BOKASYONG AGUSTINO MINISTRY

SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

Going Beyond

PN. Aldrin De Leon Tanjuan

Hagonoy, Bulacan Province, Philippines

This is a reflection on Lk. 8:19-21.

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We live in a culture where family is deeply valued. We hold a kind of thinking of putting first our families. Blood is thicker than water, as the saying goes. However, as I ponder upon the concept of family, I came across the question of what does it take, for you to consider someone as your brother, sister, father, or mother? Do we limit ourselves on the “earthly kinship”? Or can we go beyond the biological bond?

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In our Gospel today, Jesus is reminding us that our relationship with him is not only bounded by race or blood, or by being born in a Catholic or Christian family. It is on our faith that the moment we were baptized we became one in the family of God. However, I believe that it doesn’t end there. Being called as his brother or sister entails big responsibilities. How can we call ourselves as his brother if our ways are different from His? Jesus said that those who hear the word of God and acts on it are his mother and brothers. He’s showing that it’s primarily faith, not blood relation, which matters.

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Being inside the seminary does not guarantee us a ticket to heaven or an I.D. saying “VIP”. It is not by merely uttering the prayers in the breviary, or by attending mass that we acquire salvation. It is not by studying philosophy nor theology alone. What is the essence of all these things if we don’t do this with a sincere heart and if it doesn’t manifest in our lives. Actually, it is an unending struggle to do what we preach, to do what we say we know and to live in accordance to our so called “identity.”

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When can we consider ourselves as part of the Christian family? Is it by being baptized or by frequently hearing the Word of God? Or is it by living faithfully to our identity. It is easy to say, “I am a Christian” and doing non-Christian things simultaneously. Truly, we are good in multi taking. Brothers, Jesus is reminding us today that we have to put into action the Word of God, we need to follow it and live by it. It is the way to be with God. We need to share on His Spirit.

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We live in a community. Though we don’t have the same genetic codes in our bodies, still we can consider “us” a family. Family that eats together, praise together, play together and laugh together. We are a family bounded by the love of God. And we are living together because of one mission, to serve God and His flock. With one mind and one heart intent upon God, we become part of God’s family.

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The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

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I believe that this common thread is Christ, and the more we make Christ as the center of our lives, our community, and our family the nearer we become to one another. And so I thank God for letting me be part of the Augustinian family, for you don’t relate with me merely through my material body but by going beyond the biological bond.