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.

APPEAL TO OUR SENSE OF FAIRNESS

APPEAL TO OUR SENSE
OF FAIRNESS

Reflections on Ezra 1: 1ff  /  Matthew 22: 15-22

By Frank Savadera, SJ 

For those of us who may be closely monitoring the state of the global economy, the current wall street crash … or even perhaps the drop in the value of the dollar and the decreasing amount of goods that we can purchase with our peso … the Gospel today can perhaps direct us to some deeper personal reflections about what really matters during these troubled times.

During these most crucial times … let our readings today speak to us through three particular themes.  FIRST … OUR SENSE OF FAIRNESS … SECOND … OUR PRAYER FOR OUR LEADERS … and LASTLY … OUR CAPACITIES TO GIVE AND BE MORE GENEROUS.

FIRST … our SENSE FAIRNESS.  In the Gospel today, we read about the Pharissees watching Jesus from afar, plotting to entrap Him, taking advantage of the situation Jesus was in … hoping that through their line of questioning … by pushing Jesus against the wall … they may humiliate him in front of the crowd.  Given so … they thought … the Lord will eventually lose credibility.  

 

Catholic Christians as we are … we go to church every Sunday or sometimes every day … but we may still wish to ask ourselves how and when have we been like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel.  Why do we plot against another person?  Why do we wish to corner and push another person against the wall?  Why do we find joy in seeing another person fail or experience embarrassment in front of many? 

Think of a worst situation … this world economic situation we are in.  Would you believe that when things are tough … when a crisis strikes … some actually still would wish to take advantage of the situation … yes … even take advantage of others … and for WHAT?

For many reasons I suppose … we plot against another person because he is getting ahead of us.  Also … we wish another person ILL because perhaps sometime in the past they have wronged us and hurt us in a most terrible way.  Most of the time however … we put another person down … because we want to get credit for ourselves … be the center of attention rather than the other one … much like the case of the Pharissees in the Gospel today.  In all cases… Christians as we are … our natural sinfulness pushes us always  on the side of our desires for personal gain. 

And so … today … we appeal to our sense of fairness.  No matter how legitimate our needs and desires are … how would these needs and desires affect others.   Putting this into our current economic context … we say that our desires and needs for profit and savings are themselves legitimate … aren’t they?   In doing so however … are we pushing others against the wall?  Do we find ourselves scheming and plotting to put down another?  And so … Our appeal to our sense of fairness … we extend to you and to all Christians and persons of goodwill … to balance our needs for personal gain and profit against the needs of the poor to survive the deadly effects of skyrocketing oil prices or transportation expenses.  The workers and employees who may be under your care … think of them during these crucial times.  Together let’s appeal to our collective sense of fairness.

SECONDLY … when crucial decisions will need to be made … let’s think about our leaders.  Let’s pray for them.  In the first reading, we’ve read about a pagan king, CYRUS the Great … who liberated the Jews from Babylon.  He is so praised and exalted in Scriptures even though he was a pagan … simply because Israel knew that God made most positive use of him … and he allowed himself to be used by God for the liberation of his people.  

In the Gospel, Jesus asked that he be shown the coin that pays the census tax.  Jesus asked a question that he may well ask us now:  “Whose image do you see on the coin?”  On our peso bills … whose faces do we see? 

Jesus asks us to look at the coin and reflect on the IMAGE that we see.  The Pharisees saw the image of Caesar … the head and leader of the Roman empire.  What IMAGE of a LEADER must we see?  Of course, when we speak of IMAGE … in Scriptures … we’re brought back to our learnings on the Book of Genesis … that GOD CREATED ALL OF US IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS.  We look at the coin or the peso bills as Jesus commanded and look beyond the face of Caesar and say … that similar to how God configured us to his image and likeness … we behold the coin and see how God has desired and so intended that our leaders as well be configured into the IMAGE and LIKENESS of Him who has created us. 

We are all leaders in our communities and respective places of work.  The question therefore is HOW Do WE REALLY … as LEADERS MIRROR the very presence of GOD?  Here … we know that we are presented an ideal … so difficult to achieve.  We have our God as our standard!  Any leader … you may say will fail to even approximate that same image of leadership as God exemplifies.  But then we look at the forms of leadership we see around us.   Given the latest economic crunch … we’ve heard of economic leaders bailing themselves out using GOLDEN PARACHUTES.  We can still look around us and feel so disheartened!

Let us consistently remind ourselves of the Christian ideal.  We look at the image on the coin … and pray for our leaders … correct them if necessary … convince them as we convince ourselves that we were made to abide by the kind of leadership that mirrors the very presence of God.  And so … we continue to pray for our leaders.

LAST POINT … during these times of possible grave hardships … WE ARE CONTINUALLY ASKED TO GIVE MOST GENEROUSLY OF OURSELVES.  Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.   In both cases … WE ARE ASKED TO GIVE!   But then … what is it that give to Caesar?  And to God?  Is this like the usual arrangement we make when we broker a business deal?  Is this like saying: I get get 40% of the profit;  you get the other  40%; we leave the rest of the share 20% with our public investors.  Or can we actually say that what we give to Caesar is actually the same we give to God. 

  

Friends … some people are saying that the Philippines is well insulated from the economic crisis gripping the United States and Europe.  Others on the other hand say that we will feel the biggest crunch … the biggest blow come the month of December.  Let us pray for ourselves … and most especially for the poor who will be most affected by this world event.  In the meantime … let’s continue to reflect on our readings today and challenge our sense of fairness … our concern for good and stable leadership … and challenge ourselves as well to give most generously for the great mission which God has entrusted us.  May we do so as the PSALMIST today exhorts us: That in all we do … may we Give the Lord glory and honor.  AMEN.

WINDHOVER  JESUIT MAGAZINE:  
3^rd Quarter September 2008

Editorial:

By FRANK SAVADERA, SJ

Fire that kindles other fires:

                               Encouragement from your Love

While in prison, Saint Paul - the great apostle to the gentiles - once joyfully observed: “the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly.”  Saint Paul, of course was talking about how the faith was spreading, how even his jail guards began subscribing to the new Christian movement, how his once timid disciples found real boldness to courageously move into territories unexplored.  Saint Paul, in his imprisonment was expressing profound joy that the fire of the new faith was being passed on, and more men and women were ably picking up the baton of discipleship and running  with perseverance the race that was set before them. Saint Paul must have been truly overwhelmed.  The fire of service and selflessness brewing amongst his followers was perhaps more than what he ever imagined.  Such fire, he must have thought, may come not from any human effort (more so not from him) but only from God’s own divine initiative. 

Ages after Saint Paul - now in our contemporary times – we venture to examine how such a fire remains ignited, how it continues to be passed on, and in our case, given an Ignatian flavor.  Thus, from the deliberations and decrees of the last 35^th General Congregation in Rome early this year, a rousing battle-cry which hopes to unite and reinvigorate our diverse energies has been evoked.  We ardently convince ourselves, our fellows and partners to reflect on and examine the “whys” of what we are and what we do. Our hope is to find deep within us the one most compelling force and reason which drives our mission  … the fire that kindles other fires … the charism and identity we imbibe by consistently gazing at Him … Jesus Christ who has lovingly called us to do his work. 

We therefore venture to discover more about that fire from the relevant histories that we share.  We get hold of our desire to remember the significant milestones and anniversaries, the humble beginnings of our current preoccupations and realize for ourselves how it needed but a single spark of inspiration to snowball a holy and most worthwhile vision for ourselves and our communities.  From such an initial spark, we derive joy knowing fully well how God has been faithful to us through the years, how he makes effective use of us and what he has started – we believe - he will bring to completion.   Thus, for simply having been granted the capacity to discern the pervading fire of the Spirit brewing amongst us through the years, our communities hold enough reasons to celebrate.  Necessarily, we commemorate with great joy the 50th year of the Society of Jesus – Philippine Province, the anniversaries of our schools and institutions, our years of life and the generous sharing of that life with others.  Our shared histories indeed speak of how the fire of faith remains enkindled in the kind and quality of our companionship.   

Keeping the fire means nurturing the fire.  We recognize as well the diverse influences that threaten to undermine the flame that struggles to burn incessantly amidst a background of darkness.  Instead of breeding passion and zeal for life, often we succumb to the forces of darkness – that which our new documents suggest as our self-destructive tendencies, our addictions, our compulsions, our natural propensities for what are in the world.   We keep the fire aflame by claiming for ourselves the reality of God thriving even in the darkness of life.  We acquire for ourselves a renewed sense of hope by setting our lives aright, seeking both in prayer and in action our active reconciliation with God, with our neighbor and the whole of creation.  Keeping the fire means recognizing and reinforcing the good that we seek to find in ourselves and others.      

We follow where the fire leads us, ever more so to situations unknown and unfamiliar.  We renew a vision of ourselves as prophets, overcoming fear and weakness and speaking boldly about injustice and social  manipulations.   In the new frontiers of mission, the fire within us translates to praxis.  As our new documents aptly implore, we partner prayer with service, contemplation with action, being with doing … each never standing merely independent of the other.  Our vision of Saint Ignatius contemplating the stars must go hand in hand with an image of the saint gripping his coat and grasping firmly the Spiritual Exercises in his hand as he battles the wild wind before him.  To be in the frontier means seeking always to be where he is sending us. 

For the coming years or so, we shall allude to the theme “fire that kindles other fires” together with the new buzz words and catch phrases from the decrees of the 35^th General Congregation.  We may refer to these documents as the new mode of proceeding with our tasks and mission.  In the long haul however, we are asked to challenge ourselves to gauge our faithfulness to the above themes with our lives constantly being reformed.  We determine so with the kind of positive effect our witness to the faith may eventually have on others.  Saint Paul himself describes the joy of experiencing that ‘fire’ saying: “… I have experienced much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the holy ones have been refreshed by you …”

PSALMS: Praying for Our Leaders

By Frank Savadera, SJ

Quite amusing it was for me to read through a selection of the Psalms of Trust (ie. Psalms 11, 23, 62, 91 and 121) and catch myself praying for our leaders. It is not new for us to formulate our usual “Prayers of the Faithful” during Mass by petitioning our Lord to “watch over” our church and political leaders (and in a special way our pirests and our local superiors). My important discovery in going through the readings, is the realization that we can effectively appropriate the Psalms of Trust to serve a similar purpose of praying for those tasked to govern over us.

For instance, I must accept that I’ve learned to take for granted the value of Psalm 23. The verses have become quite common placed and in most instances, I’ve grown to think of “the Lord as my Shepherd” psalm as appropriate only for our use during funeral, wake or burial services. Quite often as well, we pray with these psalms with only our personal needs in mind (i.e., longings for rest, still waters, comfort, for deliverance from our sins and enemies, etc.). I’m taking up the challenge of John F. Cragman to “test the theology of the biblical imagery” that we find in the Psalms and make it the “springboard” for our more meaningful use in prayer. In the Psalms of Trust says B. Anderson, certain imageries of Yahweh include that of the most concerned shepherd and gracious host. We would like to think that these most ideal imageries that we ascribe to Yahweh are the same ideals that we hope to find in the life lived by our worldly leaders as well. In reality however, our earthly leaders are not like Yahweh. Our leaders fail. They are prone to corruption and the use of violence simply because power, influence and greed can easily eat them up. We remember our very real frustrations with our leaders and we pray and petition our Lord to help and guide them, that is for the sake of our countries, the poor who need help the most and our institutions. It is in this light that I see the Psalms of Trust as appropriate prayers for the further enlightenment and well-being of our leaders. We express our trust in them, by openly articulating our hope that they lead us to greater prosperity, to restful waters (23:2), to more secure situations wherein fear no longer grips us (23:4) and where we will be more free to celebrate goodness and love (23:6) in our societies. In our prayer, we give our leaders their due and think of them as our kings (queens) and protectors from our enemies and pursuers (91:3) and the dispensers of wisdom, right judgement and formidable character. Isn’t it true that we rarely pray for our leaders? May the wisdom we derive from the Psalms of Trust help us acknowledge our longings and desires that our earthly leaders truly serve us as they have hereto been mandated by God and the heavens. It is a joy knowing that we can pray for our leaders by collectively, as a nation, taking seriously in prayer our Psalms of Trust.

PRAISE: ACKNOWLEDGING GOD’S EXISTENCE

By Frank Savadera, SJ

While reflecting on the questions “Have I really praised God?” and “What has been missing in my prayer?,” I’ve felt the need to refer to descriptions of prayer made by Gary Anderson in the article entitled “The Praise of God as a Cultic Event.”

Anderson describes ‘praising God’ as ‘cultic,’ that is, having its roots in the life, worship and piety of Israel as a people. He associates the Psalms of Praise to the generous use of verbs of vocal expressions such as ‘REJOICE’ or ‘Hallelujah.’ Apparently, praising is more than a mental process. It becomes a movement outside oneself and finds expressions in very tangible actions like singing, dancing and active communal worshiping. It is indeed a joyful event which is almost accompanied by some forms of sacrifice. Simply put, “praise” according to Anderson is a public and “vowed” procla

mation of Yahweh’s faithfulness.

In all honesty, I must say that I haven’t prayed and praised God this way in a very long time. Prior to entering the Society of Jesus, I’ve encountered such a public way of praising God as a member of the “Ligaya ng Panginoon” (Joy of the Lord), a covenanted, charismatic community for the lay faithful. I also must admit that Ignatian spirituality has taught me to be more “private” and “silent” in my prayer.

How do I feel about such a sudden digression in the way I pray? In time, I’ve learned to appreciate being alone with my God. Our recollections and retreats often lead us to approximate the Manresa experience of St. Ignatius of Loyola. But then I know that I’m accustomed as well to communal worship … to singing and clapping, to raising one’s hands in prayer … to openly verbalizing my personal prayer … to speaking and singing in tongues … to attentive listening to God’s words for me and my community … to prophesying … to simply feeling the energy of the Spirit reverberating in a room full of community members vocally expressing their prayers to God. This type of praying, to my mind also subscribes to P. Humbert’s invitation to communal praise which addresses a “gathered assembly” and presumes a public audience.

It makes me wonder sometimes why such “too public” prayers hardly find concrete expressions in our own current forms of worship. A “sophisticated” view of praying seems to look down on too external expressions, the charismatic type of communal prayers. Nevertheless, I can sense that many people still encounter real emotions … spiritual in nature, during our ‘formal’ and 'sophisticated' celebrations. But then, a question: Have we learned to keep our emotions to ourselves simply because our services do not make space for their public expression? It appears therefore that our incapacities to fully praise God, in the tradition so described for us by Anderson and Humbert can be rooted in the many restrictions which evolved to promote more formal and sophisticated expressions of worship (as in our current liturgies).

Another important reason why I sometimes fail to worship and praise God to the fullest … is because of SIN and being in a state of ‘disgrace.’ The ‘dead’ - those who have succumbed to the enticements of Sheol - says Anderson, cannot perform the act of praise. I find this very true at times during retreats when I feel very distracted in my periods of prayer. I’ve felt instances when the longing to pray is present yet my condition seems not to permit being more focused in prayer. In such circumstances, I’ve realized the need for certain atonement for sins (i.e., confession, fasting, abstinence, etc.). I also find this true in the way I view ordinary things in life. Often I do not find joy in the activities that I involve in or do not appreciate the simple blessings given me … precisely because SIN is weighing me down. I fail to recognize God or more so fail to give him due worship because my personal sins easily cut me off from Him. Just like in the Psalms of Lamentations, I sometimes feel very frustrated about myself. I feel the despair of being hopeless and helpless for giving in to certain recurring sins. I remember our vow formula – our petition that the Lord provide us the grace to keep our perpetual promise – and often in my despair, I accuse God of abandoning me … of not providing me enough grace to get over my own sinfulness.

Nevertheless, I also find consolation in Anderson’s two categories of praise. He talks about ‘declarative” praise which acknowledges the work that God has performed in the past and “descriptive” praise which calls attention to workings of God in the here and now. I find most positive and optimistic these two types of praise as forwarded by Anderson. Often when I tend to dwell on my many weaknesses or the opportunities for grace that I have missed, I find the need to convince myself of the many good things that the Lord has performed and is continually performing in my life. Simply put, praising God means duly recognizing the blessings one has received through time. Quite ordinary blessings – like the gifts of life and better health, of family and friendships – have become common placed in our systems that we take them for granted. We fail to thank and praise God for such blessings. An interesting interpretation of Anderson of ‘praise’ is that it is a “joyful act.” Now, I take this as an important sign of whether or not I’m truly praising God. Am I happy or joyful? Am I angry or do I complain a lot? Simple as they may seem, the questions are themselves very revealing. The public act of praise now seems to mean how I publicly witness to the ongoing works of God in me. Such a witness, to qualify as praise for God, needs to be truly joyful and inspiring for others.

I find consolation as well in the diversity of ways and means of worship and praise relayed to us by Brueggemann. I resonate primarily with praise as a poetic act … that which is open to many meanings … that which is not coercive (with a wider latitude and accepting of realities other than our own). I think of this as the “more Asian” way of praising (as against the quite rigid and structured western mode of praying). I even think of this poetic type of praising as something which parallels the Ignatian “tantum quantum” (whatever works) principle. The image of Ignatius looking at the stars and beholding the magnificence of creation appeals to me the most … that which inspires us to praise God through the sheer acknowledgement of something greater than ourselves. To recognize with much awe and wonder the power and immensity of God … as we observe in nature … allows us indeed to be more poetic in our expressions of praise. Poems, music, paintings, sketches, sculptures are but few of tangible expressions of our praising our God.

My reflections on the theme are therefore four-fold: Firstly, as in the experience of Israel, praising God remains a communal act. We do not do so simply in the privacy of our rooms. A public and communal dimension to praying is being stressed here. The challenge therefore, for our current practices in the liturgy is to create space and time for more public expressions of worship. Secondly, we note how the current “state of our souls” determines the quality of our “one-ness” with God. By analogy, we refer to our human relationships to help us determine how “burning bridges” with another person may equal our experiences of sin. The quality of relations we keep with God matches the quality of praise that we are willing to offer Him. Thirdly, praising God is much evident in the joyful witness we manifest in the lives we live. Such a witness is anchored on the peace and contentment that mark our lives as we acknowledge the simple blessings that we have already received. And lastly, God Himself already provides us the grace to express our worship and praise through many and varied poetic means. Beyond all these however, we recognize how praising is made possible by the very presence of God himself. We couldn’t thank God enough for giving us the opportunity to praise. To worship, as we know is to acknowledge that there is an object to our praising. God must truly exist!

RESTRAINING OUR SENSE OF MEGALOMANIA

I must confess that I’m a bit megalomaniac.  I must submit myself to some form of therapy for easily associating power and energy with the grandiosity of structures. Tsk! Thus, I remember, after visiting the churches of Vigan and Laoag for the first time some years ago, the compulsive in me was quietly insisting that new churches in the country should be built the old fashioned way, that is as massive and as monolithic -- testimonies to the ingenuity of man paying tribute to a great God.  But then, I was catching and asking myself: What do I mean? And so I thought perhaps that the solid buttresses of the baroque Paoay Church are the closest that we can get to the mysterious stupas of Borobodur in Djogjakarta or the magnificence of the Thai King’s Grand Temple of the Emerald Buddha.   I can be awe struck by the effort of reconstruction being done on the Santa Monica Church (destroyed by an earthquake two months after the Marcos-Araneta nuptials).  Up on the still exposed ceilings, hundreds of cured ancient logs hung uncomplaining side-by-side each other serving as frame-support for the roof nestling above.  And so with pride, I thought, we can also work wonders with our local wood approximating those on the temples at Nara and Kyoto.  Of course,  I can dream on. 

Quickly enough, I was shaking myself off my deranged musings. I’m not merely admiring an ancient monument, a tomb or simply another fascinating tourist attraction. I had to hear myself saying: “These are churches, for heaven’s sake!” As such, they function more than mere backdrops immotalized on our ubiquitous postcards.  I’m sure the ancient builders of these Ilocos churches (i.e., the Augustinians and Dominicans) well subscribed to the claim of a God who “wishes all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”  Aptly, at a time when catechetical instructions faced a lot of limitations and when technology had yet to invent the public address system, the Church if I may surmised, needed the symbolisms of these massive structures, the stories conjured by the stained glass windows, the phalanx of saintly images, the ornate retablos, the spires that pointed heaven-wards to drive home the point that there exist a great God that remains the sole and worthy subject of all our expressions of worship.  If the life of the faithful then seemed detached from the cryptic liturgy, at least with the visual sensations around them, they can worship God.  The approach seemed logical enough given the context of the old.

To state the obvious, however, we say that times have indeed changed.  We needed to graduate from the pleasure of mere visual sensations to more meaningful and life changing experiences of God.  Thus to my mind, the underlying challenge being posed by our practice of faith is to encounter God in the most proximate and real way.  To this effect, a lot of conscious efforts will need to be made to contextualize our practices and ensure active participation in memorializing the paschal mystery of our Lord.   

We acknowledge the headways done and accomplished in this regard.  Now, we receive and translate the Gospels in dialects closest to our own local psyche.  Our songs now carry the temperament and emotions of our own culture.  We can now sing the Great Amen to affirm and accept our real understanding (hopefully?) of the mystery unfolding before us during each liturgical celebration.  Our participation in such rites, as well, helps us identify with an assembly that encounters God in a multiplicity of ways.  In short, our inculturated liturgy allows us every opportunity to experience the power and energy of God via our supposed participation in the very life of the Church. 

The grandiose buildings of the old have indeed served their purpose.  Every so often, we enter a massive structure and experience the monumental God, the Being bigger than ourselves that the buildings so wished to impress upon our minds and those of the early believers.  Nevertheless, the call of the times points us to a greater participation in the life of the Church than merely being overly concerned with structures and external trimmings.  

I guess, I myself will need to temper my own compulsions or perhaps more … even say a little prayer that our Church may be saved from crazy megalomaniacs like myself. 

ARVISU HOUSE - MARCH 31, 2007

by Frank Savadera, SJ

MAGANDANG UMAGA SA LAHAT!

I begin with a little story. For a very brief moment in my life, I lived in a boat. It was a huge ship … complete with a swimming pool, talking elevators, a huge theater, a ballroom and all the works and amenities. I was seeing places I haven’t even seen in my life. I was 21 years old then, fresh from college and yes and truly … still very FRESH. I was talking and interacting with people completely different from myself. For the first time, I was looking up, beholding the golden pagodas of Bangkok … and telling myself … WOW! What is this about? Do I deserve all these? What a GRAND experience indeed.

When the boat anchors on a port of call, the passengers of the ship, myself included were treated to a tour of the city. Afterwards a local family adopts us for a week. I consider myself very lucky because I lived with families who were very cordial and hospitable. They were very caring … not to mention loving … and all too generous in sharing with me their time and resources. I felt truly loved by them. And I really mean that. I’ve realized how people can simply accept others into their homes and treat them as family … yes, even for a week. Yet after a week, off we went back to the ship. We toured our adopted parents on board until we hear the old time favorite Auld Lang Syne piped in music. We usher our families back to the pier and we rush up back ON DECK to throw those colorful TICKER TAPES down below where our adopted families can hold on to one end.

There were almost four hundred of us on deck and you can imagine what a colorful site to behold those colorful ticker tapes swinging with the wind as we were also throwing confettis in the air.

But then, the huge BELL of the ship begins to toll … KLANG … KLANG … KLANG. Everybody heaves sighs of despair knowing how in a few seconds, the ship begins moving away from the pier. Everybody stays on deck holding onto his or her ticker tapes. As the ship moves farther and even father from the pier … we extend our tapes … and as the ship moves farther and farther … we feel the tapes being stretched … and overstretched … until such a time … and FINALLY … they SNAP … and BREAK … and with the BREAKING … we hear our hearts throbbing NOT so much BECAUSE OF ANXIETY … but because the IMAGE of those people disappearing in the horizon … as our ship moves away … reminds us of how we have allowed ourselves … for a short period in our lives … to be loved sincerely … and to love sincerely in return.

Why this story? Wala lang!

The past few days, the silent and quiter bell of Arvisu has been clanging! Have you been hearing it? We have thrown our ticker tapes and the ship begins moving away from the pier. Last night, during the despedida (when Joven was singing, when Bonel and Saniler were dancing and when Ladi was already too drunk to sing or dance), invisible confetti were being thrown in the air. But then, the reality is … the ship begins moving away from the pier. In a few hours, our tapes will break … and with the breaking … can we hear our hearts throbbing as well … hopefully NOT BECAUSE OF ANXIETY … but because we have allowed ourselves to be LOVED and have given LOVE in return.

Friends, I INVITE YOU … can we give a face to this LOVE and say that the LOVE we have received the past months is GOD himself. Thus, I ask: Isn’t it love … isn’t it God, the reason why Ed, for instance left GMA for TY jobs with JESCOM? Isn’t it love … isn’t God the reason why Dexter stopped pushing Polynerv … in favor of the more difficult tasks of pushing all of us to sing and sing with the right notes; Isn’t it love … isn’t it God, the reason why Jay and Jason tight rope everyday between de more and schedules in the office?

Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Bryan and Tootsie exchanged the possibility of finding better paying jobs for teaching deaf-mutes to sign language; Isn’t love … isn’t it God the reason why Job exchanged collecting urine samples for counting the minute- hand of the clock and ringing the bell 5 minutes before time.

Isn’t it love … isn’t God the reason why Benja left the shiomai business in favor of bote, dyaryo and garapa; Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Jereme left PhilHealth for a Jesus-doesn’t-remember-me infirmarian task in the house;

Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Ladi after delivering the valedictory address during his medical school graduation now contends with making us smile by his KALDERO ng Diyos and SYIEMPRE DEOGRACIAS spiels. Isn’t it love … isn’t it God, the reason, why Saniler and Phil exchanged Manang Roma’s braso de mercedez for Ate Linda’s perennial Kamote Q? Isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Arvin forces himself to listen to boring lectures when he knows he can almost PERFECT the teacher’s exams? Isn’t is love … isn’t God the reason for Rod to exchange the possibility of talking Chinese to 2billion REAL Chinese than settling here with one non-chinky eyed Chinese? And lastly, isn’t it love … isn’t it God the reason why Joven chooses to simply mimic Ate Guy or Jacklyn Jose instead of flaring up because of our liturgical slips.

Friends, remember our experiences of Love and anticipate the coming of our next few life events. From Ezekiel, we learned how the God of love will continue to gather us and make us whole … will continue to deliver us from our sinfulness and compulsions … will continue to make with us a covenant of peace and dwell in our hearts … that will continue to assure us that He remains our faithful God and we, his people.

Remember, as well the first few lines of the Gospel: “Many of those who had come and seen what Jesus had done … began to believe in Him.” The past months, we have seen what Jesus has done. And so with LOVE, we believe in Him. We welcome the KLANGING of the bells, the breaking of our ticker tapes, the throbbing of our hearts with the HOPE that the LOVE we have received … will be the LOVE that we hope … as well … to share with others. Wherever that maybe … after today.