Jan 03., 2023 / General
New Year’s Eve Mass | Homily
image from Canva
“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” Luke 2: 19
“Ang lahat ng bagay na ito ay tinandaan ni Maria at pinagdili-dili sa kanyang puso.” Lucas 2:19
Let us take our cue from Mary as we keep all these things of 2022 and reflect on them in our hearts. I ask you to consider three points: to remember the past, to hope for the future, and to commit to the present.
TO REMEMBER THE PAST. First, let us ask ourselves: What have been our high and low moments for the past year? Perhaps, I can select one or two high and low moments? Are there things that I am grateful for? Can I be grateful for both high and low moments in my life? Personally, I’m very grateful that I am still alive having survived a bout with covid19. I am very grateful for having privileged access to vaccines, proper health care, and nutrition. We know that many of our people do not have the same privileged access. I look back and see how we struggled as a nation to cope with the pandemic given the inadequate government health and economic responses thus resulting in debilitating effects on people’s lives and livelihoods especially the poor. We struggled with all the typhoons and calamities that struck our nation.
Like many others, I struggled with the disappointing and frustrating election outcomes as well as with the unspeakable conduct of many politicians in the campaign. These outcomes have challenged many of us to reflect even more critically of the state of our nation—the inequality, the polarization, the disinformation, the violence, and the corruption. At times, I felt a sense of despair and hopelessness. And yet, like many others I resisted giving in to the temptation to despair but chose to struggle on, to seek for the common good, to hold on to hope amid the darkness. I continued to believe that there is a lot of good in the world. One has only to recall the thousands of unheralded and selfless heroes of the pandemic who gave of themselves and even of their lives to us.
TO HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. Second, as I reflect on both the high and low moments of my life and our nation, can I reflect in my heart whether there is still hope within me. In the Philippines we face seemingly insurmountable challenges—high inflation and high prices of basic commodities, low peso, stagnant wages, ongoing pandemic, precariousness of health and education, corruption, violence, political dynasties, the return to autocratic rule, and an uncertain future as a nation. We look beyond our shores to Myanmar, Ukraine, and war-torn Africa to acknowledge the grave challenges that the entire world faces. Can we honestly say we still look to the future with hope? Why should we? Is this not a false sense of hope?
The recent SWS survey says that 95% are hopeful for the coming year. What kind of hope are they hanging on to? Jayeel Cornelio in his article on the Sociology of Hope says,
“While hope can bolster people’s morale, it can also be deployed to protect the interests of the powerful. And so we need to ask the following questions: What exactly do Filipinos mean when they say they are hopeful? What are they hoping for? And why? … Given the inequality in this country, there’s not much worth celebrating whenever we say we are a hopeful people. On the contrary, hope is a symptom of systemic problems that have left so many desiring of the benefits of progress that only few of us get to enjoy.”
We must, therefore, examine and ensure that our hope is truly Christian hope. Christian hope anchored in God’s promise which he has already fulfilled in the coming of his Beloved Son. And as the prologue of John which we heard at Christmas day and again on the last day of the year, we rejoice at this wonderful news, “And the Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us.” He is Emmanuel—God with us. He became one of us in the flesh that he we may never again feel that our God is distant and far away from us—our concerns, needs, anxieties, frustrations, and suffering. His life, death, and resurrection assure us of the ultimate triumph of good over sin and death.
TO COMMIT TO THE PRESENT. Thirdly, with this Christian hope we commit to the present moment. This is Christian hope which is 1) not passive and 2) not left to the task of any one individual or one group. Hope is not passive or inactive but pro-active and transformative. The philosopher, Hannah Arendt, believed that hope is rooted in the human capacity for action. For her, only humans are capable of action with intention and purpose. Moreover, as one prominent theologian said, “Hope is courage.” And who would best exemplify this hope for us? According to Fr. Danny Pilario, in his Christmas reflection, it is the victims of the war on drugs who are the prophets of hope for us today. He says,
“I can still vividly remember what Lola Remy, (now in her 90s) said during the funeral of her son, Juan. He was killed brutally by the police in Duterte’s War on Drugs and left her seven small grandchildren. She told me with tears in her eyes: “Nais nila kaming patayin Father. Nais nila kaming mamatay. Pero hindi. Mabubuhay kami.” (They want us to die, Father, they want us dead. No, we will live). This is defiant hope. And this is the only Christmas message that is meaningful in our times.”
Christian hope is DEFIANT HOPE. It can be and must be transformative of the current harsh realities of life and it looks forward to new beginnings of respect for human dignity and the rule of law. The victims from present and past regimes need to continue their struggle for justice and we are morally obligated to walk with them and to share in their struggles. Do we want to seriously speak about synodality in the Church? Here is one area of walking and accompanying our people. For us Christians, hope is ultimately rooted in God’s promise of journeying with us and within us to empower us to act in behalf of each other. And thus, this hope is not left to the task of any one individual or one group but to all of us, members of Christ’s Church, his body. We are intimately bound to each other in defiant hope. That is why we are Church or ecclesia, the people of God called by Him, ang “Ka-tipunan ng mga tinawag ng Diyos” and on our common pilgrim journey, marked by its joys and sorrows, struggles and successes.
In the same article, Jayeel Cornelio pursues a similar argument of the need to recover the collective aspect of hope,
“When the burden is placed only on individuals to pursue their dreams, hope loses its potency to recognize the relations that keep people powerless. If some of them move up the social ladder, all that gets recognized is their hard work. It is for this reason that hope must be reclaimed as a collective feat. Whether in the classroom or the workplace, this is about understanding one another and the roots of our shared struggles.”
In summary, if we as Christians are to move forward in Christian hope for the coming year, we cannot just sit back, pray and hope that things will just become better and fall in its place. That is not Christian hope; that is false hope. We need TO REMEMBER THE PAST and to see with our hearts the painful and joyful lessons of the past year and acknowledge God’s spirit working in them and challenging us. Thus, these lessons can be jumping points TO HOPE FOR THE FUTURE collectively as Church, and TO COMMIT TO THE PRESENT through concrete collective action, to bravely confront those in the corridors of power—in our churches, schools, business, government and civil society. In so doing, we may humbly contribute in our own small way in effecting structural changes in Philippine society to benefit our poor sisters and brothers that have been left behind and disillusioned with how we in society have failed to take care of them or even taken advantage of them.
May Mary our Mother, help us to remember and see with our hearts last year’s opportune lessons, to accompany us to the future with a greater Christian hope, and to audaciously commit ourselves to the present through concrete action with and for those in the margins of our society.
+AMDG+
Homily delivered by Fr. Primitivo (Jun) Viray, SJ
New Year’s Eve Mass
Cenacle Retreat House
31 December 2022
