1st Week of Lent
Reflections on Deuteronomy 26:4-10 / ROMans 10:8-13 / Luke 4:1-13
Learnings from the MEERKATS
by Frank D.B. Savadera, SJ
There
is this interesting group of animals that I’ve encountered in the ANIMAL PLANET
website. They are called Meerkats – a mixed cat/rat-like animals
that are indigenous to the African deserts.
Meerkats apparently have
one of the most cooperative societies in the animal kingdom. In order to survive the harsh realities of
the desert, the MEERKATS had to learn to live in communities that protect and
watch over each other. They forage for
food in groups and while they do so, researchers found out that one MEERKAT ...
and this need not be the same MEERKAT all the time, STANDS GUARD ... and thus is
called a SENTINEL – the one who looks out at the horizon to check if an enemy of
the pack lurks by. When the sentinel
sees an enemy approaching, he lets out a loud cry to signal all his fellow
MEERKATS to scamper around for safety. As
I mentioned, it does not need to be the same MEERKAT standing always as a
sentinel. Researchers say that no one in
the pack assigns a member to be a sentinel.
Somehow, according to researchers, the appointment becomes automatic. Whoever is there at the right time and place
becomes the SENTINEL – the one who looks out for the safety of his entire
pack. The sentinel need not be told what
to do.
Apparently, the same group of animals – the MEERKATS – have
this peculiar way of taking care of their young. Since everyone will need to look for food,
females meerkats after delivering their young begin scavenging for food. Everyone will need to work. What happens to the young? Again, someone – perhaps another who had just delivered
her own offspring - volunteers as caregiver to all the young meerkats,
gathering them all in one nest, nursing them all and exhausting her milk for
all. Who assigns the MEERKAT “yaya” or
caregiver? Apparently no one!
Why
do we talk about MEERKATS during this first week of Lent? I think this has to do with what we’ve read
in the book of Deuteronomy: “The priest
shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar
of the LORD, your God.” When is a basket passed around in Church? When is
a basket offered and set in front of the altar? Isn’t it that this is done during the OFFERTORY, the Presentation of
the Gifts. Oftentimes ... nagiging
pa-bonggahan ang offering of gifts ... palakihan ... padamihan ng puede mong
ibigay. Is this really why we make an
offering? Sometimes it happens as
such.
I
think during this 40-days of Lent, we are being called to ask: Lord
... what can I really make as an OFFERING to you during this Lenten season? I think this is not so much the kind of
offering that will make life hard for us (fasting til death) ... or that which
will make us experience so much pain and GUTOM.
Much like the MEERKATS, I think ... the OFFERING comes out of an
experience of living life in a community.
The Meerkats need to protect and take care of each other. Don’t we all?
So someone volunteers his time as SENTINEL or her time as YAYA or
caregiver of the pack. Our offering
comes out of an experience in community.
What is this experience for us as a community says the Book of
Deuteronomy? The book tells us that when
we make an offering, we remember that our “father was a wandering Aramean (referring
to Abraham) ... that as a people we’ve
gone through times of enslavement ... and
that as a people we’ve walked through and crossed the desert. And all through out those times, God helped us
out with his strong and outstretched hands ... and brought
us where we are right now. ISN’T THIS
NOW THE REASON FOR THE OFFERING? We had
been saved by God ... and so now, we
make an offering ...before the Lord’s altar ... we bow and acknowledge his
presence with much reverence. WE ARE
CALLED TO MAKE OUR OFFERING and LITTLE SACRIFICES THIS LENT because of a REAL
and COMMON EXPERIENCE ... God had saved us and he continues to do so. WE COME AND BOW DOWN BEFORE THE ALTAR OF THE
LORD and acknowledge his saving presence.
And
MORE ... not only had we been saved ... God continues to enrich our lives all
the more. Who would like to be enriched
by the presence of God? (Ang hindi
marunong ngumiti ... ang laging nakasimangot ... how do you say that you are in
the presence of God??) God continues to
enrich our lives evermore and we find this in the very Paschal mystery of Jesus
... that which we are asked to most descriptively experience during Holy Week
... that is, the WORD OF FAITH that we are to receive says Saint Paul’s letter
to the Romans. What is this WORD OF
FAITH? As we would experience this Holy
Week, that Word of Faith is our very proclamation that Jesus will suffer and
die on the cross, he will resurrect and ascend to the Father ... to PROVE that
he was not an ordinary human being nor a mere prophet. HE IS GOD ... and whoever believes in him,
utters his name and maintains an intimate companionship with Him will not only
be saved but as well be enriched by his presence. HOLY WEEK – a time to renew our intimate
companionship with Jesus (WORD of FAITH) and be enriched by his mighty
presence.
We
had been saved by God and we have every capacity to make our own little
offering out of thanksgiving. The Word
of Faith – the name of Jesus and our companionship with him ... enriches
our lives. Those without Jesus are poor ... poor in spirit.
It is
in this context, I think that we can make good sense of our Gospel today. With the Spirit of God by our side ... then
it is possible ... and this is our
faith claim ... to overcome all worldy temptations. Can you think of one temptation that compels
you to sin sometimes ... those that make you choose riches, honor and power and
give in to your many other worldy compulsions? Much as
the Spirit filled Jesus in our Gospel today ... we are asked as well to
experience God’s spirit filling us and helping us overcome all worldly
temptations. We cannot do so on our own
of course. Other than God’s spirit
aiding us ... we are asked to learn from the MEERKATS ... to make an offering
of ourselves ... either as SENTINELS ... keeping one another away from danger
... or as YAYAs and CAREGIVERS ... sharing FOOD and MILK that nourish us.
