15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The first reading (Isaiah 55: 10-11) reminds us again of God's love. He gives us rain and snow and won't allow them to come back to heaven until they have done their mission of fertilizing the earth and letting the plants grow.

And yet despite God's love, His graciousness does not bear corresponding fruits.

The Gospel shows why not all grains sown did not bear fruit. All depended upon the quality of earth or kind of persons who receive the Word (Matthew 13:1-9).

a. Seeds that fell along the path. (Birds came and devoured them).

b. Grain which fell on rocky ground. (They did not last long when scorched by sun because they did not have depth of soil).

c. Seeds which fell upon thorns. (The thorns grew and choked the seeds).

d. Seeds which fell on good soil.

If I may add another idea to the Gospel of St. Matthew, I believe one reason why the Word of God does not bear fruit = we, as fertile ground, play more host as recipient of "junk words/values" more than as a fertile soil for the Word of God. For instance, with the reading materials that we absorb or with the movie and tv programs that we appreciate, we allow the secularistic culture to dominate our values.

Nowadays, we find it difficult to convince our kids to take in nutritious foods. They prefer junk foods. Spiritually, we are no better. Unknowingly we are enslaved by "junk values".

To remain fertile as soil and host of God's Word we may be helped by the following thoughts:

a. being holy is like taking a bath. We take a bath despite the knowledge that we shall be soiled and unclean after the day's end.

b. "Taking a bath" is not only for our good but for the good of others. (Just imagine the doctor resuscitating the dying patient at the ICU is someone who has not taken his bath for weeks and has not even brushed his teeth for weeks. Perhaps the agonizing patient at that point the ICU would rather cry out for sudden death than bear the purgatory of that doctor's body odor. Ha ha ha ha ha. Sorry, my dear Doctors, I know this kind of doctor would never exist. I just wanted to bring across the idea that making ourselves clean is not only for our own good but for the welfare of others).

And for those friends among you who are at the point of giving up their being generous, forgiving and just, you might be helped by my experience in the seminary how we can help each other remain a good soil:

- When the seminary in Lucena was just new as a regional house of formation, there was a tendency in the academic field to entertain unhealthy competition. To solve it, our class introduced a kind of "intellectual cooperative". It was agreed among us that each month every student in the class would be asked to summarize one or two philosophical-theological books. Then each would be asked to report the summary to the group and then give light to some doubts and pertinent questions. It was such a successful experience that we "read" 30 books each month. To top it all, we were able to defeat the unhealthy competition. We started early in learning that the things we know should be shared because after all we are in the same Church. We should not pit ourselves against each other as competitors as some disciples did when they tried to set Paul against Apollos or Christ against John the Baptist. (Christ did have to explain to the disciples that "he is not against Me is for us".)

- In the Church, other than financial and intellectual cooperatives, we need "spiritual cooperatives" (e.g., Church organizations, lay ministers, Couples for Christ, BLD, Legion of Mary, social action organizations, choir services, etc). We find many of them as sincere disciples of Christ.

- Of course, the best spiritual cooperative to start with would be our own families.

- However, I don't think it is necessary for me to preach to you, Filipinos, about loving your families. We already are outstanding family lovers. I believe what I should preach rather is about the danger of loving our families too much at the expense of other families who are under our care as holders of public trust in the government. In the Philippines , if I may say so, the root of graft and corruption is in loving our individual families too much at the expense of the greater family of God.

To summarize, to remain a "good soil" let us "take a (spiritual) bath everyday". This is not only for our own good but for the salvation of all. Secondly, let us support the spiritual cooperatives. They are a foundation of our hope for progress.

This is a big challenge. But the second reading assures us: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us … " (Romans 8:18-23).

Trinity Sunday

The Filipinos, by trait, are close to the Blessed Trinity because they usually do the sign of the Cross (pacman, before exhibiting his "pambansang kamao"; basketball players before entering the hardcourt; some filipinos before leaving the house or before long driving). This is a good sign. We need to purify it, though. Let's do the sign of the Cross not just to call for good luck (pasukin ng swerte) but in order to accomplish God's mission.

The Blessed Trinity = the reality of three Persons experienced in God's three different ways of showing his saving love. (Tertullian of the 2^nd century is generally acknowledged the first to use the term "trinity" and to apply it to God. The Trinity was not defined until the great church councils of the 4^th and 5^th centuries).

Today, rather than getting ourselves tied up in theological knots, we would do far better by understanding prayerfully the beautiful Scripture readings of today's Mass. Here there are no complicated theological explanations or speculations. The emphasis is not on what (is the trinity), or why (do we have to have the trinity), but, in very practical language, on the tangible way the persons in the Trinity relate to us.

Today's first reading, Ex.34, represents the fulfillment of God's earlier promise. Present to Moses and symbolized by the cloud (v.5) Yahweh renewed with his people the relationship the Israelites had broken by their infidelity. (Thus, the first reading reminds us about the Father's enduring love).

In the second reading, 2 Cor 13:11-13, Paul called the converts from Judaism as false apostles. Why? Because they proudly and incorrigibly tell that Christian proclamation is merely a renewal of the true Jewish religion. Thus in order to promote Mosaic Law they emphasized Jesus as "wonderworker" while downplaying the passion and cross as revelation of the Father's love. Because of the disunity that their teachings had created Paul exhorted them (Greek and Jewish converts) to unite after the model of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Thus the 2^nd reading reminds us about God the Father's love through the Son's passion and death).

In the Gospel, Jn 3:16-18, no greater love story has ever been written than that which Jesus told Nicodemus that night when they were talking concerning rebirth unto eternal life through water and the Spirit: "God (the Father) so loved the world that he gave his only Son." Martin Luther called this verse as the "gospel in miniature" because it proclaims in but a few words the incredible dimension of God's love as well as the salvific effect of that love in the course of human history.

Challenge: Do the sign of the Cross to accomplish God's mission (not just to call for good luck).

1. Learn from the Trinity, the greatest school of relationships (Cantalamessa). To help us do this, for example, the Archdiocese has proposed a three-year preparation towards its centennial in 2010 dedicating each year to one Person of the Trinity. And now we are in the 2^nd year of preparation calling 2008 as the Year of the Holy Spirit/Mary.
2. If our life is to mirror the life of the Trinity, Paul advises us to live in unity + making ourselves instruments of doing God's will. "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the HS be with your all." (Unity = achieved thru incarnating this blessing).
3. Let our person be a catechesis of the love of God just as this Cathedral's arts are a catechesis. Let us not be land mines or booby traps that prevent other family members from trusting in the love of God.