visible rhetoric

This homily was delivered during vespers . . . during the changing of the guards. Msgr. Nonet, now a bishop, was replaced by Msgr. Joema as Rector of the Seminary. Basically I was asking myself in this reflection, what is the role of a seminary rector and for that matter, what is the role of a seminary formator in the church? For years now I have been trying to look for a biblical passage that would justify my work in formation and at the same time guide us formators in our tasks. I believe our work is a unique call. If it wasn’t unique, then the seminary from whence I came could have prepared me better. But I was not, which leads me to the conclusion that it must have been something our formators then never thought our bishops would even think of doing, probably presuming too much that they have the fullness of the Holy Spirit. For the record, Msgr. Joemarie was my spiritual director when I was in theology.

I have never been to a tea ceremony before but I have read about it. It is interesting like many things Japanese where the position, gesture, arrangement and even minute details symbolize something. It is very oriental indeed, for things are not seen primarily in its utilitarian aspect but more so in its symbolic value. The tea ceremony is a very slow process, very slow. Even the preparation and the pouring and the sipping of the tea are done so slowly. In the mouth and on the tongue the tea must be savored as if every molecule, every atom should be tasted. This is because the tea ceremony symbolizes the recognition that every human encounter is a singular occasion which can and will never recur again. Thus, every aspect, every part, every second of the tea ceremony should be savored by all for what it gives all - the human encounter as a singular occasion which can never ever recur again, savored to the last drop.

I seldom show myself on my birthday. It is something I still consider very personal, I usually spend it alone, sometimes with my family, at times by simply retracing my steps. Here is one retracing . . . a reflection on a painful disability which affected my life as a young adult on my 36th birthday. I will never get used to being treated like this. But just the same I have to get used to this feeling of embarrassment if I have to get on with life. At the very least the consolation is that things like this happen only once a year. My reflection tonight is an intimate and personal reflection of the gospel. I’ve been holing myself in my room the whole day afraid to face visitors or answer calls and all the while I was just thinking where my life is at the moment and where God might be leading me as I am about to enter the peripheral borders of midlife. That’s the technical way or should I say the politically correct way of saying I’m getting older.

This is one piece I’ve written after a year in the seminary as formator – some 9 years ago. I reread it once in a while to get in touch with my original feelings and thoughts about my seminary work. I just found out that these rereadings are important if we want to recover the original enthusiasm that once was . . .

I was given two tasks tonight: to give an introduction as to the origins of Halloween and the practices that came out of this event, and to explain its meaning in our seminary formation. The first is easy, the other is quite impossible. Nevertheless we will try. And so the first task. What is Halloween and where did it come from?

Vita est brevis, ars est longa. Life is short but art is long. The stay is short but the memories are long and profound. And that is what this class is leaving us tonight. I would like to thank the following: I would like to thank Rhiyn for reflecting to me my anger and for giving me the opportunity to see it with him, to listen as to where it is coming from with him, and befriend it with him. Our passion might be excessive but precisely because it is excessive, we can also love and be passionate with our work as excessively as we can be angry.

Vanity of vanities. What is the vanity of vanities of a religious? What is the vanity of vanities of somebody who has dedicated himself or herself to God and the church in the religious life? A thing is considered vanity when it is worthless, empty and valueless. It is something that has no real value and without any real significance. If you notice, from this definition we can arrive at the conclusion that it would be very easy to escape from accusations of being vain. One can always say, “it may be valueless for you but it is significant for me.” “A small earring may be insignificant for just about anybody, but for me personally, I wear history dangling on my ears dating from the time of my great, great grandmother – a family heirloom.” What may be valueless to you, might be priceless to another. The human mind is such that it can always rationalize, even a small thing of no significance to another, has personal value to the person concerned. In the end therefore, from th...

Graduations are always characterized by mixed emotions, and so do many leave-takings. There is always the fear of what lies ahead and the joy of finishing one's journey. There is always the excitement of new experiences and the sadness of having only but memories of what used to be. There is the resolute feeling of facing yet another chance of correcting the past in what lies ahead, and also of carrying the feelings of guilt perhaps, of having to leave so many things undone, so many things untended.

The bishop is not around for this funeral mass, and Fr. Neil has not yet arrived and the burden of having to officiate this mass and give the homily fell on my shoulders. When I came to know about this, if I am not mistaken now, I immediately felt I was the next of kin. When one works for the church one immediately in some sense enters the family of the church which extends further the already extended Filipino family. Well, didn’t Jesus promise that those who deny certain relationships for his sake will gain mothers and brothers and sisters besides?

Several Valentine's Day past, Bisoy came to the prefect’s room and asked me if I could permit him to go out. A young man of 21 years, asking to go out on a class day and on Valentine's day at that, is anything but routine. I seldom asked for reasons why a person will go out, but the time and date were situations that arouse the curiosity even of the unsuspecting. And so I did what I usually didn’t do, I asked, “why are you going out?” And Bisoy told the truth.

Before we move on to our reflection on the significance of the vestments, particularly the cassock and surplice, it is important that we recover first and foremost the original intent of such vestments so as to develop our thoughts on its meaning based on its context. First the cassock. In the first four centuries of Christianity the clergy did not bother to wear a distinctive garb that would mark them off from the laity. They wore the tunic as everybody else did. The tunic was an undergarment. Only a Roman citizen could wear a toga around his tunic but non-citizens could not, so they have to be content with their tunic which may reach just above their knees or extend to the ankles depending on the kind of movement one’s work demands. This tunic was short sleeved. Long sleeves were considered barbaric fashion then, because only barbarians wear long sleeves due to the colder climate of northern Europe from whence they came. This was so until one day, to the shock of the fashion...

Filipino is not exactly my favorite subject. The uses of nang and ng confuse me even now. I really don’t know why, but I do feel some kind of a natural aversion for the subject. Probably even when I was young I was already dead set against imperial Manila. Nevertheless one has to pass the subject. I did get an S and an occasional VS though, thanks to the woman who was so at home with the intricacies of the subject not just in her knowledge of the Filipino but even so in her physical demeanor as a teacher of the language. The subject suited her as much as a Pilipino terno would rightly fit her physical appearance. Thank God she also taught Social Studies, and thank God they did not teach the subject in Filipino back then. At least I did make up in that subject what I terribly lacked in the other and so left school after having been given the chance to make a much better impression on her.

Years back, probably through some bad luck, I was forced to teach gardening to a class of high school students. I was chosen not for any studies which I did, or degree which I have. The only criteria I suppose for the choice was the fact that I have chosen gardening as a hobby to while away my time as a celibate and I have done so ever since I was in theology. It was not talent that made me choose that hobby. I just cherished the silence that it brings and I like to see things grow. I woke up early one morning and I knew that things looked bad for a gardener. The weather had not been good for almost two days then, and that morning as any gardener would surmise, things turned out from bad to worse considering that we had just replanted then some seedlings. After mass I went to the garden and indeed my worst fears were confirmed – the garden was awashed with water and in another plot the fledgling seedlings were pinned down to the ground.