Sunday, March 16, 2008

Janina San Miguel Scandal

A friend sent me an email thinking I would get a laugh out of it. Instead, I was fairly embarassed. I couldn't watch the entire clip; I had to pause every minutes or so to work up the courage to watch the rest of it. Everyone else found it amusing to see someone make a fool of herself on live television. Though she may have won the title, it will forever carry a stigma for her.

Most people laughed at her. Some were outraged that she won anyway. What I didn't expect was for someone to defend her. A columnist from the Inquirer said that we shouldn't make fun of her since these contests were hard and stressful for the participants. I would agree on him on that part.

Except that if that were the case, why does she deserve to win when the others managed to handle the pressure? Shouldn't they be more deserving of the title? By selecting her as a winner, what kind of message does that send out?

I'll tell you. Beauty is will always overshadow intellect - and our society will continue to promote that. Too bad we missed the opportunity to prove that looks aren't everything.

No wonder it's called a beauty pagent.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday has the longest Gospel of any Sunday of the year. It chronicles Jesus last mortal days from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion. I don't really understand why they read the entire story then and not during the mass for the days leading to Easter Sunday. I should probably ask a priest about that.


For those of you who are wondering, how is possible for Jesus Christ to die on a Friday and Ressurect on a Sunday when the gospel states, "...on the third day, He rose again." That would have been only 2 days.

Simple, if you consider that the third day doesn't relate to his death but rather to the suffering he endured during his journey to Calvary. It wasn't phrased "after three days".


I found the Gospel bit confusing in it's portrayal of Jesus Christ. He seems quite...inconsistent. At one point, he is calm and sure of Himself while being questioned by the Pharisees and Pontius Pilate, in the next he asks God why He has forsaken Him.

But then, when you're human, you don't really act consistent. That's why we have the term "human factor" to denote those outcomes that are opposite of what is expected. I guess when you are facing your imminent death - regardless of whether you are certain of being ressurrected - you still fear the pain and the uncertainty. The fact those who told Him they loved him and would follow him were falling asleep just made him feel more alone.


The mass started late so my dad was upset. One of the lay ministers tried to placate him. I was annoyed both at their argument and the fact the priest was late. These things happen. You can't expect perfection from a human institution. Still, it just makes me feel irritated. Maybe because seeing someone who encourages others to be prompt becoming late just doesn't inspire me.

The Lay Minister tried to explain that the priest had too much to do. He had a mass, a baptism, another mass and several other tasks to accomplish for the day. He (the priest) hadn't even had breakfast yet. All I could think of was, the Lay Minister was making excuses for him. All he really said was that he didn't know how to organize and schedule activities. If you can't handle the number of things you need to do, change it. I don't think a lot of people would mind, especially if they knew you were the only priest in the parish.

(Don't even get me started on that.)

Of course, this doesn't happen often. But once is usually enough for some people. I thought about it and realized I didn't have the right to be bothered by it. After all, he probably had his reasons. It's not like he said, "I think I'll be late for the next mass. I want to watch the Pacquia/Morales match."

Monday, March 10, 2008

Lazarus Redux

Okay, so I had this crazy idea for a weekly entry in my blog. I was at church last Sunday by myself. Yeah, I know, big surprise there. As I sat listening to the priest's homily, I thought I could deliver a better one. No offense but I've always felt that the homily or priests were really...bland and out of date. They rarely touch on our daily life. Or rather, they don't answer the questions we might be asking as we listen to the gospel.

If you've been reading my posts, you'll notice that I made some comments about the Gospel a few times. It wasn't really structured in a way to convey some sort of profound idea. They were more like commentaries and cheap shots in the dark. Which doesn't really help people. Sort of like finding out who to blame doesn't really solve the problem.

So, until I find something else better to talk about, I'll be writing my own homilies for the Sunday Gospel every week. I'm pretty sure this doesn't violate any Church-written by-laws. If it is, I hope someone out there tells me. So here it is, my take on last Sundays gospel.


The Gospel of Lazarus being brought back to life would often entail a homily of Jesus power over death. This further supports his "title" as "the Way, the Truth and the Life." Other homilies would probably center on death, our fear of dying and the metaphor of life and death. What I really want to ask is, why did Jesus wait too long to see his friend Lazarus? In other words, why let him die?

Some people might say he didn't care. But then, the gospel recounts the fact that he was a dear friend and that he was close to His heart. So why would he ignore him? Why not go to Lazarus and cure him of his illness? Why wait and let his friend die?

Some would say that Jesus was confident, that regardless of whether he arrived today or tomorrow, he would have been able to cure Lazarus. Heck, he was able to bring him back from the dead. (And no, I don't plan to do a debate on whether he was dead, unconscious or in a coma.) If so, then Jesus would appear confident of his ability to bring back people from the dead. Which wouldn't really be in character, if you think about it.

I can think of one reason: it's all in the plan. A lot of us don't like leaving things up to faith - myself included. In this day and age, we like to be assured that we have the power to do things we want, when we want. Leaving it up to God is kind of...anti-thetical to who we are as people. But see, there are somethings we can't do and sometimes, you just to let things happen.

The Jesus doesn't want us to suffer. But if God granted every prayer, we would always look to Him to do everything for us. And that would only make matters worse. We always take for granted those things we get for free. Love, friendship, the ability to walk, run and jump. We always want something more. We envy those who have it and sometimes, though you may not admit it, we wish them ill for being better off.

In the gospel, Jesus allowed things to happen because it was all according to plan. For people to believe he was the Son of God, he had to make miracles happen. We do not believe until we have proof, that's how we are oftentimes. That's not such a bad thing either. After all, if we believed everyone who proclaimed he was the messiah, I think we would be worse off.

So He performs miracles to help us understand and believe in Him. He is already able to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, allow the deaf and mute to hear and speak. Although people are at awe of Him, this isn't enough. For people to believe he is who He claims, he has to live up to the prophecies told of Him. He has to conquer death. And he does so by resurrecting Lazarus.

Things happen for a reason and there is no single step that leads us to faith and enlightenment. It comes over time and the journey is often long and ardous. Lazarus death was necessary for Jesus to perform his miracle. So you may be wondering, why Lazarus? There is certainly no shortage of people dying. I can think of several reasons but the most prominent is this: because he has faith.

Lazarus would not be close to Jesus if he didn't believe in Him. Also, Lazarus was also part of a group that followed Jesus. He was known by a lot of people. If Jesus had resurrected someone unknown, he could have only converted one person. But by resurrecting Lazarus, he was able to convince many who knew him of who He was.