No trespassing

Someone said that not all trespassing is bad.  Remember, in college, when you got a “tres” for a grade? That was passing! “Tres,” passing!

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In today’s Gospel (Lk. 13, 22-30) Jesus tells us to “strive to enter through the narrow gate” to heaven. There is no way we can control or manipulate our salvation. There is no trespassing to heaven. There is no way we can gatecrash nor buy our way to heaven.

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Heaven cannot be bought. But there are some people who think that through their good works, they can merit heaven. There are even those who think they can buy heaven with their money, or with their religion. Good works, money and religion are useless if they are without personal obedience to God’s commands, and the grace and mercy from Him who alone can save us and has already saved us.

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So, just how do we go up to heaven? Do we take the stairs, or do we take the escalator? I think we should take both. Faith is a personal choice to accept the invitation to take and stay in the staircase. But the staircase happens to be in motion as well, and has a life of its own.

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Some people do not take the step to go into the heaven-bound escalator, or keep getting off it because of worldly agenda and attachments. The vehicle is there for us, but all too often we do not take it because we would rather go somewhere else, or we think we can avail of it some other time, someday.

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Reminds me of a story about a man stranded on his rooftop during a flood. A truck passed by to rescue him, but he refused, saying God would rescue him. Next came a boat, and again he refused, saying God would rescue him. Finally came a helicopter, and again he refused, saying God would rescue him. Finally he died and asked God why He did not rescue him. God told him: “I sent the truck, the boat, and the helicopter to rescue you but you refused them all, because you had your own notion on how you can be rescued.” All too often, we think we know how to save ourselves. It is for God to save, and it is for us to obey.

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Speaking of floods, many of our people were affected again last week. We salute our rescue teams whose members literally went out of their way to save others with their crude and meager equipment.

We can’t help but ask, where have all the money gone? The evacuation centers are a pathetic sight. The relief goods from the government are minimal. Reason? No funds  kuno!  Hello! The funds went somewhere else and are in someone else’s pockets!

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It seems that the “narrow gate” analogy in today’s Gospel would fit well in how government money flows in trickles to the poorest of the poor. Elsewhere, the Gospel description of dogs eating crumbs falling from the table also fits well on how our politicians and government leaders continue to feast while majority of our people continue to fast.

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Pope Francis would be happy to know that many Catholic churches opened their doors to evacuees during the flood last week. The church, aside from being a place of worship, literally became a place of refuge, too, for those who were materially deprived and weary.

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The Million People March on Monday, Aug. 26, 2013, will continue even with the announcement of the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund by P-Noy.  See you there. The movement of the Spirit and the spontaneous sentiment of the people cannot be stifled. The time has come for our people to claim what is truly theirs. True people power is the power of the people, by the people and for the people—not of, by and for some politicians, interest groups, business, political or religious groups. Let us all be watchful and vigilant so that we will not be used and abused.

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There was a full moon last Aug. 21 but we hardly saw it because of the cloud cover and the constant rain. I saw a glimpse of it. What a beautiful sight, and what an inspiring moment it was to know that the moon is there even when we don’t see it! So too in life. Surely, God is present, alive, and in complete control of everything, even though we don’t see Him.

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“Grace is when God gives us good things we don’t deserve; mercy is when He spares us from bad things we deserve; blessings are when the Lord generously gives us His grace and mercy.”

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Thought for our journey: “Remember that you’ll always have more blessings than problems; problems seem more because you count, measure and analyze them every day; when you count your blessings, you realize that they always outnumber your problems.”

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On Aug. 26, 2013, National Heroes’ Day, let the hero in each one of us come alive and come out. Our leaders are not our heroes. They have been “trespassing” us for the longest time. We must believe and see, and show the hero that is in each and in every one of us.

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A moment with the Lord:

Lord, remind me that there is no trespassing to heaven. Help me to get there with Your grace, mercy, and with my faithful abiding. Amen.