The Word Today - JANUARY 2005

Word Today, Jan. 1, 2005 (The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God)

Readings: Nm 6:22-27/ Gal 4:4-7/ Lk 2:16-21

While what is foremost in our minds may be the celebration of the new year, the religious significance of the day is the celebration of the motherhood of Mary. Today is a holy day of obligation in the Philippines.

Mary's motherhood is a "divine" one, such that we can truly call her "mother of God." This may come as a surprise to some non-Catholic Christians, but there is a perfectly acceptable explanation. By calling Mary mother of God, as we do in the Hail Mary prayer, we are simply saying that Jesus, her son, is truly God. If we say that Mary is NOT the mother of God, then it would be tantamount to saying (since she is obviously the mother of Jesus) that Jesus is not God. Hence that title of Mary serves as a defense of one of the cornerstones of the Christian faith, the divinity of Christ.

Word Today, Jan. 2, 2005 (THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD)

Readings: Is 60:1-6/ Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6/ Mt 2:1-12

We celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord today. "Epiphany" means "manifestation". In Jesus Christ, still as a little babe, God's glory and mercy were manifested to all men. The gospel today talks about the three wise men from the East (they are sometimes depicted as kings in popular representations). They were not Hebrews - hence they represent all mankind, the different races of the one human family. They represent all of us.

God revealed Christ to them by making use of a miraculous star. The star, for many people, is the ideal of service and mission that God has shown them. By following that mission, sometimes embodied in a divine calling, Christ will be manifested to them and they will attain great joy, just like the three wise men.

Word Today, Jan. 3, 2005 (Monday after Epiphany)

Readings: 1 Jn 3:22--4:6/Mt 4:12-17, 23-25

" The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." Christ is now manifested in his work of Redemption. He is the "light of the peoples" because he came not only for the Jewish people but, through them, Christ came for all men. Man is in search of God. But he grasps for God in darkness or in dim twilight. With Christ, we have the complete manifestation of God. And we see God as a loving father who goes in search of the prodigal son.

As we are beginning the year, let us remember that as followers of Christ, we share in Christ's redemptive mission. Like the apostles, the disciples and all the other followers, we must spread the saving message of Christ. We can do this through a consistent Christian life and through our words of sincere friendship and concern.

The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish was motivated by the love of Jesus for every person. "He took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd." Years later, St. John would reflect on the love of God and say that "Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love."

St. John admonishes us: "let us love one another since love comes from God." The love that John talks about is not just sentimental love. He is talking of the love that comes from deep within us, the love that gives rather than seeks itself. The model of love, and therefore the model of how we ought to love one another, is God's love. It is "God's love for us when he sent his Son to be a sacrifice that takes our sins away." True love of neighbor is one that is willing to sacrifice for the good of the other.

After feeding the crowd, Jesus sent his apostles ahead to cross the lake. He then followed them walking on the water. Upon seeing their terrified reaction, Jesus told them, "Courage! Do not be afraid."

We should follow Jesus out of love for him, rather than out of fear of punishment. We should be sorry for our sins. But if our sorrow is due to our fear of eternal damnation, then our love is not perfect. There is an element of genuine love, but it is mixed up with self-love. Through perfect contrition, we should be sorry for our sins because they "offend God who is all good and deserving of all our love." Here there is no self-love. We love God for his own sake. We are sorry for our sins because of our filial love for God. Let us often recite the act of contrition prayer in order to foster perfect love of God.

In today's gospel, Jesus proclaimed with absolute clarity that he was the awaited Messiah. After reading the prophecy of Isaiah, he told his listeners, "This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen." He supported his assertion with his teachings which reflected his divinely inspired wisdom, delivered "with the power of the Spirit in him."

Every Christian is another Christ. We should also reflect the God's wisdom through our proclamation and defense of the Faith. The power of the Holy Spirit continues to work in Christians in many ways. In relation to the prophecy of Isaiah, we can recall the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which help us to be docile to God's inspirations in our daily actions.

Leprosy during the time of Jesus was an incurable disease. And because it was contagious and brought about external deformities, lepers were also ostracized. A person who contracted leprosy was really in a sorry state. Hence, when in today's gospel a leper came to Jesus with the indirect petition, "If you want to, you can cure me," it is not surprising that Jesus would answer, "Of course I want to! Be cured!"

Leprosy is a disease of the body, but even more serious are the diseases of the spirit. There are people who recognize that they are spiritually sick. Perhaps they have fallen into a sinful situation difficult to extricate themselves from. They may have contracted a bad moral habit (also called "vice"). They should not fall into despair. They should recognize their moral liability, but they should not hesitate to turn to Christ and ask for spiritual healing. With the grace of God, we can overcome the sinful situations in which we may find ourselves.

As the gospel narrates, both Jesus and John were baptizing. Since the Redemptive sacrifice of Jesus had not yet taken place, these baptisms were not yet the sacrament that we know today. But they both referred to the need for repentance in order to be forgiven of our sins.

Pope John Paul II pointed out some of the bad consequences of sin. "In the first place, if it is grave, it involves deprivation of communion with God and, in consequence, exclusion from a share in eternal life." (Bull if Indiction of Jubilee Year, No. 10) The word "mortal" means precisely something referring to death. Hence a grave sin is a mortal sin and deprives us of sanctifying grace, which is the life of God in us. In this respect, there are only two categories of sin, venial or mortal. There is no third category, a sort of "halfway" sin that is grave but not mortal. Such an aberration would, in practice, result in people committing grave sins and then receiving the body of the Lord in communion without having true repentance in confession.

With the celebration of the Lord's baptism in the Jordan, we officially end the liturgical season of Christmas as we begin the period called "Ordinary Time". "Baptism" means washing, and John the Baptist made it a symbolic rite of moral purification. Why was Jesus baptized if he had no need of moral purification?

Some ancient writers say that by being baptized, Jesus gave water the ability of being used for the eventual sacrament of baptism. In a way, we can say that Christ had to be baptized not for him to be purified, but for him to purify the water. Contact with Christ purifies. Let us keep in touch with him through prayer and the sacraments.

We have entered the "Ordinary Time" of the liturgical season. Instead of some isolated aspect of it, we now commemorate all aspects of Jesus Christ's redemptive activity. It is significant that in the gospel today we are presented with the calling of the first apostles. "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men," Jesus said to Peter and Andrew. Later Christ called James and John and they responded by "leaving their father Zebedee" and going after Jesus.

All the aspects of the redemptive work of Christ require the collaboration of people who are willing to leave everything behind in order to embark on the great adventure of evangelization. The Church needs vocations of men and women willing to dedicate themselves to the many different forms of the apostolate. Let us all pray for vocations. If you think God is calling you, do something about it. Get in touch with your parish priest, your spiritual guide or a trustworthy adviser and generously pursue that calling.

The gospel today says that the teaching of Jesus "made a deep impression" on his listeners "because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority." The comment of the people was "Here is a teaching that is new... and with authority behind it."

The teachings of Christianity are not matters to be discussed and debated endlessly because they primarily come from the initiative of God who revealed his saving truth to us. We long for certainty in order to know what God is communicating to us. That is why there is a need for a religious teaching authority, and that is the task of the Church's magisterium. Without magisterium, we would have endless discussions and each one could end up with a "cafeteria" Christianity, of arbitrarily accepting or rejecting what suits our individual caprice at the expense of God's revelation.

The gospel today mentions a detail in the behavior of Jesus that must have left a deep impression on the apostles. St. Mark narrates: "And rising up long before daybreak, he went out and departed into a desert place, and there he prayed." After this, Jesus invited the apostles to go with Him around the different villages and towns to continue his work.

It is an important lesson for all those who want to work for the Church. All our activities must be preceded by a deep life of prayer. Such life of prayer requires moments of solitude. If necessary, we must get up "before daybreak", before the hustle and bustle of the day overtakes us. Jesus who was God himself found the need to look for such solitude in prayer. All the more must we need it.

In the gospel today, Mark narrates the incident of the cure of a leper. After curing him, Jesus told the leper to go to the high priest for final verification, just as the Law of Moses had required.

After his resurrection, as narrated in the last chapter of the gospel of St. John, Jesus passed on his power to forgive sins to the apostles and to their successors in the priesthood. Without neglecting man's physical needs, the first concern of Jesus is our spiritual state. Knowing our need for forgiveness, the Lord instituted the sacrament of confession.

The gospel today is about the call of Levi, also known as Matthew, to become a follower of Jesus. By profession, he was a tax collector, working for the colonizer. As such, he had a bad reputation among the Hebrews. Yet Jesus did not consider this reputation, instead he declared that he "did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners."

Word Today, Jan. 16, 2005 (Feast of the Sto. Niño, proper feast of the Philippines)

The Feast of the Santo Niño also reminds us of the importance of spiritual childhood. This is a constant teaching of the Church, which St. Therese of the Child Jesus providentially has come to remind us of in this age of technological advancement. Before God, in spite of what we may seem to accomplish, we are but little children. Yet God is not a despotic ruler but a father full of kindness and love for us. We should not hesitate to turn to him. But to do this, we must "become like little children."

"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Setting one day apart so that man can rest from work and worship God can truly be said to be a law for the sake of man. Through the third commandment of God, man's duty to worship God as well as to recover his strength to serve God during the rest of the week, is greatly facilitated.

Some time ago, the Pope reminded the Church about the need to observe the "Day of the Lord," especially in a world which is increasingly getting secularized, in which the sense of the divine is disappearing. Let us make sure to keep this day holy by engaging in the highest act of worship for a Christian (participation at Mass) and avoiding any kind of activity that would not be in keeping with the spirit of this day.

The gospel today shows how Christ was saddened by the bad dispositions of the Pharisees and Herodians. They were on the lookout for loopholes in the Lord's words and actions, but this did not prevent Jesus from doing good, just to avoid what is now called "pharisaical scandal."

As a people, we are often marked by excessive "human respect," often afraid of what people will say about us, even at the expense of principles. Many men act tough, yet they are so easily intimidated into doing evil by the coaxing of friends over a bottle of beer. We should try to develop the toughness of spirit and the consistency of Jesus Christ, who was not thwarted from doing good by the thought of what other people might say.

The gospel today tells us that many people followed Jesus Christ. They came from many places - Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, Sidon, and many other places "beyond the Jordan." Among other things, they were attracted by the Lord's healing powers.

The Lord's power of healing continues today in many different forms. The sacrament of the anointing of the sick is one of the most important ways that God's healing comes to us. There are also non-sacramental ways by which healing comes - whenever they are genuine, they are manifestations of the power of prayer and of faith. But these external and bodily healing are always secondary to the more important healing, the healing of the soul. Quite often, these miracles of God lead people to grow in faith and confidence in God.

The gospel today talks about the choice of the twelve apostles. Jesus appointed them to preach, and he also gave them some of his powers to cure and cast out evil spirits.

The bishops of the Church are the successors of the apostles. They continue the ministry of preaching. They are the authoritative teachers of faith in the Church. Christ also gave them a special authority to fulfill their mission. They have the grace to teach and lead their flock. Let us be obedient to our bishops, most especially to the Holy Father, who is the head of the college of bishops.

The gospel today says that when the relatives of Jesus heard about what he was doing, they thought he was crazy. "They set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind."

This incident shows that Jesus Christ led a normal, uneventful and unobtrusive life before he started his public ministry. We normally refer to the early phase of Jesus' life as the "hidden" life, in contrast to his "public" life. There are some people who claim that Jesus spent his hidden life joining esoteric sects, like the one of the Dead Sea scrolls, or that he went to the gurus of India to learn techniques of meditation. This claim has no basis in fact and it is contradicted by what is explicitly stated in the Sacred Scriptures. Jesus' hidden life is a call for all of us to see the transcendent value of our ordinary day-to-day existence.

When Christ called Simon and Andrew, we are told that they "left the nets at once." When Christ called James and John, they "immediately left their nets." In both cases, the response to Christ's call was prompt and immediate. They did not dilly-dally. They did not hesitate. They didn't ask for more time to think things over.

Nowadays, we are used to calculation and hesitation before making any major decision. In some cases, it is a good thing to be prudent and not to rush to hasty decisions. But when God calls, we have to apply a different criterion from human prudence. To delay a manifest invitation of God (say, to repentance and conversion, or to embrace a divine vocation) would be to expose ourselves to the ever-present temptation of selfishness. In the intervening delay, our tendency to calculate, to "watch out for my skin," could blind our faith in God.

So if we see that God is calling or inviting us to a new conversion, let us not delay. God is a good and loving father. When he calls, he calls for our benefit. And we will have no regrets by answering promptly to His call.

It was indeed strange that the enemies of Jesus should accuse Him of diabolical possession, when in fact, many of His miracles were miracles of diabolical expulsion or exorcism. To emphasize that He was not possessed by the devil, Jesus said: "How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand."

We can apply these words in a broader sense to see the need for unity. Disunity is a clear sign of death and destruction. Thus, people who separate themselves from the unity of the Church will certainly end up on the losing end. They will be like a branch that has been broken off from the main trunk. They may have an appearance of life for a while, but they will eventually wither for lack of inner vitality.

Today we remember one of the most far-reaching incidents in redemption history -- the turnaround of a man who would be responsible for the evangelization of a great part of the Christian world. Saul, who persecuted Christians, was miraculously converted to faith in Christ through a miracle of grace. From a persecutor, he became the great apostle of the gentiles. He is responsible for bringing much of the non-Hebrew world to knowledge of Christ. Because of this, it is also appropriate that we culminate the week of prayer for Christian unity on St. Paul's conversion day.

Much progress has been made since the beginning of the ecumenical movement. Different Christian communities have gotten together, talked frankly and openly, and some groups have made joint statements on common religious issues. One significant development has been the joint statement of Lutheran and Catholic representatives regarding the basis of justification. Other statements are in the making. Let us all pray for the progress of these works.

Today we commemorate Sts. Titus and Timothy. St. Paul addressed some of his letters, which are now part of the New Testament collection, to these two persons. They were followers of St. Paul in his missionary journeys. He later left them in charge of some Christian communities. Timothy became bishop of Ephesus while Titus became bishop of Crete. In his letter to Timothy Paul talked about "the gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you."

The "laying on of hands" was the way that the sacramental power of priesthood was passed on. It is an essential part of the rite of ordination. Bishops are the successors of the apostles not only in their being in charge of the community but also because of the passing on of the powers that are linked to the priesthood. Let us pray for our bishops that they "fan into a flame" the gift of the fulness of priesthood that they have received.

In today's gospel Jesus Christ observed that we do not light a lamp in order to hide it, but in order to let its light shine forth. We can apply this to our situation as Christians. In another passage, Jesus referred to his followers as "light of the world". Indeed, we can say that a Christian is like a light bulb that has been turned on by Christ. We must cast our light around us.

We do this, in the first place, through becoming "witnesses". We can witness by our example. But we should go beyond that. We also witness through the spoken word, enlightening the minds of our family members, friends and colleagues, with the gospel of Christ. Finally, we must be ready for the greatest demand of witnessing. We must be ready to give our lives for the sake of Christ. The presence of martyrs, even in these modern times, is one of the signs of the perennial vitality of the Church.

In today's gospel reading, Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a grain of mustard seed. The mustard seed "is the smallest of all the seeds upon earth, but when nit is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than any herb, and puts out great branches so that the birds of the air can dwell beneath its shade."

Really great undertakings begin small. Christianity began with one man in an obscure town in a far-flung Roman province, and gradually spread all over the world, though there remains much still to be done. Many success stories begin with a germ of an idea and scarce resources. Yet through persistence, through daily care and watering, the seed grows.

Let us not disdain our small duties. Let us take care of the details in our daily occupation. Such care can spell the difference between a job well done and an amateurish attempt. It can also spell the difference between a job that we can offer up to God, like the sacrifice of Abel; or a sloppy piece of work that we would be ashamed to present to God.

While crossing Lake Genesareth in a fishing boat, a strong storm suddenly overtook Jesus and some disciples. It was extraordinarily strong and the disciples of Jesus panicked. They turned to Jesus, who was fast asleep in the midst of that storm, and Jesus did not let them down. Jesus commanded the wind and the sea to subside, and they "obeyed".

Jesus was fast asleep even in the middle of that storm. He must have been very tired to be able to do that. Indeed, he had just spent the day talking to the crowds and healing them. It is good to know that Jesus too felt exhaustion and ended up in a deep slumber because of his activities. At the end of a day of work and exertion, we can feel especially close to the tired out Christ. He understands our tiredness. He understands our need to rest and sleep.

As a program for Christian living, the beatitudes complement the ten commandments. Both are needed for the Christian life, but there are variations between the two. The ten commandments are formulated in a negative way--"Thou shalt not...", while the beatitudes are formulated in a positive way--"Blessed are you if..."

The wonderful thing about the beatitudes is that they do not set a lower limit. Rather, they point upward. They tell us the exigencies of a truly Christian life. Following the analogy of the body, we can say that the commandments tell us what are the sicknesses and diseases that we have to avoid. The beatitudes, on the other hand, tell us the skills and organs that we have to develop. We certainly should avoid getting sick. But life cannot be reduced to merely avoiding sickness and death. There is much more to it than that. Likewise, Christian life is not just a matter of avoiding sin (though sin is certainly to be avoided). It also entails growth in the virtues based on Christ's teachings.

The gospel today is about the expulsion of the devils (there were so many of them, they were called "legion") from a possessed man in the country of Gerasa, across the lake of Galilee. That group of devils were given leave to enter a herd of swine and the swine ended up committing "mass suicide", running over the cliff and drowning in the sea.

It is a good day to remember the reality of the devil. The devil is not a mythological figure. The devil is a pure spirit. He was an angel but he failed to choose God and instead, moved by pride, the devil chose himself. We should pray to be protected from the wiles of the devil. As in the garden of paradise, the devil continues to tempt men through lies, especially inciting human beings to pride.