When a good samaritan came

Doing my usual course and an "apostolate" for seminarians I drove for the evening recolletion to and fro the cathedral. After two  short drives, I decided to have my dinner and take a break before commencing on my reviews (oh, I'm still a student by the way and it really is hard when you have a lot of things to manage and do plus two major philosophy exams coming on the next day... and I still took the time to blog this out).

After I parked the vehicle, I alighted and guess what, the gate of the entrance is locked. I waited there for almost 5 minutes until a seminarian saw me. I waved at him hoping that he notices me and call the gatekeeper to have it opened. No. He just laughed at me. Another came and I also called his attention. Unlike the first one, he waved, then left. After almost 10 minutes, someone passed by and seeing me just seemed to ignored my presence. I took a chair and sat down. Looking around, I thought, WHO WOULD BE A GOOD SAMARITAN THIS EVENING?

Much like the story of the man beaten by robbers on his way to Jerusalem, many passed by and saw him but none responded generously. Is this selfishness that we think of our own benefits, of what is good only for ourselves? It is as if saying that being generous now entails something coming back to me after I do it. Well, one could say, "I am busy and I am doing a lot of things so I wasn't able to call the gatekeeper." Couldn't we give a short time for someone in need? This demands a heart of compassion, one that is sensitive to the needs of others.

There are just people who remember you when they need something from you but forgets you or not even remembers how you are doing when they are already happy and contented. Waiting was not a problem for me but it saddens me to see how insensitive others are especially when they call you their own brother, or do they? After 15 minutes, someone came and seeing me called the gatekeeper. Thank God there is still one who cares and I pray he makes a difference. This is more than a locked gate, when our hearts are locked and we do not open them for others. When our hearts have grown cold and selfish, we fail to see that there are others who like us, are in need of love.  What is in the heart of an apostolic work is not work per se. It is the heart open to one another as if seeing Christ in every person we encounter.

A blessed mishap

I left our house at 10:30 AM bound for Pacita Complex to pass our presentations planning that I should be back in LB in time to serve for Mass. When already in San Pedro I thought of passing by a co-seminarian's house then proceed with my endeavor. I did and as I was on my way to Pacita crossing the San Pedro bridge, the van's clutch malfunctioned and I couldn't shift gears. I only had a thousand in my pocket and I was problematic how things might work out. I was in the side way for almost two hours. Thank God there was a tricycle driver who generously offered me help by pushing the van to a better station and pointed me to an auto-shop a few meters across the street. I also extend my gratitude to Mr. Simatu who was about to go home but was interrupted just so fix my vehicle. He wasn't really a mechanic but a patrol officer I think as he said and a part-time jeepney driver.

It was a new experience. I had my cellphone with me but I did not call home for help. I thought there are a lot of people around and I could have used their help, which I did. If I were bringing the seminary van and I don't have a phone with me, what would I do? That I did.

I'm home safe, 7:45 PM, and wasn't able to serve in the Mass. I'll make up for it tomorrow and thank the Lord for not leaving me abandoned in the unfamiliar streets of San Pedro. 

God was at work!

FILIPINOS, Where is your faith?

Image of San Lorenzo;
photo credits to Oliver Oliveros

"I shall die for God, and for Him I would give many thousands of lives if I had them."
-St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, first Filipino Martyr


Would there still be a soul in this world, in this country, burning with the same fervent spirit?

FILIPINOS, LOOK at our protomartyr!
FILIPINOS, RISE up as men of God!
FILIPINOS, DEFEND and LIVE our your faith!

To be Willing is Enough

The image of the Little Flower that stands in
the Parish Church of St. Therese of the Child
Jesus, UP Los Banos.

                     "Our Lord has deigned to explain this mystery to me. He showed me the book of nature, and I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would lose its spring-tide beauty, and the fields would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden. He has been pleased to create great Saints who may be compared to the lily and the rose, but He has also created lesser ones, who must be content to be daisies or simple violets flowering at His Feet, and whose mission it is to gladden His Divine Eyes when He deigns to look down on them. And the more gladly they do His Will the greater is their perfection."

- St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul

When the young Therese wanted to go on missions, she was unable and was prevented because of her poor sickly health. She understood that she cannot do anything and everything she wanted even if those are forms of service for the Lord. In her account she wrote that God was pleased to see even the mere WILLINGNESS to serve. We may not be given the chance to do all we want even if we can but it is that fire in our hearts, the zeal to serve, and the willingness to honor and glorify God that give our desires the benefit. She accepted the fact humbly and turned to prayer for the missions as her contribution. In a letter to her brother missionaries she wrote: "Our Divine Lord asks no sacrifice beyond our strength. At times, it is true, He makes us taste to the full the bitterness of the chalice He puts to our lips. And when He demands the sacrifice of all that is dearest on earth, it is impossible without a very special grace not to cry out as He did during His Agony in the Garden: 'My Father, let this chalice pass from me!' But we must hasten to add: 'Yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' It is so consoling to think that Jesus, 'the Strong God,' has felt all our weaknesses and shuddered at the sight of the bitter chalice--that very chalice He had so ardently desired."

A cold, selfish reality: A Throwaway Culture

What has become of this world?

It has grown cold and selfish.

It has become too individualistic that it lost its sense of solidarity; what is left of man is an exultation of his own self blind and deaf from the needs and efforts of others. The world has taught him to live by his own, to do whatever he wants, and to enjoy the world as if everything, even life itself, are in his disposal. He has become the master of himself to the point of enslaving his humanity.

Man has created a worldview of indifference. From "No man is an island" he shifts to an object of solitude. Man becomes his own island. He separated himself from the bond of the mainland, from the solidarity of a community life. How many of us would think that the beggar on the church door is a part of the worshiping community? Home many of us would dare to let in a homeless into our dinner table? How many of us would really care about the misfortunes of others that we watch on television news or hear in radio reports; have we grown too comfortable in our seats just sitting back and feeling relaxed?

We are challenged to us our gifts in building the Kingdom of God. The first reading taken from Ezra (1:1-6) shows how King Cyrus, who inspired by the Lord, ordered the construction of the temple in Jerusalem: "All their neighbors gave them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods, and cattle, and with many precious gifts besides all their free-will offerings." They knew how to give. They knew how to offer help. They knew what it meant to be a community one in faith. They knew how everything they had came from God and how it is only fitting that these be returned and used for His glory.

Our talents, skills, strength, power, and resources are all but from the Lord. We are called to do the same - to use all these for His Kingdom. Blessings are not given to us to flaunt and be proud off. What we have are not to glorify our own abilities and to raise ourselves above others. Jesus in the Gospel (Lk 8:16-18) admonishes us to be light to every one. We should not hinder ourselves from doing what we can for the benefit of the community. We are a part of it. How stern does the Lord tells us, "To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away." When we are rich in whatever, these riches must be offered in order to continually build up the Kingdom. We must share the same light to those who have less that the fire burning in their hearts would inflame more.

Would you go off your pew and turn to the beggar and greet him or her with the sign of peace?
Would you be kind enough to offer a loaf to hungry child in the street after you have fed yourself in communion?
Would you dare defend one hopeless and innocent baby from the brutality of the world?
But the gravest question is not always easily answerable with a yes or no, but one asked with a HOW.

What has become of this world? Pope Francis remarks that this world has become a "throwaway culture." Everything is disposable. Everything is temporary. He noted in his inaugural homily that "Everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it." This shows only that we are a part of a whole that should take care of one another and not only of ourselves. It is touching that he adds as he left Brazil during the World Youth Day: "Show by your life, that it is worth giving your time and talents in order to attain high ideals, it is worth recognizing the dignity of each human person, and it is worth taking risks for Christ and the Gospel."

Following Christ

"Following Christ is not an outward imitation, since it touches man at the very depths of his being. Being a follower of Christ means becoming conformed to him who became a servant even to giving himself on the Cross (cf. Phil 2:5-8)"

-Veritatis Splendor, 21