visible rhetoric

In reading the gospel one gets to wonder why Jesus would ask a man disabled and sick for 38 years whether he wants to get well. After 38 years in your sickbed, who would not want to be healed? But the question is important. It is important because Jesus wanted the man to choose, to choose to be healed or to choose not to be healed. This is a very important issue during this season of lent for this is the mark whether the person has entered the world of values. We enter the world of values when we are already choosing, when we use our power to choose, when we discern and make a choice. When you are hungry and you eat something, you are merely acting on your hunger. You are not making a choice. If you are hungry and you choose not to eat, now you are choosing. If you are angry and you hit your enemy with a clenched fist, you are acting on your anger, you are not making a choice. But if you are angry wanting so much to hit the other person, but then you decide to control yoursel...

In the dialogue of Jesus to Nicodemus Jesus speaks about being lifted up just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so that all who looked at the bronze serpent were healed. By now we should be more and more attuned to the perspective of the gospel of John for this is the same gospel the church will turn to when it meditates more profoundly on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus in the coming weeks. For the other gospels, the resurrection and even the ascension of Jesus are the events where Jesus was exalted and glorified. For John it is different. For him the exaltation and glorification of Christ is not in his resurrection or ascension but on his death on the cross. His humiliation was his exaltation. His death was his glorification. Thus it would be referred to in the fourth gospel as the lifting up - Jesus would be lifted up on the cross, not just literally, but the cross would be his exaltation and his glorification.

It would seem, after hearing our first reading today, that sins in the bible are given various colors. And one of the most common color given to sin is scarlet - though your sins be like scarlet. What is scarlet? Scarlet is an orangish red color, the color of the blood of a living person. In the bible it is a color associated with particular sins, sins that could not be easily forgiven, sins that could not easily be forgotten. A scarlet stain after all is one of those stains too difficult to remove - blood stains are difficult to remove and so are wine stains. So it is with sins like scarlet. They refer to sins that could not easily be forgiven, sins that could not easily be forgotten, sins which we feel guilty of and ashamed of even after having confessed it several times. This happens and I have experienced it many times in the confessional, people confessing the same sin all over again, again and again even if the sin happened a very long time ago and has been confessed sev...

There is a saying which goes this way, none of us is as dumb as all of us. It means that when we gather we are more stupid than when we are alone, it means that when we meet and talk and plan together, chances are we become more foolish and ridiculous that when we are alone. This has always been our experience whenever we gather as alumni, isn’t it? We cannot agree on anything worthwhile because when we gather together none of us is as dumb as all of us. This is not a new problem actually. If you read through our second reading which is from the letter of Paul to the Corinthians we see behind this exhortation by St. Paul the same problem. In fact Paul had to remind them not to become a yes and a no disciple - disciples who had difficulty committing themselves to the community as they find themselves always squabbling and quarrelling and behaving rudely towards each other. So what should we do now? Do we just simply disband and leave each other to their liking? Do we to go each...

I would like to reflect on two realities presented by the Lord in our gospel today. The first is the reality that we are present in a hostile world. We are in a world hostile to our way of life - in a world that looks down on the values that we teach; in a world that scoffs at the kind of heroism that we put forward; in a world which could not understand our point of view. Last night I was listening to the radio as the names of the new nurses were announced, nurses who took their board exams last December. 22,760 new nurses, and 5 of the top ten come from Iloilo. They are one of the last batches of nursing students who chose to study this course 5 or 6 years ago when nursing was in still very much demand. The US and the Middle East were all looking for nurses then. And because of this even established doctors enrolled once more in nursing so that they could avail of this windfall and earn bigger salaries abroad. Unluckily for these new graduates however, after the boom went b...

What I am about to tell you is an inside story why February 14 is no longer the feast of St. Valentine and is replaced by the feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Why was Valentine’s day, meaning the day of St. Valentine replaced with the day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius? It began with the priest named Fr. Amore. Fr. Amore was an archaeologist and one of his studies centred on the ancient tomb stones in the catacombs or the so called underground cemeteries of Rome. One of the tombstones that he studied was that of St. Valentinus. On the tombstone of the saint was written the name Valentinus, but alas Fr. Amore discovered that the tombstone or the lapida was actually made up of two broken tombstones glued together, and the marble on one part is different from the marble of the other part. On one part was written Vale which in Latin actually means goodbye, a word that is commonly written on the tombstones of the Romans. The other part contains the letters NTINUS, which can be the last ...

I read a bit of history last night and this is what I found out. When I was in Assumption we were made to learn at the very least 3 lines in French so that we can greet the Mother General, Mother Helene Marie, in her own tongue, during her visit to the school. Until now my French never went beyond these three lines. I mentioned her at the start of this reflection because it was during her term as Superior General that Mother Marie Eugenie was beatified 37 years ago in 1975 by Pope Paul VI. Reflecting in retrospect I believe that was something timely. Timely because there was a rethinking in the church with Vatican II just recently concluded. With rethinking comes change, and with change comes turmoil - turmoil in the church and also in the congregation. Encouraged by Vatican II’s dialogue and opening up with the world so many congregations begun to rethink their life and mission in the world - and some even questioned not just their significance but also their existence. In pa...

For forty years now there is a continuing decline in church attendance. Meaning every Sunday fewer and fewer people go to church. This is happening not just in the Catholic Church but even among protestant and evangelical churches. For example 21 years ago, when PCP II was celebrated, it noted in a survey that only 10 to 15 percent of Catholics were actually going to church on a regular basis every Sunday. There are many studies done to know the causes to this trend but there is one which I believe is reasonable. It says, we have moved from an age of duty to the age of discretion. In the past, the study says, more people go to church moved by a sense of duty. Today, however, discretion reigns supreme - going to church becomes just one of the options - it depends on what you feel about it.

One of the benefits of an alumni gathering such as ours is its ability to restore or at least reconstruct the past. To restore means to bring back, to return things to its former state. To reconstruct means to recreate to the best of our ability what we could no longer fully restore. By wearing today our assumption uniforms we are attempting to bring ourselves back to our former state as students and learners, as girls and boys, as daughters and sons of Assumption. This is an attempt at restoration. However, when our seminary driver brought me here four years ago, he was so confused he thought he got me to a wrong address. He saw you in uniforms but this time in wheelchairs and walkers, with gray hairs and wrinkled faces, this time using darker shades of lipsticks and eyeliners, now with wider waistlines than the usual, and with yayas smaller than their wards.

When a person is in dire need he forgets his prejudices, he forgets his dignity, and he even forgets his pride. This is what happened to Jairus. He was a leader of the synagogue, and in all probability he did not like Jesus. Probably he was in one of those synagogues where Jesus healed the sick or somebody possessed by the devil on a Sabbath. Most probably he was one of those who protested this healing which was prohibited on the sabbath. But this time however Jairus was in a position of great need. His daughter was sick and dying. And the situation has become desperate. And so, despite his being a synagogue leader, he asked help from Jesus, throwing himself down on his feet. In his dire need he forgets the fact that he does not agree on a lot of things with Jesus. In this desperate situation he forgets the fact that he does not see eye to eye with Jesus. And when he was about to lose everything in his life he swallowed his dignity and pride and finally went up to Jesus and ...

Last night I looked at my records - 12 years of records and this is what I have written in my annual report to the administration in the year 2004-2005 - He is responsible, efficient in the tasks assigned to him, creative, has shown a lot of initiative in his responsibilities. He participates well in community activities and does not exhibit difficulty in relating with other people. He shares his insights and ideas readily to the community. However, he has difficulty in delegating tasks for he would often appropriate to himself all the work. He participates well in spiritual activities as well as in his apostolate. 2005-2006 - He is very diligent and resourceful. He is faithful in his spiritual exercises, and has passion for his studies, shows interest in pastoral activities and has developed that sense of sacrifice but with a happy disposition.

In our first reading today we see David a bit excessive in his regard for ark. He danced in wild abandon, he saw to it that every six steps a sacrifice is made for God. The ark is the symbol of God’s presence in his people. The ark contains the copy of the law made by Moses. Remember that the original copy of the law made by God himself was thrown by Moses to the people in his anger when he saw them worshipping the golden calf. What is in the ark during the time of David was the copy made and placed there by Moses himself. The ark also contains manna, that miraculous bread that sustained the Israelites in the desert for forty years. The law and the bread in the ark is the symbol of God’s abiding presence in his people.

When John said, Behold the Lamb of God he was referring to Jesus as the lamb. But what kind of lamb? First, Jesus is the lamb of the pasch, the Passover lamb. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb saved the Israelites from the angel of death in Egypt, so also the blood of the Lamb of God shed on the cross will save us from everlasting death. But this lamb is not just the paschal lamb. Jesus is also the lamb who takes away the sins of the world. As such he is also what we call the scapegoat. Scapegoat - what is a scapegoat? We ordinarily use the word scapegoat as the person or thing which is blamed for the transgression of others. Ginpabangud, ginbangdan, ginbasol. The scapegoat may not have committed any sin but it is made to carry all the sins of the people and their consequences. This is what the Jews do during the day of atonement. Their sins and transgressions are literally put upon a goat which is then driven away to the dessert to wander and to die, carrying with ...

Why is the gospel about the resurrection read today when we are just in the third day in the Octave of Christmas? Why is the gospel about the rising of Christ from death when we are still celebrating his birth in a manger? The most obvious reason is this: today is the feast of St. John, the beloved disciple who as narrated in our gospel today was the first to reach the empty tomb. It is to his name that the 4th Gospel is credited which begins with this famous prologue read on Christmas day - in the beginning was the word, and the word was in God and the word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This as I said is the most obvious reason. The writer of this beautiful prologue describing the birth of the son of God is also a witness, in fact the first witness, to his rising from the dead.