visible rhetoric

In the time of Jesus, it was expected that women should answer the demands of hospitality.  It was their role.  In the time of Jesus it was expected that women occupy supportive roles providing resources for the men who followed the Lord. And so it was a bit of a shock then that a woman was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him, learning from him, as if she was a disciple.  It was a bit of a shock that Mary would think herself worthy of becoming a disciple. Note however that the "better part" which Jesus seemed to commend was not that Mary was sitting before the Lord, listening intently to his teachings while Martha was up and about in her service of hospitality.  No.  We need contemplation.  We need action.  Both are needed in the church.  This "better part" however which the Lord said Mary should not be deprived of, was the fact that Mary saw, Mary realized and Mary considered the other possibilities she can do and become in ex...

We have always looked at adoption from the perspective of the adopted child.  How does it feel like to be adopted, how does it feel to be abandoned by one's real parents, how does it feel to know for the first time that after all those years you are not a real son or a real daughter and that you are "just" adopted? As a consequence, we also look at adoption from the perspective of the parent, the real parents who abandoned or have given up the child.  Why abandon me, why leave, why can't they stand on their commitment to me, what is wrong with them, what is wrong with me? Many times we only look at adoption from these two perspectives. But there is another perspective.  Allow me to tell you about it. Several years ago a mother for whatever reason left her newborn boy inside one of the restrooms of the cathedral.  His umbilical cord was still fresh, it was cut but not properly clipped.  Because of the commotion he created we have to go through the ...

Thirst is an insatiable longing.  You cannot let go of thirst the way you let go for example of a beautiful clothes or things, objects of your desire.  You cannot let go of thirst the way you can let go with much pain an attractive person you love or homesickness.  Thirst can only be satiated by water and unless one drinks water it just won't let go.  Why?  Because thirst is associated with something essential for survival.   You can mask it for a while like distracting oneself or swallowing one's saliva but in the end the person cannot do but yield to its power.  And so it is with God, " O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water."

Today let us reflect on our responsorial psalm – the psalm, psalm 48 that is and its response.  Many times in homilies this is the most neglected part of God's word.  We seldom reflect on it and see its meaning in our lives.  And yet the church considers the book of psalms a book of prayer par excellence – a prayer book that has not equal – in other words your prayer book, your volumes of novenas cannot equal this prayer book which we call the psalms.  Why?  Because when you pray the psalms you speak to God with the words of God; when you pray the psalms you express the wishes of your hearts with the wishes and expression which also comes from the heart of God. 

Why did Jesus choose a Samaritan as the protagonist of our parable today?  Why choose a Samaritan as the hero, the good guy, the model of this story?  And to think that this story is told to a devout Jew at that. Some backgrounder perhaps may help us appreciate the question and the story of Jesus.  Jews and Samaritans do not see eye to eye during the time of Jesus.  When Jesus passed by Samaria intent to go to Jerusalem the Samaritans did not accord him a warm welcome.  For this the apostles James and John asked Jesus to call on fire in order to destroy their town, thus earning them the nickname sons of thunder.  Even in our story today the Jew could not bring himself to say Samaritan after being asked by the Lord, who was neighbor to the robbers' victim?  Instead he answered the Lord, "the one who treated him with mercy." Such was the hatred between them he cannot even bring himself to mention the word Samaritan. But going back to the quest...

Today we read from the book of the prophet Isaiah.  It is the passage that narrates his call, his vocation, and his choice to accept the mission God has entrusted to him. Before he was sent, Isaiah was made to experience the greatness, the immensity, eminence, the magnitude of God. God is seated on the throne and surrounded by angels who cried, Holy, Holy Holy, the trisagion, the thrice holy God which we repeat every mass during the sanctus.  This is the highest form of the superlative in Hebrew to depict that God has no equal in holiness.  Why is this?  In Sydney Australia there is a mountain range so beautiful, so vast, so majestic.  It is a popular resort with forest reserves and a vast network of caves.  Printed on a bus which advertises the resort, the caption says, "experience how small you are."  Amidst the vast mountain range, amidst the forest so huge one could not see its boundaries though perched on a peak, amidst the intricate ne...

When we hear stories of blindness, deafness and dumbness in the gospel there is always a deeper meaning attached to them.  These are not just physical defects, they can also be spiritual, they can be symptoms of a lack of faith.  These are not just defects of the senses but they can also be a defects in our psycho-emotional and affective lives.  There are defects there too which need healing.  There are defects there too which need to be presented to the healing hand of Jesus. In our gospel today this is exemplified by the Pharisees who cannot see or probably who refuse to see that God is at work in Jesus.  They do not want to hear and understand what Jesus is trying to say to them.  And thus they refuse to speak the words of life which Jesus shares with them.

In the commentary made by St. Jerome on this part of the book of Amos, he said that it should have read like this - “You only I have known of all the people of the earth; therefore I will visit your iniquities upon you." You only I have known of all the people of the earth.  God did not say to Amos I have made a covenant with you as he said to other prophets.  God did not describe his love to Israel as "steadfast love" as he did through other prophets.  Rather God described his relationship with Israel as "You only have I known of all the people of the earth."  There is that special care in the words of God.  How would you feel for example when your husband or your wife looks at you in the eye and says to you – ikaw lang gid wala na sing iban.  Well, the feeling must be ecstatic to be singled out.  Well I don't know how that feels kay daw wala pa man may naghambal sina sa akon – ikaw lang gid wala na sing iban.   But my point is this - ou...

Elie Wiesel a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust once said, "In Jewish history there are no coincidences." This is exactly the point of our first reading today.  Sennacherib, the Assyrian King was about to invade the kingdom of Judah after defeating the neighboring Kingdom of Israel.  If we rely only on the circumstances of the battlefield, if we rely only on the analysis of defense vis a vis the strength of the invading troops, if we only look at the number of soldiers and arms that are about to clash, logic will tell us that Judah will fall and Assyria would win.  The message of Sennacherib to Hezekiah the King of Judah is correct, ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”  Judah will fall.