fr. boboy's anniversary

I thought I have saved myself from an embarrassing position where I will have to talk about myself and the priesthood by accepting a wedding last June 15 on the day of my anniversary, and added to that I also saved myself from buying ice cream to delight 129 growing kids on the same day. Now I am forced to face it with the anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of Fr. Boboy Palencia - his 23rd anniversary - 23 years a priest and still a priest.

Last June 15 somebody texted me saying that on my 18th year as a priest I deserved a cotillion . . . and 18 crosses. I thought then that it was a cute and totally appropriate greeting on a debut anniversary - a cotillion and 18 crosses instead of roses. But how do I greet Fr. Boboy in his 23rd anniversary? Frankly I don’t know. He is almost silver but not yet. And so today I shall stick to the readings of our mass and try as much as I can to make the reading significant to the occasion.

The first reading unluckily for him and for me is about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. More than this however this passage tells us also of the fate of Lot’s wife and how she turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back against the express command of God. Why should a just God punish so severely a simple act as turning one’s head to look just a little bit? Why should a loving God be so severe?

Upon close examination however it turns out that the looking back was not just a mere look of curiosity. It was more than just a look of curiosity. Lot remember was a wealthy man who chose to establish his home in the lucrative cities of the plains - we should have known that if we are listening to the daily readings in the mass. When they were commanded to leave, there was hesitancy in Lot and he even negotiated that he be allowed to go to the town of Zoar rather than on the mountain wilderness. Lot was asked to leave not just Sodom but also his home, his investments, his fortune, his security, his lifestyle even. It was not just a simple looking back. It was the looking back of someone who had just left the good life in Sodom. It was a looking back of one who longs for what was left behind. It was a looking back of one who already longs for the past even before reaching the goal, because it was a looking back of someone afraid of the future and what the future holds. It was not just a simple looking back, but a looking back longingly, a longing that revealed in that slight turn of her head, a longing that revealed her doubts on the Lord’s ability to give her something better than what she already had, something better than what she was leaving behind her. That looking back indicated the thought in the mind of Lot’s wife that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind. Her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future.
This lack of faith proved fatal to Lot’s wife. Remember Lot’s wife, Jesus would say thousands of years later. It was a looking back of one who lacks faith in the future.
This is a call is not just to Father Boboy but to all of us and to me. I have to admit that there were times especially when difficulties come, when I regretted the time of ordination or the time when I accepted a particular assignment. Like the Israelites treading the hard and unknown path of a desert in their pursuit of the promised land, going back, even if it means the slavery and toil of Egypt, can be a longing much sweeter. The temptation to look back and to long for the past can be really attractive. And for this, God punished Israelites for looking back for they failed to look forward and be encouraged by better things in the future.
Faith is not about the past. Faith is about the future and how we are to set our present sight to what is still in store and what will still be revealed. Hope is not about the past. Hope is about the future and how we are to live the present moment strengthened and fired up by the best that is till to come. Anniversaries are about faith. Anniversaries are about hope, for anniversaries should make us look forward to the future more than the past, and we celebrate them not primarily because of what was, but because we believe that the Lord has the ability to give us something better than what we already had in the past, and what we have even now.
Let me end by quoting St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians: brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God's upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Our goal lies ahead, the prize awaits us in the future. Better things are in store ahead of us. This is our belief, a belief as sure as our faith in Christ Jesus. This is what gives sense to our priesthood, why we stick it out no matter what, why we continue even now.
Fr. Boboy you deserve more than a cotillion or even a lechon or your fans’ adulation. You deserve something better those. What the future holds for us has not yet been revealed, but it should be something better than this. No, we do not look back. We look forward. Happy anniversary.