“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!”
(cf. Mark 1:15)
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
This is the formula used with the giving of ashes at the start of the Lenten Season, another alternative to “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return!” (cf. Genesis 3:19).
“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!” This could be a powerful program for our Lenten discipline as well as for our efforts in building and strengthening our BEC’s. It has two movements: away from and moving towards. During these 40 days of Lent, we can ask ourselves in prayer: “From what or even whom am I being asked by the Lord to turn away from?” and “How can I be more faithful to the Gospel?” Reflecting on my life, the journey of our community, and the circumstances of our world today, “Where am I most challenged to grow to become a more loving person as God is to us?” “How can I be an instrument of communion?”
In his Lenten Message this year, the Holy Father Benedict XVI focuses on the value and meaning of fasting, which is an important means together with prayer and almsgiving, to make our Lenten spiritual exercises fruitful. Among other things, he says, “Denying material food, which nourishes our body, nurtures an interior disposition to listen to Christ and be fed by His saving word. Through fasting and praying, we allow Him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God. At the same time, fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live.”
He quoted Saint Peter Chrysologus who writes: “Fasting is the soul of prayer; mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself” (Sermo 43: PL 52, 320. 322).
And then the Holy Father goes on to say, “It is precisely to keep alive this welcoming and attentive attitude towards our brothers and sisters that I encourage the parishes and every other community to intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community, in which special collections were taken up (cf. 2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27), the faithful being invited to give to the poor what had been set aside from their fast (Didascalia Ap., V, 20,18). This practice needs to be rediscovered and encouraged again in our day, especially during the liturgical season of Lent.”
This is especially relevant with the recent experience of fire that burned around 40 houses in our community in Zone 2 Brgy. Bakhaw and led to the untimely and painful death of an elderly couple Romeo and Filomena Hisog. This also acquires more meaning as we pay attention to the plight of all Filipino migrant workers and their families during this first Sunday of Lent, contemplating Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert, where He remained for 40 days and being tempted by Satan. As we observe fasting and abstinence and other works of mercy, let these words of Jesus be our inspiration: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:34)
I join the Holy Father in prayer and hope that every family and Christian community may use well this time of Lent in order to cast aside all that distracts the spirit and grow in whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to love of God and neighbor.
“Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!”
Showing posts with label AS CHRIST LIVES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AS CHRIST LIVES. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
God’s eyes are ALWAYS on us…
God’s eyes are ALWAYS on us…
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Once in one of the weekly panimbahon or faith-sharing of a group of lay faithful who are active members of a neighbourhood community or what we now commonly call the basic ecclesial community (BEC), their attention was drawn to chapter three, verse three of the book of Malachi, which says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” There was a very animated exchange on what could this possibly mean and how could this be applied in their daily life. They wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next panimbahon. That week this woman called up a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silver smith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.
She asked the silver smith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silver smith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy - It’s fully refined when I can see my image in it.”
As we make our final preparations for cur annual discipline of Lent, it is good to contemplate God like the silversmith, who sits “as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Let us allow ourselves to be affected by this beautiful image of God in the story. Let the forty days of Lent enable us to participate in God’s unique way of “refining” us until He can see His image clearly reflected in us. We can calmly go about our daily task of building God’s reign among us, facing and accepting whatever it costs us to be faithful to it knowing that God never takes His eyes off us when we are in the fire!
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Once in one of the weekly panimbahon or faith-sharing of a group of lay faithful who are active members of a neighbourhood community or what we now commonly call the basic ecclesial community (BEC), their attention was drawn to chapter three, verse three of the book of Malachi, which says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” There was a very animated exchange on what could this possibly mean and how could this be applied in their daily life. They wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next panimbahon. That week this woman called up a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silver smith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.
She asked the silver smith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silver smith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy - It’s fully refined when I can see my image in it.”
As we make our final preparations for cur annual discipline of Lent, it is good to contemplate God like the silversmith, who sits “as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Let us allow ourselves to be affected by this beautiful image of God in the story. Let the forty days of Lent enable us to participate in God’s unique way of “refining” us until He can see His image clearly reflected in us. We can calmly go about our daily task of building God’s reign among us, facing and accepting whatever it costs us to be faithful to it knowing that God never takes His eyes off us when we are in the fire!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Don’t Worship Your Emotions
AS CHRIST LIVES
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Don’t Worship Your Emotions
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean (Mk 1:41-42)
For this week, I decided to share with you in toto a beautiful piece that Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI (one of my favourite author and spiritual guide) wrote on love based on the Gospel quoted above rather than quoting him or summarizing his thoughts. It will certainly challenge us to live as Christ lives. Here it is:
Don’t love only when you can feel natural sympathy. Don’t love only when you can feel good and clean about it. Don’t let your moral decisions be dictated by your emotions, even when they seem to be operating at their highest level.
What’s at issue here? Fuller maturity and what’s highest in Christian discipleship. When Jesus tells us that all the commandments can be boiled down to a single one, love, he adds a caveat: Love, as I have loved you.
How did he love? He continued to love, forgive, and give his life even when those he was loving were destroying him. That’s the challenge, but it isn’t easy. Why not?
If you were bullied as a child, laughed at, humiliated, and shamed before your friends and classmates, it isn’t easy (no matter how much you have grown and matured) to feel sympathy for the bully who, as you have learned since, was only acting out the abuse he had received from someone else, probably from his own father. It’s more natural to continue to hate him and rejoice that his later life is as laden with problems and unhappiness as were his school days.
If you are a woman who has been hit by a man, perhaps even by your own spouse, and made to feel the helplessness and humiliation of that, it is hard, emotionally impossible perhaps, to feel real empathy for the plight of men (let alone for the man who struck you) just because you now know that men are more wounded than women, that their suicide rates are infinitely higher, and that they struggle much more than women to express themselves, to give and to receive love, and to enjoy life’s simple joys.
If you have been sexually abused it is understandably impossible, at least at one level to feel compassion for pedophiles and sexual predators of any kind, even once you know that every victimizer was himself first victimized and that this wound is the cause of his deep sickness and that the stigma of that sickness is the new leprosy in our society.
And if your emotions are normal it is hard to be opposed to the death penalty when the person awaiting the sentence is unrepentant, rationalizing, hard, and is blaming everyone else for his problems. It’s easier to oppose the death penalty for someone whose heart is repentant and tearful and who wants only to make amends to the family of his victim.
But that’s the stretch! That’s precisely what we are invited to when scripture says: “Sing a new song!”
What is our old song and what is wrong with it?
Our old song is the song we naturally sing, even at our best, when we let our emotions, our natural instincts, and our bruised and needy egos dictate our sympathies. When we do this, we give out our love and empathy only when our emotions, naturally protective and wounded, allow us to, namely, whenever we can feel clean, good, and cathartic in loving and forgiving. That is why it is so difficult for us to have a consistent ethic of life within which we are as solicitous to save the life of a guilty murderer as we are to save the life of an innocent unborn child.
We struggle with this because emotion rather than our discipleship is dictating our sympathies. We are naturally loving and empathic, but in a very restricted way, namely, we give out our love and empathy only when we can feel good about it, that is, when it is clean, wanted, respected, and appreciated. We can love, forgive, and bless someone who wants to be loved, forgiven, and blessed by us, but, we find it existentially impossible to do the same when that person has hurt us, hates us, blames us, and wants us dead.
But that’s precisely what Christian discipleship and full human maturity call us to, namely, to be able to have real empathy, forgiveness, and love for those who have hurt us, humiliated us, blame us for their unhappiness, remain unrepentant, and, in essence, curse us.
A couple of years ago, when all the negative publicity about sexual abuse among clergy was at high fever, a very sincere, good-hearted, Catholic man said to me: “I’ll never give another penny to the Catholic Church! I will not have any of my money supporting a pedophile!”
That’s nature speaking, but it’s a long way from the love and understanding that Jesus preached. In essence, what this sincere man is doing is worshipping his emotions by saying: “I can give my love and support when I can feel good about it, but I can’t give my love and support when I can’t feel good about it, no matter that a pedophile suffers from the most unglamorous of all diseases.”
But love calls us to more than that and, in order to get to that higher level, we must stop worshipping our emotions.
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Don’t Worship Your Emotions
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean (Mk 1:41-42)
For this week, I decided to share with you in toto a beautiful piece that Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI (one of my favourite author and spiritual guide) wrote on love based on the Gospel quoted above rather than quoting him or summarizing his thoughts. It will certainly challenge us to live as Christ lives. Here it is:
Don’t love only when you can feel natural sympathy. Don’t love only when you can feel good and clean about it. Don’t let your moral decisions be dictated by your emotions, even when they seem to be operating at their highest level.
What’s at issue here? Fuller maturity and what’s highest in Christian discipleship. When Jesus tells us that all the commandments can be boiled down to a single one, love, he adds a caveat: Love, as I have loved you.
How did he love? He continued to love, forgive, and give his life even when those he was loving were destroying him. That’s the challenge, but it isn’t easy. Why not?
If you were bullied as a child, laughed at, humiliated, and shamed before your friends and classmates, it isn’t easy (no matter how much you have grown and matured) to feel sympathy for the bully who, as you have learned since, was only acting out the abuse he had received from someone else, probably from his own father. It’s more natural to continue to hate him and rejoice that his later life is as laden with problems and unhappiness as were his school days.
If you are a woman who has been hit by a man, perhaps even by your own spouse, and made to feel the helplessness and humiliation of that, it is hard, emotionally impossible perhaps, to feel real empathy for the plight of men (let alone for the man who struck you) just because you now know that men are more wounded than women, that their suicide rates are infinitely higher, and that they struggle much more than women to express themselves, to give and to receive love, and to enjoy life’s simple joys.
If you have been sexually abused it is understandably impossible, at least at one level to feel compassion for pedophiles and sexual predators of any kind, even once you know that every victimizer was himself first victimized and that this wound is the cause of his deep sickness and that the stigma of that sickness is the new leprosy in our society.
And if your emotions are normal it is hard to be opposed to the death penalty when the person awaiting the sentence is unrepentant, rationalizing, hard, and is blaming everyone else for his problems. It’s easier to oppose the death penalty for someone whose heart is repentant and tearful and who wants only to make amends to the family of his victim.
But that’s the stretch! That’s precisely what we are invited to when scripture says: “Sing a new song!”
What is our old song and what is wrong with it?
Our old song is the song we naturally sing, even at our best, when we let our emotions, our natural instincts, and our bruised and needy egos dictate our sympathies. When we do this, we give out our love and empathy only when our emotions, naturally protective and wounded, allow us to, namely, whenever we can feel clean, good, and cathartic in loving and forgiving. That is why it is so difficult for us to have a consistent ethic of life within which we are as solicitous to save the life of a guilty murderer as we are to save the life of an innocent unborn child.
We struggle with this because emotion rather than our discipleship is dictating our sympathies. We are naturally loving and empathic, but in a very restricted way, namely, we give out our love and empathy only when we can feel good about it, that is, when it is clean, wanted, respected, and appreciated. We can love, forgive, and bless someone who wants to be loved, forgiven, and blessed by us, but, we find it existentially impossible to do the same when that person has hurt us, hates us, blames us, and wants us dead.
But that’s precisely what Christian discipleship and full human maturity call us to, namely, to be able to have real empathy, forgiveness, and love for those who have hurt us, humiliated us, blame us for their unhappiness, remain unrepentant, and, in essence, curse us.
A couple of years ago, when all the negative publicity about sexual abuse among clergy was at high fever, a very sincere, good-hearted, Catholic man said to me: “I’ll never give another penny to the Catholic Church! I will not have any of my money supporting a pedophile!”
That’s nature speaking, but it’s a long way from the love and understanding that Jesus preached. In essence, what this sincere man is doing is worshipping his emotions by saying: “I can give my love and support when I can feel good about it, but I can’t give my love and support when I can’t feel good about it, no matter that a pedophile suffers from the most unglamorous of all diseases.”
But love calls us to more than that and, in order to get to that higher level, we must stop worshipping our emotions.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Becoming a Community that heals...
Becoming a Community that heals...
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Recently I came across an article entitled, The Therapy of Family, Community and Church by Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, currently serving as President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas where he mentioned about an interesting observation which Philip Rieff wrote in a book thirty years ago with the title, The Triumph of the Therapeutic. According to Fr. Rolheiser, Rieff argues in this book “that the widespread need for private therapy today exists mainly because community has broken down. In societies where there are strong communities, there is much less need for private therapy, people can more easily live with or work out their problems through and within the community.”
I can readily see that if Rieff is right then, as Fr.Rolheiser writes, “the answer for at least some of the problems for which we seek professional therapy today is fuller participation within community life, including church life, rather than private therapy” (emphasis added). As another famous writer and educator, Parker Palmer suggests, “We need the therapy of a public life.”
This is a very good context to reflect on the application to our contemporary times of this Sunday’s gospel from Mark 1:32-34a: “When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to [Jesus] all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases.”
Aside from teaching and feeding the multitude, Jesus went about healing the sick. And it is important to realize that Jesus continues to heal today through His Church, through the sacraments He instituted – especially where there are basic ecclesial communities and stronger, loving Christian families that flourish. As Fr. Rolheiser writes, “community (life beyond our private selves and private intimacies) is therapeutic because it draws us outside of ourselves, gives us a steadying rhythm, helps us feel ordinary, and connects us with resources beyond our private helplessness. Simply put, to participate healthily within community and family takes us beyond the pathology and fragility we so often sense within the recesses of our own souls. Community steadies us. It has a rhythm and regularity that helps calm and make ordinary the feelings of disorientation, depression, paranoia, and obsession which can wreak havoc in our private lives. Participation in community gives us clearly defined things to do, regular stopping places, and regular events to structure and steady us. This is a commodity that no therapeutic couch can provide. Beyond this, community links us to resources that can empower us beyond our own helplessness. What we dream alone remains a dream. What we dream with others can become a reality” (emphasis added).
Can we honestly and courageously ask ourselves and even acknowledge how we as a community have become either the occasion or cause of illness or well-being or healing of our members? Let us pray and strive for our basic ecclesial communities to become more and more a community that heals!
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Recently I came across an article entitled, The Therapy of Family, Community and Church by Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, currently serving as President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas where he mentioned about an interesting observation which Philip Rieff wrote in a book thirty years ago with the title, The Triumph of the Therapeutic. According to Fr. Rolheiser, Rieff argues in this book “that the widespread need for private therapy today exists mainly because community has broken down. In societies where there are strong communities, there is much less need for private therapy, people can more easily live with or work out their problems through and within the community.”
I can readily see that if Rieff is right then, as Fr.Rolheiser writes, “the answer for at least some of the problems for which we seek professional therapy today is fuller participation within community life, including church life, rather than private therapy” (emphasis added). As another famous writer and educator, Parker Palmer suggests, “We need the therapy of a public life.”
This is a very good context to reflect on the application to our contemporary times of this Sunday’s gospel from Mark 1:32-34a: “When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to [Jesus] all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases.”
Aside from teaching and feeding the multitude, Jesus went about healing the sick. And it is important to realize that Jesus continues to heal today through His Church, through the sacraments He instituted – especially where there are basic ecclesial communities and stronger, loving Christian families that flourish. As Fr. Rolheiser writes, “community (life beyond our private selves and private intimacies) is therapeutic because it draws us outside of ourselves, gives us a steadying rhythm, helps us feel ordinary, and connects us with resources beyond our private helplessness. Simply put, to participate healthily within community and family takes us beyond the pathology and fragility we so often sense within the recesses of our own souls. Community steadies us. It has a rhythm and regularity that helps calm and make ordinary the feelings of disorientation, depression, paranoia, and obsession which can wreak havoc in our private lives. Participation in community gives us clearly defined things to do, regular stopping places, and regular events to structure and steady us. This is a commodity that no therapeutic couch can provide. Beyond this, community links us to resources that can empower us beyond our own helplessness. What we dream alone remains a dream. What we dream with others can become a reality” (emphasis added).
Can we honestly and courageously ask ourselves and even acknowledge how we as a community have become either the occasion or cause of illness or well-being or healing of our members? Let us pray and strive for our basic ecclesial communities to become more and more a community that heals!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
God continues to “speak” to us!
AS CHRIST LIVES
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
God continues to “speak” to us!
Right after a funeral mass last Saturday, our sacristan informed me that there was a request for blessing of another dead. In stark contrast to the previous celebration that was well-prepared and well-attended, I met a young, grieving father – alone – who accompanied the dead which was placed only inside a small recycled carton box. Before performing the rite of blessing, I tried to engage the father in a dialogue so I could connect with him, allowing him to express his pain and sadness and to name what truly happened. In between his sobs, I learned that inside the box was a fetus of a four-month twin which was just discovered to have been already dead for a week inside his wife’s womb. The wife was still in the hospital and I felt a deep pain seeing him leave alone after the blessing to bring his dead to their grave without a community to accompany and support him in his grief and pain. My pain was due more to the absence of a caring community than to his loss.
Right there and then I felt “spoken” to by God for on that day we began our novena masses in preparation for our parish fiesta with the theme, “Gamay nga Kristianong Katilingban: Alagyan padulong sa Bug-os nga Paghiliusa” and God seemed to be showing me through that experience how life could be different, particularly for that father, if he belongs to a Christian community or if in our parish there is a presence of a community of believers sensitive and ready to respond to a situation of need such as this. It further affirmed the vision and direction we have set for our parish. It also raises a lot of other disturbing questions: Was pre-natal care available to the mother? How could such death of the twin be prevented? Why is he alone to bury their dead? How many more are in this or even worse situation? I am not sure if he is a regular church-goer but I was so touched that in his grief he still found it important to have his dead blessed in Church. Such moment of deep loss can also be a moment of grace, an opportune time to realize one’s need for God and the importance of a living and loving community.
I hope that our entire parish activities in preparation for and in celebration of our Patronal Feast in honor of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria help develop and strengthen the culture of BEC, a lifestyle of communal living based on the life of the Trinity, similar to the early Christian Community in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 4:32-35), faithful to our vision of a renewed Church in the Philippines. For in the words of Msgr. Jose Marie Amado S. Delgado: “…..as the Parish integrates the Culture of BECs (which, by the way, does not come along at all easy) she is renewed in her fundamental life as a Church. BEC thus is not a “foreign element” or an “appendix” but is a birthright in the Church.” I pray that we are able to LISTEN more to the many ways God is communicating to us so we are able to RESPOND and COMMIT better to God’s loving plan for us. MALIPAYON NGA FIESTA SA ATON TANAN!
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
God continues to “speak” to us!
Right after a funeral mass last Saturday, our sacristan informed me that there was a request for blessing of another dead. In stark contrast to the previous celebration that was well-prepared and well-attended, I met a young, grieving father – alone – who accompanied the dead which was placed only inside a small recycled carton box. Before performing the rite of blessing, I tried to engage the father in a dialogue so I could connect with him, allowing him to express his pain and sadness and to name what truly happened. In between his sobs, I learned that inside the box was a fetus of a four-month twin which was just discovered to have been already dead for a week inside his wife’s womb. The wife was still in the hospital and I felt a deep pain seeing him leave alone after the blessing to bring his dead to their grave without a community to accompany and support him in his grief and pain. My pain was due more to the absence of a caring community than to his loss.
Right there and then I felt “spoken” to by God for on that day we began our novena masses in preparation for our parish fiesta with the theme, “Gamay nga Kristianong Katilingban: Alagyan padulong sa Bug-os nga Paghiliusa” and God seemed to be showing me through that experience how life could be different, particularly for that father, if he belongs to a Christian community or if in our parish there is a presence of a community of believers sensitive and ready to respond to a situation of need such as this. It further affirmed the vision and direction we have set for our parish. It also raises a lot of other disturbing questions: Was pre-natal care available to the mother? How could such death of the twin be prevented? Why is he alone to bury their dead? How many more are in this or even worse situation? I am not sure if he is a regular church-goer but I was so touched that in his grief he still found it important to have his dead blessed in Church. Such moment of deep loss can also be a moment of grace, an opportune time to realize one’s need for God and the importance of a living and loving community.
I hope that our entire parish activities in preparation for and in celebration of our Patronal Feast in honor of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria help develop and strengthen the culture of BEC, a lifestyle of communal living based on the life of the Trinity, similar to the early Christian Community in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 4:32-35), faithful to our vision of a renewed Church in the Philippines. For in the words of Msgr. Jose Marie Amado S. Delgado: “…..as the Parish integrates the Culture of BECs (which, by the way, does not come along at all easy) she is renewed in her fundamental life as a Church. BEC thus is not a “foreign element” or an “appendix” but is a birthright in the Church.” I pray that we are able to LISTEN more to the many ways God is communicating to us so we are able to RESPOND and COMMIT better to God’s loving plan for us. MALIPAYON NGA FIESTA SA ATON TANAN!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Radiating the Light of God’s Kindness!
Radiating the Light of God’s Kindness!
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
I attended last January 20-21, 2009 our 74th UST Alumni Priests’ Association Homecoming which we celebrated at the threshold of UST’s 400th year celebration in 2011. This school year is also our Alma Mater’s 80th anniversary as the Interdiocesan Seminary of the Philippines. As one of the two new Thomasian bishops, I presided at the Eucharist on the first day together with ten alumni-bishops including my classmate who is now apostolic nuncio in Haiti and close to 200 alumni-priests and professors including Fr. Gualberto Susaya, one of our silver jubilarians. The mass was in honor of our UST Martyrs and Saints: the Martyrs of Japan (5) and Vietnam (4), and the Martyrs of the 1936 Civil War in Spain (4) plus our saintly Filipino bishops of the Philippine Church – namely: Bishop Alfredo Versoza (ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Vigan and former Archbishop of Lipa) and Bishop Alfredo Ma. Obviar (ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Lipa and former Bishop of Lucena). Indeed we have a rich heritage of saints and great legacy of martyrs!
I preached on our theme, “Thomasian Clergy: Radiating the Light of God’s Kindness.” It is both an affirmation and a challenge; a statement of fact and an invitation to deeper conversion. According to Fr. Enrico Gonzales, OP during his conference with us, kindness is “charity which touches us or charity in action.” A good illustration of what kindness can do and how we can radiate the light of God’s kindness is the classic story of Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
The lead character, Jean Valjean commits a petty crime of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s hungry family, and is sent to a harsh prison for 19 years for this crime. When he gets out of prison, he is not prepared to support himself and he commits another crime, against Bishop Digne who offered him hospitality in his convent. Valjean tries to steal from the Bishop, but in return, he is not punished, but given another chance by the compassionate Bishop. The only condition on his second chance is to use it to improve his life. Such kindness of the Bishop creates a profound and lasting transformation in the life of Valjean. He goes to a small town (Montreuil sur Mer), where he uses his new found wealth to help the town by rebuilding its industries providing many jobs for the people. He also saves the daughter of the prostitute, Fantine, taking her into his house as his own daughter. Jean Valjean becomes mayor of the small town and is gracious and generous to all its citizens. He is a much loved mayor, not pretentious, but a humble servant of the people. In all of his actions, he is generous and kind, especially to Cosette, the prostitute’s daughter. Because of the Bishop’s kind action towards him, he in turn radiates the light of God’s kindness to others.
How have we experienced God’s loving kindness in our life? How have these experiences shaped or influenced our being instruments of God’s compassion and kindness to others? Who are God’s instruments in making us feel God’s kindness? There is so much fear of terrorism around the world today. Is this because there is not enough kindness shown around us? Is it because we have not been touched enough so we don’t know how to be kind? No wonder then that our present Holy Father Benedict XVI wrote at the start of his pontificate his first encyclical on Deus caritas est, God is Love! St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians describes love right away as being patient and kind. For often in our personal and pastoral experience, “being kind is much more important than being bright,” because sometimes what a person needs is not a brilliant mind that speaks and is able to explain well, but a patient heart that knows how to listen and understand, thus radiating God’s kindness. Anyone being touched by God’s loving kindness cannot but be changed, transformed, converted and become more loving and kind.
Let the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta inspire us: “Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” Let us radiate to others through our forthcoming Fiesta celebration the light of God’s kindness….
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
I attended last January 20-21, 2009 our 74th UST Alumni Priests’ Association Homecoming which we celebrated at the threshold of UST’s 400th year celebration in 2011. This school year is also our Alma Mater’s 80th anniversary as the Interdiocesan Seminary of the Philippines. As one of the two new Thomasian bishops, I presided at the Eucharist on the first day together with ten alumni-bishops including my classmate who is now apostolic nuncio in Haiti and close to 200 alumni-priests and professors including Fr. Gualberto Susaya, one of our silver jubilarians. The mass was in honor of our UST Martyrs and Saints: the Martyrs of Japan (5) and Vietnam (4), and the Martyrs of the 1936 Civil War in Spain (4) plus our saintly Filipino bishops of the Philippine Church – namely: Bishop Alfredo Versoza (ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Vigan and former Archbishop of Lipa) and Bishop Alfredo Ma. Obviar (ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Lipa and former Bishop of Lucena). Indeed we have a rich heritage of saints and great legacy of martyrs!
I preached on our theme, “Thomasian Clergy: Radiating the Light of God’s Kindness.” It is both an affirmation and a challenge; a statement of fact and an invitation to deeper conversion. According to Fr. Enrico Gonzales, OP during his conference with us, kindness is “charity which touches us or charity in action.” A good illustration of what kindness can do and how we can radiate the light of God’s kindness is the classic story of Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
The lead character, Jean Valjean commits a petty crime of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s hungry family, and is sent to a harsh prison for 19 years for this crime. When he gets out of prison, he is not prepared to support himself and he commits another crime, against Bishop Digne who offered him hospitality in his convent. Valjean tries to steal from the Bishop, but in return, he is not punished, but given another chance by the compassionate Bishop. The only condition on his second chance is to use it to improve his life. Such kindness of the Bishop creates a profound and lasting transformation in the life of Valjean. He goes to a small town (Montreuil sur Mer), where he uses his new found wealth to help the town by rebuilding its industries providing many jobs for the people. He also saves the daughter of the prostitute, Fantine, taking her into his house as his own daughter. Jean Valjean becomes mayor of the small town and is gracious and generous to all its citizens. He is a much loved mayor, not pretentious, but a humble servant of the people. In all of his actions, he is generous and kind, especially to Cosette, the prostitute’s daughter. Because of the Bishop’s kind action towards him, he in turn radiates the light of God’s kindness to others.
How have we experienced God’s loving kindness in our life? How have these experiences shaped or influenced our being instruments of God’s compassion and kindness to others? Who are God’s instruments in making us feel God’s kindness? There is so much fear of terrorism around the world today. Is this because there is not enough kindness shown around us? Is it because we have not been touched enough so we don’t know how to be kind? No wonder then that our present Holy Father Benedict XVI wrote at the start of his pontificate his first encyclical on Deus caritas est, God is Love! St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians describes love right away as being patient and kind. For often in our personal and pastoral experience, “being kind is much more important than being bright,” because sometimes what a person needs is not a brilliant mind that speaks and is able to explain well, but a patient heart that knows how to listen and understand, thus radiating God’s kindness. Anyone being touched by God’s loving kindness cannot but be changed, transformed, converted and become more loving and kind.
Let the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta inspire us: “Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.” Let us radiate to others through our forthcoming Fiesta celebration the light of God’s kindness….
Sunday, January 18, 2009
“Ang Pagpauli ni Tatay”
"Ang Pagpauli ni Tatay”
(RETURN TO SENDER)
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Here are some messages I got these days from various friends: Happy birthing to new life for Tatay Felix... Halleluiah! He rests now where we all should – in God’s love... Last night we got the news of your Tatay’s “going home.” ...What a happy death your father had with his bishop-son preparing him to meet the Lord, a grace not given to many fathers or sons. Still I know how painful it is to lose a parent. ...For your father, I thank God that he raised a son in such a way that it pleased the Lord to anoint him to the fullness of the priesthood... We love you Bp Ger. Ari kami to embrace and hold your hand when you need us... Tatay is home, ginhulat ka lang niya nga mag-obispo... He had somehow accomplished his mission – that of bringing you to Iloilo as its Bishop and now he goes back to the Father with the words: “It is finished” A perpetual banquet awaits him and a special place among the blessed. May his memory live on in your heart as you live with his Ilonggo people and truly become a shepherd of the Ilonggos... He is now “Felix” in heaven as his name was here with us... Now you have two powerful intercessors in heaven... two angels watching over you... We are now your family... We will always be here for you because we love you....
One message came through this touching story of the little boy and the old man: Said the little boy, “Sometimes I drop my spoon.” Said the little old man, “I do that too.” The little boy whispered, “I wet my pants.” “I do that too,” laughed the old man. Said the little boy, “I often cry.” The old man nodded. “So do I.” “But worst of all,” said the boy, “I am afraid and scared to be alone... to be left behind.” And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand. “I know what you mean,” said the little old man, “But I promise you... I will always be here for you.” Am sure Tay Felix is saying the same to you... “I will always be here for you!” My family and I will always be here for you, too, Pads. With our prayers and love....
Pila lamang ini sang mga mensahe nga ginpahayag ninyo sa akon sining nagliligad nga mga inadlaw tubtob sang Enero 14, 2009 – ika-80 nga kaadlawan ni Tatay. Ini nga adlaw sang iya kaadlawan isa ka adlaw sang pagsaulog sang kabuhi kag paghigugma – a celebration of life and love – the life and love of Tatay, our life and love together, but above all, the life and love of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit at work in the life of Tatay and ours. SALAMAT, SALAMAT, MADAMO GID NGA SALAMAT sa sining aton Dios nga naghatag sa aton kay Tatay! Paagi sa iya, natun-an ko paano mangin isa ka maayo nga anak! Kag tungod sini natun-an ko man paano mangin isa ka amay sa aton panimalay sang pagtuo.
Ang adlaw sang iya kaadlawan isa man ka pagsaulog sang pagpauli ni Tatay – pagpauli sa Alimodian, sa iya mga katigulangan, kag labaw sa tanan sa iya Tagtuga kag Manunubos – ang aton matuod gid nga paulian! Ang root word sang pagpauli amo ang uli – ginabalik sa ginhalinan, sa matuod gid nga tag-iya. Sa iya mismo kaadlawan, gin-uli ko upod sa inyo tanan, si Tatay Felix, sa iya Makaako, sa iya matuod-tuod nga Tag-iya upod ang daku nga kalipay kag pagpasalamat tungod sang malawig naman nga pagpahulam Niya sa kay Tatay sa aton.
Salamat sa Dios sa paghatag Niya sa akon sa kay Tatay kag Nanay 49 years ago bilang sabat sa ila pangamuyo nga maka-anak after waiting for almost 8 years. “Like Father, like Son” siling nila kag matuod gid ina. Daku gid nga bahin sa akon naghalin sa akon Amay kag gani matuod gid ang ginasiling, “To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die.” Tatay continues to live on in me since “All that we love deeply becomes a part of us...” Salamat nga ginpadala ako sang Dios diri sa Jaro kag tungod sini si Tatay nakapauli man sa iya mga partidos kag mga katigulangan. Salamat sa madamo nga kahigayunan nga napabatyag kag nahambal ko gid kay Tatay nga palangga ko siya tubtob nga nabugtuan siya sang ginhawa. I will always remember that loving look of Tatay right into my own eyes as he gave his last breath.
Ang Prefacio sang Misa sang mga Minatay nagasiling: “Kay ang kabuhi sang Imo mga tumuluo, O Ginuo, ginabaylohan lamang, wala ginakuha; kag sa ubos na maguba ining dutan-on nga puloy-an nga umalagi, ila ma-aguman ang walay katapusan nga puloy-an sa langit.” Life is changed not ended... So our relationship does not end but continues beyond death.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND EXPRESSION OF SUPPORT FOR TATAY AND ME!
(RETURN TO SENDER)
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Here are some messages I got these days from various friends: Happy birthing to new life for Tatay Felix... Halleluiah! He rests now where we all should – in God’s love... Last night we got the news of your Tatay’s “going home.” ...What a happy death your father had with his bishop-son preparing him to meet the Lord, a grace not given to many fathers or sons. Still I know how painful it is to lose a parent. ...For your father, I thank God that he raised a son in such a way that it pleased the Lord to anoint him to the fullness of the priesthood... We love you Bp Ger. Ari kami to embrace and hold your hand when you need us... Tatay is home, ginhulat ka lang niya nga mag-obispo... He had somehow accomplished his mission – that of bringing you to Iloilo as its Bishop and now he goes back to the Father with the words: “It is finished” A perpetual banquet awaits him and a special place among the blessed. May his memory live on in your heart as you live with his Ilonggo people and truly become a shepherd of the Ilonggos... He is now “Felix” in heaven as his name was here with us... Now you have two powerful intercessors in heaven... two angels watching over you... We are now your family... We will always be here for you because we love you....
One message came through this touching story of the little boy and the old man: Said the little boy, “Sometimes I drop my spoon.” Said the little old man, “I do that too.” The little boy whispered, “I wet my pants.” “I do that too,” laughed the old man. Said the little boy, “I often cry.” The old man nodded. “So do I.” “But worst of all,” said the boy, “I am afraid and scared to be alone... to be left behind.” And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand. “I know what you mean,” said the little old man, “But I promise you... I will always be here for you.” Am sure Tay Felix is saying the same to you... “I will always be here for you!” My family and I will always be here for you, too, Pads. With our prayers and love....
Pila lamang ini sang mga mensahe nga ginpahayag ninyo sa akon sining nagliligad nga mga inadlaw tubtob sang Enero 14, 2009 – ika-80 nga kaadlawan ni Tatay. Ini nga adlaw sang iya kaadlawan isa ka adlaw sang pagsaulog sang kabuhi kag paghigugma – a celebration of life and love – the life and love of Tatay, our life and love together, but above all, the life and love of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit at work in the life of Tatay and ours. SALAMAT, SALAMAT, MADAMO GID NGA SALAMAT sa sining aton Dios nga naghatag sa aton kay Tatay! Paagi sa iya, natun-an ko paano mangin isa ka maayo nga anak! Kag tungod sini natun-an ko man paano mangin isa ka amay sa aton panimalay sang pagtuo.
Ang adlaw sang iya kaadlawan isa man ka pagsaulog sang pagpauli ni Tatay – pagpauli sa Alimodian, sa iya mga katigulangan, kag labaw sa tanan sa iya Tagtuga kag Manunubos – ang aton matuod gid nga paulian! Ang root word sang pagpauli amo ang uli – ginabalik sa ginhalinan, sa matuod gid nga tag-iya. Sa iya mismo kaadlawan, gin-uli ko upod sa inyo tanan, si Tatay Felix, sa iya Makaako, sa iya matuod-tuod nga Tag-iya upod ang daku nga kalipay kag pagpasalamat tungod sang malawig naman nga pagpahulam Niya sa kay Tatay sa aton.
Salamat sa Dios sa paghatag Niya sa akon sa kay Tatay kag Nanay 49 years ago bilang sabat sa ila pangamuyo nga maka-anak after waiting for almost 8 years. “Like Father, like Son” siling nila kag matuod gid ina. Daku gid nga bahin sa akon naghalin sa akon Amay kag gani matuod gid ang ginasiling, “To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die.” Tatay continues to live on in me since “All that we love deeply becomes a part of us...” Salamat nga ginpadala ako sang Dios diri sa Jaro kag tungod sini si Tatay nakapauli man sa iya mga partidos kag mga katigulangan. Salamat sa madamo nga kahigayunan nga napabatyag kag nahambal ko gid kay Tatay nga palangga ko siya tubtob nga nabugtuan siya sang ginhawa. I will always remember that loving look of Tatay right into my own eyes as he gave his last breath.
Ang Prefacio sang Misa sang mga Minatay nagasiling: “Kay ang kabuhi sang Imo mga tumuluo, O Ginuo, ginabaylohan lamang, wala ginakuha; kag sa ubos na maguba ining dutan-on nga puloy-an nga umalagi, ila ma-aguman ang walay katapusan nga puloy-an sa langit.” Life is changed not ended... So our relationship does not end but continues beyond death.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND EXPRESSION OF SUPPORT FOR TATAY AND ME!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Revealing the Face of God
Revealing the Face of God
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
"The grace of God our Saviour has appeared to all" (Tit 2:11). With these words of St. Paul, Our Holy Father Benedict XVI proclaimed his Christmas Message this year. “The grace of God, rich in goodness and love, is no longer hidden. It ‘appeared’, it was manifested in the flesh, it showed its face... Jesus – the face of the ‘God who saves’, did not show himself only for a certain few, but for everyone.”
Every local Church and parish community is committed to make this “face of God” become more visible. All our efforts to realize our parish vision-mission, i.e., “a Christ-centered, participatory and enlightened Filipino church that is evangelizing, missionary and committed toward total human development” is precisely meant to make Our Lord Jesus Christ more present in our midst. Even the third objective of our pastoral statement, for example, which states, "augment, and later, even supplant membership in the Councils from the emerging leaders coming from the BEC cells so as to make these Councils truly representative of the parish" is geared towards this end.
It is striking to note that when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) it happened in and through the family of Nazareth, and henceforth the family has become the model and framework of renewal, development, and of our pastoral work. As in the family, so it should be in our Christian community. Even our Church’s preferential love of the poor is based on our family’s experience of how we treat the most vulnerable and weakest member of our family.
In the message of Pope Benedict XVI for World Peace Day 2009 come Jan. 1 entitled, "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace," he writes: “When poverty strikes a family, the children prove to be the most vulnerable victims: almost half of those living in absolute poverty today are children. To take the side of children when considering poverty means giving priority to those objectives which concern them most directly, such as caring for mothers, commitment to education, access to vaccines, medical care and drinking water, safeguarding the environment, and above all, commitment to defence of the family and the stability of relations within it. When the family is weakened, it is inevitably children who suffer. If the dignity of women and mothers is not protected, it is the children who are affected most.”
It is in this context that the CBCP has issued our pastoral statement on Reproductive Health Bill entitled, “Standing up for the Gospel of Life” last November 14, 2008. I enjoin everyone who really and honestly wants to understand our Church’s position on various issues on the sanctity of life to study this statement and the recent Doctrinal Congregation Instruction on Some Bioethical Questions, "Dignitas Personae."
As we approach the New Year, I would like to echo the Holy Father’s World Day of Peace message assuring the entire human family of our Church’s support through gestures of creative solidarity, not only by "giving from one's surplus", but above all by "a change of lifestyles, of models of production and consumption, and of the established structures of power which today govern societies." Living in this way, we shall certainly reveal the face of God in our world today.Wishing you all a New Year filled with hope and rich assurances of God’s love for you!
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
"The grace of God our Saviour has appeared to all" (Tit 2:11). With these words of St. Paul, Our Holy Father Benedict XVI proclaimed his Christmas Message this year. “The grace of God, rich in goodness and love, is no longer hidden. It ‘appeared’, it was manifested in the flesh, it showed its face... Jesus – the face of the ‘God who saves’, did not show himself only for a certain few, but for everyone.”
Every local Church and parish community is committed to make this “face of God” become more visible. All our efforts to realize our parish vision-mission, i.e., “a Christ-centered, participatory and enlightened Filipino church that is evangelizing, missionary and committed toward total human development” is precisely meant to make Our Lord Jesus Christ more present in our midst. Even the third objective of our pastoral statement, for example, which states, "augment, and later, even supplant membership in the Councils from the emerging leaders coming from the BEC cells so as to make these Councils truly representative of the parish" is geared towards this end.
It is striking to note that when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) it happened in and through the family of Nazareth, and henceforth the family has become the model and framework of renewal, development, and of our pastoral work. As in the family, so it should be in our Christian community. Even our Church’s preferential love of the poor is based on our family’s experience of how we treat the most vulnerable and weakest member of our family.
In the message of Pope Benedict XVI for World Peace Day 2009 come Jan. 1 entitled, "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace," he writes: “When poverty strikes a family, the children prove to be the most vulnerable victims: almost half of those living in absolute poverty today are children. To take the side of children when considering poverty means giving priority to those objectives which concern them most directly, such as caring for mothers, commitment to education, access to vaccines, medical care and drinking water, safeguarding the environment, and above all, commitment to defence of the family and the stability of relations within it. When the family is weakened, it is inevitably children who suffer. If the dignity of women and mothers is not protected, it is the children who are affected most.”
It is in this context that the CBCP has issued our pastoral statement on Reproductive Health Bill entitled, “Standing up for the Gospel of Life” last November 14, 2008. I enjoin everyone who really and honestly wants to understand our Church’s position on various issues on the sanctity of life to study this statement and the recent Doctrinal Congregation Instruction on Some Bioethical Questions, "Dignitas Personae."
As we approach the New Year, I would like to echo the Holy Father’s World Day of Peace message assuring the entire human family of our Church’s support through gestures of creative solidarity, not only by "giving from one's surplus", but above all by "a change of lifestyles, of models of production and consumption, and of the established structures of power which today govern societies." Living in this way, we shall certainly reveal the face of God in our world today.Wishing you all a New Year filled with hope and rich assurances of God’s love for you!
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