visible rhetoric

What makes you happy?     What makes you unhappy?     The 4 th Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday.     Laetare means be happy.     We are allowed today to put some flowers on the altar and to use the color rose instead of violet.     Rose is still violet but it is mixed with gold, the color of supreme joy.     Thus, it is only proper to ask ourselves these very important questions which motivates all our actions - what makes me happy, what makes me unhappy?

You are not far from the kingdom of God.  You are not far.  You are not there yet, but you are not far. Here Jesus reminds us the difference and therefore the relationship of what we know, and doing or acting upon what we know. We must acknowledge that many of us need to be catechized, we need to know more, we need something substantial in the education in the faith.   As affirmed by Jesus in the attitude of this pious scribe everything starts with knowing, and believing and being convinced with what we know.  It is an acknowledgement that as a parish community catechesis is very much needed from its littlest members to us adults.  We need to be educated in the faith.

Our gospel today is a reminder which will be repeated time and again by St. Paul in his letters.  That on our own we can never be good enough.  Paul would often say that we should pray for the strength that comes from God and that we should not rely solely on our own strength.  Why?  Because on our own we can never be good enough.   This is why Jesus is depicted many times as driving away the evil spirits not by human power, not by the power of another evil spirit, but by the all-powerful finger of God.

What does it mean to fulfill the law?  Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.  We know for example that Jesus in the eyes of pious Jews during his time violated the law of the sabbath by doing something prohibited on a Sabbath.  For one he healed on the sabbath.  In another he told the person he healed to carry his mat on a sabbath.  So, what does it mean to fulfill the law?

The number seventy times seven in Hebrew means always, whenever, at all times. Thus forgiveness in the mind of Christ should be always, whenever and at all times.  But the most important thought of the gospel is the reason why we should forgiven at all times.  Why? Because God forgives me at all times. This is the Christian way. Why should I forgive?  Because God forgives me.  Why should I forgive at all times.  Because God forgives me always.  Why should I be generous?  Because God is generous to me. Why should I have compassion on people who are in need? Because in my need God has compassion with me.  We never stop doing good to each other because God never stops doing good to us.

The feast of the annunciation is a feast celebrating the virtue of obedience, both the obedience of Christ and the obedience of Mary. Sin entered into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  Salvation entered the world through the obedience of Jesus and Mary.  In the letter to the Hebrews in our second reading we find a quotation alluding to the obedience of Jesus.  Here Jesus is made to say:   "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.”  This is a quotation of Psalm 40 except for the last part which should have read, “but my ears you have opened.”  Probably wanting to emphasize the complete obedience of Jesus he used “but a body you have prepared for me.”  So now it is not just simply ears listening and obeying, it is now the whole body being offered in humble submission to God will.  

Even when I was still in the seminary I was already struggling to understand who God is.  I am not referring to our children’s catechesis which says: Pila ang Dios -  isa.  Pila ang persona sang Dios - tatlo.  Sin-o sila - Amay, Anak kag Espiritu Santo.  Instead I was asking, who is this God that I am praying to, who is this God who created me, who cared for me, and who saved me?  Moses in our first reading asked God, who are you, if they ask what is your name what will I tell them? In our gospel Jesus was told about Galileans who were cruelly massacred by Pilate.  Was it because of their sins that God allowed them to die?  Is this who God is?

The mother of James and John is Salome.  It is said that when Zebedee her husband died, when she became a widow, Salome followed Christ together with her sons. St. John Chrysostom said that though she was very old she followed the Lord because faith never grows old and the desire to serve the Lord does not fade and does not falter.  Thus Salome is one of the women who followed the Lord caring for his needs and that of the disciples. But in this passage St. John Chrysostom asks, why is it that Salome was just corrected by Jesus but Peter was openly and even angrily rebuked by the Lord?  Salome was just told, you do not know what you are asking, but Peter was told get behind me Satan.  Why?

Today we celebrate the solemnity of St. Joseph, one of the two solemn feasts in the middle of Lent.  St. Joseph is referred to as Pepe, for in Spanish the double P stands for Padre Putativo, or the reputed father, not the real father but the reputed father.  That is why in the Philippines all Jose’s are nicknamed Pepe, not Joe I suppose.   St. Joseph is father because primarily he was the guardian of the Holy Family and thus, traditionally, he is also considered the guardian of the church. He is also considered the patron of a happy death because when he died he was graced with the physical presence of Jesus and Mary.  As a priest I have seen a lot of difficult deaths, damo hawid kag makangilidlis. Since all of us will die, we better have a devotion to St. Joseph so that our deaths will be peaceful, well-prepared and dignified.  To speak of St. Joseph however, only in this way is to belittle his role in the life of Jesus.  It is true that he did not speak a single word in the whole

Be merciful just as your Father is merciful. There is one virtue, one characteristic which makes us like God – merciful, maluloy-on.  If Jesus is asking us to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect, then this characteristic must be present in us – maluloy-on. How can we be merciful?  The church provides us with some guidelines.  For example we have the corporal works of mercy – feed the hungry, drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, shelter the homeless, visit the prisoners, bury the dead, giving alms to the poor. Our parish has a feeding program every Saturday, providing food for at least 60 people – sponsored by two people.  I believe this is a good start.  Passing by Molo one gets the impression that it’s all beautiful houses and rich people. 

Several years ago, I was talking with an old woman, laon, in her house while her things were being given away – chairs, tables, chandeliers, plates, cabinets, tanan.  She was selling the house in the amount just enough to live off with the money for the remainder of her days.  We were seating on the two remaining chairs.  While she was talking I became distracted by the people packing her things, carting them away.   Maintiendihan ko kon patay ka na tapos partidahon imo gamit. Pero buhi pa sia kag makita niya with her eyes nga ginaputos kag ginabit-bit pagguwa literally ang iya kabuhi. Daw nagapin-ot ang akon dughan. Ano ayhan ang pamatyag mo nga buhi ka pa ginapartida na ang imo pagkabutang?   She noticed me and she called my attention telling me,  Fr. indi man lang amo sini ang kabuhi, this is not all there is to life.   I was a bit embarrassed then because I should have said that to comfort her.  Now it seemed then nga ako ang gin-comfort niya.

Jesus teaches us to follow not the letter of the law but the spirit.  That is why Jesus expands the commandment thou shall not kill to include anger, or insulting the other by calling him raca, or worse by calling him a fool which in the Hebrew language means ining tawo nagbuang.   However, the expansion is not limited to the bad things one does to the other, but now it also includes the good I need to do.  Jesus said,  Go first and be reconciled with your brother; settle with your opponent quickly; these are positive expansions of the law. And this is how we live the spirit of the law.

The ending of the gospel which talks about prayer is asking us to develop a sensitive heart.  Having a sensitive heart is someone who can feel what others feel.  Because if we feel what others feel we would do to others what we want others to do to us.  And the opposite too is also true, we would not do to others what we do not like others to do to us.  That was the motive too of our fasting last week – we went hungry for a day so that we could feel what hungry people experience every day of their lives and hopefully the experience would develop in us compassion for those who hunger, and lead us to action. That is the content too of the argument on prayer – can a father have the heart to give his child a stone if he asks for bread?  Develop a sensitive heart.  How does it feel kon ikaw na dira?  

The timing of this gospel is crucial to our interpretation of the text today.  We are now a full week since we started the season of lent, the season of repentance and conversion.  This gospel seems to say, it has been a full week since we started lent, why is there no repentance yet, why is there a slowness to respond to the call of conversion, why are you delaying the response to God’s call?  The sign of Jonah is a sign for us to commit, a reminder for us to not delay, for when Jonah preached a call to repentance in Nineveh it just took him three days to make the people commit, it just took them 3 days to decide to turn once again to God and leave their sins behind.  For us it is already 7 days.

Notice again the gospel.  Jesus is not teaching us what to pray but how to pray, he is teaching us a manner of praying. And how do we pray?  Two things. First, when we pray we are addressing a Father not a deity, not a supreme being, not an unapproachable God, but a Father who knows what is in our heart even before we ask, a Father who knows what is good for us.  Is this also how we pray?  In our prayers are we addressing the Father?  In formulating our prayers, is this with the disposition of a son or a daughter?  

Today in the first week of lent we are reminded that the good we do to the least and the needy is a good not done for Jesus but to Jesus.  And it follows too that omitting to do the good to the least and the needy is an omission done not for Jesus but to Jesus.  This mystery of Christ in the needy and the least is further expanded in the experience of St. Paul when he was still persecuting the Christians, when on the road to Damascus, the Lord asked him, Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me.  Saul’s persecution was not against Christians, in fact Saul was persecuting Christ in every Christian he persecutes.

What is the goal of advertisements on radios and televisions?  How do they convince us to buy the products they sell?  This is the goal – they want to make us feel that we are lacking something, to make us feel inadequate.  That’s how they convince us to buy - ipabatyag nila sa tagpalamati nga may kulang sa aton kabuhi, kag produkto lang nila ang makasabat.  They do not say this directly but they would make you feel this – ngaa daw kaputi na sa iya, ako ya kaitom; ngaa kanami sang iya buhok, akon ya law-ay; kinahanglan ko man ina siguro ay.  Actually if you have not heard about it, you will never realize that you need it.  Have you noticed that? This is also how the devil tempts us – the devil makes us feel lacking, he makes us feel inadequate.  I feel I am not good enough but if I do this I think I will become better.  I feel I am not loved and appreciated enough but if I do this I will be better loved and appreciated or so I think.  I am angry because I am not listened to.  Depre

Today our readings remind us of the need for fasting.  When we fast we reaffirm what Jesus said to the devil in the desert, that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Fasting facilitates hearing God’s word, it facilitates listening to God.  When Adam and Eve defied God’s expressed command and will, they ate, they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree.  But when Jesus was told to turn stone to bread so that he can eat and satisfy his physical hunger, Jesus said no to the devil and instead reaffirmed that the real food that sustains him is listening and obeying the Father’s will.

In this season of lent it might be good that we will take a specific virtue to develop so that we can grow in virtue and in character as followers of Jesus The first virtue is self-denial.  It has been said, and rightly so, that the greatest enemy for our growth as disciples is our own selves.  I am my greatest enemy.  You are your greatest enemy.  Why? Because the self would always insists that he should be loved more than any other, he should be favored more than any other, honored more than any other.  The self would always like to be the winner, the greatest, and the champion of all.  The self would even insist that its needs should be catered to, its desires should be fulfilled, its wants should be provided.  And the self wants these immediately.  This is called self-centeredness. Jesus provides today the anti-dote. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself.”  We call this self-denial.  Better still we call it, forgetting oneself.

Today as in the day of our Baptism and confirmation we will be sealed with a cross on our foreheads. The only difference is, when we were baptized and confirmed we were sealed with the oil of Chrism.  This time we will be sealed with ashes mixed in oil. The parallelism is significant, for the season of Lent which we begin today is in fact a reexamination, a looking back as to what we have done with the grace of baptism that was given us.   Gin-ano mo ang bunyag nga nabato mo sang una, gin-ano mo subong nga tuig?   Have we lived faithfully our baptismal promises?  Have we become better Christians, better catholics?  Have we loved God above all and loved our neighbor as ourselves?  Have we been faithful to our vocation and mission in life?  

On this last day of the ordinary time before we enter into the 40 days of lent, we are reminded of one important attitude of every disciple – the readiness to cut, the readiness to detach, the eagerness to live behind anything and everything so that we can follow Jesus more closely.

"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." This statement of the rich young man reveals his desire to do more for God.  It is more expressive when we say it in Hiligaynon, Lord, ano pa gid, ano pa gid ang sarang ko mabuhat, ano pa gid ang sarang mo mapa-obra sa akon? Even though the rich young man went away sad when he heard the invitation of Jesus, we can already sense the generosity of his heart, his readiness to help, his eagerness to answer the call to walk the extra mile.  Amo lang ni, ano pa gid? I believe this is one attitude we need to develop in our catholic communities today.  There are already so many good Catholics in our parish – they do their duty as catholics, they live the commandments of God, they live the faith.  In short like the rich young man we are good.

The three parables told in succession by Jesus in today’s gospel is in answer to the question: How can I become a good and faithful disciple of the Lord.  Or probably we can also make it more specific, how can I become a good Catholic? First, to become a good catholic I need to be careful as to what and whom I am listening to, whom I am following.  I cannot allow a blind to guide me.  So for example if somebody says the catholic church will no longer exist in 25 years, whom will I believe, the person who said this, or Jesus who said, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not stand against it.  If somebody in the plaza tells me to burn all the images of Jesus and Mary and the saints in my house because the bible prohibits praying to them whom will I follow, the person who said it or the church who through centuries have taught that we don’t worship images but venerate the persons these images represent. 

Today the Pharisees asked Jesus:  "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"   However, for Jesus, things are better understood when we have seen the bigger picture.  And so instead of simply answering whether divorce is allowed or not, Jesus changed the question into, what is marriage?  For Jesus marriage is a covenant.  It is a relationship based on the love of a man and a woman.  It is not a contract nga puede naton mahaboy lang kag mapanas.   What God has joined together let no man separate.

Our gospel today speaks of small things, little things which we many times forget or neglect or dismiss as small. First the small acts of kindness.  The example Jesus gave is the act of giving a glass of water to somebody who is thirsty.  It is a small thing but in the eyes of God this will not go unrewarded.  We must remember the injunction of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, to do little things with great love. These little acts of kindness Jesus said, will be greatly rewarded. Second, the sin of scandal.  What is the sin of scandal?  The catechesis says that scandal  is anything said, done or omitted which leads another to commit sin.”  Last Saturday during baptism I reminded the godparents of their duty towards their godchildren.  It is their responsibility as spiritual parent to counsel, to give advice and even to reprimand their iyado or iyada if they have strayed from the ways of Jesus or have violated the commandments.  

Instead of the usual reading for the dead, we have listened this evening to the readings of the day.  And so let us allow these readings, these words of God to help us reflect on this occasion of grief on the death of a mother and a grandmother. Our first reading is from the book of Sirach. It speaks about wisdom.  If you notice whenever ben Sirach speaks of wisdom he refers to it in feminine terms.   Those who serve her ….    those who love her …. He who obeys her …. he who hearkens to her ….  It is said that  Wisdom is most often portrayed in the bible as a woman.  And I believe it is so, for most often, our experience of wisdom comes from our mothers and grandmothers. Our first reading begins by saying – “Wisdom breathes life into her children and admonishes those who seek her.”  Fathers are usually practical in their approach and answers to life’s many questions, but mothers are deeper, more spiritual, able to bring in the feelings of the heart and the insights of the spirit. 

“There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.    For whoever is not against us is for us." These words of Jesus condemns what we call the attitude of exclusivism.  What is this attitude of exclusivism?  It is a belief that “Good is not good unless I am the one who does it.”  Ang exclusivism amo ang pagdumdum nga ang maayo nga butang indi maayo kon indi ako ang nagbuhat sina.   Indi ina nami nga pamatasan.   For Jesus we should be happy, we should rejopice in the good regardless of who does it.  Why? Because the good is good even if it is not I who do it.

"If anyone wishes to be first,  he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."  When I was the rector of the seminary I made it clear that I am not going to give anyone any reward for the service they have done to the seminary or to the community.  I made it clear to the seminarians that that the service they render is itself the reward because, service is its own reward.   When one is called to serve, when one is given the opportunity to serve, that service is the reward itself so don’t expect a medal or a recognition or an applause on stage.  Do we give an applause to our helpers at home for washing our plates?  No.  So too with us – we are servants of the Lord, servants of the community.

“I do believe, help my unbelief!” Many times in our relationship with God, we find ourselves in the same situation as the father in our gospel today.  I do believe – I go to mass almost everyday, I pray often, I am doing my best to become a loving person just as Christ has commanded me.  But there are times when we find our faith lacking, kulang pa gid ang akon pagtuo.  There are times when I doubt if God really loves me and cares for me.  There are times when we ask, does God really exist, does God really have a concern with what is happening in my life?  Again like the father in the gospel we say, Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief.   Nagatuo ako, pero kulang pa. Dugangi ang akon pagtuo .   How do we grow in faith?  First we need to pray for the gift of faith.  Faith is a theological virtue – a virtue which comes from God, a virtue which God gives as a gift to us.  We have to pray for faith, we have to long to grow in our faith.  

Suno sa regulasyon sang seminario bilang rector indi ako kontani makapamati sang konpesyon sang mga seminarista.   Seminarians cannot come to me for confessions.  Nevertheless I always make it a point to sit on the confessional every time there are confessions in the seminary because of several things. First you will be amazed in what we call the sense of sin of these young people.  I am amazed sang mga makita nila nga sala sa ila kaugalingon.  Probably because of their youthfulness and innocence nga kita nga mga hamtong na bangud siguro kay nagtubo na sa aton ang pagkabertoldo, indi na makabatyag.   Sins like hurting their parents because of unkind words or just the slightest rise of their voices toward them because of anger.   But there is one other thing that draws me to hear their confessions.  You can sense positivity in their negative actions, nga sa ila pagpabutyag sang ila sala you can also feel an acknowledgement that he could have done better, that he could have been nice

Today we celebrate the feast of a chair – the chair of the apostle Peter and of those who succeeds him, the popes. What is this chair of Peter?  The chair is the symbol of the authority to teach.  Through our celebration of this feast of a chair we recognise that there is one among us who has the authority to teach the teachings of Christ and they are the popes.   Kon pamati-an ta lang naton ang tanan nga naga-claim nga sia lang ang nagatudlo sang kamatuoran ni Kristo, malingin gid ang ulo naton.   But there is one alone who can surely direct us. There is one alone who can surely guide us.  And if we gather around this voice, if we gather around this person, sigurado indi gid kita maglisa .

Peter was rebuked and was told to get behind Jesus.  To go behind means to follow, it is the natural position of one who follows.  It is therefore the proper position of a follower or a disciple – to get behind. Peter was rebuked because he forgot his proper place, that he should not be in front to lead, but at the back in order to follow.  We too forget this most often.  We direct God rather than allow God to direct us.  We plead and even demand that god listens to what we want instead of us listening to what he wills.  We ask God to listen to us but we seldom make enough effort to listen to his voice.  We want to control him rather than subject ourselves so as to be guided and molded by him.  We have the same attitude with Peter.  We do not know where we stand because we are leading God rather than permit ourselves to be led by God.

Today we end Christmas.  Perhaps some of us have ended Christmas earlier.  But the church ends it today with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Why?  Because the church wants us to understand what it means when we profess in faith that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  Jesus became man for us, what does that mean fully?   It means that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus inserted himself into a human family, his father was a carpenter, for a time Jesus was an immigrant and experienced the difficulty of leaving home and country, he underwent the rituals of his faith as a Jew, he got lost for 3 days, he has a home in Nazareth where he grew  in physical strength, in wisdom and in virtue.  

Again in this season of Christmas the church continues to manifest, to introduce who Jesus is.  Today we find Jesus in the synagogue.  In Luke’s gospel this is situated at the beginning so that at the outset Luke could already narrate what Jesus intends to do in his lifetime.  Jesus reads from the book of the prophet Isaiah and through this passage he announces the kind of life he would live and the kind of person he will become:  to bring glad tidings to the poor; to proclaim liberty to captives, to bring recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”  This was what Jesus intended to do in his lifetime and in his ministry.  He clarified it at the very beginning of his ministry, perhaps not just to the people, but above all he is clarifying it to himself.  What do I intend to do?

We are still in the season of Christmas, specifically in the epiphany when the liturgy helps us to understand the different manifestations of Jesus, who is Jesus, and how he manifests himself to us in the many circumstances of our life.  In our gospel today he manifests himself as someone who walks on water in order to calm the storm and the waves that was battering the boat of his disciples.  And yet a curious observation follows.  Mark said, “t hey were completely astounded. They had not understood... On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.”  Now why should the help of Jesus harden the hearts of his disciples? It is something curious but it can happen.  In fact we experience these ourselves.  Many times the help given is not appreciated.  Many times the help given is doubted and belittled.  Many times the good that one does is held suspect as in why is he helping me, probably he wants to take advantage of me.  Or many times the help given can be hard, perhaps a discipline or

Today in our first reading in his first letter, John speaks of love.  He always does.  In fact there is a story recalled by St. Jerome that John when he was already very old and people were all so eager to listen to him since he was the last living apostle, would always speak of only of one thing, “ My children, love one another!” repeating this every time.  One day he was asked why he kept on repeating the same message.  And he replied: ‘Because it is the Lord’s commandment, and if you keep just this commandment, it will suffice.” 

Before I start, I want you to greet each other Happy Three Kings.  I have asked you to greet each other happy three kings because after this homily you will get so confused you may not know how to greet each other.  Why?  Because there is no such thing as a three kings.  First, they were not kings.  These strange people from the east were learned men, people who have studied the heavens, the stars, the ancient manuscripts, the alignment of the planets and their meaning, and they were called the magi and not kings for they never ruled anything except their household and their classrooms.  Second, they were not three.  Scriptures never mentioned three kings or even three magi. Probably some people presumed that since there were three gifts there must be also three kings bearing the gifts. But that does not follow.  Last Christmas day I was given two gifts by one person, so does that make her two?  

Jesus said something in the gospel which surprised Nathaniel.  He was seen by Jesus sitting under a fig tree.  What is so surprising if Jesus saw somebody under a fig tree? Sitting under a fig tree - this symbolism of John suggests the kind of personality and disposition Nathaniel had. A man who could sit undisturbed under his fig tree is the Jewish symbol for peace.  Therefore here is a man sitting under the fig tree – a man who was at peace, with God and neighbors, a man with no guile in him.  The surprise was not in Jesus seeing Nathaniel, rather it was in Jesus knowing who Nathaniel was.  Jesus was a man who saw the innermost being of others.

I would like to repeat the dialogue for I think it is important: They said to him, "Rabbi, where are you staying?"   Jesus  said to them, "Come, and you will see."    So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day.  And they stayed with him that day. Studying the words of Jesus is not enough.  Listening to priests speak about Jesus is not enough.  Going to church and praying once in a while whenever it fits your schedule is not enough.  To develop a deeper relationship with Jesus, one has to spend time with him.   There’s a quote in the book the little prince which says, “it’s the time you spent with your rose that makes your rose so important.”

John the Baptist is not called the Baptist in the gospel of John.  In the gospel of John he is called the witness. He is a witness because he points to Jesus.  All of us are called to become witnesses of Jesus and therefore it is important to follow the example of John on how to become a witness to Jesus. First, we need to be clear like John who we are not.  We are not the Messiah, we are not Jesus, we are not the savior of the world.  A person who calls too much attention to self is not a good witness.  He does not call people to be loyal to him but to be loyal to Jesus.  He does not call people to love or adore him but to be in love with Jesus.

Last Christmas we celebrated what we call the saving activity of God.  All the major feasts we celebrate are actually the saving activities of God – his birth, his passion, death and resurrection, his ascension into heaven and the coming down of the Holy Spirit.  Through these divine activities God saves us. But there is one other divine activity.  We call this the blessing activity of God.  And this is what the church wants us to celebrate today.  So what are these blessing activities of God?  

Today on the last day of the year we read from what we call the prologue of John – the first part of the gospel of John.  In times past this gospel passage was read at every mass in what was called the last gospel.  It is a reminder that central to our life as Christians is Jesus.  John said,  All things came to be through Jesus, and without Jesus nothing came to be.    At the Eucharistic prayer the priest says something similar to conclude the Eucharistic offering: through him, with him and in him – through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus.  

I do not know how the losing and finding of Jesus in the temple came to be included in the joyful mysteries of the rosary.  From experience losing a child in the crowd is one terrible experience and not a joyful one.   One time, in a church where I was assigned, one mother went hysterical after losing her child for only 20 minutes and we could not even begin looking for the child because we have to look after her.  Here, Jesus was lost for three days.  And if for the sake of argument we will say that the finding is the cause of joy, analyze closely the dialogue between the distraught parents, Mary and Joseph and their son, Jesus,  “Son, Mary said, why have you done this to us?    Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”    And Jesus replied,    “Why were you looking for me?    Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 

In our world today, as it was in the days of Herod, whenever a difficulty arises or a crisis occurs or just for any practical purpose, whenever these call for someone to be sacrificed, the adults always turn to the child as the most expendable and the first to be given up.  When adults want to take it easy for themselves, the first to go are the defenseless, those who could not speak for themselves – we find this child labor and abortion.  And when the resources of the planet is beginning to be depleted the first to go are the children with population control.  Children are taken advantaged of sexually and abused physically by the adults even in the church.  Children are looked upon as a burden in the family and in the society – they are the first to go when something obstruct careers and opportunities; and they are first and the most to suffer in a nasty separation.  Some are not even permitted to live. And many become the most victimized in war which adults create.  Our world today

On this second day of Christmas we celebrate the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He is one of the first seven deacons of the church assigned by the apostles to take care of christians who are in need.  As our first reading narrates he was the first Christian martyr who offered his life in defense of the faith.  Some of us may act adversely to the placement of this feast just as we begin Christmas.  But in reality except for Dec. 30, the days leading to the new year, the week of Christmas are all filled-up with feast of martyrs or would have been martyrs in the case of St. John.  So this is as the English say one bloody Christmas week and we have to take that literally.

Have you ever wondered why we are happy during Christmas?  It seems that joy and Christmas are synonymous. In my country we even have an expression which describes a sad person.  We say, your face looks like lent.  And should it become more serious we say, your face looks like holy week.  But Christmas – it is always joy.  You can’t wear a sad face on Christmas. Why?  I would like to refer to it as the shepherds’ joy.  The shepherds after hearing the birth of Jesus from the angels said to one another  "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem.”  And Luke says they went in haste, they were in a hurry and full of excitement just as Mary went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Why so?  Because they have receive something very personal.

That was a wonderful way of telling the story of the birth of Jesus.  Let us give ourselves once again a round of applause. Wonderful. You know ever since I was a young boy like you I am always assigned as the narrator, they never made me act.  So I was always hidden behind the curtain and the audience will only hear my voice.  And my mother would never believe that I was indeed part of the show.  Anyway…. I also have a story for you.  Now you listen carefully because in the end I will ask questions which you need to answer.

Advent comes from the Latin word adventus which means the arrival, the presence or the visitation of a high ranking official, the emperor himself or of a god who reveals himself to his people.  Advent is visitation, to be visited upon. Today however to be visited upon or a visitation may no longer connote its original emotions.  Not only did it lose its excitement but many times a visitation is even dreaded.  When a parent is called to visit the principal in school, it means things may not be good.  And the reaction is almost always - what have you done this time?

There is such a thing as biased listening.  Biased listening happens when we get ahead of the story and make conclusions before we even hear the whole story.  Well sometimes we get it and many times we don’t but supposedly it helps us get ahead and somehow predict what comes ahead.   Today our readings however seem to put our biased listening into disarray – we cannot conclude as we want to or as we should.   In our real world the mighty are mighty, while the weak are weak. But in the Song of Hannah the bows of the mighty are broken, while the tottering gird on strength.

Why did Mary upon knowing that she was pregnant and Elizabeth her cousin was also pregnant, why did Mary went in haste to Elizabeth, in what was a difficult and dangerous journey?  Why ran to her?  Because Mary knew Elizabeth would understand.  Mary knew that her cousin Elizabeth would understand why a virgin, not yet married but only betrothed to Joseph, was pregnant.  Mary knew Elizabeth would not need a lot of explanation.  Mary knew Elizabeth would not be judgmental and make suspicious and malicious conclusions.  Mary knew she could find in Elizabeth comfort and consolation.  She knew she can find in Elizabeth mercy.  It is said that when love meets suffering, love becomes mercy.  And like a magnet Mary was attracted to it.

Our God is a God of surprises.  In our first reading Judah becomes the inheritor of the Messianic promises and not Reuben who is supposedly the first born.  In our gospel 5 women entered into the list of ancestry of Jesus, and Jewish ancestry does not supposedly include women.  Of the 5 one was a foreigner and therefore gentile, one was a victim of incest, another was a victim of adultery and still another was an outright prostitute and lastly one was a virgin, a virgin who by the way will bear a child. God is a God of surprises - one can never fully understand how God intervenes and direct our lives and the life of his people.  

Today everything seems to exhort us to be happy.  The prophet Zephaniah in our first reading says, shout for joy. The prophet Isaiah in our responsorial psalm says, cry out with joy and gladness.  And St. Paul to the Philippians writes, Brothers and sisters:    Rejoice in the Lord always.    Everyone it seems is compelling us to rejoice, even our church today already glitters with exuberance sparing no empty space if only to encourage everyone to be joyful. Even my vestments today seem to shout, be happy. Everyone that is, except our gospel, John the Baptist. John the Baptist is the killjoy ever since.  Appearing for two Sundays now he is the Grinch who is trying to steal our Christmas every chance he gets.  And for good reason, if only to remind us that Christmas "comes without ribbons, it comes without tags.  It comes without packages, boxes or bags.  Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store.  Maybe Christmas means a little bit more."  (Jim Carey does this line best)  

The nativity scene is unfinished, the church may already be lavishly decorated however much remains to be done.  All we have at the moment is an empty manger with one lighted candle.  We will wait, and as we wait, we pray and we prepare ourselves.   Today everything seems to exhort us to be happy.  The prophet Zephaniah in our first reading says, shout for joy. The prophet Isaiah in our responsorial psalm says, cry out with joy and gladness.  And St Paul to the Philippians writes, Brothers and sisters:    Rejoice in the Lord always.    Everyone it seems is compelling us to rejoice, even our church today already glitters with exuberance sparing no empty space if only to encourage everyone to be joyful.

There is a saying which says, you do not put the cart before the horse. Obviously, the horse pulls the cart and not the other way around.  But many times this happens when we hear God’s word.  We only hear that which affirms us, we only hear that which is in agreement with our mindset or in consonance with our behavior.  But we dismiss or rationalize the word of God which judges us, that which convicts us, that which criticizes us.  And so we end up selecting only what we like to do or the easy things which Jesus demands of us.  And so we give alms to those in need because it is easy, but we cannot forgive because it is hard.  We pray because that is easy, but we cannot leave behind something we have already formed the habit of doing.  We become selective in our following of Jesus.  We just take the easy part.  We just do what we like.

Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  In the seminary where I came from, after completing the building for the senior high school seminarians we were searching for a patron to whom we could dedicate our small chapel.  It so happened that on that very week of the search, the archbishop was supposed to be operated for an obstruction in one of his internal organs. It was a dangerous operation.  And so the night before the operation some priests brought to him the tilma of the Guadalupe, placed it on his stomach and prayed the rosary.  The morning of the operation he was wheeled to the operating room and as he was being prepared, the anesthesiologist said she could not proceed with the operation because something is wrong with the blood analysis.  And so the operation was postponed and he was wheeled back to his room.  The operation never happened. They could no longer locate the obstruction.  And that miracle made us decide to enthrone the tilma to the little chapel

How does God prepare us for his coming, how does God prepare you for Christmas? In the gospel all ears were on Tiberius Caesar, on Pontius Pilate, on Herod and Philip and Lysanias – the 3 powerful persons of the region, and all eyes were focused on the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests. They were the who’s who of Israel. After all these were the people who built the highways, who leveled the mountains and hills, and made the going smooth for the nation and the lives of the people prosperous. 

Advent is a penitential season which prepares us for Christmas, not just to celebrate his birth but to really meet the Lord.  That is why the question of the Lord in the gospel is important  "Do you believe that I can do this?"  What is it that you believe Jesus can do for you?  What would I allow Jesus to do to me? Surely Jesus is not just a healer for us or a problem solver or just a benefactor to whom we could run to ask for help.  More than this Jesus is savior.  Jesus takes away the sins of the world.  Jesus liberates us from our attachments.  Jesus forgives and erases our past mistakes and sins, he heals our regrets and guilt.  He gives us a new way of looking at things – how we look at ourselves and our relationship with others, how we look at our priorities in life.

What is holiness?  What does holiness consist of?  In our gospel today holiness is not defined as going to church per se, holiness is not praying, holiness is not putting on the robes of a religious, holiness is not putting on medals or walking barefoot in processions.  Rather holiness for Jesus is doing the will of the Father.   "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Simbang Gabi.  What is it? The Simbang Gabi is a 9-day privilege votive mass in honor of the Blessed Mother, a special concession granted by Rome to the Philippines, celebrated  antequam dies illuxerit (before the break of dawn usually at 4 in the morning). Thus, it has many names in the Philippines – Misa Dulom (mass in darkness), Misa de Gallo (Mass of the Rooster) and Simbang Gabi (Pre-dawn Mass).  However, the name that best reveals its intent and purpose, I believe, is Misa de Aguinaldo.  Aguinaldo is a Spanish word meaning a Christmas gift.  The nine-day masses is our aguinaldo, our Christmas gift to God because of God’s greatest gift to us – Jesus.  Come to think of it, this is the first and original kris kringle, and a most marvelous exchange of gifts indeed!  

Today we start what the church calls the Christmas Cycle.  The Christmas cycle helps us to remember two very important aspects of our faith in Jesus – first his birth when he became man and lived among us.  And second his promise that he will come again in glory. Oftentimes we just remember his birth but we forget that part when Christ will come again. This Christmas cycle is composed of two parts.  First is Advent. This season is composed of 4 weeks beginning today December 2 until December 24.  This is the period of preparation.  From here it will be followed by the Season of Christmas from December 25 onwards until Epiphany in January 6.

Today on this last day of the liturgical year the Lord points to us two causes which make us less ready to meet him.  They are two extremes.  The first extreme is drowsiness caused by carousing and drunkenness.  Running after pleasure regardless of the consequences. Clinging to our attachments to things causing us to be blinded by greed and by our own selfishness.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Apostle Andrew.  Peculiar with this apostle is the fact that he is always depicted in the gospels as one who introduced people to Jesus.  The first incident happened when he introduced his brother Simon who was later called Peter to Jesus.  Another was during the feeding of the five thousand.  When Jesus asked them to get food to feed five thousand men the apostle Philip gave up, but Andrew found a solution.  He found a boy who had five loaves a few fish.  He brought the boy to Jesus, introduced him and the rest is history. Another incident was the meeting with the Greeks.  The Greeks wanted to meet Jesus but they were afraid to come near him for fear that Jesus might reject them.  Again Andrew came to the rescue and introduced the Greeks to Jesus.  That is the apostle Andrew.

What would life be without a sense of expectation? It would be a life with no unplanned stops, it is like a drama with no twists, no turns, no surprises.  It would be a life without longing.  It would be a life without visions and dreams.   Without a sense of expectation people will begin to say, nothing good will come out of this.  It would be a life with nothing to look forward to.   It will be a world without mercy – no second chances, no hope for conversion, no chance to make up and do good.  It would be a world without room for mistakes.  

Advent is a season that helps and prepares us to celebrate the two comings of Jesus.   The first coming is celebrated as a remembrance, a memorial of the past.  It has happened.  Jesus came to our world.  He was born, he lived among us, he died to save us, on the third day he rose from the dead to conquer death, and lastly, he ascended to the Father to sit on his right hand.  This is what advent prepares us for, to celebrate God’s incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus.

The Jews identified themselves with the temple.  When the temple was destroyed they lost also their sense of identity, they lost their anchor and there began the second diaspora of the Jews.  An identity anchored on stone, no matter how beautiful, is an identity anchored on flimsy ground, for when the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone, where do you run to?   And so it is with us.  An identity anchored on possessions, an identity anchored on relationships with loved ones, an identity anchored on career, on work, is an identity anchored on flimsy ground.  What if the possessions are gone, what if our loved ones are taken away from us, what if I am no longer able, I get sick, I am forced to retire, so where will I anchor myself then?

The feast of Christ the King is not an ancient feast.  It is relatively new, just established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.  It was instituted against the backdrop of  the rise to power of the European Fascist Dictators. But the specific impetus for Pope Pius XI to make it a solemn feast was the martyrdom of a priest named Fr. Miguel Pro during the revolution in Mexico.  Fr. Pro was sentenced to die.  His only crime was he was a priest.  And as he was being led out of prison to be shot, he made one last defiant gesture – he stretched out his hands in the form of a cross and shouted “Viva Cristo Rey.” Hail Christ the King. This feast, the feast of Christ the King is still an act of defiance.  Political ideologies are not absolute.  Dictators and tyrants do not last.  Political systems, kingdoms and governments – they fall.  Democrats come, democrats go.  Republicans come, republicans go.  In reality no earthly power holds on to power forever.  They do not last.  Only God is eternal.  Only

When the blind man knew that Jesus was passing by, he shouted excitedly, “ Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"  It was an super enthusiastic cry so much so that he was told by the crowd to be silent.  Nevertheless, the gospel states, he called out all the more. St. Augustine was probably reminded of his long years of search for the true faith when, in commenting in today’s gospel he wrote: “I fear Jesus may pass by and never come back.” Indeed the observation very well describes the motivation, the enthusiasm and even the hardheadedness of the blind man’s approach to Jesus.  He shouted, he frantically called out, for he was afraid Jesus who was passing by will never again come back. 

One of the wonderful things I was taught as a must-have for a visitor like me are the applications on my phone that give me directions.  They predict quite accurately the time the bus or the taxi or the train arrives.  They estimate the travel time from my location to the place I intend to go, factoring in traffic, obstructions on the road, including the presence of the police. No more shivering on the sidewalk waiting for the bus, no more waiting on subways inhaling the stench, no more fidgeting whether I will be on time or not. I know when to run and I know when to simply walk leisurely.  I can practically plan to the minutest detail my whole trip.  Then all of a sudden as I come to church today, I hear in the gospel, Jesus telling me, you know not the day or the hour.  And Jesus is not referring to the weather but the day and the hour when  the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky.  We do not know when. Two things

A virtue becomes a virtue because it is done habitually, a firm disposition in the person to do good.  Virtue is habitual, it is persistent, it is a firm disposition to pursue the good at all times.  In other words it is the good that perseveres to the end. This is the attitude taught to us by the woman in our gospel today.  We do not acquire the virtue of piety when we are prayerful once in a while or when we pray only if we feel like it.    It cannot be a virtue of charity and generosity when the giving is occasional or it is done because our sense of pity is aroused.  We cannot say we have acquired the virtue of obedience when we obey only the orders we like to obey.  To be a virtue it needs to endure whether it is easy or difficult, whether it is opposed or encouraged, whether it is rewarded or ignored, whether in public view or in the privacy of a room. It is not a virtue when it is done once in a while.

Remember Lot’s wife.  This is a solemn warning from Jesus which he never used anywhere else.  He pronounced the warning as he was talking about the last judgment.  And this was not a warning uttered to the Pharisees or to sinners but to the disciples themselves.  So what is the warning about? One commentator says it is a warning to those who have religious privileges.    Lot’s wife had all the religious privileges.  She had Lot for a husband and Abraham for an uncle both of whom worship the true God and are very devout.  And yet despite these privileges, despite the opportunities which surrounded her, she failed. She was so near, and yet she forfeited it.