I remember one morning several months back when I saw Joy, my wife, was having a very busy day at home. Of course with many children, every day was hectic. On this particular day, however, she was having trouble doing even routine chores - all because of our 5 year old Joseph. Joseph who has two other young siblings curiously was clinging to Joy that particular morning and was on his mother’s heels no matter where she went. Whenever she stopped to do something and turned back around, she would trip over him. Several times, she patiently suggested fun activities to keep him occupied. “Wouldn’t you like to play outside?” she would ask. But he simply smiled an innocent smile and said, “That’s all right, Mommy. I’d rather be in here with you.” Then he continued to bounce happily along behind her. After stepping on his toes for the fifth time, I heard Joy lose her patience and insisted that he go outside and play with his other siblings. When she asked Joseph why he was acting this way, he looked up at her and said, “Well, Mommy, in scripture class in school my teacher told me to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. But I can’t see Him, so I’m walking in yours.”
“The angel said to (Mary), ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.’” Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is perhaps one of the more misunderstood feast days in the Church. When we regularly refer to the “Immaculate Conception” many people will explain that this feast is about the fact that Jesus was conceived without sin. Of course, this is not a feast of Jesus, but of the Blessed Mother. It celebrates the fact that Mary, not Jesus, was conceived without sin in the womb of her mother Anne.
So, why is this day so important to us in the Church? Quite simply, it reminds us of what our faith is all about; what the goal of our believing leads us to. A few years back, when our then-8 year old son Lorenz was having his First Reconciliation back in his old school at St Gertrude, I asked him if he was nervous about making his first confession. He said he is a bit worried he would forget what to say but he is also excited. And so I asked him why is he excited about making his first confession. He said boldly and proudly, “Because today, Dad, I get to be sin free.” I get to be sin free. Isn’t that the most wonderful statement!
But, this is exactly what Mary reminds us about today. She reminds us that we all have been invited to be sin-free. Another word for sin-free is holy. We are all called to be holy people; to eliminate those things that distance us from God; to be united with Him. We do this by trying to overcome the sin in our life every day. And, if you're thinking, “I can't do that. That's too difficult,” you're right! We can't be sin-free on our own. And it was the same for Mary. Her sinlessness is not something that she achieved by her own power or merit. Rather, it was a gift from God given to her at the very moment of her conception in the womb of her mother Anne.
That's a good reminder for all of us today. When we are without sin, in a state of grace, or when we are doing better on our road to holiness, it is not an achievement of our own greatness and power - it too is a gift from God. We can overcome our sin - with God's help; and only with God's help. We would do well to be like my son Joseph and follow in the footsteps of our Blessed Mother striving to follow the example of Christ, so perfectly exemplified in her life.
Belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary is belief in a provident God - a God who provides for the future, who prepares His children for their assigned task in life even before they are born, a God who foresees and equips us with all the natural and supernatural qualities we need to play our assigned role in the drama of human salvation. God does not just throw us into this worldwide wilderness and then leave us to fight it out among ourselves.
Let us today be inspired by the loving Providence of our God and by the example of Mary; let us follow in her footsteps. Let us strive to live a life worthy of the same angelic message that was given to Mary, “Do not be afraid, for you have found favour with God.
Our special prayer today as we celebrate Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Conception is for her to touch and comfort our brothers and sisters in the community who are besieged with physical oppressions due to their illnesses (in particular, sis Rose Perez, sis Baves Ventura and sis Ambay Maquinad). And that God’s providence and healing power would find favour in them.
To wrap up this post on this, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, how about some verse that’s a bit more secular. The official story of this “prayer” is that Paul McCartney wrote it about his mom. Let this be our prayer, too to our Blessed mother in the midst of our trials and tribulations.
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be…
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be…
And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be…
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be…
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Monday, December 05, 2011
Prepare the Way
Prepare the Way
Joy, my wife, once asked how I acquired my skills in creative writing when I was presumably more attuned to technical literature and without benefit of professional training in communication arts. I replied by saying “I grew up in a family with 7 siblings. And to wait for my turn to use the bathroom, I just have to have a handy book for me to read.“
All my young adult life, I have to resort to reading and imagining words come to life while always waiting…waiting…waiting. And when I get to a point to write what’s on my mind, words just flow through and flow in prompting me to get hold of a pen and paper or open up Word and start typing.
We all know what it is like to wait—the anxiety, frustration, impatience, and all. It is not a pleasant experience at all, even though we find it necessary and unavoidable. Long queues, traffic jams, delayed plane departure, late visitors, deferred appointments, postponed events, all these are regular circumstances that make us wait.
An author once said that the most profound source of anxiety in waiting is how long the wait will be. When we are given a timeframe of the doctor’s arrival in, say, thirty minutes, coupled with a definitive assurance that the wait will not be longer than that, the situation could get a positive spin for us compared to when we are simply told that that he is already on his way. Anxiety builds on uncertainty, uncertainty feeds anxiety. It is an endless cycle, of which the only way out is to know the reason for waiting and determine whether it is really worth our wait.
We’ve just past the Second Sunday of Advent and the wait is far from over. Waiting for what? When we are waiting, time becomes very precious. Nobody wants to be kept waiting because it takes away our time, or takes us away from our time. It does not matter what else we want to do with our time, let it just be known that it is ours and ours alone. Waiting shatters all that as it compromises our ownership of time.
Two weeks more and Christmas will be upon us. The joy of anticipation is increasing by the day. There are no delays in this sense, which somehow takes away the elements of uncertainty. Days do not get suspended; nights roll by unhindered. We are in for a ride on a journey that has already become familiar to us. It happened last year and the previous years; it shall happen again this year. There will be variations of course, like the place, people, or circumstances. But the spirit of the season and the essence of the celebration will always be the same. That is, if we ever acquired it and had followed it in the first place.
It is not always true that familiarity breeds contempt. In some situations, it is the familiar that makes us feel secure, assured, and at home. In some situations, too, unfamiliarity is the one which is contemptible. It is the season of Advent, and Christmas is fast approaching. We have been in this situation before. It is familiar to us, making us feel secure, assured, and at home. Trouble is we might not want to get out of our way anymore and be challenged to go beyond the familiar and well-beaten paths.
A voice is crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His path!” the gospel of yesterday says. This is what Advent therefore ought to become: road construction and repair! It sounds strange, but really preparing the Lord’s way and straightening His path means ensuring that He is able to arrive and reach our place. By doing so, we might have to reassess the familiar and consider the unfamiliar.
In a certain village, people are busy preparing for the arrival of a very important person. Without notice, the guest comes a day earlier than expected, catching everyone by surprise. Sensing the embarrassment felt by the simple village folks, the visitor folds up his sleeves and starts sweeping the floor. He then says: “Let me help you in preparing your place for my arrival tomorrow.”
Advent’s waiting is never solitary; our preparation for it is not done on our own. We’ve got company, a familiar one, hopefully. On other days, it is the Lord who waits for us and longs for the moment we return to Him. This time around, let it be our turn to wait for Him and develop ‘fine waiting skills’, so that, just like me during my younger years, we shall also learn, not necessarily to write well, but to prepare His way.
Joy, my wife, once asked how I acquired my skills in creative writing when I was presumably more attuned to technical literature and without benefit of professional training in communication arts. I replied by saying “I grew up in a family with 7 siblings. And to wait for my turn to use the bathroom, I just have to have a handy book for me to read.“
All my young adult life, I have to resort to reading and imagining words come to life while always waiting…waiting…waiting. And when I get to a point to write what’s on my mind, words just flow through and flow in prompting me to get hold of a pen and paper or open up Word and start typing.
We all know what it is like to wait—the anxiety, frustration, impatience, and all. It is not a pleasant experience at all, even though we find it necessary and unavoidable. Long queues, traffic jams, delayed plane departure, late visitors, deferred appointments, postponed events, all these are regular circumstances that make us wait.
An author once said that the most profound source of anxiety in waiting is how long the wait will be. When we are given a timeframe of the doctor’s arrival in, say, thirty minutes, coupled with a definitive assurance that the wait will not be longer than that, the situation could get a positive spin for us compared to when we are simply told that that he is already on his way. Anxiety builds on uncertainty, uncertainty feeds anxiety. It is an endless cycle, of which the only way out is to know the reason for waiting and determine whether it is really worth our wait.
We’ve just past the Second Sunday of Advent and the wait is far from over. Waiting for what? When we are waiting, time becomes very precious. Nobody wants to be kept waiting because it takes away our time, or takes us away from our time. It does not matter what else we want to do with our time, let it just be known that it is ours and ours alone. Waiting shatters all that as it compromises our ownership of time.
Two weeks more and Christmas will be upon us. The joy of anticipation is increasing by the day. There are no delays in this sense, which somehow takes away the elements of uncertainty. Days do not get suspended; nights roll by unhindered. We are in for a ride on a journey that has already become familiar to us. It happened last year and the previous years; it shall happen again this year. There will be variations of course, like the place, people, or circumstances. But the spirit of the season and the essence of the celebration will always be the same. That is, if we ever acquired it and had followed it in the first place.
It is not always true that familiarity breeds contempt. In some situations, it is the familiar that makes us feel secure, assured, and at home. In some situations, too, unfamiliarity is the one which is contemptible. It is the season of Advent, and Christmas is fast approaching. We have been in this situation before. It is familiar to us, making us feel secure, assured, and at home. Trouble is we might not want to get out of our way anymore and be challenged to go beyond the familiar and well-beaten paths.
A voice is crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His path!” the gospel of yesterday says. This is what Advent therefore ought to become: road construction and repair! It sounds strange, but really preparing the Lord’s way and straightening His path means ensuring that He is able to arrive and reach our place. By doing so, we might have to reassess the familiar and consider the unfamiliar.
In a certain village, people are busy preparing for the arrival of a very important person. Without notice, the guest comes a day earlier than expected, catching everyone by surprise. Sensing the embarrassment felt by the simple village folks, the visitor folds up his sleeves and starts sweeping the floor. He then says: “Let me help you in preparing your place for my arrival tomorrow.”
Advent’s waiting is never solitary; our preparation for it is not done on our own. We’ve got company, a familiar one, hopefully. On other days, it is the Lord who waits for us and longs for the moment we return to Him. This time around, let it be our turn to wait for Him and develop ‘fine waiting skills’, so that, just like me during my younger years, we shall also learn, not necessarily to write well, but to prepare His way.
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