Thursday 28 February 2013

Up to the Mountain


 One of my favorite hymns is “Up to the Mountain” that was interpreted by Crystal Bowersox.  That tune stirred my mind upon reading the news about Pope Benedict XVI when he told an overflowing crowd in St Peter’s Square on February 24. 

Leading the Angelus, the pontiff appeared for the last appearance at the window in the Apostolic Palace.  He said, “Prayer doesn’t mean isolating one’s self from the world and its contradictions. Prayer leads one back to the path, to action. Christian existence consists in a continuous climbing of the mountain for an encounter with God, in order to descend again bearing the love and strength derived from it, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with the same love of God.”

He continued, “I feel that this word of God is directed in particular to me, in this moment of my life. The Lord calls me to “climb the mountain, to dedicate myself even more to prayer and meditation.”

Generally, when one talks about retirement, one tends to associate this with slowing down away from the rat race world. Being older, one tends to be weaker physically and be less alert mentally.  There are those who spend much time and resources to regain their physical wellness and intellectual prowess to counter the ravages of aging.  But the wise old knows that the flesh must die for the spirit to live.

It is therefore prudent for the elderly to rejuvenate the spirit that has been torn between the temporal world and its eternal state.  Jesus taught us how. He withdrew to the mountain to commune with His Father. He spent time to pray for guidance for the challenges, burdens and sufferings that lay ahead. 

The episode on the Transfiguration tells us of Peter wanting to stay up in the mountain, yet Jesus told him of the sufferings yet to come as they descended. “Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him! When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:4-9)

For so long as we are alive, there is no escape from the world. We must be always prepared for sufferings, thus, we need to find quality time with God in isolation.  Our sagely Pope Benedict XVI explained about his retirement, his going up the mountain in this manner: “But this does not mean abandoning the church, on the contrary, if God asks this of me it is precisely so that I may continue to serve (the church) with the same dedication and the same love with which I have done so till now, but in a way more suited to my age and strength.”

Monday 18 February 2013

Pope Benedict XVI

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI struck like lightning not just on St. Peter’s Cathedral but surged like electricity that sent shock waves throughout the world. No one saw it coming. But surely, the pontiff thought about it a thousand times, and more importantly sought Divine Intervention.

There is no need for analysis, no ground for conspiracy theories, as the Pope made it clear that: “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry…in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

When he was chosen to lead the Catholic Church, it was unexpected as the soft-spoken Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was labeled as an ultra-conservative bookish theologian. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was a venerable figure whose reign brought the papacy to the faithful in many countries and reached out to the youth for them to become disciples of the Lord. The question then was, “Could he fill the travel-worn shoes left by Pope John Paul II?”

When I founded TawagAwit, a Catholic Ministry in 2007, I had the chance to follow Pope Benedict in his papacy by carrying news of his activities, homilies and pronouncements in our ministry’s newsletter, New Notes.

His reign was not easy, as the Catholic Church got a media flogging for the wrongs done by some of its priests; as secularism threatened basic teachings of Christianity; as liberals pushed governments to recognize gay marriages and legalize euthanasia and abortion. The Pope remained strong in the faith as he defended traditional Catholic doctrine and values.

While politicians and policymakers have been persuaded to take the side of the noisy minority who scream “bias and discrimination” if they are not given their “rights,” Pope Benedict became the beacon of those who stood for decency, for morality, for the teachings of Christ.

If we think that modernity means acceptance of sinful acts, immoral practices and even murdering the unborn, the Bible tells us of more evil deeds that humanity engaged in Sodom and Gomorra. God punished sinners in biblical times. The pope as successor of St. Peter is the rock that shepherds us away from sin that continues to contaminate the world.

As a new pope will be elected during the Lenten season, let us pray for Pope Benedict XVI as he “serve(s) the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.”

Monday 11 February 2013

Life is a Garden

I watered the plants in the backyard vegetable garden. Looking at the ripening tomatoes, tall spring onions, healthy lettuce and strong green pepper, it brought me to thinking about my childhood dream of becoming an agriculturist.

Gardening was one of my favourite subjects in elementary and high school. Even through college, I kept raising vegetables in the vacant lot beside our house in F Ramos Street, Cebu City. But a degree in agriculture was a “No No”.

You see, I was tasked to pursue my father’s ambition of becoming a lawyer, and my mother’s desire to be a Certified Public Accountant.  But I guess it was the turn of events in the family farm in Ponod, Pinamungajan that put the pursuit of an agriculture degree in a coffin.

The nearly 50 hectares rice farm was overtaken by Marcos’ land reform program and worse, the military uprooted the grapevines that my father sowed, based on unfounded allegations that he buried firearms in the vineyard. I felt my father’s frustration. But what broke my father’s heart was that our former tenants cut down the mangoes that were on its way to producing fruits.
  
But then there are certain things that you cannot just get away from. There are things that are innate in a person. Even though you want to suppress these, they persist, they return to you.

Such is my love for the soil, love for the earth. 

So every spring, I begin the routine of preparing the clayish ground in my backyard in Glen Eden, Auckland, New Zealand. Once the ground is fertilized, I decide on what best to plant. Then I buy seedlings and care for these through summer.  As the season turns toward autumn, I harvest enough vegetables for the dining table.

Caring for plants is a simple task, yet it is rewarding.  One has to be consistent in sprinkling water; one has to regularly pull out undesirable grass; one has to put fertilizer; one has to prune every now and then.

Doing little tasks in gardening gives meaning to life.  You don’t need hectares of land; all that is required is a little space, and much love for sowing, growing and harvesting.

Life is a garden.  By analogy, we are sowed into this earth; we are meant to grow usefully for others; and when we reach the end, the fruits of our labour are counted by the Great Sower.  “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  (Galatians 6:8)

Monday 4 February 2013

Against the World

The debate on the Reproductive Health Bill in the Philippines was heated. The Catholic Church and other pro-life groups were inundated with harsh attacks; yet they remained steadfast in protecting the unborn children.  In the end, the proponents of the RHB had their way with the passage of legislation.   

Now the Catholic Church is being criticized for the conviction of an individual, who at the height of the debate, interrupted an ecumenical service  by carrying a placard with the word, “Damaso” and shouting, as he was taken away, “You bishops, don’t meddle in politics.” The name “Damaso” has a negative implication on the church, being a character in Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere that personified the abuses of the Spanish priests in the Philippines. While his act brought him to jail, the individual had supporters blaming the Church for the outcome.

“You bishops, don’t meddle in politics.” But this wasn’t about politics. The law promotes the use of abortifacient drugs. This debate was about the right to life for the unborn children. Using strong words to defend the yet to be born infants, a bishop prior to the passage of the law said, “Our President intends to kill 20 million children with a fountain pen…to sign the RH bill into law...the womb of the mother would no longer be the safest place.”

Pope Benedict on January 23, 2013 in his weekly general audience said, "To believe in God makes us bearers of values that often do not coincide with those of popular culture and which give believers criteria for judgment that nonbelievers may not share. A Christian must not be afraid to go against the current in order to live his faith, resisting the temptation of conformity."

In one occasion, Jesus spoke before people of his own native place, who refused to believe in him, who refused to accept the truth of his words: “When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” (Luke 4:21-30)

Jesus’ followers suffered for speaking in his name. “They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left... rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.  Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:40-42)

To defend the faith, to stand for the truth, to speak in his name can put a believer against the world. Be courageous, be unafraid for He (God) repays a man for what he has done; he brings upon him what his conduct deserves.” (Job 34:11)