20090807 On Koinonia

What is Koinonia father?


Answer: Koinonia is a Greek word that occurs 20 times in the Bible. Koinonia’s primary meaning is “fellowship, sharing in common, communion.” The first occurrence of koinonia is Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Christian fellowship is a key aspect of the Christian life. Believers in Christ are to come together in love, faith, and encouragement. That is the essence of koinonia.

Philippians 2:1-2 declares, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Koinonia is being in agreement with one another, being united in purpose, and serving alongside each other. Our koinonia with each other is based on our common koinonia with Jesus Christ. First John 1:6-7, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

A powerful example of what koinonia should look like can be found in a study of the phrase “one another” in the Bible. Scripture commands us to be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), honor one another (Romans 12:10), live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16; 1 Peter 3:8), accept one another (Romans 15:7), serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32), admonish one another (Colossians 3:16), encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13), spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), offer hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), and love one another (1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11-12). That is what true biblical koinonia should look like.

20090315 Being Parents

I have talked with many parents who have experienced a mixture of both joy and sadness, of failures as well as achievements, of new needs and greater expectations as their kids grow year after year. There are parents who get hurt especially when their children leave their homes to start anew and have their own families. Yet, it is worth every part of it. 

How is to be a good parent?

I chose the wisdom of Kahlil Gibran because he put it into beautiful words. Parenting is the law of divine love, as expressively put into words by Kahlil Gibran:

“Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them life you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves the bow that is stable.”

Grief melts away

Like snow in May,

As if there were no such cold thing.

20100217 Surprised by Happiness

What is the Christian concept of service?

Jesus says in the Gospel: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Such a statement, according to some commentators, goes against the search for “self-fulfillment” which turns out to be not as advance. In Christian living, fulfillment comes, not through personal satisfaction, but through service to others.

In my experience as a priest, I have met diverse people. As I look back, I can roughly divide them into two: stars and servants. The stars are obviously the celebrity, we know how they live their lives. Stars live a glamorous life, yet left on their own, many of them are not really happy, some of them are miserable and have troubled or broken marriages.

Servants on the other hand, are people who serve in poor communities. Servants are not limited to priests and nuns but also to doctors, nurses and the like.  They live a more inspiring life. They serve without counting the cost. They work for low pay, long hours, and no applause or television exposure. But somehow in the process of losing their own life, they found something meaningful. They have received the peace that the world cannot give.

posted by Everett Corvera

20100114 On Fear

Father, how should we respond to fear?

“I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid.” T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Fear is the universal primal response to suffering. And yet beyond doubt it is also the single greatest “enemy of recovery.”

Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is how you master your fear. Fear not, for in our mind and heart we know that there is always help - God is always there. A prayer to the Archangels is my best weapon to face fear and anxiety.

Father Everett, can you please give me a list of interesting facts about the Bible?

Here's an old one which is about 250 years old taken from A Friendly Companion, November 1989 issue.

The Bible is the life and tree of knowledge which contains:

* 66 books
* 1,189 chapters
* 31,173 verses
* 810,697 words
* and 3,566,480 letters.
* The longest chapter is Psalm 119.
* The middle verse is Psalm 118.8.
* The longest name is in Isaiah 8.
* The word "and " occurs 46,627 times.
* The word "Lord" 1,855 times.
* 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37 are almost alike.
* The longest verse is Esther 8:9 with 90 words and 426 letters.
* The shortest verse is John 11:35; "Jesus wept".
* Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except 2.
* Ezra the scribe was the first to preach from a pulpit.
* The words "boy" and "girl" "chapel" "coffin" "eternity" and "reverend" are only mentioned once - read on until you find them.
* The finest piece of reading is said to be in Acts 26.
* The name of God is not once mentioned in Esther, although it contains so much holiness, knowledge, love, and wisdom.

20090822 On Riches

A relatively wealthy man asked me: “Where in the Bible can I find answers on God talking about wealth and money? On how to be good and trusted stewards?”

I initially shared with him the story about the rich young man in Mark’s Gospel (Mk 10:17-22), later though I also mentioned this amazing story in 2 Chronicles 1:7-12:

“That night God appeared to Solomon and said, ‘What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!’

Solomon replied to God, ‘You showed faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. O Lord God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?’

God said to Solomon, ‘Because your greatest desire to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people – I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”

After reading this particularly story of Solomon’s brave request, I never cease to pray to God for wisdom. If I were in Solomon’s shoes I would have asked for other things. But no, wisdom should come first before anything else. For according to James 1,5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

20100312 On Discernment

Soon after giving a talk on the Holy Rosary, a young enthusiastic fellow approached and asked this particular question that I also asked to my Spiritual Director when I was a seminarian:

“What is discernment? What is its origin? Is it in the Bible?”

Discernment comes from the Latin words: “discernere” and “discretion.” Discernere literally means “to separate by sifting,” it has the prefix dis meaning apart and the root word cernere meaning – to sift, separate.

In the Greek New Testament, the term discernment has an equivalent to the verb “to discern” and the noun “discernment,” it is as follows:

1.     Amakrino (verb) to distinguish or separate

2.     Diakrino (verb) signifies to separate, discriminate

3.     Dokimazo (verb) to test, to prove, to decide

4.     Diakrisis (noun) judging, a clear discrimination

In the New Testament, the expression “discernment of spirits” first appeared. It is never mentioned in the Old Testament. It was St. Paul who particularly brought up this need to discern when he mentioned in his letter to the Corinthians that one of the many gifts of the Holy Spirit to the early Church was “the power to distinguish one spirit from another” (1 Cor 12:10).

INTRODUCTION

In my daily encounter with all types of people, I am enchanted by the direct experience of an invisible presence that somehow forms in various questions from friends, parishioners and acquaintances. Most of the questions are with regard to prayer, Catholic faith and belief. For many years an inner prompting beckoned me to list down these questions in my journal. These questions lead me to prayer (and pray-ing), reflection and sometimes it flicks a flame that enables me to organize my thoughts in preparing a homily.

Through the urgent pleading of some friends to whom I shared and were able to read my Journal on Q and A, now bemoaning the confusion of my emergence, it is with joy that I share this sheer immensity of questions and answers on just about anything…

(The following Q and A is not in particular order. Numbers before the title means Year, Month and Day)

posted by Everett Corvera