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SOUTH KOREA OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING BEGINS

OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING ELECTION PERIOD
10 April-8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
11 April-9 May
Mon-Fri: 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday: by appointment
10 May, Monday 9:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
Venue: Philippine Embassy Building
Address: 5-1 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
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KATIPUNAN NG MGA SAMAHAN NG MIGRANTENG MANGGAGAWA-KOREA
(KASAMMA-KO)
Email: kasammako.mig@gmail.com

Welcome the Newness of Life

Luke 24:1-12
24But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

REFLECTION

The biblical Easter Day narrative is like an old, old story or classic being retold every year and for Christians around the world they would not pass the day without hearing the story of the resurrection of Jesus. Re-reading the resurrection narrative in the Gospel of Luke enables us to hear the story once again in view of the contemporary life situations where we live and have our being. Both in our personal and social life there are many circumstances that relate with the resurrection event.

The women in the life of Jesus were mourning for the gruesome events that took place three days prior and early on the third day, the first day of week they have to follow the customs of bringing herbs to the tomb to use for the dead body of the departed loved one. When we try to feel with the Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James on their way to the tomb, we can empathize with them for the death of most loved family member, a relative or friend. Aside from the sadness there was the fear and trembling on the Roman authorities who may be watching over the tomb and would somehow arrest them or tell them not to come close to the tomb. But they were determined to do what ought to be done in that particular situation, asserting their right to be in the tomb of a loved one.

Few meters away they saw that the tomb where Jesus was laid was already opened and suspicion that Jesus’ body was taken away by robbers or by the Roman soldiers, they were terrified and was at a loss of what they have to do in case their suspicion was true. However while they were there perplexed seeing an opened tomb, they saw visions of angels in dazzling white, a metaphysical mysterious experience that the seers may have some doubts of what they seeing but it must had been a blinding light. The presence of the supernatural is always accompanied by a dazzling or blinding light and then with tremors of nature, then the deity will speak to the seers. “Why do look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen…” Why would the women and all the disciples remained in grief and disbelief when they had the assurance of the resurrection? Jesus brought back to life Lazarus, but now that he is dead who will resurrect him from the dead? Nobody. A God whom Jesus called “Father” was a distant God for the disciples. It was only on Jesus’ resurrection that there is somebody else other than Jesus. The disciples were not easy to belief in this event.

Everyday we are faced with the reality of physical or biological extinction, for we know that when we die, that’s the end of our mortal existence, our bodies can be buried in the ground and go to the process of natural decomposition or our bodies can be turned into ashes by cremation. Our fear of the unknown is always justified, but our faith in what God can do even after our biological extinction and the promise of a Jesus’ like resurrection can overcome our fear of death. I think this is the relevance of Jesus resurrection from the dead. God has overcome the power of death and darkness on Easter Day and it is an every minute of the day experience for all those who have faith.

I was awakened in the middle of the night by the call of my friends outside the gate telling me that the church building of UCCP Iloilo City was razed by fire. With fear and trembling I and Gloria rushed to see the burning church building and my heart melted like wax as the thick smoke hovered and the huge red-golden fire consumed the whole church building. On the side walk were many people gathered I looked for the pastor and her family and the young people who lodged at the church dormitory. I was relieved to see them all safe. The church has to be rebuilt, not just the building but the church people themselves. The more than one hundred years old community of faith had to start all over again. The process of rebuilding was daunting and to see the church relocated in a new site and new physical facilities was an experience of resurrection.

We ought not to despair in death. We should always have faith for newness of life that God provides through Jesus Christ.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

GOOD FRIDAY REFLECTIONS

REFLECTION
It mustn’t be long enough for Jesus to suffer the shameful crucifixion at Mount Golgotha and he finally died of exhaustion and loss of blood. While hanging on the cross in between the two other convicts he uttered at least seven sentences or words that described fully his humanity and relationship with the God whom he called “Father”. In John’s Gospel the narrative of the minutes after his death is detailed in this manner:
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out (Jn 19:32-24).

The Roman soldiers in order to make sure that the execution is total they had to break the legs and piercing of the side of the body with a spear. The very act of piercing on the side would make a fatal wound on the stomach, liver and the heart. Death becomes inescapable. They made sure he was killed. Gintipok gid nila sya in Ilonggo language while gitiwasan gyud nila siya in Cebuano. Tagalog expression would use sya ay pinatay/pinaslang nila. In the three Filipino languages the act of killing is intention of killing somebody, which we may say premeditation. What is uglier in the act of killing or murder in the Filipino mind is that first the victim has been fatally wounded but without mercy has been killed- gitiwasan or gintipok gid sya.

The more than 800 persons who were killed extrajudicially by government security operatives and the hundreds who have been desaparacedos during the incumbency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connivance with the fascist police and military commanders are fiercest than that of the Roman imperial soldiers. The grim reality in Philippine society is always as it had been a Good Friday and not so much of Easter Sunday. The poor and struggling masses of people are kept hanging on the cross and the soldiers continually use their brute means of killing those who resist or may want to escape death.

Good Friday can only be good for the more than 60 million poor Filipinos when the government would allow Easter Day to come. However, the moral bankruptcy of the government will never allow Easter Day to come. The Church especially the Catholic Church in the Philippines as the harbinger of Christian hope for salvation especially social emancipation must do beyond what it is doing right now to proclaim the coming of Easter Day, the historical era when the majority of the Filipino people have a government that institutes social justice and punish those who have squandered the resources of the nation, those who have commandeered the extrajudicial killings and arrested those who raised dissent to the monumental human rights violations. Only then that the nation can truly live in Easter Day.

Maundy Thursday Reflections

1. Every Maundy Thursday comes many things come to mind. For ten years of pastoring in Iloilo City UCCP Maundy Thursday is the day when the communion table is moved from the elevated chancel to the nave of the same level of the pews in front of the pews or put in the center and the pews are arranged in a semi-circle. In my mind it signifies God’s accessibility to the world and Christ incarnation and humility. There were regular attendees to Maundy Thursday service every year. With a congregation with less than 200 members and only 40 percent regularly comes to church, the less people attending the Maundy Thursday service the more the ambience becomes dreary and Jesus’ experience of betrayal and desertion becomes real as the service tapers in the dimming of lights. Immediately after the service, the sorrowful music from the band accompanying the Maundy Thursday procession of the nearby parish of the Philippine Independent Church grew louder as it passed by the church along Delgado Street.

2. All of these episodes were in the backdrop of the Feast of the Passover a Jewish celebration commemorating Israel’s freedom from the bondage of slavery in the hands of the Egyptians. It was such a great celebration during the time of Jesus because the Roman officers would release some prisoners especially those who were sentenced to die by crucifixion, the equivalent of capital punishment in contemporary times. It was also the same occasion when Jesus gathered his disciples for dinner. John disclosed that Jesus already knew that God has determined that he has to depart and go to the Father and that Judas has as well determined to betray him. That very night Jesus made the Passover meal very dramatic such as the washing of the disciples’ feet and the last supper.

3. The drama in the life of Jesus that occupies the celebration of Maundy Thursday is filled with contemporary issues and concerns. First is the washing of feet of the disciples in the Gospel of John tells of the necessity to practice humility and not just think about it. Interestingly Peter wish not to be washed and later wanted to be washed on the head and feet and Jesus told him that humility is about servanthood and not about cleaning somebody else’s dirt. The washing of the disciple’s feet excluding their heads and their arms shows that servanthood that Jesus represents is one that enables the disciples to walk in the grace of God, rather than thinking and feeling superior to those whom they serve.

4. The Last Supper is another dramatic episode of Maundy Thursday wherein Jesus supped with the disciples in an upper room and where the conversation of betrayal took place. The episode shows that Jesus was telling them that he is sent by God, meaning the Savior. However he knows that all of the disciples have their doubts and some have really doubts and that doubts would lead one to betray him. The last supper was the moment of truth for Jesus and the disciples. It was the moment when Jesus has to face the fiercest human predicament, treachery, violence, greed and death. He was shaken, but his fears was allayed by his connection with God and a firm faith that even in this direst moments, freedom, peace and love will be birthed.