visible rhetoric

Our gospel today is full of crazy people. It is a parable full of crazy people. We have a crazy landlord, sending crazy servants to deal with crazy tenants. And it came to the point when this crazy landlord sent his crazy son to deal one last time with the crazy tenants. And these crazy tenants, crazy as they are, killed the crazy son of the crazy landlord. That’s the crazy story we hear today. Permit me to justify my contention that this parable read to us this morning is full of crazy people. First, the landlord who sent his servants to get his part of the produce. These servants were beaten up. So again he sent another batch of servants to insist on his part of the produce on these tenants. Again they beat them up - some they even killed. Crazy landlord. After the first batch he could have sent the police. But what did he send instead - a second delegation of unarmed servants. And as if this is not crazy enough, he sent his son, immediately after the second batch were b...

Let me start by quoting from Pope Benedict’s sermon in a gathering with seminarians. He said, “It is right for the seminarians to remember that if the church demands much from them it is because they are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price.” You are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price, the price which was his own life. This is where our theme panaw, baligya, bakal get its meaning. This the raison d’être of seminary formation and the process one has to undergo to become a minister of the church. Why do I have to go through the process of panaw, baligya, bakal in my seminary formation? Why do I have to go through the cutting off, the leaving behind, and the sacrificing? Because you are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price. Why can’t I be allowed to do what I want like the rest of the young people my age? Why can’t they just let me be? Why do I always have to think of the community above my own, why do I have ...

Today we end the Literary Musical Contests and tomorrow we will begin the sporting events to complete this week of intramural contests. Shamcey Supsup was lauded for her so called brains, talent and beauty, which are characteristics imposed by culture to what it considers women of substance. In the seminary however our vision simply describes these as integral persons, a person who possesses developed and acquired skills, virtue and the love for service. Note what I have said - developed and acquired. It may not even be a given, it may be just an iota of skills. But these became things of consequence because of the work of formation.

Good morning. So, how are you today? Kamusta? Actually this question is just a formality needing a positive reply. One does not even need to tell the truth in answering this question because courteous behavior demands that you just say fine or good or at the very least OK lang. So when you are asked the question, don’t talk about your arthritis or whatever disease you have at the moment. That would be considered rude. Convention demands that it be answered in the positive just as you say good morning even if there is nothing really good in it.

I would like to explore another angle in our gospel today. With this gospel I know that you are expecting me to say something about the connection between word and action. Well we have truisms which say, “Talk is cheap, it’s actions that count.” “You have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.” “Actions speak louder than words.” These oft repeated statements insist on integrity or honest sincerity - that words correspond to our actions - to say yes when we mean yes and say no when we mean no.

Today I would like to reflect with you on the martyrdom of Fr. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and companions. Actually they are 98 martyrs in all - 3 French missionaries, 47 laywomen and 45 laymen. But one cannot tell their lives without telling the whole story of Catholicism in Korea. Korea is the only nation where Christianity came to be without the help of foreign missionaries. There are different versions. Some say it was Catholic Japanese soldiers who brought Christianity around the 1500’s, baptizing several who converted. Others say it was the Koreans themselves coming home from China. One thing however is clear, the first Catholics in Korea were baptized by lay men, that is without priests or missionaries, and it is also said that for their knowledge of the faith, they relied on books supposedly authored by Jesuits in China and smuggled to Korea, and they used these to educate themselves in the catholic faith. Lay persons making the rounds teaching the faith t...

In my almost twelve year stint as formator in this seminary, I was never ever asked to celebrate mass in order to open the week of intramurals. This is the first time. The reason I believe is quiet obvious to all. Nobody in his right mind wants someone who can hardly carry his legs and stand erect to open an athletic competition unless he would be somebody like Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest in the world of boxing, who at the time when he opened the Los Angeles Olympics was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. I have admit that in my reflective moments, I too would look with envy at how Fr. Julius Revesencio, or Fr. Dennis, or Fr. Marvin who despite his weight, can still perform flawless lay-ups and make perfect shots in a basketball game. How I wish I could be like them. Or Fr. Doming who at his age can still run around the football field and kick the ball effortlessly like a teenager. But alas my desire to be really good in something requiring physical strength died out a...

Today the gospel speaks of forgiveness; that we have to learn to forgive each other not just seven times but seventy times seven times which in common expression means always. You see it is easy to say I forgive. It is easy to say napatawad ko na sia. But have we ever asked, what is forgiveness? What does forgiveness consists of? What do I feel and what do I do when I say I have forgiven? Today let us dissect forgiveness, let us consider its characteristics, and see its features, what it creates in us and what it creates in the other. This way, after dissecting, after knowing what forgiveness is, we can surely judge whether we have really forgiven. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness has three characteristics.

The names are just too many, too difficult to read and much more difficult to pronounce. Actually, if you are listening to me intently you would find out that I was not reading some of the names properly. Ginpalagpatan ko na lang ang iban sa pagpronounce, total indi nyo gid man ini sila kilala kag gani kon nagsala gid man ako, ti ako man lang kabalo. This is one gospel nobody wants to make a homily from and this is a gospel people should not expect to hear a decent homily. Ano abi ang i-sermon mo nahanungod sa ebanghelyo nga puro ngalan – halin sa puno hasta sa punta ngalan lang tanan? Indi bala? Now since I have made a very clear excuse let me now begin my homily.

In the seminary we always come to that point where I will have to direct the seminarians to discern their vocation, to discern whether God is indeed calling them to the priesthood or not. Oftentimes we will hit a snag in defining what discernment is. What is discernment? What is the focus of discernment? Is it focussed simply in what I want, in what I desire, in my dreams? Is the discernment focussed solely on me or is it focused more on God? Many times I would have to remind them again and again that in the discernment process, especially in an important thing as knowing ones vocation in life, it is important that we take nothing with us in the discernment process except our love for God and our desire to do his will. Take away your desires, take away the expectations of other people, take away even the advantages and the practicality which accompanies the choice being considered - bring only your love for God and your desire to do his will. Why? Because discernment is not ab...

At the outset, let me assure you that I am not your head nurse or your nurse in-charge and neither is this another class in nursing which you have happily and, I should add, even gladly graduated from several years ago. But I would like to ask permission if you could allow me some unsolicited advice. Frankly I could not help it but if you don’t like what I am about to say don’t blame me. Blame rather the gospel today which speaks about the fever of Peter’s mother in law and the many people in need of care and healing. I have never heard of dengue fever in the Middle East although the carrier, the aedes aegypti, is named after a nation in that area. Nevertheless it is told that she is sick and needs immediate care and attention. The disciples pleaded to Jesus asking him to heal her. And Jesus, it is told, stood over her and rebuked the fever, and miraculously, the fever left her.