Homilies

14th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: THE VALUE OF LEARNING

IN EVERY MOMENT of our lives, in every beat of our hearts, and in every tick of a second, there are opportunities and avenues of learning for all of us. Everything we have today, like our experiences and interactions with other people, good or bad, are tools for us to live by for the morrow. 

My parents had sent me to school in order to learn. Later, I entered the seminary and through the “classroom” of God, I have learned much about life. But the knowledge I got is simply imperfect knowledge. However, I became so corrupted and was driven by the amazement of that little knowledge and at times I became very critical about anything that I noticed. There was always a drive to say something in every topic. There were even instances that I felt uneasy, impatient and inattentive to a person’s talk or homily because I thought that I knew already what they are saying or going to say. Little did I know that I have become closed to new ideas and realizations, and pushed myself away from God’s loving care.
 
Jesus, in today’s Gospel, reminds us the true value of learning and the true knowledge of God.  He invites us to come to him and learn from him. Indeed, He Himself is the point of reference of our day-to-day living. The Gospel presents to us three symbolisms as means to find ourselves living faithfully in the knowledge of God.

The first is the symbolism of a child (little ones). Jesus prayed, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones”.  There is a wide contrast between the “wise / learned” and the “little ones”.  On the one hand, the “little ones” refer to those people, regardless of age and stature, who have imbibed the values of openness, humble heart, and trusting spirit.  They are clearly manifested in a ways of a child.  They have not yet known of any biases and prejudices.  On the other hand, the “wise and learned” refer to those people who pride themselves as intellectuals, seeing themselves as superior to others and thinking that they are barometers of goodness and right.  The pursuit of excellence and intellectual achievement are themselves good and desirable.  Yet, what is condemnable is intellectual pride that corrupts the person’s very being.  I remember one scene of the movie, The Forbidden Kingdom, where Jacky Chan teaches martial arts to an American actor. The latter could never get anything right because he has already the preconceived ideas of martial arts through the movies he had watched before.  Jacky Chan told him to “EMPTY YOUR CUP!” for him to learn the true martial arts. That is also meant for us. We need also to “empty our cup” by being open, humble, and trusting, in order for God to enter into our lives and “fill our cup” and thus, become worthy of the revelation of God.

The second is the symbolism of thanksgiving. Again, Jesus prayed: “I give praise to you…yes Father, such has been your gracious will”.  Thanksgiving is the language of the heart.  Practically, it presupposes that you receive something, and that you need something.  A grateful heart is a heart that acknowledges one’s limitations, weaknesses, and shortcomings. It is a heart that acknowledges that God alone suffices and only in God will our soul rests. With God, there is nothing we shall want.

The third is Jesus’ invitation. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves, for my yoke is easy, and my burden light”. Personal experience tells us that it is a very different feeling when people invite us to come along with them. Through the invitation, we feel appreciated; we feel that we are special. Here, Jesus invites us to come to Him.  This is an invitation towards special relationship with Him, a special loving relationship.  God never waits for us to come to him.  He initiates so that we may find rest in him. God so loves us that much that He tirelessly and unceasingly carry us and gave us the yoke that we can carry. Here, I remember a very touching scene from a Tagalog movie entitled Magnifico. The child, Magnifico, joyfully carried his sister on his back towards their town’s peryahan (amusement park), just for his sister to experience the excitement of being in the place.  It was the love for his sister that moved Magnifico to do that. And so also with us, we are called to reach out to others in love, that others may lessen the burden others have and that they may find rest in God.

“Come to me…for I am meek and humble of heart.” Let us respond to the invitation of Jesus and learn these things from him.

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