parientihanay - december 17 2013

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.

Number one.  May pari ako nga kilala nga nanamitan gid sia magpamariente.  May mga tawo gid ya nga nami-an sina, sigurado ko may kilala man kamo.  They would trace lineages, they would follow bloodlines and they would end up concluding “ay parientihanay gali kita” kay ang apo sa tuhod ni anhing Paula nakapamana sang anak sang bata sang pakatlo ni anhing mo Celia gani paka-isa ka niya sa apo sa pakatlo.  Hay nagalingin ulo mo nagatangotango ka man bisan wala ka may naintiendihan kon nga.  Sa luyag mo man ukon indi basta parientihanay kamo.  I think this is one lesson e should learn from the genealogy of Jesus – may mga kahimtangan nga sa luyag ta man ukon indi parientihanay kita.  We have a saying – you can pick your friends but you cannot pick your family.  Makapili ka sa imo abyan person indi ka kapili sang imo pamilya.  And this also happened to Jesus.  In his line there are a lot of success stories, heroes, kings and saints.  But there are also personalities that are better left forgotten, may adulteress, may prostitute, there were kings, really bad kings who led Israel to the wrong path and there are even those who dirtied so to say the bloodline because they were married to gentiles.

That is what the incarnation is all about.  Jesus did not magically appear.  He was born in a human family with the challenges and triumphs of that family, with the successes and failures of that family.

God’s grace is powerful, isn’t it?  In the lineage of Jesus the grace of God was more powerful than the adulteries, the murders, the intrigues, the sins in that family line.  The messiah despite all these was born in that line.

And so it can happen to us.  We cannot forever blame our upbringing.  We cannot forever hold responsible our family for our failures.  Indi kita ka pili pariente but we can choose our destiny.  We could always allow God’s grace to lead us and transform us and no amount of sin can ever block the grace of God if only we allow it.

The second lesson is another saying about family, God has no grandchildren.  Ang Dios wala nagapang-apo, nagapang-anak lang.  In the genealogy of Jesus many godly fathers have ungodly sons; many holy fathers and mothers have unholy sons and daughters.  God has no grandchildren because godliness is not inherited.  It would help to create a religious atmosphere in the home.  It would help to teach the children to pray and give utmost importance to their religious education and formation.  It would help to give a good example to the children.  It could make a difference.  But in the end they have to decide on their own.  And parents should not be frustrated when things do not turn out well, when their children are not as holy or as dedicated or as faithful as they are.  There are things in life that we can pass on.  There are things we simply cannot. 

For there are things that only they our children could decide on and there are things only God can give.

It might be good to be aware of these realites as we go deeper into advent.  Advent is waiting and part of waiting is to be realistic.

So let us be realistic.

Reality number one: you can pick your friends, but you cannot pick your family. 

Reality number two: God has no grandchildren. 

In the end its you, you have to chart your own destiny.