28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jerry M. Orbos once revealed his encounter with the late Speaker Ramon Mitra who faced cancer before his death. He said Ramon Mitra told him, “I cannot ask for more. I have been blessed much. I have done my very best. I have forgiven all who hurt me, and I have asked for forgiveness for my offenses. I’m ready to face my God. I shall be with Him soon…”

This experience of Fr. Orbos with Mitra would remind us of the Gospel of Luke 17: 11-19. Among the ten lepers whom Jesus healed, only one went back to give him thanks while praising God. Jesus wondered then where were the other nine. It seems gratitude or giving thanks is very difficult to do for most people who have received favor from God or their fellowmen. For people who show ingratitude, they think it is important that they already get what they want. If they cannot get what they want for free, they may offer to pay the price for it. They forget there are things which money cannot buy, and for things freely given only a word of thanks can satisfy.

Gratitude is an act of recognition that one cannot depend solely on himself/herself and he/she needs the help or favor from someone. Proud people do not do this. They think they deserve everything that is good, they seldom ask for help and so they are not used to give thanks to people or even to God.

Being grateful is a virtue. Only a humble person who believes that everything is grace can give thanks. Only a person who receives kindness which he/she thought he/she does not deserve though he/she needs it, can give thanks to God. Now, can we give God our thanks?

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jerry M. Orbos once told a story about one of those “Walk with God” pilgrimages he did on foot to Manaoag, Pangasinan every first Saturday in May and October. He saw among the walking pilgrims a couple carrying a frail and really tiny baby grasping for breath. Faith, simple and pure, was written on the face of the father as he asked him to bless the child. The priest learned that the hospital had given up on the child and told them to take the child home, but instead they had joined the 3 ½ hour walk to Manaoag. Orbos’ friend Sonny Sison told him that the child was healed. That was some six years ago, and the parents continued to join the walk every May and October, with the child walking with them.

This story tells us about how faith works. There will be miracles for a man who has faith. But how does faith really work? In the Gospel of Luke 17: 5-10, the apostles said to Jesus to increase their faith. But Jesus did not directly answer them, rather he told them that even with a small faith, miracles may happen to a person who believes in God. But what is equally important is that faith leads one to listen and obey God. Even if the person with faith cannot see miracles, it is important that he listens and obeys the will of God whatever that means. Jesus had these words at the end, “So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Therefore, faith is not only good when people see miracles, but also when people yield to the will of God.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Jerry M. Orbos once told a story that he listened to an old man sobbing unashamedly like a child, pouring out the pain in his heart. All his years of hard work and his accumulated wealth had backfired on him. His six children were not united but were envious and jealous of each other. Three of them had not spoken to one another for years. But the source of his heaviest grief was the thought that his children loved him only because of the properties he would leave behind.

In Fr. Jerry’s story, there is an absence of love among the children as well as between the children and their parent. The absence of love gives rise to selfishness. Selfish people tend to take advantage of everything for himself even if this means he would treat other people not as human beings but as properties or things. In this world, selfish people forget to be responsible for their actions as long as their wants are satisfied. They do not care about the needs of others. They are not aware that after they die, they have to face the judgment of God. This is what the Gospel of Luke 16: 19-31 tells us. Selfish people go to hell because hell is a place where there is no love to be found. People in hell have no more chance to enter heaven. Heaven is only for people who know what love means. The Gospel puts emphasis on this saying, “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” Therefore, we have to know whether we stand closer to hell or to heaven by looking at our hearts whether there is love or selfishness. Amen.

On the Feast of the Archangels

Good afternoon. I am grateful to receive a letter of information that the Sto. Niño Seminary College Department has unanimously chosen me to be the resource speaker for today’s event –the Annual College Day in honor of the Archangels of God. Although the letter fails to mention if you are inviting me after you have unanimously chosen me to be a resource speaker, I just presume that the letter is also a letter of invitation that is why I am now here.

Now that I am here, I cannot but question myself, “Makakaya ko ba?” In talking to seminarians especially to the young philosophers, one must have a talent to be able to get their attention or else they feel bored and fall into sleep. Honestly, I do not have such a talent. Well, let the archangels help me speak to you today.

Seminarians of our Dear Sto. Niño, in your letter, I have been asked to choose between these two topics or both topics. One is about the Roles of Being a Shepherd in the Seminary and the other is about the Existence of Archangels and its Significance in our Lives as Believers of the Roman Catholic Church.

With regard to the first topic, the Roles of Being a Shepherd in the Seminary, I cannot talk about this because I am not privy anymore to the seminary formation. I have spent most of my 18 years of priesthood in various parishes and I have no personal knowledge about shepherding the semmillennials or millennial-seminarians like you. The best resource speaker for this topic is no other than your seminary formators. They have their firsthand experience of being shepherds in the seminary.

With regard to the second topic, I have no more choice but to talk about it. In the title, The Existence of Archangels and its Significance in our Lives as Believers of the Roman Catholic Church, the word “existence” is in the nominative case while “archangels” is in the genitive case. What word then shall be treated as the main subject of the title? Of course, the word “existence” is the subject. It follows then that the words “its significance” refer to the subject “existence.” In short, we talk about existence first before we talk about the significance of existence.

Seminarians of our Dear Sto. Niño, if you already believe in the existence of the archangels, what difference shall it make to you when I talk about the significance of their existence? The moment you believe that they exist, you could have known their significance to you. You know there are two statues of archangels outside this chapel, that they exist. Are those statues significant to you?

Nevertheless, let me do the task to present the topic you have entrusted me to explain and expound today. To do this, we have to establish two kinds of fact i.e., factum probans and factum probandum. Factum probandum is the fact in issue while factum probans is the fact that tends to prove the fact in issue. In the title, the fact in issue or factum probandum is the existence of Archangels. The factum probans is the evidence of their existence. In common parlance, let me ask you, “Does Sem. Adrian Rommel S. Carpio exist?” What is your best evidence to prove his existence? Of course, he himself is enough for us to believe that he exists. But unlike Sem. Carpio, we cannot produce the body of an archangel to prove its existence. In truth, archangels are heavenly spirits. Only a fool will bring a body in this chapel and claim that the said body belongs to an archangel. So what is our evidence? As a Catholic, our evidence is the Bible. Since the Bible is the Word of God, it is authoritative. The Bible testifies to the existence of archangels. Archangels are not mythical creatures like Medusa, Cyclopes or Poseidon because they have genuine existence. However, the word “archangel” itself is nowhere to be found in the Old Testament while in the New Testament the word “archangel” appears only twice. One is in generic term in the 1^st letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 4: 16 and the other is specific in the Epistle of Jude 1:9 which identifies Michael as the archangel. In this sense, only Michael is the only archangel mentioned in the Bible.

If Michael is the only archangel mentioned in the Bible, how come that we believe in more than one archangels? This is so because of the name Michael found in the Book of Daniel 10:13. Michael is said to be one of the chief princes. This Old Testament word “chief prince” may be transliterated as “chief angel”. The word for chief in Greek is arkh, while the word messenger in Greek is angelos. As Michael is just one of the chief angels, it means there are other chief angels.

But how come we know there are seven archangels? It is because in the Book of Tobit 12:15 Raphael claimed that he is one of the seven angels who stand in the glorious presence of the Lord. Another angel named Gabriel claimed too that he stands before God (Luke 1:19). The Book of Revelation 8:2-6 also asserts there are seven angels who stand before God.

The Bible speaks of seven angels and not seven archangels, so why do we say they are archangels? Well, archangels are angels. But not all angels are archangels. Some are Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities and Guardian angels. As Raphael and Gabriel stand before God, they are similarly situated with Michael who also stands before God; thus they should be recognized in the same way as archangels like Michael. The other names of the archangels are not found in the Bible and their names vary.

With regard to their names, notice that they all carry the suffix EL which means God. In the Old Testament, at times God is addressed as El Shaddai. El means God, shaddai means mountain or wilderness. In a practice called Theophory, the name of God is embedded in a name. For the name Michael, we have El means God, while “Mikha” means no person; so Michael means no person is like God. For the name Raphael, it comes from the Hebrew word “Rapa” which means to heal, and El is God, so we have “God has healed.” For the name Gabriel, we have El as God, and “Gab” is strength, so we have God is my strength. How about the name lucifer? It comes from the word lux, lucis meaning the light, and from the verb fero, ferre meaning to bear or to bring. Even if lucifer is the light-bringer, there is no God in his name. He lives in hell after he fell from heaven.

Now, we come to the end of this talk by uncovering the significance of the existence of archangels in our lives. Dear seminarians, I can talk to you about the existence of archangels all the time, but it will be difficult for me to show you its significance. A latin maxim has this to state: Cogitum est in cognoscente secundum modum cognoscentis. A thing known exists in a knower according to the mode of a knower. The significance of a thing or persons depends on how you think, in what perspectives you consider them, and many other factors that can condition your thoughts, judgments and values. I cannot change your values unless you change your values. Yet, let me finish my talk in dealing with this topic. In the Old Testament, there was a man named Joshua (Joshua 5: 13-15). Joshua stood as a leader of the Israelites after Moses died. He had to lead the said Israelites into Canaan, the promised land. However, Jericho, the first city of Canaan, securely barred their gates from them. Joshua then looked for a solution. At that moment, he was near the city of Jericho, he saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua asked him, “Are you friend or foe?” “Neither one”, he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.” The archangel made it clear to Joshua that it is not about the archangel but it is about him. It is about Joshua, whether he is for God or not. Joshua then said to the archangel, “I am at your command. What do you want your servant to do?” After their conversation, Joshua and the Israelites won the Battle of Jericho.

In talking about the significance of the existence of archangels in our lives, we should know that it is not about the archangels but it is about us. They exist to remind us where we stand. Are we for God? If we are for God, then we should listen to the archangels. If we are for God, the archangels shall bring us the message from God. Their existence becomes significant for us if we are for God. As I have said, it is not about the archangels but it is about us. If we are for God, we do not ask, “Lord do you want me to serve you?” Rather, we say, “Lord, I will serve you.” 

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel of Luke 16: 1-13 presents Jesus telling his disciples a parable about a dishonest steward who was commended for his skills. Jesus did not encourage his listeners to become dishonest rather he wished that his followers would use their skills for spiritual purpose. Instead of using one’s skill to take advantage of people, why not use it for something that is divine?

There is a story about a man who happened to pass by a burning home. He saw the firefighters could not manage to enter the house, to stop the fire and to rescue the two kids who were trapped in the house while their parents were crying for help. The man immediately ran to the door and was able to unlock it. He was able to let the kids got out of the house before the fire totally destroyed it. The parents thanked the man saying that he has a good heart for saving their kids. The man replied that he is not a good person. In fact, he was just released from prison after serving his sentence for ten years.

In this story, we may be able to understand when Jesus said, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Eric Liddel was a Scottish Olympic Gold Medalist runner. He was given the honor of running for the 100 meters in the Olympics, but when he learned it was scheduled on Sunday, he refused to run because he believed Sunday is the day of rest. Scotland criticized him because of this. He was put into the 400 meter race which happened later that week. He won the race and broke the world record despite the fact he was not expected to win it.

Eric Liddel showed Scotland how he renounced the honor granted to him to run for the 100 meters in the Olympics for the sake of his faith. Even if he was misunderstood and criticized by his countrymen, he stood by his faith. He would not run on a Sunday as it is the Lord’s Day. His decision reminds us of the Gospel of Luke 14: 25-33, when Jesus said, “Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” We, too, like Eric Liddel are called to follow Jesus not only in good times but also in bad times. We are called to renounce anything that may hinder us in following Jesus. We can only be called disciples of Jesus if we learn to make Jesus our priority. Amen.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

A group of women who assisted the Catholic Church in praying for the dead was making a vigil in the house of a councilor. After praying for the dead, each of them was handed with plates and utensils to dine except for one woman. The said woman was the wife of a barangay official who happened to side the opposition party against the councilor. This was why he intended neither to give her anything to drink or to eat during the wake. When the woman was asked why she still prayed there every night, she humbly said that it was not her duty to take something to eat in a wake but to pray. Her answer showed what kind of a woman she was –a woman with humility.

Humility is a virtue and is not about being inferior compared to others. It is a virtue of accepting oneself without regard to what others say about him/her –either to praise or humiliate him/her. This is a virtue which Jesus taught to his followers which is found in Luke 14: 1,7-11. Jesus even said that the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So who is the real follower of Jesus –the woman or the councilor in the story? Well, praise to the woman and curse to the councilor.