visible rhetoric

While I was committing “mortal sin” days ago, that is, eating to my hearts content pork liempo just across the plaza of Jaro, a little girl without any warning came to my table and rendered to me what at first sounded like a kindergarten child reciting, or should I say mumbling, her first poetry. It took me a while to realize that she was singing a Christmas carol, a carol all of us should have known immediately, if it had been sung intelligibly that is: Silent Night, Holy Night. Realizing that she was asking for something I opened my wallet and gave her 20 pesos, not because the song was worth 20 pesos but as a teacher I am expected to recognize and give some credit at least to effort expended, which I should honestly say was worth 19 pesos with one peso going for the song. Unluckily for me this little girl was not just interested with money, she also got interested with my pork liempo. I argued of course but sensing that she would not leave my table empty handed I gave her half ...

This is the first time ever that I am going to bless a bank. And to say it bluntly now, it is one of those things that interests me the least. For one I don’t know anything about how it works, and for another I hardly passed math and accounting in high school and college. Even now, being in charge of our chapel, I could not balance the little collecta that we receive and I have to ask somebody to do it for me. It is not because I am not interested with money. In this regard I follow the official line of our former rector in the seminary when it comes to handling the so called “root of all evil.” He often said, money is not the problem. It is the solution to our problems.

I thought all the while that if I could tackle talking about a 50th wedding anniversary, I could easily talk about a 25th wedding anniversary. I was wrong. Last night, I ended up watching the TV until 1 AM in frustration for want of thoughts to write about. I accepted this invitation because I thought all the while that I have it under my sleeve, that I won’t make great strides, great effort to come up with a reflection. I ended up having nothing. I was told this is a surprise that was hatched in the mind of Archie, I don’t know for how many days or weeks. But I tell you, you are not the only ones surprised.

Writing about “augmenting and later supplanting membership in the councils” presupposes a lot of things which this little space in our parish weekly paper cannot fully accommodate all at once. When we speak of “councils” in our parish we are referring to a gigantic structure consisting of probably more than 150 persons and divided into 3 classifications as to function and expertise, namely the Parish Pastoral Council, the Parish Apostolic Council and the Parish Finance Council. For purposes of this article I think it would suffice to explain in passing their function and their relationship to each other. THE PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL The Parish Pastoral Council is the “planning” Council. It has three functions, namely: “to investigate aspects of a pastoral situation, to ponder and reflect on them, and lastly to reach a conclusion and recommend this to the parish priest.” As a planning council they are called to identify and reflect on the parish situation, compare that situation w...

Today is Christmas, Merry Christmas. I just want to emphasize this point because today is officially Christmas Day. I say officially because some of us have already started greeting each other Merry Christmas way back November and even as early as September when we begun putting up our Christmas Trees and lanterns. That was the unofficial Christmas, also known as the Filipino Christmas. Today it is officially Christmas and we are celebrating it after almost all our Christmas parties are over. We are after all a people known for postponing our grief and anticipating our joys.

Today in this first Wednesday in the month of December, our thoughts are led to the day of our birth when the Lord in his merciful and fruitful love deemed it wise that we be born in this world. We were the joy of our parents, the pride of our family, the apple of everyone’s eye and perhaps even the talk of the town. And though you may look superbly disconcerted in your crib and not exactly comfortable with all the attention, your parents and all the people with them were happy because life is a gift from the God and you were a gift of God for them and for all.

I would like to reflect with you on the feast of the Immaculate Conception with the first reading from the book of Genesis in mind. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is not just an acknowledgement of Mary’s privilege of having been conceived without original sin from the first moment of her conception. It is not just faith in the unique redemption of Mary by Christ her would be Son, when Jesus redeemed her by his blood like all of us but uniquely while she was conceived in the womb of her mother St. Anne. This feast is not just an acknowledgement that Mary is without sin. It is also an acknowledgement that we are and we remain sinners, redeemed sinners, but nevertheless sinners. This too is an important acknowledgement today when we have grown to be without consciousness anymore of sin and evil in our world, at a time when we seem to be without consciousness anymore that there is sin and evil lurking in our desires and in our hearts. Today we do not just ask for the grace t...

Masses with healing are always well attended. This is an irony because we are supposedly in an age where so many medical breakthroughs have been made. We have medicines unheard of before, we have treatments that were then considered suicidal but now mere routine. Doctors are becoming more and more specialized they practically know every nook and corner of your heart, kidney and eyes, so practically they know how to diagnosed and treat every problem encountered by their specialization. And yet why do people flock for healing? Why do people gather by the thousands and walk in pouring rain for masses for healing? I do not have answers. But I will just make a conjecture – conjecture in hiligaynon it means palagpat.