Where is the Love?

            Where Is The Love?

For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ( 1 Cor 4:20)

How much do we love our country and her people? Is following the Impeachment trial a sign of one’s love or is it more a test of one’s tolerance of political grandstanding and patience for the predictably funeral pace of a technicality-driven or delayed justice system?

            I listened to a portion of the Impeachment trial yesterday. I caught the exchange between a member of the prosecution and a senator-judge. The Senator-judge who obviously knew her law repeatedly referred to legal concepts and their corresponding legal nomenclature. She did this with such speed that the prosecution-lawyer was barely able to answer a question while another question was already being fired at him. Whenever the prosecution-lawyer paused and was at a lost for answers, he was immediately evaluated and given a grade. It was both hilarious and rather pathetic.  Since I could not see gestures and faces as I was just listening to a radio broadcast, I missed the added feature of reading and interpreting body language.

            The whole exercise on the 16^th day of the Impeachment Trial and a day before Valentine’s made me ask the question, “Where is the love?” How much genuine love of God, neighbor and country propels people on the Impeachment court? I tried listening not only with my ears but with my heart. I sometimes heard nothing more than linguistic noise. The noise was sometimes quite impressive laying bare the erudition and articulateness of persons but also quite disappointing if not disturbing because of the lack of heart and soul.

            We will celebrate Valentine’s Day tomorrow. Let us celebrate it in a different way by inviting everyone to love more and in a different way. Tomorrow morning at around 9:00 am various groups and individuals will gather at the corner of T.M. Kalaw and Taft avenue to warm up for A Love Run for the Mother Land. It may even be raining tomorrow as it is raining at this very moment but if there is love, the rain cannot dampen this primordial force in our lives. But it will not be the usual romantic love on Valentine’s day.

            There is the on-going debate as to who is violating the constitution by subpoenaing the peso and dollar bank accounts of the Chief Justice to the Senate. The prosecution added to the debate by filing a Temporary Restraining Order against the subpoena of the Chief Justice’s dollar account. The Senate voted 13-8 in favor of the TRO. Who then is higher and more powerful than the other two branches of government? The Supreme Court? The Senate? Or Malacanang?

            For me this is not the fundamental question. Thanks to Valentine’s Day, we may ask who among the SC justices truly love the country, the people, especially the poor, truth and justice and their source, the Almighty God? Who are beginning to show their real color by showing in not too subtle ways that they really love self more than anything else? Money whether in pesos or dollars is a good indicator of one’s love. Certainly it is not only the Chief Justice who is suspected to love self and money. How about the president who appointed him? Since the Impeachment Trial, she has become invisible. People seem to have forgotten her. But she and her cohorts should not be forgotten and ignored.

            As to the question which is the highest of the three, there actually is a fourth reality, the Sovereign People of the Republic. How easily those who have ascended the heights of power and position forget that all power rests and derives from the people. It is time to remember and to assert this. Run, run, run for our people on Valentine’s Day.

(February 14, 2012 9 a.m. Assembly at T.M. Kalaw cor. Taft, 10:00 a.m. Run to Supreme Court, Department of Justice and Senate of the Philippines)

Ang Tipo Kong Cj

            Ang Tipo Kong Cj

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” (Revelations 3:15)

A new movement was launched last Wednesday, February 8. Different groups and individuals gathered to form the “Ang Tipo kong Cj Movement.” The idea is to engage the ordinary person on the street to consider the entire “Impeachment” process as only a small part, although a significant part of a wider system that feeds and shapes each of its component parts. The Chief Justice is a crucial part of the vital whole called the Philippine Justice System. We are not only talking about the “Primus Inter Pares” of the Supreme Court as though everything hinges on this one person. The Impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is as much about one as much as each of the members of all the parts of the Justice System. What is being revealed about one man may as well apply to many if not all of the members of the Judicial hierarchy from the Supreme Court to the lowest court in the poorest city and municipality of the land. Is it possible that the Chief Justice truly amassed so much money and property? We then continue to ask, is it possible that other members of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Regional Trial Courts, the Fiscals office are just as capable of what the Chief Justice has done? This brings us to the painful question of how many in the entire judicial system can still be trusted? Fifty per cent? Forty per cent? Thirty percent? I am afraid, in people’s minds it is much much less than thirty per cent.

Many do not watch the Impeachment proceedings at all. There is cynicism and worse, resignation. Nothing can be done. It is useless watching a process where both camps are just making noise to protect each other’s vested interest. Is there really objectivity in the Impeachment proceedings? Are the Senator-judges fair and dispassionate? In the end, will the Senator-judges really vote in terms of the truth or something less noble will determine their votes?

The daily reportage on the Impeachment proceedings is at least bearing one important fact, the capacity of one man to compromise and literally sell out his honor and soul for material gain. We see how the story of Faust replays itself. And we realize how the story of cheapening and prostituting one’s dignity and integrity as a child of God is a possibility not only for the Chief Justice but for every member of the Supreme Court and all the other courts of the land. It is in fact a possibility for all of us.

“Ang Tipo Kong Cj” is a process of making every single Filipino reflect on both the Impeachment process and more. It hopes to engage each of us to reflect on what is happening throughout the entire Philippine society that is gradually destroying and killing the very soul of our people, the very soul of the Mother Land. I am not really impressed with the so called-“Old but Sharp” in the Supreme Court. I look at them and look hard and something in my heart of heart says “Sharpness is not exactly the same as telling the truth.” I look at the young and sometimes fumbling prosecution and I see not only the lack of preparedness but ambivalence. I look at the other Senator-judges and I don’t only see and hear what is being said now but what they said and did in the past that cast doubt on whatever they may beautifully and skillfully say and do now. The Impeachment proceeding is not only the trial of one man. If we were to reflect deeply, we all are on trial, especially those who may pretend to be what they are not. Those who look with cynicism and indifference, they too are on trial. Those who agonize and ask what good must be done for our country and people and should be done at once, those who see the Impeachment process as an opportunity to go redeem not only others but oneself from both cynicism and compromise; despair and resignation, perhaps they may be spared…

God's Little Ones

            God’s Little Ones

            Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

When I was still parish priest at the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish in Project 4, the first mass on Sundays was unique. The choir and readers at mass were blind. There was a lady who signed the mass from beginning to end. However, the non-PWD (Persons With Disability) members of the congregation had mixed reactions. Some appreciate the inclusive approach to worship. Quite a few think it may not be necessary and quite a waste of time and effort because the blind, anyway are a minority.

Project 4 is a special place, in baranggay Escopa there is a special government facility that trains and rehabilitates Persons With Disabilities, the blind in particular. This is what makes Project 4 unique. At any time of the day, you will encounter a blind person walking around guided only by her walking stick. Somehow, vehicles reluctantly slow down on the streets of Project 4 because of the few blind pedestrians who have admirably learned to move about rather PWD unfriendly streets.

Quietly tucked in a hidden corner of Project 4 is a house taking care of blind girls given up by parents who are unable to care for them.  Margaretha Home is run by my friends Srs. Dolores and Theresia. Yesterday, I said mass for the girls who were surrounded by the sisters and the various people who care for them. The girls’ ages range from five to early twenties. The girls were the choir, readers and servers as well. When the mass began, flashes of those special PWD inclusive masses at the Main church came back to me. The big difference though is that this mass was non-PWD friendly since the PWDs outnumbered us. There were about fifteen blind girls and about six of us sighted individuals.

When the girls sang the opening song they all quite instinctively tilted their heads backwards as though looking up to heaven. I remember that glorious run in Olongapo with Rod Eje the first blind Filipino to do a full marathon. When Rod did a long run with me for the first time in Olongapo, he was running with his head tilted back and his face basking in the sun. There was a grateful smile on his face which inspired me to run in a “deeper” and more meaningful way.

The girls sang and a discernible smile can be seen on their lips and even their shut, sightless eyes. They sang with great gusto shaking their percussion instruments while their whole bodies swayed and sang as well. I sang and looked at the girls playing their percussion instruments and singing at the top of their voices. They were giving of themselves to God in a way that puts us sighted ones to shame. During the homily, I kidded the girls by asking them how strong their sense of smell is. “Can you tell me how the sisters smell. How about Sr. Dolores? “She smells like an ‘office’. How about Sr. Theresia? “Sr. Theresia smells like insenso (incense). How about me, how do I smell? The girls were quiet but their faces lit up with excitement and joy. Do you want to know how I smell? I smell of the streets because I am always there. What do you find in the streets? Then we began talking about the gospel where Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees for their legalism. They insist on ways of washing hands before eating, sprinkling water on food and ways of washing spoons, forks, cups, bowls and plates.

Jesus disliked legalism because it blinds people from seeing with the heart. The girls did not see Srs Theresia nd Dolores but they sense and feel the love and care which these two wonderful and generous missionaries have been giving them for so many years now. I kept looking at the girls, at their shut and sightless eyes. There is something I see that I seldom see in sighted people. They see although in a different way, they see in places that the naked eye cannot go. They see within their hearts and souls all the time. They also see and deeply sense what is in the heart and soul of others around them.

As I looked at them, I sensed invisible eyes looking at me. Through my little, sightless friends God looked at me his little servant. I felt naked and small, in fact smaller than God’s beautiful little ones.

Twenty Five, Fifty, Seventy five, Forever....

            Twenty five, Fifty, Seventy Five, Forever….

“The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.” (Matthew 23:2)

I met Paulyn and Bana Rosell a few weeks ago. Pau and Bana were parishioners at the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice in UP Diliman where I was assigned assistant parish priest thirty years ago. The Rosell family was and continues to be close friends. Their parents were a quiet couple who beautifully combined work, family life and faith into a vibrant home. My memories of the Rosell family takes me back to my first blog, “February is Family.”

            That Pau and especially Bana whom I have not seen for at least two decades, would reappear in my life is clearly a gift as I celebrate thirty years of my priestly life. I remember many afternoons of jogging with Pao around the UP Campus. Bana was not really into sports. I remember the countless times that we teased her until she was red in the face or was it our faces that turned red? Now Pau works for the Department of Health and fulfills her dream to dedicate her life to the promotion of health.

            On February 7, Tuesday Pau invited me to say a thanksgiving mass for the silver and golden jubilarians of the UE College of Medicine batch 62 and 87 respectively. As the auditorium began to fill with the jubilarians, I noticed rather dignified men and women dressed in formal jusi. Soon the front seats turned beige while the middle seats were occupied by men and women in black. More than a simple color coding of white for the Golden and black for the Silver jubilarians, I saw something more. The white formal dresses worn by women and men in their mid seventies spoke of the white light of wisdom. The black jackets worn by women and men in the middle seats stood for the heights of professional success and fulfillment.

            These are medical doctors who have helped hundreds if not thousands of patients over the years. During the homily, I shared how similar the priesthood and the medical profession is. Unless, our work somehow becomes vocation, it would remain formal, mechanical and eventually, mediocre. There are three things to ponder as we celebrate any anniversary. Anniversaries are really important occasions to pause and renew our fundamental vision and option. What are doctors for? What are priests for?

            Losing our fundamental vision and orientation reduces us to something less than we are meant to be. My good friend and mentor Dr. Prospero Covar used to joke about how some doctors are like ‘katipuneros.’ I asked then what he meant and he explained, “Parang Katipunero dahil mahusay tumaga.” They are like members of the Katipunan, skilled in the use of the bolo (taga). Taga also has the second meaning of ‘overpricing.’

As church people, bishops, priests and religious are just as vulnerable. I was talking to a good friend who shared how she was hurt and scandalized by a retired bishop who during his mass said the following to the congregation, “I am going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, give me all your intentions (envelopes) and I will bring all of them with me as I pray in the Holy Land.”

            I don’t know who among those in white is most accomplished and has become quite rich over the years. Even those in black may be just as successful. The money we acquire is a good thing but it is not the core of what we are. There are three things that matter. The first is love, the desire, energy to give of oneself unconditionally in the service of others. The second is fidelity, to remain true and faithful to my vocation and profession, shunning any form of compromise. And finally, humility, the capacity to constantly reflect and pray over my life, my thoughts, words and deeds and see where and how I may have erred and immediately make amends and go back to doing right and most importantly being what God meant me to be.

           

           

Thirty Years is not really a Long Time

            Thirty Years is not really a long time!

He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us? But he gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:5-7)

In 1982, I was assigned as an assistant to then UP Diliman Catholic chaplain Fr. Manny Gabriel. That was thirty years ago. My friendship with DAR Secretary Gil de los Reyes goes back that long.

            In 1982, I was not that much older than Gil who was a pre-law student. I was then a young priest overflowing with energy and idealism. Amidst the idealism I confronted many difficult questions that stretched my priesthood beyond its customary limits. A foremost issue then was the role of faith in the struggle for justice, human rights and freedom from oppression. There was no question among the progressive members of the UP Diliman community of that time that the dictatorship that we all were subjected to was immoral and had to be struggled against. Ten years earlier, in 1972, as a young first year college seminarian, I witness the imposition of Martial Law. This was the socio-political environment in which I met Gil and became friends with him and his batch of UPscans. Through the years, both friendship and idealism remained while Gil became a lawyer and rose in stature as Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

            Through the years, I saw him develop both his personal and professional sides. I am witness to his unflagging faith in God and the clarity and discipline of his work ethic. I saw him become a husband then a father and admirably grow into both roles in the past years since I solemnized his marriage to Nicole. Over the last thirty years, while Gil has grown in age and wisdom, what I first saw at the beginning seemed to have endured and acquired body and maturity like good wine.

 I will be thirty years a priest by March 18 this year. In preparation for this milestone,  I have started seeing many of my good and true friends. I realize how important real friends are as I went through the vicissitudes of the life of idealist engagement. While I belong to a church that expects priests to fulfill certain institutional and canonical expectations, I have always listened to and remained true to the inner voice. Gil has always been there, a faithful friend and companion along the way. He is one of a few who may not have always agreed with my ways but maintained his trust and friendship. Yesterday was a happy and encouraging meeting with Gil, Nicole, Teresa and Cristina. I have recently stumbled upon a beautiful quote from Clare of Assisi which somehow captures what I have felt and sought for through the years:

What you hold, may you (always hold)

What you do, may you (always) do and never abandon.

But with swift pace, light step,

Unswerving feet.

So that even your steps stir up no dust,

May you go forward

Securely, joyfully and swiftly,

On the path of prudent happiness,

Not believing anything

That would dissuade you from this resolution

Or that would place a stumbling block for you on the way,

So that you may offer your vows to the Most High

In the pursuit of that perfection

To which the Spirit of the Lord has called you.

(From the Second Letter of St. Clare to Agnes of Prague, quoted in “Franciscan Prayer by Ilia Delio OSF)

Deep gratitude and love to you Gil, Nicole, Teresa and Cristina. Till we meet again on Cristina’s birthday on October 4, 2012.

Nanay Flor's Journey into The Depths

 Nanay Flor’s Journey into the Depths

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ (Luke 4:3-4)

February 4, World Cancer Day was celebrated yesterday  by a gathering of doctors from India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada and the Philippines at St. Dominic Medical Center in Bacoor Cavite. The international gathering of doctors gave due importance to a new technology for the early detection of cancer which will now be available through the abovementioned medical center.

I invited Nanay Flor to attend the inauguration of the new clinic using a non-invasive method for the early detection of cancer. More importantly, I invited Nanay Flor to be with me for the Philippine launch of the book, “Buhay Ka, Struggles in Mortality, Glimpses of Eternity.” Nanay Flor epitomizes the spirit of the book. She has struggled as a mother to care for three children who got sick with cancer and died one by one. Armyn and Nene were like her working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Armyn developed breast cancer in 2007 and died in 2008. A year later, in 2009  Nene developed cervical cancer and dies the following year. Nanay Flor shortly after Nene’s death goes home for good. A few months after she comes home, her eldest son Arnold develops liver cancer and died in late December last year. Shortly after Arnold’s death, Nanay Flor who began accumulating water in her lungs receives the unpleasant news that she has lung cancer.

I have witnessed parts of Nanay Flor’s struggles as she quietly and faithfully journeyed with her sick children from diagnosis to treatment and finally through the final days and moments of their lives. Now, I accompany her on a different and more personal journey as she now struggles as a survivor fighting cancer cells in her own body.

When I saw Nanay Flor last Saturday she was happy but in a rather subdued way. I embraced her as I often did to her children and the many who suffer from cancer. Now, Nanay Flor herself suffers from the very disease that weakened and eventually killed her children. The more I journey with those struggling with cancer, the less I speak. I quietly try to connect with that which is deepest in them. I am not a doctor or an alternative medicine practitioner who can prescribe some anti-cancer cure. More and more I have continually rediscovered my poverty, helplessness and emptiness. And this is what I now offer to those who suffer from life-threatening diseases.

In the depths of my silence, I find the inexhaustible richness of God’s mysterious presence in the poverty of my soul. As I journey with those whose lives are the “story of less,” less money, less healthy, less safe, less happy, less certain about tomorrow, I discover the ironic dynamic of a life made richer because of its emptiness. God looks at our emptiness and simply slips into it. If we are full, content, comfortable we are likely to be also indifferent and even oblivious of God’s real and intimate presence around and within our lives.

Nanay Flor experiences a most radical poverty after having lost three children to cancer. Now she is also struggling with cancer. The gnawing pain of loss and emptiness after losing her three children is deep and only she alone knows what this means. I am now a silent witness to how she draws strength, light and comfort from God who now resides in the depths of her emptiness. God bless you Nanay Flor. We love you Nanay Flor.

The Not So ‘Good Guys’ of Corporate Greed and the Great Men and Women of Baguio

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. (Acts 17:16)

I travel to Rizal towns from time to time. Whenever I pass through the town of Teresa, I slow down to look at the progress of the marble quarrying on mountains just a few meters from where people live. When I first traveled to Rizal in the early 70’s quarrying on the mountains of Teresa had not begun. I don’t exactly know when it began but I remember how the majestic mountain gradually shrunk and lost its former mystery and beauty. From tall and imposing with a thick mat of green trees and foliage, the mountain seemed to sink and die. I don’t think I am only using a figure of speech here. As you deforest, de-foliage and quarry a mountain, you are actually killing it, not to mention how many trees and wildlife you already killed in the name of progress. Not too far away from Teresa town is a cement factory which derives its raw materials also from the mountains. There are times when the trees of Teresa are covered with a thin gray film. Driving through this town, one notices a particular type of dust which is not the usual. The dust clearly comes from the continuous quarrying for cement ingredients and marble. The dust does not only settle on the leaves and barks of trees. It also finds its way into the water, livestock, vegetables, etc. that eventually become food that is ingested and digested in people’s stomachs. I am sure, cement is not edible. How about the cement dust that goes into people’s lungs?

Not too far away from Teresa is Antipolo where more than a decade ago the Cherry Hills disaster took place. After that tragedy where hundred died as their houses were sucked into the earth when an underground river suddenly came alive because of incessant rains, the mayor then promised to declare a moratorium on land development. That promise clearly was only for a time. Antipolo now is fast changing. Housing projects, commercial complexes are sprouting everywhere. Just as you drive into Marikina from Sumulong Highway, you are greeted by a giant SM on your right. A few kilometers away another giant SM greets you. Further down the road as you approach Katipunan, a few meters from the corner of Katipunan and Aurora Boulevard a giant SM highrise condominium is underway. Further up Katipunan, just across La Vista Subdivision towers an SM Condominium. I can go on and on, and show how almost within five or ten kilometers you either see a Mall, Condominium, Bank etc. that belongs to the conglomerate SM Holdings. Now from Gatlabayan to Leble has Antipolo really improved? How about from Bayani, the husband to Bayani the wife, has Marikina really improved?

Look closely at the picture above. You will see a back hoe which in Maguindanao has become a murder weapon that killed several media workers more than two years ago. The back hoe seems to be quietly doing an innocent, useful and productive chore. Yes, if we look at the mountain as just one big chunk of earth and rocks to be moved and processed into products that sell. Business advertising, like politics makes evil look good. The men and women behind the expansion of the SM Empire are called the good guys. They are now being challenged by the Great and the Best Men and Women of Baguio City who started Project 182. When people work to save and preserve life, they are not only good but are really the Best! They are truly great because they speak and act from their greatness of their souls that are akin to the soul of Mother Earth. When people destroy the environment by cutting trees, quarrying and pulverizing mountains and leveling the earth to give way to the many temples of consumerism and materialism they better not call themselves good, unless they prefer mockery to truth. Thank God for the Great Men and Women of Baguio City. Woe to the “good” guys of Corporate SM Greed!”