DO NOT BE A BLABBER?

Reflections on Isaiah 55:10-11 / Matthew 6:7-15

by Frank Savadera, SJ

A clear message we get from the Gospel today:  DO NOT BE A BABBLER?  Do not babble like the pagans who think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Why do we sometimes BABBLE?  The Gospel seems to be making a connection between BABBLING and wishing to be HEARD or maybe catching and seeking ATTENTION for oneself!  What is then wrong with babbling?  Isn’t it that each of us has a desire to be heard?  What is so wrong with seeking ATTENTION for ourselves?  We want to be heard … we babble!  Imagine making a living by BABBLING!  Some can actually be good at it right?  Some even had achieved a lot for themselves by simply babbling HERE and babbling THERE!  We even have a term for it … LAWAY LANG ANG PUHUNAN  (it’s gross to translate that in English).   So there is such a thing as  PROFFESSIONAL BABBLERS!  Or the ARMCHAIR BABBLERS!  The Gospel says DO NOT be like the pagans who BABBLE words to be heard and to seek attention for themselves.  Why?  Because BABBLING to seek attention is the NOISE of SELF-CENTEREDNESS.  I wish to be HEARD!  Give it me!  I am here!  It is the kind of ATTENTION-SEEKING that stifles ATTENTION-GIVING – which is generosity.    We prevent ourselves from being generous – GIVING OTHERS OUR ATTENTION by simply being too focused on catching attention for ourselves.      

A post I made on my FB page this morning quotes the philosopher Simone Weil: “Giving attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” 

First prayer:  Lord, save us from our BABBLINGS, our BLABBERINGS, from our desires to seek ATTENTION for ourselves so that we may be more GENEROUS and may FREELY GIVE ATTENTION to others.

The second point has something to do about Jesus prescribing the Lord’s Prayer – the most basic prayer that we have all learned since childhood … isn’t it.  This prayer had even been translated and sung in different dialects and languages.  This is the only PENANCE I usually give in confession:  PRAY it slowly and as meaningfully as you can … the Lord’s Prayer.  My reflection here is that our PRAYER NEED NOT BE COMPLICATED.  We need not REINVENT PRAYER.  It need not be DRAMATIC and REPLETE with EMOTIONAL FIREWORKS all the time.  Well … prayer need not be done SHABBILY as well … as we often would with AUTOMATIC and LEARNED PRAYERS. 

I think, a clue to a possible reflection about the Gospel is HOW WE CALL Jesus’ prayer … we call it simply LORD’S PRAYER.  This is how Jesus prayed.  He was teaching the disciples how he was praying to His Father.  It is a kind of prayer that is INCLUSIVE (Our Father) … a prayer that WORSHIPS (hallowed be thy name) … a prayer that BEGS (give us this day ) … a prayer that seeks forgiveness (forgive us our sins) … a prayer that seeks GRACE of deliverance from EVIL. 

This is the Lord’s Prayer … Jesus’ prayer to the Father … and He wants us to pray it with Him.  We are one with Jesus as we pray to the Father.  What can be more opportune and auspicious than that:  WE ARE ONE WITH JESUS in PRAYING to the Father.   Can we even feel that ONENESS with Jesus. 

This Lenten Season is again calling us to experience that ONENESS with Jesus.  In His Passion, his Crucifixion and Death … we pray his very words to express our ONENESS with the Son who died to save us.

Thus … GOING BACK TO OUR BABBLINGS and BLABBERINGS … there is apparently a WORD that is NOT OURS … that WE CAN ACTUALLY PROCLAIM … the WORD that is JESUS HIMSELF who shall not … according to our first reading … NOT RETURN TO THE FATHER VOID.  The WORD that continues to do the Father’s will til this day … the WORD that continues to ACHIEVE THE END OF SAVING US … the very reason why it was sent to be flesh like us in the first place.     NOT OUR WORD … BUT JESUS  … WHO IS THE WORD … who returns to the Father and achieves for the Father the purpose for which he was sent to us … TO SAVE US.

UNCLEANESS Separates Us from Others

Reflections on Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46 / Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11 /  1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 /  Mark 1:40-45

by Frank Savadera, SJ

First point:  UNCLEANESS becomes apparent because it separates us from others.  No one needs to tell it to our face if we are UNCLEAN, right?   Can PRIDE be a source of UNCLEANESS?  Can PRIDE separate us from others?  What about ANGER that separates us from others?  IMPATIENCE separates us from others?  What about being a BRAGGART that separates us from others? Can SELF-CENTEREDNESS separate us from others?  DISHONESTY separates us from others.  And we know that we are separated from others  ... not so much that we are ostracized … but because we feel that … slowly slowly … much like the experience of LEPERS … we are ISOLATED … we are FORCED TO BE ALONE.   We do not need to be a leper to experience this, isn’t it?  We can sometimes enter a room full of people and yet feel so ISOLATED because of our own UNCLEANNESS.  Life can be lonely this way, isn’t it?  WE HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE LONELINESS and ISOLATION brought about by our UNCLEANNESS.  

Friends, we will need to get into this feeling of ISOLATION and LONELINESS experienced by the LEPER before we can actually throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus to beg:   "If you wish, you can make me clean."  

Second point: In our Gospel today ... JESUS as always … does the UNEXPECTED.  When Jewish tradition says that no one must touch the unclean,  Jesus touches the leper.  Despite our UNCLEANESS as PERSONS ... Jesus reaches out to us constantly ... and not only that ... HE AIMS TO TOUCH OUR UNCLEANESS.  Oftentimes, when we meet someone DIFFICULT TO BE WITH ... we simply say:  Oh … JUST AVOID HIM.  We ask:   Why is this person always angry! Someone who thinks only of himself ... his needs ... what people think of him, etc.    Friends ... these people are the most isolated persons in the world.  How do you approach them?  How did Jesus approach them?  Jesus came to touch the UNCLEAN.  He reached out to them.  He touched the leper and told the leper to go to the priests ... so that the priests may know how the miracle is true.  He reaches out even to those who questioned his ministry.  Friends, as Jesus touches us with his HEALINGS HANDS ... we are asked to reach out also to others who need healing in their lives ... especially those who had been separated from community.  

  

Third point:  Since the leper publicized his healing by Jesus, it became impossible already for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from EVERYWHERE. FINDING JESUS IN MOST UNEXPECTED and UNLIKELY PLACES.  PRISONS ... HOSPITALS ... EVACUATION CENTERS ... OFFICES ... AIRPORTS ... PIER.  Where else can we find Jesus?  In everything ... especially in the deepest corners of our hearts.  He is there! 

As we prepare for the Lenten Season, we are asked to have a hold on our own UNCLEANNESS, that which ISOLATES us from others.  Do we wish to live our lives this way … LONELY and ALONE?

We are asked as well to recognize JESUS who REACHES OUT to heal us and TOUCH our UNCLEANESS.  How are we opening up areas in our lives that have yet to be touched by the healing hands of our Lord?    

FINDING JESUS IN MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES. Jesus provides us endless opportunities for us to approach him … to turn to Him … and as our Psalm today suggests … to be FILLED with the JOY of his SALVATION.

BE ABSORBED BY GOODNESS TODAY

by Frank D.B. Savadera, SJ

The past weeks I had been confirming invitations of old friends on Facebook.  I say “old” because I’ve met them 25 years ago … and we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year … they … with names of people like Pracha Sangthongsuk,  Hironori Uchibori, Sopon Chiechanpanich,  Witthaya Sintharapantorn,  Manawi Iwata, Siti Aisha, Siriwan Mena, etc.  Who are they?  I took a boat ride with them 25 years ago around Asia … and it was fun.  It was my first time out of the country and my first time as well to closely interact with cultures other than mine.   I was 20 years old then and had a lot of vitality in me … on a huge boat, a big cruise ship, a love boat … they call it … where you can actually get lost … either by yourself or with someone else.  I realized then that I was already a well behaved person.  I valued purity amidst many temptations. 

Looking back now,  I say that God gave me that trip as a graduation gift … to make a retreat of sorts.  I lived a very busy college life.  I was asking myself about where I will go.  I was active in the student movement and was so concerned about being entrapped in the political compulsions of my time.  My parents wanted me to find work and yet I wouldn’t wish to be associated simply with foreign owned and multinational corporations.  I had priesthood already in my mind but was just so afraid to entertain the idea.  And so … what a crucial break indeed it was for me … to get away from a lot of life distractions.

Consequently, I felt that I’ve met real, good and generous people.  I was away from home for the first time and I felt safe and secure.  I’ve allowed myself to be fascinated by foreign lands, temples and pagodas, cultures, histories, costumes, royalty, food, people and friendships.  Experiencing all those at 20years old, I thought … was more than what I bargained for.  I felt that I was stretching out my hand and simply allowing myself to absorb all the goodness that was coming my way.  (I am the king of the world).

Friends, this feeling is what I remember while reading the account of Genesis today.  God, the Creator stands in front of all that He had created and gets absorbed simply by GOODNESS.  He created the heavens and the earth;  he brought forth light;  he created day and night;  he fills the earth with all living creatures; he creates man and woman … he stands in front of all of them and acknowledges them as good. 

Friends, you know .. my capacity to feel and absorb goodness around me was crucial to my discernment.  From whom all these goodness come … is a God who himself is good to you and me.  BE ABSORBED BY GOODNESS TODAY.  (To those taking the psychological exams, this is what we tell them:  HAPPY THOUGHTS!  HAPPY THOUGHTS LANG kung may time)!

The second point has something to do with what the Creator declares:  LET THERE BE LIGHT and there was LIGHT. Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it.” AND SO IT HAPPENED! God’s word is accompanied always with REALITY. There is a God who speaks and who makes REALITY HAPPEN.  Thus, it is crucial for us to hear his words.  What word is God speaking to you today?  Sixteen years ago,  I was just out there … in the veranda … during a recollection sponsored by the Vocprom team staring at that huge MANGO TREE outside.  I remember telling myself:  Wow … that TREE is HUGE … bigger and taller than Arvisu House … and it is just there STANDING and BEING sustained by something BIGGER than itself.  You know everyday … I stay at the back of the CHAPEL and look at that tree and remember God’s word for me:  THERE IS SOMETHING MUCH MUCH BIGGER THAN ME … and the reality of that statement is … I HAVE COME TO BELIEVE IN IT.  GOD’s WORD IS INDEED ACCOMPANIED BY A REALITY which for you and me can become truly palpable if we just listen to it intently.

 Thirdly,  I was on that boat and there was that huge storm.  Before Yolanda, Sendong, Ondoy or Habagat … there was RUPING in 1990 that devastated Cebu.  Ruping just crossed the Philippines and our boat was along the storm’s path in the South China Sea.   Well, it was a Japanese boat and they say that its state of the art STABILIZERS will minimize the boat’s movement.  But the storm was just so strong.  The windows were leak-proof and yet from inside we can see the huge waves hitting the deck outside.  The huge ship would SLIDE and DIVE DOWN and RESURFACE AGAIN. We were all carrying around VOMIT BAGS … and that time, these bags were just so useful.  For a rare moment then,  I felt like JONAH running away from Nineveh.  I prayed and prayed … promising God that if I survive this I’ll do something meaningful in my life.  Yes … GOD GOT ME PRAYING … and it was a SINCERE PRAYER:  I WANT TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU.  Friends,  the Gospel today is a typical picture of Jesus and his disciples entering cities and villages, touching and healing the sick and even exorcising demons.  They are like soldiers marching into a territory and FREEING and LIBERATING people and RECLAIMING LAND and peoples for themselves.   Do you remember the last time you DEEPLY and SINCERELY prayed?  For me, praying is always about God FREEING and LIBERATING ME from my self-imposed illnesses.  Each time I pray, my constant wish is to experience touching the cloak of Jesus and simply allowing myself to be healed and reclaimed by Him. 

Friends, the past weeks I’ve been confirming invitations of old friends on Facebook.  Why not?   Life … at least for the past 25 years for me … had been good and yes … life is good if we simply absorb goodness around us, if we allow ourselves to realize that there is a REALITY BIGGER THAN US … and if we allow the God of goodness to reclaim our old, weary and broken selves.