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Author: Romo Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno OP

Surpassing the Pharisees

Surpassing the Pharisees

 

 
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 12, 2017
Matthew 5:20-37
 
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:20)”
 
The word ‘Pharisee’ has a rather negative connotation for us. In the Gospels, they are the bad guys. They often argued with Jesus and Jesus challenged their way of life. Even some planned to get rid of Jesus (see Mat 12:14). In our time, the term ‘Pharisaic’ simply means hypocrite.
However, if we look from another angle, the Pharisees are not that ugly. In the time of Jesus, they had important roles to play. They, in fact, revolutionized the Jewish society itself. What did they do? They brought the Law, various rituals and devotional practices from the Temple of Jerusalem to the Jewish communities and families in Israel. Many Pharisees took care of the local synagogues and made sure that the people would observe properly the Law and its traditions, like the Sabbath and rituals of cleansing. Unlike the priests who served in the Temple, the Pharisees were lay people who loved the Law in their ordinariness of life. Thus, when the Temple was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD, the priestly clan also disappeared, but the Jewish cultural fabrics and religion continued to live because of the Pharisees, the lay people.
Jesus criticized them not because they were following the Law and traditions, but because of their ‘interpretations’ of the Law. Doubtless, the Pharisees loved the Law of Moses dearly, but they fell into fundamentalism. They absolutized the letters of the Law and the traditions, and trivialized what or who is actually at the service of the Law: God and fellow human beings. To become a fundamentalist means we opt to follow the dead letters of the Law of the Bible, which is easier, rather than to dialogue with the Person behind it and persons in front of it.  
Without realizing it, many of us are acting like the Pharisees. Like them, we love God, His Law, and His Church, but sometimes, we are too busy with the trivial things. I am sad when some people are arguing on how to receive the Holy Eucharist, kneeling, standing, by hands or directly to the mouth. Some accuse Charismatic mass as heretical. Others label the Latin Mass as ultra-conservative. I am also saddened with a young Catholic apologist who is zealously debating on the Internet, yet does not lift a finger to help his sick mother. Yes, Sacred Scripture and the Liturgy is an essential part of our faith as the exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ and means of salvation, but if we are disintegrated because of details of the rituals, we miss the point.
We forget to transform our love for God and His Church into love for others. St. Dominic sold his expensive books made of animal skins so he could feed the poor, and argued, “Would you have me study from these dead skins when the living skins are dying of hunger?” Who among us are involved in feeding the poor around us? Who among us are doing something meaningful to the victims of injustice in the society? Who among us have the patience towards our ‘difficult’ brothers and sisters in the family or community? Remember that we are called to surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees.
 
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
Why Salt?

Why Salt?

 
 
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 5, 2017
Matthew 5:13-16
 
“You are the salt of the earth… (Mat 5:13)”
 
Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth. We note that He does not say we are ‘like’ the salt of the earth. In literature, we learn that the former is called a metaphor and the latter is a simile. The two sentences look similar, but actually, the difference is significant. Take note of the difference: I am Bayu and I am like Bayu.  The two illustrate that the usage of ‘like’ makes things different considerably. One gives us an essential connection, while the other points only to an accidental relationship.
Jesus sees that being the salt of the earth is not merely accessory, but essential and defining to the identity and mission of His disciples.  Like I cannot be Bayu in the morning and be John in the evening, so we cannot be salt on weekdays and be sugar in weekends. We are salt every second of our lives. This is what we call a vocation. Being salt is our vocation.
Ordinarily, salt is for seasoning. We hate it if the food is too salty, but we hate more if the food is tasteless. Once at our Lenten observance in my minor seminary, we ate salt-less food, and the taste was truly awful. Yet, since we were hungry, we still consumed the food. That was the moment I appreciated the importance of salt. Being salt, we are to make the difference in the world with our good deeds, yet not ‘too salty’ that we simply draw the attentions to ourselves. Again, we do good all the time, not only when others are looking at us, not only when we feel good and motivated, not only when we expect a reward.  A good mother will not do good to her children only Monday to Friday. Nor a good father will only raise his potentially successful children and abandon the rest.
However, we may ask a deeper question: why does it have to be salt? We are well aware that aside for spicing up, salt has practically no nutritional values. Even some scientists link excess salt to health problems like high blood pressure. Why not something more substantial like rice, pasta, or noodles? The answer may be simple: it is not our vocation to become the true source of sustenance and nourishment. It belongs to Jesus. That is in the Gospel of John, Jesus called Himself as the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35). In the Philippines, we have this popular bread called ‘pandesal’ (literally means bread of salt). It is a small bread made of flour, yeast, egg, sugar and salt, a bit sweet rather than salty. The amount of salt is insignificant, and yet it enhances the taste of the bread, makes it pleasurable to our senses. Yet again, salt is not the real thing, but the bread.
As salt, it is not us who give the fullness of life, but our vocation is to bring Jesus to others so that they may have the life. Our goodness, our achievement, our ministries are not to draw praise to ourselves, but through our good deeds others may feel God even more. That is who we are: Salt.
 
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP  
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mat 4:13)

He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mat 4:13)

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 23, 2017
Matthew 4:12-23
 
“He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mat 4:13)”
 
Jesus began His public ministry by moving to another town in Galilee. From his hometown Nazareth to a bigger and more dense Capernaum. It was an ancient urbanization! Nazareth was small and scarcely populated, while Capernaum was one of the fishing centers in the Sea of Galilee. It was where people came, gathered, and interacted with each other. Had Jesus commenced His mission in Nazareth, probably, it would have taken more time to grow. Capernaum gave critical advantages for Jesus. It was easier to gather people, preach and attract followers. As a port city, it eased up Jesus mobility to other places in Galilee. And, Capernaum provided Jesus with shelter and other resources for His preaching. The reason for migrating was practical and yet decisive.
When St. Dominic started his Order, one of the first things he did was to send his small and fragile group of friars to big university cities like Paris and Bologna. His move was criticized as careless and dangerous. It could have swept away the infant community of Dominic. But, He insisted. “Stored seeds rot!” Dominic was actually able to think like Jesus. In bigger cities, it was much manageable not only to study, but also to preach and invite generous souls to be part of the community. Thus, Dominic made a clear instruction as he sent his brothers: “to study, preach and build community.”
Our time is characterized with mega migration. Countless people move from town to another, from one country to another, and from one continent to another with ease and speed. And like Jesus, we migrate for practical cause as well as survival. We go places because of our works, our family, or our dreams. My life as a seminarian and a Dominican is also marked with constant movement. As early as fourteen years old, I left my hometown Bandung to enter the seminary in Magelang. Then, from Indonesia to Manila in the Philippines.
Going back to today’s Gospel, St. Matthew does not only see Jesus’ migration as practical solutions to His ministry, but as fulfillment of God’s promise: “the people who sits in darkness have seen a great light.” As Jesus travelled from one place to another, He brought light to others that they may see God whose Kingdom has come. Jesus immediately preached the Good News and called Andrew, Peter, James and John to His disciples. Jesus accommodated the practical and temporal things in His disposal for His mission. And He was faithful to this to the end. He used the cross, the practical means of torture and humiliation as means of presenting God’s love and salvation.
The same mission is given to us. As we move from one place to another, we bring also the light of Christ with us. Like newly-wed persons, we are called to enlighten our new families. As workers, we are to denounce what is evil in our new workplaces. As people who live on this earth, we shall take care of the creations in every land we step.   
 
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
The Star

The Star

The Epiphany of the Lord. January 8, 2017 [Matthew 2:1-12]
“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage (Mat 2:2).”
Today we are celebrating the Epiphany of the Lord. The word Epiphany comes from the Greek word ‘epiphananie’, meaning ‘appearance’. Therefore, today is also known as the feast of the manifestation of the Lord. This celebration is considered to be one of the oldest and most important because the Baby God invited not only the Jews but also the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, to visit and finally worship Him. In His earliest appearance, Jesus brought light to all the nations.
One little question may linger: why did the Magi from the East follow the star? Their journey was based on an ancient belief that the birth of a great king was signified by the appearance of a new star in the sky. Yet, we are never sure what ‘star’ the Magi actually saw. Was it a comet, a supernova, an unusual constellation, a planet, or a supernatural light? One thing we are sure of, this star possessed the greatest importance, that Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchior abandoned the comfort of their homeland, traveled thousand miles westward and faced all the dangers and uncertainties.
Now if we look at the night sky, we may observe hundreds and hundreds of stars. Then, we may ask what makes this star of Jesus different from the rest of the lights? These Magi were expert in astronomy or studies of celestial bodies, and they were able to distinguish the star as the one that would bring them to the newborn King. This star does not simply shine just like the rest, but it also illuminates and guides. Like the seasoned fishermen, before the discovery of GPS, they would depend their lives on the light of the stars, and among billion stars on the clear sky, they recognize that only a few truly point them the true directions.
We are all called to be a star. But the temptation is that we simply shine and attract others to ourselves. We fail to recognize that the light that God has given us is to illuminate and guide others to Jesus. When St. Thomas Aquinas was asked what makes his Order more prominent than other congregations, he answered that just like it is better to illuminate than to shine, so it is better to share one’s fruits of contemplate than just merely to contemplate. Of course, the Benedictines will disagree! One of the major features in the image of St. Dominic is the star at his forehead. Certainly, this is a symbol of guidance and direction for anyone who seeks God. No wonder if St. Dominic is less famous than other Dominican saints like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena or St. Martin de Porres, it is because until the end of his life, like a guiding star, his life always pointed to God.
To have the light is not enough. We may become stars that merely shine brightly. We turn to be a campus star, company star, parish star or even star preacher. Certainly, to receive a lot of attention from many people gives pleasure and sense of fulfillment, but that is not the true purpose of our light. Epiphany is the appearance of the Lord, but who among us have tried to cover Him with our dazzling lights? How many people have we led to Jesus? Yet, it is not too late. Epiphany is a time for us to realign with the real objective of our light: not to merely shine, but to illuminate.
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
John, the Preacher of Truth

John, the Preacher of Truth

John, the Preacher of Truth
 
Second Sunday of Advent
December 4, 2016
Matthew 3:1-12
 
In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 (and) saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
 
Why did many people come to John the Baptist and listen to him? I believe that the Jewish people hungered for the truth. It might be an inconvenient and hurtful truth, but they longed to hear it.   They were tired of listening to their leaders, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were not honest but were living in hypocrisy. They were exhausted by numerous religious obligations but did not find any inspiration and a good example from their leaders. John came and preached to them the truth with simplicity and integrity, and the Israelites knew that they had to hear him.
Despite the various advancements in our lives, our society is experiencing also the same hunger for truth. We spend years in schools and we learn a different kind of knowledge and various skills needed to survive the demands of our society, but we fail to discover the truth in our midst. After the presidential election in the US, many experts lamented how social media, especially the internet, has opened the floodgate of lies, hoaxes, and fake, perverted news. In Indonesia, especially Jakarta, the situation is not much different. The election of Jakarta’s governor as well as the case of a Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an out-going governor involved in blasphemy row, have thrown the nation into deeper fragmentations. In the Philippines, various issues from the war on drug that kills thousands, to former president Ferdinand Marcos’ burial, have divided the nation. Various groups have disseminated myriads of news and reports to support their cause and destroy other opposing groups. People have become more and more confused and distracted, not knowing what the truth is.
In this chaos of overloaded information, Hossein Derakhshan, a researcher from MIT, has predicted that our society will become deeply fragmented, driven by emotions, and radicalized by a lack of contact and challenge from the outside. In short, we will make our decisions based on feelings instead of truth. This will create even more confusion despite instant pleasures here and there. All these will lead eventually to despair and profound unhappiness. Yet, deep inside we long for the truth because we are created for truth and have an innate capacity to seek for the truth. 
In the midst of this deluge of information, we are called to be John the Baptist, the preacher of truth. Yet, before we proclaim the truth and go against the tide of news, we have to be rooted in prayer and study. John was spending his time in the desert, and in this deserted place, he could train his mind and heart to discern the truth. Some days ago, I delivered a talk on the death penalty in the Bible. Some fundamentalist Bible interpreters can easily lift some verses and justify the capital punishment. This is an easy and instant answer, but it is simplistic. I need to spend hours in research and study just to understand the truth that in the Scriptures, God does not wish the death of sinners in the first place.
Advent becomes a proper time for us to follow the footsteps of St. John the Baptist. We are called to train ourselves to listen to the truth, and preach it with confidence.
 
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
 
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