219 total views
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe-6, 21 December 2016
Zephaniah 3:14-18//Luke 1:39-45
CALLER: Anong oras po ang constipated mass?
SACRISTAN: Concelebrated mass po yon. Yung maraming pari.
CALLER: Hindi po. Yung sa Sabado ng hapon.
SACRISTAN: Ah…antiseptic mass po yun.
Of course there is no such thing as “anticipated Mass” because God is always present in every celebration of the liturgy. But a lot often, many of us seem to be “constipated” in our Catholic faith partly because of our parish community too when we could hardly feel God is with us in the church and in our celebrations. Faith in God is always a call to commune among others to truly reflect our own union with God. It is providential that we are celebrating this 2017 as the “Year of the Parish, A Communion of Communities” that could serve as an “antiseptic” to cleanse us of the many germs and microbes that have adulterated our being Christians called to witness Christ in a community. Archbishop Soc Villegas explains that “The Church is a mystery of communion. Our communion flows from the Trinity overflowing into humanity and sharing a common faith journeying together for the full unfolding of the Kingdom of God. This communion… always has a double dimension – a vertical communion with God and a horizontal communion with our brothers and sisters.” (CBCP, 27 Nov. 2016)
Quite heavy for us to tackle early this morning so let us just focus on the word “communion,” a word closely linked with community and even communication as they all come from the Latin “communis” which is sharing something in common. “Communis” in turn came from the root word “mun” that in early Latin used to refer to a common room or wall where people gathered for protection. Common unity or community is achieved when there is a communion and communication among people. But communion is deeper because it is the sharing or unity of a common experience among the people that unite them as one. And here we can find the beauty of Incarnation when God became human like us in Jesus Christ who shared in our humanity in all aspects except sin so that we humans may share in His divinity. We can no longer claim He is God so far and detached from us for He had gone through the same pain and sufferings, even death like we do. Jesus became a helpless baby in the womb of Mary facing threats of abortion and infanticide, like a child He was also exposed to threats of sickness, starvation, even poverty that when He became an adult, like us He suffered and died for on the Cross, going through the most inhuman experiences of betrayal, abandonment, and slow death. Every Sunday when we celebrate and make present anew the Pasch of Jesus Christ, we gather to share it with other journeyers of this life, praising and thanking the Father, asking for more grace to sustain us in our many difficulties and trials as well as being sorry for our sins and lapses. Communion is oneness with God through one another; one cannot be good simply in himself or herself. We can only find the meaning of our life always in relation with others and most of all with God, our origin and destiny.
This is essentially the story of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: we are all interconnected with one another. That whatever plan God has for me, it has something to do with you. You were born at the right time so we could meet because we have a mission or a task from God! When St. Luke described how “Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah” (Lk.1:39), this is what the evangelist is telling us more than her eagerness to see her cousin miraculously pregnant too with a child who would eventually prepare the coming of her own child in her womb. Mary must still be rejoicing as we reflected yesterday when she went in haste to visit Elizabeth. How her joy must have doubled or tripled in knowing her cousin blessed with a child at a very advanced age. Most of all, Mary must be overflowing with joy also in realizing how from her obscure life in Nazareth her life is interconnected with the lives of Elizabeth, Zechariah and their child John! Do we not share the same joy whenever we discover some links, no matter how little it may be with somebody we know and just met, making us exclaim “what a small world!”? Have you ever felt being like what Malcolm Gladwell described in his first book “Tipping Point” as a “connector” always finding so many links with others? Remember the genius of Mark Zuckerberg we have reflected yesterday in relation with the Annunciation of Christ’s birth to Mary, of how he had interconnected us with long lost acquaintances, friends and relatives that enable us to claim “mayroong forever”?!
Last Saturday, we have seen how in the genealogy of Jesus Christ we all share a common origin in God through faith, the story of Visitation is telling us today that we are indeed one big family that whatever plan God has for each of us, it always has something to do with His plans with others too like a “conspiracy of the universe” as Paulo Coello claims in some of his novels. If we could just have silent moments every day to reflect a day that have passed or on a new day opening for us, it would be a tremendous joy for us to realize how God in His infinite wisdom had aligned the stars and the planets for us to meet so many people who have come to our lives each day. Some may be meant for a reason or a season but basically, everyone is meant for love of which He is overflowing with. At least a week is still left for us to go and visit one another right in our Parish to share the joy of being a companion in this life. Again, that word “companion” is from two Latin terms, cum panis that mean someone with whom you break bread with like in the Holy Communion. Jesus chose to break bread with us, to share His life with us so we can have a share with His life too. Come in union – communion – rejoicing like Mary to share our life, our joys and our pains, most especially our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with one another.
Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. Halili Ave.
Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan
