Come down and let me in!

For the concluding Mass of the World Youth Day in Krakow, the Gospel passage of Zaccheus' encounter with Jesus was chosen. As always Pope Francis gave a very interesting homily and he invited the young people to see in Zaccheus a journey of conversion that is very similar to our own journey of conversion. 

Zaccheus had to overcome three obstacles:

First, his short stature, which was why Zaccheus climbed a tree to have a better look of Jesus. Shortness of stature is not only physical. It is actually our feeling of inadequacy, almost incredulity that leads us to believe that we are not loveable, that even God cannot love us.

Second, the paralysis of shame. What would people say? It is the tendency to follow what the crowd does and says. Often we live paralyzed lives because of fear to make a mistake, to cut a bad figure, to be bullied and humiliated.

Third, the grumbling crowd, the voices around us that tell us that there is no way out or it is not worth the fight. These are the voices that lead us to always choose what is safe instead of opening a trail.

In the end, what will make us overcome these obstacles is what Pope Francis says towards the end of his homily: Jesus calls us by name. He wants to stay with us. He wants to be a part of our life. Only in this way can we overcome the voices of inadequacy, shame, and mediocrity.

God's patience

One of the Gospel passages that clearly express God's patience is: "No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them" (Mt 13:24).
Faced with the world's current situation, a lot of people favor drastic solutions. I remember what one Sister shared with us a few days ago, that there is no such thing as a "just war". War is always violence and always begets further violence. To respond to violence with violence is to knowingly enter into the spiral of violence.
So what do we do?
I think the call for me is to willingly pay the price so that the chain of violence stops in me. This is not something that I do once and for all. An action in this direction is made possible by a journey of purifying myself from everything that is selfish that leads me to horde and to accumulate, to defend myself and to look at people as threats, to use and to exploit, to humiliate and to discard. All of these cause violence.
Yes, in my own body I need to pay the price. It may even cost me my life, but this is the only way. In fact, this is the way of Jesus.

Vox populi

Today, as I was browsing over the news on the internet, I was amazed at how there was not even one article on the ongoing World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland. I am not thinking of conspiracy. I am just a little sad that a gathering of people from the whole world, with a number that is not indifferent, we speak of more than two million, is not considered newsworthy.
I am sad that a gathering that shows people from different countries and walks of life, filling the streets and plazas with their joyful and enthusiastic spirit, isn't given a space.
I am sad that an experience that will surely revive joy and hope for the whole world is just disregarded.
Then I don't wonder why we find it difficult to be people of hospitality. If all we ever see and our minds are fed with are fighting, violence, aggression, and threats, then, of course, the only reaction is defense and prejudice.
Thank God for social networks. Otherwise, with the way traditional news outlets are doing their reporting now, we wouldn't even hear anything about the World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow.

God has the greater picture

I have been looking forward to participate at the World Youth Day in Krakow. Due to reasons beyond my control, I cannot. I am saddened by this sudden turn of events, but deep in my heart, I believe that there is a greater good behind this. At the moment, I do not know what it is. I might know it in the future, or I might not. But I believe that when we have done all that we can, we leave everything in God's hands. He has the greater picture, after all.

Bargaining with God

Why, O Abraham, did you stop bargaining with God when you arrived at ten righteous people? Sodom and Gomorrah could have been spared even if there was not even one righteous person. You see, God's mercy has no limits!
But then, of course, you belonged to the Old Testament. You didn't know the wonderful truth about God: His mercy is everlasting.
When we look at Jesus on the cross, we realize that no one and nothing can be outside God's mercy.

Called

Mary of Magdala went early morning to the tomb of Jesus. She must have really been desolate and totally in grief that she chose to start her day at the tomb, a place of death, certainly not the best place to perk you up.
But this place of death was Mary's only contact with the one person who loved her most. She wanted to keep that contact, to maintain it. In the coldness of the tomb she found consolation, the presence of Jesus, albeit silent and lifeless.
But Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He said this, himself. And suddenly, with the sound of Jesus' voice calling Mary by name, the cold tomb is transformed into a place of true encounter, with the living Jesus. Wow, just one word "Mary" and everything radically changes.
Jesus wants to transform the dead parts of my life into shining shafts of light. But a lot of times I prefer to wallow in the dark. It's as if I am finding therein a masochistic comfort.
Jesus, however, wants me to be fully alive, to rise above the shackles of death's tyranny, to be at a place I am not familiar with, trusting only in His fidelity and love.
Jesus, call me by name! With your voice, rouse me from my deep slumber and lead me to the path of true life.

Of the forest

A very dear Sister of my Congregation just died.
I know, and a lot of people knew, too, that I had a very special place in sr. Silvia's heart. I think it is because she saw me growing up as a girl. She was a very dear friend of our family, especially of my nanay. Of course, they were both Ilongas, too.
Sr. Silvia was my first music teacher. I remember that when she as teaching me to play the piano, she knew when I was being lazy and just playing the notes by memory and without reading the music sheet. She would say, "read the notes".
She gave life to the rondalla group of the Girls' Center in Tondo. We had a professional teacher who came once a week and we practiced for three hours every Sunday. That helped me to develop discipline and camaraderie. Of course we were also motivated by the merenda that awaited us, courtesy of sr. Silvia, after every rondalla practice or after playing for the Masses on Sundays.
Sr. Silvia was among the Sisters who brought my brothers and sister to visit the Sisters' chapel (inside the cloister) when they were attending the Sisters' kindergarten. I think that also sowed the seed of religious vocation in my siblings.
Sr. Silvia was very faithful in sending me birthday and Christmas greetings especially when I came to Rome. She used to write the cards herself, but later on, when she found it difficult, if not impossible, to write, she asked the Sisters to write for her.
Sr. Silvia was not an easy person to live with. I know that, but she always loved our Institute. Her comments that came in different ways and forms, had a seed of truth, though.
I thank the Philippine Province for taking care of sr. Silvia and for giving her the chance to prepare herself for the final and definitive meetingwith the God whom she has tried to serve in fidelity.
I am sure that now, free from pain and other limitations, sr. Silvia is now having a great conversation with my mother and all the people who have been a part of her life.
So, why the title of this blogpost? It turns out that "Silvia" means, "of the forest". What a Providential coincidence. Sr. Silvia belonged to Don Bosco's congregation. "Bosco" means "forest".

Compassion

I have a blog. I've had it for a few years now and its title is "Everyday Compassion".
Compassion is an attitude that has always fascinated me. It is one of the most moving traits of Jesus.
Compassion indicates an abundance of goodness in one's heart,and this cannot be but a gift of God. If I only rely on my own natural traits, they get drained and exhausted. I can only give so much, if I rely on my own.
Hence, I am called to be humble; to realize how much my everyday life is filled with God's goodness, with God's compassion. If God forgets me for an instant, I come to nothing. And the thing is, God just does it as pure grace, out of the abundance of His mercy,
Yes, indeed, I am called to show compassion everyday. We have a lot of hurting people; we have a lot of fragile situations.
The beginning and end of my mission is compassion.
The end of my mission is to be moved and to act with compassion in the face of a hurting world.
The beginning is God, my everyday compassion.

Maria's message

And one of them, a doctor of the law, questioned him, to test him: "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him: "You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and with all your soul and with allyour mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. But the second is similar to it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the entire law depends, and also the prophets." (Mt 22:35-40)

Today we celebrate the holiness of Maria Goretti, an Italian girl who, at twelve years of age, chose to die rather than to compromise her purity. Perhaps in our present context this doesn't make sense to a lot of people. She could have just allowed "it", so she could save her life. Some people might even resort to ridiculing her choice, saying that she was such a prude.
For me it goes beyond protecting something that was a part of her. Maria defended, upholded a choice, the choice of her life. Her martyrdom was an expression that her choice for God was non-negotiable. It was the most significant choice of her life and she was not willing to compromise, even if it meant losing her life. Indeed, hers was the beatitude of the single-hearted. That is what purity means. Jesus said that the pure of heart will see God.
But what makes Maria Goretti's life more incredible was that she died forgiving the person who did her harm.
Yes, she really put Jesus' words into practice.
To love God is not something that is only between God and me. Loving God is verified by our love of neighbor. The more difficult it is to do that, the more we need the help of God. And when we are able to do so, we are truly daughters and sons of God.