Mercy: Our Second Chance

Third Sunday of Lent

Luke 13:1-9

February 28, 2016

“It may bear fruit in the future (Luk 13:9)”

The heart of the parable of the Good Gardener is God’s Mercy. Not only He is merciful, but He is the Mercy itself. Pope Francis fittingly wrote that the name of God is Mercy. God cannot but be merciful. We are like the tree that was fruitless and useless, but God gave us a second change. Jesus, our Holy Gardener, even exerts His utmost effort to take care of us, making sure that grace of God in constantly pour upon us. 

In my readings on Mercy, I stumbled upon this little story of a young French soldier who deserted the armies of Napoleon but was soon caught. He was court-martialed and condemned to death. His mother pleaded with Napoleon to spare her son’s life. Napoleon said that the crime was dreadful; justice demanded his life. The mother sobbed and begged for mercy. Napoleon replied that the young man did not deserve mercy. And the mother said, “I know that he does not deserve mercy. It would not be mercy if he deserved it.” 

God’s mercy flows from His overflowing love. However, because God so loves us, He also allows us grow in freedom. God gave us a second change, but it is up us to grab it or blow it up. Just like St. Augustine once said, “God created us without us, but He did not save us without us.”  Thus, the greatest enemy of mercy is hopelessness. We assume that we no longer are no longer able to change. We refuse God’s second change because we see it as completely useless. Indeed, to cash despair is the chief work of the devil. Author, lawyer, economist, and actor Ben Stein says, “The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated. It is finished when it surrenders.” Our failures, weaknesses condition us to believe that we are worthless, and the moment we doubt the mercy of God, the devil is victorious.

England could have been lost to Germany in World War II, had not been for Winston Churchill. He was the prime minister of England during some of the darkest hours of World War II.  He was once asked by a reporter what his country’s greatest weapon had been against Hitler’s Nazi regime that bombarded England day and night. Without pausing for a moment he said, “It was what England’s greatest weapon has always been hope.” 

Pope Francis, through his own initiative declared this year as the Jubilee Year of Mercy, and He opens up the gates of mercy all over the world so that everyone may feel God’s love and compassion. Yet again, we never receive that grace, unless we pass through the threshold of that gates. We need to believe that His Mercy conquers all our limitations, and His Love covers multitude of sins. When Pope Francis visited the US in September 2015, he made a point to meet the prisoners and he said to them, “Let us look to Jesus, who washes our feet. He is ‘the way, and the truth, and the life’. He comes to save us from the lie that says no one can change. He helps us to journey along the paths of life and fulfillment. May the power of his love and his resurrection always be a path leading you to new life.”

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Go Down from the Mount!

Second Sunday of Lent

February 21, 2016

Luke 9:28-36

“He took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray (Luk 9:28).”

For St. Luke, Jesus is a man of prayer. Luke fondly wrote in his Gospel that Jesus would pray before the decisive events in His life and mission. Jesus prayed the whole night before he chose His disciples (Luk 6:12). One of the reasons why Jesus cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem was that He was well aware of the main function of the holy Temple: House of Prayer (Luk 19:46). He reminded his disciples to pray especially in facing trials and tribulations (Luk 21:36). Before He was embracing His passion and death, He prayed at the garden (Luk 22:44). Finally, enduring a brutal torture, He saved His last breath even to pray for those who have crucified Him (Luk 23:34).

Another important event wherein Jesus spent time in prayer was the Transfiguration. Two evangelists, Matthew and Luke, placed the story of Transfiguration into their gospels, but only Luke who told the purpose of why Jesus and His three disciples went up to the Mount. It was to pray. For Luke, the Transfiguration is a prayer event. Indeed, reflecting today’s Gospel in the context of prayer will bring us a deeper understanding on our relationship with God.

Firstly, Jesus invited the disciples to climb the Mount and pray. Our desire to meet Him and to pray is actually God’s initiative. If we are able to pray, it is because God calls us and enables us to communicate with Him. Our Liturgy of the Hour prayer begins with a verse ‘O God, come to my assistance (Ps 51:15).’ It is a humble acceptance that without His grace and aid, we are not able to pray. We, Catholics, open our prayer with the sign of the cross and mentioning, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:19).” This was born out of conviction that apart from the Holy Trinity, our human words will be futile. St. Paul said it best when he wrote to the Romans, “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Rom 8:26).”

Secondly, the Transfiguration teaches us that sometimes, our prayers give sense of delight and contentment, but this is not the most important. We are like the three disciples who were filled with awe in the presence of transfigured Jesus. It is the moment when we feel peace before the Blessed Sacrament. We are enjoying the recitation of the Holy Rosary. We are inspired by a good homily and feel nourished by the Holy Communion in the Eucharist. Sometimes, I attended Worship Service loaded with upbeat songs and electrifying preaching. Truly, the feeling was ecstatic and liberating, especially for persons with messed up lives. 

Surely, like the disciples, we want to enjoy the delight for eternity. Yet, our good Lord did not want us to be rooted there. He asked the disciples to go down and face the world. If we rather stay and refuse to go down, then our prayers are no longer genuine and sincere. They become an addiction that helps us escape from the realities. If this happens, Karl Marx’ adage, ‘Religion is the opium to the society’ turns to be a reality. 

St. Pope John Paul II reminded us that the Transfiguration would lead eventually Jesus and his disciples to that passion in Jerusalem. Prayer should then empower us to face life with courage and humility, and not to give us a venue to run away from life. The Eucharist, as the summit of all Christian worship, does not end by saying ‘Stay and enjoy some more!’ The last phrase in the Mass is always missionary in spirit, like ‘Go and preach the Gospel’. We are to share the fruits of prayers to others. If we truly find Christ in our prayer, then together with Christ, we shall go down from the Mount and bravely walk to our Jerusalem.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

The Word of God in the Desert

First Sunday of Lent

February 14, 2016

Luke 4:1-13

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert (Luk 4:1).”

Today’s Gospel shows us that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the desert. Yes, the Holy Spirit will not spare us from the desert! The desert experience can be anything that spells dryness and emptiness in our lives and souls. Out of nowhere, a seminarian enters into a desert as he is feeling unexplainable meaninglessness in his chosen vocation.  A mother begins to experience exhaustion in fulfilling her difficult mission to rear her children. Through her journals, it was revealed that even holy person like Mother Teresa of Calcutta went through ’the eclipse of God’ when she did not sense the presence of God for almost 10 years in her life.

The Gospel reminds us as well that in the desert, Jesus was tempted by the devil. Walking through the desert experiences, the devil knows well that our defense is at its lowest and surely he will take his change to make us fall from our commitment. The seminarian starts seeing another way of life as more attractive and a solution to his emptiness. Now, not only dryness, he is also facing a crisis. Tired of spending time with her children, the mother starts thinking to shift her focus on something else like her career, hobbies, or friends. The devil is an extremely smart creature. He will manipulate our basic desires and longings. He offers us little compromises that eventually destroy all together our commitment. The seminarian begins not attending prayers, a student is becoming lazy in study and a husband starts spending more time outside his own house and family. 

How then do we counter this situation? Jesus gave the answer: the Word of God. In the desert, Jesus was firmly rooted in the Word of His Father, and resisted the temptations. In the midst of life’s dryness and challenges, we shall turn ourselves into the Word of God. Doubtless, we can do our own bible reading and study. This very reflection and other reflections are an invitation to go deeper into the Word of God. Or, praying the rosary is one effective way to meditate the life of Jesus and to refuse temptation. But, the only place that the Word of God is in the most powerful and unique form is at the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the Word of God is lavishly shared to us through the biblical readings and expanded through the homily. Most importantly, the Word of God finally is made flesh and we partake of it at the Holy Communion. 

When the devil tempted hungry Jesus to change the stone into bread, Jesus resisted by pointing that we truly live because of the real Bread, the Word made flesh, the Eucharist. When the evil one attempted to allure the Son of God to exhibit His power at the temple of Jerusalem, Jesus outsmarted him by showing him that the Temple is the home of the Word, and not place of showoff. When the prince of darkness asked Jesus to worship him in exchange for the world’s glory and richness, Jesus confronted him with the truth that only God and His Word in the Eucharist worthy of all worship. 

The Holy Spirit will indeed lead us into the desert, but it is not to destroy us, but to allow us to find how we truly are, persons rooted in the Word of God, in the Eucharist.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP