Talking
about sleeping, being alert, or being awake make me remember a very fun story when
I was living in the Aspirant House in Saigon. As students, we were going to the
university for our primary task every day. We were getting up early for the Morning
Prayer and Mass as an obligation. After breakfast, some were going to school; some
were doing their chores. At home, we had to be present in the study room to do
our homework. It was likely that our Formator watched us 24 hours! No one could
get back to sleep for a moment even though the night before we burnt the
midnight oil for our homework. One day, the Formator went away; we thought that
he would come back later in the noon time; we all went back to sleep; suddenly,
he came back in about 20 minutes later, finding us sleeping; he was so mad,
shouting, “Get up”, “Study”, “This house is not a hospital.” We all were so
frightened, getting off the bed, running back and forth like crazy! Afterwards,
he began to give us a long lecture about our future, about what we would get in
the future. For next times, we were so alert and watchful for his coming back
even though sometimes we could not resist drowsiness.
Being
alert or being ready becomes a very powerfully spiritual message for all of us,
not only in the time of Advent, but also in any time and any stage of our
lives. After being born, we were taken to church for Baptism because our
parents worried that we might be dead with the original sin. When we grew up,
we were often reminded to go to confession because our parents concerned that
we might die without confessing our sins. Then during our lifetime, we have made
many retreats to renew our spiritual life and prepare for our soul.
We need
to prepare all the time because we do not know when Jesus will come again.
According to St. Augustine, this uncertainty is a great mercy of God because it
is good for us to be always ready for the second coming. When we are prepared
all the time, we will treasure every moment of our lives; we are very attentive
to and careful for what we are doing regarding the consequences of our action. We
will try to do good things as many as we can and avoid mistakes and bad things
for God and for our own sake.
Therefore,
it is important that we need to take the lead in our lives, being responsible
for what we decide to do. Being attentive to our jobs or our ministry brings
great results that are not only awards for our own benefits, but for people
that we are serving. If we do not pay attention to our responsibility, we leave
our jobs unfinished, and that could be burdensome to others as well. Like the servants in the Bible, they were
asked to take care of some businesses when their master was away. The master
did not tell them when he would come back. He left this uncertainty to keep his
servants always prepared. With this
uncertainty, the servants could have two options. They had to take the role of
the master in managing the work and deciding what to do to make the best profit
out of their effort. The results of their work would show the master that they
were well prepared to perform their jobs and capable for their responsibility.
This could make their master happy and create trust in him. It could be
possibly that the servants did not pay attention to their job. The master came
back unhappy finding them sleeping or leaving works unfinished. In this case,
these servants would be in trouble.
I find
myself familiarizing with the situation of the servants in the gospel. I grew
up in a big family with six brothers and one sister. When my parents went away,
they also asked us to take care of our house business. They never mentioned the
certain time when they would come back. As you know, six boys getting together,
we had so much fun; and that was the reason we forgot our jobs. Then you could
guess what happened when my parents came back finding us leaving works unfinished.
We were in trouble! Even though we knew that we had to be well prepared and
ready for this job, we always were tempted to waste our time for other fun
things. We knew that our parents would not be happy seeing our incomplete job,
but we still did not care much about our responsibility. In a similar manner,
at the Aspirant House, we knew that our Formator would be very angry when he got
back finding us sleeping in the morning. We still took the risk to get some
sleep. 
Therefore, we may come up with some philosophical questions: does the
fragile nature of human beings allow us to delay or not be attentive to what we
are asked to do? Does our shallow or ambiguous vision about our future allow us
to be careless to our present responsibilities? Do our doubts about the coming
of Jesus allow us to be unprepared for our spiritual life?
We are
reminded to look into our lives again in recognition of our own weaknesses and
in awareness of the time when we are falling into temptations and distractions
of this world, or not being ready and attentive to responsibilities that God
has given to us in this life. We know that each of us has been calling to live
authentically our lives as parents, children, students, formators, friends, or
relatives to our family. However,
sometimes because of many false reasons, we cannot fulfill our own duties. We
sometimes leave the mess for others to clean because we cannot perform our jobs
very well. One of the main reasons is that we are not prepared well or do not
invest enough time for our task. Other than that, we may spend too much time
for this, but less time for that. God is especially calling us to balance out
our lives, not just caring too much for our physical body and the material
life, but be preparing for our soul and the spiritual life. We may have experienced
that we sometimes spend more time for material needs, but less time for
spiritual preparations. Up to today, do we really spend more time to make an
enriching relationship with God in our prayer life? Do we really belittle all
worldly concerns to surrender to God? Do we really renew our vocations for
whoever we are to live fully our lives?
Possibly,
these questions help remind us "keep watch and stay awake". May
the coming of Jesus always bring us the spirit of preparation and readiness in
every moment of our daily life!
En 2007, en el noticiero ABCNEWS salió una noticia muy
interesante sobre una señora llamada Nola Ochs, que se graduó de la universidad
de Kansas, reconocida como la graduada más viejita del mundo. Ella tenía 95
años de edad. Comenzó a tomar las clases hace 30 años. Como vivía en el campo,
no podía tomar muchas clases por estos años. En el otoño de 2007, se mudó a la
cuidad y cumplió 30 últimas horas para que pudiera graduarse en ese año. Ella
se graduó con su nieta Alexandra Ochs de la misma universidad y el mismo día.
Las dos graduadas con la distancia de tres generaciones estaban muy alegres y
felices de haber recibido sus títulos en el mismo escenario. Hoy día celebramos
la graduación en nuestra Parroquia San José de Raranga, ¿hay alguien aquí que
tenga 95 años de edad y va a graduarse? 
¿Qué nos dice la imagen de la graduación de la señora de
95 años de edad? Tal vez, el mensaje más claro y poderoso en ella es un corazón
lleno del amor y la pasión para el estudio y la educación. Como el ejemplo de
ella, ustedes, los jóvenes deben aprovechar cualquier oportunidad para
estudiar, pero no deben esperarse hasta la edad de 95 años como la Señora Nola
Ochs. En la alegría y felicidad de la celebración de la graduación, den gracias
a Dios por la oportunidad de educación en nuestra parroquia San José de Raranga
por todas las bendiciones de Dios, todo el apoyo de nuestras familias y
profesores. 
Gracias por nuestras familias que nos ayudaron
materialmente y espiritualmente. Especialmente los padres que nos prepararon un
buen equipaje para nuestro futuro. Ustedes todavía tienen una buena suerte que
sus padres trabajan duro para apoyarles en la escuela. Saben que en muchos
países en Asia y África, los niños no pueden a ir a la escuela porque no tienen
las cosas básicas para sobrevivir como la comida, ropa y casa. Afortunadamente,
ustedes todavía tienen muchas papas, motes, y cuyes para comer cada día. ¡Qué
rica comida! Gracias a Dios por los profesores que tienen mucha paciencia para
acompañarlos en cada clase hasta hoy día. Nos han enseñado no solo el
conocimiento, sino la moralidad para hacerlos buena gente a la familia,
comunidad, y el mundo. Sin ellos, no podemos celebrar la graduación hoy día.
Además, gracias a Dios por la salud y sabiduría de 12 años. Sin salud y
sabiduría, ¿podemos estudiar? No. Por eso, todos estos son regalos de Dios para
ustedes. Por nuestras familias y profesores, Dios está presente con nosotros y
nos acompaña en nuestra vida. Como diplomados hoy día, no podemos olvidarnos de
dar gracias por la presencia de Dios, su guía y protección. Por eso, nuestra
celebración de graduación es la alegría y felicidad en la presencia y bendición
de Dios. Es como el gozo de los Israelitas cuando dice el Señor que se queda
con ellos: “canta de gozo y regocíjate, Jerusalén, pues vengo a vivir en medio
te ti.”
Deben amar el
estudio porque les ayuda a descubrir los valores de Dios y de la vida. Con la
educación, nuestros ojos pueden ver aún más lejos. Nuestra imaginación será más
rica y llena de colores de la vida. Nuestro conocimiento será más amplio y
profundo. Sin educación, somos como las ranas en la parte inferior del pozo,
mirando el cielo diciendo: el cielo está igual la tapa de la olla. Con
educación, somos como las ranas fuera de su pozo, diciendo: el cielo es muy
grande y no tiene el horizonte. Por eso, la educación nos da un corazón abierto
para aceptar la diferencia y recibir cosas nuevas con el respeto y la humildad.
Un graduado le pregunta a su hermana pequeñita: ¿1 más 1 igual cuánto? Responde
ella, 11. Su hermano abre sus ojos grandes, ¿cómo? Explica ella, uno es nuestro
papi más uno es nuestra mami igual nosotros somos 11. ¿Podemos aceptar la
respuesta de la niña? ¿Es lógica? Por eso, la educación no solo nos da un
resultado fijo, sino nos cambia en una persona más flexible y más
tolerante. 
Dios nos concede la oportunidad de educación como una
caña de pesca. Vamos a usarla para pescar muchos peces de amor, amistad, paz,
perdón y justicia para que podamos alabar a Dios y expandir su Reino. Ahorita
como graduados con un buen equipaje, podemos comenzar a hacer buenas obras
según la voluntad del Padre, la llamada de hacernos hermanos de Jesús. Dice
Jesús: “Todo el que cumple la voluntad del Padre, que está en los cielos, ese
es mi hermano y hermana.”