Rite and Right

February 8, 2004

January 21, 2007

May 29, 2011

The priest rector of the Our Lady of Peace EDSA Shrine, shared a thought-provoking homily a few Sundays ago during the feast of Epiphany in which he emphasized Jesus’ important belief in the sacrament of Baptism as He Himself was subjected in River Jordan.  Fr. Nilo went on to catechize us, his parishioners, about the symbolisms of water, oil and candle during the Catholic rite of Baptism. This once-in-a-lifetime sacrament, after receiving, leaves an invisible yet indelible mark as Christians that should guide and enlighten us through our lifetime. The importance of Baptism is made more pronounced by Catholics as we all can see the “mini” baptismal fonts that are located near the entrances of churches as if to remind us daily of our Baptismal vows. At this point, Fr. Nilo reminded us to do remember our own baptismal date since it is as relevant as our biological birth date. It symbolizes our spiritual birth.   

But the greater challenge nowadays is living up to the Christian values and virtues especially when the odds are stacked against us. Do we submit and conform to the worldly standard that emphasizes “selfie” gratification and comfort? Do we succumb to corruption when everyone around us seems to be doing it? Do we keep quiet or even consent to the sinful acts of our friends and family members just to preserve our good standing friendship? Do we look the other way when opportunities to serve others comes our way? Do we pray only when it is convenient to do so? Do we set good and truthful examples to our children? 

As Fr. Nilo puts it beautifully, we should do what is right because it is expected of us as baptized Christians so much so that at the end of our life, God will welcome us with His eternal embrace because He is also expecting us to be there in Heaven.   

I still have to look over my baptismal certificate to ascertain my Christening day but the dates above are the baptismal dates of our three children.

My wife and I know these dates by heart.

So, do you know your baptismal day?

More importantly, do you try to live your baptismal vows?

( from Catechism of the Catholic Church )

An indelible spiritual mark . . .

1272 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.

1273 Incorporated into the Church by Baptism, the faithful have received the sacramental character that consecrates them for Christian religious worship.The baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity.

1274 The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus character") "for the day of redemption. "Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life. "The faithful Christian who has "kept the seal" until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life "marked with the sign of faith,"with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God - the consummation of faith - and in the hope of resurrection.

Adventum Domini

Until this year, I was a full-time OFW the past thirteen years.

Blessed with a generous employer and a short-distance flight travel from my work-site, my family has the privileged to visit Philippines at least once a year. It was always an occasion we looked forward to – a long break from my everyday work, my wife catching up with friends and relatives, my children being able to enjoy their play-time with cousins and friends who finally spoke the same mother tongue. And did I forget to say about Pinoy foods, and more mouth-watering Pinoy foods, and more mouth-watering tempting Pinoy foods, all  to our tummy’s delight? Admittedly, diet and weight gain are non-existing vocabularies during those 3-week stay-cations.

In all those years, a simple welcome tradition was started by my parents. Whether it be a simple pentel-marked A4 paper, or a hurriedly pen-scribbled message on a brown Manila paper or in a large cartolina with our nephews and nieces writing their greetings, they would always write their “Welcome Home” greetings for us. They would hang it, make it stand, paste it or tie around any post just to make sure it would be the first thing we would see when we arrive the house. Anybody could easily dismiss the haphazard outlook of those welcome greetings but the truth is, the heart-warming message always leave a love-mark in us.

We are entering the Advent season wherein the Lord is coming again on Christmas day. So how are you and I so far in the preparation stages for His arrival? Hopefully, the top-most in our to-do-list will not be about early discount shopping for gifts, or extravagant decoration-motifs of the humongous and glittering Christmas trees we have, or the sumptuous Noche Buena feast we are planning to serve to our loved ones. Neither the beautiful clothes nor the latest shiny pair of shoes during the Simbang gabi series or Sunday mass count as well. Don’t get me wrong. These stuffs are OK in making good outwardly preparations. However, we must focus on and prioritize what is really essential.

When our Lord celebrant arrives, what He would certainly like to see, is the simple yet humble, happy and hopeful welcome message we will put in front of us, in the open doorsteps of our hearts.

“Welcome Home and Stay In Us, Lord.”

Mas warm yan kesa sa mga kumukutikutitap.

Kaya tara na po para ihanda ang ating mga puso.

Padating na siya.

God bless po.

Behind The Tragedies

In the Lego DVD movie “The Adventures of Clutch Powers”, the main hero Clutch Powers was given a new team composed of Brick, a weapons and demolition expert, Peg, a biologist, and Bernie, an engineer. Their initial mission led them to a lot of challenges culminating in their face-off with the evil wizard Mallock.

So how did they solve all the obstacles they encountered to win over their enemies? They “build on each other” (an fitting Lego liner that sums up its world-wide known product).

It took another subsequent and devastating natural calamities – the Bohol earthquake and the Yolanda supertyphoon, to bring to focus the capacity for vast outpouring of kindness and love of one fellowman to another. Filipinos from all walks of life and in all regions of the world, regardless of religious, political or social affiliations, have banded together to pray for, to donate or to volunteer in their heartwarming intention to ease the hopelessness and helplessness that the victims after losing their loved ones and their lifetime belongings. And the international community was equally pro-active and quick-responding in providing technical and medical expertise to alleviate the dire situations especially in those hard-hit yet hard-to-reach areas. Stories how young children donate their piggy-bank savings, how the “poorest among the poor” even donates his very meager daily earnings to buy relief goods or how a looted grocery owner even ask one lady looter who thanked her because it was her child’s birthday that day and they have nothing to eat if she will not join the mad scramble to steal from other people can simply bring one’s misty eyes to tears. 

If there is anything good that can come out from these recent tragedies, then it is only that we learn to give and love again in the most unconditional way.

It will only be a matter of time, but the Visayan people will be back on its feet and rise again to restore their lives back to normalcy.

Until then, they know that their kababayans and the rest of the world are behind them all they way. 

God bless the Filipino spirit.

God bless the loving world we can be.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.