reflections Archive

[The following is a summary of the homily of Bishop Antonio Tobias, the bishop of the Diocese of Novaliches at the Mass for St. Vincent de Paul’s feast in the Santuario. The gospel for this feast is taken from Luke 16: 19-31 – the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Since I was concelebrating, I had no time to translate to the Asian students the homily of the celebrant as I did during the Novena Masses. I am just summarizing the Bishop’s homily here. Since the Santuario was flooded due to the typhoon “Pedring”, the Mass was celebrated in the small chapel of SVS. Mmany people who were outside – some under the rain in their umbrellas, some waded through water, some in corridors and had no view of the altar – could not also hear his homily. This is also for them to read. Please pass.]

1.       The poor person in the Gospel has a name, Lazarus. The rich man has none; he was just described as “a rich man”. This is the total opposite of how the world considers the poor. Powerful events and persons have names; they are well known. For example, this strong powerful typhoon “Pedring” has a name; typhoons always have names. But their victims – the poor — have no names. The rich people are also known for their names. The poor ones just suffer and die without us knowing their names. I think St. Luke really intends that in this Gospel, the poor man has a name in order to counteract what the world usually thinks and does. And here St. Luke and St. Vincent is one: that the poor person needs to be recognized for his personal dignity, for his unique importance, for his individual name.

2.      The rich man did not care about others. He was just concerned of himself.  The dog is better. He gives attention to the poor man, even if it means just licking his wounds. This stance in front of poverty, in front of someone in need, has strong repercussion in one’s destiny so much so that in the afterlife, the callous rich was sent to fires of Hades and the poor man Lazarus found himself in the bosom of Abraham and the angels. There was a large gulf that separated them. No matter how much the rich man begged for a drop of water to quench his thirst, it was impossible because the large gulf separating them in this life is as wide as that which separated them in the afterlife. Each one though found himself on the opposite end just like when they were on earth. They exchanged places though. This should make us think and shudder. The way we take care of the poor in this life spells how we will be in the life to come. St. Vincent’s life reminds us about this.

3.       But even in the other life, the rich man has not really learned. Even as he was suffering in Hades, he was still thinking of himself, of his family and how they can be saved. He begs Abraham to send Lazarus to help save his family, to remind them. But Abraham said no. There are so many things in life that reminds them of their duty. The Jews have the Torah. It is already written them to care for the poor, to welcome the stranger, to help the captives, to show mercy to the widows, etc. Thus, the rich man could not claim that there was no one who reminded him. He must have already known. So, there was no reason for him to act the way he did. This is a challenge to all. Today, there are many people who are suffering – from the rain, from the typhoons, from the flood. What are we doing?  How do we celebrate St. Vincent’s feast in the midst of this suffering humanity?

4.      There is one last thing I am still asking: Why is St. Vincent called “de Paul”? I do not know that. I am still studying about this. I will ask our Vincentian brothers why. So, I will tell it to you next time…

Most Rev. Bishop Antonio Tobias, D.D.
Diocese of Novaliches
September 27, 2011

Summarized by:
Fr. Daniel Franklin Pilario, C.M.

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Fr. Jimmy A. Belita, CM

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is said in an old prayer for the dead in Christian churches. It is revealing of one of the time-honored practices of Christians which is to cremate the dead, even if burial was the traditional one. In the early church, the Christians praised their God as the body of martyrs went up in smoke and they certainly had a vision of them ascending to their Creator faster than even the dust that settled after a burial.  Some who chose cremation as an option have been heard stating their solidarity with the martyrs in the Church “who have willingly presented their bodies for burning at the stake rather than deny their deepest convictions.“ There is some kind of a mystique about the fire so that in Old Testament  times people felt assured  of God’s guiding presence as the fire led them to the promised land (Ex 13:21-22).  At Pentecost in the New Testament period, the apostles’ hearts burnt with zeal as “tongues as of fire settled on each one of them (Acts 2:3).

In the time of the black plague in Europe that annihilated almost half of the population, the Christians did not hesitate to put on fire the stricken bodies of their loved ones to cleanse them and to protect the surviving community. That was the most sanitary thing to do and they thanked their Church for allowing them even before the calamity to carry out a cremation, a practice that was always existing side by side with the burial of the dead. Christians, then, would breathe in relief as they gazed at the soaring smoke which carried with it their beloved dead. Since fire and smoke  point to  God,  cremation can be a meaningful  symbol of the believers  entering into His holy presence.

It was too bad that, in the course of time, people, unsympathetic to the Church and to her teachings, including the resurrection,  came with their own views.  They used cremation for reason other than practicality or conviction, but merely to spite what the Church believes about the human1 body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and participant in the Lord’s resurrection. So, the Church could not make it appear that she was in connivance with her critics by allowing cremation as it had been done long before.  The Church acted prudently in discouraging it lest it cause scandal.   But that was long time ago. The unnecessary mutual hostility between the Church and her critics on the issue of the human body today is practically nil.

In many parts of the Christian world, the practice of cremation has increased; in the Philippines in the absence of statistical data, we can surmise that cremation has gained more acceptance quite considerably. That guess is bolstered by the mushrooming of cremation facilities in many urban areas, while for economic reason people in the countryside do it the traditional way: put the dead in the coffin and bury it in the ground or enclosed it in a tomb. In all of these, there is really no debate now on which one is preferable. When unto dust we will all be reduced, whether as a corpse or as ashes, a debate on it will be an exercise in futility. Again, we are all destined to return to the earth, only that through ashes our integration with the earth from which we came and our return to nature’s cycle would just be faster.

Believers are convinced that the resurrection of the body is God’s act alone and it would not depend on whether the body is decomposing in a tomb or existing as ashes or even strewn out in a field or in the sea.  God knows where to find His faithful and He surely knows how to recompense them for their faithfulness. To raise us up into a new life, God does not need to reassemble our scattered parts nor to do some CPR on a lifeless body. Resurrection is not a resuscitation which needs the physical body for the restoration of life, even if it is still subject to eventual death as in the case of Lazarus (Jn 11:43-44).  Resurrection is a transformation of the earthly body into a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:5) to participate in the life of the Risen Christ.  This, indeed, is Good News, as St. Paul proclaims:

“I declare to you, brothers [and sisters], that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory……
Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’” (1 Cor 15:50-55).

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