After You

To be a Christian is to commit ourselves to our Christianity in the manner that a lawyer commits to the legal profession. As a court registry officer, I have seen lawyers who were expelled from the Bar for committing unethical practices.  It is a difficult process as witnesses expose the wrongdoing of an officer of the court. When disbarred, the counsel loses his standing in court: no longer allowed to practice the profession, no longer allowed to represent clients, but far worse, losing one’s respect among peers and in the community.

If a lawyer is an officer of the court, a Christian is a disciple of Christ.  To be a disciple is to follow the example of Jesus. “He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9: 23-24)

During the two-day Year of Faith pilgrimage to the Vatican on June 21, Pope Francis told 108 papal representatives to the nations and international organisations, along with 40 retired nuncios, not to give in to spiritual worldliness. "There is always the danger, including for churchmen, to give into what -- borrowing an expression from (the late Jesuit Cardinal Henri) De Lubac -- I call 'spiritual worldliness': giving into the spirit of the world which leads to acting for one's self-realization and not for the glory of God," he said.

There are Christians, whether full-time servants in the Church or lay persons, who succumbed to using their position or situation towards attaining prominence, fame and popularity. The Pope said to the nuncios "Beware of those who are ambitious, who seek the episcopacy."

"Shepherds need to be in front of their flocks to indicate the path, in the midst of the flock to keep them united, behind the flock to make sure none is left behind," the pope said. While he may have been addressing the church officials, the Pontiff’s call has relevance to each and every Christian: to be in front in the causes of God and to be the last man in the lookout for lost brethren.

Godzone: A Caring Society

When Leah Gayo, a Bisaya, died while delivering her baby, I thought it would be helpful to the family if we raised money for their needs.  I talked to husband Norman who said that Leah’s parents wanted her to be buried in her birthplace. That meant transport and travel expenses. I told him, “Our organisation, Katilingbang Bisaya sa New Zealand (KBNZ), will try to raise NZ$1,000.00.”

The donations started coming in, snail pace. Out of the blue, I received a call from Cherie Howie, a reporter of Herald on Sunday, who sought our position on the death of Leah in a publicly-run hospital. As the interview was about to end, she asked if our group was helping out the family. So I told her about the fundraising we had initiated, mentioning the KBNZ emergency fund bank account number.

On the day the story was published, the deposits still came in trickles. As we checked the account on Monday evening (6 May), we were totally flabbergasted as the donations had reached $7,429.96 with two donors putting $1,000 each. By the end of the campaign, the total donations reached $11,524.00.

In the follow-up story, it was published: “Mel Libre, president of the Filipino community group that was helping Gayo, said: "We feel thankful that New Zealand is a very caring society."” I made that conclusion as majority of the donors did not have Filipino surnames nor looked familiar to us. These were complete strangers who had good hearts shown by generous actions and some kind words.

True that New Zealand is a rather liberal nation in terms of individual freedom and loosened morals, but I know that the seeds sowed by its ancestors who were mostly religious and God-fearing (one will notice the numerous old churches in many areas) remain ingrained in the hearts of most people. This must be the reason why New Zealand is consistently among the one of the most liveable, most peaceful and least corrupt nations in the world.

We turned-over the donations to Norman during Filipino Family Day on June 1. He was thankful and emotional about the helpfulness of so many individuals, both friends and strangers. I sent a note of thanks to Cherie and the Herald, to which she replied, “I think the Filipino community is doing an awesome job of supporting Norman, but happy to hear we have played a small part also.”

Secularism is the seeming rule in New Zealand; but there is no New Zealander who does not know how to sing with pride, “God Defend New Zealand,” more so, when the nation’s rugby team, All Blacks, play to win.

God remains in the lips of New Zealanders, as it does in their caring acts. And if you go to Wikipedia, it says “God’s Own Country, often abbreviated to Godzone or less often Godzown, is a phrase that has been used for more than 100 years by New Zealanders to describe their homeland.”

George W Obama

Did you see that mash up photo of “George W Obama” that combined the faces of George W Bush and Barrack Obama? It looked real, yet weird in a sort of way. Whoever came out with it had less of an artistic reason, but more of a political commentary.

When Americans voted into office its first black president, it was because they had enough of President George W Bush, who had brought the US into a full-scaled war against terror and whose inefficiency was put to light in the aftermath of cyclone Katrina that devastated New Orleans.

But political observers have noticed that through the years, President Obama has morphed into his predecessor, certainly not in looks, but in policies. One such policy is the sharing by communications companies of Americans' phone records with the National Security Agency.

There are only two possibilities for people to become in this world: be Christ-like or Satan-like. You cannot be both good and bad at the same time. You are either good or bad. While there are those who romanticize Robin Hood who stole and distributed the loot to the less fortunate, such is not the way of God.

But we live in a world of compromise. More so that politicians advocate policies not based on principles or conscience but on popular will, if not mob rule. The most obvious example was Pilate’s decision of Christ’s crucifixion. ^“Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.” And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.” (Matthew 27: 22-26)

Why have abortion, prostitution and gay marriage, among others, been legalized? Because politicians have been swayed to calls not even by a majority of people, but by a loud minority. That puts sense in the mission prayer intention for June 2013 of Pope Francis: "That where secularization is strongest, Christian communities may effectively promote a new evangelization."

In his commentary, Scott P. Richert, “Here in Pope Francis's mission prayer intention we can see what the new evangelization really entails—evangelizing once again those who were once Christian but have lost the Faith. In that sense, the mission field of the new evangelization is all around us, as family, friends, and neighbours slip away from Christ and His Church.”

For how can Christians persuade non-believers in the Good Word, if we cannot convince even those among our own circle to stand for Christ and His teachings? If we fail in this, then we may see people around us with faces mashed up with the devil. We cannot let that happen.

Playful Child

It was supposed to be a quick stop, but a playful child stretched it for nearly an hour.

On Sunday (2 June 2013), my wife, Debbie and I brought two visitors to the home of Shirley where they’d stay for the next six weeks. They were simply going to put their luggage in their rooms, then leave for another urgent appointment. As we were about to depart, Debbie couldn’t find the key of the car.  We traced and re-traced our steps and even checked the luggage just to make certain it hadn’t fallen inside - nothing.

The image of the Sto Nino (the Holy Child Jesus) was on its last Novena day in Shirley’s house, and though I noticed it, I didn’t really bother to say hello. (The image had stayed in our house for 10 days about a month ago). We got another key from our son, who had to drive from 45 minutes away.

As we left, Shirley told us, “Maybe, the Sto Nino was playing hide-and-seek with us?” As we were on our way, the phone rang. It was Shirley telling us that we left a bag in her living room. As we arrived, the image of the Sto Nino was about to board the vehicle of Fiel who was assigned to host the image. I thought, “I should kiss the holy image, and maybe, he’d let us find the key.”

Later in the evening, Shirley called and notified me that they’ve found the key. She narrated, “When I arrived this evening, I told my daughter to move my husband’s car in front of the garage as it had been parked for sometime in the grassy lawn. After moving the car, my daughter noticed the lost key in the place where my husband’s car was previously parked.” She asked, “How could it have gotten under that car?” I couldn’t answer her immediately, for not anyone among us had come near the car at any point in time. Then I said, “Hmm, the playful child in the Sto Nino could have been responsible,” We both had a laugh.

The original icon of the Sto Nino in Cebu that was gifted in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan to Queen Juana has been known for its playfulness. Priests, sacristans and churchgoers have through the centuries shared stories of seeing dirt or grass in the image’s well-adorned clothes when the icon is, in fact, placed inside a glass case.

That reminds me of one particular dialogue in the film, “Life of Pi”:

Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer?

Writer: The one with the tiger. That's the better story.

Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.

Writer: [smiles] It's an amazing story.

I had told you an amazing story about the Sto Nino. It’s up to you to believe or not.