visible rhetoric

Permit me to tell you one of my experiences of helplessness. Last two years ago, I was privileged to be invited to the province of Bontoc by a priest friend. The ride was not just bumpy and long, it was terribly bumpy and very long – 14 hours from manila by bus. We were literally walking on clouds passing through the highest highway in the Philippines and supposedly the coldest place in the country, where the specialty of the carinderias in our stopovers were caldereta na aso, inihaw na aso, bituka ng aso, utak ng aso, and every part of the dog except the paws and the tail. It was one place where I never saw a dog running around.

St. John the apostle it is told was the only apostle who did not die a martyr’s death. So it is said that when he was already very old and could no longer walk, he was carried in front of the congregation who would gather in the church and people would ask him to say something, to give them a sermon on the words of Jesus. But every time they would ask he would say to them the same thing - - daw pari man liwat-liwat sermon – and his talks would never change always telling them – brothers and sisters you must always love one another.

Today I would like to reflect with you the meaning of a life that is lived in sickness and pain. I must confess that the decision to reflect on these topics made me quite uneasy. First question was – is this appropriate for a birthday. Second dilemma was do I have to speak of something like sickness that we prefer not talk about. If I decided to do this it is because I believe that whenever we celebrate birthdays we celebrate the beauty of life itself – not just the joys of life but the joys with the pain. Pain is not something that we should be afraid of, or something we would rather keep silent of or probably deny. Pain is very human as much as joy is – embracing it means accepting our humanity – the same humanity which we celebrate during birthdays.

My coming here to speak in behalf of the mother of the debutante brings with it a lot of first. This is the first debut in the family after so many years. This is also the first time I am speaking in a debut. And to cap it all, this is also the first time I’m attending a debut. In our time while I was growing up in the seminary we were never allowed to attend debuts under the pain of expulsion. It is for this reason that I did some little research about a word I hear so often but never have had any first hand knowledge about.

Today in honor of St. Agatha, I would like to reflect with you on virginity. Please do not worry I am not going to make you raise your hands asking you whether you are a virgin or not. In our age which is still very much part of the sexual revolution, virginity may be considered something alien, something out of this world, something impossible to maintain and uphold. For preachers it is something equally impossible to preach. Either one is too embarrassed to talk about it or is afraid to be labeled as too distant in a world which demands that its preachers be more down to earth. But I believe, not talking about it, is precisely the reason why it has become an alien virtue in our present virtue in the present day, something that should be preached to some old nuns in a dreary convent, rather than to some jolly young people who happens to be here in this chapel. Nevertheless preach we must, otherwise St. Agatha who died at 250 AD may become a relic from a remote age. But Agatha...

A scientist in 3M’s commercial office took advantage of what this particular company calls creative time where people can still get paid doing nothing except to think creatively, knowing that a spark of an idea can turn out millions of profits. Art Fry is the name of the scientist and he was singing for a church choir during his spare time. He noticed that every time he marked his hymnal with little pieces of paper they would fall out on the floor. One day an inspiration came. He remembered an adhesive, a glue developed in a laboratory, which was considered a failure because it did not stick very well. He got it and coated a paper sample with the adhesive and he discovered that it was not only a good bookmark, but it was also good for writing notes because it will stay in place as long as you want and you can take it off without sticking to or damaging the page. Then it can be re-stuck to another page, over and over again. He hit the jackpot – the resulting product was called P...