Did God Call you yet?

If God is beyond us and beyond our humanly works, how can we know him? How can we learn from his ways?

Often in the Gospel, Jesus shows us who we are in contrast to the ways of God. Most often than not, we grumble and thought that life is unfair. We sometimes compare ourselves with other person from what they can do to what they can have. Sometimes we think that they are better than us, that they are blessed more than we are. But God’s ways are different. He sees everybody as equal.

We are all equal in the eyes of God. We think and act different from Him. But we all want to be like Him. And so the Gospel always invites us to change: an invitation for conversion. What is conversion? It is a change of heart: a change from old ways into something new. How does one change? If you have never forgiven anyone, it is the time to forgive. If you have never given anyone that asks you, it is the time to be generous. If you have never loved anyone, it is the time to love. If you have never believed in God, then it is the time for you to believe. It is a change of heart that you know from deep inside what is good that enables you to know the value of goodness and sacredness and of being a good person.

Conversion leads to vocation; a vocation to work in God’s vineyard. We are all called to work in His vineyard. God calls each of us at different hours of the day. He calls some people early in their life, some are called in the middle of their life and some are called very late. But all receive the same reward and that is the way of God, we are all receiving the reward. That reward is eternal life.

What is your vocation in life? Are you married? Do you find time with your spouse and with your children? Do you do whatever it takes to mold you children to be good Christians? Are you a teacher? Do you teach goodness in words and action and bring the message of Christ to your students? Are you a doctor? Or a Nurse? Do you see Christ in your patients so as to treat them with compassion and care? For young people vocation is crucial at your stage of life but you can be a model for others. Do not be afraid to make a difference. Be a good example to others and be a good child to your parents. This is what we are called to do, to be like Christ in every situation in life. God wants us to be bearers of the Gospel to others. To inspire one another, to carry one another’s burden, and to love each other as God loves us.

To work in God’s vineyard is an experience of joy and spiritual growth. We are all called to work in God’s vineyard no matter who we are and where we come from. But along the course of this vocation sometimes we fail. Despite of this, we should keep our conversion experience fresh and remain focus on our vocation so that we can always be the person God wants us to be.
To live an authentic Christian life is to live a life in Christ. St Paul shows us how to live that life in Christ. He wishes to be with Christ but he remains for the benefit of his faithful followers. An so with us, we live by conversion experience and the vocation God has called us not only for our own benefits but for others who have never heard of the Gospel.

We all do this because we know with deep faith and conviction that we are for God and we hope to bring more people to work in His vineyard. We are God’s worker in building his kingdom so let us remember this with the words of St. Paul, “Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.” In the end of all these, we all receive the precious reward: the Eternal Life.

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."
Matthew 22: 21

In the history of American Christianity, freedom of religion is fundamentally defined as part of the life of every citizen. The First Amendment to the US Constitution says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” This means that we are free exercise to exercise our religion in this country. How does it affect us? Generally it affects us because we are not just part of this country as citizen or resident but also as religion united in faith.

We all love and are proud of this country despite of where we came from. Because we love this country, we pay taxes for the good of it. Tax is the money paid to the government for financing public expenses. In other words we benefit from it and we continue to be proud of what this country is doing. Although some are not pleased with paying taxes, it is important to understand that this is not only for our own good but for everybody. This is our responsibility as citizens of the world and in any country we are live in. We pay taxes so that life will go easily and that public service will be well established.

I mentioned these things so that we can understand the message of the Gospel today. It is a message to remind us that we are part of something greater citizenship. Citizenship of the world and in this country in particular is temporal. This eventually will come to an end. There is however, a citizenship that is eternal, that lasts forever. What is this eternal citizenship? This, my dear friends, is our citizenship in heaven.

You may wonder what the citizenship in heaven is like. You may think that there is also census or census tax in heaven. If there is a census in heaven, maybe we will ask ourselves with this personal question, am I documented or listed in heaven?

You can answer these questions on your own but I want to give you a clear and simple answer. The answer is yes; we are all documented and listed in heaven. Recall the first reading today, it speaks about God who calls everyone by name. He says, “I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not. I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me” Isiah 45: 4-5.

My dear friends, God has called us individually for this citizenship. As a response, we have the freedom of choice whether to accept the invitation or not. It is an invitation to a deeper relationship with Him. He says in the first reading, “I knew you and have called you though you knew me not, I am your Lord.” We want to know God, don’t we? In this world, we may not be known to others but we are more than known by God. He knows every single detail of us. He knows us because not only He is an omnipotent and transcendent God but because He loves us and He wants us to be with Him.

We are citizens of Heaven. We give glory to the Father as the Psalm teaches us today. This is how we render God what belongs to God; we give all the glory and honor to Him because we are part of His kingdom. We are his people and He is our God.

We are here today because of we respond to the invitation of love and communion. We love God and we want to do anything to for Him. Just as we love this country, our love for God must surpass this so that we may be able to do anything to please and give glory to Him.

As citizens of this world, we pay taxes, as citizens of heaven; we pay not of monetary tax but spiritual tax. By doing good works and living a virtuous life, by promoting peace and justice, by prayers and sacrifices and by loving God, our neighbors are the spiritual taxes that we can offer to glorify God. May our understanding of our citizenship in heaven be reflected in our life as citizens of this world. As we continue this celebration, let us ask for the grace we need to continually live a life as worthy citizens of Heaven and as the Psalm teaches us we may continue to give the Lord glory an honor.

What is Beauty?

Every person has many questions in life. These questions are always personal and vital in each one’s personality.

When I was still in the Minor Seminary, I had one question that made me think a lot. Only lately the answer dawned on me and made me understand a little bit and I would like to share it with you.

The question was this; what is beauty? If I were to ask you, what is beauty; your respond may vary from one answer to another. The reason for this sums up in the saying from an unknown author that say: “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. We all know this saying but let us take a closer look at beauty if it fits into the message for us today. In reference to the passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:6-9.

In today’s world, a lot of people use advance technologies no matter what to get a look they want. Plastic surgery and the like have become trends in changing our look. Can you think of some examples? Well, while we have the freedom to do so, it remains a mystery why some people would love these things. Why would people want to undergo plastic surgery? Perhaps they feel that they don’t look beautiful. But the question remains, how do they know they that don’t look beautiful?

Maybe the best question to ask is this: what is the criterion of beauty? One thing that we have to know that in order to know what is beautiful is to experience it. With this, I’ll give you two types of beauty: 1. The Physical beauty, 2. The Metaphysical beauty. If we look around us, we see the beauty of creation. We see trees,, grasses, animals, the landscape, the beautiful Grand Canyon, and the breathtaking beauty of the Niagara Falls, the people and so on and so forth. We look at these things and we can enumerate and name them. We look at other people and say, you are beautiful whether one has undergone surgery or not. These are physical beauties and our experience this beauty is a mere informative one which does not change us or affects us personally. The metaphysical beauty on the other hand is the experience of beauty that not only informs us but transforms us.

For example, there was a man who attended a Sunday mass. He tended to seat on the front pew so that he could see and hear the mass clearly. The mass started with a lively and welcoming song “all are welcome in this place.” The man feels at home and secure. Along the course of the liturgy, he realized that every part of the mass was very moving and that brought him to tears and led him to change his life. Finally he said to himself; “this is beautiful.” This is an example of a transformative experience that literally changes a person.

In our personal life, we also experience things that change us. When a person is honest and true to us, we learn from that person and we want to do the same to others. When we experience justice, we realize that it is good and we want also render justice to others. When we experience a person with pure and sincere heart, we admire that person and we desire to be one also. When we experience being loved, we learn to love others as well. When we know somebody who is gracious, we want to be gracious also. We have that desire in our hearts to respond to these things that enables us to change because if we reflect who is honest to us, or true, or just, with a pure and sincere heart, who loved us first, who is very gracious to us, we see Jesus in the picture. Our experience with him is a metaphysical experience of beauty that is transformative. This is the experience that changes us. And so every celebration of the mass is an experience with Jesus who is our model for change. Aren’t these things beautiful?

This is the beauty that is very important and we tend to set it aside because of today’s noise and distractions around us. The multi-media culture and the like keep us busy and tend to forget that we need to pay attention to the beauty we are experiencing in our ordinary lives. We need to pray because through prayer we experience the beauty of God reflected around that transforms us.

When we pray, let us remember that words of St. Paul, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

If we fall along our spiritual journey, and seem that we do not experience the beauty of God anymore, pray again with the words of St. Paul, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” We petition God and ask Him to keep us experience His beauty that we may be always a new creation. Let us not be troubled, afraid or restless for as Paul says, “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” We are experiencing this beauty today and may it transform us deeply and personally as we continue our spiritual journey.