Jesus born of a virgin mother
THE Gospel of Matthew (1:18-25) says: This is how Jesus Christ was born: Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.
While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus’ for he will save his people from their sins”. ….
On another note, these short and almost bashful sentences do not dare to unveil the mystery of Mary, the virgin through whom life on earth touches God and offers itself as an oblation. A messenger breaks through the night and speaks with silent words: the world is open to the active presence of God.
Mary was engaged. Engagement gave to the Jewish people practically every right of marriage, especially conjugal rights.
The only difference was that women continued to live under the parent’s tutelage and in their parental home.
The Jews were markedly a “macho” society. A woman necessarily to a man, either to the father, her husband, or her son. Mary was already the wife of Joseph, but she could not be under his authority until he brought her to his home (vv. 20 and 24).
With reference to the virginity of Mary, see Luke 1:26. The virginity of Mary was not in keeping with the Jewish mentality that gave first place to fecundity. It was not so unusual that Joseph would accept such a situation.
At this time certain Jews belonging to the party of the Essenes lived celibacy, as did the monks. Joseph made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. The Gospel is not precise as to his reasons for so doing. In any case it is unthinkable that people might have doubted
Mary’s fidelity. The intervention of the angel in the Gospel is not to reassure Joseph but to inform him of his role in the plan of God. Y
ou shall call him ‘Jesus’, and you will receive him as your son”. Joseph was a “descendant of David” and Jesus adopted by Joseph would be a legitimate descendant of David.
Most probably Mary did not even belong to the tribe of Judah, which was that of David, but like the cousin Elizabeth, she belonged to a family of priests of the tribe of Levi.
On another note, a political one, at present there is a discussion on a so-called same sex marriage.
This, of course, is nonsense. Same sex marriage is a ‘contradictio in terminis’.
A marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
If two men or two women want to live together, that is their business. But don’t call that a marriage.
I want to say also a Merry Christmas to JB and the other members of the staff of Sun Star and to all the readers of my column.
vironment. And they did it with success. As proven by history, they conquered the heights, forded roaring torrents, hunted and planted for food, formed communities (“ili”), then finally interacted with one another in commerce and art safely and permanently through the bodong system and governance. With their natural prowess and unquestioning adherence to the pagta of the bil-areral as well as feterated bodong, they overcame internal disarray and resisted foreign invasion like the incursions of the military forces of King Philip of Spain. (It was presumably for this non-subjugation of them by King Philip of Spain that our to my mind analytic then Ambassador Gen. Carlos P. Romulo said of the Igorots of the Cordillera that they were not Filipinos, i.e., in the sense that they did permit themselves to be subjects of King Philip of Spain. This controversial remark of Romulo in a book that he had written ironically aroused an uproar among schooled Igorots in Baguio and causally rallied them to burn copies of the book.)
Basing on the abbreviated glimpse of traditional economic and social life of peoples in the hinterlands of northern Luzon that is now politically demarcated as Cordillera Administrative/Autonomous Region (CAR), it is perfectly right that the symbolization of the region prominently includes the ax and the spear.
It is important to update the programs to keep up with new and emerging threats.
There are third-party apps on popular sites such as Facebook that sends your personal data to at least 25 outside data companies if we click it, so it is definitely a good idea to ignore and remove permissions from unnecessary ones such as those providing fun ways to find games or see which celebrity you look like. Also, the more Facebook groups you join especially the big, open ones, the more likely you are vulnerable to identity thieves. With too many people’s names, birth dates, education, and work history available online, bogus accounts can easily duplicate a person
of the information units of two foreign assisted projects of the agency. It is during my private stocktaking at the end of the year, that I get some insights on how I would manage the offices that I handle.
To be honest, I neither have power, influence, and ability to manage people and resources except to do the best I can do, under any situation – simple or challenging. I just have to pray daily, expecting God will always come to my aid. He held my hand as we walk through each of the miles we have already covered, each breathing moment.
When I considered writing this year-end article for my Mountain Light column, I read in the Book of Mathew, in the New Testament, how he took stock of the available loaves of bread and fishes in the desert to feed the 5,000 gathered who followed him there.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, we find this interesting verse in Ecclesiastes7:27: “Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account…” The verse was from Solomon taking stock of life and com-
By the way, many say that car expresses a substantially loaded vehicle with some definite direction to follow and traverse while arc expresses awesome but completely tantalyzing beauty and illusory ending. As for me, acronyms, like CAR or ARC, are good to take notice of but what matters most is the body of provisions that assures your reaching the end or goal you are aiming at. To go directly to our point, assuming that the majority of us are heart and soul for autonomy now, the realization of that autonomy should be categorically stated provision by provision in its regional constitution that we now call the Organic Act. Law says that what is not included in an enumeration is deemed excluded, so we cannot postpone substantial basic others that we want for later on after the plebiscite. So we now need an honest to goodness IEC ( Education Campaign) to find out the present pulse of the Cordillera people for autonomy and educate them accordingly. Past IEC’s are no more dependable, much more with the support of our representatives in the Philippine Congress who might think that their traditional turf In the national government will be jeopardized. Things should be explained and resolved, especially now that new minds have joined the voting force. Iyon lang muna, mga po. Merry Christmas; the Prince of Peace bless us all and our Maharlika land. you may know or want to be friends with. These bogus accounts can target you for identity theft, malicious links, or spam attacks.
The NPC advises users to update their Facebook Timeline and Tagging Settings by un-tagging from unwanted, unrelated, or embarrassing posts and even photos.
We do not have to be too public the NPC warns. “While sharing details about your life can be fun and exciting, there are just some things you should never, ever share on social media. Things like your home address, vacation details, ticket numbers, and the layout of your house should always be kept private”. ing out with some findings.
As we cross to another year, which we know nothing about, the advice is for us to take stock, to think through with concentration. For instance, what were your best and worst moments? What made it the best and/or worst the moment?
When I go through these exercises and the discipline of stocktaking, sometimes I feel sorry for myself and the other people who are going through some difficulties in their individual lives.
Inspired or otherwise, I still go through with my stocktaking. I know that if I do it well, it adds to my growth and I mature as a person. More important, I become compassionate. It gives me a life and a good tune to hum deep within my soul. “You ain’t here just to live.”
Maybe you think you are not influential or you got nothing to give or offer. But you are a person who can respond to a need just where you are, just as you are. You can always do something. That is what matters in getting a life of your own.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!