visible rhetoric

Two things that we need to reflect on in our first reading today from the book of Genesis.  First, God loves everything he creates.  The reaction of God is described by the author in human terms – God regretted that he made man, God’s heart was grieved by man’s evil deeds, God was sorry for having made man.  If you notice these are human reactions, our natural reaction when somebody we love and care for hurt us.  It is said that the depth of one’s anger is equivalent to the depths of one’s love and concern.  So when God intervenes, even when God was punishing his people, the aim was always to save them.

Today we reflect on the Book of Genesis, our first reading today and we have already reached that point in our reading when God created human beings.  If you notice it was a different way of creating.  In creating the moon and the stars and the animals and the trees God said, Let there be, and these things were created.  But when God created the human person he said, let us create.  God used what we refer to in English grammar as the royal we.  God is one and yet God used we, the royal we – because it is a different task unlike the other creation, it is a solemn task, it is the peak, the culmination of God’s most marvelous work.  Remember, this marvelous work of creation will be surpassed only by God’s marvelous work of redemption in Jesus. So why is this creation different from other creation?  Because the human person is made in the image and likeness of God.  To be made in God’s image and likeness does not mean that we physically look...

Our gospel today narrates how the apostles after being sent two by two, traveling on foot, after having worked hard preaching the good news and after healing the sick and those possessed by demons, all went back to Jesus.  They all gathered back to Jesus bringing with them their different experiences.  This gathering must have been noisy for they were all reporting to him what they did and what they taught the people they met.   Through all these Jesus must have kept quiet, listening to them.  And probably after settling down, Jesus took the opportunity presented by the occasion to teach them something important.  He said to them, Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.

The letter to the Hebrews sees Christian life as a race.   But this kind of race does not have a connotation of speed.   So it does not speak of a sprint for example, a 100 meter, 200 meter, 500 meter, or a 1,000 meter race.   No, it speaks of a long distance run, a marathon.   A marathon is a 42.195 kilometer run , an ultra running event.   So this race is not about velocity or speed. Rather this is about perseverance.   It is about persistence and determination, it is about resolved and endurance, this is about sticking it out no matter what, this is sticking it in, never giving up.   Thus the letter says, persevere in running.

In the old calendar of the church February 2 is the end of Christmas, the 40 th day after December 25.  If you notice the mornings are no longer as dark as it was in December and in the beginning of January.  Sang nagligad dulom pa ang ala seis.  Subong masanag na ang kaagahon.   That is the reason why the church reads again the prophecy of the Prophet Malachi as it ends Christmas to remind us that Jesus, the messiah, is the sun of righteousness, he is the sun that never sets, he is the light that will scatter the gloom.  Mary enters the picture because tradition calls her the morning star, in Latin she is called stella matutina because like the morning star which appears just before the rising of the sun, Mary gets into the picture just before Jesus appears.  She therefore announces the coming of Jesus. Today we reflect on the prophet Malachi, our first reading.  The day of Christ’s coming is described by the prophet Malachi in two words -...

For almost two years now I have been reflecting on the first readings of the day believing that the reading for that day is meant by God for a particular situation or a particular person with a particular circumstance on that very day.  And so I would like to continue my reflection on the first reading today. Talking about the priesthood of Jesus for almost two weeks now a curious thing can be found in our first reading, the Letter to the Hebrews.  The author puts a quotation in the mouth of Jesus, but the author quotes it differently.  Instead of saying “an open ear you have given me” from Psalm 40, he had Jesus say instead “a body you have prepared for me.”  The rest of the quotation is verbatim except for this part.  Now the quotation may sound miles apart but the meaning is the same.  In fact the author reworded the quote to reiterate emphatically and specifically a very important point.  To obey, Jesus had to be given not just a hearing f...