visible rhetoric

Jesus was led in the desert and there he was tempted. In Mark’s version it would be a bit more consternating for he said - Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted. Most often we have a negative idea about temptation that makes us well-meaning Christians cringe, and we have even a more negative idea about the tempter who is Satan. We even placed horns on his head and a tail on his behind. The bible however looks at things quite differently. Temptation may be necessary for growth and for clarity of purpose, and Satan can be an ally of God, an ally of virtue, somebody we may even need in order to grow. Let us take the example of what happened last night at around 11:30 in the evening. From what I make out of the event, and I believe my facts are not really accurate, some seminarians were studying so seriously in the pasillo fronting the refectory. Then two seminarians from the dorm decided to fool around, got a flashlight and decided to irritate a seminarian the...

While on vacation, we were invited to eat at a parish convent where the parish cook prepared dinner for us. The food was served individually and it was delicious but it was just too big for a filipino stomach. Growing up in the seminary can make one’s stomach smaller than normal and it seems to me that this deprivation may have contributed to the steep rise of overweight priests once they become priests. Anyway, with such a large serving I asked the cook if I could keep the remaining food on my plate in the refrigerator so that I could eat it for breakfast. The answer was a definite no. If you cannot finish it, then throw it in the garbage bin. But there are still large portions left, surely I can save this for breakfast. But the cook won’t budge saying, if something happens to your stomach tomorrow for eating those leftovers, I could be sued in court. Perplexing reply. So out it goes into the trash can. A car met an accident and the driver of the car was pinned down by the...

Why would Jesus silence the devil and the demons? If there is one person who knows who Jesus really is, it is the devil. And if you want people to believe in you, then let your sworn enemies speak good things about you. And that is what the devil precisely did in our gospel today – he said to everyone’s hearing, “I know who you are – you are the holy one of God.” And yet Jesus silenced him. Why? Scholars have been perplexed by this reaction of Jesus and it is a too common occurrence in the gospel of Mark. Jesus silences the demons every time they say that he is the Holy One of God and every time they say that he is the Son of God. Scholars call this the Messianic Secret. The true identity of Jesus, the real Jesus as the Son of God, as the Holy One of God cannot be revealed in his miracles, it cannot be revealed when he speaks with authority, or when he raises the dead and drives out demons. Rather he shall be revealed and he shall be known as the Son of God when they see him ...

Today we celebrate the feast of the chair of Peter. If you go inside the St. Peter’s Basilica you will see at the back of the altar a chair made of bronze suspended midway. It was designed and made by Bernini, the same person who designed the magnificent baldachin of St. Peter’s. That bronze chair is encasing a very sacred relic. It is the chair which Peter sat on when he was the bishop of Rome – a simple wooden chair. A chair is an important symbol used even now. The throne of the monarch is an overly decorated chair which does not only serve a practical value but above all symbolizes sovereignty and power. He or she who sits on the throne, rules. There is the so called professorial chair in universities occupied by eminent experts in their field of study and teaching. Because of their expertise and studies they are considered authorities on that field and their teachings are therefore authoritative.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul? What did the conversion of Paul consist of? What is conversion? In the different letters that he wrote, St. Paul narrated more than once his conversion from being a persecutor of the church to one of its greatest Apostle. To know what conversion is, to know what the conversion of St. Paul consist of I would like to use his description of this event in his life in his letter to the Philippians. In that letter he described his conversion with the word reappraisal. He said, “those things which I consider gain I now reappraised as loss in the light of Jesus Christ.” I now reappraised . . . in the light of Jesus Christ.

TDo you why I was in a way insisting that we fast? Fasting if you remember what I told you last Wednesday helps us to develop empathy. It helps us to experience what others feel. It helps us recover our sensitivity to others. We have a big problem with bullying. It’s not just our problem, a problem uniquely ours but it is a problem all over the world especially in westernized countries. Probably it is something coming from the violence of television or the games we play in the computer.

There’s this nice story I found in the internet last night. It’s the story of two brothers living in a sheepherding village many years ago. They were caught stealing sheep and, according to the rough custom of the village, each had the letters "ST" branded on their foreheads. They were tattooed, they were branded by the letters S and T on their foreheads. ST meant "sheep thief." One brother, unwilling to face the shame, left town and wandered about the country for many years. But after a while in each location, the meaning of the letters was learned and he had to move on. He lived as an outcast all his days. The other man decided to make amends. He remained in his village and lived a blameless life. Trying to make up for his misdeeds, he became a caring neighbor, a trusted friend. He lived to a good old age and was dearly loved. One day a visitor asked a citizen what those letters, ST, on the old man's forehead meant. The friend thought for a while. Everyon...

When I ask people, are you saved, most, if not all, find it difficult to answer. Are you saved? If your answer is yes then why did you bother going to church today, why do you go to confession and why call for a priest when you feel you are about to die? If your answer is no, no I am not saved, then you are making a mockery of what Jesus did for you. He came that you might be saved. He died and rose from the dead so that you can be saved. So what’s the better answer to the question, are you saved? The better answer is, I am already saved but not yet. Saved, because Christ redeemed me and saved me with his own blood. Already saved because I have come to believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior and Christ has finished the work of saving us. As our second reading attests, all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. All were justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. So, I am saved . . . but not yet. Not yet because, as St. Augustine said, ...

Two observations and one point. First observation: A certain actor once said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. What are your plans? Surely like me you have a lot of plans for the school, you have a lot of plans for your retirement, you have lots and lots of plans for the community, you even have lots of plans today. If you want to humor God today, tell him about your plans. Life after all is not predictable. Second observation.

When I was in my second year as a high school in the seminary we were told to memorize the rules for latin gender. The rules for latin gender were in spanish. It was written in the form of a poem about 25 long stanzas. It goes like this: todo nombre de varon propio, viento y mes, y rio masculino es, por su significacion, los de montes tambien son del genero masculino, menos alpes feminino, son los de ninfas mujeres diosas musas y otro seres que tienen igual destino. That is only half of a stanza. Anyway our Latin teacher assigned us two paragraphs to be memorized for next day’s class. I can’t remember now what I said to our teacher, probably it was a protest, a clamor or waht. But definitely it was a wrong move because instead of just two stanzas I was made to memorize 15 stanzas, 15 long stanzas. I was only thirteen years old then. I had a day full of classes, our study periods were regulated one can’t go beyond the schedule and by then I had no guts to steal time by hiding ...

Whenever I give a lecture on our first reading today in bible class I always have the feeling from the way my students look at me as if I am a heretic and had just shattered a long held belief. When I say Genesis chapter one is not factual history I can sense uneasiness. And when I say this is just a story borne out of an imaginative mind, I always get the whole class raising their hands, the atmosphere more akin to the Jaro Coliseum on February 1 than a classroom. Luckily for me today this is a mass and it would be improper to raise your hands and ask questions. So just listen. If you don’t agree, then don’t. Our first reading does not tell historical facts. History comes from observation as facts unfold or at least from conjectures based on artifacts. But who was there when the Lord created the world out of nothing? Who observed God while he was arranging the universe? And if there was indeed an observer then why did he describe the world as flat and not round, and why d...

When I was transferred in the seminary almost a month ago, I acquired for myself the biggest room in the building. After living in the cathedral convent in a room so small I can reach everything I need with three short steps, I was made to live in a room where at least five pairs can tango conveniently. The problem with that room is this. A priest once saw in the middle of the night three men in long robes with hoods covering their heads and faces coming out of the room. Another said that one night he heard golf balls falling down on the wooden floor. In the morning he saw the golf balls on the floor in front of the door of my room now arranged in a perfect triangle like billiard balls. No one admitted doing it.

How do you catch a monkey? Here’s how they do it in one of the countries in Africa. They cut the coconut in half, take out its contents, only the shell is left. Then on one of the halves they would make a hole just big enough for the hand of the monkey to fit in. Then they put an orange inside the coconut shell, join the shell tightly together so that it won’t break, tie the coconut with a strong cord so that it cannot be pulled away. There you have a perfect monkey trap.

Today in our gospel we find John doing his normal routine. It was an ordinary day for John who had spent his life in the desert preaching a baptism of repentance - he was baptizing people with water marking their leave taking from a life of sin and their entry into a more committed life in God. John was in his usual preaching, baptizing, preaching, baptizing, preparing the way for the Messiah who is to come. Then one day something unexpected happened, something that disturbed his routine. Jesus who was to John’s mind the messiah for whom he was preparing the way, came to him asking him to be baptized. Jesus who was to John’s eyes greater than any other man, he himself was unfit even just to bend down and unstrapped his sandals came to him asking to be baptized like the other sinners that came to John. And John was disturbed. This is not anymore usual. This is no longer routine. And so John protested in no uncertain terms saying, I need to be baptized by you and yet you come ...