Reflections on Acts
2:1-11 / 1
Cor. 12:3-7;12-13 / John 20:19-23
Holy Spirit Mass: St. Paul University Manila
By Frank Savadera, SJ
Friends, I begin our sharing
today with a quotation attributed to the late Pope John Paul II who was just
recently canonized a saint. According to
JPII: “The worst prison is a closed heart!” Ang pinaka malala o pinaka malubhang piitan
ay ang sarado at nakakandadong puso.
I don’t know if anyone of you
would know where the Manila City jail is located. Would anyone know? I had a big surprise of my life when I first
visited the Manila City jail a long time ago.
I realized that the jail is there
right smack in the middle of the city.
And where? If you get off at the
Recto Station of the LRT just across the Isetann Department Store ... you will
come across what you may think as a community of slum dwellers. That area my friends, is the renowned,
notorious and over-crowded Manila City jail.
How is it like to be in that jail???
I remember prisoners cooking their food with the aid of boat paddles ...
yung SAGWAN ba ... and pouring soup and ULAM on plastic palangganas or timba
that we normally use in comfort rooms. I
remember prisoners complaining of the lack of water supply that some of them
had developed rashes, scabbies and others forms of skin disease. I remember beds of prisoners stacked one on
top of another ... ala high rise condominium ... with up to 3 or 4 “floors.”
Some presos even sleep hanging from the ceiling. Friends, how is it like to live in the Manila
City Jail? (I hope things have improved by now). Nevertheless, I hope we don’t aspire to be
there.
But then ... as we said and
according to John Paul II: The worst prison is a closed heart. Ang pinaka malala ang pinaka malubhang
piitan ay ang sarado at nakakandadong puso.
You don’t need to be in the
Manila City Jail to experience being in prison.
Some of us may actually be living in a self-imposed jail ... right
now. Baka naman mas malaya pa yung mga
taong nasa preso kaysa sa atin. The
worst prison is a closed heart.
Why talk about jails and prisons? A jail or a prison is the image I get as I
imagine all the disciples locked up inside one room on at least two occasions,
one during the time of the Lord’s Resurrection and the other, during Pentecost. Mahilig magtago ang mga disipulo ni
Jesus. They were all locked up in a room
cowering in fear ... for the Lord had left them and they were perhaps wondering
how on earth are they to proceed with their lives knowing that many people
outside may hate them or worst kill them as they did the Lord.
Friends, we may not literally be
in jail today but our HEARTS may be in prison.
And the worst prison is a closed heart.
A heart in prison sees everything as DARK. A heart in prison succumbs to fear and
paralysis. A heart in prison thinks of
the world as bleak and peoples and situations ashopeless and helpless. A heart in prison could not think of any
other need than his own. I can be very
protective of myself. Everyone becomes
an enemy. Life is constantly a
battle. The center of the universe
simply becomes the self. Take for instance our propensities for HASHTAGs ... i.e., FOLLOW ME (F4F – follow for follow; FF – follow Friday) i.e. look how beautiful
and talented I am; HASHTAG OOTD (outfit of the day); (Ako
ang THE BEST ... BURN ... BOOM) or NAKAKA-AWA naman ako. I have this so SEVERE A PROBLEM. Helpless! In such situations, we know that our hearts
are in prison because no matter what it is that we do ... we cannot seem to be
happy; I could not find meaning in the things that I do. Friends: Are your hearts in prison? The worst prison is a closed heart.
I think it is in this context
that we wish to start our year ... begging and pleading for the presence of the
Spirit. Mind you, even before we asked
about its presence among us, the Spirit already DWELLS in us and among us. Do you believe so?
This is the assurance that we
receive in our readings today. There
came a LOUD NOISE and a MIGHTY STORM ... a DRIVING WIND HEARD ACROSS THE ROOM
and tongues of fire appeared, rested on their heads ... and ALL were filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus in the Gospel tells us RECEIVE THE HOLY
SPIRIT. Remember how the apostles were
speaking in different tongues and yet still understanding each other. What a GREAT GIFT of the Spirit isn’t
it? Despite our differences ... our
varying perspectives in life ... each of us has the capacity to understand the
other. According to Scriptures: “Each
hears the others speaking in their own tongue about the marvels God has
accomplished.” I think the best way to
OPEN UP ONE’S HEART today is to recognize how
each of us is DIFFERENT but nevertheless called to SPEAK of the marvels God has
done in our lives.
Another image that we may wish to
underscore in our Gospel today comes from the statement: At the sight of the Lord, the apostles
REJOICED. I think FREEING OUR HEARTS
means constantly wishing to FIND THE FACE of GOD in all there is that we do for
the whole year. Finding the face of God
in the faces of people we see everyday. There will be PEACE! The Spirit
RENEWS ALWAYS THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
The
WORST PRISON IS A CLOSED HEART. We are
called to SEEK the Spirit’s assistance in FREEING US from our self-imposed
prisons, FINDING THE FACE OF GOD in ALL that we see and FINDING PEACE and
RENEWAL in the WORLD.
