New Evangelization

New evangelization is a “must” in our world today, hence it’s good news when every now and then, I see someone uses his/her imagination to the full to let people question again about the presence of God.

Let me start with one of the latest "creations" in the European continent. Yesterday, I came across a vignette in one of my favorite magazines The Tablet. It reports: “The model of Noah’s Ark is an evangelizing strategy of contractor Johan Huibers, who built it after dreaming that God wanted him to do so to share his faith with others. Since its completion in April in a village north of Amsterdam, the ark has attracted extensive media coverage and some 30,000 tourists. The ark’s dimensions – 70m long, 13.5m high and 9.5m wide – are about half the size of the 300-cubit-long-ship described in Genesis. But the cavernous hold is large enough to fit several life-sized models of the giraffes, elephants, zebras, lions and other animals. It also holds a 50-seat theatre for children to watch the segment of the Walt Disney film Fantasia telling the story of the flood. “I want to show people what the ark looked like to make the story more tangible,” said Huibers. “When people who don’t believe in God see the ark, they have many questions.” (July 7 issue, p. 15)

Now, here's a true story from the US about a modern day disciple who followed our Lord Jesus’ injunction to visit the prisoner. This was published in the Christianity Today.

And on a smaller “family scale” here’s a video clip of my 3-year old niece proclaiming the greatness of God in the things he has created – big and small! If you want to view this, click here (don't forget to put your audio on)!

Cross-questioning...

Question 1 : "Who is my neighbor?"
Answer (actually question 2): Which (of these three), do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"
How does Jesus educate? He re-phrases our questions. He teaches us to ask the right question. He doesn’t answer questions directly, he rather corrects the question and hence changes the perspective. In the Gospel today (Lk 10:25-37), he subtly says that the question is not “who is my neighbor” but “how can I be a neighbor…”
The relationship does not begin “from the outside” but “from the inside,” from me. On the other hand, if you go very deeply into the discussion and concentrates on Jesus and everything he has done, you could also say it begins “from the outside” – that is, from the First One who showed you how to become neighbor. And so the chain of relationships continue...
Crossings commentary for today puts it this way: Having been loved by the ultimate Neighbor, our hearts begin to want to know better the One who makes it possible: Christ. And then, knowing Christ, we find ourselves taking to the road, looking for neighbors to love. We are no longer inclined to pass by on the other side (antiparelthen) as the priest and Levite did, but rather to cross over to them (proselthon) with Samaritan-like commitment to serve. We grasp Jesus' creative reframing of the lawyer's question, meant to show us that it's not so much about finding a neighbor worthy of love, as being a neighbor who loves.

I’ve been graced with two real witnesses of “neighborliness” yesterday and today. The first one is my fellow sister in Hongkong who just had a mastectomy due to carcinoma. Talking to her over the phone yesterday, I gathered how much the experience touched her. We talked about vulnerability, readiness to die, even citing the book Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom which she used for her book report in her Clinical Pastoral Education early this year. In a very “neighborly” way, she told me the significance of her present illness. I quote, “This is very useful for me in understanding the patients I meet every day in my ministry. Last month I was assigned in the department of terminally ill cancer patients. Now I can better understand their stories.”
The second witness is a young Filipino priest assigned here in Rome. Yesterday he brought with him a young Korean deacon doing his biblical studies here. They concelebrated in the Eucharistic celebration and he gave way to the deacon to preach the homily. Today he did the same as he went early for Sunday Mass in another religious community nearby.
I asked him, “why do you do it?” “Because he needs to exercise his homiletic skills,” he said. “And the other confreres wouldn’t want to bring our new deacons with them,” he continued. I thanked him for his care for the younger members, and especially for his patience. And very humbly he said, “It’s nothing. Many people are exercising the same patience with me too.”

Motu Proprio Debate

The newsflash yesterday from Inside the Vatican (ITV) presented the response - letter from Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the Society of St. Pius X, - to the motu proprio published by Pope Benedict XVI on the 7th of July. ITV noted that Fellay's remarks are marked by caution, opening his message with thanks to the Holy Father, but then immediately making this main point: that he is cautious about this document because he feels the great battle over the liturgy still lies ahead, and depends in considerable measure on the attitude and decisions of many bishops around the world who have not yet made clear their own positions. Here is an excerpt of the letter, which you could find in its entirety here.

The letter accompanying the Motu Proprio gives the pope’s reasons. The affirmation of the existence of one single rite under two forms -- the ordinary and the extraordinary forms -- of equal right, and especially the rejection of the exclusive celebration of the traditional liturgy, may, it is true, be interpreted as the expression of a political desire not to confront the Bishops’ Conferences which are openly opposed to any liberalization of the Tridentine Mass. But we may also see in this an expression of the "reform of the reform" desired by the pope himself, and in which, as he himself writes in this letter, the Mass of Saint Pius V and that of Paul VI would mutually enrich one another.
In any event, there is in Benedict XVI the clear desire to re-affirm the continuity of Vatican II and the Mass which issued from it, with the bi-millennial Tradition. This denial of a rupture caused by the last council -- already shown in his address to the Curia on December 22, 2005 -- shows that what is at stake in the debate between Rome and the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X is essentially doctrinal. For this reason, the undeniable step forward made by the Motu Proprio in the liturgical domain must be followed -- after the withdrawal of the decree of excommunication -- by theological discussions.
The reference to Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society of Saint Pius X made in the accompanying letter, as well as the acknowledgment of the testimony given by the young generations which are taking up the torch of Tradition, clearly show that our constancy to defend the lex orandi has been taken into account. With God’s help, we must continue the combat for the lex credendi, the combat for the faith, with the same firmness.

Self-empowerment

I received several inspirationals today and I chose this one to share as my wisdom-word.

TUYO, TINAPA AND GALUNGGONG

By: Bo Sanchez
Let me tell you a story. Three construction workers were on top of their half-finished skyscraper. Rrrrring!" the lunch bell sounded, and the three men sat on a steel beam jutting out of the 56th floor with their lunchboxes in hand.
The first guy opens his and groans in exasperation, "Tuyo!" There is not a day that I don't get tuyo for lunch!" He turns to his buddies and announces, "Mark my words. If I still get tuyo tomorrow, I'm going to throw myself from this building."
The second guy opens his lunch box and moans, "Tinapa". Everyday, I get tinapa!" He looks at his friends and declares, "Believe me when I say this. If I get tinapa tomorrow, I'm going to jump and kill myself."

The third guy opens his lunch box and it was his turn to despair. "Galunggong" . All I get is galunggong!" I'm telling you, if I still get galunggong tomorrow, I'm going to jump from this building and die."

The next day, the lunch bell rings and all three men are again seated on the 56th floor. The first guy opens his lunch box and starts crying, "Tuyoooooo!" And so he jumps and crashes on the ground.
The second guy opens his lunch box and wails loudly, "Tinapaaaa!" And he also hurls himself off the building and dies.

The third guy opens his lunch box and screams, "Galunggonggggg! " And so he too jumps off the building and splatters on the ground.
Days later, during the funeral of the three men, their three wives embrace and weep together. The first wife cries out, "I didn't know my husband didn't like tuyo anymore! Why didn't he tell me? If only he told me, I would have prepared something else."
The second wife echoes her statement, "Yes! If only I knew, I would have cooked something else, not tinapa!"

The third wife, between sobs, speaks up, "I don't know why my husband killed himself."
The two wives look at her curiously.
"Why?"
She went on, "Because ... my husband prepares his own lunch everyday..."

I love this crazy story because it presents a very important truth: all of us prepare our own lunch. If we don't like our jobs, if we don't like the state of our relationships, if we don't like what's happening to our spiritual lives - we have no one to blame but ourselves. Because God has given us free will. He has given us the power to prepare our own lunch.
If you want to earn more and be free from debt, if you're sick and tired of your bad habits, if we want to put more joy in our marriages, if we want to grow in our relationship with God - then go back to your kitchen and prepare yourself another dish. Because you design your own future. You create your own destiny. Ask yourself what kind of future do you want to have? What kind of life? What kind of eternity? You decide.