ISA Holds Last Event on Scripture and the Youth for 2019

As in the past three seminars, there was an opening prayer where Bro. Fred de Guzman asked the Lord to open their minds to new learning and to share it with co-parishioners.

ISA External Affairs volunteer Dr. Carmen Alviar welcomed everyone and introduced the speaker, ISA Director for Academics/Research and Publications Fr. Sheldon Tabile, O.Carm.

The Session

Fr. Tabile conducted a biblio-drama as a way of reaching out to the youth primarily, but also including other ministries and mandated organizations in the parish.

He said, “Biblio-drama can capture the attention of the youth and orient them on Scripture. It can also strengthen their sense of religiosity and spirituality which can help ground them against thoughts of committing suicide, now increasing among them.”

He added, “It passes on to young people the tradition of Scripture reading and is a new way of evangelization. The context of a Gospel reading is studied, acted out and then processed.”

Fr. Tabile was building on the first two sessions of the series – an orientation on Scripture by Fr. Chris Pine, OFM – and on the third one on interpreting the Lord’s Prayer in song and dance ending in a tableau, as led by stage artist-development advocate Fredyl Hernandez.

This time, Fr. Tabile offered four Gospel readings chosen together with Br. John Jeempe Sabuguero, O.Carm., student friar assigned to Sagrada Familia and to San Isidro Labrador Parishes under the custody of O.Carm.-Pilipinas.

Matthew 2:1-12 is about the Magi seeing and following a star to honor Baby Jesus and asking King Herod for directions.

Mark 2:13-17 is about Jesus preaching to the crowd, meeting Levi, son of Alphaeus and a tax collector and asking him, “Follow me”. When Jesus dined with him together with sinners, he was castigated by the Pharisees but he pointed out, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Luke 2:18-20 is about the shepherds who visited the Baby Jesus after being told by an angel of his birth. They spread the word “and all were amazed but Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart.”

John 1: 48-50 is about Levi asking Jesus, How do you know me?” and Jesus answering, “I saw you under the fig tree.”

“Rabbi, you are the son of God, the king of Israel.”

“You will see greater things than this.”

The Results

ISA Officer-in-Charge of Communication Sheba Martinez, also a professor of Theology at Miriam College, helped group the 58 participants according to the readings. But finding themselves too many per group, the participants decided to break into two per reading.

“Please choose your leader,” said Fr. Tabile, “and listen as he or she reads your Gospel verses in a prayerful way with the proper phrasing and pauses. Then, please remain silent as you interiorize the verses.

“Ask yourselves which character and element – trees, for example – had moved and impressed you the most. Present your choice to the group. And then from the discussions, make a tableau as you did last time.”

The groups prepared their tableaux for half an hour of casting, improvising costumes, borrowing a silver-sequined star from the side altar, finding props for Herod’s crown and bough for the fig tree, and even learning its local name (igos).

One by one they presented their output at the altar, and faced questions from Fr. Tabile.

He asked them, “How did you choose your characters? How did you feel when you were making your character move (gumagalaw)? What were you thinking of at that time? If you had entered into your character, you can answer these.”

Spatial relationships, it surfaced, also matter. When Fr. Tabile asked the woman who played Mary how she had felt being next to King Herod on his throne (as her group had decided to play on one stage the scenes of his court and of the stable), she said: “I was afraid of him and so, I really drew Baby Jesus to me.”

Fr. Tabile also asked, “What is your new insight on the text? Your new knowledge (pagkakilala) on the characters? Experiencing your character is important. Dramatization can help us explore and see what is needed within a situation as well as in life itself.”

During the processing, one of the participants playing a Pharisee in Mark 2: 13-17 said that he had felt sad that there are really people who are judgmental (mapanghugas).

But another participant said, “I may be sinful but we are lucky that God loves us.”

Biblio-drama, asserted Fr. Tabile, is a very effective way to read the text. It can also have a direct effect on actors, as when a participant playing the role of a Magi in Matthew 2:1-12 said with tears in his eyes, “I have long been wanting to approach the Lord. I want to change my life (Matagal na akong hindi lumalapit sa Diyos. Gusto kong magbagong-buhay).”

Another “Pharisee” internalized the text by feeling that he had been actually forgiven by Jesus, and a third participant – this time from the group dramatizing John 1: 48-50 – added, “Yes, I was able to relate to Nathaniel and his faith in God, as one of my group mates called it. Sometimes I forget to proclaim the Lord but now I want to share the story of his glory.”

And so, what was on the mind of the participants while they were preparing the biblio-drama, asked Fr. Tabile. A woman who played Mary in Luke 2: 18-20 answered, “In the story of the shepherds I really saw in the Bible what is unseen can be seen. Maski na hindi nakikita ay nakikita pala.”

Asked for insights, her group mate shared this: “You know, I realize now that something is being done for us by the Church and that we should also try to give back to the Church.”

Overall, the participants were happy that they had been assigned the roles they played. Blending stage and reality, a woman who had played Mary smiled and chirped, “I am happy I had given birth to Jesus”

Closing

Fr. Tabile ended the morning with words of praise. “We tried to relate the Scripture to our lives by dramatizing it. We entered the text and answered questions on how we did it. I am happy that we have reached the Scripture together.”

He added words of caution: “Remember, we will become engaged with the text only when we follow-up with a good processing. This is something we are grateful for from the Lord. If you want to appreciate the Scripture even more, we at ISA can continue to help.”

In return, Bro. Ed Rodriguez, head of a parish ministry. offered tokens to Fr. Tabile and said, “Thanks for the reach-out! Please do not tire of us, ISA. Huwag kayong madadala, ha?”

Perla Aragon-Choudhury