taliwala sa mga hilay nga nagpasad sa katilingban...
sa mga kahasol nga hinimo sa kaugalingon...
sa mga kagul-anan sa uban nga kinahanglang ubanan...
hinaut unta nga ako magdalag presensya sa magbubuhat
presensya sa maghuhupay
taliwala sa mga kalipay nga natagamtam...
taliwala sa mga katawa ug agik-ik...
sa talidhay ug pahiyum
kining dughan sa hilum adunay mga bakho
adunay mga dangoyngoy sa pangindahay
kay human ko dad-a kining presensya ngadto sa katilingban
kining maong presensya akong naamgohan
lisud ampingan
akong nakita nga lungagon kining kaugalingon
buslot kining banga nga bika...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
landong
tugoti ang imong kaugalingon nga hiposon sa mga bukton sa imong magbubuhat panahon sa kagabhion.
pagmata mo sa kabuntagon tugoti nga ang misterio nianang imong gipikas diha sa misa mamahimong matuod diha sa kinabuhi nga imong ipahiluna sa altar sa kalibutan.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
graduation speech
Your Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu, your excellency Bishop Antonio Rañola, Priest Formators, Professors lay formators, friends and benefactors, Good afternoon.
I have always wanted to be close to God. and I realized that priesthood would be an excellent avenue for me to reach this intimacy with the Divine. Then I wanted to live and die as a priest; a good one at that. So great was my yearning that one time I told myself that it would be a great success, should I be able just to be admitted to study in the seminary. I have always imagined then the close relationship between God and the priest; that a priest is to be within whispering distance from God.
I became a seminarian and I wanted to experience this idealized imagination that I had before, the picture of being so intimate with God that I could hear him whisper. During those first months and years of my seminary life, I thought I was having a close relationship with God attaining it through my own efforts. I would spend much time on my personal devotions even on study periods and I would really find time to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The feeling was good. I then felt flattered by the expressions of appreciation from people who saw the good seminarian that I believed I was The horror of committing sin and the avoidance of persons and situations that might soil my efforts to holiness tended to separate me from the rest of the community. That was my feeling. I was tempted to view myself as the best of all seminarians there is, thanking God of my goodness and comparing it with the misdeeds of others. It sounds familiar, isn’t it? Ahh…the Pharisee and the Publican.
My journey in the major seminary somehow dips me into the reality that I’m no longer a child, with someone to enforce authority from the outside that would allow minimal commission of evil deeds. To me, what is taught here is to appreciate the authority of God in my conscience thus becoming more helpful in the adult spiritual life because that authority goes with me anywhere. Here it is that I come to appreciate sin vis-à-vis the love of God. This is captured in a strophe of the praeconium of the Easter Proclamation rendered in Cebuano.
O katingalahang panumbaling alang kanamo,
O dili masukod nga pagpangga sa imong gugma,
aron matubos mo ang ulipon gitugyan mo ang imong bugtong anak
O palaran nga kalapasan,
O gikinahanglang sala ni Adan nga nakaangkon alang kanamo
sa ingon kadako nga Manunubos.
No, it’s not that I’m here committing sin liberally up to my heart’s further discontent but it’s in the formation content of this “best seminary in Asia” that I came to meet real people and dialogue with them about their experiences or non-experience with God. People who hate to go to Church not because they hate God but because of the attitudes of some personages in clergy whose character and countenance rather clouds the gospel message more than preaching it by their lips and hands.
I was always grateful that I became one of those students who were recommended to study abroad through the assistance of the good Opus Dei priests but His Eminence [Ricardo Cardinal Vidal] was not able to sign my papers and so that I fell without having started to fly, but, I gracefully landed on no less than the the motherly palm of God in this venerable institution. Oh happy fault. God knows best. Nothing happens by chance. I believe in the Divine Providence and why God chooses to form me/us in this seminary.
In this seminary, is taught and practiced that leadership is service and that’s one thing that I hope I have imbibed. That the erection of magnificent triumphalistic edifices without the corresponding building up of the church of the poor is insulting to the God of compassion and justice who always takes the side of our least sisters and brothers; that magnificent churches could well be an excuse that we are indolent to build up The Church; the people of God. But even as I am speaking of this I also feel I am too small for the noble task of building the people of God.
Now to this lifetime commitment that I am into, I maybe afraid of the things that come my way; I don’t know what the future holds for me but I’m sure God will be there. I trust in his grace in me and I hope that this grace in me will surely meet the Grace that is him. I believe I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me… and I trust that none can be against us if God is for us…
Your Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal I am very grateful to your person the sign of unity of the Church of Cebu and a tangible presence of Christ the Good Shepherd. To the formators thank you for your words of teachings but more so thank you for your deeds worthy of emulation which inspire to you live what you teach that which you yourselves have lived. To our lay formators especially nanay Minnie Dosdos thank you for your undying labor in the vineyard of God. To our priest companion Fr. Dondon Aquino and to my Spiritual Director Fr. Bob Rice SJ both know me well and both earn my filial trust. To my benefactors and sponsors, Mrs. Carmen Mercado, Ms. Veronica Bariquit and Mrs Nene Abella also Sec. Ace Durano, thank you may God who will never be outdone in generosity keep you as apples of his eye. To our newfound friends brothers and sisters thank you. To my classmates, the brothers of St. Fancis of Assisi thank you, real brothers you will always be to me. To my family, to my parents Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel and Charlie Dutosme thank you God's gift to me is his gift to you, may we always be grateful to God for it.
To the Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph, I am ever grateful to these two guardians of my vocation. To God, God! may you help me sing of your mercies forever.
Lastly, may God humble me down all the more because of this praise I have received.
I thank you all.
I have always wanted to be close to God. and I realized that priesthood would be an excellent avenue for me to reach this intimacy with the Divine. Then I wanted to live and die as a priest; a good one at that. So great was my yearning that one time I told myself that it would be a great success, should I be able just to be admitted to study in the seminary. I have always imagined then the close relationship between God and the priest; that a priest is to be within whispering distance from God.
I became a seminarian and I wanted to experience this idealized imagination that I had before, the picture of being so intimate with God that I could hear him whisper. During those first months and years of my seminary life, I thought I was having a close relationship with God attaining it through my own efforts. I would spend much time on my personal devotions even on study periods and I would really find time to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The feeling was good. I then felt flattered by the expressions of appreciation from people who saw the good seminarian that I believed I was The horror of committing sin and the avoidance of persons and situations that might soil my efforts to holiness tended to separate me from the rest of the community. That was my feeling. I was tempted to view myself as the best of all seminarians there is, thanking God of my goodness and comparing it with the misdeeds of others. It sounds familiar, isn’t it? Ahh…the Pharisee and the Publican.
My journey in the major seminary somehow dips me into the reality that I’m no longer a child, with someone to enforce authority from the outside that would allow minimal commission of evil deeds. To me, what is taught here is to appreciate the authority of God in my conscience thus becoming more helpful in the adult spiritual life because that authority goes with me anywhere. Here it is that I come to appreciate sin vis-à-vis the love of God. This is captured in a strophe of the praeconium of the Easter Proclamation rendered in Cebuano.
O katingalahang panumbaling alang kanamo,
O dili masukod nga pagpangga sa imong gugma,
aron matubos mo ang ulipon gitugyan mo ang imong bugtong anak
O palaran nga kalapasan,
O gikinahanglang sala ni Adan nga nakaangkon alang kanamo
sa ingon kadako nga Manunubos.
No, it’s not that I’m here committing sin liberally up to my heart’s further discontent but it’s in the formation content of this “best seminary in Asia” that I came to meet real people and dialogue with them about their experiences or non-experience with God. People who hate to go to Church not because they hate God but because of the attitudes of some personages in clergy whose character and countenance rather clouds the gospel message more than preaching it by their lips and hands.
I was always grateful that I became one of those students who were recommended to study abroad through the assistance of the good Opus Dei priests but His Eminence [Ricardo Cardinal Vidal] was not able to sign my papers and so that I fell without having started to fly, but, I gracefully landed on no less than the the motherly palm of God in this venerable institution. Oh happy fault. God knows best. Nothing happens by chance. I believe in the Divine Providence and why God chooses to form me/us in this seminary.
In this seminary, is taught and practiced that leadership is service and that’s one thing that I hope I have imbibed. That the erection of magnificent triumphalistic edifices without the corresponding building up of the church of the poor is insulting to the God of compassion and justice who always takes the side of our least sisters and brothers; that magnificent churches could well be an excuse that we are indolent to build up The Church; the people of God. But even as I am speaking of this I also feel I am too small for the noble task of building the people of God.
Now to this lifetime commitment that I am into, I maybe afraid of the things that come my way; I don’t know what the future holds for me but I’m sure God will be there. I trust in his grace in me and I hope that this grace in me will surely meet the Grace that is him. I believe I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me… and I trust that none can be against us if God is for us…
Your Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal I am very grateful to your person the sign of unity of the Church of Cebu and a tangible presence of Christ the Good Shepherd. To the formators thank you for your words of teachings but more so thank you for your deeds worthy of emulation which inspire to you live what you teach that which you yourselves have lived. To our lay formators especially nanay Minnie Dosdos thank you for your undying labor in the vineyard of God. To our priest companion Fr. Dondon Aquino and to my Spiritual Director Fr. Bob Rice SJ both know me well and both earn my filial trust. To my benefactors and sponsors, Mrs. Carmen Mercado, Ms. Veronica Bariquit and Mrs Nene Abella also Sec. Ace Durano, thank you may God who will never be outdone in generosity keep you as apples of his eye. To our newfound friends brothers and sisters thank you. To my classmates, the brothers of St. Fancis of Assisi thank you, real brothers you will always be to me. To my family, to my parents Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel and Charlie Dutosme thank you God's gift to me is his gift to you, may we always be grateful to God for it.
To the Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph, I am ever grateful to these two guardians of my vocation. To God, God! may you help me sing of your mercies forever.
Lastly, may God humble me down all the more because of this praise I have received.
I thank you all.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT OF MINISTRY
Symbol: Hierarchical church
Worldview: the ordained as dispenser of blessings
Ethos: Great respect for the ordained. The priest is held in high esteem among the Filipinos.
The Church is not a democratic body of people. The government in the Church is not of the people, by the people and for the people. Some would say that the Church is not democratic because it is beyond democracy. The whole body of the Church is called the mystical body of Christ and the people is usually referred to as the people of God.
The symbol of hierarchy accordingly projects my own experience of the church as a layperson then and as a cleric now. The Filipino Church inasmuch as it has been colonized by medieval Spain still retains the traces and shadows of the medieval Spanish Church Filipinized to our context.
Allow me to state the ethos of the symbol that I chose. The great respect to the ordained vividly expressed in giving the priest extra special treatment. In a way it redounds to the advantage of the priest. in another way of looking at it, the ethos might also signify the peoples idea of transcendence. Their belief, our faith in the one greater than all of us who is God convinces them to treat the priest as a representative of God. They shoe reverence to the priest in the name of Jesus, God whose presence hopefully the people feel in the presence of the priest who acts in the person of Christ the head.
How do I feel about them?
I feel eerie considering the honor shown to a priest bearing in mind that I too would be shown the same kind of respect after presbyteral ordination. Even now as an ordained deacon I see already premonitions that would lead to these moments.
Another way of consideration is the question of my own self esteem. Why am I not comfortable with treatments of this sort? Well, the question would simple answer the lack of a healthy self esteem on my part or is it only a question of adjustment to the culture? Or have I any issue on authority and power. Anyhow, I still have to figure it out as to what is weightier among the three.
Experiences as a deacon and a reflection drawn from them.
My own experience vis-à-vis blessing sacramentals and utilities would tell me of the peoples faith in God emanated by the presence of the church minister side by side with their cultural upbringing. Last March 1,2009 I happened to bless a motorcycle. My companion Seminarian Noli Francisco pointed out to something that I already noticed. The thing is the blood splattered on the engine of the motorcycle. That is their local custom: to sprinkle animal blood on things to ensure protection and favor from other beings or to ward off evils caused by other invisible forces. Oh, I could have given them a short catechism to the owner but I did not!
The hierarchical structure of the church and the high regard of the laity to the clerics is beneficial to the Church as the people of God in a way that power is rightly used by those who wield it. If the priests be faithful to their tria munera and the evangelical vows then the hierarchical structure can be well utilized for the building of God’s project. To be emphasized however is the prophetic office of the priest that is to teach and feed the people with the Word of God. With my withdrawing attitude, God help me!
Worldview: the ordained as dispenser of blessings
Ethos: Great respect for the ordained. The priest is held in high esteem among the Filipinos.
The Church is not a democratic body of people. The government in the Church is not of the people, by the people and for the people. Some would say that the Church is not democratic because it is beyond democracy. The whole body of the Church is called the mystical body of Christ and the people is usually referred to as the people of God.
The symbol of hierarchy accordingly projects my own experience of the church as a layperson then and as a cleric now. The Filipino Church inasmuch as it has been colonized by medieval Spain still retains the traces and shadows of the medieval Spanish Church Filipinized to our context.
Allow me to state the ethos of the symbol that I chose. The great respect to the ordained vividly expressed in giving the priest extra special treatment. In a way it redounds to the advantage of the priest. in another way of looking at it, the ethos might also signify the peoples idea of transcendence. Their belief, our faith in the one greater than all of us who is God convinces them to treat the priest as a representative of God. They shoe reverence to the priest in the name of Jesus, God whose presence hopefully the people feel in the presence of the priest who acts in the person of Christ the head.
How do I feel about them?
I feel eerie considering the honor shown to a priest bearing in mind that I too would be shown the same kind of respect after presbyteral ordination. Even now as an ordained deacon I see already premonitions that would lead to these moments.
Another way of consideration is the question of my own self esteem. Why am I not comfortable with treatments of this sort? Well, the question would simple answer the lack of a healthy self esteem on my part or is it only a question of adjustment to the culture? Or have I any issue on authority and power. Anyhow, I still have to figure it out as to what is weightier among the three.
Experiences as a deacon and a reflection drawn from them.
My own experience vis-à-vis blessing sacramentals and utilities would tell me of the peoples faith in God emanated by the presence of the church minister side by side with their cultural upbringing. Last March 1,2009 I happened to bless a motorcycle. My companion Seminarian Noli Francisco pointed out to something that I already noticed. The thing is the blood splattered on the engine of the motorcycle. That is their local custom: to sprinkle animal blood on things to ensure protection and favor from other beings or to ward off evils caused by other invisible forces. Oh, I could have given them a short catechism to the owner but I did not!
The hierarchical structure of the church and the high regard of the laity to the clerics is beneficial to the Church as the people of God in a way that power is rightly used by those who wield it. If the priests be faithful to their tria munera and the evangelical vows then the hierarchical structure can be well utilized for the building of God’s project. To be emphasized however is the prophetic office of the priest that is to teach and feed the people with the Word of God. With my withdrawing attitude, God help me!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
AVE MARIS STELLA CEBUANO TRANSLATION
Ave sa dagat bitoon
Inahan kang piniling Diosnon
Ulay ka gayud gihapon
Palaran kang pultang langitnon
Gikalawat mo ang himaya
Gikan kang San Gabriel nga baba
Lipaya kaming makasasala
Kay ilis ka sa ngalan ni Eva
Ang mga binilanggo tangtangi
Ang mga buta hayagi
Ang kadautan namo ipaiway mo
Ang kaayohan namo pangayoon mo
Magpahayag ka Inahan namo
Dawata kining among pag-ampo
Niadtong nagpakatawo
Tungod kanamo nga sa tiyan mo
Birhen ka ulay nga usa ra
Sa ngatanan nagahinuklog ka
Luwasa kami sa sala
Ulayon mo kami unta
Ang kinabuhi namo labani
Ang dalan namo hawani
Nga si Jesus among makit-an
Ang kalipayng gikahidlawan
Daygon tang Dios nga Amahan
Daygon ta ang Dios nga Anak
Daygon tang Dios Espiritu Santo
Usa rang pagdayeg kanilang tulo
Amen
1. Ave maris stella,
Dei Mater alma,
Atque semper Virgo,
Felix caeli porta.
2. Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore,
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans Hevae nomen.
3. Solve vincla reis,
Profer lumen caecis:
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.
4. Monstra t(e) esse matrem:
Sumat per te preces,
Qui pro nobis natus,
Tulit esse tuus.
5. Virgo singularis,
Inter omnes mitis,
Nos culpis solutos,
Mites fac et castos.
6. Vitam praesta puram,
Iter para tutum:
Ut videntes Iesum,
Semper collaetemur.
7. Sit laus Deo Patri,
Summo Christo decus,
Spiritui Sancto,
Tribus honor unus. Amen.
Inahan kang piniling Diosnon
Ulay ka gayud gihapon
Palaran kang pultang langitnon
Gikalawat mo ang himaya
Gikan kang San Gabriel nga baba
Lipaya kaming makasasala
Kay ilis ka sa ngalan ni Eva
Ang mga binilanggo tangtangi
Ang mga buta hayagi
Ang kadautan namo ipaiway mo
Ang kaayohan namo pangayoon mo
Magpahayag ka Inahan namo
Dawata kining among pag-ampo
Niadtong nagpakatawo
Tungod kanamo nga sa tiyan mo
Birhen ka ulay nga usa ra
Sa ngatanan nagahinuklog ka
Luwasa kami sa sala
Ulayon mo kami unta
Ang kinabuhi namo labani
Ang dalan namo hawani
Nga si Jesus among makit-an
Ang kalipayng gikahidlawan
Daygon tang Dios nga Amahan
Daygon ta ang Dios nga Anak
Daygon tang Dios Espiritu Santo
Usa rang pagdayeg kanilang tulo
Amen
1. Ave maris stella,
Dei Mater alma,
Atque semper Virgo,
Felix caeli porta.
2. Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore,
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans Hevae nomen.
3. Solve vincla reis,
Profer lumen caecis:
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.
4. Monstra t(e) esse matrem:
Sumat per te preces,
Qui pro nobis natus,
Tulit esse tuus.
5. Virgo singularis,
Inter omnes mitis,
Nos culpis solutos,
Mites fac et castos.
6. Vitam praesta puram,
Iter para tutum:
Ut videntes Iesum,
Semper collaetemur.
7. Sit laus Deo Patri,
Summo Christo decus,
Spiritui Sancto,
Tribus honor unus. Amen.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
did jesus know...
Did Jesus know that he was God?
Guy Davies
In my review of Brian Edgar's The Message of the Trinity here, I take issue with his statement,
if [Jesus] was aware of being God, could he live a life of faith and trust as every other human is called to do? Would the incarnation not be somewhat like the experience of the crew in Star Trek who, when visiting an alien planet could, in moments of danger, call out, 'Beam me up, Scotty!' and be miraculously...transported back to the safety of the starship. (p. 162)
I indicated that I would like to devote a post to considering this issue. Was Jesus, in his human mind, conscious that he was God?The gospel accounts seem to suggest that Jesus was aware that he was God the Son. He did things that "only God could do" like forgive sins (Mark 2:5-11) . He claimed to stand in a unique relationship to the Father as knower and known. As such he saw himself as the unrivalled revealer of God.All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. (Matthew 11:27)It seems that the devil tried to use Jesus' awareness of who he was to tempt him to use his powers in a selfish, God-denying way (Matthew 4:1-11).If Jesus was not conscious of being God the Son, what to we make of the following statements?For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (John 5:21-23)Jesus exercised God's own prerogative of judgement. He, as the Son demanded to be honoured on the same terms as the Father. He was "making himself equal with God", as the Jews rightly perceived (5:18).I and My Father are one. (John 10:30)“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:7-11)Jesus was conscious that he was one with God. The Father was "in" him and he was "in" the Father. To see the human Jesus was to see the Father because the Son is homoousion - of one substance with the Father.And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)Jesus, in his human mind, was aware of his pre-existence as the glorious Son of God who dwelt with the Father before the world was.Edgar suggests that if Jesus knew that he was God, he would not have needed to exercise faith. But Jesus trusted in God and prayed to him continually. Luke's Gospel especially emphasises the importance of prayer for Jesus. He was aware of his human frailty and need as well as his divine glory.
N. T. Wright reflects,I do not think Jesus "knew he was God" in the same way that one knows one is tired or happy, male or female. He did not sit back and think to himself, "Well I never! I'm the second person of the Trinity!" Rather, "as part of his human vocation, grasped in faith, sustained in prayer, tested in confrontation, agonized over further in prayer and doubt, and implemented in action, he believed that he had to do for Israel and the world, that which according to scripture only YHWH himself could do and be." (The Meaning of Jesus, Wright & Borg, SPCK, 2003, p. 166).
But, perhaps we can go futher than that. Jesus knew that he was Man with a human intellect, a human emotional life and a human physicality. He was profoundly aware of his human needs and limitations. But he also knew that he was the Son of God, one with the Father from eternity and deserving of equal honour to the Father. In his human understanding, Jesus was conscious of his humanity and deity.
.None on this means that in Jesus there are two self-consciousnesses, but it does mean that there are two levels of consciousness of the one self. There is a divine consciousness that he is the eternal Son of God and there is a human consciousness of the same fact. These two forms of consciousness remain distinct, united in one person, communicating through the Holy Spirit. (The Person of Christ, Donald Macleod, IVP, 1998, p. 193).
.
The amazing thing is, that Jesus knew that he was the Son of God, yet he went to the cross to die for the sins of the world. The form of God took the form of a servant and was made sin for us. At the cross, his sense of being the beloved Son of the Father was overwhelmed by a crushing awareness of the holiness of God and the enormity of the sin that he bore in his own body on the tree. He who was homoousion with the Father cried out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Jesus, in his human consciousness, entered the hitherto unknown territory of abandonment by God as he was made a curse for us, "suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man". (Calvin, cited in Macleod op cit. p. 177). Jesus' consciousness of being the Son of God brought him no comfort at that point. There was no reassuring, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased', only the bleak, impenetrable darkness of the wrath of God upon the the sin-bearing Jesus.
.
Yes, Jesus knew who he was. But there was no, "Beam me up, Scotty!", only "Why have you forsaken me?" followed by the triumphant, "It is finished!" (John 19:30).
.
Guy Davies
In my review of Brian Edgar's The Message of the Trinity here, I take issue with his statement,
if [Jesus] was aware of being God, could he live a life of faith and trust as every other human is called to do? Would the incarnation not be somewhat like the experience of the crew in Star Trek who, when visiting an alien planet could, in moments of danger, call out, 'Beam me up, Scotty!' and be miraculously...transported back to the safety of the starship. (p. 162)
I indicated that I would like to devote a post to considering this issue. Was Jesus, in his human mind, conscious that he was God?The gospel accounts seem to suggest that Jesus was aware that he was God the Son. He did things that "only God could do" like forgive sins (Mark 2:5-11) . He claimed to stand in a unique relationship to the Father as knower and known. As such he saw himself as the unrivalled revealer of God.All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. (Matthew 11:27)It seems that the devil tried to use Jesus' awareness of who he was to tempt him to use his powers in a selfish, God-denying way (Matthew 4:1-11).If Jesus was not conscious of being God the Son, what to we make of the following statements?For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (John 5:21-23)Jesus exercised God's own prerogative of judgement. He, as the Son demanded to be honoured on the same terms as the Father. He was "making himself equal with God", as the Jews rightly perceived (5:18).I and My Father are one. (John 10:30)“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:7-11)Jesus was conscious that he was one with God. The Father was "in" him and he was "in" the Father. To see the human Jesus was to see the Father because the Son is homoousion - of one substance with the Father.And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)Jesus, in his human mind, was aware of his pre-existence as the glorious Son of God who dwelt with the Father before the world was.Edgar suggests that if Jesus knew that he was God, he would not have needed to exercise faith. But Jesus trusted in God and prayed to him continually. Luke's Gospel especially emphasises the importance of prayer for Jesus. He was aware of his human frailty and need as well as his divine glory.
N. T. Wright reflects,I do not think Jesus "knew he was God" in the same way that one knows one is tired or happy, male or female. He did not sit back and think to himself, "Well I never! I'm the second person of the Trinity!" Rather, "as part of his human vocation, grasped in faith, sustained in prayer, tested in confrontation, agonized over further in prayer and doubt, and implemented in action, he believed that he had to do for Israel and the world, that which according to scripture only YHWH himself could do and be." (The Meaning of Jesus, Wright & Borg, SPCK, 2003, p. 166).
But, perhaps we can go futher than that. Jesus knew that he was Man with a human intellect, a human emotional life and a human physicality. He was profoundly aware of his human needs and limitations. But he also knew that he was the Son of God, one with the Father from eternity and deserving of equal honour to the Father. In his human understanding, Jesus was conscious of his humanity and deity.
.None on this means that in Jesus there are two self-consciousnesses, but it does mean that there are two levels of consciousness of the one self. There is a divine consciousness that he is the eternal Son of God and there is a human consciousness of the same fact. These two forms of consciousness remain distinct, united in one person, communicating through the Holy Spirit. (The Person of Christ, Donald Macleod, IVP, 1998, p. 193).
.
The amazing thing is, that Jesus knew that he was the Son of God, yet he went to the cross to die for the sins of the world. The form of God took the form of a servant and was made sin for us. At the cross, his sense of being the beloved Son of the Father was overwhelmed by a crushing awareness of the holiness of God and the enormity of the sin that he bore in his own body on the tree. He who was homoousion with the Father cried out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Jesus, in his human consciousness, entered the hitherto unknown territory of abandonment by God as he was made a curse for us, "suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man". (Calvin, cited in Macleod op cit. p. 177). Jesus' consciousness of being the Son of God brought him no comfort at that point. There was no reassuring, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased', only the bleak, impenetrable darkness of the wrath of God upon the the sin-bearing Jesus.
.
Yes, Jesus knew who he was. But there was no, "Beam me up, Scotty!", only "Why have you forsaken me?" followed by the triumphant, "It is finished!" (John 19:30).
.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
the exultet
Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum:
exultent divina mysteria:
et pro tanti Regis victoria tuba insonet
salutaris.
Gaudeat et tellus tantis irradiata fulgoribus:
et, aeterni Regis splendore illustrata,
totius orbis se sentiat amisisse caliginem.
Laetetur et mater Ecclesia,
tanti luminis adornata fulgoribus:
et magnis populorum vocibus haec aula
resultet.
Quapropter astantes vos, fratres carissimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti luminis claritatem,
una mecum, quaeso,
Dei omnipotentis misericordiam invocate.
Ut, qui me non meis meritis
intra Levitarum numerum dignatus est aggregare,
luminis sui claritatem infundens,
cerei huius laudem implere perficiat.
Vers. Dominus vobiscum.
Resp. Et cum spiritu tuo.
Vers. Sursum corda.
Resp. Habemus ad Dominum.
Vers. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
Resp. Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisibilem Deum Patrem omnipotentem
Filiumque eius unigenitum,
Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis affectu et vocis
ministerio personare.
Qui pro nobis aeterno Patri
Adae debitum solvit,
et veteris piaculi cautionem pio cruore detersit.
Haec sunt enim festa paschalia,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occiditur,
cuius sanguine postes fidelium consecrantur.
Haec nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, filios Israele
ductos de Aegypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestigio transire fecisti.
Haec igitur nox est,
quae peccatorum tenebras
columnae illuminatione purgavit.
Haec nox est,
quae hodie per universum mundum
in Christo credentes,
a vitiis saeculi et caligine peccatorum segregatos,
reddit gratiae, sociat sanctitati.
Haec nox est,
in qua, destructis vinculis mortis,
Christus ab inferis victor ascendit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci profuit,
nisi redimi profuisset.
O mira circa nos tuae pietatis dignatio!
O inaestimabilis dilectio caritatis:
ut servum redimeres,
Filium tradidisti!
O certe necessarium Adae peccatum,
quod Christi morte deletum est!
O felix culpa,
quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!
O vere beata nox,
quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit!
Haec nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminabitur:
et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis.
Huius igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera,
culpas lavat:
et reddit innocentiam lapsiset maestis laetitiam.
Fugat odia, concordiam paratet curvat imperia.
O vere beata nox,
in qua terrenis caelestia,
humanis divina iunguntur!¹
In huius igitur noctis gratia,
suscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrificium vespertinum,
quod tibi in hac cerei oblatione sollemni,
per ministrorum manus de operibus apum,
sacrosancta reddit Ecclesia.
Sed iam columnae huius praeconia novimus,
quam in honorem Dei rutilans ignis accendit.
Qui, licet sit divisus in partes,
mutuati tamen luminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquantibus ceris,
quas in substantiam pretiosae
huius lampadisapis mater eduxit.²
Oramus ergo te, Domine,
ut cereus iste in honorem tui nominis consecratus,
ad noctis huius caliginem destruendam,
indeficiens perseveret.
Et in odorem suavitatis acceptus,
supernis luminaribus misceatur.
Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inveniat:
Ille, inquam, lucifer, qui nescit occasum:
Christus Filius tuus,
qui, regressus ab inferis,
humano generi serenus illuxit,
et vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum.
Resp. Amen.
exultent divina mysteria:
et pro tanti Regis victoria tuba insonet
salutaris.
Gaudeat et tellus tantis irradiata fulgoribus:
et, aeterni Regis splendore illustrata,
totius orbis se sentiat amisisse caliginem.
Laetetur et mater Ecclesia,
tanti luminis adornata fulgoribus:
et magnis populorum vocibus haec aula
resultet.
Quapropter astantes vos, fratres carissimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti luminis claritatem,
una mecum, quaeso,
Dei omnipotentis misericordiam invocate.
Ut, qui me non meis meritis
intra Levitarum numerum dignatus est aggregare,
luminis sui claritatem infundens,
cerei huius laudem implere perficiat.
Vers. Dominus vobiscum.
Resp. Et cum spiritu tuo.
Vers. Sursum corda.
Resp. Habemus ad Dominum.
Vers. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
Resp. Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisibilem Deum Patrem omnipotentem
Filiumque eius unigenitum,
Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis affectu et vocis
ministerio personare.
Qui pro nobis aeterno Patri
Adae debitum solvit,
et veteris piaculi cautionem pio cruore detersit.
Haec sunt enim festa paschalia,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occiditur,
cuius sanguine postes fidelium consecrantur.
Haec nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, filios Israele
ductos de Aegypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestigio transire fecisti.
Haec igitur nox est,
quae peccatorum tenebras
columnae illuminatione purgavit.
Haec nox est,
quae hodie per universum mundum
in Christo credentes,
a vitiis saeculi et caligine peccatorum segregatos,
reddit gratiae, sociat sanctitati.
Haec nox est,
in qua, destructis vinculis mortis,
Christus ab inferis victor ascendit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci profuit,
nisi redimi profuisset.
O mira circa nos tuae pietatis dignatio!
O inaestimabilis dilectio caritatis:
ut servum redimeres,
Filium tradidisti!
O certe necessarium Adae peccatum,
quod Christi morte deletum est!
O felix culpa,
quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!
O vere beata nox,
quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit!
Haec nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminabitur:
et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis.
Huius igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera,
culpas lavat:
et reddit innocentiam lapsiset maestis laetitiam.
Fugat odia, concordiam paratet curvat imperia.
O vere beata nox,
in qua terrenis caelestia,
humanis divina iunguntur!¹
In huius igitur noctis gratia,
suscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrificium vespertinum,
quod tibi in hac cerei oblatione sollemni,
per ministrorum manus de operibus apum,
sacrosancta reddit Ecclesia.
Sed iam columnae huius praeconia novimus,
quam in honorem Dei rutilans ignis accendit.
Qui, licet sit divisus in partes,
mutuati tamen luminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquantibus ceris,
quas in substantiam pretiosae
huius lampadisapis mater eduxit.²
Oramus ergo te, Domine,
ut cereus iste in honorem tui nominis consecratus,
ad noctis huius caliginem destruendam,
indeficiens perseveret.
Et in odorem suavitatis acceptus,
supernis luminaribus misceatur.
Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inveniat:
Ille, inquam, lucifer, qui nescit occasum:
Christus Filius tuus,
qui, regressus ab inferis,
humano generi serenus illuxit,
et vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum.
Resp. Amen.
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