'But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed, And for the secret Scripture of the poor.' Sunday Reflections, Christmas Day

Adoration of the Shepherds

Jacopo Bassano [Web Gallery of Art]

What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people (John 1:4).

The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord has four different Mass formularies, each with its own prayer and readings. Any of the four fulfills our obligation to attend Mass. These are:

Vigil Mass, celebrated 'either before or after First Vespers (Evening Prayer) of the Nativity'; that means starting between 5pm and 7pm.

Mass During the Night, known before as 'Midnight Mass'. In many parts of the world it does begin at midnight but here in the Philippines since the 1980s it begins earlier, usually at 8:30pm or 9pm.

Mass at Dawn.

Mass During the Day.

When you click on 'Readings' below from the New American Bible you will find links to the readings for each of the four Masses. The readings from the Jerusalem Bible for the four Masses are all on one page.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel (Mass During the Day) John 1:1-18 (New Revised  Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition) 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

John 1:1-4

This is the Sign Language I am familiar with in the Philippines.

The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 

Pieter Bruegel the Elder [Web Gallery of Art]

This was the moment when even energetic Romans

Could find nothing better to do

Than counting heads in remote provinces.

BC : AD

By U.A. Fanthorpe

This was the moment when Before

Turned into After, and the future's

Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing

Happened. Only dull peace

Sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even energetic Romans

Could find nothing better to do

Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment

When a few farm workers and three

Members of an obscure Persian sect

Walked haphazard by starlight straight

Into the kingdom of heaven.

Adoration of the Shepherds, Murillo [Web Gallery of Art]

And this was the moment

When a few farm workers and three

Members of an obscure Persian sect

Walked haphazard by starlight straight

Into the kingdom of heaven.

Gradual 1 for San Michele a Murano

Don Silvestro Dei Gherarducci [WebGallery of Art]

But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed,

And for the secret Scripture of the poor.

To My Daughter Betty, The Gift of God

by Thomas Kettle

In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown

To beauty proud as was your Mother’s prime.

In that desired, delayed, incredible time,

You’ll ask why I abandoned you, my own,

And the dear heart that was your baby throne,

To die with death. And oh! they’ll give you rhyme

And reason: some will call the thing sublime,

And some decry it in a knowing tone.

So here, while the mad guns curse overhead,

And tired men sigh with mud for couch and floor,

Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead,

Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor,

But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed,

And for the secret Scripture of the poor.

Tom Kettle wrote To My Daughter Betty, The Gift of God just four days before he was killed during an assault on the village of Ginchy, France, on 9 September 1916.

The Secret Scripture of the Poor was the title given to a collection of writings by Columban Fr John Henaghan published posthumously in 1951. He was killed by the Japanese during the Battle of Manila in February 1945.

Mary's Boy Child

Written by Jester Hairston in 1956. The lyrics are in a Caribbean dialect of English.

Deaf graduate's speech

Sarah O. Talibong (above) of LSU Ozamiz Deaf School commented on the story, Deaf student graduates with a magna, in the Misyon editor's blog, The Pilgrims' Inn, where I posted it on 29 November as well as on the Misyon Online Forum and here. At my request she sent me a link to Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce's graduation speech.



The link is on Deaf E-news. The two videos of the speech under the heading Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce's Graduation speech were posted on October 19.

Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce

Here is the text of the speech that Ana gave. I have highlighted some parts.

Brother President Victor Franco FSC, Vice Chancellors, Assistant Vice Chancellors, Deans, Administrators, Faculty, Parents, Sign Language Interpreters, Guests, fellow graduates, and the Benildean Community, Good Morning.

Let me begin my speech with this passage from the Holy Scriptures, found in Jeremiah 18, and I quote …"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it". In pottery, the potter places a mold of clay on a table and the potter turns it around carefully. Using his hands, the potter will repeat the process several times until he gets the perfect shape. As hands are important to a potter, hands are also important to us, Deaf persons. Our main source of communication is through the use of our hands, we talk and express ourselves through them. And just like the potter whose hands make the perfect creation, we also hope to get the best if not the perfect performance for ourselves using our hands. With our hands, we can go places, change lives and make a difference.

I was born Deaf and when my parents discovered this, like most hearing parents of Deaf children, they felt that the only way for me to survive was if I learned to speak and so they enrolled me in different oral schools where I had to wear hearing aids and learn how to lip read. I was enrolled in four different oral schools and we tried to find something workable that would fit. I tried my best in these schools but still it wasn’t easy for me to adjust. And then my parents thought of trying it out in a school for the Deaf and they enrolled me at the Philippine School for the Deaf where sign language is used as the medium of communication. I quickly adjusted and started doing well in my academics, and received several awards in grade school and I was also the class valedictorian of my batch. I was also an achiever all throughout high school and even if I transferred to a Deaf private school during my senior year I still managed to finish with academic honors.

And then came College, during my first year I was enrolled in another college where Deaf and hearing college students were together in class. I found the experience to be more saddening than exciting. I often cried because my hearing classmates would exclude me in meetings and group projects, maybe because they thought I will not be able to understand them and communicate with them. I struggled to adjust and tried to show my hearing peers what I can do but they never gave me a chance to prove myself to them. Do you want to feel useless? I’m sure you don’t and neither do I or any other Deaf person for that matter. I tried to think that maybe my classmates were doing this because they have big hearts and are trying to understand me and make things easier for me, but I ended up frustrated and I was the one left trying to understand them. Before the end of the first semester, I had set my mind to move to another school, this time, one that offers a program for Deaf students.

And so it was through the efforts of my mother that we found DLS-CSB’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies. At DLS-CSB, SDEAS especially, not only did I find an academic institution, but I also found an environment where teachers and other members of the community welcomed us. I felt loved and cared for, and I felt that the school was like a family. I learned that I am a Deaf person; the word, Deaf, being spelled with a capital D, which means that I am identified, not merely as a person who cannot hear, but as someone who is part of the Deaf community, partaking in its unique culture and natural sign language. And with that, I believe that one of the best fruits of education is our ability to understand and change people’s attitude about the Deaf and other Persons with Disabilities, and that is what SDEAS’s education has given me. Our Benildean education has developed us Deaf persons into persons of dignity, integrity, and with a deep sense of spirituality, and we are now being given the chance to become productive members of society.

If you go around the different high schools for the Deaf I am sure that all of the students there will say that they all wish to go to college. However, very few schools offer quality education and those that do, are expensive schools, and most of the Deaf cannot afford to pay the high cost of tuition and fees. And aside from that most people, sad to say even some parents of Deaf students, assume that because we are Deaf we cannot succeed in college so better not send us to school. For students like us, going to school is no walk in the park. We often need to rely on kind-hearted teachers and interpreters to understand the lessons. Getting an education is a big challenge for us.

And so I am thankful to DLS-CSB for opening its doors and welcoming the Deaf regardless of our disability. We have learned so much from this school and we can now proudly say that we are complete Deaf persons and we now embody the teachings of Saint Benilde Romançon.
I especially wish to thank Br. Vic for his utmost concern for the Deaf and his big heart by increasing the number of slots for Deaf scholars from 30 to 60 students starting the school year of 2008-2009. My sincere thanks and appreciation to all of you hearing students for your willingness to interact with us and for making us feel that we are not an isolated group and that we can also be active participants in school activities and be a useful bunch of interesting students. That we, the Deaf students, are your peers…your equals.

At this point, allow me to make an appeal to all the hearing students and guests of this occasion. We may be Deaf persons but we can also do anything you can do, except hear. Communicating with our hands should not make a difference. We live in one country, one world. That means we also long for respect, inclusion in accessibility, and acceptance with dignity. We are not a different breed because of our disability. We also want to live in a society where people will not stare or frown at us or treat us differently. We are also human beings and we are similar regardless of our disability. Please allow us to show you what we can do; please, believe in us too. Let us prove to you that yes, the DEAF CAN. Dear fellow graduates, I hope that when you have established yourselves in the companies you are working for, or if you have successfully put up your own business, please remember the Deaf Benildeans who may need your help in advocating our skills and capabilities, remember us and other Deaf graduates who may have the talents and potentials to be a part of your companies and contribute to its growth.

To all our teachers, you are part of this achievement we are reaping today. You painstakingly taught us all the tools we would need to make us productive individuals and showed us the way towards academic independence. You instilled in us the core values of upright citizens and we will forever treasure our years with you in our hearts. To our parents, thank you for your patience and perseverance, for your selfless understanding of our endless needs, and your unconditional love and care that carried us through our countless years of struggle to get the degree that we received today. My utmost gratitude go to my own parents, Ramon and Vilma Arce, who loved, cared, and gave me all the support that enables me to stand before all of you today. We, the Deaf students, also wish to offer our sincerest thanks to all our interpreters with generous hearts, who are willing to serve the Deaf in assisting us in our communication needs.

I would like to enjoin my fellow graduates, especially my hearing batchmates, to always keep the Benildean Core Values in our hearts. Guided by these values, we can definitely scale to great heights. Let us never forget the people who made our presence here possible. Let us always remember the values of sharing and selflessness so that when we look back, we can proudly say that we lived a meaningful life and we made a difference in the lives of other people.
Graduation is not the end. It’s only the beginning of another journey towards a higher level of learning. Don’t be afraid to dream, for it can be the first step to achieving our goals. Always remember that with patience and hard work, success will be within our reach. The biggest challenge for all of us is to overcome our fears and uncertainty.

For those of you who still have doubts about your potentials, let me and my Deaf batchmates be the living testament of what we can all become despite our limitations. In previous years, only a handful of Deaf students would graduate every year. Today, 25 of my Deaf batchmates received our diploma, the biggest number so far, and this is a testament of our four years of struggle to attain our academic degree. I am probably the first Deaf Filipino Magna Cum Laude graduate, and I am not saying this to brag about my achievement. I am humbly sharing this with you to thank God, my potter, for molding me, His clay, into a wonderful human being. I believe we can reach our maximum potentials no matter what challenges we face in life, because God is our potter and we are his clay.

To all my fellow graduates, Congratulations and Good Luck! Remember to always be Proud To Be Benildeans and to always live Jesus in our hearts.

Thank you and good day.

'Don't shout; I am Deaf'

Since 1992 I have been involved with the Deaf to some extent, especially here in Bacolod City, and often celebrate Mass in Sign Language. I was largely inspired by Fr Joseph Coyle, a Columban priest - not related - who died in December 1991 and who was a pioneer here in the Philippines in working with the Deaf.

I have met a number of Deaf priests but until today was unaware of there being at least one Deafblind priest, Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR (in photo). I came across the story below on the website of the British-based Independent Catholic News. My highlights, some in red.

The story is about Deaf Awareness Week in Britain but it contains many very practical points for hearing people communicating with Deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. It's quite common for hearing people to tend to 'shout' when they're trying to communicate either with a deaf person or a hearing person who doesn't speak English (or whatever our own language happens to be) well. My late father tended to do that whenever he met a foreigner who couldn't speak English well. but his welcome was always absolutely clear.


Don't shout; I am Deaf
By: Shell Roca
Posted: Monday, May 11, 2009 3:34 pm

Catholic Deaf Awareness week happens from 9 - 16 May.

Many events will be taking place around the country to highlight not only the inclusion of people who are Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing but also their skills and energies and what they can bring to Parish and Diocesan life.

In Westminster, Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR, a Deafblind Redemptorist priest, will be celebrating Mass for the Deaf Community and the Catholic Actors Guild taking place at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane on Tuesday 12 May at 6.30pm. Fr Paul Fletcher SJ, a Deaf Jesuit priest, will be leading a group of Deaf adults on retreat in Walsingham during the annual CDA pilgrimage.

So how much do you know about the Deaf, Deafblind and Hard of Hearing people in your communities? Many misconceptions abound linked to communicating with people who have some form of hearing loss. 1 in 7 of the UK population experience some form of hearing loss, that is one in seven of the community in your parish church.

Don't shout; it doesn't help. Many, although not all, Deaf and Hard of Hearing people lip read. Lip reading requires a great deal of skill. Only 30% of English words can be read accurately on the lips. Shouting at a person distorts the lip patterns and means it is much more difficult to lip read.

When talking to a person who lip reads make sure that the light on your face is good. Stand or sit directly facing the person and keep your head still; moving it from side to side makes lip reading very difficult. Speak clearly and naturally. Deaf and Hard of Hearing people are used to lip reading normal speech. Accentuating the lip patterns can be confusing. If the person does not understand you, try rephrasing, using different words to explain what you are talking about. Some words are much easier to lip read than others. Above all persevere, don't give up. We all like people to spend time with us, Deaf and Hard of Hearing people are not different.

Around 75,000 Deaf people in the UK use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language. For these people a parish can be very isolating if there is no one else there that knows any BSL. Why not try to learn BSL? Local authorities are usually the best place to look for BSL courses and this time of year is the ideal time to look for courses starting in September.

If you are aware of a Deaf person in your parish, check with them after the Mass that they have all the notices including those announced at the last minute that didn't make it into the newsletter. Ask the parish priest if they can provide a copy of their homily, or a script of keywords and names, for the Deaf person to read. Above all please make sure that the Deaf person feels included; they are part of your community.

Does your church have an induction hearing loop? When was the last time it was checked? More importantly when did you last check with a person who uses a hearing aid if the loop was working properly? Many times I have heard people say: "I don't need to use a microphone, I have a loud voice". By taking that approach anyone who relies on the hearing loop will not be able to follow what you are saying. Your hard work in preparing your presentation, homily or liturgy will be lost on people that want to be included and want to use their skills and talents to benefit your parish and the Diocese as a whole.

So the next time you meet a Deaf or Hard of hearing person, don't shout, relax, welcome them and ask them how they want to be included, then smile!

If you would like more information, please contact: Shellroca@rcdow.org.uk

WYD videos: Testimony of young Deaf Australian woman

You can find videos of all the WYD events, including those that took place in other parts of Australia before WYD proper, here.

Since I work with Deaf people to some extent here in the Philippines and celebrate Mass in Sign Language from time to time, I found the testimony of a young Deaf Australian woman very encouraging. It's about 8:50 minutes into EVENING VIGIL PART 2.

Profoundly Deaf people often describe themselves as the Deaf, with a capital 'D', to identify themselves as a group. They do not describe themselves as 'hard of hearing'. My understanding of that term is what happens to many of us as we get older - our hearing is not as good as it used to be. If we wear glasses we don't describe ourselves as 'blind'. A person who cannot see is blind, not 'hard of seeing'. A person who cannot hear, or has very little hearing, is deaf.

That's the flag of the Philippines on the right.

Photos are copyright WYD 2008 but are among those that may be used by people like me.