There is an interesting development going on in Philippine society these days. The latest political developments may have actually inspired this direction. Our elected Congressmen of the House of Representatives have last week changed the house rules, spending two sleepless nights to ensure that they could lay the ground for Congress becoming a Constituent Assembly sans the Senate. This however was met with stiff opposition from a wide sector of society. People felt that the congressmen and congresswomen were aggrandizing the power unto themselves by becoming an institution (Constituent Assembly or Con-Ass) authorized to change the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines without the other half of the legislative branch, i.e., the Senate. There are other modes for charter change, the other two namely, Constitutional Convention (Con-con), and People's Initiative. The most salient point in the opposition was the manner by which the House of Representatives had done it, thereby giving many in the country the impression that the changes they may have wanted were to be railroaded without consideration for due process. While the congressmen and congresswomen of the House of Representatives may have everything to defend themselves for their actions, they seemed to heed popular disagreement by shelving their plans. But a prayer rally, originally intended to voice opposition to Charter change through Con-Ass-sans Senate took place yesterday at the Quirino Grandstand under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Newspapers today headlined the event, quoting the new word for Cha-Cha "Character Change" and no longer Charter Change. Character Change first before Charter Change.
The Church, when she speaks of Character Change, does not invent a new term, nor is she simply giving an ideal. We have in the Catholic Church models by which we can follow and be guided. St. Joseph, the Husband of Mary, and the foster father of the Lord is one model of character which we can learn from.
Character and its meanings
Before I go to St. Joseph's character which we can sum up here into three, namely intrapersonal integrity, interpersonal or social consciousness, and openness to the Divine, I would like to mention what we oftentimes think of with the word "character". One site mentions the following qualities very much in character, and identifies them as the 6 Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. In fact, the same site links us to another site where a deeper discussion about these words is made.
Indeed, character seems very much connected with being ethical and moral in one's actions and being. And St. Joseph seems to be no stranger to this.
St. Joseph's intrapersonal intergrity
St. Joseph's intrapersonal integrity refers to his knowledge of and conviction about what is right and wrong, and choosing the right. As soon as he knew that Mary was pregnant before he had ever lived with her in marriage, he thought of divorcing her. Marrying her was something considered wrong in his time. (Even today, it still is.) It was wrong because it would provide a model which others could easily follow. Accepting Mary in marriage would be telling people that such situation was acceptable, thereby opening the flood gates for illegitimate children, premarital promiscuity, and even sexual irresponsibility in the sense of enjoying the pleasures of sex while running away from one's responsibility in case a child is conceived. By opting to divorce Mary, St. Joseph was actually communicating to himself and others his moral values.
St. Jsoeph's interpersonal or social consciousness
His interpersonal or social consciousness can be gleaned in his decision to consider divorcing Mary "quietly." Had the divorce been made public, Mary would have been at a loss. Women pregnant before the wedding by someone other than the one she is to marry were supposed to be dragged to the city gates and stoned to death. Had this happened, the Lord Jesus would not have survived. While St. Joseph may have considered social mores, she likewise considered the personal reality of Mary and the child in her womb. We can see St. Joseph being particularly considerate of these two persons' predicament. We can see his valuing life and capacity for sacrifice to protect life, the life of two human beings.
St. Joseph's openness to the Divine
The third is St. Joseph's openness to the Divine. This appears to be one angle of character wherein the Transcendent becomes veritable. Nowhere does it say or allude in Matthew that St. Joseph prayed over the matter. Yes, he may have ruminated about his plans and decisions. Consulting others may have contradicted his original plan to divorce her "quietly", since consultation means allowing a third party into his plan, thereby effectively making public the whole affair. However, Matthew provides us with a hint about what predominated St. Joseph's consciousness. The resolution to the problem through a dream suggests St. Joseph's being open to Divine intervention. Had this quality of his character not been mentioned or at least alluded to, Jesus would not have been born into our midst. We would not have had Emmanuel, God with us, around. The plan of God would not have materialized. The Incarnation would not have had taken place. But St. Joseph was open and docile. He fulfilled the plan of God as revealed to him in a dream.
If we are to track the road to Character Change, it is important to be persons of integrity: knowing and choosing what is right; social or interpersonal consciousness always considers the consequences of one's choices as basically related to others, thereby considering the best interests of the other in such a decision; while openness to the Divine simply refers the decision to let God come in and make a difference. I believe that if these three qualities were always to be in mind, character change should be possible. How I pray that we be always conscientious of what is morally right and choose it; how I beg the Lord to make us always think about the other who may be affected by our self-centered choices no matter how morally sound they may seem to be; and how I plead before God that we be not too humanistic as to edge God out from our considerations. It is God Who is Lord of all, knows the blueprint of our development, and holds our future. When we this takes place, Jesus' coming into our midst would not be long. He should easily feel welcome, as He may have felt so welcomed and protected by St. Joseph.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
My next door neighbor
My next door neighbor has shared me a beautiful material for reflection especially this Christmas. I have actually linked it to this entry and for you to easily download it, here is the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5js77uJUGA
I find this very revealing about our current status in life, what we have and what we can yet be. The Gospel today speaks what Jesus Himself said to the people: "we sang you a tune but you did not dance, we piped you a dirge but you did not wail." What I get from this line is that of our unfaith in each other, how we can be so unbelieving about the other in the midst of what we hear, or may have heard about the other with whom we may have lost faith. In the meantime we stack a lot of material things to protect ourselves from our own guilt of unbelief. Our Founder of the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) St. Arnold Janssen's motto is: "May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace, and the may the Heart of Jesus live in every heart." It is a prayer as well as a challenge so that we learn how to open ourselves again to the other and discover what has been neglected by the rejections we do in our hearts of unbelief. It's not that I did not believe my next door neighbor. Had I been, I would not have even discovered his products that uplifted my spirit.
See the point now? Indeed, when our hearts remain open, then wisdom is really vindicated. It's a beautiful life we've been given. Our categories of others can sometimes keep them from entering into our lives and enrich us, inflame us, inspire us. Am so thankful that the other has not been closed to me, and shared me what he has done. This is the reason for celebrating Christmas: Someone Who may have been so unknown and so "distant" has dared to come into our midst to share us what He has: His love that gives us life, more life, and yes, eternal life.
I find this very revealing about our current status in life, what we have and what we can yet be. The Gospel today speaks what Jesus Himself said to the people: "we sang you a tune but you did not dance, we piped you a dirge but you did not wail." What I get from this line is that of our unfaith in each other, how we can be so unbelieving about the other in the midst of what we hear, or may have heard about the other with whom we may have lost faith. In the meantime we stack a lot of material things to protect ourselves from our own guilt of unbelief. Our Founder of the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) St. Arnold Janssen's motto is: "May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace, and the may the Heart of Jesus live in every heart." It is a prayer as well as a challenge so that we learn how to open ourselves again to the other and discover what has been neglected by the rejections we do in our hearts of unbelief. It's not that I did not believe my next door neighbor. Had I been, I would not have even discovered his products that uplifted my spirit.
See the point now? Indeed, when our hearts remain open, then wisdom is really vindicated. It's a beautiful life we've been given. Our categories of others can sometimes keep them from entering into our lives and enrich us, inflame us, inspire us. Am so thankful that the other has not been closed to me, and shared me what he has done. This is the reason for celebrating Christmas: Someone Who may have been so unknown and so "distant" has dared to come into our midst to share us what He has: His love that gives us life, more life, and yes, eternal life.
Monday, December 11, 2006
The Blogger's Face
A while ago, I had four pictures downloaded from My Pics folder. When the pics were downloaded, publishing became a difficulty. I don't know what happened. I wanted to place a face in here like I did in my other blog since a reader has emailed his comment that I have myself kept my face in the dark. For him and anyone else who may want to know me, here are my pics. My email address is in (http://www.counpsychphil@blogspot.com). Just click it and read through the blogs. Even my celphone numbers are there.
The first pic was taken in Baguio at the Mansion when my sister came with her husband and two daughters together with my other sister. The other pic was in one of the islands of 100 Islands, Pangasinan in the same trip with my sisters. The third pic was in Subic's Ocean Adventure during our community outing. The fourth appears like a presidential address during the 2006 Annual Convention in Manila Pavilion. No, I was just introducing the poster and paper presentors who were to receive some certificate of appreciation for gracing the convention with their posters and papers.
There it is. I am no longer in the dark. Thanks Jun. God bless
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Advent & John the Baptist: 2nd Sunday of Advent 2006 Reflection
Every 2nd Sunday of Advent, whether it be Year A, B, or like this year which is Year C, we are always introduced the person of John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, Mary's cousin Elizabeth's son. I'd like to share here my thoughts for my homilies which I delivered in the Eucharistic celebrations for today.
We are given this person John the Baptist in the context of his times. He was supposed to be a memorable personality because he was one of those whom Herod beheaded. These data only prove to us that the Lord we believe in and wait for at the time of Advent, and beyond of course, is a real person. At least John the Baptist knew Him, and testified to Him. As many homilists and commentaries for today have pointed out, the Lord Jesus is not a fiction of the mind. God became flesh in Him, and we have seen Him, as the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist has further written. The reality of the Lord thus becomes evident when we are shown John the Baptist.
I often received text messages in my cell phone from people who are not in my list. I used to simply ignored them. Even in my email, there appear now and then, names of senders whom I don't have memories of. I used to spam them. For me, nameless and faceless senders are common in this hi-tech world we live in, and the feeling of being in the dark often catches me anxious. My way of coping would be the silence of ignoring. But there was this particular sender whose email must have been simply so clean the spamming feature of my email provider failed to shut him out of my inbox. Hence I decided to write him, asking him to refresh my memory of him. I further encouraged him with this thought: even God showed Himself; He gave us a face we could recognize in the light: Jesus. You might want to imitate Him and come out into the open rather than stay in the darkness of anonymity. He replied, telling me that we met at a wedding in Makati. As he narrated the occasion, the memory of that night at a reception of a wedding I had just solemnized came back like a film. We were all sgtrangers in that table, but since the wedding was a happy occasion, we broke the ice. What struck me further was his mention of the walk I had after the meal while looking at the enlarged wedding pictures of the bride and groom. It was there where we talked and got to really know each other. It was there that I gave him my email address. He even sent me a picture of him, and the memory became alive again. I had to reply back with joy and gratitude as a happy moment of my life was rekindled. I had to admit to him that honestly my having forgotten him and that wedding night may have made me think negatively of him. Indeed, like the emails and text messages I receive, John the Baptist brings back to us the reality of the Lord we have met in our lives: at baptism no matter how young we were; at the Eucharistic table no matter how awake or drowsy we may have been; at the religion classes we attended in class and in Church no matter how forced we may have felt at attending. John the Baptist thus serves as a memory retrieval device, if I may use the term.
As I searched for more thoughts in the internet, I read Fr. Cantalamessa's commentary for today's readings. He said: "The traditional prophets helped their contemporaries look beyond the wall of time and see into the future, but John helps the people to look past the wall of contrary appearances to make them see the Messiah hidden behind the semblance of a man like others. The Baptist in this way inaugurated the new Christian form of prophecy, which does not consist in proclaiming a future salvation ("in the last times"), but to reveal the hidden presence of Christ in the world." My understanding of his thought goes this way: the prophets of the Old Testament foretold of something yet to come. But John the Baptist as prophet told us about the Christ, long foretold, and is already in our midst. This thought thus further heightens the mystery of Advent: we await for One Who is actually in our midst already. Advent thus becomes a moment of opening ourselves to the presence of Christ "coming" to us. The future "is already but (the) not yet," a phrase we were taught in Eschatology. It is here that the significance of Advent for this year gets its inspiration.
We have recently been battered in the Philippines by four super typhoons. Reming was the worst because it had left so many dead and yet more homeless and nearly hopeless. Here in Manila, classes were suspended for us to prepare to avert what we experienced when Milenyo ravished the place last September 28. Even though Reming skipped Metro Manila, I felt the desire to see for myself how this Reming would fare. I saw for myself the cruel winds and rains of Milenyo the killer typhoon. Hence, I waited for the television footage in the late night news. There I first saw a woman saying before the reporter: "Wala na kaming Pasko." (We have no more Christmas [this time].) I felt a certain pinch in my heart which stirred me to ask you to please remember them this Christmas. The least we can do is pray for them, here in our Mass, in our personal and family rosaries, and even when we adore the Blessed Sacrament in the Adoration Chapel. If ever we decide to buy something new for ourselves and our loved ones, do let go of the old and share them with these people. The Churches and other non-government and charitable organizations are busy collecting whatever we can share with them. The governors of the battered provinces, as well as the people have said that they don't need money, for money can't feed them as there is virtually nothing to buy. Everyone seemed to have been affected. Food, so basic and yet so scarce is what they need so badly. Ricefields and vegetable gardens where they could get some subsistence were all ravaged cruelly. Roofs were simply blown away. The floods have carried many houses, including the weak, burying them under mud and sand. If we shall be celebrating the birth of Christ this Christmas, and thereby remember that we have shared even the least to these people of Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Mindoro, Marinduque, and many other areas, then we shall have really celebrated the joy of His birth in our midst. Our sharing with them would have then become our clear message to Christ: "Look, Lord, we are ready for more of the life You want to give us with Your coming."
We are given this person John the Baptist in the context of his times. He was supposed to be a memorable personality because he was one of those whom Herod beheaded. These data only prove to us that the Lord we believe in and wait for at the time of Advent, and beyond of course, is a real person. At least John the Baptist knew Him, and testified to Him. As many homilists and commentaries for today have pointed out, the Lord Jesus is not a fiction of the mind. God became flesh in Him, and we have seen Him, as the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist has further written. The reality of the Lord thus becomes evident when we are shown John the Baptist.
I often received text messages in my cell phone from people who are not in my list. I used to simply ignored them. Even in my email, there appear now and then, names of senders whom I don't have memories of. I used to spam them. For me, nameless and faceless senders are common in this hi-tech world we live in, and the feeling of being in the dark often catches me anxious. My way of coping would be the silence of ignoring. But there was this particular sender whose email must have been simply so clean the spamming feature of my email provider failed to shut him out of my inbox. Hence I decided to write him, asking him to refresh my memory of him. I further encouraged him with this thought: even God showed Himself; He gave us a face we could recognize in the light: Jesus. You might want to imitate Him and come out into the open rather than stay in the darkness of anonymity. He replied, telling me that we met at a wedding in Makati. As he narrated the occasion, the memory of that night at a reception of a wedding I had just solemnized came back like a film. We were all sgtrangers in that table, but since the wedding was a happy occasion, we broke the ice. What struck me further was his mention of the walk I had after the meal while looking at the enlarged wedding pictures of the bride and groom. It was there where we talked and got to really know each other. It was there that I gave him my email address. He even sent me a picture of him, and the memory became alive again. I had to reply back with joy and gratitude as a happy moment of my life was rekindled. I had to admit to him that honestly my having forgotten him and that wedding night may have made me think negatively of him. Indeed, like the emails and text messages I receive, John the Baptist brings back to us the reality of the Lord we have met in our lives: at baptism no matter how young we were; at the Eucharistic table no matter how awake or drowsy we may have been; at the religion classes we attended in class and in Church no matter how forced we may have felt at attending. John the Baptist thus serves as a memory retrieval device, if I may use the term.
As I searched for more thoughts in the internet, I read Fr. Cantalamessa's commentary for today's readings. He said: "The traditional prophets helped their contemporaries look beyond the wall of time and see into the future, but John helps the people to look past the wall of contrary appearances to make them see the Messiah hidden behind the semblance of a man like others. The Baptist in this way inaugurated the new Christian form of prophecy, which does not consist in proclaiming a future salvation ("in the last times"), but to reveal the hidden presence of Christ in the world." My understanding of his thought goes this way: the prophets of the Old Testament foretold of something yet to come. But John the Baptist as prophet told us about the Christ, long foretold, and is already in our midst. This thought thus further heightens the mystery of Advent: we await for One Who is actually in our midst already. Advent thus becomes a moment of opening ourselves to the presence of Christ "coming" to us. The future "is already but (the) not yet," a phrase we were taught in Eschatology. It is here that the significance of Advent for this year gets its inspiration.
We have recently been battered in the Philippines by four super typhoons. Reming was the worst because it had left so many dead and yet more homeless and nearly hopeless. Here in Manila, classes were suspended for us to prepare to avert what we experienced when Milenyo ravished the place last September 28. Even though Reming skipped Metro Manila, I felt the desire to see for myself how this Reming would fare. I saw for myself the cruel winds and rains of Milenyo the killer typhoon. Hence, I waited for the television footage in the late night news. There I first saw a woman saying before the reporter: "Wala na kaming Pasko." (We have no more Christmas [this time].) I felt a certain pinch in my heart which stirred me to ask you to please remember them this Christmas. The least we can do is pray for them, here in our Mass, in our personal and family rosaries, and even when we adore the Blessed Sacrament in the Adoration Chapel. If ever we decide to buy something new for ourselves and our loved ones, do let go of the old and share them with these people. The Churches and other non-government and charitable organizations are busy collecting whatever we can share with them. The governors of the battered provinces, as well as the people have said that they don't need money, for money can't feed them as there is virtually nothing to buy. Everyone seemed to have been affected. Food, so basic and yet so scarce is what they need so badly. Ricefields and vegetable gardens where they could get some subsistence were all ravaged cruelly. Roofs were simply blown away. The floods have carried many houses, including the weak, burying them under mud and sand. If we shall be celebrating the birth of Christ this Christmas, and thereby remember that we have shared even the least to these people of Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Mindoro, Marinduque, and many other areas, then we shall have really celebrated the joy of His birth in our midst. Our sharing with them would have then become our clear message to Christ: "Look, Lord, we are ready for more of the life You want to give us with Your coming."
The Immaculate Conception & Advent
While preparing for my homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, I caught myself waking up from bed one morning asking the question "What's the connection between the Immaculate Conception and Advent?" We all know that the Immaculation Conception "cuts" through the Advent Season, and oftentimes we go through life as Catholics without having reflected upon this "cutting." Hence I wrote the following thoughts. I first gave it as a conference to the Pink Sisters, the third congregation founded by our common Father and Founder St. Arnold Janssen last Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006. I also gave this reflection to the communities I got invited to celebrate the Eucharist for this year's Solemnity.
The Church's Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
The Church dogma on the Immaculate Conception, declared in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, tells us that God the Father had kept the Blessed Virgin Mary free from the stain of original sin. That is what "immaculate" means, to be free from stain, to be totally clean. Since all of us born into this world share in the sin of our forefathers and ancestors as early as Adam and Eve, Mary's Immaculate Conception thus reveals a particular privilege granted her in view of her pending motherhood of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation given her is one of "anticipation." A beautiful and convincing article describes the analogy of two people and a pit. A man, (and everyone who falls into the pit for that matter), who gets a hand reaching out to him gets "saved" from the pit. The Blessed Virgin, about to fall into the pit, has a hand reaching out to her before she falls, thereby also getting "saved" from the pit, and without having been mired by the dirt of the mud in the pit. Indeed what a "glorious" salvation she has been given. This must be the meaning of the Greek κέχαρίτομήνη, Mary's being "full of grace," a characteristic quality which we Christians hold about Mary, something she was given from the moment of her conception onwards.
Advent and the Immaculate Conception
This Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, placed in the context of the Advent season, heightens the ideas of preparation and waiting. God Himself prepared for the coming of His Son by keeping Mary free from the stain of original sin which all human beings share with the first parents Adam and Eve. Thus, if the Church asks us to prepare for the coming of the Son, we are shared a model - God Himself - preparing for His Son's coming. We can hereby say that when we faithfully prepare for the coming of Christ, whether it be the Parousia or His Birth, the act can be said to be divine in itself. We share with the Father this active desire to have for the Lord a ready place when He comes.
Of course waiting comes immediately with the thought of preparation. Preparation is actually an active stance of waiting. We wait for someone we know. And when we look at our experiences, there are times when we wait also for someone we consider important. And most of all, we wait especially for someone who said he will come. Our waiting reveals to us the value we give to the one we await for. The preparations we make as we wait show the joy we have for the one who will come. Our preparation as a sign of our waiting manifests our faith in the promise of his coming.
In the Immaculate Conception, we have seen for ourselves the Hand of God that kept Mary from being mired in the dirt of the pit (of original sin). That Hand of God has also kept Mary from the trauma of having "fallen" into the pit. In these recent days here in the Philippines, two men fell into a well which the owner had requested opened and cleaned after a long time of keeping it closed. There was a water shortage in the area, and remembering the well that was closed for a long time, he called for a company to have it ready for home consumption. The first man went in and started to brush the concrete circular walls down the pit. But he accidentally lost his grip and plunged into the water. The other man tried to save his companion, and upon reaching out to the hand of the one in the water, he couldn't take the weight of the guy, hence he also slid into the water. The well was more than 100 feet deep, and efforts to save them proved futile until the decision to siphon out the water was chosen. The bodies of the two were taken out only the next day, lifeless of course.
Granted that both were saved and continued to live, they would most likely have agonized through the memory of falling. The harrowing experience of falling into the pit can give temporary memories of helplessness and inadequacy which oftentimes reveal to them some weakness in their part. Those who have weaker egos further weaken with this experience, and self-blaming may ensue. There are people I've talked to who've gone through traumatic moments in life, and who manifest signs of difficulties in their faith, often asking "why God allowed it to happen" to them. Having been saved thus becomes an occasion to learn from that dreadful moment, and the salvation becomes an occasion for deep gratitude. Mary's Magnificat "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" only shows the deep gratitude she must have felt being given such a great honor and dignity in this way of salvation.
Hence, in the Immaculate Conception, we can see the love of God for us so evidently real as to renew everything despite all the sins we may have committed all our lives, and all the lives of men and women down the generations. Her Magnificat may also become our own song as we do all our preparations for the coming of God's only Son Who comes to love and save us all.
In the Immaculate Conception, we can also see how important is the one Who comes whom we await. Like the men who fell into the pit, had they been saved, they could have shared with uswhile there in the pit for the longing they had for someone to keep them out and alive. That someone would have then become for them so important they would grab his hand as soon as it was reached out to them. At Advent, we long for the One Who can save us from our sinful world and sinful selves, and give us another chance to rebuild ourselves so that we too can save others, having learned from our own weaknesses and failures.
Implict in the Immaculate Conception is the plan of God, a promise of salvation through His Son. His Son our Lord Himself told the apostles He will come again. We hold on to this with deep faith. At Advent, this faith is called to be reignited and fortified as it strengthens us in our waiting.
May we be drawn closer to this One Who prepared for His Son. We have seen His ways, the great love through which He did it. We are full of joy like Mary, and we do believe because Christ Himself has said He will come again. When? Let it be In His Time. What matters for us is that we await with deep longing, with deep joy and with deep faith. Indeed in the Immaculate Conception, faith, hope and love are all alive and real, giving us more life, more joy and more love to share.
The Church's Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
The Church dogma on the Immaculate Conception, declared in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, tells us that God the Father had kept the Blessed Virgin Mary free from the stain of original sin. That is what "immaculate" means, to be free from stain, to be totally clean. Since all of us born into this world share in the sin of our forefathers and ancestors as early as Adam and Eve, Mary's Immaculate Conception thus reveals a particular privilege granted her in view of her pending motherhood of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation given her is one of "anticipation." A beautiful and convincing article describes the analogy of two people and a pit. A man, (and everyone who falls into the pit for that matter), who gets a hand reaching out to him gets "saved" from the pit. The Blessed Virgin, about to fall into the pit, has a hand reaching out to her before she falls, thereby also getting "saved" from the pit, and without having been mired by the dirt of the mud in the pit. Indeed what a "glorious" salvation she has been given. This must be the meaning of the Greek κέχαρίτομήνη, Mary's being "full of grace," a characteristic quality which we Christians hold about Mary, something she was given from the moment of her conception onwards.
Advent and the Immaculate Conception
This Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, placed in the context of the Advent season, heightens the ideas of preparation and waiting. God Himself prepared for the coming of His Son by keeping Mary free from the stain of original sin which all human beings share with the first parents Adam and Eve. Thus, if the Church asks us to prepare for the coming of the Son, we are shared a model - God Himself - preparing for His Son's coming. We can hereby say that when we faithfully prepare for the coming of Christ, whether it be the Parousia or His Birth, the act can be said to be divine in itself. We share with the Father this active desire to have for the Lord a ready place when He comes.
Of course waiting comes immediately with the thought of preparation. Preparation is actually an active stance of waiting. We wait for someone we know. And when we look at our experiences, there are times when we wait also for someone we consider important. And most of all, we wait especially for someone who said he will come. Our waiting reveals to us the value we give to the one we await for. The preparations we make as we wait show the joy we have for the one who will come. Our preparation as a sign of our waiting manifests our faith in the promise of his coming.
In the Immaculate Conception, we have seen for ourselves the Hand of God that kept Mary from being mired in the dirt of the pit (of original sin). That Hand of God has also kept Mary from the trauma of having "fallen" into the pit. In these recent days here in the Philippines, two men fell into a well which the owner had requested opened and cleaned after a long time of keeping it closed. There was a water shortage in the area, and remembering the well that was closed for a long time, he called for a company to have it ready for home consumption. The first man went in and started to brush the concrete circular walls down the pit. But he accidentally lost his grip and plunged into the water. The other man tried to save his companion, and upon reaching out to the hand of the one in the water, he couldn't take the weight of the guy, hence he also slid into the water. The well was more than 100 feet deep, and efforts to save them proved futile until the decision to siphon out the water was chosen. The bodies of the two were taken out only the next day, lifeless of course.
Granted that both were saved and continued to live, they would most likely have agonized through the memory of falling. The harrowing experience of falling into the pit can give temporary memories of helplessness and inadequacy which oftentimes reveal to them some weakness in their part. Those who have weaker egos further weaken with this experience, and self-blaming may ensue. There are people I've talked to who've gone through traumatic moments in life, and who manifest signs of difficulties in their faith, often asking "why God allowed it to happen" to them. Having been saved thus becomes an occasion to learn from that dreadful moment, and the salvation becomes an occasion for deep gratitude. Mary's Magnificat "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" only shows the deep gratitude she must have felt being given such a great honor and dignity in this way of salvation.
Hence, in the Immaculate Conception, we can see the love of God for us so evidently real as to renew everything despite all the sins we may have committed all our lives, and all the lives of men and women down the generations. Her Magnificat may also become our own song as we do all our preparations for the coming of God's only Son Who comes to love and save us all.
In the Immaculate Conception, we can also see how important is the one Who comes whom we await. Like the men who fell into the pit, had they been saved, they could have shared with uswhile there in the pit for the longing they had for someone to keep them out and alive. That someone would have then become for them so important they would grab his hand as soon as it was reached out to them. At Advent, we long for the One Who can save us from our sinful world and sinful selves, and give us another chance to rebuild ourselves so that we too can save others, having learned from our own weaknesses and failures.
Implict in the Immaculate Conception is the plan of God, a promise of salvation through His Son. His Son our Lord Himself told the apostles He will come again. We hold on to this with deep faith. At Advent, this faith is called to be reignited and fortified as it strengthens us in our waiting.
May we be drawn closer to this One Who prepared for His Son. We have seen His ways, the great love through which He did it. We are full of joy like Mary, and we do believe because Christ Himself has said He will come again. When? Let it be In His Time. What matters for us is that we await with deep longing, with deep joy and with deep faith. Indeed in the Immaculate Conception, faith, hope and love are all alive and real, giving us more life, more joy and more love to share.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
1st Sunday of Advent Year C 2006
Actually, today is the first of several New Years we have every year. New Year? Yes because today we start the first day of the liturgical year C. Every liturgical year begins on first Sunday of Advent. Last year was liturgical year B. Next year we will begin the cycle again with Year A. Among the mnemonic devices taught us was to remember that this year the Gospel readings shall usually be taken from St. Luke. Last year's was from Mark. Of course, Year A has Matthew's Gospel read throughout most of the year's Sundays.
While the celebrative mood of most New Years is loud and festive, the New Year Advent leads us seems rather sober and reflective. The symbolic lighting of the 1st candle in the Advent wreath, especially on the eve, i.e., last night which was Saturday, is supposed to make us feel like we are in the darkness waiting for the light. As the Sundays before Christmas come, more candles are lit, and the light becomes brighter. It thus makes us feel that we are not meant to live in the dark but are called to live in the light.
The sobriety is also made more special because the readings usually begin with frightful things which we usually react to with fear and trepidation. The readings today, particularly the Gospel, seems to connect so easily with that of the last day of last liturgical year: it is almost the same except for a verse or two removed. We are shown a world in chaos and disorder, and amid these terrible situations, Scriptures tell us to be ready, with heads held high, "for your ransom is at hand." Fear is not to control our consciousness when such terrible things start to happen; faith calls us to be ready and watchful.
The image becomes easy to remember when typhoons are around. Television footages of the latest typhoon Reming (internationally known as DURIAN) show such a dreadful moment: strong winds and heavy rain make visibility virtually zero, trapping everyone wherever one is. When it will stop may be the concern of most, but keeping oneself and one's loved ones' safety too preoccupies the mind and heart. Fear is around us, but courage is further strengthened with love in our hearts. I saw this occasion many times in my life, and thank God for Scriptures: fear becomes something that can be overcome and gone through. The Word of God thus becomes the one factor that tips the other side for our balance. Next time fear comes to trap us, the thought that God is with us, coming to us to save us may yet become our refuge. Indeed the Lord is my true shepherd,...He is by my side with His rod and staff that give me courage.
Hence, as we wait during this advent, we do what we usually do when something good for us comes, whether it be a new appliance or someone important: we prepare a place for that thing or someone so when it comes we enjoy its/His/the other's presence. The President (GMA) was reported to attend the Mass in the seminary just a while ago, and soldiers dotted the grounds. It has become for me a fitting example for our waiting: we keep our minds, eyes, ears and hearts, our whole being awake and ready. The image of the soldiers with their arms ready to protect the President becomes fitting for us so that we also practice vigilance and keep at bay anything that shall harm the One Who will come to us in our lives. We know how sin can blind us and lull us to numbness, making us unable to recognize the One Who comes. If we are not vigilant, we might lose our lives, our jobs, our meaning.
So Advent thus becomes a fitting way to celebrate New Year in a different way: sans all the trappings that drown us, but with all the hope: the One Who comes is someone Who loves us and wants to give us more life, in fact eternal life. Awake then and be ready. Without fear, but with lots of patient waiting. Maran atha! Come Lord Jesus!
While the celebrative mood of most New Years is loud and festive, the New Year Advent leads us seems rather sober and reflective. The symbolic lighting of the 1st candle in the Advent wreath, especially on the eve, i.e., last night which was Saturday, is supposed to make us feel like we are in the darkness waiting for the light. As the Sundays before Christmas come, more candles are lit, and the light becomes brighter. It thus makes us feel that we are not meant to live in the dark but are called to live in the light.
The sobriety is also made more special because the readings usually begin with frightful things which we usually react to with fear and trepidation. The readings today, particularly the Gospel, seems to connect so easily with that of the last day of last liturgical year: it is almost the same except for a verse or two removed. We are shown a world in chaos and disorder, and amid these terrible situations, Scriptures tell us to be ready, with heads held high, "for your ransom is at hand." Fear is not to control our consciousness when such terrible things start to happen; faith calls us to be ready and watchful.
The image becomes easy to remember when typhoons are around. Television footages of the latest typhoon Reming (internationally known as DURIAN) show such a dreadful moment: strong winds and heavy rain make visibility virtually zero, trapping everyone wherever one is. When it will stop may be the concern of most, but keeping oneself and one's loved ones' safety too preoccupies the mind and heart. Fear is around us, but courage is further strengthened with love in our hearts. I saw this occasion many times in my life, and thank God for Scriptures: fear becomes something that can be overcome and gone through. The Word of God thus becomes the one factor that tips the other side for our balance. Next time fear comes to trap us, the thought that God is with us, coming to us to save us may yet become our refuge. Indeed the Lord is my true shepherd,...He is by my side with His rod and staff that give me courage.
Hence, as we wait during this advent, we do what we usually do when something good for us comes, whether it be a new appliance or someone important: we prepare a place for that thing or someone so when it comes we enjoy its/His/the other's presence. The President (GMA) was reported to attend the Mass in the seminary just a while ago, and soldiers dotted the grounds. It has become for me a fitting example for our waiting: we keep our minds, eyes, ears and hearts, our whole being awake and ready. The image of the soldiers with their arms ready to protect the President becomes fitting for us so that we also practice vigilance and keep at bay anything that shall harm the One Who will come to us in our lives. We know how sin can blind us and lull us to numbness, making us unable to recognize the One Who comes. If we are not vigilant, we might lose our lives, our jobs, our meaning.
So Advent thus becomes a fitting way to celebrate New Year in a different way: sans all the trappings that drown us, but with all the hope: the One Who comes is someone Who loves us and wants to give us more life, in fact eternal life. Awake then and be ready. Without fear, but with lots of patient waiting. Maran atha! Come Lord Jesus!
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