I rushed things up to catch the 9 AM Mass and I got rewarded for it. The priest gave a homily filled with interesting if not appalling tidbits of info. First, he declared that only 10% of the people in his 'parokya' (diocese) attend the Sunday Mass. My long-standing suspicion is confirmed. Of the approximately 25,000 parishioners, only about 2,000 attend the five Masses including the anticipated Mass on Saturdays. And he said he was making a very liberal estimate.
But he didn't stop at that. "And how many among those who go to Sunday mass," he went on, "are properly dressed for the wedding banquet" (referring to the day's passage on a wedding banquet), "like, how many receive communion properly, i.e., with the benefit of confession?" I saw people swallowing their respective saliva.
Our priest continued the homily by telling an astounding information: We know that the earth rotates on its axis, right? We also know that it revolves around its orbit, right? What we may not know, the priest said, is that the planet rotates as it revolves at roughly the same rate. And have you noticed, he asks, that when you look at yourself, your house, everything around you, things seem to be stationary? The truth is we are in constant motion.
What really kept my eyelids from drooping was this: He quoted latest scientific reports which have found that as the planets revolve around the sun, the whole solar system, together with the other heavenly bodies in the Milky Way galaxy, revolve around the star Vega.
I don't know about you but that's something new to me. And dig this: the whole thing moves around an as yet undetermined body... and the whole thing moves at an even much faster rate!
And that's only as far as present science can determine which is another way of saying 'as far as man's intellect can grasp'. Who knows, we could be scratching just the surface of the universe! A universe which appears to be a vortex within a vortex within another vortex within yet another vortex within...oh no.
Our priest further wondered how the heavenly bodies manage not to collide or bump into each other. Of course, his audience could only react, "Amazing indeed!"
After the Mass, this observation drove me walking off into a world that was suddenly more wonderful than ever. In spite of my many, many problems, suddenly I had no reason to be bored, depressed, sad or miserable. As I limbered my way home, I stared at the first plant or tree ("Oh hi there, Mr. tree, Ms. Plant, brother moon, sister sun!") with renewed interest and for the first time, it felt good to know that in this mysterious thing we call 'life' and this wonderful place we call 'world', I knew absolutely nothing.
It was a Sunday of reckoning for everyone, liberating us with newfound humility and awe.
10.10.1999
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