'The stone rejected by the builders . . .' Sunday Reflections, 27th Sunday Year A


Jordan, in wheelchair, and Lala

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines and USA)

Gospel Matthew 21:33-43 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: 'Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. "They will respect my son" he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance." So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?' They answered, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives'. Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the scriptures: 

It was the stone rejected by the builders
that became the keystone.
This was the Lord's doing
and it is wonderful to see?

I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.'

Soiscéal Matha 21:33-43 (Gaeilge, Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa le huachtaráin na sagart agus le seanóirí an phobail: “Éistigí le parabal eile: Bhí an fear tí seo ann a rinne fíonghort a phlandáil, fál a chur ina thimpeall, cantaoir a thochailt ann, agus túr a thógáil; chuir ar cíos ansin chun curadóirí é agus chuaigh ar an gcoigríoch. Nuair a bhí séasúr na dtorthaí ann, chuir sé a chuid seirbhíseach uaidh go dtí na curadóirí chun toradh an fhíonghoirt a fháil. Ach rug na curadóirí ar na seirbhísigh, thug siad bualadh do dhuine acu, mharaigh duine eile, chloch duine eile. Ansin chuir sé seirbhísigh eile uaidh ba líonmhaire ná iad siúd, ach ba é an cor céanna a thug siad dóibh sin. Sa deireadh, chuir sé chucu a mhac, mar dúirt sé leis féin: ‘Tabharfaidh siad ómós do mo mhac.’ Ach nuair a chonaic na curadóirí an mac, dúirt siad le chéile: ‘Is é seo an t-oidhre; seo, maraímis é, agus bíodh a oidhreacht againn féin,’ agus rug siad air, thiomáin siad amach as an bhfíonghort é agus mharaigh é. Dá bhrí sin, nuair a thiocfaidh máistir an fhíonghoirt, cad a dhéanfaidh sé leis na curadóirí úd?” Dúirt siad leis: “Tabharfaidh sé drochíde do na daoine mallaithe sin agus cuirfidh an fíonghort ar cíos chun curadóirí eile a thabharfaidh na torthaí dó ina séasúr féin.” Dúirt Íosa leo: “Nár léigh sibh riamh sna scrioptúir:

‘ An chloch dár dhiúltaigh na saoir,
rinneadh di ceann an chúinne;
obair an Tiarna é seo
agus is iontach inár súile é’?

“Sin an fáth a ndeirim libh go mbainfear ríocht Dé díbhse agus go dtabharfar do phobal í a thabharfaidh uathu a toradh.

+++

A little googling will show that in the USA in 90 percent of cases where prenatal testing shows that a child has Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) the mother chooses to have an abortion. Lala, who celebrated her 'official birthday' on 27 September, the feast of St Vincent de Paul, when she turned 32, lives in the L'Arche Community in Cainta, Rizal, part of the Metro Manila sprawl. You can read her story here.

Lala was left in a garbage pail after birth. She is a ray of sunshine to those blessed enough to know her. I am one of those such blessed. Much more so is Jordan, who also lives in the L'Arche community. He was born with multiple disabilities and has been in L'Arche since he was a small child.

According to the received 'wisdom' of many Lala and Jordan should never have been born.

Jesus tells us in the parable how the the tenants in the vineyard killed not only the servants of the owner, who provided them with a livelihood, but his own son, clearly a reference to Jesus himself, the Son of God the Father, God become Man.

So many today, for different reasons, destroy the lives of humans at their beginning. About 50,000,000 unborn babies have been legally killed in the USA since the infamous Roe vs Wade decision of the Supreme Court in 1973. Countless others have been destroyed because of the one-child policy of the People's Republic of China. Parts of China and India have an abnormally low percentage of women because of abortion.

This is one example of the rejection of God's love.

Jesus quotes from Psalm 118. Surely when we look at Jordan and Lala we can say 'This is the Lord's doing and is wonderful to see'.

The Madonna of the Grapes, Pierre Mignard, 1640s

Archiving my Star Trek collection

Well, as many of you know, I have a pretty substantial Star Trek collection.  I have both props and costumes, and I love my collection dearly, as you all love your own.  Now that we are about to be done with auctions at Propworx till the Spring (the Iron Man 2 auction next month will be the last for at least 5 months, we are looking to next do Captain America at C2E2 in Chicago in March), I have tasked my photographer with photographing my entire Star Trek collection.  Then I will be having Damaris due a book on my collection that I plan to have printed.  

My greater goal is to do a Star Trek book on props, costumes and the collectors who have substantial collections.  So I may be calling you guys in the near future.

But look for more articles on my collection here shortly.  

Alec

My collection displayed in my old house.  Sadly I have much less room in Newport Beach!

The first Vegas display in 2008

Another Giveaway!

Hey everyone,
I am trying to get some reviews posted for my books, so I have an idea. I'm going to run a giveaway. The winner will get an autographed paperback set of the Fallen Star Series (The Fallen Star, The Underworld, and The Vision). To enter, just post a review on Amazon or Barnes&Noble. You can post one for whatever book you want, but if you post a review on both books, you'll get entered twice. After you post your review/reviews, email me a copy of it. Along with getting entered for the giveaway, I will also mail you an autographed bookmark, so make sure to include your address in the email. I will randomly select a winner on October 29, which is the release date of The Vision!

Lala and Queen Elizabeth II


This column, updated 29 September 2011, appeared in the short-lived Negros Times 13-14 October 2008. The above was the picture that appeared with my weekly column. Last Tuesday, 28 September, the feast of St Vincent de Paul, was Lala's 'Official Birthday'. I only remembered that yesterday and thought of posting my three-year-old article here.

Both Lala and Queen Elizabeth II have have two birthdays, the real one and the official one. Lala’s official birthday is 27 September and she turned 32 two days ago. Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday is celebrated in 53 Commonwealth countries, but not on the same date. Only the Falkland Island observes her official birthday on her real one, 21 April. In the United Kingdom the Queen’s official birthday can be on the first, second or third Saturday in June. She turned 85 on her last birthday.

While there’s no confusion about the date of birth of Queen Elizabeth, there is about that of Lala. The young Princess Elizabeth was born in a palace in London. Lala was found shortly after birth in a trashcan in Cebu city in the central Philippines. Those who found her took her to the Asilo De La Milagrosa, the orphanage of the Daughters of Charity there. The Sisters noticed that the little girl had Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) and took her in and raised her. Since they didn’t know who her parents were they had to choose a name for her.

The Sisters chose 'Vicente' as her family name, in honor of St Vincent de Paul, and 'Louilla' as her Christian name, in honor of St Louise de Marillac. The two saints founded the Daughters of Charity in France in 1633. Lala, as all her friends know her, probably has something else in common with St Louise. She was almost certainly born out of wedlock, as the saint was, and, like St Louise, never knew her mother. I suspect that Lala’s mother, probably very young and unmarried, panicked – this possibly added to when she saw that her daughter wasn’t 'normal' - and left her baby where someone could find her and take care of her.

I first met Lala in Cebu in 1992 at a Faith and Light celebration. We had just begun a community there, after a retreat given by the co-founder of the movement, Jean Vanier, a Canadian layman, in Holy Family Retreat House, Cebu City, in October 1991. During the retreat he gave a public talk in the auditorium of St Theresa’s College, as I recall, and a group of interested people got together after that. The gathering at which Lala was present included members of Faith and Light from Manila who had come to tell us more about the movement.

I could see immediately that Lala had a special gift – she’s a natural 'ice-breaker'. Though she seldom says anything, she lights up any group into which she comes, unless she’s in a bad mood, which happens from time to time.

Lala became a member of our Faith and Light community in Cebu but I lost contact with her when I went to Lianga, Surigao del Sur, in 1993 as parish priest and to Manila the following year to become vocation director of the Columbans. But one day when I visited the L’Arche community in Cainta, Rizal, known as 'Ang Arko', I was surprised to see Lala there. L’Arche, the French for 'The Ark' as in Noah’s Ark, was founded by Jean Vanier, in 1964 when he invited two men with learning disabilities, Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux, who had been living in an institution, to join him in a small cottage he had bought and was renovating in the town of Trosly-Breuil, France. Jean had no intention of founding anything, but he realized very quickly that he had made a commitment to these two men. One of them, I forget which, chose to live independently some years later, something he could never have done had he stayed not met Jean. Out of these small beginnings has grown an international movement of about 130 residential communities where those with learning disabilities are enabled to live in a family-type situation and to develop their abilities to the greatest extent possible.

Jordan and Raymon, now young men, were welcomed by Ang Arko when they were very young. Both have physical as well as learning disabilities. The original house was in Manila but the community moved later to Cainta.

In Holy Week 2001 I attended the international pilgrimage of Faith and Light to Lourdes as chaplain to the group from the Philippines. Lala was one of the twelve or so Filipinos.

The Easter Vigil was celebrated in the underground basilica. Some of the Old Testament Vigil readings were dramatized. During the account of creation when the words 'God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him' were read, a spotlight shone on a young man in a wheelchair. But what moved me most was when 'Lala' was part of a group dramatizing the reading of the Exodus.

I simply marveled at the fact that a young woman who should never have been born, according to the 'wisdom' of so many, left after birth among garbage, was on the other side of the world helping to proclaim the Word of God to thousands of people, many like herself, and doing so with the joy that permeates her soul.

Queen Elizabeth has been blessed by God with a long and healthy life, in which she continues to serve her people with dignity. Though Queen Elizabeth is among the richest people in the world, Lala, also with her two birthdays, enjoys even greater riches, because the words of Mary’s prayer, the Magnificat, have been revealed in her life: 'God has lifted up the lowly'.

Rafael Simi (left) and Jean Vanier (right).

You can listen to an interview with Jean here. He turned 83 on 10 September.

This comment was posted when I first posted this three years ago:

Wow..I can't believe Im actually sitting here reading this post about Lala..This is wonderfull..Well, I actually grew up with Lala in the orphanage at Asilo dela Milagrosa..we are the same age..I was there from 1986-1994 until I was sent here in America to be adopted..The first time we were introduce to Lala we were a little nervous, we were very young and we never met someone like her, then she started to sing 'Tomorrow' and for some reason we were all drawn to her..As I remember, I was a little jealous because she was always happy, didnt care what everyone thought of her, she welcomed every visitor we had with a smile, she's very friendly..After I finished high school, I started working as a volunteer camp councelor but I was assigned in the office and there was this girl and she is also my age and I was ask to be her counselor for a couple of months and I was so excited, nobody knew why I was glad to do so and it all because I remembered Lala, it was 8 yrs. ago that i work at the camp, and here I am writing and remembering Lala..

I would like to thank you Fr. Sean for writing this post..

Something You Might Want To Check Out

Hi guys,
I thought I'd let everyone know about a guest blog of mine that is up on Sidhe Vicious Reviews. It's a scene I wrote where Alex, Gemma, Laylen, Aislin, and Nicholas are locked in a jail cell full of truth gas. It's just for fun, but if you want to check it out here is the link: http://sidhevicious.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/jessica-sorensen-guest-blog-giveaway/
There is also a giveaway there you can enter.

Ever wonder what you hear through a stethoscope?



Did you ever wonder what you hear through a stethoscope? H/T to Father Z.

Strictly Pancakes

Totally enjoying my annual leave D2! I just went to Aoki for lunch (and whatsapp-ing the photos to a poor colleague stuck at work ^-^) Annual leave is even better than school holidays - no need to worry about assignments, doing holiday homework etc! Best ever! I've been watching movies on my ipad and messing up my sleep cycle. Cant believe that I've worked without annual leave since January!
Finally tried Strictly Pancakes at Prinsep street - didn't attempt to go there before cos it's in CBD and the carpark's a pain. It still was a pain to park there on Sunday (I parked at Sunshine plaza, it's $3 per entry on Sundays) and took a short walk over. The seating's really limited and we had to wait about 30min (not like there were many other restaurants open around that area on Sunday morning, or we would have defected to another restaurant/cafe. It's a pretty interesting concept where all the dishes are pancake based and there's both savory and sweet pancakes.

Had the equivalent of Eggs benedict (can't remember the name of this dish, but it's essentially Eggs Benedict with pancakes instead of muffins). It looks a bit bare cos we got the Hollandaise sauce on the side. The eggs were nicely poached, not overcooked and still runny inside. It was also very reasonably priced. The pancakes are the thick floury kind which aren't really my favourite type but it worked well in absorbing the runny yolks and hollandaise sauce so no complaints here.

We also added an extra side of mushrooms which were pretty good for the price (I think it was $2.50-$3 additional charge)
Each of the mains come with a choice of butter (herb garlic, unsalted and salted) as well as maple syrup. Makes it a bit more interesting instead of eating a whole dish of savory pancakes. Do note that you would have to pay an additional charge to add maple syrup/butter to the dessert pancakes (or those that don't come with this butter and maple syrup).
I can't remember the name of this dish but it's a sure-win combi of all of my favourite things. Pancakes, kinder bueno (my fave chocolate snack ever! especially mixed into Horlicks Ice Cream from Ice cream chef!) and nutella and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pancakes are special peanut butter pancakes which I really didn't like cos I found it too heavy going and a bit salty. They were quite stingy on the nutella spread. I think I'd have liked it better if it was plain pancakes with more nutella. The best way to eat this was to spread the 'innards' of the kinder bueno over the nutella side of the pancake and eat it with the ice cream.

Strictly Pancakes
44A Prinsep Street
63334202