A Reflection on the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)

Jesus tells about the parable of the landowner who went away and left various talents with his servants, who then they did different things with those talents. One who possessed five talents of gold or silver was a multimillionaire by today's standards. Some calculate the Hebrew talent to be equivalent to 20 years of wages for the common worker. According to my dictionary, other scholars estimate it more conservatively, valuing between $1,000 to $30,000 US dollars. We are talking of a big amount of money here especially during those times.

Some, when they hear the word “talent” may not think about money right away, but the other definition in my dictionary, a natural capacity or gift like a talent for music or sports.

What is helpful for us in applying this parable is to remember that just as the money that was entrusted to the servants by the landowner, was not theirs to do with what they want it, so too the talents are gifts that God has given to us. They are not our own. In fact, our entire life is something that is entrusted to us for a purpose. We are not here to serve ourselves. We are not the landowner, God is. We are here on earth to serve God and we do that by using our talents and gifts for His honor and glory and not our own.

I’d like to share with you a story: In a highly competitive basketball tournament, the underdog team emerged as one of the finalists after winning one game after another. A few hours before the championship game, a reporter asked the coach, “No one was expecting your team to advance in the championship. What made your team win game after game? The coach replied, “Everyone knew what he had to give. And each one gave more than what was expected from him.”

So brothers and sisters, love does not think in terms of minimum requirements, it always asks what more can I do to show you I love you.

CBCP President on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

THE ‘ice-bucket challenge’ seems to be the most recent rave with national personalities joining in. Throughout the world, and now, even in the Philippines, people recognize the nobility of the cause: research on the dreaded Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The anchor Matt Lauer participated in the "ice bucket challenge".

Act of Compassion not a Fad

Mitch Albom poignantly chronicled the deterioration of one stricken with the disease in his very popular book “Tuesdays with Morrie”. Those from older generations may recall how Lou Gehrig bade the world of baseball — and the world — a moving farewell after having been diagnosed with the disease. It is therefore disturbing, to say the least, that some have trivialized the ‘ice-bucket challenge’ by making of the act of dousing oneself with iced water a fad, rather than a gesture of solidarity with all who suffer from the disease and with those who do research on its alleviation.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research?

There have been disturbing reports, however, that ALS research involves the use of stem-cells, and this is not surprising. ALS is a degenerative disorder and stem-cells apparently hold out the promise of reversing the death and degeneration of brain cells, in particular. Stem-cells however are most readily harvested from embryos, and it is in this regard that this type of research is ethically problematic.

On February 22, 1987, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation.” In respect to experimentation on embryos, the Instruction teaches: “No objective, even though noble in itself such as a foreseeable advantage to science, to other human beings, or to society, can in any way justify experimentation on living human embryos or fetuses…To use human embryos or fetuses as the object or instrument of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings having a right to the same respect that is due to the child already born and to every human person.”

It is therefore even more condemnable when embryos are destroyed so that their pluripotent stem cells may be harvested for research for even therapeutic purposes.

It is no better when embryos are the result of ‘in vitro’ fertilization, developed purposely as a source of stem cells. The same Instruction reiterates Catholic teaching in bioethics: “Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and subjects with rights. Their dignity and right to life must be respected from the first moment of their existence. It is immoral to produce human embryos destined to be exploited as disposable ‘biological material’”.

ALS Association and Stem Cell Research

A statement issued by the ALS Association on stem cell research contains this declaration: “Most stem-cell research in ALS is currently focused on iPS cells, which are not burdened with ethical issues.” We are told that iPS cells are “induced pluripotent stem cells”, stem cells created from skin cells. Such cells would indeed be pluripotent, but would not be embryonic cells. As such, the ethical objection to the use of embryonic cells, whether harvested from embryos, or obtained through in vitro fertilization, would not arise. What is troubling, however, is that the very same ALS statement, in admitting that iPS cells are used in “most stem-cell research” leaves open the possibility that stem cells from objectionable sources are still used!

We are not prepared to say that the ALS Association, that has promoted the ice-bucket challenge, and all those involved in ALS research are engaged in the unethical practice of using embryonic cells. The importance of ALS research cannot be overstated. Research must proceed, for so many suffer. Human intelligence and skill must conquer this dreadful malady, because it is for this purpose that we have been given dominion over the earth as its stewards. But we must also guide the Catholic faithful, and all who heed the ethical teaching of the Church.

Pastoral Ethical Guideline

As a pastoral guideline, we therefore urge those participating in the ice-bucket challenge and making donations to ALS research to make a clear and unequivocal declaration that their donation is made on condition that none of it is to be applied to research that involves the use of embryonic stem cells, in vivo or in vitro.

Catholics who participate in the challenge and who make donations to this research must also demand of fund-raisers and organizers an assurance that none of the donations made will be applied to researches that are ethically reproved.

As long as research on ALS as well as other debilitating conditions such as Parkinson’s Diseases and Alzheimer’s keep within the confines of the ethical demands of human dignity, they will be encouraged by the Church, and our Catholic faithful will be urged to support them with generosity and with charity for all who suffer.

August 27, 2014, Feast of Saint Monica

+ SOCRATES VILLEGAS
Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan
President, CBCP

A Reflection on St. Augustine (August 28)

Today, we celebrate the feast of our Holy Father St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. One of his famous lines goes “our heart is restless until it rests in God”, but many of us may have allowed our hearts to be "anesthetized"; no longer a heart of flesh so to speak; but a heart of stone, as a line of one popular song goes, “kung ako’y muling iibig sana di maging katulad mo, tulad mo na may pusong bato”, no longer in love, and no longer in search for God.

Augustine was educated by his mother Monica in the Christian faith, but as he grew he moved away from it. He studied; he had fun that even led to an immoral life; he knew ‘intense’ love; and began a brilliant career as a teacher. He had arrived in every way. But in his heart, there remained the restlessness of the search for the profound meaning of life.

His autobiography called “The Confessions” is a story of how he went from looking for love in all the wrong places to being found by God Who is Love Himself. Here’s how St. Augustine put it:  “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you.”

Augustine went on looking for happiness, for God, in the things of creation...and all along, God was very near...in fact, within him. Restlessness always seeks the good of others. It always pushes us forward to go out and encounter the others without waiting for the others to tell us what they need. To have a restless heart means to be always in love.

A Reflection on St. Monica (August 27)

 Do you find life difficult? Do you sometimes feel desperate? Did anybody tell you that you’re impossible? Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Monica and her life will give us a hint to our questions. Monica lived in North Africa and was a Christian wife of a pagan husband. Her husband had some redeeming features, but he had a violent temper and was licentious. Monica also had to bear with a grouchy and irritable mother-in-law who lived in her home. Monica’s prayers and example finally won her husband and mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died a year after his baptism.

They had three children and one of them named Augustine was involved in a strange sect called the Manicheans. Augustine also had a mistress and fathered a child out of wedlock. For thirty years, Monica prayed and cried for him.

The circumstances of St. Monica’s life could have made her a nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law and a despairing mother, yet she did not give way to any of these temptations.  She continually fasted, prayed, and wept on her son’s behalf. When Monica asked the bishop to put pressure on her son, he told her, “let him be and continue to pray for him. It’s impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost.” What was lost was indeed found. Jesus brought the lost sheep Augustine to the true faith and a moral lifestyle. This lost son is now known as St. Augustine whose feast we celebrate tomorrow. St. Monica is a good example not only of the power of prayer united with tears and suffering, but also of patience. St. Monica showed us that it is not hopeless and we are not hopeless.

Banana Reflection

In a Nutrition Seminar that we attended, the doctor said that bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, and serotonin helps make you feel relaxed, happy and in control.

Though I am not a Biochemistry freak, I think that it's true! I've been eating bananas every night and even though I am already tired or preoccupied by many things or facing the difficult challenges of the week, or checking a Latin quiz with a very low grade, or listening to an unsatisfactory Medieval Church History recitation, I still feel happy.  

More than the bananas, I know that there must be something spiritual. Bananas are given to me with a smile by the Seminary fathers who know that I need sustenance before my nightly routine. The environment where in seminarians and priests serve the Lord wholeheartedly counts. And, of course, the faith that God never abandons you. Well, I guess, it's more than just bananas... but I'll take two for tonight.