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Showing posts from June, 2007

Light from the empty tomb

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“May mga penitensya pa ba sa Pilipinas?” emailed a friend, an Ateneo graduate, living abroad for many years now. As a child she used to gawk at them in her hometown in Pampanga. She commented that these “masochistic flagellants” reflect a pervasive sense of worthlessness that infects the national consciousness which in turn keeps the country in stagnation. This friend (who has a yen for psychoanalysis) thinks Filipinos are “used to suffering” and enjoy being victims, thus they have endured centuries of injustice to their own detriment. She sees poverty and ignorance as the main culprits in the country’s state of affairs and thinks the solution lies in educating the people and eradicating graft and corruption. Of course, I emailed her a piece of my mind as well. It follows: I observe that the flagellants come from the lower socio-economic echelons and would not be in a position to analyze their penchant for blood-letting in the same way an Atenean probably would. Yes, they looked at t

Split-level Marianity

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“The Filipinos have a split level Christianity.” Over the decades this claim has been repeated so loudly and so often that its message now seems taken for granted. Briefly, it means Filipino Christians wear one mask inside the church and another outside of it, exhibit one type of behavior on Sunday and a different one from Monday to Saturday. Now, the month of May and traditionally of Mary, another facet of our split-level Christianity surfaces: our irrespressible veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, back to back with our appalling disregard of the virtues she embodies. It behooves me to think there must be thousands of Marian organizations in the Philippines and yet… how authentically “Marian” have we become? We remember her every six hours in the Angelus or Regina Coeli, every day in the rosary, every week in novenas, every month in her myriad manifestations. And every year over the centuries we have celebrated countless fiestas, held congresses, dedicated shrines, and organized ju

A New Year Story: Signs of the Times

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For a change from New Year’s Resolutions that never seem to resolve anything anyway, let’s begin 2007’s truth-telling in a lighthearted mood. Travel not only broadens your horizons and expands your waistline—it also brings you funny moments at the most unexpected times and places, especially when you count on signs to find your way around. I for one find some signs so amusing or downright hilarious that I collect them, either jotting them down in a memo pad or photographing them whenever possible. Friends who know of my unusual “collection” contribute to it, too; so, enjoy what I have to show after 30 years of periodic globetrotting. (A word of caution, though: many of the signs here are Strictly For Adults Only). Let’s start in Paris, where a cozy hotel reminds guests to: PLEASE LEAVE YOUR VALUES AT THE FRONT DESK. A rather apologetic sign at a hotel lobby in Bucharest says with all good intentions: THE LIFT IS BEING FIXED FOR THE NEXT DAY. DURING THAT TIME WE REGRET THAT YOU WILL BE

Of love and cloud watching

By Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS Once upon a time, a little girl aged five was looking out the window watching cloud formations. Cloud-watching was a game her mother had taught her earlier on; their house, situated on the highest point of the street, afforded them a good view of the town and the city beyond, and, of course, of the huge expanse of the skies above. Mother and daughter would—on late afternoons before sunset—scan the skies for cloud formations that resembled creatures on earth. Her mother would say, “Look for an elephant!” and the little girl who had never been to a zoo would look for the animal as she had seen it in a coloring book. Happy that the girl would quickly find the elephant, the mother would snap, “Very good! Now, look for the bear!” and the little girl would find it fast, too, for she had seen a bear in the flash cards of her teacher-aunt. Now, that particular afternoon she was cloud-watching alone, the clouds were sparse and the sky was a beautiful blue. There were no