That’s how I look at my relationship with my Facebook friends, a community that as a Roman Catholic Christian am expected to serve whatever way I can in this electronic media.

So each day I post my philosophical thoughts that might be useful for them in their own daily lives. At the same time, I maintain blogs in current issues of politics and updates in President Benigno Aquino III’s fight against institutional corruption in the Philippines.

Internet Disconnection

But on Saturday night (around 10:00 PM), 11 December 2010, my Internet connection abruptly disappeared without any detectable reason. And being a weekend there was no way to seek help from my service provider to see what’s going on. In addition to that, the telephone line to was off. The bill was updated to be a suspect cause for the event.

I only managed to get help two days later, on 17 December (Monday). And I felt grateful for a service that came earlier than expected. My internet connection came back after finding out that the telephone-internet line inside the house got shortcircuited. The metal curtainholder kept gnawing at the line until it broke last Saturday.

Power Disruption

And then our electrical connection was cut off because we missed to pay our bill a working day beyond the set disconnection deadline that we received on a Saturday (11 December 2010). Payment was made the following day, but we have to live without light and cooling system for another two days before the electricity got reconnected on Wednesday (16 December).

Disruptions Designed to Irritate

The coincidence of two succeeding misfortunes appeared to me to be so convenient an event that really incites me with irritation on important basic things got into trouble for minor reasons. The convergence seems hardly coincidental. And incidentally the electricity came back on the first the of the midnight masses, which we calle in the Philippines as Misa de Gallo.

This tells me one thing. The forces of darkness has the power to manipulate circumstances in order to frustrate important works of love, while inciting us to loss temper and perhaps succumb with self-determined blaming of God. But this manipulation failed to win, as it merely tells me that in the end God’s grace can correct these things very well if I stay in the course of His Will. As long as I follow His Will wherever it will take me, the Lord will take care of the rest and will not abandon me.

Loving the Sinners as Jesus Loves Them

In this morning’s prayer, the Lord wanted me to contemplate on his statement in the Gospel of Saint Mark (2:17): “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” And I feel the need to share the thoughts that came to me while contemplating on this declaration of mission from the Lord.

His mission is to save all us sinners from the bondage of sin. Our part in helping him in that mission today is to love sinners and help create an environment wherein they will find the Lord alive, loving them through us, so that they may open their hearts to divine grace and may finally repent and go back to the arms of God.

An Afterthought

Our community today lacks the atmosphere that loves the sinner. It either consents sinfulness, unlovingly condemns the sinner, indifferent on what happen to others, and even wants an eye-for-an-eye justice for the wrong suffered. In a way, darkness still effectively exerts its influence in our midst. And Christians, the disciples of the Lord and his apostles, still have much to work in the 21st century.

One big stumbling block is the separation of the Church and State. While it rightly ensures that leaders of the Church will not have the occasion to fall into the temptation of secular power, it also prevented our Christian values from effectively influencing our laws. Our laws right now are written by politicians who have no qualms at inserting their own interests into the written laws, and disregard the values of the community that Christ created to help bring the world back to God.

Our challenge today is how to ensure that lawmakers are active and practicing Christians, and not traditional politicians whose only principle is an agenda to payback political debts. But that would take many years to happen, and so much change and renewal among the peoples too. Because a people who truly love and live for Christ will inevitably grow leaders who are models and defenders of the values of Christ.

So it all goes back to each and every Christian alive today. We have a work to do in starting a movement of creating a community of the children of God who love Christ so much they are not afraid to love the sinners among them.

May the Lord grant us the grace that would allow us to love him passionately in our own lives.

Teaching with Authority from the Lord's Apostles

Those who are sent by the Lord to teach others of His message must be sent through His apostles in the first place. The readings that came to me in this morning’s prayer reinforced my confidence in the teaching authority of the regulars and priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

When I opened my examen prayer, I still do not have the Mass reading guide for the year 2010. So I decided to read the Gospel of St. Mark because the regular day gospel for 2009 came from the Gospel of St. Matthew. I started reading from the first verse of chapter 1. The Lord eventually wanted me to contemplate on the great faith of the leper on submitting to God’s Will in verses 40-41.

However, the Lord allowed me to have a glance on how to identify the teachings that truly comes from Him in verse 27. Here, the people in the Jewish synagogue where Jesus preached and exorcised a demoniac were amazed before the signs he showed them. The Gospel tells: “All were amazed and asked one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.’”

Through this Gospel event, I feel the Lord tells me on what to look for in order to identify false teachers, who abounds today, from those sent by the Lord himself through His apostles to spread the good news of true salvation. What to look for is–AUTHORITY TO TEACH.

This authority comes from the Lord, which He gave to His disciples, and who themselves gave the same to theirs. This long lineage of teaching authority is a reliable sign of authentic teaching. And no other Christian community to-date have been given this teaching authority, traceable to the Apostles, but the Roman Catholic Church.

Bible Christianism, whose teaching authority claimed by their pastors to have come from the Bible, provides a very convenient basis for representing themselves before people as having the Lord’s authority to teach. If the Apostles have not laid hands on these preachers, they do not possess the authority to teach in the name of the Lord. And claiming so would be misrepresenting themselves.

One single question that a non-Roman Catholic preacher may be asked to reveal authenticity of teaching authority will be this: “Have you been laid hands over by those authorized of the Lord’s Apostles to preach with authority the good news of salvation?” If the preacher cannot trace his or her authority to preach to the Apostles, and therefore to the Lord, his or her teachings must be considered false even if a claim will be made that the teachings are based from Bible. It is the Lord that provides the authority to teach, NOT the Bible.

In addition to that, it is a sign of basic humility to follow and honor the authority that the Lord gave to the Apostles if a preacher preaches without disregard of the teaching authority of the Apostles. Teaching without apostolic authority is an undeniable sign of pride and rebellion against the teaching authority of the Apostles, something that would never be according to the Lord’s Will.

In short, teaching outside the authority of the Apostles, in effect the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, means teaching in accordance to human pride and disobeys the teaching authority of the Apostles directly, and of the Lord indirectly. Throughout history, this pride has spawned thousands of false and erroneous teachings embodied in different so-called Christian churches. Each of these church’s founders similarly claim that what they believed was the correct one, what they teach are the correct teachings, not realizing that the denominations they created had become as numerous as the number of tongues that confused the people working on the tower of Babel. The angel of the Lord led the people on Babel to confusion because of their pride. Is the same angel responsible for the Protestant phenomenon in the Middle Age and the Bible Christianism in our age?

Reflecting upon this Gospel teaching, I felt grateful that early in life the Lord has granted me the needed grace to not fall from this demonic deception. As early as my fifth grade, I already heard the doubts against the teaching of the Church from my eldest brother who had converted to Mormonism with his marriage to a Mormon wife. And through the years, I saw him move from one religious denomination to another in search for that One True Church, and still never found it. Meanwhile, my conviction on the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church grew and grew stronger through the same years. It still made me wonder why he never came to realize that, having left the Church many years ago, he also left that One True Church. Was it pride? Was it lack of openness to divine grace? The answer to that however is beyond me. Only the Lord knows exactly the reason why.

As for me, I felt blessed for having been given the grace of openness and humility at the right time to spare me from that great deception preying upon many. Thank you, Lord, for your specific love for me. Amen.

Cross-reference

JOHN 17:18-19–”As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Sharing Victory Over Death

For many years, a question in my mind remained unanswered. Why does God allow the innocents to die in the hands of evil people? Does He not supposed to protect those who believe in Him? So what happen to them if they die not ready to die because of unrepented sins? Would that be cruel for them who will lose their chance to repent because God allowed them to be killed?

The answers to this question came clear into my mind while watching the movie, Apocalypsis Revelation, starring Richard Harris.

The answers are:

Their death are their God-given chance to share the Lord’s victory over death, sharing in the Lord’s suffering and death on the cross as a satisfaction of justice from their own sins and for that of those who suffered in Purgatory. The death that evil brings in the life of the people of God is something that must be expected in a world ruled by darkness. The force of darkness will always attempt to quinch the light. Though at times they may be permitted to take life indirectly (not directly) through human participation and cooperation, they will never destroy the witness of light even in death.

The hands of evil people that are instrumental to their death are the hands of the thief that the Lord mentioned in the Gospels, breaking into the house in the night. And those who are not ready to face death because of a life of unrepented sins will face justice for their inequities. It is however expected that the Lord will provide them the grace of repentance before they die, and their response in faith to that grace will allow them to die ready to face the Lord’s judgment.

God is never cruel in the exercise of His Will. It is not possible for us to judge the Will of God but to accept it with all humility and submission. The more important question is not whether God has been cruel in permitting such deaths. It is the question: Who’s will you would really follow to the death? Is it God’s or yours?

Warrior of the Kingdom of God

I’ve been wondering why many priest I knew tend to shy away from the subject of the devil’s active influence among humans. The general reaction was a wondering look, bordering on questioning your sanity for bringing up the subject. But understanding the works of the devil in human lives can be an important grace that can bring a person to repentance and an urgent motive to bring his affairs in order to avoid the threats of the demoniac.

There are important reasons why priests should instead encourage the laity’s understanding on how the minions of Satan work. First, it will be impossible to fight an enemy you do not know exist or at least you don’t understand. Second, the devil’s ordinary activity (temptation) have always been an instrument of human downfall, and it is the priest’s job as a pastor to teach his parishioners how to deal with temptations, and therefore the devil itself. Third, while pastoral concerns such as building bigger conference structures and saying Mass in the cemetery are important, one of the primary missions of priesthood is to save souls, and neglecting to teach parishioners in spiritual warfare simply abandons them to the devil’s deceptions. Fourth, Jesus primary commission to his apostles includes the casting out of evil spirits, and that also means teaching Christians how to fight the war against darkness. 

While not neglecting the liturgy in their flurry of pastoral activities, the priests of today apparently got lost in these busyness, and forgot that all these liturgies are designed to save human souls, not leave out the parishioners alone facing their spiritual battles. It is no wonder then that despite their spiritual training and seminary formation, many priests failed in their vocation. Themselves lost, there is a danger that they may also lead their charges to perdition.

Let us then pray for the priests that graces may be poured upon them to protect them from the deceptions of the Enemy.

What I know for sure is this: while understanding the works of the Enemy may be interpreted as a negative approach towards salvation as opposed to growing in grace through the liturgy, knowing that you are vulnerable because of your sins and spiritual negligence can be a grace in itself that can drive a Christian to seek to perfect his life by driving out from it all vestiges of sin through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and of the Eucharist.

While love remains the positive road towards holiness, fear of not loving enough too leads to holiness, and a deeper understanding of the dark tendencies of human nature. Such is a great grace for the salvation of souls.

Bones in Pain

I went to Cebu City on Friday to visit Sun-Star Publishing, for whom I maintain a Wednesday column Breakthroughs, for two private reasons. And also pay two retailers a visit to check supply sales status of my company’s booklets displayed with them. The Lord made a provision for a KMK Bus waiting when I alighted from the motorcab I took from the subdivision where I lived. I expected a light and easy travel with the aircon bus, and only one passenger inside when I came up.

Inside, I took the second seat in the left row located over the frontal tires so I have to fold myself in a slight crunch to fit. But I welcomed the change, which allowed me to put some needed flex on my leg muscles throughout the 30-minute trip. While in that position, I continued to read Fr. Edgardo Arellano’s book on deliverance prayer and healing ministry relatively comfortably. However, along the way, I felt a discomfort in my right rib muscles as if a strain occurred. Still I did not mind the strain; I’m used to discomfort with seats, and the bus was already filled with passengers.

When I came back home, and after supper, the sense of strain turned grew sharper but still endurable. The pain reminded me some years ago when I got bed-ridden from this kind of pain at its worst hitting my rib cages and back; I got to roll from my bed to the ground in order to stand up. And no sets of physiotherapy and chiropractic sessions helped stop the pain. Neither strong-graded painkillers helped. For almost two months without medication, I squirmed with pain each time I move my body even to breath. My sister brought me to a hilot when I visited Mindanao in the second month. When the physical and pharmaceutical approaches failed, I decided to try nutrition as a last resort. I took two calcium tablets three times a day for one month, and scaled it down to one tab three times daily thereafter. In the third month, the pain disappeared.

But yesterday the pain remained and it seemed to be pulsating already, and the sharp pain became just about bearable. Since the type of pain and the progress looked much like the  earlier one, I started taking one tablet of calcium in the morning and in the evening. After supper, however, the pain becomes unbearable and continuously pulsating so that I have to hold my breath and hold my muscles in contraction in order to move with the pain somewhat bearable. I tried to sleep but I could not. Even lying on my back still left the pain pulsating in my rib cage. I took a strong painkiller, named Arcoxia. I placed a large dose of Tai Chi liniment over it. But after almost one hour (medicines are expected to take effect after 30 minutes when they have already circulated into the peripheral tissues) nothing seemed to happen.

Then it dawned on me that a malevolent spirit brought me this pain unprovoked. But there was no sure way of knowing. Still I felt praying was all there was for me to do. I have one rule in life I adhered most of the time: “If all that I can do failed, surely God will succeed where I failed when that is according to his will for me at this point in time.”

So summoning what I know about the Trinity and strongly believed I placed my left hand on the area and prayed: “You evil spirit who brought me this pain, in Jesus’ Name, get away and leave me alone… Lord, should this pain has been caused by an evil spirit, please help me take this pain away if that’s what you will for me right now. If you want me to suffer this pain because of my sins, let it be so. Let this pain be as painful as it is right now to pay for my sins and for the sins of the souls in Purgatory. But only as you will… only as you will. Amen.”

A feeling of peace and relaxed mind came over me, and I felt a sense of drowsiness. I later realized that I dozed off on the sofa for an hour. So I transferred to the room, with pain already somewhat suppressed, to continue with my sleep. At around 11:00 PM, I woke up with no pain where it  used to be earlier. I got up to look for food to fill my hungry stomach.

In the sala, my eldest son Jason just finished taking a shower and was heating drinking water in the kitchen. I took a meat roll and a liter of Coca-Cola. Jason drank with me the Coke while playing a game of chess. When he went to his room to sleep, I continued to read Fr. Arellano’s book, and finished it in the wee hour.

The whole day today, the pain never returned.

A lot of these can be understood as coincidences. The two tablets of calcium, the liniment, and the painkiller may have worked. And yet either or all may have not work without divine grace allowing their components to do so. I believe that God works with coincidences in order to send graces to his beloved human children. Such how loving our God is!

Saint Teresa of Jesus

Today in the feast day of St Teresa of Jesus, a doctor of the Church, this faith sharing blog celebrates its birth. St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila was a 16th century Spanish Carmelite and mystic. She was the first woman to be accorded the distinction as Doctor of the Church by the Roman Catholic Church. Her original works include The Work of Her Life, The Way of Perfection, and The Interior Castle. 

Our common Missal reading in the Universal Church was Romans 3:21-30 wherein St. Paul talks about our righteousness through faith.  

The life of St. Teresa is a struggle against God’s grace who worked in fully converting her. She eventually learned to be open to the insistant grace that led her to great spiritual intimacy with the Lord. But her growth in grace did not miss the notice of the evil forces of this world. Influenced by evil, many people around her misunderstood her and even incited jealousy against her. But her continued openness to God’s outpouring grace allowed the Lord to transform her.

In the apostolic reading, St. Paul tells the dissociation of the righteousness of God from the law, from which the Jews placed so much authority it their finger-pointing on who were the righteous and were not. And no human aside from Jesus and Mary are free at birth from the bondage of sin, and freedom from it only comes from the grace provided through the sacrifice of the Lord on the Cross. But redemption is not meant to be given in a silver platter. Man still has to prove “his righteousness” (3:26) today and throughout his life in order to receive that final reward of redemptive grace. And St. Paul rightly asks: “What occasion is there then for boasting?”

Nothing. Even our worldly “successes” are nothing to boast about. It is not even to be viewed as our successes. Success and failure is God’s to give, and we simply do our task and wait. Any success or failure that comes out what we do, all those can only be rightly attributed to the glory of God. It is always his; never ours.

Our redemption is not designed to be fully made and fulfilled upon baptism and even upon conversion as adults. Baptism restores in us the grace lost through the original sin. Our conversion simply initiates the process of getting us closer to God. And the struggle to free ourselves from the bondage of sin and the strong and often subtle influence of the kingdom of Satan in this world remains on.

In the end, our life is a lifelong spiritual battle against the forces of darkness that vowed to disengage us from the love of God and bring us to perdition. Christ already won the restoration of our graces before the Father. It is up to us to work hard at keeping ourselves available for the graces to transform us into children of God, fully attuned to the Will of their Father. And that’s a lifelong journey to take.