Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ: 'God takes delight in his people'

The Baptism, El Greco, (painted 159601600), El Prado, Madrid

Readings

New American Bible (Philippines, USA)

Jerusalem Bible (Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland)

Gospel (New American Bible)

Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

The people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

For me an astonishing thing is that Jesus lined up with sinners. Probably none of the others in the queue knew who he was. Here is God-made-Man, totally sinless, pure love. I remember last April there was consternation when it was discovered that Jacqueline Aquino Siapno, the Filipino wife of the president of the parliament of East Timor, flew with their 5-year-old son to Manila where she was met by her mother. They took a bus to her native Dagupan City, five hours away, and from the bus terminal there hailed a tricycle to take them to her parents' home. This was beyond the comprehension of the authorities in the Philippines. If we think about it, it should be all the more beyond our comprehension to imagine Jesus standing among a crowd of sinners letting others think he was a sinner too.

But he came to show us how much God loves us.

Mrs Jacqueline Aquino Siapno

Two texts in the readings this week pointing towards the words of the Father. One was from the first reading last Tuesday: In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins (1 Jn 4:10). The other was the response in the responsorial psalm today, Saturday: The Lord takes delight in his people (Ps 149).


So often we see ourselves as having to earn God's love, when it is pure gift, pure grace, pure blessing. Most of us learned from our parents and teachers that we had to 'earn' love: we were often rewarded if 'good' and punished if 'bad'. Here in the Philippines many children learn that they are 'maldito' or 'maldita'. The online Merriam-Webster Spanish-English Dictionary defines those words as adjectives meaning 'cursed, damned, wicked'. They don't have that force in their Philippine usage, where they usually mean something like 'naughty'.

Nevertheless, many grow up with the idea that love can only be earned and that idea of God taking delight in his people nevere crosses the mind or heart of most of us, I think. The image that comes to my mind is that of proud parents showing their child to their relatives and friends.

Renante and Cristina Uy of Bacolod with their first child, Keifer Thomas (used on the cover of Misyon, November-December 2007)

Jesus heals a deaf man

Jesus heals a deaf man

Today's gospel shows us Jesus healing a deaf man who had a speech impediment. I grew up knowing those who were profoundly deaf as 'deaf and dumb', the term that some still use. However, 'dumb' has come to mean 'stupid', quite probably because people who were deaf were perceived as such.

Those who are profoundly deaf describe themselves as a group as 'The Deaf', wtih a capital 'D', not 'heaing impaired, which is not quite the same thing. Many become hearing impaired as they grow older. while they have difficulty in communicating, they have had a life-long experience of sharing a common language with those around them. The Deaf don't, not even within their own families. The only 'native signers' I have met have been children of one or two deaf parents, who learned Sign Language as they learned to speak.

Those of us who have all our faculties tend to think that blindness is 'worse' than deafness. But deafness is isolating in a way that no other physical disability is, as those born deaf cannot share the language of their family and community.

Father Joseph Coyle, a Columban who worked for many years in Negros Occidental here in the Philippines, pioneered pastoral ministry to the Deaf here. Though there is a small but growing number of priests who can sign Mass, including Auxiliary Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of Jaro, very few are aware of the Deaf among us. I know of priests and people who won't allow interpreters for the Deaf at Mass, as 'they are a distraction'. This is not general but it does happen.

St Francis de Sales is the patron saint of the Deaf - and of journalists - because of his friendship with a deaf servant, Martin. He came to know the great humanity and faith of Martin.

Father Joseph Coyle died in December 1991 but his work was continued and developed by Mrs Salvacion V. Tinsay. Tita Salving, as everyone knew her, died in August last year.

St Mark in today's gospel uses the Aramaic word that Jesus used in healing the deaf man, 'Ephphata!' 'Be opened', emphasising the importance of this event.

St Francis de Sales

Health Care Council Presents International Conference

By a happy coincidence, the Vatican announced a new initiative in reaching out to the hearing impaired - I guess it includes both those who are born deaf and those who become deaf later - as reported in Zenit:

Vatican to Focus on Hearing Impaired

ROME, SEPT. 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).-The Vatican recognizes that people with hearing impairments have muchto offer the Church, and will stop to consider this contribution duringa November conference.

Officials from the Pontifical Council forHealth Care Ministry presented their 24th international conference toBenedict XVI last Wednesday after the general audience, L'OsservatoreRomano reported today. The theme, drawn in part from Mark 7:34, is"Ephphata! The Deaf in the Life of the Church."

During thepresentation, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the health caredicastery, explained that the purpose of the conference is "to offer anopportunity to the Church to appreciate the contribution of deaf peoplein the various areas of apostolate."

Among the participants willbe Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool, Great Britain, president ofthe International Catholic Foundation for the Service of Deaf Persons.

Alsopresent will be the past two presidents of the Vatican's health carecouncil: , Cardinals Javier Lozano Barragán and Fiorenzo Angelini.

Thecongress will reflect, on one hand, on the medical, psychological andsocial aspects of deafness and, on the other, on the pastoral needs ofthis group.

Specialists from around the globe will contribute,as will catechists, priests, families and volunteers dedicated to thepastoral care of the deaf.

Among them will be Spanish FatherJaime Gutiérrez Villanueva, a priest of St. Mary of Silence church inMadrid, a parish created in 1973 by two deaf priests and a dozenfaithful with this impairment.

Mk 7:31-37 (RSV)

Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

'Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'

The Gulf Stream, Winslow Homer (1899)

Last year Ateneo de Manila Press published a book by my friend Simeon Dumdum, Jr, Ah, Wilderness! Jun, whose day-job is that of a Regional Trial Court judge in Cebu City is a distinguished poet and his prose reflects that.

The subtitle of Ah, Wilderness! is A Journey Through Sacred Time. The short essays, which I think first appeared in the Cebu Daily News, are reflections linked to the different seasons of the Church’s liturgical year. In his introduction the author writes, ‘I move in a sacred world because God fills every space. Every journey – because in the en it s return to God – is a journey through sacred time.’ (Jun is expressing something similar to the quote from my patron St Columban on the masthead of my blog: ‘Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home’).

I happened to read Jun’s essay Gulf Stream this morning in which he reflects on a painting by American painter Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream. He writes: ‘One can look at Winslow Homer’s painting as an allegory of faith. The fuming waves and hungry sharks represent evil, and the boat the raft of faith that, though the fits of doubt have broken its mast, keeps one safely afloat. The painting calls up a scene from Mark. There, while Jesus and the apostles were crossing the lake a squall arose, terrifying everyone, except Jesus who was sleeping at the back of the boat. They woke him up, complaining that he did not care that they were about to die. But Jesus soot up and commanded the wind and the waves to be still, and they obeyed, and Jesus chided the apostles for their lack of faith’.

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jan Brueghel the Elder, c.1596

This story, from Mark 4:35-41, is the gospel for tomorrow, the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Below is the RSV translation.

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?"