Are there persons in your life whom you want to thank God for? If they’re still around, thank them personally or write them a letter - Daily Reflections October 31,2014

CHRISTIAN GRATITUDE

 

The Philippians were very close to Paul, close enough for them to send him money and tangible help on occasions of need. Paul thanks God for them, and what he refers to as their “partnership for the Gospel.” That partnership was attained through their monetary support, and their suffering for the Gospel, as Paul himself would say elsewhere in his warm letter.

       Having been a priest for a long time, I can identify with Paul’s profuse thanksgiving and joy at the thought of his friends and followers who allowed themselves to become conduits of God’s providential care and love for him. I, too, have often been the recipient of similar generosity of so many people. As a young priest, I still remember with fondness and joy those who gave what were then considered “essentials” for a neophyte priest. Friends, relatives, acquaintances and even total strangers gave me books, chasubles, chalices, a Mass kit, blessing kit, even a portable typewriter!

       I was grateful then to all my friends and generous donors, but the thought of Paul now writing warmly to the Philippians, who had been more than just good to him, got me into reflection mode. Was I grateful enough? Did I express my gratitude in a properly Christian way? Did I know how to give credit to whom credit was really due? Most important of all, did I really put to right use whatever I received from others? In other words, were those gifts really put to good use, as intended by my donors? We priests are privileged to receive so much of that love from generous people.

       What does it mean to be authentically grateful in a Christian way? My thoughts race back to a line from an old book of Louis Evely that I read many years ago: “If you have nothing to thank God for, there is nothing Christian in you.”

       Paul was grateful to everyone but to God above all! And though it sounds a little too late, I would like to tell every single one of my donors: “I give thanks to God at every remembrance of you.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are there persons in your life whom you want to thank God for? If they’re still around, thank them personally or write them a letter.

 

I give thanks, Lord, for ___________ (state here the names of the persons you want to thank God for). Bless them.

Is there a situation in your life right now that’s calling you to stand up and defend your faith and values? What’s keeping you from doing so? - Daily Reflections October 30,2014

THE COURAGE TO SPEAK

 

What Paul says in his parting words to the Ephesians is what he proves himself to be — courageous in the face of seemingly  insurmountable opposition. Emotions are free-flowing in every line. Passion and dedication mark almost every word, and both strength and preparedness shine through images and figures of speech that smack of warfare.

       St. Paul was a man on fire and was fanning the flames of that same courage in the hearts of his hearers. His choice of words, the rapid-fire staccato of imperatives, show a man ready and girded for spiritual warfare and goading his followers to tread on the same path of righteousness.

       Not a sign of wimpiness here, my friends. No scintilla of doubt that he was one who would easily retreat into a wishy-washy attitude characterized by harmless political correctness. He speaks of armor and the need to “stand firm against the tactics of the devil.” Paul was not one who would dance palsy walsy with evil in any form.

       I confess there was a time in my life I chickened out. I led a group from civil society to fight against a very real growing menace in the community where I was, a threat so diabolical in that it was poised to strike at the heart of society by corrupting the young. A letter with a veiled threat did me in. I succumbed to mortal debilitating fear — for my safety, for my life.

       In our times, the menace is more subtle, but no less insidious – the tyranny of moral relativism that is twin sister to widespread secularism. God is veritably eclipsed by a false belief that faith is on a different plane from life, that reason ought to have the upper hand on faith, and that faith ought not be worn on one’s sleeve.

       In the midst of such an onslaught, our knees crumble, our legs wobble, and our hearts tremble. We need strength. We need to stand fast. We need to put on the “armor of God” and “hold faith as a shield.” We need “to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel,” and have the courage to speak, as one must. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Is there a situation in your life right now that’s calling you to stand up and defend your faith and values? What’s keeping you from doing so?

 

Grant me courage, Lord, to do what I must to protect and defend my faith, Your truth, and Your Church.

If you are in a position of authority, how do you motivate your subordinates to follow you? If you are a follower, what motivates you to follow your leader? - Daily Reflections October 29,2014

EXERCISING AUTHORITY

The First Reading is referred to as St. Paul’s “household code.” Acting as a solicitous teacher, he advises his readers from all walks of life: wives, husbands, children, parents, slaves and masters.

       One does not have to be a psychologist to realize that there exists a “power differential” between and among all six groups. Just take a look at your family. Power resides either on the father or the mother, and in some cases, on the one who holds the purse. At times, children lord it over the household in various ways, although normally, it should be the parents who call the shots. In times when slavery was common, masters would never allow themselves to be under their servants. It was simply the right thing to do then. The world valued power and always tried to preserve that hierarchical power structure. There was no question about who should lord it over others, and those who did usually bullied others into submission.

       St. Paul offers a different way of exercising authority, all on account of one defining, additional element. He redefined the nature of relationships between people and how authority ought to be exercised.

       As one who had been in authority myself, I have had very trying moments in the exercise of leadership. At times, one is tempted to assert authority in order to get the desired results according to a definite plan. By using the sheer force of authority and position, one can easily resort to bullying. Being manipulative is one such way to assure compliance. At times, applying pressure, or making people feel unnecessarily guilty could be resorted to, always under the pretext that one is advancing a noble cause.

       By adding one simple phrase, “in the Lord,” Paul shows us that there is a proper and Christian way of exercising authority.  Relationships are then no longer based on power differential, but on equality and human dignity. Simply put, parents still need to train children; children still have to honor and obey their parents. Masters still have to take slaves to task. All the same things, but for a different motive — in the Lord! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB    

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: If you are in a position of authority, how do you motivate your subordinates to follow you? If you are a follower, what motivates you to follow your leader?

I pray, Lord, for my leaders, for my parents, and for all those in position of authority. May they follow Your example of leadership.

What or who is the capstone of your life? Of your family? Of your team? - Daily Reflections October 28,2014

CAPTAIN OR CAPSTONE?

 

My many years in formation work showed me how difficult it is to unite young people who come from markedly different cultures. Putting them together in common activities for short durations is no big problem, but making them live and work together for long stretches can pose a problem.

       It must have been quite similar during the time of St. Paul. He writes to the Ephesians, who were former Gentiles, but who had to rub shoulders with Christians of Jewish background.

       Back in my seminary formator days, it was hard to make those from Luzon and those from the south form a solid, united front, and agree with each other on many issues, except on one particular issue.

       And that one element — a kind of capstone, if you will — was sports, particularly football. After some years, I realized that all they needed to forge incipient unity as a batch was to let them have competitive matches with outside teams. Soon, certain individuals shine and take over as informal leaders. Sooner or later, one or two particular players become MVPs (Most Valuable Player) in their own right and prove indispensable to keep the team together.

       The former act very much like foundation stones, while the latter become the equivalent of the capstone that holds the team together. Both, however, are responsible for making the team grow in skills and strategies.

       Becoming a Church is a little like a team initially groping for unity and strength. We need people like Simon and Jude, whom Paul describes as foundation stones. But important as they may be, foundation stones need much more to complete the edifice. We, as Church, need Christ, the capstone that holds the whole structure together.

         Young seminarians may find a common cause in football, but more than just football is needed to make them form “a worthy dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” They don’t need just a captain. They need a capstone: Christ! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: What or who is the capstone of your life? Of your family? Of your team?

 

Be the capstone of my life, Lord.

 

Who is your role model in your spiritual life? - Daily Reflections October 26,2014

BE A MODEL

 

The Gangnam style of dancing, popularized by the Korean, Psy, more than two years ago had the enviable reputation of being the first ever YouTube hit to pierce through the billion mark just a few months after it was posted. But the more remarkable phenomenon was the sheer number of young and not-so-young people who took to the same style of dancing.

       It was a perfect example of mimesis — the very reality that Paul today, in the Second Reading, speaks about. The Greek word is related to mimicking, or imitating what is done by others.

        People tend to mimic what they see, especially if they see them done by iconic individuals, media celebrities or just about everyone, who, by office, position or role, is considered a role model for young people.

       I remember a classmate back in college who idolized a German priest. The missionary priest was a scientist, a musician, a polyglot and a storyteller, all rolled into one. My classmate not only got very enthused about science; he began at some point to mimic the priest’s style of speaking, his thick German accent, and his mannerisms and idiosyncracies. He became, literally and figuratively, a mimetes — an imitator through and through.

       All this really points to the power we all have of influencing others in their thinking and behavior patterns, in their mentality and attitude, for better or for worse. Each one of us has that undeniable power of persuasion, not so much through what we say, as what they see us do. The hated scribes and Pharisees in the New Testament were notorious for what they eventually became — hypocrites who only talked but did not not walk their talk.

       We are called to do better than the preachy scribes and the picky Pharisees. We ought to be cautious and conscious of what we are all called to become — a model for all believers! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Who is your role model in your spiritual life?

 

Lord, thank You for the Apostles and saints who have gone before us. Their lives tell us that it is possible to follow You no matter what our circumstances are.

How are you as a team player? Do people normally want you in their team or not? If not, look into yourself to see why that is so.- Daily Reflections October 25,2014

UNTIL WE REACH THE STATURE OF CHRIST

 

Paul must have seen so many of those athletic competitions in progressive Corinth during his time. He spoke often about discipline, training, asceticism, and everything about “running the race” and “winning the prize” that he must have been very familiar with doing everything so as to win an earthly prize.

       Anyone who has joined a team to play ball and compete with other teams knows what it takes to even have a chance of making it to the semi-finals.

       The word that immediately comes to mind is “training.” But training alone does not clinch it. Individual talents and skills are not enough to put a team to the pinnacle of victory. Something more than just individual capacities is needed. This time around, what springs to mind is “teamwork.”

       St. Paul should know. There was a time he was not a team player. He acted single-handedly as Church persecutor at one time. After his dramatic conversion, he did become part of a tag team of disciples, and referred to himself as one “born out of the normal course” as an Apostle. As a team player, he even had the courage to call the attention of his team leader, Peter, when the latter was clearly in the wrong. Together, the college of Apostles learned. Together, they grew, building up the Body of Christ.

       As a band of brothers, their aim was clear: to attain the unity of faith. As a band of believers, their goal, too, was focused — mature manhood, all the way towards attaining the full stature of Christ.

       I have always been a poor athlete. Being competitive in that department was not exactly my forte. But athlete or not, I knew one thing early on about life in general — that for us “to get there,” we all need to learn to do things “together.”

       In this journey called life, be it in sports or in the spiritual life, we all need help and support from each other. We all need one another as we run towards fullness of stature in Christ! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How are you as a team player? Do people normally want you in their team or not? If not, look into yourself to see why that is so.

 

Lord, help me find a team that would support me in my journey to You.

How attuned are you to the Lord? - Daily Reflections October 24,2014

INTERPRETING THE TIMES

 

Farmers who are close to the soil and to nature can teach us so many lessons. They look at the patterns in the world of nature and adjust their sowing and planting accordingly.

       They are experts at interpreting the times.

       But life being what it is, a complex but supposedly an integrated whole, we need to grow in our capacity for attunement to everything that goes on — be it on the natural and the supernatural planes. Farmers and fisher folk ought to be attuned to weather patterns. Not to do so could prove disastrous and can cause not just the loss of a livelihood, but also precious human life. I remember hiking up a mountain together with some seminarians from Papua New Guinea many years ago. Coming as they did from a mostly undeveloped place, they were very much at home in the forest. They knew how to read “signs” in things that I didn’t even notice before. It was not a problem for them to find their way through thick thickets and unbeaten tracks, like it was second nature to them.

       They were experts at interpreting the signs and the times. Many of us now are co-opted by so many conflicting ideologies. In our times marked by complexity and pluralism, whatever is the latest, whatever is mouthed by the most popular showbiz personality is taken hook, line and sinker by the unsuspecting masses, possibly including those who are highly educated. Mainstream media, owned and managed by the same ruling elite, are the contemporary times’ tool for mass manipulation.

       The times call for more than just shallow attunement. They call, too, more importantly, for attachment — to objective truth, first and foremost. Said truth may not necessarily be what is conveyed by the mainstream and popular media. But we need to be wise and prudent, and work for both attunement and attachment to Him who is Lord of all times and seasons. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How attuned are you to the Lord?

 

Grant me the grace to be faithful in listening to Your will for me every day, Lord.

Is your heart on fire with love for God? - Daily Reflections October 23,2014

FIRE ON EARTH

 

Back in the day when environmental awareness was far from everyone’s mind, every camping trip would be incomplete without the obligatory campfire. I should know. I worked for Catholic Scouting as a young priest before I got hooked on formation work. Everyone knows how a bonfire could help warm you up on a cold windy night up in Mount Kanlaon, for example, or even at the foothills of Makiling in Laguna. A bonfire, however, does not just warm you up physically; it also warms up the heart and fuels the drive for greater fellowship and deeper camaraderie. But above all, it could set people on fire with a burning desire to go down to the plains and apply what one learned over a few days of fun-filled training.

       Fire, too, is powerful beyond belief. It can be destructive and constructive at the same time. It can raze even good things to the ground but can purify everything in its path. Used rightly and well, the devouring flames could obliterate or cancel out all things negative and undesirable.

       This is precisely the idea behind the process of purifying even precious metals. They can only be freed from dross and other impurities by subjecting them to fire and heat. And what comes out is pure, refined gold or silver.

       Our recent history has shown that “business as usual” cannot, and does not, work. Being laid back, being unconcerned about the burning issues of our days, being oblivious of the multiplicity of ideologies and forces that take contemporary culture of postmodernity by storm, do not make the Church’s presence in the world efficacious and fruitful. We need to do more. We need to intensify our evangelizing efforts. We cannot just sit by and watch how showbiz culture gradually, but surely, pulls the rug from under our feet and co-opt young people to its manipulative ways.

         We need to allow the Lord to not only warm our hearts with good intentions. We need to set fire on earth and do our part in the Church’s call to new evangelization. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Is your heart on fire with love for God?

 

Send Your Holy Spirit, Lord, and enkindle my heart with love for You and Your people.

Do you belong to any spiritual group or community? Do you have any accountability partners who help you become more responsible? - Daily Reflections October 22,2014

MUCH MORE FROM THOSE WHO HAVE MORE

 

Responsibility could be a terrifying thing. No doubt, it gives honor to anyone who is entrusted with it. But as age-old wisdom puts it, with honor comes onus — burden! And with more responsibility comes even more load. The higher up one goes, the more burden he carries.

       This, of course, is true for so long as one is cognizant of the authentic nature of responsibility and authority — that is, entrusted to us by somebody else. One does not simply usurp authority and heap a burden upon one’s self. Who would do that in his right frame of mind? Why would anyone load himself with so much to carry and to be accountable for?

       This is precisely the burden associated with responsibility of the authentic kind, understood according to how the Gospel would have us understand. It becomes a burden on account of the ensuing accountability. Something usurped is that which one bestows to one’s self, and anything that is self-bestowed entails no accountability whatsoever.

       The kind of responsibility that is given, however, entails the burden of accountability. This may well be the reason why people are afraid of belonging to any group. Just look at the trend nowadays. Young people go to Church on Sundays, but whether they really “go to Mass” is highly debatable. They stand outside or sit by the sidelines, cooped up in their inner world marked by their inseparable connection with their smartphones. Referred to as “simbang tabi,” young people want to be physically there, without really being engaged. While they want to be always informed, they are never fully attuned.

       All this translates to a denial of responsibility and accountability that are connected with the great divorce between faith and life, or between believing and belonging. Today’s Gospel is a call to bridge this divide and put together responsibility and accountability. The truth of the matter is that the mere fact that you are reading this means we all have been given much, and much more is expected from us. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you belong to any spiritual group or community? Do you have any accountability partners who help you become more responsible?

 

Dear Lord, teach me to be more responsible with what You have given me, and to use the same for Your glory.

How welcoming are you to strangers? - Daily Reflections October 21,2014

NO LONGER STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS

 

We Filipinos are the new denizens of the world. Almost all of us have a relative or an acquaintance who works someplace else in this shrinking world. At least vicariously, we have an experience or two about being given temporary welcome to a place other than our own home.

       We know how it feels. Being a stranger in the midst of people who look at you precisely as one, and who make no secrets about their discomfort at having you around, is not a pleasant prospect. We feel different and not fully inserted into the culture. At times, we feel unwelcome, rightly or wrongly.

       But most of us also have an experience of someone who came to our rescue and made us feel at home. They sat by us, walked us through as we tried to get our bearings in a seemingly hostile and strange world, and perhaps even gave us the means to start life anew in a place where we feel exactly like what St. Paul says: “alienated.”

       Truth to tell, we were once alienated from the community of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise. Owing to our sins, both personal and social, we literally estranged ourselves from God, ourselves, others and even from the natural world. How often do we feel powerless before the onslaught of nature that seems to rebel against the abuses humankind has wrought on it for so long? How often do we feel left out when, due to our own sins, we feel unworthy to belong and to worship in spirit and truth?

       But there is good news for us strangers today. That good news is not a concept but a concrete person in flesh and blood. In fact, He shed His blood literally for you and me. Among other things, at least that was so powerfully depicted in the great movie, The Passion of the Christ.

       Christian faith and life, however, is not just a movie. On account of the Blood of Christ, we are strangers and sojourners no more. We belong to Him. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How welcoming are you to strangers?

 

Thank You, Lord, for making me feel that I belong even if I don’t feel worthy at times to be called Your child.

Do you have a tendency to accumulate possessions? How attached are you to them? - Daily Reflections October 20,2014

RICH IN WHAT MATTERS TO GOD

 

Contrary to what people might think, the problem of postmodernity is not the people’s attachment to things and possessions. It is the opposite. People now are too detached from their possessions, for one reason — we have become a culture of consumers. In consumerism, William Kavanaugh tells us, the basic issue is not about having more, but about having something else. And so, the endless cycle of shopping till you drop takes place.

       Shopping has become a part of the phenomenon called addiction. People become addicted to something different, something unique, something quite unlike what the common masses have — and so the culture of the so-called signature items now rules the roost everywhere. Greed has taken on a new face, and it is not just about accumulating. It is all about being more, being different, being unique, and being a cut above the rest. This entails throwing away what you have so as to have the elusive something else.

       The Lord counsels us to be on guard against all greed, but it might just as well be being on guard against cupidity, against unbridled desire, against wanting not just more, but something else — something that the guy next to me doesn’t have. The quantitative aspect does not matter much anymore, but the qualitative, the patently unique and different.

       Greed now has shed off its love affair with having possessions that endure, but possessions that are not meant to last. The Gospel parable rings true: “I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.” It almost sounds like, “I will trade off this gadget and get the latest.” But six months later, the same cycle happens all over again.

       In the final analysis, whether we hold on to our possessions or throw them away at will after a short period of time, the exact same principle of greed is at work. The only difference is that the focus is not on something per se, but on something else.

       It may do us good to shift our focus on being “rich in what matters to God.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you have a tendency to accumulate possessions? How attached are you to them?

 

Tame my desires, Lord, that I may not be overly materialistic. Help me to focus more on what matters to You.

How do you balance your faith and the realities in your own world? - Daily Reflections October 19,2014

DELICATE BALANCING ACT

The Gospel passage today puts us face to face once more with the act of the Pharisees that earned for them the moniker “hypocrites.” They started with a classical act of flattery, followed by a question that was designed to entrap the respondent.

       It was a question that was meant to enrage either the Roman or the Jewish authorities. It was, in effect, a question that could have sounded like:  “Take your pick and declare your choice: Is it God or Caesar?” The Master was immediately thrust in between the classical horns of a dilemma, but He managed to skillfully put the burden on the questioner.

       The questioner may well be each one of us, confused and torn between so many conflicting allegiances that pull us from all sides. There’s the pull of the ultra-liberals, who preach about believing while not belonging, being avowedly pro-God while being out and out pro-choice (read: for themselves). There’s the pull, too, of the ultra-conservatives for whom the only important thing is correctness in rote ritual. There, too, is the pull of postmodernity and globalization, where truth is seen as never “out there” but in the hearts and minds of everyone. Everyone creates or constructs his own truth. But there, too, is the pull of “technologism,” where solutions are believed to be within the reach of everyone who knows how to google and use what technological gizmos and gadgets can offer.

       Welcome to the world in “cultural decline,” where the world of the intangibles, the invisible realm of values and virtues, has been effectively obliterated due to the onslaught of metaphysical and moral materialism.

       You and I are situated in such a world. Our faith is being challenged on all sides, and our commitment to believe and belong translates into a delicate balancing act, not unlike what the Lord faced. We need to pledge allegiance to both cross and crown. Faith also means defining where one’s duty to crown ends, and where duty to the cross begins. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you balance your faith and the realities in your own world?

Lord, help me to achieve a healthy balance between being in the world and keeping my eyes focused on eternal life.

Are you for real — inside and out? - Daily Reflections October 18,2014

BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN

 

I love to cook, but baking is beyond my ken. But I do know that the leaven, though practically invisible and inedible in itself, is behind the miracle of the bread becoming eventually palatable. Leaven works in the background. It does its work quietly, unobtrusively and slowly but surely.

       The Lord today warns us of the leaven of the Pharisees. It would be pointless now to be wary of the same Pharisees He was referring to in His time, but the focus is not so much on the person of the Pharisees, as what they stand for then — and now.

         The key word is hypocrisy. We have to be wary of hypocrisy — the quintessential Pharisaical attitude. And that, my dear friends, was not and is not the monopoly of the Pharisees. A hypocrite is one who acts or pretends to be someone else. The word ordinarily came to mean someone who pretends to be good on the outside while being really evil, or at least not that good, on the inside.

       The Lord warns us about the leaven of the Pharisees, which He points out as hypocrisy. It means there is an added element, and that new element has to do with the subtle manipulation, the stealth and the subterfuge that one can do to work at cross purposes with another.

         We all could be little hypocrites at any given time; yes, including the proponent of the “Padre Damaso” stunt almost two years ago, in which, through subtle and not-so-subtle manipulation of timing, place and media exposure, the protester managed to get the attention and the misguided sympathy of people who probably didn’t even know Padre Damaso from Adam.

         It was a stunt, as subtle and quietly manipulative, of people’s superficial understanding of the infamous character from Rizal’s novel. In the end, he became the very Damaso he was denouncing, not unlike what manipulative media really does now to the unsuspecting audience.

       Beware of the leaven! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you for real — inside and out?

 

Dear Lord, grant me the courage to be always true to myself and to others.

 

What value do you put on seemingly useless things and, more importantly, weak and useless people? - Daily Reflections October 17,2014

OF GOD AND GRANDMOTHERS

 

I wonder how many of us now really value the five-centavo or even the 10-centavo coins. For one, they are so small. Second, they are practically worthless, for there is absolutely nothing now that you can buy with them.

       I remember a time when the segment of Taft Avenue in Manila fronting the Philippine General Hospital was lined with huge acacia trees. To a child’s mind then, the avenue was such a wide thoroughfare, so spacious, airy and shady. It had another memorable trait.  Sparrows filled the air, the shady trees, and the ground where we waited for our bus ride to Mendez, Cavite.

       They were so commonplace, so visible, yet unnoticed. And they were so many. We didn’t mind them at all. How do you value something so available, so numerous, and so worthless in your eyes? What does one do to so many moths during the onset of the rainy season, apart from letting them die when the sun comes back in the morning?

       What a good teacher the Lord is! He found use for something so useless and worthless. He found meaning in a reality that does not merit a second look. He found it useful to make the lowly sparrow a stepping stone towards increasing our self-worth and self-image vis-à-vis the loving God.

       I guess love is really that, essentially. It is all about loving even seemingly useless things. My grandmother loved us truly. She kept away and stored everything she found lying around: a hair clip, a paper clip, a piece of string, a used paper bag. She kept and stored everything “useful” for some rainy day, not for herself, but for us. Guess who came to our rescue when we were looking frantically for a clip, or a piece of cloth, or the like!

       God and grandmothers! They sure are alike in at least one thing. They both value even the valueless — for love. Even though we may feel like worthless little paper clips, or useless five-centavo coins, Someone up there loves us and cares for us. God values me and you and, mind you, we are worth more than many paper clips. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: What value do you put on seemingly useless things and, more importantly, weak and useless people?

 

Lord, thank You for still loving me and making me feel worthy despite my unworthiness because of my transgressions.

Do you have a tendency to criticize a lot and catch other people’s mistakes? - Daily Reflections October 16,2014

CATCH THE GOOD

 

It almost seemed like the Lord was picking on the scribes, the Pharisees and the scholars of the Law. Yet one more time, our Gospel passage puts them at center stage, with the Lord giving them a mouthful. He was preaching, in and out of season, and He told them like it is. But the same passage tells us how His interlocutors plotted to catch Him in everything He says.

       Today, I am aghast at what I see every day in the world of social networking and liberal mainstream media. I see how so many sensationalists, passing off as legitimate journalists, seem to wait for the Holy Father’s latest faux pas, the latest misstep, and the most juicy statement, which they invariably take out of context in order to push their liberal agenda or sow intrigue and confusion in the minds of readers.

         When Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI announced last year that he was stepping down from office, such a tendency to put color into every event in the Catholic Church became very obvious. The major news networks were abuzz, calling in one “Vatican observer” or “Vatican expert” after another, trying to squeeze from everyone their take on “what is really going on” in the “secretive” Vatican enclaves. All this in order to impress upon the masses a less than holy and sacrosanct Church, now painted and alluded to as breeding ground of all forms of corruption and deceit, or at the very least a Church “no longer in touch with postmodernity.”

       How times have changed and how they have remained the same! The modern-day “scholars of the law” have been very busy looking at the Church’s flaws and failings, while closing their eyes on the good She does in all times and cultures. A group of them has even sued the Vatican in the international courts, for violations against human rights!

         What about plotting to catch the good in what everybody says or does? Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you have a tendency to criticize a lot and catch other people’s mistakes?

 

Forgive me, Lord, for the times I was too uncharitable to others and saw only their weaknesses and failures.

When things get rough or don’t go your way, do you hold on to your faith, trusting that God knows best and He is in control of everything? - Daily Reflections October 15,2014

ON THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH

 

I had a very sad but blessed Christmas two years ago. Two days before Christmas, I was called to do the anointing of a former religious, also a former protégé in the seminary, who was dying of a mysterious disease that made his brain swell, his stomach bleed and made him lose his ability to talk and to control his movements. After one week in a coma, he came to, just as soon as I laid hands on him and gave him the anointing. He was trying to tell me so many things. No words came out of him except what I perceived to be the word F-A-T-H-E-R! And after smiling to us all, he went right back to “sleep” and died about 12 hours later.

       He was the only source of livelihood for his family back in Eastern Samar, for whom he had a lot of plans and dreams. He had sent a sister to school and primed a brother’s little business, and started building his parents’ house, from a decrepit nipa house to one of sturdier materials. He had long wanted to help his youngest brother, who was progressively getting blind. All this, he did, in a short span of about eight years. He planned to put up a bakery to enable his siblings to help themselves.

       But all that was not meant to be. When I attended his funeral in Samar, I saw the simple faith and the admirable sense of Christian resignation of his family. They knew for certain they had lost a valuable lifeline, not just a beloved son and brother. Their earthly hopes were dashed when their son or brother just fell in a heap — stressed out and overworked, but fulfilled to have been their support. I was edified by their faith.

       Other people I know can boast of so many things: college degrees, well-paying jobs, intelligence, friends in high places, and so much more. But I saw in my spiritual son, Renan, and his simple family the capacity for so much more.

       “What occasion is there for boasting?” It is based not on “works” but “rather on the principle of faith.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: When things get rough or don’t go your way, do you hold on to your faith, trusting that God knows best and He is in control of everything?

 

Lord, always remind me that my faith in You is the most important lifeline that I can ever have in my life.

Are you more concerned about performing the rituals of your faith than in fulfilling the spirit behind them? - Daily Reflections October 14,2014

FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE

 

Yesterday, our reflection was about tuning out the non-essentials and focusing on the one important sign — our belief in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

       Let’s face it, we are barraged on all fronts with so many stimuli. We face a daily information overload. We are connected 24/7. We are wired to an endless glut of data. Even our cell phones are clogged with ads informing us of the latest gadget, the best deal, the newest condo units available, etc. Twitter constantly tweets the latest about the people we are following or the people following us.

       In the United States, one funny phenomenon I saw everywhere in my stay there is their use of the garage. They are filled, not with cars (that sit out at the mercy of sun, sleet or snow) but with oodles of toilet paper, paper towels, and an endless variety of knick-knacks bought on sale at wholesale clubs. More often than not, those items eventually end up in garage sales.

       Like the Pharisees, we too are taken up by the non-essentials, by empty rituals (like the obligatory mall sale, the growing fad of the obligatory “fun run,” and the annual ritual of holding on to the rope that connects one to the Black Nazarene, etc.). Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying any of them is bad in and of itself.

       But they do tell us how thinly spread we are on account of the 1,001 things we need to attend to. The Pharisees did precisely that. They reveled in the minute details of the Law and forgot about its spirit. They focused on the external trappings and missed on the internal, mostly unseen, reality.

       Today, we are reminded about this greater but invisible reality of our faith, which goes beyond mere external observance. It is not just a matter of having one’s self circumcised and then missing out on “observing the entire law.” Keeping cups and dishes clean on the outside is good, but nothing quite takes the place of “faith working through love.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you more concerned about performing the rituals of your faith than in fulfilling the spirit behind them?

 

Lord, grant me the grace to express my faith through acts of love for my neighbor.

 

What sign or signs do you focus on in spiritual life? Do they point you to Jesus? - Daily Reflections October 13,2014

A SIGN ABOVE ALL SIGNS

 

The Lord seemed disappointed with His audience, calling them “an evil generation,” always seeking for signs.

       I wonder where that would leave many of us who are so obssessed by all sorts of signs: zodiac signs, feng shui, tarot cards, fortune tellers, etc. I am reminded of the confusing traffic signs that abound in the Philippines. Sometimes, they are professionally done, etched in sheet metal, properly mounted, brightly painted, but oftentimes wrongly pointed. As is true all over the archipelago, some bum or drunkard vandalizes them, and the purpose for which they were made is not served at all.

       But what may be worse than wrongly pointed or missing signs is the surfeit of signs everywhere. More than irritated, one is actually confused. When out looking for a street name or a building, one’s visual acuity is impaired by so many conflicting signs, drowned out by even bigger tarpaulins that have become a sub-culture in the country.

       One literally has to focus only on some or on one. One has to be discriminating and tune out all the others that crowd his field of vision. The Lord did this for His audience. He promised to give them only one sign: that of Jonah. Jonah was entombed in the belly of the whale and came out of it unscathed. It pointed to no less than Jesus Himself, who also would be entombed in the belly of the earth and, after three days, would rise again to a new life.

         At times, I am not just confused but saddened by so many conflicting signs I see: massive poverty alongside even more massive ignorance and lack of education; a culture of mass manipulation by a subservient mainstream media; a culture of impunity in a dysfunctional political system heavily populated by just a few families; a Church that is also for the most part made up of highly sacramentalized but poorly evangelized constituents, etc. I need to focus on only one. Jesus died and rose for you and me. I, too, will rise again! This is all that matters. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: What sign or signs do you focus on in spiritual life? Do they point you to Jesus?

 

Lord, thank You for being the Sign that humanity has long waited for. May we always rely on You and not on the conflicting and confusing signs around us.