Tonight I'll be talking about rising up from our deaths through God. When are the times you feel very down? Na parang gumuho na ang lahat. Ano yung mga bagay na nagreresulta sa pagkamatay ng pagkatao mo?
In our first reading from Deuteronomy 15: 7-11, it talks about being open-handed o "pagiging-bukas palad" sa mga mahihirap. Huwag daw maging gahaman o ganid. Minsan kapag may namamalimos, nagiisip tayo kung bibigyan ba natin yung mahirap ng pera o ng pagkain. O kaya naman kung may pakialam ba tayo o wala? Minsan kailangan din natin isipin kung makakatulong ba talaga sa tao yung gagawin nating pagbibigay o baka naman mas lalong masanay at hindi na matuto yoong tao. Sa aking experyensya, kung sa tingin ko kayang-kaya magbanat ng buto ng tao at mas malaki pa katawan sa akin o kaya naman mukhang masama ang asal, hindi ko binibigay. Ngunit kung nakikita ko na sobrang hirap na yung tao o kaya naman sobrang matanda na o may disabilidad na hindi na nya kaya magtrabaho, nagbibigay ako at sinasamahan ko ng dasal. O kaya kaunting barya lang kasi minsan nagagamit din sila ng mga sindikato. Kaya pinapakiramdaman ko rin kung magbibigay ako o hindi. Ang mahalaga galing sa puso natin ang pagbibigay at nais talaga natin tumulong at hindi pakitang-tao lang.
Sa pangalawang pagbasa naman mula sa ika-2 aklat ng Korinto 8: 1-9; 13-15, tinuturuan tayo na maging masiyahin kahit sa gitna ng pagsubok. Nagreresulta ito sa pagiging mapagbigay natin. Tinuturuan din tayong magbigay sa abot ng makakaya natin o minsa'y higit pa. There's POWER in giving! It enlivens us! It inspires us! It may be hard at first, especially if you're giving something that is so precious to you or something that's very hard to do, but eventually, you'll find fulfillment and joy.
In our gospel today Mark 5: 22-24, 35b-43, we learn another "raising the dead"-story of Jesus. Most of the time, we just hear about Lazarus. But in this instance, it was a father asking Jesus to heal his daughter. Unfortunately, the daughter has died when the father and Jesus arrived. At this moment, Jesus said, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep...“Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”
How does the gospel for today speak to us as Filipinos and as a rainbow nation? Speaking of rainbow, double of it appeared after the 21st Pride March at Lapu-Lapu Monument, Rizal Park yesterday. The rainbow is the symbol of the LGBTQ nation. In the Bible, it says, "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth" (Genesis 9: 13) As many of us know, the rainbow appeared after God destroyed the earth by flood. The rainbow appeared after a great disaster and signifies hope. As Filipinos, we need to rise from our ignorance and don't be just contented with what we see at face value. We need to rise up as a nation. We need to help one another instead of pulling one another. Let's think of what we can do for our country for it to rise up from its "death" of poverty, corruption, lack of education, etc. Someday, we'll rise again and be admired by many countries.
As a rainbow community, the gospel speaks to us to rise above our challenges as a community. We need to work together in order to effect change in our society. In order to help our community, we need to practice word of honor, setting aside differences, acknowledging that we were once victims of discrimination, verbal abuse, bashing, bullying, therefore we should end that cycle already with the best of our efforts. We also need to swallow some of our "bad" pride to work with others who are totally different from us. We need to learn to forgive after justice has been served. If justice hasn't been served, let's learn to be patient and trust God that he'll do the rest while we do our part.
Rising up from a mess is not easy, but through God, with supportive friends, we can rise up from any difficulty. I'll end my message with a quote from Joel Osteen, a renowned Pastor/evangelist/writer, "I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you're a person of influence and a person of purpose, I believe you can rise up out of any situation."
