Stabat mater dolorosa
Iuxta crucem lacrimosa,
Dum pendebat Filius
She stayed standing there, the Mother,
In sorrow rent, next to the cross,
Lo, with bitter tears overcome, sadness bent,
While on that rood there hung her Son.
IF there are some things that a priest never forgets, it is the times when we have to administer the Anointing of the Sick. Fear and despair are the initial things one would readily notice. Fear of death perhaps, or fear of the unknown more probably, what happens after this life on earth. Or perhaps even a fear more on the part of the family, the fear of losing someone. Yet, one cannot deny that always after administering the Sacrament, there will always be that sense of peace and acceptance, be it from the sick or from the family. Is it because the Church gives that false hope of something better lies hereafter? I think not.
I remember one time I administered the Sacrament to a dying old woman—she was a member of the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites—I never saw someone whose face was so peaceful. In fact, I thought I even saw her face so radiant. She died as she lived: in the intimacy with God. And aren’t we all to pass through the same: we shall die as we have lived?
The efficacy of the Sacraments of the Church is rooted from the One who gave the Sacraments: Christ Himself. If ever we find the Sacraments comforting and consoling it is because it is Christ who comforts and consoles us.
Hence, whenever I administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, it would not be too much to really affirm, I act in persona Christi. It is not me nor my presence nor my words that comfort and console the sick and the dying, it is Christ.
Cuius animan gementem,
Contristatam et dolentem,
Pertransivit gladius.
In her grieving spirit,
Sore afflicted and vast empained,
Has a shining, sadding, sword of sorrow
Been soul-blood stained.
Kinakaya ko na lang Father para sa anak ko. I am sure we have heard this said many times over again. And it is the truth. Many of our mothers had to endure sufferings and sacrifices for their children. One can only think of the countless Filipinas who migrate to find work. Or they do not even have to go abroad, how many of our mothers have to go to the urban centers from their rural homes in order to find work. And yes they endure, because they truly love.
We see that the love of Our Lady towards her Son and towards us that enabled her to endure all possible sufferings. She accepted that prophetic sword that pierced her heart because she loves. She loves God foremost, and she loves us because of her love of God. She accepted that the death of Her Son and her sharing in this suffering and death would merit for us the ultimate gift of all, salvation. Kinaya nya para sa kanyang mga anak.
O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater Unigeniti!
O how grieved, how sore beset
That most holy Mother of the One
Whom alone saw fit the Father to beget
As beloved, sole-born Son.
Have you ever been in section of the hospital that they administer chemotherapy? Ever seen young people, yes children even, undergoing the therapy? That somehow hidden beneath their suffering bodies, there is beauty shining from their souls reflected in their eyes and faint smile. And one wonders why God gifts a treasure only to slowly and painfully take them away? Why beauty would be decayed right before our human eyes?
And yet the gifts from God would return to God. Why then call them gifts if they have to be returned? I remember that scene in Kung Fu Panda, when the mentor says: The future is mystery, the past is history, the today is a gift that is why it is called present.
A gift is treasured. And as everything is from God, every gift would eventually return to Him. We are gifts to one another, not private properties. Only Him possesses us. And herein lies the difficulty, time comes, and it does come sooner than later, when the gifts of God, that includes you and me, returns to Him. What pains us is that we have come to feel that we own us and one another.
In heaven, with God, I dare speculate, we would come to understand that the gifts of God are to be perpetually and perfectly shared with one another, that includes our entire being. In the Divine Presence, we would come to know that in “losing” ourselves, we gain everything.
Mary was greeted by the Angel as full of grace. Filled with God, emptied of herself. God was able to fill Her entirely with His grace, and became the worthy Mother of God.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Woman
THE Sacred Scripture records for us the beginning of the woman, when God saw it fit for man not to be alone (Gn). Here we see that the woman is a compliment to the man, not one simply needing the other, but that mutually the two will be a help and a compliment to each other.
Historically, however, it will take some time for the women to have the same rights as men. Let me clarify what we mean by rights. In this time and age we live in, we have invented so many “rights” that it seems nothing is left anymore in the realm of responsibility and prudence. It is also worth observing that the culture of each people defines what are the “rights” granted. Most certainly, there are universal rights accepted by all cultures such as the right to life.
And herein lay the problem and the challenge: what if culture changes, what if culture is intentionally modified? Is it not what we are witnessing now? A culture of unbridled individual freedom, without any reference anymore neither to religion nor to morals. A culture which, call it by any other name, is simply a culture against life, a culture of death.
Going back to Sacred Scripture, we see that sin and death entered through a woman, and it will take another woman to undo and untie this sin and death.
Eve and Mary
Let me liberally quote here an article from the Mary Page maintained by the University of Dayton in Ohio which prides itself to have the biggest collection of books written on Mary in the English language:
Eve's name in Hebrew means "life." She is called Chavvah (in the Septuagint, Eva; in the Vulgate, Heva because she is the mother of all the living (Gn 3:20). Her initial appearance in the Hebrew Scriptures is one of beauty, goodness, wisdom, and life. ... The rabbinic writings praise the beauty and adornment of Eve while commenting on Genesis 2:22: "The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from man." For example, Rabbi Chama ben Chanina (260 C.E.) wrote that certainly God first clothed her (Eve) with twenty-four precious decorations (those which describe the women of Israel in Isaiah 3:18-24) and then God brings her to the man.
Later Jewish writings contrast Eve's disobedience with the fidelity and obedience of the Israelites to God on Mount Sinai. ... In the New Testament, Eve is never mentioned in the Gospels. Adam is mentioned only in Luke's genealogy (Lk 3:38). Eve is mentioned in two Pauline writings:
"For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere [and pure] commitment to Christ "(2 Cor 11:2-3).
"For Adam was formed first, then Eve. Further, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed. But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control"(1 Tm 2:13-15).
Both passages emphasize the negative aspects of Eve's role in salvation history. Early Christian writers will contrast Eve's disobedience with Mary's obedience. However, it is only through the comprehensive reading of all texts of the First Testament that we will fully appreciate the greatness of Israel's first mother, Eve, the mother of the living.
Parallels are seen between Mary's dialogue with Gabriel and Eve's dialogue with the serpent (Gn 3:17, Lk 1:28-35). The text of Genesis 3:15 is also compared with the scene of Mary at the foot of the Cross (Jn 19:25-28a). ... One could view the process of salvation history from Eve to Mary as a double movement: first the breaking up of the human race into many disparate individuals, and then the gradual concentration of all expectations of salvation in the Messiah born of Mary, the Mother of God. All the eminent women in the Old Testament are concrete and partial realizations of the primal mother from ancient times (Eve) who perdures and extends herself in them. As the new Adam extends himself in the "Mystical Body" of Christ (the ecclesial community of the new People of God), so also does Mary represent all those "children of God, once dispersed, but now brought together" by her Son.
Jesus' words on the cross, "There is your mother" (Jn 19:27), may point to the popular etymological explanation of Eve's name in Genesis 3:20: "The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living." Just as the Church is "the Jerusalem above ... our mother" (Gal 4:26), so also is Mary the mother of believers, who, at the cross, were concretely present in the person "of the disciple whom Jesus loved."
The Rights of the Modern Woman
With Mary and through Mary, we see the authentic feminine soul: both its strength and beauty. Our contemporary time wishes to come to a full circle: that in the name of “liberating” the woman, we wish to take again the path chosen by Eve, a path away from God.
Are we becoming an obstacle to the liberation of the woman when we speak against newly coined rights such as reproductive rights, which is but a euphemism to universal access to contraceptives that includes abortion?
Or are we instead defending the authentic human rights and are even advancing what rightly constitutes as rights.
It is often pointed out that because there are illegal and unsafe abortions being performed in the country, the solution is to legalize and enable women to have their choice of a safe and sanitary abortion. And that because many women die because of pregnancy the proposed solution is not to be pregnant at all.
Our contention is, would it not be more appropriate that since many women die during pregnancy the proper solution would be to provide proper health care during the women’s pregnancy and during childbirth? Not unless of course, we have begun to view pregnancy as disease and a burden.
And that the proper solution to the illegal and unsafe abortion in the country is to have our women the proper options to carry to full term their pregnancy so that abortion would never be an option. And as to the issue of “unwanted” and “unplanned” pregnancy the solution is and will always be the proper value formation of the young that begins in the home.
Moral and sexual permissiveness will never be the solution. When we look back at history of all the great empires and nations of the past, we see that once the people give in to moral depravity the collapse of that nation begins.
Our country is yet at the crossroads again, we can choose the “easy” and comfortable way and adopt the policies and culture of the decaying countries or we can choose the more “difficult” path, less trodden, but leads to God and to the sharing of His divine Life.
May we choose wisely. Ad Jesum per Mariam.
Historically, however, it will take some time for the women to have the same rights as men. Let me clarify what we mean by rights. In this time and age we live in, we have invented so many “rights” that it seems nothing is left anymore in the realm of responsibility and prudence. It is also worth observing that the culture of each people defines what are the “rights” granted. Most certainly, there are universal rights accepted by all cultures such as the right to life.
And herein lay the problem and the challenge: what if culture changes, what if culture is intentionally modified? Is it not what we are witnessing now? A culture of unbridled individual freedom, without any reference anymore neither to religion nor to morals. A culture which, call it by any other name, is simply a culture against life, a culture of death.
Going back to Sacred Scripture, we see that sin and death entered through a woman, and it will take another woman to undo and untie this sin and death.
Eve and Mary
Let me liberally quote here an article from the Mary Page maintained by the University of Dayton in Ohio which prides itself to have the biggest collection of books written on Mary in the English language:
Eve's name in Hebrew means "life." She is called Chavvah (in the Septuagint, Eva; in the Vulgate, Heva because she is the mother of all the living (Gn 3:20). Her initial appearance in the Hebrew Scriptures is one of beauty, goodness, wisdom, and life. ... The rabbinic writings praise the beauty and adornment of Eve while commenting on Genesis 2:22: "The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from man." For example, Rabbi Chama ben Chanina (260 C.E.) wrote that certainly God first clothed her (Eve) with twenty-four precious decorations (those which describe the women of Israel in Isaiah 3:18-24) and then God brings her to the man.
Later Jewish writings contrast Eve's disobedience with the fidelity and obedience of the Israelites to God on Mount Sinai. ... In the New Testament, Eve is never mentioned in the Gospels. Adam is mentioned only in Luke's genealogy (Lk 3:38). Eve is mentioned in two Pauline writings:
"For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere [and pure] commitment to Christ "(2 Cor 11:2-3).
"For Adam was formed first, then Eve. Further, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed. But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control"(1 Tm 2:13-15).
Both passages emphasize the negative aspects of Eve's role in salvation history. Early Christian writers will contrast Eve's disobedience with Mary's obedience. However, it is only through the comprehensive reading of all texts of the First Testament that we will fully appreciate the greatness of Israel's first mother, Eve, the mother of the living.
Parallels are seen between Mary's dialogue with Gabriel and Eve's dialogue with the serpent (Gn 3:17, Lk 1:28-35). The text of Genesis 3:15 is also compared with the scene of Mary at the foot of the Cross (Jn 19:25-28a). ... One could view the process of salvation history from Eve to Mary as a double movement: first the breaking up of the human race into many disparate individuals, and then the gradual concentration of all expectations of salvation in the Messiah born of Mary, the Mother of God. All the eminent women in the Old Testament are concrete and partial realizations of the primal mother from ancient times (Eve) who perdures and extends herself in them. As the new Adam extends himself in the "Mystical Body" of Christ (the ecclesial community of the new People of God), so also does Mary represent all those "children of God, once dispersed, but now brought together" by her Son.
Jesus' words on the cross, "There is your mother" (Jn 19:27), may point to the popular etymological explanation of Eve's name in Genesis 3:20: "The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living." Just as the Church is "the Jerusalem above ... our mother" (Gal 4:26), so also is Mary the mother of believers, who, at the cross, were concretely present in the person "of the disciple whom Jesus loved."
The Rights of the Modern Woman
With Mary and through Mary, we see the authentic feminine soul: both its strength and beauty. Our contemporary time wishes to come to a full circle: that in the name of “liberating” the woman, we wish to take again the path chosen by Eve, a path away from God.
Are we becoming an obstacle to the liberation of the woman when we speak against newly coined rights such as reproductive rights, which is but a euphemism to universal access to contraceptives that includes abortion?
Or are we instead defending the authentic human rights and are even advancing what rightly constitutes as rights.
It is often pointed out that because there are illegal and unsafe abortions being performed in the country, the solution is to legalize and enable women to have their choice of a safe and sanitary abortion. And that because many women die because of pregnancy the proposed solution is not to be pregnant at all.
Our contention is, would it not be more appropriate that since many women die during pregnancy the proper solution would be to provide proper health care during the women’s pregnancy and during childbirth? Not unless of course, we have begun to view pregnancy as disease and a burden.
And that the proper solution to the illegal and unsafe abortion in the country is to have our women the proper options to carry to full term their pregnancy so that abortion would never be an option. And as to the issue of “unwanted” and “unplanned” pregnancy the solution is and will always be the proper value formation of the young that begins in the home.
Moral and sexual permissiveness will never be the solution. When we look back at history of all the great empires and nations of the past, we see that once the people give in to moral depravity the collapse of that nation begins.
Our country is yet at the crossroads again, we can choose the “easy” and comfortable way and adopt the policies and culture of the decaying countries or we can choose the more “difficult” path, less trodden, but leads to God and to the sharing of His divine Life.
May we choose wisely. Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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