Let Us Be The Fulfillment Of That Promise!

 

Nov. 29,2016

Jer 33:14-16 Ps 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
1 Thess 3:12-4:2 Luke 21:25-28, 34-3

“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” [Jeremiah 33:14, NRSV]

What was going on in the house of Israel and the house of Judah in the time of the Prophet Jeremiah? Let us take a look-back, balik-tanaw, at the context of this biblical time. What was going on?

Babylon, the ruling power at that time, had besieged Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Judah had fallen. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed and the people were banished. The few elite were brought to Babylon and the remaining population fled to Egypt. The Israelites of Jeremiah’s time had experienced land-grabbing, displacement, destruction of their culture and lives, and badly needing of God’s salvation from their oppressors and exploiters.

Now let us take a look at the context of our present time. What is going on?

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation just very recently had its meeting right here in our shores. Its objectives include enabling economic growth, trade and investment cooperation among its 21 member-countries. What are some of the outcome of their just-concluded summit? They have forged more free market economic policies and pushed for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) which they hope will rescue the US from its double-dip recession quagmire. They have pushed for their liberalization agenda which will only widen the chasm between the very few rich and the ever-growing number of poor. These policies will only allow for more wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few corporations and oligarchs, while continuing to weaken Philippine agriculture and industry.

Of course, the basic sectors oppose this APEC organization and all that it stands for. This will only exacerbate today’s worst-ever crisis of unemployment and poverty. The effects of the last APEC meeting here in the Philippines around 20 years ago are still felt by the workers through exorbitantly low wages, the crisis of unemployment, and inhumane working conditions.

The farmers suffer from the massive importation of rice, vegetables, and sugar, even as the prices of their own products are lowered, their lands grabbed, and no sufficient services coming from the government.

Our Lumad and other indigenous sisters and brothers are displaced by the ever-encroaching mining and logging companies into their ancestral domain. They are harassed, raped, killed, and their schools and communities destroyed.

The neo-liberal policies of the APEC has only aggravated the Filipino and the world’s majority’s vulnerability to oppression and exploitation. The people of our time, just like in Jeremiah’s time, are experiencing land-grabbing, displacement, destruction of their culture and lives, and badly needing of God’s salvation from their oppressors and exploiters.

As sure as there is a fulfillment of God’s promise to the people of Israel in Jeremiah 33 for a righteous Branch to spring up, we are likewise assured that God’s people today shall experience “justice and righteousness in the land,” and that we “will be saved” and we “will live in safety”.

As the Psalmist has requested for the Lord’s ways to be made known, let us be open to the teaching and leading in truth of the God of salvation. Psalm 25 is a supplication for God’s protection and guidance. As church people, let us be a concrete manifestation of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness as we become one in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in their struggle for fullness of life. Let us match Paul’s enthusiasm, gratitude and joy to be working with them and being one with them.

The author of the Gospel of Luke is concerned with social ethics, the poor, and all oppressed groups. This passage in Luke 21 (also found in Matthew 24 and Mark 13) is known as the “Little Apocalypse” because it includes Jesus’ descriptions of future events, the use of end time language, and Jesus’ warning to his followers that they will suffer tribulation and persecution before the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God. Theories abound as to the meaning of this passage. Some say that this passage is a description of the Fall of Jerusalem. Some claim that it talks about the future. What is important is that it talks about the coming of the Son of Man and that when this happens, people must be ready.

Are we ready to face Jesus, follow him and take up his challenge to “bring good news to the poor, release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”? As Jesus’ followers, are we willing to suffer tribulation and persecution as we work towards the ultimate triumph of the Kin-dom of God? God’s Reign of love, peace and justice is a time and place where the Lumad and all Indigenous People (IP) will attain their right to their ancestral domain and to self-determination, where there is land for the landless, where all have decent work with decent wages, where creation is respected and cared for, where there is genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization for God’s people. This is the promise of God for the people of God. Come, let us be the fulfillment of that promise!
Melinda Grace B. Aoanan
United Church of Christ in the Philippines
(UCCP)

Kingship of Hope in the Here and Now

Datu Jimmy Liguyon 

November 22,2015
Dan 7:13-14 Ps 93:1a, 1b-2, 5
Rev 1:5-8 Mark 11:9b, 10a /John 18:33b-37

The readings of Christ the King Sunday reminds us of God’s promise of hope for His/Her people. The introduction in the book of Daniel where the first reading is taken says that it was written during a time when the Jews were suffering greatly under the persecution and oppression of a pagan king. Using stories and accounts of visions, Daniel encourages people of his time with the hope that God will bring the tyrant down and restore sovereignty to God’s people. This was manifested in Daniel’s vision of “one like a Son of man” coming with the clouds of heaven. (Dn. 7:13) He received an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away; and kingship that shall not be destroyed. (Dn. 7:14) Psalm 93 praises the Lord for his majesty, statutes and holiness. The world is established, firm and secure with His strength. The second reading from the book of Revelation affirms the hope and encouragement for the people to remain faithful during times of suffering and persecution. As the Lord says, “I am the alpha and the omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.” (Rv. 1:8)
The message of the readings means that Jesus’ kingship is a kingship of hope. For Pilate, this was contrary to his understanding. A kingship is a status, a possession. It is ruled by a king, and a king is served. He takes pleasure in everything including the toil of his servants. Jesus proclaims that his kingdom does not belong to this world. His kingship is of hope. It is a hope not of external or outside source but his own being, his passion, death and resurrection is in itself an embodiment of hope.

This was the reason why He was born, why he came to the world i.e. to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice. (Jn.18:36-37)
Being with the lumad (local term for Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao) in Bukidnon for some years now, I was struck with the sharing of a lumad pastor from Barangay Dao, San Fernando. He is a member of a community whose village chieftain was Datu Jimmy Liguyon. Datu Jimmy was killed in March 2012 because of his strong opposition with mining activities in their village. Reflecting on the gospel of the passion and death of Jesus, the pastor was emotional in sharing that for him Datu Jimmy is like Jesus. They are both leaders and they were killed because of their prophetic stance for the good of all. In another community of lumad in Barangay Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon, a leader stands out for his faith, values and principles. He is Datu Santiano (Andong) Agdahan, Jr. He leads his clan TINDOGA (Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association) in their struggle of reclaiming their ancestral land against a rich and powerful land grabber.

Datu Andong’s principle in this struggle is simple. He wants to reclaim their land because he wants his people to have their own land where they can plant vegetables, root crops, fruit trees and forest trees. “We know that people do not live on pineapples, banana and sugarcane alone. We eat rice, vegetables, and fruits. We need trees, fresh air and water to survive.”, said Datu. He wants to have their own land where they can build their houses, perform their rituals, preserve their community and sustain their connection with land. For them, land is life. He is doing this not only for his people but also for others and the generations to come. This principle affirms Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. “ Many intensive forms of environmental exploitation and degradation not only exhaust the resources which provide local communities with their livelihood, but also undo social structures which, for a long time, shaped cultural identity and their sense of the meaning of life and community.” (145)
The death of Datu Jimmy, the continuing struggle of Datu Santiano and his clan, the 3,000 lumad evacuees in Surigao del Sur, the 700 lumad in the Manilakbayan embodies a kingship of hope. How can this systemic violation of human rights and ecological injustices be a sign of hope? Their cause reveals to us a painful truth that to stand for justice, peace and for the good of the whole means marginalization, oppression and worst brutal killings of the advocates of life. At the same time, their struggle challenges us to look deeply into our relationship with the whole community of life and our commitment in following Jesus in this present context.Their spirituality, wisdom, culture, and traditions of the lumad teach us a way of being and doing that sustains life and deep connection with its source.
The increasing and systemic violations on the rights of the lumad and environmental advocates have led individuals, groups and organizations to stand with them. Efforts have broadened in the local and international scale to make known their plight. But as long as there are individuals, leaders and groups that continue to create a “kingdom” of inequality, we must also continue our communal efforts to stand against this. As long as the political, economic and social system continues to oppress people and destroy our common home, we must be more vigilant in creating a kingship of hope. Jesus and Pope Francis are showing us the way. Go to the margins! Listen to their hopes, their dreams and aspirations. Feel their hunger, their pain, and their fears. Celebrate their potentials and power to create and nurture a humane community. Experience the God present in the poorest of the poor. This is our mystic-prophetic call.
As a religious missionary, our expression of healing mission with the lumad is for me a cause of pain, sadness, fears, joy and gratitude. At the same time, they continue to teach me a profound way of witnessing the gospel values in the present context. Truth! Justice! Peace! Hope!
May Christ the King of Hope continue to manifest in and through us.

Sr. Mary Jane C. Caspillo, MMS
Quezon, Bukidnon

Gift

KGS 17:10-16	HEB 9:24-28
PS 146:7, 8-9, 9-10	MK 12:38-44

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

 

The widow’s offering is  great because it represents her  life– she contributed all she had.

The  widow represented  the poor  and the marginalized.   What she gave  is not an excesses of  what she had, but  all that she had. I wonder  how  the temple  administrator(scribes for example)  would feel if they learned that the poorest amongst the people would sacrifice  lot   for the temple.  Must the temple burden the already poor ?Must the  temple administrators rethink  and instead give offering to the poor ones like the widows?

I grew  up believing that the theme of the text is about giving and sacrifice. That could be one interpretation.  Could it be that the text is also inviting us to reflect on the meaning  of giving?

I am reminded of Kahlil Gibran’s thought:

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

 

Today, I am reminded of the “giving” mode of the Lumad,  their   teachers and community volunteer organizers .  They give their time, talents, treasures for fulfilling their dreams  .  This is a kind of giving and offering that is not seeking  for rewards. The reward had been advanced by the very hope and inspiration  passed on to them by their ancestors  and martyrs, co-workers   and the generations to come.

They have the wealth of  hope and struggle.  While, they  were made impoverished by  neglect and wanting of social and economic services. , their perseverance and commitment to carry on in fulfilling their dreams  for community and generations to come are  admirable.

Lumad parents wish to see their children go to school and learn the ways of knowledge and wisdom. The children dream to become teachers themselves and desire to help their own communities. They are deprived of many things like social services, but they are not wanting of determination to fulfil their dreams. With their sweat and blood, joy and strength, they persevere and strive to achieve their legitimate dreams.

There are around  4000 people  in the evacuation centers in Mindanao due to the militarization in the communities.

About 700 of  Lumad, Moros and human rights advocates  are in Manila for the Manilakbayan. They are now camping -out in  Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.

They could have been harvesting the bounty of golden grains and leafy vegetables. The young kids could have been reading their books and studying their lessons as they tend the agricultural farm of their school. Women could have been weaving their clothes and enjoying community delight. Young and old could have been practicing their native songs while playing their indigenous musical instruments. The elders together with the young could have been dancing the rituals of life and blessings. They could have been assessing their strength and areas of improvement as an organization. They could have been identifying what needs to be done and planning out steps to ensure their communities and ancestral domain are protected and defended against plunders.

But it seems they have frustrated the template of structures and systems that dominate and conquer, colonize and exploit.  The system demands that they remain humble and meek like dove, but not as wise as a serpent. The system, that is founded in the violence of oppression and exploitation, forces them to be timid and silent, to become slaves and servile.

The Manilakbayan came to Manila so that Lumad voices can be heard. They demand justice for their beloved ones who have been victims of extra judicial killings. They want to see their communities free from militarization; they want to live a life of freedom and dignity. The life they now live is a daily struggle, but they persistently strive to build and better their lives and communities.

We welcome the Manilakbayan,  whose unrelenting hope is admirable.

They impart upon us so many things:  to trust their dreams and live out its fulfilment; to never give up the fight for one’s dignity and rights; to cry out, to shed tears and carry on what their martyrs and heroes have fought and died for; to express their anger, fears, and challenges with all authenticity; to sing their songs with honesty, and to dance the music and rhythm of their struggles, joys, and hope.

These  are  their gifts. Invaluable gifts.

We accept their gifts and we hope to be sharing these gifts too.

Norma P. Dollaga

KASIMBAYAN