INTIMACY WITH GOD

INTIMACY WITH GOD

By: James Cervantes, MIC

There is one point that I want to share with you for this evening’s liturgy. 

It is “intimacy with God,” defined more specifically as the union of ourselves to His Word.

In our first reading, God instructs Jeremiah to buy a loincloth, put it on, to bury it, and after some time, to fetch it.  And he discovers that it has decomposed and rotted away—good for nothing!

What does God say this symbolizes?  The loincloth was meant to be a symbol of the intimacy or closeness the people of Israel were to have with God.  As the loincloth touched the most intimate parts of a man, so were the People of Israel meant to be with God. 

But what was the problem with the people?  It is pride.  Mainly, it was that they refused to obey his words.  So the intimacy that God was calling his people to was obedience to his Word.  So what does this entail?  What is the proper disposition? 

Allow me to illustrate with a personal story.  Before I entered the seminary I dated a beautiful and holy woman for two and a half years.  We were considering getting married.  We would go for long walks together and after walking we would hold each other and share our dreams and our plans.  After a while we would just be silent and gaze into each other’s eyes.  It was as if time stood still. // Then she would do a curious thing—she would smile and look downward, snuggle closer to me and look back at me.  Instinctively, I knew what this meant because she did it often.  It was as if she were saying, “Take me, I’m all yours, do with me what you will.”  Without saying any words, she was communicating to me that she was giving her heart, her entire life to me—to the fulfillment of our dreams and plans.  If you watch romantic movies you will see what I mean.  I share this with you because this is the disposition that God wanted from Israel….   And isn’t it also what God wants from us?

Now when we talk about intimacy with God, there are a lot of men and women who have exemplified this (humility and total surrender) throughout history—but WHO has exemplified it MOST PERFECTLY?  Mary, the daughter of the two saints that we celebrate today.    

Where and how did she respond to God so perfectly?  In the Annunciation.  In first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the angel appears to Mary and says that she will bear a child, the Son of God.  In verse 38, Mary responds, “Behold, I am the handmaid (the servant) of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your Word.”  This is the perfect response to God by His most perfect disciple.  Total humility, total surrender.  Then what happened afterwards?  The Holy Spirit overshadowed her and the Word became flesh—Jesus became present in her womb.  How intimate God became with her!  God was starting a new kind of intimacy!

In the seminary, we are privileged with many opportunities to enter into and deepen our intimacy with God.  But above all, we have the liturgy. In the Eucharist we have the chance to experience the DEEPEST POSSIBLE INTIMACY with God.  

How does God invite us?  “Take and eat this is my body.  Take and drink this is my blood.”  He didn’t say, “Look at me,” or “Sit next to me,” or even “Kiss me.”  He said “Take and eat…take and drink.”  It is as if he is saying, “unite yourself with me, let me enter into your life, unite your flesh to my flesh, your blood to my blood” 

In our First Reading, God described intimacy as a piece of clothing which could only remain outside of the body.  Now in the Eucharist, he comes as food, which is meant to enter inside the body.  Before, God used the loincloth as a symbol for intimacy.  Now, God surpasses all symbolism and offers his real body and blood to be united to ours.  Before, God wanted faithful obedience to his words.  Now, he wants faithful reception of his flesh and blood—essentially, his very PERSON.  Indeed, there is something new happening here.  Intimacy with God isn’t an abstract thought or concept, it is a real encounter with a living person.  It doesn’t get more intimate than this!  He is offering his very self—body, blood, soul and divinity to us!  He wants to enter into our very bodies, our very beings.  What a great privilege!  WHAT AN AWESOME PRIVILEGE!

Although we may never fully understand the mystery that takes place upon this altar, we can learn to respond with total humility and total surrender, and imitate God’s most perfect disciple who said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord let it be done unto me according to your Word.”  The intimacy that God desires, is a union of ourselves to his Incarnate Word.  It is a Eucharistic intimacy. 

So how can we achieve this deep intimacy with God?  It isn’t very difficult.  We don’t have to climb tall mountains, or spend time in the desert, or even go to the Holy Land…  The problem with the Israelites was that they refused to obey God’s words.  We just have to obey His Words and do what He tells us.  Eat his body and drink his blood.  It is so amazing that God allows us to enter into deep intimacy with Him by doing something so very simple—eating and drinking!   

HOMILY ON FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

HOMILY ON FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

By: Fr. Pops SJ

Last Wednesday, when we were fasting, or at least, that’s how we called it, after enjoying a mountain of pandesal, towards noon time namugnaw na akong mga kamot ug wan a ko hapit umoy sa kagutom.  I even wanted to forego the noon prayer for fear that i would not last...i must confess fasting is difficult for me.  I think it is also for other people we know...

Fasting has been part of our traditional Lenten observance.  Its religious or spiritual value seems to lie in the act of denying ourselves, at least momentarily of something essential so we can dispose ourselves better before God in the spirit of dependence, and also in solidarity with others who lack the bare necessities of life.

And yet, our reading today, in this season of lent, reminds us of the relative-not absolute-value of fasting.  In the first reading, Isaiah critiqued Israel for her desire to draw near to God but more by external practices, especially fasting, than by more spiritual, more internal, acts that truly matter before God.  In the first place, even the quality of their fasting was questionable:  they fasted only to quarrel, to seek their own pleasure.  That is not real fast!  And so, God teaches Israel what is true fasting:  to help the poor, to practice justice and righteousness, to liberate people from oppression, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry.

Yes, the readings today remind us that fasting is only of value if it is not simply a mere external observance, a mere act of will power.  Genuine fasting is not really pertaining to food, but depriving oneself of our favourite “dishes”:  wickedness, injustice, oppression, egoism...  this is similar to what St. Paul teaches on circumcision:  it is not something physical but spiritual; not external but of the heart.

I am not a very avid fan of fasting; yet, i recognize its value and i submit myself to it.  What we are doing here in the seminary—fasting so that other people may be able to eat from what we deprive ourselves of-is i think in line with the spirit of the readings.  Still, the greater challenge that remains for us is “fasting” from what hinders us from becoming more Christ-like:  so, when we take only soap or lugaw or pandesal on Fridays in lent, let us also say to ourselves: “magpugong na gyud ko sa akong dila karong adlawa, ako na gyong habwaon tong daghan kayo nakong sinina sa aparador ug akong ipanghatag sa ubang nanginahanglan, mag fasting sa gyod ko sa texting rong adlawa, momata gyod ko ug sayo ug mag-ampo...”  kinsay nasayod kon ang Ginoo dili motubag kanimo ug moingon:  “buotan kang viannista; himoon ta kang Obispo-30 years from now”!

Pontiff Lauds Internet's Benefits for Seminarians

Pontiff Lauds Internet's Benefits for Seminarians

Asserts Central Role of Theology in Education

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 7, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Internet is a valuable tool for seminarians, not only in their studies, but also in their pastoral ministries, says Benedict XVI.


The Pope affirmed this today when he received in audience members of the Congregation for Catholic Education, gathered in their plenary assembly.

The Holy Father spoke with the council members and its president, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, about a variety of issues related to education, both for seminaries and for Catholic schools and universities.

"The topics you are addressing in these days have education and formation as the common denominator," he noted, "which today constitute one of the most urgent challenges that the Church and her institutions are called to address."

Though urgent, the task of educating is getting ever more difficult, the Pontiff warned, because of the culture that "makes relativism its creed."

Thus, "it is considered dangerous to speak of truth," he lamented. But, "to educate is an act of love."

The Pontiff noted the congregation's discussion on a draft document regarding the Internet and the formation of seminarians. While emphasizing the need for well-prepared educators in this field, he spoke of the benefits of the Internet for future priests.

"Because of its capacity to surmount distances and put people in mutual contact, the Internet presents great possibilities also for the Church and her mission," he said. "With the necessary discernment for its intelligent and prudent use, it is an instrument that can serve not only for studies, but also for the pastoral action of future presbyters in different ecclesial fields, such as evangelization, missionary action, catechesis, educational projects, the management of institutes."

Central

Benedict XVI went on to discuss the importance of theology in relation to the other disciplines of education.

"Blessed John Henry Newman spoke of the 'circle of knowledge,' to indicate that an interdependence exists between the different branches of knowledge; but God is he who has a relationship only with the totality of the real; consequently, to eliminate God means to break the circle of knowledge," he said.

In this regard, the Holy Father stressed the importance of Catholic universities, with "their openness to the 'totality' of the human being."

He said they "can carry out a valuable work of promoting the unity of knowledge, orienting students and teachers to the Light of the world, 'the true light that enlightens every man.'"

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On ZENIT's Web page:

Full text: http://www.zenit.org/article-31686?l=english