Gospel for August 28, 2015 (Friday) Feast of St. Augustine

Mt 25:1-13

Jesus said to his disciples, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.  Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him!'  Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.  The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'  But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you.  Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.'

While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready wen into the wedding feast with him.  Then the door was locked.  Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'  But he said in reply. 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'  Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

The Word in other words

Being prepared is not only standing in attention to wait for the command, but also to make provision for any eventuality that one needs to respond to.  Christianity considers earthly life as a journey and a pilgrimage.  While belonging to this world, a Christian focuses also on the life to come, where the eternal banquet is being prepared.  The journey towards that promised reality means daily practice and constant stimulation, using current contexts and human conditions, so that when the time comes for the door to open, we could come in, ready and prepared to celebrate and to live.

It took many years of searching and questioning before St. Augustine found the answer to his heart's desires.  The realization and declaration,  "Late have I loved you...," referring to his "discovery" of God, came after many detours in the crooked path which the young, restless Augustine had taken in his journey towards God.  Unlike the foolish virgins in today's gospel, he did not sleep while waiting for the master to come.  He was wrestling with life's issues and concerns.  What brought him through those painful and chaotic life experiences was his great desire to find peace and rest in his heart.  He discovered faith and learned to surrender.  And so when the bridegroom finally arrived, St. Augustine was ready to welcome him into his life.

          - Fr. Anthony Salas, SVD ( USC, Cebu City)

St. Augustine's Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.

Gospel for July 4, 2015 (Saturday) Feast of St. Elizabeth of Portugal

Mt 9:14-17

Then the disciples of John approached him and said,  "Why do we and the Pharisees fast (much), but your disciples do not fast?"  Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.  People do not put new wine into old wineskins.  Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.  Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

The Word in other words

"Are you a KJ (kill joy)?"  Jesus must have asked John's disciples.  Fasting is done for varied reasons including health, discipline, atonement for sins, and even to "coerce" others.  However, when one is in and with Jesus, the only meaningful act of fasting would that of fasting from work.  When one is with Jesus, work is a feast where one has so much to do- for others and His Kingdom.  Didn't He say "I have food no one knows about" (Jn 4:32)?  Hence, eating is necessary to replenish the energy spent for others.  Fasting (from work, that is, or simply RESTING) becomes inevitable for the sake of the next round of service in and out for the Lord!  Didn't Jesus advise His disciples "to come away from work to a distant place to rest" (Mk 6:31)?  Even machines have to be stopped to keep from overheating.  This fasting from work thus has consequences to one's health.  Without rest one suffers from burnout.  Work will always be there, but rest and prayer are essential for us to be able to sustain our zeal for the work.  But we know that the disciples of John did not fast like that.

Secondly, fasting comes easy when "the bridegroom" dies.  That's what we call grieving, when one's energies go so slow that either one just wants to cry and the appetite seems to have left us too.  Besides, when the reason for the fast is gone, as in death, the reason for all the celebration dissipates into thin air; one really needs to sit down and feel "the blow" of the loss.  We may even feel like we have worked for nothing!  Hence, our fasting on Good Friday.

And of course, we know why the Church maintains fasting on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, one of the only two days in our church calendar in which we are required to fast.  This one seems to be the only acceptable reason: atonement and conversion from our sins.  Even Scriptures attest to this "powerful" coercive act of man which God looks so mercifully upon, remember the experience of the Ninevites in the book of Jonah?  We can never force God, by fasting, to do things our way.  Hence, when we fast so that we understand God's will for us, God is not coerced.  In fact, we go by the ways of God!

                       - Fr. Bernardo R. Collera, SVD (DWC, Legazpi, Albay)