Take heed

Yesterday evening I had a huge shock. It was around nine in the evening and my brother and I were walking towards his office. I saw so many homeless people sleeping in the underpass, in the parks and everywhere else. I was really shocked. I never expected to see such a sight here in the Philippines.
I hope I don-t get over the shock. I hope sights such as this continue to question me. I hope I don't become dumb and indifferent as sights like this become commonplace.
Jesus said that we will always have the poor with us. May their presence be a call to conversion, to a gradual and radical conversion. God can build His Kingdom by Himself, but God engages us in this wonderful adventure.
May I take heed.

Misplaced loyalty

Something big has happened in my country, the Philippines, recently. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was impeached. I am watching some portions of the impeachment trial through YouTube postings.
I am quite perplexed by the comments of some people on the YouTube videos. One that has really caught my attention was this "I will never forget you CJ. If I can only do something to help you, to defend you. You have been a great help to me. Whoever I am today, I owe it to you a great deal because you have let me pass your course." (my translation)
It's very worrying because it betrays a misplaced loyalty, a wrong hierarchy of values. I mean, you are grateful forever to a person who has allowed you to pass his course? Is it an indirect admission that you were not worthy to pass, that it was a passing mark for something else rather than a good work done?
It is really worrying because how can a society function well if we have our values turned upside down? I mean, you want to let a person go scott free, without weighing the facts of his guilt or innocence, just because he gave you a favor? I mean, this is very, very disturbing.
I guess this is just a reflection of what happens in society in general. Misplaced loyalties blind us, making us unwilling to see the truth. And I believe that at the root of our misplaced loyalties is our self-centredness. The criterion is no longer the truth, but the utility of something or someone to my own good. In the end, my loyalty is really to myself.
We need a strong and stable centre. We need something or someone that goes beyond our self-interests. We need something or someone that goes beyond our vacillating self.
Lord, help us to see.

Singing my prayer

Yesterday I went to a Filipino Mass. It's been a long time since I've participated in a Filipino Mass and after yesterday's experience, I must say that I miss it.
We have so many beautiful liturgical songs in English, in our own national language and in our dialects. And it is really different when I pray in Filipino. The words of the songs are not the normal words we use in everyday conversations. The words of the songs just seem to express what is most profound in us. It's like having a glimpse of heaven and describing it in our own terms.
And our melodies are so sweet that they just make you forget for a while the struggles of life or you see them from the perspective of sweet chivalry of days past.
I am grateful for that experience. It was a special encounter with God that has touched my Filipino heart and soul.

The impossible dream

It's election season again in the Philippines. With the many candidates presenting themselves full blast with the use of tri-media, and don't forget the campaign sorties even in far-flung villages, we are presented with an array of candidates, so many that it makes my head ache just to think of the ballots I have to fill up.
What is my point? It is hard to make a choice. We have grown more and more disillusioned with the kind of politicians we have, it seems like the Philippines is going from bad to worse. And so we blame the woes of our country to these people, but they would not have been there in the first place if we haven't placed them where they are. Oh well, of course, there are exceptions like for those who are where they are because of their astuteness. But then again maybe we are also responsible for letting them dupe us, and dupe us again and again for a long time.
Anyway, since I am not very young anymore and my experience in life has made me more sober (I hope), I'd like to just throw out there my own reflections. Let us turn away from our tendency to make decisions based only on practicality or convenience. Let us make choices based on what is GOOD. This coming elections is a struggle between Good and Evil, as my favorite Conrado de Quiros loves to say.
We would do well to remember these words of Thomas More, executed by the king because of his unwillingness to compromise his principles:
"When a man deserts his private conscience for the sake of public duty, he betrays himself and leads his country by a short road into chaos."
One practical and solid criterion for this coming elections? Don't vote for people who have a history of compromise. They don't have principles. Their interest is only for themselves.
Freedom has a price to pay, that is, holding fast to our principles. We may not see the fullness of freedom for our motherland in our lifetime, but we are consoled that we have planted the seed. We have left behind for our future generations something for which they will forever be thankful for.

I love the Philippines

By now the whole world knows of the most recent calamity that has devastated our beloved country, the Philippines, as if the Philippines doesn't have enough of its share of calamities (both natural and man-made).
Any Filipino's ordinary reaction was to inquire about the condition of our families, friends and loved ones. And I am sure (and I am included in this), each one of us must have heaved a sigh of relief when we were assured that not much damage has befallen them.
I guess now is the time that we are called to look beyond and to widen our horizons. We thank God that our loved ones are okay, and are spared, sort of. But we cannot also neglect to remember that our other co-Filipinos are in dire need of help.
Much is still left to be said about the need for the re-construction of our nation (especially its moral dimension), but in this moment of urgency, we cannot be indifferent. Our country and our people need us NOW.
Sometimes it makes me angry, esp. when happenings like this show very clearly the inability and even irresponsibility of our government leaders. Why is it that church groups and non government organizations are the ones providing the people the services that our government officials and institutions are supposed to render?
Since this is a time of emergency, we need to act NOW. People's lives are at stake. I believe that all of us are called to do our part.
As we thank God for the blessings bestowed on us, He also calls us to share these blessings. He is not asking us to do something impossible or great. In fact, in the last judgment, Jesus will tell us "in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40). Let us share our blessings to our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
We Filipinos are a very resilient people, sometimes, I think, too resilient for our own good. We will be able to hurdle this experience, but I hope that it will also become for us a moment of growth - to know what are the things that matter most in life, to be able to live responsible citizenship, to extend our natural love for our families to all our countrymen.
Wherever we may be, I know that deep in our hearts, there is a special love for our motherland. We only have one motherland and she needs us at this moment.
God bless the Philippines. God bless us all.