visible rhetoric

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first saint, the first martyr of the Philippine church to be officially recognized by the universal church. When we speak of martyrdom we cannot help but meditate also on the silence of God, the silence of God in the midst of the sufferings of his children, more specifically the silence of God in the midst of the sufferings of those who chose to remain loyal to him.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Luke. He was a doctor by profession before he became a companion of St. Paul during his many journeys. That is why St. Luke is the patron saint of doctors. He is also the patron saint of artists most especially of painters because legend says that he was the first to have painted an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most of all St. Luke is known because he wrote two books in the bible, in the new testament, the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. His version of the life of Jesus is unique. His is the Gospel which cites the most instances of the Blessed Virgin Mary – the annunciation, the birth of Jesus and many others. His is also a go spel wherein Jesus reaches out to all men and women. They call this universalistic – he sought to include all. He reaches out not just to men but also to women. He reaches out not just to the Jews but even to Samaritans, Romans and gentiles. He reaches out not just to the rich and the ...

I remember when we were still high school in the seminary while we were praying in the chapel a power outage occurred, so all of a sudden there were no lights except the lighted candles on the altar. And as it always happens during brownouts everybody gasped, giggled, talked and even teased one another. Then amidst the darkness a booming voice was heard - the absence of light does not diminish the presence of God in this chapel. Most often we lived a compartmentalized life, marked by boundaries which differentiate our moral actions from one compartment to the other. Like the servant in our gospel today who concluded that since the master is delayed in coming he did what he wanted to do with his fellow servants. God is not yet, so he does what he wants. Little did he know that in the end there a reckoning, an accounting has to take place.

The Jews believed that God punished the builders of the tower in Siloam because they knew that the money used for the project of Pontius Pilate came from the temple treasury. The Jews believed that whatever is offered to the temple belongs to God alone and it could never be used for other purposes. Thus they believed that the tower of Siloam was cursed and true indeed it collapsed and 18 workers died. People thought they saw the connection – gingabaan sila. This also happened with the Galileans who while offering sacrifices in the temple protested against the policies of Pontius Pilate and because of that they were killed and their blood mingled with their sacrifices.

Two days ago a strange thing happened with the park lights that you see in front of the cathedral. The story goes like this. Days before while digging through the garden some workers thought they saw what looked like human bones near one of the lamp post. They picked these up and placed it on a corner where they forgot about it. One of the electricians working in the area saw the bones and promptly reburied them as he was covering up the wirings beneath the pavement and forgot all about it. Days later while they were testing the lights, one lamp post would not light up. They tried to trace the problem and fixed it, but it would not work. They took down the lamp post, examined all the connections, changed a socket and put it back again. Still it would not work. They took a tester and discovered that no current was flowing. So they cut the wire. Then the electricians retested the wire from another post. To their surprise current was flowing . But they have already cut the wi...

The Basilica of St. John Lateran has a long history dating back to the time when Christianity was accepted in Rome as one of the major religions of the empire. The lot on which it stands was owned by the Laterani family, hence its name – the Lateran. It was donated by Constantine the great to Pope Meltiades and excavations today proved that it is standing on the barracks of the forces of Emperor Maxentius. It was built, vandalized, destroyed and rebuilt several times. It has to contend with Barbarian invasions, fires, earthquakes through the centuries. It is dedicated the Christ the Savior then later to John the Baptist and to John the Evangelist thus the name St. John Lateran. Four ecumenical councils were held there, 28 popes are buried there and for a thousand years it was the seat of Church government until the pope moved to the Vatican. Pope Benedict as pope has his seat at St. Peter’s, but as bishop of Rome which the pope truly is first and foremost, his seat is the L...

This is a take your pick homily. In other words I cannot make up my mind what single topic to develop into a homily, so I put into it everything that comes to my mind. So take your pick. One or two may be right for you. First. Have you ever climbed a tree? I believe most of us are already too old to climb trees. So all we have now are memories of the feeling and probably what we saw when we climbed a tree. The last time I climbed a tree was caused by a dog which came running after me. It came running after me and so I ran as fast as I could and climb the nearest tree. Climbing a tree you get a different perspective. You see things you don’t normally see down here. You can see your roof and what part needs repair. You can see the topmost portion of your plants and bushes that needs trimming. You can even compare what you see on your side of the fence to that of your neighbor, on the other side of your fence. It’s seeing things from a vantage point, seeing things from afar...

As priests we are obliged to undergo an annual retreat of not less than three days. It is an obligation spelled out in canon law - a practical regulation borne out of centuries of experience intended to rekindle the flame that sustains us in our ministry. It is also a time where we can be together with our brother priests, at least by batches, for a longer period, and renew the ties that bind us in our work for the church. This year’s focus of our retreat is on the value of stewardship. What is stewardship? Stewardship is the humble acceptance of God’s gifts in our lives and the readiness to use them for others. My priesthood is a gift. The exercise of my leadership in the parish or in a particular area of apostolate is God’s gift. The sacraments that I dispense, the word that I preach, the funds that I manage . . . everything, even my life are God’s gifts - gifts intended to be used for others.

When I read this gospel I remembered immediately the late Fr. John van Leewen, the priest who lovingly called himself ang carabao sang Dios. Probably the old folks here would remember this Dutch Mill Hill priest who had served St. Paul’s Hospital for the longest time. And he is known by a lot of people because he is one of those very rare breed of priests who loves to hear confessions. Anyway I remembered him because whenever someone goes to confessions but instead of admitting outright one’s fault would twist a few facts here and there in his or her confessions so as to make oneself look good, nga ang gwa daw ikaw pa maayo. When somebody did this, Fr. John would softly sing inside the confessional, kulas dayaw. And that would remind the person that in confessions you just have to admit your fault without going through a litany of justifications to make yourself look better. Kulas dayaw.

Last two weeks ago I went to the World Heritage City of Vigan sponsored by UNESCO to represent our very own World Heritage Miag-ao Church. All representatives of World Heritage Sites in the Philippines were there for this important gathering - for the once every six years periodic review and for the reformulation of the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (SOUV) for each site listed. With a threat of being de-listed from the roll of World Heritage sites I have no choice but to go and suffer the week-long 10 hour a day gruelling task of discussions and workshops. In the end though relationships were forged, contacts with the experts on conservation were strengthened with whole week of playful fun as an added perk. Well, I have been given a standing promise of an excursion to the Tubattaha Reef (though I could not yet imagine myself donning a scuba gear and diving through myriads of corals, fishes, whales and sharks), we were promised a free pass to the Palawan Underground Ri...

Probably you have been taught before and therefore you have known by now why a priest when he prays raises his hands like this. Yes this is a gesture for prayer, - that is why a priest introduces it by saying, let us pray. But the question is, what kind of prayer? The raising of both hands in prayer is called the orans position, orans. The priest uses this gesture when he prays not for himself but when he prays in behalf of the other. When a priest prays for himself he simply closes his hands and prays for himself. But when he prays for others, when he prays for the community, when he prays in behalf of the people he raises both his hands in the orans position. Remember this outstretched hand is the same position Jesus took when he died on the cross, a gesture that he was doing this painful sacrifice not for himself but for the sake of and in behalf of the other. This gesture of a priest in prayer, which comes from the position and gesture of Moses in our first reading today p...

This Sunday is world Mission Sunday. Whenever this Sunday comes we think of those little brown envelopes distributed to us during the mass and those little boys and girls from catholic schools going around with their mission boxes asking for your contribution. Well, that can be one of the activities for Mission Sunday. Our monetary contribution after all is needed for the missionary activities of the Church worldwide. Every year we send the amount you contributed to the Pontifical Missions in Rome to fund these activities whether in faraway Africa, in a lonely outpost among the Pacific Islands or even in the hinterlands of Mindanao. These monies are spent for these activities so that Christ’s expressed command to bring the gospel to the whole world may be fulfilled.

Last week I went to the World Heritage City of Vigan to attend a workshop organized by UNESCO for site managers of the world heritage sites found in the Philippines - the Tubataha Reef, the Ifugao Rice Terraces, the Underground River of Palawan, the city of Vigan itself, the baroque churches which included the churches of Paoay, Sta Maria, San Agustin in Intramuros and the Miag-ao church which I represented. They held it in Vigan because they wanted to showcase what Vigan did to preserve the old spanish buildings of the city. If you are an antique enthusiast, Vigan is your city. However, of the many old things that can be seen in Vigan one particular thing caught my fancy. It is called the ex voto. The ex voto are those tiny objects not more than an inch in height, which are placed on shrines and images of saints. These little objects can be anything - the shape of an arm, a leg, an eye, a liver, a kidney, a child, tiny cute houses, a horse - anything. It was a practice then w...

The rosary is the most basic or should I say the most simple of prayers. It came to be when the lay people mostly uneducated could no longer pray as the monks did with the psalms in Latin. And so this prayer made do as a substitute. The recitation of the Our Father served as an antiphon while the Hail Marys served as the psalms. In a complete rosary then there were 150 Hail Marys as there are 150 psalms. And with the meditation of the mysteries of the Lord they fulfilled the very purpose why a Christian has to pray at various times of the day - as St. Hippolytus said: Semper Christum in memoria habere – that we may always be mindful of Christ - who he is, and what he had done for us. The Hail Mary’s, the Our Father’s, the Glory Be’s serve as a setting, the background music, so to say, for remembering what Christ has done for you and me in the joyful mysteries where he became man for our salvation; in the luminous mysteries where he labored in his public ministry to bring man bac...

There was once a missionary in the Pacific Islands who was trying to find a better translation for the word hope in the local dialect. Day and night he thought for a better word that would capture its essence and give it a local color, but all words escaped him until one day his friend died. On the day of burial of his friend, while everybody was weeping, a young boy came over to the missionary and asked him, “Father, why are you not crying? Your best friend died, why are not weeping like the rest?” And the missionary facing the boy said, “I believe that I shall see my friend once more in heaven. There is therefore no need to cry.” The boy nodded as if he understood. And after the ensuing silence that followed, the young boy spoke once more saying, “now it is clear to me what they have been saying about you Christians. You are a people who look beyond the horizon.” That day, the missionary came to know the proper translation for the word hope for these Pacific Islanders. ...

We named him Lorenzo. They found him at around 7:30 in the morning of September 28, feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila at the women’s restroom crying, wrapped in a course black cloth and placed in a Louis Vuitton light brown dust bag which was laid neatly on the restroom floor near the toilet bowl. At first nobody would like to pick him up thinking that it would be another gory sight like the first two experiences we had before (both babies were found dead). But he was moving . . . alive and definitely strong in his movements. They brought him to the convent with a parade of people - the curious, the moved, the surprised, the sorry and undeniably all of them rowdy. Finally, with too many people wanting to see him including the media, we managed to sneak him out of the convent and brought him to the hospital. As of this writing an infection in the intestines and the lungs are being managed with antibiotics by his paediatrician. Otherwise he is as they say a “well-baby” - healthy...

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first saint, the first martyr of the Philippine church to be officially recognized by the universal church. When we speak of martyrdom we cannot help but meditate also on the silence of God, the silence of God in the midst of the sufferings of his children, more specifically the silence of God in the midst of the sufferings of those who chose to remain loyal to him. Many times most of us would think that martyrs received their torments and death with a defiant face and a strong will. Many stories of the saints would depict them as brave and strong and unyielding in the face of pain. However come to think of it how can it be called a martyrdom if there was no fear, if there was no anguish, if there was no struggle to comprehend the love of God in the midst of suffering. That is why I propose that we meditate on the silence of God in the struggle of his martyrs. Where is God in the midst of my suffering? Where is God in the...

In our day and age it is difficult to explain the role of angels. Although there is a proliferation of angel figurines they are bought not so much out of devotion and belief but by their cuteness like any other figurines we buy from stores. But as it is people nowadays seem to take angels for granted. But the fact remains that our creed teaches us that angels do exist as well as devils. The bible says a lot about them. They minister to God day and night singing holy, holy, holy – a song we sing in every mass while joining our voices to theirs. They are the messengers of God, sent to fulfill and implant the will of God – from the time of creation when an angel was sent to guard the tree of life, to the angels sent to Abraham and Sarah, to the angel Michael guarding the chosen people, to the angel Raphael sent to heal Tobit, to the angel Gabriel announcing the good news to Mary.

The sin of the rich man was not that he did wrong things, but that he did nothing. The sin of the rich man which merited him the fires of hell was not that he did wrong things, but that he did nothing. The rich man did nothing wrong to Lazarus. He did not drive him away. He did not remove him from his house. He did not kick him or even speak to him as to insult him. He did not even object when Lazarus was picking up bits and pieces of bread that fell from his table. The rich man did not lay a finger on Lazarus. But that is precisely the problem - he did nothing for Lazarus.

Fr. Caloy has left us! No, this is not an obituary, this is just a change of assignment or more specifically a change of residence. Fr. Carlo Noquez is our Archdiocesan Chancellor. In the past he should have been called “The Lord Chancellor”, though his height may not have made him that “lordly” in bearing, yet his voice very well compensates, so they say. A chancellor is a fulltime job and he is required to report in the office of the chancellor at the Archbishop’s Residence everyday except on weekends. And so to facilitate such he took up residence in the Rectory of the Jaro Cathedral. Now he has transferred to Molo.

There was once a hermit who lived in the deep forest in order to dedicate his life solely for the Lord. In the course of many years this hermit befriended a fly, a mouse and a rooster. The rooster would mark the times when the hermit should pray. Kon magsugod na gani tukturuok ang manok ang monghe magabangon na agod makapangamuyo sia. The fly, ang langaw would guide him in his prayer by jumping from one sentence to the next sentence in his prayer book. And lastly the mouse would stay on his shoulders when the hermit prays and when he dozes off, kon matulugan sia, the mouse would gently nibble on his ears to wake him up and keep him awake when he prayed. This was their arrangement everyday in the life of that hermit deep in the forest, until one day, mortals as they were, the dying began. First to die was the fly. Then a few days later the mouse died too. And still a few weeks later the rooster died and the hermit was all alone in the deep forest. He cried and cried and was fi...

In the time of Jesus diseases are caused not by viruses, not by infections and bacteria and not by plagues, but it is caused by the weakening of the human spirit and this weakened spirit becomes susceptible to the possession of the evil one whose actions in our bodies produces the symptoms of various diseases and in the case of Simon’s mother it caused a very high fever. This is the reason why Jesus rebuked the spirit and with the spirit gone and with equilibrium of the body established once again, the fever subsided.

In your eyes I might be a deprived celibate: I am a priest, I have no wife, no children to cuddle, no grand children to look forward to, no one to personally care for me during my retirement. In a lot of ways and in a lot of things too common for you and probably things you take for granted, I am deprived. But, this I would insist strongly, my priesthood may have deprived me with a lot of things but not everything. Take for example my presence in Tabuc Suba Ilaya yesterday for lunch. I came late. The people were already finishing lunch and when somebody asked if I have eaten and when I replied not yet, everything became almost automatic.

A - I believe most of you, if not all, would agree with me that this occasion is just too big for one person to handle. Clearly I could not and I would not even dare to carry the responsibility alone. And so I asked the help of two others to prepare and to deliver this homily. They are going to introduce themselves. T Theodbriel Villariza - theobird to my classmates, Assumption Iloilo, batch 91 - 95. R Richard Daulo - Richard to my classmates, Assumption Iloilo, batch 87 - 91. A Alejandro Esperancilla, Alibabes to my classmates, Assumption Iloilo, batch 79 - 83 T We represent 3 decades of Assumption, not enough to cover the 10 decades, R but more than enough to speak for the majority of us gathered here today.

Three truths are revealed to us this evening. Three important truths we should not miss for anything. The first truth: It is found in our second reading today. We are strangers and foreigners on the earth and we are seeking a homeland. We are strangers in this world. What you call home is not your home. One day you are going to leave it behind and never come back. What you call your town, your city, your country is only temporarily your town, your city and your country - only temporarily. One day you are going to leave it behind and never come back. We are strangers and foreigners on the earth and we are seeking a homeland - this is the first truth. But it is a truth that may sometimes be hard to accept, a truth we prefer not to discuss.

Today we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When human life ends it is taken down six feet below the ground, however in the case of Mary she was taken up to heaven body and soul. When human life ends the soul goes back to God and the body goes the way of all mortal flesh to rot in the grave and turn back to dust, however in the case of Mary it was not just her soul that found its way back to God, for her flesh, her body was also taken up to heaven with her soul. Her body did not the way of all flesh. It did not undergo corruption. How did it come to this? There are several reasons.

Taking care of the things of the cathedral is one heck of a job. It is by itself a full-time job. But I like this job, probably because it is part of my nature. I am what one would usually call in hiligaynon a “manug-ukay.” You may call it a hobby, a pastime or whatever, but I do enjoy discovering and eventually preserving things. Do you know that because of this “nature” it was I who discovered that the first Diocesan Synod called for in 2001 was actually the third? Well, tucked in a very old baol full of dust and other debris, which caught my fancy in a bodega in the seminary, I came to discover the documents of the Second Diocesan Synod of Jaro written in Spanish and convoked and approved by Bishop James McCloskey. I also came to discover many very old pictures of the Cathedral and the old Iloilo itself which became partly the basis why the cathedral came to be repaired as it appears now.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Commission on the Laity for organizing the tribute to clergy last August 2 to end the Year For Priests in our Archdiocese. I think it would not be against the intentions of the organizers if I call it “A Tribute to Clergy-Lay Partnership in the Mission of the Archdiocese,” for indeed that was the content of the speeches and the personal feelings that was aroused in me that evening. If it was done primarily by the laity “in honor” of the clergy I would not have come to the occasion, for it would have been mere “clanging cymbal” and “lip service” to “honor” us with a tribute we don’t exactly deserve. But since I feel that what was emphasized in that occasion was partnership with the laity, I came out happy and in some instances moved by the occasion. I am blessed with three experiences of working in the parish (3 years in Jaro, 8 months in Pototan, and now I’m on my second year in Jaro . . . again) and in these parishes as priest I n...

Nanay Ludz (Lourdes Benedicto Jover) died. If you do not know her then probably you are not from Jaro or you are not that religious. Well she is after all a Benedicto, a Jover, the maternal aunt of the late Archbishop Piamonte, and a religious zealot (in a positive way) - a cerrada catolica, as they usually say, and a devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary especially in her dogged propagation of the Holy Rosary. She was a daily mass goer until she could no longer walk to the cathedral and a daily communicant after that. She was a familiar sight not just in church but even so in the convent, the palacio (archbishop’s residence) and even in the rooms of priests as the only woman, this sensitive people of Jaro would tolerate and even approvingly so, in the rooms of celibate men. For many priests she was lola, mother, even a maid (she would arrange clothes lying around and hang them) and your ecclesial version of “Pinoy Big Brother” (or sister?) to priests. But who was Nanay Ludz for me?...

It seems that nobody noticed that Jovic Velez is no longer manning his turf in what we formerly called the 20/11 Office but now the Office for General Repair. Now even that office has to go as the parish personnel, specifically the Accounting Office, begins to assume his functions in the project. It does not mean however, that the project is over. We still have to finish the Shrine, we still have to redo the garden at the facade, we have to take out the mortuary, we have to construct the Columbarium and Ossuary in its stead, and, God willing, we have to repair the other sacristy (if you are facing the altar that’s the big room on your right) to make way for the Bishop’s Chapel, which will, in the future be the repository of the liturgical paraphernalia used for Archdiocesan celebrations. This church is not just a parish church after all, but the cathedral of an Archdiocese.

I went to Sitio Balasbas last month to celebrate mass with them and to witness their Flores de Mayo. Sitio Balasbas is part of Brgy. Simon Ledesma, located at its boundary with Brgy. San Roque. In fact one of the Urna Cells which our team is setting up this week criss-crosses the two barangays. It has a small chapel located at the end of the concrete street just a few meters from the river - the few meters which are filled with houses made of very light materials. The chapel is really small, around 6 meters long and 4 meters wide - located at the exact spot where the street ends. It was probably built as an afterthought after all the spaces available were occupied, but an important afterthought nevertheless since it looks as if it was an afterthought that was insisted upon. And everyday around 6 in the evening, a small group would gather in that chapel topray the Angelus and the rosary. They’re looking for a sound system though, so that their prayers will be carried away to and ...

Last June 15 I celebrated my 17th year in the priesthood. I am glad that it was an uneventful day, as I preferred it to be, for it gave me time to do the things I seldom do anymore because of the priesthood. One of which was I gave myself a full 2 hour siesta and the other was to remember and relive (at least in memory like an old movie) what happened 17 years ago. This includes getting into those old boxes of memorabilia and holding once more those things which connects me tangibly to my past.

Last week, our BEC Team I, composed of volunteer parishioners and catechists, went to Tubungan for a “field trip”. First we went to the parish center where the Parish Pastoral Council of Tubungan gave us a brief but comprehensive background on how they run the parish. They shared with us their experiences and methods, their insights and discoveries as they go about establishing Basic Ecclesial Communities in their barangays. Knowing Msgr. Oso and his life-long obsession (if I may be permitted to call it as such) in alleviating the plight of the poorest of the poor in the Archdiocese being the head of its Social Action Office (JASAC), we were curious especially on how he managed their social apostolate. Well I can say, I was overwhelmed and in the weeks and months to come we can also come up with something similar or something inspired by that enriching interaction with the parish pastoral council of Tubungan. They had, for example, surveyed their parish and have identified the p...

If all goes well according to plan I would be officially replaced as Chairperson of the Commission on Liturgy of the Archdiocese this month of June after almost ten years serving in that capacity. In fact I have been involved in the Liturgy since I was allowed by the seminary to wear the sautana in 1983! In all those years my world revolved around the correct and proper worship of God – what is to be done, where it can be done, how it is done, and why it is done. Liturgy has always been in reality among priests (and lay enthusiasts too) an interesting subject, too interesting in fact it instigated the first murder ever mentioned in the bible – the murder of Abel by Cain over the question who has given better worship to God. I have been called among other things to resolve quarrels among the lay who in their overwhelming zeal to do the right thing before God, made quite a scene during the offertory of the mass, because one would not allow the other, who was equally insistent, to br...

We celebrated last May 26, albeit without much fanfare, the anniversary of the Dedication of the Jaro Cathedral. Since it is a cathedral it is not just celebrated as a Solemnity in the Cathedral itself (in the liturgical yardstick that’s equivalent to the Jaro Fiesta) but also as a feast in all the parishes of the Archdiocese of Jaro. On that day the 12 candlesticks on the walls of the cathedral were all lighted up signifying the solemnity of the occasion and the high festivity of the celebration. In the liturgy, the more candles we light, the more festive is the occasion, and in the occasion of the Anniversary of the Dedication it’s not just four or six but twelve candles plus the six candles beside the altar. The Cathedral of Jaro represents the people of God not just in the parish of Jaro but even so of the whole archdiocese, since this is a catheral where the cathedra (the Latin word for seat or chair) of the Archbishop of Jaro is. (If you are facing the altar you won’t miss i...

This is one week wherein I felt more like a mortician rather than a priest. There are just too many dead to attend to. And when I thought Wednesday would be a day of rest from these “deadly” concerns, a last minute reshuffling of the schedules assigned me to a funeral mass on that day too. So now I will be completing a whole week with a funeral from Monday to Saturday. Fr. Ralph Siendo once called me an AE, not Alejandro Esperancilla but the Archdiocesan Embalmer. The moniker started when I was assigned to dress up Archbishop Piamonte when he died years back. They reasoned then that since I was the Master of Ceremonies in-charge of directing the liturgical celebrations presided over by the bishop and since I dressed him up for mass when he was yet alive, then logically I have to do it also when he died. It was a logical proposition and fired up by my loyalty and love for the bishop (which a young and idealistic priest is always full of) I did dress him up in full regalia mysel...

Now the circus has finally left town. Thank God! It’s time to take away all those election campaign paraphernalia, recycle them or throw them to the garbage bin. I hope the winning and losing candidates (if indeed they care for the city’s wellbeing as they said they were during the campaign) would help restore cleanliness to the city by taking away these eyesores.

If I have to entitle my homily today I would entitle it, “The things I have learned from your sons”’ or “The things your sons have taught me.” Why? for like Jesus I could not help but exclaim "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the mere children. Most of the times in our life we think that the children and the young are to be seen rather than heard. Most often our relationship with them is one to whom we would incessantly give advice and talk to, rather than hear from. Most often in our dealings with them we think solely of ourselves as their guides without even considering that we too could be guided by them. And so here are some of the things I learned from your sons, good guides they are, capable advisers, and the best storytellers ever.

July 9, 2007 When the Evangelizers asked me to say something in their despidida for Kingsley I felt an urge to write. And that was what I did when I reached my computer. I am looking at things now from afar – from my own tiny room in the pre-college building. It is not really that far but it gives one another perspective, another view point. Probably it’s because I am no longer that involved. Probably it’s because I can see things no longer with hatred and anger, no longer with the intent of finding out more, no longer confused and bemused by mistrust, no longer primarily concerned about the personal issues of those involved, the consequences and implications of an act, the proper formative responses to a crisis situation . . . For so long a time it has been like these. Now, it is just Kingsley. . . now, it is just Bentot . . . just Kingsley . . . just Bentot . . . nothing more, nothing else. The feeling is different.

By the time you read this parish diary you have already decided whom to vote and you know the reasons why you are voting for this candidate and not for that. I have two wishes for you. First, that you are happy with your vote, whoever he or she is. You are happy in the sense that you have worked it out scrutinizing, thinking, analyzing, and praying over your choice and you feel that you have selected the best person to do the job. One gauge whether you have made a good decision is the feeling of exhilaration afterward, a feeling that you have chosen the best person and you have made the right choice. My second wish is that your choice has made you hopeful – hopeful for the nation and hopeful for our people. This is the reason why I have always participated in every election ever since I was allowed by law to do so. My candidates did not always make it though, and some of those I voted who did make it, did not always perform as expected, but the exercise always made me hope and y...

We did the Viatico Publico on the second Sunday of Easter at the residences of the Ledesmas and the Jalandonis. These are the traditional residences where, since time immemorial, the yearly communion for the sick and the dying are held. The viaticum is communion given for the dying. The word comes from two Latin words,via and tecum, which literally means “on the way with You.” Death, since ancient times, has been considered as the final journey. Even the funeral rite alludes to this belief when it directs us to accompany (acompañar) the dead in his/her final journey (as we go from the home of the deceased to the church and from the church to the cemetery). The viaticum is therefore food for the final journey, and as the name of the rite and our faith in the real presence allude to, the viaticum refers also to a companion on this final journey – one is set on the way with Jesus as companion. This practice started as something pagan. Ancient pagan Rome then believed as the Greek...

Marriage is one sacrament that has lost some of its sacredness because of an over-emphasis on externals brought about by some wedding coordinators and over-eager couples who do not really understand the nature of the sacrament. And so beginning the month of May the parish will provide the couples with a church wedding coordinator who will guide them as they prepare for their wedding. No we’re not going to choose your motif, or scout around for caterers. That is not within our field of expertise. But we are going to help them plan what’s going to happen in church. Registration for weddings starting May this year will be five weekends before the planned date. A more thorough Pre-Cana Seminar to prepare couples for married life will be given for four Saturdays (no more than two hours per session), part of which is to go through the rites of the wedding so that they can better appreciate and therefore participate actively in their wedding rite. (One of our dreams is to provide the...

The Vicariate of St. Peter of which our parish is part of, is now holding an updating program for our catechists who are serving a number of public schools in the city and the suburban towns of Leganes and Pavia. This is a much needed updating, something that has been called for a number of times already but one that has been responded to only now. It is our hope that this collective effort among priests of the different parishes of the vicariate will redound to so much good especially in educating and forming the young in the faith. It is also hoped that this effort on catechism will, from now on, start the ball rolling, to discover further the many ways where the parishes of this one vicariate can cooperate, work concertedly, hand in hand and join resources for the good of this large segment of the local Church of the Archdiocese of Jaro. This is just a one week seminar updating for catechists in the city divided into two batches (the second batch of catechists will start their u...

This Tuesday (April 13) some lay men and women will be given the prestigious pontifical award, pro ecclesia et pontifice, the highest award which the Church can give to a lay person. That ten persons were accorded such award by Pope Benedict XVI is an honor not just for the persons who were chosen but for the whole diocese – a recognition that our Archdiocese has contributed something worthwhile for the whole Church. Two things are brought to mind with this awarding ceremony. First, whatever good we do for the church whether local (by generously contributing one’s expertise, profession and resources to the work of the diocese) or very local (by working as a catechist in a humble parish), or especially local (by working diligently in the seminary kitchen) affects the whole church of Jesus Christ. We are building the church, the universal church of Christ (and not just a little enclave of our own making), and each one contributes to that building bringing his own brick that would ri...

Going through the activities of the Holy Week one can find a lively Filipino trait, a trait that is vividly contrasted to the liturgical celebrations as these are placed side by side with our very own Filipino popular devotions. At the outset it might be good to note that the liturgical activities of lent, the paschal triduum and easter, that is, the celebration found in the liturgical books, are essentially anamnetic . Anamnetic means “to make the events present in the Christian assembly.” In doing so we become participants (not mere spectators) in the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord thus permitting ourselves to be moved and therefore transformed by the events we recall. Permit me to elucidate by way of revealing the reactions to the washing of the feet done on Holy Thursday in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. If the reaction to this ritual goes like this, “wow our Judas this year really looks like Judas with his beard and traitor-like appearance and Oh the good Monsig...

Last Friday (March 19) we went to Barangay Simon Ledesma, one of the biggest barangays of our Parish, for the Pamalandong sa Kwaresma, again to share a little insight on Lent which is meant to prepare us for Easter, to hold a holy hour and for the priests to make themselves available for confessions. Barangay Democracia also joined in. Simon Ledesma is one of the three barangays which were identified as pilot areas for our Basic Ecclesial Community program. It has a makeshift chapel standing on the lot owned by the Hallares Family together with the Day Care Center. It is the biggest place in that community, what with so many houses crowding and competing for space. I remember three years ago while preparing for the fiesta with the Pagdu-aw sang Candelaria sa mga Barangay, we have to carry the image of our Lady through the narrow pathways doing every conceivable manoeuvrings and positioning so that we can pass through. As I said, the chapel and the Day Care Center occupy the bi...

Beginning last Tuesday we started our yearly Pamalandong sa Barangay consisting of a one hour reflection, this year on sin, followed by a holy hour while the priests hear confessions. We started with Barangay Cuartero with its adjoining barangays namely, Taytay Zone II and Calubihan. We have to join these barangays together because Taytay Zone II does not have a chapel and Calubihan has a very small one only ten people can fit inside. The next day, Wednesday, we were in Lourdes. Barangay Lourdes was originally marked for “extinction” with the on-going construction of the flood control project. The people living in that narrow strip of land adjacent to the creek will be converted into a service road and all including the chapel have to be vacated. Luckily, elections are near and the relocation was postponed at least for those who live beyond the three-meter mark from the banks of the creek. When we got there last Wednesday the barangay was slowly turning into a ghost town – fewe...

The season for political campaign is in full swing and it gets noisier by the minute. In this issue I would like to articulate a kind of wish list, a prayer actually, for this season which usually gets nasty and out of hand as we get nearer to election day. I am writing this as a priest, one who is interested as to the outcome (since it will spell a lot of difference to the people’s lives) but one who remains quiet and mum in deference to and with high regard for the choices of my parishioners. I say “with high regard” for your choice, because I believe that most Jareños, and Ilonggos at that, are people who deliberate well the choices they make. After all we are blessed with a high degree of education (something which we so value as Ilonggos) that has given us the intellectual freedom that is so wanting among many Filipinos in other parts of the country. The last time I heard there are still people in our country who vote the way their political lords do and even their landlords....

The General Luna Street of my yesteryears was a fine sight. I should know, I went to a school along that stretch (in two schools actually). I think I have traversed that road for who knows, probably thousands of times, and it was always refreshing – pine trees at the center and fire trees on the sidewalks. In the past, when my usual route from Oton passes through that stretch, the tree-filled avenue created in me different emotions – the thrill of finally reaching the city, the excitement of meeting friends and classmates or the dread of facing exams in school (I was still cramming in the car), including the tension that every kid felt when one was almost there just in time for the flag ceremony until you hit a snag caused by an early morning traffic along that stretch – the tension of being so near yet so far.

Of all the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary (and there are countless with titles only God can count), the Candelaria is nearest my heart and my mind. Permit me to tell you my reasons: First, she carries with her the Child Jesus. She directs our attention to Jesus and not to herself. She presents Jesus to us. The image is one that takes seriously the saying, to Jesus through Mary, of which others pay mere lip service. She is after all the Theotokos, the God Bearer, that is, she is the Mother of Christ and the Mother of God, the first title she received from the ancient church. Second, with her holding the candle she depicts exactly what the ancients have called her, “one who shows the way.” The image in a way encapsulates what is always being said of her - the exemplar of the church, the first disciple, our pattern of holiness and the promise of our perfection. The emphasis here is not only on her particular position in the history of salvation as the one who gave birth to C...

It was murder at the cathedral! And what I thought happens only in the movies or elsewhere, happened here – a stone’s throw away from where the convent is, and from where I was. It may have been done outside the cathedral (at the fence just at the exit gate), but the fact that it was done within its vicinity, at a time when any person who had just come from mass might have felt most secure (who would ever think that criminals would want to kill someone who had just come from mass. Probably some of you might want to kill the priest who just gave a lousy homily! Hahahaha! But that’s another topic.), but would be at his most vulnerable position (because one feels more secure, one can be less alert) - that act defiled the house of God, desecrated the shrine of Our Lady of Candles, contradicted the age old belief that here is the sanctuary of peace and reconciliation. Not only did the murderers (those who did the act and those ordered it) defile sacred space, they also defiled sacred ...

I would like to share with you my reflection this evening in connection with the year for priests and the feast of the presentation of Christ in the temple using this vespers’ reading from the letter to the Hebrews. The letter to the Hebrews speaks of two priesthood, the Old Testament priesthood headed by the high priest, and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Though both are called priests they are not one and the same. The Old Testament priesthood is different from the priesthood of Jesus Christ or should I say the priesthood of Jesus is different from the priesthood of the order of Levites. This distinction is very important if we are to appraise our own priesthood, and the priesthood these young men are so eagerly desiring to become one day. This distinction between the two lie not on its object of reconciling men and women to God but in the differences of method in which this reconciliation is to take place. When men or women deviate from the ways of God they commit sin. Sin...

On Wednesday February 17 we are going to start the Season of Lent. The Season of Lent is the first part of that long liturgical cycle we call the Easter Cycle. It is composed of the Season of Lent (40 days), the Paschal Triduum (3 days) and the Season of Easter (50 days). As you can see the Paschal Triduum is central to this cycle. In fact it is such a great feast that it would take us 40 days to prepare (Lent), 3 days to commemorate (Paschal Triduum) and 50 days to celebrate (Easter). It is important that we don’t take the seasons singly less we separate each of these from their context which is the Paschal Triduum, the 3 day commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

While making my usual rounds of the Cathedral compound I saw a young man in red overalls sweeping and mopping the shrine. Not recognizing him as one of our workers, I approached him and asked who he was. And he told me his story. When he was in college, he narrated, he was brought by his benefactor to accompany him every now and then to clean the shrine. They would clean the shrine at night – throwing away withered flowers, scrubbing the floor free of melted candles, and sweeping and mopping the place clean. That was his weekly routine then.

These days (it started last January 20) the barangays are making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Candles, the Mother of all Jareños. In the past it was our Mother who visited the barangays. Now we’re turning the table around – now it is the barangays who are visiting her in her home, the cathedral of Jaro. What is so special about this visit? It is special because it is not just any visit but a pilgrimage. What is a pilgrimage? The English word pilgrimage comes from the Latin word peregrinatio (the same word is still used in Spanish and French). It is composed of two words: per which means through or across and ager/agri which means fields, country or land. A pilgrimage is a movement, a journey, a “passing through,” and since one is just “passing through” it connotes that that movement is something temporary or a state of being abroad.

Some people don’t get it. And yet the answer follows the same logic we use almost everyday. Some people may have asked you, why pay so much to have the images repainted? Why bring it to Pampanga when we could have them repainted here just as they did in the past (I have heard that these were repainted in the early 60’s by a group of people from the leprosarium.)? Well, as I have said, the same logic we use almost everyday applies. I can put make up on your face in no time. Anybody (and that includes your husband) can put an eyeliner, your lipstick, your eyebrows. Anybody can concoct a meal with the best ingredients you can possibly provide (I say concoct, I’m not saying edible!). But why go to a parlor and choose a reputable one at that? Why get a good cook? And why spend more money if there is a free alternative? It’s because you are looking for talent and are willing to pay for it. Yes I can dress you up if you are going to a Halloween party and cook you a meal if you wa...

By the time you read this diary you would have already put in the laundry your polka dotted dress and your red shirt, your thirteen round fruits would have been eaten or are rotting away in the basket and you would have already exhausted yourself talking and raging about somebody else’s child who lost a finger or two from firecrackers. It’s New Year, the earth is a year older and so are we.

Last week, support for the Kabalaka Project came in trickles, though they are very encouraging trickles nevertheless. We did our best to explain the program during the Aguinaldo Masses and the Misa sa Gab-i or the Mass of Waiting and some people did come forward and showed a lively excitement for the program. A birthday celebrant called her friends inviting them for a party and told them that in lieu of gifts she would accept donations for the Kabalaka Project. A young lady with a kid came, who wanted to remain anonymous even to me, brought with her 3 big alkansiyas full of coins for the project. The young people of our parish made pastries and sold them to mass goers in the Cathedral and in the barangay chapels of San Vicente and Bakhaw and people bought them (in most days, they ran out of stock) knowing that the proceeds will go to the Kabalaka Project. Young boys would go around after mass bringing with them plastic bottles with the Kabalaka Logo on them and people would drop w...

The Kabalaka Project has been launched. There is no turning back anymore. It would have been easier for us to retain the usual dole-outs that we did in the past, the usual limos. Now we have to go through the difficulties of running livelihood programs where we need to tap and develop the skills and potentials of people; we have to go through the intricacies of micro-finance and the usual problems that goes with it; we have to form in people the values needed to sustain the program and we have to worry about other people’s lives down to their minute details. It would have been easier to just simply dispense one kilo of rice and a few canned goods every now and then when the need arises and when we have the funds to do so. This time it’s going to be harder. Nevertheless we believe that this is the right thing to do and the right thing has to be done despite and in spite its difficulties.

On Wednesday (December 16) we will start the traditional Misa de Aguinaldo or the Misa de Gallo or what the Tagalogs call Simbang Gabi and what the Capiznons call Misa Dulom. Nobody really knows exactly how this Mass started. Most probably it started in Spain near the French border as a devotion to the Birhen de la O – the pregnant soon-to-give-birth Virgin (the “O” coming from the so called “O Antiphons”, antiphons which start with “O” 7 days before Christmas.; You will hear these antiphons said during the Alleluia). It found its way to the Philippines via Mexico. It is a privilege votive mass granted as an exemption by Rome (with a so called indult) because of a pastoral need (people flock to churches in large numbers). It was granted the exemption not because of the time for the mass but because of what is done during the mass. The vestments of the priests are white (contrary to the rule of violet), the Gloria is sung (contrary to the rule suppressing the Gloria for the seas...

Now I understand what Jesus meant when he said, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains but a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it will bear much fruit.” I wrote here in this column the many things that Nay Coroy left me to take care of – novenas galore and candles to be lighted at certain days of the year. As of this writing there have been many offers from our parishioners to lead the various novenas said in the parish and as of last count, at least four people offered to sponsor the 14 candles to be lighted on the altar of the Sacred Heart. Now that altar will not only have 14 lighted candles on a First Friday. It will have 42! I have also informed Nani (she has been substituting Nay Coroy in the novenas even when she was still alive) that I intend to distribute these to different people. That way the parish wouldn’t find it too difficult when such unavoidable transitions, such as death, occur in the future. I am in the process of filling up the list...

Last Thursday night I attended a birthday party in our BEC in Barangay Benedicto. It was the birthday of Amior. The most delicious “pata” cooked by the host herself, (as a matter of eating principle – I eat these cholesterol rich food only if they are worth dying for – literally!), was not the only come-on in that party. It was also the impromptu program. Well what do you expect from a program produced and casted by old women? Old songs, old songs and more old songs interspersed with the tune of the season – “nobody, nobody but you (clap, clap, clap)” to the delight of all. But what made me enjoy the program? What was it that made me sit it out? Was it because I’m getting old and wanted to hear the songs which the two channels of our black and white TV brought to our living rooms in my boyhood days? Was it because my sense of the beautiful is more inclined to old things and museum pieces?

On the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, patroness of the Archdiocese we launched the Parish’s Kabalaka Project. What is this? You may have already noticed that we have stopped the usual dole-outs that we usually give during the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary – one thousand people getting the benefits of a ganta of rice, sardines, sugar and other food items. This year we decided not to. (To the elation of our Barangay Coordinators who always received the flak when things go wrong in the distribution – and they almost always do.) Added to the fact that this method has created more enemies than friends, we also came to realize that dole-outs do not really help people. The traditional “limos” does not address the problem of poverty in our parish. In fact it has created among us not only liars and pretenders (they pretend that they really have nothing when in fact they have) who want to take advantage of a free meal, but it also created dependency and took away individual initiat...

Unbeknown to me, I was being summoned to a death bed last Thursday, the 5th of November, not to officiate the viaticum to the dying but to be named an “heir,” (that is, if what was given to me can be considered an “inheritance”). It never crossed my mind, even while we were talking, that it was to be our last. And so I took my time, asked Fr. Philip and Fr. Peter and the office staff to go with me to cheer her up. When we prayed over her, we prayed for healing, a quick one, knowing that if she could not recover by the 8th of November I would have a problem looking for somebody to lead the novena to St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The communion I brought was not even intended as a viaticum. She would surely recover, I thought, and knowing her, she would be up and about in no time, leading the five o’clock in the morning novena, waking me up with her cracking, breath-catching song. (She runs out of breath, that is.) It was not to be.

Here are some facts and stories from behind the scenes regarding the ordination and the thanksgiving mass of Fr. Ron and Fr. Peter. It was the biggest ordination in recent memory! Ten new priests, a jam-packed church (and we’re talking about St. Clement’s Church here) with more or less 200 priests and exactly four bishops attending. It was also by far the longest – we started at exactly 2 in the afternoon and ended up at 5:30 P.M., that’s 3 hours and thirty minutes! And to think that some people were standing all the while! Some were already in church as early as 11 in the morning (that’s how excited people coming from Estancia were)! It took us two nights to prepare the church and we stayed until nine in the evening to gather everything we have brought with us.