Excited State

I tidied up all the Christmas decor at home yesterday while Nidz and Chiara were busy cooking ginataang bilo-bilo (glutinous rice balls cooked with coconut milk). For some reason, the song "A Holly, Jolly Christmas" kept playing in my mind. 

It was just a month ago when we put up the Nativity scene, Christmas tree, etc. Back then, there was a feeling of hopeful expectation for the Lord's Birth. An excitement for the holidays. A time with the people dear to you.

I note how a friend spoke about our circle of friends when we were at their place on New Year's Eve. Way back before the holidays, friends were quite busy and didn't have much time to communicate with each other. In our group conversation in Messenger, the usual response then would be just a thumbs up or a hand wave. But when Christmas and New Year came, friends became more engaged. 

In quantum mechanics, an atom, molecule, or nucleus experiences a higher energy level. It gets excited. Once it goes back to its ground state, it emits light.  I'd like to think of ourselves experiencing a similar condition. Christmas has brought about a degree of excitement in us, that good and outgoing feeling. The season has woken us up from our ground state, our comfort zone, to something higher. It could be reaching out to family, friends, and even strangers. It could be spending more time in the community. It could be taking a harder look at ourselves and resolving issues we have taken for granted for so long. I am sure that, one way or another, the Christ Child has touched us this blessed season.

As we return to our ground state, as we head back to the ordinariness of our lives, I hope that like that excited atom or molecule or nucleus, we'll all emit the Light of Jesus to all.

Here's to a Christ-filled New Year!

His Story

(Nativity Scene, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Parish Church, Bulwell, Nottingham, UK)

At the start of this month, while going over some paperwork, I heard some of my colleagues talking about not being in the Christmas season yet. Their reason was being preoccupied with a lot of things at work that there is no way just as yet to think of Christmas. I shared in that experience. But as the weeks passed by, and with the college being closed for the holidays soon, people seemed to slow down. Then our team had a Christmas dinner. Before we knew it, we were all wishing each other a Happy Christmas and parted ways.

With the holiday gone full swing, there was more time to be in bed, to relax, to pray, to catch up,  and more importantly, to be with family. While getting ready for our shopping a few days ago, I heard my wife and daughter talking about our family, its many members, their whereabouts, etc. They were sharing a laugh too as Nidz recounts stories to Chiara. 

This season is indeed a time to reunite and I guess families all over the world would have done (or would be doing) a lot of catching up and retell stories of yesteryear. Thanks to technology, stories are quite easily shared.  

Some of these stories would make us laugh: how naughty we were in our childhood, how this relative of ours give life to the party, what blooper this family member has done, etc.  

Some stories would make our faces blush in embarrassment: how we were caught red-handed, how we were punished for our misbehaviour, or how we made a mess in a family reunion.

Still, some stories would make us cry: sickness, death, separation, cold treatment, misunderstanding, etc.

At times, we wonder where our stories would lead us. Would it have a good ending? Would it be worth telling at all?

Fr Vincent Nagle, FSCB, once wrote that Christmas "allows us to live a story worth telling already." "My story, worth telling?", you ask. Fr Nagle continues, "The Incarnate Son of the Father makes our lives beautiful right now because he is the good ending to each one of our stories, no matter how strange and troubled. This gives us the courage to love and live right now, because right here we can already meet and know the good ending to the story of our lives."

With God becoming human, with God being with us, with God making a home in our family in the person of Jesus Christ, our life has never been the same. Let our life story become His story!

A blessed Christmastide and a peaceful 2018 to all!

Yes, Daddy!

At this point, Chiara is learning how to say those words and, hopefully veer away from saying “No”. I could now understand why kids could easily pick up this word. More often than not, we parents give them instructions in the negative form – “No, it’s hot outside!”; “Don’t do that!” etc.

Hearing my daughter say “Yes, Daddy!” makes me feel that she is going to do what I told her and that she fully trusts me. Obedience and confidence are two things we expect from our children, right?

Speaking about these two fine qualities, I’m suddenly reminded of how one son obeyed and trusted his father in spite of the many hardships he has to face in order to fulfil his father’s wishes. In the desert without food or drink for 40 days and nights, he became too weak making him an easy target for the devil. What did he do? He confronted the devil head-on, upholding the importance of God.

His ministry seemed full of happiness – the sick were healed, the loaves multiplied, the dead came back to life. Yet towards the end of that three-year ministry, he was betrayed by a close friend. While praying in the garden, he would have imagined what kind of suffering he would be enduring. He was in anguish; an opportunity which the devil didn’t want to miss. And yet, what did he tell his Dad? “Your will be done!”

Having been arrested by the Jews and then sentenced to death by a kangaroo court, he was led to Calvary. Nailed to the cross, exposed to the scorching heat, hungry, writhing in pain his detractors asked him to come down from the cross. I bet the devil too was there, waiting eagerly for this man to be swayed by the crowd. To his enemies’ dismay, before he breathed his last, he said to his father “Into your hands, I commend my spirit”.

Unfortunately, not all would want to travel the path that Jesus took. Take for example Pontius Pilate who found Jesus not guilty of any crime, but feared the mob if he would side with him. Instead, he delegated that power to that hakot crowd.

Until now we could still see people who, although in power, could not make a decision on vital issues. The proposal to bury the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani should have been shot down by President Aquino from the day it reared its ugly head. Instead, he asked Vice President Binay to study the matter. Now Binay (dubbed as Pontius Binay in an editorial of Philippine Daily Inquirer) has asked the public to send his office their views on Marcos burial through e-mail or text messages. I actually sent him an e-mail message expressing my negative vote. I would encourage you to do the same. Send him a e-mail message in: blog@ovp.gov.ph or text through 0926-7468212 (for Globe subscribers) and 0949-6295575 (for Smart subscribers).

It’s very obvious that Marcos ruled the country with untold injustice and corruption. That his regime was evil and burying his remains at the Libingan would be tantamount to say that EDSA Uno is a farce and the likes of Ninoy and Cory Aquino (the President’s parents), Jovito Salonga, Rene Saguisag, Jejomar Binay (the Vice President himself who used to be a human rights lawyer) and the many Martial Law victims are fools (Saguisag, in an interview, was saying that if Marcos is buried there, his grandchildren would brand him a fool for fighting a hero.).

The President admitted he was partial to the issue. The Vice President confessed that if his personal answer were to be sought, there is no more need for any discussion on the matter. Being partial to an issue shouldn’t bar us from making a decision. At the end of the day, we have to make an option. If leaders can’t do it then there is no reason for them to stay in authority. If my heroine Cory Aquino were still alive, she would lead in protesting our leaders’ indecision.

This vacillation is not found in Jesus whose conviction was made clear to his followers. He may at times speak in veiled languages, but people around him know where he was coming from, that he would call a spade a spade even if it would cost him his life.

This is the challenge for us Christians especially as we enter the Holy Week. From being disobedient and doubtful, let us put on Christ’s obedience and trust. For the many times we said “No” to God, let Christ’s “Yes” to his Father be ours from now on!

Being Responsible Like Mary

Blaming others has been as old as when man first disobeyed God. Check the first few chapters of Genesis when God discovered that Adam ate of the forbidden fruit. What did Adam do? He pointed his fingers at Eve who, in turn passed the buck to the serpent!

Pointing fingers takes its roots from being irresponsible. Our first parents didn’t want to take the blame for their own faults. It is not surprising that their first-born Cain once retorted “Am I my brother’s keeper?” when God asked him where his brother Abel was.

From then on, we have witnessed people washing hands (Pontius Pilate wasn’t the first one!), avoiding any involvement on any issue. The recent hostage taking in Manila is a classic example. The rather arrogant and appalling behaviour of Sen. Panfilo Lacson who is still at large and won’t turn himself up to the authorities is another.

Personally, there have been moments when I ran from my responsibilities. I remember hiding behind my Manong Cocoy when an angry group of kids wanted a redress for a mistake I did. My older (and smaller at that time) cousin took the blows for my own irresponsibility (Bless him!).

Through sin, our ability to respond, to take things upon ourselves, to own the problem staring us in the face has been blighted.

Yet one woman – a daughter of Eve – was spared from this defect. Through her immaculate conception, Mary was excluded from our sorry state. Hence, the angel addressed her during the Annunciation as “full of grace”. By being free from sin, Mary accepted generously what God invites her to be. By living in the state of (abundant) grace, she said her “Fiat” without any reservation. Had she refused, had she begged off the Christmas story would never be complete! The Christmas that we’re due to celebrate soon would be a “Failure to Launch”.

We may have avoided responsibilities in many instances. Perhaps pointed fingers at others. For some, blame culture has been in vogue. Yet the Solemnity of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception calls us to be like Mary, to live like Mary, to act like Mary. We may not have been as blessed like her, but if we strive to be more responsible, to remove the speck in our eyes before that of others, to recognize that we are indeed our brothers' keeper, to live each day as a steward of the earth then we can be sure that our hearts and homes would be ready to welcome Christ, the reason for our Christmas season.

***

Birthday greetings to my sister Ma Gisela (7th December; her 33rd) and my father Mario (8th December; his 60th)!

Best wishes to Fr Edwin Bravo who's celebrating his 17th sacerdotal ordination anniversary (7th December) and to Ninang Joji and Tito Paul Pablo who are celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary (8th December)!

God bless you all through the Virgin Mary's intercession!