"Not just a contemplation of truth!"

"Not just a contemplation of truth!"

A Message this Good Friday

At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At 3 PM Jesus died as a political criminal, a rebel.

This note, inspired by a writeup brought about by the known Gerardo Lanuza may sound less religious and more political at first, for knowing that the nature of his execution was done by the order as a punishment against its rebellious subjects, Christ's passion and death has aroused people to cling further in their faith, what more of its promise of justice and love leading to a life that's eternal.

And this time, given by the actually existing challenges affecting humanity, the occasion, despite being an opportunity for prayer and reflection, has also the means to strive in upholding what is good and just, for knowing that Christ himself as well as his teachings has guided each and everyone in making a good, meaningful, and peaceful life possible.

But the actually-existing realities has made this note more than just a spiritually-filled message knowing that as people yearned for mercy, the order gave them impunity; that as people yearned for justice, the order gave them fear; and as people desired comfort and consolation, the order responded with pain and repression, these and more has lamented the nation whose "God is the lord" inscribed in the peso bill.

What more that it encourages people to get concerned, seek truth fron facts, and having the will to take sacrifice to serve the people by all means, including their lives in the forefront of struggle- all amidst the challenges in which the church and the community been facing. 

What more of seeing an ever growing militancy by those whose concern and awareness brought themseves to a call for action similar to the Desciples and Crusaders of long ago, for in the end, Jesus did not just died for the sins of the world; but also brought people closer to God especially to the helpless and defeated, of redeeming the sinner and of uplifting the struggled. True that people tried their best to prove how their skill may also change the world they live in the way they're trying to change themeslves as persons, but with faith this may also helped in bringing an ideal closer to its fruition, for as "faith can move mountains" others may say, and the Cross in which Christ died is itself an expression of solidarity such as by an Omnipotent God with all the suffefed and the downtridden, of all the militants and activists who endured repression all in the hands of an unjust order.

And to think that despite Duterte's message seeking unity and reconciliation as christians, people rather looked at it as insincere, citing the fact that the president himself is against the church, what more that he himself ridiculed the Christian faith, calling God "Stupid" and Christ as "unimpressive" because he had allowed himself to be nailed on the cross.

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Pardon for the thought in case the reader is a supporter of the present order they called "reformer" or "bringinger of change", but to think that most supporters are themselves Christians, and to hear his statements pointing badly towards God and Christ, aren't they supposed to be defending the lord instead of whom they voted for? True that their "Tatay Digong" did numerous feats in pursuit of alleviating the peoples suffering, but the atrocities of his regime outweighs his handed-oe'r projects, that his extrajudicial killings outweighs the roads and bridges, and so is his bloodied threats that also outweighs his promises for a better life for the common man.

Like Herod who taunted Christ, Duterte taunted the people with gutter jokes and insults while his followers, reminiscent of those who chose Barrabas over Jesus, chose to support their idol than to seek truth from facts, even at the expense of their support for their Duterte.

Anyway, as a writer and a Christian, Christ's passion and sacrifice is more than just liberation of humanity from sin, but also from repression, and the desire for an everlasting life and a world that is to come, if not to say that the Crucified Jesus on the Cross this Good Friday is not an explanation why activists are tortured by state armed forces, or why human rights advocates and oppositionists, including those who seek truth from facts are persecuted. Sounds political than the typical spiritual yes, for as time goes by, and no matter how those from the order tend to downplay the setting that brought Jesus the Nazarene to act along with his desciples and supporters, Christ's very own sacrifice speaks for itself: that the his action ranging from his miracles, eucharist, down to his suffering and death from the cross is itself an Activism if not an outright Rebellion- not just a contemplation of truth!