Free to worship God without fear

Today's Gospel is on the Benedictus, Zechariah's prayer after the birth of his son John. We sing it every morning at Lauds. One of the lines says, "free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight, all the days of our life".
I am a Christian, and I consider it one of the biggest blessings of my life to be so.
But I am thinking, is the worship of God (any god for that matter), something natural to a human being, as natural as breathing?
I think it is.
Let me put it this way, all our decisions are based on some criteria. I think that the criterion that tops the rest is, sort of, what we consider "god" in our life.
As a Christian, I am called to more and more pattern my choices after that of Christ. No Christian perfectly embodies Christ's mind and heart. We are all on a journey of becoming better.
I think people misunderstand when they say they don't want to be enslaved by believing in God. We are already "enslaved" by something, call it God or something else. Even when we don't make decisions because we want to keep our options open, we are sort of enslaved by something; call it fear, uncertainty, a past experience.
The question is, "is this 'God' worth our loyalty?"

Easter people

In a world often paralyzed by fear and despair, we Christians have reason to hope. The road is not easy; the struggle is real. But we will rise.
The Resurrection of Jesus assures us that evil doesn't have the last word.
Saint Augustine said that we are Easter people and alleluia is our song.
Joy is an act of courage. Joy is an act of faith. Joy is God's gift.

Herod's massacre continues

What has ignited Herod's mad massacre of babies? One word, FEAR.
When Herod learned from the wise men, his chief priests and the scribes that an "infant king" was born, Herod was perturbed, and, interestingly enough as Matthew's Gospel continues, so was the whole Jerusalem.
Paradoxically, Herod was afraid of a baby.
Who is afraid of babies? Babies are one of the most helpless and unthreatening of creatures!
Herod was afraid of what This Baby represented: CHANGE. Jerusalem was perturbed because with a "change of kingship" their whole way of life is in peril.
And so the "massacre" continues to this day in many ways: unborn babies, displaced peoples, child soldiers, the elderly and the handicapped, "excess" labor force, trafficked people especially women, children. In short, all those who are a threat to a stable, easy and comfortable life.
But the massacre also happens when in subtle ways we "kill" people who, we think, are a "threat" to us, who force us to rethink our values and choices, who remind us that we are not the "center" of the world.
It is easy to judge Herod and other people, but before we point fingers at them, let us look at ourselves because we have blood in our hands, too. Because everytime I forget that I am responsible for others, be they near or far; that I am not the center of the world; that, regardless of race or creed, we are brothers and sisters of the same human family, I, too, am complicit in the massacre of innocents.

Mary's journey of faith

Mary, 2015 years ago, how were you feeling?
You must have, by that time, already heard of the emperor's decree that each man, and of course their family, had to go back to his original town for the census.
What was your reaction? Your date was very close, so you must not have been very happy with the turn of events.
Was it easy for you to say, "okay, let's go!"? Or did you also struggle, or a bit rebellious, or worried, wondering if you could, in that condition, go through that whole journey. Did you think about what you would have done should your due date come and you were still on the road? Have you wondered whether you would find a decent place, or whether Joseph's relatives would treat you well knowing the circumstances of your marriage?
I will never know how you felt then, Mary.
What I know is that you continued on the journey, in faith.

Face your fears

Face your fears. Monsters thrive in the dark.

The fear factor

I don't like it when evangelizers try to make people accept God by using the fear factor. Indeed, I am turned off. They shouldn't even be called evangelizers. Evangelizers are supposed to be carriers of the good news, and anything that builds on fear or ignorance is never a carrier of anything good.
Jesus Christ invites, yet never forces anyone to accept His invitation. Really, look at the four Gospels and this is what we will see. So, in our zeal for evangelizing, let us not lose sight of this fundamental fact.
We are called to be bearers, proclaimers, announcers. The Good News that we bring is like a seed that we plant and it will bear fruit in its own time.
When? That is not for us to know.
How? Through the power of God. And, thank God for this, we are sure that God's simplest way is infinitely more effective than our craftly-planned tactics.