A Christmas Homily by Horacio dela Costa, S.J.

This is the second of Fr. dela Costa's writings I said I'd post.  I was planning to do it the moment the calendar entered December but forgot.  I copied this from another site so I'm not sure if the title's correct but the text is what I remember it to be.

Here it is.  Take it in and enjoy.

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Christmas – and Standing on One’s Head
Horacio dela Costa, S.J.

(The late Fr. Horacio de la Costa, S.J., delivered this five-minute homily at midnight Mass at the Ateneo Law School. Over the years, it has become a "Christmas perennial," reprinted and re-read by many – Juan L. Mercado)

 
CHRISTMAS is when we celebrate the unexpected; it is the festival of surprise.

This is the night when shepherds wake to the song of angels; when the earth has a star for a satellite; when wise men go on a fool's errand, bringing gifts to a Prince they have not seen, in a country they do not know.

This is the night when one small donkey, bears on its back, the weight of the world's desire, and an ox plays host to the Lord of heaven. This is the night when we are told to seek our king, not in a palace, but in a stable.

Although we have stood here, year after year, as our fathers before us, the wonder has not faded; nor will it ever fade; the wonder of that moment when we push open that little door, and enter, and entering find, a mother who is virgin, and a baby who is God.

Chesterton has said it for us all: the only way to view Christmas properly is to stand on one's head. Was there ever a home more topsy-turvy than Christmas, the cave where Christ was born? For here, suddenly, in the very heart of earth, is heaven; down is up, and up is down; the angels look down on the God who made them, and God looks up to the things he made.

There is no room in an Inn for Him who made room and to spare, for the Milky Way, and where God is homeless, all men are at home.

We were promised a savior, but we never dreamed God Himself would come and save us. We know that He loved us, but we never dared to think that he loved us so much as to become one of us.

But that is the way God gives. His gifts are never quite what we expect, but always something better than we hoped for. We can only dream of things too good to be true; God has a habit of giving things too true to be false. That is why our faith is a faith of the unexpected, a religion of surprise.

Now, more than ever, living in times so troubled, facing a future so uncertain, we need such faith. We need it for ourselves, and we need to give it to others.

We must remind the world that if Christmas comes in the depths of winter, it is that there may be an Easter in the spring.

Secret of the Star

Christmas is just 2 months away!

It used to be that houses and streets would be decorated with all sorts of lights but with the financial crunch and oil crisis, christmas lights were one of the first frills to go.  

I got me to thinking about Christmases past -- Nativity plays in school, trying to stay up till midnight for noche buena, and so on.  But the most concrete sign that a house was ready for Christmas wasn't the Christmas tree.  It was the parol, a star of different sizes, colors, and designs displayed in front of the house.  It symbolizes the star the wise men followed to find the child Jesus.  In the days of my childhood, a Filipino household wasn't truly ready for Christmas without a parol.

Back when I was in high school, Mr. Pagsanghan (known to all his students as Mr. Pagsi), introduced us to a Christmas poem by Fr. Horacio De La Costa, S.J.  I couldn't remember the title at first but thanks to the Internet and its bloggers, I was able to find a copy of the "Secret of the Star", a poem about the parol.

Now, I want to share the "secret" with you.  Read on while I try to cobble up materials to make a parol for my home.  I hope I remember my practical arts. 

Secret of the Star
Horacio de la Costa, S.J.

I do not think the Three Wise Men were Persian Kings at all.
I think it much more likely they sat sail from out Manila Bay
In answer to the call.
And though the great historians may stare at me, and frown –
I still maintain the Three Wise Men were Kings from my hometown!
And if you ask why I affirm that Melchor was King of Tondo,
When Gaspar ruled Sampaloc, and Baltazar Binondo…
We will not argue. We will walk the street on Christmas Eve,
And I will show you the poor man’s rafter,
Where hangs the star the Kings sought after,
High above Christian prayer and laughter –
you will see it, and believe!
For when they crossed the sea again from Bethlehem afar,
They lost their camels in the sea,
and they forgot the Christmas tree,
But they brought back to you and me
the secret of the Star!

Ah, we have lost the sign of the Kings
to whom Christmas is merely a feast,
And merely a time to dance and dine
with Western music and Western wine
Because a gigantic neon sign
has blotted the Star in the East!

SLOW Men Working DOWN

Signs here in the Philippines have always been the subject of jokes because of either erroneous grammar and wit.

Since I was a kid, I've always seen this "Men at Work" sign:

SLOW
Men Working
DOWN

Of course, I always knew they really meant, SLOW DOWN - Men Working.  It's just ironic because they usually DO work slow and take a lot of time to finish those street repair projects.

I might start putting up that sign on my Multiply site.  I know I said I'd update the site more often.  As it turns out, I still have gigabytes(!) worth of pics from waaaaay back in 2006 to just this weekend that I need to post AND print.

Mia's scrapbook project for Maia has stalled because of this "SLOW Man Working DOWN". Multiply fans (a.k.a., family and friends who couldn't go because of distance or schedule or some other issue) are eagerly waiting the next batch of photos of Maia's pics or the last weekend's family gathering.

People recently asked me where all the pictures for which I asked them to pose go.  (In the black hole also known as my data DVD collection, if you want to know).  But who knows?  Maybe I'll be able to post some today. Maybe not.  But I'll definitely try.

In the event that I'm not able to post anything by the end of August, I'll just put up another road sign in the vein of "SLOW Men Working DOWN"...

..."Temporary Close"