The Amice - Helmet of Salvation

My black amice with matching black alb.

Clergy vestments are not just a uniform for those who are sanctified (literally, 'sent apart') for pastoral ministry, but they are functional as well. Some ministers have all but forsaken vestments; opining that they smack of Romanism and clericalism and that these separate them from the people. Plus they are uncomfortable and cumbersome. So they have taken to the pulpit wearing secular business attire or even street clothes. Now, doctors wear lab gowns, nurses wear nurse caps, police officers wear badges, military personnel wear uniforms, & c. It cannot be argued that the above professions are displaying their academic pedigree or separating themselves from "ordinary" people.

I once made an argument that what if doctors and nurses spurned their uniforms. Their uniforms are white so they get soiled easily, & c. So they decided wear comfy blue jeans and t-shirts instead. When I am rushed into the emergency room, I don't know who is a doctor or who is a nurse--or who is another patient. Uniforms are there so that people can identify those they can approach for help when they need it. They are utilitarian too: I've always envied the pockets of a nurse's uniform (where the put their scissors, bandages, thermometers, & c.). So when I had a rabbat made, had them made with pockets (where I can put a visitation stole and vial of holy oil).

I am currently assigned to a small mission church somewhere in the boondocks. (Yes, that's an actual English word and it comes from the Tagalog word bundok, 'mountain', but in sense of 'very far away place'.) My church has no water nor electricity, so you can imagine how hot it can get during Sunday service. But when I got ordained, I decided to wear vestments. Others might scorn idea of going through the fuss of vesting for a handful people in a church where there isn't even an electric fan. But since their first ordained pastor (my predecessors were either non-ordained local pastors or a lay minister), I reasoned that I would give them dignity by wearing liturgical vestments.

One day, it was so hot that my vestments got all stained with perspiration. My cousin, another liturgically-minded minister named Pastor Jordan Guerrero, suggested that I wear an amice.

An amice is a rectangular piece of cloth that is worn over the shoulders and tied at the waist. I tried looking for it in Catholic bookstores but all I got was blank stares. (Later, I found out that Roman priests are no longer required to wear  the amice. Just like Protestant ministers, they just wear an alb and a stole; or sometimes with a chausible or a surplice.) Finally, I managed to buy a couple of shawls with tassels. The shawls reminded me of the Jewish prayer shawl, called the tallit.

When wearing my shawl-cum-amice (before services), I first unfurl it to examine the tassels while praying a prayer I composed based on the Jewish berakah (blessing):

Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us by his commandments, and has commanded Israel* regarding tzittzit ('tassels').

Then I put it on my shoulders and use it to cover my head. In the old Roman rite, a priest says,

Impóne, Dómine, cápite meo gáleam salútis, ad expugnándos diabólicos incúrsus.

Place, O Lord, on my head the helmet of salvation, that I may overcome the assaults of the Devil.

The amice is symbolic of the "helmet of salvation" described by St. Paul the Apostle as part of the "armor of God" in Ephesians 6:17, and is thought to protect the believer from the mental assaults of the Devil. Meanwhile, when I cover my head with the amice, I pray,

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has commanded us to put on the full armor (or, panoply) of God, and has given us the helmet of salvation.

The shawl creates a little "closet" where I can shut out distractions (including internal ones) and focus on prayer. And it actually helps while I am getting into a mental state for the service. I am reminded of the words of the Messiah,

"But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees from the hidden place will reward you" (Matthew 6:6).

Putting the amice over the head--like a tallit.

During the time of Jesus, the average Jewish house was a one-room affair, not separated into "rooms" as we think today. This may be the reason why, in Luke 11:5-8, the man cannot immediately to go the door to give his friend some bread: He would need to make his way over his sleeping children, presumably on a mat unfurled on the floor, to get to the main door. So the "room" mentioned in the verse above may be the prayer shawl, the tallit.

Then I would wear my alb over the amice, put on my stole and secure all these with a cincture around my waist, reciting berakhot as I wear each. Finally, I pull the amice down to make a cool-looking hood behind my head.

My amice pulled back after wearing the stole.

What is its utility? To absorb sweat. Instead of making vestments hotter, the amice actually made it cooler. After services, when I would divest myself, I discovered that my undershirt, my polo barong, and my amice may be wet with perspiration but alb would be dry.

Formal and functional. This is why I dress for services.

*I say "Israel" because only Jews are commanded to wear tzittzit (Numbers 15:37-38).

The Story of Guy

Dr. Asperger with one of his "young professors".

This is the story of a guy named Guy. (The name and certain circumstances have been altered "to protect the innocent"). Guy is a special kind of guy. You see, Guy is said to have Asperger's Syndrome.

Now, Asperger's Syndrome doesn't sound as bad as it does. It's not like Lou Gehrig's Disease, a degenerative disorder also called "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis"; which was thrust into the limelight in the bestselling book, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Asperger's is considered a "high-functioning autism". Whereas autism, as exemplified by Down's Syndrome, is characterized by mental retardation and physical debilitation, Asperger's does not cause delays in linguistic or cognitive development. In fact, many children with Asperger's have above-average intelligence.  They are also able to take care of themselves.  However, they have diffulties in social interaction, are inflexible when it comes to routine, and are physically clumsy. In other words, people with may have high IQ's but have poor EQ's, or emotional intelligence.

The disorder was first described by Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician, in 1944. He observed four children who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy. His young patients demonstrated an advanced use of language that he called them "young professors".

The primary characteristic of Asperger's Syndrome is difficulty in social interaction, especially the lack of empathy. People with Asperger's do not retreat into their own world; they may approach other people, albeit clumsily. Another characteristic is a keen, almost obsessive, interest in a narrow field of study, which other people find too arcane or convoluted to understand.

Enter Guy.

Guy works in the IT division of a certain (non-IT) company. He is handy around computers. In fact, he is often called upon when there are computer-related problems. He is a very helpful person; often fixing other people's laptops, answering questions, and even giving advice on what mobile phone/netbook/gadget to buy. He does not isolate himself from his co-workers (even if his cubicle is at the back of the room). But he often launches into a monologue on tech-related stuff (like "How defragging your hard drive frees up disk space and makes your computer run faster"), for which frankly, nobody cares.

Guy finds it pointless to engage in small talk or "feelings": for him, these are not intellectually stimulating or even useful. He likes to display his knowledge on a wide field of subjects; but fails to recognize that the person he is talking to is getting bored and wants to pull away. Guy finds it difficult to "read between the lines", or decode body language.

Guy has a fascination with gadgets. No, he does not "keep up with the Joneses" with the latest tech: he uses an old laptop and an old smartphone. He does not own an iPod, an iPhone, nor an iPad. What he does is maximize his resources by downloading and installing a plethora of computer programs and phone applications. Guy also likes making new stuff: He once talked about harvesting the laser-emitting diode on a DVD writer and make it into a laser gun which he could use to cut duct tape. He also talked about placing a small cell phone in the heel of his shoe so that whenever he answers a call or text, he would pull off his shoe and "watch at other people gawk in amazement".

Dating and social life are the biggest sources of bewilderment for Guy. He finds the duplicity which people use to make friends, advance in work, or find mates "very abhorrent". ("It's like how people form alliances and backstab each other in Survivor.") He could not care less for clothes or fashion: for as long as these meet the basic criteria of modesty, that will do. Unfortunately, he fails to realize that "clothes make up the man" (or does not believe in it) and that it is among the first things that girls look at. He often wears black or grey clothes, which he says, he got the idea after reading about mathematician Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.

Guy is often criticized to be "too honest". He fails to see (or does not care) that there are certain social conventions which dictate what things are acceptable to be said in society and other which are not. From a linguistic point of view, he is a failure when it comes to sociolinguisitics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. After helping a friend for the umpteenth time for things which he thinks are very basic, he berated her, "If you're too stupid to use this gadget, you shouldn't have bought it!" Then a strange hush seemed to hang over the office.

Guy has amazing powers of concentration. He fails to get cues from body language or to understand a person is being politely/discreetly indirect, or sarcastic (he takes these things literally, often with disastrous results). However, he seems to "talk" to computers and "understand" what they "say". When his co-workers ask him to look into a tech-related problem, we would sometimes cut them off and enter into a trance-like state. He relates that one time, an officemate asked for help because the computer "hanged". He corrected her ("The computer didn't hang; it gronked," and began a long-winded explanation of what difference is) and proceeded to fix the problem. "The computer was confused," said Guy, as if the machine were a person. "There were so many processes going on it couldn't decide what to do first." (Apparently, Guy has a better time talking with machines than girls.)  Another time, he relates, another co-worker was distraught because a computer virus "deleted" all the files in her flash disk. He snatched her thumb drive and proceeded to recover all of her lost files. ("The files weren't erased; the virus hid them. Easiest thing to solve.")

How shall we end the story of Guy?

There are  several treatments for Asperger'sSyndrome. This includes therapy to improve social integration skills, to cut back of obsessive behavior and idiosyncratic speech, and to assist in motor coordination (for clumsiness). There is also medication that could help treat anxiety and depression.

If Asperger's is characterized with difficultly integrating with society, people with this condition find it difficult to integrate into society because of society's stereotypes on those with autism. Guy relates when he told a cousin that he may have Asperger's (he hasn't been tested yet), she registered a shock on her face. "Don't say that!" she cried. "No, I'm not going to die!" he answered. Even if he explained that Asperger's is a high-level autism ("I'm not a retard"), his cousin could not get over the shock.

Perhaps people like Guy do not need to be cured, but to be understood. It has been suggested that Asperger's be treated as a "different cognitive style" and no longer considered a disease or disorder. Perhaps society should celebrate diversity instead of expecting people to be "normal" and stigmatize those who do are not. People with Asperger's Syndrome find it difficult to integrate with society; so society must be more open to accept them.

Hands Clean, Hearts Clean

14th Sunday after Pentecost B 2012

James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

A couple of Jews washing their hands.

I. Be doers of the Word, not just listeners (James 1:22-24)

A person who listens but does not do is like one who looks in a mirror but does nothing (James 1:23-24).

The Pharisees and the scribes saw that some of the disciples of Jesus eat with "unclean", that is, with unwashed hands. (A Hebrew translation of the New Testament, published by The Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures, uses the word ידיהם בטמאת b'yadihem temerot, 'their hands unclean'--the same word used in the Torah for ritually impure objects.) Mark goes on to explain the Jews have complex customs when it comes to handwashing (Mark 7:3-4). The ritual of handwashing does not have warrant from the Torah (altough Tractate Hullin 106a cites Leviticus 15:11), but a "traditon of the elders" (בקבלת הזקנים b'kabalat hazaqenim; παραδοσιν των πρεσβυτερων, paradōsin tōn presbuterōn). The Babylonian Talmud has a whole tractate on handwashing, aptly called Yadayim, ‘hands’. Here are some excerpts:

The following mishnayot explain how much water is to be used and how to pour water on the hands, that is, with a utensil:

[To render hands clean] a quarter-log [a unit of measure equivalent to one and a half eggshells—Ed.] of water do they pour for hands, for one, also for two. A half-log [is to be used] for three or four. A log [is to be used] for five and for ten and for a hundred.’ R. Yose says, “And on condition that for the last among them, there should not be less than a quarter-log.” They add [to the water used] for the second [pouring], but they do not add [to the water used] for the first [pouring of water over the hands]. (Yadayim 1:1)

With all sorts of utensils do they pour [water] for hands, even with utensils made of dung, utensils made of stone, utensils made of [unbaked] clay. They do not pour [water] for hands either with the sides of [broken] utensils, or the bottom of a ladling jar, or with the plug of a barrel. Nor should a man pour [water] for his fellow with his cupped hands. For they draw, and they mix [water with the ash of the red cow], and they sprinkle purification water, and they pour [water] for hands only with a utensil. And only utensils afford protection with a tightly fitted cover, and nothing affords protection from the power of a clay utensil [in the Tent of a corpse] except utensils. (Yadayim 1:2)

[If] one poured water for one hand with a single rinsing, his hand is clean. [If he poured water] for two hands with a single rinsing—R. Meir declares unclean unless he will pour a quarter-log [of water]…. (Yadayim 2:1)

The following mishnah confirms what Mark says in 7:3, which is rendered in the KJV as “they wash their hands oft”; but the word “oft” is πυγμη, pugmē which is better translated as ‘fist, cleached hand’ or even ‘up till the elbow’:

The hands are susceptible to uncleanness and are rendered clean up to the wrist. How so? [If] one poured the first [water] up to the wrist, and the second beyond the wrist and it went back to the hand— it is clean. [If] he poured out the first and the second [pouring of water] beyond the wrist and it went back to the hand, it is unclean. [If] he poured out the first water onto one hand, and was reminded and poured out the second [water] on to both hands, they are unclean. [If] he poured out the first water on to both hands and was reminded and poured out the second [water] on to one hand, his hand [which has been washed twice] is clean. [If] he poured out water on to one hand and rubbed it on the other, it is unclean. [If he rubbed his hand] on his head or on the wall, it is clean. They pour out [water on the hands of] four or five people side by side, or above one another, on condition that they [the hands] lie loosely so that the water will flow among them. (Yadayim 2:3)

Another part of the Talmud which deals with washings is Tractate Kellim, which contain complex laws on which vessels and utensils are clean or unclean. Here is an excerpt from Tractate Hagigah (on the offerings on the Three Great Festivals) on the “immersion” of vessels. Mark uses the term βαπτισμοσ, baptimos for the “washing” of vessels—a word which means ‘to immerse’ and where we get the word “baptism”.

VI Utensils which are completely processed in a state of insusceptibility to uncleanness [and so when completed are clean] require immersion for use in connection with Holy Things, but not for use in connection with heave offering. VII A utensil unites everything contained therein for the purposes of Holy Things, but not for the purposes of heave offering. VIII [That which is made unclean in] the fourth remove from the original source of uncleanness in the case of Holy Things is invalid, but only [that which is made unclean in] the third in the case of heave offering. IX And in the case of heave offering, if one of ones hands is made unclean, the other is clean. But in the case of Holy Things one has to immerse both of them. X For one hand imparts uncleanness to the other for the purposes of Holy Things, but not for the purposes of heave offering. (Hagigah 3:2)

By these additional laws, the Pharisees and the scribes try to look more pious--"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Mark 7:6). They not only add to the commandment of God, but they replace them with the commandments of men--"They worship me in vain; their doctrine are but the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7). In fact, they were so in manipulating the Law that they actually withold support for their parents by declaring things are Qorban (קורבן), that is, supposed to be 'offered to God' (Mark 7:10-13).

II. Look into the perfect Law of freedom (James 1:25)

A person who does the Word of God is like a person who looks into a mirror and does not forget what he or she hears. (James 1:25)

Jesus explains why handwashing does not make a person pure: Whatever enters a person's mouth does not enter into the heart but into the stomach and eventually out of the body (Mark 7:18-19). (Jesus uses a very strong phrase for "to expel out of the body": και εις τον αφεδρωνα εκπορευεται, kai eis ton afedrōma ekporeuetai, 'And expelled into the toilet'.)

Jesus furthermore explains that it is what comes out of a mouth of a person that makes one "unclean", because out of the heart comes all sorts of evil (Mark 7:20-23). No wonder James says that if one person claim to be religious but cannot control is tongue, his/her religion is worthless (1:26; cf. 3:1-12). That is why for James, "true religion" is 1) taking care of widows and orphans (which not only commanded in the Torah [see for example, Exodus 22:22], but also an expression of practical religion); and 2) keeping oneself from being polluted from this world (i.e., not with words but with deeds) (James 1:27).

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