visible rhetoric

Given the chance, and especially the courage, I would be handing a letter of protest to Matthew and Luke objecting to the manner they told the story of Christmas and the many seeming contradictions and inconsistencies their stories portrayed. How could you say it’s all planned out from the neat arrangement of the ancestry of Jesus reaching as far as Abraham and even as far as Adam and Eve, how can you say it’s all planned out when on the night he was to be born they could not figure out where Mary would give birth because there was no vacancy in all the inns and lodging houses of Bethlehem.   How can they say God had it all figured out when in the middle of the night Joseph, Mary and the new born child had to flee to Egypt just in time when the soldiers of Herod began killing innocent children in the hope of killing the newborn king. Is this what you call all planned out, all foreseen as promised?   Then when the Holy family finally got the green light to go back to Isr...

Permit me to give you a very short summary just before this song of Zechariah was sung to celebrate the birth of his son John.  The last prophet of the Old Testament was the prophet Malachi.  In the last prophesy uttered by Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament, he foretold the birth of John the Baptist who like Elijah will bring people back to God and prepare the way of the Lord.  After this prophesy it would seem that God became silent.  For 400 years God did not send any prophet, God did not utter a word, God did not do any marvelous works.  God kept quiet.  In fact some people say that God fell asleep.  And for four hundred years God slept. Then after 400 years the angel Gabriel was sent to the temple one day to announce to Zechariah that his wife though old will give birth to a son who like Elijah will bring people back to God and prepare the way of the Lord.  Zechariah could not believe what he heard.  He even asked Ga...

Each culture has a way of naming their children.   We Filipinos have our own way of naming children.   In fact our way of naming is so uniquely Filipino, it cannot be found in any other, and because it is so uniquely Filipino chances are you’re a Filipino if you are named as such. There are three Filipino characteristics in naming.   One is a portmanteau, the combination of two names to form another name.   So if your mother is Anna Maria and your father is Joseph you can be named Anjo; Juliana and Manuel named their son Julman; Ramon and Elsie had a daughter named Monelle. Another Filipino hallmark in naming children are the unnecessary h we place in names like Dhan with an h and Mhark and Ghirlie with an h.   And lastly people will know you are a Filipino if your name is repeated twice –Junjun, Dangdang, Pekpek, and Bongbong.

Daan na ini nga joke.  Ginahambalan ko na kamo nga daan para kadlawan nyo man. There was a man who asked the Lord this question, Lord what is a million pesos for you? And sure enough God replied, One peso.  Lord, the man asked further, what is a million years for you?  And God replied, A minute.  Lord, the man said, can you give me one peso?  And the Lord replied, Ok, wait a minute. Sang wala gid may nagkadlaw sini nga joke kaina sang Aguinaldo kay daw medyo natuyo ang tanan, ang mga seminarista nga nagsimba nagsiling sa akon, der daan na gid man ang joke mo – but anyway I would like to use this to illustrate something in our gospel today. 

For two months now, Yolanda, it seems, is directing and even determining most of our decisions and actions.   We have to postpone this because of Yolanda, we will put this off because of Yolanda, we are going to halve what we will spend in this affair because of Yolanda, instead of doing this we will do this because of Yolanda.  It’s all Yolanda, Yolanda, Yolanda.

Persian rugs are very costly because only an expert can make a Persian rug.  It is done manually, usually with the assistance of a child.  The rug is made to drape like a curtain tapos ang expert nga mananahi is on one side and the assistant child is on the other side.  The expert can only shout out instructions to the child according to the pattern and the design she planned to do.  P ero sa madamo nga bes sala ang tublok sang bata sala, ukon kabos and the pattern would change.  Ano karon ang obrahon sang mananahi?  Puede niya matastas but it would be taxing and laborious.  So instead of repeating the project the expert would work through the mistake and make a new pattern.  It will not turn out according to plan but it would always come out as an extraordinary and unique work.  It is said that this is what makes a Persian rug costly – its unique pattern borne out because of a mistake that was reworked by a gifted artisan to become a...

Today I am assigned to the most boring day in this 9 day Aguinaldo masses.  This day has the most boring gospel.  I have just read a lot of names.  In fact the gospel is nothing but names.  Many are difficult to pronounce and some I mispronounced but you never even noticed, and I think you would not even care, because you are not also familiar with them.  So what does the gospel teach us with all these names?  Let me just present some of the lessons in random.

If you are familiar with psychology, then you may have encountered the importance of attention, the capacity to pay attention.  The first sign that a child’s mind is working is when he seems to pay attention to something sa bagay nga kon kaisa gina-ignore niya ikaw, ukon wala sia nagasapak sa imo mga utis-utis.   The child is paying attention to something and that is a very good sign because that is the first indication of the child’s capacity for consciousness – he is trying to focus on something.  We can learn only when we are able to focus.  We can relate with one another when we are able to focus, when we are able to give our full attention to something or to someone.  Actually most abnormalities are had k on makadto ini sa extremes - either w ala sang focus ukon amo lang ina ang focus niya sa bagay nga naga-withdraw na sia sa mga kinahanglanon sa kabuhi.   An abnormality may at times be a deficiency of focus or it may be when there is too much ...

The other year in my reflection on the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother I said that the usual image we have to represent the Immaculate Conception is the image painted by the Spanish painter Murillo.  That is what we have here – the woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet, the imagery narrated to us by the Book of Revelation.  But there are two other purported images of the Immaculate Conception and they are first, the image of Our Lady of Lourdes for in that apparition to St Bernadette Soubirous the beautiful lady when asked what her name was answered, I am the Immaculate Conception.  And the other image which appeared this time to St. Catherine Laboure is the image of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, where, engraved in that medal is an inscription “O Mary conceived without sin; pray for us who have recourse to thee.”  In this second image one can see not only the image of Mary and the inscription, but also a green snake stepped up...

Yesterday in my dialogue with our grade seven in the seminary I was trying to explain to them the meaning of advent.  Advent, I said, is about looking forward, advent is about being hopeful, it is expecting the good that is to come, it is about anticipating the joy that will gladden our lives, it is waiting with patience at the light that would brighten our darkness, it is looking forward to the happiness that God will bring to our lives, it is about fulfillment, it is about perfection, it is about completion and the realization of every good desire.  Look at the reading, I added, Isaiah would want us to strain our eyes forward telling us on that day, on that day, on that day when all expectations and dreams will be fulfilled. 

Today we start advent – our time of preparation for the two comings of our Lord.  His coming on the last day when he will judge the living and the dead and his coming on Christmas, his first coming to redeem the world.  The message of today’s gospel fits well the first preparation – the preparation for the final judgment.  On that night the gospel says there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left. 

When I was in my elementary years I was actively involved in the Flores de Mayo in our Barangay, in the barangay sang Birhen with the estandarte or banner transferred every evening from one house to the other after praying the rosary, and also in the urna of the miraculous medal which came to our house once a month.   There was also that yearly rosary rally which I remember also attending – one in San Agustin for which Fr. Peyton himself came, the priest who coined the family that prays together stays together.   And the other rosary rally was in the Sports Complex which was attended I remember by the Archbishop – it was Archbishop Casas.   I can still picture out the car coming to the stadium – it was an impala with green curtains at the back. I can still picture that out because I could see it clearly from where I was standing in the bleachers.    I also remember walking from Oton to the San Agustin and we were led by our parish priest Msgr. Calvo who was...

Today is the fiesta of Leon with her patroness St. Catherine of Alexandria.  Catherine is also the patroness of Philosophers and Preachers because of her great learning and her eloquence. Catherine was of noble birth by King Costus and Queen Sabinella, who governed Alexandria in Egypt.  Kag tungod sini nahatagan sia sing kahigayunan nga makatuon sing maayo.  Her superior intelligence combined with diligent study left her exceedingly well-versed in all the arts and sciences , and in philosophy .  And this brought her to Christianity.  She was converted and baptized.  When the Roman Emperor Maxentius persecuted the Christians this brave young lady went up to the emperor and denounced him for his cruelty.  He even challenge the emperor for a debate on the superiority of the Christian faith against the pagan religion.  The emperor called the best pagan philosophers and orators to dispute with her, hoping that they would refute her pro-Ch...

If you follow carefully the gospel the reward given to those who have worked hard, the reward for those who invested time, effort and sweat is quiet intriguing.  The reward for their work is more work, the reward for a work well done is still more work to do.  It is quiet ironic but true.  The king never said – now because you have worked so hard, you can relax, have a free day, drink at Bavaria.  The king did not say that.  Instead he gave them more work.  This is not mine.  This is the gospel.  But isn’t it true?

What is the symbolism behind Zacheus climbing a Sycamore tree?   Zacheus could have climbed other trees but why a sycamore?   Or Matthew could have just mentioned Zacheus climbing a tree but why did he have to identify it as a Sycamore?   What is so important about a Sycamore tree that it is mentioned by name?

A virtue becomes a virtue because it is done habitually, a firm disposition in the person to do good.  It is not a virtue when it is done once in a while.  It is not a virtue when we do things because at the moment we are so fired up to do good or at the moment we are bombarded situations of pity.  Virtue is habitual, it is persistent, it is a firm disposition to pursue the good at all times.  In other words it is the good that perseveres to the end.

The message of today’s gospel is as simple as it sounds but the hardest to face.  On that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.  What is the message of today’s gospel?  It is this:  there will be times in my life when I have to face things alone.  There will be times in my life when somebody will say to me, from now on you are on your own.  There will be times in my life when my very own survival will not depend on anybody else but me.  There will be times in my life when I will have to single handedly, unaided by anybody, fight for what I believe.  Finally there will be times in my life when I have to face the consequences, when I have to stop blaming anyone for what ails my life, when I have no one to blame but myself. 

Many times when we think of the kingdom of God what comes to mind is a beautiful, serene and peaceful place, a place quiet repose, a place of beauty and tranquility.   Suffering can never be a characteristic of the kingdom of God.   It cannot be a place of conflict, of devastation, of danger and human misery.   These are characteristics opposed to our concept of the kingdom of God.   But are they really opposite of God’s kingdom?   Can we not find God in human misery, in squalor, in destruction and calamities?

There was this unnatural scene in National Geographic when animals who would have ordinarily fought each other to the death and animals who would have stalked and eaten the other are seen together on a hill surrounded by flood water.  They were not killing each other, and nobody was eating the other.  They were there standing saving themselves from the flood and waiting for the waters to recede.  So lions and cheetahs stood together and so were the zebras and the gazelles.  It was an unnatural scene created by a supernatural circumstance.  If the circumstance were natural, they would be meters and even miles apart from each other.

Christianity is a divided church.   Christianity in the world today is composed of 63 percent Catholics, 13 percent Eastern Churches, that includes the Greek Orthodox Churches, and 23 percent Protestants.   But all in all Christianity is just 29 percent of the world population because 71 percent is non-Christian.   In the 1500’s Christians were literally at war with each other.   Europe was aflame because of Catholics and Protestants.   And in Russia and in the Baltic Nations   Catholics were at war with Orthodox churches.   It is a scandal even until now that the followers of Jesus cannot see eye to eye.