July 5, 2009

I Believe in You


14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 6: 1-6 “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place”



A father and son love to collect rare paintings. Their collections were much sought and envied by art collectors and museums. One day the son volunteered in Vietnam War and died after saving another soldier. A month later, the soldier visited the grieving father and gave him a portrait of his son. It was not a beautiful painting but the father placed it in the middle of his priceless collections. After two years, the father died without anybody to inherit his wealth including the paintings. Millionaires and famous people went to the auction, ready to spend millions of dollars for the rare paintings of Van Gogh, Picasso, and Juan Luna. All were excited but the auctioneer begun with the soldier’s painting of the son. He said, “Any bid? 100 dollars?” Everybody laughed and said, “We want the paintings of Picasso, Klimt, and Pollock! Not that one!” But the auctioneer just continued, “50 dollars? Thirty? Ten? Five? No takers?“ Then an old man shouted, “I will take it! That boy in the painting saved my son in Vietnam.” Everybody said, “Good. Take it. Let’s move to the real things!” Much to their surprise, the auctioneer said, “The auction is over. The father, in his last will, requested that anyone who buys the portrait of his son will get all the paintings for free.”

Our gospel for today is like that. It was tragic that the town mates of Jesus did not believe his authority and failed to see who Jesus was, the Son of God. They questioned Jesus’ teaching and healing authority because they know him well (Mk 6:3-4). He was once one of them! Indeed, familiarity breeds contempt. Familiarity stops us to see the positive in others. He was just an ordinary carpenter and the son of Mary, and so they did not have faith in him. Because of this, “he was not able to perform any mighty deed there…” (Mk 6:5). It’s crystal clear: Without faith, expect no miracle.

First and foremost, our gospel calls us to take the Son. We proclaim with our lips that we believe in Jesus. And yet our action betrays what we proclaim. We proclaim that we trust God, and yet we could not let go of many things. We say I believe and yet you look sad and worry a lot. We say that God is our priority and yet we only give him one hour every Sunday. If you want to see miracles in your life, believe in Jesus. Seek the giver and not the gifts. Prioritize the Son. As Matthew said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt. 6:33) Take the Son and possess everything.

Second, our gospel also calls us to believe with one another. We seldom see miracle or breaks in our families and communities because we always doubt in each other’s potential and talents. Familiarity breeds contempt. We raised our eyebrows when one does something innovative. We seldom encourage and complement people, but we are quick in criticizing and judging. All of us are gifted, for God created us that way, but many of us will die without discovering their full potential. We should be “talent spotters.” When was the last time you say to someone, “I believe in you.” Or tap the shoulder of someone and say, “Kaya mo yan! Ikaw pa!” But the sad part of our story is, when somebody gained little confidence to fly, instead of giving him more wings to fly, somebody from us will shoot the poor guy’s wings with criticism and contempt. Miracle stops when we cease to believe with one another. But
when there is encouragement, there is always miracle to expect.


When I was in college, to speak in public and to write an article were my two greatest waterloos. Today, I still have butterflies each time I give a talk and still grasping for words each time I write a homily. But with friends and God around to encourage me, it gives me some guts to speak and write as well. Miracles do take place, if you believe.


- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ
Carmelite Monastery / July 5, 2009

July 1, 2009

Worry Not


13th Week Tuesday
Matthew 8: 23-27 “Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea”




There are two kinds of storms in Lake Galilee. One originates from the outside, like the continental wind storms that are common in the Mediterranean area. It is seasonal. The second originates from Lake Galilee itself. The natural geographical set-up of the lake and the nearby mountains creates a unique movement of cold and warm air that produces storms. They are potentially dangerous to seafarers but they don’t usually last.

In our gospel today, Jesus and his disciples were confronted by this local storm. They were well-seasoned fishermen. But because of fear, they panicked and forgot who they were and who was sailing with them.

Think about this: We have two kinds of storms in our life. The first storm is the “outside” storm. We cannot control them but they are legitimately important in our life: political, social, economical, ecological and other concerns. The second storm is an “inner” storm, this is our personal, family or community concerns that we normally encounter: family feud, broken relationship, financial difficulties, health concerns, community or work related issues. They are not life-threatening storms but they are life-defining opportunities that we need to face. Like the disciples, sometimes we lost our bearings in the middle of the storm because of fear and failure to trust God.

But I realize that one of the things that contributed to this fear factor is our bag-full of worries. Many of us are worriers. We love to say, “We’ll never make it.” We forgot that Jesus is with us. The funny thing is, much of what we worry about doesn't matter at all! Take a look at these statistics about worry:

• 40% of all things that we worry about never come to pass.
• 30% of all our worries that involves our past decisions that cannot be
changed.
• 12% focus on criticism from others who spoke because they felt inferior.
• 10% are related to our health, which gets worse when we worry.
• 8% of our worries could be described as "legitimate" causes for
concern.
• It means that 92% are useless and unnecessary worries!


I guess “worry” is one of the devil’s most powerful weapons in his armoury against us. When worry rules our hearts, we lost our identity. Worrying robs our now. It is either we are trapped in our past mistakes or anxiously living in the future. Thus we failed to enjoy the “beauty of the now” and “the gift of each moment” that God is giving us. The man who is free from worries can leisurely eat and enjoy his breakfast of dried fish, red eggs, tomatoes, and fried rice. He can immerse himself in the morning sunlight and breathe the fresh morning air. She takes a bath and enjoys the water gently flowing to her body without thinking what she will do in the office or school today. He can close his eyes and count his blessings. She can afford to smell a flower. He can work well under pressure. She can laugh at her mistake. He can set aside his voluminous work when weekend comes and waste his time with his family. And when evening comes, they pray, leave everything to God, and sleep in peace.
Worry not. God is with us.

"The moment the little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing." - Eric Berne


- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ
Carmelite Monastery / June 30, 2009