My dear friends in
Christ, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, we cannot but find
some inconsistences in the Gospel narratives (Matthew 1:13-18) which we have
read today. Why God spared the life of the magi but not the lives of the
innocent children? Why did God warn them about Herod but not the parents of the
innocent children? Why God allowed Herod to use his power and authority to
spread evil in this world? Why God never used His power and authority to stop Herod
in doing evil?
The most convenient
answer that anyone of us here could give is to say, “God’s ways are not man’s
ways or God works in a mysterious way.” This answer, however, will only leave
other people behind questioning God’s goodness, that if God is good, then why
can He tolerate such things i.e., the massacre of children. Why God preferred
the magi to live while the children die a gruesome death? Why God allowed an
evil man like Herod to live while the innocent die? My dear friends in Christ,
it is difficult to reflect on this mystery. But if we read the 1st
Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15: 24-26, we may be able to at least grasp
something why the massacre of children happened as it happened.
1 Corinthians 15: 24-26
says, “After that will come the end, when
he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every
sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his
enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death…”
These words of St. Paul
may be considered as an allusion to our today’s Gospel. In our Gospel, Matthew
narrated how Herod used his sovereignty, authority and power and then death of
the innocent children as his last recourse. In his letter to the Corinthians, St.
Paul talked about sovereignty, authority and power and then death as the last
enemy. In our Gospel, Matthew narrated how Herod used his sovereignty,
authority and power to cause the death of the innocent children. In his letter
to the Corinthians, St. Paul spoke of the end of sovereignty, authority and
power and then death. So, if we ask why God spared the life of the magi but not
the lives of the innocent children? Why did God warn them about Herod but not
the parents of the innocent children? Why God allowed Herod to use his power
and authority to spread evil in this world? Why God never used His power and
authority to stop Herod in doing evil? Well, in our Gospel narratives, evil seemed
to prosper. But we know, as St. Paul would say, Jesus Christ will put an end to
all evils –the evil use of sovereignty, authority and power and the last enemy
which is death.
Now, my dear friends in
Christ, if in the beginning, evil seems to prosper and at the end, evil will be
destroyed, what about in the middle of those times? What happens to the
in-between times? The in-between time is the time we have spent since we were
born. This time is the only time we have. It is timely then that we are here
today for our Alumni homecoming. We are not here just to play balls, to eat and
drink, or to have fun reminiscing our past. We are here first and foremost to
renew and claim our identity. We are here to declare that once a seminarian,
always a better Catholic Christian. We have the responsibility to battle the
evil that is in this world. We are also called to make a difference in using
sovereignty, authority and power. We have to put balance between good and evil
if it is too difficult for us to get rid of all the evils at this moment.
Nevertheless, we have to be careful in our mission. The taller we stand against
evil, the greater danger we must expect to happen every day in our life and in
our soul.
On our part as priests,
we stand in front to defend our Church, to defend God’s people against evil. Few
years ago, we have stood up to fight against the evil use of sovereignty,
authority and power when there was this attempt to put up a casino in Boracay.
We also have stood up to fight against the provisions in the Reproductive
Health Law which promote the culture of death, death of children while in the
womb of their mothers. These are just two instances taken from the many battles
we have faced as priests in the diocese which I like to mention today. But what
do we gain in fighting against evil? Yes, we have won the battle, but the devil
never stops in looking for ways to destroy us. Truly, the devil is like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8) and sometimes we
cannot resist it. We sometimes are afraid to preach the truth because we might
hurt somebody’s feelings. We are afraid to do what is good because we might be
criticized in the process. We have the desire to win against any form of evil,
but we find ourselves oddly incapable of doing it. Our reputation is even put
in bad light to silence us in our struggle against evil.
My dear friends in
Christ, we the community of priests alone cannot withstand the overwhelming
evil in this world to protect God’s people. We need you, our lay brothers. We
need you to use your sovereignty, authority and power to promote life rather
than destroy it. In your working place, in your home, in your parish, see that
no evil has infected anyone there, not even you.
I personally appreciate
that masses are celebrated in the Regional Trial Court, in hospitals, in the
offices and in other places where you know you can help us in our fight against
evil. I also appreciate every time you my brothers would bring your family and
friends to avail the sacraments of baptism, confession, anointing of the sick
and marriage. I appreciate that we talk about Jesus, about the parish, about
our spiritual growth as these show that we indeed have authentic brotherhood. I
appreciate even the way we play basketball, people know through our movements
that we are still brothers, as we were once in this seminary together. I appreciate
when we call each other “blans,” as this is our code of brotherhood. But above
all, I appreciate you my dear brothers to remind us that we are priests. The
way you treat us, the way you welcome us, you see us beyond our personality.
You see the priesthood conferred in us.
To cite my personal
experience, I remember when I took the Bar in 2015, I was already frustrated
and was about to give up taking the Bar due to the many problems in my parish
while I was away, our classmate Alan Pelayo was there to be my brother. It was
one of those Sundays we took the Bar, Alan and I had a simple conversation.
Then he asked me to pray over him, to bless him before he would enter the room.
I told him that I could not do that because I myself was having some troubles
in preparing for the Bar. What really touched me was his words, “Pari kat ing!”
I was mesmerised then and I prayed over him. It took Alan’s words to remind me
that as a priest I exist not to give in to any shadow of evil. I am a priest
and I have to protect God’s people from evil by praying over them. My dear lay
brothers, thank you for giving us the motivation to rise up and fight against
evil –the evil use of sovereignty, authority and power as well as the evil of
death of the innocents. I believe this is what Fr. Victor Hugo I. Martelino
envisioned for us –to instill in us the “Igmaeanghoran Spirit”. You our lay
brothers by our side, we can defeat evil. It is only through this that we can
truly say there is a flourishing authentic brotherhood among us. Please pray
for us priests, as we pray for you, our brothers. Amen.
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