Easter: After the Pain

Jesus' Resurrection points beyond history but has left a FOOTPRINT within history. (Jesus of Nazareth vol 2, p 275)

We acknowledge the pain and woundedness of Good Friday. To deny it is to numb ourselves, not only to the pain but also to love. We go through grief, confusion, fear, and uncertainties of Black Saturday. We are shaken. Through all this we hold on to Jesus and He will never let go. His seeming absence and silence can sometimes discourage us but we know He is there. Jesus is there, ready to forgive... always loving. We accept, we embrace this Mercy... this love. Sometimes, it is difficult, we still do not feel worthy of being loved. Still Jesus offers His love.

He continues to knock gently at the doors of our hearts and slowly opens our eyes if we open our doors to Him.(Jesus of Nazareth vol 2, p 276)

It can be overwhelming and sometimes incomprehensible. But you just know... this is love.

He is ALIVE. Let us entrust ourselves to Him, knowing that we are on the right path. With Thomas let us place our hands into Jesus' pierced side and confess: "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:28) (Jesus of Nazareth vol 2, p 277)

Passion of Christ Today

Jesus:
”My Words are there and I SPEAK, yet, so few LISTEN .”
”My House is there and I WAIT, yet, so few CAME.”
”My Miracle is there and I THIRST, yet, so few PARTAKE.”
”I left everything in place for them.”

”They can spend hours in front of the television and computer monitors,
they can’t even GAZE AT ME FOR AN HOUR.”

”They can spend an hour naked in bed with someone they hardly knew, yet,
they can’t BARE THEIR HEARTS out to Me even for a few minutes.”

”They can spend countless hours and days working for money and fame,
yet they can’t give Me a LORD'S DAY to give them some providence.”

”My feet are BRUISED, I kept running after them,
but they kept on chasing adventure. They never had time for me.”

”My knuckles are SWOLLEN from knocking,
they won’t open the door, they were with alcohol and drugs.”

”My voice is HOARSE from shouting,
but the television and radio were too loud, they couldn’t hear.”

”My hand reached out to TOUCH them,
but they couldn’t feel because they were having fun and feeling good.”

”I wanted to carry and PROTECT them,
but they don’t trust me, they would rather trust Science, Psychology, money, and Democracy.”

”I wanted to GIVE them something,
but their hands are too full holding on to material things.”

”I wanted to WHISPER ’I love you’
but fame’s clapping and cheers drowned my whisper.”

”I have given them everything that they may KNOW ME and know love,
still they want their way.”

”I have SHED blood, sweat and tears for them;
yet, they shed their blood, sweat and tears for what? For things that pass away.

”I have CARRIED My Cross,
yet won’t let Me help them in their baggages.”

”If only they knew that they need not be a victim anymore,
I have taken their place for them - became a victim for them, THEN and NOW
Just so they can have the victory of love and eternal life. Still, they don’t want to CHOOSE ME.”

Holy Week- to Die with Jesus

There is always a dying in each of us. A sense of losing a part of us. It could be a loss of meaning and purpose due to lack of direction, physical sickness, or just that emptiness. It could be a sense of not knowing who we are. There is a LOSS. There is SOMETHING MISSING.

But there is also a holy death that brings forth life, a re-creation, a transformation. We know and we believe Jesus died and resurrected. This is our holy death - to experience Christ Crucified in our suffering and the suffering of others.

"As the cross of Christ demonstrates, God also speaks by his SILENCE. The silence of God, the experience of the distance of the almighty Father, is a decisive stage in the earthly journey of the Son of God, the incarnate Word. Hanging from the wood of the cross, He lamented the suffering caused by that silence: ' My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ( Mk 15:34; Mt 27:46). Advancing in obedience to His very last breath, in the obscurity of death, Jesus called upon the Father. He commended himself to him at the MOMENT of PASSAGE, through death, to eternal life: 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit' ( Lk 23:46)." (Benedict XVI, Verbum Dei)

We all experience pain. Yet, it is a loud call that beckons, or even begs us to accept the love of God. When we do, we, in turn, can continue to love, to hope, to believe. Our life, even in suffering, becomes a prayer. This experience of dying is not limited to sickness. Parents, most esp mothers, would know the pain of going through this passage to new life. In Pope Benedict XVI, he must have experienced this, too, when he accepted the papacy. And moreso when he renounced it.

"Yet at the same time, Jesus' suffering is a Messianic Passion. It is suffering in FELLOWSHIP with us, in a solidarity - born of love- that already includes redemption, the VICTORY of LOVE." (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth vol 2, p 216)

With the Cross, God loved me and you. He fought the battle with us and for us. He conquered death with new life.

“And so it turns out that the confrontation with physical death is actually a confrontation with the basic constitution of human existence. It places before us a choice: to accept either the PATTERN of LOVE, or the PATTERN of POWER. The God who personally died in Jesus Christ fulfilled the pattern of love beyond all expectation… The Christian dies into the death of Christ himself. The uncontrollable Power that everywhere sets limits to life is not a blind law of nature. It is a LOVE which puts itself AT OUR DISPOSAL by DYING FOR US and WITH US. Man’s enemy, death, that would waylay him to steal his life, is conquered at the point where one meets the thievery of death with the attitude of trusting love, and so transforms the theft into the increase of life.” (Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life)

Holy Week Thru Pope Benedict XVI

The time of Lent is commemorating the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It speaks of the tremendous love of God for humanity.  Lent is a call to repentance, fasting, and alms giving; It is the constant call of God to each of us to journey with Him, in Him, and through Him.

The aging process brings new dimension to things, and with the devaluation of life around us in a culture of death.  I, now, meditate on the Holy Week through the eyes of a mortal man, Benedict XVI.  To die with Jesus.

“I will simply be a pilgrim who is beginning the last part of his pilgrimage on earth.” (Benedict XVI, March 28, 2013)

Good-byes are always difficult.  It cuts through our hearts – the HOLDING ON and the LETTING GO of good-byes. That is good-bye in whatever form, whether physical death, geographical separation, or end of a relationship. The significant other is responding to a call.  For someone like Pope Benedict XVI, it is definitely, a response to God’s call.

“The Lord is calling me to ‘climb the mountain’, to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation.” (Benedict XVI, March 24, 2012, Final Angelus)

And in all of Benedict XVI’s writings, everything in life is about an encounter with Jesus – with God.

“As pilgrims, we go up to Him; As a pilgrim, He comes to us and takes us up with Him in his ‘ascent’ to the Cross and Resurrection, to the definitive Jerusalem that is already growing in the midst of this world in the communion that unites us with His body.” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, vol 2)

There is always that point of intimate contact with God, so much like Michelangelo’s painting of the creation.  A reaching out of hands to the point of touching. Not just God’s but also our hands.

But then, there is always that inescapable CROSS that we have to face.  Abandonment, betrayal, failed aspirations, physical sickness… that we would rather drown in the accumulation of things, whirlwind of activities, fame and fortune.

“[Mount of Olives]: it was here that Jesus experienced the final loneliness, the whole anguish of the human condition.  Here the abyss of sin and evil permeated deep within his soul. Here He was to quake with foreboding of His imminent death. Here He was kissed by the betrayer. Here He was abandoned by all the disciples. Here He wrestled with His destiny for MY SAKE.” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Vol 2, p 149)

Blessed is He

If I were there...
as You came riding in an ass,
Would I join the crowd
and raise a palm to hail You.
Or would I ignore You
and not be starstruck by You.
If I were there...
Would my heart be so
disposed to know,
"Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord".

And now...
with many stars that shine
would my heart be so..
that it may be so disposed
and not be deceived...
that I may know who
truly comes in Your Name.
Would I just be
a part of a bandwagon,
not really knowing.
Would I just be
sitting on my own wagon,
clinging only to mine.

O Lord of Light.
O King of kings.
Your love and friendship,
let me know.

O Lord of Light.
O King of kings.
In Thy Sacred Heart
let me be.

A Christmas at the Stable

I went to the stable




to seek Jesus and greet Him.




There were no Angels singing Gloria



but the rising voice of frustration.




O, Where is Jesus?




I seek Him and want to greet Him.









There was no bright star




but a dark hovering cloud of dementia.




There was no silence




but a rumbling wind of fear and worries.




O, Where is Jesus?




I seek Him and want to greet Him.









It is Christmas Day, right?




I hear a Christmas carol from a distance.




People greeting each other from afar.




But where is Jesus?




There are no shepherds around




just a listless sheep at large.









I have stayed awake all night and day;




And I am wearied and weak.




Little bites of bread and lots of coffee




to keep me alert.




For I seek Jesus.



I long to see Him, hold Him, and accept Him.








Lit a little candle and a scent of lovely lavander.




O prayers to Holy Angels, Saints, and




Divine Mercy.




It is Christmas Day and it is almost spent;




But where is Mary and Joseph?




I seek Jesus on this special day.









The humid day turned into a cold night;




The dead seems to haunt




a brain that regressed.




Could I have been in the wrong place?




But this is where Jesus asked me to be;




So I am here to do my part.









O where are you, my sweet Jesus?




I want to spend Your birthday with You.




I think of You and long for You.




Why an empty manger have I found.




The night had passed,



it's the Second day of Christmas!







Slowly, the rising sun shines



while the dark cloud dispels a bit.



There's a reason to smile still,



though the body had become tired.


It was Christmas at the stable



Baby Jesus was not around.







Baby Jesus was not in the manger;


He celebrated with the downtrodden.



Not in a party of the well-dressed

overflowing with food and drinks.



Baby Jesus came as a toddler;

To be carried in a bosom;

So close to every heartbeat.

Warmth shared in each breath.



Baby Jesus was at every stable;

As fragile as a rose petal;

Easily crushed by the weight

of a hand so used to hard toil.



Baby Jesus was at every stable;

Vulnerable and defenseless.

Yes, Jesus was and is

a Tiny Host to be consumed.



Baby Jesus was at every stable;

The Celebrant who gives Himself.

Made Himself as small as a Wafer;

as fluid as Wine to fit a vessel.

Yes, Jesus can be found.
At a table open to all.
Intellects and ignorants,
Rich or the poor.

But don't seek Him in grandeur,
in humility He came.
As tiny as a babe,
For Love He will be.

If I Were There

If I were there
would I rejoice with Mary & Joseph for the newborn Jesus?
If I were there
would I smile at young Mary's lullabye as she cradles the Babe?
If I were there
would I joyfully laugh at Joseph fretting around to give mother and Child comfort?
If I were there
would I wonder at the tiny hands of Baby Jesus and see the wonders He will do?
If I were there
would I believe if Angels tell me that the Messiah would come thru this humble family?
If I were there
would there be awe for a God who would deem make Himself as vulnerable as a Child?

Here I am and I still could....
marvel at the Mysteries of Life.
Here I am and I still could
be amazed by the Splendour of such Love.