Remembering the Life and Martyrdom of Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio, PIME

18 October 2013

PRESS RELEASE

New Zealanders Press for Justice for Italian missionary gunned down in Philippines
Remembering the Life and Martyrdom of Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio, PIME

 

Two years since the killing of Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio, PIME, Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS) together with church leaders in New Zealand gathered at St John's Presbyterian Church to remember the martyrdom and lighted candles for justice for Fr. Pops

Fr. Pops’ dear friend and fellow PIME missionary Fr. Peter Geremiah noted in a Justice for Pops (JPM) statement, “During the time of Cory Aquino the killers of Fr. Tullio Favali PIME were sentenced to life imprisonment even though their leader, commander Bukay Manero, was the most famous asset of the military during Martial Law who eventually served 23 years in prison… Now under Cory’s son who is president now, is justice possible for Pops and other victims of extra-judicial killings?”

“It is lamentable that top military officers denied any knowledge of the Bagani force during last year’s Congressional hearings into Fr. Pops’ case, despite repeated testimonies of witnesses on the killings and harassment perpetrated by this paramilitary group against the local civilian population over the years,” Cameron Walker, Spokesperson of Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS) said.

Witnesses in North Cotabato, including a former Bagani force member, have claimed the paramilitary group is responsible for the killing.  Other serious allegations have been made that the Armed Forces have previously worked with the Bagani force.

“As we have seen in other international situations, such as in Colombia and Northern Ireland, state collusion with paramilitary groups has led to serious human rights violations”, noted Walker.

Rev. Prince Devanandan of the NZ Methodist Church noted at the memorial gathering for Fr. Pops, “We live today in a world where money has become more important than human life. The military in the Philippines and many countries controlled by the multinationals are only taught to kill those who resist injustice, but not taught to respect human life and dignity."
 

Father Pops provided services for poor indigenous communities in North Cotabato Mindanao and also campaigned for an end to the forced displacement of communities by large mining companies, an end to human rights abuses by paramilitary groups and for the fair distribution of land.
 

In recent years other progressive church people have been murdered for taking a stand for the rights of the people.  After taking an active stand in support of the striking sugar workers at the Hacienda Luisita, owned by the Cojuangco-Aquino family, the Most Rev. Alberto Ramento, Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church was murdered in 2006.   Assassins broke through the rectory where Bishop Ramento was staying at around 4:00 am of October 03, 2006 in the Parish of San Sebastian, Tarlac City. After waking him from his sleep the assassins fatally stabbed him.

“The best way to honour Father Pops and his great legacy of social work in Mindanao is to bring those responsible for extrajudicial killings of people’s advocates to justice.  We call on President Aquino, as Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces to ensure all those responsible for extrajudicial killings within the security services are brought to justice and paramilitary groups, such as the Bagani force are dismantled.” Walker concluded.  

 

Reference: Cameron Walker –ph.solidarity@gmail.com
Spokesperson, Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS)

Persistence in seeking justice and supplication to God in situations of impunity

by Frank J. Hernando
20 October 2013
Filipino Community, Zion Methodist Church, Seoul, South Korea
Scripture Text: Luke 18:1-8

18Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Introduction

There were so many events that took place last week. One of these is the visit of the President Benigno Simeon Aquino III in South Korea. His state visit took place on Thursday and Friday leaving behind the desperate situation of earthquake victims in Bohol and Cebu. He and his diplomatic entourage were able to close deal on many businesses with Korean companies in the Philippines, like the construction of Lotte Hotel in Cebu, KEPCO to construct more coal fired power plants and others. There was a meeting with Filipinos in South Korea on Friday evening, but observers of the President’s speech said that his speech was hollow, not even mentioning any concern about the plight of OFWs in Korea, such as the ongoing crackdown and the executive agreement on the NPS-SSS that will force OFWs to remit their pension benefits to SSS and would not longer get their pension benefits from Korea NPS when they have completed their term of employment.

A parable on persistence in supplication and seeking for justice.

The situation of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Korea and around the world has been a continuing supplication and unceasing prayer for justice to the Philippine government. But it seems that the government is not listening to what the OFWs are seeking for and neglects justice. The OFWs can be likened to the widow who went to a judge and seek justice for her complaint.

In one of the instructive moments in the life of Jesus and the disciples he encouraged them to fervently pray and not to lose heart in the most trying times of their lives and in carrying out their responsibilities. The parable does not tell us that Jesus found the disciples’ manner of praying weak or needs improvement. The driving point of the parable is about praying and the attitude that goes with it. Jesus taught them about the widow who appeared before a judge to give her justice.

A shameless judge forced to render justice

In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. The judge in this parable is characterized as one who is intrepid, meaning fearless or shameless or walang hiya in Filipino, and has no respect for humanity. This is a very bad characterization of someone who carries out justice for the people. Psalm 14: 1 describes a fool as one who says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

No respect for people or humanity is another characterization of the judge. No respect for humanity means that the judge looks down on other people and would not consider them worthy of life that befits human beings. The judge is a picture of impunity. There is no greater definition of impunity than someone who has power and yet has no fear of God nor regard for humanity.Yet, the widow had no other option in choosing the kind of judge who will give her justice. She had to go to the judge regardless of his religious or ethical background.

This character of the judge is not distant from what we have seen and heard about the recent corruption scandal in the Philippines where lawmakers and executives have been implicated with corruption of pork barrel funds known as the Priority Development Assistance (PDAP), Special Project Funds (SPF) and many others.

The judges belong to the judiciary branch of the government, while the office of the President is the executive and the congress and senate as the legislative branch. The judge in the first century renders justice to people based on the Scripture or Torah, and judges were expected to mete out justice as expression of God’s covenant with God’s people.

Abuse of widows and orphans are punishable violations of the covenant.
Mark Davis in his exegetical work of the text explains, “A judge whose power was in the service of fearing God and respecting humanity would not shirk the responsibility of granting justice to a ‘powerless’ widow. If the judge did fear God, then he would have known Exodus 22:22-24, “You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.”

Or, to state the matter more positively, he would have known that his role as judge should be grounded in the character of God according to Deuteronomy 10:17-18 , “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing.”

The giving of justice to the widow could have been delayed because for a while he refuse or that the judge could have anticipated the persistence of the widow said, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’

Getting distracted and by a poor and desperate widow would only extend the number of hours of unprofitable business with someone who do not deserve his attention. He is not even bothered that his job as judge was a religious duty and occupies such prestigious position in the Jewish society because of his knowledge of the Scripture. He finally decided to work out justice for the widow because he doesn’t want to be bothered by the widow’s persistence and the possibility that his patience will wear out. Jesus pictures the judge like a crook; the widow, a persistent justice seeker. The widow sustained justice.

God grants justice to the oppressed and hears their supplications

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Many people in our world today have experienced what it is to live in situations of impunity. Some have lost their loved ones others are still waiting for justice to be carried out. Mark Davies continued to say, “the demand for justice is often wearying and seems futile, because the powers that be often act with impunity – as if there is no moral order to the universe and as if there is no respect that one ought to have for humanity. However, persistence can be effective even in advocating for justice. Unlike those powers that be, God vindicates swiftly and suffers long with the elect who cry out to him day and night.”

A friend has been messaging me on the internet that his wife has been detained in a South Korea’s prison for a guilty plea to the police for assuming another name. I fully understand how my friend feels about the situation of his wife and we, me and my colleagues in the migrant workers ministry have been trying hard to respond to his requests to aid his wife and if possible make necessary intervention to lessen the penalty of his wife. I told him that legal intervention would be needed and that is the reason why his wife’s case has been referred to the Philippine Embassy for possible legal intervention.

Aside from the technical aspects of his wife’s situation, my friend feels as if God has punished both of them, alluding that this is a painful situation. I responded to him that no, God is not punishing you. Forced migration of Filipinos has been set up by the Philippine government and to me this is the cause of many problems that OFWs face in their lives. God is on the side of the sufferers as God took upon Godself the pain of the sufferers on the cross of Jesus.

Jesus stressed in the parable that God is unlike or the exact opposite of the crooked judge in the parable. God listens to his children and would grant their deepest, unceasing supplications and persistent prayers. God knows what is best for his suffering people and would mete out justice for those who have been oppressed. Amen.


Reference: http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.kr/2013/10/impunity-and-persistence.html

photo credit: http://kirkmuirhillrev.wordpress.com/

LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR, DOING JUSTICE

Theological Reflection and Meditation for team ministries
Lectionary Texts: Amos 7:7-17 or Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Psalm 82 or Psalm 25:1-10; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37

Reference: http://www.textweek.com/yearc/properc10.htm

Scripture Reading: Luke 10:25-37

Theological Reflection / Meditation
Exegetical reference: http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.kr/

“Loving Your Neighbor, Doing Justice”
by Frank Hernando

1. The parable of the Good Samaritan is good illustration presented by Jesus to his inquirers who were coming from the well-informed class of the Jewish society in the first century Palestine. They inquired or asked how Jesus would explain his understanding of inheriting eternal life or what should people do to have a peaceful, just and meaningful relationship and co-existence with neighbors and what were the requisites of experiencing or attaining it. The manner of asking was phrased in such a way that puts one into a test or ridicule. The people who asked Jesus the question were teachers of the Jewish law and not classified as modern day attorneys. For sure they knew very well the answer to their question. But why bother asking somebody else who they think had less knowledge of the Jewish laws than they do? Readers of the this narrative can sense the manner of asking that condescend Jesus.


2. Jesus, upon hearing the question, responded by asking what he read from the Scripture and he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus, affirmed the answer and said, “do this and you shall live.” The next question came from the teachers of the law, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered by telling a parable of the good Samaritan. After the telling of the parable, Jesus asked the teacher of the law, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”


3. In the parable, we read that there was a man travelling down Jericho and he was robbed, beaten and left half-dead by the robbers. Then a priest passed by and saw the victim, but did not lift a finger to help the victim. Next a levite, a student of the Jewish law passed by the same road but aware of his limitations and legal-religious prohibitions also did not bother to help the victim. But when a Samaritan passed the road, he had compassion on the victim, got off his animal, and gave first-aid treatment on his wounds and transported him to an inn where the victim could rest and taken cared of, left some money as payment for the incurred room expense.


4. The emphasis of this parable is the acting out of the Shamai or the summary of the Jewish law, which every Jew should remember by heart, the love of God with one’s heart, soul, strength and mind and the love for neighbor as one would love oneself. Jesus led the inquiry of the teacher of the law into the broader understanding of neighborliness within the ethical expectations of the Shemai, that of the possibility that compassion transcends or goes beyond ethnic, religious and other boundaries. The Jews especially those who lived in Jerusalem could have looked down on Samaritans for their mixed cultural background and their religious background was not as pure as those in Jerusalem. In contemporary social life in many countries around the world, cultural prejudices abound and to varying extent antagonism on other cultures exist. The word xenophobia comes into view. The word means the fear of people from other culture or of things that are foreign to one’s native culture.


5. I was requested by a researcher to share perspective of xenophobia in South Korea as experienced by migrant workers from the Philippines. The following was my explanation:

As I know all foreign migrant workers have experienced in varying levels and forms of xenophobia in South Korea and the Filipinos are not an exception. What foreign migrant workers from other countries, like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and others have experienced, the same is true with Filipinos.

The extent of xenophobia is heightened among foreign migrant workers who have darker skin colors because they are easily identified, discriminated and are perceived by Koreans as coming from very poor economic and social background. Koreans perceived that foreign migrant workers are here in Korea to earn handsome wages which cannot be attained in their home countries. Filipino migrant workers consider verbal and physical abuse and sexual advances or harassments as manifestation of xenophobia, which a significant number of Korean employers, factory managers (sajang, bujang, kungjangjang) and co-workers have inflicted on them.


I think xenophobia includes inhuman treatment or violations of labor and human rights of migrant workers, such as, delayed and non-payment of wages, extended working hours (10-12) hours per day, restricted day-off (24 hours per week), others may not have at all, exposure to dangerous working conditions or not using safety gears and non-compliance of Labor Standards Law, the EPS Law and lack of social protection of the families of migrant workers. Also, the conduct of clampdown and deportation of non-document migrant workers is a very clear picture of the exploitative nature of employing the labor of migrant workers.


6. Neighborliness as Jesus explained is to be compassionate that entails doing justice to people we looked down or considered unwanted but inevitably needed to be around and contributes to the welfare and good of the community. Christians have the ethical responsibility to overcome xenophobia and transform or change exploitative structures into accepting, just and loving fellowship, with this eternal life or the kingdom of heaven is not far from being realized in our midst. +

Guide Questions:
1. What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind?
2. How do you help eliminate cultural prejudices in your community.
3. What are the best practices of compassion, empathy and solidarity in your community?

Beyond Sense Perception

THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
Revised Common Lectionary Texts:
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40
Reference: http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=274


Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
1:11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
1:12 When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more;
1:13 bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation-- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
1:14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
1:15 When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
1:16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
1:18 Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
1:20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.


Luke 12:32-40
12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
12:33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
12:35 "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;
12:36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.
12:37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.
12:38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
12:39 "But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
12:40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."


THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION/ MEDITATION
“Beyond sense perceptions”
by Frank J. Hernando


As a child, I thought God was as angry as my parents.

We know for a fact that human beings go into biological maturation from being a baby to early childhood, middle and late childhood. Instinctively as children we depend on our parents, especially our mothers for sustenance such as food, warmth, love and care. When we reach middle and late childhood, the time when we undergo cultural learning, our parents would always find mistakes in what we do. It is at this stage of childhood development when we dichotomize what is good from bad and our sense perception has been colored by the cultural and moral perceptions of our parents.


When we fall from our parents’ expectations, we are warned, yelled at, or disciplined by sort of physical or psychological punishment. As children we developed self-critique and judge our actions either as good or obedient and needs to be reinforced with some money for school or a new pair of shoes and other material things. On the other hand, when we disobey our parents’ instructions, we believe we fall from grace of our parents, even to the point of instilling into our minds that we have done evil. In a similar vein, when we try to learn about God, although our Sunday School teachers taught us that God is love, yet, we associate our parents’ anger as God’s wrath.


Prophet Isaiah of the 8th BCE biblical history was true to his calling as a prophet, that of assuming the role as God’s spokesperson. Not everyone can become a prophet in the Old Testament times because those who would like to become one must undergo a training under the prophetic guild of Israel. This means that prophets have to study the Scriptures or better known as Torah that consisted of the first five books of our present Bible. Another qualification for a prophet was to have a good grasp of the purposes of God in the nation’s history and interprets this on the contemporary situation. That’s the reason why he hear very similar prophetic utterances from the 9th to the 6th century BCE and in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, now all compile in the New Testament Scriptures.


Prophet Isaiah sounds angry with the nation of Israel and despised their sacrificial offerings and their worship and all that relate to the unheeding actions of the people. There was a crisis and there is urgency in the utterances of the prophet as revealed in our reference text. The crisis was on the impending invasion of Assyria on Israel, that would bring about insurmountable destruction and cost the lives of many. Dennis Bratcher, a reference for this meditation mentions the imminent danger of invasion from Assyrian army. He said, I quote:


The threat of Assyrian conquest loomed ominously over Judah during the entire career of Isaiah. But it was to the religious attitudes and moral condition of the people in the face of this continuing crisis that Isaiah addressed some of his most impassioned messages. Isaiah constantly found himself at odds with popular theological-political views fostered by an elaborate cultic system, a distorted sense of election, and an unqualified monarchial theology that all combined to promulgate the idea of unconditional promise and blessing. It was the task of Isaiah and his contemporaries, especially Micah, to reinterpret the national-popular theology in the face of changing historical circumstances. As the account of his summons into prophetic service indicates, he was commissioned to interpret to the people the imminent intervention by God into the affairs of the people (6:11-13). (unquote).


The prophet was at odds with the popular theological-political views of the leaders and the monarchial theology that God will bless them in spite of the inconsistencies between what God expects them to do and actual situation of the nation. He analyzed that at the time Assyrian invasion, Israel will not be able to defend itself and the most vulnerable people such as the women and children will suffer the most. As we hear the prophet’s words, we hear that God must be angry to the point of despising their sacrificial system, their festivals and God would not listen to their arrogant and complacent prayers. God tells them in 1:17, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. God is telling them to do what they have failed to do. The neglect and failure of what God expects them to do is the very casue of instability and consequently, the fall of the nation.



Here we go again, many go after wealth but not showing a bit of empathy


“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” is one of the most quoted saying from the Bible and that this is always taken to express people’s disgust on those who put so much emphasis on acquisition of material possessions such as money, jewelries, real properties, and many other things, but neglect to attend to more important things in human relationships. Jesus gave instructions to the disciples to be on alert just like those attending a Middle Eastern wedding celebration who are dressed up for the occasion, have enough oil for their lamps and ready to meet the bridegroom and the bride when they arrive at night time.


This instruction is rather focused on the imminent coming of the kingdom of God. The details of what it is all about was not very clear to the disciples. The urgency of the coming of God’s kingdom was felt by the disciples but what that really means today may not be clear to us today. The soon to come kingdom of God must be met with alertness and renouncement of wealth, “Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” It is but logical for Jesus to tell the disciples to renounce their wealth for those who were wealthy or to those who aspire to gain material possessions for themselves. I believe that the giving of alms was one alternative for sharing of wealth to those who did not have enough to live.


Using the contemporary business word ‘investing’ in the kingdom of God means is to fill our minds and hearts with the values of God’s kingdom such as love, service to others and forsaking the values that are inconsistent with the purposes of God for human beings and creation. Jesus urges his listeners not to be lulled by the acquisitive values and tendencies that prevent persons from valuing the important aspects of human life even the contemporary understanding of empathy or the ability to listen, feel, help and support those who are in difficult situations. Empathy characterizes Christian compassion and love for people in difficult circumstances and the most vulnerable classes of people especially the homeless, jobless, the poor and the marginalize people in society.


There is more than sense perception


Prophet Isaiah despised the ritualistic tendencies of his people and emphasized the importance of doing justice and mercy by the monarchy that represents God’s reign among the people. His prophetic words remind us that God demands more than the well established manner of expressing religiosity and piety or of understanding the impending crisis from sense perception, that of understanding situations based on accustomed culture and values. He stressed that obedience to God is to perceived reality from the point of view of those who suffer and that destruction of the nation will be prevented when inter-tribal solidarity have been firmed-up and consolidated.


Briefly, let me share the meaning of perception I gathered from Wikipedia: Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs. For example, vision involves light striking the retinas of the eyes, smell is mediated by odor molecules and hearing involves pressure waves.


Perception is not the passive receipt of these signals, but can be shaped by learning, memory, and expectation. Perception involves these "top-down" effects as well as the "bottom-up" process of processing sensory input. The "bottom-up" processing is basically low-level information that's used to build up higher-level information (e.g., shapes for object recognition). The "top-down" processing refers to a person's concept and expectations (knowledge) that influence perception. Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness.



External or Sensory perception (exteroception), tells us about the world outside our bodies. Using our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, we perceive colors, sounds, textures, etc. of the world at large. There is a growing body of knowledge of the mechanics of sensory processes in cognitive psychology. Mixed internal and external perception (e.g., emotion and certain moods) tells us about what is going on in our bodies and about the perceived cause of our bodily perceptions. (unquote)


In conclusion, both prophet Isaiah and Jesus emphasized to understand and respond to God’s will more than our sense perception of reality in our world today. By doing so our faith in God will be comprehensive and will have far-reaching impact in the lives of people in our world today. Amen.


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References:
1. http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Cproper14ot.html, accessed 10 August 2013.
2 .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception, accessed 10 August 2013.
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GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. What does it mean to you to renounce or put less importance on material possessions?
2. What are the anticipated impact of living in God’s kingdom on your lifestyle?

NO TO WAR OF AGGRESSION IN THE KOREAN PENINSULA

NO TO WAR OF AGGRESSION IN THE KOREAN PENINSULA Statement on the intensifying tremors of war of aggression in the Korean Peninsula between the United States of America-Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 01 April 2013 We are individuals and migrant workers organizations in South Korea who are greatly alarmed and concerned on the possibility of eruption of war of aggression in the Korean Peninsula. We, in the strongest terms oppose and resist any attempt from the contending countries and states to start a direct armed confrontation and the use of both conventional and high tech war armaments including nuclear weapons to achieve their political-military and economic ends. The provocations through the Joint US-ROK military exercises should be stopped now. The DPRK responses to the provocations, as we understand them are all on the defensive, for since the Armistice of 1953, the US-ROK joint military exercises have always been intended to overthrow the government of the DPRK. We recall that on March 11, 2013 the Joint US- ROK began its annual “Key Resolve” and “Foal” war games. These, and the “Ulchi” games that took place in August 2012, rehearse invasions of North Korea for several months each year. Far from creating security in the region as those governments claim they do, these games deliberately provoke and stir up animosity towards the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK), extend the state of civil war, and promote war as a solution to a conflict instigated and perpetuated by US imperialism with the support of other imperialist countries. This heightened tension has reached an alarming level and people are anticipating at anytime war will broke out, but it seems that the ROK and the diplomatic communities in Seoul are just waiting to evacuate their nationals and are remained silent over the critical situation in the Korean Peninsula. Recently, on the first day of April, the advanced, radar-evading F-22 Raptors were deployed to Osan Air Base, the main US Air Force base in the ROK, from Japan to support ongoing bilateral exercises, the US military command in the ROK said in a statement that the DPRK to restrain itself. On Thursday, March 28, the US flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over the ROK.They flew from the US and back in what appeared to be the first exercise of its kind, designed to show America's ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes "quickly and at will", the US military said. Upon knowing of this Kim Jung-Un, leader of the DPRK, responded swiftly by signing the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the Korean People's Army, ordering them to be on standby for fire so that they may anytime strike the US mainland,its military bases in the operational theatres in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in the ROK," media sources have disclosed. Since coming into power in 2009, the ruling Senuri/Grand National Party US subservient government of the ROK has been undoing all the progress to reunify the peninsula and bring about peace worked out by the previous liberal governments, by churches, NGOs and communities. Continuous war games in recent years have caused an escalation of tensions. They have caused the DPRK to hold underground nuclear tests. This year, in fact, the persistent engagement in war exercises has prompted the DPRK to renounce the July 1953 Armistice Agreement and stand ready to make a counter-attack at any time as of March 11. The situation today is therefore extremely volatile. We call on the governments of labor sending countries, specifically of the Philippines and the Republic of Korea as sovereign states to make a resolute resolve and appropriate actions to stop the war games and de-escalate the tensions in the Korean Peninsula, and prevent armed conflict to happen for there are not less than 42,000 Filipinos out of more than one million foreign residents that work in South Korea, a big number of Filipinos that will be displaced once war will ensue, which we believe given the unemployment situation of the Philippines will be out of jobs and fail to sustain the life of their families. The government of the Republic of Korea has so much to lose in the war and the whole region of Northeast Asia will be in total destruction. The ROK should exercise its sovereign will to stop the military exercises and immediately get into bilateral and multilateral negotiations to make a permanent peace treaty and work towards the reunification of the Korean nation. We call on the government of the United States of America (USA), President Barack Obama, the Congress and Senate to act upon new foreign policies that are based on lasting justice and peace and prevent the political-military institutions in pursuing military solutions to problems around the world, but rather put the basic humanity of peoples and nations as the top priority. The Americans should not be robbed by the government by using their taxes for violating national sovereignty and instigating wars around the world just to pursue the United State’s economic interests such as the control and monopoly of oil, mineral and other natural resources of countries around the world. We call on all justice and peace loving members of the global community to raise their voices against the war of aggression of the United States and other imperialists countries and to support all efforts and actions to evolve a new, just and peaceful world. We support a peaceful resolution of the present crisis in the Korean Peninsula by ending the Korean War once for all with a peace treaty, removing of the United States military from the region, and reunification through dialogue and political process. + --Migrant workers in Korea--

MAUNDY THURSDAY Year C, 2013 by Frank J. Hernando Biblical References: Exodus 12:1-14; John 13:1-17 Christians around the world are celebrating Maundy Thursday this 28th of March and I can imagine the throng of Filipino Christian devotees get into the Maundy Thursday evening services and the street procession holding lit candles and follow their chosen biblical characters and events elaborately sculpted and colorfully dressed for the lenten celebrations with the dirges sung by some men and women on a via dolorosa. What of this Christian commemoration that ordinary Christians may need to know? I would like to suggest that we reflect on the meaning of the Passover as written in the Book of Exodus and also on the understanding of foot washing Jesus illustrated and explained to his disciples and captured by the Gospel of John. The Passover as described in the Book of Exodus was one of the watershed events in Yahweh’s liberating acts in the life of the Hebrew people wherein they were finally freed from slavery from the hands of the Egyptians. On that very night, the Hebrews were instructed to prepare for the last supper in Egypt when they will be freed from the hands of their slave masters. The meal was prepared in each household because it consisted of lamb or goat, when a household could not procure the meat, they have to share with other families. Here was the practice of solidarity amongst the families within a nation. Detailed instructions were given them how to prepare the meal and what to do with the fresh blood painted on their doorposts. The meaning of the blood of the lamb painted on the doorposts as written in the biblical narrative served the cultic belief that the blood sacrifice warded off the last plague or epidemic that killed the male and female firstborns of Egyptian families. The Passover had to be remembered in their life as a nation as a perpetual ordinance. Jesus gathered his disciples in an upper room for a pre-Passover day supper. The Gospel of John narrates that on that very night when he supped with his disciples, he washed their feet to illustrate the meaning and purpose of his mission as the Son of God. For all we know, Jesus studied the Old Testament Scripture especially Prophet Isaiah’s description of the servant in what has been known as the Servant Song in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53. Prophet Isaiah described the characteristics of the servant of God, which should not be misconstrued as one person, but the servant nation Israel who suffered so much from their Babylonian captivity. Relating the two thematic emphases of the Passover, the freedom from slavery in Egypt and the Servant Song, Jesus made both God’s actions in history a realization in the life of the first century BCE people in Palestine. In his life, Jesus took a coherent and consistent imaging of the Servant of God, although in the original meaning in the Old Testament, it refers not to an individual person, but to the collective entity, the nation. Jesus assumed the place of a slaughtered lamb at the Passover and his blood freed the people and at the same time he is the Servant. The remorse that Jesus had in the Garden of Gethsemane, the arrest, trial, mocking and finally the crucifixion of Jesus was a historical event where political, economic, social and religious powers made it possible for them to torture and kill him for he assumed to be God, and he posed a threat to the established social order for his organizing work and providing hope for the reign of justice and peace. I think it is shameful on the part of Christians to believe in Jesus Christ yet presumed to be innocent of perpetuating social systems of injustice, violence and disrespect of the humanity of those whose labors have been exploited, those who continue to live in sub-human conditions such as poverty, oppression and discrimination. +++

SATURDAY NIGHT BIBLE-IN-CONTEXT SESSION WITH MIGRANT WORKERS, 16 March 2013, Seoul, Korea

SATURDAY NIGHT BIBLE-IN-CONTEXT SESSION WITH MIGRANT WORKERS
16 March 2013, Seoul, Korea

Scripture Text: John 8: 1-11
My theological inkling on the text:

“Forgiveness written in the sand”
by Frank Hernando

Before the invention of typewriters and computers there were only the stylus and ink and papyrus tree barks were used for writing laws and the Scripture. As sociological studies of the Bible have disclosed that during the time of Jesus, not many can have access to ink and papyrus and writing was not very common then. The scribes and the Pharisees who intruded into the crowd that gathered around Jesus and for sure read the torah or the Levitical laws that were accessible to them in the temple or in synagogues. They know well the written laws and I would think that they have memorized large portions of the torah. Bringing in a woman caught in adultery, the scribes and Pharisees tried to trick Jesus into judging the woman based on his calculation of the written moral law inscribed in the torah. They quoted the text from Leviticus 20:10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of[a] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death,” to make a test case of adultery to Jesus. We can perceive that at this time of ministry, many people from the underside of the Jewish society have avidly followed Jesus and created ripples of disgust to the scribes of Pharisees. Because of the growing number of followers of Jesus and those who attracted to the new meaning of the Scripture, Jesus’ detractors were determined to stop him from eventually playing a central role in the life of the people. Anxious of this possibility, they always tried to trap Jesus.

As mentioned in the exegetical commentary on John 8 by W. Hall Harris III:The scribes and Pharisees must have thought they had Jesus in the classic “double bind” situation—they could get him no matter what he did or said. If he upheld the Law and commanded that the woman be stoned, they could bring accusation before Pilate (since the death penalty was not permitted to the Jewish authorities), and this could be combined with the popular acclamations of him as King. If, on the other hand, he overturned the Law, he would be discredited with the people.

But Jesus know full well of their intention and in a minute or so, he wrote something on the ground, a gesture of writing one’s thoughts on paper or typing on a keyboard of a computer. The scribes and Pharisees may have kept on pestering Jesus about the case and getting impatient of hearing what he had to say, and he finally spoke to his detractors, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Simply put, Jesus confronted his detractors by telling them that if they think they have the authority to mete-out punishment, why don’t they do it. Then he bent down again to write on the ground, while they left one by one. Here we can understand that the scribes and Pharisees were not in position or have the authority to mete-out the punishment on the woman who was caught in adultery. Jesus kept on writing on the ground mimicking the one who has authority to write or rewrite laws for life rather than writing laws for the sake of laws or for the preservation of institutional or class interests. The woman was freed from shame and guilt imposed on her by society. Jesus firmed up the belief in his hearers’ mind that God is a loving and forgiving God and that the social laws or any other laws are there to guide people in making their lives whole and meaningful rather than miserable and hopeless. He said to her, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” What Jesus wrote on the ground are obscured from our knowledge, but the whole story tells us that even if the words of forgiveness are written in the sand and washed away by the waves, what has been written down in the sand can be written in the hearts and minds of those who wanted to live out the values of God’s kingdom.

SHARING TIME GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. What are the requisites of forgiveness? If any.

2. Why is forgiveness necessary?

3. How true is, "to err is human, to forgive is divine'?

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

1. Some participants mentioned that it is possible to forgive without preconditions or requisites, like when someone has hurt her and apologized, she would forgive without mentioning requisites. Others mentioned that somehow forgiveness has requisites in situations where life, livelihood was lost, forgiving those who cause of such loss would not come easy and restoration, justice meted out, compensation are some of the requisites of forgiveness.

2. Forgiveness is necessary because it is part of community and social life. It begets deeper understanding and cohesion of other members of an organization or community. People with religious faith can draw-out from their spiritual wells to practice forgiveness with justice, rather than just forgiving to maintain one's mental health and sanity. Forgiveness should be redemptive.

3. The saying "to err is human and to forgive is divine" is quite true in the practice of forgiveness with justice. A broader perspective of one's humanity and redemptive empathy shown in social relationships truly illustrate the tendency to err or commit mistakes and therefore the need for other people to give feedback and constructive criticism so that the erring person will be able to correct mistakes and will receive instruction and offer to him/her the new new ways of thinking and doing. This saying should not be construed as an easy way-out from carelessness or alibi to stubbornness in rectifying past actions.

Migrant workers lenten reflections.

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