God's Plan for His Church

HOW SHOULD I see myself as a Christian, i.e., a Roman Catholic Christian?  How should I see my faith in relation to His church, both as an organized religion with the corresponding trappings of a societal institution, and an assembly (“Ekklesia”) of His people?

       There was challenge in arriving at the most convincing answers to these questions when my wife and I were assigned as talk-givers in one of our parish’s formation programs, the Parish Renewal Experience (PREX).   The topic was “God’s Plan for the Church.”  

       In speaking before mostly nominal Catholics in our parish who we urge to become active church workers, it is important to narrow down doctrine to the most basic faith experience.   Unless we do so, what goes into the right ear simply exits to the left; with not a trace of residue.  So, we did the best thing; we prayed as we tried hard to discern the Gospel in John 7:9-26, the reference material for the talk.
 

       Then like tea leaves forming in a cup, the image of a heart with the word JESUS on it came to light.  

       We had our answers.  As Christians and as members of His church, we must be:

•  Joyful of heart and spirit, knowing well that being one with Christ whose love, mercy, and peace immensely overflow is more than enough reason to be fulfilled and to rejoice.
• Empowered by the Word and the teachings that enrich us so, allowing us to Evangelize mightily and fearlessly in His name.
• Stable and Strong amid the spiritual warfare that transpires in every facet of our lives today - dividing our people and threatening the very foundations of our faith.
• United among ourselves and with Christ in the manner that Christ as Son was one with the Father; a union that translates into the coming together of people, families, communities, nations, and the world.
• Salvation-focused; holding on to God's promise that as we remain ever faithful to Him here on earth, His company in heaven, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels and saints, awaits us.
• And finally, centered on His greatest teaching that love of God and neighbor shall be the cornerstone of our faith.  And by that, we Christians shall always be known through time and eternity for our love for one another.

                 

       Talaga, ang sarap maging Kristiyano!

It's All About Sex!

LET'S GO TO the main contentious, yet often side-stepped, issue on the Reproductive Health/ Responsible Parenthood Bill…. SEX.

       Really now, behind the discourse that spans the length of arguments  – from theology, science, human rights, governance, morals, to what have you -- the RH bill is really about sex…  plain and simple SEX.  And two camps are separated by the great divide – those who believe that sex should be and can  be treated responsibly, and those who believe that people will often act irresponsibly when it comes to sex and we can’t do anything about it, thus the need for this law to guide us in moderating its negative consequences on our lives.

       I hate dipping my fingers into the current debate as my arguments would just be as open-ended as the rest.  But obligations set by faith and church require that I take a stand, and not just fence-sit.   I take a stand to proclaim that beyond who I am and what others may perceive me to be, I am foremost a Christian, a Catholic, and my immense love for my God is the reason I follow His teachings and stand by Him. 

       How I dread the day when I have to face my God and be asked:  You say that you are my follower, but what have you done in my name?  And I would stare at Him, dumbfounded as to how difficult can an answer be to such a simple question.  Slowly, a profound sadness and loneliness would envelop me because deep within I know the real answer.

        I am totally against the RH/PH Bill for the most basic and simplest reason that it wants us to accept, nay instill into our heart and mind, that we humans are not capable of being responsible when it comes to sex.  That we are simply too weak when we hear the call of the flesh.  That we are no better than animals when the heat of passion, or is it lust, becomes unbearable.  Arguably, I don’t see a marked difference between dogs in heat doing it in the streets, and a couple not married to each other doing it in some sleazy motel.

       To some extent, we are even being portrayed as worse than some animals that can be more responsible when it comes to sex and having sexual partners.  I feel quite sorry comparing animals to humans because animals can behave more humanly than most humans will ever do in their lifetime.  For one, pets are easily forgiving of their masters’ transgressions.  They have such poor memories, indeed to better forgive.  Pigs will defecate at the same corner of their pen, far from where they’d eat, while I know of people who’d muck-rake and mud-sling for their own interests with nary a bother where the stench flies.

      God, having created us in His own image, wants us to come to terms with who and what we really are.  He wants us to rise above what we have come to see and accept of ourselves, not just mere mortals, but His creation, His children, a cut high above the rest.  He wants us be more respectful of ourselves for that.  And since He looks at us that way, He wants us to realize that we do not need a law that will tell us to the contrary, that “since you cannot control your weakness in succumbing to the ways of animals, then this is what you ought to do.”   God does not give us a choice to act like animals, nor does He want us to choose whether to act like humans.  Rather, God requires us to act like humans – of His likeness – because that is who we are.

       I fully agree with statistics that 11 women, everyday and in our country, die due to childbirth-related reasons.  I agree that poverty lurks in every corner of our country.  I agree that domestic violence does happen.  I agree that teen pregnancies do occur.  I agree that having too many children does compound  the poor’s continuing drudgery.  I agree that promiscuity seems to be the norm nowadays, thanks but no thanks to Western culture that has been forced down our throats by media and showbiz culture.

       But do these reasons really justify the passage of the RH/RP Bill into law?

       I believe government can have the capacity to provide proper health services so that childbirth-related deaths, as well as all other deaths due to other cases, are lessened, if not prevented altogether.  I believe that a more aggressive campaign to bring the benefits of our economic programs down to the poorest of the poor will address poverty.  I believe that ensuring effective implementation of laws that address violence against women and children will prevent cases of domestic abuses from escalating.  I believe that empowerment through jobs and just wages will ease the poor’s load.  I believe that the unbridled influx of Western culture that project pre-marital and extra-marital sex as normal behavior in this modern day and age must be contained.  Tell me of any provision in the RH/RP Bill, and I’ll tell you of a government policy, program, project, or an activity that already addresses it.  Hence, do we really require an encompassing law for all these which, if viewed in a larger perspective, pricks our sensibilities and undermines our integrity as a people of faith?

       And finally, and most importantly, I believe that we have the capacity to revisit our views about responsible sex, especially in the context in which it should only be allowed – in marriage.   And this is where our church should come in.  It should gather all its forces and resources, review and revise its advocacies and strategies, launch full-scale evangelism, promote natural family planning as aggressively as the private sector would its pro-choice campaigns, and be clear on its position on relevant crucial social issues that impact the least of our brethren if only for the flock to realize that the church indeed means business.

       It is not just social, political, economic, cultural, or moral debate that's going on, it is a spiritual battle happening before us; hence the need for our resoluteness to stand firm by the side of God.

       Scrap the RH/RP Bill Now! 

A Most Precious Gift!

AT THE END of the day, or perhaps even at life's twilight, nothing counts more than being blessed with a family where love overflows, and where the presence of a merciful and loving God is most felt.  As individuals, we have our quirks, definitely; and the highs and lows are as unpredictable as the rains.  But a family that finds strength not in the material and the temporal but in the value of each member being there for each other will always prevail; and in the end it will always be for the good.

       As a husband and father, I feel immensely blessed with this gift that God has so generously given me - my family... and I can only wish the same for everyone!  Still, everyday I pray to St. Joseph... to make me a good husband and a better father.  As they are a gift to me, so must I strive to be a gift to my family too.

'We Should Have Done Better!'

ON THE THIRD page of the August 24, 2011, issue of a leading daily, is a news report that struck me quite profoundly as a government employee.  It talked about a certain Romeo Salvador, one of the two police negotiators in the botched up hostage-rescue operations exactly a year ago.   Some 25 tourists from Hong Kong who were in a bus, including a Chinese guide and four Filipinos, were taken hostage by a police officer who demanded a review of the Ombudsman's decision on a case against him.  Failure in negotiations, as well as bungled police operations led to the death of eight hostages and the hostage-taker, and to injuries to seven others, including two bystanders.

            In the news report, Salvador went to the site “to offer a simple prayer.”  But it wasn't to be as simple as it seemed as “my knees shook and I was trembling as I was walking to the spot [where the incident happened].” He wanted to leave as fast as he could, but somehow he was recognized by some local and foreign reporters present who probably were there during the actual drama in August 2010.  The snide remarks from the foreigners, especially comments like “why haven’t you resigned?” and “why are you still a negotiator?” surely cut deep.

            But Salvador bravely faced it all and expressed what we, as decent, caring, and God-fearing Filipinos, have been wanting to say this past year to the families and relatives of the victims.  Humbly, he said: “I am here to pray and ask for forgiveness.  We did not fully fulfill our job.  We should have done better.” 

            Most often, we justify the outcome of our actions on the basis of the circumstances in which they were taken.  That is the standard set by ordinary men.  In my book, this man – Romeo Salvador – sets himself apart.  He sees the merit of his actions not in light of circumstantial constraints, but how his actions could have made yet a positive difference notwithstanding the gravity of these same constraints. 

It is not a position of resignation, I strongly argue, but of conscience stirring deep within and surfacing the truth that more could always be done by one in a position to do just that; and to take adequate responsibility for all actions, especially when lives are at stake.  And when asking for forgiveness is demanded not so much as a show of remorse but because it is the most moral thing to do, to do so with courage and hope, knowing well that this world will be made the better for it.

On Working Abroad: A Reality Check

             EVERYTIME I TRAVEL, there is a sight I see at our international airports that terribly wrenches my heart. It is the scene of our countrymen and women – overseas workers – saying goodbye to their spouses, their children, their parents, and their loved ones.

The sadness is palpable in the hugs and the tears. Not a few of the seemingly hardy men bound for the construction sites or the shipyards abroad are just as teary eyed as the women who will be back in the domestic confines of their foreign employment. They embrace with pained expression on their faces, lamenting perhaps their sad fate of why their families should be torn apart for periods seemingly eternally long for the sake of bettering their lives.

My sense of the sadness pervading these farewell scenes are much rooted to my own experiences as a child. I remember when my parents, both teachers, would be sent by their schools for out-of-town conferences or seminars, and I would be crying like I would not be seeing them again; and that was just for about a few days’ or a week’s absence. And when I studied at university, every trip back to Manila from the province – since I only went home every semester’s end – was like going through an emotional upheaval as I, already in my teens, would go into a bawling episode as I held my parents tightly, not wanting to leave the comforts of home and loving company.

The final destinies of families made unwhole because one, or both, of the spouses leave for work abroad are no longer rare information. Almost every one of us knows of a family, if not our very own, with members who are migrant workers, along with the success and mostly the sob stories that come with their plight.

The social costs of migrant employment are quite familiar – spouses made vulnerable by the loneliness in a foreign land and finding solace in the arms of someone else other than their legitimate partners, children who grow up wanting of proper parental guidance and eventually leading lives that our society frowns upon, parents and children who become strangers under one roof and whose sole connection with each other is the regular remittances that are made to take the place of actual physical and emotional company.

Of course, there are the stories that tragedies are made of – the teacher who opts for the life of a household help but who ends up a victim of white slavery, the professional whose contract is substituted for work that pays pittance and denies him all possibilities of getting out of the rut, the worker who finds himself in detention under laws he could not comprehend, and the construction worker who gets blown off in a helicopter crash while working in a war-torn country.

The difficulty in looking at the challenges facing the lives of migrant workers lies in the fact that many of our countrymen who go the way of migrant employment do so as a choice that they cannot live without. There is that thinking that no other option is left in the country, that the only source of salvation is to depart for some faraway land where the proverbial pastures are greener and there is milk and honey sufficiently stored in the barn.

Count the social costs against all these, and the true nature of the issue surfaces – the matter of how far can one really be patient in his or her economic state of life in relation to one’s level of satisfaction and the general appreciation of how lives ought to be lived. Here’s some reality check for the potential migrant worker:

Indeed, has the economic state of your life and that of your family’s become so despicably miserable that you must, by all means, work abroad? Have your loved ones, especially your children, actually complained and told you that they would prefer you leaving the abode just so that there would be better food, clothes and shelter for them?

Are your ambitions to make a better life for your family immensely dictated by a heap of hearsay about people actually succeeding as migrant workers? Are these stories true in the first place? Have you actually seen the on-going dynamics in their families? Have you, even for once, considered that their problems could be your own once you slip into their shoes?

Are there really no more options for you to work here, or are your desire for instant financial windfall clouding your vision on other possibilities at the domestic front that are just as financial rewarding if we allow it to prosper over time?

Is your heart really that stiff and cold to waste years away from your family, from your spouse and children, to amass material wealth that you could never enjoy in the emotional estrangement that pervades the household?

I know of what I speak of as my family never joined the migrant bandwagon despite all the prospects being laid open. In my growing up years, we went through the economic challenges of life, but never has it occurred to my parents to leave us behind even as our aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. were flying out of the country in the hope to financially establish themselves in their respective lands of promises.

So how did it turn out? Let’s just say that, then as now, it made for my staunch belief that a family that remains physically, emotionally, and spiritually together is unquestionably ideal and irreplaceable.