Opinion

The news from Toboso is not just another headline. Nineteen lives were lost in a single armed encounter, human beings, not statistics. On one side were those identified as members of the New People’s Army. On the other, soldiers of the state. Both Filipino. Both sons of mothers who will now mourn. We must begin not with analysis, but with honesty. Something in our society remains deeply broken, and it continues to produce death. It is tempting to reduce this to a “security success” or a “counterinsurgency incident.” But such language hides more than it reveals. Armed conflict in Negros did not begin with guns. It began long before, in conditions that have shaped the lives of generations. It began with landlessness in a land ...

Today’s first reading tells the story of God’s call to Abraham to leave his homeland and go to a land he would reveal. This story reminds me of my own call twenty-three years ago, when I was summoned by the apostolic Nuncio and told that the Holy Father had appointed me to be the new bishop of Kabankalan. I was so stunned that I remained speechless for almost a minute. The nuncio must have been alarmed that he started tapping me saying, “Obey, obey… you are a Salesian; for Don Bosco the Pope’s every wish is a command.”“I have no problem with obeying, Your Excellency,” I said. “It is just that Kabankalan is a totally strange place for me, and I’m afraid I would not be of much service there.” I then told him of my many apprehensions. I never had any pastoral experience. All my priestly l...

Today’s first reading tells the story of God’s call to Abraham to leave his homeland and go to a land he would reveal. This story reminds me of my own call twenty-three years ago, when I was summoned by the apostolic Nuncio and told that the Holy Father had appointed me to be the new bishop of Kabankalan. I was so stunned that I remained speechless for almost a minute. The nuncio must have been alarmed that he started tapping me saying, “Obey, obey… you are a Salesian; for Don Bosco the Pope’s every wish is a command.”“I have no problem with obeying, Your Excellency,” I said. “It is just that Kabankalan is a totally strange place for me, and I’m afraid I would not be of much service there.” I then told him of my many apprehensions. I never had any pastoral experience. All my priestly l...

Three weeks ago, I met a former seminarian who had just retired from his highly successful career. He was a top executive officer in one of the country’s most prestigious establishments when he left the company. Recently, he was invited to be a consultant in the city mayor’s office. I congratulated him and encouraged him to take the distinctive offer as a unique opportunity for him to put God in the government.He agreed and promised to do his best. With a hint of apprehensiveness, he also added, “But it will be very challenging, Bishop. I know there will be lots of temptations along the way.”I could only sympathize with him. Indeed, it takes a saint today to work in places like the government and remain honest and upright. Just think of the horrendous flood control project-realted ...

We continue our reading of the Sermon on the Mount which we began two Sundays ago with the proclamation of the Beatitudes, the program of life for every disciple. Jesus then spoke on the mission of the disciple last Sunday, using the images of salt, light and a city on the mountain. Today, Jesus proclaims of the new Law with a disclaimer that he does not “come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.”The Jews value deeply the Law as a sign of God’s predilection for them. “For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and ordinances that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Dt 4:7-8) The Jews regard the law as a sure guide that enable...

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” This question posed by the apostles to Jesus sounds plain and simple. However, upon scrutiny of its context, one can sense conflict and discord behind the seemingly innocent query.Earlier, some temple authorities asked the apostles whether their master was paying the half-shekel temple tax. While Jesus made it clear that such obligation pertained only to foreigners, he did not argue but simply told Peter to go to the lake to fish. Then he instructed Peter to open the mouth of his first catch and find a shekel which he was to take to the temple to pay the tax for both of them.The apostles must have resented this open show of favoritism and manifested their dismay through their pointed question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of he...

Our idea of Christmas is often one that is painted in cards and sung in carols – the picture of a “silent night” where “all is calm and all is bright,” of angels singing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo” while shepherds watch their flock… Behind the romanticized story of Christmas, however, lies a human drama so raw and intense that it inflicts untold pain in the hearts of its characters.Today’s gospel tells the story of Christmas as seen from the eyes of Joseph. A carpenter from Nazareth and belonging to the tribe of David, Joseph is betrothed to a young girl named Mary. In the Jewish culture, betrothal is an engagement that legally binds a man and a woman as husband and wife although they do not yet live together until they are formally joined in marriage. Thus, when Joseph discovers that Ma...

Today’s liturgy opens with an antiphon that seems to explode, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” This is why the Third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday.Joy is all over in today’s liturgical celebration. Even the ponderous purple color of Advent gives way to a lighter and brighter tone of rose. And the reason is clear: “The Lord is near.”In the first reading, Isaiah exhorts the exiled Jews in Babylon to rejoice because the Lord is coming to set them free and bring them home. On that day, “the desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song…”What a welcome message to us at a time when there seems to be little to rejoi...

As I went through today’s rich liturgical readings, my attention was caught by three vivid images: the stump of Jesse, the child by the cobra’s den and the voice crying out in the wildness.The first two images are from the first reading taken from the book of Isaiah. From the remnant of what was once a great stock, God raises a lowly shoot whom he anoints with his Spirit and sets as judge of the earth. God will establish a kingdom to be led by a child. It is a kingdom where the leopard and the kid lie together and the calf and the young lion graze side by side - a kingdom where peace and harmony reign.The gospel presents the third image which is an unlikely picture of a royal ambassador sent to herald the coming of God’s kingdom, a man from the desert clad in camel’s hair and whose...

Today, the Church begins its new liturgical calendar with the season of Advent. The word advent means coming; hence the theme is one of waiting and expectation. During Advent, we look back to the time when man awaited the coming of the long-promised Messiah, and we look forward to his coming again in glory at the end of time.Meanwhile, as we stand in between these two great advents, what are we to do? The Church invites us to learn to wait because the Lord comes even today in many ways. As the people of Israel missed the Messiah when he finally came two thousand years ago, we too can miss him when he comes today, or at the end of time.Hence, the need for vigilance. How do we remain vigilant? From today’s readings, I find three things particularly helpful to make us vigilant: having...