In one storm but in different boats…

Homily: The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

24 May 2020
Matthew 28:16-20

There is a man named Dodong. He is a 58-year old fish vendor from Caloocan. He was among 400 apprehended quarantine violators. On May 7th he was detained by Navotas authorities after he attempted to cross the city border from Caloocan without a travel pass.

A week had gone by before his family was able to locate him. Despite raising the P3,500 bail money, he remained in detention because his family failed to comply with other requirements. They had been asked to produce a photo of their house, four sets of coloured profile pictures of the accused with each photo bearing his signature, a certificate of detention, Barangay Residence Certificate, and a location sketch of their home certified by the Barangay Captain.

These requirements are crazy over-the-top to be true, wouldnt you say? But it’s all true. “Mang Dodong’s plight was documented in the Facebook post of photojournalist Vincent Go which has been shared 30,800 times, received 727 comments, and 50,800 reactions.”

I can only guess that Mang Dodong, the fish vendor, desperately needed to go to Navotas because he had to make a living so his family could eat but sadly he only ended up suffering more indignities. Isn’t it a stark contrast to how other more prominent ECQ violators are treated during the lockdown? They, too cross borders to get to where they want to go but only need their “face value” as a travel pass.

Going into lockdown, our first priority was to secure our needs. Those who could afford to, filled several carts at the grocery with more than their necessities while others barely had enough to fill their basket with cans of sardines and a bag of rice. The socio-economic gap in our society became even more apparent when people started posting about their activities in lockdown. Paul Meim illustrates this disparity among us in his article saying we may be in the same storm and yet, not in the same boat. He says further: “For some, this is a desperate crisis. For others it is facing loneliness. For some, a period of peace, rest time, vacation. For others, torture. Some are concerned about a brand of chocolate or coffee. Others are concerned about rice for the weekend, if the noodles and sardines will last for a few more days.” May I go a bit further to say that while others among us are comfortably working from home, many have already lost their jobs and many still are going to be laid off. Same storm, but not in the same boat.

Our readings this Sunday remind us of our interconnectedness as a community of believers. We have been baptised into one faith — a community of persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because of our baptism we are meant to live a divine fellowship with one another. So even if this lockdown has forced most of us into isolation, we should be able to take comfort knowing we are not alone because we have each other. In fact, we belong to one another. St. Paul tells us: “None of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.” (Romans 14:7). As we continue to wage war against Covid 19 we come to realize that this is not a battle for personal survival but rather a collective one. For instance, when I make the effort to stay home and leave only when necessary it is not just for the protection of the family I love but for the safety of others. In Christ the King, our parishioners continue to contribute generously to OPLAN COVID that helps provide the needs of the less fortunate and assistance to our overworked medical frontliners. I was personally amazed after reading that rival schools Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University called a truce to provide joint support to the most vulnerable sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On a larger scale, we can look to countries with women leaders who have fared better in addressing the Covid-19 crisis. Observers attribute this to the capacity of female leaders to be more collaborative in their approach. They know how to listen and seek help from others and do not pretend to have all the answers. I am sure each of you listening can tell us your own examples of compassion and generosity during this lockdown. Truly, if we want to emerge triumphant from this battle, we have to keep our act together. As we rally together to fight our common enemy, we cry out: “We heal as one!”

In today’s account of the Ascension, Jesus calls the disciples, not as individuals but as a group forming the nucleus of the People of God. As the new Body of Christ, together they are commissioned to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” We too, like them, are empowered to be ministers of communion for all peoples and places where life brings us. This begins in a special way in our most immediate community —our family. This lockdown has been a moment of grace for families because it has given them the opportunity to rediscover each other, to appreciate one another and to learn to live peacefully with each other. In the rectory, Fr. Steve, Fr. Jojo and I live as “family” but before the lockdown, weekends were so busy that we could hardly sit together for meals. Since the quarantine, we always eat together and over these meals we have had the chance to get to know each other and work together to become more effective pastors in the parish.

The task of fostering communion among peoples isn’t easy. It is a tremendous mission for us and back then even the early church was daunted. St. Paul prays for the disciples at Ephesus that they may be provided with all they need to carry forth this mission of bringing all peoples together in the Lord. Of course, it is inevitable that our differences as people tend to cause discord but we need to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit has given us the power to be the unifying presence of Christ for others. As we ask the Lord to strengthen our resolve to be witnesses of His love, we join St. Paul in praying “May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened that we may know what is the hope that belongs to His call, what are the riches of His glory in His inheritance among the holy ones.”

We may be in different boats in this storm of the Corona virus pandemic but let us not allow this virus to further divide us as a people. We simply need to invite Jesus into the boat with us to give us courage and hope, to guide us and inspire us to help other boats alongside us navigate these stormy waters toward safer lands!

Illustration by Laura Carlin used in the article of Paul Meim