Fix our gaze on Jesus

The Second Reading in today's Liturgy from the Letter to the Hebrews exhorts us to fix our eyes on Jesus:
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:2)

I personally think that this line is very apt for us, men and women of the present generation. Many times our "eyes" are fixed on many things, on worthless things, on passing things -- wealth, honor, prestige, success, sensual pleasure, worthless relationships, etc... We think that these apparent treasures set before us give us meaning and joyful existence. But as we perfectly know, they do not. The more we have these things, the more we focus our eyes on them, the more meaningless and direction-less our lives will be.

So then, as we approach the table of the Lord this Sunday, let us beg Him to grant us this sole grace, that we may fix our eyes on Him, for our meaning, our joy, our very existence will find its perfection in Him. And in the end, having lived a life of constant contemplation on the Lord, we shall become like Him -- our ways of thinking, living, loving... will be conformed to His. Amen.

Assumption of the BVM

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. Pope Pius XII declared the Dogma of Mary's Assumption in 1950.

Happy Marian Feast Day!

Keep Your Lamps Burning

In this Liturgy's Gospel Passage from the Evangelist Luke, we once again hear Jesus exhorting his listeners to "gird their loins and keep their lamps burning." And he tells them of the story of the Good and Faithful Servant. Jesus said that blessed is that servant who keeps watch of the Master's return and whom the Master finds awake on his return.

Many times in our lives we have been bombarded by false prophecies and omens. And in effect, we are terrified and are always "on the watch" for the Lord's Second Coming. But I think this is not the kind of anticipation that the Lord wants from us. The Lord does not want us to keep watch and be fervent simply because we are afraid of His wrath, we are frightened by the threat of eternal damnation. I would like to believe that what our Lord wants from us is the patience and fervent-ness as an effect of pure and true love. We keep our spiritual lamps burning not because we are anticipating in fear the arrival of a tyrant; we keep watch and maintain the light of our lamps because deep in our hearts, we are filled with joyful anticipation of the coming of the Lord of Love.

Let us beg for this grace then, that we may, in the spirit of joyful and loving anticipation, wait for the coming of the Lord... the Lord who loves us and the Lord we truly love. Amen.

Wealth is not Everything

In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear of the Parable of the Rich Fool. The story goes that a rich man, realizing how rich he had become and how extensive his produce had been, decided to pull down his old barns and build a larger one to fit all his abundant produce in. He even said to himself that now, since he has everything, he can stop working and enjoy his produce, enjoy life through drinking, eating, and merry-making.

Jesus once again is reminding us that wealth is not everything. Jesus us telling us that in life, the amount of "produce" that you have is immaterial to attaining happiness. Most of us think that if only we have all the wealth in the world, our lives would be different -- happier, livelier, and more meaningful. But Jesus is reminding us that that is not the case. For one to be truly happy, one must possess God for it is only God that can give true happiness, peace, and meaning.

Let us reflect then whether we have been busy the past week storing up earthly riches and neglecting the one most essential Being -- God. Let us pray then that unlike this Rich Fool, we may not only work for a progressive life but more importantly, a life pleasing and acceptable to God. Amen.