Sharing For Group Mass.docx

Sharing for Group Mass February 5, 2015 Mark 6:7-13 The mission of the 12 Apostles as what Pope Francis said, “GO TO THE PERIPHERIES.” Good to note, while having a mission in different areas, culture and time – we need companion(s). Just like the apostles, they were sent by pair. Well, in our walk in life as a seminarian and as a priest in the future – there is a tendency on us that we felt alone; alone in the ministry, alone facing the reality and alone solving the issues in the community. But the invitation of the gospel as a seminarian/priest that we are not alone. We are sent by God not to lift all the burdens in life in solo. He always invites us to lean unto Him, to be a co-traveller in this path and to be a great companion in this life. Maybe at times we are overwhelmed by our emotions and we could not hold on to the end but God still wants us to constantly held to His hands because He holds us every single step we make. All those things are our relationship to God but how about to our brothers and sisters? We might think that God is always near (He is always near) without the people of good faith? NO. Again as what Pope Francis said in his homily at the Manila Cathedral, “If you eliminate the poor in the gospel, we cannot understand the message of Christ.” We always imprint to our mind, visualizing the poor people everyday that they give us an encounter of who Jesus is in our life. But what is the qualification being a poor? Let me use my own experience for an example. I came from a family who is materially and financially instability. In constant hard work and struggle to survive for the whole day was being done by the whole family. And I am thankful that we survive until this moment. We can eat three times a day by backbreaking job of my father until his fingers was lost in an accident on duty. From my grade 3 until I graduated my elementary years I used to sell ice candy so that we can have our fare for the jeepney back and forth to the school. It sustained us siblings in our everyday allowances. We are four at that time whom 2 in the elementary and 2 in the high school. If ever that we have no enough budget to buy meat/chicken/vegetables, I and my father went to the sea and gone fishing at the middle of the night and for tomorrow’s activity continue my studies while my father continued his work. If we didn’t caught something, no food to eat, and if there was, thanks be to God. Now, where is God in my consciousness at that time? I was only a child, innocent, just like the other kids playing all day long. Isang batang walang muwang sa mundo na dinaraan ang mga paghihirap ng mga magulang para mapakain at matustusan ang pangangailangan ng pamilya. Saan ang Diyos sa buhay ko noon na kahit na sa hapag kainan ay hindi nga kami nagdadasal bago at matapos kumain. Sa naaalala ko, parang apat na beses lang yata ako nakapasok ng simbahan sa buong buhay ko ng elementary. Talagang wala akong ka muwang-muwang kahit na ang parokya namin ay nadada-anan lang papuntang eskwelahan. Sa paaralan naman, kahit sabado ay nandoon kami para maglinis lang ng silidaralan, ng hardin at kung minsa’y para maglaro lamang. Kapag Linggo ay “personal time” yan, parang free day lang ng seminary. Doon lang sa bahay at natutulog, nanonood ng mga cartoons at naglalaro kasama ang aking mga kababata. Pero masurpresa talaga ang Diyos. Alam kong mas marami pang mga kabataan sa amin ngunit ako yung nag volunteer ng aking sarili na sumali bilang isang sacristan at ditto nag simula ang lahat. Dalal-dala ko yung bigat at mga sakit na dala ko simula’t sapul na nararamdaman ko nung ako’y naninilbihan bilang isang sacristan. Hanggang sa ako’y nakapagtapos ng HS, madami parin akong mga bagaheng dala sa tuwing ako’y nasa misa. Para bang ang lahat nalang ay puro pasakit. Ngunit isang araw, napatitig ako sa krus – yang KRUS NA NAKIKITA NIYO SA HARAPAN... diyan ako naantig...walang sinasabi ang taong nakapako sa krus ngunit siya ay nangungusap. Nangungusap sa kaibuturan ng aking damdamin. At siya’y nagbigay ng pangako na ako ay kanyang kaibigan at masasandalan sa lahat ng pagkakataon ng buhay ko. Sa oras na iyon ako ay nahulog sa kanyang butihing pag-ibig. Hindi na ako nagtanong kung bakit. Yung nakaraang apostolate, doon kami nakitulog sa area at doon napatunayan ko ang sinasabi ng ebanghelyo natin ngayon “do not bring anything except your sticks/staff.” Ang kalagayan ng tao ay hindi pala sa material na pangangailan ang hangad ng bawat isa. Nagkakandarapa tayo sa pag-

Sharing for Group Mass February 5, 2015 Mark 6:7-13 angkin ng mga bagay2 na hindi naman angkop sa ating pangangailangan. Dito ko napagtanto na ang isang taong mahirap ay hindi lamang sa pisikal na may hangad ngunit ang pagbubukas sa sarili para sa kapwa at sa Diyos ang siyang mas higit na bigyang pansin. I interpreted the passage that whatever I brought to my journey it should be the necessary things that I should bring. “Stay where you are.” I thank the opportunity of having an apostolate area with the people of daang Tubo because they are the part of my whole being today. They radiate the warmth of the Loving God who gave us strength and courage to be with the people whom the society has forgotten. And the ultimate thing that I should bring is no one else but JESUS CHRIST. The people of God are very generous and gave their best for their visitor(s). They provide your necessities even if they have their own budget for food, their beddings and the special place for you to be comfortable. Everywhere I go, Jesus Christ is always within me and a great challenge here is until when. When I can carry Christ in my life – only at this moment, in the seminary life, or in the Church structure? Well, IT IS IN MY WHOLE ENTIRETY. I am a person who has weaknesses, - I am not worthy to receive the grace of priestly calling, I have lapses and what I had done now is my best already. But I should ask myself, do I have a companion in all my effortsto become a better person? As i am aware of myself and having a desire for the better relationship to God, do I have a better relationship to the community where I lived – not only to the elite but to the people who lived their lives in the peripheries? Do I stay connected to the One who called me in this journey? And do I motivate myself for a better communicator of God’s Message to the people who are marginalized by the society. “Go and proclaim the message of the Lord for the greater glory of God.” In Opus Ministerii. AMEN.