KAALAGAD Gospel Reflection - March 22, 2020
Fourth Sunday of Lent
John 9:1-41
9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
The Fruit of Tya Maria’s Sin
I first learned of my cousin Monching’s existence when in the summer break of 1962 my mother took me to visit my ageing grandmother at her house in Santolan, Pasig. I have not been to that house in a long while. So I immediately set myself to re-acquaint myself with and re-explore the surroundings, as a curious 11-year old kid would do. I decided that I had not yet seen the somewhat isolated rooms in the outermost corner of the second floor. I noticed at once that the room at the end of the hall was in use, the door was left ajar and I could hear voices. I carefully approached it and took a peek. Then there was my mother’s sister, Tya Maria, hunched over a figure of a long lanky boy sprawled almost naked but for his boxer’s shorts on the banig as she was spoon-feeding him. The boy immediately peeked back past Tya Maria’s cover and broke into a wide not-too-quiet a grin.
“Sino siya, Tya Maria?”
“Si Monching. Pinsan mo siya.” Noticing that I was studying his condition of disability – long thin thighs and emaciated body, Tya Maria added, “Nagkasakit siya. Hindi na siya makakalakad at makakapagsalita, pero kung kakausapin mo siya, maiintindihan ka niya.” Tya Maria actually encouraged me to engage Monching in some sort of a conversation, to which I readily set myself to doing. His smile was so infectious and he looked quite handsome and clean, and smelled fresh with Johnson’s Baby Cologne as obviously he was just given a wash. I noticed, too, that he was far darker in complexion than I was. I did no longer ask my aunt about this detail. All I felt was that I found a long lost cousin, in fact, as later developments would show, a long lost brother and… a friend.
But later back home I asked my mother more about Monching. Delicately, but without any hint of blame or shame, she intimated that Monching was my Tya Maria’s “anak sa pagkadalaga” with a black American G.I. whom she met after the war, “noong panahon ng liberation.” Monching was born in 1946, afflicted with the condition mongolism, not long after his father went back to the States, not to be heard from again. My mother would not comment on the “love angle” of Tya Maria’s liaison with the American G.I. But even to me, my Tya Maria’s love and dedication to Monching was undeniable.
For the duration of the summer of ’62, I asked my father, mother and siblings that we go on a weekly visit to my grandmother’s place. For varying reasons each, we all wanted to go. As for me, of course, Monching was the principal reason.
So my weekly visits to my grandmother’s place continued on till the summer of ’63. Monching was particularly curious about my experience of school. At that time I was attending Letran as a grade-six schooler. I told him I did not like my school very much. I did not quite like the division or classification of students according to the class they belonged or language they mostly spoke. There was then still a significant number of students who were Spanish-speaking: they strutted about boisterously and loudly as though the Philippine Revolution had not happened. A sizeable number came from the posh villages – Forbes Park, Dasmarinas, New Manila. They were the new ilustrados, albeit mostly English speaking. And then there were the majority of us, ang mga indios, whose parents aspired to provide their children some semblance of “classy” education in a school that could not compete with the real classy league of Ateneo or La Salle. At that time it was all about class. But this is political after-thought. What really bugged me about Letran of my time was that I was often bullied by lazy and dumb Kastilaloy classmates who demanded I’d do their homework or assignments or else….
Monching wanted to know if there was anything I particularly liked about my schooling in Letran. I narrated to him I particularly loved my music class and my English class. In my music class (through which I became part of the Grade School Glee Club) I told him I learned to sing songs that I grew to love forever, like “Moon River” (from Beakfast at Tiffanny’s), “Summer Time” (from Porgy and Bess) and, characteristic of Letran education, some Spanish songs like “Valencia”. From my English class, I narrated to him the story of the French epic poem “The Song of Roland”.
We would “chat” for hours on end. And when it was time for me to go, there was always this pale of sadness over his face which I found impossible to ignore…but none more than that teary expression of sadness that I saw when I bade him goodbye before I entered the seminary.
I did not see him again since our last meeting in the summer of ’63. He passed on in 1969 when I got to be hauled away farther to Baguio City for my philosophy studies at Maryhurst. Tya Maria tried to explain to me that Monching, with his condition, could not be expected to live very long.
When I was reading and began to reflect on this passage of John 9: 1-7, I could not help but be struck by the uncanny parallelism between Jesus’ words and my brief experience of faith and friendship with my cousin, brother and dear friend Monching.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned: he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world….”
Monching was not born a “mongoloid” because he was being punished for his sin, nor for Tya Maria’s sin. He was born as a revelation of God’s work. Through him and Tya Maria, God has revealed the marvel of love, compassion and humanity, the joy of motherhood, brotherhood and fellowship, the wonder of learning, of music, of story telling… truly, the wonder and miracle of being alive in God’s light and love.
DIEGO G. QUEJADA
Urban Missionaries
The Mission Partner in Labor Apostolate of
The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines
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