a billion passengers annually all over the archipelago. It is popularly known for its Ceres Liner and Vallacar Transit with its headquarters located in Bacolod City. The company operates a fleet of 4,800 buses nationwide. Luzon-based Victory Liner, its closest competitor, has only about 800 bus units. This transportation company with its 18,000 employees and billion-pesos worth of assets, however, is now in peril. The top story circulating among the business community is the feuding and rivalry within the family. The crux of the matter is the ownership and control of the bus empire. Family feud is a dangerous thing. When families turn to the courts to settle inheritance and wealth disputes, trust is lost. Blood is not thicker than water, sometimes.

In today’s gospel, (Lk 12:13-21) someone in the crowd requests Jesus to settle a family squabble. It was common for people in Palestine to bring their quarrels to respected Rabbis for conflict resolution. But Jesus refused to become an arbiter. But as a great teacher, he used this incident to teach his followers the right attitude to material things. He cautions them to be careful of greed. His parable of the “Rich Fool” brings home the message that money is not everything. The Romans had a proverb which said that money was like sea-water; the more a person drank, the thirstier he became. Greed, indeed, is a bottomless pit. Jesus’ insightful advice to everyone: store up riches for yourself in heaven.

The rich man in the parable is considered by the world as intuitive and wise. But God calls him a fool! What accounts his foolishness? He never saw beyond this world. In a certain sense, he was short-sighted. All his plans were made on the basis of life here and now. For people with this perspective, death is a great tragedy. Hence, Jesus wants us to see more. He wants us to look beyond, in the perspective of eternity by reminding us to “seek first the kingdom of God.” While material possessions occupy a place in our life, it should never be at the center. We can always decide to make goodness and generosity the attitude of our hearts.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to overcome my greed and choose to be generous; after all, in life, money is not everything.

Trusting the Lord

A story is told about a farmer in the village of Ars who would visit the Blessed Sacrament twice daily; once before he starts working in the field and then before he goes home. This was his daily habit. The parish priest, Fr. Jean Marie Vianney noticed the reverence and devotedness of this man. After observing him several times, he asked him one day. “What do you say in your prayer before the Blessed Sacrament?” The god-fearing farmer replied: “Nothing. Jesus just looks at me. I look at him.” This was the simple prayer of this believing man: no words, just love. It is for this reason that St. Teresa of Avila used to say that “prayer is an exercise of love.”

In today’s gospel (Lk 11:1-13), Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray correctly. Some people think that prayer is like putting a coin in a vending machine to get whatever we wish. Others see God as a genie who grant all their prayers. Instead Jesus wants us to realize that prayer is a relationship. God is a Father who loves and knows what to give. There is nothing magical about prayer. Prayer is our way of honoring God and giving him glory. Its first aim is to align our will to His purpose. We pray to be more open and receptive for the coming of God’s reign in our life. Hence, we trust Him to give us our daily needs and forgive us our failings.

Jesus instructs us that prayer is essential. It is like breathing; we can’t do without it. Prayer is life. It is a necessity. We have to make it a daily habit such that we need to constantly ask, consistently seek and continuously knock on God’s heart. In prayer we voice out our total dependence of God especially in defending us and protecting us from the evils and misfortunes in life. We pray for God to shape our world because only by his presence can real change and transformation happen. We pray to grow in deeper trust and greater love.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to trust you so that when I pray I seek your will with greater love and generosity. Amen.

Prayer as Steering Wheel

In one of my visits to the sick and elderly parishioners one day, I stopped by the home of Boy Mendoza. He used to be a devoted Eucharistic Minister of Holy Communion in the Parish in his younger years and an active Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) organizer in the Areas. Today, his health has become his cross. For almost twenty years he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. In the last five years he could not walk; his senses of hearing and talking had diminished greatly. I must have come at a wrong time because his wife, Cecille, was doing the laundry. She had to dress him up hurriedly so that I can hear his confession then receive the anointing of the sick. Yet, to my surprise, Cecille was very accommodating. When I was done, she had prepared omelet and slice bread for snacks. She even entertained me and my companions by joining our conversation. She was both a Martha and a Mary to her guests.

John narrates, in today’s gospel (Lk 10:38-42), the story of Martha and Mary from Bethany. Martha might have been the head of the household because she was busy with all the details of hospitality. Welcoming Jesus and his entourage involved considerable preparation. Amidst her busy-ness, Mary simply sat at Jesus’ feet. Certainly, Jesus appreciated Martha’s service; but there was something more important which Mary had chosen. Mary recognized that Jesus had come not to be fed but to feed. The hospitality he was seeking was their time, their attention, their friendship and their love. Mary understood this as she wasted her time with Jesus. At that moment only Jesus really mattered. She simply gave her fullest attention and love to him.

The story of Martha and Mary invites us to set and balance our priorities. We need to balance work and prayer; action and contemplation. While we need to work and earn our living, we need to realize the primacy of God in our lives. Many times we tire ourselves doing the work of God that we forget the God of the work. We are misled into thinking that prayer steals space away from our activities and apostolate. We make the excuse that prayer becomes a waste of time. We fail to understand that for our love to keep burning and our principles to remain strong and consistent we need to keep our connection with God through prayer. We need to make prayer the steering wheel of our life, not its spare tire.

Prayer: Lord, guide me to put you always at the center of my life by making prayer my life’s steering wheel, not its spare tire. Amen.

Goodness to Strangers

During the preparation for the National Youth Day (NYD), we were inviting families and individuals to foster participants and young people who would be coming from different places in the Philippines to stay with them for at least six days. The initial questions they would usually ask were: Who are these people? Where do they come from? They are normal questions for background checking. Yet they are also questions that reveal cautiousness, even anxiety. It is natural to inquire because they would be welcoming total strangers. It is already difficult to help family members and friends. All the more difficult to help strangers and people who are totally unknown.

Here lies the greatness of Jesus. He challenges the comfort zones of his followers. He invited them to love and show compassion even to strangers. He taught us generosity by going the extra mile for people who are not affiliated to us. In today’s gospel, Jesus narrated the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. The context came from a lawyer’s question on “how to inherit eternal life.” The lawyer knew the formula: love God and love your neighbor. But by telling the story, Jesus insisted that it is not enough to know. What matters is doing good to anyone, to everyone even to strangers. We have to do good even to those who do not deserve our generosity and goodness.

Jesus challenges us to be like this Good Samaritan. In his day, Samaritans were unbelievers and heretics. The story implied that anyone can do good, even those whom we think are good for nothing. Jesus is teaching us that we have to train ourselves to find goodness anywhere and in every one. The poor widow at Zarepath baked a small cake for a stranger who happened to be Prophet Elijah. As a reward, she had unlimited supply of flour and oil from her little containers for a year. The families who initially welcomed strangers during the NYD really welcomed angels in disguise. Some of them became real friends, others became their “foster children.” It always pays to offer the extra mile unconditionally.

Prayer: Lord, help me to see you in others so that I may honor you in serving them. Amen. 

Every Christian, A Missionary

Ike Abastillas is an Electrical Engineer by profession. But he has embraced his vocation as a full-time evangelizer, retreat facilitator and youth minister. Those who know him fondly calls him Kuya Ike. In his younger days as a youth leader, he even volunteered to be a missionary in Papua New Guinea for two years. In fact, he personally met Pope John Paul II during his pastoral visit there. Today, Kuya Ike continues to be a missionary at home. He continues to give inspiring talks, humor-filled lectures, life-changing retreats to thousands of young people in Visayas and Mindanao. His life has become a message of God’s joy and love.

Jesus, in today’s gospel reading, sends his seventy-two disciples on a mission instructing them: “Go, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.. Cure the sick and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.” It might be tempting for us to think that these words of Jesus is something of the past. The truth is, by our baptismal calling, we are among the modern-day disciples called to continue Jesus’ mission. We are challenged to move out of our comfort zones and to take part in our own way the call to be missionaries. Christ tells you now: Go. Be my witness today!

In 1990, Pope John Paul II wrote the encyclical, Redemptoris Missio that speaks about the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate. He wrote this because he observed that missionary activity appeared to be waning. He insists that we need to be in mission because “in Christ alone are we set free from all alienation and doubt, He is the Good News for man and women of every age.” So we do not stop witnessing and proclaiming by our words and especially by our lives. Most of all, let us continue to pray for more “laborers” – more priestly vocation and lay apostles – to work in the vineyard of the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, give me the courage to be an apostle and witness of your joy and love in where I am. Amen.