Reach out!

The story is told about a father who gave this advice to his son: “Marry an ugly girl so that when you grow old, you wouldn’t be surprised if she looks ugly.” On the other hand, a mother gave this advice to her daughter: “Marry a man your age, so that as your beauty fades, so will his eyesight.”

In today’s Gospel (Lk. 17, 11-19), Jesus goes beyond external beauty and social and religious boundaries and borders and reaches out to the 10 lepers. He reminds us that the beauty of every person is being a son or daughter of our heavenly Father. May the Lord give us the eyes that truly see, the mind that truly knows, and the heart that truly understands that we are all one and the same, regardless of race, class, culture, belief, color, and smell.

Today is Indigenous Peoples Sunday. All of us, in one way or another, in thought and in word, knowingly or unknowingly, practice discrimination, and have not truly reached out and appreciated the beautiful traits and traditions of our indigenous brothers and sisters. Worse are those who have discriminated against them in deed—using, abusing, and stealing from them. The discrimination must end. We are all one and the same.

We honor today Dr. Nestor Venus, who has gone home to the Father at the age of 62. He was the younger brother of Fr. Dante Venus, SVD. He had many offers to practice his medical profession in Manila and abroad, but he chose to be a doctor to the Tinggians and Ilocanos of Abra. He was a missionary all his life, serving the poor and the marginalized, especially in Manabo, Abra. I had the privilege of meeting this humble, soft-spoken, and joyful doctor to the barrios in 1983 in La Paz, Abra. Most of his life was spent in the Manabo Mission Hospital working with the Holy Spirit Sisters and the Divine Word missionaries. Dios ti agngina, Apo Nestor! God bless and reward your good and generous heart!

Who are the “lepers” in our neighborhood? Who are the outcasts, the undesirables, the useless, the good-for-nothing in our present day and time? How do we look at them? How do we treat them? The easiest solution for some is just to ignore them, avoid them, or keep them at bay. Others just wait for them to die; still others just kill them. Read the Gospel today! Jesus reached out to the lepers, stopped for them, and even healed them. Let us follow Jesus’ solution. Foolish it may be to some, but it is the best, and only, solution.

Listen to Jesus! Read this quote from “One Solitary Life”: “I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as had that One Solitary Life, the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

I thank the Moments with Fr. Jerry Foundation for making our fund-raising activity last Oct. 2 for the missions, “Happy Moments,” a success. Thank you to all who came and helped raise funds for our monastery project and our SVD missionaries. My heartfelt thanks also to the following who shared their talent joyfully and for free: Jose Mari Chan, Boots Anson Roa, Michael Angelo Lobrin, Groomsmen, Gerphil Flores, George Tagle, Adrian Panganiban, Fr. Paul Aquino, SVD, and Kenneth Parsad. I had the opportunity to bless and personally thank the 50 or so waiters when they were cleaning up the place, long after the last guest had left. I blessed and gave each one of them a rosary bracelet, making the occasion, and the month of the Rosary, meaningful and memorable.

Have I shared this already? One time I told my driver, “Mag rosary na tayo.” As I was getting my rosary from my pocket, he stopped and pulled over in front of the grocery. When I asked him why, he said: “Sabi nyo mag grocery tayo. Nandito na po tayo.” A good reminder for us all: Which mode are you often in? Rosary mode (prayer)? Or grocery mode (work)? Pray. Pray more. Pray much. Pray on.

A moment with the Lord: Lord, like You, may we learn to really reach out and not be exclusive and selective. Amen.