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𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟓. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐓. 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀, 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏 𝐊𝐠𝐬 𝟐:𝟏-𝟒, 𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝟏 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨 𝟐𝟗:𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟐 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐊 𝟔:𝟕-𝟏𝟑

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “…𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭.” (𝐯.𝟏𝟐) 

        When we were invited to attend the formation program of the Bukas Loob sa Diyos Covenant Community following our completion of our Marriage Encounter Weekend seminar in 1989, the first thing me and my spouse Malou felt was raw enthusiasm at what was in store for this new chapter in our lives.

        While our family went through our Sunday obligations every week, we were not exactly deeply devout Catholics and we were both anxious because we weren’t sure how the renewal movement which we know will require a certain degree of commitment would fit in our lives.

        But when we started attending the formation program after our Life in the Spirit Seminar, both me and Malou were filled with awe and excitement. We were equally thrilled at the teachings that challenged our faith and spirituality. It also helped a lot that the teachings were facilitated by the elders and senior members of the community who commanded respect and authority.

        The rest is history. The three-and-a-half year formation program went by like a breeze and there was no dull moment in our growing up years in the community and we soon put into practice what we were taught and learned during our formative years in the community.

        It might interest you to note that a few chapters before this Gospel reading, we read in 𝐌𝐤 𝟑:𝟏𝟑-𝟏𝟗 how Jesus chose the 12 men from among his numerous disciples whom he elevated to become the Apostles to whom he passed on his authority to do what he was doing.

        As with us, the 12 Apostles probably did not also know that their having been chosen was not an entitlement but it was a privilege that will require lots of sacrifices including the offering of their own self literally speaking as the 11 Apostles all died a violent death. John, the disciples whom Jesus loved, died of old age in the island of Patmos in Greece where he lived the remainder of his life in exile.

         But more than this initial foray in evangelization Jesus would entrust to them the building of the church which will be officially founded on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit takes his place as the paraclete who will equip and empower the Church as we see it now.

        The 12 Apostles are gone now, and the Church continues to evolve over time and today the responsibility to help keep the Church standing rests on our shoulders.

         We also heard Jesus on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time when he delivered what amounted to be his inaugural address to kick off his ministry when he declared: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫.” (𝐋𝐤 𝟒:𝟏𝟖-𝟏𝟗)        

         And in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus issues what appears to be the mission orders not only for his Apostles but also for us who have made a commitment to honor our covenant with God and Jesus spelled out at least four primary tasks that include: (1) 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌, (2) 𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅, (3) 𝑪𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 (4) 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏.        

         Here we see Jesus sending out his disciples in pairs and gave them the power and the authority to speak and to act in his name. He gave specific instructions for them to do the same works that he did – to heal, to free people from the power of the evil one, and to speak the word of God – the good news of the gospel that they received from Jesus.

         As Jesus gave his disciples the power and authority to guide them as they went out to experience what it was to evangelize, he also meshed this power and authority with love and humility that they are to be clothed with. While the “world” and the “flesh” seek power for selfish gain, Jesus is also telling us in this passage that we must have love and humility especially in dealing with our neighbor.

         Today’s Gospel is our own appointment as his ambassadors and missionaries – to bring the Good News to all peoples, lands, and nations as He freely pours out his Holy Spirit upon each one of us so that we may have the confidence and boldness to speak and act in his name wherever he sends us.

         As he did with his Apostles and disciples, Jesus is also telling us the new breed of evangelists to “travel light” with as little provision or none and depend on what we will find in the mission field we go to. What Jesus was teaching is for us to be familiar with such poverty of spirit that will free us from greed and concern for possessions instead of God's provision.

         What the Lord wants is for us to be dependent on him and not on ourselves. What these directives of Jesus represent is the pursuit of a radical kind of faith which simply means doing things that we are not used to. This also means getting out of our comfort zones and into the mission fields even if such will inconvenience us. It means our days are filled with the desire for mission to evangelize from the rising of the sun to its setting and not reduce this to an annual event.

         I am particularly saddened when I am confronted with Christians who claim to have been renewed but who serve only where it is comfortable and conformable to their life’s standards. Worse is when you hear reports of leaders benefiting from the position they hold in the church or community for that matter.

         While Jesus and his disciples make do with whatever is given them in the homes they go to, there are a new breed of disciples who expect that they be treated like royalty and we see them in every corner of our church. These are faces who make a lot of noise but whom you don’t see on the streets.

         To talk of radicalism in the way we practice our faith is also to look at the way we conduct ourselves as disciples. There is an ocean of difference between talking about discipleship and doing it. Preaching the Gospel and living it is what the call of Jesus is all about.

          All these translate to metanoia which means that in Christ’s schema, we lose our identity. We forget who we are as we go to proclaim the Gospel in every situation we are in, to toil and serve and not to issue orders because only Christ gives the order. While a leadership structure puts order even in a Christian setting, leaders are expected to become encouragers and not controllers who impose their will on others.

          We should take to heart that the mission orders that Jesus gave to the Apostles are the same as what He has been doing during his earthly ministry and it presupposes that since we have already seen what he has done Jesus also expects is that we can replicate this in our own evangelical mission.

          As with the Apostles, we are to do this in conjunction with the more important task of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. The Jews longed to have their own Kingdom and be freed from the oppression, but they had a different mindset of the Messiah. And what Jesus was saying was that His coming into the world heralds the coming of the Kingdom of God.

          The Church recently took steps to revive the Christian faith that is becoming lukewarm as a result of the relativism especially in the West (United States) and this moved Peter’s successor Pope Francis to issue an apostolic exhortation – Evangelii Gaudium – which contain instructions  principally to reinvigorate the evangelical mission of the church through the proclamation of the Gospel with joy.

          It also realized that there was no need to reinvent the wheel or restructure the organization that has existed for more than 2,000 years but that what is needed is the transmission of the Gospel of Christ using the new media and communication tools that the post-modern world can relate to.

         The Bukas Loob sa Diyos which was founded in 1985 grew to an extent that it could fill up the entire plenary hall of the Philippine International Convention Center. The BLD at that time did not have a Covenant of Communion or the BLD Statutes. What we had were mere operating manuals that were culled from actual experiences and copied from materials made available by other communities and these were what guided each of the ministries and apostolates in those days.

         What could have fueled this tremendous growth? It was in the simplicity with which the Gospel of Christ was imparted and proclaimed. Equipped with nothing but their passion and love for the Word of God, BLD members brought Christ to others without counting the cost.

        Today, the Church urges us “𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚'𝒔 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒎𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔.” (𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂 4, 𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒚)

         In other words, the reason why churches and or communities like the BLD are now confronted with problems related to the practice of their baptismal faith is because it reinvented the wheel and has prioritized plans and projects to supplant that which is more important – the encounter with the personhood of Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the Gospel.

         Remember that Jesus Himself began His Kingdom in the hearts of His Apostles and disciples including we who comprise the modern-day disciples whom he gathered from the dark valleys where we dwelt before Jesus found us. Hence, our mandate is to do the same and that is to establish his Kingdom in the hearts of men.

         We must keep in mind what the prophet Hosea said: “𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞.” (𝐇𝐨𝐬 𝟒:𝟔) Knowledge as used in the Scriptures does not refer to anything else but knowledge of God which means our calling is to know him that we may love him, to love him that we may serve him, to serve him that we may share in his suffering which is the way to a glorious life. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 5, 2026)