20/11 BC - before collapse

For the past several years, in the 11:00 o’clock mass I have reflected with you the significance of the various personages in our gospel today. We reflected on the child Jesus being offered in the temple as the light of the world, we have reflected on Mary and Joseph, and we have reflected on the old man the prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna.Today I would like to reflect with you on something different. I would like to reflect with you on the significance of the place of offering, the temple of Jerusalem and its significance in our lives today. Jesus was offered on that temple, a temple since long gone, destroyed by the Roman Army led by Titus, a temple so long admired by many even Jesus looking at it so many years after, in his ministry wept because a temple so admired, so beautiful was soon to be destroyed. Now nothing is left of that temple except for a wall which they call the Wailing Wall.
That temple was significant and it is significant for us now because of what it started to represent and what it continues to represent even now in our own temples and churches. God is spirit and he who does not occupy space, he who does not need space, chose to enter space, chose to live in a place in order to be with his people. If we build temples and churches in order to reserve a place for worship, it is because God entered space in order that he can be worshipped. Kon naga-obra kita sang isa lugar sa diin kita magasimba, ini tungod kay ang Dios nagsulod man sa isa ka lugar agud nga sia simbahon.This was the significance of the temple built by the Jews and it is with the same significance that we build our churches now and maintain them as the heritage of faith, a heritage that could not simply be left to rot.God who occupies no space entered space that we may worship him there.The temple where Jesus was offered was significant to the Jews as our churches and shrines are significant to us even now. For the Jews especially that temple, the temple in Jerusalem was their identity. Destroy the temple and the nation is destroyed. And that is what precisely happened in the first and second diaspora, when the Babylonians destroyed the temple built by Solomon and the second temple was razed to the ground by the Roman Army. Brought into exile, scattered far and abroad, there was nothing more that would root them, nothing more that could gather them from all over the world as in the days of Jesus, for the temple was no more. The temple was their identity. Without the temple there was no longer a people, there was no longer a nation.So it is also in our day and time. Yes, we are the church, the people of God, but what symbolizes this, what makes us and gathers us as a people of God are the churches of stone and brick which we build – a temple we build for God who chose to be worshipped in space and time, and a temple we build for ourselves in order to worship God in a particular space and time. This temple, this church is also our identity. It is what gathers us together as a people, as Jareño. Like in the time of Jesus, people from all over come back and are gathered once more in her solemn feasts. And like that in the time of Jesus we gather too, all roads leading to that temple, to that church with anticipation and joy, feeling if not singing the song of the Jews when in their journey they first get a glimpse of the roof of the temple – “I rejoice when I heard them say, we go to God’s own home.”This is what the church means to us. This is how we value this place – it is God’s home, it is the place where God chose to be worshipped, it is the place where we and our ancestors before us, chose to worship God, and it is this building, this particular church, made of bricks, mortar and stone which identifies us as a people, particularly as a Jareño.You may have seen a lot of posters bearing the title Project 20/11 BC. It is an ambitious plan to raise 20 million pesos in 11 months BC – para sa Balay sang Candelaria, BC para sa Balay ni Cristo, BC, Balay sang Communidad. This cathedral was built in 1869, the same year that Jaro was named a Diocese. Its last major repair was in 1948, the year Lady Caycay, the last strongest quake to hit Panay toppled her belfry. After 50 years since its last repair, the roof is sagging. The trusses are rotting brought about by termites and leaking roofs, and some parts can be crushed and crumpled with just your bare hands. Some of the galvanized iron roofing are no longer pinned down but held precariously in place only by other parts of the roof. Debris of mortar from the dome fall constantly on the altar, and rain water seeps into the roof and flows down the inside walls. Thus, the engineers looking at the wear and tear of the cathedral say 20/11 BC actually means BC – Before Collapse.The Temple of God where he chose to be worshipped by his people in Jaro is in need of repair. The Shrine of our Mother, the Candelaria where we and our ancestors choose to worship God and enshrine our beloved Mother is in need of repair. Unluckily this task of rebuilding and repairing falls now on the shoulders of this generation. And yet like those before us we can also always choose this time, not as a burden, but as a moment of grace.When Mary and Joseph were going to the temple to fulfill the requirements of the law, to be purified after childbirth and to redeem their first born Son, they must have felt the surge of joyful and glad emotions in seeing the temple, not just the building, but what it represents – Mary’s purification and Jesus, being a first born male, redemption. I would like to believe that this is also how we all feel about this building. No, it is not just a church, and no it is not just bricks and stone. It is what it stands for that really matters to us. It is the significance that it played and continues to play in our lives that is of value to us. God chose to dwell here in this place with us. Our ancestors chose to house our Mother here in this place so that she can watch over us. It has been and it will be.