psalm 122: we are all pilgrims. 1st sunday advent A

Let us reflect on our responsorial psalm – Psalm 122.  It is entitled a psalm of ascent, meaning it is a psalm, it is a song of pilgrims as they are climbing up, in this case they sing as they climb up to Jerusalem to the temple of God, to the house of God which is located on top of a hill called Mt. Zion.  "I rejoiced because they said to me, 'We will go up to the house of the LORD.' And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem." I do not know among the sisters if they can still sing while climbing up.  Some of us, and that includes me, can only sing up to a certain point, but I don't think I can sing all the way.  You are young, meaning you can still sing all the way to the top. 

So this is what they do – they sing while on pilgrimage, they sing as they climb.

The Jews go on pilgrimage because a pilgrimage is a metaphor of life.  Life is like a pilgrimage.  In life we are traveling from point A to point B, we do not stay put, we do not remain as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever, no.  As we travel we climb and as we climb, we move higher.  We grow – we grow old, we grow big, we grow tall, we grow beards, we grow pimples, we grow fat, we grow mature, we grow in our responsibility, we grow in wisdom – some become more beautiful, others become more ugly, we all started developing outer beauty but we all end up content with inner beauty.  The fact is we cannot remain as it was, we cannot remain as is.

And so the pilgrimage is also a metaphor of the spiritual growth - it reminds us that life is always a journey going to a higher place, to a higher realm, a higher sphere, to a higher stage.  When a nephew was born my brother in law told me, he was still a very young father, anyway he asked while we were looking at his child – if you are given a chance would you want to be an infant again, mahibi ka lang kadtoan ka and then patiti-on ka, then hibi ka na man ilisan ka diaper, then since you are the cutest in the house all the attention is yours, all the adulation, all the toys, all the coddling minus the chores, minus the responsibilities, minus the work, making mistakes would even make you look cuter to them.  Would you want to be an infant again? 

Many times our questions are revealing.  Probably my brother in law was tired, probably he was thinking nagabudlay ang pangabuhi, may salaguron na ako, tani wala lang, tani tawhay lang, tani soltero man ko gihapon, tani kapagusto ako kon san-o ako bugtaw – now I have to work, I have to earn, I have a baby, I have a family to feed.  Yes there was a time nga tawhay ang tanan but as I said life is a pilgrimage, we cannot remain there forever.

Vocation is life.  There are leave takings at every stage.  Sang pagsulod ko sa seminaryo 12 years old ako wala ako naghibi, ipakita ko gid sa ila nga isog-isog gid ako.  Then after some time ginpamemorize kami sang isa kag tunga nga long size bond paper, type written, two columns nga poem, in spanish, to be recited the next day naghibi na ako, indi na ako kaagwanta.  There I realized that life was difficult, things will not be coming to me as easily as it was before.  Here I learned to scrub floors, to brush the bathroom walls, to wash dishes, to do chores, to care the for the sick (I did that for 8 years), to eat what is provided.  Here I learned to accept no for an answer, (Father can I go out? No.) and learn to get along with life with the little I have.  Here I learned to serve without counting the cost, just the joy of doing things for others.  Here I learned to do what I don't want to do, to eat what I don't want to eat, to be with people I never want to be with.  And then something strange happened – at a certain point in my life, I learned to love them all.  Why? because one day I realized that there was something, there was actually someone I came to love more.  And that is the start of vocation.  Little by little God showed me where he wanted me to be, what he wanted me to do.

I entered the seminary at 12 years of age because I was curious to see a cow drinking directly from the faucet.  So I became a priest because of cows, giving a new meaning to the expression "holy cow".  Our cow then knew how to open a faucet.  I only realized when I was already here that cows and any cow for that matter can easily do that after some time and it is not an admirable accomplishment.  It would have been admirable if cows knew how to close the faucet they opened nga kabalo sila magsira sang ila gin-abrihan.  I found out then that they did not.  Precisely men are better than cows because we can close faucets and conserve water.  If you do not, then you are no better than a cow.

SO far that's the involvement of the cows in my vocation – the rest is God's.

They say we are born with a close fist – hands closed.  Vocation sets in when we have learned to little by little open that clenched fist, to be generous and willing to share.  And the highest response is when like Jesus we open the palm of our hands fully and allow the nails to be hammered on them and pass through them.  The highest response to vocation is when we allow our arms to be opened and outstretched on the cross like Jesus so that others may have life.  That's the peak of vocation – bukas palad, bukas kamay.

Raise your right hands – open your hands – Jesus, I am allowing you to use me for your purpose.  Jesus take my hand.  That is vocation.

We are pilgrims – we come from point A and we're going to point B.  Sometimes we enjoy marching together as one, other times we feel tired, not wanting to move an inch.  It's Ok.  We feel that way too from time to time.  But as the psalms say just keep on singing.

Today we start advent. Advent reminds us that we are pilgrims, walking, travelling, climbing.  We came from somewhere and we have a goal, a destiny, a purpose to fulfill.  One day there will be an end as Jesus says there will be in our gospel today.  We do not know when but there will be.  We pray that in the end we will be found ready because we responded to the call, to our vocation with openness and generosity.