January 1, 2023*The Octave Day of Christmas Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

    Rev. Jonathan Ulanday,  Davao Episcopal Area, The UMC   

https://www.magnificaths.org/mission/mission-and-values

Numbers 6:22-27
Psalm 67:2-3;5,6, 8
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:16-21

On December 18, 2022, millions of football fans around the world jubilated with Argentina for defeating France with the score of 4-2 in penalty shoot-out earning the 2022 FIFA World Cup championship.

The game was held at Lusail Stadium, in Lusail, Qatar. Unofficially the venue is also known as Lusail Iconic Stadium as it is the largest stadium in Qatar in terms of capacity and exquisite in terms of amenity. In the championship match, attendance is reported to have reached 88,966 fans who watched comfortably in a stadium constructed in April 2017 and ultimately finished in November 2021, the arena is one of eight stadiums in Qatar built for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Revelry and Festivity

Revelry, festivity, elegance, and beauty may dominate our reaction or emotion, however it may also cause us to brush and set aside issues or concerns which are also of equal import to a particular event. Entangled in the exuberance of 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar are the reported hideous and out of site stories and experiences of the migrant construction workers who died or injured during the building and construction stage of venues and facilities for the quadrennial event. The exact number of casualties remain undisclosed, some officials claimed that there were about 300 to 400 other camps claim otherwise which alleged to have reached more than a thousand. Regardless of the inaccuracy, the fact remains that in the course of preparation under pressure and the scorching heat of the sun in the host country, lives of the poor and vulnerable migrant workers were lost for the accommodation of international football patrons.

Oddly, we are seemed to be in an era where the quest for prominence and insatiable desire for leisure and profit are given exceptional importance than human lives.

Common Dilemma

Our celebration of Christmas has similar propensities. In many instances, our revelry and festivity robbed the message, meaning, impression and celebration of the season. Often if not always, our Christmas celebration is elaborated with fancy delights and devoid consciousness about the essentials of the transformative nuances of Christmas. The gait and merriment of our celebration obfuscates the message of the season against the social realities and dilemmas that should be changed.

The Good News of Christmas and the Blessed Virgin Mary
In our liturgical calendar, our celebration of Christmas commences on the Nativity, December 25 and continuing until January 1. This period is known as the octaves of Christmas or eight days of celebration and ending in the solemnity of Mary, the mother of God. Consequently, our Christmas season includes the celebration of the new year in which, providentially or otherwise, the glad tidings of hope, love, joy and peace commenced by Christmas are carried through the commencement of the year.

My contemplation of the good news of Christmas begins with the recollection of Mary’s vision contained in her song of praise during her pregnancy (Luke 1:46-55). I always take cognizance vision as an indispensable element of our celebration of Christmas and the solemnity of Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God.

It should be noted that this longing and vision contemplates the reordering of social relations. This is intimated in the lyrics as it declares that “mighty arm of the Lord will be stretched out to lift up the lowly, to scatter the proud with all their plans and shall brought down the thrones of the mighty kings from their thrones. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.”

Undoubtedly, this vision as well as its far-reaching impact has been exemplified or carried out in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The Challenge

Our lectionary readings are fitting synopses of our culmination of the Christmas season and the introduction of the new year. The priestly blessing (Numbers 6:22-27) is traditionally imparted to the faithful every morning rather than a benediction and parenthetically, Psalm 67 is a prayer of thanksgiving and yearning. It may dawn upon us that the prayer and yearning of the Psalmist and the priestly blessing to the faithful are also what we need to instill today in facing the challenges of the realities before us.

We should be disturbed by the palpable realities of our time that it is the poor and the hungry who are driven away empty by the rich and the mighty. The landholdings and interest of the powers that be are expanding and encroaching and the indigenous peoples and peasants are enduring displacement or coercion as their communities become subject of capitalist investments and projects. The civil and political rights of the workers to self-organization and collective bargain are tempered if not curtailed by scheming employers reinforced by the prevalent employment mechanisms. Conversely, despite industrialization and modernization of implements of food production, poverty, hunger and preventable diseases lingers.

Apparently, these realities run afoul in the solemnity and vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and even more so to the vision of our God Almighty.

It is high time perhaps for all of us to reconsider our actions and reactions during Christmas. I do not have objection about our charitable actions of giving gifts to the poor and the vulnerable during the season because it is also tantamount to “stretching and reaching out our hands to the lowly and filling the hungry with good things” but we should realize that the stretching of our hands to the lowly is wanting if it is not attended by the “scattering of the proud with all their plans and shall brought down the thrones of the mighty kings.” Our good and noble effort is incomplete if it does not spur in the reordering of society and social relations.

As a community of faith holding and keeping the meaning of Christmas, may the courage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God will inspire us to participate in the work of Christ. At the outset of the new year, let us not allow that the emancipating and liberating message of the season shall be diluted by our fancy revelry and festivity.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 25, 2022*he Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)*Christ, our Light, be Born in us Today

Klein Fausto, Youth of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente

Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-18

Typhoon Odette hit many parts of Visayas and Mindanao in December 2021, just as Christmas approached. My town was not spared, and mobile network signals were disrupted because of the typhoon. The typhoon displaced many people, including those in my neighborhood who live near the coast. Affected families were housed in the rooms at a nearby elementary school. The town was dark because major repairs were needed to the electric cables. Many people were in desperate need of food and water. It was almost Christmas, but the mood was so depressing. Darkness everywhere, and many families were unsure how to rebuild their homes in a matter of weeks because the time allotted for them to stay in classrooms was quite limited.

On the contrary, the Christmas Day readings focus on the Light. There was a star at the time of Jesus’ birth that led the shepherds and Magi to the Child Jesus. The star, however, was not the light that would dispel the darkness of the time. It was Jesus, who was born in a manger, who is the Light who later worked and served the people to dispel the darkness in society through his ministry.

What was darkness like during Jesus’ birth and throughout his life? More than two thousand years ago, Mary and Joseph, as well as the entire nation and people, were living under the Roman empire. People were deprived of their liberty and right to self-determination, and they were subjected to oppression and slavery. The poor became poorer, while the wealthy who clung to the Roman colonial powers and Jewish religious leaders got richer. There was a great deal of economic and political disparity.

These sad realities, the social ills, exist today, particularly in the Philippine context. We are doomed in the dark because of a very poor economy, which is reflected in the never-ending rise of basic commodity prices. We are faced with the dreadful scenario of lawmakers prioritizing a bill supporting the establishment of a senseless Maharlika Investment Fund over people’s pressing needs. How can we ever believe that soon the price of rice will be at P20 per kilogram?No,it is not about us who were made to believe, it is about who promised it ? Some people were victimized by the promise of inheriting the Tallano gold. This is our current situation. We are doomed in darkness and we struggle every day for food and necessities. There is so much darkness of oppression and injustice among us. The poor are not wanting in analysis, because they experience it night and day.

If Jesus were to be born today, he would almost certainly be born in the slums, in urban poor communities where potable water was a luxury rather than a necessity. Instead of milk, Jesus would be fed ice candy from a nearby store. The Child Jesus would undoubtedly suffer from a lack of basic needs. Jesus could even be born in a cottage made of cardboard, newspapers, and rotten plywood slabs.

Why did God send Jesus to a world filled with oppression, slavery, corruption, and inequality? Is it because for the love of humanity?

Jesus was sent by God to bring salvation. Was this only a spiritual salvation? NO. God meant salvation in its wider context, encompassing social, economic, religious, political, and physical aspects of life.

The incarnation of God in Jesus was a clear expression of God’s great love. Jesus became a human being to share our miseries and struggles, as well as to show compassion and solidarity to the oppressed and marginalized. The incarnation in Jesus – God made flesh – was a great victory for humanity and the entire creation.

Thus, humanity and creation are given the full dignity and worth of being part of God’s family.

The human birth of Jesus was a sign of hope for oppressed and enslaved people seeking total salvation. As Christians today, we are reminded that God came down to earth, born as a human, to share our anguish and to accompany us in the struggle for justice, peace, and a dignified and abundant life for humanity and for all the creation.

Also, as witnesses of the light, like John the Baptist, we must be steadfast and faithful enough to proclaim the meaning of Jesus’ birth. We ponder upon the social and political landscape under the Roma Empire. We are called to bear witness to the Light that is Jesus, from a lowly manger , he grew up walking the streets and journeyed with the people in their daily struggles under the empire. Jesus suffered poverty, faced oppression at the hands of Rome’s colonial powers, as he expressed solidarity with those who were marginalized and othered by the systems of the time – women, children, the sick, and those who did not fit to societal and religious standards. Jesus wept and mourned, healed the sick, and raised the dead. But don’t forget that Jesus became angry as well, and turned the tables in the temple after he made a strong criticism in the system going on inside the temple.

Our Christian life and ministry call us to “incarnate” ourselves in the people’s struggles and to be in solidarity with those who need God the most. This is the real message of Christmas. As in my own community last year, many people gave up extravagant parties and food preparations in order to help the homeless and needy families affected by the typhoon. Many organizations, churches, individuals, and families launched relief and reconstruction efforts with their own funds. Knowing the great need in many affected communities, water and food were freely distributed.

Instead of having the traditional Noche Buena at home, my siblings and cousins decided to distribute food in the evacuation centers following the Christmas Eve Service. One of the most heartwarming experiences of my faith-life journey was sharing a meal with them on Christmas Eve. The situation in the evacuation center was similar to the first Christmas, which was dark, uncertain, and not very dignified because most of them slept on the floor. But, like the poor shepherds who found the Child Jesus in a manger by the light of a star, it is the light of our faith that motivates us to concretize our faith into works of service to those in need.

It is my prayer that our faith, like the Christ Child, may be made flesh through our work of solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as well as our work of liberation for the captives and enslaved. May Jesus, our liberator, and light on the path to peace and justice, be born in us today. Siya Nawa! Hinaut pa unta! Kabay pa! So be it!

December 18, 2022*Fourth Sunday of Advent*Caring, Inclusivity and the Challenge of Advent

Weena Salvador Meily, Hosea Hermitage of the Heart

Ps 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6.

Is 7:10-14

Rom 1:1-7

Mt 1:18-24

As I write this, dawn is just breaking in Legazpi, Albay.  I arrived yesterday, and when I saw Mayon Volcano, she was hiding behind clouds. But she is beautiful. Magayon! Bikol for ‘beautiful’.  I hope to see her today.  Because today promises to be a clearer day than yesterday, as forecasted.  But this is not my only purpose here.  I am to give a short advent retreat session for the staff of Good Shepherd Home, Legazpi.  A community of two RGS Sisters and seven staff, this lovely group shares each other’s dedication, commitment, and compassion for caring for young girls who suffered from domestic violence.  The home is not always a safe place.  

I prepared a fairly good dose of what I felt the staff needed. But I failed. Now, this happens most of the time. You design a retreat for a group after knowing at least a few details about them but then turns out you fall short.  The group is an interesting one. All are women, three are single, the rest with families,  and all have one thing in common – care.  They do care and seriously enough.  As Lay Women partners of the Good Shepherd,  just for this day, they left families, homes, and work to share a time of stillness, silence and simplicity. The need to rest and re-create is a must in the agenda of “care for carers”.  One can be so caught up in the work of caring and forget about the self.  And so,  let’s see what it really means to care…

One outstanding quality of a caring person is the capacity to be inclusive.  That is, to include all in the “agenda of care”.  Especially those pushed to the margins of society, those excluded, rejected.  And perhaps at the least, within the nuances of everyday life, those who are misjudged, misinterpreted and misunderstood.  This brings me to the Gospel reading for today…

The life of the Jews at about the time of Jesus’ coming was a difficult one.  They were under Roman conquest, experienced division in their past history, ruled by terrible kings and women and children were relegated to the lowest rank of society ever- equal to land and animals as properties owned by the patriarch, the male head of the family.  Women did not have rights then, and their marriages were mostly arranged by their parents, hence, being betrothed at a very young age.  That may be the case with Mary and Joseph.  So what was going on in the mind of Joseph? When he learned about Mary’s pregnancy, he immediately had doubts and contemplated on secretly ending the engagement.  

During this period in the history of Israel, if Mary was discovered to have been pregnant, at the time of their betrothal, it would have been grounds for adultery and she could be stoned to death (Here, I wonder about that time when Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery).  To secretly end the engagement was the most prudent choice since culture and norms caught up on him.  So Joseph thought. And then, the angel intervenes.  Joseph makes a wiser choice.  He accepts Mary into his home. I would like to think that at this moment, Joseph, the mature and older Joseph, was filled with wisdom, and made the most obedient thing to do, in order to fulfill the prophecy… “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” (Is. 7:14)  An inclusive heart Joseph had, a welcoming heart, taking Mary into his home and build their family. The family that was bound to change the lives of most of humanity.   

In this light then, Joseph’s act of keeping Mary is an invitation for all to shift from an exclusive mindset to an inclusive one. A call to keep in mind those rejected, excluded, and pushed by society to its fringes.  The presence of exclusion and ostracizing might as well be, in stronger terms, an indictment of society.  I used to live with PLHIV (People Living with HIV) and I saw some very significant experiences when my co-residents were treated with scorn and condemnation just because they are gay and PLHIV. And at present, as volunteer worker of the Outreach Services Unit (of Hablondawani Integrated Services for Girls and Women In Crisis, Inc.- Good Shepherd Sisters), I am learning about common statistics: 64% of abused children in the world come from Asia, where 1 out of 5 youth experiences sexual abuse every day; both girls and boys may be victims of abuse; 68% of sexual abuse cases are incest, where a relative or family member is the offender. (Source: National Baseline Study On Violence Against Children)  These are some very serious considerations here.  Alarming indeed.

Because Advent is movement towards the celebration of the birth of Christ, the coming of the Savior calls for a deeper look within ourselves.  Considering an interior life, developing a spirit(ual) life that accepts, and welcomes with open arms those outcasts is the challenge of our Advent journey.  Like Joseph, we are called to include in our agenda of care, to light a spark, so that out of the dark, we may see the light of peace, hope, joy and love at Advent.

I’m back in Naga City and work continues.  I  attended mass this morning in my parish church, Our Lady of Penafrancia Parish, and as I prayerfully contemplated the Advent Wreath, a breath of wind blows with a flight of birds and my heart sang with a lilt.  May the spirit of this Season of Advent be a spirit of hope that gives birth to Christ, our Emmanuel, God-With-Us for a renewed world of humanity and Creation.  Because a world without violence is possible.

Sharing with you a prayer-poem gift…

 Come O Christ, God-With-Us
By: Weena S.Meily

               Come O Christ, All-Abiding 

Your people born out of this earth

Planted in soil and water

Bodies awaken to light

Eyes and hearts open to new life.

              Come O Christ, All-Compassion 

Look with mercy upon your people

Tired minds, wearied eyes,

Bones broken and crushed  

From toil and trod.

            Come O Christ, All-Consolation 

Remember our suffering, our loss,

Remember our grief,

Out of the depths we cry out to you

Come O Christ, and hear our prayer.

          Come O Christ, Emmanuel, God-With-Us 

Send forth your Spirit of love

That all may be restored in peace

Our FAITH and LOVE, increase.

To ACT on your call

To give voice to our desire for good to prevail

To transform our misery and pain

To increase our courage to fulfill

our dream of a life reborn in Love and Peace.

                May this our prayer be.

Photo:  https://muniatmalay.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/ang-awit-ni-maria/

Ang lilok ni Rey Paz Contreras, Inang Maria ng Magnificat na ngayon, pagaari ng Kairos Philippines.

December 11, 2022*Third Sunday of Advent*Gaudete Sunday Reflection

Sr. Gemma Dinglasan, RGS

Is.  35:1-6a, 10

Is 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10.

Jas 5:7-10

Mt 11:2-11

“…they will see the glory of the Lord.” (Is 35:1…)

December 10 is Human Rights Day, the day before this year’s Gaudete Sunday. I always feel light every time this Gaudete Sunday comes when there are few flowers in the sanctuary, when the third candle is lit and when a spark of pink is seen in our advent wreath.

 But not this year. Towards the end of 2021 were days full of hopes, our grounds and gates were full of pink parols (lanterns) and our long walls along Aurora Boulevard and Batino Road at the edge of Project 3 were painted with big words like GOOD SHEPHERD FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE and up to this day those designs are still there and no one tried to dirt it with posters and non-sense graffities.

Where did that hope bring us? As of Friday, December 9, 2022, the Philippine census based on UN Worldometer estimated 113,126,226 Filipinos and according to the latest SWS (from google search), a total of 12.6 million Filipino families (with an average of 6 members of a family, approximately 75 Million people) are below the poverty line. With less and less jobs, with soaring high prices of commodities, and with government funds available only to those in power – intelligence funds, confidential funds, Maharlika funds…how can I feel light? Where is our hope?

The 2nd Reading tells us to be patient and make our hearts firm. How can we say to our neighbors – be patient, when they have not eaten their meals for weeks already? Will they not feel insulted?

“They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.” When? It seems that we are always in the season of Advent, forever waiting for that day when we will truly celebrate human rights – when each one enjoys equally the comprehensive security of God’s care.

Prophet Isaiah’s words are convincing –“be strong, your God will come with vindication and make the blind see… He will come to save you! And like the disciples of John the Baptist, we too, are asking in our day-to-day life – Are you the One who is to liberate us? We may forever be singing O Come Divine Messiah and hope for real change in society to take place. This will certainly happen, in God’s time, in God’s place. May we be the “ hope” that the poor are longing to see this Christmas.

(For those who are interested, you may join us in bringing food packs to the homeless on Christmas

morning. Thanks)

December 4, 2022*Second Sunday of *Advent Living out our faith by loving God through loving our neighbor

  Rev. Joram Calimutan, PCPR-Hong Kong   

Is 11:1-10     

Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

Rom 15:4-9  

Mt 3:1-12     

Faith that is devoid of human realities, struggle and sufferings

The Second Sunday of Advent speaks about faith that is deeply rooted on Isaiah’s vision of just and humane society and of John the Baptist’s call for repentance and of preparing the way of the Lord. These two biblical texts are leading us to reexamine our understanding of our faith in God, that promise us of a new heaven and new earth, and its relevance in today’s context.

Let us ponder upon at how  our faith is being practiced and lived-out . Filipinos can proudly say that the Philippines is one of the two Christian nations in Asia (one is East Timor). Filipino Christianity is a product of more than three centuries of Spanish colonization in the 15^th century and of the US colonial rule that brought  American Protestantism. The question is, where is Filipino Christianity leading us? Is it leading us towards conservatism and parochialism? There are new religious movements that teach believers to be passive about social issues and hide in the apolitical stance, albeit neutrality and silence are manifestations of political pronouncements.

The Philippines is known as a country where corruption is widely tolerated or is considered a norm. Issues like the 15-billion-peso PhilHealth scandal; and the misuse and mismanagement of 67.3-billion-peso Department of Health (DOH) fund [in 2021], which happened during the height of the pandemic are among the corruption cases that remain unresolved. Accountability is rare.

As prophets, how do we speak of God’s message and take compassionate acts in favor of the victims of corruption? Do our passive-quiet faith-expression support our call for prophetic witness?

We are trained to close our eyes in prayer, raise our hands and voices when singing praises to our God. Sadly, by keeping our eyes closed and by being reluctant to raise our voices against exploitation and unjust systems, we become complicit to the practice.

In this Second Sunday of Advent may we be blessed with faith that is never neutral and silent in the face of evil, of tyranny and corruption. May we be blessed with faith that empowers us to take a stand for justice, righteousness and compassion. May we be blessed with faith that get us closer to God by following Jesus’ example of loving the marginalized, such as the peasants, indigenous people, workers, migrants and those that are oppressed and discriminated.

Isaiah’s vision of, “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6), speaks of our collective aspiration to experience and live in a just and humane society. It will never be realized if our faith in God remain distantto society’s ill and suffering of the people. Truly, nothing is impossible with God, but if and only if we do our part as God’s co-creator. Indeed, our actions after we pray are the answers to our prayer.

Nonetheless, the voice in the wilderness make himself clear, “Repent for the kindom of heaven has come near.” Let us all prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. In doing so, let us change our ways of living out our faith from passiveness and being apolitical to active and in solidarity with struggling people; from being neutral and silent in the face of evil and injustice to standing firm for God’s justice and righteousness; from being so individualistic and self-centred to being  engaged and following Christ by serving the people.

Maligayang Pasko at mapayapang Bagong Taon sa inyong lahat. In the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.