Life is Worth Living

The Gospel of John seems to be deeper than the rest of the Gospels in terms of its theological content. Full of symbols and imageries! Many things are expressed in cryptic terms. Deeper reflection is needed for deeper understanding. Jesus said to the disciples “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour will come when I will no longer speak to you in figures but will speak clearly about the Father (cf. Jn. 16:25). The questions are: When is that “hour”? Is it after His Death, Resurrection and Ascension into heaven? Is it at Pentecost when the Spirit of Truth will come to open the minds of the disciples to understand all that He said? What exactly will that "hour" say about the Father? Too many questions! Too many speculations!  In John’s gospel, the term “hour” is only used as a reference to the death of Jesus. One thing that Jesus always emphasized is that there would be an "hour" when He would be glorified. That Hour would be His Hour of Glory. And that w...

One of the reasons why God was so much worried about Israel was because of the culpable ignorance of the leaders: they had great opportunities to know, but they did not care to know. God was not just worried because of them; He was much more worried because the lives and destinies of those they led were at stake. Of course, a leader who is bereft of knowledge will surely end up as a disaster to the led! We must accept it as a principle that: “For any group to be productive and progressive, there must be an effective leader. For a leader to be effective in leadership, he/she must know what it means to lead and must have the willpower to apply that knowledge.”   We are celebrating Matthias, chosen to fill the gap left by Judas; elected to occupy a leadership position as an apostle. Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 gives the criterion for which one must be elected into that position: he must be a direct witness to the baptism, public ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.   Jesus’ life, m...

The word “PROCESS” suggests that things happen in stages; and this calls for patience. So much of life is the experience of process, of moving from one stage of something to another. Our own individual lives can be understood as a process. As we go through life we find ourselves moving through stages or seasons. Moving from one stage to another always involves some form of “letting go” and “moving on”. Part of the challenge of life is to address and deal with the various moments of letting go and moving on that the process of living entails. Like every one of us, Jesus’ life was a process that involved a succession of stages. His hidden years in Nazareth might be understood as one stage in his life; His public ministry as another stage. His baptism was the transition moment between these two stages. His death on the cross was another transition moment between His public ministry and the short period of His resurrection. The ascension that we celebrate today was the final transition mom...

The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that is responsible for higher brain functions (such as solving advanced arithmetical problems, making sense of abstract ideas, etc). The cerebral cortex of a child is not so elastic as to adequately analyze, synthesize and assimilate higher brain processes. And that is why instructors employ more of visual aids in educating children. The visual aids make things easier for them to understand.   As St Paul continued with his missionary, he found himself in Beroea where he was fiercely opposed by the Jews; and quickly he escaped to a Greek city called Athens. Athens was the home of philosophers and the hub of the European intellectual history. Amongst other things, Athenians strongly believed that life ultimately ends at death. Athens was also a city of many gods. In Athens, it was easier to meet a statue of a god than to meet a human being. Shrines were littered everywhere.   All in all, Athenians were a people steeped in philosophy ...

It is just two days to the Solemnity of Ascension: a day on which we solemnly commemorate Christ’s ascension into heaven. It was not and could never have been a good feeling for the disciples to part ways with their Master especially when the bond was already strong. The emotional pains it brought about couldn’t have been easily assuaged. At such a time, a counselor was needed to fill the gap, reinforce hope and build up morale. The counselor is the Spirit of Truth. We must acknowledge the fact that certain experiences, no matter how unpleasant they may be, are meant to build us up not to keep us down. Little wonder then why Christ told the disciples: “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (cf. Jn. 16:5-11). As we go through the Acts of the Apostles, we cannot but learn that it was really to their advantage that Christ ascended and consequently sent the Counselor. If the Counselor did no...

In today’s gospel (Jn. 15:26-16:4a), Jesus describes the Spirit as the Counselor and the Spirit of Truth. To counsel someone is to advise that person on a particular course of action. Of course, a counselor must have a wide range of knowledge on specific aspects of life. A doctor may not qualify to counsel someone on religious matters. A priest may not qualify to counsel an astronaut on what to do in the space. As the Counselor, the Spirit is coming not to counsel us on a specific area of life but to lead us to all the truth: in every aspect of life, the Spirit is there to show us the way. But we can only be directed if we listen to His promptings.   Last Saturday, we read that as Paul and his colleagues went through Asian territories, the Holy Spirit told them not to preach the word. When they contemplated to enter Bithynia, the Holy Spirit advised them not to venture into the city. In clear obedience to the Holy Spirit, they continued with their missionary journey. At Philippi, t...

Before the fall, the created order was a paradise. But after the fall, creation was torn apart. Anarchy was let loose. The focus no longer seemed to be on what unites but on what divides. Hatred took flesh and manifested itself in racism, tribalism, sectionalism, rivalries, and so on. Divisive tendencies filtered into human relationships. People began to relate more on the basis of commonalities. The “other” more or less became a stranger, no longer a brother or sister.  Christianity calls us to live above these tendencies that seemed to have become normal and natural. Christianity preaches the message of a God who was made flesh (incarnation). Christ left his glory, condescended to be born a human person and live with us. He chose to relate and mingle with humans though He was God. Incarnation teaches us to outgrow our differences and empty ourselves for the sake of the other. If an incarnation-consciousness is not activated, we will never outgrow parochialism and discriminatory t...