“PRAYER”

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lk 11:1-13

Every Sunday in our place, in Dumalag, I visit the sick people and give communion to them. One of them, she’s a paralyzed woman, had a stomach pain, and it was extremely painful. But she called God in prayer.

Just yesterday, I went to our dying neighbor. She was crying. She was not relaxed, afraid. But when we prayed, she became peaceful. And she prayed.

I have seen some people who are sick and suffer, and dying. Some of them have already passed away. They are very sick and they suffer very much. In their sickness and pain, I could see that they really pray with all of their hearts. I could see that their prayer is true.

The gospel of Luke is the gospel of prayer. The gospel of Luke speaks of prayer many times. Jesus prayed at his baptism. He went to the desert to pray, He spent the whole night in prayer before choosing his disciples. He prayed in the transfiguration. He prayed while he suffered on the cross.

Jesus was prayerful. It moved his disciples to ask to be taught to pray. Jesus recommends that the quality of our prayer should be persevering. It is necessary to pray, pray, always pray, without ever ceasing. Prayer must be true and coming from the heart.

Jesus assured us that God hears our prayer. Ask and it will be given. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. When we pray, what God expects to us above all is our trust, that is - a prayer from the heart and a prayer that is true. He may choose not to answer in the way that we would like. He has a better plan for us. God knows best for us for he sees further than we do.

So, we keep on praying and trusting God for He loves us. During this Eucharist, we shall all pray together to our Father, who is in Heaven. We pray not just today but always.

Let be our prayer like a prayer of the sick and dying people who pray to God with all hearts.

LISTENING

16^th Sunday of ordinary Time
Lk 10:38-42

Out of a hundred percent, we listen only about 25 percent of what we hear. 75 percent of what we hear is forgotten, ignored, and misunderstood. It is according the report of Diane Bone in her book called “The Business Listening.” Perhaps, it is true to our own life. There was little child wanted to talk to his parents. He just wanted to ask something. But his parents were busy texting with there cell phones A little innocent child was deeply hurt and felt rejected. He felt unloved, unimportant.

The experience of this child may be also the experience of the persons we love – our family, our friends, our children, our neighbors. We don’t have much time to listen to them. We don’t even look to the person we love. We cover our face with newspaper or just pretending that we are listening while watching TV.

The expression of true love is listening, a deep listening. The story of Martha and Mary is very connected to the theme last Sunday, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart… and love your neighbors as yourself.” Mary who sat beside Jesus and listening to Him is meant to explain this true love. Mary was just being there for Jesus. She was recognizing his presence. She gave Jesus her full attention. She fulfilled the greatest commandments – “To Love God and neighbors.” Indeed, the one who loves is the one who truly listens. Without listening, true love is impossible. If we truly love God, we would listen to Him in prayer. When we really love others, we would listen to their needs – and in listening, we can understand and ease the pain of others. In this way we have chosen the better part that nobody can take away from us.

But listening is not easy. We don’t want to listen. We have our own problem. We are too busy. We feel bored to what we heard. We are just proud. Listening demands our full attention, our “all-ear,” our loving presence. Like Mary, we should be able to listen to the people we love in a very simple way – to recognize their presence, to listen to their stories, to listen to their feelings, to listen to their needs and wants.

Listening is our commitment to love! Do we have enough time for it?

“TRUE LOVE”

15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Deut 30:10-14; Col 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37

We have heard these three sweet words - “I love you.” When you want to express your love to someone, you’ll say these words “I love you.” What a sweet words! What is this thing called love? How do we define it? Love is trusting… Love is helping… love is caring… love is giving… love is sharing… more? We know all these things. But do we really mean it?

For us, the law of love is just plain and simple: “Love your God and Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s easy for us to say it. It’s very clear to us. We know love in theory, but not in action. There are some people say, “I love my friends. I love my parents. I love my children. I love my neighbors. I love every people I’ve met. However, I am very busy now. I have no time for them yet.” We only know love just in our head but not in our heart.

A Jewish scholar in the law wanted to test Jesus. He tried to see if Jesus correctly understood the basic commandment. When Jesus asked what was written in the law, the scholar had a great answer – he had studied! But had he lived it? Jesus challenged him to see that Jesus’ view of neighbor went beyond his narrow definition. Jesus tells us the story of the Good Samaritan, a story about true love for one's neighbor. A Samaritan is willing to help even if it brought him trouble. He is not just willing to help but he is practical, he just do it. His compassion leads him to action – that’s a true love!

Jesus is the perfect image of true love, an unconditional love. He is the image of God who is Love. He laid down his life because of his great love for us. He wants us to experience the love that is in Him, and let it grow in our hearts. We have experience this love. True love is not just in our head, not up there in the sky or in the sea. It is something very near to us, very close to us. It is something in our hearts, something that we carry out – in our hearts. Our hearts are bigger than our minds.

If we would say, “I can share this love to my parents, to my children, to my friends, to strangers and even to my enemies,” it would mean “I am willing to help, to care, to understand, to give and ready to do good to others.” To feel pity and empathizing is not enough. True love must have the ability to do so. It must be internalized.

To love is not something that we know. It is something that we live. It is something that we do.

GOD'S MOTHERLY LOVE

14^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Is 66:10-14; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12, 17-20

I was alone in Thailand when the superior of our community emailed from the Philippines to go to Ranong, the border town in the south of Thailand. He asked me to look for a house to be our base. I said “yes” and took the risk. I was alone, unable to speak either Thai or Burmese. Very few could understand English. I was a foreigner. Sometimes I felt rejected and ignored by people. I felt lonely and abandoned. I felt like I was a lamb among lions - so afraid and helpless. In trusting God I realized that He did not abandon me. I felt his comfort and his care. He answered my prayer and found a house. God is not only a father to me, but a mother as well.

There times in our lives that we feel hurt by other people. But also sometimes we feel abandoned by our loved ones. Sometimes we feel rejected by our friends. And we feel afraid and helpless. Those difficult times, do we think we are alone completely? Can we trust God? Do we believe in His motherly love? We need not to worry even in the midst of most painful experience. It is the motherly love of God that holds us close.

This is the same experience of Paul when he said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He is utterly rooted in his great trust in God’s motherly love. So he said, “From now on, no one make troubles for me, for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.” Yet troubled as we are in our life, the Gospel assures us that there is no need to worry. Carry no money, no bag, no sack, no sandals. God will provide. I remember when I went to Ranong, I was so worried what to take and what to bring. I had to take my passport with me. I had to bring enough money for the hotel, for food and transportation, and for emergency. I had these things but did I trust God? Did I bring peace to the people I met? Did I share this motherly love of God?

The harvest is abundant! So we need to trust in God. Let us offer our troubles and most painful experience to Him. We can rely on Him for He loves us so tenderly. I encourage you to pray to God. He is the God who would carry us in her arms, and fondled in her lap. If we cannot trust His motherly love, what else is there we might trust? “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”