Time to change
The story is told about a speaker who gave such a long and boring speech, and yet from time to time, sounds of clapping could be heard. Why? People from the audience were slapping themselves and each other just to stay awake.
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In today’s Gospel (Mt. 3, 1-12), John the Baptist “slaps” his audience loud and clear with his message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He did not mince words, calling the hypocrites a “brood of vipers,” shattering their complacency and entitlement as children of Abraham. He preached the inconvenient truth not to please his audience, but to proclaim the will of God.
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We can learn much from John the Baptist as a preacher. First, he did not preach himself. His ministry was all about Jesus, not himself. Second, he did not enrich himself. He remained poor and simple. Third, he reached out to everyone passionately and zealously, going much beyond his comfort zone to proclaim God’s message and to help save his brothers and sisters. Fourth, he knew how to fade away, and let Jesus shine. He remained humble. He had no illusions about grandeur and fame.
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“Six days of the week he is invisible, and that one day he is visible, he is not understandable.” Presence and clarity are what the sheep need from their shepherds. May we who claim to be disciples of Christ be constantly reminded that ours is a ministry of presence and essence.
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Tomorrow is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary, Principal Patroness of the Philippines. As a country and as a people, let us journey on, aware and assured that we have a Mother who will not leave us, and who will help us, especially in difficult moments of our journey. Mama Mary, please help our people, guide and purify our leaders and government workers.
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Dec. 8 is also the birthday of Mama Conching. We honor our mothers. Our mothers have a very deep effect on us, on our character and mindset. Someone once said that the heart that is closest to, and truly approximates, God’s heart is a mother’s heart.
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Mama taught me the way to journey through life. She showed me that the road to God’s heart is through prayer, humility, kindness, and joy. I have simplified my everyday agenda, and that is to be prayerful, to be humble, to be joyful, and to be kind to people.
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“We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them” (Charles West). When we go through earthshaking and life-changing experiences, bitter or painful they may be, may we experience God in a real and personal way, and come out of these experiences better, stronger, and purer persons. God is shaking our foundations as a country and as a people these days. May something good come out of it, soon.
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Sharing with you a beautiful prayer by Sir Francis Drake for Advent: “Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life… Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity. And in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of Heaven to dim … Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly … to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your mastery … Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars … We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes, and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope and love.”
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Life is short. Death is certain. We can never know where, when, or how we will die. However, we can choose the kind of death we will have by the way we live our lives. The choice is ours: whether to waste our lives in selfishness and sin, or to live in righteousness and love. As J. Banville said, “Perhaps all of life is no more than a long preparation for the leaving of it.”
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Think about this: “We tend to dwell on yesterday, work to death for tomorrow and forget to live for today; accept what is, let go of what was and have faith in what will be.”
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Dec. 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Let us hold on to Her message to us all through Juan Diego: “I am here, I am your Mother; do not fear, I am near.”
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A moment with the Lord:
Lord, remind us that the time to change, is now. Amen.
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