Today, I share an excerpt from David Leininger in his “Collected Sermons”:

“An anonymous author made this striking comparison: Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet, the influence of Christ’s 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men, who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity.

Jesus painted no pictures, yet some of the finest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Jesus. Jesus wrote no poetry, but Dante, Milton, and scores of the world’s greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music, still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratories they composed in His praise.

Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble carpenter of Nazareth. Mozart, in 1789, and Beethoven, in 1823, paid George Handel the supreme compliment by proclaiming him to be the greatest composer that ever lived because of Messiah, inspired by the life of this simple carpenter of Nazareth. Jesus’ unique contribution to humanity is the salvation of the soul! Philosophy could not establish that, nor art, nor music, nor literature. Only Jesus Christ can break the enslaving chains of sins. He alone can speak peace to the human heart, strengthen the weak, and give life to those who are spiritually dead.”

And so, AWAKE! ARISE! Rejoice! Gaudete! The third Sunday of Advent is a joyful celebration. Although we are in the midst of this penitential period, Gaudete Sunday serves as the mid-point break from our austere practices to the rejoicing mood in the very imminent and nearness of God’s coming.

The fame of superstars in the history of arts, literature, and music came from their identification of Jesus as the Savior of humankind; now, Jesus asks us, “Do you know who I am?” More and more people do not know that Jesus Christ is the only reason for Christmas. There is no Christmas without Christ. The best way to celebrate this season is by having Jesus in our hearts.

At this point, we are already thinking about gifts to give our friends and loved ones. With a very tight budget, this might not be easy. How about giving them the gifts of peace and joy? These are infinitely more meaningful and lasting, but we can only avail this peace and joy in our hearts through reconciliation with God. Join us on December 20, Reconciliation Monday. Bring a loved one or a friend to confession so we can all celebrate the joy of Christmas with peace and joy in the Lord.

Nowadays, the news is filled with numbers: the budget debate in the congress; the number of immigrants flooding the southern border; the number of calories we eat; and the number of sodas put into our bodies. Maybe it's time to review our numbers in the Holy Catholic Church. The National Catholic Register published this report from the Vatican.

The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world has shown steady growth, while the number of religious men and women continued to decrease, according to Vatican statistics.

At the end of 2019, the worldwide Catholic population exceeded 1.34 billion, which continued to be about 17.7% of the world's population, said an article published March 26 in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. It marked an increase of 16 million Catholics — a 1.12% increase compared to 2018, while the world's population grew by 1.08%.

The article contained a handful of the statistics from the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, which reported worldwide church figures as of Dec. 31, 2019. It also announced the publication of the 2021 "Annuario Pontificio," a volume containing information about every Vatican office as well as every diocese and religious order in the world.

According to the statistical yearbook, the number of Catholics increased in every continent except Europe. At the end of 2019, 48.1% of the world's Catholics were living in the Americas, followed by Europe with 21.2%, Africa with 18.7%, about 11% in Asia (all figures for Asia exclude China) and 0.8% in Oceania.

The yearbook showed the number of bishops in the world — 5,364 — dipped slightly with 13 fewer than in 2018. The total number of priests — diocesan and religious order — around the world slightly increased from 414,065 in 2018 to 414,336 in 2019. The largest increases were seen in Africa and Asia with a growth of 3.45% and 2.91%, respectively, followed by Europe with a 1.5% increase and the Americas with about 0.5% more. At the end of 2019, 40.6% of the world's priests were serving in Europe while 28% of priests were in Africa and Asia.

The number of candidates for the priesthood — both diocesan seminarians and members of religious orders — showed a continued slight decline worldwide, decreasing from 115,880 at the end of 2018 to 114,058 in 2019, a change of -1.6%.

The number of permanent deacons reported — 48,238 — was up 1.5% over the previous year. The vast majority — 97% — of the world's permanent deacons live in the Americas and in Europe.

The number of brothers in religious orders continued its small yet steady decline worldwide from 50,941 in 2018 to 50,295 in 2019.

The number of women in religious orders showed an ongoing downward trend with a 1.8% decrease, going from 641,661 women in 2018 to 630,099 in 2019.

This Sunday, Pope Francis will celebrate the closing Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary. Let us recall the remarkable Eucharistic miracle from the Middle Ages.

In 750 A.D., in Lanciano, Italy, a priest experienced a terrible temptation to doubt the True Presence while he was saying Mass. As he pronounced the words of consecration, the bread and the wine transformed into what appeared to be flesh and blood. In 1970, more than 1,200 years later, scientists began a thorough examination of the miraculous substances, and in 1973, the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations began their own barrage of 500 tests, which took 15 months. The scientific tests revealed:

• The coagulated substance is human blood, AB blood type, with the same protein distribution as found in normal, fresh blood.

• The Host is human muscular striated tissue of the myocardium, left ventricle (heart); arteries, veins, the branch of the vagus nerve and adipose tissue all can be identified.

• Most remarkably, the blood is divided into five unequal-sized parts, and yet each part weighs exactly 15.85g, and all parts together also weigh the same 15.85g.

After their tests, the Medical Commission of WHO and the UN reportedly published results in 1976, stating: “Science, aware of its limits, has come to a halt, face to face with the impossibility of giving an explanation.” Until the 1990s, Lanciano was the only proven case of the Eucharist turning into human flesh; other cases had not been tested with modern scientific equipment. But in 1992, the miracles started happening again.

1992 and 1996, Buenos Aires, Argentina: In 1992, consecrated particles left on the corporal were put into water to dissolve and locked in the tabernacle, as the Church prescribes for disposing of consecrated hosts. One week later, they had changed into a red substance. Then again in 1996 after a consecrated host fell to the ground and was also put in water to dissolve, it was found a few days later to have turned into a bloody substance. Both cases were sent to be tested by the archbishop of Buenos Aires, who was none other than our future Pope Francis. In addition, several other examples were also investigated.

Each of these occurrences received intensive study with highly advanced technology. In several cases, doctors did not know the source of the material. And yet, in all the cases, the same results were found and are consistent with the results of Lanciano, providing even more details due to more advanced science. Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a forensic doctor at Columbia University who examined the Argentinian miracle, did not know the source of the sample and told the doctor who brought it to him: “If white blood cells were present (in the heart tissue), it is because at the moment you brought me the sample, it was pulsating.”

When he learned the source of the sample, he was shocked and deeply moved.

(Source: Ascension Press)

One of the national coordinators of Sun Day, held in early May every year, is Denis Hayes. He worked as a researcher at a Washington, D.C., “think-tank” and has written a book on solar energy entitled Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post-Petroleum World. Hayes claims that we are at the crossroads of making a critical choice for humankind: the choice between going solar or going nuclear for a power source.

Hayes opts for the sun because it is “the world’s only inexhaustible, predictable, egalitarian, nonpolluting, safe, terrorist-resistant and free energy source.” We’ve already learned to use the power of the sun to grow food, make wine, and operate greenhouses. All we need to do is develop better technology to harness solar energy to heat homes, drive our cars, and run our industry. People like Hayes are looking at the sky with its sun as the main source of our future energy supply.

Last month, the world looked up at the sky again; this time, humanity looked up in awe and wonder at how we are reaching its potential with the launch of “space tourism.” Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, along with selected employees, boarded the SpaceShipTwo (a winged plane with a single rocket motor) and flew to the edge of space. Following Branson, another billionaire, the founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos, launched his own Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship that took him and the crew to beyond the Kármán line, an internationally recognized boundary of space roughly 62 miles above the Earth. For a person to enjoy space tourism, one should save at least $28 million for a few minutes’ ride to the edge of the space.

This weekend, we turn our attention to the sky for another reason: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary is based, according to the Fathers of the Church, on four arguments. First, Mary is the Immaculate Conception – she did not incur the general curse of sin and so her body was “exempted from the general law of dissolution and immediately assumed into the glory of Heaven, in accordance with God’s original plan for mankind.” Second, she is the Mother of God – there is likeness to her Son, in body and soul. Third, her perpetual virginity – her body was preserved in unimpaired virginal integrity. And fourth, she participated in the work of Christ – she enjoys the full fruit of the Redemption, which consists in the glorification of soul and body.

Bishop Fulton Sheen expressed it beautifully: “If the distant moon moves all the surging tides of earth, then the love of Mary for Jesus and the love of Jesus for Mary should result in such an ecstasy as to ‘lift her out of this world’.” (The World’s First Love, p. 134). He mentioned the example of the saints who, overfilled with love and deeply immersed in prayer, experienced the spiritual phenomenon of levitation, that is, they “are literally lifted off the earth.”

This levitation would be natural for Mary, for her whole being, body and soul, free from all sins and thereby free from all inner tensions and divisions caused by sin, has no opposing force that would pull her down. Everything in her is perfectly united and integrated, moving only in one upward direction towards complete union with God.

On this 4th of July weekend, as we celebrate freedom and independence, may I share with you an open letter penned by Archbishop Socrates Villegas to His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, an icon of democracy and freedom in the Philippines. Cardinal Sin fought for freedom, truth and justice that led to the bloodless EDSA* Revolution in 1986.

"Dear Cardinal Sin,

It is you I miss most these days. I do not mean to disturb your peace. You already have passed from this valley of tears to the House of the Father, but please Cardinal Sin, do not forget us in our present travails as a nation. I know you can receive this message. I believe. Nothing can separate you from us in the Lord.

You love this country so much. You will not let us lose our hope. I know you can hear me, and I know you are here. ... Cardinal Sin, embrace us and ask God to embrace your God-loving people. Do not look at the blessings we have squandered and the heroism we have ridiculed. Do not look at the news we have faked and the people we have cheated. Do not look at our uncaring attitude about the victims of extrajudicial killings now exceeding the number of victims during martial law.

Look at us in our fears and pray for us to God to heal our land. Give us courage. Give us hope. Shake us up from our timidity. Thirty-one years after EDSA 1986, I hear our people ask: What shall we celebrate? … By the corner of EDSA and Ortigas, I want to sit and weep as I remember the four glorious days of February 1986, now dimmed. The glory now flickers in the darkness of fear and terror again. The songs of peace now drowned by the cuss words of hate that invite murder. The bloodless revolt now stained by the blood in our streets and street gutters. The statistics of unresolved murder continues to rise, and not a single one has been investigated and brought to justice.

Four days of bloodless revolution! Wow! Now eight months of relentless killings of the poor in the name of "change"! It is a nightmare, Your Eminence! It is a shame.

The dictator, ousted by People Power, is now buried among heroes. The Lady of 1,200 pairs of shoes is now a Representative in Congress. History books are rewritten. Historical memory is revised. The hero is a villain. The plunderers are now heroes. Thank God, Eminence, you did not see these days we are going through.

Tears flow. Uncertainties choke us. It is hard to choose silence and take the blows. ...

Did you also cry quietly in the dark years of the dictatorship? Were you ever discouraged and did you also question yourself if what you were doing was right? Were you ever afraid or did you ever feel the urge to stay in your zone of comfort instead of fighting the unbeatable foe?

Cardinal Sin, I feel the same and you know that. I know many feel this way. Teach us how to cope. Teach us your courage. Teach us your humor. Teach us your faith. Teach us righteous indignation. Wake us up from our pacifism and pull us into the fire of passion and courage again….

Against all odds, Cardinal Sin, we will remember. We will give thanks. We will challenge ourselves to live for God and to live for country as you did….
 

Lovingly, Soc"

*Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA, is a limited-access circumferential highway around Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.

Jerusalem has been captured and recaptured at least 20 times. It's been claimed by many countries and empires and by three of the world's major religions. Here’s a brief history of how a humble village on a scrubby hilltop became the Holy City that provoked centuries of dispute:

3,000 to 2,500 B.C. — The city on the hills separating the fertile Mediterranean coastline of present -day Israel from the arid deserts of Arabia was first settled by pagan tribes in what was later known as the land of Canaan. The Bible says the last Canaanites to rule the city were the Jebusites.

1,000 B.C. — According to archaeological evidence, King David conquered the city. In Scripture, he was warned that "even the blind and the lame can ward you off." He named his conquest "The City of David” and made it the capital of his new realm.

960 B.C. — David's son Solomon built the first Jewish temple. The Bible says the Israelites also fought many wars against another Canaanite tribe called the Philistines who lived along the southern coast.

721 B.C. — Assyrians conquered part of the land of Israel called Samaria, and Jewish refugees fled to Jerusalem, causing the city to expand.

586 B.C. — Babylonian troops occupied the city, destroying the temple and exiling many Jews.

539 B.C. — Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian empire, including Jerusalem.

516 B.C. — King Cyrus allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem. The Jews built the Second Temple.

445-425 B.C. — Nehemiah the Prophet rebuilt the walls of the city.

332 B.C. — Alexander the Great of Macedonia took control. After his death, his empire was divided into four, including the Seleucid Empire that contained the land of Israel and their ancient enemies the Philistines (Palestine).

167-160 B.C. — The Jews' Maccabean revolt, launched against the Seleucid Empire and Greek influence, eventually returned the city to Jewish control. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah celebrates the purification of the Second Temple after the Maccabees reconquered the city.

141 B.C. — The Hasmonean dynasty of Jewish rulers began and the city grew.

63 B.C. — Roman Gen. Pompey captured Jerusalem.

37 B.C. — Roman client King Herod renovated the Second Temple and added retaining walls, one of which remains today and is called the Western Wall, or the Wailing Wall by Jews.

30 A.D. — Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers.

70 — During another Jewish revolt, the Romans destroy their Temple and exile many Jews.

135 — The Romans rebuild Jerusalem as a city of their own.

335 — Roman Emperor Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was said to have been buried and to have risen from the dead.

614 — The Persians capture Jerusalem.

629 — Byzantine Christians recapture Jerusalem.

632 — Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, died and was said to ascend to heaven from a rock in the center of where the Jewish Temple used to be.

637 — Caliph Omar entered the city to accept the surrender of its Byzantine ruler, Sophronius.

691 — The Muslim shrine known as Haram al Sharif, or the Dome of the Rock, was built around that spot where Mohamad was said to have risen to heaven, and the shrine remains there today.

1099-1187 — Christian Crusaders occupied Jerusalem, claiming it as a major religious site.

1187 — Saladin captures Jerusalem from Crusaders.

1229-1244 — Crusaders recapture Jerusalem twice.

1250 — Muslim rulers dismantle the city walls.

1517 — The Ottoman Empire captures Jerusalem and Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds the walls from 1538 to 1541.

1917 — The British capture Jerusalem in WW I.

1948 — The state of Israel is established, dividing the city between Israel and Jordan.

1967 — Israel captures East Jerusalem and immediately annexes it, granting Arabs (Palestinians) permanent resident status but not citizenship.

When the churches reopened for Liturgical celebrations, we, the clergy, often got the question, “When are we going to give the sign of peace?” Maybe to some of us, we felt the Mass was incomplete without sharing the "sign" of peace before receiving Holy Communion. We have observed in the past months that, even without the priest saying, “let us offer each other the sign of peace,” the congregation still offered peace to everyone while the priest was doing the fraction of the Most Precious Body of Christ. Let’s explore the roots and meaning of this gesture:
​​​​​​​
“The spiritual symbolism of the act is found in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus said, ‘If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.’ (Matthew 5:23-24)"

“The early Christian community took to heart the instructions of Jesus and incorporated the action into their celebrations of the Eucharist. In fact, the Apostolic Constitutions, a 4th century document, instructs that after the Prayer of the Faithful, “let the bishop salute the church, and say, ‘the peace of God be with you all.’ And let the people answer, ‘and with your spirit’; and let the deacon say to all, ‘salute one another with the holy kiss.’"

“The kiss of peace was typically given only to those standing next to each other, and it was later developed that the kiss of peace descended from the sanctuary and was passed on to the people, symbolizing that peace comes from Christ. This was even further cemented when the priest would first kiss the Altar and then pass on that kiss to his attendants.” (refer to Aleteia)

However, in the 2005 Synod of Bishops, there was a discussion about the appropriateness of greater restraint in this gesture. The Synod expressed concerns about the abuses of the sign of peace. The list includes singing a song of peace, people moving around the church to exchange peace, priests leaving the altar to give peace to the people in the pews or replacing the word ‘peace” with condolences at funerals or congratulations on other occasions. These become a moment of distraction and a disruption of the solemnity and sanctity of the Mass, especially when we are in the Real Presence of Christ at the Altar.

One should know that the exchange of peace comes after the consecration because it refers to “the Paschal kiss of the risen Christ present on the altar.” It is not a personal greeting to each other. (From the circular letter of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments on the ritual expression of the gift of peace at Mass)

The guidelines from the Holy See also states that, “If it is foreseen that it will not take place properly due to specific circumstances or if it is not considered pedagogically wise to carry it out on certain occasions, it can be omitted, and sometimes ought to be omitted. It is worth recalling that the rubric from the Missal states: ‘Then, if appropriate, the Deacon or the Priest, adds: Let us offer each other the sign of peace.’”

Jack Miller from the Center of Global Education tells us, “The Philippines proudly boasts to be the only Christian nation in Asia. More than 86 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 6 percent belong to various nationalized Christian cults, and another 2 percent belong to well over 100 Protestant denominations. In addition to the Christian majority, there is a vigorous 4 percent Muslim minority, concentrated on the southern islands of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan. Scattered in isolated mountainous regions, the remaining 2 percent follow non-Western, indigenous beliefs and practices. The Chinese minority, although statistically insignificant, has been culturally influential in coloring Filipino Catholicism with many of the beliefs and practices of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.”

On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan landed in Mactan, a part of Cebu Island, southeast of the Philippines. Magellan is known to be the first person who circumnavigated the globe and was a Portuguese explorer who organized the Spanish expedition to Southeast Asia. After Magellan’s meeting with the ruler of Cebu, Rajah Humabon, his subjects embraced Christianity, hence the beginning of Catholicism on the islands. Local resistance towards Christianity was headed by Lapu-Lapu on a nearby island that led to the death of Magellan during their duel at the beach on Mactan Island. In 1543, the archipelago was named Las Islas Filipinas, in honor of King Philip II of Spain.

As historian Samuel Tan notes, the goals of the Spanish regime could be summarized as God, glory, and gold. Apart from expanding its Mexico-Philippines Pacific trade, the evangelization of indios was a clear mission of the empire. Led by Father Urdaneta, Spanish Augustinian friars moved from Mexico to the Philippines upon the request of Philip II and became the first missionaries in the country. The Dominicans, Recollects, Franciscans, and Jesuits followed suit over the centuries.

This year, the Catholic Church in the Philippines celebrates its 500th anniversary and the fruits of evangelization which include 86 million Catholics, 16 Archdioceses, 72 Dioceses, 7 Apostolic Vicariates, 1 Military Ordinariate, 1,118 Catholic Prep-Elementary Schools, 1,070 Catholic High Schools, 341 Universities and Seminaries, 126 Catholic Hospitals, 37 Orphanages, 15 Basilicas, 40 Cathedrals, 2,127 Parishes, 147 Archbishops and Bishops and 4 Cardinals.

A bit of trivia: the Pope’s current representative and Ambassador to the Philippines is a New Yorker, His Excellency Charles John Brown — a student of our pastor, Fr. Sorgie!

There is an interesting story in our tradition about the three Kings after they visited the Child Jesus. I would like to share it here.

Melchior, the King of Nubia and Persia, offered gold to the Baby Jesus because He was a King. Balthazar, the King of Arabia, offered frankincense to the Baby Jesus because He was God. Caspar, the King of India, offered the Baby Jesus myrrh because He became man and would die in order to save people from their sins.

When the three Kings left the Holy Family, they stayed that day in Bethlehem and told the people there and in the surrounding country about the Child Jesus and how the star had guided them from the East to Bethlehem. At night, when the three Kings were sleeping, an Angel came and warned them that they should not return to Herod because Herod wanted to kill the Baby Jesus, so they went home by another way. As the three Kings travelled through different towns and cities on their way home, they preached to the people about the Baby Jesus, the star, and all they had seen, heard, and done. The three Kings also built a beautiful chapel on the Hill of Vaus, in India, and promised each other that they would meet there every year.

After the Ascension of Our Lord, St. Thomas had preached and converted the people of India to the Christian faith. He then ordained the three Kings as priests and consecrated them as Bishops. They, in turn, ordained other priests and consecrated more Bishops to serve God. St. Thomas went on to preach in other cities and towns of India and, in time, he was martyred.

The three Kings lived together like monks in Suwella for the next two years. Then, before the end of the second year, a little while before Christmas, a wonderful star appeared above the city. By this star, they knew that they would die soon. So, they built a large tomb in the church where they could be buried. They all celebrated Mass on Christmas day. Eight days after Christmas, Melchior, who was 116 years old, said Mass and died. Three days later, Balthazar, who was 112 years old, said Mass and then died. And six days later, Caspar, who was 109 years old, said Mass and also died.

The Kings’ bodies remained incorrupt for many years, and the star appeared over Suwella until the bodies of the Kings were moved away. For a long time after their deaths, the Catholic faith was practiced in the city of Suwella and in all the kingdoms of the East. As the years passed, the people of India fell again into their pagan religion. As God's punishment, the bodies of the three Kings turned to dust.

St. Helena (the mother of Constantine) took the bodies of the three Kings to Constantinople where her son was the Emperor. After the death of St. Helen, the bodies of the three Kings were taken to Milan, Italy. Sometime later, Archbishop Rainald took the bodies of the three Kings to a church in Cologne, Germany, where they still lie today!

(Source: The Society of St. Pius, Canada)