Thursday, April 22, 2021

THE GOOD SHEPHERD


Seven of the more popular shepherds in the Hebrew Bible are Abel, Rebekah, Rachel, Moses, Zipporah, David, and Amos. In the New Testament, shepherds are the first to receive the good news of Jesus' birth. In many Christmas pageants, young children usually play shepherds or sheep.


Many of us grew up with Sunday's "Good Shepherd" lection from the Gospel of John. Many among us grew up with allegorical interpretations of this passage. The shepherd is not really a shepherd. The sheep are really not sheep. The passage is really about something else.

I am not doing that today.

Sheep do know the voice of their shepherd. Sheep do follow their shepherd in and out of the sheepfold. Sheep do run away from those whose voice they do not know. Sheep are smart. Ask any shepherd.

Both sheep and shepherd know that life in all its fullness is not inside the sheepfold. Never has been, never will be. There's no grass, no springs, no freedom. All these are outside of it, in the wilderness. This is why shepherds call out the sheep by name and lead them out, into the wilderness. This is why shepherds go ahead of the sheep and they follow them; into the wilderness, into the quest for life. Life in all its fullness.

P.S.
And then there are those who think that the Good Shepherd is the Communist Party and the Sheep are those who are behind the Community Pantry. I have often heard that if you're far enough to the right, everything will look left to you--even shepherds and their sheep.

#EndTheCultureOfImpunity
#IAmWithJesus
#CommunityPantryPH

*art, "The Good Shepherd," (JESUS MAFA), available from vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

Monday, April 19, 2021

ANG JEEPNEY, ANG PANTRY, AT ANG MASA

Kwento sa atin ng mga lolo't mga lola, Pagkatapos ng digmaan, bayan nati'y nakadapa. Bagsak ang ekonomiya, transportasyon sirang-sira. Sistema ng gobyerno, nakatali sa kapitalismo. Sunud-sunod na pangulo, sunud-sunuran sa Kano. Para makabangon ang bayan, ang jeep ginawang jeepney. Pandigmang sasakyan, ginawang sasakyan ng bayan. Motorsiklo't bisikleta, ginawang tricycle at tri-sikad. Kapag kumilos ang masa, nabubuhay ang pag-asa.


Puna sa sa atin ng mga lolo't mga lola,
Isang taon ng pandemya, bayan nati'y nakadapa.
Bagsak ang ekonomiya, milyon-milyo'y walang-wala.
Sistema ng gobyerno, nakatali pa rin sa kapitalismo
Nakaupong pangulo, ang bossing ay Tsino at Kano.
Para may makain ang bayan, community pantry ay isinilang.
Ang hamon: magbigay ayon sa kakahayan,
Ang tugon: kumuha batay sa pangangailangan.
Kapag kumilos ang masa, nabubuhay ang pag-asa!

#CommunityPantry
#COVID-19
*Image from Rappler

THE SONG OF MARY

Mary's Magnificat is probably one of the most powerful prophetic passages in the New Testament. This young woman's God scatters the ...