EJ Montoya

Memorial of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila

Who among you would like this P100 right away? I am willing to give this now.
This morning, the one who took the P100 bill is blessed indeed! What I did was a practical
version of the question Who wants to be blessed now? Of course, everyone wants to be blessed
and be happy. Yet achieving happiness and being blessed is a process.
A while ago, I asked you if you would like to have the P100 bill. At first, some of you smiled,
thinking what to say or interpreting my statement. Few of you answered right away without
hesitation, and no one immediately stood up and ran to get the money.
1. Upon hearing a good news, sometimes we stop first, think, then think too much. We
become too slow and the blessing is delayed, happiness is suspended. Like what we did
this morning, maybe you thought of wanting the money yet on the other hand, you tell
yourself that it is just a joke. So, youll not raise your hand nor give any effort.
2. There are times that we know what to do. Yet we do not act on it. We know we can be
blessed or even bless others when we do it, but we refrain ourselves from taking the step.
From my question, you may have raised your hand, smiled, and looked around who will
grab the money as well. Yet you just said no, let them be blessed first. Youll just look for
another chance.
3. It is clear that we can be happy when we respond to the good news immediately and we
firmly decide to take a step. And once weve done it, happiness is truly achieved. For the
one who really made the effort to get the money, congratulations! In our lives, we may
have experienced acting immediately on something as long as we know that it is good.
This gives us happiness and we allow ourselves to be blessed.
Relating these things with the Gospel today, being blessed is not just a given status right from the
very start. The descriptions of those blessed persons came from a firm decision to respond to
Gods invitation to be like him who is merciful, meek, clean of heart, peacemaker, and many
other good qualities which are also proper to man, the image of God. From the persons firm
decision is an action which can lead him/her to be truly happy, to be blessed by God.
As we celebrate the Memorial of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, our kababayan, we can see in
him his being truly blessed from a decision and action he took. According to the written accounts

about him, an adverse event made him leave the Philippines. He was involved in a criminal case
in which the circumstances are far from clear. To avoid mistrial, he went to Japan with the
Dominican priests and lay companions. It was not a good news that they were persecuted when
they arrived there, yet it was a chance of defending their faith and to be with God amidst great
trial. He was tortured together with other Christians yet remained firm in the faith, having the
conviction to offer his life to God, even if it were a thousand.
I would like to conclude this through my childhood experience. It was in Grade 3 when my
teacher asked us what we want to become in the future. I answered that I want to be a priest
someday. She told me to choose a profession, not a kind of life (or maybe she told me vocation,
but I havent heard that word during that time.) I took it negatively that time. Gradually I realized
that my teacher was right. I am not referring to a profession but a particular state of life. I
thought she was telling me not to daydream or make fantasies with her question. I now see
myself continuing my response to her question. I experienced being hesitant in many of my
experiences in the seminary. Yet I learned that I should not make the environment as the only
basis for my response to priesthood. It is in my decision either to take this or not, either to follow
Gods invitation to priesthood or not. And that decision is to be expressed in action in order to
achieve being blessed, the experience of being truly happy in Gods presence.