JULY 25: FEAST OF ST. JAMES THE GREAT

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. James the Apostle. This feast has been celebrated in the West since eight century on July 25. But who is St. James? James was the son of Zebedee and Salome (Mk 15:40; Mt 27:59). He is the brother of John the Evangelist.

Among the important events in the history of James, he was the first apostle to shed blood for Christ. He was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I in the year 42 or 44, according to the Acts of the Apostles 12: 2-3.

James was one of the three privileged apostles, together with Peter and John. He witnessed the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mt 1: 29-31), the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus (Mk 5: 37-43), the transfiguration of Jesus (Mk 9: 2-8), and the agony in the Garden (Mt 26: 37).

Among the passages of the Sacred Scripture that gave a picture of James, the event of the two brothers asking for the seats, one at his right and the other at his left (Mk 10: 35-45); would be the most familiar. The lesson of this feast is like St. James, we sometimes ask of the Lord more than we are ready or worthy to receive. We must become as little children and accept from the hands of our heavenly Father whatever he deigns to give us.

Let us try to look back in our life. How often do we pray and ask God for many things? Most of us would say always. Have we ever thought that He knows what we need? Have we ever considered that instead of asking, he just wants us to talk to him and be with him? This is our task today. Pray not asking things but pray to talk to Jesus and just be with Jesus.

IS JESUS A LIAR, LUNATIC OR LORD?

Jesus is totally unique from any other personality and so is clearly worth knowing. But is there more to him? Is Jesus worthy to be the center of our life? The answer is yes. There is something more to Jesus than to any other person. He is worth paying more attention to than any other man. It is because HE IS GOD.

How do we know that he is God? Is it by his miracles? Miracles only show that God is working through a person. A man could work miracles and not be God. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn 14:12).

How then do we know? The answer simply is that Jesus himself told us so. Time and again throughout his public ministry, Jesus claimed to be God (Mk 14: 61-62). In John, Jesus time and again speaks of his divinity (Jn 12:45, 10:30, 8:58). Jesus’ claim to divinity is a far different claim than Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed ever made. None of them ever claimed to be God. Jesus also claimed that he could forgive sin. Remember the story of the paralytic at Capernaum (Mk 2: 3-12), Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus’ claim to be God must either true or false. If false, then we have two and only two alternatives. Either he knew it was false, in which case he would be a liar, or he did not know it was false, in which case he would be a lunatic.

Could Jesus have lied? If he lied, then he would have been deliberately deceiving his followers. Not only would he have been a liar, he would also be a hypocrite, because he told others to be honest, whatever the cost, while he himself taught and lived a colossal life. He would also be a demon, because he told others to trust him for their eternal destiny. If he could not back up his claims and knew it, then he was unspeakably evil. He would also be a fool, because it was his claim to being God that led to his crucifixion.

We need only to look at his person, his words and his work to conclude that he could not have been a liar. Look at his moral purity, dignity, sound intellect, and air of truth. Consider his character that is so original, consistent, perfect, high above human greatness. He carried out a plan of unparalleled beneficence, moral magnitude and sublimity, and sacrificed his own life for it. Would he die for a lie? The results of his life and teachings have been lives changed for the better, thieves made honest, hateful individuals becoming channels of love. Such a man cannot be a liar.

Could Jesus have been a lunatic? In Jesus we do not see any abnormalities or imbalance that usually go along with being deranged. In fact, his poise and composure would be amazing if he was insane. He spoke some of the most profound sayings ever recorded. Such a man cannot be a lunatic.

If not a liar or a lunatic, the only alternative left to us is that Jesus did speak the truth. He was, and is, the Son of God as he claimed. Throughout the Sacred Scripture, we can read about a number of Jesus’ contemporaries coming to the realization that he was God (Mt 16: 13-16, Jn 11:27, Jn 1:49, Jn 20: 27-28, Mt. 27: 54, Mt. 8:29, Mk 1:24, Mk 3:11, Lk 4: 41).

As many as there were who accepted the divinity of Jesus, there were also others who refused to accept him. How can we have confirmation of Jesus’ divinity? God Himself confirmed it. In the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead (Jn 11: 41-42), Jesus was giving a demonstration. To the Jews, God lone was the one who had the prerogative to give life or to take away life. But the most conclusive proof is Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead. The tombs of Buddha, Muhammed and the founders of all the great world religions are still with us. Only Jesus’ tomb is empty.

Jesus is making claims that affect us. If he is not God, then we should have nothing to do with him, because we do not want to be followers of a liar or a lunatic. However, if he is God, then we should seriously consider him. Our response will have eternal consequences. Is Jesus a Liar, Lunatic or Lord? The choice is yours.

GOD'S LOVE AND GOD'S WAYS

Do you know what is happening in the world? There are lots of things that happen in the world. There is a serious disorder in the world today. There is war like in Israel and Hamas. There is poverty like people in the Philippines particularly in the streets of Manila. There is starvation in different parts of the world. One would find many poor people even in rich countries. There is murder, particularly despicable is abortion, resulting in the killing of millions of unborn children. There is social injustice.

On a personal level, there is loneliness, depression, fear, insecurity, mistrust and so on. Everyone agrees that something major is needed to correct the situation in the world. Man has made various efforts to improve the world, but their efforts are not succeeding. Let us take for example in the field of medicine, through the ultrasound technique; we can discover the sex of a child before it is born. But some people decide to kill the unborn child if found defective, or if it is not the desired sex. In the field of food production, we have learned better and more productive ways of increasing the yield of the land. However, millions of people are still dying of malnutrition and starvation. The Human race has not learned to share God’s provision with their less fortunate members.

Some even propose solutions through man-made religions and other ideologies just like Marxism or New Age. Man is not succeeding because all these efforts are based on man’s wisdom. What is needed is God’s wisdom and ways. “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is 55: 8-9)”

We then asked ourselves, what is the way of God? Does God have a plan for bringing us out of our confusion and disorder? YES! The starting point for understanding God’s plan is found in the story of creation in Genesis. What God creates is good (Gen 1:31). The confusion and disorder is not in accordance with the plan of God. God created man in His image (Gen 1:27). The ugliness and sin in the lives of people today are not in accordance with God’s will. Man is meant for friendship with God (Gen 2:8-9). The disruption in our relationship with God is our doing, and is not as God intends. However, things did not turn out according to God’s plan. Original sin entered the picture. And from then, man continued to turn against God and God did not abandon man even if God punished man (Gem 3:21, 15; Gen 4:15; Gen 6ff; Gen 11:1-9; and Gen 12).

From the accounts cited above, we will see how God loves the human race, how God would not leave man alone to his fate. God is neither indifferent nor distant. God is someone who loves us and is interested in having a personal relationship with us. He is interested in the details of our daily lives (Is 48:17, Jer 29:11). In fact, God wants to bring us all back to Himself, to restore our fellowship and intimacy with him (Eph 1: 9-10).

This is God’s plan! It is an expression of His love. God does not want us to live lives of pain, poverty, and injustice. God wants the world to be a place of peace, justice and happiness. A place in which He would reign!

The question then we need to ask, how can God’s plan happen? When we look at the world around us, it seems impossible. Again, we need to turn to God’s wisdom. We need God’s point of view. What does God say about life’s realities? The Bible tells us about the reality of Satan (Eph 6:12). We are not just confronted with particular wrongs in society or in ourselves. Behind all these is something bigger. Satan is orchestrating these evils. On our own, we cannot overcome Satan. God also says that our human efforts apart from Him will prove useless (John 15:5). On our own strength, we cannot overcome the challenges in our Christian life.

What is then the solution? JESUS CHRIST! Christ is the answer. He is the vine from which we draw life, strength and power. In fact, Christ is the fullness of God’s love (Jn 3:16). Thus, in Jesus we experience the love of God. And in Jesus, God’s plan for restoration can begin to happen.

It is clear that God loves us. God sent Jesus His own Son. In Jesus we are saved and restored to our relationship with God, with the fullness of life He intended. So God has done His part. It is now our move. The choice is ours: to live under the dominion of darkness, a life of slavery under Satan, or to live in the kingdom of God, a life of freedom, dignity, peace, and happiness. Let us accept Jesus and the salvation that he brings. Let us begin to truly experience God’s love.

A STARTER: WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

A child patterns his or her life to that of the person he or she idolizes.  Like a child, we as Christians derive our identity from a person, one whom we can be truly proud of. He is truly impressive. This person’s identity, which we follow, lasted even after 2000 years after his death. Millions of people today have claimed to be his followers. The book about him, the BIBLE, is easily the number one best seller of all time.

It is this person who won for us our salvation, who restored us to our relationship with God. In him we can have a full and a new life. Thus, realizing the importance of this person to us, we want to know Him more fully. We then ask, “Who is Jesus Christ?”

Most of Christians today have been born and raised as Christians. Due to the negligence of our time, we take for granted our conviction that Jesus is the Son of God. However, we should also take note that this was not so for his contemporaries. During the time of Jesus, people found it hard to accept that He was not just an ordinary person. “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him (Mk 6:3).

What we want to know is whether there is any reason not to put Jesus on the same level as Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tze, Socrates or other wise men. Was Jesus more than just a great religious man or moral teacher? History is full of men who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, or that they bore messages from God. How is Jesus different from them all?

Three things that make Jesus an absolutely unique figure in human history. First, he was preannounced and his coming was expected. Because of Old Testament prophecies, people for a long time were waiting for the messiah, which saw its fulfillment in Jesus. Second, once he appeared on the scene, he struck history with such impact that he split it in two, dividing it into two periods: BC and AD. Lastly, every other person who came into this world came into it to live. Jesus came into the world to die. His death was the goal and fulfillment of his life.

To better have an understanding of who Jesus is, let us try to look about some of the details of his life. Jesus was a young carpenter in Nazareth. For three years he became an itinerant preacher. He was never more than 100 miles from his home. He had never been into cities with a population larger than 50,000.

Within three years he was dead, killed in little Jerusalem on the fringes of the Roman Empire. He was crucified for stirring up the people. By right he should simply have faded into complete oblivion. Instead, he is surely the most famous, honored and best-loved person who ever walked the earth.

Jesus is a man whose words and life demand a response from us. He is making claims that affect us. If he is not God, then we should have nothing to do with him, because we do not want to be followers of someone who is a liar or a lunatic. But if he is God, then we should seriously consider him. Our response will have eternal consequences. Who is Jesus? The answer is in your heart. He is waiting for you!

Raison d'être of My Promise

Promises are meant to be broken. This is the typical sensitivity of some people but is it really factual? There are times in our life that we are asked to make a promise. Such promise we make speckled depending on the circumstances. Often in an amorous liaison, lovers make promise such as loving him or her alone or forever will be the man or woman in her heart, or will make him or her the happiest person or will never cheat on one’s partner.

What is a promise? A promise is an unconditional avowal of one's commitment to do something due to the covet for the exhilaration of the person making the promise and the other.

Looking back, I too made promises. One of the promises I will forever keep is that she, the person I loved, will always be in my heart. Such promise is not bounded by time. A promise has no expiration date. If the romantic relationship ends, it does not mean that such promise should also be terminated.

A promise is to be kept. Why? It is because a promise should be fulfilled no matter what comes our way. In my case, though we have let go of the romantic relationship, the promise remains. One may wonder, is it possible? It is possible. Is it not contrary? It is not contrary. Being in one’s heart is different from having a romantic relationship. Some may marvel what is the difference. It is true that most of the time when in a relationship, a promise would be made but the genuine value of the promise is not taken into consideration.

The promise of forever will be in my heart is much deeper than having a romantic relationship. This defies the inclination of holding on. When in a relationship, one tries to hold on. Imagine yourself holding a paper, you could hold on to it as long as you like. However when you have the choice you could easy let go of it. Such is a contradictory of that with the case of a promise. When one promises of forever will be in my heart, it is placing a thing in an anodyne treasure box that will ceaselessly be revered and its significance is increasing as time goes by.

The value of the promise made boosts with time. Yet, the question remains, could this be achieved? Some may have reservation. Some may argue that it only a promise, which could be broken and still others would believe that it will be shattered in a flash. What differentiates this promise from other promises is the person making the promise. Like any promises, the person who made the promise defines the path of the promise made. If I don’t have the confidence to keep it then surely time will come it will not last. However, if I believe and forever be reminded of it then I know that my heart will always guide me to fulfill such promise.

It is not only about the person but the feelings that accompany the person. If it is true love, no matter what comes in the way, no matter how far the other is, no matter what kind of relationship they will have in the future, it will be kept. Love creates that protective buffer against doubt. Love covers the promise with trust. Love inflames the joy of keeping the treasure of the promise.

She may have doubted me from the start. She may even have doubts when we were still in a romantic relationship. However, now that we are back at the starting line of a new path, I know that the promise I made with her will forever persist. The promise I made will never forget the love that she has shown me, which gave light to the darkened room. The promise I made will never overlook the sweet smile on her face that makes my heartbeats faster. The promise I made will treasure the saccharine melody of her singing. The promise I made will always be reminded that one’s in my life, there was a beautiful lady who have treasured and shared her life with me.

This is my Raison d'être, which I believe will keep my promise moving. How about you, what is the Raison d'être of your promise?