KALIS Homily

Homily on June 11, 2014, Wednesday

(Feast of St. Barnabas)

Our Gospel today is part of Matthew Chapter 10, the missionary discourse of Jesus. The first reading complements the Gospel for it talks about the flourishing community of Antioch which Barnabas visited.  Antioch, as we know, was where the disciples were first called “Christians”. As we celebrate today the feast of  St. Banabas, who is a prolific missionary of the early church, allow me to focus my sharing on being a missionary, which, I believe, is one of the key themes of our liturgy today.

            If we take the gospel in a literal sense, we might conclude that Jesus is equating discipleship with asceticism. Imagine: no walking staff, no sandals, and no extra cloak. “Ang hirap naman niyan”.   Mathew is more radical compared to Mark who allows staff and sandal on missionary travel. If I am to translate this to our modern parlance, Jesus must be saying to us: “Do not bring iPad, No ATM, No Business or do not acquire property.” The purpose of Matthew here, however, is not to encourage a believer to live a destitute life. On the contrary, he reminds everyone to prioritize missionary activity over personal comfort. Simplicity is an imperative in doing the works of the kingdom of God. Simplicity is not an end of itself. It is a means to become more available, loving, and accommodating. True simplicity compels us to prioritize what is divine over earthly. Our priorities in life define where our hearts belong.

It is not unknown to us all that formation for the priesthood demands a lot from us. Some of us,  including myself, tend to sacrifice one pillar of formation over another; studies over prayer, apostolate over studies, and so on.  Every day in the seminary is a test of our priorities.  Hence, I think we need to examine our lives using the lens of simplicity.  Simplicity takes many forms. Simplicity can be seen in how we spend our prayer time, free time, and study period. At times we are engrossed by many personal or common activities which are not necessary for our formation. In Fr. Raul’s term, these are energy leaks that burn up our energy.

Dear brothers, our simplicity in terms of time element will be challenged in the coming days. Some of us are still want to continue the “not-so-demanding life” of previous weeks.  Some are still reminiscing our community building specially the Japanese walk that many of us executed it with no effort at all. Some want to still arrange their rooms for another round of gallery walk. However, we need to move forward. Many requirements await us. We are no longer master of our time. It is the demands of formation that will take priority as our way of knowing and loving God. Thus, simplicity leads to obedience. We obey the formation because we want to love God. According to Fr. Alejo, “ If a seminarian does not study his lesson well, he disobeyed in advanced for he deprived himself of an opportunity to gain more learning  that will help him fulfill his future ministry with competence”.

Vianney does not promise us an easy life; nor she make life difficult for us. Since we want to be sent to a mission, the seminary has to prepare us.  Our mission starts here and now. How pitiful it is for a seminarian like me to look at mission in view of the future without the consciousness that it starts at the moment I set foot on the gates of the seminary. The dichotomy between seminary formation and mission will end in the disintegration of priorities, and as a result, our simplicity will be put into question. Many complaints will be born if our now is not connected to our tomorrow and our tomorrow is not grounded in the present. As Henri Nouwen says, “waiting is not a passive activity; rather it is active, for by waiting, we gradually become what we are waiting for.” If we want to become a true missionary like St. Barnabas, let us live fully our present. Waiting needs a missionary attitude.

            True missionary does not favor one situation over the other. He is at home in joy as well as in pain; in easy subjects and in difficult ones; it matters little to him whether he passed or he failed. He is at home in any place or any situation-for home for him is where God calls him. May God be praised!

-Randy Caerlang-

KALIS Homily

Wednesday, 11^th Week

2 Kings 2:1, 6-14, PS 31:20, 21, 24, Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

TS Eliot in his poem, The Murder at the Cathedral, once said, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do right deed for wrong reason.”

Our first reading today presents Elijah asking Elisha what gift he would like to ask for from God. Elisha, the apprentice of Elijah, asked for the double portion of the spirit of Elijah, which means, a special connection or relationship with God. In the Gospel today, Jesus reminds His disciples that they should be focused on their relationship with the Father.  The disciples should do good deeds of almsgiving, praying, and fasting not to be noticed by others and receive praise from mere humans, but rather to draw closer to the Father who sees the deeds of those who are trying to live like their Master.  The close relationship with God is much more important than the admiration of other people as Pope Francis stated in one of his homilies.  The purpose of their actions should be a deepening of their relationship with the One who sees what is done in secret and gives gifts better than that of being held in high esteem bypeople.  

Let me focus my reflection on the intention or motivation of the heart in doing good. TS Eliot is indeed correct in saying that it is treason and hypocrisy to do good deeds with the wrong intention. This is what constantly comes to my prayer on this passage. In the sphere of human dynamics, person gifted with self-consciousness, self-confidence, and aggressiveness may be prey to this hypocrisy.  And much more if the person is not aware of this dynamics. The good deeds he has done may be tainted by hypocrisy rather than inspired by a closer relationship with the Giver of the gifts.  Our Human Formation reminds us always that it is our ego that often prevents us from establishing a meaningful relationship with God. The ego  leads to self-centeredness and desirespraises and recognition. Based on my experience, one feels frustrated if one is not recognized and given importance.

Throughout my 11 years in formation, I have found myself continually struggling with this. I acknowledge my God-given gifts. However, many times,I am defeated by my ego. This is a reminder for me. I ask myself, “In everything I do and for all that I share, what are my motivations”? I never had pure motivations. Never. Hence, I am very grateful to my counsellor and spiritual director for the guidance and enlightenment. In the constant struggle with this ego-centric dynamics and the desire to serve God and his Church, this seminary has never ever left me hanging. The programs of the seminary continually help me to stand in the midst of the creative tension between the two realities of ego-centric dynamics and genuine service to God. I believe thateach one of us have our own struggles in this regard, but on  different levels and intensities. Let us always remember that though our motivation is never pure, there is always room for growth for those who are willing to be helped.

In our daily awareness of this inner movement, we can surely develop our deeper relationship with the Giver of our giftsand make Him the right reason for every good deed we do. As Cardinal Tagle reminded us also during his talk, to be grounded on where we came from so that the praises we receive may be directed with gratitude to the Giver rather than to us. This will then lead to a deeper relationship with God. Like Elisha, let us continually ask God for the grace of openness and humility to acknowledge and tame our own issues and struggles. Quoting Fr. Cel, let us always ask ourselves; what is/are my motivations in doing things? Where is the direction of my affect? May we desire for deeper relationship with God as our motivation rather than others’ praises and adulations. Amen.

-          Eric Cantones