Friends of Divine the Mercy celebrates
its Treasures' 11th Anniversary which simultaneously commemorates the Feast of St. Faustina Kowalska.
Bishop Teodoro T, Bacani before his talk on “Endless Grace Abounds” rouses the congregation’s
mood with his crowd-drawer opening salvo. The Charismatic yet gentle Bishop
asked the people to repeat after him the ice-breaker, “Happy! Happy!Happy!
Me! “Happy! Happy!Happy You! “Happy!
Happy!Happy All! The charismatic and responsive community hastily turned to him
and repeated everything that he said.
The Bishop countered, “No! NO! NO,” You have to sing it!” The congregation conquered the place with
laughter brought by this. After which,
he greeted the community, “Happy Anniversary!”
The
good Bishop soaked first the approximately 500 worshipers in adoration by
invoking the Holy Spirit through singing "Come Holy Spirit".
Subsequently,
he acclaimed, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose
us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish
before Him. In love He destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus
Christ, in accord with the favor of His will, for the praise of the glory of
his grace that He granted us in the beloved. In Him we have redemption by His
blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of His
grace that He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, He has made known to
us the mystery of His will in accord with his favor that He set forth in him as
a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and
on earth (Ephesians 1:3-10).
Although
not everybody could understand English, with this simple statement, “with the
riches of His grace” that St. Paul mused, everyone would surely grasp it, he said.
God
rewards us neither with a little nor plenty but all of.......then all of a
sudden the microphone gave him an erratic distorted sound which neither
distracted him either but continued on his sermon with utter conviction.......”No!
Not that,” he says (which brought the people again in uproar of
hilarity)......God gives us all the graces in heaven.
St.
Paul says “in accord with the riches of His grace”, that is why we ponder, “I
am rich,” not necessarily because of material wealth but because of God’s
grace.
In
praying the Apostles Creed, we profess, “I believe in God the Father
Almighty.” Is God really your
Father?
One
day, my siblings Juaning, Dolor and I met together. They desired to keep in company with me as
long I live, as they told. Asking them
why, they responded because I am kind as they claim, he continued.
Nevertheless,
although I am kind, not all of the circumstances could I be found in the same
nature. One day, I needed to go back to
the house to get some things I left. As
agreed on, I told my siblings not to lock the door that leads to the main house
if they’re really yearning my company so I could freely enter the house. At that impulse, my skin shivered in
irritation so I shouted twice to call their attention but no one
responded. On the third attempt I
screamed, Dolor went down who shuddered in fear. I asked her who locked the door but refused
that she did. Then Juaning came in also
trembling in fear but likewise refused that she did. In the afternoon, I called them both and
apologized that I howled at them, the Bishop related.
That’s
why at one point, they would greet me “Happy Anniversary!” Taken aback knowing
that it’s not even the anniversary of my priesthood, I asked them for what sort
this greetings would be. And I was told
that this is the anniversary of my shrieking at them. See! I
am and kind and loving but not all of the time, he clarified
God
is amorous and it can’t be that God stops loving because He is love. Even His anger is bound by love. For example, He demonstrated His anger when
at some point He said, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Woe to you Capernaum" (Matthew 11:21).
My
biological father likewise expressed his anger and even beat me. One day when we had a fight with my brother,
I hit the plate using spoon which broke it.
Upon noticing that we were scuffling, my father got the broken plate and
beat my fanny. From then on I did not
commit such an offense, he pointed out.
In
marriage, display of anger could also be witnessed. In the middle of a fight, the infuriated
husband would harshly bellow, “I can kill you!
You’re nothing but an impotent!”
On the other hand, the enraged wife would ruthlessly fight back, “I’ll
cut your manhood before you can kill me!”
Fire
can be extinguished but God’s love never quenches because His love is
interminable.
Currently,
I received an overseas call because my friend Boy Posadas who has been known in
Zambales for
their benevolence was confined for a stage 4 cancer. His daughter Mariel candidly
spoke of her resentment against God because of these subsequent crises they
have been simultaneously enduring, from a father who is afflicted with cancer,
her physical disability, up to her mother’s alzheimers disease, he recounted.
My
friend was touched when I blessed him with the Sign of Cross and appreciated so much my visit.
I told him that God is simply giving back all of your kindness. Then he answered, “We’re not expecting a
recompense in return.”
I
also visited her daughter Mariel who looked tranquil so far and without any
marks of resentment yet and gently spoke to her, “This is a great test for your
family,” as he comforted her.
Occasionally,
God could toughly be spelled out who seems unmoved when we are caught in a
seemingly brutal condition. Personally,
I even reached that point of praying for my death while boarding a plane,
although I asked God to suspend it because a lot of aircraft passengers would
have died with me had God granted my petition, he jokingly shared.
Both
Old and
New Testament reveal that God chastises those whom He loves. (Proverbs 13:24; Revelation 3:19).
St. Therese of Avila couldn't avoid whining to her closest Friend about the aggression and news-mongering that bordered her. Jesus told her, "Teresa, that's how I treat my friends." St. Therese answered, "No wonder you have so few friends."
Love
is classified into two:
- Tender Love – expressed through affection of embrace and caress which are even tasty than take home pancit as a present of the husband to his wife.
- Tough Love – the Japanese culture teaches the children to be compassionate than selfishness should they desire empathy as a good karma as emphasis of the discipline.
Francis Arnaiz who is one of the PBA legends had lost his career, beautiful wife and ended up with a collapsed
enterprise. I saw him on 700 Club and in his testimony he says, “When I hit rock-bottom, I found the
Lord.”
Sporadically,
grace can either be affectionate or harsh.
It’s like a wife’s reaction to her unfaithful husband, “Over my dead
body! No one can take you away from me!” Infrequently, God is also like this because
of His infinite love.
As
the song says, "The Best Things in Life are Free"
- Do you pay sunshine?
- Do you pay the air you breathe?
- Do you pay the moon that stands out at night?
- Do you pay your life?
Further,
the greatest grace that humanity has ever received is Jesus Christ
Himself. He is like a bag which is
filled with grace as the Scripture re-echoes, “The Father has blessed us with
spiritual blessings in Christ.” Therefore persevere to be with Christ and seek first His Kingdom.
St. Faustina_Kowalska as one of the 10 siblings who came from extremely
poor family and yet a God-fearing had been rejected by different convents she approached several times and in
one instance she was told that they do not accept maids, until
she found one on the condition that she would pay her habit. From these people who cast her off, who would
expect of her canonization as a Saint.
You
are called as Friends of the Divine Mercy.
Nevertheless, there are fair-weather friends. Now you see them, now you don’t, especially
when you’re in dire need.
Pass
on the grace so that it would not be like a water that turns to be
non-potable once it is stagnant over a period.
Be
contagious with grace through charismatic face than a funeral looks:
- Through the joy of the Gospel – Pope Francis
- By gracious words – Japanese experimented that plants bloom beautifully when played with music but withers when bombarded with spiting words.
- By being forgiving
Fr. Ric Torrefiel, Friends Spiritual Director, in his Liturgy, concentrates his homily
on trade.
Are
you business-minded? Many desire to
venture into trade but not all because others are intimidated, he figured out
The
Gospel talks about trade. Big
corporations, huge industries, and factories were non-extant during the time of
Jesus. Commerce had evolved on
agriculture, turning hectares of land into a vineyard.
In
trade, no one is assured of its feasibility.
It entails risk. Some end up in
bankruptcy.
Currently, the news divulges about global financial trouble. I
don’t want to sound anti or pro-America but everybody knows how blessed they were because of their colossal land and natural resources, which they themselves
claimed. In fact, as gratitude of their
forefathers for these God’s provisions, they embedded “In God we trust” on
their currency which Philippines does not, the soft-spoken Priest told.
It
has been the United States pride that they are God’s vineyard because of their
greatest economic and financial resilience.
However,
those days have gone. According to CNN,
the United States is presently facing ballooning foreclosure of companies,
income depreciation, credit cards at default, agonizing housing market,
increasing poverty level, growing number of vagabonds, and escalating
government debts. Comparatively, China’s
dollar reserve is even higher than America’s, he said.
In
contrast, previously the labelling of sweat shirts which Baguio exports to England was basically done abroad. But now, to minimize shipment expenses, the
importer send its labels to the exporter to do the labeling here instead.
The
Gospel has a mention of the hedge which means protection. Nowadays, the safety net in commerce because has already been
lost because of rampant piracy.
In fact, you will notice that after 2 days of showing the movies in
theatres, pirated copies are already marketed by the side-walk vendors, he pointed.
In
Malabon particularly, the fish ports in earlier times which had
been manned by labourers who manually toiled the fishermen’s yield, from
carting to segregation up to production of its by-products, has now suffered of
port unemployment rate brought by the advent of technological
mileage.
Watchtower
is mentioned in the Gospel too. These
days, this has already been vanishing brought by open market.
Everything
keeps the business thrives, from the laborer’s life, talents and treasure;
God’s provisions which everyone should nurture than abuse.
Indeed,
Jesus has business on earth when He responded to the Blessed Mother
who
had been in search of Him, “Don’t you know that I should be in my Father’s
business (Luke 2:49) which others translated house as business, which differs from that of
man’s which overlooks other’s sacrifices in exchange of personal gain.
This
reminded me of my English Teacher when she asked me to spell out and pronounce
“BUSINESS”. I spelled it correctly but
she reacted when I read it literally the way it plainly appears. “NO! Letter ‘U’ should be read as ‘I’, the
teacher said. So I read it aloud again,
as “BISINESS”. “No! Letter I should be
silent”, she asserted, until I finally got it.
In
spelling the word business, we are taught that business does not solely evolve
on “I” and “I” but rather on “U” and “I”.
Conversely,
God is gradually removed in the constitution. As a matter of fact, the Department of Education (Deped) was reproached for removing ‘God’ from vision statement. Erasing
God from this society, St. Paul says, such as this will end to disaster.
The
Gospel (Matthew 21:33-43) warns us to bear fruit through charity otherwise we’re on closing stages of adversity.
This
takes me back about the grandmother who celebrates her birthday. Her grandson notices of her who looks forlorn
so he breaks out the silence, “Lola (grandma), you should be happy it’s your
106th birthday.” The
grandmother answered, “I would be happy if I have money and surrounded by
friends.” Nevertheless, the grandson
still wished her a happy birthday and asked her to blow the candles equivalent
to her 106 years. The grandson then
asked, “Now, Grandma, tell us about your birthday wish. The celebrant who after blowing the 106
candles said, I wish I should die. I’m
already tired!”
In
this world, no one is guaranteed of his/her security. Not all children are
assured of growing old, to be in a married life, or finish education. In fact, yesterday, I said a funeral mass for
the death of 44 and 37 years old and another 12 years old the other day.
How
do you manage the vineyard that God has handed you over; the family, country,
church, community and employment as entrusted for stewardship? If you believe that all of these are drawn
from God, everyone therefore should trust Him and do what is right, he concluded.
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