Somehow I managed to pack and leave Manila last March 20. Despite being overweight by a few pounds, I (not me actually but my suitcase) was not charged. Although I left the parish at three o'clock in the morning, a van full of parishioners accompanied me to the airport. Thankfully, they were merciful and did not cry so I also did not break down. It was sad, of course, and my heart still aches. However, as I told the parisioners at my last Sunday sermon, my departure is not my abandoning them and leaving them behind, but it is their sending me off, missioning me to Japan as the first foreign missionary from the Parish of the Risen Christ. It is not something negative and sad, but a positive and joyous occasion for the parish. As their small part in God's grand plan of salvation for us all, they were sending me out to witness to the Risen Christ in Japan where so few people know Him.
On Holy Thursday when I attended the Chrism Mass at the cathedral in Nagoya, I realized I was back in Japan and was struck how very few those Christians actually are in Japan. Compared to the solemn and joyous festivities of the Archdiocese of Manila, the mass was so simple and quiet. Our beloved Bishop Nomura presided with maybe just a couple of hundred Catholics in attendance. In Manila thousands cheer and pray as servers bring in heavy golden containers filled with gallons of oil to be blessed by Cardinal Rosales. In Nagoya three small vessels with perhaps a quart or so of oil were enough for the year's needs. This shows the enormous challenge of our mission in Japan.
Although saddened by my departure from Manila, I stand ready and willing to begin my assignment as the newy-appointed missionary secretary of our Japan Province. As always with Divine Word Missionaries, this work promises to be another fantastic adventure.
May you all have a Solemn Holy Week and a Joyous Easter.
May the Heart of the Risen Christ live in the hearts of all. Amen.
Posted:
4/9/2009 9:11:58 PM with
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Already a month has passed since I mentioned on this blog that my writer's block might be due to preoccupation with other problems. Actually it is only one problem--my transfer back to the SVD Japan Province. Knowing that I will have to leave Smokey Mountain soon (just in a few days on March 20), I found it painful to write about it and its people.
Even before I came, our Superior General, Fr. Tony Pernia, told me, "Don't fall in love with the Philippines." He added that the SVD does not usually transfer personnel from the 'chopstick cultures' of Japan, Korea and China because of the time, effort and money to learn the languages. So I knew that I would have to go back eventually, but even after five years, it just came too soon.
Gradually I am trying to say my farewells to so many people who have touched my life here. Never in my forty years with the SVD have I found it so difficult to say goodbye. Leaving Japan was not so hard because I was in school work and the students were always graduating and leaving us after just a few years. In parish work I have found that I became much more attached to our parishioners than my former students because of the intensity of the interaction on all sorts of levels of life, not just education and the classroom
I am even finding it difficult to pack. The boxes and suitcase just sit there empty as I sit at a loss of where to begin.
Posted:
3/10/2009 9:45:15 PM with
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These were the words that Father Tom Cassidy, SVD, used to criticize the practice sermons of the students at Divine Word Major Seminary in Tagatay, Philippines. Known as an inspirational preacher and retreat master, Father Tom passed away last week at the age of ninety after sixty years of service in the Philippines and several years in pre-1949 China. He was given a fiery send-off to his eternal reward by his homiletics student and successor, Father Lino Nicasio, SVD.
As I was listening to the eulogy about Father Tom, I was reflecting on the sermons which I have given lately and which seem to have lost their fire. There is a combination of various causes such as fatigue from the long and arduous Christmas season, lack of inspiration, my incapability to say what I really want to say in Tagalog and perhaps preoccupation with other problems.
As the assistant pastor in the Parish of the Risen Christ for five years, I now realize the difficulties of preaching to the same people week after week and year after year as the liturgical readings are repeated. As a teacher and principal in Japan, I usually spoke to many different groups so I could use similar ideas which seemed fresh to each group. Here I am challenged to come up with new angles on the readings in order to preach well. Beginning already on Monday I have been spending hours each day to prepare-- sometimes with questionable results. This is one of the reasons or excuses why I have not been blogging on this site.
To preach with more fire I need to read a lot more theology to deepen the content of my sermons, literature to improve my language and other contemporary sources such as newspapers to stay up-to-date. I also need to dialogue more with our poor and marginalized parishioners to I can preach about something which is relevant to their very particular situations in life. The Sunday sermon is so very important because sometimes it is the only time we have to touch the people during the week.
Maybe it is only a problem of writer’s block, but please pray for me that I may become a worthy preacher and witness of the Divine Word.
Sermons can be a pain not only for the listener but also for the one who is trying to prepare one with FIRE.
Posted:
2/10/2009 9:15:33 PM with
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For the last few days since Christmas the number and noise volume of fireworks has been increasing steadily. No sooner does Christmas end than we start celebrating New Year’s with noise and a lot of it. It is still only the middle of the afternoon of December 31 but the fireworks are going off one after another.
Soon we will start our New Year’s Day ‘Midnight Mass’ at eight o’clock this evening. People are too afraid of the explosions later near midnight so we have to start and finish mass before nine o’clock. It is just not the danger and noise of the fireworks, but there is so much smoke that fills the air that you almost choke.
Again maybe this noise adds a little more excitement to an otherwise drab and poor New Year’s celebration.
Posted:
12/31/2008 5:08:44 AM with
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Inevitably during the two-week Christmas vacation young boys and teenagers will start dyeing their black hair blond. Or maybe I should say bright yellow. Some dye their whole head of hair, others dye in stripes and still others yellow spots like polka dots. Some others have long yellow strands of hair hanging from the back of their heads like tails. The schools do not allow the children to dye their hair during the school year so vacations give them a chance to let loose, I suppose.
I am not sure of the cultural significance of this phenomenon, but I also noticed that the young people in Japan also liked to dye their hair brown or blond. They called themselves "Yankees". Some of the teenagers here also tell me that they want to look like an American. You could say that they are not content with their black hair which is like everyone else's here. But that might be reading too much into it. Sometimes I think these teenagers just want to add a little color and excitement to an otherwise rather drab and poor time during Christmas and New Year vacation.
By the way, the dye is really, really cheap -- only about ten cents per pack which can dye five or six heads of hair.
Posted:
12/31/2008 3:36:19 AM with
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