Coming Home to My Abba Father

The most and immediate implication of opening up our lives to our Lord Jesus Christ and allowing Him to become flesh in our lives is our thirst to understand who we are and where are we going. Gen. 3:9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, 'Where are you?’ Imagine the Lord of lords, the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God can't find Adam? Of course not, it was not a question of the physical location of Adam, but a question that demands Adam to search his heart. It was actually two significant questions and not one. The first about his origin and the second about his end. A search that all of us children of Adam and Eve continue to ask ourselves to this day. Do we know where we came from and know where we are going? They are inseparable questions and both belong to God, whatever happens in between is what we call our conversion process which we bring with us and present before Him when we stand humbly in the judgment throne of God

The lives and teachings of the apostles are our living testament of the power of the Holy Spirit. They are decisive for the meaning and orientation of our life and actions. Unless we fully understand both, we will never find the meaning of our existence and we will continue to drift along the tide of whatever our culture asks us to do. When we understand these questions and find the answer, nothing should bother us. The stock market can drop a thousand points in a day, flight maybe delayed or cancelled, favorite team can lose, plans can fall apart, lose a job, diagnosed with a big C...etc... but our joyful outlook and deep inner peace will remain. I believe God created us with some kind of a homing device right there in our hearts. This maybe what St. Augustine was thinking when he said that 'our hearts are restless until if finds rest in God.'

Man was created by God who is the source of all good. In His goodness, he created us so we can share the eternal joy of being with Him. We are in pain without really knowing and understanding it when we are separated from God. God is perfect and does need anyone or anything to be complete but for lack of righfully expressing the image in human language, let me say - God feels the same pain as Jesus expressed in the parable of the Prodigal Son.


Parable of the Prodigal Son

We have been away and God all this time has been longing for our return. I got to experience this feeling of longing in an incident that happened with my 7 year old son, Tim who is in grade 2. I used to pick him up from school at 2:40PM. One day while I was doing errands, I felt some kind of craving for a Tim Horton's coffee. Being away from Canada for 3 years, I could not help but give in to the craving. I went and ordered a premium black coffee and a donut. I was enjoying every sip and bite when I realized that it was almost 3:00 PM. I literally jump out of the store and heaven knows how many traffic laws I have violated rushing to the school. I arrived at the street which is empty by that time. There I could see him, shoulders dropped, walking and wandering in the field, his back against me. I see him clearly and the image will probably be eternally imprinted in my mind, but from a distance, I could feel his pain, and this feeling I will eternally remember. I called out to him but the field was wide and open and he was too far from me and could not hear me. I started running towards him while calling out his name and finally he turned around, saw me and called out to me too....Abba! Like a motion picture, everything seemed to slow down like in a slow motion movie clip while we run towards each other and finally ended in each other's embrace.

 

Abba is a word of endearment for a father. Jesus taught us to call God - Abba Father and this is one moment I could relate that He is not teaching us some grammar or some historical or geographical lessons on relationship. He is trying to teach us that the answer to question he asked Adam is to come home to His loving embrace. We have forgotten where we came from and we have lost our sense of direction and the surest way to start afresh and new is to come back to the loving embrace of our Abba Father.

 

He is waiting for us to come and meet Him. He awaits us in the Eucharist not just as a cultural phenomenon that most of us do as we come only during Christmas, Easter and special occassions of our lives. He awaits us in the confessional box that we have tried to avoid for so many years as if we are the most perfect, sinless human being that have not committed any sin in our lives. He knows our pain and we can't hide it from Him and His invitation continues to echo deep down in our hearts.

 

So then, let this Christmas be a different one for once. The baby Jesus is coming, He promised the Holy Spirit for those who asks. Let us come and meet Him and experience the joy of His embrace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Holy Communion an Entitlement?

We need to continue to pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance on the bishops and the laity who are participating on the Synod for Family. While, the truth revealed by God through the apostles have been the foundation of our faith as Catholics, there is an alarming trend that the devil is slowly penetrating and infiltrating the ranks of our bishops and clergy.

Satan the "adversary" which we call the deceiver can take many forms. For many of us doing the work of evangelization and renewal, he does not come as a scary figure but comes in the sweet and innocent forms of offer of power, prestige and money. He can also come as a weeping widow asking for help or a sinner needing forgiveness and acceptance.

But just like supernatural phenomenon that the Church investigates, so she can authenticate the message as consistent to what Jesus has publicly revealed through the apostles, for our good as she was entrusted the role to teach and guide through the Holy Spirit who animates her - we need to learn to trust as we trust in Jesus's own word that the gates of hell shall not prevail Mt. 16:18b.

Amidst the many voices we hear concerning divorced and re-married Catholics, we could not be of help but become sympathetic that in the sincerity of their hearts, they want to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist.

In my own awakening, I know that I need to trust in Jesus' words, because he is the way, the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6). And truth transcends time and space. When you say something is true, it will always be true regardless of circumstances and time. It will not change even if nobody believes in it. So when Jesus said "what God has put together, let no man put asunder" Mark 10:9. He further said " I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” And as St. Paul continues to teach "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. " 1 Cor. 11:27-29. 

Is receiving a communion an entitlement for being in the Mass? Does the Church only welcomes the saints? Aren't we all welcome to come and worship, regardless how sinful we maybe. We all have sinned and if all of us truly understand what we are receiving during Communion in the Holy Mass, there would probably be less than 3% who would line up for Communion. 

The problem of our society and our time now is that we have fully embraced the culture of entitlement. We are entitled for the best seat in the church, the choir should be flawless and should always sing with angelic voices, the priest needs to do better in homilies so I won't sleep or will not be bored.

While I want to emphasize that I don't intend to moralize or discriminate, these are not my own words but of the scriptures and for the longest time, it is what the Church teaches and uphold for the last 2000 years.

There are many times, I have approached Communion with my arm crossed on my chest. In my sincere love for God, I know that is the right thing to do. For me, it is not an issue of what I want but what the Lord wants of me. And while I may have not received Him on that particular Mass, I know deep down my heart He is more pleased with my act of humbly knowing where I belong than forcing my way out and do what I "want."

Birthday Prayer - Aug. 23, 2014

Heavenly Father, I call upon your name which is holy of all names. I take this moment to say thank you.

From the moment I am able to remember, I know I have complained and doubted but boasted of the abilities you have given me. For most of these times, I have been selfish and greedy and despite of these, you continue to love me and bless me like I am the only human being you have ever and will ever make.

Thank you so much for the air I breathe, for our livelihood and sources of income. For all the people that you send my way and have crossed my paths, truly Lord, you have surrounded my table with good friends.

Thank you most especially for my wife Malou and the 5 wonderful kids you have generously given to me. They have been and will always be the source of my human inspiration to live and to do more.

Help me to remember that every year as I celebrate my birthday, is not a celebration of what I have accomplished and done, but a celebration of another year of your love and blessings. Truly Lord, I have received more than what I deserve. I could only desire and pray every year as I get closer to being with you – that I can grow more of my love for you and to receive your grace and strength to accomplish the purpose for which you have made me.

I say this prayer in the name of your Son, my Lord Jesus. Amen.

An Easter Celebration

The Lord has risen! Alleluia!

If you have been following the liturgical readings in the season of Lent leading to the great Easter Vigil, you can but be amazed how these readings and prophecies have fall into place. I am not a bible scholar and this attempt is not in any way to proclaim that this is how you should see these events but here is my take and I hope you can pick up something from them.

In the Garden of Eden, the first man - Adam enjoyed the company of God. He has been given the tree of life which we now know has become the tree of death because of his disobedience.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, God revealed to Jesus (the second Adam) that he will be given the tree of death (the cross); this tree of death, has become for us the tree of life and Jesus by his obedience to the Father has restored our relationship with God, we being his children again.

Abraham was told to go to a mountain to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Of course we know the story how Isaac came about and because of this, how much Abraham have loved his only son. Isaac carried the wood that will be used to burn the sacrifice offering on his back and kept on asking his father where was the lamb they will use for the sacrifice?. Abraham kept on telling his son - God himself will provide the sacrifice. As we know, an Angel stopped Abraham and prevented that he be offered as a sacrifice. In turn, Abraham found a ram whose head were caught by thorns in the bushes and used it instead as a sacrificial offering. Abraham called that mountain and to this date the mountain is called - "It shall provided." In contrast, the only son of God carries on his back the wood that will be altar of his own sacrifice and look, his head is covered with thorns. God has provided the ultimate sacrifice.

Moses led the Israel people out of slavery in the ultimate exodus of all time. Through him the Passover is celebrated up to this time as God's intervention on the cry of his people - that God answers prayers. He gave us the vision of the manna in the dessert and Jesus is the ultimate bread of life. The bread that you eat and you will not get hungry again. Moses raised the image of the bronze serpent and promised people that they will be saved upon looking on it. It you remember,  the serpent is the image God used in the garden of Eden who deceived Adam and Eve and it could be the image of sin itself. And Jesus who knows no sin has become sin himself when he redeemed us and the image of Jesus being lifted on the cross as if proclaiming, here I am look at me I have become your sins.

When we read the passion and the resurrection story, it is always easy to overlook these things because we know how the story ends. We can skip the details and proceed with the ending. However, for people in Jesus' time, it is not the case. Imagine Blessed Mary standing at the foot of the cross, alone (almost) could have been beating her chest and uttering the prayers, Oh God, o God why have you allowed this horrible thing to happen to your son. And this is the true reality of life, there are moments we feel abandoned, betrayed, left alone, ignored and our prayers have not been answered. Many don't find the value of pain, suffering, hardship and many more negative life's circumstances. So we choose the easy way out or we blame God and accuse him of not loving us.

God waited for this day to raise his son back life. A. This Easter, God has proven all of us wrong. We may be suffering and we may suffer for the rest of our lives. We may be sick and lo and behold, regardless how many prayers offered for us, we will not be healed. God may have ordained us for this kind of life. But like his son - there is resurrection, there is life after death and our glory is not in this lifetime. So for now we live our life with faith...that someday, we will receive our glory and at the gate Jesus himself will welcome us - Come enter the place I have prepared for you my faithful servant.

May Jesus' resurrection give us the power to live our life faithfully and then yes we can celebrate Easter in our lives every day.

Happy Easter!