THE PARABLE OF THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT (MATTHEW 18:23-35)

Relationship is an integral and crucial part of our human becoming. We are interconnected beings whose continual emergence happens not apart and in isolation from God, the other, the community, the world and the rest of creation. Nevertheless, our relationship must be an empowering relationship that promotes life and growth. Relationship ceases to be when it anchors itself in deception, insecurity, dominance, rapacity, and greed and deprives the other access to better [human] living. The latter plagues our present world. Today, we live in an up-and-coming world inhabited by “People of the Lie”(1) and their victims: suffering, broken and wounded people and nature. Situations and people are hurting and everything, everybody get hurt, raped, smashed and killed. The cosmos cries out for healing and wholeness. What have gone wrong? What have become of us? Did not God create everything beautiful, unique, interconnected, gracefully complementing one another and enormously endowed with riches for its flourishing? Did not God give us the power to re-create beauty to continue to reveal God-self?

The woe in the world ranging from small to wider relationships awfully disturbs me and oftentimes catches and leaves me off guard. I wish to be enlightened and to assist me is the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18: 23-35).

In this study, I invite the reader to delve with me into the meaning conveyed by this parable about relationships and the [kind of] God that is being presented to us. With the aid of redaction criticism and the scholars’ viewpoint and commentaries, I shall go through Matthew’s editorial and literary works and purpose and try to present the parable as Jesus shaped it. From there I will dig deeper on the possible existing meaning of the parable that I hope would illumine what I want to bring to the fore. Lastly, I shall pose a challenge to be brought home, pondered and gave birth to.

THROCKMURTON(2)

< < < < < < < < < < < < < <> > MARK 9:50 – LUKE 9:50

< < < < < < <> > > > > >
< < < < < < < < < < < < < < <> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

23[“Therefore] [the kingdom of heaven may be compared] to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; 25and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. 31When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 33and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. 35[So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”]

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (18: 23-35), not traceable either from Mark or Luke, is a Matthean sondergut taken from the special material of Matthew in his tradition or community.(3) It is located at the close of Matthew’s community discourse (chapter 18), which is the fourth among Matthew’s gospel discourses. It is written right after Peter’s question about forgiveness (18:21-22) and before the beginning of the narrative on Authority and Invitation (19:1ff).

Verse 35 is parallel to 6:14-15 and appears to be Matthew’s conclusion to chapter 18. It gives a command, a rule or a law that Matthew leaves for his audience. I noticed Matthew’s use of formative words and expressions reflecting Semitic language and rabbinic usage like ‘Kingdom of heaven’ (v. 23) and ‘heavenly Father’ (v. 35) in the parable. The mention of “wife and children” (v. 25) to be sold with the servant and all his properties evokes in me an opposing reaction having reminded of patriarchy that treats children and women as male’s properties.

I observe the first and the second servants’ use of the same words in verses 26 & 29 as well as the huge difference between the two debts in verses 24 & 28. Furthermore, it is the action of the king towards the first servant (v. 27) and the first servant’s response to the second servant (v. 30) and the fate that befalls the former (v. 34) that catch my attention most. It seems to me that the emphasis moves from the king’s action to the first servant’s action and fate to the audience.

Commentators like Manson, Dodd and Crossan, encountered tension and difficulty on the connection between verses 21-22 and 23-35. Crossan for instance, sees the inconsistency of God’s action (v. 34) in the parable to the exhortation to forgive “seventy-seven times” in v. 22.(4) B. Viviano, in addition, sees the parable as loosely attached to the teaching about Genesis 4:15,24 and a homiletic midrash on Mathew’s instruction in 6: 12, 14-15.(5) Nevertheless, Herzog says that majority (i.e. Donahue, Oesterley, Fuchs, etc.) had less difficulty and easily recognized the complementarities of the two.(6) Matthew situated the parable in its present context and used the connective “Therefore” (v. 23) to place the parable and connect it to the preceding text. Matthew shifts the focus on forgiveness from its quantitative nature in verse 22 to a qualitative precondition, and at the same time, of the parable’s meaning by adding the introductory formula “the kingdom of heaven may be compared…” (v. 23), and verse 35 that reflects Matthew’s tendency to frame the parable in terms of law.(7)

With that, the parable must not be taken out of the context where Matthew placed and purposely intended it because it has a sound and potent tendency to condition and measure God’s forgiveness and contradict and nullify Jesus’ teaching in 18:21-22 and 5:44-5.(8) Matthew’s editorial comment (v. 35) is directed as a warning for his community. This clearly exhibits his primordial and pastoral concern about his community, who is vulnerable to painful division and factions and like a ‘ship beaten by waves’ (8:23-27).(9) Matthew is [known] as an ecclesial Gospel (16:18-19, 18:18, 20:20-21) and the Church officially claims it as such.(10)

At this point, allow me to treat the parable one step backward from Matthew’s editorial and literary works and purpose and look into how Jesus himself probably shaped the parable.

I take the position that the connective “Therefore” and the formulaic introduction “the Kingdom of heaven may be compared…” (v. 23), plus verse 35 are Matthew’s authorial works and additions to the original text. Yet, others opine that without them, the heart of the parable of Jesus can still be read and explored.(11) Crossan holds that the emphasis lies on the servant’s lack of mercy and stupidity of showing it (vv. 28, 30) rather than on the master’s mercy (v. 27) while Hare takes the latter.(12) Herzog, using the positions of Eta Linnemann and Jeremias as springboard, presents that the meaning of the parable can be examined from the point of the king’s action and verdict (vv. 27, 34) which emphasizes God’s forgiveness and the first servant’s shifting fates (27b, 34) which stresses human response and responsibility.(13)

I, on the other hand, closely following the perspectives that Crossan, Hare and Herzog put forward, would like to underscore two views in the context of relationship that I am trying to present. After understanding Matthew’s authorial works, the first major view, is the king’s action (v.27) toward the first servant because it generates an awesome atmosphere and response and foremost, it is a good point to open and ground my position that everything comes to us as a gift. Gift here means life wrapped in surprise freely given from the ‘Being’ of the Giver who from the beginning wants to unite and reunite us to Her/Himself, completely restore us and bring us wholeness. This is the premise that leads to a demanding question: how must we live by it? The diverse action of the first servant (v. 30), emphasized most by the huge difference of the two debts (vv. 24, 28) and the same words used in verses 26 and 29(14), evokes in us a violent response and condemnation as in v. 34. This is the crucial view but fittest to blow off the heart of Jesus’ parable. Before I proceed, let me pose a warning that I am not talking of allegory here.(15) We are deeply and enormously endowed with a gift but this does not mean power and superiority over the other. The gift must be received with open eyes and awareness, must make us humbler and change us to persons capable to effect restoration, healing and wholeness for others as well. The gift must move us to decide and act at the full service of life, freedom and the fulfillment of the gift itself. The parable shows us that consequences inevitably result from the decisions and actions we make.(16) Decisions and actions that, if done at the expense of freedom, [human] life, growth and becoming of every creation, are first and foremost self-destructive isolating us from the movement of life and the rest of all creation.

In summary, redaction criticism plus the scholars’ point of view helps me to read and understand the parable in two ways: as Matthean interpretation and as Jesus’ parable. I come face to face with Matthew’s important role as author of the parable who takes it from his special material and makes editorial works (“Therefore” “the kingdom of heaven may be compared…” v. 23) and concluding moral (v. 35) in order to place it in its present context (community discourse) and stress his pastoral concern (v. 35). I also tried to understand the parable as Jesus shaped it first by presenting three positions of different scholars on where the key to Jesus’ parable lies: a) the first servant’s lack of mercy and foolishness by showing it, b) the king’s mercy and c) the king’s action and the first servant’s shifting fates. Then, following similar fashion, I present the king’s action and the first servant’s opposing action and fall and ground it in the context of relationship highlighting our God-given-ness and the inevitability of result of the decision and action that we make.

I believe that The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (18:23-35) is appropriate, exact and central to all our relationships – with God, other, creation, and ourselves. This, however, does not limit the parable to itself. The parable [and the other parables] could be approached in and through multi-perspectives. They never run dry of meaning in the evolving time and history. Thus, clarity of the context of the text and the perspective where we view the same text are vital in the act of reading and understanding. This enables us to gain focus on the message that we want to study and convey.

Following are the four interlocking implications that I hope would benefit us with profound understanding of our life and spirituality and an inspiration to live by them.

First, basic to every one of us is the awareness of how much we are enormously endowed by God with a gift that knows no limit. From this awareness, the God who Jesus proclaimed is manifest, the God who can only create and wills flourishing (5:45, 6:25-34, 8: 1-4, 5-13, 28-34,9:1-818-34,12: 1-8, 11-12, 18:27 NAB)) and fulfillment of all that were created (27: 45-56, 28: 1-8, 16-20 NAB). The knowledge that everything comes to us as a gift is a key to a life of humility and growing and healthy relationships.

Second, sharing the gift received and gratitude are the appropriate response because “To receive without giving is self-destructive”(17) and detrimental of a wider reality as well. Possession of gifts ruins and kills relationships and the process of becoming both of the oppressor and the victims.

Third, forgiveness is fundamental in all relationships (18:21-22, 27, 5:7, 43-45). It “is an order of existence: this shatters our legalistic understanding of life.”(18) If we allow forgiveness to touch us, we will be healed and able to truly forgive and repair broken relationships between the offender and the offended.

Lastly, we are interconnected and all of our living is interpersonal. Real living is acting in a true relational, responsive and human passion and in solidarity and fellowship with the totality of creation, ever faithful to the movement of life. “Love and Relationship…is the nature of God and therefore of creation”(19) Left with us is the massive challenge and constant call –

…to conversion, transformation, the favor of God and graceful living, calling us to be human, to be words and actions of God, in turn, forgiving, restoring, doing restitution, repairing the world, encouraging and giving hope and speaking a word that heartens and draws forth life even in the face of despair and death, sin and evil… to heal, reconcile, forgive do justice, gather into our heart and community, do the works of mercy and worship our God with Jesus in the Spirit’s grace…to worship and to honor God by being human, just, merciful and compassionate, non-violent, embracing our enemies and making friend of strangers and aliens. …to be words of God, children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, driven by the Spirit, sent by God, missioned to heal the broken world and the broken-hearted people and set loose the power of the resurrection shared with us in the story that seems never to end and to grow more unbelievable with each telling.(20)



Endnotes

1. M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie (London: Arrow, 1990).
2. B. Throckmurton, Gospel Parallels: A Synopsis of the First Three Gospels (New York/Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers, 1979), 100.
3. W. Herzog, “What If the Messiah Came and Nothing Changed?,” In Parables as Subversive Speech (Louisville/Westminster: John Knox Press, 1994), 131; J. D. Crossan, In Parables (San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, 1985), 105.
4. W. Herzog, 132.
5. B. Viviano, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” In The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 1993), 662.
6. W. Herzog, 132.
7. W. Herzog, 132-3; B. Lovett, The Language of Jesus (2001), 5; D. Harrington, Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Matthew (Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1991), 269.
8. W. Harrington, Parable Told by Jesus (New York: Alba House, 1974), 70-1; J. D. Crossan, 105.
9. W. Harrington, 70-1; J. D. Crossan, 105; W. Herzog, 133; W.Harrington, Key to the Bible 3 (Makati City: St. Paul Publications, 1990), 42; T. Long, Matthew (Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 209.
10. W. Harrington, 42-3; M. Bourke, et. al., 1057, 1059; B. Viviano,632.
11. W. Herzog, 135; J. Crossan, 107; W. Harrington, Parables, 70.
12. J. Crossan, 107; D. Hare, Interpretation: Matthew (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), 218.
13. W. Herzog, 134.
14. J. Crossan, 106.
15. See D. Hare, 217.
16. B. Lovett, 3.
17. Ibid., 5.
18. Ibid., 6.
19. C. Fintan, The Stepping-stone of God: Creation (Ireland: St Pauls, 1995), 52.
20. M. McKenna, Parables: The Arrows of God (Makati City: St. Pauls, 1997), 161-5. Italics mine.


Bibliography

Bourke, M, et al. The New American Bible. Manila: Philippine Bible Society, 1991.

Crossan, J. D. In Parables. San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1985.

Fintan, C. The Stepping-stone of God: Creation. Ireland: St Pauls, 1995.

Hare, D. Interpretation: Matthew. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993.

Harrington, D. Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Matthew. Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1991.

Harrington, W. Key to the Bible 3. Makati City: St. Paul Publications, 1990.

________. Parables Told by Jesus. New York: Alba House, 1974.

Herzog, W. “What If the Messiah Came and Nothing Changed?” In Parables as Subversive Speech. Louisville/ Westminster: John Knox Press, 1994.

Long, T. Matthew. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.

Lovett, B. The Language of Jesus. 2001.

McKenna, M. Parables. The Arrows of God. Makati City: St Pauls, 1997.

Scott Peck, M. People of the Lie. London: Arrow, 1990.

Throckmurton, B. Gospel Parallels: A Synopsis of the First Three Gospels. New York/Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers, 1979.

Viviano, B. “The Gospel According to Matthew.” In The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. R. Brown, et al. Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 1993.

JOY IN POVERTY

“Joy in Poverty,” how paradoxical! I wonder how a person could possibly be ecstatic and exuberant when suffering and in pain, contented and at peace during scarcity, joyful and radiant when there is nothing left but nothingness. Could there in truth and reality, be joy in poverty when it actually means humiliation, oppression, shame, and disgust?

Francis is the humble light and answer to the many ‘how could it be’ questions that keep on hammering our minds. He might as well inspire us to bravely and freely embrace this paradox.

Francis was born rich but chose to embrace total poverty. He left the comfort, luxury, and security of his biological father’s house, clothed himself with a hermit’s tunic and cord, and lived with the lepers. He left everything to live like Jesus, the Incarnate Word, ‘the God who emptied himself, took the form of a slave and was born just like human beings.’ He literally and radically imitated and followed the footsteps of Jesus. He lived a life of extreme economic and spiritual poverty – a life of total dependence on God. Through a life of poverty, he learned Jesus’ ways. Experience (especially of poverty), which is very real and concrete, became Francis’ best teacher to know and learn to live Jesus’ ways. By being poor, he lived life the way the human Jesus did. He unceasingly preached and prayed. He used poetry, songs, drama, and symbols but above all these, his life was the excellent preaching and prayer that clearly witnessed to and revealed his message: Jesus. For Francis if Jesus was born helpless, dependent, and poor, there is no room for shame but an assurance of life controlled by meaning and intimate relationship with God, people, and the rest of all of creation.

Distinction and separation ceased to be for Francis. Everything- God, People, World – all creation fit into the circle of life that God designed out of love for us. Everything is interconnected and dependent on God who loved us and continues to love us. Through the historical man Jesus, God shows us not only how to be loved but also what is love and how to love. A love that embraces everything even the seemingly impossible, that is willfully and freely choosing to be poor in order to bring good out of evil, life out of death.

Jesus, the One who was born in a crib taking our entire humanity but sin, lived a poor life with people, was crucified and died, is God’s love who befriended the homeless, the oppressed, the sick, the sorrowing, the outcasts, and the sinners in an extremely loving fashion. Jesus is the justice of God who reached out to people, uplifted them and drew them closer to God with charming compassion. Jesus is the Beloved who embraced people and all of creation in an intimate and freeing relationship. Jesus is the poor, obedient, and faithful man who always lived in communion and total dependence with the One he called ‘Abba’. The same Jesus – human and poor Jesus, who swallowed and defeated death, is also the One Francis imitated, followed, and deeply loved.

Francis, convinced pf the immensity of God’s love, lived in poverty and identified himself with the poor. There is nothing to fear of be ashamed of. He has nothing but God who loves, is present and alive. He went around preaching and praying allowing people to touch him, engaging himself in profound conversation, befriending people, knowing people’s deepest being, sharing their sorrow, pains and desires. Poverty (not wealth, power, and status) brought Francis true freedom and joy. Poverty taught him the way of love and compassion that is capable of sorrow, of seeing goodness out of evil, of bringing hope in despair, of allowing everything to pass through him. Poverty made Francis an authentic joyful loving human.

Every time I think of Francis, I am reminded of what a song is. A song has rhythm, expresses and is full of varying emotions especially the deepest and genuine ones, appeals to the soul and depth and speaks both dark and radiant experiences. A song may be different from the other songs but they are all about human dynamism and people in their continuous becoming. A song is about life. Life is a song. G. Gutierrez says,”There is no Christian life without ‘songs’ to the Lord, without thanksgiving for God’s love, and without prayer. But these songs,” he continues,”are sung by persons living in particular historical situations, and these provides the framework within which they perceive God’s presence and also God’s absence.” However, Francis did not merely sing a song but lived it concretely in poverty where he experienced God’s presence and gave birth to it. His life is a song of endless praise to God, people, and nature. His life is a song of joyful prayer, thanksgiving, hope friendship, and love. Francis is a joyful song, a love song.

At present, we are living in a time and a world controlled by myths, full of violence and colored with lies, which continue to dehumanize and alienate people to their world and to themselves. Oppression and poverty escalate, ecocide becomes tragic at the worst, suffering severe, and death plagues. Events go beyond the imaginable. The dominant culture (i.e. The capitalist) does not oppress only lower culture but poison also the global world with the needs it persistently creates promoting a meaningful life measured by wealth and power (at other’s expense!). Indeed, we are called to be Francis of our time – persons capable of embracing the paradox of human living and becoming. We are faced with great challenge of making God’s presence alive in the suffering of our people, in the presence of death, violence, and hunger, and in abominable hopelessness. Our prayer and life commitment (especially as pastoral workers) are dared by these realities leaving us a narrow way in conquering them (prudently and with good). We ought to have the courage to leave our own personal comfort zones, overcome our fears and insecurities and love these people with the love of the cross, summoned to give a sensitive and appropriate response motivated by compassion and love. We are forever called to be songs for others who, like Francis, joyfully give witness and birth to Jesus Christ.

Every time the Cup is raised, let us remember the supreme love totally given to each of us in the humblest manner and take seriously the call for us to do the same.



References:
Gutierrez, G. We Drink From Our Own Wells. Quezon City: Claretian Publications,1984.
Handouts. The Life of Francis of Assisi… Stepping-Stones and Franciscan Spirituality. (Given
November 2001).
Personal Notes on Sr. M. Thomas and Ms. M. Altarejos’lecture on ‘Joy in Poverty’of Francis.

The Story We Live and Celebrate, Part II

A Personal Review and Reflection on Liturgy and Sacraments

What I see in all of this is the image of life as a ballet or dance and all that is involved in it: the dancers, the music, the emotions, the space, the environment, the interactions, the grace and harmony, the momentary silence, the reason for gathering and all. Everything-- everyone is interconnected and plays an important part in the beauty, joy, and meaning of the dance. This ballet is not exclusive for feast or for the rich alone but for all, rich and poor alike, and all kinds of situations and events in one’s life. Life can be a wonderful ballet not only in abundance but also even in poverty – in the scenario of a dark environment and sad music (caused by death, starvation, illness, oppression, and violence) -- because we continue dancing, sharing, singing, praying to God (adapted from L.J. Gonzales, The Artist of Nazareth 1996) believing that God embraces the whole of our human experience.

Jesus is the best creative artist who lived and lives fully in time and history. He met all kinds of people and addressed their physical, psychological, social, moral, and spiritual needs. He used his faculties – sight, touch, feeling, hearing, and taste – dreams, ideas, and resources in order to transform darkness into light, conquer evil and violence with good and love, bring life out of death, and create a world of harmonious dance and dancers. For example, Jesus, naturally creative out of love, left us his masterpiece of art, the sacraments, in order to introduce us into the cosmic ballet of life and make us dance to the rhythm of God’s love and peaceful joy. More so he was always in intimate and deep communion with God and God’s creative power of loving us to the end with a love that can and will never change (adapted from L.J. Gonzales, The Artist of Nazareth 1996). Jesus never leaving the bosom of the One who He called Abba (Father) sees the beauty of human beings and of the world and loves it to the end, gathering together our scattered stories, offering and uniting them to the one true Story.

We are constantly called and challenged to model upon him especially at this time and age of our history. We are called to ask and confront ourselves as individuals, group, people, and church with questions and realities especially the ones that we are afraid to dare to ask and be confronted with. We must faithfully review, reflect and look if our liturgy (or Christian celebration) moves towards healing and transformation; is a celebration of communion forming an inclusive community despite differences and gaps; radiates and mediates meaning and hope to the world that we witness to; and makes the ‘heart’ of the celebration shines through and penetrates everyone’s life.

The life of Jesus is a ballet ever graceful, beautiful, creative, powerful, hopeful, liberating, loving, human, and cosmic. This is the story that must live in us and we must extend and share to the world. Every time the bread and wine are raised we open our minds, hearts, and soul – our entire being – to remember, to honor, and to respond to the One who says, “Do this in memory of me.”

Disturbed, shaken, challenged, enriched, I realized that there is so much to unlearn, learn and be critically aware of. Despite the moment-to-moment falls, restlessness, and scatteredness of my personal experience of the world; I am very hopeful and eager for I strongly believe that we are Easter people and our life is a never-ending liturgy; that we live and celebrate a Story fixed forever; that our God is a God who conquers evil with good and brings life in death; and our symbol is the ‘cross’. We are all these… and this is the ‘rhythm that makes our life human.’



References:
Gonzales, L.J. The Artist of Nazareth. Mexico: Editorial Font S.A., 1996.
Guzie, T. The Sacramental Basics. NY: Paulist Press, 1981.
McKenna, M. Rites of Justice. NY: Orbis Books, 1997.

The Story We Live and Celebrate, Part I

A Personal Review and Reflection on Liturgy and Sacraments

Awakened by a gloomy morning and feeling of restlessness, I sat at the last row of Liturgy and Sacraments class hoping secretly that the session would be soon over. While Fr. Peter, my professor, seemed to be very busy writing something on the board, I curiously peeped over my seatmate’s heads and read a one-line statement in bold letters that said:

THE RHYTHM THAT MAKES LIFE HUMAN

This is one of the topics Tad Guzie wrote and discussed in his book, The Sacramental Basics (1981).

I started to wonder what this could mean. “The rhythm that makes life human,” I repeatedly said to myself until I was totally captured by it—my attention, my intellect, my being. The way it was stated was very simple yet deep and striking. I knew then that I would never forget this line.

As I rethink of the statement now after a few months, it seemed old yet new. Memories of the Liturgy and Sacraments class flooded my mind – the words pregnant with meanings, the laughter, interactions, struggles, resistance and tensions, the creativity and flexibility of each one, the insights and expertise of my mentors. Each succeeded to make me feel the certain concreteness and uniqueness of a day from the other. This led me to an experience of learning, relearning, and unlearning; of review and reflection; of joy and struggles to understand; and of discovering new perspective and insights. These opposing categories made the class a meaningful and colorful journey. Let me now use the concept of the statement The Rhythm That Makes Life Human in the succeeding paragraphs.

It becomes clearer for me that we, more often than not, have the tendency to be trapped in the ordinariness and business of life day after day. We are caught up working for security and stability. Things and events get routinary, structured, and raw. The world for the majority becomes an enemy to wrestle with. The time becomes short. We succumb to fear, insecurity, and anger – unable to make sense of and come to grips with the fact that we are living in a symbolic and resurrection world full of vitality, activity, and meaning. It is in this world where every experience of dark and light, abundance and poverty, pain and comfort, sorrow and joy, as well as life and death count and is significant when lived.

We need to be fully aware or reminded that in our day-to-day experiences we neither hold stories of fairy tale nor fantasy but stories significant to ourselves, to others, to the world and the whole creation, to history, and to God. Stories which create, perpetuate, and touch life in its fullness. Our life is a story [of becoming] within and into that bigger story [which has already become]. We are real, living, walking stories… God’s masterpieces in time. Altogether we hold dearly the whole story and history of Jesus which enable us to go beyond every story to far bigger reality and live fully as humans. Or rather do we?

These stories cannot be mere backgrounds and products of our multiple experiences. They call for endless celebration where they are retold and remembered. A celebration, as my mentor Fr. Brendan Lovett emphasized in one of our classes, which makes us in touch of the newness of life, lifts us up, deepens the meaning of the stories that we bring and believe in as well as our day-to-day life. The celebration also brings us deeper and closer to the Ground of our being. Tad Guzie (1981) mentioned in his book that the retelling and remembering in turn help us to re-enter everyday lived experience with a sense of refreshment and a new sense of purpose. In simpler terms, it rescues us to the rigidity and monotony of life and allows us to walk with the One who shows us how to become by living fully and who says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Moreover our every celebration -- our liturgy, rituals, and sacraments -- (must) take on new meaning, creativity, and depth. Not only does it help us to celebrate but also to be rooted again and again to our tradition and original story in a newer and more meaningful way. As Tad Guzie beautifully puts it, it restores us to our proper relationship to history and history-making… reminds us that we are fully within history but that history is also within something else. Yes, when we live our experience, we should remember and celebrate them as individuals and one people who Jesus gathered and freed once and for all. As we are brought in communion to the Father, we are becoming in history of God, people, and creation open to God’s mercy and graces -- living everything, life as pure gift.

As McKenna in the book Rites of Justice (1997) have emphasized, it is important that in our liturgy everything becomes and is connected and form intimate relationships: the people or assembly, the leaders, their work, the words and actions, the space and environment (art, music, building, furnishings and objects, hospitality, appropriateness, etc..), the unity and harmony, the silence. The liturgy (must) capture the whole of human experience, nothing excluded, blending all our stories into the one Story we all honor and remember every celebration – that story of God, who makes all things new for us. McKenna added that the story sings of only the best for God and only the best for the poor, saying the way we work, spend money, and worship, as well as do justice and charity, is all one piece. Like Joseph in a Jewish story McKenna related, we work hard all week preparing and waiting for the Sunday celebration, and after the celebration off we go refreshed and renewed to the world.

Our celebration does not end here. We are Easter people and therefore must become human mediation of God’s presence and marvel for all. Like the journeyers of Emmaus we are called to bring and share the joy we experience and like what McKenna wrote to seep out into the world like heaven in bread, like balm for all pain and sorrow, like abiding peace with justice, like glory’s radiant reflection.

This is the reason why we are being sent at the end of the celebration. As McKenna says, “it is service, another way of washing feet, of bending before one another, of committing ourselves to the practice of the corporal works of mercy, of suffering with and for one another”. We must become what we celebrate, honor, and worship.


References:
Gonzales, L.J. The Artist of Nazareth. Mexico: Editorial Font S.A., 1996.
Guzie, T. The Sacramental Basics. NY: Paulist Press, 1981.
McKenna, M. Rites of Justice. NY: Orbis Books, 1997.

Theological Reflections

Crucial to my journey of becoming is my incessant search for meaning and depth in my experiences, in my encounter with people, in my relationships with God, the community and my self. I always long and crave for colors, rhythm and music in the dance of life. The picture must be that of joyous and harmonious strokes and movements speaking of beauty and grandiosity. And it was. Nevertheless, I was shown another work of art. A portrait of a dark void with slow pacing and dissonant force whirling around it. I said, there must something valuable in it despite its mysterious, unattractive appearance. And indeed, there was. Given the pictures, satisfied I was not. I looked and desire for the ‘more’ that will hold and furnish the pictures together into a masterpiece of symbolic, transparent fine art. This I was given. But, not the picture, only the way. I must journey to search for it. This time, I am anxious. I said, there must be danger ahead. I might get lost and never find my way back. On the contrary, there was no other better way other than to risk journeying all the way through the road I less traveled. A journey in and through my stories, which would become a one story of unceasing spiritual quest within the Bigger Story.

Let me conceptualize my story trough [the context of] the story that I read in Anthony de Mello’s book The Heart of the Enlightened.

I set off for the journey and I came upon a tall tower, stepped inside and found it all dark. As I groped around, I came upon a circular staircase. Curious to know where it led to, I began to climb, and as I climbed, I sensed a growing uneasiness my heart. So I looked behind me and was horrified to see that each time I climbed a step, the previous one fell off and disappeared. Before me the stairs wound upward and I had no idea where they led; behind me yawned an enormous black emptiness. With growing fear, I continue to climb on top. Tired and weary, I reached the last step. But it was not yet the end. Before me stands a dark labyrinth. I started to cry and groan in terror and pain that gripped my being. I knew then, I was off to a more horrifying and crushing journey. A journey to my ‘labyrinth’ self.

What a terrifying place! I moved from one dark room to another of different sizes and battled with monsters and ghosts. My emotions and experience beyond imaginable, evolved from fear and terror to anguish and sorrow to pain and restlessness to anger and resentment to letting be and to death. I was crushed. Everything was a mess. A total jumble of emotions and self. There seemed to be no end. How I wish I have never been into it or just jumped back to the ground when I was still near! At one point, I just wanted to give it all up. Gathering my remaining strength and will, I decided to continue the journey. Simply because I trusted the gift of the way and the presence of the One who agonizes with me.

Jesus came in Gethsemane and prayed. What a dark moment for him! His fear, sorrow, pain and anguish were so terrifying that that they almost crushed him. “He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. He prayed saying, ‘Father if you are willing, take this cup away from me… [Lk 22:42a, 44] However, he did not allow these to overcome him. He accepted his Father’s will, “…still, not my will but yours be done” [Luke 22: 42b] and let everything be unto death.

Jesus’ Yes is rooted in his unqualified faith and obedience to the will of God transcending uncertainties and self-will. Jesus said yes not to abolish but to charmingly embrace evil in order to bring about good. Jesus said yes to swallow death so that there may be life for all humanity and creation. By doing so in the cross, he unveiled to us the love that there is for us. A love that we can always hope for.

This gave me the wisdom I just needed. Dark moment is always a turning point, an occasion to rediscover the ‘love’ that manifest itself in a way that I cannot fully grasp. Accepting it leads to something greater that I may not know for the moment. Something beyond my experience, capable of gazing at and embracing my experience itself. It might even be the ‘more’ that I am searching for. This I shall always cherish, hold and remember as I go through the journey especially of my life at sundown echoing the same words of Jesus “…still, not my will but yours be done.”

* * * * * * * * * *

I was nearing death. I resisted. I was too scared. I then had to deal with my fear and pain and just let death be. Without control. Without haste. Without denial. Broken, wounded, scarred, I had to [learn] to just be in death and wait. And so I did. I kept still, nothing yet seemed to happen. I tried to be full of anticipation and hope. I continued waiting, waiting and waiting.

After long waiting, there emerged a thin ray of light. I became more afraid. The light might fade. It should not be this time. Not anymore. It is better to be in the dark than to see light and see it dies out. However, light has to be light. Again I waited. The light started to overcome the darkness and transform the coldness of the labyrinth. I began to feel its warmth gradually penetrating every bit of my flesh, my being, reviving my strength, soothing me with calmness and peace, recreating life in me. Still I did not move. I waited. Then at my own pace, I stood up opening my curled body. I began to see and understand. There is nothing to be scared of. The light must shine. The journey has not yet ended but just began. A journey toward home must continue and I surmise, a more demanding one.

I was like an iron right in the middle of the iron furnace being burned by fire. Violently burned, the rusts that continue to destroy and waste the iron away were consumed, smoothening its rough surfaces. The fire continued burning but amazingly the iron was never destroyed, rather there emerged itself, hot and blazing, now dancing with the glowing and harmonious movement of fire. O gracious birth of iron’s true nature, which even a scorching fire is not capable of wiping out but only of enabling it to shine.

Jesus did not escape death but rather courageously went up to Jerusalem. He waited for the hour. When the time came, he lovingly fixed himself in a wide-open embrace of the world. He accepted everything as a gift, which includes us, and offered it back to the Father. The Father, who Jesus let be, received and brought it to himself with graciousness and love, raising Jesus from death and making his glory shines through. Jesus’ death and resurrection were the culmination of God revealing God-self in a medium which is no longer other but self. An act of love that transcends unnecessary fears, anxieties and falsified desires.

The courage to accept acceptance (Breemen, As Bread that is Broken) is the heart of coming home. The continuous discovery and acceptance that I am first and always loved by God as I am will always lead me back home to God, the truth and ground of my being. What I have is not what counts but I am. I do not have to be another person and what I am not. I only have to mine in my own backyard and need not go far away to find the treasure. God’s unqualified love is what holds my broken and wounded self as a whole. When I allow my self to be totally determined by it, let everything to pass through me and accept everything as gift [even death], it is the healing of me that happens. Darkness is never our true place. Death is never our end. To let God be God, to let God Easter in me/us (Lovett, It’s Not Over Yet) is my/our first calling.

Jesus by allowing himself to be consumed by love brought healing and wholeness and therefore make us children of light. We called to do the same. The gift received must be shared and gratitude is the appropriate response. Therefore, every time I raise the Cup and break bread with God’s people, I shall forever treasure the love that is poured out for us in the humblest manner, and always remember that I have to be broken in order to be shared.
I would like to end with an excerpt from The Quest: Letter to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke.

How should we be able to forget those ancient myths,
that is in the beginning of all peoples?
The myths about dragons, that, in the last moment
turned into princesses.
Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses,
only waiting to see us,
once beautiful and brave.
Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being,
something helpless that wants help from us.

So, you must not be frightened
if sadness rises up before you,
larger than you’ve ever seen;
if arrestedness like light and clouds shadows
passes over your hands.
And over all you do,
you must think that something is happening with you;
that life has not forgotten you
and holds you in its hands.
It will not let you fall…