True Happiness

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 29, 2023 — Year A
Readings: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13 / Ps 146 / 1 Cor 1:26-31 / Mt 5:1-12a
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

A newspaper in England once asked this question of its readers: Who are the happiest people on earth?  The four prize-winning answers were: a little child building sandcastles; a craftsman or artist with a job well done; a mother bathing her baby after a busy day; and a doctor who has finished a difficult and dangerous operation to save a human life.

The editors of the newspaper were surprised to find that virtually no one submitted kings, emperors, millionaires, or others of wealth and rank as the happiest people on earth.  Even W. Béran Wolfe, a psychiatrist and author, said, “If you observe a really happy man, and you find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Desert, he will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under a radiator.   He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself.  He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living twenty-four crowded hours of the day.”

In our gospel today according to St. Matthew, Jesus is talking about this popular heavenly constitution – the Beatitudes.  In Greek, the word beatitude is makarios, which means happiness.  So the meaning of the word “blessed,” as Jesus told it, is that this is happiness.  All that Jesus wants is for us to be happy, not according to the understand of the world of what happiness is all about, but according to what God meant by this word.

“Happiness is that which all men seek,” so says the great philosopher Aristotle.  Aristotle also observed that everything people do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is what they believe will bring them happiness in one form or another.  But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not, in fact, always bring them true and lasting happiness.

Think of the drunkard who believes that happiness is found in a beer bottle – one bottle too much and he is driving home, runs the red light, hits a car, and wakes up the following morning in a hospital with plaster and stitches all over his body.  Then it begins to dawn on him that the happiness promised by alcohol may be too short lived.

Or take the man who frequents the casinos to deal with excitement – by the end of the month he finds that his account is in the red, and that he can no longer pay his mortgage.  Creditors go after him until he loses his house and his car.  Then it dawns on him that the happiness promised by the casino is fake.

So, Aristotle says that the ethical person is the person who knows and does what can truly bring them not just excitement or pleasure, but true and lasting happiness.

Another word for true and lasting happiness is blessedness, or beatitude.  In today’s gospel, Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, shows that He wants His followers to have true and lasting happiness – the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give.  This is the state of blessedness that Jesus calls being in the Kingdom of God or being in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The beatitudes that we have in today’s gospel constitute a road map for anyone who seeks to obtain the happiness of the Kingdom.  So why does Jesus deem it necessary to establish this guidepost to the Kingdom from the very first teaching that he gives the disciples?  It is because of the importance of this teaching.  Everyone seeks happiness, but often we look for it in all the wrong places.

Ask people around you what makes them happy and compare the answers you get with the answers Jesus gave.  We see that the values prescribed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are in fact countercultural.  We cannot accept these teachings of Jesus and at the same time accept all the values of the society in which we live.

Of course, Jesus does not demand that we abandon the world, but He does demand that we put God first in our lives, because only God can guarantee the true happiness and peace that our hearts long for.  Nothing in the world can give this peace, and nothing in the world can take it away.  Our God wills us to be happy.

It is interesting to note that the first miracle of Jesus happened in the wedding party at Cana, where everyone was enjoying the occasion, the wine, and the food.  He chose such an occasion of joy to make His first miracle in order to show that He was a happy person who could love and enjoy Himself.  He wanted to show that each of us has a right to happiness.

Happiness is not wrong or a sin.  Since joy is one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, a happy person does not fall into sin very easily.  Satan stays away from happy and joyful people; they are too hard to tempt.

The eight beatitudes do not describe eight different people such that we need to ask which of the eight suits us personally.  No, they are eight different snapshots taken from different angles of the same godly person.  The question for us today, therefore, is this – do we live our lives following the values of the world as a way of obtaining happiness or do we live by the teachings of Jesus?

If we live by the teachings of Jesus, then we may rejoice and be glad, for the reward in Heaven is great.

The Sacrificial Lamb

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 15, 2023 — Year A
Readings: Is 49:3, 5-6 / Ps 40 / 1 Cor 1:1-3 / Jn 1:29-34
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

Today our gospel reading relates the beginning of the public life of Jesus.  Christmas is over.  The child is grown up.  He has become a man and is baptized in the waters by John the Baptist.  This is a sign of His oneness with all of humanity.  He is indeed the Messiah; true God and true man.

Today we hear John the Baptist testifying that Jesus is indeed the Son of God and Son of Man.  Jesus is walking by and John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  He doesn’t say, “Behold the Messiah.”  He doesn’t say, “Behold the Son of God.” Instead, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God.”

Lambs are very important to a shepherd people.  Of course, we think of the lamb most of all when Jesus says that He is the shepherd, and the lambs hear His voice and follow Him.

This, however, is not what John the Baptist has in mind.  What John has in mind is something much deeper, something much more important.  He’s telling his followers that this is the sacrificial lamb offered at the time when the people were under the slavery of Egypt.  The lamb was offered that terrible night, with its blood placed upon the doorpost of all the children of Israel.  The lamb became the sacrifice by which all of them were freed.  This is the lamb who is the sacrificial lamb.  This is the Messiah who does not come with great armies.  This is the Messiah who comes to us as a sacrificial lamb, and as John says, who offers His entire life so that sins may be forgiven.

The word, sin, is very much used, but does not exist in any other language except Hebrew.  This word is a gift of the Jewish people, who recognize something very important in its use.  We think of sin as something that offends the ten commandments.  It’s not that.  We think of sin as something terrible that other people fall into.

Very seldom do we ourselves sin, because we think it is a series of activities against laws.  It’s true that if you break a law, you break a commandment.  If you break a commandment, that commandment is the law of God and therefore you have sinned.  But that is not what sin means.

Sin is a very interesting word.  It really means that you have failed to love.  God has given you His love, and you have turned your back on Him.  God has given you Jesus, and He becomes a lamb led to the slaughter to show you the depth of God’s love and to help you understand that when we say, “I have sinned,” we have not broken a commandment.  Rather, we have broken a promise.  We have broken a person.  We have nailed Him to the cross.

Sin is a failure to care, a failure to love.  It is not meaningful to simply say, I broke the sixth commandment, or the tenth commandment, etc.  When you sin, you break a heart, not only the heart of Jesus, but the heart of the person that you have sinned against.  This is why it is such an important word.

When Jesus enters the waters, He becomes one with us, walking with us through life, feeling the things we feel and hoping the things we hope.  He is every bit a human being.  When He does this, He’s coming so that He might take away all sin.  For if sin is a sin against the love of God, Jesus redeems us by His great love, not only for God, His father, but also for all of us.  It is in the love of Jesus that we are forgiven, for He never held it against us.  He never went away and hid, waiting for an apology.

Sometimes we think a confessional is where our sins are forgiven.  Forgiveness, however, begins in the heart of Jesus and there is no sin that Jesus Himself does not immediately forgive, because His love is so great.  When you go to confession, you come in contact, not with the judgement of God and being forgiven.  Instead, you should come to understand that when Jesus offered Himself on the cross for all mankind, the greatest love that a God-made man could offer His father, that all was forgiven to all for all.

This is the message that the gospel teaches us, and this is the message that we often forget.  Remember, that when we sin against each other, it is not merely the breaking of a rule, regulation, or law.  It is the breaking of another person’s heart.  We must realize that Jesus came only to love.  That’s why He said, “I have not come to judge, but only to teach you how to love.”

Jesus tells us today that He is the Lamb of God.  This means, of course, that He is the shepherd, and we are the lambs.  Through Him, we are to become the lambs of God, to become the sons and daughters of God, or as it says in the readings, the children of God.  The one thing that God calls us to do each day is to love.  Jesus teaches us each day that there is only love and that, if we sin, we take ourselves out of the one thing that is necessary for our heart, soul, and lives:  the fullness of God’s love flowing through us into each other.

This is why Jesus came and why today we say with great gratitude, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  He takes away everything that stands between us and the love of a loving Father, who has given us Jesus to show the way and, as mentioned in the gospel today, fills us with His Holy Spirit.

Our Mother

The Octave Day of Christmas
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
January 1, 2023 — Year A
Readings: Nm 6:22-27 / Ps 67 / Gal 4:4-7 / Lk 2:16-21
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

During the Christmas season, the image of the Most Holy Virgin Mary with her child comes readily to mind.  We see this image in all Nativity things, right in front of us, and in many other places, on many Christmas cards or postcards that we receive from our families or friends.  It should also be in our hearts.

We have come together here today as a family of God on this first day of the New Year.  We celebrate the maternity of Mary, the event around which this feast is celebrated.  As we start the New Year, we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, thus reminding us of our other mother:  of course, Mother Mary.

When a child is in danger, it will instinctively call out, “Mom” or “Mama.”  That’s because the essence of being a mother is care, love, help, support, and concern for her children.  As a Jewish proverb puts it succinctly, “God cannot be everywhere, so he created mothers.”

As we commemorate this solemn feast, the Church has for us these brief reminders.  In the year 431 AD, the Council of Ephesus, an ecumenical council of bishops of the Catholic Church, settled whether Mary was to be called “Mother of Christ” – Christotokos, implying Jesus is merely human, or “Mother of God” – Theotokos.  The Council decided on the title Theotokos, Mother of God, for Mary.  The Council said that Mary is rightfully the Mother of God, therefore affirming the divinity of Christ.

In the Bible, the very first person to refer to Mary as the Mother of God is her own cousin, Elizabeth, who said in a loud voice, “Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  There is nothing wrong with invoking Mary with the title “Mother of God.”

So what do we mean when we invoke Mary as the Mother of God?  When we say Mary is the Mother of God, we do not mean that from all eternity, our God took His Godship from Mary, or that Mary is the source of the Godship of Jesus.  As the Catholic Church teaches us, Jesus Christ was eternally begotten by God, Light from Light, True God from True God, eternally begotten by the Father.  It means that Mary did not give Jesus Christ His Godship; Mary only gave birth to the humanity of Jesus Christ.

However, right from the moment of conception, the baby in the womb of Mary was truly God and truly man at the same time.  Therefore, the baby born from the womb of Mary is God and man.  Mary gave birth to God and man.  When we say Mary is the Mother of God, it does not mean that she gave Godship to Jesus; it only means that Jesus was God right from her womb.

Saint Thomas added to this by asking, “Do mothers beget bodies or persons?”  As one priest asked, “Do our mothers merely give birth to our bodies, or to ourselves as persons?”  As people, of course.  Thus, Mary conceived in her womb the Son of God, not just His human nature, but His divine nature as well.

If we look at the attitude of the mother, it is very beautiful.  At the start, when she still bears the child in her womb, she must take care of herself, in order that the child is not in danger.  She can’t sleep at night, because she watches the child sleep.  As the child goes to school, she’s the one preparing the provisions.

But on the other hand, the womb of the mother becomes a battlefield or war zone, the worst enemy of the unborn, defenseless child.  The enemies of the unborn child are many:  abortion, artificial birth control, cigarette smoking, drinking hard liquor, and many more.  That is why the child, while still in the womb of the mother, experiences rejection, insecurity, human rights violations, and lack of love from the parents.  This is not so of Mary, who follows God’s will to be the mother of Jesus, even though she is in danger of being punished through stoning.

There was a teacher who had just given her primary grade class a lesson on magnets.  In the follow-up test, one question read My name starts with M, has six letters and I pick up things.  What am I?  She was surprised to find half of the class answered the question with the word mother.  Of course, the answer was supposed to be magnet.

People especially need their mothers in times of need, of uncertainty, or insecurity.  We need our mothers to pick us up.  Perhaps even more so for those of us who are already old, not necessarily physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

So as we begin another year, with all the uncertainties that it may bring us, the Church is telling us that we need our Blessed Mother Mary.  May we all be like Mary with our total trust and faith in the Lord.

Let us not put our hopes in someone or something that may only give us false and ephemeral hope in the end.  Instead, we place our entire lives in the loving and caring presence of our God who is always there for us.  He is Emmanuel, “God with us.”  With Mary, we pray that the Lord will bless us this new year, and all the days of our lives.

His Coming in Gentleness

The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
December 25, 2022 — Year A
Readings: Is 52:5-10 / Ps 98 / Heb 1:1-6 / Jn 1:1-18
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

There was an inquisitive 4-year-old who happened to be rooted strongly to the “why” and “tell me” stage of life. The little boy was helping to sort out ornaments and said, “Daddy, what does ‘ignore’ mean?” The father explained, “Ignore means not to pay attention to people when they talk to you.”

Immediately, the little boy looked up at his father and said, “I don’t think we should ignore Jesus.” Puzzled, the father knelt closer to his animated son and replied, “I don’t think we should ignore Jesus either, son. I think we should give Him our full attention. So why do you say that we ignore Him?” “But daddy, that’s what the Christmas carol says: O come let us ignore Him.”

Kids sure say the darnedest things sometimes. But you know, brothers and sisters, often we actually get so caught up in the frenzy of preparations — parties, shopping, and decorating — that we appear to ignore the true meaning of Christmas and fail to prepare a place in our hearts to come and adore Him.

Let us adore the baby Jesus in the manger. A baby easily wins the heart and love of anyone with human feelings, but how much more does this baby win our heart and love? Imagine Jesus, the son of God and our savior, born in a stable and placed in a manger instead of a crib. When God comes, He usually comes in humility, silently and peacefully, without causing a great disturbance.

God’s humble coming in Jesus would not surprise us if we knew God better, but of course we will never know God sufficiently to understand. So, no matter how much we try to understand God becoming human in Jesus, we will not be able to comprehend. It will remain a mystery. The best reaction is that of the shepherds, simply to praise God.

So let us praise God now in our own words. As we look at the baby Jesus, we think of the mystery of God’s love for us, and ask ourselves: Why did God, who is almighty and all powerful, become small and powerless as a baby? Quite simply out of love for us. God became human so that we might become more like God. If Jesus had not come as a human like us, we might have had difficulty in believing God really loved us, but now we know for sure.

John the Evangelist says this is the revelation of God’s love for us: that God sent His only son into the world that we might have life through Him. This Christmas, brothers and sisters, let us thank God for revealing His love for us in Jesus, that He who is so big and powerful became so small and weak for us, that He became one of us to help us be more like Him, to have life through Him.

So, as we see baby Jesus in the manger, we reflect on God’s way being a way of gentleness and tenderness. God’s way is not one of violence, but gentleness. There’s a lot of goodness and love in the world but God is always tender and loving. As we look at baby Jesus in the manger, we see that He is the answer to today’s problems.

Instead of violence, in baby Jesus in the manger we see gentleness. Instead of hatred, in baby Jesus in the manger we see tenderness. Instead of selfishness, in baby Jesus in the manger we see love for us. So let us ask baby Jesus to help us to be gentle, tender, and loving with those around us, as He was in the manger.

Jesus in the manger gave us hope. In the darkness of our world His light has shone. His coming in gentleness encourages us to hold out the hand of reconciliation, to help one another, to work for peace. And we remember the message of the angels: Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace!

Prepare Him Room

Second Sunday of Advent
December 4, 2022 — Year A
Readings: Is 11:1-10 / Ps 72 / Rom 15:4-9 / Mt 3:1-12
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

When big events are approaching, people start to worry about a lot of things and how to prepare for them, not the least of which is what they will wear.  Many of us are already engrossed in the preparation for Christmas; a good number have sent out their Christmas cards; and Christmas shopping is already in full swing.  Malls are filled with Christmas stuff.  Others are engrossed in deciding what gifts to give, while children are busy deciding what they want to get from their parents or from Santa. 

Many of us are excited as we look forward to the big day.  The trouble, it seems, is that our modern society has commercialized Christmas, so that we have mistaken the icing for the cake.  Somebody once made this strange proposal:  Christmas should be abolished because it only makes the poor suffer more.  The season only dramatizes the sharp contrast between those who can go on shopping sprees and those who have virtually nothing.  We should not, however, be too strict about brushing aside the external trappings – the decorations, gifts, food and drinks – if we brush them out, the spirit surrounding Christmas would be lost. 

But let us remain aware that there is always the danger of losing the right perspective.  Hence, we need to constantly remind ourselves to keep Christ in Christmas. 

Another truth is that Christmas is a religious event.  We are celebrating the birth of our Savior who came down centuries ago.  Think about it:  The child whose birth we are all celebrating and rejoicing in came as the least of men.  Poor and simple.  He would never be able to afford our glittery and incredibly extravagant celebrations.  In this case, we overlook, in the flurry of preparations, the internal preparations in our heart.  Let us be ready to share some of our blessings this Christmas that would cheer somehow, or somehow alleviate the harsh condition of our less fortunate brothers and sisters. 

That is why in today’s gospel it instructs us to prepare in the true spirit — that is, inwardly – by which John the Baptist beautifully announces, “Reform your lives; for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  The Christmas carol Joy to the World puts it beautifully: “Let every heart prepare Him room.”

This is a big event, the coming of God’s Kingdom.  Indeed, it is a big event in world history.  But John does not worry about his outfit, or what he will eat, or even his popularity with the leaders of the Jews.  John does not worry at all.  He simply gets ready for the coming of the Lord, and, as God’s messenger, he wants the rest of the people to get ready, too.  He wants them to prepare for the very Son of God who will enter human history, not dressed in silken clothes nor sleeping in an air-conditioned or heated room, nor sleeping on a mattress, but dressed in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. 

Advent is a time for preparation.  It is also a season of conversion and repentance, a time to live out the message that John proclaims: “Reform your lives, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

The kingdom does not appear out of the blue.  It will not come automatically. God will bring about the realization of this via people.  This will come only when certain conditions are met:  where people are converted to a new style of life; where they are willing to commit to banish injustice, either personal or societal; and ready to stand for one another.  In this, the kingdom is at hand.  But whether it will materialize depends on each one of us.  Our Church reminds us that repentance and conversion will not only happen during Advent.  It should be forever, but the question is: “In what way?”

It is by begging pardon for our sins, because sin is like a poison in the body, which it slowly kills.  Penance is the way to detoxify our souls.  Many of us collect sins and, before we know it, our souls are cluttered, like attics filled with junk.  To prepare for God’s coming, we need to do some housecleaning.  We must make room for Him by getting rid of sin.  Sacramental confession is a great help.  We are not only looking for Christ, but we are looking for His coming at the end of time.  We are so very thankful for His continual presence in us.  But He can only enter a heart that is contrite and pure: a changed heart.

As Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “Change your hearts.  Unless we change our hearts, we are not converted.”  The Greek word metanoia means “change of heart.”  Metanoia is a biblical term for repentance or “complete change of heart.”  It turns one away from sin, to serve the living God.  In the Old Testament, the prophets called for a conversion that would turn the people away from idolatry, and from a merely superficial practice of religion to live in fidelity to God’s law and their social responsibilities. 

In the gospel of today, John the Baptist, and then later Jesus, preach a radical change of heart, as demanded by the coming of God’s kingdom.  That is why the baptism of St. John the Baptist is a baptism for repentance.  During apostolic times, in the name of Jesus, the apostles invited people to be converted and baptized, and so begin a new life in the spirit.    So today let us reform and repent.  Let us turn away from sin and say we are sorry.  And we must do it now, for tomorrow may be too late.  Now is the acceptable time because the kingdom of God is at hand. 

He Comes to Meet Us

First Sunday of Advent
November 27, 2022 — Year A
Readings: Is 2:1-5 / Ps 122 / Rom 13:11-14 / Mt 24:37-44
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

According to Tryon Edwards, an American theologian, “Death has nothing terrible that life has not made so.  A faithful Christian life in this world is the best preparation for life in the next.” This statement of Mr. Edwards has something to do with preparation for our death.  It also has to do with the coming of Jesus Christ into our lives, especially now that we are in the season of Advent.

During the first Sunday of Advent, which begins the new liturgical year in the Church, there is an invitation for Christians to stay spiritually awake and to prepare for the Lord’s coming.  Advent, which means, “coming,” is a time of preparation for Christmas, but it is more than that.  Today’s gospel speaks of the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age.  In this sense, Advent then also points to the unknown time that will mark the end of human history.

According to Father R. H. Lesser, an English priest and author, in his book entitled Like Honey in the Rock, Jesus Christ has six comings.  We have to get ready for Him by decorating our house, preparing sweets, and perhaps buying a new dress.  The first coming of Jesus happened in a village in a remote province of the Roman Empire.  In this sense, God is kind and merciful, since He sent us a savior, His son, to give us salvation.  This mercy of God cannot be stopped even by man’s stupidity and malice.  He saves us because He loves us.

The second coming, as I already mentioned is the mercy and kindness of God.  The third coming, referred to by the fathers of the Church as the parousia, will be a different matter.  As Saint Matthew said, “When the Son of Man comes as king, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His royal throne and the people of all nations will be gathered before Him, and He will proceed to judgment.”  Our main sins, most of them least remembered in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, are sins of omission, especially disobeying the positive commandment of the New Testament, the commandment to love.

The fourth coming of Jesus is in the sacraments.  The Lord comes in four different ways in the Eucharist:  through the meeting of the people of God, through the priest who in a special way represents Christ, through the Word of God, and through the Eucharistic species.  His real presence in the Eucharist is a real coming.  Of this Eucharistic presence, most people are aware.  We tend to neglect and forget the fact that He comes really and truly in every other Sacrament as well.  For example, we can really and intimately meet Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, as a forgiving God.  Why not take advantage of this Sacrament?

The fifth coming is through the wind, the cries of children, the song of the birds, the rain.  The problem is that our eyes are not open to see Him.  Our ears are not alert to hear Him.

The sixth coming is an even more intimate one, mentioned by the Lord Himself when He said, “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.  My Father will love you, and we will come and make our permanent home within you.”  Most of us know something about this internal coming, but do we actually experience it?  If we have to prepare for the glorious coming of the Lord, then we must live our life in the spirit of the Lord, to actively involve ourselves in human interactions, to see in the face of everyone the face of a loving God, to believe that God is Emmanuel, God is with us, a God who is a father, friend, and companion.  This is what it means to be spiritually awake.

As we begin today a new cycle of the Church year of grace, let us resolve to shun doomsday paranoia, on the one hand, and reckless complacency on the other.  Let us resolve to be always awake in the Spirit by living a life of faith and love in service to the Lord, so that whenever He comes, we shall be ready to follow Him into the glory of eternity.

Christ continues to be present in the Church and in the world.  His presence will remain until the end of time, but His presence is not fully manifested.  There are still many people in the world who have not heard the Gospel message and have not met Jesus Christ.  The world has not been fully reconciled with the Father yet.  It is true that everything has been reconciled in Christ, but the grace of reconciliation has not been received by everyone.  It is important for us to have this longing for the Lord’s return, but in His fullness.  Therefore, we continue to pray constantly saying, “Your kingdom come.”

Not only at Christmastime, but in every celebration of this Eucharistic banquet, the joyful mystery of the coming and presence of Christ among us is made visible.  This is the reason to repeat and insist over and over the need to experience Jesus’ coming. It is through this persistent waiting and continuous experience year after year that this image of God in which we were created by love in Jesus Christ will come to full maturity.  He comes in so many ways to meet us.  Let us go to meet Him.

Persevere in Faith

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 13, 2022 — Year C
Readings: Mal 3:19-20a / Ps 98 / 2 Thes 3:7-12 / Lk 21:5-19
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

Thomas Alva Edison, the great inventor, used to say, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” He conducted about eighteen thousand experiments before he perfected what we now call “the ordinary light bulb.” He became great through untiring work and utmost endurance.

For some of us nowadays, we are inclined to reverse Edison’s slogan by our longing for instant things. Thus, instead of ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration, we would rather reverse that and have one percent perspiration and ninety-nine percent inspiration.

Yet Jesus, in today’s gospel, exhorts us, “By your perseverance you will gain your lives.” This statement highlights two important things. First, the need to endure. Secondly, the salvation of the soul.  The first, to endure, is absolutely necessary in order to have the second, salvation of the soul.

Why is it absolutely necessary to persevere in order to be saved? Perseverance is an active rather than a passive virtue for us Christians. Perseverance is built up against temptation to sin and apathy through a life of regular prayer, such as the rosary, our devotions to saints, meditation upon scripture, Sunday liturgy and recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, and the graces given in Baptism and strengthened by the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation.

Today’s readings teach us the importance of perseverance. In the first reading we heard of the necessity to persevere in righteousness, because evildoers will be wiped off the face of the earth. But those who receive the Most High, the Lord shall raise them, sanctify them, and carry them to a safe place where no harm shall ever come to them. The safe place is heaven, where the Lord rules forever.

In the second reading, we heard of the necessity to persevere in our imitation of the saints. We heard St. Paul’s harsh words for those who fall short of imitating the saints. He told them that, if they were unwilling to work, they should not eat.

Why were some unwilling to work? Some of the faithful believed that Jesus was about to return at any time to establish His kingdom. As such, why work? This is wrong because, according to St. Paul, living in idleness, they occupied their time with small talk, rumors, hearsay, slander, with all of these things leading to disharmony and division. So every Christian, when he’s able to, must support himself and his brothers and sisters and not live off the income or wealth of others.

St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians gives us three characteristics of saints. First, they are human beings like us; they are made in the image and likeness of God. They have body and soul; they are made of flesh and blood. They need things all other human beings need.  Second, like you and me, they are also tempted. They can be tempted to do evil and be indifferent in their commitment to God. Third, which makes them different from us, the saints cling to God at all times. The saints rely on the power of God and not their own power.

In the gospel reading, we heard of the necessity to persevere in our living faith. We heard Jesus’ discourse around 30 A.D. on the fall of Jerusalem. While Jesus was speaking of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, which occurred in 70 A.D., those who were present were associating this event with the arrival of the kingdom of God on earth, since the temple was associated with God’s presence. So if the temple were to be destroyed, it would mean the end of the world. Forty years later, those who were still living around 70 A.D. saw the completion of Jesus’ prophecy.

Our gospel today reminds us that, while waiting for the great moment to come, which is the end of times where God will reign as Lord, we must adjust to a long period of waiting. We must persevere in our living faith by taking our crosses and carrying them as Jesus did, so that we too may arrive into our eternal glory. As St. Paul said, we must not be idle, waiting for things that will not come to pass in the present time. We must move on with our lives and be fruitful in the work of the Holy Spirit, while awaiting the final return of Christ that will precede Judgment Day and the resurrection of the bodies.

The question is, are we ready to suffer and to shed our blood, if necessary, for our faith? Christianity is a religion of martyrdom. Jesus willingly shed His blood for our sake, and He calls us to be martyrs. The word martyr in Greek means “witness.” The Book of Revelation says that Jesus was the faithful witness who freed us from our sins by His blood.

Tertullian, the second century lawyer who converted when he saw Christians singing as they went out to die, exclaimed, “The blood of the martyrs is seed. Their blood is the seed of new Christians, the seed of the Church.” Why is this the case? The martyrs witness the joy and truth and freedom of the Gospel by their life, their testimony, and by their blood.

Brothers and sisters, some of us may not have very heavy crosses to bear. Our lives have been pretty good, filled with blessings from the Lord. But we have some brothers and sisters who do have very heavy crosses to bear. We must pray for them, so they will persevere until the end, that they not be counted among those who have renounced their faith and their salvation in Jesus Christ.

We will be well prepared, too, if we try every day to live our Christian life well and full; if we do our best to build that part of the kingdom which God expects from us in the here and now, a kingdom of peace and justice; if we daily water the seed of love that Jesus has already planted; if we pass onto others the light of faith that He has already lit; if we act as yeast that Jesus has already put in the dough, in order to ferment the world with the Gospel values; and if we serve the world as its salt, which He called us to be, to preserve the world from every corruption.  All this means that we cannot sit down, doing nothing, just waiting for the end time. It means that we need to keep ourselves always busy in order to hasten the coming of God’s kingdom.

So, brothers and sisters, as we go home today, let us persevere in our living faith until the end of times, through righteousness and the imitation of the saints. Let us also pray for one another, that we all endure until the end, so we will gain our lives.

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Come Down

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 30, 2022 — Year C
Readings: Wis 11:22-12:2 / Ps 145 / 2 Thes 1:11-2:2 / Lk 19:1-10
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, inventor, political philosopher.  Before I could get my citizenship, I had to study a little bit about the history of the United States of America.  He helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence and was the first postmaster of the US.

One day Benjamin Franklin met a lady walking along with her young son.  She asked him, “Why is it that the riches of the world bring unhappiness?”  He didn’t answer her.  Instead, he got an apple from a basket and gave it to the boy.  The little boy was very happy and ate the apple immediately.  Franklin gave him another, and then another one, until both of the boy’s hands had three apples.  Since he couldn’t hold them all, an apple eventually fell to the ground.  The boy cried loudly.

Franklin then said to the mother, “You see, when the boy had two apples, which he could comfortably carry, he was happy.  But look, when he had too many to carry, and one of them dropped, he started crying.  So also with wealth.”

Zacchaeus was a wealthy man, but he was lonely.  He had everything, but he was not happy.  He was at the top of his profession, but he was despised by his fellow men.

His parents named him “Zacchaeus.”  Jewish names have meanings that correspond to one’s personality, just like when we give names to our children.  For example, Gabriel means “man of God.”  Dominic means “belonging to the Lord.”  Irene means “peace.”  Ann means “grace,” Corazon means “heart.”   The name Zacchaeus means “just” or “clean.”  Yet, when the people of Jericho heard the name “Zacchaeus,” they did not think of a just man or a “Mr. Clean” guy, but a detestable and dishonest man.

Tax collectors were despised and considered outcasts, traitors, puppets of the Romans, no doubt because they accumulated great wealth at the expense of others.  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and was much hated by all the people.  Beyond collecting his quota that he turned into the state, he surcharged the poor and pocketed the extra money that he collected.

The chances of Zacchaeus entering God’s Kingdom were minimal.  No self-respecting Jew would endorse his application.  Even Jesus Christ pointed out that a rich person would find it very difficult to enter the Kingdom.  The rich young man who actually led a clean life was not able to follow; how much more difficult for Zacchaeus, who had sold his soul for money?

Yet Jesus, in today’s gospel, singled out Zacchaeus for the honor of staying at his home.  Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must stay at your house today.”  Imagine that Jesus said to you, “I must stay at your house today.”  How would you react to such an invitation?  Would you be excited or embarrassed?  Would your home be ready?  Would you be personally ready to welcome Jesus into your home?

Why would Jesus single him out?  It is because Zacchaeus needed God’s merciful love and forgiveness.  In his encounter with Jesus, he found more than he imagined possible.  He shows the depth of his repentance by deciding to give up half of his goods to the poor, and to use the other half for making restitution for fraud.  This shows how radical his conversion was, coupled with restitution.  Just like in the sacrament of Reconciliation, after we have confessed all our sins to the priest, the priest will advise us to return what we have taken, restore the dignity of others that we have destroyed, and more.  Then he gives penitential works to restore what we have destroyed.

We have another reason why Jesus singled out Zacchaeus.  It is because in Zacchaeus’s entire life, he was always looking down for money and business.  His focus is on profit and worldly pleasure.  But he was asked to rise up and see that the love and forgiveness of God is vast, and that he has the opportunity to change himself for the better.

When he was at the top of the sycamore tree, Jesus asked him to go down.  It means that we should not always be at the top and seeing heaven, but to go down and continue doing the mission that Jesus has given us.

There are people who keep their distance from Jesus.  They call themselves Christians, but they do not get involved.  They are in the tree observing all that is going on in the Church.  They are liberal with their comments, generous with their recommendations, and always ready with advice.  But they will stay there at a safe distance, looking down from a sheltered observation point.

Today’s gospel ends with a beautiful saying of Jesus:  The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.  Jesus Christ is telling us that He seeks the sinners and the lost in order to offer them, and us, salvation.  Such is the great love of God.  The sinners have an important place in His plan of salvation.  But seeking God does not mean that we need to wait until He finds us.  Choosing to hide ourselves from Him never helps us in the process.  Life is, and should be, a constant search for God.

So, answering the call of Jesus means to come down from our position as observer.  We cannot be spectators.  We have to join the community and participate in its activities.  We have to let Jesus enter the inner sanctuary of our personal lives.

As we continue the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us pray for those who do not have the Lord God dwelling in their homes.  Let us ask the Lord to reach out to these souls so that they, too, may partake in the universal salvation plan of God.

Gratitude Completes the Gift

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 9, 2022 — Year C
Readings: 2 Kgs 5:14-17 / Ps 98 / 2 Tm 2:8-13 / Lk 17:11-19
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

A story is told about a magical horse owned by a priest.  The horse would run only if the phrase, “Thanks be to God,” was uttered, and the horse would stop when it heard, “Hail Mary, full of grace.”  One day, a Protestant man borrowed the horse, and he was instructed in the magic words that were needed to make it run or stop.  The man said, “Thanks be to God,” and sure enough, the horse started to run, and when it was about to bump a tree, he said, “Hail Mary, full of grace,” and the horse stopped abruptly.  Then he let it run again, by saying, “Thanks be to God.”  He was enjoying the ride until he came near a cliff.  Unfortunately, he forgot the magic words to stop the horse.  He tried, “Our Father” – it did not stop.  “Amazing Grace” – the horse continued to gallop.  When the horse was almost to the edge of the cliff, he suddenly remembered the words, and cried out, “Hail Mary, full of grace.”  The horse stopped just in time.  The man sighed in relief, “Thanks be to God.”

Whatever happened to the other nine?  The nine lepers were cured and did not return to thank the Lord.  Leprosy was a terrible disease; terrible not only because it destroyed the body, but also because its victims were separated from their families and society.  There were very strict laws that prohibited lepers from mixing with healthy people.  Imagine the sufferings of the lepers.  I bet the cured lepers ran home to their families. They must have been thrilled beyond description.  There must have been some grand celebrations.

But why did only one return?  I’m sure all intended to return and thank the Lord.  Perhaps we can understand if we put it in modern day language, so here it goes.  Mary had to return home and clean the house; there were only men living there and the place was a mess.  Aaron arrived home just in time to save the harvest; he worked day and night.  Martha had to catch up on her favorite TV series.  David found his business in crisis and dedicated himself to getting it in order.  Amos returned to find his wife had remarried and moved away; he drank his pain away.  Peter lost his old job and was looking for a new one.  Anna headed back to thank the Lord but could not resist that sale sign in the shopping mall.  And so on.

So, there you go, brothers and sisters – excuses, excuses, excuses, all except Simon the Samaritan.  Jesus had given the sick the gift of life, and like any gift, it cannot be complete without a thank you.  Yes, we teach our children to say thank you.  We celebrate Thanksgiving each year as a national holiday.  We have a need to say thanks.

We celebrate the Eucharist each week, and the word Eucharist means thanksgiving.  A gift requires a thank you, not so much for the giver, but for the receiver.  The poet George Herbert wrote, “Oh God, you have given us so much.  Give us one more thing – a grateful heart.”  We see miracles all the time.  We have seen how many times people have been cured of diseases, sometimes with no logical medical explanation.  When people are sick or dying, they take their relationship with the Lord seriously.  Many return to the sacraments and change their priorities in life.  But when the crisis is over, some of them are never seen again in the church.

If we examine our lives, we can see God’s hand in so many instances and close calls.  We all have been touched by Jesus.  This Sunday, let us ask ourselves, “Have our lives changed as a result of the encounter?”  Are we like one of the nine, superficial in our relationship with Christ, except when we think we really need Him?  Or have we responded like the Samaritan?  Today we are reminded to be grateful for everything.  Gratitude is something that we cannot ignore at the expense of our decency and integrity.

The first reading, according the Second Book of Kings and the gospel of today, presents to us an attitude of gratitude. Naaman after being cured of leprosy and the Samaritan after being healed by Jesus.  Why is an attitude of gratitude to God crucial to the wholeness of mind, body, and spirit?  Apparently, to be made well, we must add thanksgiving to our faith.  The person who makes such acknowledgement experiences a salvation that goes beyond the merely physical cure.  It is a reorientation of the inner life.

How is our impulse to thank others related to our impulse to thank God?  What does gratitude contribute to our being made well in body, mind, and soul?  Why is it so important that Jesus would chastise those who didn’t value it?  Gratitude keeps us connected to the giver of the gift.  It helps us recognize the source of a gift.  Furthermore, it keeps us grounded in the value of the gift as we take it into new pursuits and places.  All good gifts come from God.

The attitude of gratitude keeps us focused on the source of life, love, and each new day.  Maybe when we acknowledge the source of love, we are more likely to share it with others.  Maybe that is why it is important enough for Jesus to lament its lack from the other nine.  So, brothers and sisters, we will not forget to thank the Lord for all the blessings that we have received in our lives.

May Jesus Christ be praised.

Trustful and Steadfast Faith

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 2, 2022 — Year C
Readings: Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4 / Ps 95 / 2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14 / Lk 17:5-10
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor

An elderly woman lived in one half of a duplex apartment.  She was extremely poor but was a good woman.  She prayed a great deal.  In the other half of the duplex lived the owner.  He was a man of no faith, no prayer, no religion.  He often made fun of the old lady’s trust in God.  One day, this woman was praying quite loudly, telling the Lord that she had no food in the house.  The godless one heard her and decided that he would play a trick on the old lady.  He took a loaf of bread, laid it at her front door, rang the bell, and hurried back to his apartment to hear through the wall her cry of delight:  Thank you Lord.  I just knew that You wouldn’t fail me!  With a devilish grin, the man came back to her front door and told her, “You silly old woman!  You think God answered your prayers?  I’m the one who brought that loaf of bread.”  Without any dismay, the old woman exclaimed, “Praise the Lord!  He always helps me in my needs, even if He has to use the devil to answer my prayers.”

The readings this Sunday teach us lessons about faith and trust in God.  In the first reading, the prophet Habukkuk complains to God: How long, O Lord?  I cry for help but You do not listen.  The prophet is asking whether or not God cares for His people.  There is war and violence, misery and death all around their place.  The powerful Babylonians are about to demolish the people of Israel.  How can God allow things like this to happen?

Habukkuk is trying to question the loving presence of God, perhaps like many of us when we are confronted with so many problems and so much pain.  Remarkably, God appears not to be displeased with Habukkuk, since He answers him with gentle and reassuring words.  It sounds as if He’s telling the prophet, “Be patient.  I have a plan.  I will intervene when it is time.  What I ask of you now is faith and if you have it, you will live.”

What kind of faith does God ask of Habukkuk?  The prophet believes in God’s existence.  In fact, he is already imploring for divine intervention.  Yet God wants Habukkuk to develop a kind of faith that is trustful and steadfast in the face of trials and difficulties.  God would like Habukkuk to keep believing that God will not abandon His people, and that He will save them in His own time.

In today’s gospel, the Apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith.  The Apostles themselves realize their need for a more solid kind of believing in order to persevere in following the Lord.  Real faith is necessary, considering the fact that it is not easy to understand the radical teachings of Jesus, like leaving homes and families, daily carrying the cross, forgiving one another, and loving one’s enemies.  It is even more difficult to follow the Lord’s way of life, like living simply, serving the poor, teaching the ignorant, exorcising demons, touching lepers, and challenging authorities.

The Lord says in reply, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”  Jesus compares faith with a tiny mustard seed whose power does not depend on its size, but on its great potential hidden within itself.  Faith, even when it’s little, has the capacity to do unbelievable things in the life of individuals and communities.

The use of the image of the mustard seed also suggests that the quality of faith is more important than its quantity.  We might think that the more we know theology, the more prayers we recite, the more religious organizations we join, the stronger our faith becomes.  Such is not necessarily true.  In the Gospel of John, the Lord says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?  The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own.  The Father who dwells in Me is doing His works.  Believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.  Or else believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will do the works that I do.”  (John 14:10-12)

Somehow these words can help us understand the kind of faith that we need to develop in our lives.  Faith is our unqualified acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of humankind.  Our faith is genuine if we believe in the person of Jesus, His salvific words and actions, and if we trust in His absolute power over darkness and sin.  The believer would manifest this faith meaningfully by participating in the saving works of Jesus.

There is a story of a small boy, a passenger on a luxury ship.  The ship was nearly sinking because of a very strong typhoon.  Everyone was in panic, grabbing lifeboats and life jackets from each other.  This little boy was sitting in a chair as if nothing was happening.  One adult passenger approached him and asked, “Boy, it seems that you don’t mind what is happening.  Don’t you know that in a few minutes, we are going to sink?”  The boy answered, “Excuse me, sir, the captain of the ship is my father.  Because he is my father, I trust him.  Why would I be afraid?”  The captain of our lives is none other than God Himself.

Saint Paul writes from prison to encourage Timothy to keep the faith.  His words to Timothy remind us that we have all received a special gift from God, a gift which is more than enough to enable us to remain strong in faith.  That is the Holy Spirit:  the spirit of power, the spirit of love and self-control.

So today, let us ask God to increase our faith.  As we try to face with courage our own problems in life, let us not forget that our difficulties can never equal the sacrifice of Jesus which He offered for our sake.  When we pray to the Lord, “Lord, increase our faith,” we are opening ourselves to be moved more and more by the power of His spirit.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, we can stir into flame the gift of faith.  We become capable of guarding this rich trust and of witnessing to our faith before others.