Horrible year, wonderful year.

I write this in January 2018 and look back at the past years since my husband died more than two decades ago. I feel that these have been, in general, a string of annuses horribilises (forgive my fractured Latin). It seems only 2016 stood out as my annus mirabilis because that was the year I received great blessings, especially a headway in my career. After that, it was back to meh for 2017. That year was so uninspiring, it even triggered some sort of spiritual desert experience for me.

It is difficult to understand what will happen at the Second Coming of Jesus. The apocalyptic literature of the Scriptures is filled with symbols and they are not easy to interpret. Let us do our best to prepare for the Last Day and live a holy and fruitful life, leaving the details of Jesus’ Second Coming to God.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, console one another with these words.

Psalm 96:1, 3, 4-5, 11-12, 13

R: The Lord comes to judge the earth.

1 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all you lands. 3 Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds. (R) 4 For great is the Lord and highly to be praised; awesome is he, beyond all gods. 5 For all the gods of the nations are things of nought, but the Lord made the heavens. (R) 11 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; 12 let the plains be joyful and all that is in them! Then shall all the trees of the forest exult. (R) 13 Before the Lord, for he comes; for he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus was not afraid to speak His mind. This gets Him into trouble eventually, but so be it. The truth will not remain silent forever. Let us not compromise the truth in any way. Sometimes we show mercy by overlooking the faults of others or judge them less harshly. But this does not have to compromise the truth or mislead others.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

Luke 4:16-30

16 Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read 17 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” 20 Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. 21 He said to them, “Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” 23 He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25 Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. 26 It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. 29 They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

think: What truth is Jesus asking you to speak to others on His behalf?

______________________________   

That was Sunday and we were passing by Carmel Church in Bacolod City. My superior and I agreed to concelebrate the 7:00 a.m. Ilonggo Mass with the local priest. Our flight back to Manila was three hours away.

It was already 7:15 a.m., but the local priest was nowhere in sight. The Sisters were already in panic and the people were becoming restless.

On the contrary, I was relaxed and at peace after concluding my silent prayer. My superior turned to me, “I will preside over the Mass but you will give the homily.” It was one of those rare instances of on-the-spot preaching for me.

With a little aid from the Sambuhay misalette, plus the insights I gained from my morning prayer, I made it through. The homily was not really exceptional, but what I felt was spiritually extraordinarily exceptional. I felt confident as if something or Someone was facilitating how I spoke and what I talked about. There was power in the words that came out. The Gospel became alive: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news.”

After the Mass, we went to the airport contemplating about what had just happened. We were both not in our own “country,” so to speak, and yet were accepted because there was more than just who we are. Instead of throwing us out of the city, the people rose up to greet us.

Words can pierce one’s soul; phrases can strike a person’s hardened heart. Based on my experience, preaching is not only a matter of skills and techniques. Though it is good to be equipped with basic preaching skills, it is really the Holy Spirit working in us—the double-edged sword that cuts both ways. Fr. Haluendo Amit, OCD