visible rhetoric

When Jesus asked the disciples, “who do people say that I am,” the disciples answered, “Elijah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets.”  Then Jesus asked again, “but you, who do you say that I am?”  Peter volunteered to answer saying, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Last week we said that virtues are habits formed in us through repeated action through which a faculty or a human power is made perfect.   By repeatedly acting out the good, sa sige sige naton nga himo sing maayo, it becomes a predisposition, kag gani in the long run kahapos na lang sa aton magmangin maayo.   That is the characteristic of virtue – it predisposes us to act the good with ease. Today we will reflect on the theological virtues, the three theological virtues namely the virtues of faith, hope and charity.

The last time we met was on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas and I said that St. Thomas has a lot to teach us not just about God but also about ourselves.  The last time we met I proposed that we study and reflect on virtues, the various virtues that are both given or infused to us by God and those which we form in us.  This is the beginning of a series of reflections which will hopefully help us acquire and develop Christian as well as human virtues. What is a virtue?  For St. Thomas virtue is a habit which perfects a power or a faculty in us.  There are two important words or phrases in this definition.  First it is a habit.  Second it is a habit that perfects a faculty or a power in us. 

Two points for reflection:  Una, In Jewish law when a woman gives birth to a boy she becomes unclean for forty days, from December 25 to February 2 which is the fortieth day.  Being unclean, the woman cannot enter the temple – the relationship with God so to say was broken because of the impurity, she was estranged by the birth of her child.  On the fortieth day, February 2, Mary was required by law to restore that relationship, she was required to make her relationship with God aright and for this she must go to the temple to offer a sacrifice – two turtle doves, the offering of the poor, to be offered by priests.  Only then can Mary be considered by the law and by her community as one who was reconciled and therefore one who has a right relationship with God again.  Today we commemorate this event in the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

That short film is entitled in some video links as “Best coin ever spent.”  It was a coin dropped by a little child that started the base to play initially a seemingly unrecognizable tune.  It was the same coin that invited the whole orchestra, instrument by instrument, and kept them coming as they play note after note.  And it was the same coin that rolled in the grand choir sparking a state of euphoria only an Ode to Joy can rouse in people, even in children.  And yet it all started with one single coin. Today I would like you to remember, and in remembering to recognize, the best coin ever spent in our lives.  I am not in any way referring to what our parents paid when they chose to have us educated in Assumption, because obviously, as it was then and now, it was not a drop of coin in a hat – more of a check at bursars. 

One day St. Thomas Aquinas a student just like you was caught sleeping while his teacher a friar was giving a lecture.   The friar upon seeing him asleep suddenly shouted pointing towards the window, there’s an elephant flying.   Thomas suddenly woke up and in excitement run to the window to see the flying elephant pass by.   His classmates and the friar laughed saying – only a dumb fool would believe that an elephant can fly.   St. Thomas terrible slighted and embarrassed looked at his teacher and said, “It is easier to believe that an elephant can fly, than to believe that a friar can tell a lie.”

We are distressed and many times even shocked when we hear people we know are struck by cancer.   We feel pity and at the same time we feel admiration for people we know who are struggling daily fighting the disease with whatever strength they have left.   We feel happy and glad and even thankful when the person we know responds well to treatment, goes into remission and even gets completely cured.   We feel despair when the person we thought was healed of cancer goes once more in recurrence.   We feel sad and at the same time relieved when after a long bout with the pain not just of the disease but even with its treatment, the suffering is ended by death and rest.

Once, I was made by my mother into a Sto. Nino at the instigation of our parish priest.  I was dressed in white, they placed a glittering red cape at my back, placed a crown on my head, made me hold a globe on my left and a scepter on my right, and they had me processed in the streets of Oton with a band playing at the back, angels escorting me up front and adulating crowds all around me.  That was the only time I heard people calling me cute.  And that was more or less 40 years ago.  We love the Sto. Nino, we adore the Sto. Nino, but have you ever paused for a while and have you ever looked at the image intently and saw the irony of it, the contrariness?  A child yet dressed as an adult, a poor baby born in a manger yet dressed as a prince, vulnerable yet dressed as powerful, needy but clothed with grandeur and riches.  It is an image full of contradictions.

Today, more and more people no longer appreciate the Sabbath rest or for us Christians, the Sunday’s rest on the day of the Lord.   More and more people are becoming very busy, some have even no more time for worship or for mass.   I even heard confessions saying, I forgot that it was Sunday.   In a book written by Thomas Cahill, the Gift of the Jews he pointed out that one of the best things which the Jews contributed to civilization after monotheism or belief in one God is the Sabbath rest.   No other people before the Jews instituted a day of rest.   And he emphatically noted a people who do not or have not instituted a day of rest in their live “emptier and less resourceful” lives.   In the bible those who work seven days a week even if they are paid millions are in the biblical understanding, salves, they are the real slaves.   We Christians inherited this tradition of rest, that a day is set for worship and for rest and because of the importance of Sunday to our faith this r

St. Bede the Venerable, a monk who lived in the 7 th century made an interesting commentary on our gospel today.  In explaining why Jesus silenced the unclean spirit taking possession of the man, St. Bede wrote, “The devil, because he had deceived Eve with his tongue, is punished by the tongue, that he might not speak.”  And so it happened that while Jesus was praised by the people for speaking and teaching with authority, the evil one was punished by being silenced.  One should also see this in the context of Jesus who called himself the way, the truth and the life, in contrast to the devil who is known to be the father of lies. In our first reading, Eli, the priest, watched Hannah as she was moving her lips without her voice being heard.  Eli thought her drank with wine and accosted her.  But Hannah explained that she was just pouring her heart out in grief to the Lord, praying that the Lord will be merciful to her and grant her, her longed for son.

Today is the Baptism of the Lord.  This is not just his baptism at the river Jordan by John the Baptist.  This is also the inauguration of his mission.  Jesus begins his mission.  From this time on he begins his preaching ministry going from one town to the other.  From this time on Jesus begins his healing ministry, healing the sick, curing illnesses and diseases, and driving out evil spirits from persons.  From this time on Jesus sets out to do what he was sent for, what he was commissioned for, to fulfill his purpose, to do his mission.

As we are about to end the year, our gospel says, “in the beginning.”  As we are about to close 2013, we hear proclaimed that Jesus was with God from the beginning.  This day is an invitation to look back, to assess what had been, to look into what we have gone through and to measure these up with him who was there with us from the very beginning.   Before the year even ended some have already passed the verdict saying that this year is annus horribilis – a horrible year – what with the earthquake, the typhoons, the PDAF, the unending increases in our electricity and gasoline.  I do not know with you.  But many times it depends on how you look at things and from what perspective are we coming from.   Coming from the perspective of a God who was already there in the beginning guiding the course of history, and a God who is Immanuel, the God who is our constant companion can make for a more optimistic view of what is happening to us, making these as opportunities rather than the

Why is the gospel about the resurrection read today when we are just on the third day of Christmas?   Why is the gospel narrating to us a tomb made empty by the resurrection read when we are still celebrating his birth in a manger? The most obvious reason is this:   today is the feast of St. John, the beloved disciple who as narrated in our gospel today was the first to reach the empty tomb.   It is to his name that the 4 th Gospel is credited which begins with this famous prologue read on Christmas day - in the beginning was the word, and the word was in God and the word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.