When God made a three-point shot

Does God play basketball?

The answer is yes if we base it on 3 Points ni Father (Homilies-Year B), the new book of Cabuyao City parish priest, Fr. Mardie Maligat. The book is the second installment of the cleric’s engaging homilies, which he wittily crafted using three points to deliver each of the homilies straight to the heart.

To experience the “sermons” of Fr. Mardie when he delivers them inside the 252-year-old church dedicated to St. Polycarp is to hear the voice of God. To read his book, which was edited by yours truly with educators Carlito Gatdula and Jester Lava, is to experience God’s tenderness and ardor to His children. It is evident in the book that God is an inspiring God; kind and merciful; both hope and love.

Fr. Mardie walks his talk. In one part of the book, he highlights what “less is more” means. “Less of ourselves, more for our family; less of ourselves, more for other people; less of ourselves, more for God.” Following this assertion, the priest is not keeping a single centavo to himself from the proceeds of the book. Just like the first book he launched last year, the sale of 3 Points ni Father, written in both Filipino and English, is already earmarked for the educational expenses of “Scholars ni San Policarpo.”

The book is likened to a second game of basketball that God plays with the believers. From His stand, He threw the ball to the earth. Fr. Mardie caught it; he dribbled the ball — straight to the ring. Three points! The score, which is well documented in the book, is not in numbers but in words — the Word of the Lord. Every page of the book is resplendent with hope, joy and love — all that is characteristic of the divine.

Every story is a tad longer than the stories in Didache or Our Daily Bread but with the same enriching, inspiring effect. At times, reading 3 Points ni Father is like reading Chicken Soup for the Soul — only, all stories in Fr. Mardie’s book come with a joke as introduction. Yes, a joke or an anecdote, because God also laughs. Reading the book, you would think God is also a funny God; and His humor is self-deprecating. Someone once defined to me the meaning of a good-read book: you laugh reading it then you