Dec 23 - Bakit paulit-ulit ang pangalan ng Pinoy?

On the eight day, they were going to name the baby Zechariah after his father. But his mother said: No, he is to be called John. So they went to Zechariah to find out what name  he wanted to give him. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote: “His name is John.”

Clement Clark Moore (1823)  wrote a poem: A Visit from St Nicholas or “Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” In it he named 8 reindeers of St Nicholas. They were virtually unknown until Gene Autry in 1949 sang: 

“You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen,

Comet, and Cupid, and Donder and Blitzen

But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all…

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer is “Santa's 9th Reindeer" depicted as the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. The luminosity of his nose is so great that it lights up the team's path. Rudolph the red nosed reindeer remained the best-selling record of all time until the 1980s next only to White Christmas and Silent night (It was overtaken by Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Xmas is you.”)  So why give names to these reindeers? Are they that important?

Whenever you get to meet and know a stranger, you ask: What is your name? Now is that name important to you? Do you know what your name means? 

In the Old Testament, the names of individuals are meaningful. For example, Adam is named after the “earth” (Adamah) from which he was created. Elijah in our first reading: “I will send you the prophet Elijah who will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.” Elijah literally means: “My God is the Lord. Yahweh is my God. Now, a change of name indicates a change of status. For example, the patriarch Abram and his wife Sarai are renamed “Abraham” and “Sarah” when they are told they will be the father and mother of many nations. Simon was renamed Peter (Rock) when he was given the Keys of Heaven. 

Throughout the Bible, characters are given names at birth that reflect something of significance or describe the course of their lives. For example: Solomon means peace, and the king with that name was the first whose reign was without warfare. Likewise, Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh which means: “causing to forget” as a gesture of forgiveness to his brothers for selling him into slavery. 

In today's gospel we hear about John the Baptist. The sole biblical account of his birth comes from the Gospel of Luke. John’s parents, Zechariah — a Jewish priest — and Elizabeth, were without children and both were beyond the age of child-bearing. During Zechariah’s rotation to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem, he was chosen by lot to offer incense at the Golden Altar in the Holy Place. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that he and his wife would give birth to a child, and that they should name him John. 

However, because Zechariah did not believe the message of Gabriel, he was rendered speechless until the time of John’s birth; at that time, his relatives wanted to name the child after his father, and Zechariah wrote, “His name is John” (which means: God is gracious) after which Zechariah got his voice back. So now I challenge you, what about your name, does it mean anything for you?

I was just curious, if John were probably Filipino his name would be Jan-jan, Jon-jon, or Jun-jun depending on what part of the Philippines he would be. Which brings me to my point: Bakit nga ba paulit-ulit ang mga pangalan ng Pinoy? You have Toto, Lynlyn, Tintin, Weng-weng, Pepe, Jojo, your favorite restaurant’s name is Pinpin, the first national hero is Lapu-lapu and among Pinoy politicians you have Bong-bong Marcos, Nene and Coco Pimentel, the President Noynoy. And don’t forget the cutest of them all - (my name).

I personally think it is a sign of intimacy, of being near and dear to that person that is why we repeat the name. My Father when he is angry at me: He shouts: Hoy Gerardo… but when he needs something from me: Gigi. just like the 3 words you often like to hear: “I love you.” Sinabi na ng minsan gustong ulit ulitin pa… that’s why they came up with the expression: “I love you 3x a day.” 

Now do you notice when we double an adjective in Filipino is becomes the superlative. Instead of using the word higit or pinaka- we prefer saying it again: ganda-ganda, galing-galing, husay-husay, love-na-love, pabebe-bebe. With the Pinoy name maybe it’s because repeating it makes us feel it is precious- like, one’s name is sign of a super valuable gift that we all should take care of. 

Tomorrow night we will celebrate the name of all names. The Word will be incarnate in a manger this Christmas. And he shall be called: Emmanuel. -God is with us -– and his name will be: Yeshua which means the Lord rescues, the Lord delivers us, God saves us- his name shall be Jesus, the sweetest name of all. Let us not forget to call this name over and over and keep him dear to our hearts not only at Christmas but for the rest of our lives.

4th Sunday Advent C - Bakit mahilig sa kalyeserye ang Pinoy?

"God has visited his people and redeemed them. Mary set out and visited Elizabeth. The child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit."

Our question for today is: Bakit mahilig sa kalyeserye ang Pinoy?

Kalyeserye is a soap opera done in the streets of Metro manila which tells about the adventures of Lola Nidora and Yaya Dub as they visit houses and give them prizes and where the latter evantually falls in love with a guy named Alden. In short, its drama and adventure in the streets as they visit houses. 

But do you know the original kalyeserye during my time? It's what we know as “Caroling.” For a growing up kid during my days, this was what we waited for the whole year round. It was those 24 days before Christmas where children ages 8-12 would gather in small groups and would start their evening adventure in the streets without any adult supervision. They would prepare that with percussion instruments from bottle caps stringed together into a tambourine… from tin cans converted into drums. 

But why do kids carol? Is it about the money? Is it about the friends? I don’t think so. It was the time of the year we can visit people in their houses.  To see where they live, see how they live, in a sense to be actually part of their life even just for a single minute.  To be grateful when the house gives some goodies or pennies and keep coming back to that same house knowing for a second helping; And to houses who are less generous, end carols with “Thank you, ang babarat ninyo, thank you”. Ah those days of live and actual visits are now being lost.  Before one of our favorite carol was:  

“Ang aming bati ay magandang pasko, at naghihintay sa aginaldo nyo. Kung sakali namang di nyo gusto, huwag lang sanang ipahabol sa inyong aso.” It was so polite and interactive literally.

But now they sing via youtube: 

Santa Claus, Santa Claus, may facebook ka ba

Kung meron, ano ang email mo

para ma-i-add kita (hoy)

Santa Claus, Santa Claus, may instagram ka ba

Anong twitter mo para ma-follow ka

at ma-hash tag ka.

In this age and time, we could run into the temptation of virtual visits.But the fact is, we were not made to be alone. Everyone wants to visit and to be visited.

Today we hear the story of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth. But since both were pregnant, we could say that Mary brought Jesus to visit his relatives. Mary has shown mercy and compassion by visiting. 

Do you know what mercy means? James Keenan has this beautiful definition. Mercy is the willingness to enter the chaos of another. In short mercy is actually visiting the other in his or her situation… no mater how chaotic or miserable.

And yet who am I to visit? I am but a small voice? Listen again to what the prophet Micah is saying to you and me in today’s first reading: Thus says the Lord: You, Bethlehem, too small to be among the great clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of His name; and they shall live secure for his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace. The Son of God who will come to visit his people will come from the least.

A few days back, I did my own caroling yesterday. I visited two of our parishioner neighbors on 139th street. I visited Helen whose husband Albert recently passed away from Cancer. I visited Ralph who is patiently enduring his bout of cancer; he has outlived already the doctor’s prediction… so it might be just a matter of time. But I love these guys… they have been long in this parish and I feel that’s the least I could do. You see I’m inviting us to try to see who are those persons around us whom we could carol and visit just before Christmas, whom we could show compassion to especially those who might really be longing for one.

Last year Pope Francis in a homily said: “God has visited his people” is an expression which is “repeated in the Scripture” They are words which have “special meaning”, different from that of such expressions as “God has spoken to his people” or “God has given the Commandments to his people” or even “God has sent a prophet to his people”.

In the statement “God has visited his people there is something extra, something new”. This phrase can be found in the Scripture; it is written, for example, “In the Old Testament, God visited Naomi in her old age and made her a grandmother through Ruth”. And likewise today, Scripture “tells of Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin: God visited her and made her a mother”. So “when God visits his people, it means that he is present in a special way”. 

In the beginning of this Advent, I told people about Jesus’ two comings: - Jesus came in history; that’s Christmas, and Jesus will come in glory at the end of our life…. I realized I should mention a third coming - that is whenever Jesus comes in mystery…. Jesus actually visits us live not virtual so much so that you could touch Him.  That happens when that host becomes the body of Chirst and that wine becomes his blood. He becomes actually present here with us… Today he is born among us no longer in history, not yet in majestic glory, but in mystery.

St Therese, the little flower said: “We say that Jesus is the bread that visits us from heaven.  But our Lord does not come from heaven everyday just to stay in that golden ciborium or that chalice. He doesn’t even want to just stay inside that little golden house called tabernacle.  No the reason he comes down to earth is because… he wants to find another heaven here to visit.”

And do you know where is that heaven here that he wants to visit and stay in? It is in your soul. Will you open your door to Him, receive his visit today during this Mass at the Eucharist?

May God visit us his people and set us free. Let this be our Christmas wish for each other.

Dec 18 - Bakit baliktad magbasa ng libro ang Pinoy?

Last year our Pastor has always dealt about Philippine history and its religious culture. Allow me this time to deal with contemporary pop culture of Pinoys. Now you see, a cultural trait could be good or bad, positive or negative depending on circumstances. For example, they always say that Canadians are very apologizing and polite, eh…. meaning they always say “sorry” for almost anything. For many North Americans or Europeans they might find that trait very irritating. But then from my experience in Asia, saying “sorry” is very much appreciated- “Kho Thot” in Thai, “Som toh” in Khmer,  “Sumimasen” in Japanese,  “bian(e) [mian]” in Korean or in Filipino three ways - Sori ha, Sori na, Sori pa more.

One of the Filipino traits I always wondered is: why when a Filipino reads a book, he looks at the ending first. Bakit baliktad magbasa ng libro ang Pinoy? At least I find that true with me, I tend to look at the ending first and then go back to chapter one. In this era of downloaded video movies, I must confess, I got used to fast forwarding the movie and when I see the ending is exciting, I watch it again, if not I would say to myself at least I did not waste my time. I do that with horror movies, I am so curious to find out who survives or who gets slain by the zombies or the vampires. Some decades ago in the Philippine movie theatres, when there was still no such thing called Guaranteed Seating… the norm was you can enter the movie anytime…. even at the ending, and then just repeat the movie, how many times you like.

A common question Filipinos ask their children is “What do you want to be when you grow up?” But why not ask: What to do you want to eat tonight? What tv show will you watch later? or what school would you want to attend next year? - No, it is always the ending of the book of life parents would ask. I believe, we all want to see first the happy ending before we go through the problematic scenes of our life story. That for me is what it means.

Interestingly, Steven Covey used this concept in his book with the principle: “Begin with the end in mind” - this is the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is an ability to trust in a higher power that you ultimately know would be able to help you and see you through your problems in life.  It is an ability to leave things in God’s hands knowing at the end, he will give you an ending which is a happily ever after. In short, one can now sleep peacefully even if you haven’t finished the book since you know that at the end everything will turn out well. It’s pretty much like how St Joseph read his life; he read the ending first.

Early this year Pope Francis addressed the families at the Mall of Asia Arena, Philippines: “The scriptures seldom speak of St Joseph, but when they do, we often find him resting, as an angel reveals God’s will to him in his dreams. I would like to say something very personal to you. I like St Joseph very much.  On my desk I have an image of St Joseph sleeping..  Because as he sleeps he he looks after the Church.” Just a note, this image of Joseph sleeping seems rather new here. Early this year when I arrived from home, I brought with me these statues and gave them to my confreres. Fr Jan, our Polish priest complained to me: "Gigi, how do you hang these things they have no "pangsabit". So I had to tell him that this guy has to sleep so use him as paperweight.

The Pope did not refer to Sleeping St Joseph as the patron of lazybones, rather it has to do with the dreams as the solution to the problem one faces. Families should dream for the future.  Parents dream of their children while still in the womb, and while they grow up. The Pope concluded with: “Please do not lose this ability to dream.”

The second lesson Pope Francis mentioned from the Sleeping St Joseph is rest.  Joseph’s rest enabled him to receive God’s revelation about Mary and God’s will for him. As we pause from our many daily obligations and activities, we rest in prayer and in the quiet of our hearts. We can only do that because whenever we pray we have to believe that at the end, God will solve things for us. How will he do that? we do not know yet, we have to read the whole book called life.
That is why when Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him. He started reading the book. But you see he had already seen the ending.

People asked Pope Francis how he prayed. He told them that there are those problems he prays for that there seems to be no solution. So he writes them down, puts them underneath the statue of Sleeping St Joseph and asks the saint to do it for him. Then the Pope peacefully sleeps knowing that at the end everything will be alright. How? He will just have to wait for tomorrow.

So now you ask me: Bakit baligtad magbasa ng libro ang Pinoy?
Ask the sleeping St Joseph… that’s the way he did it and it worked for him. It could also probably work for us.

2nd Sunday Advent- Year of Mercy: A Second Chance

Two prophet from different generations, Baruch and John the Baptist, preached to the people of their time about God giving them a second chance. Do you believe in second chances?

One night, there was this thief who broke into a house knowing the owners were not there. Inside the house, while shining his flashlight along the path where he was walking, he heard a voice saying: “Jesus is watching you, and he does not like what you are doing.”  The thief asks: Where are you and what’s that you say? And the voice: “I’m giving you a second chance, Jesus is watching you, and he does not like what you are doing.”

The thief searched with his flashlight for the source of the voice.  It was the parrot. The thief asks the parrot: Did you say that? And the parrot says: Yes, I did. I was just trying to warn you before anything bad happens to you. The thief replies: Warn me... why and who might you be? The parrot answers: My name is John the Baptist.  The thief remarks: “Whaaaat? What kind of people here would name their parrot John the Baptist? The parrot replies: “Oh the same kind of people who named our big ferocious German Shepherd dog.” Man asks: “So what’s the name of your big ferocious German Shepherd dog?” His name is Jesus.

Almost 600 years before the coming of Christ, the Israelites became unfaithful to God.  As a result, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by their enemy Nebuchadnezzar, and people were carried off as exiles to Babylon. Baruch was one of the prophets who wrote to encourage the people not to give up hope and turn to God once again for He will give them a second chance. The day would come when God would bring His people home. This was the word of God that had come into the mind and heart of the prophet Baruch.

“Jerusalem, take of your garment of sorrow. Arise, stand upon the heights and look toward the east, and see your children gathered from west and east. God will bring them back to you carried in glory.”

600 years later, this very same word of God came again to John the Baptist when Rome governed the land of Israel and Herod was a puppet king. Many Jews sided with the materialism of Rome. Others who opposed the regime saw salvation only in violence and arms.

John, the last of the great prophets before Jesus, preached a repentance for the forgiveness of sins even to King Herod. For he believed there is hope for everyone- God always gives a second chance.  “Prepare the way of the Lord. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.”

Jesus Christ will be born into a world today that doesn’t look so different from the one described by Luke some 2000 years ago. And John’s mission is now our mission – to prepare for his coming and to tell the world that there is a second chance for all of us.

Fill up the valleys.....fill up those hollow moments in our lives that have been deepened by what we haven’t done: kind words left unspoken, compassionate deeds left undone, bread not shared, prayers neglected, overtures of love denied. How many times is our sinfulness not in what we do but in what we don’t do?

Level the hills and the mountains...hills of pride and self-centeredness, of arrogance and ambition, hills made high by an unwillingness to yield to the quieter and more humble ways of Christ.

Make the winding ways straight and the rough ways smooth. Let us examine and eradicate anger, impatience, intolerance, prejudice, racism and our endless judgments of others. John today reminds us of those second chances God gives us everyday.

In a 2007 film “One More Chance” a girl named Basha breaks up with the boy named Popoy. Later on Basha regrets what she did and tries to get him back. She pleaded with Julia Robert's words from Nothinghill: "I'm also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."  But this time the boy Popoy is in a relationship with another, so he tells the Basha: “She loved me at my worst, you had me at my best. You took it all for granted. And you chose to break my heart.”  Do you think Popoy will give Basha a second chance? Maybe yes, maybe not.
But our God- He is a God of mercy. He surely will give us a second chance.

This Tuesday feast of the Immaculate Conception the doors of mercy will open to symbolize the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. As we stand at its doorstep may we remember what Baruch has told us today:

“For God will lead us with joy in the light of his glory with the mercy that comes from him.”