God Bless Our Families

Oftentimes we have the tendency to romanticize the first Christmas, what with the carols and poems composed to commemmorate and celebrate the unique event of the becoming man of God. Indeed the awe and wonder evoked by the mystery can not be expressed in mere prose. It always appeals to the poet in us. But the harsh realities surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ must not escape us, for they carry as much significance as the mystery of the incarnation.

And the Gospel on the feast of the Holy Family illustrates the danger and threat the child Jesus had to face right after his birth. Herod, perceiving him to be a threat to his throne, plotted to have the child killed. And in his anger at being deceived by the magi, he ordered all male children 2 years and below to be killed. Thus, the slaughter of the Holy innocents. How ironic it is that a small helpless clueless innocent child be considered a threat by a king who has at his disposal all the elements of earthly power. Which goes to show us how pathetically insecure he is even with the greatest and strongest of armed troops and high fortress. Translated to our times, how terribly threatened one is even with one's millions in the banks and mansions in gated subdivisions.

May this Christmas season lead us to the true treasure which is found not in the king's palaces or the banker's chest, but in the lowly manger of Bethlehem, in our time, in the quiet place before the sacred host of the blessed sacrament, as well as in the poor and downtrodden in the margins of society.

Happy Feast of the Holy Family!

Emmanuel... God with us

Christmas comes every year... it repeats itself, but the magic, er, the mystery
does not wane away. For it is not simply a thing like any other.

It speaks of what is deepest in the heart of the human being... the desire to be close to, to be united with, to be associated with another human being. Hence, no person wants to spend Christmas alone. Not the OFWs, not the soldiers in duty at Basilan and Jolo, not the security guards at the MRTS stations, not the priest in the convent or the nurse in clinic. Right where they are, they have cellphones in hand to greet their loved ones.

Because that was what happened on the first Christmas, God throught to be far away, far on high, far above us, has come to be with us, in Emmanuel. Hence, no person can ever claim to be alone, to be disconnected, to be unrelated, for whereever he or she is, God with with him/ her.

"If I go the high heavens, or the lowest earth, you are there with me" (Psalm 139).
"Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil for you are with me"
(Psalm 23)


Merry Christmas!

The Forgiving King

Christ the King is a strange king. While kings are usually seated on an ornate throne, surrounded by heavily armed guards, Christ the King hangs on the cross, flanked by two thieves. Instead of applauses and praises, he gets mockery and insults. Do we want to be followers of this kind of king?

And he is a forgiving king! He grants forgiveness to the repentant thief, welcomes rather than condemn him, assures him of a place in His kingdom. Who of us do not wish to be forgiven by God for our many sins against Him? If only for this, let us approach the throne of grace, as St. Paul says, and receive mercy from Christ, the King of Divine Mercy.

Long live Christ the King, the King of Divine Mercy!

Saints with a small "s"

A retablo in any antique Church (that is, built during the Spanish era) around the country is can be a treat for hagiographers, people who study saints. A group touring these churches can come up with guessing games: Who is this saint? Who is that saint? These saints who have been given the privileged of being venerated in our Churches are called saints with a BIG S. This means that they have been recognized by the Church as saints by canonizing them. This, of course, after a tedious process of researching about their exemplary and holy lives, the great things they did for God. And a miracle attributed to them is required for them to be finally canonized.

But I wonder whether your lola or my lola, or your mother, or my grade school teacher, all of whom have already passed away, also deserve to be venerated as saints, because they, too have lived equally noble and God-centered lives. The only difference is that they are ordinary folks who have not been noticed by those who begin and carry out this process of saint-making. But they can not be as less holy as San Isidro or San Pablo.

They are the saints with a small "s". They are the ones we honor on November 1, All Saints' Day, of course, including the saints with a big S. In the end, it is God whom we honor and adore for giving us these great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1). It is our hope that we too will join them when our time comes.

Rosary for Peace

The longing for peace continues to blaze in the heart of each Christian, of each Filipino. Both in and out of the country, war rages and casualties of war suffer the unnecessary horrors brought by the war. Hence, on this month of the Rosary, we pray for peace, for that is what the Rosary is, according to John Paul II:


“The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is "our peace" (Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ -- and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary -- learns the secret of peace and makes it his life's project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character, with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace that is the special gift of the Risen Lord (cf. Jn 14:27; 20.21)” (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, #40).

Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Triumph of the Cross, Triumph of Love... Sept. 14

An interesting question raised in our Christology class goes like this: "what if Jesus died another way, like lethal injection or decapitation or electrocution? Would we honor the electric chair or sword or the syringe used to kill him?" An amusing and thought provoking question indeed!

I guess the main question is: Is it the cross or the man hanging on it that is the object of our worship? Certainly, the man Jesus, or rather, the God-man, Jesus Christ, who hangs on the cross is the object of our worship. It is he who gives the wood of the cross its significance as the instrument of salvation. It's certainly weird to imagine venerating a syringe or a sword, but these are all hypothetical thoughts precisely because it is not what actually happened in history.

The triumph of the cross, in the end, is the triumph of love... a love that was not afraid of death. It is this love that we remember on this feast and on every Good Friday when we venerate the cross and say, "We adore you O Christ, and we bless you, becuase by your holy Cross, you have redeemed the world!"

DANCING WITH THE WAVES, IN THE DARKNESS AND THE DEPTHS (Thurs, 22nd wk, Lk 5:1-11)

Today’s gospel made me wonder why Jesus chose fishermen to be among disciples?
Could it be because they were men who were not afraid of waves, of darkness and of depths. Jesus must have known that his ministry which he would later on entrust to these men would mean sailing through rough seas. If a fisherman wants a big catch, he has to put out into the deep, and he has to do it at night. And there in the deep, in the darkness, he encounters the waves that will challenge his capacity to maneuver his boat.

The life of a priest, as we know, is no different from a fisherman’s. If a parish priest wants a big catch, he may not stay in his kumbento, in the centro, among the CWLs or KofCs. He has to go to the barrios, 12 rivers and 7 mountains away from the poblacion, passing by Muslim or NPA settlements. But when he arrives there, he finds 20 people: 10 children, 5 mothers, 2 alagads, 2 sacristans and himself; 30 pesos halad, but with 3 upo, 4 kalabasa, 2 basket mais. He introduces livelihood programs, successful on the first year, but because of conflicts among the lay leaders, it fails on the second year. He tries again, to no avail. He repeatedly asks for a parochial vicar. When his request is finally granted, he is given a retired priest who could take only the first of 6 Sunday Masses. There’s the darkness of frustration. The depths of loneliness? the barrio parish is 200 kilometers from the city, no cell site, the old priest is asleep by 7pm. And there amidst the darkness and depths come the overwhelming waves of temptations: to get a kitten (?) to play with on cold nights. Anyway, “people understand; the Lord is merciful.” So we are no longer surprised, but are deeply saddened when priests, within 5 years after ordination, esp if they are our alumni, are sent to Assist program and Bob Garon. But we are also inspired by diocesan/ parish priests who, like our boatman, could navigate through the waves, the darkness and deep sea of priestly ministry with calm and confidence. (Some of them right here with us.) And we wonder what their secret is.

I asked the boatman, “Bakit parang wala lang sa ‘yo kahit anlaki ng mga alon, andilim na ng paligid at anlalim na ng dagat?” He said, “Bata pa ako, sanay na ako sa dagat. Pinag-aralan ko na noon pa kung paano makisayaw sa mga alon, magsagwan sa dilim at sumisid sa kailaliman.” What about you brothers, future fishers of men, are you learning (or are you willing to learn), in this little ocean called SJVTS, to dance with the waves, to paddle through the darkness and swim through depths?


Disturb us, Lord


Disturb us, Lord when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord,
when, with the abundance of things we possess,
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
and having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity;
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

attributed - sir francis drake -1577

What's It all About, Augustine?

"What's it all about, Augustine?" This line, of course, sounds familiar to many people, the original being "what's it all about, alfie?" It is a song that
confronts one with a simple, yet deep question. It must have been the question
St. Augustine asked of himself while he begins to reflect on the wayward and dissolute life that he was leading. An intelligent professor, a good looking man, a well to do family... what else is there to ask for?

But amidst the questioning and the searching, he hears the word, "Tolle et lege"... "Take and read." He did take and read, and his life began to make the 360 degree turn from the world to God. And he found out, "You have made us for yourselves and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

May St. Augustine's story inspire us to ask the simple yet difficult question, and heed the voice that speaks from deep within, "Take and read"... "come and rest in me..." Happy Feastday to all of his devotees!

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

Gospel for July 12, 2007
Thursday of 14th Week of Ordinary Time

What is it that we have received without cost that we can give? As I look at my life and all that I have, whatever I have, material things, talents, skills, money... all these things I have received from God, through people of good will who have loved me since the time they knew me. And so, what can I give? Anything and everything that I have. The main question really is whether I am willing and ready to give these things. My prayer today is St. Ignatius' Prayer for Generosity:

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as I should.
To give and not to count the cost.
To fight and not to heed the wounds.
To toil and not to seek for rest.
To labor and not to ask for reward.
Save that of knowing that I do your most holy will.

A Week Ago

A week ago, we remembered the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are truly grateful for his self-sacrifice which has ransomed us from death.
Now we are assured that God truly understands our fears of death, our anxiety
over the frustrations and failures in our lives, for He himself has undergone
these painful experiences.

And the resurrection is our assurance that everything does not go to waste.
Our life stories do not end in meaninglessness and death, but in life, new life,
by which we understand everything that has gone wrong. We are able to move on
and look forward with strength and hope.

Happy Easter!

Jesus Our Light

Midway between Christmas and Holy Week, we celebrate the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. This is also popularly known as "Candelaria"... following the theme of Jesus as the Light of the world, as proclaimed by Simeon. Indeed, Jesus is the light of our life. Without him, we would not see our way clearly, just as the absence of a lamp post makes it difficult to see the road ahead of us. Moreoever, the absence of light makes us afraid of the dark. So it is when Jesus is absent in our life, we are afraid because the immensity of our problems do weigh us down. And because we are afraid, we just stop moving, moving on, with our life. But with Jesus with us, we can move, we can do almost anything that we thought we could not do if he were not with us.

On this day of His Presentation, we say: Thank you, Lord, for your light. May we follow your light always...

Led by a Star

The wise men found their way to Jesus, the promised Messiah through a star which they had observed in the skies. How can this make sense to us today? Are the horoscopes the way to find our destinies? Certainly not, because no one can predict what exactly will happen tomorrow or next year. What we can make are simply educated and informed guesses.

What is it that will lead us to Jesus today, in the absence of a big bright star in the sky? Perhaps it could be the star of our dreams, the deepest dream which we cherish deep within our hearts...

...the dream of a better life for our families, not just material satisfaction, but unity, understanding, love
... the dream of a better life for our country, not judt economic stability, but peace, honesty, integrity
... the dream of a better world, not just the absence of war, but solidarity among peoples...

These are our dreams, our stars, which will lead us to Jesus, not when we have achieved them, but even as we work towards the realization of these dreams.

Happy Epiphany!