November 17, 2013
Luke 21:5-19
Stones from the Temple in Jerusalem which were thrown down by Roman soldiers in 70 AD. (Photo from FreyerDrew.Blogspot.Com)
In today’s Gospel reading, we read that Jesus and his disciples were at the Temple in Jerusalem. His disciples had been admiring the “goodly stones and gifts” that adorned the Temple (v. 5). But Jesus said, “As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (v. 6).
I usually do not make references to current events in my sermons. After all, as a pastor it is my job to preach the Word of God, not to interpret current events. That’s the job of “talking heads” or commentators on television or on radio. I’m sorry, but I do not find anything uniquely “Christian” about giving current events commentaries. You don’t need to be a believer in order to give your comment about the news. Perhaps those who preach on current events do so in order to appear “contemporary”, “relevant”, and “up-to-date”.
But today’s Gospel reading mentions “there shall not be left one stone upon another”. It brings into mind the recent earthquake in Bohol. (I would have been blind and insensitive if I ignored this.) Last October 15 a killer earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Bohol and Cebu; which was also felt throughout the Visayas and northern Mindanao. In this tragedy, more than two hundred people lost their lives. One of the things that made rounds in the news and in social media is the destruction centuries-old Roman Catholic churches in Bohol and in Cebu.
This is the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño
in Cebu City, one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. It houses the statue
of the Sto. Niño (Christ Child) which Ferdinand Magellen, “discoverer” of the
Philippines, gave to one of the first Filipino converts to Catholicism, the
wife of Rajah Humabon (baptized as Isabel after the queen of Spain), in 1521. (Image by Jose Farrugia via Rappler.)
This is the famous Church of San Pedro
Apostol in Loboc, Bohol, said to be the second-oldest church in Bohol.
Its intricate façade was completely
crumbled and its belfry, made from crushed coral, was reduced to a mere stump.
(Images by Robert Michael Poole via
Rappler.)
Some misguided people wrote on social media
that the destruction of these churches was God’s judgment on Roman Catholicism.
I do not have news of other churches—like United Methodist local churches, etc.—in
Bohol or Cebu that may have been destroyed or damaged. I guess that the
destruction of these Roman churches made the headlines is simply because the
Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country. Also, no one can deny the
historical and artistic value of these centuries-old churches. I feel that saying
that the destruction of these churches is a judgment from God is irresponsible
and callous.
Then, barely two weeks after the earthquake,
the Visayas faces a “supertyphoon” named “Yolanda” (international code name:
Haiyan), which had wind speeds from 230 kilometers per hour and gustiness up to
315 km/h. The typhoon left towns and cities devastated with storm surges more
than five meters high, reaching kilometers inland. As of this writing, more
than 1,700 have been confirmed dead.
I asked my friends on Facebook to join in
the praying an oratio imperata. In
the Roman church, an oratio impeata
(Latin, ‘obligatory prayer’) is prayed when a bishop asks the people in his
diocese to pray for a special concern. The Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio
Cardinal Tagle asked Catholics in the Archdiocese of Manila to pray an oratio
imperata:
ORATIO IMPERATA
PARA SA PAGHINTO NG ULAN AT BAHA
Panginoon, sa
hudyat ng iyong salita
sumusunod ang
hangin at dagat.
Iunat mo ang iyong mapagpalang kamay
upang huminto na
ang ulan at pagbaha.
Lingapin mo ang aming mga kapatid
na ngayo’y
giniginaw, nagugutom at lubog sa baha.
Pawiin mo ang
lahat ng aming mga takot at pangamba.
Imulat mo ang
aming mga mata
at buksan ang
aming mga puso
upang makatugon kami sa pangangailangan ng bawa’t isa.
Amen.
ORATIO IMPERATA
FOR DELIVERANCE FROM CALAMITIES
Almighty Father, we raise our hearts to You
in gratitude for the wonders of creation of
which we are part,
for Your providence in sustaining us in our
needs,
and for Your wisdom that guides the course of
the universe.
We acknowledge our sins against You and the
rest of creation.
We have not been good stewards of Nature.
We have confused Your command to subdue the
earth.
The environment is made to suffer our
wrongdoing,
and now we reap the harvest of our abuse and
indifference.
We turn to You, our loving Father, and beg
forgiveness for our sins.
We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard
earned possessions
be spared from the threat of calamities,
natural and man-made.
into responsible stewards of Your creation,
and generous neighbors to those in need.
Amen.
We in the Order of Saint Luke join you in this prayer.
--Abbot Daniel Benedict, OSL,
on the oratio imperata
Indeed we do, as
Br. Abbot says, Br. Gil. Your OSL sisters and brothers hold the Phiippines in
our hearts and prayers. --Sr. Cynthia Astle, OSL
Br. Gil, Joining with the
rest of the order in prayers for your country, its people and those rushing
aid. The pictures are devastating, but I assume you escaped most of the storms
effects. --Br. Gary Smith, OSL (former US serviceman who served in Clark AFB in
the 1960’s)
Abbot Daniel was
anxious to hear of news from members of the Order in the Philippines:
Br. Gil, we'd appreciate hearing news from you vantage point as you
have time and energy to share it, especially as you hear from other sisters and
brothers in the Order and their churches.
I responded,
Dear Abbot Daniel, Most of the members of our Order live in Luzon in
the north and in Mindanao in the south. Hardest hit were the Visayas islands in
the middle. The devastation as seen in the news is beyond words. I personally
have no news of UM's and churches in the area. Thank you for holding the
Philippines in your prayers.
In today’s Gospel reading we read Jesus
giving the signs of his coming: “Many shall come in my name, saying, I am the
Christ” (v. 8); “ye shall hear of wars, and commotions… Nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (vv. 9-10); there shall be “great
earthquakes in divers places, and famines and pestilences” (v. 11); there shall
be “fearful sights and great signs from heaven” (v. 11). There shall also be
persecution, when “they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before
kings and rulers for my name’s sake (v. 12).
But at the end of today’s pericope, Jesus said, “In your patience possess ye your souls” (v. 19). Patience (Greek υπομονη hupomonē) here has the sense of ‘to remain’ or ‘to abide’ (hupomonē comes from the word μενω, meno, which means ‘to abide’; the same word used by Jesus in the Parable of the Vine and the Branches (John 15:1-8). Thayer’s definition says, that this is “the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.”
John Wesley (Notes Upon the New Testament) wrote:
Be
calm and serene, masters of yourselves, and superior to all irrational and disquieting
passions, By keeping the government of your spirits, you will both avoid much
misery, and guard the better against all dangers.
The message of Jesus in today’s Gospel
reading resonates with what our nation is going through right now. Typhoons,
earthquake, destruction of property, loss of lives—and we have not even
discussed the corruption in the government! In all of these, the Lord Jesus
Christ tells us: Though “there shall not be left one stone upon another”, though
there shall be “great earthquakes in divers places” or whatever else, we should
patiently endure, for “In patience possess ye your souls”.
The Filipino spirit is waterproof and unshakable...but only by the grace of God. (Image via Facebook)
