Ika-anim na Linggo sa Pasko ng Pagkabuhay
(Mula se Ebanghelyo ni San Juan 15: 9-17)
Our God reveals himself gradually.
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| image grabbed from http://openclipart.org/ |
Even in the way he teaches things, even in the way he teaches his doctrines, we learn gradually. Because he knows and understands our psychological growth or emotional readiness. Jesus, for example, at the very first level with his disciples, says love your neighbor as you love yourself. The basis of this love is the love of self. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
I guess it is true, because it is difficult for us to love others if we didnt know what to love. There are people that can not forgive themselves. Please learn to forgive yourself. God's forgiveness will be in vain if you dont know how to forgive. In so, the basis for that love is the love of self. The first step.
At the second level, Jesus improves it and says "Love your enemies." The basis is no longer the love of self. This time it is the love of enemies. That would be harder, bolder and not focussed on the self; and that order or commandment of Jesus allows us to let go of the self. To let go of our wounded ground, the hurts, pain, the bad memories, the trauma. In fact to let go of that. Remember the measure now is no longer the love of self. The wounded heart, the pain, the hurt, your resentment, your enemy.
Now Jesus is telling us today, taken from the Gospel John chapter 15: love one another as I love you. The standard of our love is now of God Himelf. That is why now, the reason is easy to love is when someone is lovable or the person is loving. It is so easy to say that if you love a person or the person is lovable rather the person is not. When the person is unlovable and unloving it so difficult to love that person.
For this reason, now Jesu will raise the bar - the standard of our Love, is now is His own love as I love you. Very few of us have ever reach the mature kind of love of Christ. We love because people are lovable. We love because people are loving. We love because; we do not love inspite of. That is the highest standard of love.
Our world today does not operate on that. Our world identifies only love with sex. Love equals making love. Love equals sex. That is why our understanding of love. How poor and low our regard for love as become. Our culture of love speaks if there is a choice in terms of sex, in terms of decisions, pleasure - all are self-centered.
For us Christians, the standard of love is the self but that is only the beginning. That is vying when the apostles are not mature enough to accept these doctrines. Others saying love your neighbors as yourself. Jesus will have to regroup that He now says in this Gospel, Jesus is telling us love one another as I have love you. Notice this is love one another. Hindi po to love another one. Love one another.
Today, the culture marked of comfort and convenience, people reject love. If the wife is no longer committed, she rejected the husband. If the husband is no longer committed, he rejected the wife. Partnership is always brought by convenience. Marriage is different. Marriage stays in richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, That marriage stays and that is where we learn how to grow in love. It is the only love we know. It is not committed to the self. Not a selfish love. Unconditional Love. Love is not considered to be desire or liking. To like is very much different from to love. Liking is very fragmentary. For example, I like your eyes. I like your hair. I like your nose. I like the way you walk. That is liking. We dont say I love your nose. When I say I love you it is the totality of the person that you love. That is the love that is unconditional. It is the love that accepts the person's past, present and future. Even if the person changes is attitudes or the person changes his face. Even if the person changes his hairstyle. we still have to love that person. Love therefore is unconditional.
We dont say I love you until further notice. We only learn how to love when we become to love unconditional. I know it is easier said than done becuase we tend only to love the lovable and the loving persons. If it is mature love - it is love our enemies and then the basic example of love is Christ himself as I love you. The standard of our love is sacrifice. Only God knows how to sacrifice. That is the very high how our Christian faith defines love. The highest definition of love is sacrifice. Christian Baker's definition of sacrifice is the love of mothers to her children; the love of father to his children. That is sacrifice.
That is why today in our culture, we need to train our children in the basis of love.
One of the big mistakes of the parents is that we dont want to experience our children the pain and suffering. One of the biggest mistakes of parents. Because they want their children to become comfortable. So their children becomes spoiled, become soiled, become weak, and has no character. Character is tested by pain and suffering. Character is not built in the Internet. It is not built on the PCs, on your Iphones and Ipads. You give the sense of accountability and responsibility. Give your children a certain task so that children will learn how to handle them and becomes responsible.
One of the controversial issue today is the responsible parenthood. Look how low our government has focussed on parenthood as compared to parenting. There is a big difference. Parenthood is just a state of being a parent. Parenting is different, you are exerting extra effort. Today is Mother's Day. Palakpakan po natin sila.
Now they are exemplifying sacrifice. Oftentimes, during graduation sino ang nagpi-pin ng medal? Sino ang nagpi-pin ng ribbon? Yung tatay. Pero sino ang gumagawa ng baon? Sino ang naghahatid araw-araw sa eskwelahan? Sino ang araw-araw na nagsasakripisyo?
One of the big mistakes of the parents is that we dont want to experience our children the pain and suffering. One of the biggest mistakes of parents. Because they want their children to become comfortable. So their children becomes spoiled, become soiled, become weak, and has no character. Character is tested by pain and suffering. Character is not built in the Internet. It is not built on the PCs, on your Iphones and Ipads. You give the sense of accountability and responsibility. Give your children a certain task so that children will learn how to handle them and becomes responsible.
One of the controversial issue today is the responsible parenthood. Look how low our government has focussed on parenthood as compared to parenting. There is a big difference. Parenthood is just a state of being a parent. Parenting is different, you are exerting extra effort. Today is Mother's Day. Palakpakan po natin sila.
Now they are exemplifying sacrifice. Oftentimes, during graduation sino ang nagpi-pin ng medal? Sino ang nagpi-pin ng ribbon? Yung tatay. Pero sino ang gumagawa ng baon? Sino ang naghahatid araw-araw sa eskwelahan? Sino ang araw-araw na nagsasakripisyo?
The role of men, of fathers revolves around work. I just work in the office. But the work of mothers is different. The role of mother revolves around their husband and of their children. The success of their children is their success. The success of husband is their success. Women left their selves and revolved their lives around their husband, around their children's life. And they are happy as just looking their children.
For you fathers, our life revolves around our career path, our work, our promotion. THat is the sphere where we belong. Because we know to become the breadwinner of the family, we learn to see ourselves as someone structural. Who comes to be a provident deficient ... you empty yourself...
For you fathers, our life revolves around our career path, our work, our promotion. THat is the sphere where we belong. Because we know to become the breadwinner of the family, we learn to see ourselves as someone structural. Who comes to be a provident deficient ... you empty yourself...
Psychology tells us today that there are three stages of humanity. These are also three aspects to life. The first is the world of the children. Second is the world of adults. Third is the world of parents. So there is a child in us. There is an adult in us. There is also a parent in us. Most of the time we are fixated at the world of adulthood. Yet havent transcended, reached the level of parenting. Not just motherhood but mothering. Not just fatherhood but fathering. Not just parenthood but parenting.
Let me give you an example, I am about to enter the seminary and what is painful is everytime I tell my father "Papa, I'm leaving. I'm going back to the seminary." And my father will tell me, "my son we have no money. and your tuition is very high in the seminary. But again don't worry my son, I will look for money." That is parenting is all about. You work through, you exert extra effort. So at home, when the mother exerts extra effort the food becomes more delicious and more nutritious. So at home looks spacious that is extra effort. For the father there is extra effort to look for resources.
There is love if there is extra effort. Ang problema sa atin pagsinasabing love nagiging playful love. Yung sinasabing extra effort nagiging extra service. We threw everything that is Christian. Our instrument is now an instrument of pleasure. There is no sense of meaning. There is no sense of sacrifice. We do not give values that give more life and meaning.
Our life can be meaningful if we learn how to love. Our life can be more meaningful if we learn how to sacrifice. The logic of the world is the logic of pleasure first and pain will come later. Sex first sexually transmitted will come later. Sugar first, Sweetness first, diabetes will come later. Open Happiness, Open Coca Cola. No Open Coca Cola Open diabetes.
Pleasure first and then pain will come later. Then you say there are pain relievers anyway. THere are medicines in a way. But the logic of Chirst is different: pain first, suffering first, let pain be of yourself. Learn to pain yourself and that's you will learn how to love.
We will to love children when will learn to forget our sins. And that is a gift given to our mothers and fathers.
Jesus says if you keep my commandments; you will remain your love.
Finally, in the third reading, John says love is to be with God because God is love. The highest definition of God that we can find in the Bible is Love.
People who look at God with power; looks at God as powerful.
People who hunger for wealth; looks at God as the provider of everything.
People who know how to love; look at God as love. God is love.
Because God is love and anyone who knows how to love becomes godly. Test your love. If your love is earthly; then you are earthly. But if you love what is godly then you are with God. Meaning to say you participate in the life of God, in the holiness of God.
My brothers and sisters it is through love that will make us fruitful. So Jesus says at the end of the Gospel, it is not you who choose me; it is I who choose you. Let go and bear fruit. Life is fruitful when we grow in love.
So in the mass, there is a prayer that says "God makes us grow in your love together with Benedict XVI ... " Grow in love. Make us grow in love even if people are unlovable and unloving after all God is love...
Homilya ni:
Rev. Fr. Fernando Soy T. Hernando
Landmark Chapel
GF Landmark Bldg., Trinoma, Quezon City
6:00 PM Mass
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