Homily during the Thanksgiving Mass of Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio S. David, D.D.
Bishop of Kalookan, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Cardinal Protector of Trasfigurazione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo
December 14, 2024 | San Roque Cathedral Parish - Diocese of Kalookan
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord:
Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat!
(Good morning, everyone!)
Thank you very much, everyone for joining me in this Thanksgiving Mass. Thank you also to those of you who joined me virtually in prayer as they followed the events through the social media platforms, and those who attended the prayer triduum held here at San Roque Cathedral.
I feel specially indebted to the more or less 150 people—family, friends, Kalookan priests, and curia staff who travelled all the way to Rome to physically attend the Consistory in Rome last December 7. Most of us arrived late last night and have hardly had any sleep. You are therefore excused if jetlag causes you to fall asleep. Don’t worry, I am the only one who’s not supposed to fall asleep now.
I feel so blessed to be in the company of several of my brother archbishops, and bishops today, co-presiding in this Eucharist. Especially in the company of the representative of the Holy Father, our Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles John Brown; and two of my close friends among the Emeritus-Archbishops: Apu Ceto, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto (Archbishop-Emeritus of San Fernando); and Archbishop Diosdado “Apo Dado” Talamayan (Archbishop-Emeritus of Tuguegarao).
Of course, my other brother bishops here present: Bishop Soc Mesiona, of Puerto Princesa; Bishop Junie Maralit, the new Bishop of San Pablo in Laguna; Bishop Bobette Mallari was my classmate in high school, the Bishop of San Jose, Nueva Ecija. Of course, we have the Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), and Bishop of Pasig, Bishop Mylo Vergara; and Bishop Eugene Cañete, whom I am ordaining to the Episcopacy this coming December 28. He's going to be the new Bishop of Gumaca in Quezon. So, I'm happy to be in your company today, especially with the priests, religious, and lay faithful of the Diocese of Kalookan, and many other guests from everywhere.
Cardinal or Bishop?
The common question that people ask me is, “What do we call you now?” Some even apologize when they call me “Bishop Ambo”. For your information, there was no special ordination for the Cardinalate. I have not ceased to be bishop after being made a cardinal by Pope Francis. So, it is still perfectly okay to call me “Bishop Ambo”. Don't ever apologize for that. I am still the Bishop of Kalookan who just received some additional responsibilities from the Bishop of Rome.
If you call me “Your Eminence”, I will understand that. I would take that to mean you want to be formal with me, and you expect me to be formal with you. If you call me “Cardinal Ambo” or “Apung Ambo”, I will take it to mean you’re being friendly with me, and I’ll respond the same way.
Wisdom of the Heart
Let us now reflect a little on our readings. Perhaps we can take our inspiration from today's Responsorial Psalm, which says: “The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.” How do you say that in Tagalog? “Karunungan ang bulong na namumutawi sa bibig ng mga matuwid.”
We often associate wisdom with the mind or what goes on inside our heads. Remember how our teachers in elementary used to tell us, “Use your coconut”? But nowadays we already know that intelligence isn’t just what goes on in the mind. Therefore, the psalmist speaks today about a “wisdom of heart”—a combination of good judgment, discernment, and sensibility. This wisdom is essential for discipleship, which Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel (Luke 14:25-33).
The image that comes to my mind is that of Jesus pointing at His Sacred Heart; and suggesting a different kind of intelligence. It's not “use your coconut” pointing at the head. It's Jesus saying, “use your heart”, “Dilexit Nos”, a beautiful encyclical recently released by Pope Francis, about the Sacred Heart. The image of the Sacred Heart makes me imagine the Lord saying what He said in Matthew 11:29—“Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome… Learn to be gentle and humble of heart.” He speaks of a different kind of intelligence. What the psalmist calls the WISDOM OF HEART.
Let us reflect on two questions related to the quest for wisdom of heart as we draw some lessons from the Gospel about the cost of discipleship.
Learning to Deal with Rejection and Persecution
Firstly, how do we deal with rejection or even persecution as a possible consequence of discipleship?
In my Facebook page, I once shared a post about the meaning of the red vestments the Cardinals are made to wear at the Consistory. (Red Biretta, red zucchetto or skullcap, red mozzetta or cape, red cord around your neck, red cassock, red sash. The only things I could not get myself to wear were red socks and red shoes.) Well, red, as we all know, is the liturgical color of martyrdom, martyrdom for the Church. It is supposed to remind us of the self emptying love of Jesus Christ, the love that is always ready to lay down one's life. Especially for the undeserving, especially for sinners. Our faith has never been only for the deserving and the righteous.
Luke tells us “great crowds” were traveling with Jesus (Lk. 14:25). You know, in the Gospels, Jesus is generally not very fond of “crowds” following Him like a mindless herd. In Kapampangan we have a word for people who are not really following but are just going with the current. We use the word: “mangapatuki”. Ibig sabihin, hindi talaga sumasama, kundi napapasama lang. (Meaning, they are not really followers, but just going along.), So, Jesus challenges the crowds with the possible repercussions of being his disciples: DEALING WITH REJECTION.
I wonder how you felt when you heard that part in the Gospel where Jesus said, “We cannot be His disciples unless we hate father or mother, brothers, or sisters” (cf. Lk. 14:26). Let me make one thing sure clear: Jesus never taught His disciples to hate anybody, least of all family, father, mother, brothers, or sisters, because it is not consistent with his message of love. Remember, remember what He answered when He was asked which of the commandments of the Law was the greatest; and He highlighted only love of God and love of neighbour as oneself (Mt. 22:34-40).
So, how could Jesus [who] represents the God of love teach us to hate? We will get the sense better if we put quotation marks on the word “hate”. In short, Jesus is warning His would be followers, something like this. “You have to be ready to be called many names, like hypocrites, fools, family-haters, masochists.” Many of the early Christians were expelled from their own homes and their synagogues for following Jesus. They were accused of the most atrocious things, including cannibalism [because they're eating the body and blood of Christ]. They were accused of arson. Nero burned down Rome and accused the Christians of doing it. Or they were plainly called mentally deranged.
So, Jesus says “Whoever does not carry his own cross…cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:27). Whoever is not ready to empty himself of his ego, what we call KENOSIS, will not, cannot be my disciple. He is not saying this to glorify suffering and death. The cross for Him is about love: loving unconditionally (with the love of God) and being ready for whatever sacrifice.
I know you look at the cross as a morbid symbol, because it's an instrument of torture. It was used for death penalties, but He has transformed it into something beautiful, a symbol of love, of unconditional love. Learning to love with the love of God; and being ready for whatever sacrifice, not ever giving up on any fellow human being.
You know, they have always said, “Walang likas na masaman tako dito sa mundo.” God did not create an evil human being. Even if human beings are capable of the most evil kind of action, we always distinguish between “action” and “person”. The action may be evil, but the person is essentially good, image and likeness of God.
Sustainable and Participative Discipleship
Now for the second question: “Do we have what it takes to be a disciple? Do we have the resources that we need to participate in Christ’s mission of redemption?”
In relation to this second question Jesus is giving two analogies in the form of parables: first, about the tower-builder; and second, about the king who is marching to battle. In both instances, the resources are not enough, either to finish the project or to win the battle.
So, the question is, why even attempt to build a structure that you can’t finish? Is it even worth the effort if your resources are not enough anyway? Well, my answer to that is, have you not heard of huge projects like the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, which is still not finished even after one hundred years? I think it was clear to Gaudi that he could not finish the project within his lifetime; but he dared to embark on it anyway as long as he was able to inspire his community and the coming generations to see to its completion. Did the project stop with Gaudi’s death? No. Many people who believed in the project have continued it. Needless to say, resources have to do, not just with money and manpower or material resources. The good will of volunteers and committed participants is often more essential than the material resources.
We are a church of the poor in the Diocese of Kalookan. Believe me, the resources here overflow. The good will of volunteers and committed participants of the Church's life and mission, this is more far more essential than any material resources.
You cannot finish a huge project if it is just your personal project, if nobody shares in the vision, if the next generation does not believe in it. You will die and your project dies with you.
You also will not be able to win a battle if you count only on your troops, or only on your chariots, horses, and weapons. Winning a battle is also about other resources that include strategy, foresight, ingenuity, strong will, determination, timing etc.
The Church’s mission is not about promoting a religion. It has to do rather with bringing about God’s kingdom. Meaning we don’t build it ourselves. It is arrogant to even think of it as “our project”; it is God’s project. We are mere participants in it. What God has begun with Christ he has sustained with the Church. The heavenly kingdom that God has begun to build in this world will be completed beyond this world. Participation in God’s project through Jesus Christ is what the call to discipleship is about. The moment we delude ourselves into thinking that it is our own project, we will find out that our resources will never be enough. Remember the Psalm that says, “If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor; and in vain does the watchman stand his guard, if the Lord is not his help” (Ps. 127:1).
Someone asked me: “How are you coping with what’s happening in your life at the moment?” I answered and said, “I took the Consistory in Rome and being made a cardinal as no different from any other day in my life.” [“No big deal.” That's what Pope Francis told me, and not to make a big deal of it; and to take it all with the grain of divine humor.] “I deal with it with what St. Ignatius Loyola calls “spiritual indifference.” He says, we had to learn to be indifferent, not in the negative sense, but in the positive sense of it. It is the key to keeping one’s sense of equanimity in the midst of unsettling developments in our lives.
It may sound like it, but this is not supposed to be the same as the attitude that says, “I couldn’t care less,” or “Come what may,” or, as young people nowadays would say with sarcasm: “Whatever.” It is rather a state of inner serenity that makes us ready for anything in life. In his Spiritual Exercises #23 St Ignatius says, “We should not prefer health to sickness, riches to poverty, honor to dishonor, a long life to a short. The same holds for all other things.”
That is what people also say as vows when they get married. “Grant us the Lord to be one heart and one's soul from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death, do us part.” I’ve noticed sometimes that when couples say their vows, they say “for better” is louder than “for worse”. “For richer” is louder than “for poorer”. “In health” is louder than “in sickness”, but it is still there. We have to be ready for anything. That’s spiritual indifference.
To arrive at this kind of spiritual disposition obviously requires extraordinary grace, limitless patience, as well as firm purpose and determination of the will that is beyond all of us.
When I entered the hall a while ago, everybody's attention was on me. You know what I did? I called attention to my pectoral cross. I said, “Look at this. Look at this cross. It's the Cross of Saint Oscar Romero. It was gifted to me on the 30th anniversary of that bishop who was assassinated, martyred in El Salvador.” When people focused their attention on the cross, I was relaxed already. They were no longer paying attention to me. As I marched inside this church, I was looking at the cross. That was my way of suggesting to all of you, “Don't look at me. Look at Jesus. We’re all really unimportant here, [we’re] just participants in the life and mission of our Savior Jesus.
So, among the most important blessings that go with spiritual indifference is that of peace of mind, heart, soul, and an unreserved trust in God’s loving and constant guiding Divine Providence. Jesus Himself calls us to trust with the comforting words: “My Father has you in the palm of His hand and nobody can snatch you from His hand.”
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