visible rhetoric

It might be good to talk about the very thing we will deprive ourselves with during this day.  We will talk about food.  Yesterday Msgr. Oso came here to inform me that the parish of Tubungan has gathered 32 sacks of rice for the seminary.  It was their quarterly collection, meaning the collection for the past three months which they did for the seminary.  The collection for the other three quarters are made for different intentions.  But the 3 months he said were collected for the seminary.  He told me  that this collection as inspired by Msgr. Odi in Janiuay.  This is what they do.   Every time they cook rice for breakfast, they would scoop one tablespoon of rice and put it inside a separate container they have prepared for this purpose.  Every time they cook rice for lunch, they would scoop one tablespoon of rice and put this inside the container.  Then they would do the same when they cook for dinner.  Every day,...

Before we end the Ordinary Time and go into Lent tomorrow, I would like to end our reflection on the Eucharist which we have continuously done starting September of last year.  Probably most of you have asked, when will this ever end?  So today just before we cross over to the season of Lent I would like to end this today with a reflection appropriate to every ending, which is a reflection on the dismissal of the mass which in Latin says, Ite missa est.  And we respond, Deo Gratias. The response of the people Deo gratias is easily translated as Thanks be to God, salamat sa Dios – an appropriate response because the Eucharist is after all a eukaristos, which means – thanksgiving, ang pagpasalamat .  Every mass is a thanksgiving.  We have been so used to making petitions during the mass.  We even have intentions offered during the mass.  But we should not forget that the mass is thanksgiving.  By its very nature, it is a thanksgiving.  In...

Last week we reflected that the communion dialogue between priest and people has a bigger story to tell than just the immediate reception of the Body of Christ in Holy Communion.  Indi lang ini napertenecer sa pagbaton sang kalawat.  Why? because it uses biblical allusions.  When the priest says “blessed are they who are invited to the supper of the Lamb,” it means more than just receiving the Lord as food for our souls.  When the people respond, Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, it does not just refer to the reception of Holy Communion.  It tells a bigger story, otherwise we could have just simply said as in the past, Lord I am not worthy to receive you.  But as I said this is not just about Communion.  Last week we said that it refers to our relationship with the Lord.  How is your relationship with the Lord?  How intimate is your relationship with the Lord?   Is it a relationship shaped by obedience t...

If you notice around the Cathedral yesterday and even today there are several vendors selling clothes for the Sto. Nino.  It is not just several clothes to choose from, but it is a rack three layers high of clothes for the Sto. Nino.  It is like the Children’s Section in a department store where you can choose a variety of clothes in different styles in different sizes for a child.  If there are sellers there are definitely buyers for this type of merchandise.  In other words there are people who like to dress up their Sto. Nino like dolls little girls play with. 

I would like to proceed with our reflection on the mass by examining the dialogue between priest and people just before Holy Communion. In inviting the people to Holy Communion the priest says:  “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”  And the people respond saying:  “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”