Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

Allow me to reflect on this theme: hearing the voice of Jesus. 

In our life we hear many voices; it is a marketplace of voices.  If you want to hear something, you should ask first: to whom or for what?  Usually the “to whom” follows the “for what.”  So if your concern is about legal matters, you go to a lawyer.  If it is about some illness or sickness, you go to a medical doctor.  If your illness is in the heart, you don’t have to consult an opthalmologist but a cardiologist.  If your concern is about buildings, you go to an engineer or an architect.  If it is about money, maybe you go to an accountant or to a banker or to an economist.  In a word, you go to an expert and hear from him/her.  But if your concern is about eternal life (and this should be the main concern of every human being), there is only one expert for you to go: Jesus Christ.

Remember one time when Jesus was talking about the Bread of life, some of his followers were confused.  It was for them difficult to understand and some were even offended (Jn 6:60-65).  With this, many of his disciples left him (Jn 6:66).  This prompted Jesus to ask the Twelve: ”Do you also want to go away?” (Jn 6:67).  Peter replied: “To whom shall we go?” (Jn 6:68a). 

To whom shall we go Lord, you have the words of eternal life; and it is you alone my Lord.  No one else.  The world around us with all its voices cannot give us eternal life.  And this makes the church significant.  The church established by Christ resides in the Catholic Church: ”And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18).  And Jesus before going back to heaven assures us: “I am with you always, until the end of the world” (Mt. 28:20).

The Catholic Church is the voice of Christ on earth.  The Pope is his Vicar.  Hence it follows that the world should listen to the Church.  Of course, as the Church admits, she has no ”technical solutions” to the many problems of mankind.  The Church is not an expert in politics.  You don’t have to go to the Church when you need to know about economics.  She is not an expert in medicine or any other science.  But every politician, legislator, lawyer, economist, doctor, engineer or scientist should never dismiss the Church, for she is an “expert in humanity.”  Meaning, the church is an expert when it comes to what it means to be human.  Never forget that there can be no sound politics, economics, engineering, medicine, or science without first touching the question of what it means to be human.  That is why the Church, specifically the Catholic Church, is very important.  The world should come to listen to what she has to say.  Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate is telling something to the world.  Though it offers no technical solutions to our present economic, political, social, and ecological problems, it puts forward what is often neglected in many of our worldly discourses - the human person as the center of authentic development.  This is a wake up call to the world - we should listen to the Church or else we would be leading towards self-destruction.

We listen to the Church, for as I have said earlier, she is the voice of Jesus on earth.  And why do we have to listen to Jesus?  In today’s gospel, Jesus says: “I know them and they follow me.”  Jesus knows who we are and what we are.  Take note that at the end of the reading, he says: “The Father and I are one.”  The Father our creator and Jesus Christ our Lord are one.  Since Jesus is God and he created us then he knows who we are and what we are and where we are going to.  So if we don’t hear his voice, then we perish.  If the world dismisses the Catholic Church, then it leads towards self-destruction.  But if we listen to Church, to the voice of Jesus, then we will have eternal life and we will never perish.     

The gospel reading every Second Sunday of Lent is on the Transfiguration of the Lord.  This gospel account appears in all three Synoptic Gospels; if we put Matthew, Mark and Luke side by side together, one can see their parallelisms.  In these three gospels, the Transfiguration is preceded by Peter’s profession of faith.  One can easily claim that the Transfiguration is a deepening of what took place during Peter’s confession.  In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI has an enlightening reflection on this.  He calls these two events (Peter’s Confession and the Transfiguration) as “Milestones on Jesus’ Way” (read pp. 287-318).  Our present consideration is therefore inspired by Benedict XVI’s reflections.Putting together Luke 9, Mark 9, and Matthew 16, we can see that what comes before the Transfiguration is Peter’s profession of faith.  On behalf of the disciples, Peter confesses that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.  This profession also appears in John: “We now believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (6:69).  After Peter’s profession, our Lord Jesus Christ has predicted his inevitable passion and death on the Cross.  With this Peter strongly protested saying: “God forbid it, Lord!  This shall never happen to you!” (Mt 16:22).  And so our Lord has to reproach him: “Get behind me, Satan!  You are thinking not as God does, but as people do” (Mk. 8:33).  Peter’s remark sounds very relevant to us even today.  As Benedict XVI puts it, “Yet we know that through all the centuries, right up to the present, Christians – while in possession of the right confession – need the Lord to teach every generation anew that his way is not the way of earthly power and glory, but the way of the Cross” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 299).  “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.  For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for my sake will find it.  What will one gain by winning the whole world if he destroys himself?  There is nothing you can give to recover you own self” (Mt. 16:24-26).Life is difficult, as Scott Peck puts it.  Life on earth is a vale of tears.  There is pain, sadness and there is no short cut to a happy life.  If you are a student, you have to work hard to attain you degree.  Cheating has no place for you.  If you are married, you have to stick to your commitment in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, in poorer and in richer.  We earn life the hard way.  As the trite goes, “No pain, no glory.”The way to Christ is the way of the Cross.  There is no other way to Glory but through the Cross.  Suffering then is essential.  But maybe like Peter we protest: “God forbids it!”  The world teaches us the other way: power and wealth and just pleasure.  In our school, we are often taught how to earn money, how to become rich and how to get ahead of anybody.  The world teaches us how to live an easy life.  The instant culture is an example.  We can no longer persevere in more arduous tasks.  That is why we hear these words coming from the clouds: “This is my Son, my Chosen one, listen to him” (Lk. 9:35).  We need to listen to Christ and learn from him that there is no other way but the Cross.  And this reality strikes at the heart of our existence.  We need to listen to Christ because the world around us is teaching us the other way.  The Cross is unacceptable, for we often say: God forbids it!  St. Paul has pointed out that the Cross of Christ is a “stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23).  But Christ and the Cross are inseparable.  The Cross is Christ’s exaltation; without it there can be no resurrection.  So to follow Christ is to carry our cross.  The world wants to dismiss this saying: “There is no God, enjoy life.”  Maybe one can enjoy life without God, without the cross but in the end it will be an empty life – one of darkness and despair.  A world without Christ and the Cross is a world that leads to self-destruction.Listen to Christ, for he alone brings life and hope.                 

Faith and reason should go together. If one excludes the other there will be unimaginable consequences.

I love this point from St. John of the Cross.  I learned this from Edith Stein.  Faith is always dark for man. Kaya pala we have this phrase “faith is blind.” And it is true, faith is blind for it will always be dark for us. The realm of faith is beyond us. Now, the question is: if it is dark, what is our light? The answer is human reason. Reason is like a candle that will guide us in the dark - in penetrating the realm of faith that is always dark for us. Even in the Bible, God reveals to us through what the Greek calls “logos”. Logos is Word. Remember the opening verse of the gospel according to John:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).  And going further we read: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14).

If God never reveals to us through the Word, then we won’t know Him. Now we know him, we see his face in Christ, the Word who became man like us.

God reveals to us according to our manner of reception. There is a principle in philosophy that whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver. What is within man is reason. Faith is beyond him. That is why God reveals himself as Logos, meaning Reason. The Bible is also Reason, since it is Logos.

Without reason we can never penetrate the depths of God. Reason is always consistent with the nature of God. Faith will always be dark but we have our God-given reason to guide us towards understanding our faith. St. Anselm calls this “Faith-seeking-understanding.”

Hence, faith and reason should always go together.

I want to share with you this third paragraph of Benedict XVI’s encyclical letter Spe Salvi:

“Yet at this point a question arises: in what does this hope consist which, as hope, is “redemption”? The essence of the answer is given in the phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians quoted above: the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were “without God in the world”. To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time. I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonized by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan. At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan. Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life. Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”—in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name “paron” for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ. Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a “paron” above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person. She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand”. Now she had “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed”, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world—without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her “Paron”. On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice. On 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter’s lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had “redeemed” her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach many, to reach everybody.”

The Sermon on the Mount brings hope; and if there is hope, there is life.

Einstein writes, thus:

“Our time is distinguished by wonderful achievements in the fields of scientific understanding and the technical application of those insights.  Who would not be cheered by this?  But let us not forget that knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life.  Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth.  What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.

What these blessed men have given us we must guard and try to keep alive with all our strength if humanity is not to lose its dignity, the security of its existence, and its joy in living” (pp. 70-71).

Reading 1
Wis 2:12, 17-20

The wicked say:
Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 54:3-4, 5, 6 and 8

R. (6b)The Lord upholds my life.
O God, by your name save me,
and by your might defend my cause.
O God, hear my prayer;
hearken to the words of my mouth.
R. The Lord upholds my life.
For the haughty men have risen up against me,
the ruthless  seek my life;
they set not God before their eyes.
R. The Lord upholds my life.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness.
R. The Lord upholds my life.
Reading II
Jas 3:16-4:3

Beloved:
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.

Where do the wars
and where do the conflicts among you come from?
Is it not from your passions
that make war within your members?
You covet but do not possess.
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war.
You do not possess because you do not ask.
You ask but do not receive,
because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Gospel
Mk 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.”
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”

Spiritual Talk by Fr. Jose Conrado A. Estafia

It is my joy to be a part of this Legion Congress.  Your theme “Walking in the Legion Wonderland towards Holiness” reminds me of a Christmas song that goes this way:
 

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We’re happy tonight,
Walking in a winter wonderland. Gone away is the bluebird,
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song,
As we go along,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

We will try to reflect on this phrase.  As I understand being a Legionary is not a walk in the park.  A Legionary is a soldier of Mary.  Am I right?  A wonderland is like Disneyland or Star City.  In it we find Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Cinderella, those roller coaster rides, and more.  It is a world of fantasy and fairytale.  The Legion is not like that.  Since you are soldiers, you are in for a battle.  So your walk as Legionaries is not a walk in the wonderland, but a walk in the battlefield.This battle is a “spiritual warfare,” as St. Paul calls it.  As Legionaries, you are many; and I hope many young men and women will enlist in the Legion and be part of the battle.  But a word of precaution: never underestimate your enemy.  Don’t forget that in the Gospel, the name given to the devil is “legion”, meaning many devils (Mk. 5:9; Lk.8:30).  And they are not just many but are exceedingly fierce (Mt. 8:28-34).  Hence, the Legion is not a walk in the wonderland.  It is a walk in a battlefield.  Mary’s Legion is fighting against Satan’s legion.

Now how will you win this battle?  Since this is spiritual, what will be your weapon as legionaries?The answer is found in your theme: holiness.  In winning over the devil our weapon should come from God, not from ourselves.  Holiness comes from God.  It is a holiness that is not just “towards” but “actual.”  Certainly it is the goal of every Christian.  We can only defeat our enemy, the devil, if we live a holy life.  How can we be holy?  Remember that holiness is not achieved through our human effort.  We don’t merit it.  It is a gift.  But our Lord has given us the means to it.  We have the sacraments, where there is an abundant of God’s grace.  Your faithfulness to attend daily masses gives you strength.  Your daily rosaries are your best weapons against the devil.  I always admire your zeal for apostolate and for your constant corporal works of mercy.  Keep it up.  And one thing: don’t miss your legion meetings.

The battle is not yet over, my dear Legionaries.  And every time you say this prayer, say it with all your heart.

Confer, O Lord, on us, Who serve beneath the standard of Mary, That fullness of faith in you and trust in her, To which it is given to conquer the world.  Grant us a lively faith, animated by charity, Which will enable us to perform all our actions From the motive of pure love of you, And ever to see you and serve you in our neighbor; A faith, firm and immovable as a rock, Through which we shall rest tranquil and steadfast Amid the crosses, toils and disappointments of life; A courageous faith which will inspire us To undertake and carry out without hesitation Great things for your glory and for the salvation of souls; A faith which will be our Legion’s Pillar of Fire – To lead us forth united – To kindle everywhere the fires of divine love – To enlighten those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death – To inflame those who are lukewarm – To bring back life to those who are dead in sin; And which will guide our own feet in the way of peace; So that – the battle of life over – Our Legion may reassemble,  Without the loss of any one, In the kingdom of your love and glory. Amen (Legio Mariae Handbook, pp. 134-135)

My dear Legionaries, bear in mind that the battle is not yet over.  But you need not worry!  The Blessed Mother is by your side.  One day when the battle is over, you will reach the prize of your sacrifice – heavenly life; and this is more than any wonderland…

Delivered during the Legion Congress at Our Lady of Loreto Curia, Sampaloc, Metro Manila on 30^th of August, 2009. 

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This is to certify that the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws of: SEND A SOUL TO SCHOOL MOVEMENT, INC. were duly approved by this Commission on this date upon the issuance of this Certificate of Incorporation in accordance with the Corporation Code of the Philippines (Batas Pambansa Blg. 68, and copies of said Articles and By-Laws are hereto attached.

Approved Aug. 18, 2009 by LINDEZA ROGERO-GAVINO, Acting Director SEC CEBU OFFICE.