visible rhetoric

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.

Where is the kingdom of God?  Why did Jesus say it cannot be observed?  Because it starts small, it spreads quietly, sometimes unnoticed, many times unrecognized, but it is there.  It starts from the goodness of your heart - in the sacrifices offered quietly in your homes; in the patience extended in your classrooms and work places; in the kind word we say to each other; in the care we extend to another in streets and in buses; in the concern we show to the people we meet, even to the people we do not know.  The kingdom of God is there.  We do not have to look for it elsewhere.

Gratitude is oftentimes called the second blessing.  In our gospel today ten received the blessing of healing, the first blessing.  But only one received the second blessing – the blessing of gratitude.  Why?  Because only the Samaritan, only one among the ten, recognized and acknowledged the good that he received. Thus, he alone among the ten received the double blessing.

Some say that our gospel today is just a random collection of sayings of Jesus, 3 sayings placed one after the other.  But some say it has a pattern.  The sin of scandal is immediately followed by the call to fraternal correction. If the offender repents he or she is forgiven.  If he commits sin a number of times and each time expresses sorrow and repentance, he should be forgiven.   Then we come to the third saying where the apostles asked the Lord, Increase our faith.  This saying is still within the context of the sin of scandal and the call to forgive indefinitely.  Indeed the repeated nature of this kind of sin can be exhausting to everyone in the community.  The giving of fraternal corrections and the extension of the community’s patience and forgiveness to the offender can be discouraging at times.  Nevertheless, as Christians we should always make every effort for reconciliation and should never give up on one another.  Thus the prayer and plea, Lord, increase our faith.

Fr. Anthony de Mello narrates a story which can further deepen our understanding of the words of Jesus in the gospel.   One day a holy man reached the outskirts of the village and settled under a tree for the night.  A villager came running up to him and said, “The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!”  “What stone?” asked the holy man.  “Last night an angel told me in a dream that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk a holy man would give me a stone that would make me rich forever.”  The holy man rummaged in his sack and, pulling out a stone, he said, “He probably meant this one. I found it in the forest yesterday. Here, it’s yours if you want it.”  The man gazed at the stone in wonder. It was the largest diamond in the world and he brought it home with him.  That night however the villager could not sleep and so early in the morning he woke the holy man and said, “Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this stone away.” 

What Jesus is talking about in the gospel is called the vice of vainglory. Vainglory is a vice we can find almost everywhere, from facebook, to our workplaces, from our homes, to our churches. Vainglory means I am doing something good and admirable in order to win the praise of others; in order to be admired, in order to be recognized and rewarded in return.  There is nothing wrong with doing good.  It becomes wrong however when it is motivated by too much love for the self, when the self becomes too important, when the self becomes the center.