Reflect the Light of Christ

I took this picture on a rooftop of a friend's house. I was struck by the beauty and splendor of the moonlight. Generally we know that the moon's light is a reflection of the sun's. But as I read...

"The real mystery is why does the moon reflect at all. Like most objects in space, the Moon possesses a reflective characterisitic called albedo. Albedo is how well an object reflects light. This characteristic seems pretty straight forward. Material like ice and snow have very reflective albedos. Land and Greenery have very low reflective albedos. What makes the moon so interesting is that it has the same Albedo as coal. That means that it has almost no reflective quality up close. " http://www.universetoday.com/75891/why-does-the-moon-shine/#ixzz2fejsFkUb

How high is our reflective characteristic -- our spiritual albedo? How well do we reflect Christ's light? When we encourage people to succeed, we often tell them, "It's your time to shine." But like the moon, we cannot produce our own light. Everytime we try to "shine" by our own efforts, we end up proud and conceited. True light can only come from the Son reflected through a humble spirit. A better encouragement would be, "It's HIS time to shine."

Let us remember:

1. Receive His light daily

 Numbers 6:25  The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

By God's grace, through daily prayer and especially the Eucharist, we receive His holy light that illumines our minds and hearts to reflect His glory.

2. We are Children of Light

Ephesians 5:8  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

 Jesus brings us out of the darkness of our own sin and pride. We are God's children, bringing the Father's light to overcome the temptations that call us to hide in the shadows.
 

3. We shine Christ to others

As the classic praise song declares -- shine Jesus shine! The presence of Christ radiates through our smiles, our humble posture, and the love we give.

 

Like how the moon is likened to coal because of it's high reflective quality, we too, must remember that God's radiance can only shine if we remember who we are---our own insignificance---in relation to the light of Jesus.  Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me. Galatians 2:20.

 

 

How is Christ reflected in your daily actions?

 

 

 

Christ, the King of Our Lives

Once a month, we congregate in Christ the King Parish for a teaching in Couples for Christ. I come to reflect on my relationship with Christ as my King. An encyclical of Pope Pius XI called Quas Primas (latin for In the first) talks extensively about Christ as our King. It was written for the purpose of promulgating the Feast of Christ The King in 1925. I'd like to quote section 13 of the encyclical, "The foundation of this power and dignity of Our Lord is rightly indicated by Cyril of Alexandria. "Christ," he says, "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature." 

What are the things in our lives that are itching for lordship?  We can get a hint on this in the scene of Christ's temptation in the desert (Luke 4:1-13). These lord-wanna-be's can potentially usurp Christ's Lordship over our lives if we do not defend our souls from them: the lords of the flesh, money and power, and applause.  These lords can do a guerilla warfare with our minds and hearts or do a hostile take over if we are open and vulnerable due to a lack of prayer.

Let us shun these worldly lords and declare allegiance to the Lord of lords, the King of kings -- Jesus Christ. When Christ the King reigns in our hearts, all the temptations will lose their appeal. Our fealty to Jesus will save us. Our King will defend us. Jesus is the King crucified who bought our freedom from the worldly kingdom of the evil one. Now that we have been ransomed by the King's blood, let us not waste the freedom given us. Let us bring others to discover the life Christ is offering in His Kindgdom.

1. How are the lords of flesh, money, power, and applause trying to lure you to their kingdoms?
2. What are you going to do to express your fealty to Christ the King? 

Ride the Wave of the Spirit

I was delighted to see surfers on the Bagasbas beach in Daet, Camarines Norte. In the Philippines, surfing is quite rare. Since the Bagasbas shore is facing the Pacific, the waves are there. Both local and foreign surfers were riding the waves! They were patiently waiting and sensing for the right wave. And when the wave came, they had to act immediately, or they'd miss it.

Surfing the net, I came across a comment on how one feels when riding a wave:

There’s no greater feeling than surfing and that feeling of being part of the ocean, really riding on top of the world. Surfing’s freedom, adventure and creativity rolled into one. It’s easy to see why surfers love surfing so much and I also love teaching newbies to surf so they can experience that joy. There’s only one place you can get that feeling and it’s in the surf.
-Annabel Candy

Much of what Annabel Candy was describing relates to living in the Holy Spirit.

1. In the Spirit, there is freedom!
When we live in the Holy Spirit, indeed adventure and creativity is rolled into one. The Spirit is always fresh, never boring, mysterious in His ways, and ever relevant. The Holy Spirit puts us at the edge of our seats, waiting in anticipation for His move. When the Spirit blows, we've got to catch His wave --and experience Freedom!  "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! (Darrel Evans, Freedom)."  When things seem routinary, lifeless, and dry, let us examine our lives.  We might be imprisoned by our sinfulness. Sin leads us to the wrong ocean, where the Wind doesn't blow. Sin makes us content of paddling instead of riding the waves.

2. A life in the Spirit is a life shared.
Once we have recieved the Spirit in our lives, we have to share it. We have to teach others how to "surf and catch the wave."   The Holy Spirit was promised by the Lord, and given in Pentecost to strengthen the community and embolden them to spread the Gospel.

But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

Once they caught the tsunami wave of Holy Spirit during Pentecost, the gospel spread -- like never before. 

Acts 2: 38. Peter [said] to them, “Repent and be baptized,* every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit.

v.41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.

I can only imagine if the Apostles did not proclaim the Gospel after recieving the Spirit. It would have been impossible, since the joy cannot be contained -- it was too much it had to oveflow to all of humanity.

3. The Wave will come. We cannot create it.

The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8

Through prayer, we wait upon the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it comes almost immediately, at times it teaches us to be patient -- to wait for His Power. Those who cannot wait---those who don't pray---try to make their own waves, their own wind. But like anything that is fake, it always fall short of the authentic -- and it shows. When on mission, we have to ride with the wave of the Spirit. Go where it blows and when it blows.  As they say, In His time.

Let us ride on the Wave of the Spirit! It's the best way to live.

 

A Heart, Big as the World

In a retreat at St. Paul Center for Renewal in Cavite, I came upon the "Prayer to St. Paul". I was struck by the words, "Obtain for us the heart of an apostle, a heart, big as the world. 

Reflecting on this, I tried doing a "heart check-up". How big is my heart? Is my capacity to love enough only for my family and friends? How easily does my heart tire? Is my heart hosted with humility that I am able to accommodate criticism and correction? 

I am reminded of Saint Candida de Jesus (my high school alma mater's congregation founder). On favoring God over earthly lures, she said, "The world is too small for my desires". 

Indeed, when one discovers the joy of God and allows Him to enter the heart -- there is no other way but for the heart to grow bigger. 

A heart without God shrinks in size until it becomes compacted like stone. Nothing permeates through a stony heart. But the Lord cries out, "If today you hear My voice harden not your heart." It is the Lord who is the initiator of love. He knocks at the door of our hearts without tiring. Need we only open and welcome him and God will give us a new heart, big as the world!

"I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ez 36:26)."

There are many out there who will discover the truth about God's love through the channel of our own hearts. 

Love not as yourself, but as the Lord using you as conductor of the currents of His powerful love. A big heart can take in and deliver large amounts of God's grace to His people. 

St. Paul, pray for us as we dare take on the world with our puny hearts in the hope that God will expand it by His grace and mercy. Amen.

Travel Light

One of my favorite travel accessories is the inflatable travel pillow. It helps me get a good shut-eye. It supports my neck in the awkward positions of seat-sleeping. I have been to many long trips that end up with a neck sore. So, this pillow is really a good investment on my part.

I recall a passage from Luke about instructions for the missionaries to be sent off. 

Luke 9:3  He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.

Now during those times, there was even no travel pillow to speak of! More shockingly, even the basic and logical travel necessities were not allowed on this mission. The missionaries had to depend on "living off the land" and trusting in God's providence through those who will welcome them. 

On this, I reflect 3 things:

1. Travel light, God provides

Life is a one big mission journey. When we carry a lot of baggages, we won't be able to fulfill what we were meant to do. Our tendency is to focus more on our attachments instead of God's supplements. When we are still attached to the baggages of anger, unforgiveness, materialism, fear, and many others -- we cannot move forward in life. 

The Lord provides, provided that we leave room for His blessings, leaving the unecessary weight of sin. The lighter we travel, the heavier the blessings.

2. Offer your discomforts to God

Along our life's journey, there will always be "bumpy roads" and "uncomfortable seats".  Instead of complaining, let us make an offering of sacrifice for the Lord. Our pains can be lifted us prayers for the salvation of souls in purgatory. 

3. Mission is total surrender

When all that you possess in this world is gone, yet you have God -- you are rich! Just like the man who finally found the pearl of great price and sold all he possessed to acquire it. In Luke, when the missionaries were sent off, they knew that they had everything -- God. If we embark on a mission and fail to "bring" God, then we have brought nothing. We surrender our lives to God, so that God can finally lead us to the awesome life that He prepared.

In our pilgrim life on earth, let us start to detach from worldly pleasures and attach ourselves to the heavenly delights of a life of mission.

Do Not Pamper Your Fear

Fear can paralyze.  Our imagination of the worst case scenario can stir emotions in us that make us retreat instead of bravely marching forward. But let us be assured -- God is always ahead of us. 

"It is the Lord who marches before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not be dismayed (Deut 31:8)."

A missionary priest shared to us, "When you go to a mission area, do not presume that you are 'bringing' Christ to the place. Christ is already there, waiting to use you. Christ is already with the people you will serve. You will meet Christ there." True enough, in the missions that I do, I am always amazed of how the Lord talks to me through the people I serve. The Lord surprises me of the unforeseen opportunities that he opens up for the mission -- especially at times when oppressions happen. The Lord's promise of not forsaking us should make us the bravest person of all. 

The only thing that blocks us from moving forward is that we are pampering our fear instead of conquering it with faith. We feed it, entertain it, and nurture it -- and so it grows until it eats us up. 

Let us not make fear our best friend -- Christ is. Peter was walking on water when Christ called him. But whenPeter feared the strong winds, he started to sink. We should trust more the One who commands the strong winds to stop; He who lifts us up when we start to sink.

Many of us fear this one thing -- the future. Fears that affect our future: fear of not having enough, the fear of loss, the fear of not being good enough, the fear of not meeting high expectations. Fr. Joel Jason in one of his homilies said, "When you plan for your future, make a faith declaration not a fear declaration." We must work hard not out of fear but out of faith. Fear can make us greedy, while faith can make us generous -- and when we share, the Lord blesses us a hundred fold. Just ask those who tithe.

Faith is a response to the reality of God in our lives. When Jesus revealed the true nature of God as our Father, He was not only talking about any other father but the reality of a perfect Father! A Father who knows the number of hair on our heads, who knows us more than we can ever know ourselves, who looks at us lovingly and assures us, "I will never fail you or forsake you."

So let us put our faith forward and march on. Be brave, God marches before us!

Let God's Voice Be Heard

Everyday we are bombarded with so much information (both useful and unvaluable) -- through our emails, facebook, twitter, billboards, tv commercials, ads on the internet and etc. We are also engrossed with the latest gadgets and the newest apps. Many of us are absorbed in the plots of  popular TV series' and movies. We are also busy with work, school, and family concerns. These among many take up our attention in our 24-hour day. It is indeed the information age.

With all these things that overwhelm our senses, the voice of God can easily get drowned in the background of the noise of the world. We can easily be distracted away from Him.  Many of these information promote values of materialism, secularism, relativism, as if trying to take God out of our minds--out of our system. Just try to notice how many Christians today struggle to have a consistent prayer time or even have the time to go to Mass on Sunday. I think one of the great challenges of evangelization today is how to get people to notice the wonderful and salvific friendship offered by Jesus Christ. It is God who initiates this relationship, but many cannot hear His voice.

Quoting Herbert Simon, he said, "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention."

As evangelizing Christians, how do we grab the attention of today's people towards God?


1. Get Creative

Creativity is important.  Jesus will always be relevant, since He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is a matter of being able to communicate or evangelize the Gospel message with the right medium -- hitting what is relevant to the target audience.  We need to approach evangelization by means of Creative Fidelity.

 According to http://www.publicchristian.com/?p=196 :

“Creative Fidelity” is the solution Gabriel Marcel (French Catholic existentialist philosopher) provided for the problem of time and change in human relationships. [2]

For example, the man who made my wedding vows is not the man I am today. I am more experienced, more knowledgeable, more mature, perhaps wiser, have different interests and occupations. My spouse also has changed significantly. Why should these older and wiser persons be bound by promises made by younger and more foolish people who in so many ways no longer exist?

I am sure they should; that’s what ‘vow’ means.


Is our approach to evangelization stuck in the 80's when the world was "quieter"?  Are we not a different society, now with more history, and with an evolved behavior?  Getting creative doesn't only mean having an attractive poster or theme or a new program.  It means having fidelity to the truth and depth of God's message -- and expressing it in a manner that rises above the noise of the world.  "The Church recognizes that these media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men's entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support to the Kingdom of God." (Inter Mirifica, 2)

2. Be in the world, but not of the world.

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves." Matthew 10:16

Many have a tendency to alienate themselves from the rest of their peers. Sure, we have to be modern day martyrs and stand of for Christ amidst persecution or getting ridiculed, but we also have to look on saving the souls of those around us. We have to connect to our peers, but not with their addictions, corrupt ways, or general unchristian habits.  We have to be loving witnesses who do not judge and condemn, but who reach out and listen.

In today's generation, many are turned off by straightforward preaching. Although preaching truly proclaims God's Word, but to quote Evangelii Nuntiandi 41:

 "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses."

What really wards off people from hearing about Jesus is how we represent Jesus to them through our own lives. Indeed it is a tall order to become witnesses, but by His grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we will have the strength to be true witnesses for Christ amidst an environment of "wolves."

3. Find Common Ground

What we also need to do to catch people's attention towards the Lord is to find out what their interests are. They will listen if it concerns them. Are they young parents? So, they must be dying to hear about parenting or raising children to be good Christians. Are they sports enthusiasts? So organize a sports event like a basketball tournament or a fun run. Are they technology buffs? Organize a forum on making the most out of their gadgets. Sometimes we have to transform the "noise" of the world into the sweet sound of God's voice by Christifying the secular.

If we look intently, people's natural interests may as well be a new mission area.  It may not be geographic, but if you see  how the hundreds or thousands of people with a common enthusiasm gather, there is enormous potential.  "Missionary activity is closely bound up even with human nature itself and its aspirations (Ad Gentes, 8). By finding common ground, we let God transform it into holy ground -- His kingdom on earth.

Let God's voice be heard today!  Let us emerge from the drowning noise of the secular world and sound off the beautiful ensemble of the Good News.