Papal Visit 2015 - Day 4

During the papal visit, I couldn't help but recall a verse about people waiting for Peter along the streets so that his shadow might fall on them in the hope of being healed.

Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. (Acts 5:12 -15) 

As we went around interviewing people, many of those we asked about prayer petitions they would ask of the Holy Father replied that they hoped for health and healing either for themselves or family members. 

*****

On the flight to Rome from Manila, the Pope entertained questions from journalists. Kara David asked this question.

Kara David (GMA Network): Good day Holy Father. Sorry, I will speak in English. Thank you very much for visiting our country and for giving so much hope to the Filipinos. We would like you to come back to our country. My question is: the Filipinos have learned a lot from listening to your messages. Is there something the Holy Father has learned from the Filipinos, from your encounter with us?

PF: The gestures! The gestures moved me. They are not protocol gestures, they are good gestures, felt gestures, gestures of the heart. Some almost make one weep. There’s everything there: faith, love, the family, delusion, the future. That gesture of the fathers who think of their children so that the Pope will bless them. Not one gestures, there were fathers, there were many who thought of their children when we passed by on the road, a gesture which in other places one does not see, as if they say this is my treasure, this is my future, this is my love, for this one it’s worth working, for this one it’s worth suffering. A gesture that is original but born from the heart.

A second gesture that struck me very much is an enthusiasm that is not feigned, a joy, a happiness (allegria), a capacity to celebrate. Even under the rain, one of the masters of ceremonies told me that he was edified because who were serving never lost the smile (on their face. It’s the joy, not feigned joy. It wasn’t a painted (false) smile. No, no! It was a smile that just came, and behind that smile there is a normal life, there are pains, problems.

Then there were the gestures of the mothers who brought their sick children. Indeed mothers in general bring them there, but usually mothers do not lift the children up so much, only up to here. The dads do, one sees them. Here dad! Then many disabled children, with disabilities that make some impression; they did not hide the children, they brought them to the Pope so that he would bless them. This is my child, s/he is mine. All mothers know this, they do this. But it’s the way they did this that struck me. The gesture of motherhood, of fatherhood, of enthusiasm, of joy.

There’s a word that’s difficult for us to understand because it has been vulgarized too much, used too badly, too badly understood, but it’s a word that has substance: resignation. A people who knows how to suffer, and is capable of rising up.

Yesterday, I was edified at the talk I had with the father of Kristel, the young woman volunteer who died in Tacloban. He said she died in service, he was seeking words to confirm himself to this situation, to accept it. A people that knows how to suffer, that’s what I saw and how I interpreted the gestures.

[The full transcript of the interview can be found here.]

*****

When Pope John Paul II came here for World Youth Day in 1995, I did not participate. My reasoning then was that I did not have to see the Pope. We have the Eucharist and that is more important. 

Now that I have participated in this papal visit, it does not lessen my appreciation for the Eucharist. I still wonder if we have our priorities straight in terms of how we revere the Eucharist and our reaction to the Pope, especially with the video of people passing the sacred host during the mega-mass at Luneta.

However, having witnessed the lengths people go to and being one of the people to stand for hours waiting for a momentary glimpse of Pope Francis, I do see the importance of participating in these events. There is a sense of community, a sharing in the experience with strangers who are no longer truly strangers because they are your siblings in Christ who are as excited (or more excited) as you are in seeing the head of the universal Church. In a way, your own enthusiasm joins that of the collective and increases... as if our passion for Christ is contagious and we pass it on and catch it from others. 

New friendships are borne from having gone together to the event to cover it as part of Catholic social media. The camaraderie between team members at the start of our working together and after the event is markedly different... again, it is seeing each other as siblings in Christ.

Having gone to this event is one of those things that can start a conversation. You were there too? And then details of each one's experiences can be reminisced and shared. Connections are made, renewed and strengthened. That to me is a wonderful Francis effect. 

Papal Visit 2015 - Day 1 & 2

Malaysian delegates await the arrival of Pope Francis
on Roxas Boulevard.

Members of the Catholic Women's League
have warm smiles ready to greet the Pope.

The sun sets on Manila Bay as people anticipate
the Pope's arrival.

I would love to feature these kids in Junior Inquirer!

Everyone wants to capture the moment
when Pope Francis passes by.

Screens outside the Manila Cathedral allow those outside
to participate in the Mass.

Cardinal Tagle welcomes Pope Francis to the Philippines,
specifically to the Manila Cathedral.

CBAP 2014

Registration fee : 1,500 PhP (inclusive of lunch and snacks). 

Please confirm your attendance not later than 11 July 2014. 

Contact persons: Christian Manaloto (+639326990145) 

or Clarence Marquez, OP (landline: 354-4494).

The Word of God for Catholics: A Synthesis

This is a chapter summary of Catalino C. Arevalo's “Reflections on the Word of God: A Synthesis” in A Fiery Flame: Encountering God's Word, originally submitted to Prof. Mike Lapid, for Pentateuch class, at Divine Word Seminary, S.Y. 2013-2014.

The context of Catalino Arevalo's reflections is the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in Rome last October 5 to 26, 2008 with the theme: “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” The Synod produced over twenty pages of a Nuntius or “Message to the People of God,” consisting of four aspects of logos: the voice (revelation), the face (Jesus Christ), the house (Church), and the roads (mission) of the word of God. Arevalo discusses a few points from this Nuntius, particularly the face of the word of God. He also speaks on previous reflections by Luis Antonio Tagle and Pablo Virgilio David on different aspects of the Nuntius, and makes a passing mention of Teodoro Bacani's reflection. All of these bishops' reflections were made during the Josefino Forum: Verbum Dei held on October 4, 2009.

From Tagle's talk, Arevalo picks up the point that the word of God “is a voice spoken and an event done” (p. 79), like the Hebrew word, dabar, which means both word and action. And spoken words reveal the heart, soul and identity of the person speaking. “God speaks His heart and the world begins to be.”1

Thus, the word of God is more than the actual book. For Catholics, the word of God also comprises the salvation events in history, ultimately culminating in Jesus Christ.2 The person of Jesus Christ is the crux of the face of the word of God—the incarnation of the divine, the logos made flesh. Precisely because divinity has taken on humanity, scripture cannot be stripped of its humanity, which includes the human authorship, the human language utilized by God to reveal himself. Likewise, the  Bible cannot be read as a purely human book without the Holy Spirit. Just as Christ is fully human and fully divine, the written word of God is a product of human and divine collaboration. God did not dictate but the Holy Spirit inspired the human author to write God's truth. Thus, a study of scripture requires a balance between science and faith, mind and spirit: biblical exegesis is needed to understand the human culture, context, language and limitations of the scripture's human author; the Holy Spirit is essential to grasp the divine revelation hidden in what would otherwise be just another ancient human book—no more relevant to the people of today than the mythologies of the ANE. To do away with science is a rejection of Christ's humanity and reduce us to fundamentalists who believe the world was created in six days. To do away with the Holy Spirit would reduce us to analysts of literature, dissecting scripture into parts written by J and written by P but devoid of spiritual meaning for our own lives.

The Bible as the word of God is not meant to be a solitary affair—interpreted by a lone individual relying on his or her own intellectual capacity. Just as the text itself was preserved and transmitted through community, its interpretation is meant to be made within community. God's self-revelation in scripture was, is, and continues to be transmitted through the apostolic community, the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Catholic magisterium and living tradition ensure the faithful transmission of the Gospel from the time of the first Christian community until today.

This Church is built on four pillars (as encapsulated in Acts 2:42): apostolic teaching (didache), the breaking of bread (the Eucharist), prayers (e.g., Liturgy of the Hours), and communal life or fellowship (koinonia). Take away authoritative apostolic teaching and you could have 30,000 Christian communities break away from one another to do or interpret scripture in their own way. Prayer is so basic, a church might as well stop breathing without it. Take away the Eucharist and our most intimate way of encountering Jesus disappears. And this encounter culminates in bringing Christ and encountering him in our fellow men.   

Arevalo concludes by presenting Mary as a model of one who receives the word and does the word. The word of God is the source of meaning for our lives and the source of God's will in action.


1 Tagle, “The Voice of the Word of God: Revelation” in A Fiery Flame: Encountering God's Word, ed. James H. Kroeger and Joseph D. Zaldivar (Quezon City: Insta Publications, 2010), p. 57.

2 “Therefore, the word of God precedes and goes beyond the Bible which itself is 'inspired by God' and contains the efficacious divine word (cf. 2 Tim 3:16). This is why our faith is not only centered on a book, but on a history of salvation and, as we will see, on a person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, man and history.”

World Synod of Bishops, “Message to the People of God,” in A Fiery Flame: Encountering God's Word, ed. James H. Kroeger and Joseph D. Zaldivar (Quezon City: Insta Publications, 2010), p. 5.

Priests were students too

Here's an interesting article on priests being the most wanted among the graduates of 2014. Being the author of the feature, this is actually just a form of self-promotion, but who knows? Maybe God will use the article as an uber long text message to someone he's been calling to the priesthood. 

RCF

Only now has it become clear to me how much one shepherd has been laying down his life for his sheep...

Maybe he is not liked by some of his confreres but unlike me, he does not let that stop him. He will buy a photocopier out of his own money so he can get the best one which will last longer. He will pay the salaries of teachers in an alternative learning system (ALS) so some out of school youth will get a chance for a better future with an education.

And he advocated for me so I can get a master's degree in scripture because he saw my potential. He believed in me even before I did. He has a knack for that, choosing the right people for the right job. He picked a wonderful teacher for the ALS who keeps laying down her life for her students. He picked a critical minded librarian (who topped the license exams for his profession) so the seminary's library can be put in order. He picked a motherly coordinator for the Certificate in Theological Studies program who is able to befriend just about any one. He picks golden-hearted friends who are willing to make and sell candles to support ALS, cook dinner or wash dishes, buy curtains, take care of awards, entertain guests, sell old books, and any manner of service because they see where his heart is.

And he picked me to edit a journal for philosophy and theological studies because I am qualified to do it—I have experience with a national broadsheet and have published books under my name, one of which was hailed as one of the best reads in 2012. He saw I had a passion for scripture and an interest in the Old Testament, which providentially dovetailed with his own specialization.

And even if people around him misinterpret him and think he is some kind of dictator, the people who are in his circle know better. He puts the action in mission.

Perhaps there is a perception that I am not free to make other choices. But I am free. For a time, I was unsure of where to go and what to do with my life. I could not even say for certain that he still wanted me as part of his staff. Dynamics change. I wanted to give him the freedom if he wanted to hire someone else; on my part, I didn't want to be working full time for the seminary anymore. Part of me wanted to go back to the corporate world; another part wanted the convent. Confused might begin to cover it. But now things are becoming clearer.

All things being equal, I would choose him as my boss. It is a free response in thanksgiving for the gift of education he was generous enough to extend to me. I freely chose sacred scripture as my specialization. And I would choose it again. I could spend my life studying scripture and never come close to exhausting its richness.

I am not alone in choosing him back. His loyal right-hand man chooses him back and serves him in any way he can—be it by baking bread to support ALS or cooking dinner or taking the dog for a walk. Our librarian gave up a much more lucrative job to serve in his seminary. Teachers of sacred scripture go all the way to Tagaytay to teach because of their friendship. I would serve him for as long as he is there. 

His critics may continue to criticize. But you have to ask yourself why those who know him like to stick around. That priest has peeled a singkamas and shared half of it with me. I am not that good or humble of a servant. But no task is beneath him. He just happens to have people around him who like to do those things for him (admittedly, I only like to do office-related stuff; maybe I'll wash dishes but no, I can't cook and I dislike cleaning).

Someone might criticize him for not praying with his community enough. I think it is impossible for a man to achieve what he does if he was not secretly praying. And that's how I see his good deeds—done in secret. I think he prays in secret too.

Because of all the man does for me, for ALS, and for CTS, among others, I can't help feeling hurt that maybe some folks do not see him the way I do. I can't help feeling that we, the CTS, are at the periphery of this community. Maybe it's because he sees his service to the seminarians as one of a disciplinarian. That does not make him very popular. But as a teacher in the Certificate in Theological Studies, “a Saturday program open to everyone especially to faith-seekers and laypeople who would like to have a deeper and critical knowledge of the Bible and the Christian faith,” he is a shepherd trying to call the sheep back home. He is all smiles, no grades, and free coffee for the lay. Is it possible that the older brother seminarian is jealous of the younger prodigal child? Why does this shepherd give the younger one free coffee while giving the older brothers a lecture for doing something wrong?

Again, I believe it is how he loves. He expects much from future priests and often gives them the stick. From the lay, he hopes they will continue to deepen in the faith, so he extends the carrot. But if the older brother seminarian would just pluck up the courage to get to know Fr. R, I think he will be surprised to find RCF has a very tender heart.

For everything you do, Fr. R, thanks. You may not get an award from anyone else but we in the CTS love you very much.

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