St. John Bosco's Relic

One of the priceless gifts I received is a painter’s palette. It was given by Joey Velasco sometime last year before he died. It’s a valuable souvenir from a great artist! I also have his signature and a short, handwritten dedication on his book I bought when he came to Cebu. We are fond of souvenirs and mementos. They come in different forms and are valued with sentimentalism depending on whom we have received them. A wristwatch  from one’s great-grand father would really be a treasure. No wonder people pay so much for a painting by Van Gogh,  shoes worn by Manilyn Monroe or a faint original music piece from the Beatles.  These things remind us of people we admire or even love.

The Catholic Church calls as relics the remains of the saints after their death. Relics can either be the entire body or just a part of it. They are considered first class relics; something they own are considered second class. Christians, since the beginning, venerated the relics of the saints by giving them honor and reverence. Such veneration has basis from scriptures. In Exodus 13:19 we read “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” In the New Testament we read this account from Acts 19:11-12 “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.”

The Fathers of the Church continued this tradition of holding relics in veneration. St. Augustine (354-430 AD) wrote in City of God, “If a father’s coat or ring, or anything else of that kind, is so much more cherished by his children, as love for one’s parents is greater, in no way are the bodies themselves to be despised, which are much more intimately and closely united to us than any garment; for they belong to man’s very nature.” St. Jerome (340-420 AD) clarified this Catholic belief in his Ad Riparium when he wrote: “We do not adore, I will not say the relics of the martyrs, but either the sun or the moon or even the angels – that is to say, with the worship of  ‘latria’ … But we honor the martyrs’ relics, so that thereby we give honor to Him Whose witness they are: we honor the servants, that the honor shown them may reflect on their Master… Consequently, by honoring the martyrs’ relics we do not fall into  the error of the Gentiles, who gave the worship of ‘latria’ to dead men.”

One of the great saints of modern times is St. John Bosco. In preparation for the August 16, 2015 celebration of the 200^th anniversary of his birth, his relic will go on a World Tour in 130 countries. In the Philippines, the pilgrimage will start in Bacolod on December 5; then it will head to Mambucal, Victorias, Kabankalan and Dumaguete. And from December 12-23, the relic and the pilgrimage will stay in Cebu. By December 23, it will head up north to Metro Manila. The arrival of the relic is part of its word tour that kicked off from Valdocco, Italy on April 25, 2009.

The relic consists of St. John Bosco’s right hand carefully preserved inside a sealed case and inserted at the chest of lifelike wax replica of the saint. This is transported in a light truck specifically made for the occasion driven by Italian chauffeurs for the duration of its worldwide journey. Fr. Pascual Chavez, the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco had directed the worldwide pilgrimage “to renew the desire to know and love the Father and Teacher of Youth and reignite the passion and mission for the young.”

Don Bosco, as he was fondly called, was an Italian Catholic priest, educator and writer of the 19^th century who dedicated his life to the betterment and education of poor youngsters and employing teaching methods based on love rather than punishment. Following the spirituality and philosophy of St. Francis of Sales, he founded the Salesian Congregation to help the young become upright citizens and good Christians. When he was younger, he would put on shows of his skills as a juggler, magician and acrobat. He gained a reputation early on of being a saint and miracle worker. When he died on January 31, 1888 his funeral was attended by thousands. He was canonized on Easter Sunday of 1934 and was given the title “Father and Teacher of Youth.” He is also the patron saint of editors, youths, school children, students, magicians, apprentices and young workers.

It was St. John Bosco’s desire to reach out to as many young people in his lifetime. Such was his unique mission that God had inspired him. Today, his mission continues. He prays for young people;  he wants to bless them and encourage them to follow the Perfect Man, Jesus Christ.

Human Rights

When the Maguindanao massacre happened November last year, I was then in General Santos City giving a retreat to the students of Notre Dame, Tulunan. The brutal news brought unspeakable sorrow to them. Genalyn Mangudadatu was their neighbor. Sr. Evelyn, the Dominican Sister who accompanied them, was shocked because she personally knew some of those victims. The students themselves were afraid of their safety on their return home. A greater grief was felt by the members of the families of the victims who lost their loved ones senselessly.

Obviously it was human rights violation in great proportions. It was sensational because it had a political color. Moreover the atrocities were committed against lawyers and journalists. Other human rights violations often noticed by media are enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests or extra-judicial killings. When these abuses are committed by police or the military, leftist groups denounce them and even stage rallies. I thought that questions about human rights is an exclusive language of left-leaning groups. But I was wrong.

The eye-opener came from the International Human Rights Education Conference: Promoting Human Rights Consciousness in Youth Development which I attended on 12-15, November 2010 at the Diamond Hotel along Apitong and Escario Streets, Cebu City. It was a joint undertaking sponsored by the Don Bosco Jugend Dritte Welt, the Salesian Philippine South Province and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. The participants came from Europe and Asian countries including government agencies that promote youth development, non-government organizations and religious groups.

The Conference gave me a much wider understanding on what human rights is all about. Its basic principle is respect for each individual as a person. Beyond the sensational violations shamelessly perpetrated, human rights has a wider concern that extends to many forms of marginalization and exploitations committed against children, young people, women, refugees, the sick, the uneducated, orphans or the migrants. In truth, there are many human rights abuses committed in silence by voiceless members of society. To this effect, the greatest historical milestone with respect to Human Rights was on December 10, 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” in Paris as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. It set out, for the first time, the fundamental human rights to be universally protected. It listed 30 rights to which everyone, irrespective of language, race or color, is entitled. Here is an abridged version of the Declaration:

1. All human beings are born free and equal.

2. Everyone is entitled to the same rights without discrimination of any kind.

3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.

4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.

5. No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

7. Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection of the law.

8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy for acts of violating his fundamental rights.

9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exiled.

10. Everyone has the right to a fair trial and public hearing.

11. Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

12. Everyone has the right to privacy, family or home.

13. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and to leave and return to one's country.

14. Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution.

15. Everyone has the right to a nationality.

16. Men and women of full age have the right to marry and to found a family.

17. Everyone has the right to own property.

18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

20. Everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and association.

21. Everyone has the right to take part in government of one's country.

22. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security.

23. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.

25. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services.

26. Everyone has the right to education.

27. Everyone has the right to protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

28. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which these rights can be realized fully.

29. Each one’s rights and freedoms is subject to limitations of the rights and freedoms of others and of the general welfare in a democratic society.

30. No one shall destroy the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration.

These Human Rights are necessary for creating a more just and humane world. Educating ourselves on them make us more responsible as persons having duties towards others. In the end, rights stem from the biblical principle that “each one is created in the image and likeness of God” (Gen 1: 26). Hence it challenges us not to be self-centered, aggressive individuals but as a contributing member of the society willing to give and take from the community. Human Rights, seen from this perspective, should be everybody’s concern.

Viva Christo Rey

In the 1920’s, Mexico was under the rule of an anti-clerical and anti-catholic President Plutarco Calles. He began to fiercely persecute the Church of Mexico enforcing particularly the 1917 Constitution implementing the so-called “Calles Law.” This law imposes specific penalties for priests. For example, priests who criticize the government are given 5 years imprisonment; or wearing the soutana or clerical habit outside the churches will have P500 penalty. He closed down many churches and persecuted or threatened priests even killing many of them such that many were forced to go “underground.”

Fr. Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest, lived in such circumstances.

He celebrated mass clandestinely and ministered the sacraments “underground” because Catholicism has been outlawed. It was a crime to be a Christian and to practice the faith. He even had many disguises and had to invent a nickname to avoid the authorities. Because of such “secret activities” he was under surveillance. He was finally given a false charge of assassination attempt of Ex-president Alvaro Obregon so that he could be arrested. On November 13, 1927 President Calles gave orders to have Fr. Miguel executed. His death sentence was made public. He was photographed and newspapers throughout the country carried them on front pages. He was to die on firing squad in the morning of November 23, 1927.

            Before the firing squad, Fr. Miguel blessed the soldiers, knelt and prayed silently. Refusing to be blindfolded, he faced his executioners with a crucifix on one hand and a rosary on the other with arms outstretched. When the shots were fired, he shouted at the top of his voice: Viva Christo Rey! (Long live Christ the King!)

            More than 60 years later, in 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Mexico and was welcomed by its President. On that occasion, he beatified this priest who died a martyr of his faith. He was not wrong in believing that Christ is the King of history.

            On this solemnity of Christ the King, the Gospel (Luke 23:35-43) presents to us Jesus as a different kind of king. He reigns not from a golden throne but from the cross. Like the “suffering servant” of Isaiah, he is despised, rejected and ridiculed. He is a crucified king. Jesus is a unique king with a unique kingdom: he wants to reign and rule in the hearts of all men and women of the world.

           

            As King, Jesus had 3 challenges for us:

1.      We surrender to His Rule – we allow Him to take control of our lives. He wants to be king and center of our hearts. A story is told about a mother who has a very naughty 7 year old boy. Exasperated by his mischievousness, she tells him to sit to scold him. She looks into his eyes as she tells him: “Carlo, do you know who is in-charge of this house?” And her son, without blinking an eye replies: “Yes mom, it’s Jesus. Not you!”

Yes, we know this fact. But because of our naughtiness as children of God, the fact of Jesus being “in-charge of our life” is still far from reality.

2.      We support Christ’s Message: we mirror Christ’s values. We replicate his examples. We serve and work to build a better world, a more compassionate and caring society.

3.      We stay connected with Him: as his loyal followers, we strive to imitate Christ especially His nobility of heart. A story is told about a farmer’s son who was often teased by his classmates because he was poor. To console him, his father told him the truth – that he was actually his adopted son. His real father was the king and when he is of age, he will bring him back to the palace and return him to the king. This filled the boy with amazement. He came out from that conversation changed! He still continued to do his ordinary chores but now with dignity and nobility as the son of a king. Even those who teased him noticed the difference. And when asked why, he said: “I may be poor, but there is royalty in my blood.”

            As we go home, we may continue doing our ordinary routine – at home, in school or at work. But as we live our ordinary lives, let us not forget that there is royalty in our blood. We are sons and daughters of God. We are heirs of the kingdom. We shall inherit the earth.

A Matter of the Heart

I facilitated a 3-day workshop-seminar to educators and youth ministers this week on “Making God’s Word alive in the life of digital youth.” It was part of the 2^nd John Paul II On-going Formation on Communication for Youth Animators and Catechists with the theme: Doing Ministry in a Digital World organized by the DB-CLAY Office.

All of us were made aware that Scriptures remain important in the life of faith in each Christian. But a great task await everyone who deals with young people today. The digital technology has created a new landscape and with it a new language. If we are to be effective ministers and communicators of the faith, we need to understand these digital kids whom we are dealing with and step into their world to take part in nurturing them.

Ian Jukes, an educator and president of InfoSavvy Group published a book last January, in collaboration with some others:  “Understanding the Digital Generation.” It explores the characteristics of the new digital generation and how education can affect their learning experiences. He explains the digital divide  that the world is now made up of the digital native and digital immigrants. The digital natives are described as “screenagers” because they grew up with the screen in front of them or with the mouse in their hands. Digital is their first language. Modern technologies have become part of their identity shaping who they are and what they will become.

The other group are the digital immigrants –  those of us who come from a non-digital world. Because digital is just our second language, we have a language problem. Thus all the more do we need to make an effort to catch up with them. According to Jukes, new studies have shown that the brains of the new generation have been physically and chemically altered to adapt to the new landscape creating and re-creating new circuitry and new connections.

This means we also need to adapt, create and re-create new modes and models to present the Word of God to be understandable to the digital generation. We need to learn and speak their language in order to connect with them and continue to educate them in the faith. We have to evangelize these digital natives from where they are. In the past, when missionaries came to evangelize, the first thing they did was to learn the local language.

If we are to reflect on how Jesus communicated his message, surprisingly he used creative adaptation. We believe that Jesus is the Word of God incarnate. St. John tells us that the “word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). He is also “the image of the invisible God” says St. Paul in writing to the Christians of Colosae (Col 1:15). Moreover he is the missionary of God and apostle of the Father.

In his years of public ministry, Jesus showed himself as a master communicator. He showed God’s love to humanity. He was so effective because he was both the messenger and the message. There was no dichotomy between his words and his life. In imparting his message he used stories. His stories teach, inspire, correct, change people by touching their mind and their heart. He crafted simple word pictures called parables. He told the stories of the “Good Samaritan,” “The Prodigal Son,” or the “Parable of the Sower.” He used analogies and visual images like sheep, lilies in the field or birds in the air.  They seemed childish to critics but they had depth and spirit that made them timeless, powerful and unforgettable. He adapted his language to his audience by using common images.

The same challenge is presented to every communicator of the Gospel of Jesus today. Yet to be a good communicator of the faith, it is basically not a matter of mastering certain techniques or strategies. It is above all, a matter of being mastered by the Master and His conviction. In the end, education is a matter of the heart.