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DEAR Father: You are one of my favorite preachers at
Sunday Mass and it pains me to have to write you this letter. I,
too, am a father of seven children, a grandfather to a dozen
grandchildren and a great-grandfather to one and it is painful to me
to be referred to as a father of Bartimaeus to them because I was
not at, and do not believe in the so-called interfaith rally last
February 29. There were supposedly an estimated 15,000 to 75,000
warm bodies in that demonstration of “faith.” Does that mean
that there were millions of Timaeuses in the Manila capital region
because they were not there?
And how about the members of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines who signed the
pastoral letter refusing to ask for the resignation of President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?
In the same way that “bar”
means “child of,” you said timaeus could be the root word for
temerity which you defined as bravery. My dictionary defines it as
rashness, audacity and impudence. I suppose you only meant audacity.
A bible dictionary has this entry for Bartimaeus:
“A blind man healed by Jesus,
as he went out from Jericho on his way to Jerusalem shortly before
Passion Week (Mark 10:46-52). A similar account’s given by Luke
(l8:35-43), except that the miracle occurred as Jesus drew near the
Jericho. Matthew (20-29-34) tells of Jesus healing two blind men on
the way out of Jericho. Various explanations, which may be found in
the standard commentaries, have been suggested.”
In fact Bartimaeus was not the
gospel reading for Year A of the Fourth Sunday of Lent. The gospel
for that day were excerpts from John 9:1-41 and are not part of the
synoptic gospels. It tells of a blind man who is cured when Jesus
coats his eyes with dust mixed with His saliva and sends him to wash
at the pool of Siloam to get cured. St. Josemaria Escriva gives us
the lesson from that story:
“What an example of firm faith
that blind man gives us! His is a living operative faith. Do you
believe like this when God commands, when so often you can’t see,
when your soul is worried and the light is gone? What power could
the water possible contain that when the blind man’s eyes were
moistened with it they were cured? Surely some mysterious eye-salve,
or a precious medicine made up in the laboratory of some alchemist,
would have been more efficacious? But the man believed; he acted
upon the command of God, and he returned with eyes full light.”
Apart from the usual political
fire-eaters, two former Presidents of the land gave a few words for
“faith” which we understood as the resignation of the President.
Reminds me of something that
happened some two thousands years ago when people sincerely thought
they were doing God a favor by shouting: “Crucify Him!”
And of course there was the good
thief with his coterie of religious protecting him like the truth.
He decided to “return” from London and turn a new leaf in life.
If one may only bury the past.
Father, I’m sorry if I stand
with most of the bishops, but I want something more reliable as to
what is the truth. Something better than what a dog in a manger
says. I would like to offer this Lenten meditation:
“Love for the truth will lead
us not to form hasty judgments, based on superficial information
about people or events. We need to exercise a healthy critical
spirit towards the news broadcast by radio, television, newspapers
or magazines, for it is often biased or simply incomplete. Often
objective facts are wrapped in opinion or interpretations that can
give a deformed view of reality. We have to be specially careful
about news referring directly or indirectly to the Church. For love
of truth itself we have to leave aside the sectarian channels of
information which do nothing but muddy the waters. We have to look
for information that is objective, true and discerning. At the same
time we have to contribute towards giving others correct
information. Then, the promise of Jesus will become a reality. The
truth will make you free.”
Given the circumstances 2,000
years ago, were I there, I cannot be sure, I would not have the
temerity to join the crowd in shouting: “Crucify him!”
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