DELIVERANCE FROM GRUMBLING

Reflections on EXodus 17:3-7  /  ROMans 5:1-2, 5-8 /  JohN 4:5-42

By Frank Savadera, SJ

There’s a prayer which priests and religious say always every morning.  This prayer includes an account of what we have just read in our first reading today:  Where ... at Meribah and Massah (which means "testing" and "quarelling"), you challenged me and provoked me ... and I swear in my anger ... you shall not enter into my rest.  We follow this up with:  Glory be to the Father ....

Who doesn’t grumble?  I do?  I grumble a lot about all sorts of things!  And we have a lot of phrases now ... to express how it is like to grumble!  NAKAKAINIS ... NAKAKAYAMOT ... NAKAKA ...  MALAS naman oi.  If we do not watch ourselves ... we can end up simply GRUMBLING and ruining our day ... our whole day for the many things that would ... expectedly disturb and trouble us.   

In their thirst for water ... the people of God while in the desert grumbled. They say: Moses, why did you ever make us leave Egypt?  Our lives were far far way better there than in here.  WHAT HAPPENS TO US WHEN WE GRUMBLE?

We grumble perhaps because we are MISSING God’s point ... His point and reason why He placed us where we are right now.   The Israelites were in the desert ... missing precisely the point why they were there in the first place. 

Sometimes I ask myself ... If I had not been a priest ... perhaps I had been a very shrewd and even perhaps ruthless businessman or an insensitive husband to my wife or an absentee father to my children.  But I am a priest ... and this is not an easy vocation ... and I can get caught up simply grumbling???  I can actually miss the point ... God’s point of putting me here and not anywhere else.   

The Israelites were precisely missing God’s point.  They grumble and forget that in the first place ... they were living as SLAVES.  They had been FREED ... they had been saved ... and they GRUMBLE? 

Friends, what prevents me from grumbling is the thought and prayer that if NOW is quite difficult to bear ... imagine how things could have been worst for me and for those I love ... if I am not here.  Our FIRST PRAYER:  DELIVER US LORD FROM OUR COMPULSIONS TO GRUMBLE about the LIFE YOU HAD GRACED US TO LIVE. 

Secondly, the Israelites grumbled because THEY THIRST.  Have you ever experienced thirsting ... as in literally THRISTING for water???  I did ... when I hiked alone in the mountains of Benguet last year.  I ran out of water.  It was like ... your tongue was already sticking out of your mouth ... and I had 5 hours more to go.  And I found myself by the roadside praying ... praying very hard ... that a horse or a motorbike may pass by ... here in this remote and forgotten place ...  that I may hitch and be spared from the next 5 hour walk.  It was getting dark and I was almost sure ... that I was close to passing out ... if help didn’t come.  Imagine ... in this remote and isolated place ... after my prayer ... a motorcycle passed by.  I hitched.  The most amazing thing was ... the one driving was the CHIEF of a village ... and his must be one of five motorbikes in his barangay ... and he passed by ... and I hitched.  WHAT A RELIEF INDEED.   

Moses in our reading performed a great miracle.  He was asked by Yahweh to strike the ROCK and water flowed.  But what interests me ... in the account is this ... Yahweh asked Moses to stand amidst his people ... and as promised, Yahweh stood there IN FRONT OF HIM.    Wow!  Imagine the small miracles that happen in our lives ... each time whenever we are saved from a difficult situation ... we wish to remember that God is there always standing in front of us. 

And this is why we have every reason to HOPE.  Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us that   “through Christ, we have gained access by faith to the grace in which we stand ... and we boast in hope of the glory of God.  And HOPE does not disappoint .... because the love of God had been poured out into our hearts.  Isn’t it TRUE that there is such a thing as HOPE???  A difficult situation will always come to pass and this is what our Lord in the Gospel convinces us ... THERE IS AN ETERNAL WELL of  LIVING WATER from which we can DRINK and   whoever drinks from this well ... whoever drinks this water shall never be thirty again. 

Jesus of course speaks of Himself.  We who thirst ... we who encounter our usual troubles ... and instances when we grumble are asked to have more HOPE ... by clinging on always on Jesus ... his word ... that promise us ETERNAL LIFE.

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;  but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;  the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.

“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

ANTIDOTE TO DEHUMANIZATION

Reflections on ISAIAH 58:7-10 /  1 COR 2:1-5 / MATTHEW 5:13-16

By Frank Savadera, SJ

Before entering the seminary, I was in the Human Resources profession, working for a time in three manufacturing companies.  A big concern for us then was the problem of DEHUMANIZATION.  Factory workers coming in, day in and day out ... 1st shift  ... 2nd shift ... 3rd shift ... doing the same thing, logging in and out at exact working periods, staying on the same equipment and at the same working station, seeing the same people ... coming  in again the next day ... and life goes on ... over and over and over.  If you had been in such a similar circumstance, isn’t this like MAN simply functioning as a MACHINE.  Social scientists call this kind of an experience as ALIENATION. We can be quite functional and efficient .... but because of the routinary-ness of things ... it is as if we had been ALIENATED from our own selves.  I had become simply a machine (I’ve heard someone saying: Naging tao-taohan na lang ako). I had lost my self-worth.  I had not become the person that I really am.  A machine is not human.  I had been DEHUMANIZED. 

And so ... as a then human resource professional, one of our tasks was to introduce programs that hopefully minimize at least to some degrees the levels of alienation and dehumanization from the routinary-ness of life in the work setting.  If not ... there is UNPEACE;  if not ... there is INFIGHTINGS; if not ... there’s a lot of discontent, etc.

Specially during this time in the liturgical calendar which we call as the ORDINARY TIME, we are asked to reflect on the routinary-ness, the ordinariness, the regularity of life that we live ... and to say in all honesty ... I seem to already be losing my REAL SELF to this cyclic way of living my life.  There must be something MORE, a greater meaning to the life that I am living.  I am also prone to being ALIENATED from my own self, not discovering what I can truly be ... and what I truly am. 

Our Gospel tells us:  You are the SALT of the earth and LIGHT of the WORLD.

Firstly, I think ... what this is telling us in a most practical way is this:  We will need to acknowledge our needs for SPICE and FLAVOR to the routinary, ordinary and regular lives that we live.  If I examine the way I proceed with my life, what have I devised to add SPICE and FLAVOR to my life?  Believe it or not ... we sometimes cling to many a STRANGE, UNUSUAL and more so ABSURD preoccupations simply to SPICE UP and ADD FLAVOR to our lives.  (Last night someone was relating to me the plot of this Oscar nominated film ... about a man falling in love with an OPERATING SYSTEM ... a computer generated persona).  What is trending now on FACEBOOK?  Throwback history time of your past 4 years with Facebook.  Before ... there was ANGRY BIRD ... now we have FLAPPY BIRD.   When I talk to young people nowadays, they know of a lot of CREATED characters that for me can be quite fascinating (i.e., MASHIMARO ... chocomaro).  

   

Believe it or not, I’ve met someone whom I termed as a building specialist.  This is strange ... but to SPICE UP and ADD FLAVOR to his life ... he counts the number of floors of most buildings under construction in the metropolis.  Wow!  What a specialized field ... and he can be quite amazing ... not only in remembering the new construction projects in the city but likewise the number of floors of each building being constructed.  There’s a need for us to SPICE UP and ADD FLAVOR to our lives.  But the question is:  HOW DO WE DO SO? What is the Christian Catholic way of doing so?  Let me propose a few suggestions:

YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.  SALT means FLAVOR.  What flavor do we contribute to our being Christians?  There is a word that is very familiar to us: TRADITION …  (in Lat: TRADERE … in Gk: PARADIDONAI … which means to hand on / to hand over.  Ordinarily, when we talk about “tradition” we simply imply all the practices that we perform.  Examples:  First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus;  praying the Rosary; Visita Iglesia during Holy Week;  vigil … last Friday to the Twin Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  Why do we perform such practices?  Some would say … TRADITION na yan, Father! 

In Scriptures:  PARADIDONAI … the Father handed over His Son to us;  the Son handed over himself (it is finished … he handed over his Spirit);  the Father and Son handed on the Spirit.  PARADIDONAI!  There is a TRADITION of SELF-GIVING in the Church, in the faith system we subscribe to.  As the Father, Son and Spirit exemplified SELF-GIVING … this self-giving … the handing over of oneself is commanded of us as well.  This is our TRADITION … the TRADITION of self-giving. 

How much have we given to our Church?  I do not mean, of course, financial help only.  How much have you given of your time? Your moral support? Your involvement?  Or even … actively promoting vocations to the Church? Would you wish our TRADITION to continue?  That tradition is precisely the TRADITION of SELF-GIVING.  In Greek: PARADIDONAI.  This is the unique FLAVOR … contribution that we give … our capacity for SELF-GIVING.  Paradidonai ... SELF GIVING adds flavor and spice to our lives.

WE ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF SHARING GOD’S LIGHT AND MAKING THAT LIGHT TRULY PRESENT IN THE WORLD.  Jesus said to his DISCIPLES (not Apostles):  YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH!  YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.  He meant this EMPHATICALLY.  There is URGENCY to the word he is using ... (humeis) - emphatic meaning "you yourselves".  "You and you alone (no one else) are the light of the world."  NOW NA! 

Light is that which enables you to see or which make vision possible amidst the darkness (brown-out). Light goes with sight.  Light illuminates, exposes, guides, and directs.  Light gives life.   The nature of light is to shine. There is no such thing as light that does not communicate itself. There is no such thing as self contained light.  In our case, there is no such thing as an invisible believer!  Our light must SHINE FORTH.  Light may originate in a distant star and travel a span of light-years, but it does not get tired of shining and ceasing to shine. Its nature is to shine. Christ says He has made light of the world, and we are not self-contained.  It is the nature of the child of God who has been made light to communicate the light given to him.  LIGHT IS THE TRUTH THAT YOU SPEAK ... the INTEGRITY WITH WHICH WE LIVE OUR LIVES.  That will need to SHINE FORTH.  (We pray for our whistleblowers ... those who risk lives and limb to speak the truth and scatter forth light).

As we live our ordinary life ... we acknowledge our need for SPICE and FLAVOR to the lives that we live. 

PARADIDONAI ... to hand-over ... there is a tradition of self-giving in our Church ... a way to add meaning and flavor to our very existence.

LIGHT is the TRUTH that we SPEAK.  We need always the COURAGE to shine forth and reflect the truth and light that comes from Jesus himself.

ANO ANG SUSUNOD NA KABANATA?

Reflections on 2 SM 7:4-17  /  MarK 4:1-20

By Frank Savadera, SJ

The Book of Samuel stretches a long way from the time of Hannah, the mother of Samuel; to the anointing of Saul, David killing Goliath, Saul pursuing David because of his jealousy, David cutting off a part of Saul’s cloak (habang umiihi si Saul sa kweba); David being anointed king and he enters Jerusalem.  We even have a depiction of dancing and making offerings to the ark of the covenant.  And now ... sundan ang susunod na kabanata.  What’s next?  How will the next chapters of the book unfold?

In Chapter 7 of 2 Samuel David was lying and resting in his palace and telling himself:   `See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.'  He therefore set out to build a permanent dwelling place for the Ark of the covenant.  Yahweh’s response to David ... in today’s reading is quite amusing.   You know ... I’ve been going around in a tent.  Did I ever request for a house built for me?  You will not build me a house.  It is I who will build a house for you.  How will this story continue to unfold.  Ano ang susunod na kabanata? 

I think ... and specifically for us, we are asked the same question:  Ano ang susunod na kabanata?  What next?  How will the next chapters of the book unfold?  For us, I think it is important to note the Lord’s message to David:  It is not you who will build a house for me.  Instead, it is I who will build a house for you.  And what house is this ... you may ask?  It is not a physical house! 

For our purposes ... let’s call it a HERITAGE or a LEGACY.  This is going to be a heritage ... a house and a legacy that will stand forever.  I will make myself known as a father to your offspring.  I will correct them if they make a mistake.  MOST IMPORTANT:  I WILL NOT WITHDRAW FROM YOUR HOUSE THE FAVOR I WITHDREW from David.  Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

As we ask ourselves:  Ano ang susunod na kabanata?  I think we can derive great consolation from a God ... who BUILDS his house IN US (we know that this house is not merely a building).  He also makes a promise of his CONTINUED FAVOR.  This makes the Psalms more meaningful:  For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.  How is the lord FORTIFYING that house which He Himself had started to build?

It amazes me to note a small detail in the Gospel.  I don’t even know why it was even mentioned.  It may seem like an insignificant thing.  Before Jesus recounts the story of the Sower of the seeds,  he sat on the boat by the sea and everyone gathered on land ... by the sea.   He taught them at length about the parables.  Lesson:  We receive teachings, we hear the Lord and learn from Jesus each time when we are between LAND and SEA.  What do we mean?  Simply:  I think God’s speaks strongly to us when we are between LAND and SEA ... when we are discerning to SAIL to new and undiscovered lands or simply staying put secure ON LAND.  God speaks when we are between LAND and SEA.

This makes the Gospel meaningful.  What do we make out of the word that we hear?    God’s word may simply be eaten up by the birds or wilted by the sun or choked by the rocks or thorns.  HAVE WE HEARD THE WORD OF GOD?  WHAT WILL THE WORD OF GOD BE FOR US?  Will we ever even get to hear it?  And ACCEPT it?  Those who hear and accept the word of God will bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 

We pray for each other as we ask ourselves:  WHAT’S NEXT?  ANO ANG SUSUNOD NA KABANATA?  How will the next chapters unfold?  It is not us who is building a house for God ... He constantly builds his house and presence within our hearts.

God speaks to us most strongly when we are between LAND and SEA ... that is, when we are choosing between SAILING or simply staying put securely where we are.

Lastly, there’s a CHALLENGE ... to ACCEPT the WORD of God ... as it comes ... and we know if we accepted it so ... since we will forever be FRUITFUL.

GETTING INTO ORDINARY TIME

Reflections on 1 SaMuel 15:16-23 / MarK 2:18-22
By Frank Savadera, SJ

For those of us who had been going to masses the past days after the Epiphany – there is a STORY LINE that we are following in the readings.   We started with the story of HANNAH, the second wife of Elkinah.  Hannah was getting depressed because of her barrenness.  She would cry and Elkinah assures here:  ISN’T MY LOVE ENOUGH FOR YOU?  Yahweh promised her a son.  She bore a son and a great prophet SAMUEL which means “YAHWEH HEARS.  Yahweh asked Samuel to eventually anoint a King for the scattered tribes of Israel – SAUL the handsomest son of KISH.  Yahweh chose the best.  Saul was the BEST.  

ORDINARY TIME is marked by the RISE and FALL of Kingdoms; the appointments of PROPHETS;  the anointing of Kings;  Kings falling out of favor and eventually being deposed;  a new King rises;  a prophets comes.  ORDINARY TIME  asks us to reflect on the ROLLER COASTER RIDE we call LIFE ... our experience of BARRENNESS,  our experiences of TRIUMPHS/ VICTORIES and even FALLENNESS – our sinfulness/ weakness.  We are called to REVIEW the VERY ORDINARY LIVES that we live.  HOW HAS GOD BEEN PRESENT THERE? 

  

Every step of the way in ORDINARY LIFE, we are asked to DISCERN how God is calling me at this particular time of my life.  I would like to believe that we are in different stages in life right now.  It’s so easy to GET STUCK in what we were doing in the past.  We can say:  It was working before and so perhaps it will still work today.  Is this true?  We are asked to DISCERN God’s calling for me at this particular stage in my life today.  There was a time I’ve realized that I can just do everything by myself, accomplish things for myself, reap the harvest for myself.  NOW ... I continue to realize that I’m asked to build communities, gather people together, speak to more people about God ... so that God’s word can even be more spread.  Collaboration, in terms of work ... so that God’s work can be done more efficiently.  MENTORING.  INSPIRING others.   What was working for me before in terms of ministry, no longer works for me today.  I will exhaust myself if I insist on doing the old paradigms of life.    In your case, how are you discerning God’s call for you at this particular stage in your life.  

Ordinary time – CALLS US TO NEWNESS.  Everything ought to be NEW ... we are not to sew unshrunk cloth unto old cloak nor pour new wine into old wines skins.  It will cause us DISASTER.  We are called to DISCERN how God is calling us in this stage of our lives.  How are we called to welcome NEWNNESS, a sense of starting something NEW again.  MIXED feelings?  EXCITEMENT and ANXIETY?  Isn’t God’s LOVE and PRESENCE enough for you?  For us?  A SENSE of WHAT TRULY IS IMPORTANT at this stage in my life.

Lastly ... something about SACRIFICE.  We may mistake the readings today as speaking against sacrifices.  In our first reading, Saul and his men offered sacrifice and the sacrifice was REJECTED by Yahweh.  In the Gospel, the Pharisees were asking why Jesus apostles’ do not fast and make sacrifices?  SACRIFICES remain IMPORTANT.  We have our individual DEVOTIONS... Nazareno – people walking on their knees and bare feet;  Santo Nino – dancing in the streets and waving their hands. 

What is the context of our sacrifices?  Why do we sacrifice?  Why did Yahweh REJECT the sacrifice of Saul?  Or the piety of the PHARISEES in our Gospel?  A valuable note from Pope Francis:  Do we turn to God only to ask him for things, to thank him?” Or rather, do we “also turn to him to worship him?”

Worshipping God  means learning to be with him” and not simply “trying to dialogue with him.” It is “sensing that his presence is the most true, the most good, the most important thing of all.”  God’s presence TRANSFORMS.  Remain in God and allow God to remain in us ... to transform us to the creatures, the children he wants us to be.

WE ARE CALLED TO REFLECT ON THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE we call LIFE.  HOW IS IT TO ENTER INTO THE ORDINARINESS OF LIFE?  HOW HAS GOD ASSURED US OF HIS PRESENCE.

HAVE A SENSE OF WHAT IS TRULY IMPORTANT ESPECIALLY AT THIS STAGE IN MY LIFE.  HOW DO I DISCERN MY CALL AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE?

SACRIFICE -  remaining in God and allowing God to remain in us ... and STRUGGLING with that.  Isn’t that the sacrifice that is asked from us, a kind that TRANSFORMS US to better persons and better children of God.

CHRISTMAS 2013
When PERFECT merges with the Imperfect!
by Frank Savadera, SJ

There’s a website now being promoted on FACEBOOK that talks about the most popular quotes for the entire year.   Some of the quotes I really find interesting:  Who wouldn’t forget the quip of a drunken tv host and actress ... who after coming out of the ladies’ room (in a posh place which I haven’t visited) was just so provoked in blurting out:   I CAN BUY YOU ... YOUR FRIENDS and this CLUB!  Or Philippine senators using their privileged positions to hurl words against each other ...  accusing one another as:  WALA ka NG ASIM!   You may wish to come up with your own list.

Words ... words ... truly define us.  And the word that defines us and this generation ... this year ...   according to the Meriam-Webster dictionary is ...  the WORD    SELFIE!  That word speaks so much about us already!  We view our Facebook accounts, our profile pictures and recognize SELFIE SELFIE SELFIE!  Sometimes, I just check my TIMELINE and tell myself ... O my ... SELFIE is all about me.   

Words truly define us ... isn’t this true?  And this is the reason why we are different from animals and other species in the planet because we can speak.  We can formulate words and statements that express what we feel, what we mean, what we hope for.  Our words therefore can either be HURTFUL to others ... causing people great emotional agony, pain and even anger  ... or words can also be very inspiring, especially when you're able to put them together into lines that are truly meant, sincere and consoling. UN Secretary General Banki Moon while visiting typhoon devastated areas in Leyte dropped real and consoling words:  THE WORLD IS BEHIND YOU!  

To complicate things a bit however, we say that there is a paradox to how we express human words.  No matter how much you wish to be consoling, our words can also be taken differently.  For instance, there is an article about how to answer or parry statements made during Christmas parties and reunions.  Example:  “Father, pumayat ka ba?”   “O bakit hindi ka pa nag-aasawa?” People like to greet each other ... and exchange pleasantries.  But no matter how much our intent is to greet or console or even explain our situations in life, our imperfect and limited words will always fail us.  And so what do we mean when we say I LOVE YOU!  I UNDERSTAND YOU!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!  We know that these words are well meant ... but these words are words that struggle hard to be perfect!   And worst, we are sometimes even LOST for words to explain the things happening around us.  Isn’t this part of being human.  We enter therefore into what we may call the LIMITS and AMBIVALENCE OF HUMAN WORDS.  What we mean and what we say are often confused.  And this reflects very much how it is to be HUMAN ... IMPERFECT and CONFUSED.   There is ambivalence to how it is to be TRULY HUMAN.  A scholastic theologian explains this AMBIVALENCE  as he describes man as a composite of a MATERIAL BODY, a SPIRIT and a SOUL.  We are not purely material.  We are not also purely SPIRIT.  Halo halo tayo ... and so these components of the human person pull us to different directions ... they all struggle deep within us.        

I think this is the context as to how we are asked to celebrate Christmas each year and every day.  Amidst the ambivalence of the human situation, the limits and ambivalence of human words ... GOD’S OWN WORD HAD BECOME FLESH ... AND DWELT AMONG US.   The PERFECT WORD had opted to FUSE ITSELF with the IMPERFECT and the AMBIVALENT which is us.  I think this is what we mean when we say how that PERFECT LIGHT comes and battles its way against the elements of darkness and ambivalence.  Our analogies will always fail us.  Can you imagine mixing and stirring powdered coffee into a glass of water.   That glass of water is never the same again. THERE IS A GOD WHOSE PERFECTION MERGES WITH OUR LIMITED AND AMBIGUOUS and AMBIVALENT HUMAN EXISTENCE.  And we are never the same again. That presence had dwelt among us ... and is forever with us.    Christmas tells us therefore that there is hope beyond our imperfections and that hope is amongst us ... and we celebrate.  

God Protect Us from Gloomy Saints

Reflections on Galatian 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 / Luke 11:29-32

God Protect Us From Gloomy Saints By Frank Savadera, SJ

James Martin in his book “Of Heaven and Mirth” hypes the playfulness of Santa Teresa of Avila.  Amidst all her pains and complains, Teresa reportedly heard our Lord saying:    "Teresa, that's how I treat my friends"  to which Teresa responded, "No wonder you have so few friends." 

Teresa was also reportedly to have said:  "May God protect me from gloomy saints."

GOD WISHES US WELL!   We are born through a PROMISE ... a real one ... and we have every reason to REJOICE ... us who may have FELT BARREN ...  BREAKFORTH and SHOUT and be FREE!  

The second point has something to do with the Gospel which says:  this generation is an evil one.  They’ve asked for a sign ... and no sign will be given them except the sign of Jonah.  It’s quite tricky for the Gospel to say that there is no sign ... except for one sign.  So ... meaning ... there is a sign after all.  What is the sign of Jonah ... from which we can derive spiritual fruit from? 

In the 2^nd Book of Kings, we hear Jonah saying:  "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made land and sea" but I am also running away from the Lord.    "That’s an awful thing to do!," the sailors said.   Jonah makes a truly heroic suggestion:  "Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down the storm. I know it is my fault that you are caught in this violent storm."  We know the story very well ... Jonah was eaten or gobbled up by a whale ... he stayed in the bosom of the whale for three days and three nights ... and all throughout that time he was praying to the God whom he originally wished to desert.

"In my distress, O LORD, I called to you, and you answered me.  From deep in the world of the dead I cried for help, and you heard me.  You  threw me down into the depths, to the very bottom of the sea, where the waters were all around me, and all your mighty waves rolled over me. I thought I had been banished from your presence and would never see your holy Temple again.  The water came over me and choked me: the sea covered me completely, and seaweed wrapped around my head.   But you, O LORD my God, brought me back from the depths alive.  When I felt my life slipping away, then, O LORD, I prayed to you ... and you heard me.    I will sing praises to you; I will offer you a sacrifice and do what I have promised.  Salvation comes from the LORD!"

The second point is quite simple.  SALVATION INDEED COMES FROM THE LORD!  And we’re asked to confirm this ourselves as Jonah did.  Salvation can only come from the Lord.  Can we imagine how Jonah prayed inside the belly of that whale ... perhaps the same intense prayer we are asked to go through during the retreat ... a prayer that moved Jonah himself pursue even more intensely in speaking about God and his plans for the people of Nineveh.  And if we find the story of Jonah incredible ... the story tells us ... there is greater than Jonah here ... there is greater than Solomon here.  Salvation indeed comes from the Lord ... and what is that about?  We simply wish to have a foretaste of it!  Can we?

A forestate ... is exactly what St. Teresa of Avila had experienced.   A famous sculpture of Bernini precisely depicts her having a foretaste of DIVINE ECSTASY ... wherein a handsome angel holding an arrow or a lance readying to pierce Santa Teresa ... and Santa Teresa seemingly suggesting ... I’m ready pierce me!   (Note: Truly there are many erotic innuendos people attach to this Berninian artwork). 

A lot about prayer that we can pick up from Santa Teresa:  "Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love."

Describing mental prayer, she says:  "For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything."

Method of Prayer promotes what she calls an ascent of the soul:  which begins with mental prayer, a prayer of quiet, a devotion of union ... and finally reaching the ecstatic stage of "DEVOTION OF ECSTASY” or rapture," which is described as a passive state, in which the consciousness of being in the body disappears   Sense activity ceases; memory and imagination are also absorbed in God or intoxicated. Body and spirit are in the throes of a sweet, happy pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, a complete impotence and unconsciousness, and a spell of strangulation, intermitted sometimes by such an ecstatic flight that the body is literally lifted into space.

I don’t know if we can come close to that ... but perhaps ... we can try!  A stage of DEVOTION of ECSTASY ... wherein we become less concerned about what we plan for ourselves ... and instead soulfully yield to the leadings of Him who hold all our plans in His hands.

EXALTATION OF THE CROSS

Reflections on: Number 21:4-9  / Philippians 2:6-11 /  John 3:13-17 

What will life be without PAIN and SUFFERING? 

by Frank Savadera, SJ

I’ve read recently about current experiments being done by neuroscientists at the Washington University who have identified genes that control affective pain.  If there are genes that contribute to our having diabetes, hypertension, and other sicknesses ... there is also this gene that makes us susceptible to pain, suffering and depression.   They even have a name for it -- Gene No. P311.  Apparently, the number of this particular gene in the body of an animal determines if an animal will exhibit feelings of pain and suffering.  Since they have already identified the gene, these scientists conclude that if we can only isolate and remove this gene from an animal’s body – then such an animal will be free from experiencing pain and suffering.  Thus far, they have successfully eliminated Gene No. P311 from the bodies of cows and mice.   On one hand, we say:  Ang galing ‘di ba?

What would life be for man ... without pain and suffering?  Off hand – I say --- what a boring life?  Efforts to eliminate pain and suffering ... by virtue of bio-engineering or our simple ESCAPE from them ...  may perhaps come because of our sheer misunderstanding of their importance in our lives.  Can pain and suffering have a purpose? 

Firstly, we may need to distinguish what pain is from suffering.  I don’t know of any normal person who wishes to go through pain.  But not all pain is suffering. What are examples of pain?  Our fingers being pricked by a needle.  Losing a loved one.  Pain associated with sickness.  Pain we associate with shame and embarrassment. Pain can be anything from physical, emotional, or even spiritual.   We can be in pain ... but we do not automatically think of this as suffering.

How then is suffering different from pain?  According to one author: suffering begins at the moment we ascribe meaning to the pain: for example, we say: this pain is a punishment; this pain is deserved; this pain is undeserved, this pain is the consequence of injustice ... of my own selfishness, and so on.   Clearly, we attach meaning to our pains and convert them into forms of suffering.  It appears therefore that to suffer is an option,  a decision  any person can take.  Suffering need not be based on REAL PAIN.    It is TRUE also however that we can suffer because of IMAGINED PAINS.   Another person may be a REAL PAIN in the ____, but we need not make ourselves SUFFER because of that person.

On the feast of the EXALTATION or TRIUMPH of the CROSS, we are asked to reflect on our notions of PAIN and SUFFERING.  We may wish to ask:  How can the CROSS – a symbol of both pain and suffering – been redefined for us as a source not only of consolation but more so our very salvation? Hmmm ... the CROSS ... not simply an image of pain but as well a source of consolation?

Our first reading from the Book of Numbers speaks to us of the people of God, hungry and starving in the dessert.  We hear them complaining to Moses:  "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water?  To make things worse,   the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them got sick.   Hunger can indeed be a source of physical pain.  Our stomachs growl and we get a head ache when we are hungry.  We can be hungry and be in physical pain.  But we need not suffer much like how the Israelites in the desert seemed to have suffered.  PRAY FOR THE GRACE OF COURAGE TO BE ABLE TO FACE OUR PAINS AND PRAY FOR DELIVERANCE FROM SUFFERING.

HOW DID JESUS HANDLE PAIN AND SUFFERING?  The mystery of the INCARNATION ... God becoming man ... shows us the way!  Jesus is the way!  How did he deal with pain and suffering?   From 2 Philippians:  “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,  coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”  WE ARE ASKED TO ALL THE MORE EMBRACE OUR PAINS ... EMPTY OURSELVES AND BE OBEDIENT TIL THE END.  AMIDST ALL OUR PAINS ... GOD CALLS US STILL TO BE FAITHFUL.

SENSE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE WORLD.  DO NOT FORGET THE MIGHTY WORKS OF THE LORD.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.