"Little that We have" Reflection on the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lately, I have witnessed much sadness as those around me struggle to get by. Meanwhile, I remain there feeling so helpless. It is truly a feeling that you can never get used to.

In the midst of all this, St. Paul’s words echo as a timely reminder to all of us,

Brothers and sisters:
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Moreover, the beautiful words of the Prophet Isaiah present themselves as God’s loving invitation to us who are burdened with the struggles of life,

All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!

He is inviting us to come to him; come to him and receive from him his consoling love. He is inviting us to allow him to wipe away our tears of sorrows. Come to him for his love is unconditional and this love will revive us. He is inviting us to come and allow him to embrace us and call us once more his beloved.

How about us? What role could we play?

The Gospel seems to offer a great answer. It is the story of the feeding of the five thousands. Now notice that Jesus would not have been able to multiply the food to feed such a large crowd had the little boy not offered the five loaves and two fish that he had. It was all that he had; he could have kept it for himself, but he offered the Lord anyway. Because of such kindness, the Blessed Lord brought about a miracle.

The Gospel reminded me of a great story a good friend of mine just sent me. It is rather long, but it is beautiful, so I decided to use it at once for the reflection of this weekend:

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father

of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning..'
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!'
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home..

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team
'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Those boys at the baseball game did not have to let Shay play. The opposite team did not have to let Shay win. But they chose to do so out of kindness. They offered him a little that they had, and a miracle was brought about. They filled the heart of a young boy, who was much less fortunate, with incredible joy.

We all know of someone around us who are struggling, who are sad and burdened. So often, there is little that we could do to help. But, like the boy who offered Jesus the little that he had, or like those boys in the story told above who offered Shay a chance to be with them, we can always give something: a phone call, a visit, a conversation, a shoulder lent to cry on, a hug, and some other gestures to show that we care. These do not seem much, and, maybe, they are the only things we have to offer. But, the Lord truly could make use of them for the world hungry for love. The Lord could bring about miracles....

"What Truly Matters" Reflection on the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In his book Raising Your Child to Be a Messiah, Neil Kurshan tells about the medical student who went to see a counselor about whether she should complete medical school or drop out to raise a family. The counselor suggested that she could do both with a little outside help. The student explained that she had vowed never entrust her children to a housekeeper. The counselor asked why, and the young woman explained that when she was a young child, her wealthy parents would vacation in Europe each summer and leave her with a nanny.

One year, when the girl was eleven, the housekeeper suddenly quit shortly before the parents were to leave for Europe. The parents were upset that their vacation was jeopardized, but a few days before their intended departure, they found a replacement. When the daughter noticed her mother wrapping up all the family silverware and jewels, she asked why, since it had never been done before. Her mother explained that she could not trust the new maid with the family valuables. That insensitive remark stabbed the little girl in the heart. Was she not a “family valuable” of more worth than knives and forks?

A rather challenging story for some of us to hear!

Today’s Gospel speaks of value. It speaks of a man who found a pearl of great price and was willing to sell everything that he had in order to buy it. It speaks of the fishing net that caught all kinds of fish from the sea; the fish, in turn, were sorted – the good ones were kept and the bad ones were thrown away.

On the surface, obviously the Gospel speaks of the important of one’s faith – the treasure of the Kingdom and the price of striving to possess it. However, I wish to stretch it further for I believe that it also speaks of finding the treasure, the valuable, and the essential of our life.

What then is truly important to us?

It is sad to say but we, people of today’s world, seemingly have lost the sense of knowing the value of things. We fail to realize what is truly important. And I must confess that, at times, I am, too, guilty of this.

We so very often focus all our energy and resources into pursuing things that are not that important and, thus, in turn, neglect the essential.

The world’s scale of success focuses on how much money one has, how big the house one lives in, what type of expensive car one drives, etc. Hence, who we are depends on what we have. The measure of our value depends on the amount of property we own.

Therefore, without realizing it, we joined the searchers of these false valuables.

There is nothing wrong with seeking success and wealth. We all want to be successful and a bit well-to-do. But, when our goal of becoming successful and rich turns out to be more important than our family, our loved ones, and our transcendental values, then it becomes problematic.

When property becomes more important than people, when spending time working becomes more important than spending time with our family, especially our children, when we no longer have time for God, then we have become enslaved in searching the wrong valuables.

The Gospel presents to us today a challenge. It challenges us to look into our life and to question ourselves to see how much energy we spend on that which possesses less value, instead of focusing on things and, more importantly, people that are much more important in our life.

A missionary told a story of an American family who spent years doing mission works in China. The family consisted of a mother, father and two children. When the communist took over, they were all under house arrest. One day, a soldier came in and said, “You can all return to America. But you may take only two hundred pounds with you, no more, no less.”

They had been there for years and yet only two hundred pounds to leave with? So they got the scales, and the family arguments started with the husband, wife and the two children. “Must have this vase. Must have this typewriter; it’s almost brand new. Must have these books. Must have this, must have that.” And so they weighed everything and took it off the scale. Weighed it and took it off, until, finally, right on the dot, they got to two hundred pounds.

The soldier came the next day and asked, “Ready to go?” They said yes. He said, “Did you weigh everything? They said yes. “Did you weigh your children?” “No, we didn’t.” “Weigh your children,” he said. And in the moment, off went the typewriter, off went the books, off went the vase into the trash.

The time has come to put things in perspective.

What really matters?

"The Power of One" - Reflection on the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A

My mother and I used to rent a room from the family which she worked for as a nanny. One day, we were having dinner together. The husband started telling me that the reason the Catholic Church in America was not growing as fast as other denominations was because we did not have missionaries, who would go door to door and preach. “All we ever do was to have priests standing on the pulpit talking in Church. What’s the point?” the man said.

Having the tendency of not wanting to waste my breath with those who think they know everything, I just smiled while thinking to myself, “you completely missed the point.”

It is indeed very important to have missionaries who go out and preach. After all, that was how St. Paul carried the Gospel message to all of us, the Gentiles. The Church was also blessed with so many other great preachers such as Francis Xavier who preached the Good News in Asia, or St. Isaac Jogues and his courageous companions who came to evangelize in America, and many more.

These missionaries were called to an important task and at times endure incredible persecutions in trying to carry it out. However, then and now, countless men and women have stepped up to answer this call despite it all. Paul was beheaded. Isaac Jogues and his friends were martyred. Many others were ridiculed, shunned, and ignored.

Most of us will not be called to undertake such an ardent task. But, all of us are called to preach the Gospel at all times – often not by words, but by the way we live our life and the way we conduct our deeds, not matter how insignificant they are.

Jesus, in today’s Gospel, speaks of the Kingdom of heaven as a mustard seed – the smallest of all seeds, and as a small clump of yeast mixed with flour. The small mustard seed becomes a great tree. A small clump of yeast leavens the whole batch of wheat flour.

The same can be said of how we are to be witnesses to the Kingdom of God.

God uses each of us, however insignificant we are, to carry out his message to the whole world. Each of us, by the way we live, reflects the Gospel we have come to possess. Our kindness and love for neighbors, though at time seem as small as a mustard seed, will eventually grow and expand. It is the paradox of the Gospel.

There was a beautiful movie called Pay It Forward which I really liked. A boy named Trevor began his little project of a charitable pyramid scheme. He began with doing charitable deeds for three people. These three people, in turn, “pay it forward” by doing kind deeds to some others. The project began to spread so widely, and little Trevor never realized how many people’s lives it helped change.

I believe we are called to do the same. We need not to stand in the corner of the street, screaming on the top of our lungs trying to force the Gospel down people’s throats (which I doubt would be effective). Our way of evangelizing today should be by showing God’s compassion to our world – a world which is desperately in need of love.

Each of us is capable of doing this for we can never underestimate the power of the small and the insignificant. We can never underestimate the power of one because,

One song can spark a moment,

One flower can wake the dream.

One tree can start a forest,

One bird can herald spring.

One smile begins a friendship,

One handclasp lifts a soul.

One star can guide a ship at sea,

One word can frame the goal.

One vote can change a nation,

One sunbeam lights a room.

One candle wipes out darkness,

One laugh will conquer gloom.

One step must start each journey,

One word must start each prayer.

One hope will raise our spirits,

One touch can show you care.

One voice can speak with wisdom,

One heart can know what’s true,

One life can make the difference,

You see, it’s up to you!

Make Me Worthy

My Lord Jesus,

I find it difficult to talk to you;

What can I say?

I, who have turned away from you so often with indifference;

I have been a stranger to prayer,

undeserving of your friendship and your love.

I have been without honor, and feel unworthy.

I am a weak and shallow creature,

Clever only in the second rate and worldly arts,

seeking my comfort and pleasure.

I gave my love, such as it was, elsewhere

Putting service to my earthly king before my duty to You.

But now, they have made me the shepherd of your flock,

and guardian of Your Church.

Please Lord,

Teach me now, how to serve You with all my heart,

to know at least how it is really to love, to adore,

so that I may worthily administer

Your Kingdom here on earth, and find my true honor in observing Your Divine Will

Please Lord,

Make me worthy!

St. Thomas Becket

"Do We Stop to Listen" - Reflection on the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

On January 12, 2007, the world renowned violinist Joshua Bell, disguised in a simple pair of jean, a long sleeve T-shirt, and a baseball cap, went to the Washington Subway with his $3 million violin. There he stood and played for 42 minutes. One thousand and seventy people passed him by, seven stopped to listen, and only one recognized who the violinist was. Joshua Bell whose performance’s ticket to a merely good seat cost about $100, made $32 that day playing six classical masterpieces of Sebastian Bach.

A story which amazes many who come to hear about it!

Now, imagine ourselves in that situation. Imagine ourselves being at the Washington Subway. What sort of crowd would we belong to? Those who just merely passed by without a slightest idea of what was happening? Those who were so occupied with day to day busy routine? Those who stopped and enjoyed the entertainment of another “street performer?” Or joining the one person who recognized the master?

There is a striking connection of the story above and the parable of the Sower which our Lord presented today.

In place of the world renowned violinist, we have the Sower, the Eternal Son of God. Instead of the $3 million violin, we have the Word which offers everlasting life. Thousands upon thousands came to listen to him. They all carried with them their own types of soil – the sidewalk, the rocky, the thorny, and the rich.

Fast forward to two thousand years later, to our time today, we still have the same story. The Sower is still sowing the Word of Life. We all listen to him at least every Sunday. And just like the crowd of Jesus’ time, we, too, carried with us our own soil.

These types of soil do not refer to the types of person. Rather, they refer to the dispositions of a person’s heart:

-          The sidewalk of indifference and ignorance. Christ’s Word is just something the priest reads of a book. And sometimes he just goes on and on talking about it which cause us to constantly check our watch and mutter “My Gosh, be done already.” The Word means nothing and has no value.

-          The rocky of momentary enthusiasm. We listen with eager and even with some seeming devotion, but we hear merely some nice words which please our ears. And then as we leave the Church, we leave them there and go on with our life. God’s word has nothing to do with our day to day experience.

-          The thorny of many anxieties and fears. This disposition is probably the most common. We recognize the beauty and value of the Word. We hear it and wish to apply it to our life. But, then, come the worries of daily busyness and of the battles for survival. Then, come the fears of being discriminated, of being “too religious,” and of being judged. We have no other choice but to put God’s word into a box, hide it in a closet and would not bother with it until Sundays come around.

-          Finally, the rich soil of sincere acceptance and openness. It is the soil of one who realizes that God’s word is not only some nice words of a book, rather the living word which is the light to guide us to everlasting life. He or she recognizes the challenges the Word entails, but still humbly listens to it and allows it to bear fruit as he or she applies it to his or her life.

We all have these types of soil within ourselves. We are all capable of becoming the sidewalk, the rocky, the thorny, or the rich. We are all capable of ignoring and being indifferent, of shallowly listening and then forgetting the next moment, of choking with fears, and of accepting with openness.

In Alice Walker’s short story called “Meridan,” a little girl in the South is playing in the yard when she finds a piece of metal. She recognizes that this piece of metal is a bar of gold, and she digs up this incredible, heavy bar of gold. She rushes home to her mother, who is sitting on the back porch, shelling peas. She says, “I found some gold.” And she places the large, heavy gold bar in her mother’s lap.

Her mother says, “Move that thing out of the way. Don’t you see I’m trying to get supper ready?”

“But it’s gold,” she insists, “Feel how heavy it is. Look how yellow it is. It’s gold. It could make us rich.”

But her mother is not impressed. So she is rejected, and no one is interested in sharing her joy. She takes her bar of gold, puts it in a shoebox, and she buries it under the magnolia tree in the backyard. Once a week, she digs it up and holds it in her lap. Then, she does it less and less often. Soon it’s only once a month, until finally, she forgets to dig it up at all. And then she acts like everyone else, not as someone possessing a bar of gold.

Friends,

The Sower is always there.

The Seed – our bar of gold - with all its richness, is always there.

Do we stop to listen?

"Come to Me" - Reflection on the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Once, the king of a kingdom decided to hold a painting contest, and the topic for the artists was peace. The participants ought to paint something which captured peace.

Two paintings were chosen to present to the king for final judgment. One of them depicted a beautiful lake. The water was so calm one could see the fish swimming below the surface. The bank of the lake was covered in green fresh grass. The clouds in the blue sky were floating about lazily. Everyone who looked at it agreed that the painting would win.

The second painting was a complete opposite. It depicted a waterfall in the midst of a stormy night. The water was violently falling down from the top. The sky was filled with dark clouds, lightning was striking, and raining was pouring down. Nothing of the painting seemingly depicted peace.

And yet the king chose the second painting; for as he examined carefully he saw that the artist had painted a nest on a tree by the waterfall. In the nest lied three baby chicks sleeping peacefully under the wings of their mother which shielded them from the violent storm of the night. 

Life is filled with many trials and difficulties. No one can escape having to face challenges. They take different forms from financial problems to that of family life, from health issues to troubles at work. So very often these trials weight down our spirit and cause us to feel burdened and distressed.

A recent study stated that, “Depression is one of the greatest problems and killers of our time.” According to the same study, there are approximately 18.8 million American adults who are affected by depression disorder. 15% of those who are depressed will likely to commit suicide.[1]

Such shocking numbers!

In the midst of all this, Jesus’ voice echoes as a loving invitation to those who have to carry upon their shoulders the burden of life,  

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Notice how Christ did not offer to take away life’s troubles, but only offered rest. He, in addition, invited us to take upon ourselves his yoke. Do we not have enough to carry already? What is this yoke that he was talking about?

Pope Benedict, in his recent homily on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, defined this yoke with these following words, “Christ’s yoke is identical with his friendship. It is a yoke of friendship and therefore "a sweet yoke."[2]

For that reason, Christ’s invitation to us to take up his yoke is nothing but to, all the more, enter into a deeper friendship with him where we can find the rest that we need. In our encounter with Christ as a friend we can lay down the burdens of life, even for only moments, and allow him to love us and care for us as his beloved.

A life without strives exists only in dreams. Life is meant to be difficult and the Lord permits that so as to bring out better persons just as fine gold is made after tried in fire. Nonetheless, God never lets us to be too overwhelmed with troubles. For in the midst of the storms of life, he is there, just like the mother bird in our story, with his arms wide open waiting to embrace us, to hold us, and to love us.

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed He was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from His life. For each scene He noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to Him and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of His life flashed before Him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of His life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of His life.

This really bothered Him and He questioned the LORD about it. LORD you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.

The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.

---

[1] Bob Murray, Ph.D. and  Alicia Fortinberry M.S., Depression Facts and Stats, http://www.upliftprogram.com/depression_stats.html.

[2] http://www.zenit.org/article-32967?l=english