Christmas in the Philippines officially ends on Epiphany Sunday and to our friends around the world, our Christmas started on the first day of September.
Four months plus of . . . ?
My country, with great pride, was the first and only Catholic nation in Asia before East Timor became the second. But what for is the pride when the number of “nominal” Catholics are increasing with a tremendous speed? In our lifetime some (it would be unfair to use “most”) of us only go to Church three times: when “hatched”, “matched” and “dispatched”.
For four months of Christmas, what do Filipinos do?
Do a religious journey of spiritual transformation by following the teachings of the Gospels to say in general term?
I don’t think so with deep regrets and with a deep sense of sorrow.
This is a third world country and the gap between the rich and the poor is a mile apart.
That does not deter every home to think what gifts to wrap, what parties to attend, what dress to buy, what food to prepare and where to go as December 25 draws closer.
Thousands go to the mall, groceries and parks while hundreds go to the Church and eagerly wait for the one whom they badly need. For four months to lavishly say; if Filipinos are truly Christ centered, the Philippines, only for that span of time, has the potential to be transformed into the famed Shangri-La.
The transformation it undergoes is not what a Catholic country needs. The Philippines is transformed into a Western country where Christmas equals consumerism. (It is funny if not stupid that in the resort city of Baguio, a good crowd went out to watch man-made snow.) What happens in the US, Canada, London, Paris or Berlin happens in this country suffering from grinding poverty.
Since the start of the Misa de Gallo, I know one family friend who braved the dawn in attending the nine-day novena and again attended the Midnight Mass. He is not rich. He is an ordinary Filipino working in the farm together with his wife. Their children help house chores. They don’t wear jewelries, flashy clothes and shoes. They live a simple and poor life like the lucky shepherds who heard the angels sing 2000 years ago. They did not prepare any material thing for Christmas but oh my, how spiritually rich they are! When asked how their Christmas was, the answer is "Napanglawkami laeng. Saanmi kabaelan ti agsagana. Di bale, ni Apo ti saganaanmi." (We are poor and cannot afford to spend; yet, we prepare for the Lord.)
On Christmas, I went to their house and said “Christ is not only present in this house but in each of your hearts.”
In fairness to my fellow Filipinos, despite the material preparations and fortune they spent, Churches were still crowded. How I wish that Churches are not only full on Christmas and Lent. What Christ sees are the invisible content of our heart and soul.
As a new year knocks, may the Philippines revisit its old religiosity and burning piety and thereof practice again an authentic and close relationship with the Savior not only on four months of Philippine Christmas but always. -30-
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