Seasonal Christians?
The story is told about a father who called his son to tell him the sad news that he and Mom are getting divorced. The son objected, and he called his sister and told her about the planned divorce. Both children then phoned home to say they were coming right away. After putting down the phone, Dad and Mom were happy that the kids are coming to visit them finally, and at their own expense at that!
Happy Easter! The Holy Week has ended, but may it not be just a once-a-year experience for us. May it not be something we take for granted, something we visit just once a year. May the spirit of the Holy Week—sacrifice, penance, prayers, good deeds—stay with us the whole year round. May we not be just seasonal Christians.
In today’s Gospel (John 20: 1-19), we hear of the amazing event when Mary of Magdala, Simon and John discovered Jesus’ empty tomb and realized that He had risen as He had said. It was a morning filled with awe, wonder, and joy. May Easter morning break through in our lives. May a new dawn come forth in our country. May the light of Jesus shine forth in our dark and troubled world.
How we feel this Easter morning depends on how you observed the Holy Week. We reap what we sow. If we walked with Jesus in the Holy Week, we will feel His Easter presence today.
Today is April Fool’s Day. The road we take is the road of losers in the eyes of the world, and definitely, for them, not the road of the wise and the smart. Maybe. But it is the road that is filled with peace and meaning, trials and persecutions notwithstanding. It is a choice we make, and renew again and again. This Easter Sunday, we renew our baptismal vows to renounce sin and the lures of evil, profess our belief in God once again, and promise to serve God faithfully in His holy Catholic Church. Let us make our choice and let our commitment for the Lord be strong.
It’s the time of year when the bangar tree at the back of the Mission House in Christ the King Seminary makes its presence felt again, with its beautiful, flaming red flowers and foul smell. It is a reminder that summer is here. For me, it is also a reminder of what Papa told us when we were small about people who look beautiful on the outside but have such a foul-smelling character on the inside.
Summer fruits are in season again. The thing is that for some, faith is just a seasonal thing, one that bears fruit especially on Christmas and the Lenten season only. May we be Christians every day, and in ordinary times.
Heard about four-wheel Christians? They are those who go to church by car—i.e., when they are hatched, when they are matched, and when they are dispatched!
“Our days may come to 70 years or 80, if our strength endures, yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). My classmate, Fr. Dino Ariola, SVD, is now enjoying the presence of the Risen Lord in Heaven. He died last March 21 at the age of 72. He was simple, humorous and pious. We called him “Cardinal” even when he was a seminarian. He spent many years as a missionary in Togo, Africa, and did a lot of legwork for the Lord as a pastor, formator, and university chaplain. He was the fourth to go ahead to Heaven in our Ordination Class of 1980. Until we meet again, dear classmate! Pray for us, as we pray for you.
I thought I was seeing double when I was giving communion last March 20. Identical twins Kenneth and King Hizon are lawyers at the Court of Appeals, the source of pride for their parents, Carlos and Lourdes Hizon. The challenge of Easter for all of us is to become “alter Christus,” another Christ, and be a source of joy and pride for our loving Father.
Here’s an Easter message for fellow senior citizens: “Let us take good care of ourselves and avoid injuries because spare parts for old models are no longer available. Most of us were made in the ’40s,
’50s, and ’60s. Warranty period is long over, and expiry date is forthcoming, but hey, we’re still around, alive and kicking. Thank God who was with us when we were young, but especially now in our sunset years, when our pace is slower, but our lives definitely not dimmer.”
A moment with the Lord:
Lord, be with us in all seasons of our lives. Amen.
