(By Rev. Fr. Pedro Ma. D. Cruz, OSB) Once, a woman had a dream where Jesus visited her and said, “I will come and eat at your house tomorrow.” At dawn, she immediately told her housekeepers to make the house spotless and sparkling. The housekeepers wondered, “Who is this visitor that we have to clean so thoroughly?” As they worked, the woman called her cooks and said, “Prepare a sumptuous meal! I will have a special guest today.” The whole house bustled with activity, and the woman dressed in her finest clothes.
When all the preparations were done, she sat by the main door and waited eagerly for her guest. “Ding Dong!” went the doorbell. “My visitor is here!” she thought, opening the door eagerly. But to her dismay, it was a homeless family asking, “Could you spare some food? We are really hungry.” She replied, “Go away! I have a very special visitor. I cannot have you here.” The family left starving.
Later, around noon, the doorbell rang again. “It must be him!” she said, rushing to the door. This time, it was a young homeless boy asking for water. “Leave! My visitor might see you in those dirty clothes,” she said. The boy left thirsty.
As the day wore on, it started to rain, and the woman began to worry. Finally, at 4:00 p.m., the doorbell rang again. “It’s him this time!” she thought, and she opened the door with high hopes. But standing there was another homeless man, who said, “It’s raining heavily, and my usual spot to sleep is flooded. Could I stay in front of your house, just for the night?” She replied, “No! I am expecting a very special guest. You cannot stay here.” The man walked away into the rain.
As midnight approached with no sign of her guest, the woman went to bed, disappointed. That night, she dreamed of the Lord again and asked, “Lord, I waited for you all day. Why didn’t you come?” Jesus replied, “I did. I came to your house three times, but you turned me away each time.” She remembered the homeless family, the thirsty boy, and the man with nowhere to sleep. Realizing her mistake, she felt deep regret.
Para kanino ka bumabangon? Whom or what are you expecting each day, each morning that you get up from bed? Bumabangon ka ba dahil sa alarm clock? Dahil ba sa hilik ng katabi mong natutulog? Para magkape? Dahil ba sa mga anak na kailangang paglutuan ng baon? What is it that excites us to start the day? Or have we lost that excitement?
“Trabaho na naman,” “traffic na naman,” “Makikita ko na naman ang boss kong demand ng demand,” “School na naman,” “Ito na naman ang boring at demanding na subject” … and many more rants that we may have. All of these are but part of our daily living. Even though we want to extend our sleep, we have to rise and continue with our tasks for the day for various reasons. We have to get up and work since it is from our jobs that we are able to support ourselves financially or support our families. We have to get up and go to school in order to secure our future by attaining ample education.
We all have varying reasons, but one thing is for sure — we are awake because of God; we are able to get up and proceed with the day because of God. Is God part of our day? Do we make it a point to wake up in order to do good? To make amends for yesterday’s mistakes? Do we make it a point to see God every day? Are we excited to meet Jesus? Are we looking forward to meeting Jesus each day?
In St. Luke’s gospel (Lk 21:25-28, 34-36), Jesus tells us to “Be vigilant at all times” or simply “Stay awake!” For what? For His coming. We must be ready to welcome Him anytime He comes. But the problem is, we hardly recognize Jesus, like the lady in the story. We think of Jesus coming only in the form He is depicted in church paintings and statues. But Jesus is not limited to such forms. The true form of Jesus is in the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the sick, and all those who are in need.
We sometimes fall short of recognizing Jesus because He comes through these kinds of people and circumstances. He comes in ways that we do not expect. He comes through those who are neglected by society. This is not far from the experience of the Jewish people. For many years, they were under the rule of the Roman Empire. They were promised a Messiah who would release them from this captivity. All of them patiently waited for the dawning of a strong, kingly Messiah who would overthrow the Roman Empire and set them all free. This was the image they had of the Messiah.
But Scripture tells us that this was not the case. In His first coming as man, Jesus was born in a stable. He was born in an alien region, and His parents were no prominent people. From this alone, we can already see the difference — expectations vs. reality, as it is said. This is why they rejected Jesus. They rejected Him because He did not seem to be the strong king who would overthrow the Roman Empire and release the Jewish people from the yoke of the Romans. The Passion narrative tells us further that He died on the cross — more reason for them to disbelieve His claims that He is the Messiah.
This was all because their hearts were hardened, their ears shut, and their eyes blinded by their own concept of the Messiah. Do we expect to meet Jesus in the same way? Do we expect Him to take us out of problematic situations instantly? Do we expect Him to remove all the bad people from our lives? Do we expect Him to rain money from heaven? Do we expect Him to heal all the sick in one click? And when He does not do these things as we expect, we say, “Hindi totoo ang Diyos na iyan!”
Bishop Socrates said, “Atheism is not the denial of God; it is impatience with God.” Our wrong conception of God and our tendency to equate His image and ways with our own make it hard for us to truly know, see, and recognize Him for who He truly is.
We are now in the season of Advent. Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, or “Coming.” Someone is coming. And when someone is coming, like the lady in the story, we prepare. We prepare the place and ourselves. The four Sundays of Advent, are a time of preparation and purification. We prepare our homes by cleaning and putting up Christmas decorations. We prepare ourselves by beautifying our appearance. But most of all, we purify our hearts, minds, ears, and eyes of the splinters and garbage that prevent us from feeling, recognizing, hearing, and seeing Jesus coming to us in many ways, especially through the needy.
