Walk Your Talk

Finally after five Sundays, this passage brings the sixth chapter of John's gospel to a decisive conclusion. To choose our course: to follow Jesus or abandon Him? It all begun in the multiplication of bread and feeding of thousands. Then three Sundays ago, Jesus bluntly told the crowd of their real reason why they follow Him, they are well fed (John 6:26). But Jesus remained calm and even offered different bread that comes from heaven…Himself.

It was a bombshell to everybody when He said, “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood.” Many of his followers murmured in disbelief, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" (John 6:60). His words were too much for them to believe. As a result, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

Jesus then turned to the twelve, “Do you want to leave?” And Peter answered, “Master to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). It was a relief and consolation to Jesus. At least they wanted to follow Him because of Him and not because of the bread he gives. The disciples successfully passed the motivation test.

In today's first reading Joshua tested the Israelites: "Decide today whom you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” And the people responded without doubt, “We will also serve the Lord, for he is our God.” (Joshua 24:21)

In the midst of our monotonous work, tiring school-work-home routine and never-ending energy sapping challenges we face everyday, we also need to re-affirm our commitment to God and His words every day. Decide whom you will serve. It is in our daily affirmation of our commitment to God that we show our deep love for Him.

I realized that if there’s one thing that pushes us to our limits and challenges our faith, it is our daily grind and work. They purify us. Whether we like it or not, our commitment and dedication to our “de more” (daily ordinary routine/work) defines us as good parents, good religious Sisters, good teachers, and good Christians. To follow Christ, one must take the words of Joshua, “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord for He is our God.” And walk your talk.

But such commitment to the Lord as exemplified by Joshua and his people did not come in handy. It was not a spontaneous lip service to please God. It was the fruit of their reflection as they recall their personal and communal experience of God’s love: “For it was the LORD, who brought us out of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey.” Peter and the disciples have also something to remember with regard to the greatness of Jesus: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Such act of remembering God’s goodness, allows us to rekindle the fire of love within us and prompts us to say “We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” The Psalm today even encourages us to “taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 34).

Let’s encourage each other to have that habit of “recalling” or “remembering” God’s goodness in our prayer. We are good in remembering when it comes to our mistakes and faults, but we are poor in remembering God’s goodness and love to us.

Beginning today, let’s have the habit of remembering and reminiscing God’s goodness in us and in our families. Let it be our prayer. Let the love of God be your “baon” when you go to work, school, or to your apostolate. And you will discover the secret of Joshua and Peter’s quick YES to God. You are God’s children. Walk your talk.

- Fr. Willy M. Samson,SJ
Zamboanga Catedral / August 23, 2009

Eat All You Can

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
John 6:51-58 “I am the living bread …whoever eats this bread will live forever”


Reading our gospel, the words “eat” and “drink” are repeated many times. John’s Chapter 6 is indeed about “eating and sustenance.” It is about the Holy Eucharist.

When we eat, our body assimilates the food for nourishment. We become what we eat. Vegetarians have healthy bodies and long life. Meat lovers have high level of cholesterol and prone to heart problem. While in the Eucharist, when we eat the body of Christ, we are transformed inside and gain eternal life! “Just as the Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” (John 6:57) Pope Benedict XVI once said, “The Eucharist is a dynamic Presence that grasps us and makes us His own.” In the Eucharistic celebration, we receive Jesus saving us now and we are fully united with Him. Such saving presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is offered to all, but without faith, the saving grace of the Eucharist evades us.

I used to enjoy smorgasbord dining before. Unlike ala carte dining where the choice of food is limited, smorgasbord offers a variety of delicious food. The wide range of food is too difficult to resist and we end up indulging, eating almost everything, and filling all available space in our stomach. But after we indulged and enjoyed, we end up blaming ourselves for eating too much. As always, regret comes last. We regret. And we comfort ourselves by saying, “Better luck next time.”

For the past three weeks, our Sunday gospel readings have revolved around Jesus offering a different manna to the Jews. After the multiplication of bread, Jesus offered his body as the bread from heaven - a food to eat. Unfortunately, we are not totally attracted to this bread. In the midst of the more alluring options being offered by the world, many of us prefer the bread (wealth, power, and fame) the world is offering; and ignore what Jesus is offering: union with Him and the Father and the promise of eternal life.

We do recognize the necessity of the material things in our life. But like anything else, anything excessive will not bring good to us. Moderation in eating lechon plus our deliberate decision to eat fish and vegetables will bring us health and long life. In the same way, dreaming a beautiful house, money, car and other luxuries is natural and commendable. But if our whole life revolves around these things and we forget God, we may end up gaining the world but lose our soul (Mark 8:36). We regret. But in this context, there’s no next time or second chance around.

Lets’ keep in mind that Alexander the Great, Napoleon and the Egyptians have established powerful empires but all have disappeared. Weddings of the rich and famous that we envied much were already forgotten; but the Sacrament of Eucharist that Jesus instituted remains with us. Believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Spiritual nourishment is always available to those who believe in Jesus as the bread of life. Eat all you can! It’s a guaranteed “soul satisfying experience.”

Survey says that only 10% of the Catholics attend Mass regularly. A good number of us go to Mass out of obligation and not out of devotion. We should examine and ask ourselves: Do I look forward to attend Mass? Is it an obligation or a devotion to me? What is the quality of my participation in the Mass? Do I feel incomplete without receiving communion? Do I have a “Eucharistic hunger?”

In an “eat all you can” restaurant, we eat to satisfy our palates. In the Eucharist, we eat to satisfy our souls. For without the Eucharistic meal, we are incomplete.

– Willy M. Samson,SJ
August 15, 2009 / Bacolod City

A Trbute to Cory

I have learned that one of the things I need to accept in life is the reality of pain and suffering. Why good people suffer in pain? Why good people whom we love like Cory Aquino, suffered and died of cancer? I guess, we know that in the end, answers to these questions will always evade us.

All of us here are deeply affected with the sudden death of Cory. As we hear from TV and read from the internet the courageous fight of Cory against the big C, we also remember her uphill battle to uphold and preserve democracy for our country. When she was asked if being afflicted with cancer is her greatest fight of her life, she simply said no. She said that her greatest and painful fight was when her husband Ninoy Aquino was imprisoned and when she decided to leave her well secured private life in the United States and decided to run for presidency. Her return was a fight against a different cancer, more lethal and dangerous - the social cancer that almost killed the Philippine democracy.

It is unfortunate that our young people do not have a first hand experience of Cory. In our society today lacks model or living witnesses to emulate and inspire our youth, Cory could be one of the best model to imitate. We have limited faces or images of democracy, dedication to public service, and love for our country. We need heroes like Cory Aquino and her husband Benigno Aquino to inspire us how to fight a seemingly undefeatable social injustices, poverty, and graft and corruption. Cory fought up to the end and never wavered in the advocacy. For Cory, what matters most is fighting up to end.

The battle of Cory against her physical cancer and the cancer of the Philippine society was not an easy one. It was a long painful bout but she took everything in stride with God. Yes, cancer took Cory’s earthly life but not her spirit. She remained a fighter, ever faithful to God. She remained loving mother and grandmother to her family throughout those difficult times. In the midst of her fight against the big C, she remained in touch with us in our advocacies, encouraging and challenging us to fight up to end. During the last days of her life, what made her more admirable was her ability to trust the will of God. Her last days were echoes of St. Paul’s words, “Who can separate us from the love of God? Trials? Sadness? Persecution? Even death cannot separate us from the Love of God.”

When I saw the long queue of Filipinos from all walks of life who wanted to see Cory for the last time, I must admit that what I saw was the Filipinos’ dream of having heroes or inspirations within us. Somehow the death of Cory challenges me to ask myself, how’s my life? How’s my dedication to my country? Am I ready to fight for our country?

When I think of Cory now, I don’t want to think of her as a cancer victim. Every time I remember Cory, it inspires me to trust God the way she trusted God. It inspires me to hold on to Jesus in the middle of my own storm. Cory was indeed a child of God and God is very please with her. Cancer my have killed her but she died healing all of us.

As I look back, Cory taught me how to trust the Lord with all my heart. Cancer had snatched away a hero from the Filipino people but not the wonderful legacy she left for us – Freedom. She is indeed the icon of the Philippine democracy. I will surely treasure her memories… forever grateful to the Lord that He blessed us with Cory… it was a short presidency… but her memories will last for a lifetime.

Cory … please do pray for us

- Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ
Carmel Monastery
August 4, 2009

The Bread of Life

18th Sunday in the Ordinary Time
John 6:24-35 “You are looking for me not because you saw signs…”



One day in the forest, a hungry hunter saw a bear giving a piece of meat to an injured hungry wolf. The hunter said to himself, “If God loves the wolf, how much more of me. I am sure God will feed me too.” So the hunter waited for God to give him food. But nobody came to feed him. He blamed God and went home. On his way, he saw starving children on the street. He blamed God again, "Why don’t you do something for them?" Finally God answered, "I have done something. I created you. But you choose to behave like the wolf when you could act like the bear."

Our gospel today is a continuation of last Sunday’s gospel where Jesus multiplied bread and fed the multitudes. Because of the miracle, the crowd thought of making Jesus their king; and so Jesus escaped to the mountain (John 6:15). In our gospel today, many pursued Jesus, not because they finally found their saviour, but because he gave them bread. Jesus explicitly voiced out his disappointment, “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” That was very disappointing on the part of Jesus. The crowd even demanded to provide bread for them to believe: “What sign can you do that we may see and believe in you?” (John 6:30). But Jesus calmly reacted in the midst of their apparent spiritual immaturity and instead, offered a life-giving option, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27).

What is this food that Jesus is telling? It means two things: First, He is referring to His body and blood we partake in the Eucharist. (John 6:54). Second, the Word of God. When the devil tempted Jesus to turn the stones into bread; Jesus simply said, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Motivated by His great love to the Father, the life of Jesus revolved around obeying the Father’s will. For Jesus, His Father was his everything.

Our gospel challenges us to purify our motivation every time we pray. Do we pray to seek His will and guidance? Do we pray because we have these hunger and thirst to know Jesus? Or we pray because we have something to ask?

There is nothing wrong asking for something in prayer. God even encourages us to ask anything in His name. But if God becomes like an ATM (automated teller machine) to us, we missed the point of prayer. Prayer should disturb us. Prayer should lead our eyes to the poor, marginalized and abandoned. Prayer is listening and responding. It is not only asking. We seek Jesus in prayer because we want to know Him more intimately. We want to imitate Him especially His faithfulness and obedience to the Father.

When Jesus told the crowd not to seek for food that perishes but food that endures forever, the crowd suddenly made a breakthrough when they asked: "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" They understood what Jesus wanted to convey – to set aside our “What can I get?” attitude and practice the “What can I do?” attitude.

Let’s choose to behave like the bear. Be a bread-sharers and not just bread-eaters. Be like Jesus. Be the bread to the hungry. In our 2nd reading, Paul exhorted us “to put away the old self and put on the new self” (Eph 4:22-23). And let the words of the crowd be our prayer, “What can I do to accomplish the works of God?"

The shortest but the best prayer I’ve ever heard goes this way …
“Lord God, tell me what to do. Amen.”


- Fr.Willy M. Samson,SJ
August 2, 2009 / St. Joseph Parish, Zamboanga City