visible rhetoric

With all its appeal to reason and logic there are actually many things unreasonable, and should I say, even nonsensical in our relationship with God, don’t you think?  I mean we are a practical people here but why do we have to get up early in the morning to attend the aguinaldo mass at 4:30 in the morning when there are other masses conveniently timed during the day.  Why get up at 4 then and then feel drowsy and yawn the whole day?  And except for the songs, it’s practically the same mass.

How do we speak of death when the dead are members of the so called Religious Life? I am asking this question because by its nature and purpose the religious are living out or are beginning to live out the values of the kingdom of God in its fulfilment.  Do you know this?  Supposedly they pre-figure, they already give us a glimpse of how life should be and what life would be when the kingdom of God find its fulfilment in the final days. (Last I heard, this fulfilment would be on Dec. 21 - 2 days from now.) That is why the religious live the evangelical vows of celibacy, obedience and poverty.  These are values of the kingdom, these values make us look forward, it make us strain for the fulfilment of the Kingdom. 

Last week we begun talking about the words of consecration and we called this the very heart, the very center of the Mass.  This is the reason why we gather for the mass, this is why scriptures have to be read before we reach this point, this is one of the reasons why I was ordained by the bishop as a priest, this is the reason why we come every Sunday.  The consecration is central to the mass. Today we reflect on the third point, the third and most important change in the words of the consecration of the wine.   TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

What then should we do?  This is the question of the people John was preaching to.  They came from all walks of life - the poor crowd, the tax collectors, even the soldiers were there and they listened to John as he preached.  Then somebody brave enough probably raised his hands and asked, “what then should we do?” You have been talking about the need for repentance, you have asked us to prepare for the coming of the messiah, now we ask you, what shall we do?” 

Greeting the bishops for Christmas is a practice dictated not just by an age-old tradition but even more so by simple basic courtesy.  We come to greet them just as we visit and greet members of our family.  The church through the ages has always been looked upon as a family - we are not comrades united by an ideal, we are not partners united by a common interest, we are not colleagues bounded together by a working relationship.  No, we are family bound together under a paterfamilias.  Even the liturgy calls us famulus or famula for feminine.  Though it means servants we are not referred to as servus or even the ancilla to which Mary referred to herself in relation to God.  We are famuli - we are household servants, and though we are servants we are members of the family. This is my point then when we couple this greeting with the poem by GK Chesterton which I read - It is not He, but we. It is not that he has more to gain but we have more to lose.

Introduction: Tonight my dear friends as we gather to celebrate together as a community the presence of the word incarnate in our world, we meditate on the mystery of the Lord’s birth.   It is said the mystery of the incarnation is greater than the mystery of the Resurrection.   For it is not that hard to believe and even imagine a God resurrecting from the dead, but it is difficult and therefore amazing to believe that a God is made man, a Spirit is made a body, the word is made flesh.

Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She is the Patroness of Mexico, and because we were part of the Archdiocese of Mexico then and because of our trade links with Mexico also known as the Manila Acapulco Route, Our Lady of Guadalupe became the patroness of the Philippines also.  This was later changed to the Immaculate Conception and our Lady of Guadalupe was relegated to the second patron.  Anyway it is the same Blessed Virgin Mary.  But this shows our close historical link with Mexico. It all started in the morning of Dec. 9 1531 when Juan Diego, an Indian, saw on the hill of Tepeyac and young woman surrounded by light.   Speaking to him the woman asked that he tell the authorities to build a church in her honor in the site where Juan Diego was standing.   Recognizing that it was the Blessed Virgin Mary, Juan Diego hurried to the Archbishop Juan de Zummaraga, the Archbishop of Mexico City, who was himself a protector of the Indi...

Our lex orandi today is the very words of the consecration itself.  In the past when the liturgy was too strict and the interpretation of every rule too rigid, whenever a priest mispronounces or omits a word in the consecration, he commits mortal sin.  It’s not for anything but to emphasize the sacredness of the words themselves.  These are sacred words, these are the words which consecrates the bread.  These are the words whose effects on the bread and wine distinguish lay persons from priests.  Only an ordained priest can say these words because it is through the power of these words that the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine becomes the blood of Christ. 

Today if all goes well according to our calendarium this will be the last Benediction for the year.  This is the last time we will gather as a community in prayer before the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament for this year 2012.  The next time we will gather again in the same setting and with the same intent and purpose will already be next year in 2013.  Tempus fugit - time flies.  We started with 127 seminarians, now we are down to 120 even before the school year is over.  As far as I can remember this is one of the smallest number of seminarians this institution ever had in many years.  Despite all these the problem regarding finances continues and there seems to be no permanent solution in sight.  We live on a daily basis.  If we sit down and make financial projections for the coming months and the coming years we would end up closing this school overwhelmed by the thought about where the money would come.  We have many difficulties i...

Last first Monday of December we had this recollection about this year which was marked by the Pope as the Year of Faith.  So after this whole day affair, just before we left, the Archbishop addressed us by asking, what is faith then?  We fell silent.  Then he said.  "What is faith?  Faith is when you pray for rain and you bring with you an umbrella.  When you pray for rain you already bring with you an umbrella.  That is faith."  Well, we smiled.

One of the biblical basis for the doctrine that Mary was conceived immaculately by her mother St. Anne is the greeting of the angel in our gospel today.  The angel Gabriel in greeting Mary said, hail Mary, full of grace or in our gospel today hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.  The Greek word that was used by Luke was kecharitomene .  This word comes from verb charitoo which means “to fill with grace”. Kecharitomene is perfect passive.  When we say “perfect tense” it means the verb or the action was done in the past but its effects are there even in the present.  So if kecharitomene is perfect passive then it means that Mary was filled with grace in the distant past and the effect of this grace continues even now.  So Mary was full of grace not just during the annunciation when the angel visited her.  No.  She was full of grace even before that.  She was filled with grace in fact at the time of her conception.  That is why t...

Our responsorial Psalm today is the famous Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd with the response made appropriately for advent - I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.  This is a looking forward to the time when we too will reach our heavenly home, and home is not just a place to dwell in but the fulfilment of everything.  This would then be affirmed by today’s gospel where Jesus, concerned for the situation of the hungry crowd that followed him, fed 4,000 with just seven loaves and a few fishes.  It is Jesus who alone can feed us, who alone can satiate our hunger, and fulfil our needs.

Today our lex orandi is Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.   In the past we were used to say, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might.   Now it is Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of hosts.   This is song comes from the vision of Isaiah when he saw God surrounded by throngs upon throngs of angels singing in the divine presence Holy, Holy, Holy Lord Sabaoth.   The Greek Church would call this hymn the trisagion - or the thrice holy.   The Hebrew does not have an adverb to signify a superlative.   There is no Hebrew for “very holy”.   When it says that God is “very holy” it simply repeats the holy three times - holy, holy, holy.   Daw pareho man na bala kon magsiling kita, baw ka guapa, guapa-guapa gid ya, nami-nami gid ya ukon major-major.    God is the holiest, the most holy, nothi...

Our first reading sounds fantastic. T he wolf shall be a guest of the lamb.  How do you make of that?   Why would the lamb invite the wolf as a guest?   Would it serve the wolf lamb chops?   And when did the lion become a vegetarian that now it grazes grass and hay   with the cow and its calf?   Can you imagine a little child made to play at the den of the cobra?   These are all fantastic.   It is out of this world, it is unbelievable, it is too good to be true.   It is not something you see every day, or even once in your lifetime.  This is what this season is all about - its about faantastic things - a virgin having a child, three kings coming from the east, angels hovering in the sky, shepherds adoring a future king - fantastic.  Not content we even added still another fantastic persona - Santa Claus.  Then we get to remember that Christ will come again - he will come in the clouds, and again angels will appear holding, bl...

Karon nga adlaw ginasaulog naton ang kapiestahan ni San Francisco Javier.  Sang High School kami ginsugid sa amon sang mga tigulang nga pari yadtong adlaw nga ang relic ni San Francisco Javier nagtener diri sing isa ka gab-i sa kapilya sang seminaryo.  Ang kapilya sadto anay didto pa sa music room sa kilid sang auditorium, siling nila.  Kag ang nag-abot nga relic amo ang naghalin mismo sa simbahan sang Gesu sa Roma - ang iya tuo nga kamot nga nagbunyag sang linibo ka mga tawo sa India ilabi na gid sa Goa kag sa iban nga bahin sang Asia lakip ang pungsod Japan.  Ginasiling nga basi nakahapit sia diri sa Manila pero tam-an ini ka labo tungod kay si St. Francis Xavier isa man ka representante sang hari Portugal kag sa sadto nga tion indi mayuhay ang pungsod Espana kag Portugal, kag subong man indi mayuhay ang mga Heswita kag mga Dominicano nga nagadumala sadto anay sang Pilipinas upod sa mga Prayle Agostino.  Ulihi na lang magaabot diri ang Heswita nga amo ang ...

This morning we have been talking about faith.  I am glad that we did before we read and before we reflect on our gospel today, the first Sunday of Advent.  I am glad that we talked about faith before reading a gospel that really sounds fantastic. Why did I say it sounds fantastic?   Listen to the gospel again - Jesus is telling the disciples of the great trial that is about to come, people he said will even die of fright, people will be tested, the world would undergo great tribulations, wars insurrections, and persecutions but amidst all these, the Son of Man, Jesus will come in a cloud with power and great glory.  

Two months ago we, the alumni of St. Vincent Ferrer have finally registered ourselves officially as Angkan ni Vicente, Inc.  We are now a juridical person and we have formally established ourselves as a real and legal organization.  Though this is in itself an achievement, I would like to believe that the real achievement lies elsewhere, specifically in your newfound enthusiasm to prop up an alumni organization that comes alive every tenth year and dies out even before the dust of the celebration settles down.  I was a seminarian in the 120 th celebration which saw an enthusiastic gathering of the alumni.  It stayed for a while then it died out. 

Today we celebrate the feast of the Apostle Andrew.  Peculiar with this apostle is the fact that he is always depicted in the gospels as one who introduced people to Jesus.  The first incident happened when he introduced his brother Simon who was later called Peter to Jesus.  Another was during the feeding of the five thousand.  When Jesus asked them to get food to feed five thousand men Philip, another apostle gave up, but Andrew found a solution.  He found a boy who had five loaves a few fish to Jesus.  He brought the boy to Jesus, introduced him and the rest is history.  Another incident was the meeting with the Greeks.  The Greeks wanted to meet Jesus but they were afraid to come near him for fear that Jesus might reject them.  Again Andrew came to the rescue and introduced the Greeks to Jesus.  That is the apostle Andrew.

Why are seminarians cloistered?  Why can’t they, like students outside, go home to their families every after class?  Why do we keep them apart and separated? Why are we not allowing cell phones?   If students outside, students who go home every night at that, need cell phones, how much more seminarians who need to communicate their needs to their parents who are living apart from them, and considering especially that those two pay phones we have are always out of order?   Can we allow them cell phones?   Shall we allow them ready access to facebook?   Shall we encourage them to have girlfriends?

What would life be without a sense of expectation?  Imagine how life would be without a sense of expectation.  It would be a life with no unplanned stops, like a drama plot with no twists, no turns, no surprises.  It would be a life without longing.  It would be a life without visions and dreams.  Without a sense of expectation people will begin to say, nothing good will come out of this.   Yes, the saint may no longer have the chance to become a sinner, but the sinner may never have the chance to become a saint.   It will be a world without mercy – no second chances, no hope for conversion, no chance to make up and do good.   It would be a world without room for mistakes.  

In life there will always be a time when your resolve will be tested.  There will be times when you will be tempted to give up on the good that you have started.  There will be times when you will feel discouraged because of so many obstacles, so many trials, so many things to endure and you will begin thinking of giving up.  It is in this context that the Lord is telling us today, by your perseverance you will secure your lives. 

Last week we talked about the word sacrifice - that the mass is not just a mass but the holy sacrifice of the mass.  This is because the mass is the sacrifice of Jesus in Calvary and it is made present today for our benefit.  But joined to this sacrifice of Jesus are our own sacrifices, that this, too, is my sacrifice and yours, for when we join our sacrifices as parents, as children, as husbands and wives, as priests and religious, when we join our sacrifices in life with that of Jesus, these too become acceptable to God the Father almighty.  That is why it is recommended that in every altar there is a relic of a martyr.  I do not know if our altar has a relic, but, although not required, it is something recommended. 

Today as we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, as we affirm that Jesus is King, we reflect on the gospel where he was presented before Pilate to be judged.  In reality, however, it was Pilate who felt judged as he goes from the praetorium and then out, then again inside the praetorium and then out again.  If you care counting the coming in and out of Pilate in this particular episode alone, he went in and out not twice, not thrice, not even four times, but seven times.  Why was Pilate going back and forth?  Why was Pilate doing this?  Because he has two things in his head pushing him back and forth.  And what are these two things in his head.  First, Pilate knew what was right.  And second, Pilate also knew what was easy.  If he only knew what was right, then no problem.  He will be forced to do what is right despite the difficulty.  If he only knew what was easy, then there would be no problem.  As some people would s...

Last week we reflected on the first person singular personal pronoun I and its implications on our life when we profess the faith saying the lex orandi, I believe.  Today we now make the jump to the second part of the mass, from the liturgy of the word, we now go to the liturgy of the Eucharist.   The Liturgy of the Eucharist starts with the offertory, the so called preparation of the gifts.   We prepare the gifts to be offered by bringing in the bread and wine mixed with a little water.   Then the priest washes his hands and invites one and all to pray that the Lord will make this sacrifice acceptable.   The exact words are: Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours may become acceptable to God the almighty Father.   We are reminded that what we are doing is a sacrifice.   Many times we forget this.   Sometimes we just say ma-attend ako misa , but we have to remember that this mass is not just a mass but the sacrifice of the mass.

Last week we reflected on two things in the mass.  First, the collect and we said that these are opening prayer which are general in characteristic because it gathers all our prayers and intentions into on.  Through the collect we become one community, we become the ekklesia, a sambayanan, a people gathered to offer worship and prayers to God.  In the mass we do not pray alone - we pray as one community.  In the mass we become more clearly the church.  Second, we reflected on the importance of the word in our lives - that though these were written thousands of years ago it is ever new, it is ever relevant, it continues to nourish us. To uplift us, to console us and it continues even to pass judgement on our actions.   Jesus is present to us in his word.