KAIROS

Today's 1st reading is a sort of eulogy for King David who was laid to rest in God's appointed time of departure from earth. Death can be viewed in many different ways. We should always come into terms with the truth that we encounter many and various situations that sum up all our experiences. Some pleasant but some are not. It is best to always work towards an attitude of acceptance. These things are all part and parcel of the so called cycle of life. If we are not able to go through this cycle then we can never experience the fullness of time. This could make better sense if we think of a place which has 4 seasons. If we weren't able to stay in such place for the entire year then we couldn't experience these 4 seasons. There is a need for us to go through each and every season in order to fully appreciate and differentiate one from the other. In the same way that we go through a cycle in life and experience first hand, true to life circumstances and events which make us see and feel things in the best way possible. There can never be any other great teacher in life than experience itself. “Kairos" (the appointed time in the purpose of God) is the fullness of time. We have encountered this phrase several times in the gospel to define the coming of Jesus Christ in the fullness of time. It could also be defined as God's time, time of fulfillment, unity in time and oneness in time. In order to further understand its context as the fullness of time, we can take as an example, a cycle or 360 degrees wherein there is a beginning and end. Through this illustration we have the privilege of coming into the full understanding of this "kairos" which eventually leads to attaining our peace which is a oneness in the state of being. We are His creation and God is in creation. It is due to this that we have this incessant desire to know God. We have the scriptures to guide us but it is also in all other aspects especially the actual images of this life that we live that we can come to a deeper understanding of these things. When we read a good book, in the beginning we have no idea how the story unfolds but as we come to near the end finally finish reading everything then we get the whole picture. Life events are chapters that are part of this. In attaining to kairos everything will make perfect sense. It is our prayer and hope that as we travel through life and come to the fullness of time or "kairos" we become holy and experience the unity in state of being and oneness in persons thus making creation and Creator as one. Amen. Hallelujah!

Sirach 47:2-11
2 Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings, so was David in Israel. 3 He made sport of lions as though they were kids, and of bears, like lambs of the flock. 4 As a youth he slew the giant and wiped out the people’s disgrace, when his hand let fly the slingstone that crushed the pride of Goliath. 5 Since he called upon the Most High God, who gave strength to his right arm to defeat the skilled warrior and raise up the might of his people,...

One of the intriguing and debatable issues that always come up is about free will. God is all powerful and He can make all things possible. Due to the unerring nature of God, He was, is and will never be wrong and there is no room for mistakes. We are God's creation and must have been perfect in everyway. So how come human beings who are on top of all His creation always end up in chaos and disorder. There is no doubt to the perfection of God's handiwork, the only flaw is that we have our free will, if we could really call it a flaw. That we are not treated as merely slaves, puppets and robots that should follow our master's bidding since we have our free will is the most perfect gift a creator could ever give to his creation. Thank God! He is not an overpowering and oppressing God. He respects and honors us with this gift of free will to do anything we please. This is something that only perfect love can permit. It is from our love for God that we should gather our strength. We should focus on that alone and everything will follow. There is no doubt that God has already won the crown for us, all we have to do is defend our title as heirs of the kingdom of God from the snatchers of this grace. Show forth God's power in our lives. All we need to do is always call upon the Lord and we are safe. We are constantly beset by troubles in life but we should never forget that God is always with us and for us to win all our battles. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 18:31, 47, 50, 51
R: Blessed be God my salvation!
30 [31] God’s way is unerring, the promise of the LORD is fire-tried; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him. (R) 46 [47] The LORD live! And blessed be my Rock! Extolled be God my savior. 49 [50] Therefore will I proclaim you, O LORD, among the nations, and I will sing praise to your name. (R) 50 [51] You who gave great victories to your king and showed kindness to your anointed, to David and his posterity forever.

It is just very sad that despite the many times God tries to convey His love to us, we still sometimes back away. We've got to stand firm, hold our ground and not give in to the world's pressures. Let us not end up like Herod who came as close to knowing what is righteousness and holiness but never really got to the doing and acting part. In the Philippines we have a habit of calling people names. For someone to be called Herod or Herodes means being really naughty and bad. We may all claim to know what is right but we have to realize that we may never be able to come to a point where we can claim to be a better person than Herod. We may have this impression that we are far better Christians than any of the others we know but we may be wrong. For all we know we are not far from being like Herod or much worse. Let us hope not. For there is really more to being a Christian than what we actually know. As what have been mentioned in the 1st reading about the sanctity of marriage, it is now being emphasized once more in today's gospel. John the Baptist paid a great price for this truth. We sometimes don't realize it, but we may also be guilty just like Herodias. We may not be committing adultery like her but we too succumb to the temptation of eliminating the people and circumstances around us that is a source of inconvenience or simply not conformed to our personal statement and views. We also make use of other people to camouflage or hide our true intentions in order for us to carry out our plans without the guilt of having participated in it. We resort to all kinds of disguise without knowing that in the process of doing so we are headed for the worst kind of situation.  Let us not further aggravate it and know in our heart, mind and soul that all areas of our life needs to be totally surrendered to God not just a part, half but our entire being.  In doing so with the gift of free will we allow ourselves to enjoy life at its fullness because we are not bound or tied and can exercise this gift as much as we want and never run out. We should not be too carried away though and forget that it is also because of this free will that we are also presented with horrible things as in today's gospel that are products of the wrong use of this gift. It is of prime importance that we exercise, use and handle this gift with much care. This is the reflection question and prayer that I read in Didache: What do you do when you are under pressure? Do you stand up for what is right or you just go with the crowd because everyone else is doing it? Lord, grant me the wisdom and the courage to do what is pleasing in Your sight even if the world laughs at me. And in Companion, Fr. Martin Macasaet said the following words. "Yes, we, too, are called and challenged to imitate John the Baptist’s courageous act of witnessing —not necessarily in the form of a bloody beheading, of course. Today’s Christian martyrdoms are certainly more of a subtle and sophisticated kind. But perhaps, they are just as compelling and exigent — as when our moral principles are tested in our workplaces, or when our senses are bombarded by sexually suggestive images, or when we are scandalized by the bad examples of our leaders and celebrities, and so on." We all have our own personal Herod, Salome and worst our Herodias tendencies in life. Only we ourselves know these and what specific aspect it is in our lives. Unless we acknowledge them, firmly reject and stand up against it instead of yielding to it then we are no better than any of them. In today's gospel we are also reminded of our stubbornness when we insist on doing things our way. We could somehow relate this to those who insist on wearing something even if it doesn't fit them just because it is the "in" thing. The same way with our life we end up looking foolish when we insist on keeping up with the latest trend and fashion that this world offers when the only thing that is well fitted to us is to always wear the clothes of Jesus which is fashioned in the passion of the cross in order to be the best dressed Christian. People may not be able to know it by just looking at us and we can easily get away with our wrong doings which we have kept in secret or hidden in our thoughts and feelings which no human person can see but God does. We’ve got to believe that there is really somebody watching us as the song says. Sometimes we forget that God can see through us and knows exactly what's inside our hearts and minds. Let us not wait for the time when we like the scribes and Pharisees will be spoken to by God in this manner. Let us choose to hear words of commendation from the Lord rather than be called a hypocrite. Let us truly be the person that God wants us to be, whether there are people who can see our goodness or not. Amen. Hallelujah!

Mark 6:14-29

...John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."

Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him... “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”26 The king was deeply distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. 27 So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in the prison. 28 He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl.