Go for Gold!

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 16:21-27 “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.”


Beijing Olympics ended last Sunday with a big bang at the Bird’s Nest. It was participated by 204 countries and a total of 10,500 athletes competed in 302 events in 28 sports. The Games saw 43 new world records and 132 new Olympic records set. A record 87 countries won medals during the Games. Chinese hauled 51 gold medals and a total of 100 medals. USA brought home 110 medals, 36 of them are gold. American swimmer Michael Phelps broke the records with 8 gold.

Aside from China, Asians did well in Beijing. South Korea and Japan ranked 8th and 11th in the overall medal count with a haul of 31 and 25 medals respectively. What was sad was the performance of the Philippines compared to Southeast Asian neighbours. Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and even Vietnam had some medals to be proud of. Our 15 athletes went home bringing nothing for our country. After 84 years of joining the Olympics, the Philippines remained gold less.

Why winning the gold so hard for us? Expect Olympic “who to blame” game this week. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago started rolling the ball, “The poor performance of our athletes in the Olympics is not due to bad genetics but the government’s lack of concern for the development of a comprehensive program in the area of sports. Olympics should not only be enjoyed but also taken seriously.”
In our gospel today, Jesus started revealing the secret of his glory which is far from the mind of the disciples when he said that “he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” (Matthew 16:21) It was totally opposite to the common idea of a “winner” and so Peter rebuked him and said, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Peter failed to see the value of suffering and sacrifice. He wanted a “quick fix” and “easy road” to victory and glory.

Victory cannot be won by taking the shortcuts. Victories or “gold” in life are the fruits of faithful carrying of our cross - those boring, uneventful and unnoticed daily routines and struggles in life. We see Phelps in his glorious moment of receiving the gold medal eight times, but we did not see him spending hours and days in a swimming pool for four years after winning gold in Athens 2004 Olympics. I am sure he will be back soon to the pool to prepare for the London 2012 Olympics. Chinese gymnasts underwent years and years of training in preparation for Beijing Olympics. No to shortcuts. Be faithful to your daily training. No to junk food. Be passionate. Winning an Olympic gold is not a matter of luck and genetics; it is a matter of perseverance, passion and sacrifice.

Seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong wrote, “I’ve read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don’t fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully... and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else.” That’s how to win gold.

When Jesus scolded Peter with the words, “Get behind me, Satan!” It is not that Jesus called Peter a Satan. Rather through his intervention Peter continues the Satan’s intervention, to find a short cut to the mission of Jesus, namely to be unfaithful to the will of the Father to save the world by suffering and dying on the cross. Jesus wants victory over sin and our salvation, but not via shortcuts. An Olympian runner may win the gold via abuse of performance enhancing drug; he may grab the gold and gain admiration from the crowd but not from himself and God. Without pain there is no real glory.

Temptation is basically the devil’s offering of an easy shortcut – an easy road to glory with no blocks, no detours and no traffic. But life is not like that – it has its own challenges, detours, and delays; and that’s the only way to victory.

Five years ago, a friend of mine who owns a big bakery in Manila employed his youngest son as a working student. The son assisted the chief baker and prepared the dough. At first, the son resented the idea of working in their own bakery. He found it humiliating and a waste of time. Now he understands the value of hard work when his father made him the new manager of the bakery.

We admire students topping the bar exams, but God knows how much they denied themselves of many things just to spend more time to study. We envy our neighbour harvesting mangoes from their backyard; they planted trees many years ago while we did not. We feel hopeless that peace in Mindanao still eludes us. But did we exert extra effort to do something for peace? We complained a lot in our family but we don’t do anything. We are observers and not doers. We love to harvest but we don’t want to plant. We want gold but we don’t work hard for it.

Dr. Michael DeBakey, the pioneering heart surgeon who performed more than 60,000 cardiovascular procedures, trained more than 1,000 surgeons, received 50 honorary degrees and died at 99 years old said, “When you think of life as a living, active process, I don’t think it’s a pleasurable activity unless you have some challenge in that life – no matter what it is, I think, in a way, that is the philosophy of life.”

Peter, in his desire to protect Jesus from the suffering and dying on cross, failed to see that Jesus’ road to glory will be in doing menial things: washing the feet of others, wiping the tears of the lonely, visiting the sinners, consoling the abandoned, being with the poor and ultimately, dying on the cross!

Today’s Gospel calls us to walk the same difficult road with Jesus. ““Whoever wishes to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24). To win life’s gold, Jesus ask us to dedicate our lives in serving and loving others, even if involves rejection, pain and self-denial.
St. Paul even exhorts us to run and win the race: “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).

A prisoner in Bilibid once told me, “Ngayon ko lang naunawaan na mas mabuting pakainin ko ang pamilya ko ng tuyo o sardinas na galing sa aking pawis, kaysa sa pakainin ko sila ng lechon na galing naman sa masamang gawain.”

No too shortcuts. Deny yourself and carry your cross. Just do it!

That’s how to win gold.







Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ
Ateneo de Zamboanga
August 31, 2008

A Surprise Quiz

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 16:13-20 “But who do you say that I am?”


One of the things I hated most when I was in high school was a surprise quiz. I was a crammer student. I studied my notes a day before the quiz, but I still got high grades because I was good in memorizing things in my younger years.

In our gospel for today, we see Jesus giving a surprise quiz for the disciples. And they were caught flat footed and unprepared. Two surprised questions were given.

The first question was an objective question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they answered immediately with gusto: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” It was a give away question. Everybody had an answer. It was just a recall of what they hear everyday about Jesus.

The second question was a tough one. It separated the “a serious student” to “not so serious students.” It was a question that only those who seeks to know Jesus could answer: “Who do you say I am?” Suddenly everybody became dumbfounded and surprised. The question was not a “head question” but a “heart question.”
It was Simon who saved the rest of the disciples from failing the surprised quiz. “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.” Good answer! I can easily imagine a smiling Jesus.

Students who study their notes regularly are always ready for a surprise quiz. In their desire to know and discover more of their subjects, they spend more time in the library and in the internet. They seek knowledge on their own and learn from it. Peter answered the second question with confidence because he learned many things about Jesus by watching, listening, and feeling Jesus. He was with Jesus always. It was his personal encounter with Jesus that led him to answer correctly and convincingly, “You are the son of the living God.”

In the midst of the MoA-AD controversy and the war in Mindanao, we suddenly find ourselves into another surprise quiz. The same questions are asked: “What do people say about the Muslims?” Unfortunately, the answers are not very encouraging: “I hate Moros…They cannot be trusted…They just want war.” Such negative answers were triggered by the MILF recent attacks in North Cotabato and Lanao de Sur and the killing of innocent civilians indiscriminately. The emotions are high and we are living in fear, anger and frustrations. We should condemn the aristocracies of MILF. But we should also be aware of some clear distinctions to avoid inflammatory remarks and hasty generalization. MILF are Muslims, but not all Muslims are MILF. Condemn the MILF violence but not our brothers and sisters Muslim in general who want peace in Mindanao.

The second questions may stop us from judging the Muslims: “But what do you say about them?” Mixed feelings may surface because of our some “not so good experience” with some of them. But set aside our biases and prejudices, and allow our hearts to see, listen and feel, we realize that they are our brothers and sisters. They are like us, who dream of peace and normal life for their families. They are like us who feel hopelessness, fear and confusion in this never-ending cycle of violence.

We also face these two questions every time we relate with one another and encounter people whom we don’t really know like the poor, the oppressed, and the prejudiced sectors of our community and society. The comments, opinions, and judgment we hear about others may help us to know each other, but this is not enough to know them fully. To know and understand them is to immerse ourselves in their world, feel them and have a taste of their life: To feel and to taste (sentir y gustar). The more we know and understand people, the more it becomes difficult for us to judge them.
Now I understand why Jesus is not condemning us in spite of our weaknesses and sinfulness. He knows us more than anybody knows. He can see something good in us. And He continues to forgive and trust us in the hope that someday we will discover our own goodness.

When Peter answered the second question correctly, he was praised and rewarded by Jesus: “Blessed are you Simon. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church… I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven…”
Anyone of us who understand and learn by “sentir y gustar” will be like Peter. Like a rock, we are well grounded. We cannot be easily swayed and influenced by our emotions and bad remarks coming from other people. Our own experience of each other grounds us to continually hope and trust each other. Such hope and trust will give us the key to understand each other and dare to risk again..

When Peter got the right answer to the surprise quiz – that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus strictly ordered his disciples to keep it secret. He wants us to discover the answer by ourselves. To genuinely know Him by heart is to engage ourselves in prayer. It is only in prayer that we can “feel and taste” Jesus.



Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ
Ateneo de Zamboanga
August 24, 2008

The Wall

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 15: 21-28 “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from
the table of their masters.”


In the middle of the MoA-AD (Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain) controversy, a friend of mine suddenly blurted out, “Only a dead Muslim is a good Muslim.” But when he saw my violent reaction in my face, he immediately said, “I am sorry Father for being uncharitable and judgmental. I know I am not supposed to say those words. It’s just that I feel so helpless with our present situation. I don’t know what to do. I just want peace in Mindanao.”

We cannot deny that all of us feel so helpless in our fragile situation today. We do want peace in Mindanao but it continues to elude us for more than 35 years. The planned signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Muslim’s Ancestral Domain was an attempt to permanently bring peace in Mindanao. But when the signing was stopped by the Supreme Court, the supposedly “seed of peace” suddenly became “seed of division and resentment.” Emotions flared up again when an arm conflict erupted in North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. Some of our unspoken resentment and hidden frustrations against the Muslims surfaces again. Biases, prejudices, and mistrust are in the air again, which should not be the case. Forwarding cell phone text messages circulating around against the Muslims will not help us. Let’s make it clear to all. The MoA-AD brouhaha is not a religious issue but a political issue. We do recognize the right of our Muslim brothers and sisters to claim their ancestral land. But we need cooler heads and “peace-loving” panelists on both sides - GRP and MILF, to return to the table and revised the MoA under the scrutiny of everybody and under the ambit of our Constitution.

I do understand why some Christians are openly expressing their disgust and disappointment against the Muslims. They do have their own “not so good” experience living with our brother and sister Muslims. But giving up and hastily judging them in general is not fair to them also. In fact, they too have their own biases, mistrust and “not so good” experience with us Christians.

We do say we are for peace, but it means to continue trusting our Muslim brothers and sisters. In the midst of this very fragile situation, let’s avoid uncharitable words against them and avoid forwarding biased negative text messages. We don’t want to create an atmosphere and culture of hate against one another. Peace cannot be achieved as long as we have this “we are better than them” and “they are like that” attitude.

The need for honesty is important. And so we acknowledge the fact that people do have biases, prejudices and mistrust because of our experiences of betrayal, violence and discrimination. But this are man’s work and not of God. For our God is a God of love who desires to draw all people to Himself. He is a God who seeks to remove all biases, prejudices and mistrust that brings divisions to all people. Our reading from Isaiah shows us that Yahweh welcomes the Gentiles in his holy temple: “The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servant.” (Isaiah 56:6). The Koran also says the same message: “It may be that Allah will grant love (friendship) between you and those whom you (now) hold as enemies. For Allah has power over all things and Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful.” (Koran 60:7)

Our gospel today shows the bias of the disciples against the Non-Jewish Canaanite woman begging for the healing of her daughter. They said, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” (Matthew 15:23) Jesus’ seemingly cold reply to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel… and it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs,” (Matthew 15:24,26) were just to test her faith, but in the end, Jesus healed her daughter. Jesus clearly has a heart to those who were not Jewish. The salvation Jesus is offering is for all. The love of God is not exclusive to some “chosen people” but being offered to all. It is an all-embracing love. Jesus is a picture of God who wants to save all. He had no biases against anybody. He healed his enemies, dined with public sinners, touched the lepers, talked to the prostitutes, and spent more time with the marginalized, oppressed, and neglected. If Jesus has a bias, it is his bias to love everybody.

But we do have our own biases and prejudices to other people. We look down on people who don’t think and behave like us. We treat people differently according to their status in the society. We don’t trust an ex-inmate. We don’t mingle with people of lesser intelligence than us. We have all our ears listening to Mayor Lobregat or to Piolo Pascual; but the “kwentos” (stories) of our unschooled “katulong” (house helper) falls in our deaf ears.

What are the walls we have built to keep others out from our life? What are our fears that keep us from welcoming people who are different from us? What are our biases and prejudices that stops us from loving others?

Jesus is challenging us to go beyond these walls of fear, biases and exclusivity – by learning to trust and love one another. It is to realize that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ; that we are all Filipinos alike. It is only love that can move us beyond those walls that separate us from our marginalized and neglected brothers and sisters. We can only live in peace and in security when we learn to forgive and accept each other as God’s precious gift; and to see that there is unity in our diversity. Let us not forget the words of St. Paul, the disciples of the Gentiles, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32).

A student asked his master, “How can I know, if it is already dawn? Is it when I can say that this tree is a mango tree and that one is an acacia tree?” The master said “No.” The student asked again, “Is it when I can recognize a cat from a dog in a distance?” The master replied, “No.” “Is it when I can say that the man coming is a Muslim or a Christian? The master replied, “No.” “Then how can I know if it is already dawn?” And the master smiled, “It is when you see the man coming and you said to yourself, that’s my brother. Then it is already dawn.”




- Fr.Willy M. Samson, SJ
Ateneo de Zamboanga

Peace for Peace

Temptation in the wilderness

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf. But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’ (Luke 4:1-4)


We are once again caught in the middle of another challenge with regard to our desire to find a permanent peace here in Mindanao. The recent protest against the signing of MoA on Bangsamoro Juridical Entity rocks and challenges the effort of everybody here in Mindanao in our peace effort. We are not against the idea of giving rights to our Muslim brothers and sisters of their ancestral domain. It is their right and privilege as Filipinos. In general, what the people is protesting against the signing of MoA is the failure of the government panel to fully consult all those who will be affected stakeholders of the MoA, including Zamboanga City. We want transparency. But let’s make it clear, we are against the process the MoA was formulated. Part of attaining genuine peace is to fully consult all stakeholders that will be affected by the signing of the MoA.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, we pray to the Lord for mutual trust, openness and understanding. We hope that through our prayer today, we may be able to attain the peace that eludes us for decades already. As we go through our own desert experience these days, we pray that all of us may not lose our focus and be tempted to give up to our dream of lasting peace in Mindanao. Our disunity with regard to BJE is not a religious issue but a political one. It is not Christians against Muslims, and so we pray today that our focus may not be lost … We want peace in Mindanao. And so today, we recommit ourselves today for peace. We pray that the war in Northern Cotabato to stop and possible arm struggle. We pray that the GRP-MILF peace panel may persevere and to listen to all stakeholders and come up with a better MoA generally acceptable to all Filipinos – Muslims and Christians alike and consistent to the spirit of justice, fairness, and respect. We pray that all of us may desist from spreading unnecessary destructive comments against one another for it is against peace. We are all brothers and sisters, Muslims and Christians alike. We are all Filipinos hoping and dreaming for peace. We don’t live on bread alone, but we live on peace with one another. Peace is more than food for us. It is our dream.

And so today, we pray together, as one family and community. We want to tell Zamboanga, Mindanao and the rest of our country that we are for unity and not for division. We are for solidarity and not for alienation. We are for peace.

Optimus Prime and Jesus

Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration
Matthew 17:1-9 “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to
him.”


In the Anime World, children and those who love cartoons learned to love Optimus Prime and all those ordinary and unassuming cars and trucks that suddenly become huge, powerful, indestructible but lovable robots. They are the Transformers. They are robots made of steel but they have good hearts to save the world against the forces of Megatron and evil autobots.

All of us love heroes because they are cool, kind, and in the words of St.Ignatius of Loyola, they are persons for others. But heroes do not come handy. Heroes are made by other heroes… by LISTENING to their masters.

In our gospel for today, we see Jesus in the midst of conversation with His Father, Elijah and Moses. And while conversing with the Father, he was transfigured and transformed! His face changed in appearance and his clothes became dazzling white. Then the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.” And so Jesus became like his Father who cares and loves the world and became our savior, our hero. Transformation comes from listening to God always.

Jesus wants us to become heroes too because we are his disciples. He wants us to become little heroes, not in the Anime World but here in Zamboanga. We can be little heroes in our own world. But like Jesus, little heroes need transfiguration or transformation by listening to God in our prayer. In prayer, we hear what Jesus wants us to do: we hear the will of God. It is in prayer that we hear Jesus telling you to help your classmates with his homework. It is in prayer we hear to love our Muslim brothers and sisters. It is in prayer we are moved to pray for peace in Mindanao. It is in prayer we hear to forgive one another and reach out to somebody that needs help.

When we listen to Jesus and do what he wants us to do, we are transformed and become his “little heroes” Heroes are happy people because they can hear God telling them in their hearts, “This is my beloved son or daughter, with whom I am well pleased,” because they did something good and lovely to others.

In the Anime World, Optimus Prime, Superman, Spiderman are our heroes. We love watching them save the world. But they are not real people. What the world needs now are real heroes to imitate. Jesus tells us to pray always, listen and imitate Him and you will become God’s “little heroes.”

I do not need the Transformers, Superman and Wonder Woman. I want you to become my little hero.



Fr.Willy Samson,SJ
Ateneo de Zamboanga

The Tiger and the Fox

18TH Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 14: 13-21 “Give them some food yourselves”


Once there lived a fox in the forest that cannot walk. God in his mercy asked the tiger to give food to the fox. Every day the tiger would hunt an animal for the fox to eat. One day a man saw this great feat and said if God does this to this useless fox, how much more he would do to me the prime of creation. So he sat in the middle of the forest hoping that someone would come and feed him. After a week nothing happened. He was about to die. Then he heard God’s voice: “Go and do like the tiger and not like the fox.”

Somehow our gospel for today reverberate the sayings, “It is better to give than to receive.” I am sure the disciples were caught flat-footed and surprised when Jesus asked them to feed the crowd. What? Feed the 5,000 male plus the female and children? But Jesus is dead serious and definite with his command, “Give them some food yourselves.” Go and be like the tiger and not like the fox.

Jesus is challenging his disciples to be of ready service. The disciples expressed their limitations and inadequacy and said, “But we have only five loves and two fish.” But Jesus just wanted them to share what they have; and from what they have shared and given, multiplication of bread took place. Jesus made the miracle, only when the disciples gave something to be multiplied. And when the loaves have already multiplied by thousands, He did not feed the crowd directly but asked his disciples to do the feeding. .He still does today. He makes use of us to support other human needs in this world. We are called to be in the giving end and not in the receiving end. Go and be like a tiger and not like the fox.

The call of our gospel is the call to involvement. God wants us to be part of the miracle. We cannot deny the fact that it is God that will make the miracle, but he wants our involvement – our participation – our share.

At this very moment of our life here in Mindanao, we know that the GRP panel (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and MILF will be signing a peace pact agreement in Malaysia this Tuesday, August 5. The MoA says “that there shall be established government entity, the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), which will have the authority and jurisdiction over the areas claimed by the MILF as part of their ancestral domain," We are caught and unaware of some salient points they agreed upon. We only learned that 737 barangays all over Mindanao will be part of this expanded ARMM territory. But unfortunately, both panels have agreed not to reveal the 737 barangays and that makes the MoA in bad faith. We have learned that 8 barangays in Zamboanga city will be under the BJE and the public were not informed and consulted about their inclusion. The local church and local government are disappointed because they were not consulted by the peace panel when the MoA was being drafted.

Our own Archbishop of Zamboanga, Romulo Valles, had already released a pastoral letter and expressed his disappointment. In the pastoral letter he released yesterday, he encourages us to join the peaceful rally on Monday so as to just voice out our own sentiments and views regarding this issues. Fr.Tony Moreno, the President of Ateneo de Zamboanga encouraged us to join public discussions and forums to update ourselves. We are for peace and we aspire peace in Mindanao. We are willing to support any agreement between the GRP and MILF provided that all concerned parties are fully informed and consulted.

The problem of peace in Mindanao has been with us for many years. We aspire and dream for this peace but it eludes us. We need miracle. But we cannot just wait for the miracle to happen. Jesus is asking us now, “What can you give?” What can you share? He wants our involvement if we want a miracle to take place.

I guess in the end, God wants us to participate or to give something of ourselves if we want to see miracle in our lives. He is just asking our “five loaves of bread and two fish” and he will multiply them in our midst. The miracle begins if somebody will genuinely share his bread and fish to God.

In the gospel of John, we were told that the five loaves of bread and the two fish came from a child and not from the disciples. Unlike any other person, a child is always more trustful, selfless, and a “now” person. Anybody who is “young in spirit” is also like that child – more trustful, selfless, and a “now” person. The more we add year in our age, the more we become doubtful, selfish, and always thinking of our own “future” … and so we don’t want to share ourselves anymore to others.

The challenge is to recover the “child” within us - that “young spirit” that make us other-oriented persons; ever ready to share something of ourselves. “Young in spirit” people are tigers. They are not foxes. And they see miracle everyday in their lives.



Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ
Ateneo de Zamboanga