Easter 2009. I had my "thanksgiving mass" in this old church, the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Poblacion, Makati. The church, built by the Spanish Jesuits in the mid-17th century, was also home to the old Jesuit Novitiate during the Spanish time. I spent my grade school years in the adjacent school ... at St. Paul's School Makati run by the SPC sisters.

HAVE A CLEAN FACE

(Excerpts from a HOMILY by St. John Marie Vianney)

I have told you that you should have neat and clean clothes. I do not mean expensive clothes, but only ones which are not soiled or torn. That is to say, the clothes should be washed and mended if one has no others. There are some who have nothing to change or who, through laziness, do not do so; they do not change their linen, that is, their shirts. For those who have no other clothes, there is nothing wrong in that.

But those who have, do wrong, for it is lacking in respect to our Lord, Who wishes to come into their hearts. Your hair should be combed and tidy and your face and hands clean. You should never come to the altar without stockings, good or bad.

One should not approve of those young people who, in going up to the altar, appear no differently at that moment than at the time when they are going to a ball or a dance. I do not know how they go to receive a God Who was humbled and despised by all, with such a parade of vanity and style. Dear Lord, what a contradiction this is!

Hello ... from Cagayan de Oro!

Panginon, Buhayin Mo Kaming Muli

Easter Sunday 2009

Panginon, Buhayin Mo Kaming Muli

by Frank D. B. Savadera, SJ

WOMEN figure prominently in the life of Jesus, most evidently so in the resurrection scene.  I wonder, how these women apostles took the death of their Lord and Master. I think we have been all too familiar with images of women and widows wailing, crying their hearts out and even with bodies getting stiff like rock during the burial of their deceased husbands.  At the same burial rites, some would even wish to jump into the burial pit so they can … literally join their lost loved one.  One recent experience of someone dying caught my attention:

In the apostolate area where I go to every Sunday, the 18 year old son of our chapel lay minister died.  It was a freak accident.  The son took his motorcycle to buy something at the local store. He wasn’t wearing his helmet.  He fell off the bike and died immediately.  The family was naturally devastated.  For a poor family, the son was for them a source of hope.  The  father had a lot of dreams for his son.  And at a single instance, those hopes and dreams simply vanished with the son’s death.  What caught my attention was the father’s response at the height of the family’s grief.  While at the hospital and seeing the remains of his life-less son, the father – our chapel lay minister – was wailing and saying aloud:  PANGINOON, BUHAYIN MO SIYA!  PANGINOON, BUHAYIN MO SIYA. (Lord, raise him up from the dead).

I said I was struck by such a response because of two things.   One,  right there and then, in front of me, I came face to face with HUMAN GRIEF … and a real SENSE OF LOSS.  It reminded me of my own personal experiences of GRIEF and having lost some valuable things/ persons in my life.  I’m sure you’ve had your own share of GRIEF and LOSS.   You may perhaps want to remember how those experiences felt?  GRIEF and LOSS? These experiences are not too unfamiliar to us, right?

Secondly, I was just struck by how our lay minister asked and begged for a MIRACLE.  “Panginoon, buhayin mo siya!  Panginoon, buhayin mo siya,” he said.   Perhaps years of studying theology had made me a bit skeptical and had thought of MIRACLES as simply those that find reality only in biblical narratives.  But a MIRACLE? … raising the dead to life? … in real life? … in our contemporary time?  Is that possible?  Our lay minister’s son was not raised from the dead … at least not the way he wanted to … but what struck me was the way he asked and begged God for a miracle.  I’ve realized that I have not asked for a miracle for a very long time now.  I’ve realized that I will have to truly believe and have faith in God to fully rely on a miracle.  Here I am, a newly ordained priest asking myself how strong really is my faith enough to fully rely on God.

Friends, today during this most joyous occasion of EASTER,  it seems unlikely to dwell and ponder on topics on death and doubts about our faith.  But then, we realize also that our celebration today didn’t come easy.  We celebrate today because a GREAT PRICE was paid … a GREAT PROMISE was made:  US … who share in the suffering and death of our Lord, share as well in his resurrection.  

The Gospel today provides us a picture of the Lord’s most loyal women disciples -- Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Salome.   The women, I would like to believe were themselves witnesses to the many MIRACLES performed by the Lord.  They must have been truly good friends of the Jesus,  intimate with and dear to Him.  They too may have suffered greatly, witnessing the Lord’s most violent death. They too may have sorely GRIEVED the passing of their Master.  He who has been their source of hope is now dead.  But they heard as well Jesus’ promise that on the 3^rd day he shall rise again.   They grieve yet held strongly onto the Lord’s promise.  And the angel assured them: If you seek Jesus the crucified … then do not be afraid.  Here, an important Easter message is being expressed:  amidst all the experiences which ail and pain us; those that cause us severe grief and a sense of lost  -- we may well derive comfort from the word of an angel --  If you are looking, longing for Jesus amidst all these, then you need not be afraid. Tonight, we lit the PASCHAL CANDLE – that represents Jesus, the light that burns amidst our experiences of darkness.  Seek Him always and never be afraid.

The Gospel also tells us that the SABBATH – the time of REST and INACTIVITY-- IS OVER.  Life, labor and enterprise begin to resume.  Thus, we note the women trooping to the tomb intending to indulge in something productive – anointing the body of the Lord or even thinking of rolling the huge grave stone.  These activities would have been disallowed during the Sabbath.  But as the Gospel tells us: the SABBATH is over.  Already … we have a notion of something FRESH and NEW that is about to take place … in which all of us must actively participate.  Easter reminds of BEING UNITED WITH THE LORD IN GALILEE.   Go to Galilee and there you will see him.  We go to the place where Jesus performed many of his miracles.  The TOMB is already EMPTY and now we are asked: Go to the place where Jesus touched the lives of a countless number of people.  Go and remember his miracles … and more, Go and there … we will once again meet him.  His work resumes.   Easter invites us to continue to indulge and immerse ourselves in the workplaces of the Lord, perform his work with him and  meet him where he goes. The Sabbath is over.  Easter renews in us the call to spend life laboring in the Lord’s vineyard.    

The Gospel also tells us: LET OTHERS KNOW AND THEY WILL SEE.  Easter and the resurrection story is not merely for the apostles.  The gift of Easter had already been shared with us.  The good news had been proclaimed:  THE LORD IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED.  We may as well listen to the disciple walking to Emmaus asking us: Are you the only one who does not know of the things that have taken place?  The angel tells the women in the tomb:  Go and tell Simon Peter and the other disciples.  And we are asked to tell others as well how the Lord REMAINS ALIVE in the lives that we live.  Is he alive really in my life?  In your LIFE?  Sometimes we’re just too embarrassed to talk about our faith …. what we believe in.  Easter reminds us of our duty to let others know that Jesus is truly alive in our hearts.  Let them know and they will see.

To end, I just would like to go back to the story of our chapel lay minister.  In front of his life-less son, he blurts out:  Panginoon, buhayin mo siya!  His prayer may likewise be our prayer for ourselves this Easter Season:  PANGINOON buhayin mo akong muli.  Panginoon, buhayin mo kaming muli.  Give us new life. Give us new energy.  Bring more life and spirit into our family and community life.  Show us the way to our own resurrection.  Lord raise us up from our experiences of death, fear and darkness.  Reveal to us the LIFE that you intend us to live. Help us meet you in the work and miracles that you continue to perform in our lives.  Make us your instruments so that others may learn more about you. 

We celebrate Easter precisely because of knowing that even as we sit or stand in our places today,  the Lord already fulfills His promise: we who share in the suffering and death of the Son will share as well in his resurrection;  Yes … we have been promised LIFE and to live that life in abundance.  Panginoon, SALAMAT at binubuhay mo kaming muli.  And for this, we truly have every reason to celebrate and be joyful this Easter season. Amen. 

WINDHOVER JESUIT MAGAZINE

EDITORIAL: March 2009

We have seen the Lord?!

by Frank Savadera, SJ

A few weeks ago, the Philippine Daily Inquirer featured a story about “Priority Number 556.”  What exactly is Priority Number 556?  The number stands for an 84 year-old war veteran, Tatay Benito Dumaguit who lined up to be interviewed by U.S. Embassy officials in Camp Lapu-lapu in Cebu, hoping that he may avail of the long awaited $9,000 pension which was approved recently by the U.S. Congress for Filipinos who fought side-by-side the Americans during the last war.  Given the projected 18,000 veterans around the country who are expected to apply for the pension, Tatay Benito seemed lucky enough to have been given an “earlier” slot, a stub that says: Priority Number 556.  Tatay Benito’s long-awaited reward was coming close to full realization.  He must have been very excited.  Before he could claim his reward, however, Tatay Benito’s life expired, his wrinkled hands still clasping a piece of paper, a stub – Priority Number 556.      

Stories like these truly make us sad and sometimes even angry, knowing how life could have been better for Tatay Benito and his family.  Priority Number 556 must have given the old man renewed hope for a much deserved reward.  His pension could have assured him of ample health care during his twilight years.  It could have meant scholarships for his grandchildren or physical improvements in his small Lapu-lapu city shack.  But death has overtaken events.   What could have been a happy and ideal ending turned out sad and tragic for Tatay Benito.  Or so we may believe?

Tatay Benito’s story brings us to deeper reflections about our Easter celebration.  After some time of fasting and abstinence, commemorating the gloomy events of Christ’s passion and death, we eventually come to proclaim: “The Lord is risen.  He is risen indeed!”  Christ stuck true to his promise.  After succumbing to a violent death, on the third day, as promised, he has risen.  During the Easter Vigil, we redecorate the altar.  We bring in the flowers. We light the candles and ring aloud the church bells.  Our Easter celebration has become our biggest feast and necessarily so since through his resurrection, Christ lovingly tells us that death no longer has power over our lives.  We, who carry our crosses, journey with Christ to Calvary and bravely face our many situations of death, are promised life in glory.       

Easter thus reminds us of that renewed life in and with Christ.   Describing the early Christians’ experience of Jesus, the evangelist John wrote: “Life was made visible.  We have seen it and testify to it and proclaim it to you, the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us …” (1 John1:2).   The words of John, written decades after the death and resurrection of the Lord, can sound much like mere great poetry.  What does it mean for something ineffable and abstract -- “eternal life” -- to appear before the early apostles?  Was the evangelist merely talking in terms of metaphors?  What does it mean to come so close to eternal life which the apostles described as a reality that they themselves have heard, seen and touched with their own hands?  What does it mean for us to encounter and hope for this same life which Easter promises?

Easter and the story of Tatay Benito can indeed be quite an amusing mix.  In faith, we claim that death no longer has power over us, that our reward shall soon come in our own promised resurrection. We make these reflections extra real, as we remember Tatay Benito and those who most recently have gone ahead of us.  We remember Frs. Joey Fermin, Adrian Mestdag, Rey Ocampo, Tom Green and Miguel Bernad whose passing over to the next life, convince us ever more that our lives and struggles today are not for naught.  Something greater, than we can ever imagine, must have indeed been prepared for us in the Kingdom.   We thus celebrate Easter by sharing the joy of the apostles who have encountered the resurrected Christ.  We make the apostles’ proclamation, our proclamation as well: “We have seen the Lord!” And may our collective refrain assure us of eternal life, so promised as our reward. 

WINDHOVER  JESUIT MAGAZINE - 4^TH QUARTER 2008

EDITORIAL: 

Remember the POOR this Christmas

By Frank Savadera, SJ

Who amongst us have had really encounters with the poor?  For some of us, helping the poor comes automatic.  We give our loose coins to the blind tapping on our car windows when traffic stops.  Our unconsumed “Go-big time” softdrinks or packs of French fries, we often share with street kids outside our favorite fast food restaurants.  When our schedule permits, we even volunteer our time and resources for feeding programs, medical missions and other socio-civic projects.  Given our many and ordinary interactions with the poor, how have we really learned about them?  Have we really asked ourselves: How is it really like to be materially poor?  To be poor not only today or for a weekend or for a month … but to be materially poor all our lives? 

Could it be that God may have really forsaken the poor?  We think of such a question as mere rhetorical -- not begging for answers -- for we know that God takes care of his flock.  The Lord never forsakes his people! And how do we know for sure?  Simply because we know how it is to be poor.  More than material poverty, to be poor means being most troubled by a deep sense of helplessness, of not having the power to relieve oneself of the pain and brokenness of one’s current situation.  We think of specific moments in our lives when we have been most helpless and perhaps even hopeless.  Perhaps indeed -- at single instances in our lives -- we have not been in control of things happening around us. We were at a lost as to how we may proceed with our day.  We remember the time when we lost a very precious loved one … a child, a parent or a partner.  We may perhaps also remember the agony of losing money to a pick pocket or our house getting robbed, ransacked or worst, burnt to the ground.  Remember those uneasy moments of loneliness, of not knowing what to do … not knowing whom to approach … not even determining what to ask for since we have indeed lost  our way.  Isn’t it true that at least once in our lives, we have experienced a most desolate situation of lack … of having utterly nothing.  Isn’t it that even for a fleeting moment … we know exactly what it means to be poor?

We look back at those isolated instances in the past and tell ourselves that God has indeed not forsaken us.  The Lord was there and very much present through most spontaneous efforts of people to help -- through a friend’s most assuring words of encouragement or through a neighbor’s quiet yet most consoling and most crucial presence.  Isn’t it that we ourselves in the past, felt that we have indeed been helped?  We readily accept that through our own efforts alone, we could not have pulled ourselves up from our past states of misery?

Christmas is a time to relive the grace and reality of God not forsaking us.   At Christmas, we express our most profound gratitude to the God who is Emmanuel – He who in the poverty of our human situation, still choose to be with us.  He makes it possible for grace to abound in the world so that in all things and at all times, having all that we already need … we may abound in the work of helping our neighbor. 

We give to the poor precisely because we know what it means to be poor.  The help we got from others during the lowest moments in our lives was the Lord’s way of reaching out to us … His way of communicating how He is not forsaking us.    Can our expressions of generosity especially this Christmas be our way of insisting that through us, God couldn’t at all be forsaking his people … the poor? 

Christmas is a time to remember God’s own self-giving and as well, our capacities to give a little of ourselves to others.  We give to those who are most in need this Christmas knowing how our giving becomes our small way of letting God’s presence be made known in the world as we ourselves have experienced it.  This Christmas, opportunities to help our poor neighbors abound.  Help spread God’s joy and cheer.

DO WE STILL HEAR STORIES ABOUT JESUS?

Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

DO WE STILL  HEAR STORIES 

ABOUT JESUS?

by Frank D.B. Savadera, SJ

We begin our week by making a short reflection and deriving inspiration from the life of a saint, whose memorial we commemorate today.  St. Elizabeth of Hungary got married at a very young age of 14 years.  She was queen of Hungary … bore three children … and when her husband … the king died enroute to the Crusades … Elizabeth promised not to remarry and instead dedicated her life for the service of the sick and the poor.  She sold most of her properties … converted the palace into a hospital of sorts … auctioned off her wardrobe … and at the age of 24 years … she succumbed  to her death.  What a SHORT LIFE … wasn’t it?  We remember her primarily for her service to the Church … and realizing for ourselves that indeed to whom an abundance of blessing was given … much as well will be required.  

Now … for the readings.   The Gospel speaks about a blind man … crying out:  “Son of David, have pity on me.”  Imagine a blind man sitting by the roadside … he couldn’t see Jesus at all… but apparently listening intently to the goings on around him.  We know how the reputation of Jesus as a MIRACLE worker … by that time … already preceded him … and so this man … sitting by the roadside … may have long heard about this miracle worker.  Could Jesus be the one … who will allow me to see?

What fascinates me about this specific story is how listening to and hearing about God actually precede our coming to see him.  As well … there is something about being blind that allows one to be more sensitive to hearing.  Do you agree? Isn’t it that sometimes in prayer … when we close our eyes … we hear the many wonderful tunes of the world playing beautifully in our ears.  That depends of course on the things you choose to hear!  There are super bad things that I’d rather not listen to.

But then … think about wholesome listening stories.  Once … I taught a group of blind people … some still very young … to sing some of our Jesuit songs.  I started teaching them the melody … then the 2^nd voice … then the 3^rd voice … and to my big surprise … it was just so easy for them to pick up the tunes … haaaaay … even better than most of us or some of the brothers perhaps in my Jesuit community … I thought!  But then we ask … WHAT DO WE LISTEN TO?  Can you remember the topics of your conversation with a friend, a classmate or a fellow worker prior to this Mass?  Did any of those topic even referred at all to Jesus?  Ang hirap naman yata ‘nun. We would say … baka pagkamalan akong WEIRD!

But in the Gospel today … even before the narrative unfolded … we can think that people there in JERICHO were already talking about Jesus … and that blind man sitting by the road side was already listening most intently all the time.  The stories indeed fired him up. He must have been telling himself:  “Someday … this Jesus of Nazareth will visit Jericho and when that time comes … I’ll spring up from the gutter of the street and fight my way to meet him.”  And wasn’t that what exactly happened?   He knew whom he was meeting from the many stories which proliferated about Jesus!  He addressed Jesus … SON OF DAVID … a term he derived from the Old Testament promise of  Isaiah.  He knew whom he was meeting.  This is the Saviour … the Messiah.  “Even with my physical infirmity,” he must have said  … “I wouldn’t in my life allow this opportunity to pass me by.”  And the story went on  …  he was healed by the mighty presence of Jesus.

Friends, we are like this blind man sitting by the roadside.  We may think that what we are doing now is the GREATEST THING for me.  This is all and everything!  We can of course continue to deceive ourselves. In reality, however … we are but like the blind man whiling our time by the roadside … and hopefully being made constantly aware that it is the Lord that we are waiting for. While we’re at it … DO WE STILL  HEAR STORIES ABOUT JESUS?  Sometimes … I’m afraid that we don’t because no one would speak about God anymore.  I hope I’m wrong.  But the challenge for us now is to continue SPEAKING ABOUT GOD … hoping that much like the blind man … our lives will be invigorated with much Hope … we will be most excited to await the Lord who will eventually pass by … and our far greater stories of healing will unfold. 

And as for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary … we ask: Why would a QUEEN sell off her palace and other properties and give the proceeds to the poor.  What a fabulous yet strange story.  Yet TRUE!  And we can perhaps say … much like the blind man in our Gospel … she must have truly heard the Lord … she recognized the very transforming presence of Jesus.  She heard him …  and to others, she spoke the many stories of Jesus.  Your stories as well matter. Speak!  Who is the Son of David for you?  We stand by the roadside and eagerly await the coming of Christ our King!  AMEN.