This Divine Mercy Sunday, we are given three main elements that, if lived, could make us better practicing Christians, better believers, and...
This Divine Mercy Sunday, we are given three main elements that, if lived, could make us better practicing Christians, better believers, and a better world to live in: BELIEVE, FOLLOW, and SHARE. In these three acts, we show and live the divine mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we believe, we tend to follow and share.
TO BELIEVE. We have this phrase: “To see is to believe.” Many do not believe because we have not seen what we are told. Well, I cannot blame you because many try to fool us. Maraming manloloko. Many don’t tell the truth. Absent absent kasi. Usually, those who are absent are either the ones who are pinagtsitsimisan at pinaguusapan. Yung wala ang ginalibak and most of the time, napagkukwentuhan lang. Seems like noon pa man ganun na talaga when when there are gatherings, yung wala ang topic or ang napagkukwentuhan ng bagong topic. Kaya, don’t be absent from gatherings, especially when it is a gathering among friends.
But do you really need to see and touch first for you to believe? Like Thomas, he wanted to see and touch Jesus's wound before he would believe that the community saw Jesus and that Jesus was truly risen. Jesus said, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe”. Then he said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Do we have such faith in our Lord? Do you have that strong conviction inside you? Is it why you are here today, attending Mass despite the sun's heat? Or are you here just because you got accustomed to it? Is it a custom only to fulfill?
Believing in the resurrection is like believing that you have ears. Do you believe that you have ears? Do you see them (without the mirror)? You believe because you see them in a mirror. What if the mirror wasn’t invented? You believe because you can touch it? Because science says so? We believe we have ears because we know they are part of the human body. We believe that we also have ears because we see it in others. You see it in your neighbors. Check daw na diinyo seatmate si tiene sila orejas. Tiene no? So tiene tamen ustedes.
Even though we have not seen the Risen Lord when he rose from the dead, and we haven’t seen him as the apostles and people in the first century saw him, we know and believe because we see Him in our midst through our neighbors. The Risen Lord's presence is in each of us, and we get to see him by seeing the good deeds of our maga vecinos and the people around us. The spirit of the Risen Lord is in each of us, and if only we manifest the spirit of the Risen Lord as we deal with our neighbor daily, we could have a better way of living. But we know that it is not the reality. So today, I am reminding you that the spirit of the Lord is in each of us. The presence of the Risen Lord is in each of us. We just have to believe and treat each other the right way. How do we treat each other the right way? That leads me to the second point: FOLLOW THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD.
TO FOLLOW. The second point is following or keeping the commandments of the Lord, which is derived from our love for God. In this way, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. You all know and memorize the commandments of God. It is summarized as the commandment of love: Loving God and loving your neighbor as you love yourself.
Aside from loving God, it is also the way to love your neighbor and yourself, who possesses the spirit of the Risen Christ. If we honor our mother and father, we are not just honoring them as our parents but also honoring and recognizing the presence of the Lord in them. By not killing others, you are not killing the person where the spirit of the Lord resides. By not committing adultery, you respect the presence of the Lord in the other. By not stealing the property of the other, you are not stealing what is due to the other, who, like you, is also a child of God. By not bearing false witness to your neighbor, you are telling the truth and recognizing the presence of the Risen Lord in the other person, who is the truth, the way, and the light. By not coveting or desiring (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably so that you will have everything, you give a chance to others to live decently and have a good life, just like what you have for the Lord is also present in that person.
Kasi tayo, we want everything for ourselves. We want all the riches in the world. We want to be better than others. We want na nakakalamang tayo sa iba. But that is not the way of the Lord. And that is not the sign that the spirit of the Risien Lord is in us. When the spirit of the Risen Lord is strong in us, when we let his spirit live in us, our tendency is not to covet but to SHARE. This leads me to the third point: TO SHARE.
TO SHARE. We have heard what the first reading recounted. The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own; they had everything in common… And you might say, comunismo man, nah pads. In a way, yes, but not how we know communism in our times. It was the ideal way of living. But because of greed and forgetting that the Lord is in each other and our midst, some take advantage of what is supposed to be common for all.
What does the reading says: “There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” THEY DISTRIBUTE IT TO EACH ACCORDING TO NEED. The distribution is not equal. But proportional. Those who need more are given more, and those who have been given less or given what is only needed. How wonderful diba! How I wish na lang ta ani. Sana all na lang talaga. Why? Because most of us or almost all of us, we want more. We want all the ayuda for us. Kahit hindi naman kailangan or we already have enough, we grab them, we take them, instead of giving it to those who need more, those who have less, those who are needy. Wala tayong awa. Because we tend to say, kawawa naman ako instead of kawawa naman siya. Our selfishness, our greediness, takes away that aspect of being merciful to others. It takes away our capacity to manifest the presence of the Risen Christ in us by showing mercy and compassion to others, especially those in need. After all, sharing is akin to loving the Lord and your neighbor.
SHARE MY DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS rather than aiming to gain everything for yourself. Be merciful to others as the Lord has been merciful to us. When we follow his command to love God and our neighbor as ourselves and properly share our goods, people will know that we truly believe in the Risen Lord and never doubt his resurrection. Likewise, we manifest the Divine Mercy of our Lord to each of us.
9:00 Mass at the San Antonio Maria Claret Parish in Zamboanga City, Philippines
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