coming out of the water

Homily
ACLC Retreat
23 October 2006

Good evening. Let me start my simple sharing with an image -- a fish coming out of the water. Just imagine, a photo, a painting, a captured movie frame, an image of a fish suspended some inches on air above the water. I invite you to take that image with you as we move along.

Studies show that no fish would just jump out of the water for no reasons at all. A fish would jump out of the water for the following reasons: 1. when a fish is in threat like it is being hunted down by its predator or fishermen; 2. when it is being startled or surprised; 3. during events of environmental hazards; and 4. a fish is simply a flying fish that is capable of getting out of the water from time to time. But there were very rare cases recorded that a fish would simply jump out of the water for no logical, rational, and perhaps, if a fish would have one, even psychological reasons. However, for the purpose of my sharing, the fish simply jump for a spiritual reason – just to be with God even just for a while.

My friends, I started out with this information because it speaks so much of what we are doing here right now. We are all coming out of the water. Coming to this retreat is coming out of the water. And I would like to believe our water is our home, our family and friends, our time doing the things we like to do leisurely, like watching movies, going to the beach, attending parties and gigs, playing bridge or basketball, and even perhaps just savoring that tasteful new cake of red ribbon. This is our water. And surely for most of us, leaving our water is not an easy thing to do. It takes much courage and love to do this.

The Gospel for today speaks the opposite of this love and courage. Our Gospel for today is about greed. Jesus said, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Then Jesus narrates a parable about a rich man who invested and invested, rested, ate, drunk, and cheered, without realizing that he can’t bring all of these to heaven. The rich man didn’t value true wealth. The rich man then didn’t come out of his water.

My friends let us realize that when a fish comes out of the water, it can’t breath. It is a new world for the fish. It is like a desert where our water ends. Just like the fish, when we are in retreat, we can’t breathe the way we breathe when we are in our water. It is like a desert for us. As if we are not breathing for five full days. Yet when we stop breathing, when we are in our deserts, we are giving ourselves spaces, spaces to find that inner peace, hope, healing and perhaps truthful discernment and perspective of life.

As many of you are aware of, part of our Jesuit formation is to make the 30 day retreat. Thirty days of silence and prayer, which is the Spiritual Exercises. And part of that retreat was a prayer called, “Mediation of Hell.” We are to meditate the feeling of being in hell. And so our retreat director would ask us to choose a scary and difficult place for us to pray, to really experience hell. Perhaps, for most of us, hell is already being in a classroom. Yet some of my batchmates did this exercise in our cemetery in Sacred Heart at 12 o’clock midnight. Others did it at our piggery with all the dirt and stench. I did this exercise in our showers where it was once a morgue during World War II. The exercise made us feel spiritually poor and hopeless. The exercise choked us. But it was through this experience, this sense of being choked, that we were caressed by God’s loving embrace.

So friends, don’t worry too much. Be open to God’s love and grace during this retreat. And in His own time, he will reveal himself to you -- from the most profound and mysterious events in prayer, to the simplest and effortless routine that we do in this retreat. Just like when a fish jumps out of the water, it will eventually fall back again in the water. And always remember that you are not alone in this retreat. We too, as your Retreat Directors and Quarter Masters, we too jumped out of our water to stop breathing to be with you on your spiritual journey. So don’t worry too much. Just give yourself and it has its own rewards.

Let me end my sharing with a reflection about the fish the jumps out of the water. It is said that a fish that jumps out of the water with no reasons at all is a very rare case, one out of a billion, a phenomenon, a miracle. Again, studies show that 99% percent of these fishes or all of these fishes would never, ever jump again on its own without any valid reasons. Scientists consider this as one of natures’ mysteries. Nevertheless, I believe I know the answer. Perhaps, when such fish jumps and returns back to the water, when someone like you who will undergo spiritual solitude and silence for five long days, going back to the water, going back to your own world, with such longing and grace, things will never ever be the same again.

As we continue to give ourselves to the retreat, let us continually ask the Lord to keep that spirit always alive in our hearts – the spirit of being invited to come out of the water and to be with God even just for a while. Amen.