Mark 5:1-20 | Manuscript Page | The Miracle of the Gadarene Swine

Mark 5:1-20   The Miracle of The Gadarene Swine

The Miracle of The Gadarene Swine,  Unknown illustrator, probably made in Canterbury, Detached leaf, Tempera colours, gold leaf, and ink on parchment, Executed circa 1000 A.D. © The John Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Jesus and his disciples reached the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and no sooner had Jesus left the boat than a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain; because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!’ – for Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit.’ ‘What is your name?’ Jesus asked. ‘My name is legion,’ he answered ‘for there are many of us.’ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district. Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.’ So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned. The swineherds ran off and told their story in the town and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his full senses – the very man who had had the legion in him before – and they were afraid. And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs. Then they began to implore Jesus to leave the neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him. Jesus would not let him but said to him, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.’ So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.   READ MORE     Reflection on the Illuminated Manuscript Page Our artwork housed at the John Paul Getty Museum, is one of the earliest depictions of this miracle in art history, executed circa 1000 AD. In the center of this miniature, removed from a larger Gospel book, we see Jesus performing the exorcism, transferring the demons into a herd of swines. The early medieval illuminator closely followed the story as Matthew described it, depicting the swine hurtling down the cliff into the sea at the bottom of the page. The illustrator, probably a monk, arranged the scene in three horizontal bands, keeping the main focus on the middle figures, whose emphatic gestures and tense body movements recount the vivid story. As you notice, there is a restored area which addresses either damage to the page; or maybe at some stage the area was removed to not show the possible nakedness of the possessed man. Notice how also his face has been rubbed and is undefined... Artworks throughout the ages can indeed get tampered with to address any contemporary sensitivities for the viewers... Today’s Gospel reading is a rather frightening story. The possessed man as described by Mark, is one of the most violent people we meet in his Gospel. He is in the grip of, not just one, but a legion of unclean spirits. A legion at the time, was 6000 Roman Soldiers. So Mark indicates that it was a very large number of unclean spirits that had entered the man. This man is overrun by pain, torment, depravity, brokenness and hell. Yet.. yet… this ‘legion’ recognises who Jesus is and falls at Jesus’ feet. As the story goes on, it is quite a baffling account of what happened… how might a person pray with this gospel? With all the scary surrounding events described in our reading, we have to keep our attention on Jesus. By exercising His power over evil spirits Jesus is revealing who He really is. Remember, He just stepped out of the boat after having calmed the seas, and now this happens immediately as he steps ashore. He must have been tired but yet, with resolve, determination and focus, he heals the man of the unclean spirits. Jesus was doing His ministry anytime, every time and everywhere, no matter who asked for help, no matter how possessed they were, or how tired He was. And that is probably the main point of the story, that Christ is the source, not only of power, but of compassion. The demonic man represents our spiritual condition before our encounter with Christ… and Christ changed him…. by Patrick van der Vorst

Mr. President, are we fully prepared for the 2019 novel coronavirus?

Published February 1, 2020, 12:47 AM

THINKING PINOY

By RJ NIETO

RJ Nieto

Social media is rife with calls for an entry ban on arrivals from Mainland China, the epicenter of the 2019-nCoV outbreak.

While the World Health Organization so far advises against such entry bans, the novel coronavirus outbreak has yet to show any sign of abating. I hope that it ends soon, but we have to be reasonably prepared for the worst.

Hope, after all, is NOT a logical strategy.

Particularly, do we have enough quarantine facilities to handle the crisis, and do we have provisions for the creation of additional ones?

The government may have enough facilities to quarantine a few thousand suspected cases, but what contingency measures are in place if matters escalate further? Is the government ready for a scenario where, say, the infection rate for the rest of the Chinese mainland reaches the level of Wuhan?

If that happens, then it’s logical to ban the entry of those from mainland China. But viruses do not care about citizenship, so what do we do about China-based Filipinos who wish to come home? What will the government do if things go so bad that we have to repatriate the 170,000 Filipino souls in China, Macau, and Hong Kong?

We can’t issue an entry ban on our own citizens, of course, but we can’t just let them exit our airports right away: we have to quarantine them first as a precaution.

Australia, for example, decided to repatriate 600 citizens, but not after a two-week quarantine on  Christmas Island, 2,000 kilometers away from the Australian mainland.

That’s 600 China-based Australians, a small number compared to 170,000 China-based Filipinos, if and when mass repatriation happens.

During the 2014 ebola crisis, the government used Caballo island near Corregidor to quarantine 133 Filipino peacekeepers repatriated from Liberia. But at barely over a kilometer long, just a few hundred meters wide, and containing five small buildings or so, the facility is incapable of handling that many.

We are not just talking about more buildings, logistics, large quantities of supplies, and a skilled workforce are needed to run these facilities.

The Department of Health has so far taken a woefully reactionary approach as it holds press conference after press conference, telling us about how many suspected cases exist, without informing us about what to do in case a full-blown crisis erupts.

The President may want to call an emergency cabinet meeting and discuss not just what to do right now, but also what the government will do if and when the situation in China drastically worsens.

Mr. President, I strongly but politely suggest that you ask epidemiologists in the Health Department to give an honest (READ: APOLITICAL) assessment of the situation. Please ask someone other than Sec. Francisco Duque because his statements since his appointment have shown that he’s more of a politician than a doctor.

Please assess the likelihood of a full-blown crisis that may require mass repatriation because if we want to become a developed country someday, then we should encourage all levels of government to start thinking like one.

If the probability of a full-blown crisis is significant, then the Health Department must quickly come up not only with a list of standard operating procedures in the event of mass repatriation but also with a list of facilities required to handle such an event.

If a facility like Wuhan’s coronavirus hospital may be needed, please ask Congress for a stand-by appropriation because even the Office of the President’s multi-billion-peso confidential and intelligence funds may not be enough to fund the facilities. Of course, Public Works and Highways should be ready for such an eventuality.

Call the Air Force and various airlines for flight arrangements, and direct the Civil Aviation Authority to come up with a plan for arriving aircraft from China. Will we let aircraft land in Ninoy Aquino International, or should we divert them somewhere else to avoid the risk of infection in the very densely populated metropolis?

The only sparsely populated island near Metro Manila that has a runway (or at least, provisions for one), is Corregidor, so please ask the Transportation Department about how to get Kindley Field’s defunct three-kilometer runway up and running. If somebody has a better idea, go for it.

Your Economics team (Finance, NEDA, DOLE, DTI, and DBM) should help find funding sources for all of these, plus livelihood for these repatriated Filipinos after they leave the quarantine facility. TESDA may also jump in if reskilling is necessary.

And please instruct your communications people to do their job right, once and for all, although I sincerely am not very optimistic about this one.

I’m not smart enough to list everything down, but I’m confident that the hundreds of brains in Malacañang can figure the rest out.

If the novel coronavirus crisis worsens to epic proportions, then with these, we would already know what to do. If it doesn’t, then we can be prepared for the next one.

With more Filipinos traveling abroad for leisure and work, we all know that this won’t be the last disease that will haunt us.

For comments and reactions, please email TP(at)ThinkingPinoy.net or leave a comment at Facebook.com/TheThinkingPinoy.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/02/01/mr-president-are-we-fully-prepared-for-the-2019-novel-coronavirus/

PETIKS DAW SI PRRD KAYA GUSTONG PATALSIKIN, LENl BALAK IPALIT

Luke 2:22-32 | Ambriogio Lorenzetti | The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Luke 2:22-32   The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Presentation of Jesus in the Temple,  Painted by Ambriogio Lorenzetti (1290-1348), Tempera on panel, Painted in 1342 © Uffizi Gallery, Florence When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said: ‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.’   READ MORE     Reflection on the Altar Painting Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually ‘unclean’ for 40 days after childbirth. She was to present herself to the priests to get purified by offering a sacrifice as described in today’s reading by Luke: offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Today’s feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the temple, is of course not just about Mary’s purification, but also about Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple. We read that Jesus was welcomed in the temple by an elderly man, Simeon, who embodies Israel in its patient expectation. He acknowledges the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. This is one of the meeting points of the two Testaments, Old and New. Yes, Simeon had been waiting for this moment a long time. So today’s feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple demonstrates the dedication of Simeon and the wisdom of a life completely dedicated to the search for God’s Face... Simeon waited a long time, but his patience was rewarded. Imagine the joy he must have felt when he finally held Jesus in his arms. In our painting executed in 1342, we see the moment of Simeon holding Jesus. Anna to the right. The Holy family on the left. In a homily of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in 2011, on this feast day he prayed: At this moment, my thoughts turn with special affection to all of the consecrated men and women throughout the world and I entrust them to the Blessed Virgin Mary: O, Mary, Mother of the Church, I entrust all consecrated people to you, that you may obtain for them the fullness of divine light: may they live in listening to the Word of God, in the humility of following Jesus, your Son and our Lord, in the acceptance of the visit of the Holy Spirit, in the daily joy of the Magnificat, so that the Church may be edified by the holy lives of these sons and daughters of yours, in the commandment of love. Amen. by Patrick van der Vorst

The Yellowtards are resorting to inciting panic over the coronavirus outbreak just to seize power

January 30, 2020By benign0 Politics

You can see it in the main content of the Opposition rhetoric nowadays — mudslinging, inciting misinformation-driven panic, and nitpicking on inconsequential “issues”. Perhaps because of a lack of a substantial ideological foundation, the Yellowtard-led Philippine Opposition is running around flailing aimlessly, lashing out at every target that catches its eye.

A key pillar in their portfolio of talking points is wishing death upon Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The most famous of these were words tweeted by the late Carlos Celdran before he croaked.

Interestingly enough, the Yellowtards don’t have a compelling plan of action if Duterte does die before his term ends. All they have is “vice president” Leni Robredo who one cannot imagine surviving even one Cabinet meeting. And as leader of the Opposition, she has so far been flaccid at best.

Thus, things are indeed looking bleak for the Opposition. The Yellowtards, for now, are plumbing greater depths of desperation today as they scamble to politicise the novel coronavirus outbreak, taking every opportunity to demonise China and, by transitivity the China-friendly Duterte government. Their top “thought leaders” are issuing shrill the-sky-is-falling announcements with every factoid about the crisis they come across.More intelligent folk like Jessica Soho are more disciplined than these shills, however, preferring to take deep breaths and first take stock of facts before raising hell on social media.

Interviewed on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho on Monday, Nellan Banda warned Filipinos against “fake” photos and videos that have become viral amid the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) scare that originated in Wuhan.

“Ang social media is maraming mga fake na video na ginagawa para mas lalong pumanic ‘yung mga tao,” she said.

Banda said she had never seen people randomly collapsing in public, contrary to a number of videos that have surfaced online.

Filipinos deserve better than an Opposition that clings to dwindling relevance using dishonest means such as raising stinks over inconsequential things. For their part, it’s time the broader Opposition reconsider being led by the now-discredited Yellowtard bloc and chart a new and smarter pathway to an election win for themselves.

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benign0

Webmaster of Get Real Philippines

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https://www.getrealpundit.com/2020/01/the-yellowtards-are-resorting-to-inciting-panic-over-the-corona-virus-outbreak-just-to-seize-power/

The Philippine Opposition led by the Yellowtards are exploiting #coronavirus panic to #oustDuterte and seize power

February 1, 2020By benign0 Government, Society & Culture

Rather than work towards uniting Filipinos towards a more level-headed approach to dealing with the developing problem surrounding the latest viral outbreak, the Yellowtards are sowing panic and pinning blame for this panic on the Philippine government. The agenda here is quite clear as has been evident in other panic fads incited by the Yellowtards in the past. Their goal is to seize power at all costs — even at the cost of throwing Philippine society into chaos.

Worst of all, the Yellowtards are making Filipinos racist and are just short of recommending that concentration camps be put up to quarantine people of Chinese descent. And to think these are the very bozos who use the Hitler Argument whenever making crack about the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

A time of crisis like this is a time for careful consideration of options and calming the public so that people do sensible things. The last thing Filipinos need is a genocidal attack on a minority community such as what happened in Indonesia in the aftermath of the 1997 currency crisis when that country’s ethnic Chinese residents fell victim to mobs of angry people.

The Yellowtards are a grossly irresponsible lot and Philippine politics should be purged of their ideological cancer. Filipinos deserve better than a Yellowtard-led Opposition.

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benign0

Webmaster of Get Real Philippines

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https://www.getrealpundit.com/2020/02/the-philippine-opposition-led-by-the-yellowtards-are-exploiting-coronavirus-panic-to-oustduterte-and-seize-power/?fbclid=IwAR1Up1tNfNUdk7gLxI9uPm4ftbKy-ATGr-7S_BQT8iEU0qJZQ9Q3IP8Yv9g

Mark 4:35-41 | Stephen Gjertson | Quiet now! Be calm!

Mark 4:35-41   Quiet now! Be calm!

Peace, Be Still, Painted by Stephen Gjertson (born 1949), Painted in 2011, Oil on canvas © Stephen Gjertson Art With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’   READ MORE     Reflection on the Painting The lake-crossing scene in Mark today serves as an opportunity for Jesus to reveal more about Himself. A great storm arises. Remembering that most disciples were very familiar with being on boats and fishing, they are rather worried about the storm. This is no ordinary storm. Jesus rebukes the storm with the same authority as He did when he rebuked evil spirits. But it is the last part of the reading which is the interesting part. Mark’s description of the disciples and their worries has a way of unsettling us as readers. If the closest companions of Jesus, given the privilege they enjoyed from viewing and hearing Jesus up close, cannot put it all together, then how can we 2,000 years later expect to make sense of everything? This reading therefore is a warning that we cannot be overconfident or be overly certain that we know what it takes to qualify as an insider in God’s reign. There are many good reasons to be confident when we try to live our lives in Christ. We try to be loyal and dedicated. But being confident does not mean being without concern. We need humility in our confidence and trust in Christ. If we insist we are confident, then we lose alertness. We need to be vigilant, alert and accept that there are dangers. Only then can we proceed with caution, guarding our mind, words and deeds. Confidence is good. Overconfidence not. Our painting today is by Stephen Gjertson, founding member of The American Society of Classical Realism Guild of Artists. His realist painting style is striking. In the left distant corner we see thunder and lightning disappearing to the background. The storm has been calmed. Jesus, dressed in a red cloak has his arms raised, foretelling the crucifixion pose. The disciples all look on in wonder… The miracle of Jesus’ authority over nature had left them stunned… by Patrick van der Vorst