Category: English

Go Down from the Mount!

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Second Sunday of Lent. February 21, 2016 [Luke 9:28-36]

“He took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray (Luk 9:28).”

transfiguration 2 For St. Luke, Jesus is a man of prayer. Luke fondly wrote in his Gospel that Jesus would pray before the decisive events in His life and mission. Jesus prayed the whole night before he chose His disciples (Luk 6:12). One of the reasons why Jesus cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem was that He was well aware of the main function of the holy Temple: House of Prayer (Luk 19:46). He reminded his disciples to pray especially in facing trials and tribulations (Luk 21:36). Before He was embracing His passion and death, He prayed at the garden (Luk 22:44). Finally, enduring a brutal torture, He saved His last breath even to pray for those who have crucified Him (Luk 23:34).

Another important event wherein Jesus spent time in prayer was the Transfiguration. Two evangelists, Matthew and Luke, placed the story of Transfiguration into their gospels, but only Luke who told the purpose of why Jesus and His three disciples went up to the Mount. It was to pray. For Luke, the Transfiguration is a prayer event. Indeed, reflecting today’s Gospel in the context of prayer will bring us a deeper understanding on our relationship with God.

Firstly, Jesus invited the disciples to climb the Mount and pray. Our desire to meet Him and to pray is actually God’s initiative. If we are able to pray, it is because God calls us and enables us to communicate with Him. Our Liturgy of the Hour prayer begins with a verse ‘O God, come to my assistance (Ps 51:15).’ It is a humble acceptance that without His grace and aid, we are not able to pray. We, Catholics, open our prayer with the sign of the cross and mentioning, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:19).” This was born out of conviction that apart from the Holy Trinity, our human words will be futile. St. Paul said it best when he wrote to the Romans, “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings (Rom 8:26).”

Secondly, the Transfiguration teaches us that sometimes, our prayers give sense of delight and contentment, but this is not the most important. We are like the three disciples who were filled with awe in the presence of transfigured Jesus. It is the moment when we feel peace before the Blessed Sacrament. We are enjoying the recitation of the Holy Rosary. We are inspired by a good homily and feel nourished by the Holy Communion in the Eucharist. Sometimes, I attended Worship Service loaded with upbeat songs and electrifying preaching. Truly, the feeling was ecstatic and liberating, especially for persons with messed up lives.

Surely, like the disciples, we want to enjoy the delight for eternity. Yet, our good Lord did not want us to be rooted there. He asked the disciples to go down and face the world. If we rather stay and refuse to go down, then our prayers are no longer genuine and sincere. They become an addiction that helps us escape from the realities. If this happens, Karl Marx’ adage, ‘Religion is the opium to the society’ turns to be a reality.

St. Pope John Paul II reminded us that the Transfiguration would lead eventually Jesus and his disciples to that passion in Jerusalem. Prayer should then empower us to face life with courage and humility, and not to give us a venue to run away from life. The Eucharist, as the summit of all Christian worship, does not end by saying ‘Stay and enjoy some more!’ The last phrase in the Mass is always missionary in spirit, like ‘Go and preach the Gospel’. We are to share the fruits of prayers to others. If we truly find Christ in our prayer, then together with Christ, we shall go down from the Mount and bravely walk to our Jerusalem.

 Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

The Word of God in the Desert

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First Sunday of Lent. February 14, 2016 [Luke 4:1-13]

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert (Luk 4:1).”

jesus temptationToday’s Gospel shows us that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the desert. Yes, the Holy Spirit will not spare us from the desert! The desert experience can be anything that spells dryness and emptiness in our lives and souls. Out of nowhere, a seminarian enters into a desert as he is feeling unexplainable meaninglessness in his chosen vocation. A mother begins to experience exhaustion in fulfilling her difficult mission to rear her children. Through her journals, it was revealed that even holy person like Mother Teresa of Calcutta went through ’the eclipse of God’ when she did not sense the presence of God for almost 10 years in her life.

The Gospel reminds us as well that in the desert, Jesus was tempted by the devil. Walking through the desert experiences, the devil knows well that our defense is at its lowest and surely he will take his change to make us fall from our commitment. The seminarian starts seeing another way of life as more attractive and a solution to his emptiness. Now, not only dryness, he is also facing a crisis. Tired of spending time with her children, the mother starts thinking to shift her focus on something else like her career, hobbies, or friends. The devil is an extremely smart creature. He will manipulate our basic desires and longings. He offers us little compromises that eventually destroy all together our commitment. The seminarian begins not attending prayers, a student is becoming lazy in study and a husband starts spending more time outside his own house and family.

How then do we counter this situation? Jesus gave the answer: the Word of God. In the desert, Jesus was firmly rooted in the Word of His Father, and resisted the temptations. In the midst of life’s dryness and challenges, we shall turn ourselves into the Word of God. Doubtless, we can do our own bible reading and study. This very reflection and other reflections are an invitation to go deeper into the Word of God. Or, praying the rosary is one effective way to meditate the life of Jesus and to refuse temptation. But, the only place that the Word of God is in the most powerful and unique form is at the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the Word of God is lavishly shared to us through the biblical readings and expanded through the homily. Most importantly, the Word of God finally is made flesh and we partake of it at the Holy Communion.

When the devil tempted hungry Jesus to change the stone into bread, Jesus resisted by pointing that we truly live because of the real Bread, the Word made flesh, the Eucharist. When the evil one attempted to allure the Son of God to exhibit His power at the temple of Jerusalem, Jesus outsmarted him by showing him that the Temple is the home of the Word, and not place of showoff. When the prince of darkness asked Jesus to worship him in exchange for the world’s glory and richness, Jesus confronted him with the truth that only God and His Word in the Eucharist worthy of all worship.

The Holy Spirit will indeed lead us into the desert, but it is not to destroy us, but to allow us to find how we truly are, persons rooted in the Word of God, in the Eucharist.

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Vocation and Preaching

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5th Sunday in Ordinary Time. February 7, 2016 [Luke 5:1-11]

“Then he sat down acalling the disciplesnd taught the crowds from the boat of Simon (Luk 5:3).”

Everyone has its own vocation story. Whether priests, religious or lay persons, we have those moments that open our eyes to where God calls us. One Filipino Dominican priest recalled that his vocation to the Order of Preachers started because of his former girlfriend. One day, his girlfriend brought him to Santo Domingo Church to pray before our Lady of La Naval, and when they were there, he saw a band of Dominican brothers entered the Church for the prayer. He was mystified with their appearance and he began to fall in love with the Dominican habit. The rest is history. For lay persons, the vocation stories might not be obvious, but there are those tipping points that brought them to serve the Lord passionately in the family, workplace or the Church.

Today’s Gospel introduces to us the vocation story of Simon Peter. The story appeared in all four Gospels and this points to the truth on how important Simon Peter is in the college of Apostles. Luke gave us a slightly different background from other Evangelists. He did not begin the story with Peter working as fisherman, but with Jesus preaching and teaching. Simon must be inspired by Jesus’ preaching, and this explained why Simon was so docile when Jesus asked him to go into the deep, despite the fact that Peter was a seasoned fisherman and Jesus was a carpenter’s son. Like the story of Peter, all sincere vocation stories takes its origin in the preaching of the Word of God.

Every time I have the opportunity to speak before the Dominican laity, I always make a point to explain that their first preaching has to be in the family. Before we have outreach programs for the poor or the imprisoned, family has to be our mission. To teach and raise their children into good Christians are never easy, but if the parents refuse to do that, who else will do? In fact, the vocations to the priesthood and religious lives may greatly diminish had the evangelization in the family failed. I owe my vocation and faith to my parents. They never ceased preaching both in words and in deeds to us. I always recalled how my mother taught me praying the rosary, and my father brought us to the Church every Sunday as family. They taught me also by example as they showed me the virtues of fidelity, sacrifice and love. I love God and the Church, because I saw how my parents also love God and the Church.

When St. Dominic established the Order of Preachers, the first religious congregation in the Catholic Church, that has active orientation toward evangelization, he did not abolish the community life. In fact, he included it as an essential element of Dominican life because before we go out, our community is the first preaching mission. A good preaching in the community surely safeguards and nurtures vocations of the preachers. Thus, I am deeply saddened when I heard that a brother or sister left the convent because they no longer felt happiness within the community. Or, children have problematic behaviors because their parents did not become a good example for them. This is the sign of our failure as preachers for one another.

Jesus reminded that our vocation is rooted, nurtured and flourishing because of preaching of the Gospel. We have different callings with their unique stories, but as Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP once said, we may enter the Order (or any state of life) for the wrong reasons, but we must stay for the right reason. We believe that one of that the right reasons is a good preaching among us.

 Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Humility: A Tough Job

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Second Sunday of Advent [December 6, 2015] – Luke 3:1-6

 “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths (Luk 3:4).”

We want to be successful, to be the number one, and to be the winners. Turning out to be number two after all-out effort is just excruciatingly painful. Today’s gospel affirms this natural inclination to be dominant. Luke began his Gospel by enumerating the alpha males in that time: Caesar Tiberius of Rome, Pontius Pilate of Judea, Herod of Galilea, and Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests of Jerusalem. They were the standard and embodiment of success. Perhaps, they were Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg of our time. People might adore, envy or fear them, yet still they were the axis where the people revolved.

However, the second part of the Gospel tells us a different character. His name is John the Baptist. Doubtless he was a man of integrity and courage. He converted all his energy and devotion into fearless action and passionate preaching. He was the rising star, and people followed and admired him. I guess it was a dream of every preacher when people from all walks of life come and listen to us. Yet, he received a particular divine mission that he was to prepare the way for someone greater than him. He was not the Messiah.

He might question God, “Why can I not become the number one? I have the skills, right attitudes and strong character. People come to me, they love me and are ready to give their lives for my cause. But, why does God just want me to be second after the Christ? I should be the Christ!” Adding to his inner conflict was some Israelites asking and pressing him to be their Savior. Perhaps, the greatest doubt hit him hard when he was well aware that Jesus, his own Galilean cousin, was the Messiah. “Hi, I am better than this small guy. I am true-blooded Jew, son of Zachariah, the respectable priest, while he was a Galilean, son of Joseph, a poor carpenter. I preach boldly while He cutely narrates parables. I fast and keep vigil while He is busy attending parties. And remember, I am the one who baptized Him!”

However, despite the inner tension and overwhelming emotions, John never fell into the great temptation. In fact, he publicly declared, “He must increase, I must decrease! (John 3:30)” John became the embodiment of true humility. A wise man once said that humility before the authority is a duty, humility before equal is a courtesy, but humility before people whom we know that we are much better, is nobility and holiness. John struggled a lot to follow God’s will that went against the very grain of his nature as leader, yet without this inner conflict, his humility is just another politeness. Because of this true humility, John is always remembered throughout generation as the greatest prophet.

We want things so badly, but we know that this is not God’s will. As a seminarian, I am struggling a lot to remain faithful because life inside is often demanding and difficult and knowing that I can have better and easy life outside. A wife who is fighting for her marriage and refuses to leave her sick husband for a better and richer guy, may be another John. A man who is sacrificing his dream job offer because he needs to spend more time with his kids and to educate them to be true Christians, may be another John. John the Baptist is the appropriate main character of Advent season because he teaches us one precious value that true humility is following God’s will and this is a tough job.

 

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP