visible rhetoric

My task today is to explain to you, supposedly, the role and function of the MBMG in the liturgy.  My initial reaction was, what do I know about the function of the MBMG in the liturgy.  The person who formally handed me the letter for this request is I think a mind reader or just a quick-thinking lady because without me asking or even revealing my predicament, she said, Msgr. do you want the MBMG handbook.  Thank God for her, now I know where to get my talk.  Last Monday however as I sat down to gather my thoughts for this paper and write them down, it dawned on me – why am I being asked to answer the question what is the role of an MBMG in the liturgy, and worst, to answer that, why am I being made to read the MBMG handbook.  Frankly, if you ask me what is the role of a priest in the liturgy, I would answer you and probably write a treatise on the subject.  But to ask me what is the role of an MBMG, how would I know, I am not...

The rite of Baptism starts with several questions.  Allow me to explain the significance of these questions. First, what name do you give your child?  The question pertains to identity.  In baptism we are giving the child an identity.  Identity is the answer to the question, who are you?  Who am I?  This is important because morality, ethics and good psychology teach us that action flows from being.  Our action comes from our understanding of who we are.   Ano ka?  Sin-o ka?  Ang imo pamatasan, ang imo pagginawi, ang imo values magahalin sa sini nga paghangop.  Sin-o ka?  Ako si Edward?  Ano ka?  Ako anak sang Dios. As an addendum to this first point allow me also to point out the belief of the people in the bible that he or she who gives the name claims responsibility for the child.  By claiming responsibility, you also accept accountabil...

These past months many of us had been given a firsthand experience of what contemplative life is, even if it is just a glimpse, even if it is just a taste, even if for many of us it was and is an unwelcome experience.  Nevertheless, it was an experience of contemplative life.  There was less movement, we stayed put most often, we stayed at home confined in the four walls of our houses.  And as the quarantine progressed and became longer, the silence too became lengthier.  First there were small gaps in the conversation and the gaps became longer each day because everyday there were less experiences to talk about.   We experienced how it was to surrender our freedoms and experienced how it was to live under the rule of obedience – wear your facemasks, observe social distancing, stay in line, wait in line, and for a time we were even told not to go to church.  And many of us humbly followed, some willingly, some hesitantly, many ...

Today’s theme recalls the story which Jesus told privately to his disciples.  The story therefore is for them and about them – it’s not about the pharisees, or the Herodians, or the Jews who oppose Jesus, no.  It’s a story made for his disciples.  In other words, this story of Jesus is for us and about us.   For several days now in the novena we have gleaned lessons from different encounters with God by the young men and women in the bible -  from Joseph’s own encounter, to Samuel’s;  from David’s and Gideon’s encounter with God, to the encounters of Solomon and Jeremiah, of Ruth and the Jewish servant girl, and the encounter of the younger son with his father in the gospel parable known as the prodigal son.  In all these we also saw Mary’s own encounter with God.  And we learned lessons from these, and from these we even saw parallels in our own encounter with God. Today however our focus is quite different...