visible rhetoric

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. ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 violate...

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, a...

“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 fo...

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 ac...

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.