Good Friday: "we are the 'Because' of God

We walk together on this most beautiful of days, following Jesus who carries His cross. We go with Him all the way to Calvary where we see Him, true God and true Man, hanging on the Cross, dying for our salvation.
We walk today with Him and we will see Him crying out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”

“Why have you forsaken me?”

In this Cry we find the cry of every people, of every age, of every nation who struggle to find God today. We walk with them, we walk for them, and we walk on their behalf. With Jesus, we cry with them as they wonder: “where is God when tragedy struck? Where is God, when I can’t find a way to sustain my family due to loss of jobs, poverty, illness…? Where is God, when I experience injustice and discrimination?”

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” In the abandonment of Jesus, this terrible feeling of isolation and forsakenness, we can find ourselves.
It seems as though the Father remains silent and does not answer to the “Why?”
But we know that something else was happening. As true man, Jesus uttered those words two thousand years ago; as true God, He utters them eternally.
Jesus cries out “Why have you forsaken me?” and one day you were born, “Why have you forsaken me?” and another day you were born. “Why have you forsaken me?” And yet another day I was born.
By God’s grace, in the power of the Spirit, we become part of this wordless dialogue that the Father has with His Son. We, therefore, become the “Because” of God. We are God’s answer to Jesus’ cry on the Cross.

We walk with Jesus because we matter to God; we walk because we know that His great love has reached its most sublime form: He died for us.

We walk with Jesus to Calvary because we find today the answer to humankind’s greatest question: “’Who am I?’ and ‘Why am I here?’ ” We are here because He loves us immensely; we are here because we are God’s gift to His Son (John 17:6)

We walk also with those who cannot, those who don’t believe yet in His Love. We take their sufferings, their questions, their own “Whys?” and make them our own and we put them in the Cry of Jesus today and we pray that they too become aware of what HE does for them.

We walk with Jesus, with grateful hearts, and we say “Yes” to His love as we live our lives as “the ‘because’ of God”

We walk with Jesus together as the family of the redeemed, and we will continue to do so, brother to brother, sister to sister, until we will realize what He dreamt for us  - that we can “Become one as He and the Father are one… so that the world may believe”(John 17:21)that He died for the salvation of all. They He died because HE loved us to the end (John 13:1)

Letting Jesus wash our feet

I look at the story of the washing of the feet and wonder how can I enter into this reality so that I, too, can do this and, therefore, partake of the Kingdom.

He loved them to the end. This is the framework. Whatever Jesus does is out of Love for us. How far does this Love go? He does the unthinkable: at the table He washes the disciples’ feet.

I understand why Peter has a problem with this: those feet not only were covered with dust, but also with the human and animal waste that run in the streets. When they came into the house, they were too smelly and the lowest rank slave would wash people’s feet.

Are we willing to let Jesus do that, take away all the mud and yucky stuff that we collect from the outside? are we willing to let Jesus take away from us the mud that other people put on our feet?
The world out there wants us to believe that the Church, for example, is an old institution that needs to be taken away, filled with corrupted people who do nothing for the world. Once I let Jesus take way the mud, I see the Church as a family, made one by the meal we share at the Table of the Supper of the Lord.

Are we willing to let Jesus transform us into someone New?

New Life

The story of the resurrection of Lazarus speaks to me very strongly. I can get a glimpse of God’s heart from this story: He wants us to have and enjoy a new life, a new type of life - the resurrection life. How can I...we... experience this life?

I enter the story by following Martha. “If you had been here.” How many times I told God the same thing: where were you when that tragedy struck? when that child was being hurt?

“I am the resurrection and the life... do you believe this?” I am invited to answer. Do I believe that He is the source of this new life? nobody else and nothing else. Can I rely on Him alone for this Life?

“They brought him to the tomb.” If I want to experience new life, I need to bring Jesus to that part of my soul or my body or my mind that is dead or dying. This may be the place where I let nobody get close but it is at the tomb that new life begins. I have to bring my pain and my needs to Him, even if I am embarrassed or do not know how to talk to Him about it.

“Take the stone away” It’s not enough to bring Jesus to the tomb, He wants to face the darkness. I need to face the stench of the sinfulness, the reality that death creates.  It stinks in the cave because I allowed to many dead thing to accumulate. It’s impossible to clean up. Now what? I cannot continue to cover things us. The smell will never go away. There is only one way of letting the stench go away forever.

“Lazarus, come out!” I cannot exit the cave on my own strength but He can. And He calls me to a new life. Every time He calls us by name we are being re-created again.
But now, I have to answer. Do I have the courage to follow the voice and get out of the dark cave or will I ignore it and remain where I feel “comfortable?” Life is risky but I have to make a choice.

I choose the new life. I am ready!
Are you?

Got Living Water?

The world out there is full of questions and one in particular seems to come out very often, most especially when we take a look at the great tragedies of our times: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” (Ex 17:7, first reading). Today we enter into this question and have an opportunity to find the answer.
Jesus tells us that God is still in our midst but not in the way we may think or expect Him to be. He is in our midst in a very ordinary way and we find Him when we respond to the needs that people have. We find Him when we love; when we discover ourselves as “beloved of God” and when we love “the other” with the Love He has poured into our hearts. Then we understand how God is present in the world today.

In that “Give me a drink” that Jesus says to the Samaritan woman we find more, however, than a simple request to be charitable. This request opens us to the revelation of God and of ourselves; this request allows us to dialogue with God and this dialogue moves two hearts closer and closer together until they become one.

We know that our lives demand something more, something that like the thirst of midday in a desert, haunts us until we find anything that can bring relief. The tragedy of life is that most of the time we settle for water from the well... if we are lucky. Some even settled for the water of a cactus. The gift that God brings to us is more enriching and totally satisfying - living water. No wonder the woman wants to know where it is. She knows that that’s what we long for!
This living water is not like well water. It moves and moves things. A well can be covered: you put sand on it and it’s covered. No one can cover a stream: there will always be water. 
The Living water comes from within, but like a stream with an underground source, it may carry with it the dirt of the earth. We can not drink it until all the impurities have been removed. So it is with us. The Living water has been given to us, but we carry a lot of junk (impurities) which muddy the water. What to do?

“Call you husband....” Why switch the conversation on to the husbands? The Samaritan woman has five husbands and the one she has now is not her own. As I meditate on this word, I am reminded that the Hebrew word for husband is the word for “master” (Ba’al) which is also used for idols. Earthly idols made of earth, of dirt, of clay.

Now I know what to do. There are too many attachments in our lives, attachment that can function like idols, something that we give all our attention and devotion. For as long as we keep those clay idols the living water will always be muddy. By getting rid of them, they will not contaminate the water any longer and I can drink of that water and be truly and forever satisfied.

Only in this way, we can be part of the thirst-quenching network that Jesus invites us to be. If we hold our idols in our hands and tell people that God can satisfy our hearts, how truthful are we? Can they really believe us? I don’t think so.

If we say that God is living in our midst but we don’t let go of the idols of self interest and pride, how credible are we?

But when we allow the Love that God has poured into us to purify our hearts and transform our lives we can be made into credible aqueducts, capable of bring the LIving water to all those who long for it.
We can be the answer to the world’s question: God is in our midst because He lives among us when we love each other with His love.

Living the Transfiguration Story

Sunday, March 20, 2010

I believe that we must live the whole Gospel, and each page invites us to enter deeper and deeper in to the life of God so that we can live our lives with Him and viceversa. How can I live the story of the Transfiguration?

Peter, James and John get a glimpse of the glorious Christ; it must have been a wonderful and awesome experience. Although I understand why the disciples were terrified, I can also understand why Peter told Jesus that he wanted to build three tents. We have this human need to put everything into boxes so that we can control, catalog, shelf and use when needed whatever it is that we are experiencing.

There is always the temptation of putting “Moses” into a box or a tent. Moses represents the Law, the regulatory aspect of our Christian life. In him we find all the rules and regulations that are given to us as an aid. Putting him in a tent can give me the feeling of being in charge or domesticate the rules, making everything serve me rather than God. Also, I can become a victim of rubrical fundamentalism or a total dismissal of liturgical norms.

Elijah is the “prophetic” dimension. The Church cannot live without it. This is the aspect of our christian life that constantly pushes us forward and finds new ways of expressing our love for God. But it can be messy and unruly; it’s easier to put it in a box and control it so that everything happens under my control. In doing so, I can risk to stifle the Spirit and become unable to “sing the new song”.

God, however, is always ready to interrupt our lives and to surround us with His presence. It is only when we let go of our tendency of putting everything - even God - into a box that we can experience God’s love around us and it is only then that we can hear Him speak. Just as Moses and Elijah were engaged in the wordless dialogue with Christ, so God invites us to listen to Him. Only Christ and HIs word can bring us to understand Moses and Elijah, only when we live the Gospel that these other two dimensions of our lives make sense. Jesus is the center, the one who brings harmony between the two.

What is Jesus telling us? “Rise!” Yes! He can help us get up and continue our Journey with HIm to Jerusalem, to the Cross. Our journey requires that we keep our eyes only on Jesus and He alone. But we know that things are going to be better.

"Salty" relationships

I can't help it. I keep thinking about being called "Salt of the earth." I know I am called to bring the flavor I received and share it to the world, making everything more flavored.

What I received is God's love; this is what makes everything different. God's love, then, must be my "salt."

Today, the Word proclaimed at Mass brought two stories together: creation (from Genesis) and the visit of Jesus to Gennesaret which brought about many healings (from Mark).

Beyond every healing, behind every miracle there is a relationship. Jesus never heals anonymously. Relationships are the most important things we have. They must be appreciated as special and unique.

 Each relationship has to be flavored, too. And this is where the challenge is: the amount of salt is different with each relationship.

It's like being on one of those cooking shows where the contestants get a "mystery ingredient." Each ingredient cooks and relates to other foods in a particular, unique way. The chef who wins is the one is careful with the "mystery" and brings the best from it. It's the same with our relationship. We can't salt in the same way. We must respect its uniqueness and administer the right amount of love.

I pray that God will help me to become sensitive to know how much salt is necessary with each individual person I encounter each day, so that they will have the right amount of God's love and they won't leave too "insipid" or "too salty".

It's challenging but quite rewarding, I am sure.

Jesus calls us by two new names

As Jesus continues His teaching we continue to meditate on what it means to live our lives as children of the Kingdom of God. Jesus continues to call us by new names; in doing so, He tells us how He sees us but also creates in us that vision. By calling us “Salt of the earth” and “Light of the world” He makes us so. But what does it mean?

I am amazed at how many references are in our languages about salt. One in particular seems to be meaning: “salary,” comes from the Latin, salarium, referring to the allotted amount of salt a roman soldier would get as remuneration for his services to the Empire. By being called salt, Jesus it pointing out how valued we are - we are worth someone’s salary.

Salt has so many functions: preserves, disinfects, but most of all, although not considered food itself, it touches and changes every food it reaches. It allows all other ingredients to “come alive” and bring forth their own flavor. By being called salt, Jesus is telling us that we have a particular function in the world: to preserve it from going bad, cleaning up their wound and making sure they don’t become infected but most of all we called to “flavor” everything we do, every conversation and relationship we have with the extra flavor of God’s Love. What a mission! But also, what a trust has God in us.

At the time of Jesus Light and Darkness were considered “things,” one pushing the other away. As St John of the Cross said, we are like stained glass windows: allowing the light inside to shine forth. But, what do people outside see when they look at our windows?

The point of these two parables, I believe, is found not in the opening statements. Jesus points to something that we, as humans, find very annoying: when we get something that doesn’t work properly, we get annoyed and tend to put the object away as it is considered useless. Salt and Light have specific functions; if they lose the ability of doing what they are supposed to do, they are useless.  Jesus tells us that useless salt can be thrown away. Is that what we want Him to do with us?

How can salt and light lose their function? Salt is a sodium chloride - common salt - is a stable compound, a crystal that does not decay. How can it lose its flavor? By being mixed up with impurities. Technically salt doesn’t lose its flavor but looses the ability of transferring the flavor because the impurities keep it from being active.

If the window is dirty, light does’t go through properly and changes its brightness.
The Word today also suggests that we ought to take away the impurities and injustices that life throws at us. When we do that and behave as people of the beatitudes we will be able to be fully active in the world and experience God’s presence in us. We can start by looking around us; what is missing in our family? attention? let’s put it there by making sure that each member of our family gets the attention and supports we want to have. What about our workplaces? all around us? in the street, where we shop? How about in our churches? We can take the first step and by doing so, our little light will shine a bit brighter and people (and we, too) can start experiencing the flavor of the Kingdom.
Jesus is calling us to something beautiful and is transforming us into what the World needs now more than ever. Are we ready to take up this challenge?