Homily delivered by Very Rev. Fr. Primitivo Viray, SJ
25 January 2023
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
Dear friends, can you recall experiences in your life that you were so sure in what you believed in and could not be convinced to do otherwise? Some years ago, I found myself in such a situation and fully convinced that what I was doing was okay. However, someone gave me feedback about my behavior which was really painful to hear. Moreover, I didn’t even like the person giving the feedback. But as you know truth can be painful. I prayed over the feedback and gradually came to accept that what I was doing was wrong. So, this person became an instrument of my becoming aware of my blindness and eventually healing. I started to slowly change my ways. But it was a slow conversion.
Today we celebrate the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. It appears a rather dramatic and immediately life-changing event for him. I think most of us may not have such dramatic conversions but slow ones like the one I shared with you. Saul, as he was called before his conversion, was a Pharisee, knowledgeable of the Jewish law and passionately devoted to his religious beliefs. He was totally committed to the point of persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ and having them even put to death. His religious beliefs blinded him to the reality of the truth about Jesus Christ and those who followed him. With this conversion experience, Paul begun to entrust his life more to the Lord rather than to his personally held religious beliefs.
It would take a dramatic divine intervention to show him his blindness and to help him to open his eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ. His conversion was assisted by the very people he wanted to persecute and kill. Ananias, devout follower of law and of Jesus, became the instrument of Paul’s recovery from his physical blindness and spiritual blindness. Can you think of people in your lives who acted as Ananias to bring you to become aware of your blindness and help you to see the truth?
Our Philippine nation and the world remain deeply divided and polarized by many things, many deeply held beliefs and loyalties. Even the Catholic Church, lay people and clergy, are deeply divided. Our celebration of the conversion of St. Paul gives us pause for thought about own beliefs and practices, it challenges us to listen to the Lord more, to listen to each other even to those with whom we differ. Truth invites and challenges us to break out of our silos, our echo chambers, even of our loyalties to individuals, family, organizations, and institutions. There is only one absolute in life and that is God. Thus, our loyalty can only be to the absolute truth that is God and to no other.
In 2018, at the height of the extrajudicial killings, we wanted to respond to the call of Bishop Ambo David to establish a mission station in the diocese of Kalookan where many of our sisters and brothers were being killed in the cause of the war on drugs. We, thus, scouted for places in Kalookan where we could send one of our Jesuit priests to reside there as our way of witnessing to the people that we were with them amid all the violence and killing.
I asked our former driver who was very much supportive of the war on drugs to accompany me to the urban poor communities in Kalookan. We were able to talk to people there and listen to their stories especially those whose families who had been orphaned due to the killing of their loved ones. As our driver was with me as I listened to the stories of the widowed wives and children, he also had the opportunity to listen to their many stories of supposedly incidents of drug addicts “na nanlaban sa police.” We went to different places trying to select a possible mission site and as we went around, we heard even more stories of supposedly “nanlaban na mga addict, young boys and older men and even women” who were brutally killed.
To cut the story short, after several weeks of doing this, I asked our former driver what his experience was listening to these stories. He told me sadly, “Bakit naman nila pinapatay ang mga mahihirap, kung nagkasala man, dapat ipakulong at wag patayin.” Listening to the stories of those orphaned by the war on drugs, his eyes were slowly opened to the brutal reality of the conduct of this war on the poor. The poor widows and orphaned children would be the instrument for his coming to the truth about the war on drugs. They would be his Ananias for opening his eyes to the truth.
At present, these widows and orphaned children continue to wait from the present administration to render justice to them. They struggle to live their lives and hope and pray for a speedy rendering of justice. While the current national government does not explicitly pursue a kill, kill, kill policy, the poor victims of these injustices do not hear of any pro-active statements and efforts to address these injustices done to them by the previous administration.
In the famous book of Moises Naim entitled, “The Revenge of Power”, he argues that the world finds itself now in a very difficult struggle to hold on to democracy as a way of carrying out our social, economic, and political lives. He frames the problem in terms of 3 Ps, namely populism, polarization, and post truth. And these three are leveraged by autocratic leaders through the power of the internet and social media through disinformation and fake news.
Thus, the challenge to bring truth and the Good News becomes even more daunting for us Christians. But we need to continue the struggle and become equally creative in using social media and the internet and our collective organizations to hold the line on democracy and truth. As Christians, live in hope, a defiant but loving hope grounded in the love of God as shown by the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let me end with these beautiful lyrics from the song, “Matibay” by Vonn De Guzman. You can find this song in Youtube. I highly recommend it.
Kung nalulungkot at nag-iisa
Kung tiwala sa mundo’y maglaho na
Ay huwag mag-alala ako’y nandito na
Iyong makakasama
sa luha at saya
Habang buhay
pinapangako ko
Matibay na pag-ibig
na para lang sa iyo
Lumipas man ang sandaang taon
Pangakong pagsinta pa rin
Sa puso mo’y ibubulong
Koro: Matibay na pag-ibig
Hindi matitiklop
ng init at lamig
Parang dagat
sa lawak at lalim
Na yakap ang daigdig
Matibay na pag-ibig
Matibay ang pag-ibig ng Diyos kahit sa gitna ng lahat ng ating pinagdaraan na personal pagsubok at sama-samang pagdurusa ng bayang Pilipinas. Hindi ito matitiklop ng init o lamig. Matibay ang pag-ibig ng Diyos
Radyo Katipunan 87.9 FM
Homily delivered by Very Rev. Fr. Primitivo Viray, SJ
25 January 2023
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
Dear friends, can you recall experiences in your life that you were so sure in what you believed in and could not be convinced to do otherwise? Some years ago, I found myself in such a situation and fully convinced that what I was doing was okay. However, someone gave me feedback about my behavior which was really painful to hear. Moreover, I didn’t even like the person giving the feedback. But as you know truth can be painful. I prayed over the feedback and gradually came to accept that what I was doing was wrong. So, this person became an instrument of my becoming aware of my blindness and eventually healing. I started to slowly change my ways. But it was a slow conversion.
Today we celebrate the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. It appears a rather dramatic and immediately life-changing event for him. I think most of us may not have such dramatic conversions but slow ones like the one I shared with you. Saul, as he was called before his conversion, was a Pharisee, knowledgeable of the Jewish law and passionately devoted to his religious beliefs. He was totally committed to the point of persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ and having them even put to death. His religious beliefs blinded him to the reality of the truth about Jesus Christ and those who followed him. With this conversion experience, Paul begun to entrust his life more to the Lord rather than to his personally held religious beliefs.
It would take a dramatic divine intervention to show him his blindness and to help him to open his eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ. His conversion was assisted by the very people he wanted to persecute and kill. Ananias, devout follower of law and of Jesus, became the instrument of Paul’s recovery from his physical blindness and spiritual blindness. Can you think of people in your lives who acted as Ananias to bring you to become aware of your blindness and help you to see the truth?
Our Philippine nation and the world remain deeply divided and polarized by many things, many deeply held beliefs and loyalties. Even the Catholic Church, lay people and clergy, are deeply divided. Our celebration of the conversion of St. Paul gives us pause for thought about own beliefs and practices, it challenges us to listen to the Lord more, to listen to each other even to those with whom we differ. Truth invites and challenges us to break out of our silos, our echo chambers, even of our loyalties to individuals, family, organizations, and institutions. There is only one absolute in life and that is God. Thus, our loyalty can only be to the absolute truth that is God and to no other.
In 2018, at the height of the extrajudicial killings, we wanted to respond to the call of Bishop Ambo David to establish a mission station in the diocese of Kalookan where many of our sisters and brothers were being killed in the cause of the war on drugs. We, thus, scouted for places in Kalookan where we could send one of our Jesuit priests to reside there as our way of witnessing to the people that we were with them amid all the violence and killing.
I asked our former driver who was very much supportive of the war on drugs to accompany me to the urban poor communities in Kalookan. We were able to talk to people there and listen to their stories especially those whose families who had been orphaned due to the killing of their loved ones. As our driver was with me as I listened to the stories of the widowed wives and children, he also had the opportunity to listen to their many stories of supposedly incidents of drug addicts “na nanlaban sa police.” We went to different places trying to select a possible mission site and as we went around, we heard even more stories of supposedly “nanlaban na mga addict, young boys and older men and even women” who were brutally killed.
To cut the story short, after several weeks of doing this, I asked our former driver what his experience was listening to these stories. He told me sadly, “Bakit naman nila pinapatay ang mga mahihirap, kung nagkasala man, dapat ipakulong at wag patayin.” Listening to the stories of those orphaned by the war on drugs, his eyes were slowly opened to the brutal reality of the conduct of this war on the poor. The poor widows and orphaned children would be the instrument for his coming to the truth about the war on drugs. They would be his Ananias for opening his eyes to the truth.
At present, these widows and orphaned children continue to wait from the present administration to render justice to them. They struggle to live their lives and hope and pray for a speedy rendering of justice. While the current national government does not explicitly pursue a kill, kill, kill policy, the poor victims of these injustices do not hear of any pro-active statements and efforts to address these injustices done to them by the previous administration.
In the famous book of Moises Naim entitled, “The Revenge of Power”, he argues that the world finds itself now in a very difficult struggle to hold on to democracy as a way of carrying out our social, economic, and political lives. He frames the problem in terms of 3 Ps, namely populism, polarization, and post truth. And these three are leveraged by autocratic leaders through the power of the internet and social media through disinformation and fake news.
Thus, the challenge to bring truth and the Good News becomes even more daunting for us Christians. But we need to continue the struggle and become equally creative in using social media and the internet and our collective organizations to hold the line on democracy and truth. As Christians, live in hope, a defiant but loving hope grounded in the love of God as shown by the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let me end with these beautiful lyrics from the song, “Matibay” by Vonn De Guzman. You can find this song in Youtube. I highly recommend it.
Kung nalulungkot at nag-iisa
Kung tiwala sa mundo’y maglaho na
Ay huwag mag-alala ako’y nandito na
Iyong makakasama
sa luha at saya
Habang buhay
pinapangako ko
Matibay na pag-ibig
na para lang sa iyo
Lumipas man ang sandaang taon
Pangakong pagsinta pa rin
Sa puso mo’y ibubulong
Koro: Matibay na pag-ibig
Hindi matitiklop
ng init at lamig
Parang dagat
sa lawak at lalim
Na yakap ang daigdig
Matibay na pag-ibig
Matibay ang pag-ibig ng Diyos kahit sa gitna ng lahat ng ating pinagdaraan na personal pagsubok at sama-samang pagdurusa ng bayang Pilipinas. Hindi ito matitiklop ng init o lamig. Matibay ang pag-ibig ng Diyos
2 years ago | [YT] | 14