Ascension Sunday, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Fr. James McTavish, FMVD

Friends in high places

One of our friends was telling us about a museum here in Manila. Being an exclusive museum it is only open to visit by appointment. She told us that if we want to visit then no problem, she will just organize it with her sister who happens to be the curator. How great to have connections and friends in high places! How lucky we are with the feast of the Ascension. We have a friend, Jesus, who is in a very high place, heaven itself, interceding for us. As the catechism tells us “Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the father’s house, to God’s life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and source, has preceded us” (CCC 661).

Luke the evangelist describes how the ascension of Jesus took place in today’s gospel (Luke 24, 46-53) – “Then Jesus led them as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles, also written by Luke, begins by recounting the Ascension – “ As they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” (See Acts 1, 1-11).

What is the meaning of the Ascension? At first glance the thought of Jesus rising up in the air reminds us of the illusions of the magician David Copperfield. A kind of now you see me, now you don’t. But all the moments of the life of Christ are for us and for our salvation. The disciples did not see him any longer with their physical eyes but as St Leo the Great reminds us they could see him now always – with eyes of faith. “Christ now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity.” In his humanity Christ could not always be physically present to all his disciples, in all situations and at all times. His physical body was bounded by limits of space and time. But not so after the ascension! After the ascension, united to his Father, he could fulfill his promise to be with them always until the end of time.

Sometimes we need to ascend. To join Christ. To fix our eyes on things above and not on the things here below. It is always interesting to fly in an aeroplane. When you take off and gain height the world seems to get smaller and smaller – the cars, the houses, the roads. Looking from above things don’t seem so big after all. Sometimes when we get too stressed with life we need to change perspective - to get a heavenly perspective. Fr Aruppe, the former head of the Jesuits had a photo of the earth taken from space given to him by an astronaut. Whenever he got bogged down in problems he would gaze at the photo of the earth and realize that he could not even see the house he where he was living in the photo and concluding that maybe his problem was not so big after all! Sometimes it is good to rise above it all, to ascend, to pray, to escape into heaven and be with the Lord.

It is great to unload. The legend is told that the founder of Judo was inspired by snow falling on tree branches. He noticed that the big trees collected so much snow that there branches would snap under the weight of fallen snow whereas little blades of grass off loaded their tiny loads of snow regularly and were able to remain upright. Hence in Judo one principle is to off load your opponent as fast as possible. In our daily lives we need to learn how to off load all the opponents! Sometimes we forget to pray and think we are like the trees. I can manage, I can manage. More stress, more problems until finally we crack! But as St Peter reminds us “Cast all you worries on the Lord for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5,7).

All of us are called to this prayerful union with our Lord and to share everything with him. In the document Gaudium et spes we are reminded “The root reason for human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by Gods love and constantly preserved by it; and he cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes himself to His Creator.” (GS 19)

Prayer is not escapism. On the contrary, people who do not pray are the very ones escaping into excess work, alcohol and many other diversions and escapes offered by the world. True prayer makes us more capable to face our responsibilities, to confront problems and trials. A truly prayerful person becomes more committed to their family, their work and in fulfilling all their earthly responsibilities.

And the good news about the ascension is that it is a joyful goodbye because Jesus promises the Holy Spirit! If he doesn’t leave, the Spirit will not come. This is why he can tell his disciples and us “‘But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (See Acts 1, 1-11). So the ascension marks the end of the resurrection appearances of our Lord, and now they must await the coming of the Spirit. We will celebrate Pentecost next Sunday! The Spirit who is our friend, who was in a high place but comes down to unite himself to us, to be our advocate, divine helper and spiritual guide. How thoughtful is Jesus! Let us enjoy this feast today and wait with joyful hope for the coming of the Spirit. Amen.

REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter (9 May 2010)

Fr. James McTavish, FMVD

“We will make our dwelling in you”

Have you ever been to a big church or cathedral? Maybe you have visited St Peter’s basilica in Rome – it is huge. So many tourists are there taking so many photos and many sense that indeed God is present here. Imagine if you did a survey and asked what was the favorite dwelling place of God in the whole world? The truth is that God does not only live in tabernacles in big basilicas but his favorite dwelling place is…the human heart! This is what Jesus affirms in the gospel of John "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (See John 14, 23-29). We will make our dwelling with him, we will come and live with this person. God wants to put a sign on your heart - “Home sweet home”!

This reminds us of the prayer of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity who wrote “Give peace to my soul; make it Your heaven, Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place. May I never leave you there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to your creative action” (November 21, 1904). We need to be present to God’s presence in us. When the Trinity calls our name are we present or absent? Many times we are not at home, we are not comfortable with ourselves and like St Augustine we are searching outside of ourselves yet God is within us. If only we could discover this ineffable light in us! That is why it says in the second reading “The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.” (See Revelations 21, 10-14. 22-23). If we discover the light inside why look outside for it? If we discover the love of God our Father in us, in our hearts already, we would not always be begging for love from others, desperate for their approval. If we find Jesus our friend so close to us, how different we would live that moment of loneliness when we could instead recognize the one who promises us “I am with you always” with us, in us. And how little we would need to ask advice from everyone else if we believed that the Helper, the Holy spirit dwells in us, the one who will “teach you all things and remind you of all that I have told you” (John 14, 26). One lady came to the missionary house to ask for advice. As the missionary had to go out for a while he directed the lady to the chapel. When he came back the lady didn’t need to chat after all. God had given her the solution in a moment of prayer. No need to look for water outside if we discover the fountain of living water in us as the book of Proverbs reminds us “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.” (Proverbs 5,15).

Don’t be afraid to look inside, to find the Trinity present in the events, in the struggles, speaking to us, loving us. Why can’t we find them immediately? Often we just look on the surface or superficially. We need to go deeper. Here in Philippines when a property is being built one consideration is to have a source of water nearby. Often a ‘diviner’ or person who can find water will be employed. During construction of a retreat house the man indicated that water was present. They had to dig 5 metres, 10 metres, 50 metres. Eventually a huge reservoir of water was encountered. We dig for the presence of God in us in the silence. Go deeper, seek and you will find. How beautiful to discover God speaking to us in his Word. How long will you dig for? Five minutes? 10 minutes? Stop being so superficial. Go deeper! The psalmist announces “deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents. All your waves and breakers sweep over me.” (Psalm 42,8)

If God is within us why does he sometimes seem so far away? Well one reality is that he is not the one who is far away, we are. As St Augustine exclaimed “Lord, you are more intimate to me than I am to myself”. Also sometimes our heart has no space for the things of the Lord. We would be shocked to open a tabernacle and find it stuffed full of garbage. What about our hearts? What is inside them? Once Jesus got angry on visiting the sacred temple. He shouted “This is my Father’s house and you are making it a den of thieves”. Surely he would react the same way in front of a Christian heart and mind that is full of thoughts of making more money or living a life of leisure only with little time for the Lord’s business. Sometimes we know the way around Tesco’s or SM better than we do around our interior life. We know how to find cornflakes and washing powder but cannot find hope and encouragement from the living God within us.

Don’t treat God as a stranger in his own home. Talk to the Trinity. Our God is a God who listens as Jesus reassures us “I thank you Father because you always listen to me” (John 11,42). Dialogue with God, tell him how you are feeling and what you are thinking. Cast all your worries on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5,7). Before making that decision share it with the Lord, ask him what he thinks, ask him to enlighten you and the peace Jesus promises will fill our hearts and minds. How many decisions we make and options we take without even asking or consulting God! And how much we suffer from uncertainty and anxiety as a result because we are not sure if it is the correct decision! What is the fruit of getting into the habit of asking the Lord his opinion? Peace! As the song goes, “Peace perfect peace is the gift of Christ our Lord”. How sweet and beautiful when our life becomes a dwelling place for God. Let us enjoy this tender God who is so humble that he knocks on the door of the heart he has built. He waits for our response. Let us welcome him into our hearts. With God in our lives then we start to experience being loved. Lord, make your dwelling in me. May my heart be home, sweet home for you Lord. Amen.

Easter V

Fr James McTavish FMVD

“Where love is, God is”

The disciples Paul and Barnabas are on fire to announce the Good news of the love of God. In the first reading of today (Acts 14, 21-27) they visit no less than 7 cities – Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Perga and Attalia. The number 7, the so-called perfect number, signifies fullness and completeness. What was moving these two? What were they announcing? They were strengthening the faith of the people and encouraging them to remain firm in faith. The name Barnabas actually means “son of encouragement” so he was living out his identity. Each one is us too is called to live out our identity. Once when I was in Rome our teacher of Scripture asked us what our surnames meant. Never had I thought of that before. What amazed me was the response of the African students. Each of their names had a deeper meaning –Chibuzo meant “God lead the way” and Ochieng “born when the sun shines”. Another one meant “He whose only medicine will be the leaves from the tree”!

It makes us reflect on the name of every baptized “Christian”. What does it mean to be Christian? How to live out that identity? Some computers have a sticker that says ‘Intel inside’ but as Christian we have a greater power – “Jesus inside”. In the second reading of today, John gives us his revelation “A loud voice came from the throne – Here is the dwelling of God among mortals, he will pitch his tent among them and they will be his people; he will be their God-with-them”. Where is the dwelling of God among mortals? In the tabernacle yes, in the sacraments yes and also in the heart of every Christian. God is love and his love as St Paul reminds us “has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5). It reminds us of the title of a book written by the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy “Where love is, God is”.

This is why Jesus gives us a new commandment. Most people are more familiar with the “ten commandments” than the new commandment of our Lord. When many people today think of the Christianity today they just associate it with binding rules and regulations, commandments that inhibit freedom and even true personal and human growth and development. But the new commandment of Jesus is what will liberate us and make us fully human. Our Lord said “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” (see John 13, 31-33a. 34-35)

When we love then God’s face is made present in the world of today, in our families and in our homes. Love makes the world go round and how many times in our relationships we make the same appeal as the singer Elvis “Love me tender, love me dear”! Of course we are already loving but not any type of love will create a “new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21, 5). A new world needs a new quality of love, the love of Christ. A love that is patient and kind, that is capable to forgive and not keep a record of wrongs. A love that believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Jesus believes and knows we are capable of such a love.

Sometimes we make an excuse “Well I am only human” but if only we were truly human! Let us not water down the quality of love in our hearts. That is why Jesus adds “Love one another AS I have loved you” (Jn 13, 34). The scripture scholars remind us that this ‘AS’ or kathos in the original Greek text is very significant because it means with the exact same quality of love. Wow, were have a great power and potential to love. Let us start to exercise it this very day. And as Jesus reminds us “If you have love for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples” (John 13,35). When people witnessed the goodness and kindness of St Charles de Focauld they would say “If this is the servant imagine how good the Master must be”. Our Christian lives and witness, if we are truly living with Christ in us, should lead others towards him. Perhaps we can ask ourselves if our life, word and even silence lead others to Christ? In the way we love in the different realities are we making God present? Because where love is, God is.

4th Sunday of Easter

Fr. James McTavish, FMVD

Vocation or vacation?

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. One of my Mexican companions always struggled with “sh” and would always say “Good chipard Sunday”. Once in a homily he said “The good chipard loves his chips”. Now in greek, good is kalos which also means beautiful, so Christ is not only the Good Shepherd but also the beautiful one.

Ever since I discovered the Word of God I knew I had found something beautiful. In fact the very first time I met Verbum Dei was going to one of their houses in Sydney in 1998. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a Spanish sister. I asked her how she was and she responded that she was gorgeous. I think she meant to say she was fine. But listening to their preaching of the Word of God that night I discovered something gorgeous. That we can listen to God through his Word – we have a God who is not silent but one who speaks. How beautiful to be able to pray, to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus said “I am the Good Shepherd. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10). One of the biggest problems we have is to listen to the other sheep and not to the Good Shepherd.

Listening to the Good Shepherd gives security. When you have a difficulty and turn to the Good Shepherd to guide you he will tell you “You will have struggles in the world but be brave! I have conquered the world” (John 16,33). What security we can have. As the famous psalm 23 tells us “Even if I should walk through the valley of darkness no evil will I fear for you walk beside me”. We are safe and secure in the arms of the Good Shepherd “I know my sheep. They shall never perish and no one will steal them from me” (See John 10, 27-30). Before I entered religious life, before I really knew Christ, what gave me security was my job, my career. It gave me more security than my relationships. But on discovering the Word of God, listening to the Good Shepherd every day, I started to find my life had more direction and meaning. I was not like a lost sheep any more. I was invited on a one day silent retreat and that day I understood the words “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14,23). Christ wants to live with us, in us. What security a life in him gives us. This is the vocation of every Christian.

The world offers many securities but they will all pass. We can spend a lot of money on insurance – for our health, life, work, car, house and teeth but often what security we experience when we have the assurance of Christ himself “I will never abandon you! You are mine, you belong to me. I will be with you always, until the end of time”. To see a Christian rooted in Christ, firm in the love of the Good Shepherd we need only look at the life of Paul in the first reading today. He was convinced by and in love with Christ. Look at the hostility he experienced – “So they began to oppose with insults whatever Paul said but he spoke out firmly”. Well done St Paul! How about us? Have we allowed ourselves to be convinced by the Good Shepherd yet? How do we react in front of difficulties and hardships?

Sometimes in our communities and families there are differences of opinion. Sometimes we even say that we have been insulted. “I didn’t like the way he spoke to me because it was insulting and demeaning”. What did he say? “He told me that I was not committed to my community and that I was half-hearted in my discipleship”. Ah, you are offended not because it is an insult but because it is true. Sometimes we say it is an insult but it is because we do not want to be corrected! We are hard headed and hard hearted. How often pride masquerades as “sensitivity”. Anyway we should remember what the Good Shepherd tells us “Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body. Be afraid of the one who can cast body and soul into the depths”. It is the same old problem again – we listen more to the other sheep than to the Good Shepherd. He tells us “You will not perish, no one can snatch you from my hand”. We are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Jesus our Good Shepherd has a firm grip on us. He asks us to respond to him. We should embrace our vocation but instead we want a vacation. How do I see my following of Christ? A vocation or a vacation? Fifty fifty? How great to say like St Paul “my life is Christ”. I want to help Jesus reach out to many lost sheep. Like the image on the bronze door of St Peter’s basilica showing the Good Shepherd hanging from a rock to save a lost sheep. The bronze panel bears the Latin inscription “Salvare quod perierat” which means to save those who are lost. Do you know someone who is lost? For sure the Good Shepherd is trying to reach out to them.

Our vocation as Christians is to offer our hands to help him reach out, to offer our minds and creativity. What a shame that so much use their creativity to plan their leisure time, use their minds how to make money at other people’s expense – how few give to God what belongs to him, how few use their time, talents and treasure to build the Kingdom. Will you take seriously the calling, the vocation you have from your very baptism, to assist Christ in his mission of shepherding? Or are you just looking for a vacation from your responsibilities and duties as a Christian? We will have plenty of time to rest in heaven. In the meantime let us offer our lives as a living sacrifice, to help the Good Shepherd reach out to many people who are still lost. Amen.

3rd Sunday of Easter

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

“If you love me, feed my sheep”

This week we were invited to celebrate mass in a women’s prison. More than 500 inmates attended. The mass was in Tagalog and I had to prepare a homily. I experienced the great desire of the Risen Lord to nourish the members of his Body, the Church. I asked if it is possible to enjoy freedom in any situation. They enjoyed to hear how many holy men and women had spent time in prison – the first Pope (Peter) and the apostle of the Gentiles (Paul) to name but a few. They also enjoyed to hear that I had spent a night behind bars sobering up after a noisy night out with fellow students 20 years ago. Now maybe you have never been in prison, or maybe you were just never caught, but it is fascinating to see the boldness of the apostles inspired by the desire of the Risen Christ to nourish his people.

Now what happened to Peter? Before he followed the authorities and denied Jesus. Now he is saying “Better to obey God than human authorities”. What can these human authorities be? Well they include MY opinion and even the desires of the flesh. Like one woman who was asking me in a consultation if it was wrong for her to have an affair with a married man. She knew the answer already, that it is better to obey the voice of God speaking in her conscience than to obey the voice of the devil. Whenever we follow our flesh, whenever our God is our belly, when we find that we never inconvenience ourselves to pray, that leisure time, movies, internet and TV have priority over spiritual things then it is time to ask ourselves sincerely “Do I obey God or just human authorities?”

What is worse is when we teach others to obey us and not to obey God. For example many children want to attend mass but are prevented because the faith of the parents is weak and has been neglected. Or when a young professional of 26 felt that the Lord was calling her to do an Easter retreat – “Jesus wanted me to go”, she said, “but my parents said no”. Even how many marriages suffer because the in-laws behave like outlaws and won’t let the couple make their own decisions. 

To really obey the Lord we need to come to him to receive the necessary grace. This is why we pray. As many of the Saints attest, including St Alphonsus Liguori, the one who does not pray is lost. In the reading from the book of Revelations the multitudes fall prostrate before the Lamb of God. He is worthy to lay down one’s life for. Many today will sacrifice their life for the stock market, for sporting glory but He alone is worthy to give your whole life for. A sign that all comes from him, that our existence depends on God’s grace and the gifts associated with the Lamb – power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise – are 7 in all. All good things come from God to those who ask. When we do not pray we cannot be effective messengers. Here in Philippines it is election time and many candidates go around blasting out their campaign message with catchy tunes attached. At times you wonder whether it is an election or a disco. One candidate came and many tunes were being blasted out. At the end I did not catch the name of the person or the message only the disco tunes. We can make a lot of noise but what remains? One priest I know, a scholar from the Biblicum institute for bible studies in Rome gave very learned homilies. Another brother, very simple, would spend time on his knees in front of the tabernacle preparing his preaching. After the former spoke, many would say “A wise man spoke to me today” and after the latter “God himself spoke to me today”. The sharing of God’s presence cannot be improvised. Intimacy with God and knowledge of him cannot be faked.

For this reason Jesus in the gospel today (John 21,1-19) invites the disciples into this intimate communion with him – “Come and eat breakfast”. The disciples have just made a big catch but Jesus does not want them to just remain in the successes. He knows there will be hardships to come, sufferings, hardships and imprisonment. What will allow the apostles to endure and overcome is not their record of successes but their union with the Risen Lord. “Come and eat, come and dine with me. For the food I give my body, to drink I give you my blood”. After they had eaten Jesus asks the famous question, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Here Jesus makes a specific link between love for him and love for the mission. Jesus does not say “If you love me, sing for me”, “If you love me, tell me so”. He makes his salvific will very clear, “If you love me, feed my sheep”. Jesus asks Peter to become a shepherd. Not always to be the lost sheep. It is a step of maturity, not always to receive but to give. It is interesting the wording of the Greek text. There are two words used for love, agape which is a perfect, selfless love and philo which is the love of a friend, perhaps with some self interest involved. Jesus asks Peter if his love is agape? Peter responds twice that it is philo. The third time Jesus asks “Do you love me” but this time asks if the love is philo. Peter becomes disappointed with the realization that his love is not as perfect as he would like. But still Jesus responds “Feed my sheep”. Love with the love you have and do not be disappointed.

We too experience disappointments when we see our response is not up to standard. We can become disappointed by others, our loved ones, disappointed by the Church and its members but in all this the Risen Lord invites us to keep going, to keep loving and responding. Our little love can never match the great love of Christ, or as St Bernard would note “Can the bee match the honey for sweetness? Never.” But we are not discouraged as nothing is lacking where everything is given. Christ only asks Peter to feed others when he himself has been nourished. Don’t live anymore like a sheep. You are a shepherd now. When you were younger you used to go where you wanted to. Now you are growing in a mature love I will take you by the hand and lead you where you do not want to go. The grace and strength of those words of Christ fired up Peter and the rest of the apostles. Where he went the others followed. We too need this strong encounter with the Risen Christ or we remain prisoners. Lord help us to be free! Help us not to obey the princes of this world, but to obey your voice of love in our hearts. And may we be inspired like Peter to show our love for you by feeding your sheep and being responsible in our daily mission. Amen

Easter II

Fr James McTavish FMVD

Living the Risen life in Christ

One evening, a husband and wife were driving along a narrow country road. The husband said to his wife, a hairdresser, “Honey there are so many rabbits and hares here”. “Darling” she replied “you would know that because you are a vet”. Suddenly the car hit something. They got out to look and there was a dead animal in front of the car. “Is it a rabbit or a hare” asked the wife. “I don’t know” said the husband “but it is dead anyway”. Now the wife had been praying hard during the Octave of Easter, meditating on the resurrection appearances of the Lord. “The Lord is risen from the dead” she said, “there is still hope”. She reached into her handbag, pulled out a lotion and began rubbing it into the little creature. Little by little it opened its eyes, its ears sprang up and it came back to life again. Standing on his feet, a little unsteady at first, he gave them a wave and started to bounce off into the countryside. After 5 metres he stopped, turned and gave them a wave. Bouncing on a little further he stopped again, turned around and gave them a wave before carrying on. “Wow, a miracle” said the husband, “what was in the bottle?” The wife read the label “Hair restorer with permanent wave”.

When we enter into the spirit of the resurrection everything changes. Jesus appears again and again to his disciples to help them understand and enter more deeply into the mystery. What is interesting is that none of them recognized him at first – the disciples of Emmaus did not recognize him, neither did Mary Magdalene. The Risen Christ is the one who reveals himself, the one who opens their eyes, heart and minds. So the question for every Christian this week is “When did Christ appear to me during the week?” Don’t just live the resurrection in a general way. For sure Christ is risen but that intellectual knowledge alone will not save me. It is like the difference between knowing that God is love and actually experiencing in my life situation that he loves me. It is one thing to know what honey is and another thing to taste it. Jesus is so patient with his disciples and with us, appearing again and again to them. Let us pray for the grace to recognize him!

In the gospel today the disciples are behind locked door because of fear. In that moment Jesus stands in their midst and says “Peace be with you”. In fact he says it three times because often we are so agitated. Just one little change in the plans and we lose peace! I was fretting because no one seemed to be following the plans we had made and the Risen Lord was reminding me “Peace be with you!” This week we have been staying in the house of our Sisters in Tagaytay which is about 1.5 hours from Manila. It has been a good chance to try to practice our Tagalog. Some young teenagers said they would visit and help us practice so they came along with many others. 36 in all! We organized some games and then they did some drawing of the members of their family. At the end we were trying to share a little about family values to them which was quite challenging in Tagalog. But thanks be to God for the gift of community as one of our Filipina sisters came to our rescue. In community, helping each other, the Risen Lord approaches us many times through one another to say “Peace be with you!”

Jesus then breathes on his disciples and says “As the Father sent me so I am sending you” How was Jesus sent? Full of the Holy Spirit. The Church Fathers refer to the Holy Spirit as the kiss between the Father and the Son. When I went to school I always gave my mum a kiss. How great to go to the mission with the kiss of the Spirit moving us. How much we need the Spirit to be witnesses of the resurrection. The Spirit inspires us to share, like in the second reading from Revelations where it tells John to write down all that he sees and share it. We can easily live this too as we can write many things on Facebook, on a blog and by email. How great to use the mass media to witness to the resurrection. A resurrected life is a life in the Spirit. Remember the action of God in Genesis, forming man from the dust of the earth but then breathing life into him, animating him, just like our little rabbit! In medicine there is the kiss of life which you can give to a person who has stopped breathing. Look around. We can see many who are not breathing in the world of today. They need the kiss of the Gospel, someone to share the good news to them. “Kiss me with your mouth” is the cry of the wounded body of Christ for someone to announce the gospel to it. The world needs the breath of the Spirit, the sweet smelling air freshener of the the Gospel. Today we will have a rosary and some people will share their experience of the Risen Christ in their lives. How refreshing! In a rarefied and polluted atmosphere of doubts, criticisms and a lack of faith ‘may Christ be the air you breath” (St Athanasius).

Be sure that while we procrastinate and make excuses for not announcing the Good news many will have no such qualms to announce bad news. Inviting others with boldness to get drunk, to watch pornography and take drugs. How can we remain silent? Some good news that is important to share is the Church’s so called second best kept secret. The first best kept secret is the Teaching of her Social Doctrine but what is her second best kept secret? Natural Family Planning or NFP for short. It is so well kept that only 0.4% of married women of reproductive age in the Philippines use modern NFP. It is really a treasure hidden in a field, a precious pearl. It is sad that in a poor area near our house many women have heard about pills, injections and sterilization. They have heard the ‘bad news’ but it seems that no one has told them the good news that there is a safe, moral and effective way to plan a family and space the birth of children. It seems that already certain agencies have reached them with the bad news but there has been no one to tell them good news. How can they honestly make good reproductive health choices if they do not have the correct information? Maybe you reader are also misinformed? Another word for a lack of desire to discover the truth is sin. As Pope John Paul II reminded us “Be vigilant because we are living in a culture of death”.

The Institute of Reproductive Health (See www.irh.org) at Georgetown University in the States is a world pioneer in safe and effective methods of modern natural family planning. Two modern methods researched include – the Standard days method with an effectiveness when correctly used of 95% and the TwoDay method (96% effectiveness). Considering that more than half the couples in the Philippines do not use any method whatsoever there is an urgent need to make the knowledge of modern NFP more readily available. In this light I applaud Archbishop Ledesma, S.J., for his pastoral plan in Cagayan de Oro, to offer correct information about NFP in all the parishes there. Well done Bishop Ledesma! In this way women and married couples can be empowered to male informed choices about the planning of their family.

May the Holy Spirit inspire us more and more to search for the truth. May we not just follow what is easy or convenient. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen warned us “Even a dead body floats downstream” It is sometimes easy to go with the flow but may the Spirit of the Risen Christ inspire us, animate us to search for the truth and to do it. Amen.