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some words that are really Fr. Abe’s....
The biblical scholars tell us that not all the words attributed to Jesus in the Bible are really words of Jesus. But some ARE.
I would like to quote some words that are really Fr. Abe’s---IPSISSIMA VERBA of Fr. Abesamis.
a) ON INDIGENOUS FILIPINO THEOLOGY
KATUTUBONG TEOLOHIYA.
O mga bulaklak na lila sa pasemano ng aking bintana!
Nakaugat ka sa lupa.
Nakababad ka sa araw.
Sumisipsip ka ng sariwang tubig. Nakikibaka sa dagok ng buhay.
Tumatagas sa iyong mga talulot ang halimuyak ng banal na Maykapal.
Tulad mo sana ang isang katutubong teolohiya.
Nakaugat sa sariling lahi at kasaysayan.
Nakababad sa Diyos na hindi matarok ng isip.
Ang tubig na nilalagok niya ay ang banal na sulat ng mga propeta at ebanghelista.
Kaisa niya ang tuwa at hapis ng tao at kalikasan.
Ang bunga ng ganitong teolohiya ay isang busilak na gising.
Nakabantay siya sa bukang liwayway, sa katanghaliang tirik, sa banayad na
dapit-hapon, at sa buong magdamag.
(And these words of Fr. Abe were translated to English by R.A. Kalaoag)--
Oh, VIOLETS by my window sill!
Rooted in the ground.
Soaked in the rays of the Sun.
Sipping fresh water.
You fight the stabs of life.
And your petals exhale the fragrance of God.
How THEOLOGY should be like you.
Rooted in a nation's culture and history.
Soaked in the unfathomable God.
Drinking the living water of Scripture as authored by God through the
prophets and the evangelists.
One with the joy and sorrow of people and nature.
The fruit of such a theology is radiance alive.
Watching the dawn,
the scorching noon,
the gentle dusk,
and the rest of the night.
B) HOMILY TO ATENEO ALUMNI
FR. ABE’S FORMER STUDENTS
(In the last few months of his life, as his strength was ebbing away, Fr. Abe had a chance, on December 8, 2007, to give a final homily to his former students at the Ateneo de Manila High School).
It has been fifty or more years.
I know next to nothing about you...
your health...your profession...your life-experiences...your family.
In India , it is said that there are 4 stages in a person’s life:
(1) Student (2) Family man
(3) Then...One's hair has become gray [mine: such of it as is left!], one's skin wrinkled, and grandchildren exist to carry on the family. And one has moved towards a more reflective life.
(4) One devotes himself fully to the spiritual life.
So...
I do not know where you are. For there are some old souls in a young body.
And so it is possible you are wiser and more mature than your teachers in
High School 60 years ago. Or it is possible that you have grown old and have become a spoiled brat.
So I will say something about this painting, HAPAG NG PAGASA, and its painter, Mr. Joey Velasco.
After a kidney surgery, the painter experienced a spiritual conversion.
He painted a Last Supper scene, Jesus sharing a meal with street children.
This painting has already generated many spiritual experiences in many
beholders. The painter also wrote a book. In the book, THEY HAVE JESUS,
you will find vignettes about each of these children. He had sought out each of these children in the slums, under bridges, in the cemetery.
There are three layers in his book, THEY HAVE JESUS: (1) the life-situation of these children (2)
The beautiful VALUES that these poor children have. Example: A boy excused
himself from his barkada: Inubos ko pa yong tinda kong pandesal kaninang
madaling araw para may pandagdag na pagkain para kay bunso.
(3) the author’s reflections about himself and his spiritual growth.
What I want to focus on, however, is what the painter says about his
experience in his painting, HAPAG NG PAG-ASA. His is not hand-painting. To hand-paint means to be faithful to the principles of colors, tones, strokes, lights and shadows. His is painting from the heart.That in itself is remarkable.
But he goes on to say about his experience: The paint brush moves by
itself. I could not believe that my hand and heart were used by a HIGHER FORCE to depict GOD’S LOVE.
I guess that the only person who can say that is one who HAS AN EXPERIENCE
OF GOD. Out of that PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, his paintbrush moves.
When you were in the Ateneo, your teachers tried to teach you certain values--Never say die in sports. Critical thinking daw. Skill in debating (kaya magaling mambola).American humor. The Jesuits might even have succeeded in teaching you the Faith.—for you know your prayers, and you memorized your doctrine.
But I doubt very much whether, by and large, WE TAUGHT YOU HOW TO EXPERIENCE GOD.
Instead of telling you what or how the experience of God is, I will
Just mention certain people who most likely had this experience of God—EVELIO JAVIER. MOTTHER TERESA. JOHN PAUL XXIII. RANDY DAVID. AL GORE (NOT GEORGE W. BUSH)
My dear former-students. It is not too late.
Old men ought to be explorers
Here or there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
into another intensity for a further union, a deeper communion
In my end is my beginning.
(T.S. Eliot)
Hopefully, we can resonate with Joey the painter and author: I realized
that it was I who was experiencing a certain hunger and I was eager to
have my place in that table of hope. I felt so restless.
I am not sharing my strength as an artist or as a writer, but my
Weakness as a fellow journeyer, who witnessed these children drifting in the
dark.
Initially, I thought they were lost, only to find out in the end that I was
the one who was actually lost. I am sharing how the Lord Himself painted
through me and continues to give His message.
Sana tayo ganoon din. Still and still moving. Into another intensity.
For
a further union, a deeper communion. A deeper experience of God. And in
this ugly world of ConAss and bankrupt leadership, to paint something
worthwhile.
C.H.Abesamis, S.J.
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