Merry Christmas!

The Star of Bethlehem

The most common symbol of Christmas in the Philippines is the Star of Bethlehem, commonly called “parol.”  It may have originated in Mexico with the “pinyata,” which is a fragile, pineapple-shaped jar of clay, filled with candies and sweets and hanged in the ceiling.  It is used in a game for children, “breaking the pot,” played during Christmastime.    This “pinyata” was introduced to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, and it evolved into the “parol” as we see it today.  

Let us read now from the Gospel of Matthew the visit of the wise men from the east.  It is in this story that the Star of Bethlehem is mentioned.  

^NJB Matthew 2:1 After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east ² asking, 'Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.' ³ When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. ⁴ He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, 'At Bethlehem in Judaea, for this is what the prophet wrote: ⁶ And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.' ⁷ Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared ⁸ and sent them on to Bethlehem with the words, 'Go and find out all about the child, and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.' ⁹ Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ The sight of the star filled them with delight, ¹¹ and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. ⁹ Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ The sight of the star filled them with delight, ¹¹ and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² But they were given a warning in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.

          This story that we just read may be entitled “The Discovery of the Child.”  The wise men discovered the child Jesus because of the guidance of a star.  In ancient times, a unique star heralded the birth of a great man.  Some scholars say that the star may have been a comet and the wise men were astrologers.  They even identified the comet to be Halley’s Comet which appeared on October in the year 12 A.D.

The Star may symbolize our faith.  Through our faith, we discover Jesus.  Through faith, we encounter Him.  Another meaning of the Star of Bethlehem is given by Pope Benedict XVI.   “Christ is the star that has risen for us…  To look at the star means receiving light and giving light, radiating in the world around us the light that we have received, so that I can provide orientation to others too,” he wrote.  Looking at the star, that is, looking up to Jesus, allowing ourselves to be enlightened, transformed by Him and rejoicing in Him – this is the meaning of Christmas!  Then, sharing that joy and peace with others – this too is the meaning of Christmas!  This is what the Star of Bethlehem may teach us. 

December 21, 2012 - End of the World?

RH Bill Approved

No Place in the Inn

It was really disappointing – the approval of the RH Bill on second reading at the House of Representatives! In any case, its passage does not change the fact that it’s an anti-life bill, noting several of its provisions, and those who approved it, knowingly or unknowingly, are anti-life. We thank the 104 lawmakers who stood by us.

It had been a long struggle. We have held several symposia, conferences, and prayer rallies to make people understand the issue in the light of Gospel-values. We had to bear with the attacks of politicians and the media against the Church, her faith and the clergy. One touching experience here in Baguio was a rally one stormy day last September. I expected only a handful to be present, but a lot of people turned out, braving the rain, the wind and the cold, enough to fill the Cathedral for the Holy Mass. How little faith I had!

Well, we won’t give up the struggle. How can we? We can’t lie. We have to stand for the truth! We have to preach in and out of season. Contraception is intrinsically evil and opens the door to abortion and the culture of death. We have enough evidence to substantiate this claim. On the other hand, RH Bill proponents claim they aim to improve the life of the poor and women. The truth, considering the reasoning and pressure of international governments and groups, is that the RH Bill discriminates the poor and women. The poor are seen by these people as eyesores to be eliminated and women, playthings to be used.

In the Christmas story, remember Joseph and Mary looking for a decent place for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem. There was no place for them in the inn, so they had to be content with a manger. Just imagine the anxiety, humiliation, and difficulties of Joseph and Mary. Yet, we could also sense their trust in God who brings light out of darkness, good out of evil, victory out of defeat. (God’s ways and criteria are so different from man). On the lowly manger was laid the Savior of the world!

Last Wednesday, Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, many Catholics in Baguio and in the whole country held prayer vigils, Holy Masses and rosary rallies. (The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is considered throughout the Catholic world as a symbol of “openness to life.) For sure, all these prayers and sacrifices will not be in vain! At the moment, we feel like Joseph and Mary, anxious, humiliated, and tested in our faith. There is “no place for us in the inn,” that is, the values we stand for are rejected. We have then to be satisfied with a manger; that is, trusting in God’s mysterious ways. Then, we will see!

Let’s continue praying and making sacrifices. We continue witnessing to the “culture of life.” We continue reaching out to the poor and suffering, especially now to our fellow Filipinos in Mindanao. They are still suffering from the effects of Typhoon Pablo. May this Christmas season strengthen our faith!

Baguio Midland Courier 
December 16, 2012

Advent is Here

Dear Friends,

It’s been some months now since I last wrote you.  I hope you forgive me!  Last October till November, I travelled to Europe with a group for a pilgrimage.  The occasion was the Canonization of Pedro Calungsod in Rome.  He’s now our second canonized Filipino saint, the first, being St. Lorenzo Ruiz.  I’m enclosing some pictures, for these can tell you more.

In the meantime, I do hope and pray you’re fine!  The cold weather is now with us; so take care of yourself and others too.  Especially here in Baguio, put more clothing in the evening and often drink something warm, coffee, tea or plain water. 

We’re now in the Advent Season, a liturgical time to prepare for Christmas.  We need to pray more and make an effort to change for the better.  Let’s allow the good Lord to pour His love on us!

Fr. Andy Cosalan

December 16, 2012

St. Francis of Assisi

Guardian Angels

St. Therese of the Child Jesus

October: Month of the Holy Rosary

The Igorot and his Coffee

            Whenever one visits an Igorot home, one is served with coffee; whenever an Igorot community gathers for a tongtongan (talking together), coffee is served; whenever Igorots celebrate a canyao (festival), coffee is drunk alternately with the tapuy (rice wine).  Indeed, coffee is an important beverage in Igorot culture!

            Generally, two types of coffee are grown in the Cordilleras: the well-known “Benguet coffee” (coffea arabica) and the “Robusta coffee” (coffea robusta).  The “Benguet coffee” is grown in the higher altitudes of the Cordilleras, above 1,000 meters, as in Benguet and Mountain Province; the “Robusta coffee,” in lower, warmer elevations as in Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao.  Besides being a typical drink among Igorots, coffee too has medicinal values.  It counteracts drunkenness, alleviates headaches and eases difficulties in urination. Today, there are other discoveries, such as the coffee’s possibility of preventing cancer. 

            Of course, like any drink, coffee has its limitations. It should not be drunk in excess because of the presence of caffeine, a strong central nervous system stimulant.  It is advisable that patients with ulcer should not drink coffee.  Children who need sleep for growth may not be given coffee, because it produces insomnia.

            Perhaps, to augment the income of people in the Cordilleras and to help alleviate poverty, we need to explore more aggressively the commercial possibilities of our native coffee.  For centuries, Igorots have planted and drunk coffee.  By now, they may well have become its natural growers.  The Cordillera terrain and climate is also fitting for its growth.  Coffee is a gift to our people.  Wonderful are the ways of Divine Providence!    

Our Holy Father in Lebanon: Be Protagonists

Work of Mary: The Woman and the Dragon

One reads in the Book of Revelation, chapter 12 about the story of the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” She is pregnant and about to give birth. Then, there appears a “great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads.” The dragon wanted to devour the woman’s child, but when the child was born, God caught him up to his throne.

The Book of Revelation was written at a time when the early Christians were already experiencing a widespread persecution throughout the Roman Empire. It was written then to console the persecuted Christians and to make them understand that behind this persecution is the battle between God and Satan. Ultimately, according to the sacred author, God will triumph, and the reign of God will prevail over all evil. The sacred author expressed his basic message through the use of signs and symbols in his book.

The “woman” in the Book of Revelation may stand for the Church, the community of believers in Christ, persecuted by the pagan Roman Empire, symbolized by the “great red dragon.” The “woman” may also stand for Mary who gives birth to Jesus, and the “great red dragon,” for Satan. These symbols remind us of the story of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, chapter 3. When God declared his judgment on the serpent that tempted Eve, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Now, I find it intriguing that in the Philippines, Mary is much loved by our people. We are a Marian nation! Shrines of Mary and churches dedicated to this “woman” abound everywhere in the archipelago. On the other hand, the symbol of the dragon is much appreciated by China. In cultural shows, TV advertisements and government propaganda, the dragon is ever present! China also boasts of its Communist ideology in the red color symbol, as in the words, “The East is red!” Of course, Chinese culture does not view the dragon as evil but good. However, with atheistic Communism prevailing in China and materialism brought about by economic progress, couldn’t the favourite dragon be a symbol of Satan?

China today is proud and aggressive. The Communists who are in power oppress the Chinese people, curtailing their freedom, so much so, as one remarked, “Communist China is a nation of slaves!” Catholics and other Christians, who are a minority in the country, are denied authentic religious freedom.

Keeping in mind the Book of Revelation, chapter 12, we believe that this situation will not last. Will Marian Philippines be a catalyst of the conversion of that country, the proclamation of Christ and the reign of God? This may be our national vocation, the challenge of the Work of Mary!

Igorotak: Culture and the Gospel

            Young Igorots today may not be aware that our ancestors practised slavery.  It was only upon the arrival of the Americans to the Cordillera highlands in the early 1900’s that the practice was abolished.  All slaves were then set free. 

          Among the Ibaloys of Benguet, the rich and influential families kept slaves who did the menial jobs for them.  These slaves were sold to them by traders who kidnapped boys or girls coming from other tribes in the Cordilleras.  These slaves were not usually treated well.  An old Ibaloy testified that when he was a boy, he saw a man beating his slave with a wooden club so badly that the slave became unconscious.  The man showed no remorse for his deed.  It was not unusual then that slaves often ran away from their owners.

          Slavery was not a good aspect of the old Igorot culture.  While we highlight the good aspects in our culture, let us not deny that there were bad ones too.  These ones needed to be removed or changed.  We need to keep in mind that human culture is not perfect, and so it needs a constant purification in order to express the best in people! 

          For us Christians, culture is purified by the Gospel.  Jesus taught us that God is the loving Father of all, and that we ought to love one another as he has loved us.  Jesus witnessed to the value of each person by giving his life for each one of us.  Anything then in our culture that falls short of this Gospel truth need to be purified!

          If we have discerned the good and bad aspects in the old Igorot culture, we need to do the same today.  In the contemporary culture we are immersed, what is in consonance with the Gospel and what is not?  We must continuously discern, purifying today’s culture and aligning it with the Gospel!       

Catholic Faith: What is a Creed?

            Whenever we celebrate the Holy Mass on Sundays, the priest, after his homily, invites us to stand and “to profess our faith.”  We then all recite the “Apostles’ Creed” or the longer form, the “Nicene Creed.”  This profession of faith is our response to the Word of God that was just read from the Bible and explained by the priest in his homily in the first part of the Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Word.  Having heard God’s Word and hopefully having understood it, we stand and say, “Yes, I believe” with the words of the Creed.  Reciting the Creed also implies that we commit ourselves to live according to God’s Word, “Yes, I will live my faith.”    

            What’s a Creed, in the first place?  The word Creed comes from the Latin “Credo” which means “I believe.”  A Creed then is a statement of what one believes.  In the Bible, we read a couple of Creeds.  For example, in the Old Testament, we read a statement of what the Israelites believed: “The Lord is God and there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:35).  In the New Testament, the Creeds of the first Christians centered on the Risen Christ: “The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus whom you put to death, hanging him on a tree.  He whom God has exalted at His right hand as ruler and savior is to bring repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:30-31).   

            The “Apostles’ Creed” and the “Nicene Creed” that Catholics, and even Protestants, are familiar with evolved as Christians felt the need to express faithfully a summary of what the apostles have taught.  Although there were the New Testament writings upheld by all Christians; yet, not everyone interpreted them correctly.  False teachings arose, called heresies.  Some, for example, like Arius, a well-known theologian at that time, denied the divinity of Christ.  These Creeds then were not based on human opinions but were gathered from the Bible, as interpreted and taught by the early Church.   

            The “Apostles’ Creed” originated from the Church in Rome towards the end of the second century.  It was used to instruct candidates for Baptism.  It was called “Apostles’ Creed” because it expressed what the Apostles themselves taught; in fact, early Christians had the custom of dividing the Creed into twelve articles (as there are twelve Apostles).  The “Nicene Creed” originated from the first two ecumenical Councils in the years 325 and 381.  These were gatherings of all bishops from the East and West to clarify and to articulate the authentic faith of Christianity.

            We will be studying in our future lessons the “Apostles’ Creed,” taking the twelve articles one at a time.  We will refer the “Nicene Creed” to elaborate further each article.  In the meantime, pay close attention to what you’re reciting during the Holy Mass when we are called upon “to profess our faith.”  Read closely now the twelve articles of the “Apostles’ Creed”:

1.          I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth

2.          And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord. 

3.          He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary.

4.          He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.

5.          He descended to the dead.  On the third day He rose again.

6.          He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

7.          From thence He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

8.          I believe in the Holy Spirit.

9.          I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.

10.        I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

11.        I believe in the resurrection of the body.

12.        I believe in life everlasting.  Amen.

Bible Study: The Bible and History

What is history? Generally, we say that history is a record of events that transpired in the lives of people individually or collectively. When you tell me your family background, stories of your childhood, your experiences in school, places where you have lived, your life with friends and acquaintances, you’re giving me a history of yourself. When we learn how the Spaniards came to the Philippines in the 16thcentury, how they have governed this country, what they have built and done, we’re studying a history of the Filipino nation during the colonial period.

Now, there are two things to consider in studying history: (1) the events themselves, that is, what happened and (2) the interpretation of the events, that is, how a writer or speaker understands those events. For example, you and a friend may have gone to the same school, attended the same classes and experienced the same activities, but you may view these events differently from your friend. You may tell other people that the school was a good one with an excellent program, and you may recommend the school to others. Your friend, on the other hand, may have a negative impression of the school, highlighting its defects and consequently not recommending the school to others. So, you and your friend underwent the same experiences, but you and your friend viewed them differently.

Turning now to the Bible, we read a lot of stories, experiences and events recorded there. What we are reading is biblical history. We read the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; we read the experiences of the people of Israel when they were slaves in Egypt, when they were liberated by God and led by Moses through the desert, journeying towards the Promised Land; we read the stories of the established kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the stories of Kings Saul, David, Solomon and the other kings. Finally, we read the life of Jesus, his death and resurrection; and we read the experiences of the early Christians and Paul.

Now, we sometimes wonder if some of these stories are real? Are they historical? Are they make-believe stories like fairy-tales? The answer is: (1) many of these stories are clearly historical; (2) the authors who wrote them interpreted these stories and events in the light of their faith in God (or in the case of the New Testament stories, in the light of their faith in Jesus Christ who is risen!); (3) the authors then used a style of writing to highlight more clearly the meaning of the stories and events, that is, in the light of their faith.

Today, when we speak of history, people are concerned with what is “factual” or “scientific” as far as possible. This was not so much the concern of the writers of history in the Bible. They were concerned more of expressing their faith in God who involved Himself in human history. For them – and for us – this is the key to come to the truth about matters and to understand not only biblical history but all history!