visible rhetoric

If I have to entitle my homily today I would entitle it, “The things I have learned from your sons”’ or “The things your sons have taught me.” Why? for like Jesus I could not help but exclaim "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the mere children. Most of the times in our life we think that the children and the young are to be seen rather than heard. Most often our relationship with them is one to whom we would incessantly give advice and talk to, rather than hear from. Most often in our dealings with them we think solely of ourselves as their guides without even considering that we too could be guided by them. And so here are some of the things I learned from your sons, good guides they are, capable advisers, and the best storytellers ever.

July 9, 2007 When the Evangelizers asked me to say something in their despidida for Kingsley I felt an urge to write. And that was what I did when I reached my computer. I am looking at things now from afar – from my own tiny room in the pre-college building. It is not really that far but it gives one another perspective, another view point. Probably it’s because I am no longer that involved. Probably it’s because I can see things no longer with hatred and anger, no longer with the intent of finding out more, no longer confused and bemused by mistrust, no longer primarily concerned about the personal issues of those involved, the consequences and implications of an act, the proper formative responses to a crisis situation . . . For so long a time it has been like these. Now, it is just Kingsley. . . now, it is just Bentot . . . just Kingsley . . . just Bentot . . . nothing more, nothing else. The feeling is different.

By the time you read this parish diary you have already decided whom to vote and you know the reasons why you are voting for this candidate and not for that. I have two wishes for you. First, that you are happy with your vote, whoever he or she is. You are happy in the sense that you have worked it out scrutinizing, thinking, analyzing, and praying over your choice and you feel that you have selected the best person to do the job. One gauge whether you have made a good decision is the feeling of exhilaration afterward, a feeling that you have chosen the best person and you have made the right choice. My second wish is that your choice has made you hopeful – hopeful for the nation and hopeful for our people. This is the reason why I have always participated in every election ever since I was allowed by law to do so. My candidates did not always make it though, and some of those I voted who did make it, did not always perform as expected, but the exercise always made me hope and y...

We did the Viatico Publico on the second Sunday of Easter at the residences of the Ledesmas and the Jalandonis. These are the traditional residences where, since time immemorial, the yearly communion for the sick and the dying are held. The viaticum is communion given for the dying. The word comes from two Latin words,via and tecum, which literally means “on the way with You.” Death, since ancient times, has been considered as the final journey. Even the funeral rite alludes to this belief when it directs us to accompany (acompañar) the dead in his/her final journey (as we go from the home of the deceased to the church and from the church to the cemetery). The viaticum is therefore food for the final journey, and as the name of the rite and our faith in the real presence allude to, the viaticum refers also to a companion on this final journey – one is set on the way with Jesus as companion. This practice started as something pagan. Ancient pagan Rome then believed as the Greek...

Marriage is one sacrament that has lost some of its sacredness because of an over-emphasis on externals brought about by some wedding coordinators and over-eager couples who do not really understand the nature of the sacrament. And so beginning the month of May the parish will provide the couples with a church wedding coordinator who will guide them as they prepare for their wedding. No we’re not going to choose your motif, or scout around for caterers. That is not within our field of expertise. But we are going to help them plan what’s going to happen in church. Registration for weddings starting May this year will be five weekends before the planned date. A more thorough Pre-Cana Seminar to prepare couples for married life will be given for four Saturdays (no more than two hours per session), part of which is to go through the rites of the wedding so that they can better appreciate and therefore participate actively in their wedding rite. (One of our dreams is to provide the...

The Vicariate of St. Peter of which our parish is part of, is now holding an updating program for our catechists who are serving a number of public schools in the city and the suburban towns of Leganes and Pavia. This is a much needed updating, something that has been called for a number of times already but one that has been responded to only now. It is our hope that this collective effort among priests of the different parishes of the vicariate will redound to so much good especially in educating and forming the young in the faith. It is also hoped that this effort on catechism will, from now on, start the ball rolling, to discover further the many ways where the parishes of this one vicariate can cooperate, work concertedly, hand in hand and join resources for the good of this large segment of the local Church of the Archdiocese of Jaro. This is just a one week seminar updating for catechists in the city divided into two batches (the second batch of catechists will start their u...

This Tuesday (April 13) some lay men and women will be given the prestigious pontifical award, pro ecclesia et pontifice, the highest award which the Church can give to a lay person. That ten persons were accorded such award by Pope Benedict XVI is an honor not just for the persons who were chosen but for the whole diocese – a recognition that our Archdiocese has contributed something worthwhile for the whole Church. Two things are brought to mind with this awarding ceremony. First, whatever good we do for the church whether local (by generously contributing one’s expertise, profession and resources to the work of the diocese) or very local (by working as a catechist in a humble parish), or especially local (by working diligently in the seminary kitchen) affects the whole church of Jesus Christ. We are building the church, the universal church of Christ (and not just a little enclave of our own making), and each one contributes to that building bringing his own brick that would ri...

Going through the activities of the Holy Week one can find a lively Filipino trait, a trait that is vividly contrasted to the liturgical celebrations as these are placed side by side with our very own Filipino popular devotions. At the outset it might be good to note that the liturgical activities of lent, the paschal triduum and easter, that is, the celebration found in the liturgical books, are essentially anamnetic . Anamnetic means “to make the events present in the Christian assembly.” In doing so we become participants (not mere spectators) in the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord thus permitting ourselves to be moved and therefore transformed by the events we recall. Permit me to elucidate by way of revealing the reactions to the washing of the feet done on Holy Thursday in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. If the reaction to this ritual goes like this, “wow our Judas this year really looks like Judas with his beard and traitor-like appearance and Oh the good Monsig...

Last Friday (March 19) we went to Barangay Simon Ledesma, one of the biggest barangays of our Parish, for the Pamalandong sa Kwaresma, again to share a little insight on Lent which is meant to prepare us for Easter, to hold a holy hour and for the priests to make themselves available for confessions. Barangay Democracia also joined in. Simon Ledesma is one of the three barangays which were identified as pilot areas for our Basic Ecclesial Community program. It has a makeshift chapel standing on the lot owned by the Hallares Family together with the Day Care Center. It is the biggest place in that community, what with so many houses crowding and competing for space. I remember three years ago while preparing for the fiesta with the Pagdu-aw sang Candelaria sa mga Barangay, we have to carry the image of our Lady through the narrow pathways doing every conceivable manoeuvrings and positioning so that we can pass through. As I said, the chapel and the Day Care Center occupy the bi...

Beginning last Tuesday we started our yearly Pamalandong sa Barangay consisting of a one hour reflection, this year on sin, followed by a holy hour while the priests hear confessions. We started with Barangay Cuartero with its adjoining barangays namely, Taytay Zone II and Calubihan. We have to join these barangays together because Taytay Zone II does not have a chapel and Calubihan has a very small one only ten people can fit inside. The next day, Wednesday, we were in Lourdes. Barangay Lourdes was originally marked for “extinction” with the on-going construction of the flood control project. The people living in that narrow strip of land adjacent to the creek will be converted into a service road and all including the chapel have to be vacated. Luckily, elections are near and the relocation was postponed at least for those who live beyond the three-meter mark from the banks of the creek. When we got there last Wednesday the barangay was slowly turning into a ghost town – fewe...