assumptions: violeta borres

Our gospel today tells of people who make a lot of assumptions.  An assumption is something that one considers to be true.  However, this is unverified and there is no proof that the assumption is true.  It is simply a guess.

Jesus is seen with sinners, therefore they assumed that he is also a sinner.  Jesus is eating with people considered unclean, rubbing elbows with the unclean and therefore they assumed that he is also unclean.  The Pharisees assumed that they were healthy people and therefore whatever Jesus said about the sick needing a doctor does not apply to them.

Now since we are making assumptions can we also assume the opposite to be true.  Sinners are eating with a holy man, can we also assume that the holy man is making sinners holy and not the other way around?  Is it possible that the unclean does not make the clean person unclean but instead the clean is making the unclean persons clean?  And is it also safe to say that our assumption of good health is just that, a guess work, a make-believe even, but in reality we are sick, that in reality we are in need of a doctor who alone can heal our ills.

Assumptions can be dangerous but most of the time we live and survive because of our assumptions.  Assumptions come from our worldview formed by our upbringing, by both our good and bad experiences in the past; they are formed by our concepts of self, who am I, and by our concept of God; they are formed by our faith, our spirituality and even by our culture. 

I came here with the assumption that you will listen to me.  I came here with the assumption that you will try to understand what I am saying.  I may verify after the mass if indeed my assumptions are correct – I will ask each one of you – did you listen to me, did you understand what I said?  I can do that, I can verify.  Or I may not - I may leave this place after the mass happy in my presumptions that you did get something from this homily.  Indi na lang ko mamangkot kay basi magla-in pa buot ko.

But you see our assumptions help us to live life well.  We will not have the capacity and the resources to know everything and verify everything.  But we can form better assumptions, happy assumptions, helpful assumptions.  If you assume things the way the Pharisees assumed things, then you would not end up better, you would be bitter, judgmental, hypercritical, faultfinding and negative.  But it can be the opposite of what the Pharisees saw.  Remember in life there are always other points of view, better points of view, happier points of view.

Allow me to end this short reflection with Tita Violeta’s assumptions. It was December 20 when together with the seminarians and Fr. Pol we came here as we usually do every year for the daigon.  While the seminarians were singing, we were holding each other’s hands and she shared to me two assumptions.

First, she recalled something which may have probably happened a long time ago when I said something that disturbed her deeply.  Most probably I was speaking to a group and I pointed out certain things to correct something which in the process may have hurt some people.  But she said something to this effect as she was holding my hands.  “You know Father, when people correct us and point our faults to us it is because that person loves us and cares deeply for us.  I felt that way when you pointed those things to us, that you cared for us deeply.”

That was an assumption.  Frankly I do not know if at the time I did what I did because I cared, or because I love.  Probably I was angry.  Probably my ego was hurt and my pride was oozing.  I don’t know.  But that’s not the point.  The point is she saw things differently.  If St. John of the Cross saw things negatively while he was incarcerated for nine months and beaten up 3 times a week by his Carmelite brothers, if he saw things negatively he would have ended up a bitter man and not a saint.  But he saw things differently.  In darkness John of the Cross saw God.  In corrections Tita Violeta saw the care and love of the other.  St. John of the cross asked, Do you want to be perfect?  Allow yourself to be taught, allow yourself to receive orders, allow yourself to be subjected and despised, and you will be perfect.

Positive assumptions can make a difference in our attitudes towards circumstances in life.

Second assumption.  While the seminarians were singing probably she was so engrossed by their voices, she told me, Father I really love the seminarians when they sing (now that is not an assumption).  Then she said, if this is how beautiful it is now, what will heaven be like?  What will heaven be like?

It is dangerous when you have everything in life – successful children, things, security, you don’t worry so much about the hospital bills or your medicine as much as others do, or your food, or your oxygen.  With Francis having so many priest friends she did not even have to worry about going to mass.  The mass comes here to her.  Even here spirituality was so easily nourished. 

In an atmosphere like this, one can get easily attached and it is a danger to the soul.  That is why her second assumption is very important – yes this is good, thank you Lord, but there is something better, this is nothing compared to what is still in store.  St. John of the Cross said, “To journey to God, the will must walk in detachment from every pleasant thing, rather than in attachment to it” When you have the good things in life it helps to see life like Tita Violeta did.  If the world is such a beautiful place what will heaven be like?