In what areas of your faith-walk is the social dimension missing or neglected? - Daily Reflections February 27,2015

PERSONAL FAITH

The sign of the cross is central to the Christian faith. By the cross, we were saved. The cross is the primary symbol of our salvation. Every Christian is marked by it and called to live by it. Whenever we pray or worship, we sign ourselves with the cross. The cross can have many meanings.

       Two figures mark the cross: a vertical and a horizontal. Marking ourselves with the sign of the cross is reminding ourselves of the two inseparable dimensions of our faith. The vertical dimension marks our covenant relationship with God. The horizontal dimension marks our covenant relationship with our neighbors.

       Today, Jesus highlights the horizontal dimension of the faith when He clearly emphasized that our longing to be reconciled with God must be expressed in a longing to be reconciled with our neighbor. In fact, Jesus makes the latter a requirement for the former. His words could not be any less clear: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). Later on, Jesus will turn this teaching into a command.

       This is the reason why Jesus designed the forgiveness of sins to be realized through the ministry of priesthood. “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23). When we sin, we wound not only our covenant with God. We also wound our covenant with our neighbor. The priest hearing our confession represents the vertical and horizontal dimensions of our faith. As a minister of Christ, we receive God’s forgiveness from the priest. As a human being, we receive the forgiveness of the human community as well.

       Let us live our faith to the full. Faith is always personal but it is never private. Fr. Joel Jason       

REFLECTION QUESTION: In what areas of your faith-walk is the social dimension missing or neglected?

Lord Jesus, You are true God and true Man. Let me glorify You always in my covenant with my neighbor. Amen.

Which Gospel drives you on the road to success? - Daily Reflections February 26,2015

THE WAY UP IS DOWN

One time I happened to catch Jordan Belfort being interviewed by Piers Morgan at CNN. Jordan Belfort is a sweet-talking con man, a scheming stockbroker who duped countless investors of their hard-earned dollars in the stock market. He was convicted and spent 22 months in jail for fraud and money laundering. His life was recently made into a movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Claiming that he has made a turnaround of his life, he now goes around as a motivational speaker.

       What I found interesting was that Belfort described himself as always being very driven. At one point, he indirectly alluded to the biblical admonition, “ask, seek and knock,” as a driving force to always getting on top, not taking no for an answer, and always getting what he wanted. I

remember a scene in the movie where Belfort would sweet-talk a client on the phone while giving him the dirty finger at the same time.

       In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to His listeners, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you.” It is an admonition to persevere in getting what our hearts desire but not in the way Wall Street preaches it. I find the following quote from F.B. Meyer inspiring as it is enlightening: “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we should reach them. I find now that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other, and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower, and that we have to go down, always down, to get His best gifts.”

       In the Gospel according to Wall Street, success comes with conquering the ladder of success, always going up and never looking down. If you need to step on others or push them out of position, so be it.

       In the Gospel of Jesus, the paradox of success is in the trajectory it takes: the only way to get up is to go down. Fr. Joel Jason

REFLECTION QUESTION: Which Gospel drives you on the road to success?

Psalm 127:1: “If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor.” Amen.

In what area of your life is the will to disbelieve strongly operative? - Daily Reflections February 25,2015

THE WILL TO DISBELIEVE

In the Gospel, Jesus rebukes the people of His time for their refusal to convert and for always demanding for a sign. Despite generations of historical interventions on the part of God, in words and deeds, through the prophets and finally through Himself, the people remained hardened in their sin and disbelief.

       This is not exclusive to the people of Jesus’ time. It is ours as well. Jeane Kirkpatrick described modern man’s systematic refusal to believe (she was not talking about religious matters), even in the face of convincing and empirical facts, as “the will to disbelieve.”

       To believe in something or in someone is ultimately an act of the will. It cannot be forced even by empirical evidence. It has to be freely given. By the same token, to disbelieve is really an act of the will. It is difficult to undo even in the face of empirical evidence.

         In May 2014, a video of a woman named Emily Letts, who filmed her own abortion, went viral in the social media. All throughout, she was shown smiling with happy music playing in the background. When it was done, the woman even quipped, “Cool!” What I found so disturbing was the obvious intent of the video — to present abortion as no big deal, something so trivial and commonplace like going to the dentist to have a tooth extracted.

         There is undeniable scientific, philosophical and theological proof that inside the womb of a pregnant woman is a human person, possessive of rights and deserving of protection by law. But we simply gloss over these evidences. To bury our guilt, we portray abortion as a fun and cool thing to do, not the evil act the “moralists” claim it to be.

       What is needed is a change of heart. To believe in something or in someone is ultimately an act of the will. It cannot be forced even by empirical evidence. It has to be freely given. In fact, when given, empirical evidence becomes secondary. Fr. Joel Jason

REFLECTION QUESTION: In what area of your life is the will to disbelieve strongly operative?

Change my heart, O God. Make it generous. Amen.

Have you seriously done your part in your faith covenant with God? - Daily Reflections February 24,2015

THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF GOD

In today’s First Reading from the prophet Isaiah, I see the prodigal love of God. He makes the rain fall, to water the earth, to make it fertile. God says His Word will not return to Him without fulfilling what it was intended to do. Isn’t that mind-blowing? God is always faithful to His end of the bargain even if humanity is not. He is neither methodical nor calculating. He is not discriminating. He does not say, “OK. You ignore Me and My words. Why don’t I withhold the rain and the sun and let’s see if you will persist in your arrogance?” No! He will still give seed for him who sows and bread to him who eats. This is an image of the same God who lets His sun shine “over the good and evil as well” (see Matthew 5:45).

       How consoling this is. God meets us where we are. He does not wait until we become good before He gives us His attention. Isn’t this what John in his first epistle reminds us? “In this is love: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins”(1 John 4:10).

       Even as we are often indifferent, rebellious and disobedient, God plants seeds of His love in us with the hope that we will bear fruit, even if it will be a slow and arduous process.

       God meets and loves us where we are. A little caveat here: This is not a justification for complacency. God loves us where we are but He loves us so much to just leave us there. There is no need to be frustrated that we are so far from the state of perfection. What really matters to God is that we labor in the road to perfection. Wherever we are in our Christian journey, He will accompany us in the hope that we will progress and in His gracious time and in His gracious way, we will yield a fruit of a hundredfold, sixtyfold or thirtyfold! Fr. Joel Jason

REFLECTION QUESTION: Have you seriously done your part in your faith covenant with God?

Father, You are prodigal in Your love for us. I praise and thank You for that. Amen.