The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 29 November 2020
Photo by author, Advent Week I, 29 November 2020.
I have been thinking of a song that speaks of darkness and light that best describes the Season of Advent. As I surfed YoutTube song with words like “night” and “darkness”, I stumbled upon this old classic and everyone’s favorite (those in our generation) with its unmistakable opening:
Hello, darkness my old friend...
Advent is from the Latin adventus that means coming or arrival. It is the start of the new year in our Church calendar made up of four Sundays meant to prepare us spiritually for Christmas.
This year, it is hoped that we take the Advent Season seriously by praying more, reflecting our lives and examining our conscience so we can have a meaningful Christmas this 2020 that will surely be bleak and dark due the pandemic.
And that is why I immediately felt Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence as the perfect music this first Sunday of Advent when darkness is all around us with the pandemic and other calamities while also deep within each of us is another darkness like an illness or somebody with a serious ailment in the family, a lost job, or even death of a beloved.
In the bible, darkness is the realm of evil like when Jesus was betrayed by Judas on that Thursday evening at Gethsemane; however, with the coming of Jesus, darkness has become also the best time to believe in light! See how Jesus was born on the darkest night of the year, Christmas eve, to bring light to the world; likewise, it was during the darkness of the first day of the week when Jesus also rose from the dead on Easter.
It is in silence where we learn to be patient and vigilant, two virtues becoming so rare in our world that has come to live 24/7 in artificial lights many think to be the real thing.
Patience and vigilance are both fruits of prayer and expressions of our faith when we bear all pains and sufferings wide awake because we believe God is leading us to something good, something better and brighter.
In this song written by Paul Simon and first recorded with Art Garfunkel in 1965, we find silence that represents prayer and reflections helping us find the realities of life amid the many darkness surrounding us or even encroaching within us.
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
I have always loved these two stanzas, citing them in my teachings and sharing with students and young people to explain to them the value of silence and to befriend the many darkness we have in life. It is a paradox, a part of life’s mystery when we actually find its light and understanding in darkness which is also our starting point in clearing and dealing with all these darkness around and within us.
After the Lord’s supper on Holy Thursday, we find in the gospel how he brought his three apostles with him to Gethsemane to accompany him pray in agony while awaiting his betrayer. Jesus asked the three apostles to watch with him, to pray with him.
This Advent, Jesus is asking us to watch and pray with him so we remain focused in God, not to the neon gods we have made to overcome the many darkness of life.
If darkness is the realm of evil in the bible, silence is the realm of trust: even if life may be dark when we cannot see clearly, we go on in silence because we believe somebody sees better than us, leading us to light and better days.
Enjoy this classic again with family and friends. Have a blessed Sunday!
Uploaded by antonino davi at YouTube, 23 October 2012.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
First Sunday of Advent, Cycle B, 29 November 2020
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7 + 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 + Mark 13:33-37
Photo by Atty. Polaris Grace Rivas-Beron at the summit of Mt. Sinai, May 2019.
A blessed happy new year to everyone as we begin today the new liturgical year of our Church calendar with the first Sunday of Advent. From the Latin word adventus for “coming”, Advent is a time meant to prepare us spiritually for Christmas.
And with all the problems and sufferings we have been going through this 2020 with the pandemic still around us in this joyous season of Christ’s coming, we hope that we make this Advent Season more serious so we may have a more meaningful Christmas, prepared for 2021 (see our recent blog, https://lordmychef.com/2020/11/23/surely-there-will-be-christmas-2020/)!
Like Lent, though in a less penitential mode, Advent is a time to pray and reflect on our lives and if possible, go to confessions to cleanse our hearts so Jesus may come and rest there like when he was born on a manger in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago.
Our first reading today beautifully sets the mood for Advent 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 with a prayer so true with each one of us:
You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you…
Isaiah 63:16-17, 19
Photo by author, Advent 2019.
Advent is for new beginnings, for coming again.
Year 2020 is without doubt very difficult for everyone but it teaches us in the most unique way the essentials in life like God, family, friends, true self, and things like kindness, respect, thoughtfulness, simplicity, presence, and other niceties we have taken for granted for so long. It is about time that we recover these specially in Advent which is the season of new beginnings when we start anew in life.
And where do we start?
Right where we are, here in our darkness in the pandemic and within our hearts, far from God by beginning to pray anew to him so he may finally come and return to us!
The words by Prophet Isaiah in the first reading are so perfect at this time as if these were written only recently, expressing our true sentiments within: that we are sorry for having drifted far from Jesus and from others all these years, so focused with things and gadgets than with God and persons.
Our hearts have been too hard, distant from God and each other, so cold and so dark that we have become so insensitive, callous and numb or even without any conscience at all that in the midst of a pandemic, there are some who can still utter lies and malice with their hands also tainted with blood and corruption.
It is so sickening but, the more we pray and listen to our inner selves, we also find how this darkness has slowly encroached on us too, happening at different levels right in our own family circles, in our community, and even in our church maybe!
On bended knees, we humbly admit our need for God to intervene now – to rend the heavens – and bring us back to our senses and unto him, so we may finally find rays of hope, even a glimmer of light in this darkness we are into.
As we pray for the Lord’s advent or coming, we need to strive to be vigilant on our part as we patiently await him right in our hearts in this night of the pandemic and chaos going on.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'”
Mark 13:33, 35-37
Photo by author, Red Wednesday, 25 November 2020.
Though we live in darkness, we belong to Christ who is light himself!
Everywhere in the world, except Down Under perhaps, the Season of Advent always falls in that time of the year when the nights are longer and most of all, darkest as in winter experienced in the western hemisphere, including Europe.
In fact, Christmas Eve is the darkest night of the year, the date Christ was born to bring light and be the light of the world.
See how Jesus used the night as the time of the return of the “lord of the house” (who is himself, too) when everything is dark and difficult.
For the young generation today, it may mean nothing at all as they have grown accustomed to our 24/7 world where work continues into the night like during the day with offices and stores opened and public transportation readily available.
During the time of Jesus and even 30 years ago, we rarely travelled nor even went out past six in the evening because of the many dangers at night like criminal elements lurking for their preys and simply the difficult situation of seeing clearly the roads ahead. In the bible, darkness is the realm of evil and sin like Jesus being betrayed by Judas after their last supper while in Genesis, we find how in darkness was nothing but chaos until God created everything.
And there lies the good news of the night, of darkness, and of Advent: Jesus Christ as the light himself of the world comes to save us at night! It was before dawn when Jesus walked the waters of the Sea of Galilee to save his apostles while being tossed by giant waves in their small boat. It was also in the darkness of the night when Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.
Yes, we all live in the night when darkness envelops us, even our hearts and very lives with so many problems and crises happening but we never lose hope, we never lose sight of that glimmer of light for we do not belong to the night but to Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
Photo by author, Red Wednesday, 25 November 2020.
Advent is patient waiting for the Lord’s coming.
Night is the time when it is best to believe in the light. As one poet had said, “The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.” But, another unknown poet had also said that “Only the brave who dare to walk the darkest of nights shall see the brightness of the stars above.”
Our lives may be in darkness or even dark itself these days but we celebrate the Sunday Eucharist today even if the the Lord’s coming may be delayed because we know deep in our hearts that “God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1Cor.1:9).
One thing we need to pray for this season are patience and vigilance in awaiting his return during this darkness.
Patience is a virtue becoming so rare these days when everything is rushed as we live in a world of “instants” like instant gratification and, yes! — even instant vaccine against COVID-19 without us realizing its deep implications of calls for changes in the way of living and doing things in the world as individuals and as nations. From the Latin “patior” which is to bear all pains, patience is also believing that something better will happen in every sufferings we patiently endure.
Likewise, vigilance is more than being awake and prepared for any eventuality but an active waiting for someone or something by taking risks due also to a firm belief something better will come out of trying situations.
Patience and vigilance go together for both are fruits of real and hard prayer, expressions of deep faith in God.
Photo by author, Advent 2019.
On this first Sunday of Advent with clouds still turning dark with rains that have never stopped drenching us these past weeks, we continue to celebrate the Eucharist thanking God for our long-term faith in Christ’s Second Coming.
When we look back to those past nine months of darkness in this pandemic worsened by recent calamities and a clueless government since January, we actually gone far than we have expected.
Why? Because we have never lost hope from the little glimmers of lights God has sent us since the lockdown in March! We have survived and slowly, many of us are finding life’s deeper meanings and realities in God our Father.
Notice how in every patient waiting for Christ’s Second Coming in the midst of the many darkness in life, the Lord actually comes nearer to us, albeit slowly and unnoticeably?
That’s the beauty of Advent, new beginnings always happening for those patiently waiting in the Lord.
Let us be on guard during these long nights of darkness when temptations are strongest and so appealing. Like at the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wants us to “watch” with him by praying to the Father so we may remain faithful and focused on him alone to soon find life in the dead of the night. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 24 December 2019
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16 ><)))*> <*(((>< Luke 1:67-79
Marker on the Church where St. John the Baptist is believed to have been born in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. Photo by author, May 2019.
At last!
These are most likely the two words we must be saying today on this ninth day of our Simbang Gabi.
Finally, we have completed the nine day novena to the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ for tonight will be Christmas.
But, more than being the last day of our novena, today is also the beginning of better days ahead for us all starting with Christmas!
From this day on, let us imitate Zechariah in his new found faith, hope and love in God expressed in his song of praise and thanksgiving after recovering his sense of hearing and speaking after nine months of forced silence.
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David.”
Luke 1:68-69
Sunrise at the Lake of Galilee, the Holy Land. Photo by author, May 2019.
Three canticles of praise, three prayers of faith
Popularly known as the Benedictus from its Latin opening verse “Blessed be God”, this is the second of the three canticles St. Luke tells us Zechariah had sang after naming his son “John”.
The other two songs are the Magnificat by Mary during her Visitation of Elizabeth and the third is the Nunc Dimittis by Simeon upon seeing the child Jesus during his presentation at the Temple of Jerusalem.
These canticles or songs make up the beautiful Christmas story by St. Luke who put them onto the mouths of Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon to signify their being filled with the Holy Spirit in experiencing the coming of Jesus Christ: Mary sang “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” during the Visitation in response to the praises by Elizabeth (Lk.1:46-55) while Simeon the prophet prayed to God to “let him go in peace” – to die – after seeing the coming of the Savior (Lk.2:29-32).
These eventually became part of the prayers of the Church (Liturgy of the Hours) we priests and religious are obliged to pray day in, day out:
Benedictus in the morning to show how willing are we to face the new day by making our Savior Jesus Christ present in our lives like St. John the Baptizer, his precursor;
Magnificat in the evening to praise and thank God in working his salvation in us through Jesus Christ;
Nunc Dimittis at night before bedtime to signify our readiness to die and finally be one with God in Jesus Christ.
They are our “spiritual vitamins” that fill us with the Holy Spirit to strengthen and deepen our relationship with the Father in Jesus Christ which every Christian may pray too to experience and be one with God daily.
Pilgrims waiting outside the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. On the walls are the translation into different languages of the world, including Filipino, of Zechariah’s Benedictus. Photo by author, May 2019.
Why God is blessed according to Zechariah
The Benedictus signifies Zechariah’s coming to full circle after nine months of forced silence after doubting the angel’s message that he and Elizabeth would finally have a son.
Our sacristy, Advent 2019.
In singing the Benedictus, Zechariah did not only recover his power of speech but most of all showed the fruits of his nine months of silence and prayer preparing for the birth of his son John as well as, ultimately, for Christ’s coming (his song indicates it).
Finally, Zechariah has been healed of his pains and hurts that prevented him in experiencing God, in believing in his powers again, giving him more reasons to hope and be joyful.
This is the reason we also have the Advent Season when we try to dispose ourselves more to Christ’s coming to us not only at Christmas but everyday in our lives.
Zechariah mentions three powerful verbs why he praised God: for he has come to his people, set them free, and has raised up a mighty Savior.
God has come to us
Zechariah first experienced God coming to him when the angel announced to him John’s birth while incensing at the temple during the Day of Atonement. Unfortunately, he was “absent” at God’s “presence” that he questioned how Elizabeth would bear a child.
Everything now changes not only because he had seen his own son but he himself experienced God’s coming in his life.
Sometimes, our pains and hurts, frustrations and disappointments, defeats and failures blind us, numb us that we cannot see, we cannot experience God coming to us in every brand new day he gives us, through the people we meet with their smiles and greetings, with our family and friends who have have stayed with us in good times and bad.
Every morning we wake up to reminds us God has come to us. Rise and meet him in joy, entrust the new day to him, and ask for the grace to remain in him!
God has set us free
Every time God comes, there is always freedom – freedom from evil and sin, freedom from the past and all its pains and hurts, freedom from guilt feelings, freedom everything that prevents us from being truly free to be our own, good sel, to be free and faithful to love and forgive others too.
Carmelite Monastery, Guiguinto, Bulacan. Photo by author, November 2019.
Literally speaking, Zechariah felt free again to speak and express himself fully. But more than that is the experience to go and live fully in God.
We can never experience Christmas if we cannot assert this freedom Christ had won for us when he died on the Cross. Forget all those “hugot” lines and move forward with life.
The name of God is “I AM” because he is always in the PRESENT, never in the past nor in the future.
That is why each new day is a gift, a present from God who as set us free from yesterday’s mistakes and failures and sins.
Go and be free for God!
God has raised up for us a mighty Savior
Christmas is not a date but an event, a person we experience in Jesus Christ who is a dialogue himself according to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Jesus is always communing with us, inviting us to be one in him in his love.
In his Benedictus, Zechariah is also professing the saving work of God in Jesus Christ who became human like us in everything except sin. God is so blessed because of his great love for us, he chose to enter, or intervene into human history to bring us into eternal life by faith in Christ Jesus.
To raise up is a strong term also indicating the Paschal mystery Christ will go through, the ultimate communion of God into our own lowliness of suffering and death to bring us into the glorious victory of his resurrection.
Every morning, every day we are reminded by Zechariah of the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary regarding the birth of John: nothing is impossible with God.
And Zechariah had experienced this first hand when his barren and old wife Elizabeth conceived their child John.
May we have a renewed faith, hope and love in God at the closing of our Simbang Gabi this year. Like David in the first reading, rest be assured of God’s plan for each of us. Let us be patient to wait and prepare always for his coming like Zechariah even in his old age. Amen.
Birthplace of St. John the Baptist at Ein Karen, Jerusalem. Photo by author, May 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe, Advent IV-A, 22 December 2019
Isaiah 7:10-14 ><}}}*> Romans 1:1-7 ><}}}*> Matthew 1:18-24
Dome of the Malolos Cathedral Basilica, Advent 2019. Photo by author.
We are now at the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the final week of preparations for Christmas happening in about three days. And we go back to the gospel of Matthew to reflect anew on the annunciation of Christ’s birth to Joseph.
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Matthew 1:18-21,24
As we look toward the coming Christmas Day, the story of the annunciation to Joseph invites us to examine ourselves, to look inside and look back through the years what have we done to bring Jesus Christ into the world like him.
Though Advent celebrates God’s fidelity and constancy in fulfilling his plan of salvation for us through Jesus Christ, this coming involves a human setting among us in the present time to realize its fulfillment.
Dream of St. Joseph (oil on canvas) by Spanish painter Francisco Goya via Google.
St. Joseph’s mission, our mission too
When the angel appeared to Joseph in his dream, it was not so much to explain to him about Mary’s virginal conception but to reveal to him his mission. Very clearly, Mary’s conception of Jesus is absolutely extraordinary, a mystery directly from God himself.
And that is how it is with life: there are certain things we simply have to let ourselves be wrapped by mystery than to unravel or explain it.
Like the Blessed Virgin Mary whom he loves so much, Joseph believed in God, agreeing to what was asked of him that upon waking up, he obediently did everything the angel had instructed him.
Joseph’s acceptance of Mary and of his role in giving name to Jesus brings to an end the genealogy of “Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham” because in the Jewish society, it is the father who bears much weight in recognizing one’s child.
Here we find the crucial and critical importance of Joseph’s mission in giving name to Jesus, in taking Mary as wife: it is through his “fatherhood” that Christ comes into the world as a person, and most of all, as fulfillment of God’s promise made to Abraham and David.
Last Tuesday we have reflected how through Jesus Christ’s coming we now trace our genealogy and roots with God in faith. As children of our loving Father, we too are now entrusted with the same mission like Joseph to bring Jesus Christ into the world in our own time and history.
Altar of the Chapel of St. Joseph beside the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Below the chapel are the ancient ruins of the home and shop of St. Joseph where he took care of Mary and Jesus. Photo by author May 2017.
Called to obedient faith
Salvation history continues and it is our duty to find our proper place in God’s plan like Joseph. The story of Christmas continues to our time that is why we have this Advent Season of preparation.
God has not diminished that great honor and privilege given to Joseph then and to us now of having an irreplaceable role in bringing Jesus into the world but this time, not through dream or voice of an angel. God continues to call us like Joseph to bring his plan of salvation in Jesus into fulfillment through our obedient faith through the Sacred Scriptures, the Church in her teachings and most of all, through the many situations and people we encounter in life.
We have to believe and accept this reality that “God needs us”, that the “baby Jesus” wants us to care for him, to give him a name so that “his glory would be eventually revealed for mankind to see the saving power of God” (communion antiphon of Christmas Eve).
St. Paul beautifully tells us in the second reading a very basic profession of faith affirming Jesus Christ as the Son of God descended from David through Joseph according to the flesh (Rom.1:1-4).
Through Jesus, we are called to “bring about obedience of faith” to spread this “good news to all Gentiles” or peoples of the world that they may honor and worship the Lord.
And the good news is this: despite or many flaws and weaknesses, all he needs is our complete faith and surrender to him like St. Joseph. It is Jesus Christ who shall provide us with the strength to fulfill this mission just like what he did to St. Joseph.
From Aleteia, 18 December 2019.
Hail to the fathers and men too
Last December 17 as the whole Church was proclaiming the gospel from Matthew on the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Pope Francis celebrated his 83rd birthday when he was presented with a unique Nativity scene called “Let Mum Rest” with St. Joseph taking care of the infant Jesus while Mary slept.
It went viral, and again, another unique imagery of the beloved St. Joseph courtesy of Pope Francis, a devotee of the Lord’s foster father. When he came to visit the Philippines in 2015, he narrated how he would pray to the sleeping St. Joseph and it became viral in the country.
And now this new image of St. Jospeh babysitting.
It is a very timely image at this time when there is a crisis in fatherhood, when many fathers have to make the difficult choice of leaving their families behind to work in distant places, often foreign countries just to earn decent living.
A crisis when fathers forget caring and loving their families because of the many demands of a high cost of living that along the way, they fall into many traps that sometimes make them forget their vows of marriage.
We need to pray hard for fathers and men. They too are blessed by God like St. Joseph.
We need to pray hard for fathers and men to help them remain upright like St. Joseph.
When Jesus began his ministry, he taught us the “Our Father” to show us that God is like a father because life comes from him. It is from the father that we receive the seeds of life with that genetic code called “DNA”. This is the reason why it is the father who gives name to the child at baptism like St. Joseph to Jesus.
Secondly, Jesus called God “our Father” because he is the one who protects and keeps life from dangers. He must have experienced this from St. Joseph who brought them to Egypt when Herod ordered the massacre of Holy Innocents after the visit by the Magi in Bethlehem. Fathers are often strict with children because he wants to ensure their safety.
Most of all, Jesus called God “our Father” because he is the one who brings back life to those who have lost it like the merciful father to his prodigal son (Lk.15).
How many times did our father saved us from scolding and punishment by our mother, from the simple misdemeanors to grave offenses like going wayward in life? It is often the father, ironically, despite his being strict and disciplinarian, who also has the softest heart for the prodigal child.
May St. Joseph help us men to be man enough to be faithful to God and loved ones to make everyone feel the love and mercy of the Father in heaven as revealed to us by Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 21 December 2019
Zephaniah 3:14-18 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 1:39-45
Bronze statues of Mary and Elizabeth fronting the Church of the Visitation in Judah; inscriptions on the wall are Mary’s “Magnificat” in different languages including Filipino. Photo by author May 2017.
For most Filipinos, being “blessed” (mapalad) and “lucky” (suwerte) are often used interchangeably because they both mean the same which is being fortunate. And most of the time, we mean blessedness as being endowed with wealth and material things.
Anyone with a stable job or a flourishing career or a growing business with at least a car and a house and lot is always considered as blessed. If you go big time or have made it to the top, then you are most blessed!
Parents who have put all their children through college, especially in expensive and exclusive Catholic schools and universities are also considered blessed in our culture that puts a high premium on education.
For most of us Filipinos, being blessed means to be financially stable and secured with some degrees of fame and accomplishments.
But our gospel today says nothing about these things as being blessed. Fact is, nowhere do we find in the Bible, especially in the gospel accounts where Jesus tells us that financial viability is a blessing. On the contrary, his teachings teem with a lot of moral aspersions against reliance and worship of money and material wealth.
True blessedness is having faith in God, believing that his words would be fulfilled!
Church of the Visitation, the Holy Land. Photo by author May 2017.
Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:39-43, 45
Conversations between women
The Bible rarely records conversations exclusively between women. And even less frequent in the Bible is a conversation between two pregnant women that makes St. Luke’s account of the Visitation unique in itself.
For St. Luke, this encounter and exchange is significant because here are two women who bore a child in the most miraculous manner. Observe that St. Luke never used the word “pregnant” to describe the two women but simply told us that it is obviously the situation of both Elizabeth and Mary.
Exegetes explain St. Luke may have never used the term “pregnant” to emphasize to his readers God’s powerful grace on the two women in bearing a child: Elizabeth in her old age and barrenness and Mary in her youth and virginity.
What is most remarkable here is the way the two women were so “absorbed” in their conversation that one can imagine the “holy ground” they were standing so filled with Divine presence with the Holy Spirit hovering above them as two great souls met to honor God!
Even now if you go on a pilgrimage to the Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem, you can still experience that serenity and joy both women must have experienced on that hallowed ground.
Left painting on the dome is the Visitation while the other at the right is a depiction of how the angel saved St. John the Baptizer with St. Elizabeth from the murder of Holy Innocents ordered by Herod after learning the birth of Jesus Christ. Photo by author, May 2017.
True Blessedness
St. Luke tells us a lot of stories about “blessings” in his gospel account like here at the Visitation.
The most significant of these story of blessings is found in Luke 11:27-28 when Jesus was preaching, “a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.’ He replied, ‘Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.'”
And that “blessed one who hears the word of God and observes it” is none other than his own Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first and par excellence “Doer-of-the-Word” for St. Luke!
Here at the Visitation, Elizabeth became the first human person, a woman, to call Mary “blessed” – the first of many disciples from future generations who will address the Blessed Mother in this manner as proclaimed by Mary herself in her Magnificat, “from now on will all ages call me blessed” (Lk.1:48).
Mary blessedness is primarily due to her faith and trust in God’s word spoken to her by the angel Gabriel. Unlike Zechariah, Mary right away submitted herself to the will of God by asking “how can this be”, indicating her deep faith.
Mary’s faith makes her a model disciple whom we must all imitate in following and believing Jesus Christ our Savior.
Likewise, Elizabeth can also be considered as a model disciple to us all because she believed and recognized the coming of the Christ by calling Mary “the mother of my Lord” (Lk.1:43). And again, holds the distinction as the first person and woman in St. Luke’s gospel to call Jesus “Lord”.
Here we find again the story of the Visitation that true blessedness and holiness is to be filled with God like St. Joseph the other day.
The Immaculate Conception at the Cathedral Basilica in Malolos City. Photo by author, December 2019.
In praise of the women of the world, man’s part-ner
Another beautiful trait of St. Luke’s gospel account is it emphasis on the important roles of women not only in the spread of the Gospel but most especially in the world. He is the first champion of women’s rights, next only to Jesus Christ.
In narrating to us this brief story of the Visitation, we rediscover the beauty and blessedness of womanhood – and that is the celebration of Messianic age. Mary and Elizabeth are great women because of their faith, we now celebrate Advent and Christmas.
They both brought Jesus Christ into the world, something that women always do until now, especially mothers who faithfully teach and form their children to become good and faithful Christians.
Both women are a testament to Isaiah’s portrayal of God as a woman who is like faithful mother:
“Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”
Isaiah 49:15
Christmas is a beautiful reminder to us all of the very noble and important role of women in the world that unfortunately many of us, especially men, have continually refused to accept or ignored since the Fall of Adam and Eve.
In Genesis, we find God declaring “let us make man a suitable partner.”
And he created the woman, a part-ner of man, taken from one of his ribs because she is equal in dignity with him, created in the image and likeness of God. In fact, she is the most beautiful of his creation, being the last and most perfect!
During his recent concert in the country, U2’s Bono praised the women and human rights activists in the country, dedicating to them their song “Beautiful Day”.
“Human rights drown out human wrongs, that’s a beautiful day. When sisters around the world go to school with their brothers, that’s a beautiful day. When journalists don’t have to worry about what they write, that’s a beautiful day. When women of the world unite to rewrite history as herstory, that is a beautiful day.”
Bono from news reports
Because of Mary and Elizabeth, we now have that beautiful day of the year, Christmas that led to the most beautiful day of all, Easter.
In a fitting rejoinder to our gospel today, another woman the other day gave us a beautiful day to celebrate justice and democracy in the country when Quezon City RTC Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes convicted Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. and other members of his influential clan for the murder of 57 people in the Maguindanao massacre that happened ten years ago.
Throughout history, we have seen that it has always been the women who make it happen for us all to have a beautiful day because they are the ones who bring life, who nurture life, who deepen life.
Let us make each day more beautiful by loving and caring always especially for those special women in our lives who have shown us the beauty and meaning of life, beginning with our own mother. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 20 December 2019
Isaiah 7:10-14 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 1:26-38
Manor House, Camp John Hay, December 2017. Photo by author.
One reason Christmas is the most favorite time of the year is its colors. From houses to malls and almost every building, one can find a spectacular display of different colors and lights that brighten everyone.
But everything changes when one enters the church.
Advent is so different. Color is violet near the deep blue shade to signify the importance of conversion and penance that lead into transformation while the colors of the world found in malls are about money and material things.
Our parish sanctuary area, Advent 2019.
God takes initiative
We have seen yesterday in St. Luke’s first Christmas story how God entered through human activities and history for the coming of Jesus Christ by first announcing the birth of his precursor, St. John the Baptizer.
But today, in his second Christmas story which is the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Lukes shows us how God is now acting on his own. Of course, God always takes the initiatives in life being the “prime mover”.
But in announcing the birth of Jesus, God went “out of his way” so to speak to bring us this tremendous grace of Christmas as he would always do in many instances in our lives.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with yo.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus .”
Luke 1:26-31
Mosaic of the Annunciation to Mary at the Shrine of St. Padre Pio at Rotondo, Italy. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago, 2018.
So different from yesterday’s story of the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptizer to Zechariah, let us see how God took the initiative in the annunciation in the birth of Jesus to Mary.
Zechariah was a priest while Mary was a commoner. It was natural for God to work through his ministers but in choosing Mary an ordinary woman was something else not because of any special quality she had but simply because God is good. The angel clearly told this to Mary, “you have found favor with God”. God does not call the qualified but he qualifies the call!
God used the setting of the Temple of Jerusalem in yesterday’s account because that is where he is supposed to dwell but today, everything happened in a very simple house in Nazareth, the only place of significance and importance in the New Testament never mentioned in the Old Testament. It was a place looked down upon by many like St. Bartholomew asking Philip, “can anyone good come from Nazareth?”
There was a major feast going on, the Yom Kippur, with a lot of people present when Zechariah was informed of the birth of John; Mary was alone in her house when the angel came to announce to her the birth of Jesus on the six months after going to Zechariah.
Intense Presence of God and of Mary
Usually, as we have seen yesterday in the annunciation of the birth of John, God always acted in silence and hiddenness. He blends and flows with world history as well as with our own personal histories.
But, there are times even in our own experiences when God really pulls something extraordinary, a miracle to bless us, to save us.
That was the case in the Annunciation to Mary. God “freely acted on his own” for the good news to happen, regardless of whoever was the king of Judea or emperor of Rome. He set the stage and everything for the fulfillment of his plan of salvation for us.
And the very good thing here is we find a perfect congruence or an equilibrium wherein, God was intensely present and so was Mary.
In the annunciation of John’s birth, God was very much present answering the prayers of his parents but Zechariah was miserably absent, doubting the good news!
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38
God is always coming to us in many instances and persons who come to our lives. Are we present to him?
Notice how she entered into a dialogue with the angel Gabriel in explaining how things would happen. She was so open and so absorbed too as if the Holy Spirit must have had a perfect landing on her that she became pregnant with Jesus!
It sounds funny but that was how it happened because tomorrow, we would hear St. Luke telling us how Mary hurriedly went off to see her cousin Elizabeth, meaning there was a transforming change that occurred in Mary right away!
And that is how God truly works – if we can be truly open like Mary with God’s intense presence, we can experience overnight conversion and transformation that we have heard experienced by many unbelievers, sinners, addicts of all kinds. All they could say was there was a very brief moment when they felt God so intensely present and boom! everything changed for the best.
Mary believed
Mary was not only open to God but most of all, she has always believed in him. See how St. Luke tells us after the Annunciation, “then the angel departed from her”, never to come again to inform her of special messages from God unlike St. Joseph.
After the Annunciation, Mary was left on her own in the sense that all she had was her firm faith in God through Jesus Christ her Son.
Mary believed in everything that was spoken to her! It was all she had up to the foot of the Cross when Christ died, when she waited with the apostles in Jerusalem for the Pentecost and in all her other apparitions later. She has always believed in Jesus her Son.
Today, we complain a lot of people no longer believing in God, leaving the Church, refusing to pray and celebrate the sacraments.
Perhaps it is about time for us to ask our very selves too, especially us your priests and pastors as well as the parents: do we truly believe what we are doing, what we are practicing as Catholics?
It is always easy to say we believe in God like King Ahaz in the first reading who refused to ask God for signs that Israel would be delivered from the advancing Babylonians.
It was merely a “show” because Ahaz had already entered into alliance with small kingdoms to fight the Babylonian invaders. He had never believed God or his Prophet Isaiah; hence, Israel was conquered and crushed as a nation, thrown into exile in Babylon for a long time.
A Filipino painting of the Annunciation to Mary on a wall facing the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Photo by author May 2017.
God’s power and his intense presence can only work in proportion with the faith we have. This is what Jesus had told the apostles when they asked him to “increase their faith”: “If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to the mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and panted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Lk.17:5-6).
In another instance, the apostles failed to cast away the demon possessing the son of a certain man. After Jesus had driven away the evil spirit, his apostles came to him in private to ask, “Why could we not cast it out? And Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your little faith'” (Mt.17:19).
Like Mary, let us believe wholly to God by giving our whole selves to him. Let us create a room in ourselves for God so he can be present in us and transform us like Mary. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 18 December 2019
Jeremiah 23:5-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 1:18-24
Mosaic at the Chapel of St. Jerome, underneath the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem where St. Jerome lived while studying and translating the Bible into Latin. It is believed to be the place where St. Joseph received in a dream the message of the angel for him to take Mary as his wife. Photo by the author, May 2017.
First, we were told for a very long time the importance of IQ or “Intelligence Quotient” for anyone’s success in life.
Then came the EQ or “Emotional Quotient” this past decade that experts claim has more impact in determining one’s success in life than the IQ.
Now, scientists are claiming that more important than the IQ and the EQ is “AQ” or “Adversarial Quotient”, our ability to respond to various adversarial situations in life.
According to the proponents of AQ, the better we are able to deal with life’s troublesome situations like handling crises involving our many forms of relationships, the better we are equipped in having a more fuller life.
Dream of St. Joseph (Oil on canvas) by Francisco Goya. From Google.
Today we hear the story of St. Joseph facing an extremely adversarial situation when Mary who was betrothed to him was found pregnant with a baby not his!
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”
Matthew 1:18-20
IQ + EQ + AQ = HQ
St. Matthew describes St. Joseph a “righteous man” or, in Jewish thought, a holy man, a saint who lives his life according to the word of God. Also known as a zaddik in Hebrew, a righteous man delights in the Torah (Law), entrusting everything to God.
According to the Book of Psalms’ first chapter, a righteous man or a zaddik is like a tree planted near a river bank that symbolizes God’s words, growing into maturity with good fruits because he is filled with God, putting into practice the Sacred Scriptures and the Laws.
That is precisely what holiness is all about: being filled with God, not being sinless!
Though holiness means being perfect and whole as its Greek origin tells us, holiness as preached by Jesus Christ is an ongoing process when he commanded us to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt.5:48).
Holiness does not happen overnight; it takes time and a lot of cultivation on our part.
(One rule of thumb, though, that we must keep in mind: if you think or feel you are holy, definitely you are not. Saints do not know they are saints.)
IQ, EQ, and now AQ are in a sense, scientific expressions of holiness, of being filled with God to become better persons.
During the Solemnity of St. Joseph last year, Pope Francis issued “Gaudete et Exsultate” to reiterate Vatican II’s universal call to holiness by proposing practical ways in our modern time on how to be holy based on the beatitudes of Jesus Christ.
The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence. The call to holiness is present in various ways from the very first pages of the Bible. We see it expressed in the Lord’s words to Abraham: “Walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).
Gaudete et Exsultate, 1
Very interesting in our Simbang Gabi is how the Pope mentions Abraham, the very beginning of Jesus Christ’s genealogy, as a model of holiness now being expressed in our gospel by the last person in that genealogy, St. Joseph!
St. Joseph bridged faith and practice
St. Joseph is exactly that kind of Jewish zaddik who lived in constant dialogue with God in praying the Scriptures, concretely living it minus the legalisms of the Pharisees and scribes of his time.
For him, the Torah was a good news meant to make life better, not bitter by applying it to daily living which is to love by preserving life.
In dealing with his extremely adversarial situation, St. Joseph did the most important step we have totally disregarded these days: silently pray to God for guidance and grace.
As a man, one can just imagine the many thoughts running through St. Joseph’s mind and heart when the woman he loves so much is found with a baby not his.
Sunrise at Atok, Benguet. Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, September 2019.
His decision to silently leave Mary was due to his great love for her, not in disregarding the letters of the Law that declares that any woman betrothed to a man who bears a child not his must be stoned to death.
Read again St. Matthew’s account we have quoted above and you will feel the solemnity of the scene, of “how the birth of Jesus Christ came about” according to St. Matthew.
There was no sense of agitation or any other negative vibes, purely positive.
Very clear, St. Joseph’s holiness was not merely due to his bloodline or genealogy but his decision to bridge his faith and religion with his life and daily practice.
St. Joseph must be so purely absorbed in prayer that even at his sleep, there was his continuing communing with God that when he woke up, “he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus” (Mt.1:24-25).
Finding holiness in adversarial situations
Almost every month we find in social media so many videos and reports of road rage and people freaking out everywhere.
Sometimes I think that with the presence of too many CCTV’s and prevalence of smart phones around, people should be more well behaved, more kind. But the exact opposite is happening!
Life has become one big, giant TV show with everybody grandstanding, artificially creating their own limelight of fame that usually turns into five minutes of shame and notoriety.
Everybody wants to be on TV or Youtube but unknown to many, television screens tend to bring out the worst in us.
Whenever I would see people with their smartphones taking pictures, “talking alone” and doing all those crazy scenes, I fear how most of us have drifted away from our real gounding in life, God.
The story of St. Joseph reminds us of the need to resolve every issues in our lives by going back to our roots and grounding, God. And this happens by being deeply in touch with life and its realities! He was truly grounded and knew what could happen to Mary.
The more we experience life in each other, the more we experience God.
And the more we look at God, the more we see others.
Such was the holiness of St. Joseph that in bridging his faith with his daily life, the deeper his love for God and Mary grew! In looking up to God, the more he saw Mary and so Jesus Christ came too!
Photo from Forbes.com via FB, June 2019.
This is the problem of our time: we keep on looking outside, somewhere else to find meaning and life, answers to our many questions.
We just have to look inside our hearts where God truly dwells like St. Joseph.
His being “whole” as a righteous man is the reason why he could sleep soundly in the midst of many crises in life as he completely trusted God. Indeed, St. Joseph’s silence is his most remarkable sign of holiness that even in his sleep, he is filled with God.
There are four instances in the gospel of St. Matthew when the angel spoke to St. Joseph to deliver messages from God. He can sleep soundly because he never dilly-dallied with important decisions in life like secretly divorcing Mary.
We cannot sleep not because we have big problems but because we refuse to make decisions about them.
The word crisis is from the Greek krisis that means “requiring decision”; hence, critical situations require decisions.
St. Joseph was decisive because he was always grounded in God, discerning always his holy will.
Photo by GMA News editor Ms. JJ Jimeno of a man losing his head in prayer at the UP Diliman Parish, June 2019.
In the first reading we heard the prophecy of the coming Christ who shall be called “the Lord our justice” (Jer.22:6). Again, in Jewish thought, justice is not merely giving what is due but also means holiness.
The coming Christ is the Holy One of God, one who would completely entrust himself to the Father on the Cross. Very much like his foster father, St. Joseph who trusted God completely.
Sleeping and dying are essentially the same in the closing of our eyes when we entrust ourselves to God completely without knowing what will happen next, if we would still wake up or, in the case of death, really rise again.
Christmas happens, Jesus comes to us when like St. Joseph we abandon everything to God, especially our “adversarial situations” and go to sleep to be ready and prepared for new, unexpected, and even incredible things in this life. Sleep tight, and be surprised by the Lord! Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 17 December 2019
Genesis 49:2.8-10 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Matthew 1:1-17
Parokya ng Banal na Mag-Anak, Violeta Village, Guiguinto, Bulacan. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago.
Today we shift our focus in our Advent preparations to the first coming of Jesus Christ when he was born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. Strictly speaking, the Christmas countdown officially starts only today especially with our very long but beautiful gospel from Matthew.
Maybe you are wondering what’s good with our gospel today when it is all about names that mostly sound very funny.
Importance of names: origin and mission
In ancient time, giving name to children was a very serious matter among peoples, especially the Jews.
For them, a name indicates two very important things about a person: one’s origin and mission in life, something parents of today have entirely forgotten, even ignorant because they are more concerned with fad and being unique in naming their children that always end up as a joke as it is always bizarre and weird.
And their poor kid suffers for the rest of his/her life like that man named “Fantastic”. All his life he felt so sad being called Fantastic that he told his wife when he dies, never put his name on his tombstone.
Eventually Mr. Fantastic died and the wife kept her promise not to put his name on his marker. But she felt the need to honor her beloved husband who was so good and honest that in lieu of his name, she asked a tribute written to honor him.
It said, “Here lies a very gentle and loving husband and father who never looked at other women except his wife.”
Every time passersby see and read that tribute, they would always exclaim “Fantastic!”
From Google.
Going back to the importance of giving names….
Corporations are more serious than parents in choosing names and trademarks to their products and services. Every trademark and brand always evokes deeper meanings than just being a product or entity that some of them have entered the vocabulary of many languages like Google, Xerox, and Frigidaire.
And the sad thing about this is how many babies are now being named to follow things and products than the other way around, giving more value to things than human beings!
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Matthew 1:1-2
Detail of the ceiling of Parokya ng Banal na Mag-anak after the front or main door: the genealogy of Jesus Christ that starts with Abraham. Great concept by the Parish Priest, Fr. Ed Rodriguez. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago.
Genealogy of Jesus as direction of Matthew’s Gospel
St. Matthew opens his gospel account with the genealogy of Jesus to settle right at the very start the question about the origin and mission of Jesus Christ.
Here we find the artistry and genius of St. Matthew, some 2000 years ahead of the late Stephen Covey’s third habit of highly effective people: “begin with an end in mind.”
By starting his genealogy with Abraham and David, St. Matthew gives us the whole gospel message in a glance because they are the two key figures in the beginning and realization of God’s promise to send Jesus Christ who would save us all.
Let us just focus on Abraham which means “he who is the father of many.”
It was to him that the story of God’s promise began after the dispersal of mankind following the collapse of the Tower of Babel.
From then on, Abraham points to what is ahead in God’s divine plan, not only for himself but also for the whole mankind for it is through him that blessings come to all. His journey from his birthplace of Ur into Canaan is symbolic of his journey from the present into the future, walking in faith following the Lord’s path and divine plan.
In Abraham we find God starting anew the history of mankind after the Fall that leads up to Jesus Christ who came to lead us all back into the Father.
With Abraham as the main header of Christ’s genealogy, we find not only the beginning but also the end of St. Matthew’s gospel which is the universality of God’s plan of salvation with Jesus telling his disciples to make disciples of all nations (Mt.28:19).
Detail of the ceiling near the sanctuary of Parokya ng Banal na Mag-Anak, the culmination of the genealogy of Jesus. Photo by Arch. Philip Santiago.
Imitating Abraham into our time
Last December 10 was a very important date for me and my parish: it was the ordination date of our first priest.
While waiting for the start of the Mass at the front door (which is actually the back of the Cathedral or any church), I just prayed in silence thinking about my role in the ordination of Fr. RA Valmadrid.
While I marveled at the beautiful renovations of our Cathedral, my sight was slowly moved towards the altar.
It was like an “Abraham experience” in Matthew’s genealogy for me: a wayfarer on a journey into the future, towards God, walking in faith.
In a quick glance, I kind of saw the future glory of every faithful coming to the altar to receive Jesus Christ in the sacraments especially the Holy Eucharist.
I just felt the beauty of entering the Cathedral, or any church which is more than stepping into a building but more of entering God himself, our point of origin and final destination.
Do we realize this tremendous blessing and grace of being baptized, of being a child of God, not only given with a name but most of all, of being counted into the family of God our Father?
In the first reading we have heard Jacob calling his 12 sons. What is so striking here is the blessing Jacob had bestowed upon Judah, instead of Joseph who was the best of all his sons, the holiest and most intelligent.
Like Abraham and Judah, or anyone in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we can find our own selves too not as the vida or contravida but simply being called to be God’s instrument in fulfilling his plan in sending his Son Jesus Christ.
Truth is, God always comes in the most unexpected situations and peoples most of the time.
In Christ Jesus through our Baptism and faith, we find our genealogy – our origin and mission – as children of God.
If you want to get a feel of this reality, try reading aloud, very slowly, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. At the end, include your self, mention your name, your mother and father. Then close your eyes and let your life flash back in silence.
In the silence of your heart, do you find God coming more to you than you to God?
So amazing, is it not? We are all part of Christ’s genealogy. Let’s bring him forth into the world in our life of faithful witnessing like Abraham. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe, 16 December 2019
Isaiah 56:1-3. 6-8 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 5:33-36
Our Parish Altar, Simbang Gabi 2018. Photo by author.
When we were still seminarians, our spiritual director became a victim of “hold-up” while walking home from an evening mass nearby. He is now a Trappist monk at Guimaras, a very kind and gentle priest we fondly call “Fr. Esteng”.
According to Fr. Esteng, everything happened so fast. But, after taking all his money, the suspect demanded Fr. Esteng’s big bag too, his “mass kit”. This time, Fr. Esteng refused to give into the demand of the hold-up man, insisting there’s nothing of value inside because they are things for celebrating the Mass of which no one would really buy.
To convince the hold-up man, Fr. Esteng got the “brilliant idea” of inviting the suspect to come with him to the seminary to get some food so he would no longer need more money.
Good that the hold up man did not accept the “invitation” of our good priest who got some “scolding” the following morning from his brother priests the following day after learning his brilliant idea, telling him to never to invite thieves into the seminary again!
“For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: Others will I gather to him besides those already gathered.”
Isaiah 56:7b-8
Inclusive God, exclusive people.
Praying at the Wall of Jerusalem Temple, 2017.
Welcome everyone!
It’s the start of our Simbang Gabi, our nine-day novena before the Lord’s birthday on Christmas.
God tells us in the first reading how he welcomes everyone into his house without any exceptions. That is how good and loving our God who is not contented in calling us all into his house but even sent us his only Son Jesus Christ to gather and lead us back to him.
Our God is very inclusive, always including everyone especially those rejected, those in the margins.
So unlike us people who are very exclusive and judgmental of others too.
We want everything exclusively ours. Just us. And when we meet strangers, those who do not look like us or do not speak and dress like us, we feel uncomfortable.
Worst is when we meet people of different faith and beliefs that we feel uneasy and even threatened simply because they are not like us!
It is good that for this final year before we celebrate our 500 years of Christianization, our bishops have dedicated 2020 to be the “Year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue, and Indigenous Peoples”.
This is to “celebrate human fraternity by promoting the culture of dialogue as a path of peace.” The Church wants to “work for unity and harmony while respecting diversity and to recognize peoples’ identities, spiritualities and ancestral domain.”
Logo for the Year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue, and Indigenous Peoples.
Jesus told the crowd, “But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.”
John 5:36
See everyone and everything in Christ.
In our gospel today, Jesus was questioned by the Jews for healing a man sick for 38 years on a sabbath day at Bethesda.
Jesus was so different from them who have fallen into rituals and replaced God himself with their laws and traditions. They wanted Jesus stopped and even put to death simply because he did things so differently when, in fact, he was trying to bring back what was lost like the precedence of God and human life over laws and rituals.
Pope Francis reminds us that the Church exists to remind us that God loves and welcomes everyone. He is absolutely right that so often it happens right in our churches, in our celebrations we go on our own exclusivistic ways forgetting we are supposed to be a community.
On this first day of our Simbang Gabi, let us focus more on Jesus so we may find him among other people easily because when we are focused with our “work” and ministry, the more we see ourselves and forget Christ among the poor and marginalized.
Do we find Jesus when we serve and celebrate the liturgy or do we simply have ourselves?
Is it Jesus Christ whom we share with others in our dealings and service in the Church or our proud self?
Where is Jesus really in our lives today that we simply do things for the sake of doing it, because it is a tradition and not because of a personal conviction and relationship with him?
Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday, 15 December 2019
Isaiah 35:1-6, 10 ><}}}*> James 5:7-10 ><}}}*> Matthew 11:2-11
Malolos Cathedral, 10 December 2019. Photo by author.
For most people, our title is something odd and weird, perhaps even an oxymoron, for how can waiting be joyful and patient?
Many people hate to wait. Waiting for them is a waste of time because they believe it is an activity that is empty, full of risks of leading to nothing and disappointments. That is why they make all kinds of excuses in having all the devices and gadgets they need to busy themselves with while they are – after all – still “waiting”!
This Season of Advent is the most opportune time to rediscover the beauty and joy of patient waiting, especially this Third Sunday known as “Gaudete Sunday” from the Latin gaudere, to rejoice.
Advent teaches us that waiting is both joyful and patient; that it is more than an activity but a being that is always indicative of having something leading to fullness!
Our Parish altar, Gaudete 2019.
Patience is waiting that leads to fulfillment.
Pink is our motif this Third Sunday of Advent to signify joy in waiting for the Lord’s Second Coming. Waiting is an experience in itself filled with joy – if we really know how to wait patiently.
Patience is from the Latin word patior, to suffer. Its Greek origin is hupomone that suggests continuance and submission that literally means “submissive waiting”.
Both in its Latin and Greek origins, patience is a condition or a being of willing to wait because it knows there is something coming. It is never empty: you patiently wait because you already have something, you are holding onto something already. We wait in line whether in the grocery or at the doctor’s clinic because we know we would be attended to later. We wait precisely because we have something – almost – but not yet.
In this sense, patient waiting is more than an activity but more of a being and a condition that leads us to trust and faith, then into hope, and eventually into fullness.
Impatient people cannot wait because they do not see beyond the present condition. Their perceptions are very limited that they have to satisfy their wants immediately, just like our culture of instants these days or the so-called IGG for “Instant Gratification Generation”.
The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing
Isaiah 35:1-2, 3-6
An oasis in the Dead Sea desert, May 2017. Photo by author.
Intimacy: the joy of patient waiting
There are three key personalities in Advent: Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Isaiah saw the coming of the Christ from a very distant past while John pointed everyone that the awaited one has already come. Mary, on the other hand, celebrated Advent because she brought forth Jesus in her womb.
Today we are joined by Isaiah and John the Baptist to complete our joy of patient waiting that Christ in fact is already with us though not yet…
In our first reading we have seen the imagery of the desert like last Sunday in John’s preaching. The desert evokes the feeling of nothingness and emptiness like waiting itself as most people think.
But, in the bible since the time of Abraham, the desert is the favorite place where God would always meet with people. It was always in the desert where the prophets and the people waited and experienced God.
Wild flowers in the desert of Jordan, May 2019.
So you see, my dear reader and follower, the desert is more than a place but also the intimacy of God with his people and later with his Son Jesus Christ who would always go to the desert or deserted place to pray like in the Transfiguration, or when he prayed and fasted for 40 days and nights before being tempted by the devil after his baptism by John at Jordan. It was also in the desert where Jesus did many of his memorable conversations that led to conversions like at Jacob’s well where he met a Samaritan woman one hot afternoon.
Examine your lives, dear reader and follower: it is always in the desert of our lives, in its bareness and desolation, when we are empty and thirsty when we truly experienced God closest.
Isaiah spoke of this prophecy when the Israelites were at their lowest point of misery and defeat as exiles in a pagan country with no freedom, no temple, even no God.
When we are full of material things, full of ourselves, when everything is going so perfectly well in life, that is when we are ironically shallow and superficial. What really deepened us in life are those desert moments of tribulations and trials because that is when we have found and rediscovered true intimacy – with God and with our loved ones!
Patient waiting is a desert full of joy because that is where we experience intimacy and fullness, the tension of the already here but not yet, not only with God but also with one another.
Here we find St. James imagery of the farmer as finest example of patient waiting, of trusting in God that what we have sown would grow and be fruitful. Despite our culture of instants, there are so many things that cannot be rushed, when we have to patiently wait in time like intimacy.
How do we recognize our true friends? They are the ones who always stand by our side especially when we our down and out, the ones who accompany us in our patient waiting when we are in the middle of a storm, or in the desert, desolate.
Malolos Cathedral Dome, December 2019. Photo by author.
Proceeding in joy in the presence of the Lord
One problem with waiting is when we are superseded by our so many expectations that may also be unrealistic. We hate waiting, we stop hoping because we feel disappointed and frustrated because we do not get what we really expect from our waiting.
The problem is with us, not with waiting itself. So often we await things instead of persons. To wait in joy with patience demands openness for the one who is coming not on what is coming.
True waiting is always about persons, not things. Waiting is beautiful and joyful because you are not alone in waiting, there is always another person waiting for you, waiting with you. And when we finally meet with the one we are waiting, then we have presence!
This is why the synonym for gift is also present, from presence.
Every waiting is directed to another person who also awaits the other person. When we focus our waiting on things than persons, then we miss everything in our waiting which is the presence of the other person.
This is the meaning of the response of Jesus to the emissaries of John.
Camp John Hay “Belen”, December 2017.
When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.”
Matthew 11:2-5
Jesus was telling the emissaries of John that the one they have been waiting had come, already present among the people especially the sick and the poor. God had come in the midst of his people, healing them, consoling them, uplifting them.
This Third Sunday of Advent, Jesus is asking us like the crowds: what are we looking for, what are we waiting for? Set aside or totally forget all your expectations, open yourself, open your heart, open your eyes to see and experience the presence of the Christ who had come, who will come again, and always comes among us.
Indeed, we are so blessed because despite our being sinful, of being the least in the kingdom of heaven, we have Jesus coming to us day in, day out. Share his coming, share his healing, share his joy! Amen.
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