God who is a Child

FEAST OF THE SANTO NIÑO C

YEAR OF THE YOUTH

JANUARY 20, 2019

Jesus, I trust in you!

When he was reproached by Mary for staying behind in Jerusalem without asking their permission, the child Jesus said to her: Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house? His answer seemed impolite and rude but it was actually a revelation which Jesus made about himself. By being in his Father’s house, the child Jesus revealed who he is: He is the only begotten Son of God. The teachers of the Law were all astounded at this child’s understanding and answers because he was no ordinary child. He is the Son of God. Last Sunday, at Jesus’ Baptism in the River Jordan, both the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Father testified to Jesus: You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

The readings today testify to who the Santo Niño is. Many of us here are devoted to the Santo Niño. Who is the Santo Niño: he is the Son of God! Let us not forget it. The Santo Niño raises his hand in blessing us. The reason why we are blessed in him with every spiritual blessing in the heavens is because the Santo Niño is the Son of God. His Father is God and therefore he is Lord and God. If the Santo Niño were not God, then we will never be chosen in him to be adopted as children of God.

The Santo Niño holds the globe in his hand because he is the child born to us, the Son who is given to us. On his shoulders, dominion rests. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David’s throne, and over his kingdom which he confirms and sustains by his judgment and justice now and forever. This child is Wonder-counselor, God-hero, Father-forever, and Prince of Peace.

The Santo Niño, therefore, is no ordinary child. He is God. Therefore, he must not be treated just like an ordinary child. We must revere him as God. He is not our toy, nor is he our doll, nor is he our personal pet. We do not subject him to our whims and petty pleasures. Instead, we venerate his image and revere his Holy Name. He is not our play thing. Instead, we surrender ourselves to him as St. Therese did: “I had offered myself, for some time now, to the Child Jesus as his little plaything. I told him not to use me as a valuable toy children are content to look at but dare not touch, but to use me like a little ball of no value which he could throw on the ground, push with His foot, pierce, leave in a corner, or press to His heart if it pleased him; in a word, I wanted to amuse little Jesus, to give Him pleasure; I wanted to give myself up to His childish whims. He heard my prayer.

“At Rome, Jesus pierced His little plaything; He wanted to see what there was inside it and having seen, content with His discovery, He let His little ball fall to the ground and He went off to sleep. What did He do during His gentle sleep and what became of the little abandoned ball? Jesus dreamed He was still playing with His toy, leaving it and taking it up in turns, and then having seen it roll quite far He pressed it to His heart, no longer allowing it to ever go far from His little hand.” (Story of a Soul)

This rather poetic meditation of St. Therese is the essence of devotion to the Santo Niño. Our faith in him is shown by our subjection to his Divine Will. Let our devotion to him be both mature and child-like. The revelry of dancing to the beating of drums is not enough. It should deepen into a real filial relationship with the Father. This filial relationship must imitate that of Jesus who saw it necessary to be in his Father’s house, doing his Father’s business. May the Father of Jesus and our Father give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, that we may know the hope that belongs to his call, the riches of glory in the inheritance among the holy ones.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee! 

Solemnity of the Mother of God: Born under the Law

Solemnity of MARY MOTHER OF GOD

Year of the Youth

January 1, 2019

Jesus, I trust in you!

When the shepherds went to Bethlehem, they glorified God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them by the angels. What was it that they were told? What was it that they had seen? They were told that they shall find in Bethlehem an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. That was the sign given to them and the moment they saw the infant of Mary, they already knew what it meant. They knew that this infant is the Savior who is Christ the Lord: “Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you who is Christ the Lord.” All these are summed up in the Name which today is given to the child: “He was named Jesus.” The Name “Jesus” means “God Saves.” This name tells us who the child is and what was he sent to do. He is God and he comes to save: “You are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” The Son of Mary is God, therefore he is called Lord. The Son of Mary comes to save us from sins, therefore he is called Savior.

St. Paul tells us the implication of the great mystery of the Incarnation of God’s Son: “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we may receive adoption as sons.” Jesus was born of a woman named Mary. God became man. Today, he is circumcised. He became subject to the law. Circumcision is the sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. Abraham was circumcised when he was 99 years old. Today, when the eternal God entered time, he was circumcised when he was 8 days old. God, who is above the Law, became subject to the Law. He went down to our humble level and he did this for a purpose. He came to ransom us from the Ancient Law of sin which subjected all mankind. He ransomed us at the price of his Blood shed upon the Cross. This is neither absurd nor silly as the president claims it to be. Christ died because a price has to be paid. That is what ransom is all about. It is about paying a price in order to obtain the freedom of a captive. We were captives, hostages of sin. Christ liberated us by shedding his blood on the Cross and dying for us.

By ransoming us from sin, Jesus obtained our adoption as sons of God. “To those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God.” “As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out: ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son.” We are no longer slaves but sons and daughters of God. Divine Filiation is the great gift of Jesus to us. To make us his sons and daughters is the ultimate reason why God created us. He wanted us to share in his Divine life. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that share, that access that God gives us to himself. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us testifies to our freedom. The Holy Spirit in us helps us approach God with the confidence of sons and daughters. Because of the Holy Spirit in us, we are truly rich. He is the inheritance promised to us because he brings us to communion with the Trinity even here on earth. He is our foretaste of heaven, our pledge of eternal life.

The Holy Spirit is the Blessing God gives us every year, year in and year out. Every New Year we should never fail to beg God to send us the Holy Spirit. This is why the Church, at midnight of a new year, sings “Veni Creator Spiritus” (Come Holy Spirit). More than fortune and success for the New Year, the ever abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is most important for us. Sending Him to us is the ultimate reason why the Son of God was born of a woman. So long as the Holy Spirit is with us, we have nothing to fear. As long as the Holy Spirit dwells in us, all will be well. We will always be at peace.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Christ's Authority over Evil

4^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND CONSECRATED PEOPLE

January 28, 2018

Jesus, I trust in you!

Who is the prophet? Many of us mistakenly think that a prophet is a man who predicts the future, a clairvoyant of sorts. But the word of God today tells us otherwise. The first reading speaks of a prophet as one on whose mouth God puts his words, a man who shall tell people what the Lord commands him. He speaks in the name of the Lord. He is called to be faithful to the word that he had received, and transmit it as such to God’s people.

Called to be the faithful communicator of God’s word (and not his own), his ministry would lead him to primarily denounce evil in all its forms, and call to conversion. The prophets of the Old Testament were men who denounced evil and constantly called people to conversion.

However, these are nothing in comparison with Jesus. The Lord told his people that he shall raise up a prophet like Moses among their kinsmen. This refers to Jesus himself. While the prophets of old spoke in the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus spoke with authority. “A completely new teaching with a spirit of authority,” so people exclaimed about Jesus. This authority is his own because Jesus is the only Begotten Son of God. This authority cannot be denied even by the evil spirits who said to him: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” Not only did Jesus come to call of us to conversion as did all the prophets of old. “The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil.” He commanded the evil spirit to be quiet because evil has no authority as it pretends to have. The real authority over evil is found in Jesus. He is the only one who can command the evil spirit: “Come out of the man!” This is why the people who saw this exorcism were so amazed that they said: “He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey him.” They obey him not because they want to but because they have to. No one can resist the authority of Jesus because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him by the Father. This is why conversion from evil is really possible for us because Jesus liberated us from the evil one. On our own we cannot free ourselves from the devil. Our human nature is too inferior as compared to the fallen angelic nature. But Christ, the Son of God, is superior to the devil. Therefore, he destroys the power of the devil over us so that we can freely “devote ourselves entirely to the Lord.” The Lord does not simply command us to return to him and change our ways. He destroys the power of the devil and gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can do what is right and avoid what is evil. “He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey him.” We should obey him as well because he has given us the power to do so.

Conversion is possible not because we have the power of the will to do so. Conversion is possible because Christ enables our will to do it. We cannot tell the Lord: Lord, all you do is command us. Not only did he call us to conversion. He gave us the means to do it. Let us not underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit he has given to us. Christ is the powerful Word of God. He gives us a completely new teaching in a spirit of authority. Let us devote ourselves entirely to the Lord and thereby be free of all worries. 

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

From the Height of Glory to the Depth of Humiliation

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

Abraham did not hesitate to offer Isaac to God when the Lord asked for him. It must have pained him to bring his son to the mountain in order to kill the boy and offer him as a sacrifice. But it was all a test, which Abraham passed. As he took the knife to slaughter the boy, an angel of the Lord prevented him from doing so: “Do not do the least to harm the boy. I know now how you are devoted to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” If by what he did, Abraham showed how devoted he was to God, so much more do we realize how God was devoted to us: “God did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all…” said St. Paul to the Romans. God spared Isaac from being killed in sacrifice, but he did not do the same for his own beloved Son Jesus.

Jesus was transfigured before his disciples Peter, James, and John. His face was resplendent like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white. Such was the glory of Jesus which the disciples saw. It was the glory of God’s only begotten Son, full of grace and truth. The Father declared: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” And yet, when the Father hands his Son over to us, there would be no trace of that glory. That resplendent face of his, in a few days, will be bruised beyond recognition: “so marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of men.” That dazzling white garment will be soiled with blood. That voice which declares Jesus as his “beloved Son” will remain silent when that Son cries out to him: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” No angel will be sent to intervene, to prevent people from harming God’s Son.

Why, we may ask…Why would God allow this to happen to his Son? Why would God not spare his Son? Why would God hand his Son over to us? The answer of St. Paul would be very simple: it is because God is for us. It is God who acquits us. It is he who gives us everything else along with his Son. God sent not his Son to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. In handing his Son over to us, the Father did not abandon his Son. Indeed, there was no angel to prevent people from harming his Son. Indeed, he was silent when his Son cried out to him in anguish. But he raised up his Son who obediently accepted death on the Cross. He raised his Son and sits him at his right hand. And from his heavenly throne, Christ Jesus intercedes for us.

Such is the mystery of God’s love. In his great love, he hands over to us his own beloved Son. No one could have loved Jesus more than the way the Father loves him. And yet, for our sake, he hands over to us his Son, his glorious Son, his resplendent Son, his beloved Son. It is this mystery that makes the Church sing in great wonder: “O wonder of your humble care for us! O Love, O Charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!” We will never truly appreciate what God has done for us unless we keep clearly in our minds the resplendent beauty which the disciples beheld today with their own eyes. When we remember how the Son looks like in the splendor of his glory and then behold him bruised and desecrated…when we remember how high he was and behold the depths of humiliation to which he descended…and then we think that all these he did for you…for me…for us…then we could not help but say: Truly he loves me. Truly he loves us. God is truly for us…therefore, who can be against us? He gave us his Son…is there anything else he will not be willing to give? Indeed, God so loved the world, he gave his only Son.

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Christ's Divinity makes the difference!

By now you must have heard of the World Youth Day going on now in Madrid, Spain. And you must have heard of the harassment many WYD participants are receiving from protesters who do not welcome the Holy Father into their country. The alibi they use is the alleged expense the Spanish government incurred for the papal visit. But the true reason simply is the widespread anti-Catholic sentiment that afflicts not only Spain but almost all of Europe. The sentiments might be for a lot of reasons but basically it is because the Church presents a counter-culture to the prevailing secularism in Europe today. Plainly put, it is simply the gates of hell attempting to prevail upon the Church established by the Lord Jesus.

Why the hatred of the modern world for the papacy? I think that the issue at hand is more than just an identity crisis for the papacy. Rather, it is more of a crisis of identity for Christ. The gospel shows how the identity of Peter is highly dependent on the identity of the Lord Jesus. The Lord made the solemn declaration that Simon Peter is the Rock upon which He built his Church and to him the Lord entrusted the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven so much so that whatever Peter binds on earth is bound in heaven and whatever he loosens on earth is loosened in heaven. However, let us take note that the Lord’s solemn declaration about Peter’s identity was his response to Peter’s declaration about the identity of Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is important to keep this in mind lest we fall into the error of thinking that the pope has appropriated for himself dignity and power through unholy alliances with kings and emperors of old. In our times, many people see the pope as no more than a leader of a religious institution, no different from a CEO of any international corporation. This erroneous impression regarding the pope comes from a denial, or at least, an ignorance of who it is who declared: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And who was it who made such a pronouncement? It is Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God. He, the Son of the living God, is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, consubstantial with the Father, begotten, not made. It is the Divinity of Jesus that makes all the difference. The Church is not an ordinary association of like minded people. It is a divinely instituted community of those redeemed by Jesus Christ – it is the family of God. The Pope is not a CEO appointed to such a position by a board of directors. The Pope is the Vicar of Christ, appointed by the Lord to shepherd his flock. Using the words of the Lord in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.”

Because the one who appointed the Pope as successor of St. Peter is the Son of God, who himself is God, we ought to honor and obey the Pope. In honoring the Pope, I honor the Son of God who appointed him. In obeying the Pope, I offer Christ the homage of the submission of my will to the Divine Will. If heaven obeys the Pope’s power to lose and to bind, how much more should we, humble earthly creatures that we are. Behind the Pope is the authority of God himself. This is the authority of Him whose judgments are inscrutable and whose ways are unsearchable. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?...For from him and through him and for him all things are. To him be glory for ever. Amen.” Long live the Pope!