visible rhetoric

What makes you happy?     What makes you unhappy?     The 4 th Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday.     Laetare means be happy.     We are allowed today to put some flowers on the altar and to use the color rose instead of violet.     Rose is still violet but it is mixed with gold, the color of supreme joy.     Thus, it is only proper to ask ourselves these very important questions which motivates all our actions - what makes me happy, what makes me unhappy?

You are not far from the kingdom of God.  You are not far.  You are not there yet, but you are not far. Here Jesus reminds us the difference and therefore the relationship of what we know, and doing or acting upon what we know. We must acknowledge that many of us need to be catechized, we need to know more, we need something substantial in the education in the faith.   As affirmed by Jesus in the attitude of this pious scribe everything starts with knowing, and believing and being convinced with what we know.  It is an acknowledgement that as a parish community catechesis is very much needed from its littlest members to us adults.  We need to be educated in the faith.

Our gospel today is a reminder which will be repeated time and again by St. Paul in his letters.  That on our own we can never be good enough.  Paul would often say that we should pray for the strength that comes from God and that we should not rely solely on our own strength.  Why?  Because on our own we can never be good enough.   This is why Jesus is depicted many times as driving away the evil spirits not by human power, not by the power of another evil spirit, but by the all-powerful finger of God.

What does it mean to fulfill the law?  Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.  We know for example that Jesus in the eyes of pious Jews during his time violated the law of the sabbath by doing something prohibited on a Sabbath.  For one he healed on the sabbath.  In another he told the person he healed to carry his mat on a sabbath.  So, what does it mean to fulfill the law?

The number seventy times seven in Hebrew means always, whenever, at all times. Thus forgiveness in the mind of Christ should be always, whenever and at all times.  But the most important thought of the gospel is the reason why we should forgiven at all times.  Why? Because God forgives me at all times. This is the Christian way. Why should I forgive?  Because God forgives me.  Why should I forgive at all times.  Because God forgives me always.  Why should I be generous?  Because God is generous to me. Why should I have compassion on people who are in need? Because in my need God has compassion with me.  We never stop doing good to each other because God never stops doing good to us.

The feast of the annunciation is a feast celebrating the virtue of obedience, both the obedience of Christ and the obedience of Mary. Sin entered into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  Salvation entered the world through the obedience of Jesus and Mary.  In the letter to the Hebrews in our second reading we find a quotation alluding to the obedience of Jesus.  Here Jesus is made to say:   "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.”  This is a quotation of Psalm 40 except for the last part which should have read, “but my ears you have opened.”  Probably wanting to emphasize the complete obedience of Jesus he used “but a body you have prepared for me.”  So now it is not just simply ears listening and obeying, it is now the whole body being offered in humble submission to God will.  

Even when I was still in the seminary I was already struggling to understand who God is.  I am not referring to our children’s catechesis which says: Pila ang Dios -  isa.  Pila ang persona sang Dios - tatlo.  Sin-o sila - Amay, Anak kag Espiritu Santo.  Instead I was asking, who is this God that I am praying to, who is this God who created me, who cared for me, and who saved me?  Moses in our first reading asked God, who are you, if they ask what is your name what will I tell them? In our gospel Jesus was told about Galileans who were cruelly massacred by Pilate.  Was it because of their sins that God allowed them to die?  Is this who God is?