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HOMILY
SMX Pasay City
October 29, 2017
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We thank God for bringing us together; we are one big family this afternoon as we celebrate the Eucharist.
Kahit saang parokya, kahit saang lugar kapag nagdiriwang ng Eukaristiya tayo ay isang malaking pamilya na tinitipon ni Hesus sa tahanan ng ating Ama.
Our celebration this afternoon is part of the year’s theme the “Parish as Communion of Communities”, kasi po yung parokya is made up of different communities and the fundamental community in the parish is the family. May mga families, may mga organization, may mga movement, may mga group sana bawat community especially the family will be open to communion, sana bawat family and community will live in communion within the family and communion with other communities.
Kapag mayroong family o organization o community na nagsara, communion sira ang parokya. Kaya po yung ating celebration this afternoon while it strengthens, hopefully it would strengthen the communion within the family to a love that last sana yung pamilya, bawat pamilya bukas sa iba pang pamilya para tumatag ang parokya.
Palagay ko marami naman tayong karanasan na kapag ang mga communities nagsara sa isa’t isa, sira na ang communion at humihina tayong lahat.
Bakit ho kayo tahimik? (audience laughs) Alam ko hindi nangyayari yan sa inyong mga parokya, alam ko lagi kayong loving loving. (Audience laughs)
Pero kung kayo po ay mga normal na tao, pamilya at parokya palagay ko laging may tukso to cut the lines of communion kaya po napakahalaga ng mga pagbasa natin sa araw na ito.
At first glance it seems that the readings are about commandments at totoo naman, in the Gospel Jesus was being trapped by a scholar of the law, lawyer. Mga lawyers pati si Hesus tina-trap, they knew that he was not a lawyer, they knew that he was a simple Nazarian coming from a simple family, the family of a carpenter and the poor maiden Mary. Kaya siguro sabi nila pinakamadaling pamamaraan para matisod si Hesus ay magtanong tayo tungkol sa hindi niya alam, the law.
“Teacher which commandment in the law is the greatest?” when we’re talking about the law it is not just the 10 Commandments, nagsimula sa 10 pero habang tumatagal nagkakaroon ng iba’tibang interpretation kaya sa old testament pa lang more than 600 na yung mga laws and prisms all of them based on the 10 Commandments. Pero kung ikaw ang papipiliin, you have 650 prisms which is the greatest?
Pero maganda yung sagot ni Hesus, “the greatest and the first is love your God with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your soul and the second is love your neighbor as you love yourself”.
Paulit ulit yung salitang “your” your God, your neighbor with your body, your heart, your strength as you love yourself. Bakit?Hindi bap u-pwedeng “I love God with your mind” (then pointed at one person in the choir) hindi ba pwede na sabihinniyo sa asawa niyo “I will love you with her heart” (point again to someone from the choir) “aarkila ako ng ibang puso para mahalin ka, aarkila ako ng ibang isip para mahalin ka, aarkila ako ng ibang kaluluwa para mahalin ka” hindi eh, your heart, your soul, your mind for your God and your neighbor.
Dahil paulit ulit yan we realized that this is not just commandments or laws, Jesus is reminding the fallacies and us of something fundamental, even in the old testament noong ibinigay ng Diyos ang mga utos the context was covenant nakikipagtipanan ang Diyos sa kanyang bayan. What is primary was the relationship called covenant, the law will come from the covenant and the law makes sense only within the covenant, remove the covenant relationship the law is just a law, a command, parang restrictions lang.
In the Old Testament the covenant relationship was formulated this way “I will be your God and you will be my people, we belong to each other, you are mine and I am yours”
Nung bata bata pa nga ako meron pang ganyang kanta “Ikaw ay akin Ako ay…” (audience “Sayo”) marami palang matatanda dito, kasing tanda ko alam pa eh at palagay ko mas marami pa ayaw lang ipakita ang kanilang edad. Pero ang ganda nun ikaw ay akin, ako ay sayo at kapag ang tipanan ay buhay dahil ikaw ay akin, hindi ka iba sa akin at dahil ako ay hindi iba sayo at sa puso ko ay nandun ka lagi at ako ay nasa puso mo hindi kita dadayain, hindi kita pagtataksilan, hindi ako mangangalunya, hindi kita nanakawan, hindi kita papatayin hindi ako gagawa ngkabulaanan tungkol sayo, hindi ako maiingit sayo bakit? kasi katipan kita.
Kapag humina ang tipanan kailangan na ng batas but for as long as the covenant relationship with God and with neighbor is strong in mutual ownership “you are mine” actually you don’t need laws.
The laws emerge because people forget their covenant relationship. So in this sense the laws are not just legal prisms, the laws are a reminder to return to the covenant kayaang hinihilom ay ang tipanan na nasira, minsan dyan po tayo kulang.
Siguro naman dito may mga karanasan na meron kayong naging hablahan sa kamag-anak, sa kaibigan kapag naghablahan na kahit natapos na ang kaso yung tipanan parang sugat na pero hindi magagawa yun ng korte, kayo ang gagawa nun to restore the covenant, hindi na yun legal covenant, relationship. Kaya ang pamilya hindi nabubuo sa batas, ang pamilya nabubu osa tipanan.
Mga mag-asawa (to audience) puwede niyo bang tingnan ang asawa niyo at sabihin “ikaw ay ako, ako ay sayo”, kapag hindi mo na masabi yan naku kahit gaano pa karaming batas walang uubra, kahit gaano karaming pulis ang ikalat mo, kahit gaano karaming cannon lawyers ang pag-aralin kapag walang tipanan hahanap at hahanap ng pamamaraan para tumaliwas at gawa na naman ng bagong batas, mukhang hindi naman batas ang kailangan ang kailangan tipanan, covenant.
That’s why Jesus repeated what was in the Old Testament your God, your heart, your mind, your neighbor makipagtipanan. Malinaw po ba ito? (Asking the audience)
Naku sa totoo po ang tao na bukal sa loob covenant relationship kahit walang batas magiging tapat, ang tao na walang covenant relationship kahit kanino hahanap at hahanap yan ng pamamaraan para malampasan ang batas, makalusot.
So malinaw po yun ano po? Yun ho ang introduction ko sa homily, hindi pa ho ito ang homily ano po.. (Audience laughs)Tipanan, wala namang batas na sinasabi dapat maikli ang homily diba? (Laughs with the audience) Hindi po, tinitesting ko lang kayo kung nakikinig kayo.
So that’s the first point, the second point is sabi niyo oo malinaw, medyo nga. Pero ito ang second point ko madaling makipagtipanan kung sa asawa, sa anak, kadugo. Mahirap nga yan pero madali-dali pa yan but in the first reading God is inviting all of us to have a covenant relationship outside of our immediate family. Totoo charity begins at home but charity from the home must flow out, outside of the home kaya sabi p osa Book of Exodus in the first reading, “huwag mong pahihirapan at guguluhin ang biyuda, ang ulila at ang alien stranger they are the most vulnerable, they are the most helpless, nobody cares for them but you who are my people dapat meron ka ring tipanan sa kanila, dapat nararamdaman mo kapatid ko kapwa ko ang bawat naghihirap, ang bawat walang matakbuhan, ang walang maaasahan at kapag sila ay sinamantala mo pa, God says ‘I will hear their cry and I will defend them because they are mine and if you hurt them, you are hurting me’”.
Ganyan kalalim ang tipanan ng Diyos sa mga naghihirap kaya dapat tayo nakikipagtipanan din sa kanila. Ang nakakalungkot kung sino yung mahina at nangangailangan siya pang sinasamantala, naririnig ng Diyos ang kanilang tinig kasi tapat siya sa kanila. That’s why our covenant relationship begins in the family but the Lord wants us to extend it to the strangers, to the orphans, to the widows. Please identify in our time, who are the most neglected and vulnerable.
Minsan kapag batas lang ang ginawa lalo silang napapariwara kailangan nila covenant relationship. Nung nakaraang Sabado pinagdiwang rin po natin ng Archdiocese of Manila ang 1stanniversary ng Sanlakbay yung parish based drug rehabilitation program, community based in partnership with the barangays and with the local police mahigit 100 po ang nag-graduate pero nag-testify po sila, natutuwa ako sa consistency, may nag-testify din na barangay chairwoman, may nag-testify na mga pulis alam niyo iisa ang kanilang sinasabi sabi nung isang nakarecover na drug addict “lalo akong nalulong sa drugs dahil pinagtabuyan na ako ng pamilya ko at ng aking mga kaibigan” nung nawala yung tipanan lalong lumala sabi niya “ngayon tuwang tuwa ako meron ng yumayakap sa akin na community and my human dignity is restored” sabi niya “and I discovered my God, God loves me” and that’s the path to healing not a law but a covenant relationship. Sabi nung isang barangay chairwoman “kapag merong niallapit sa akin, I shift ang tingin ko sa kanila hindi mga violators of the law ang tingin ko sa kanila aking anak, my sons, my daughters” at kapag ganun mas nagkakaroon sila ng incentives to change, covenant relationship outside of our families kaya mamaya po i-identify ninyo para pag-uwi ninyo sino tong parang mga napabayaan na nangangailangan ng pakikipagtipan muli to feel that they belong to a family and that is the beginning of their recovery.
Okey po? (Asking the audience) so meron ngang commandments pero the commandments come from a covenant relationship with the covenant relationship of mutual love and fidelity the commandment of love will not mean anything kaya tama rin siguro yung kanta nung bata bata pa ako, huwag ng mahiya yung iba sabi nung kanta noon ”puso kahit hindi turuan nakapagtataka natututunan ding magmahal”.
Hindi mo inuutos ang pagmamahal, hindi mo yan itinuturo, “lesson 1, step 1, step 2” ang puso na nakaramdam ng pagmamahal, magmamahal yan at kapag nagmamahal na nakikipagtipanan na ang mga utos ay hind nayan ang pinakamahalaga, ang pinakamahalaga ay ‘may katipan ako at dahil may katipan ako ang lahat ng utos nagagampanan ko kahit walang mag-uutos’.
Kung meron kayong kasambahay na bawat kilos kailangan pang utusan, itigil niyo ang pag-uutos baka kaya hindi ginagawa kasi utos kayo ng utos ang ibalik ninyo, tipanan. Sabihin niyo “halika dito magkape tayo, ilabas mo yung marurumi mong damit at ako ang maglalaba” magugulat yan, maya maya yan, hindi mo nauutusan bakit? Kasi nakipagtipanan.
Yung mga anak ninyong hindi umuuwi sa oras huwag niyong “hoy ah ang batas 10:30 ang batas 11 o’clock” paano uuwi yan kung hindi naman nararamdaman na sa bahay mayroong covenant relationship mas gugustuhin nga niya na nasa labas pero kung enjoy yan sa pamilya hindi mo kailangang sabihin na 10:30, alas-syete palang nandyan na yan alas, sais nandyan nayan. Kapag ang mister niyo o misis niyo sa bintana pa dumaraan pauwi, huwag kayong gagawa ng mga batas “ila-lock ko yang bintana na yan” hindi, ibalik ang covenant relationship, tipanan naku nagkukukumahog yan pauwi kahit bubong papasukin yan, magnanakaw na pala (laughs) o tama na.
