Many people keep on asking why are there so many kinds of Bible, isn’t the Bible only one? What’s the difference after all. Before we fall into a long conversation on Biblical Scholarship, the simple answer is: Translation. Translating a work to another language is not an easy task especially if the language is as old as Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew (the Bible’s original languages). Translators often follow two ways in their work:
Below is the listing of Bibles available at ST PAULS Libreria and their characteristics:
Why need an Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat? An Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat means that a book or publication is free of any doctrinal errors. Thus this means that it does not contain heresies such as Jesus is married to Magdalene etc. (these are apocryphal Gospels/Books). Although it does not mean that those who gave the Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat necessarily agree with the contents. In the Philippines these has come to signify that a Bible is a Catholic Version. It does not necessarily need a printed signature. Signatures does not give your Bible more prominence and does not guarantee eternal life automatically. What matters is that it is still the same Word of the same God no matter what version you’re holding right now. Some of us might have preferences regarding translations/versions but what’s important is that we have to acknowledge that the Word of God became flesh and was named Jesus (God saves). (This is my reflection for this Sunday's Gospel, Mt. 5:38-48, given at Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, Cagayan de Oro City, 6pm)
“An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth” Tayo pong mga Pilipino ay labis ang paniniwala sa kasabihang ito. Adik na adik po tayo sa katarungan – sa hustisya. Sa telenovela na lang po: sino ho ba dito ang excited ng mahuli ni Cardo si Joaquin? Ito pong “eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth” sa Latin po ang tawag dito ay “lex talionis” o “law of equivalence” – kung anong ginawa mo sakin, gagawin ko rin sayo. Ito rin po yung pangalan ng fraternity ng pangulo at ng justice secretary. Tayo po kasi ay naniniwala na ang Diyos ay kakampi ng mabuti at kalaban ng masama. At the end dapat mamatay yung masamang tao. Pero ngayong Sunday pong ito kakaiba ata ang sinasabi ng Panginoon. “Love your enemies”. Minsan po eh ako’y nagbibigay ng recollection sa mga high school students, tinanong ko po sila: “Anong tingin mo sa kaaway mo?” Walang nagtataas ng kamay. Maya-maya eh mayroong isang babae tumayo at ang sabi, “Brother para po sa akin siya po ay isang kayamanan.” Natuwa naman po ako kasi kakaiba yung sagot niya eh: ibig sabihin naunawaan niya talaga ang Gospel so tinanong ko siya, “Bakit naman?” Ngumiti siya sabay tingin doon sa babae sa may kabilang row at ang sabi eh, “Ang sarap niya po kasing ibaon sa lupa!” “Love your enemeies!” Ito po marahil ang isa sa pinaka unpopular sa mga sinabi ni Kuya Jes. Imaginin niyo na lang po: ninakawan kayo, pinagsamantalahan, binugbog... at the end sasabihin sayo ni Kuya Jes, “love your enemies”. Marahil po magpapalit kaagad tayo ng religion pag ganun ang nangyari. Pero ito po mismo ang sinasabi niya sa atin ngayon, “Love your enemies!” Eh teka, Lord, ang hirap naman niyan di ba pwedeng “kill your enemies” na lang? O kaya “sue your enemies”? Mahalaga pong makita natin na itong “Love your enemies” na Gospel natin ngayon (Mt. 5: 38-48) ay nagtatapos sa verse 48: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Ibig pa lang sabihin eh the road to perfection is precisely by loving your enemies. Si Kuya Jes po mismo ang pinakamagandang example. Syempre po walang makakalimot siguro dito sa atin sa isa sa pinakanakakabad trip na character sa bibliya: si Hudas Iscariote. Actually sa atin nga pong mga Pilipino ang pangalang “Hudas” ay katumbas na po nang “ahas”. Ano po bang ibig sabihin ng “ahas”? Diba sa mga lovers dito pagsinabing “ahas” ay mang-aagaw at sa mga theologians naman ay “demonyo” (cf. Genesis). Sobrang galit na galit po tayo kay Hudas dahil all of us even once in our lives has experienced to be betrayed o to betray. Kaya nga po dati sa Pampanga pag Easter Sunday after ng Salubong ay may extra pa silang rite, ang tawag po nila ay “Ang kamatayan ni Hudas”: nilalagyan nila ng maraming firecrackers yung effigy ni Hudas tapos po papaputukin at susunugin. Pero naisip niyo po ba: magkakaroon kaya ng kaligtasan kung hindi trinaydor ni Hudas ang Panginoon? Naalala po ba natin na sa huli ay nagsisi siya nang sobra at gusto niya sanang ibalik yung ibinayad sa kanya ng mga Saserdote kapalit ni Kuya Jes? Sa sobrang pagsisi niya po kaya siya nabuang at nagpakamatay: he fell into despair. Kung mapapansin po natin ang pinaka unang Missa – ang Last Supper – ay para po kay Hudas. Inoffer po ito ni Kuya Jes para sa kanya. “And on the night he was betrayed he took the bread... and in the same manner the chalice... saying... ‘Take this all of you and eat/drink from it... which will be poured out for you and for many. FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS” (cf. Words of Consecration, Roman Missal) In fact si Hudas nga po ang unang nakapagcommunion – siya ang unang binigyan ng katawan at dugo ni Kristo. We now see the face of God – indeed, the Face of God is mercy. Ibig sabihin po ba nito ay dapat maging passive na lang tayo? Hayaan na lang na saktan nila tayo – tayo na lagi ang api? Wag na maghanap pa ng hustisya? Hindi po. What Jesus is saying to us today is actually that justice must always be sought for not for the sake of justice or revenge but for the sake of mercy! Alam po natin ang kasabihan: hate the sin save the sinner. Jesus is challenging us today to demand justice di dahil sa “mali ka... masama ka... dapat mamatay ka na” kundi dahil sa “nagkamali ka... sinaktan mo ko... itatama kita... tutulungan kita”. Justice must always be “for-the-Other”. Para mapunta sya sa mabuti – para mapunta sya sa side ng kabutihan. Do you think killing the criminal, the unjust, the drug addict, the adulterous will make him or her a good person? No! Paano pa siya magiging mabuti kung pinatay mo na? At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus already know na trinaydor na siya ni Hudas yet he still embraced him and let him give what we call now as the “Judas’ Kiss”. Not because sa ganoong paraan ay mafufulfil ang paschal mystery o ang death and resurrection but because Jesus meant that – he is as if saying to Judas, “I know nagkamali ka, alam ko na alam mo na mali yung ginawa mo but remember: I am with you always. There is still room for repentance. Come back to me!” Brothers and Sisters: at this moment we are at the shoes of Judas, in front of Christ asking us to come back. If we will not, then despair will eat us and we will remain Judas whose only option is suicide. But if we will then we’ll no longer be Judases but we will be Jesus himself always ready to embrace the Judases of our lives, thus transforming lex talionis into lex caritate: the law of love! Mga kapatid, the first reading actually captures the challenge of the Gospel: “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am Holy” (Lev 19: 2). Amen. God bless! It's been a while since my last blog so in a way this is a resurrection.
February... a month full of reds (not communist though, sorry Marx) and chocolates (happy feast day to Ferrero and Kisses!). If ever the number of newborns on November will increase you'll know why... Well, traditionally, for better or worse, February has been known for two things: (1) it is the only month composed of 29 days and it only happens every leap year and (2) it's the month of hearts i.e. Valentine's day. So let me shatter your sweet clingy-wingy day with a philosophical reflection or rather a book review. A newly ordained Jesuit, Fr Patrick Vance S. Nogoy, SJ, has just published his book, Touching Love: Thoughts and Stories (Pasay: Paulines, 2016). Last Friday, February 10, 2014, I attended his public lecture in Xavier University Cagayan de Oro. So basically this essay is just a re-echo of what has been discussed (though not that comprehensive since I haven't finished the book yet). Fr Pat reflects on what is the place of love in this world characterized as a Post-truth society. But before anything else, what's Post-truth? "Post-truth" is Oxford Dictionary's 2016 word of the year; it simply means that facts and evidences no longer possess much influence over public opinion than emotions and feelings have. Well, we can easily see this. The "Brexit", Donald Trump's anti-immigrant stance, Marine Le Pen's nationalism, Mocha Uson's wisdom, Alvarez's Death penalty and so on. So, in a sense, Fr Pat's question is: where is love in this whirlwind of emotions? Fr Pat equates love not with sex or just mere feelings but with the Truth. Love is aletheia i.e. love is uncovering (yes, Heidegger's fans will like the book, as well as Jean-Luc Marion's and Emmanuel Levinas'). Love is opposed to totalization precisely because it is aletheia. Love is collaboration: "Collaboration is opposed to totalization - an aggressive and violent promotion of one's own plan" (p 17). In love, the lover lets the beloved strip herself and reveal who she really is (aletheia) yet in this stripping I still cannot own and dictate her she is forever an infinity enclosed in a finite being (of course the metaphor of stripping is mine not Fr Pat's, hehe). For Fr Pat the essential question is not "Why is there something rather than nothing?" but "Should I love or not?" "Yet despite its demands, it is almost impossible to not love" (p 70). Love creates possibilities and for Fr Pat possibilities are always more important than actualities (unlike Sartre's there is really no potentiality bu only actuality) because in love's promise possibilities become real. This is the reason why it hurts when promises are broken, when the beloved goes away or finds another. It hurts not because of the unfulfilled promises but because "of abandonment - I am left alone. It is the experience of being forsaken - the denial and rejection, especially by the one I love" (p 73) The choice to continue loving is left to me. Thus it no longer matters if love will go back what matters is that I love you... in this act of loving the I finds himself truly as he is: "Self-becoming is achieved ironically because of an Other, unique and mysterious, an Other that exerts an opposite or counter-force" (pp 46-47). In our society who loves emotions and feelings, love stands as wisdom's beacon. To love is to let the Other unfold - let her be - though this will take until forever since I will always be surprised of new things that I will discover about her. This is truly aletheia! Love then is not just an emotion or feeling such that define the Post-truth society, Love is a decision. Now the question is: will you love? Happy Valentines! (for those who want a copy of the book, it is available at all ST PAULS Libreria and Pauline Media Centers nationwide or just visit stpauls.ph) |
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September 2018
"There is only one corner in the universe that you can be certain of improving and that's your own Self" |