REPOSTING THESE REFLECTIONS AS WE ARE REMINDED OF THE HUMILITY OF THE PUBLICAN IN TODAY'S GOSPEL October 27, 2019, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 9, 2011
Many days there are in our daily life when we witness kindness and humility of those who rank higher than we are and at other times, of ordinary people like us. In today's bustling world, when everyone, it seems, is glued to one's cellphone chatting no end, or eyes focused on iphones--whoever takes notice of the kindness of strangers, the nobility of a humble act? Golden nuggets passed by unnoticed, taken for granted, ignored as though insignificant acts. No big deal, one would say. Yet, they are, at least to me. As a poet once said, how beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it, (and a simple act of humility, I must add, raises it to one of nobility).

Yesterday I witnessed something that touched my heart and later, when I was alone and recalled it, brought a lump in my throat and felt humbled by it. It was our parish' day of receiving the statue of Our Lady of Fatima  for the Living Rosary Crusade that has been going around the world to pray for world peace. After a few days of intermittent downpour, the morning suddenly shone with perfect brightness. How good is the Divine Providence to let the sun shine to welcome Mary's devotees. As  I was busy doing my tasks of greeting the  throng of parents and youngsters and distributing the day's program, I noticed some parishioners staring at some feces down the church steppe, which  I could only guess was left by a child who couldn't hold it anymore. Not wearing a Pamper in this age of throw-aways? Or, could it have been dung left by some pets? Because, earlier there were a lot of animals brought by their owners for the annual Blessing of the Animals Day ceremony out in the church patio. I didn't see the actual act of emission, so I had no way of knowing.

Anyway, two thoughtful persons tried to cover the waste with tissue paper while the rest just stood, staring at it like a sacred piece of clay. Father Preston Passos, our parish administrator, happened to be passing  by perhaps to start greeting the church-goers and seeing about the organizing tasks. Seeing what everyone was staring at, he went back to the rectory and and returned in no time, dustpan and broom in hand. Without much ado, he scooped the unwanted specimen, threw it away in the trash and wiped the remains with paper towel.  Then and only then did a parish personnel standing by came to the rescue and took over. But it took our beloved pastor to initiate it. Here is the perfect picture of a man of God in his black priestly cassock bending to do the task everyone else appeared helpless to accomplish.

I don't know how many other times Father Preston had shown such kindness and humility (perhaps it's second nature to him), but I can mention another occasion.  Parish desk person Patty Yaque and I were struggling to hang up a class banner on one side of the fence facing our parish school street. Classes had not begun and thus, no student was around to help us. The parish maintenance officer was already gone; so was the gardener. Poor Patti Yaque  was the only one left to help me as Father Rodolfo had suggested. Then out of nowhere came the Rev. Preston who would be the last person I would ask for help, knowing how knee-deep he is in dealing  with an avalanche of  paperwork as our church administrator. Patti must have told him we would be out there to hang a banner as a way of explaining her absence at the desk she was supposed to man. Quietly, without a word, Father Preston stretched the banner, tied to the fence one end as Patty, up in a ladder,  held the other end. (No, Father Preston, being tall, didn't need a ladder.) In a jiffy, the job was finished,  and after expressing satisfaction about the banner, he walked back to the Rectory to attend to what I imagined his flood of paperwork.

October 10, 2011

Today is my RCIA class at Our Lady of Peace. At exactly 8:30 A.M., all my students were there at the entrance of the parish convent where we were supposed to hold the class. It was a joy seeing them come en masse like that because it's not every Sunday all are in full attendance. Melissa, Ricardo, Rosie, Guadalupe, Janet, Mario. The Holy Spirit heard my prayer to call them. We strutted to our usual room, feeling buoyed by the enthusiasm of my adult catechumens.  Then we discovered our room locked. I went out to look for the maintenance supervisor . Surely he must have the key. No he didn't. He tried each of his bunch of keys and not a single one would fit. We tried another room. No luck. We went upstairs, and lo, one was luckily opened.  But no chairs, though later, somehow, one chair came into full view from a corner. I went to the other room where another RCIA class (for youngsters) was being conducted. I asked the catechist in charge if we could borrow some six empty chairs we noticed in her room. She might have latecomers, she said, and she needed the chairs.

Ah, never mind, I told my catechumens, we'll survive standing. "We can sit on the floor," they all chimed in. Great. Did you know that students of the ancient philosophers didn't have a classroom and they just sat under the tree, I asked. Well, at least we're inside a home, with a roof over our heads. That brought smiles on their faces. I would have wanted to sit on the floor myself were it not for the fact that being a septuagenarian,  they would have difficulty getting me up. So, to spare them that I accepted the one chair that somehow materialized from a corner. But the image of the group sitting on the floor and listening intently to the Word of God and the story of Jesus that we can meditate on when we pray the Holy Rosary (our topic for the day, October being the month of the Holy Rosary), was so exhilarating and gratifying indeed. How lovely and loving is the Holy Spirit working on us!  We prayed: "Thank you, Lord, for this gathering  and this opportunity to sit on the floor to offer our love in response to Your call. As we go back to our mundane lives, don't let us lose this experience of Your gift that we share with others. Continue to guide us in our faith journey, O  Holy Spirit, that we may respond in the same generous and humble ways that your followers had done before. "  - Blanca Datuin
(Our Pastoral Associate, Rosie Hernandez, apologized later for not having our usual room open for the class and thanked us for keeping our spirits up despite having to sit on the floor. No problem, Ms. Rosie, it gave us opportunity to offer more to the Lord. No use to fritter away our emotions over such small things.)

This is worth sharing with parents who have youngsters (male or female), young adults, those in relationships or anyone else in that vulnerable situation needing to be empowered, which is what my ministry Purisima Fellowship focuses on, with spiritual development and skills training in meeting the challenges of the present culture.

Virginity pledge comes with a ring
by David Bario, Columbia News Service CHICAGO TRIBUNE 

Lots of parents wish they could keep a constant eye on their teenage kids. Jack McLemore, a Mississippi jeweler, came up with an alternative for his daughter Carrie. In the platinum ring he made for Carrie when she was 13, two sapphires represent his watchful eyes, guarding her virginity until the day she marries.Carrie has been wearing the ring every day since. At 17, she is proud to say that she hasn't let her father down."I believe sex is meant for marriage," said Carrie, an actress who lives in Manhattan with her mother. I want to save myself emotionally and physically for whoever I spend the rest of my life with.… 

Often motivated by religious faith and by government-funded abstinence programs, more than one in eight American adolescents has made a virginity pledge, sociologists have found. But experts on teen sexuality say that, ring or no ring, most teens will break their pledge before they tie the knot. A ring at age 12…Paige stood before her congregation at a purity-ring ceremony at their Southern Baptistchurch in Chino, Calif., and read from the book of Timothy: "Flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Resist temptation." 

Other young people decide to wear purity rings in high school or college, when many of their peers are flaunting their sexuality and opting for belly-button rings instead. Sam Chey was a sophomore in college when he participated in a four-week course organized by True Love Waits, a national abstinence organization that distributes purity rings to students. His friends on the wrestling team were having sex. Chey saw abstinence as a way to rebel.Now a 25-year-old English teacher in northwest New Jersey, Chey prefers the name "chastity ring"; for the silver band he wears on his left hand. Because it looks like a wedding ring, it's almost like a safeguard"; said Chey, a devout Catholic. "If a woman comes up to me, her first thought isn't that I might be available for sex."

Purity rings also are popular among secondary virgins;" the abstinence movement namefor people who already have had sex but have made a pledge to give it up until marriage.When he got his purity ring through his Baptist church at 17, Robert Stewart was no virgin.Seven years later, Stewart has a girlfriend who shares his commitment to wait and is working to promote abstinence in Philadelphia, though he says it hasn't been easy. I'm a regular, healthy young guy," Stewart said. But my ring is like a promise I made to myself.

Good read in fighting the sex culture among unmarried that's fast spreading like fire. With it is also the spread of sex-related diseases.

Friar Alessandro - Panis Angelicus