A Pope Appeals

GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano


Pope Benedict XVI gave his Christmas message – which asked mankind in general
and Catholics in particular to give more attention to God and the poor. In
other words, the Pope appealed for compliance to the very foundation of the
Christian faith – to love God and to love neighbor.

The Pope's Christmas message was for everyone, but it seemed to have a
special aim for Catholics in the Philippines – long the historical pride of
the Church as the only Christian country in Asia. What the Pope said seems
to be a swipe at the failure of the Catholic Church in the Philippines to
make Catholic teachings the anchor of religious belief and the criteria of
Catholic behavior. After all, what Pope or Church hierarchy could miss the
status of the Philippines as one of the most corrupt and impoverished?

The role of the Catholic Church, and the role of Christian churches or sects
that followed in the 20th century, in Philippine history points to one which
almost equaled the role of the Spanish and American colonial regimes in
power and influence. Many periods in our colonial history show that the
Church could dictate to the State. It all depended on the Church's influence
over the monarch in Spain or the governor general in the Philippines.

As a favored, if not revered, ally of colonization, the Church was naturally
blessed with a shared wealth, or loot in today's perspective. It did not
really matter much to Filipinos whether the Church was a beneficiary of
Spain's wealth or resources. The fact, however, points to the Church as a
primary beneficiary of the wealth or resources of the islands now known as
the Philippines. Conquest made the extraction of that wealth legal for the
conqueror. History simply calls it plunder.

Catholicism as been claimed as the greatest gift of colonial Spain to the
Filipino. It may be so, but quite debatable. Without Spain, Catholicism may
have found other opportunities to enter the Philippines and the Filipino'
hearts and minds. But history being what it is, unchangeable despite its
intermittent horrors, Catholicism was brought to the Philippines by Spain.
And with Catholicism came the Catholic Church, or is it the other way
around?

Appealing for more attention to God and the poor cannot be a more pointed
appeal to the Catholic Church in the Philippines and its converts. After
all, the evil of corruption that dominates Philippine society reflects the
absence of God, as evil is understood to be the absence of good. The
massiveness of poverty among our people reflects as well the absence of love
for neighbor. In Asia's original and primary Christian country, the absence
of good and the absence of love for one's neighbor have become its greatest
achievements. Truly, the Pope's appeal cannot be more meaningful and pointed
than it is for Christianity in the Philippines.

Christian Philippines is not only corrupt or host of tens of millions of
poor people, it is also constantly haunted by the specter of hunger. In
Metro Manila where the headquarters of the Catholic Church is located, one
out of five residents experiences involuntary hunger. The backdrop of a
country naturally or divinely blessed with natural resources and beauty that
has few rivals in the world, with a religion that preaches love of God and
neighbor as its greatest commandments, makes it more grotesque for the
Philippines to be one of the most corrupt and one of the most impoverished.

The failure of government is shared by the failure of the Church, or maybe
even more the failure of the Church than the government. If a census is
undertaken, it may show that people in government are predominantly
Christian. As such, corrupt as government may be, poor as millions of
Filipinos may be, Christians or Catholics who dominate society simply
display their utter failure to be faithful to their faith. It can be said as
well that ones who formed them in their faith, the Church and their parents,
failed to be effective teachers.

Have more time for God, the Pope says. It may be shocking for him to realize
that enough time for God is being claimed by Catholics and other Christians
who pray, who read the Bible, who attend religious rituals. Somehow, what
they may miss, or what some in the hierarchy of the Church miss to
emphasize, is that prayer, Scripture-reading and performance of
rituals is not the equivalent of loving God, not in themselves. There is a factor that is missing, a crucial factor, an integral factor to loving God – and that is loving neighbor.

The hollowness of belief without love is an accepted fact, especially so
when that truism is considered to be a sacred, and therefore, official
dogma. Yet, corruption and poverty, accompanied by conflict and violence,
are stark manifestations of the absence of love. Never mind that public
officials who wield power swear and other to serve the people within strict
moral guidelines renege on their word. They only show they are not people of
honor. But they also renege on the fundamental tenets of their religion and
are not people of faith.

It is necessary to face an honest mirror like the only in fairy tales, the
mirror which does not lie. We have to see ourselves the way we have been,
the way we are, so we can begin the struggle to be the way we ought to be.
We cannot be people of the lie who believe we are good when we are not, who
believe we are right when we are not, who believe we are Christians when we
are not – or not yet. We are what we are, people of a country that is
cursed by corruption, poverty and conflict – all antitheses of love.

Pay more attention to God and the poor means to pay more attention to
loving. The primordial challenge for Filipinos is to love, to be one with
God and to be one with one another. That is what love means – to be one. In
governance, adopt the way of the servant leader, of the Lord who knelt to
wash the feet of His disciples. In economics, adopt the ways of the early
Christian communities where members shared everything with one another. In
conflict, resolve differences with fraternal love and then remain one.

It is a joy to pray and commune with God, but it is a struggle to love our
neighbor, especially the poor. We try, we fall, and now we must try again,
harder, more determined, more intelligently, and make the New Year of 2008 a
new beginning for decency and generosity in our society.***