As we breathe our breaths each day we always dedicate it for the compensation of yesterday and for the betterment of tomorrow. Resulting to the making of the present a mere intermediary to what has been and what is to be. With this mindset, we come to conceive of time of having the past, the present and the future. With mechanical time to govern our everyday lives- to set what is past, what is present and what is future. But, the problem is that we no longer live the present but instead engross ourselves to what is the future.
Our existence is not that of early video recorders wherein in it is composed of different slides to project. What has been projected is the past, what is being projected is the present and what is to be projected is the future. I come to points of my life wherein I look at myself in the present not focusing on it but focusing on what I have been and what I am to be. Neglecting altogether my present and never living it.
Imagine a potter. He has clay in hand and facing his spinning wheel. The clay is so simple and irrelevant coming from the roads we tread, from the gardens we toil and from other uninteresting locations. But there the potter is, never stopping of dreaming of forming something beautiful and precious from this irrelevant clay. He put the clay on his spinning wheel and began to spin it. With his bare hands he began to form the simple clay into something different. With the simple spinning and with the graces of the potter’s hands comes out from earth’s clay something unique- a jar.
I spent the last 3 years of my elementary education in a rural school in Laconon, T’boli because of my parent’s teaching work. My classmates were natives of the T’boli tribe with only few of us from the lowlands. My earlier elementary schooling was spent at Notre Dame of Norala, Inc. After graduating from that school I proceeded my high school at Koronadal National Comprehensive High School. At first my parents are not confident of my status taken that I am only a graduate of a rural school. So, they comforted me that I should not hope too much of getting into the honors of that school. They are not even hoping that I get into a higher section. But then I realized that its not about which school you were really from but it’s about how much you value education and how much you value learning.
If the potter did stop dreaming and instead of thinking of forming something unique from that clay but focused on the irrelevance and ugliness of the clay he will find himself not forming something appreciative but instead stuck in his folly with nothing to accomplish.
Life is like that, at certain times we take time blaming and blaming the cause, things that have been done and cannot be undone, for the mistakes of the present that we neglect the things that we can do to better the things of the present. We take more time blaming who is responsible that we realize that we have spent all the time with nothing more to do because the time that we can spend in making things right we have already used in blaming who’s who.
Life will not always be perfect. We come to crossroads wherein the choices to choose is never positive. All four corners of the road are in flaws. But, the thing is that we are gifted with creativity for us to use. Besides, because of this creativity of man do all priceless possessions on earth arose. To name a few does from the sands of Egypt arose the pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza, from the clays of Yuang tze, the great yellow river of China, does came the great Chinese porcelains and from the great Alps of Italy came the raw marbles that became sculptures donning the great halls of Italy and the Vatican.
We can never choose which part of history does destiny wants us to place. We can never choose who we are and what we are on the day we were born. The thing is that, wherever and whichever part of history we are in we can always change the world. Remember that He who is the prince of the world was born in a simple manger but his love became the epitome of love for mankind- He has changed the World. Why don’t you?
Apr 26, 2016
The Question of Man is Across Time
Most often than not, man has always been imposed with this question: “What is man?”
For centuries, answers to this single question were given varying from culture to culture, custom to custom, from philosopher to philosopher and even from man himself to another man. Some of which gave answers starting most often with the self, grounded from his own existence. Others gave answers starting with the statements of those claiming to have possession of an interaction with the absolute.
This act of man questioning his nature does not only imply man’s curiosity and awareness of his existence but presupposes a certain search for meaning. A search for meaning in his existence.
The answers to this question started with Greeks whose view of man as part of the Cosmos (Cosmo-centric) gave fame to the Socratic motto: “Know thyself.” Man was seen as a microcosm, and the search for truth about man was simultaneously the search for truth about the universe.[1] Therefore, man is everything.
Other periods in the philosophical landscape emerged and gave rise to new thinking of what is man but this know thyself has and will always leave its mark. With the coming and predominance of Christianity on Medieval Europe, this “knowing thyself” has somewhat found its new perspective. “Know thyself” in the perspective of faith. Philosophy became the handmaid of Theology (Theo-Centric or God-Centered). Reason was the companion of faith, its task was to make faith reasonable...Man was viewed still as part of nature but nature now was God’s creation.[2]
The change of focus began with the philosophizing of Rene Dascartes...Everything was dubitable...all except for one fact- the fact that he was doubting.[3] From this criterion, Descartes has somewhat established of understanding man in the standpoint only of himself. In the standpoint of the ‘I’ taken in itself. (Anthropo-Centric)
Yet, the zeitgeist is so alive that new ways of understanding man were born. From the standpoint of the I, where modern philosophy established man, emerged Martin Buber’s ‘Thou.’
[1] Dy, M. (2001). Philosophy of Man: Selected Readings (2nd edition). Philippines: Goodwill Trading Co., Inc.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
For centuries, answers to this single question were given varying from culture to culture, custom to custom, from philosopher to philosopher and even from man himself to another man. Some of which gave answers starting most often with the self, grounded from his own existence. Others gave answers starting with the statements of those claiming to have possession of an interaction with the absolute.
This act of man questioning his nature does not only imply man’s curiosity and awareness of his existence but presupposes a certain search for meaning. A search for meaning in his existence.
The answers to this question started with Greeks whose view of man as part of the Cosmos (Cosmo-centric) gave fame to the Socratic motto: “Know thyself.” Man was seen as a microcosm, and the search for truth about man was simultaneously the search for truth about the universe.[1] Therefore, man is everything.
Other periods in the philosophical landscape emerged and gave rise to new thinking of what is man but this know thyself has and will always leave its mark. With the coming and predominance of Christianity on Medieval Europe, this “knowing thyself” has somewhat found its new perspective. “Know thyself” in the perspective of faith. Philosophy became the handmaid of Theology (Theo-Centric or God-Centered). Reason was the companion of faith, its task was to make faith reasonable...Man was viewed still as part of nature but nature now was God’s creation.[2]
The change of focus began with the philosophizing of Rene Dascartes...Everything was dubitable...all except for one fact- the fact that he was doubting.[3] From this criterion, Descartes has somewhat established of understanding man in the standpoint only of himself. In the standpoint of the ‘I’ taken in itself. (Anthropo-Centric)
Yet, the zeitgeist is so alive that new ways of understanding man were born. From the standpoint of the I, where modern philosophy established man, emerged Martin Buber’s ‘Thou.’
[1] Dy, M. (2001). Philosophy of Man: Selected Readings (2nd edition). Philippines: Goodwill Trading Co., Inc.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
Philosophy and a Better Place
It is said that Philosophy has three main branches, namely: Metaphysics, Epistemology and Ethics.
Metaphysics, as said, is the branch of philosophy that deals with the fundamental nature of reality. Epistemology is said to be dealing with the theory of knowledge. And lastly, Ethics is said to be the one concerned with the actions of man.
All three, in my opinion, does not only stop at looking and staring at reality. Not that Metaphysics should only tell us what is reality, Epistemology telling us what are we to know of reality and Ethics as telling us what is our reality and how should we conform to it. Instead, we can make a better world out of these three. Not of course if we only codify it in books and make that book as precious as the Bible and fossilize it in our mere memorization of quotations from the greatest of Philosophers and walk in the corridors of NDMU as though “the future is in your hand.” Of course, I am not telling that the future is not in your and our hands but what I am telling is do not fool yourself that by mere memorization of these quotations will you ever change the world. For even dogs live in memory. Instead, live it. The future will certainly slip in your hands if you only live in fooling yourself.
These three branches of Philosophy can make us a better place. It is like making from the sands of Egypt rise the pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza, from the clays of Yuang tze, the great yellow river of China, the great Chinese porcelains and from the raw marbles of the great Alps of Italy the sculptures of Michaelangelo donning the great halls of Italy and the Vatican.
So, how do we live it? We should do it. We should be the one looking at reality. We should be the one facing reality. Vis-a-vis. So as to know what are we to know and live conforming to what we know. We must know how to connect these branches into a unified working on reality. We must know how to transcend our dealing with reality in Metaphysics into strengthening and verifying it in Epistemology and thus apply it in our Ethics.
The greatest tragedy of man is selfishness. Few are the songs and literatures that youth listen to now that pertains for the longing of the common good. Nationalistic songs are becoming things of the past. Even the Aglipayan church whom I admire much in their patriotic cause have stopped wearing their Philippine Flag as vestments. Most students would choose listening to ‘Pusong Bato,’ ‘Boom Panes,’ etc. They would even choose to read ‘Hopeless Romantic’ of Marcelo Santos III neglecting that we have a greater tragedy to face than the tragedy that happens in their puppy love escapades.
Who would dare to listen to this song now with its heavy use of patriotic words and even with its use of native musical instrument?
Saan Ka Patungo
Joey Ayala
I would dare, would you?
Metaphysics, as said, is the branch of philosophy that deals with the fundamental nature of reality. Epistemology is said to be dealing with the theory of knowledge. And lastly, Ethics is said to be the one concerned with the actions of man.
All three, in my opinion, does not only stop at looking and staring at reality. Not that Metaphysics should only tell us what is reality, Epistemology telling us what are we to know of reality and Ethics as telling us what is our reality and how should we conform to it. Instead, we can make a better world out of these three. Not of course if we only codify it in books and make that book as precious as the Bible and fossilize it in our mere memorization of quotations from the greatest of Philosophers and walk in the corridors of NDMU as though “the future is in your hand.” Of course, I am not telling that the future is not in your and our hands but what I am telling is do not fool yourself that by mere memorization of these quotations will you ever change the world. For even dogs live in memory. Instead, live it. The future will certainly slip in your hands if you only live in fooling yourself.
These three branches of Philosophy can make us a better place. It is like making from the sands of Egypt rise the pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza, from the clays of Yuang tze, the great yellow river of China, the great Chinese porcelains and from the raw marbles of the great Alps of Italy the sculptures of Michaelangelo donning the great halls of Italy and the Vatican.
So, how do we live it? We should do it. We should be the one looking at reality. We should be the one facing reality. Vis-a-vis. So as to know what are we to know and live conforming to what we know. We must know how to connect these branches into a unified working on reality. We must know how to transcend our dealing with reality in Metaphysics into strengthening and verifying it in Epistemology and thus apply it in our Ethics.
The greatest tragedy of man is selfishness. Few are the songs and literatures that youth listen to now that pertains for the longing of the common good. Nationalistic songs are becoming things of the past. Even the Aglipayan church whom I admire much in their patriotic cause have stopped wearing their Philippine Flag as vestments. Most students would choose listening to ‘Pusong Bato,’ ‘Boom Panes,’ etc. They would even choose to read ‘Hopeless Romantic’ of Marcelo Santos III neglecting that we have a greater tragedy to face than the tragedy that happens in their puppy love escapades.
Who would dare to listen to this song now with its heavy use of patriotic words and even with its use of native musical instrument?
Saan Ka Patungo
Joey Ayala
Chorus:
Saan ka patungo panganay ko.
Ano ang hinahanap mo sa ating mundo?
Ako’y tutungo sa siyudad upang hanapin ang kaluluwa nito,
Papasukin ang mga pintuan at gusali niya at hihiga sa kaniyang semento.
Ako’y tutungo sa siyudad at sasagupa sa dahas nito,
Ako’y sasama sa kanyang mga pulubi at pusakal at yayakap sa kaniyang aspalto.
(Chorus)
Ako’y tutungong katedral upang tumitig sa mukha ng Diyos,
Isasaulo ko ang bawat guhit sa kanyang mukha at dadalhin ko siya sa aking puso.
Ako’y tutungong mesquita upang tumitig sa mukha ni Allah.
At kung matuklasan ko na ang Diyos at si Allah pala’y pareho ang mukhang pinapakita,
Aking imumungkahi na dapat magkaisa ang lahat ng mga Muslim at Kristiyano sa lupa.
(Chorus)
Ako’y tutungo sa ginintuang palasyo ng mga hari,
Titingnan ko kung ang kulay ng mga haring ito ay tunay na tulad ng kulay kong kayumanggi.
At kung matuklasan ko na ang tunay na kulay nila’y pintura sa mukha’t balat-kayo,
Makikita ng mundo na ang nakaupo sa trono ay di hari kundi manika lamang.
(Chorus)
Ako’y tutungo sa parang upang hukayin ang dunong sa lupa.
Isip ko’y bubungkalin diwa ko’y itatanim at aanihin ko ang katotohanan.
Ipamamahagi ko sa aking kapwa tao ang mga bunga ng aking diwa.
At kung may hahadlang sa pagbungkal ng isipan awitin ko’y magsisilbing sandata.
(Chorus)
Saan ka patungo, panganay ko.
Tila mpanganib ang adhikain mo.
Ita’y ako’y patungo sa dulo ng mundo.
Ang aking hinahanap ay ang kalayaan ko!
Ito ang aking pakay at ako’y nakahanding ipagpait ang aking buhay para sa KALAYAAN...
I would dare, would you?
Know Thyself!
Everybody who knows Socrates will surely recognize the words which he uttered almost 2,500 years ago yet still gives out a challenge to every man of this modern time: "Know thyself!"
What does really make a better you? What makes a good life? Most of us would think it would be things, material things.
During my childhood years, we lived at a subdivision in Norala. Some of my friends came from well-to-do families and they have as it seem everything they want. They have computers on their homes. Encyclopaedias don their living room. Bulky dictionaries would be their companion during studies. Their “yaya’s” would even accompany them going to school with their cars to bring them to and fro. At a young age they have cellphones to call their own. To sum up, they are rich while my family is only from the middle class. Though our everyday life is alright, not as bad as others, to dream of someday also becoming rich was implanted to my being. I was taught that if I study harder, someday I will also have these things and my life would be better. Better if I also have those things.
At first I succumb to that temptation of dreaming of having also those things. I wished I also live on a big house; I can be brought to school with a really nice car. I also dreamed of reading those thick encyclopaedias in our home and scan that dictionary everytime I have assignments. I really thought happiness, before you will have it, you should have these things also. But it is not.
I was transferred school when I was in Grade 4 because of my Mother’s work. It was really a new life where I transferred, totally a new life.
I was transferred to Laconon Elementary School. It was actually the second largest school in T’boli but still a few kilometres from the town proper. We will be trekking an 8-kilometer road with 2 rivers just to get there. Our house there is made of nipa. We live in a compound where teachers are boarding. Our water supplies come from springs. There are springs there where you can tap a hose up to your house and would be the source of water for your house. Sometimes if our tapping system would break we will be most happy because we will have no water and we will be washing ourselves in a river at the back of our house. The water is so pure and clean and it is literally as cold as water with ice! We used to heat water first before bathing.
Life is very different from that of Norala. Everything my classmates at Norala have, that’s the very opposite of what my classmates in T’boli has. Literally, small houses, no cars and we don’t even have books from the school. My classmates would start “walking” from their houses at 4 and still they would be late for the first period. Our school also practice an “early dismissal system” so that those who live in the barrios can reach their homes early. At 3:30 pm we are already dismissed. Life is just so simple in that mountain. But, one thing makes them superior than my rich classmates before. They truly know life.
With all the scarcity of what they have, they would still share, laugh and enjoy each day. You would even think if they have problems at all! They are all relatives by the way; they can trace every member of their clans though they do not have the same surname. Even those whom you would expect to be “siga” can be so gentle in his sister, can share the little he has with his friends and can be of company for his brothers in walks miles away.
Well, that is philosophy. It teaches us how to truly live our lives. They would say, “Philosophy is so hard!” Others would ask, “If you graduate the course, what good will it bring you?” Well, it is bringing good to you now.
Philosophy is never detached from the world. It actually gives balance and meaning to the world. As a telescope would help astronomers venture the heavens, know the vastness of the cosmos and discover the deepness of the universe so is Philosophy leading us to discover what life truly is, the life itself. It leads us to our most being. If you look into the heavens under a light post, that artificial light from the post may blur our eyes from seeing the very beauty of the moon and the stars. If we look into what happiness in life is through the lenses of material things, we may be disillusioned from what real happiness is.
Our life is like the universe, so vast and full of wonders yet unknown. It may be discovered but still there are more to offer. The stars, the moon, the comets and many other wonders lie beneath the dark spaces. We are told that these wonders are only fragments, debris; trash of what happened millions of years ago. If this debris would fall so beautiful, what more is that very nucleus which happened long ago? Philosophy does that; it makes us discover that very beautiful self of us. That very nucleus of ourselves which if discovered is so beautiful.
So let us anchor to Philosophy and let us live life itself.
What does really make a better you? What makes a good life? Most of us would think it would be things, material things.
During my childhood years, we lived at a subdivision in Norala. Some of my friends came from well-to-do families and they have as it seem everything they want. They have computers on their homes. Encyclopaedias don their living room. Bulky dictionaries would be their companion during studies. Their “yaya’s” would even accompany them going to school with their cars to bring them to and fro. At a young age they have cellphones to call their own. To sum up, they are rich while my family is only from the middle class. Though our everyday life is alright, not as bad as others, to dream of someday also becoming rich was implanted to my being. I was taught that if I study harder, someday I will also have these things and my life would be better. Better if I also have those things.
At first I succumb to that temptation of dreaming of having also those things. I wished I also live on a big house; I can be brought to school with a really nice car. I also dreamed of reading those thick encyclopaedias in our home and scan that dictionary everytime I have assignments. I really thought happiness, before you will have it, you should have these things also. But it is not.
I was transferred school when I was in Grade 4 because of my Mother’s work. It was really a new life where I transferred, totally a new life.
I was transferred to Laconon Elementary School. It was actually the second largest school in T’boli but still a few kilometres from the town proper. We will be trekking an 8-kilometer road with 2 rivers just to get there. Our house there is made of nipa. We live in a compound where teachers are boarding. Our water supplies come from springs. There are springs there where you can tap a hose up to your house and would be the source of water for your house. Sometimes if our tapping system would break we will be most happy because we will have no water and we will be washing ourselves in a river at the back of our house. The water is so pure and clean and it is literally as cold as water with ice! We used to heat water first before bathing.
Life is very different from that of Norala. Everything my classmates at Norala have, that’s the very opposite of what my classmates in T’boli has. Literally, small houses, no cars and we don’t even have books from the school. My classmates would start “walking” from their houses at 4 and still they would be late for the first period. Our school also practice an “early dismissal system” so that those who live in the barrios can reach their homes early. At 3:30 pm we are already dismissed. Life is just so simple in that mountain. But, one thing makes them superior than my rich classmates before. They truly know life.
With all the scarcity of what they have, they would still share, laugh and enjoy each day. You would even think if they have problems at all! They are all relatives by the way; they can trace every member of their clans though they do not have the same surname. Even those whom you would expect to be “siga” can be so gentle in his sister, can share the little he has with his friends and can be of company for his brothers in walks miles away.
Well, that is philosophy. It teaches us how to truly live our lives. They would say, “Philosophy is so hard!” Others would ask, “If you graduate the course, what good will it bring you?” Well, it is bringing good to you now.
Philosophy is never detached from the world. It actually gives balance and meaning to the world. As a telescope would help astronomers venture the heavens, know the vastness of the cosmos and discover the deepness of the universe so is Philosophy leading us to discover what life truly is, the life itself. It leads us to our most being. If you look into the heavens under a light post, that artificial light from the post may blur our eyes from seeing the very beauty of the moon and the stars. If we look into what happiness in life is through the lenses of material things, we may be disillusioned from what real happiness is.
Our life is like the universe, so vast and full of wonders yet unknown. It may be discovered but still there are more to offer. The stars, the moon, the comets and many other wonders lie beneath the dark spaces. We are told that these wonders are only fragments, debris; trash of what happened millions of years ago. If this debris would fall so beautiful, what more is that very nucleus which happened long ago? Philosophy does that; it makes us discover that very beautiful self of us. That very nucleus of ourselves which if discovered is so beautiful.
So let us anchor to Philosophy and let us live life itself.
Mar 13, 2016
Just a meter away
He was there…and I am here…just a meter away.
He was there…and I am here…just a meter away still. But, I just felt the presence of a father so alone, so weakened by days and weeks and months of longing for his loved ones. I felt the love of a friend from this stranger I just know. He confided me the things that is happening in the center as if I am that trustworthy to keep his little secrets. With these, I realized we are the same. He is still a man and not some mischievous monster ready to devour the flesh of mine which I adore as so pure and precious than theirs. How proud I am as I enter the center. But, how ashamed I am as I bid them farewell for they seem to be more human. For they pose true signs of hope in the Lord in which mine a hiprocrisy of stage plays.
Simply as our time to depart comes to a close, he gave me his little flower made of drinking straw. At no cost he gave me this little treasure in where he live up his life now. I in turn took it and appreciated it feeling ashamed for not doing my part of bringing something for him. I apologized for not bringing something but then he expressed himself consoling me: “What is important my son is your presence and your visit.”
He was there…and I am here…just a meter away still…but I can feel my heart beating for the heart of this saint. This saint of conversion.
11 Fascinating Quotes from Elizabeth of the Trinity Everyone Should Read
Tap into the heart of our newest Carmelite saint, Elizabeth of the Trinity. Add more in our comment box below.
2. “May my life be a continual prayer, a long act of love.”
3. “May nothing distract me from You, neither noise nor diversions. O my Master, I would so love to live with You in silence. But what I love above all is to do Your will, and since You want me still to remain in the world, I submit with all my heart for love of You. I offer you the cell of my heart; may it be Your little Bethany. Come rest there; I love you so…I would like to console You, and offer myself to You as a victim. O my Master, for You, with You.”
4. “It seems to me that I have found my heaven on earth, because my heaven is you, my God, and you are in my soul. You in me, and I in you – may this be my motto.”
5. “What a joyous mystery is your presence within me, in that intimate sanctuary of my soul where I can always find you, even when I do not feel your presence. Of what importance is feeling? Perhaps you are all the closer when I feel you less.”
6. “Make my soul…Your cherished dwelling place, Your home of rest. Let me never leave You there alone, but keep me there all absorbed in You, in living faith, adoring You.”
7. “Here in Carmel, there is nothing, nothing but God. He is all, He suffices, and one lives for Him alone and for His glory… this life of prayer and contemplation, interceding always for His people before the Face of God…”
8. “My mission in heaven will be to draw souls, helping them to go out of themselves to cling to God, with a spontaneous, love-filled action, and to keep them in that great interior silence which enables God to make his mark on them, to transform them into himself.”
9. “A soul united to Jesus is a living smile that radiates Him and gives Him.”
10. “I can’t find words to express my happiness. Here there is no longer anything but God. He is All; He suffices and we live by Him alone.”
11. “Believe that He loves you. He wants to help you Himself in the struggles which you must undergo. Believe in His Love, His exceeding Love.”
Feb 13, 2016
A Muslim Mother Blessed her Catholic Son's Ordination
Ten years in the seminary and you can only find a handful of Catholics who would really support you on your vocation. Most would surely doubt the quality of your person if truly fit for the "service."
But, what is amazing is that though you will not find that much of Catholic 'supporters' you will surely befriend people whose religious belief is different from yours and yet believe in your perseverance.
This story from Asianews.it is a great example:
The Muslim family of Robertus B. Asiyanto joyfully participated in his ordination in Maumere. His mother laid her hands on the altar: "I'm really happy with my son’s choice". The island of Flores is one of the few predominantly Catholic areas of Indonesia.
Feb 12, 2016
Be the You
“To understand the world,This reminds me to be one with myself and to discover it not theoretically but instead discover it as one should employ every faculty.
knowledge is not enough,
you must see it,
touch it,
live in its presence
and drink the vital heat of existence
in the very heart of reality.”
Jan 15, 2016
One year ago today...
Last January 15, 2015 the leader of the worldwide 1.2 billion Catholics arrived in the Philippines via Villamore Airbase. He has the mission of bringing the message of Christ of Mercy and Compassion to the 80 million Filipino Catholics. Arriving in the said airbase he was greeted by scores of Filipinos including church officials and that of the government. He was greeted with smiles by both the Filipino youth and seniors alike. Also, he was greeted by his constituents in church matters and was greeted by the President as leader of a state - the Vatican.
Cabinet members of the Philippine government pile up to kiss the ‘Ring of the Fisherman’ which is the sign of the pope’s leadership to the flock of Christ. “You are Peter, the Rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Matt. 16:18 says Jesus to Peter, making him the leader of the Church. Their kisses reminded me with the kiss that brought death, death on the cross. After the tragedies happening in the Philippines they seem to wait for the pope before they would do some charity and find a place in the limelight of that Church affair and be dubbed as one of the Good Samaritan. They are like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time who follow and follow the Lord not to learn from his wisdom but finding holes to discredit him. They are kissing and kissing the ring of Peter and yet they forgot the message of Jesus carried by this man: “Tend my Sheep.” John 21:15
I left General Santos City in January 16, 2015 for the Papal Visit. At 7:45 I arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. I rode a shuttle bus going to Taft Avenue for an MRT ride going to our host parish. This will give us lodging for our next 5 day sojourn in the country’s capital. The parish convent is a modern design building. It has a common air-conditioning system not including the rooms for every room has its own air-conditioning. Life in that parish is very smooth. With parishioners coming from the upper social strata, no jeepney ride comes in front of that Church. Only taxi is the available public transport in that area. With such commodities present in a convent who can ask for transfer? After we arrived in the parish we took dinner offered by the parish priest.
After making it to the parish convent we made our way to the host family who will be giving us also an accommodation. My companions were first to arrive in Manila in the 15th so they told me about the ‘wonder’ inside the house of our host family. We reached the house inside a private village. We were asked what business do we have inside the village and we said the name of our host which they eventually called. After calling we were asked to log in our names in a log book in the guard house and we proceeded. Upon reaching I was amazed by the truth they were telling me. It has three floors and an elevator. 48-inch television is catering our recreational needs and it has an ‘azotea’ overlooking Quezon City. It took me some time to process the feeling I have with the house of our host family. Thinking that we have an unfinished house in a remote barangay in Mindanao the feeling inside this three-storey house is amazing!
For three days in Manila I was in the midst of the upper social strata of Manila. Living and doing everyday things in the way how a Quezon City rich club member would do. I do shower under hot and cold and spent time inside a spacious C.R. Touring and touring Manila with nothing in mind but enjoying life. We also joined a Saturday mass in the parish chapel. We were in the midst of the rich and when the offering part came bills not smaller than Php 100 came out from the pockets.
From my experience inside that village of the Rich I saw the real other face of men. I realized that we should stop stereotyping the rich and realize that they too keep their pace in their spirituality.
The other side of the face of man that I saw is that of the more common – the Poor. I saw that the face of the poor of Manila is different from the poor I was used to. Atleast in Mindanao the poor can be seen but the poor in manila is ignored more. I saw a man pleading just for rice and he was sitting in front a fast-food chain. Nobody who heard him ever listened to him. It broke my heart for during at the papal mass in Luneta there is about 7 million who participated, cried and said: “Oh! I was really transformed!” I doubt if they ever listened to the pope of his pleadings of mercy and compassion and ready to turn the word upside down or were they only there hoping to take for themselves a Papal Selfie.
I stopped at him and later on realized what I asked to the man: “What happened to you!” in Tagalog. I normally don’t do that to strangers but in that moment my feeling was so different that I need to explode. As I look into my wallet for what to give to the man I saw him crossing himself with the sign of the cross. Thanks God he has not lose his hope – in Jesus.
He told me after I asked that exploding words that he was finding a job. But, why? He is lame! How can one man could be so hardworking and not be given the opportunity? How heartbreaking it is to hear from the news the millions and millions or even billions of pesos being lost in the hands of those who promise hope, justice, equality, progress and many other things which could make the lives of these simple people better. Last election we hoped of the best from the son himself of the couple who fought in the front for the people against the regime of martial law and we again were disappointed. He is always there talking and talking about the corruption of the past government that he mask his own puppets in their money laundering spree.
This is the problem with kind words. Rhetorical words put great people to death. Nice and appealing words which took the hearts and souls of those who listens away from God. The Socrates of Athens and the Jesus of Nazareth were speaking of truth and yet put to death for it. The Rizal of Dapitan was shot because of the truth he spoke. The Gandhi of India was assassinated due to the truth he fought. All for the words that pierces more surely than the two edged sword. Martin Luther King Jr., Malala Yousafsai, Ninoy Aquino, Aung San Suu Kyi and scores of others who suffered from the rhetorics of selfishness.
Rhetorical words disillusion us from the truth. As we listen and continue to hope, there come those who take advantage. Most often they are those who has promised. An old anecdote goes that: what differentiates us from those who are in the prison cells is that they were caught and we are not.
At UST I met thousands of others who is ready to meet with the Pope. They were mostly from top institutions of learning such as Ateneo, UST, FEU, etc. In essence we are all the hope of the fatherland for in our hands lies the future. We are the future. This was actually a very old saying said by a man born almost 150 years ago and was also killed because of his fight for truth – Dr. Jose Rizal. Yet, after the years spent where are we?
Cabinet members of the Philippine government pile up to kiss the ‘Ring of the Fisherman’ which is the sign of the pope’s leadership to the flock of Christ. “You are Peter, the Rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Matt. 16:18 says Jesus to Peter, making him the leader of the Church. Their kisses reminded me with the kiss that brought death, death on the cross. After the tragedies happening in the Philippines they seem to wait for the pope before they would do some charity and find a place in the limelight of that Church affair and be dubbed as one of the Good Samaritan. They are like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time who follow and follow the Lord not to learn from his wisdom but finding holes to discredit him. They are kissing and kissing the ring of Peter and yet they forgot the message of Jesus carried by this man: “Tend my Sheep.” John 21:15
I left General Santos City in January 16, 2015 for the Papal Visit. At 7:45 I arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. I rode a shuttle bus going to Taft Avenue for an MRT ride going to our host parish. This will give us lodging for our next 5 day sojourn in the country’s capital. The parish convent is a modern design building. It has a common air-conditioning system not including the rooms for every room has its own air-conditioning. Life in that parish is very smooth. With parishioners coming from the upper social strata, no jeepney ride comes in front of that Church. Only taxi is the available public transport in that area. With such commodities present in a convent who can ask for transfer? After we arrived in the parish we took dinner offered by the parish priest.
After making it to the parish convent we made our way to the host family who will be giving us also an accommodation. My companions were first to arrive in Manila in the 15th so they told me about the ‘wonder’ inside the house of our host family. We reached the house inside a private village. We were asked what business do we have inside the village and we said the name of our host which they eventually called. After calling we were asked to log in our names in a log book in the guard house and we proceeded. Upon reaching I was amazed by the truth they were telling me. It has three floors and an elevator. 48-inch television is catering our recreational needs and it has an ‘azotea’ overlooking Quezon City. It took me some time to process the feeling I have with the house of our host family. Thinking that we have an unfinished house in a remote barangay in Mindanao the feeling inside this three-storey house is amazing!
For three days in Manila I was in the midst of the upper social strata of Manila. Living and doing everyday things in the way how a Quezon City rich club member would do. I do shower under hot and cold and spent time inside a spacious C.R. Touring and touring Manila with nothing in mind but enjoying life. We also joined a Saturday mass in the parish chapel. We were in the midst of the rich and when the offering part came bills not smaller than Php 100 came out from the pockets.
From my experience inside that village of the Rich I saw the real other face of men. I realized that we should stop stereotyping the rich and realize that they too keep their pace in their spirituality.
The other side of the face of man that I saw is that of the more common – the Poor. I saw that the face of the poor of Manila is different from the poor I was used to. Atleast in Mindanao the poor can be seen but the poor in manila is ignored more. I saw a man pleading just for rice and he was sitting in front a fast-food chain. Nobody who heard him ever listened to him. It broke my heart for during at the papal mass in Luneta there is about 7 million who participated, cried and said: “Oh! I was really transformed!” I doubt if they ever listened to the pope of his pleadings of mercy and compassion and ready to turn the word upside down or were they only there hoping to take for themselves a Papal Selfie.
I stopped at him and later on realized what I asked to the man: “What happened to you!” in Tagalog. I normally don’t do that to strangers but in that moment my feeling was so different that I need to explode. As I look into my wallet for what to give to the man I saw him crossing himself with the sign of the cross. Thanks God he has not lose his hope – in Jesus.
He told me after I asked that exploding words that he was finding a job. But, why? He is lame! How can one man could be so hardworking and not be given the opportunity? How heartbreaking it is to hear from the news the millions and millions or even billions of pesos being lost in the hands of those who promise hope, justice, equality, progress and many other things which could make the lives of these simple people better. Last election we hoped of the best from the son himself of the couple who fought in the front for the people against the regime of martial law and we again were disappointed. He is always there talking and talking about the corruption of the past government that he mask his own puppets in their money laundering spree.
This is the problem with kind words. Rhetorical words put great people to death. Nice and appealing words which took the hearts and souls of those who listens away from God. The Socrates of Athens and the Jesus of Nazareth were speaking of truth and yet put to death for it. The Rizal of Dapitan was shot because of the truth he spoke. The Gandhi of India was assassinated due to the truth he fought. All for the words that pierces more surely than the two edged sword. Martin Luther King Jr., Malala Yousafsai, Ninoy Aquino, Aung San Suu Kyi and scores of others who suffered from the rhetorics of selfishness.
Rhetorical words disillusion us from the truth. As we listen and continue to hope, there come those who take advantage. Most often they are those who has promised. An old anecdote goes that: what differentiates us from those who are in the prison cells is that they were caught and we are not.
At UST I met thousands of others who is ready to meet with the Pope. They were mostly from top institutions of learning such as Ateneo, UST, FEU, etc. In essence we are all the hope of the fatherland for in our hands lies the future. We are the future. This was actually a very old saying said by a man born almost 150 years ago and was also killed because of his fight for truth – Dr. Jose Rizal. Yet, after the years spent where are we?
May 24, 2015
A Third World Version of 'The Lord's Prayer'
who is in us here on earth,
holy is your name
in the hungry
who share their bread and their song.
Your Kingdom come,
which is a generous land
flowing with milk and honey.
Let us do your will,
standing up when all are sitting down,
and raising our voice
when all are silent.
You are giving us our daily bread
in the song of the bird and the miracle of the corn.
Forgive us
for keeping silent in the face of injustice,
and for burying our dreams;
for not sharing bread and wine,
love and the land,
among us, now.
Don't let us fall into the temptation
of shutting the door through fear,
of resigning ourselves to hunger and injustice,
of taking up the same arms as the enemy.
But deliver us from evil.
Give us the perseverance and the solidarity
to look for love,
even if the path has not yet been trodden,
even if we fail;
so we shall have known your Kingdom
which is being built forever and ever.
Amen
May 23, 2015
What is Spirituality?
These are people who, legitimately, shun old and new spiritualisms, unreal abstractions, and see no reason to waste their time.
The word "spirituality" derives from "spirit." And for most people, spirit is opposed to matter. "Spirits" are immaterial beings, without a body, very different from ourselves. In this sense, what is not material, what does not have a body, would be spiritual. And one would say that people are "spiritual" or" very spiritual" if they live without worrying much about material things, even about their own body, trying to live only off spiritual realites.
These concepts of spirit and spirituality as realities opposed to material and bodily reality come from Greek culture. From that, they moved to Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, even English and German So that whatever might be labelled "Western culture" is, in effect, as it were infected with this Greek concept of what is spiritual. The same is not true, for example, of the Quechua, Guaranf or Aymara languages.
Neither did the ancestral tongue of the Bible, the Hebrew language, the Semitic cultural world, understand "spiritual" in this way. For the Bible, spirit is not opposed to matter, or to body, but to evil (destruction); it is opposed to flesh, to death (the fragility of what is destined to die), and it is opposed to the law (imposition, fear, punishment). In this semantic context, spirit means life, building, power, action, freedom. The spirit is not something that is outside matter, outside the body and outside tangible reality, but something that is within, that inhabit smatter, the body, actuality, and gives them life, makes them be what they are; it fills them with power, moves them, impels them; it propels them into growth and creativity in an impulse of freedom.
In Hebrew, the word for spirit, ruah, means wind, breath, exhalation. The spirit is, like the wind, light, strong, flattening, unpredictable. It is, like breath, the bodily wind that makes us breathe and take in oxygen, lets us go on living. It is like the exhalation of our breathing: while we breathe, we live; if we don't breathe, we die.
The spirit is not another life but the best of life, what makes life be what it is, giving it love and strength, looking after it and moving it forward.
We can say that something is spiritual in that it has the presence of the spirit in it. So, from now on, we abandon the Greek sense of the word "spirit" and will take care to use it in its biblical, indigenous, African, not its split "Western," sense.
+Bp. Pedro Casaldaliga
Excerpt from The Spirituality of Liberation, Int. pp. 1
Invocation to the Spirit
May 24, 2015
John 20:19-23
Come Holy Spirit. Awaken our small, weak and wavering faith. Teach us to live trusting in the unfathomable love of God our Father towards His sons and daughters, be they within or outside of your Church. If the faith in our hearts goes out, our communities and churches will soon die as well.
Come Holy Spirit. Make Jesus be the center of your Church. May nobody and nothing take His place or obscure Him. Do not dwell among us without bringing us to His gospel and converting us to follow Him. May we not flee from His Word, nor turn away from His commandment to love. May the memory of Him not be lost in the world.
Come Holy Spirit. Open our ears to hear your call, the one that comes to us today from the questions, suffering, conflicts and contradictions of the men and women of our time. Make us open to your power to give birth to the new faith that this new society needs. In your Church, may we be more attentive to what is being born than to what is dying, with hearts sustained by hope, not undermined by nostalgia.
Come Holy Spirit and purify the heart of your Church. Put truth among us. Teach us to recognize our sins and limitations. Remind us that we are all weak, mediocre and sinful. Free us from our arrogance and false security. Help us learn to walk among men and women with more honesty and humility.
Come Holy Spirit. Teach us to look at life, the world, and especially people in a new way. May we learn to look as Jesus looked upon those who suffer, those who cry, those who have fallen, those who live alone and forgotten. If our way of seeing changes, so too will the heart and face of your Church. We, the disciples of Jesus, would better reflect his closeness, understanding and solidarity with the neediest. We would be more like our Lord and Master.
Come Holy Spirit. Make us a Church of open doors, compassionate hearts, and contagious hope. May nothing and nobody distract us or deviate us from Jesus' plan: to build a more just and worthy world, a more friendly and blessed one, opening the way to the Kingdom of God.
The Despised
Today we come to you, Lord, we, the despised.We are not a sorry procession, but a repugnant one.
We do not even arouse compassion, or hatred, tenderness or sympathy.
We are simply despised; we disgust people.
The leper arouses compassion.
The fiercest criminal stirs up hatred or terror.
But there is no place reserved for us in the catalogue of the works of mercy.
I, Lord, am a drug addict.
For all practical purposes, I have resigned from the human race.
I have lost all hope of regaining my self- control, of becoming myself again.
There are other people who have drugged, not their bodies, but their consciences and hearts.
But nobody despises them. At worst, they are feared.
I, Lord, am a homosexual.
I don’t like women.
Now and then, I go with another man.
I commit fewer sins than my brother who certainly does like women and who even takes up with other men’s wives.
Bur no one at home or outside turns their nose up at him; they don’t find him repugnant; on the contrary, sometimes they even admire him.
But everyone, both men and women, shy away from me.
And I am acceptable only to someone who, like me, also feels that he is cast off by normal society.
I, Lord, am a drunkard.
But a poor one.
I’ve been on the bottle for many years.
They don’t want me at home because they’re ashamed of me, and so I’m left to stagger around the streets like a sick dog.
When people see me coming, they hastily cross to the other side of the street.
Even a beggar occasionally has the consolation of having someone approach him and, although hurriedly, put a small coin in his hand, which, as you yourself had told us, is also in your hand.
But nobody comes near me; except perhaps a policeman to hustle me off to jail.
Yet, Lord, there are others who also get drunk, but they do it at exclusive parties in the suburb and, because they are influential, people only laugh good- naturedly at their drunken antics.
They are readily forgiven and, if necessary, excuses are found for them by their hangers-on, who covers up for them.
No policeman ever lays a finger on them.
I wonder – am I more repugnant when drunk than they are, just because I get loaded on cheap wine, while they do it on expensive whiskey, vodka and gin?
I, Lord, am a prostitute.
I can’t claim to be one of the girls, not any more.
Because now I’m old and fat and tired.
I have no one now to pay the rent of an apartment for me and buy me nice things.
I am one of those who have to satisfied with what the ‘customers’ feel like giving them.
I no longer have a nice apartment to entertain my clients in, and I don’t have the money to advertise in the newspaper as a ‘masseuse.’
I have to be satisfied with hanging around cheap bars in the slums or on street corners in the cold and the rain, hoping that some poor wretch will be willing to pay me a few coins for the remnants of my favours.
People passing in their cars look down their noses at me and quickly turn away so as not to meet my eyes.
I am despised even by the high-class call-girls who, glittering with jewels and wrapped in furs, glide by in big cars driven by their very respectable ‘patrons.’
I, Lord, have been excommunicated in your Church.
I can’t receive the sacraments, as do the criminals and money-grubbers and oppressors of the poor.
Nobody even dreams that I may perhaps be at peace with my conscience.
Didn’t the Church of your day excommunicate you?
There are others who defend more heresies than I; who even boast about their atheism; who exploit your Church and who live off her without believing in her.
But they are admired and respected.
They don’t carry the shameful mark of excommunication in their foreheads, as I do.
Perhaps this is because they have friends who stand up for them, or because they know how to be more diplomatic than I, professing in public what they betray in private or in the dark places of their consciences.
We and so many others whom the society does not even pity; we, the despised of the earth, who arouse neither hatred nor pity nor fear, but only disgust, today we come to you, who are sinless, because we believe that, if you do exist, you will not despise but will even forgive us.
We aren’t trying to hid or make excuses for the sins that have caused us to be cast off by society.
We only hope that perhaps you, who not only forgive but also excuse, will be able to avoid humiliating us further and to tell us , as once you told the man possessed by the devil, that saving us will let others see your glory and mercy in us.
Remember, you said you came to save what was lost.
And who is more lost than us who do not even arouse pity?
Sometimes, a ray of hope lets us dream for a moment that perhaps you may bring yourself to love even us and to find under the filth and grime some traces of your own likeness.
Forgive us, Lord, if we are sometimes tempted to think that you do not exist.
It’s not easy to believe in your, whom we cannot see when all our fellowmen, who we can see only too well, turn their eyes away from us in disgust so as not to have to look at us.
Forgive us also if, as very seldom happens, we find someone who does not despise us and even hold out a friendly hand to us, so that we feel tempted to confuse him with you and adore him as our God.
Forgive that idolatry.
But would it be really idolatry?
If someone succeeds in loving what everyone else despises, doesn’t he thereby become you yourself presented and living among us?
O Christ, have pity, at least you, our Lord and our Brother – have pity on us, the despised of the earth.
+Juan Arias
Prayer without Frills
May 21, 2015
A Short Way of the Cross
This shorter way of the cross
is used by Franciscan Missionaries in mission
who do not have ample time
to use the usual form.
O Jesus! so meek and uncomplaining, teach me resignation in trials.
Second Station Jesus Carries His Cross
My Jesus, this Cross should be mine, not Thine; my sins crucified Thee.
Third Station Our Lord Falls the First Time
O Jesus! by this first fall, never let me fall into mortal sin.
Fourth Station Jesus Meets His Mother
O Jesus! may no human tie, however dear, keep me from following the road of the Cross.
Fifth Station Simon the Cyrenean Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
Simon unwillingly assisted Thee; may I with patience suffer all for Thee.
Sixth Station Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
O Jesus! Thou didst imprint Thy sacred features upon Veronica's veil; stamp them also indelibly upon my heart.
Seventh Station The Second Fall of Jesus
By Thy second fall, preserve me, dear Lord, from relapse into sin.
Eighth Station Jesus Consoles the Women of Jerusalem
My greatest consolation would be to hear Thee say: "Many sins are forgiven thee, because thou hast loved much."
Ninth Station Third Fall of Jesus
O Jesus! when weary upon life's long journey, be Thou my strength and my perseverance.
Tenth Station Jesus Stripped of His Garments
My soul has been robbed of its robe of innocence; clothe me, dear Jesus, with the garb of penance and contrition.
Eleventh Station Jesus Nailed to the Cross
Thou didst forgive Thy enemies; my God, teach me to forgive injuries and FORGET them.
Twelfth Station Jesus Dies on the Cross
Thou art dying, my Jesus, but Thy Sacred Heart still throbs with love for Thy sinful children.
Thirteenth Station Jesus Taken Down from the Cross
Receive me into thy arms, O Sorrowful Mother; and obtain for me perfect contrition for my sins.
Fourteenth Station Jesus Laid in the Sepulchre
When I receive Thee into my heart in Holy Communion, O Jesus, make it a fit abiding place for Thy adorable Body. Amen.
Father Rufus Halley
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| Father Rufus Halley |
I first met Father Rufus Halley in the mid-1970s when I was appointed auxiliary bishop in Manila with responsibility for Rizal Province, the area that became the Diocese of Antipolo in 1983. The Columbans had been working in parishes there since before the War. Father Rufus was in Jalajala at the time. Father Feliciano Manalili, a diocesan priest, introduced me to him. Father Manalili is now a Trappist monk in Mepkin Abbey, South Carolina, USA, where he is prior.
New friend
At first I knew Father Rufus in a formal way, as one of the parish priests under my jurisdiction. But I gradually began to know this man with an open personality and a wonderful sense of humor as a person. On one occasion he invited me to a barrio in his parish that was 45 minutes by boat from the centro. He had forewarned me that this would be a different kind of pastoral visit. We set off in the afternoon. The house where we stayed was on a duck farm and some of the birds were waddling around the house. There was no electricity. After dinner we walked around the village. I saw the people at their usual occupations that included drinking and gambling games such as bingo. Father Rufus introduced me as ‘my friend from Manila,’ which wasn’t untrue, as we were in the Archdiocese of Manila.
Back at the house we chatted for a long time and prayed together. We decided we’d celebrate Mass the next day back at the centro. We slept on the floor. As we were leaving next morning people came to see us off and it was only then that their parish priest told them that I was the area bishop. Though there was some embarrassment, especially among those who were members of Church organizations, there was a lot of laughter at the realization that the bishop had met them as they really were.
Tagalog speaking Irishman.
By this time Father Rufus and I were close friends and I called him ‘Pareng Rufus’ and he called me ‘Pareng Dency.’ I felt free to drop in on him any time and to go through the back door of his convento. Sometimes I wouldn’t find him in the office or upstairs and would then realize that, despite his red hair and blue eyes, I had passed him in the kitchen, where he was chatting with the staff. (His baptismal name was Michael but his parents always called him ‘Rufus’ because of his red hair). What threw me was that I’d hear only pure Tagalog while walking through the kitchen. My Irish friend spoke the language perfectly.
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| Father Rufus Halley with the author, Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales |
Another trademark of Father Rufus was his bakya. I learned from the late Father Patrick Ronan, then parish priest in Morong, that Father Rufus came from a privileged background. That was a revelation to me, as I had always been struck by the simplicity I saw in his life. Father Ronan, another Irish missionary with a great sense of humor and known to his fellow Columbans as ‘Pops’, had spent time in jail in China after the Communist takeover in 1949.
Around 1980 Father Rufus felt called by God to leave the security of living in an overwhelmingly Catholic community to work in the new Prelature of Marawi, which includes all of Lanao del Sur and part of Lanao del Norte, where 95 percent of the people are Muslims. He was very aware of the long history of tension and occasional outright conflict between Christians and Muslims. He also became fluent in two other languages, Maranao, spoken by the Muslims in the area, and Cebuano, spoken by the Christians.
His kind of dialogueo
I too moved to Mindanao, becoming Coadjutor Bishop of Malaybalay in 1982 and succeeding Bishop Francisco Claver SJ in 1984. On one occasion, after spending about a week on retreat in the Benedictine Monastery of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay, Pareng Rufus came to spend a night at my place. He spoke of a ‘brother Muslim’ whom he loved very much and told me that he had been hired to work in a store in the market in Malabang, Lanao del Sur. ‘Why?’ I asked him. ‘This is my kind of dialogue,’ he told me. He was pushing Christian-Muslim dialogue to the limit. When the late Bishop Bienvenido Tudtud, first bishop of the then Prelature of Iligan, which covered the two Lanao provinces, told Pope Paul VI of the conflict there and of his vision of a ‘dialogue of life’ between the two communities, the Pope encouraged him to the extent of dividing the prelature and transferring him to Marawi. Bishop Tudtud died tragically in a plane crash in 1987.
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| Father Rufus Halley with Maranao-Muslim friends |
Male dominated Maranaos
My friend Rufus wanted not only to know the faith and culture of Muslims but to ‘befriend the culture of our brother Muslims.’ More than that, he wanted to understand the culture of the Maranaos. This involved trying to understand aspects of that culture that went against his own warm nature and that didn’t seem to be in harmony with the Gospel. For example, he noticed that among Maranao men it wasn’t seen as proper to show any public signs of softness, even if a child of theirs was hurt. He noticed how stiff Maranao men are in their dances which many Filipinos are familiar with. Men sometimes carry a kris as a sign of power. He was well aware that many men, Christian and Muslim, carry a gun for the same reason, and not only in Lanao. He asked himself if there were any areas of tenderness in the macho culture of the Maranaos and stressed the importance of trying to find ways in which the Gospel could enter into dialogue with that culture.
Pareng Rufus was really educating me that night.
Who inspired himo
I knew of the intensity with which Father Rufus lived his own Christian faith, how he began each day with an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, the centrality of the Mass in his life. A big influence on him was the life of Charles de Foucauld, 1858-1916, beatified last November. This Frenchman was also from a privileged background. Unlike Pareng Rufus, he lost his Catholic faith and became a notorious playboy before re-discovering it, partly through the example of Muslims living in North Africa. He spent many years as a priest living among the poorest Muslims in a remote corner of the Sahara, pioneering Christian-Muslim dialogue by discovering himself as the Little Brother of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and as the Little Brother of the Muslims who came knocking at his hermitage door.
Death of a peacemaker
On 1 December 1916 Charles de Foucauld died at the hands of a young gunman outside his hermitage and on 28 September 2001 Pareng Rufus died at the hands of gunmen who ambushed him as he was riding on his motorcycle from a meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders in Balabagan to his parish in Malabang. The local people, both Christian and Muslim, mourned for him deeply. The grief of the Muslims was all the greater because the men who murdered my Pareng Rufus happened to be Muslims. This great missionary priest brought both communities together in their shared grief for a man of God, a true follower of Jesus Christ.
Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J.
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| Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J. |
Fr. Ling’s first assignments were in the province of Bukidnon, moving to Ateneo de Naga, Cagayan de Oro City, and in 1968, back to Bukidnon.
At that time, the Catholic Church was seeing dramatic changes as an aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. The Gospel was henceforth to be preached beyond the walls of the church, and in the fields, market places, the hills, and lived as a witness to give people back their dignity and their rights.
Fr. Ling embraced these new church teachings, preaching as well as practicing them with his flock. He found Bukidnon a land of great social conflicts. Politics was rough, and bullets counted more than ballots. Peasants were oppressed by landlords, usurers and middlemen, and power was in the hands of a small few.
Fr. Ling’s involvement with farmers began by helping them start a credit union and a grains marketing cooperative. He helped organize the Kibawe chapter of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF).
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| Fr. Godofredo Alingal, S.J. |
Gentle and soft-spoken, Fr. Ling nevertheless spoke out against electoral fraud, threats and harassments by the military, denouncing these from the pulpit and through the prelature newsletter Bandilyo. In 1977, the martial law government closed down the prelature radio station DXBB, and Fr. Ling, refusing to be cowed, started the Blackboard News Service, a giant blackboard in front of the church, broadcasting news otherwise being suppressed, and as always, denouncing official abuses. The blackboard was vandalized repeatedly, but Fr. Ling, exhibiting both patience and determination, simply put up a new blackboard to replace it.
Fr. Ling’s advocacy for clean elections in 1980 earned him a written death threat: “Stop using the pulpit for politics … your days are numbered.” He received another death threat months later. But he told himself, “What else is there to do -- the priesthood is not a safe vocation.”
He had just gotten orders for reassignment to another parish in April 1981, when assassins swooped down on his parish and killed him on the evening of the 13th of April. Two parish houseboys having gone out to lock up the church for the night were suddenly crying for help. The priest, wanting to know what was happening, opened his door to five men, armed and wearing masks. A .45 caliber automatic was aimed at him, one bullet going straight through his heart. Two men then ran up to cut off the church’s electric connection. Then they all fled on motorbikes. A physician living nearby rushed to the church when he heard the shot. Fr. Ling died in his arms.
He was 59.
Two bishops and about 70 priests, including then Jesuit Father Provincial Joaquin Bernas, concelebrated the funeral mass for Fr. Ling. Thousands coming from the town proper and the surrounding barrios and towns joined the funeral march, bringing with them placards, painted with the angry query: "Hain ang justicia? (Where is justice?)” People across Bukidnon expressed their outrage over the priest’s killing.
Can the poor receive communion?
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| Fr. Fausto 'Pops' Tentorio |
October 8, 2014
This question is hard. I know. Hard on the poor. It might be hurtful to them. But this question is not against them. They know that.
In my country, Chile, it's normal for the poor to form their families little by little. When life smiles on them, they come to have their own house and, if they're Catholics, they get married in the Church. There is nothing more wonderful than a religious marriage celebrated after making a long journey of great effort, with all the winds against you. The best of all worlds is having reached this point, having brought up your children and still having the strength to take on the grandchildren.
The working class family is a miracle. It consists of people who tend to come from very precarious human situations, have gotten ahead by overcoming great adversity and, if that weren't enough, bear the scorn for being poor. Society looks askance at them and blames them for their destitution! They do not live as they should.
She already had a child. She got pregnant at fifteen. He also had a child elsewhere. They fell in love and went off to live together in a room they could rent. But in a few months, life there became impossible for them. The child cried. The bathroom wasn't enough for everyone. In the refrigerator, they had a minimal space reserved for the baby bottle and nothing more. There were rumors of a land takeover. A political party offered them a share. They decided to run the risk because it was dangerous to try it. In the camp, a third child was born...of both of them. Together the four withstood the lack of water, the filth, the trips to the hospital, the bad environment...Thanks to the leaders and the assemblies, they fought for a house and got it. Getting married in the Church never crossed their minds. Civilly, yes. But they didn't want to do it until they could offer a fiesta in the place they would live forever. In the meantime, she arranged to leave the children with a neighbor and thus be able to be employed in a private home. He, a construction worker, was a real go-getter. He rarely lacked work. But to get to the job, he often had to take two buses, a trip that took him an hour and a half or two hours in all.
What piety is possible under these living conditions? A very deep one. I know. It's not a matter of talking about it. I would have to extend my remarks. I just want to make it known that the working class Christian communities are composed of people like these. They themselves are the ones who got land for the chapel, built it, and water the garden. These same people are responsible for the catechesis of their children. In these communities, at Sunday Mass, at the moment of Communion, no one is denied anything.
If the poor couldn't receive communion, the Church wouldn't be the Church.
Sr. Dorothy Stang: Living in Extreme Poverty with the Poorest of the Poor
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| Sr. Dorothy Stang |
On a rain-soaked Saturday in February 2005, she carried that Bible while making her way along a muddy Amazon jungle road. She was headed to Boa Esperança, a village near Anapu, where she lived in the northern Brazil state of Para. The area lies on the eastern edge of the Amazon, a region known for its wealth of natural resources and the violence that boils over from land disputes.
Waiting for Sr. Dorothy that morning was a group of peasant farmers whose homes had been burned down to the ground on the land which the federal government had granted to these farmers. In the entire state of Para and in a place like Boa Esperança, legal title to land does not always end disputes. In Para, logging firms and wealthy ranchers find assistance from local politicians and police in procuring and commandeering property from indigenous peoples and small farmers. While Sr. Dorothy walked on toward Boa Esperança, she heard taunts from men who had stopped alongside her. The rain poured as she stopped and opened her Bible. She read to the men. They listened to two verses, stepped back and aimed their guns. Sr. Dorothy raised her Bible toward them and six shots were fired at point blank range. She fell to the ground, martyred.
In the days preceding her murder on February 12, 2005, Sr. Dorothy was attempting to halt illegal logging where land sharks had interests but no legal rights. Authorities believe the murder was arranged by a local rancher for $19,300 (U.S.). Many believe that a consortium of loggers and ranchers had contributed to the bounty on Sr. Dorothy’s head in an effort to silence her. Ironically, their attempt at silence resulted in an opposite effect: an outraged world, well informed about the murder through persistent global media reports, sent Sr. Dorothy’s voice soaring to new heights. And a proclamation came quickly from Brazil’s President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, that the land in question, over 22,000 acres, would be reserved for sustainable development by the poor farmers whose cause Sr. Dorothy had championed.
Following her death, Brazil’s Human Rights Minister, Nilmario Miranda, described her as “a legend, a person considered a symbol of the fight for human rights in Para.” While this accolade has become global consensus, Sisters who knew the down-to-earth Sr. Dorothy state that she would have cringed at being called a legend. Having spoken with Sr. Dorothy days before her death about threats against herself and others, Mr.Miranda says: “She always asked for protection for others, never for herself.”
Her Sisters, family, friends and colleagues gathering around tables, at prayer services and in classrooms around the world, try to understand the pattern of fact and circumstances that led to Sr. Dorothy’s death. Many are curious to know more about her ministry and what brought her to Brazil in the first place.
Like most Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Dorothy Stang chose life in this Congregation which has a clear preference for work among those living in poverty. At age 18, she completed her application to join the Sisters and wrote boldly across the top of the form: “I would like to volunteer for the Chinese missions.” She never served in China, but her dream of missionary work was realized in Brazil.
Sr. Dorothy lived and worked in Brazil for nearly 40 years. She went there for the first time in 1966 with five other Sisters of Notre Dame. At that time, Sr. Dorothy and her Sisters spoke little or no Portuguese. So they began the ministry with language learning. Soon they established a new convent at Coroatá in the state of Maranhão, where they trained lay catechists and gave religious instruction to adults. Over time, the Sisters became more aware of the social problems troubling this region, particularly the oppression of farmers. The Sisters reacted by stressing basic tenets of human rights in their lessons and their work took on new proportions and expanded to new areas in Brazil.
Sr. Barbara English was among the group who traveled to Brazil with Sr. Dorothy. She remembers: “By 1968, all of us (SNDs) in Brazil were aware of the repression and violence promoted by the military dictatorship. People who worked for human rights and for the small farmers’ rights to the land were labeled subversive and the military dictatorship had them hunted down.”
In the early 1970s, Brazil’s government touted the benefits for impoverished people to move to the Transamazonian region. Landless people saw this as an opportunity to become farming homesteaders. Many moved to the state of Para to begin new lives for their families. This sparked in Sr. Dorothy something that would have attracted many Sisters of Notre Dame — the chance to help people create better lives for themselves. She packed up and joined the farmers on their journey to the new frontier but once there, they all realized that the poverty and insecurity they had left behind had been replaced by new problems: land sharks, intent on occupying the soil they had come to till, were taking over. Officials in Para offered no remedy since many police and politicians were well paid to scare off the homesteaders.
The farmers who had traveled to the region on the advice of the Brazilian government found their dreams of independence and security for their families not only elusive but dangerous. So they moved even deeper into the forest, and Sr. Dorothy moved with them. Still, the situation was the same after each migration and, according to Sr. Barbara, it became obvious by 1980 that the government had other plans for the region.
The Great Carajás Project designated 10.5 million acres in northern Brazil for development encompassing three states, including Para. Sr. Barbara recalls: “This sector of Brazil held every imaginable mineral deposit along with potential highways, railways and waterways for transportation, as well as potential dams for energy.” The plan was to open the land for mining, refining and agribusiness projects.
“They were David facing Goliath,” said Sr. Barbara, of Sr. Dorothy and the peasant farmers, “and Goliath came in the form of multinationals, big businesses, ranching and lumber companies ... They began to devour the Amazon forest.” (Environmentalists estimate that the Amazon loses 9,170 square miles of forest every year and that about 20% of its 1.6 million square miles has already been cut down to make cattle pasture or to log cedar, mahogany and other precious hardwoods.)
Sr. Dorothy and “her people” moved still further into the forest. Her dream of landless families safely engaged in sustainable development projects brought her ultimately to Anapu, Para in 1982. There, she worked to develop a new type of agrarian society that helped farm families from diverse cultures develop common bonds and learn how to use the soil to sustain themselves and the land. With Sr. Dorothy’s help, the communities in Anapu lived in solidarity and with respect for the environment. During these years, she worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference in Brazil. She also helped to foster small family business projects in the village, often creating, for the first time in many families, women breadwinners.
“She helped train agricultural technicians and worked hard to create a fruit factory,” said Betsy Flynn, SND, a Sister of Notre Dame whose ministry has also brought her to Brazil. Sr. Betsy remembers Sr. Dorothy as a person supporting the community she helped build through education and health care. “She worked to create schools and helped teachers become properly trained and credentialed,” said Sr. Betsy. “Many people learned to read and write because of Sr. Dorothy Stang. She also had a vast knowledge of popular health care remedies, particularly useful in areas where doctors and hospitals are scarce, and medication costs are often exorbitant.”
In the last year of her life, Sr. Dorothy was granted naturalized citizenship in Brazil. She received a humanitarian award from a Brazilian lawyers’ association and officials in the state of Para named her “Woman of the Year.” Both honors were given for her work to secure land rights for peasants but while she was given the award from the officials in Para, a plan was underway for a paved highway through the area, raising land values higher and escalating the violence.
At the federal level, President da Silva is caught between a promise to find homes for 400,000 landless families, an expressed desire to protect the rainforest and the pressure to open tracts of forest to support economic growth. External pressure comes from the International Monetary Fund, which loaned Brazil billions of dollars after its 2002 recession. It is a dangerous and complicated life for many in Brazil, but for none more than the people in Para. The Pastoral Land Commission reported recently that the state of Para has been the site of 40% of the 1,237 land-conflict killings in Brazil over the past 30 years. The many concerns surrounding the climate of corruption in Para have increased efforts to move the investigation into Sr. Dorothy’s murder from the state to the federal government. It is widely believed that a fair trial cannot be achieved in Para.
Mary Alice McCabe, SND, who defends the rights of families relying on the fishing trade in Ceara, Brazil, says of Sr. Dorothy: “She was with the excluded migrant farmers in their constant, futile search for a piece of land to call their own. She persistently pressured the government to do its job in defending the rights of the people. She never gave up. She never lost hope.”
Several thousand people attended Sr. Dorothy's funeral. In the month following her murder, four men were arrested and charged with the murder. President da Silva sent 2,000 troops to the area to quell violence, while the United States sent FBI agents to Anapu to investigate the killing. Memorial services were conducted around the world and the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States spoke at a Memorial Mass for Sr. Dorothy in Baltimore. On March 9, 2005, U.S. Congress Resolution #89 was introduced, honoring the life of Sr. Dorothy Stang. On December 10, 2008, Sr. Dorothy Stang was awarded the 2008 United Nations Award in the Field of Human Rights.
She is buried in a grove in Anapu, her grave marked with a simple wooden cross bearing her name and dates of birth and death.
May 20, 2015
Trust and Responsibility
May 17, 2015
Mark 16:15-20
At some point an appendix was added to the original gospel of Mark in which this final mandate of Jesus is recorded: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." The gospel must not remain within his small group of disciples. They are to go out and travel to reach the "whole world" and bring the Good News to all the peoples, to "all of creation."
Undoubtedly, these words were heard with enthusiasm when Christians were fully expanding and their communities were multiplying throughout the Empire, but how do we hear them today when we see ourselves as powerless to retain those who abandon our churches because they no longer feel a need for our religion?
The first thing is to live based on absolute trust in God's actions. Jesus taught us so. God continues to work on the hearts and minds of all His sons and daughters with infinite love, even though we consider them to be "lost sheep." God isn't blocked by any crisis.
He isn't waiting for us to put our plans for restoration or our innovation projects into action in the Church. He is still acting in the Church and outside of the Church. No one is abandoned by God, even though they might have never heard about the Gospel of Jesus.
But all this does not dispense us from our responsibility. We must begin to ask ourselves new questions: Through what paths does God go looking for men and women of the modern culture? How does He want to make present the Good News of Jesus to the men and women of our time?
We are to ask ourselves something more yet: How is God calling us to transform our traditional ways of thinking, expressing, celebrating, and incarnating the Christian faith such that we propitiate the actions of God within modern culture? With our inertia and inaction, don't we run the risk of becoming a deterrent and cultural obstacle to the incarnation of the Gospel in contemporary society?
Nobody knows how the Christian faith will be in the new world that is emerging, but it will hardly be a "cloning" of the past. The Gospel has the power to inaugurate a new Christianity.
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