Daily Reflections - June 30,2013

WHO I AM AND WHO I AM NOT

 

I don’t know about you, but at times, I behave exactly like the two hotheads, James and John. Referred to, rather appropriately, as the “sons of thunder,” the two brothers were true to form when they said indignantly, “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” That was vindictiveness at its best, and at its worst. They probably meant well, for after all, their Master was rebuffed by the Samaritans, whom any true-blooded Jew then did not look too kindly on. The Gospel account is clear. Jesus would not hear any of it. He actually rebuked them.

       I take it they were stopped dead in their tracks. I take it the Lord was teaching them on what it meant to be a loyal follower. Loyalty was a good thing, of course, but obedience to the tenets of discipleship was another.

       As a priest, I have to take a stand on a multiplicity of issues. As a professor of Moral Theology, taking such a stand comes with the territory. It is all part of the package. I cannot stand by idly, while I know that “big ticket items” are being trampled upon, muddled, or lost in the welter of partisan politics or sacrificed on the altar of sordid personal economic gain. While I submit a lot of such issues, including and most especially pro-life issues, are intertwined with a train of other big issues like social justice, poverty and business ethics, I am duty-bound by my ordination, and by my vocation and avocation, to take a stand and take the official side of a teaching Church.

       All these, for one simple reason: I am not the Master. I am not the Lord.  I am but a follower. And although at times, I would rather do a James or a John, and call down “fire and brimstone” from above, I need to do better than to give in to fiery and shallow emotions. I need to take my cue from Him and Him alone. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you usually give in to the human tendency to act on your emotions, especially negative ones?

 

Lord Jesus, You showed us Your gentle spirit. May we learn from You

Daily Reflections - June 28,2013

POWER WORDS

 

Words are really powerful beyond belief. Schools have mottos, and people have their own favorite aphorisms, sayings, or watchwords. Letran has “Arriba,” which roughly means “go up higher,” while La Salle has “Animo,” which is an exhortation to boost up that undefined “spirit” of courage and grit. We in Don Bosco have our own “Forza,” which also meant to boost up the spirit of courage and collective strength. Words tend to become reality and, as someone said, if you think you are lousy, then you are probably right!

       A leper suddenly comes to accost the Lord. Is he being cheeky or pushy? Neither. He knows what he wants, knows his place, and knows with certainty that the One he is asking a big favor from is capable of granting him his request.

       What do you think would one who does not believe do? Isn’t this obvious? He simply won’t draw near, ask, or even bother. If one thinks he cannot be helped, then he is probably right.

       Our faith is confronted daily with so many seeming impossibilities. Like we reflected on yesterday, even Christian faith and systematic theology seem incapable of overhauling the firmly entrenched culture of sin, death and destruction in our society.

       For all his apparent cheekiness and cocksure certainty, the leper really teaches us a lesson. He shows us what claiming something in faith and prayer is all about. “You can cure me, if you will it, Lord.” He uttered that prayer with the confidence of a child sure of a parent’s care and concern, and with the certainty of an adult who simply knows, deep in his heart, that what one asks will be given.

       We live in a world permeated by doubt. The leper shows us that words of faith are powerful. “Heal me, for I know you can.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do your words reflect your faith? Do they build up, and not tear down?

 

Help me to always believe that Your words, Lord, are more powerful than all the voices I hear in the world.

Daily Reflections - June 27,2013

SOLIDLY SET ON ROCK?

 

Last year, I had one of the saddest experiences of my life. I brought a group of young priests for their quarterly ongoing formation to the twin tragedy sites of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, ravaged by typhoon Sendong. As we passed through the areas literally leveled by rampaging waters, or houses flattened by logs that acted like projectiles, washed down by the raging floods from the mountains, I was speechless and close to tears.

       The most depressing sight was that of a middle class subdivision made up of newly constructed and relatively beautiful houses, all standing as mute witnesses not only to the power and fury of nature, but also to the destructiveness of sin, particularly human greed and the wanton destruction of the forests, for love of sordid gain.

       The houses, I must say, were literally built on solid rock. They were supposed to be sturdy and sure, constructed of what we Pinoys love to refer to as materiales fuertes. But in the case of Iligan, it was not difficult to see that it was not the cascading waters that did the subdivision in, but thousands of heavy logs that acted like huge battering rams. The houses made of relatively strong materials were simply no match to the battering rams of greed, selfishness and the irresponsible ways of fellow human beings whose consciences were weak.

       Someone wrote about the “seeming incapacity of Christian faith” to counteract the seeping forces of structural evil in all aspects of our so-called civil lives. The culture of corruption has a firmly entrenched foothold in our society. All we can do now is ask ourselves if we are part or not of this culture of death and destruction.

       Most likely, we all are. We are all in it together. Now is the time for us to realize that not all those who call on Him, “Lord, Lord,” are worthy of the Kingdom. Whose house is set on rock, then? Those who believe and behave accordingly. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: In what ways, big or small, do you contribute to the culture of death and destruction of our society?

 

Teach me, Lord, to behave as I believe.

Daily Reflections - June 25,2013

WATERING HOLES AND NARROW GATES

 

The story of Abram and Lot is a familiar one — a story of conflict and choice. It probably revolved around precious water sources, and the resolution required that both agree to disagree and choose which part each wanted for himself. Lot’s choice fell on what I, honestly, would have also chosen myself! Who would not want well-manicured lawns and well-watered gardens to pamper oneself with?

       The nobler one was left with the inferior portion of the property. One man’s choice meant the narrowing down of options for the other, and Abram probably felt that what loomed ahead of him was nothing more than a narrow gate that led to no abundant watering holes.

       But life is not only about choosing and deciding for oneself, no matter how seemingly brilliant and rewarding it may be. Life is also about opening oneself to being surprised by God, to allowing oneself to be led, and letting someone else’s plan unfold. Lot may have gained the better part, but Abram received the greater portion. God’s call for Abram to become the father of a multitude of nations unfolded and attained fulfillment, despite the seeming loss, the apparent defeat, and what seemed to have been the shorter end of the stick.

       While I know very well that, in life, “you win some; you lose some,” there were times when I thought that I was getting the shorter end  of the stick once too often, and cheaters actually win more games. And, in the rough and tumble world of reality, corrupt politicians seem to continue laughing their way to the bank. Good boys finish last, and all I saw before me was a narrow gate that seemed to lead nowhere.

       Lot may have called the shots, but he does not get to write the final chapter. Good boys finish last, but they are never lost. “Enter through the narrow gate. How few there are who find it.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How open are you to surprises from the Lord? Do you allow yourself to be led by the Lord? How do you react when someone else’s plans get fulfilled?

 

Surprise me, Lord, and lead me to Your plans for my life.

Daily Reflections - June 24,2013

BEING GREAT, BEING HOLY

 

It’s funny how very staunch Catholics now fall for the fad popularized by the big media networks — feng shui! Of late, rival networks have been bringing in so-called experts from Hong Kong and elsewhere to bring the “good news” of feng shui.

       Feng shui, horoscopes, astrology — they are all alike. Unknown forces, undefined factors (to the uninitiated) are manipulated, given a semblance of control or modified, in the hope that they would lead towards a desired goal and future or, at the very least, avoid the undesirable ones. While they all can be given a thin veneer of spirituality and made to appear compatible with Christian faith, they really have nothing to do with faith in a personal God, who is the ultimate Lord of history and author of our glorious destiny.

       St. John the Baptist was a great man by any standard. There is greatness in being simple and humble. I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt who once said this: “Nothing is simpler than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” Still, that greatness starts from the pole of the human, the earthly, from the individual himself, who happens to have that particular virtue.

       Let us look at it from the vantage point of God. This time, what do we see? I see a God who chooses. I see a God who calls. I see, too, a God who qualifies whom He calls. And what do I learn? I learn that this God who chooses and calls is the very same One who forms, prepares and qualifies the called.

       It happened with John the Baptist. “Yahweh called me when I was in the womb; before my birth He had pronounced my name.” His simplicity brought him greatness, but God’s call gave him much more than greatness. I learn that God and man need to work together, and John the Baptist is a shining example of the triumph of God’s grace and human effort. Holy. Simple. Great. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: God is calling you. Are you ready to be formed?

 

Thank You, Lord, for calling me to service. Thank You also for preparing me for my mission. I offer everything to You.

Daily Reflections - June 23,2013

ALL ABOUT HIM, ALL ABOUT US

 

The focus of most reflections today would be Jesus’ question: “Who do you say I am?” For once, I would like to do a reverse and focus on its flip side: “Who do you say you are?” The former is all about Him; the latter is all about us.

       Both are questions of great importance. They are questions of identity, and identity affects everything that we are and do. Identity has far ranging consequences. If one does not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, then one’s behavior will be in accordance with that denial or non-acceptance.

       I have been a priest and preacher long enough to know that, in many cases in life, “it takes two to tango.” A capable public speaker performs better on account of what is known as “audience sympathy.” A good teacher becomes even better in the presence of receptive students who are willing to learn, just as much as the teacher is willing to impart knowledge. A good master interacts well with good disciples, and a leader could only lead well in proportion to the subjects’ capacity to show allegiance and loyalty.

       While the Lord’s question to the disciples is, as theologians put it, a “Christological” question, the latter is a simple question that is aimed directly at the heart, not mind, of each one of us. It’s time we also look at ourselves closely as we reflect on this issue of Jesus’ identity.

       Some years ago, a Church leader, speaking about the emerging political problems occasioned by so much “hatred” for the top leader, hit the nail right on the head when he said, “It’s not so much a problem of leadership, as a problem of the led.”

       Let us look at ourselves. I think that for the most part, readers of this book already know and confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior, as Peter confessed. But we do need to ask ourselves: “Who are we as His disciples?” “Who are we as His followers?” That is the question! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Who are you as Jesus’ follower?

 

I take my identity from You, Lord. May my life reflect that identity and may it be pleasing to You.

 

Daily Reflections - June 21,2013

BOAST, DARE and DO

 

There were just too many boasters around — false preachers riding on the crests of their emerging popularity. Too many lies, half-truths and preposterous claims, along with not just a few accusations and subtle innuendoes against Paul. All this proved too much for him.

       Paul needed to meet them on their own turf. Paul decided to call their bluff and challenge their claims, right in their home territory, using the very methods they employed. Paul thus became “all things to all men.” Remember? He went straight into the lions’ den and preached where the educated people of his time gathered — at the Areopagus!

       And so he dared to boast, and talked about his heritage (a Roman citizen); his service record (been there, done that); his dangers and

deprivations (shipwrecks and all); his daring escapades and even ecstatic experiences, along with his pastoral concerns. Name it, Paul had it. Dare him, they did, and Paul proved himself up to the challenge.

       The Catholic Church has been taking a beating of late. In this country, the Church has been called all sorts of names, criticized as being not attuned to the times, and given up as a hopelessly backward community of clueless clerics.

       We need to do as Paul did. We need to rightly boast, and boast rightly in the Lord. We need to tell the world of God’s great love. We need to inform the secularized world that we don’t just dare and dream, but that we do what we dream about. We claim and we believe. And thousands upon thousands of saints and martyrs, including our very own San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila and St. Pedro Calungsod, lived and died for what they believed in. Even now, in many places all over Europe, Pinoys dare, dream, and do as their faith dictates. Now is the time to boast, and boast rightly in the Lord! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you like Paul who dared to dream and did what he dreamt about?

 

I pray for the courage, Lord, to dream great things. Empower me with Your grace to make them come true.

Daily Reflections - June 20,2013

WILL, KINGDOM, NAME

 

Bread, pathways, forgiveness and deliverance — these are things we ask the Lord for in the “Our Father.” Give us bread for today only, not for tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. We need worry only about today. But like the clueless hiker, who misses the forest for the trees, we pray for enlightenment, too. Show me the way, not “show me the money.” This is our second request. But the way is fraught with danger. Life is full of challenges. Other teachings can disturb us, and even “super apostles” can mislead us, or all we look for is money. And so we have a third and a fourth plea to the Father: “Forgive us, and deliver us from the enticements of evil – and money.”

       Does anybody resonate with the abovementioned requests addressed to the Father? I know I do. I need food to survive and continue doing my work (though not much of sugar, salt and fat). I know I need some kind of global positioning system (GPS) in my life. Life could be full of questions,  and I have no clear-cut ready answers for everything. I can’t even find my way back to the parking lot at the Mall of Asia. I know I need money, too, to do my mission, even as I need to be delivered from too much love of food and money.

       But wait, man does not live on bread alone but neither is a well-paved road enough, or the latest GPS, or a well-appointed map! We also know very well that the mere absence of problems is not sufficient. We need something more positive and concrete. We need to do three things: focus on His will, work for the Kingdom, and give glory to His name!

       Bread and all material things are meant to be means, not ends. Maps and pathways are not meant to be destinations, but guides.  Deliverance does not mean we have arrived, but simply reminds us we are still on the way. We need God. Period. His will. His Kingdom. His Name. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: What are your fervent requests from our Father? Do they lead you to His will, to build His Kingdom and to glorify His Name?

 

Jesus, thank You for listening to my prayers, but You know what’s best for me.

Daily Reflections - June 19,2013

GENEROSITY ENRICHED

 

Having been assigned for many years in the seminary, I know what being in perpetual want is all about. Like everywhere else in the world, there is never enough money, I guess. Even individuals listed among the Fortune 500 need to continue working so as to remain in the list and do more of what they already are doing a lot of. Do you think they would continue working if they had “enough” money?

       Seminaries all over the country are needy. Buildings are often run-down, facilities crumbling, and resources dwindling. When I was in-charge of one, an activity we could not do without was fund-raising. Having done so many of such, I guess I am entitled to a few impressions about the matter. Let me enumerate some.

       First of all, those who talk too much are not necessarily those who give, period. Let us not talk of much or little. They simply don’t give. Second, those who are vociferous against such fund-raisings, especially when done by clerics or religious, are precisely those who cannot be expected to give. Thirdly, those who do give, tend to do so quietly, unobtrusively. Fourth, those who give are not necessarily the richest, or those who are expected to have a lot of money. For the most part, those who give are those who could also use the money in some other way, but choose not to.

       But I would like to add a fifth, if I may. A number of those who go out of themselves, and give, are those who claim that their generosity is enriched all the more. These are the ones who tell the world how blessed they have become because they have blessed others by their generosity. They are like biblical trees planted near running water. They are like the lowly unassuming coconuts that give their all, and continue to be blessed with fruits in abundance. Some of those people are our readers. God be praised for them, and thanks to them, “who scattered abroad and gave to the poor; their justice endures forever.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How has your generosity, or lack of it, affected your life?

 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for blessing me abundantly. I want to give more — because all I have is really Yours.

Daily Reflections - June 18,2013

RICH AND ABOUNDING IN CHARITY

 

To say that St. Paul was hemmed in from all sides is an understatement. To say that he loved the people he worked for is to state it weakly. Paul loved the Corinthians deeply.

       It is hard to love people who make you suffer. It is difficult to be nice to individuals who tear your life apart, or at least impute evil intentions to everything you do. It must have been hard to love the Corinthians. Despite St. Paul’s efforts, the Corinthians never really left behind their fractious and factionalist ways. We reflected yesterday on how he had to “wield righteousness with right hand and left,” as he faced terrific odds while doing ministry for the Gospel.

       Last year, I was personally touched by a man who, after being physically maltreated by another bigger and stronger man owing to a minor traffic altercation, found it in his heart to forgive the latter and chose not to file charges. The whole drama of disproportionate and unbridled anger was caught on CCTV and seen by scores of people who eventually sympathized with the smaller, weaker, but obviously emotionally stronger man who never lost his dignity one bit.

       St. Paul had every reason in the world to write to the Corinthians “in tears.” On account of their behavior, Paul was bereft of any form of human consolation from them. The Corinthians had precious little in their emotional bank account for Paul. But what the Apostle tells the Gentiles convicts me, and the actions of that forgiving man, who was manhandled by some spoiled brat, impresses me deeply.

       Paul speaks glowingly of people in dire need (in Macedonia) who “produced abundant generosity” despite being “in the midst of severe trial and deep poverty.” He counseled the Corinthians to be as “rich and abounding in charity.” For that was what Paul was: as magnanimous as he was generous, like Christ who, “for [our] sake made himself poor, so that [we] may become rich.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you tend to get even with people who hurt you? What can be a more Christian response?

 

Teach me to be more forgiving, Lord, as You are forgiving and merciful to me.

 

Daily Reflections - June 17,2013

WIELDING IT LEFT AND RIGHT

 

St. Paul’s image of wielding the weapons of righteousness “with right hand and left” reminds me of someone who could write with both hands. Ambidextrous, we call him. But there is more to what St. Paul says today than mere ambidexterity. He really talks of challenges from both sides, of extreme trials that weak individuals cannot probably handle.

       As a counselor, I tend to read events and passages of Scripture from both psychological and theological standpoints. I can almost feel the emotions of St. Paul, accused of many things by his detractors. Faced with what he calls “trials, difficulties, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, [and] riots; hard work, sleepless nights, [and] fastings,” I know that he has his hands full. He needed both hands to cope and to plod through his own experience of “sweat, and care, and cumber; sorrows passing number.”

       Last year, something similar happened to me. My attempts at educating the young were met, not just with vehement opposition, but downright accusation. When I told them that they ought to spend their money with social responsibility and prudence in mind, some anonymous parents accused me of “theft of student funds.” That was the first time in my 37 years as an educator that I experienced something so unfair and so uncalled for. I was reminded of the Danish movie, Haevnen (In a Better World), where the adult main character, though unjustly and physically maltreated by another narcissistic and abusive man, “wielded the weapons of righteousness with right hand and left,” exactly like Christ, like St. Paul, who remained true to his word: “We avoid giving anyone offense so that our ministry may not be blamed.”

       The world can sometimes be a cruel place and life can be unfair, despite what Scripture says about the innate goodness of man. People can rob us of our dignity and dash our good name to the ground. Let Paul remind us: “We seem to have nothing, yet everything is ours!” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you handle opposition and persecution as you go about your ministry?

 

Lord, people may pull me down, but with You by my side, I know that nothing can ever destroy me.

Daily Reflections - June 14,2013

SPEAK OUT FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE!

 

The counselor in me comes out as I read this passage from Paul. Anguished, maybe even angered, by certain accusations from people he so loved, Paul makes an impassioned self-defense. I am sure you and I can relate to Paul. Who among us have not experienced being afflicted, crushed, persecuted and struck down at some point? What father among us did not have to stand up for his little child? What mother in our midst did not have to fight for her little angel’s rights? What student did not experience having to beg for grades that were legitimately his when a teacher made a gross oversight?

       I am a very timid person. I hesitate to complain, even if I have the right to. I am a very poor customer, because I am the best example of one who should take to heart the old Latin saying, “caveat emptor” or “buyer beware,” because I hardly have the heart to complain about some lousy thing I get.

       But being timid is one thing, and being resilient, patient and longsuffering is another. Timidity is a personality flaw, and I am “guilty as charged!”

       St. Paul was a learned man by any standard. He was a capable man, a “jack-of-all-trades,” one who eked out a living for himself without relying on anyone else. He was a Roman citizen and was conversant in several

languages. He was passionate beyond compare, and zealously fought for what was right and preached with all his might.

       But like you and me, he, too, had seen life. Accused of being an insincere hypocrite, he took up his own defense and spoke out with the vehemence of love and the force of truth. The counselor in me reaches out to him. The timid man in me identifies and resonates with his experience, and I learn one great lesson: to speak out on account of one’s belief! That is a virtue, plain and simple. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you afraid or courageous in speaking out on account of your belief?

 

Develop in me, Lord, a courageous spirit that I may not be afraid to speak out when needed.

 

Daily Reflections - June 13,2013

MINISTRY THROUGH GOD’S MERCY

 

Today is my late father’s birthday. He was named after St. Anthony. With his own father going blind very early on, my dad had to go through the school of hard knocks, and be a full-fledged farmer at age 11, with his only brother dying at a much younger age, a victim of typhoid fever. He had a lot of stories to tell us, most of which I don’t remember anymore. But there was one that I cannot forget — how he decided to begin planting coffee as a boy, a job that eventually sent us all to school in his adult life.

       He had a long-term vision, alright. But what I really admired was his courage and determination. By the grace of God, on the day most young men and women his age in our little town were garrisoned and murdered in cold blood by the Japanese, my grandmother’s premonition proved true. She told him not to go to work in the fields at Tagaytay. That saved him from certain death, which is exactly what befell scores of others whose bodies were thrown down the Tagaytay ridge overlooking the Taal volcano.

       I share this story because I learned from him the discipline of seeing with the eyes of faith, even if blessings are “veiled” by all sorts of difficulties. I learned from his simple and trusting faith to see beyond the trials of the moment and, despite the seeming impossibility, to see clearly what lay beyond, for there remains the hope of being “transformed from glory to glory into his very image by the Lord who is the Spirit.”

       Years later, as we were all growing up, his steadfast faith remained. He was, for some time, president of the parish council and, for many years, an active member of the Adoradores, despite his being a government   accountant by necessity and a farmer by vocation, even on weekends. I learned firsthand what it meant to “possess” some “ministry through God’s mercy,” and not “give in to discouragement.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How has your faith enabled you to go through your life’s trials?

 

Thank You, dear Jesus, for protecting me and seeing me through all the difficult situations in my life.

Daily Reflections - June 12,2013

SOLE CREDIT FROM GOD

 

I have been through some very treacherous climbs up mountains. I remember being really afraid once, as we wended our way down from Pulag via the Kabayan trail. One slip and you’d be a goner, as there was precious little to hold onto, save for loose little pebbles that rolled off the steep incline, down to the deep gorges.

       I have so many similar situations in life when, in retrospect, I knew I could not give real credit to myself for pulling them off, but to the invisible hand of an invisible but real God, who guided me, stayed by my side and kept me going. I am just being honest here — I am not that athletic, nor that brilliant, nor that gifted with instrumental skills to have done what I indeed have done over the past decades.

       Someone up there must have really been watching over me. When I was eight I was run over by a car. I almost drowned when I was just a little older. How I survived the first two years of my ministry as a 21-year-old brother in the boonies of Calamba is still beyond me. How I managed to keep body and soul together immediately after the notorious “snap elections” of 1986 is something I still consider to this day. It was nothing less than miraculous, given the fact that, just a few months before, an intoxicated and viciously angry military officer accosted me one night, brandishing a long firearm, ready to shoot me, for the simple reason that he came home one evening while his wife was busy in Church attending a meeting that I had presided at.

       I look back to so many blessings, so many “achievements.” I make Paul’s words my own, for sole credit can only come from God, who “has made me a qualified minister” in my own right. The psalmist takes up the slack for me, and today, I make this prayer mine, too, and hopefully yours: “Extol the Lord… Holy is the Lord, our God!” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Look back at your achievements in life, big and small. Can you honestly say you accomplished them solely through your own efforts?

 

Thank You, Lord, for always staying with me, prodding me on, leading me to the realization of Your mission for me.

 

Daily Reflections - June 11,2013

SALT GONE FLAT

 

 

I love cooking. I never did before, but necessity is not just a mother of invention, but also a sister of improvisation. Having worked in a place where household helps are a rarity, if not prohibitive, I have learned to improvise in the kitchen, not without success I must say. I learned enough to say a thing or two about salt.

       First of all, I cannot think of salt going flat. Commercial salt, sea salt, iodized salt and the latest craze, flavored salt — they don’t go flat; they just get soggy. Mined salt culled from the earth does get flat after being soaked repeatedly. But the real enemy of commercial, purified and processed salt is humidity.

       Salt has both preservative and antiseptic properties. When salt goes flat, it does none of that. It becomes incapable of preserving food from spoilage and contagion. Salt gone soggy, however, can still do all that. No matter how water-logged, salt can still do its other important function — lend flavor to food and render it palatable.

       The Lord calls His disciples “salt of the earth.” He wants them [us] to act as an antiseptic to a world now adrift in a sea of evil influences. Like salt, we Christian disciples and believers are called to give a distinct Christian flavor to life and contribute in building up of the Kingdom here and now.

       But at the risk of sounding a little irreverent, I would like to focus today on preserving the salt from being overcome by sogginess and humidity. I am referring to some realities of our world: ordained ministers gradually being co-opted by the prevailing culture of consumerism; lay Catholics being swayed by the tyranny of mainstream media; so-called Catholic teachers succumbing to the forces of liberal ideologies that water down the tenets of the faith.  

       Salt becomes inefficient and ineffective owing to sogginess, weighed down by the forces of moral relativism. This is just as bad, if not worse, than salt going flat — and the Christian message going pffft! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: As a Christian witness, have you become flat and ineffective like salt gone soggy?

 

I seek You, Lord, that I may always be a fresh and effective instrument in building Your Kingdom on earth.

 

Daily Reflections - June 9,2013

MOTU PROPRIO

 

One of the the so-called “ordinary” magisterial teachings of the Pope is called a motu proprio, which means a document that is written and promulgated by the Holy Father’s “own volition” of sorts, or moved entirely by his own personal decision. Lower in terms of authority to an apostolic exhortation, and definitely lower than an encyclical, a teaching issued motu proprio nevertheless deserves not an assent of faith, but a simple religious assent. In plain language, we Catholics also need to pay attention to what the Pope is saying through a motu proprio.

       Today’s Gospel refers to a similar motu proprio on the part of the Lord. Moved by compassion, Jesus did something that the First Reading prefigured — that is, raise a deceased young man to life, almost exactly like the prophet Elijah did. Gratuitously, graciously, freely, the Lord “had pity” on the woman, and told her, “Don’t cry!” He then proceeded to do the unthinkable and the unexpected — command the young man to “get up.” The woman had, by then, become a non-entity, among the poorest of the poor — a widow, who because of the death of her only son then, had become an instant pariah, condemned to live on the fringes of society. But the Lord took pity on her!

       My heart today goes out to all those who have lost everyone and everything in life. Early last year, just a few weeks after the typhoon Sendong tragedy that leveled parts of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in Northern Mindanao, I led a group of young priests to the sites. Many of us were close to tears. Thousands lost loved ones, belongings, sources of livelihood, an otherwise bright future, and all. There are no words to express what I felt.

       The Lord, too, was obviously moved, perhaps even to tears. But He did something more than shed tears. He did a motu proprio — a miraculous merciful and healing act. He took pity and acted accordingly. What about us? Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: When moved to do something marvelous for God and others, do we act on our own volition?

 

Grant me courage, dear God, to act as Your Spirit leads me.