B: 4th Sun of Advent (24 Dec 2017) - "MALIGAYANG PASKO"- Lk 1:26-38

This is the popular Filipino greeting for Christmas. However, if we compare it with other languages, we find out that it is a lot different in terms of etymology. Most greetings are based on the word “Christ” since he is the one who celebrates his birthday this season. Accordingly, we have “Merry Christmas” (English) and “Vrolijk Kerstfeest” (Dutch/Flemish). Other greetings highlight the “birth” factor as in “Buon Natale” (Italian), “Joyeux Noël” (French), and “Feliz Navidad” (Spanish). Still, a few combine these two concepts together as what we find in “Kala Christouyenna” (Greek) and “Christus Natus est a Nobis” (Latin).

Interestingly, the Filipino greeting is unique because it is based on the Greek word “pascha” which is the technical biblical term for the Passover Meal or Lamb. This, however, is liturgically identifiable to the Holy Thursday celebration instead. There is another Greek verb “pascho” (pronounced similarly as in the Filipino “Pasko”) which means “I suffer”. See, for example, 2 Tim 1:12: “And for this reason I suffer (“pascho”) as I do”. Are we then saying that the Filipino concept of Christmas is attached to the idea of suffering?

On the contrary, it is a season of joy. And this joy lasts for practically 5 months: from the –ber months to January! But, in the Filipino mentality, one’s joy is inseparable from day-to-day living. Thus, even if Christmas is filled with an annual festive spirit, it is conjoined with the toxic holiday rush, with long queues in supermarkets, with the annoying traffic jam, with fires resulting from faulty X-mas lights, and with injuries sustained from firecrackers, among many. Henceforth, we embrace suffering as part and parcel of everyday life. The good thing is that we are still able to affix “Maligaya” (“Happy”) to the “Pasko” (“Suffering”).

Our gospel today presents the annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. He began with the Greek greeting: “Chaire” (Lk 1:28) which literally means “rejoice”. Despite the pain of pregnancy and childbirth, Mary is told to rejoice. In verse 30, the same Greek rootword will be used “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor (“charis”) with God”. The word “charis” means “grace, favor”. Mary is graced by God amidst the suffering that she will face in accepting to be the mother of the Christ. There is no reason to be afraid, for God will be at her side every step of the way as what He did to King David in the First Reading.

Our situation right now in the Philippines is definitely not free from suffering. The prices of basic commodities rise. The number of unemployed grows by the thousands. Those below the poverty line remain as they were. But worse, the killings continue (even a simple ceasefire with the rebels cannot be declared lengthily contrary to what was practiced since the 80’s). Yet, now on Christmas, we are asked to rejoice… to be “maligaya” and “chaire”. Probably, “Maligayang Pasko” for some of our leaders is best translated as “I make you suffer and you have to accept joyfully the consequences of all my decisions”.

Joy is what we make it, anyway. The important thing is that we always have the Lord Jesus as our source of strength and refuge. This Christmas, we then put into the heart Pope Francis’ message during his 2015 visit to the Philippines: “We have a Lord who is capable of crying with us, capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of life”.

Maligayang Pasko!

- Rex Fortes, CM