Out of sight

MY friends from Saipan, the family of former Gov. Larry Guerrero, have long wanted to see and taste our Philippine coconut crabs. Wanting to be of help, I asked around where to find them, but to no avail. When I mentioned my predicament to Ramon, our driver at the SVD Mission Office, to my joy, it turned out he knew exactly where to find them coconut crabs. Early next morning, he brought my friends to a market near Mayon Street, where beaming with pride, he showed them, to the disappointments of my friends, the place selling coconut crafts.

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In today's Gospel (Jn. 9, 1-41), Jesus must have been disappointed that after He healed the man who had been blind since birth, all that the pharisees could see was the fact that He did it on a Sabbath. What could and should have been a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving was turned into a day of controversy, and disappointment. Sometimes we, too, can be so "out of sight" when we focus on what is lacking and forget to thank God for our blessings in life. God must sometimes be disappointed with us who receive so much blessings and still end up not happy, but crabby.

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Instead of seeing graces, do you often see crisis and creases? Instead of being grateful, are you often fretful? Instead of counting your blessings, do you count your misgivings? The Lord urges us all today to see the "Big Picture" instead of being focused on our limited, miserable little screens.

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The easiest things to do in this life are to be miserable and to be a kill joy, and some people are specialists in doing just that. There are people who go through life just solving problems, and so forget to celebrate it and all its blessings. Worse are people who create problems and deprive others of life's blessings. The Pharisees were something like that in Jesus' time. Are you something like that in this our time?

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Fr. Antonio Pernia, SVD, the superior general of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) is in town for a visit. He is the first Asian, the first Filipino superior general of one of the biggest male religious congregations (with about 6,000 members worldwide) in the world today. From where he sits, he has to be on top of so many concerns and problems, and yet Father Tony has not lost his touch for seeing and pointing out what is good, what is promising in everyone.

What gives him joy, he said, is not so much the wealth and the stability of our structures, but the goodness and the efforts of confreres trying to live out their missionary commitment in a simple, quiet, joyful way. More than legalisms, more than functions, more than forecasts, we need leaders who are persons who feel, encourage, affirm and challenge us to move on. We need people who make us feel good about ourselves and, in effect, encourage us to be even better. We need people who show us the "already," and point us to the "not yet" as we journey on.

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It is unbelievable how narrow and closed-minded some people could be. I was sharing with a friend my experience of hearing the confessions of a stewardess on board a plane from Batanes. It was such a grace-filled moment for this woman who in tears accepted God's love and forgiveness. It was also such a humbling moment for me to be there when she was ready to accept God, finally. And what did my friend say, when I was through with my sharing? "Jerry, the territorial faculties to hear confessions in such cases may have been suspended, but, were you wearing a stole?" Wow! Out of sight talaga (really). Here was grace abounding, and all he could think of were the defects and what was wanting.

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Fourteen young men will be ordained priests at the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay this March 9, 2005 by Bishop Tagle of the Diocese of Imus. "Ready and Willing" is the motto of our SVD Class 2005. Ten of them will be assigned to foreign missions, i.e., Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Brazil. Let us praise and thank God for the gift of vocations, the gift of priesthood and the gift of missionaries in our day and time.

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May we not lose sight of the fact that we all are missionaries in this world, and that we all should be busy telling the "Good News" to all peoples -- wherever we are, and whatever we do. Are you yourself a "good news"?

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We will be sharing the good news to our overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong at the Sin Ying Secondary School in Kowloon this coming Sunday, March 13. What people need to hear is that God is with them wherever they are and that God loves them whoever they are. May we all be kind to God by introducing Him as someone who loves unconditionally, and may we all be generous to people by introducing this loving God at every and at any moment of their lives. Let us not hold God, and let us not hold back God on other people.

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Yesterday was the first wedding in our family. We did not lose our niece Ren. We gained a nephew in JE Santos. Praise God!

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A moment with the Lord:
Lord, remind me that if you are out of sight in my life, I am missing a lot. Amen.