visible rhetoric

The sixth article of faith says that Jesus ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  In the Summa, St. Thomas Aquinas has some funny objections, which of course he answered, about Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father.  If Jesus sits ar the right hand of God, does that mean that God the Father has a right hand and therefore also a left hand?  Isn't it that God is spirit and therefore God has no body, so how can he have a right hand?  And also, Thomas Aquinas asked, if Jesus is seated at the right hand of Father, then it follows that the Father is seated at the left side of Jesus?  Amo ina ang rason why in the past it was not allowed to draw the Father as an old man sitting on the throne because the Father is spirit  and only Jesus was incarnated – only Jesus, the second person of the Trinity assumed human flesh.  The Father is simply symbolized by a triangle or the all seeing-eye to symbolize God’s omniscience.

The gospel today shows us three reactions of people when things don’t go according to plan, when expectations are not met, and when things become out of control. First the Samaritans.  Probably the Samaritans had plans which did not jibe with that of Jesus.  He was after all dead set on reaching Jerusalem, and so probably he had no time for them, he cannot find time to talk to them, or to heal them or to do what he did to people in other places.  Because Jesus was not meeting their expectations, because Jesus was not cooperating in the fulfillment of their plans, the Samaritans rejected him.  They don’t want to have anything from him anymore.

In the sixth article of the faith we profess that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  In explaining this article the catechism teaches that the ascension into heaven is closely linked to the descent of Jesus from heaven to become man.  Ang iya pagkayab sa langit naangot sa iya pagpana-og gikan sa langit agod mangin tawo.  Only the one who came from the Father can return to the Father, only the one who came from heaven can ascend into heaven.  The ascension therefore signifies that only Christ can open to men and women access to the Father.  On our own, humanity does not have access to the Father’s house.  On our own we do not stand a chance to participate, to enter into the life and happiness of God.  Jesus is the key, Jesus is the access, in fact Jesus said, I am the way.  Si Jesus lang gid ang makaabri sang ganhaan padulong sa Amay kag sa kalipay sang Amay.  We can only have access through him.

As children we were made to believe that important characters in the movies do not die.  Ang starring pirme da-ug.  They always come out victorious, they always win, they always end in triumph.  Ang starring pirme da-ug.  So imagine my surprise when I watched Earthquake back in 1975.  As an aside palalantaw ako sine kay nagdaku ako sa Ledesma Street nga napatung-an sang Golden kag Cinema, kag kon magtabok ka sa dalan Allegro kag Rivera.  So imagine my surprise, I was nine years old when I saw Charlton Heston died in that movie Earthquake.  Even now I can still remember the scenery.  Indi ako mapahamtang asta subong pila na idad ko I can still remember that eksena as they were coming out of the manhole.  That was the first time that I saw an important character, ang starring, dying with his wife as they were swept away by the rushing water when the dam collapsed because of the earthquake.  A ng starring wala nagakapatay.  Imposible na ya nga mapatay ang important character.

It has become the tradition of most schools, not only catholic and private schools, but even some public schools, to set aside a day at the beginning of their school year and dedicate this to the Holy Spirit.  It has become traditional to celebrate the Mass of the Holy Spirit.  But why is this so?  Why do we invoke the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the school year?  What does the Holy Spirit do to us, what are we asking for when we call upon him at the start of our classes? Let us allow the gospel to give us some cues.