The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul, Saturday, Easter Week-IV, 09 May 2020
Acts of the Apostles 13:44-52 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> John 14:7-14
According to Pope Francis, the serpent is the first peddler of “fake news” when it deceived Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit in Paradise. Photo from gettyimages.com.
As we end another week O Lord, we pray this time for those who refuse to follow your path of truth. We pray for all trolls and peddlers of fake news and lies, including those who concoct and spread nasty and malicious talks about us.
The gossipers and slanderers.
We pray for them, Jesus, that they may finally come to their senses to see and accept the realities around them.
We pray that they may stop living in darkness, speaking of lies that have destroyed many good names and have caused so much heartaches to those they have maligned.
How sad, O Lord, that these liars and trolls are using the modern means of communications to spread their fake news and lies and gossips to mislead a nation, destroy families and organizations.
Photo by author, February 2020.
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we saw how Jews were filled with jealousy against Paul and Barnabas while proclaiming your Gospel at the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia.
Not contented in engaging your apostles into “violent abuse of contradicting” their teachings, they also “incited the women of prominence and leading men of the city” to persecute Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:45, 50) because they cannot accept the truth, they cannot accept you, Jesus.
And that continues to happen today when people cannot accept you as Lord and God who truly loves us, forgiving our sins and setting us free to become better persons despite our sins and weaknesses.
Keep us faithful to your words, Lord, and purify our minds and our hearts that we may be one with you in the Father in thoughts, words, and deeds.
Likewise, we pray for everyone that we may always be on guard in examining information and stories we read and hear in order to stop the spread of fake news and lies. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 29 April 2020
Photo by author, 2010.
This is again for my brother priests and fellow workers in Church communication: our extended “enhanced community quarantine” is a call for us to rediscover the contemplative spirit so essential in our communication apostolate. It is best that before we go in front of the camera, before we post anything at all, or even before we go out doing our social action, let us first have Jesus Christ in us.
After all, it is always Jesus and only Jesus we bring as priests in everything we say and do. Jesus is our life as priests and without him, our works mean nothing. Worst, it may be happening that it is not Jesus whom we are following when we fail to spend time with him in serious prayers that unknown to us, we are already replacing him by creating our own ministry apart from him.
Incidentally, we are celebrating today the Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena who is considered as one of the patron saints for those working in telecommunications and TV stations.
In one of her numerous “ecstatic” visions, it is said that when she was so sick in her room, she begged the Lord to give her a glimpse of the celebration of the Mass in their chapel. The Lord heard her prayer and thus, she became the first person in history to have celebrated Mass by “remote telecast”!
From Google.
Faith and technology
We have mentioned in our previous reflection that we now live our faith in a mass-mediated culture. Media is all around us. And there is always that intense temptation by the devil to put us on TV and the internet to be popular.
So, how do we interact with technology on a daily basis?
What are we posting on Facebook? Are we like the rest who are also hooked into TikTok with all the inanities that go with it?
How much time do we spend for social media and Netflix these days?
And how many hours do we spend before the Blessed Sacrament, excluding our Liturgy of the Hours and praying of the Holy Rosary?
From Google.
We are familiar with Marshall McLuhan’s dictum “the medium is the message”.
This we have seen in the past very evident in our ministry when some priests have transformed the South American telenovelas and later Koreanovelas into a gospel too that people felt like listening to reviews during the homily. And it had given some people the idea that every homily of the priest must say something about television shows! In fact, about three years ago, some priests have to be reminded by the CBCP during the Simbang Gabi to focus only on the Word of God and not on TV shows and jokes to get the attention of their congregation during Mass.
But let us not forget that later in his life, McLuhan added to his dictum that “the medium is the massage” to warn us that sooner or later, we can be eaten up by media that everything is reduced into a show – or a palabas in Filipino that means outward.
That is what a show is, a palabas which is empty or walang laman.
And shallow, mababaw.
That is the sorry state of our many social communication efforts in the Church when we have Masses that have become like entertainment shows, priests becoming entertainers, church buildings and decors that look like videoke bars evoking none of the sacred, and tarps and posters that are all hype without any evangelical meaning.
Observe also how our presentations and shows in our Catholic schools and parish halls have become mere repetitions of what are on television that have left many of us now stuck in Emmaus who could no longer find the way back to Jerusalem, even to Jesus because all we see are the fun and excitement, the glitz and the glamor of media.
And of our massaged ego.
Road to Emmaus from clarusonline.it
Keeping technology in its place in the Church
We are not saying modern communications is evil; the Church has always been clear that these modern means of communications are in fact a gift from God. Vatican II asserts that it is Church’s “birthright” to use and own these modern means of communication for evangelization (Inter Mirifica, 3)
Our challenge in the Church is to keep these modern technologies in its proper place.
A technological culture is not the most hospitable environment for religious belief, but neither is it necessarily hostile. If we are to find a way of expressing our faith in this technological culture and of speaking to and with the people formed by this culture we need to take time to consider how we, as individuals and as a faith community, interact with technology on a daily basis.
James Mcdonnell, Communicating the Gospel in a Technological Age: Rediscovering the Contemplative Spirit (1989)
In a story posted by the CBCP News two days ago, it reported the experience of Filipino priest Fr. Jun Villanueva who contracted the dreaded COVID-19 disease in New York City last March shortly after he had arrived to study there.
Assigned in a parish in the heart of the Big Apple, Fr. Villanueva tells how he spent his days of being “alone literally and emotionally” as “moments with God”. But, his turning point came after recovering from the corona virus when he began celebrating Mass alone:
“I really cried when I first celebrated Mass without churchgoers. There’s no one in the Church except Jesus,” he recalled. “Then I realized that the Mass is not a show but our union with Jesus, whether there are people or none,” he said. “I started to look at the situation from that perspective”.
Fr. Jun Villanueva, CBCP News, 27 April 2020
That is the first step needed to put technology in its proper place in the Church: that we bring back Jesus Christ whom we have banished in the name of our ministry and vocation. The more we think of putting so much “art” and other things to “enhance” our liturgies, then we banish Jesus Christ.
This is the other pandemic we have refused to stop in the Church: triumphalism, the overdoing of things for God that in the process we actually put more of ourselves in the ministry and liturgy than of the Holy.
Is there anyone or anything greater than the Lord?
Remember St. Theresa of Avila: Solo dios basta!
And, like our saints who guide us closer to God, the only way to have Jesus and bring him back in our lives and ministry, in the church as institution and building is through the contemplative spirit of the priests.
It is a good thing that the catch call these days is that the “return to normal” is actually a “return to basics” like washing of hands, covering of mouths when sneezing, and most of all, a return to God.
From Google.
The spirits of modernity characterized by constant changes and technological efficiency do not jibe so well with the demands of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who have always reminded us of guarding against the temptations of the material world.
Jesus tells us to practice poverty but the world tells us to be wealthy.
Jesus asks us to forget ourselves and follow him but the world tells us to be popular and follow the limelight.
Jesus tells us to go down and be humble but the world tells us to rise up and go higher!
The other day, Jesus reminded us in the gospel:
“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
John 6:27
Most of the time in the Church and in our lives as priests, we have to be “inefficient” like “waste time” doing nothing in front of the Blessed Sacrament; have less of everything like food, money and clothing; be silent to listen more than to speak and talk more.
The contemplative spirit is about poverty and going down while the world tells us to be wealthy and to rise and go upwards.
The contemplative spirit is to be silent and trusting always in the Lord rather than relying on our own powers and abilities.
Here is James McDonnell again on the need to rediscover the contemplative spirit in communicating the gospel in this modern time.
“The contemplative spirit is an attitude of mind and heart that enables us to focus on the essential, important things. It refuses to be hurried or rushed into premature rejection or acceptance of technology. If we Christians allow it to inform our use of communication technologies we shall learn to be realistic, but always hopeful, able to love and reverence our culture even as we strive, with God’s help, to transform it.”
Communicating the Gospel in a Technological Age: Rediscovering the Contemplative Spirit (1989)
Take heart, my dear brother priests: we are representatives of Jesus Christ, our Eternal Priest. We are not entertainers and pleasers of anyone but of God alone. We do not need followers and likers. And we have so many other things to do than TikTok and Facebook or Instagram.
Let us go back to Nazareth to be silent and hidden so we can return to Jerusalem to await for further instructions from the Lord. Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 26 April 2020
This is for my brother priests and fellow communicators in the church who might be failing to recognize Jesus Christ along the way and sadly, stuck at Emmaus.
That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the tings that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
Luke 24:13-16
We live our faith today in a mass-mediated culture.
Media is all around us.
Vatican II tells us that these modern means of communications are gifts from God that are “necessary for the formation of Christians and for pastoral activity” (Inter Mirifica, 3).
Communication is a sharing in the power of God who created everything by just saying “Let there be…”. When this power to communicate is mishandled and eventually abused, sooner or later, it can blind us and prevent us from recognizing Jesus in our midst.
And sadly, it is already happening.
Even before the start of the enhanced community quarantine, many of us were already using the various platforms of social media proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
But, are our hearts still burning deep inside in him and for him?
Is Jesus still the One we are proclaiming, or are we now trying to be like the so-called “influencers” of the secular world that we are more preoccupied and focused with gimmicks and antics, shows and bravaduras for the sake of followers and likes?
Are our hearts still burning with the Sacred Scriptures or the words of the world that we have made our ambos and altars like studios and stage complete with all the props to tickle the bones of people than build up their faith and experience Jesus?
On the road to Emmaus, after Cleopas had expressed their feelings and thoughts to Jesus, he and his companion fell silent and simply listened to Jesus explaining the Sacred Scriptures. No need to shout or mimic voices.
No need to keep on clapping hands like in a circus or even dance like Salome who later asked for the head of St. John the Baptist.
It is sad that on the road to Emmaus, it has become our monologue, our show that Jesus can no longer speak.
Remember that “in the beginning was the word, and the word became flesh”: God’s communication is always preceded by silence.
Even in the road to Emmaus, there was total silence when Jesus spoke that the two disciples were silent that they felt their hearts burning.
As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them…
Luke 24:28-33
The Mass and our Priesthood are both a mystery so unique especially for us. It is something beyond explanation without much physical descriptions but more of inner recognition.
Exactly like Easter: the moment we recognize Jesus in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, he vanishes because he is more than enough than anybody or anything else in the Mass and in our ministry in general.
Even in our very own lives!
St. Mother Teresa asked us priests long ago to “always give (them) Jesus, only Jesus”. And that will always be valid until the end of time when Jesus comes again.
And here lies the great lesson for us from Emmaus: the more we try harder, insisting on giving “physical appearances” of Jesus in our celebrations with our showbiz kind of preaching complete with a song and dance number to the excessive use of modern means of communications like slide presentations during homilies to our “creative liturgies” that are very distracting to other trappings of overdoing everything called “triumphalism” — that is when we BANISH Jesus from the scene.
In Emmaus, Jesus vanished when the disciples’ eyes were opened.
In some Masses today, unfortunately, Jesus is banished and many eyes are not only left closed but sadly, even blinded.
“Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio.
We are priests called to preside the celebration of the Eucharist in persona Christi.
We priests do not own the Mass and we cannot insist on whatever we want to do, even if it is very pleasing and delighting to the senses of the people.
Do away wit all those “styles” and gimmicks.
Jesus saved us not with activities; Jesus saved us by dying on the Cross.
If all we are concerned with is to “feel good”, to tickle our bones and senses, our eyes – and those of the people we serve and bring closer to God would never be opened to recognize Jesus Christ.
Our Masses and other celebrations need only Jesus, always Jesus.
There is no need to put our pictures in every tarpaulin or announcement. Rest assured that every disciple of Jesus is always good-looking and handsome. Believe. And stop bragging it.
Let us have him always and let others recognize him from within. If there is no inner recognition of Jesus, maybe we have never met him at all. Neither in Emmaus nor in Jerusalem nor in our selves.
A blessed week ahead of you, my brother priests and fellow communicators of Christ, in Christ.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 April 2020
Detail of “The Temptation of Jesus According to St. Matthew” on the wall of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, Italy. Photo from psephizo.com.
English journalist and satirist Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) said in his book “Christ and the Media” (1978) that if Jesus Christ were still with us in this age, the devil would have surely tested him a fourth time in the wilderness with, “I will put you on TV“.
So true!
Muggeridge has been proven right especially in the last 40 years when television has become the new “altar” not only in homes but everywhere, including in our churches that has made the sacred so ordinary, almost profane with priests speaking and moving more like entertainers with the Mass becoming quite like a variety show, complete even with raffles and prizes!
That is why we priests have to restudy again and review Church teachings on social communication during this long quarantine period. And pray more intensely on our next moves after COVID-19.
Although the corona pandemic has given the much-needed push for our social communication ministry in the church, it is my firm belief that the post-COVID 19 scene can be misleading if not handled properly at this stage.
This early, we can see some abuses in the celebrations of the Holy Mass on TV as well as in other similar platforms like Facebook live.
But the most serious danger now becoming so clear and present are some of us priests totally “lost in media” who have become the center of attractions, pushing Jesus Christ out of the total picture.
Communication is sharing in the power of God
Communication is power. In the story of creation, God created everything by merely saying the words “Let there be…” and everything came into being. Our ability to communicate intelligibly unlike other creatures is a tremendous gift from God which is a sharing in his power to communicate.
This is explains the simple reason that when we love a person, we always talk; any lack of communication is a sign of a breakdown in the relationship like when husband and wife or lovers have “LQ”.
We have seen in recent years with the advent of smartphones how powerful can communication be that it can build or destroy anyone with a single “click”.
Or, how our ego is massaged when we are the first to break a news on Facebook or when our posts get viral or trending!
See how the most influential and highest paid people are always the ones on TV.
The seal of “Good Housekeeping” on every product had been replaced with “As Seen on TV!” as mark of good quality of anything being sold.
To succeed in any war campaign or coup d’etat, military handbooks now give top priority in first neutralizing TV and radio stations to ensure victory.
And, sadly also due to this power of TV, every political career is now launched first on television that is why we have more actors and actresses than solons and statesmen in the corridors of power.
How amazing that it is the fictional character Spider-Man, one of the top grossing film franchise in recent years, is the one who reminds us that “with great power comes great responsibility”.
In the Old Testament, people prided themselves in building the tower of Babel that reaches to heaven that God confused them with different languages causing its collapse. The reverse happened in the New Testament when during the Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit so people could understand each other despite their different languages and the Holy Church was built up.
When communication is seen in the right perspective, it becomes a spirituality because it is always a sharing in the power of God which is love.
“Communication is more than the expression of ideas and the indication of emotion. At its most profound level, it is the giving of self in love. Christ’s communication was, in fact, spirit and life. In the institution of the Holy Eucharist, Christ gave us the most perfect, most intimate form of communion between God and man possible in this life, and out of this, the deepest possible unity between men. further, Christ communicated to us his life-giving Spirit, who brings all men together in unity.
Pastoral Instruction on the Means of Social Communication (Communio et progressio), #11
Communication is spirituality, the sharing of Jesus Christ
Church communication, specifically the communication by every priest is communicating Jesus Christ, the eternal Word who became flesh.
Our mission as priests according to Vatican II as “man of the Word of the living God” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 4) is to primarily share Jesus Christ.
My spiritual director and mentor, truly another father and dad to me, Rev. Fr. Franz-Josef Eilers, svd would always tell me….
“Priesthood is for the service of the Lord and a priest should reflect it. He is not to become a ‘star’ with the public but rather another Jesus figure in humble service of the Lord… The test for a good priest is the depth and power of his spiritual life and being with the Lord. Can you imagine saints like John Vianney and John XXIII as television stars? If the media would report about their life, it is ok; but they themselves should not appear as “star” but rather as servants of the Lord. And this is reflected in their spiritual life and not any ‘show’…”
Personal notes with Fr. Eilers
What a tragedy when we priests are more after the number of followers and likes, forgetting the fact that Jesus himself had only 12 followers with one betrayer among them!
What a tragedy when we priests, starting from the seminary, has always been speaking and working around “Galilee” without any moments of silence and hiddenness of Nazareth and of the desert and wilderness.
All the spiritual masters from the apostolic period down to this modern age of Nouwen and Merton, including the secular Pico Iyer have always emphasized silence and solitude or stillness in prayer before the world and the Lord to truly have impact in this world.
We are priests asked to be the mouth and arms and limbs and legs of Jesus Christ. We are not replacing but merely representing Jesus Christ for it is him who is going to change the world, not us. Our task is to be filled always with Jesus Christ, to be like Jesus Christ, to share always and only Jesus Christ.
Like St. John the Baptist, our attitude toward Jesus and our communication ministry must always be “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn.3:30).
Then why all our pictures in every post, in every announcement?
If we firmly believe in Jesus, we do not need pomp and pageantry and all the gimiks and antics in our celebrations of the Mass or announcements of recollections or bible studies. People would always surely come for Jesus Christ who is more than anybody else.
The primacy of Christ in every Church communication
Long before Canadian philosopher and communication researcher Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) came up with his dictum “the medium is the message”, there has always been the towering figure of St. Augustine in early Church communication process.
In the fourth book of his “Doctrina Cristiana” (Christian Doctrine), he noted that in Christian communication, the process always begins with the Message, Jesus Christ.
Hence, whereas we normally find the process as:
SENDER —> MESSAGE —-> RECEIVER ;
in Church communication, it is always:
MESSAGE (JESUS CHRIST) —> SENDER —> RECEIVER.
When there is a breakdown in this flow of communication, especially by a priest, there is already a problem. When it is the priest who is always in the limelight, always his photo hogging whatever communication platform it may be, or when the homily has become more to delight and tickle the senses, it is a sign of falling into the fourth temptation.
Sooner or later, it will not be surprising that during consecration, instead of experiencing and realizing Jesus saying “This is my Body will be given up for you”, what the priest may be revealing is that “This is my body. Be envious.”
Soon, Father will be endorsing products and services, entering into various contracts in the name of the Church, hanging out in the most expensive restaurants, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, leaving Jesus behind among the poor and worst — alone in the Blessed Sacrament because Father is so busy with his “shootings” and media appearances.
And that is when he forgets being a priest, forgets Jesus Christ until it is too late, he had fallen into the trap of the devil as sex and financial scandals unfold, hurting the Church, hurting Jesus Christ, hurting himself and everybody else in the process.
Anybody can always be a good speaker and orator. But not everybody is called to speak for the Lord. Let us not waste it nor abuse it. Most of all, let us not disappoint the Lord who has called us not because we are good but because he is good!
May this quarantine period be another wilderness experience for us priests and communication ministers in the church so we may empty ourselves to be filled with Jesus Christ the Perfect Communicator we must share and proclaim. Amen.
40 Shades of Lent, Sunday Week II-A, 08 March 2020
Genesis 12:1-4 +++ 2 Timothy 1:8-10 +++ Matthew 17:1-9
“Creation of Adam” by Michaelangelo at Sistine Chapel, the Vatican. From Wikipedia.
Touch is a very powerful word – literally and figuratively speaking. We say “we are touched” when we are deeply moved by words or music, gestures, acts, and scenes that need not be so spectacular because to touch is about making a connection, a communion of persons.
A touch can be so powerful that when filled with love and sincerity, it can transform the person being touched. Experts say that a touch of about five seconds is worth more than 300 words of encouragement and praise!
And that is why our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God is a certified “touch person” who always reached out to people by physically touching them, embracing them to make them feel his loving presence, his mercy, and most of all, his healing.
Almost all his healings were done by touching the sick when he would lay his hands on them like with the blind Bartimaeus on the street of Jericho.
There were times Jesus held up the hand of the sick to raise them up from their bed like Peter’s mother-in-law and the daughter of Jairus. Sometimes in rare occasions, Jesus healed in the most bizarre ways with his sense of touch like with that deaf in Decapolis.
He (Jesus) put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).
Mark 7:33-34
In Nain, Jesus raised to life the son of a widow by touching the coffin – not the dead – by saying, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” that everyone was amazed, saying “the Lord has visited his people”.
Jesus never missed an occasion without personally touching another person, especially the children like when he caught his disciples driving them away.
“Jesus blessing Little Children”, painting by British North American Benjamin West PRA (1781). Photo from wikipedia.
It is perhaps one of the most touching story of Jesus touching others when he told his disciples to “let the children come to me for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, after which he embraced them, laid his hands on them and blessed them.
How blessed were those children must be to be embraced and laid with hands on by Jesus! According to tradition, one of those kids embraced and blessed by Jesus was St. Ignatius of Antioch who became a bishop and martyr in the early Church.
That is the transforming power of the touch by Jesus that children are blessed, the sick are healed by restoring their sight or cleansing their skin of leprosy, forgiving the sinners, giving hope to the poor. His touch is always a part of his proclamation of the good news to the people.
Jesus continues to touch us today in every Mass we celebrate when he first speaks to us in the scriptures, trying to make us feel our “hearts burn inside” like the disciples going home to Emmaus on Easter Sunday; and secondly, when he gives us his Body and Blood to partake in the Holy Eucharist.
Most of all, Jesus continues to literally touch us today through one another in our loving service to one another as a community of his disciples.
But, in this age of social media when every communication is mediated by gadgets and other instruments, this kind of personal communication is something we have all been missing because we have stopped touching Jesus, touching others too.
And this is what the second Sunday of Lent is trying to remind us today in the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Transfiguration of Jesus, communion of God with us
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them… a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
Matthew 17:1-2, 5-7
“Transfiguration of Jesus” by Raphael from wikipedia.
We hear this story of the Transfiguration of Jesus twice every year: the Second Sunday of Lent and the sixth of August for the Feast of the Transfiguration. At this time of the year, the Transfiguration story is heard in relation with the Lord’s coming Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
At his Transfiguration, Jesus made it very clear that his glory and divinity must always be seen in the light of his Cross for it is only with his Cross that he can be correctly recognized as the Christ. It is on the Cross where Jesus truly touches us too in our personhood, in our humanity.
See how the three disciples were seized with fear upon hearing the voice of the Father while a bright cloud cast a vast shadow over them; but, it was right in that “tremendum fascinans” that we also find the intimacy, the closeness of God to us through Jesus Christ when he touched the three disciples.
Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
Matthew 17:7
And that is the good news for us all!
God had chosen to be so close to us in his Son Jesus Christ who touches us most not only in glory but most especially in moments of trials and tribulations! It is on the Cross where humanity and the divine truly become one in Jesus, when that personal and loving touch of Jesus becomes transformative and even performative.
This is the reason St. Paul exhorted Timothy to “bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2Tim.1:8) because oneness with Jesus always starts at the cross!
This is very true with us too when we only come to realize who are our true friends, our BFF’s when they are personally one with us in our trials and tribulations, not only in times we are well and good.
True transformation in Jesus can only happen when we are willing to be one with him, to be in touch with him in his passion and death for it is the only path to his Easter glory of transfiguration.
Touch communication vs. mediated communication
From Forbes.com
How sad that in this age of modern communications that have shrunk the world into a “global village” with instant communications that instead of growing together we have grown more apart than ever from each other.
We have lost real communications that lead to communion of persons or unity of people because we have become more concerned with the techniques of communication, more of skills and gadgets than of persons.
That is the meaning of media or “mediated communication” where there is always a medium between or among persons like cellphones and gadgets.
No more interpersonal relationships, making us more isolated and alienated, leading to growing problems of loneliness, depression, and suicides.
How frustrating sometimes to attend social functions like dinners and weddings where everyone is more busy and interested with their cellphones than with persons beside them!
Aside from isolation from persons, we have also grown “out of touch” with reality itself when more and more people are retreating into their own small worlds like cocoons with wires attached into their ears while their eyes fixated on screens oblivious to the world around them.
We have become so out of touch with ourselves and with others that more and more we are becoming like porcupines – we have not only stopped getting in touch with others but even hurt others if ever we touch them!
From Google.
Parents, lovers, couples, even people we trust like priests and religious sometimes hurt us with their touch instead of healing us, comforting us. Nobody would want to go through the Passion of the Cross anymore that we would rather stay on top of the mountain, of everything to be delighted with our perceived power and glory.
So unlike in our first reading where we get the feel and touch of real encounter in persons between God and Abraham. Note how in just four verses the word “bless” used five times by God to Abraham, promising to bless him more if he leaves his kin to follow him to the land he would give him.
In their conversation, we find a very personal and engaging communication, as if God and Abraham were literally in touch with each other, where there is personal contact and communication.
We know this for a fact at how effective and more reliable are personal interactions in communication than mediated ones through phones and email – personal communications always have that feel and touch that enable us to negotiate further and be more fruitful.
This Season of Lent, the Father is asking us to be in touch with him again by listening to the words of his Son Jesus who asks us only one thing: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. Let us heed him, touch him, and allow him to touch us again to be healed and transformed.
May you be touched as you touch also others in the most loving way this Sunday throughout the whole week! Amen.
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 December 2019
From Netflix.
As early as Friday night after my second Simbang Gabi Mass at 8:30, I have been wanting to react on social media against Netflix’s “The Two Popes”.
But I tried to control my self because I have only seen its first 30 minutes – and besides, it is a fiction story. So, in the spirit of fairness, I tried to finish the movie in three installments until Saturday afternoon before making any comments.
And I felt sad in having seen it at all.
“The Two Popes” is not entertaining. It is misleading without any strong elements to build on our faith and appreciate our religion. At its worst, despite its claim of being inspired by true events, the movie is unCatholic and unChristian.
From Google.
UnCatholic and UnChristian
Movies about religions and religious figures and personalities are always controversial by nature. But for as long as they follow the paths of honesty, sincerity, and truth, these movies eventually emerge as true expressions of art that can truly deepen one’s faith.
But “The Two Popes” at its opening scene is already disturbing and objectionable when it portrayed the Cardinals at the 2005 conclave as having animosity and rivalry among themselves in electing Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Yes, we priests including bishops and Cardinals are all humans like anybody else but no one among us would ever dare to aspire for the papacy. While it is true there are some priests who are into “careerism” in the diocesan level, everything changes starting with the episcopacy or the office of the bishop.
In fact, part of the problem why we have so many vacant dioceses in the country and the whole world is that many priests refuse to accept their appointment as bishops because of many fears that are so real that come with the immense responsibilities of the position. According to the Vatican, three out of every ten priests offered to become bishops decline the offer personally made by the Pope through his Papal Nuncio in every country.
How much more with the Papacy?!
In the movie, Pope Benedict toured Cardinal Bergoglio inside the Sistine Chapel and showed him the “crying room” where the newly elected Pope may stay and cry – yes – before finally accepting his election as Pope.
That alone is true but not the movie portrayal during the conclave that claim Cardinals aspiring to become the Pope. It is something preposterous and totally untrue.
Catholic World Report
What is very disturbing in “The Two Popes” is how it presented Cardinal Ratzinger and Cardinal Bergoglio like “lowlife” lawmakers of congress gunning for the top post for prestige and power with their respective bloc members going around in hushed conversations with matching dagger looks at each other.
This is the movie’s weakest point: rather than being seen as something about deepening our faith in God and the institutional Church or any established religion for that matter, it played on “politics” in the guise of showing the flaws and frailties of two popes competing for position and fame.
You might say “it is just a movie” but, not everyone can rightly see whatever good intentions – if it really has – that the movie is trying to present.
Instead of enlightening the viewers in their faith to the Church in general, there was something sinister in the way it presented almost everyone except Cardinal Bergoglio.
Behind the movie’s beautiful cinematography and studio sets are “subliminal messages” as if inciting viewers to dismiss the Catholic Church and other religions because they are all the same – run by egoistic, power hungry people enjoying so many luxuries in life that the common masses could not even imagine to exist.
We priests are sinners and though there are some of us who have sold Jesus like Judas Iscariot for the price of wealth and fame, there are much too many who still work in silence and hiddenness and holiness bringing Christ to the people.
The Catholic Church has continued to exist since Christ’s ascension because the good shepherds like Jesus have always far outnumbered the rotten ones. Hence, those scenes repeated twice or thrice of Pope Benedict worried with his “popularity” are outrageously absurd!
The Catholiy abc Sun.
Bias against Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
The movie is supposed to show us how two great men of God, of divergent backgrounds and worlds apart, resolved their many conflicts within themselves and with others regarding their faith and ministry and mission in leading the Catholic Church.
Both actors, especially Anthony Hopkins did superb jobs in playing their roles.
The movie tried to show the triumph of the Divine in mysterious ways we can never explain nor understand using men of limitations and weaknesses.
What makes “The Two Popes” so unkind and unchristian is the fact that it is more about Pope Francis as the vida and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as contravida. It could have been better if the producers just centered on the present Holy Father as basis of their film and called it “The Pope”. Period.
How can it be a film about faith and religion when the plot itself is unfair and grossly biased against the supposed co-star who is also a Pope?
The movie is also unfair to Pope Francis who would surely never allow himself to be praised and exalted at the expense of the Pope Emeritus or any other person, whether in real life or fiction.
This for me is the most unkindest cut of all in this Netflix movie that fans the many wrong impressions fed on by media against Cardinal Josef Ratzinger since his being the Prefect of Sacred Congregation of Doctrine and Faith during the time of St. John Paul II.
Throughout the film, it is very evident at how the Pope Emeritus is put on the bad light as if he never cared at all about actual situations in the Church and in the world, from the sex scandals to issues on celibacy among other things because he is so absorbed in his intellectual pursuits in the world of books and the academe.
We are of Christ
In 1963, the American film “The Cardinal” was released, earning six Academy Awards and very positive reviews for excellently portraying Catholic religion amid issues of interfaith marriage, sex outside marriage, abortion, racism, and dictatorships set during the Second World War.
It was also inspired by true events based on the life of the late Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York.
Its music theme has become a classic piece too that we have all learned by heart while still in high school seminary.
I can still remember the film that showed in a very positive light the main character with all his flaws and shortcomings as a person, as a priest. No need to put other characters down just to underscore his goodness.
The film had a Vatican liaison officer in the person of the young German priest Fr. Dr. Josef Ratzinger who, after that movie, would be attending Vatican II as a periter or consultant to join the efforts in reforming the Church and make it more responsive to modern time.
Yes, the very same Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI portrayed in the Netflix movie as “ignorant” of the Beatles and of tango and of many other things of the modern world.
Netflix
“The Two Popes” ended positively with the “unlikely friendships” of Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio but still with its askewed presentation of the two holy men, of the people in Vatican, and of the Church’s members and leaders.
So unlike the classic “The Cardinal”, “The Two Popes” missed the essence of the papacy and of the Church as an institution and a body of believers – that Christianity is not about categories or labels as conservatives, progressives, or liberals: it is about our being of Jesus Christ alone.
It is deceivingly appealing to the senses but nothing really so profound about faith and Jesus Christ and his Church. With hindsight, though, after seeing the movie, the more I have come to love and admire Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for his love and faith in Jesus and the Church.
And Jesus told his disciples… “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me” (Mt.5:11).
Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 03 April 2019
From Google.
A follower is protesting the title of my Lenten blogs called “40 Shades of Lent”. She, or he, wrote us that “Our Roman Catholic Church is pure and sacred to be associated with a title of a pornographic movie.” Our follower also suggested to us to “Please inform your Bishop and Priests before posting these titles on social media.”
Our follower is absolutely right that the title of my lenten reflections is indeed from E.L. James’ novel published in 2011 and later adapted into a movie in 2015. I have never read it nor seen any of its movie adaptations that were both a hit and a trending topic in 2016. At that time, I thought of having a series of reflections for Lent distinct from my regular Sunday homilies I have called “The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe” since 2006. I thought that if everybody was talking about “50 Shades of Grey”, why not ride on the strong recall of the brand by having my “40 Shades of Lent” where people can find the many colors and meanings of our sacred season?! After all, Lent’s motif of the color violet comes in many shades and hues, too!
That’s it, pancit! In no way does the title “40 Shades of Lent” becomes erotic or, as our follower described, pornographic simply because of its similarity with the book or movie title “50 Shades of Grey”. But her, or his, contention has opened for us a springboard for discussion regarding the way we deal with modern media if you can bear with me.
From Google.
We live in a “mass-mediated culture” where every baby is now born with a mouse. If Jesus were with us today, maybe He would have directed us priests to “feed my geeks” instead of telling us to “feed my sheep”. Since the time of the great St. John Paul II to Pope Francis today, the Holy Fathers have all recognized this reality, asking us to find ways in proclaiming the Gospel among the young people without losing our Christian identity.
“The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the gospel message.”
St. Pope John Paul II , “Religion in the Mass Media” (Message, 1989 World Communication Day
The need for an equilibrium in our approach with media.
The two most media savvy Popes, St. John Paul II and Pope Francis have both noted in their speeches that young people today practically live in the world of media; hence, the need to reach out to them. Problem with us in the Church, both among the clergy and the laity, is when we respond in both extremes when some end up succumbing to the world of media while there are those at the other end rejecting it altogether or in some forms. What we need is some degree of equilibrium wherein we try to keep technology and media in their proper places. See the many instances when priests embrace media and technology so much that churches lose the sense of sacred with giant video screens all over with a barrage of tarpaulins in all sizes that make one wonder if it is a house of worship or videoke bar. On the other hand, there are those who reject media and technology, stepping back in history like in a parish in Poland recently where priests and the faithful burned some books including the Harry Potter series they deemed as sacrilegious and have evil forces.
It is difficult to achieve such equilibrium or balance in our dealing and use of modern media in the ministry for as long as we remain in our Pharisaical stage, of associating almost everything in the world and of the world as evil and sinful especially books and music. The gospel accounts teem with many instances when the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus eating and drinking with tax collectors and known sinners of His time. How sad that until now we still don’t get what He had said during that time.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.
Mark 7:15
From Google.
Equilibrium is first achieved in the constant examination of our hearts so we can respond properly to the spirit of modernity not easily reconcilable with the demands of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Attaining that equilibrium calls for a return to the contemplative spirit where we try to maintain our spirit of silence and prayer amid the constant changes in thoughts and beliefs including values often due to the growing efficiency of technology. Let me share with you the very words of a communication expert to conclude this piece that I hope may enlighten us to see the various shades of colors, including shadows and lights that surround us in this modern world today.
The contemplative spirit is not easily acquired, but without it people find it hard to discern the valuable from the worthless, or the enduring from the transitory. Contemplation puts us in touch with reality in a world in which a host of communication technologies work to sustain a multitude of illusions and images: a media world. The contemplative spirit helps us to see and hear beyond and through the sights and sounds we take for granted. The contemplative spirit is an attitude of mind and heart that enables us to focus on the essential, important things. It refuses to be hurried into premature rejection or acceptance of technology. If we Christians allow it to inform our use of communication technologies we shall learn to be realistic, but always hopeful, able to love and reverence our culture even as we strive, with God’s help, to transform it.
James McDonnell, “Communicating the Gospel in a Technological Age: Rediscovering the Contemplative Spirit”.
Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches. Photo by author, July 2018.
lordmychef.com 