Oasis of Love? December 14, 2008

The annual Oasis of Love will soon be held once again —

Oasis of Love — what a nice picture to conjure. An oasis is a presence of water and plants in a desert. So an oasis of love must be something which transcends the spiritual realm. It must be a refuge of those whose faith have dried up by reintroducing it to the real fountain of LOVE himself — GOD. I wonder if the Oasis of Love was able to live up to this ideal….

I have been employed here for six years and within that period of time; I haven’t been to any Oasis of Love gatherings. Oh, there were always those “checking of attendance” chuchus and “being asked to explain why one did not attend” blahblahs, but who cares? I am Catholic, but I haven’t made myself a member of the Oasis of Love — neither do I have plans of being a member in the coming days. My school head says it’s compulsory, I’m sorry but I beg to disagree.

Why?

The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines declares: The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable. (Article II, Section 6), and, No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. (Article III, Section 5).

There’s more …

Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines declares separation of church and state. Article 3 forbids the government from passing any law concerning religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, guarantees free exercise of religion and forbids the use of any religious test for public office. Churches and religious institutions are tax-exempt. No public money may be spent in support of any religion. The teaching of religious classes in public schools is permitted with the written consent of the parent so long as provided there is no cost to the government.

My non-Catholic colleagues and I plan to report to school on that day, since it is a working day. But with what I have read from the Constitution, is it really fair to hold it in a school day when DepEd is a government agency and it is a religious activity?

I am not against religion and moral and spiritual growth. I just hate seeing those saintly looking __________  gathered together —

The reason for the reaction started years ago …

I remember when as an adolescent living in Ozamiz City, there were religious barangay organizations known as GSK’s (Gagmayng Simbahananong Katilingban). Each week, these small groups would gather for prayer meetings. But instead of the prayers and reflections, instead of God’s glorification, the attendees would criticize the members who weren’t present. The practice went on for a few months … then I started refusing to attend. I couldn’t see any point in hypocrisy, I am sorry. I know God doesn’t enjoy it one bit, either.

Anyway, no matter how much other people claim godliness and religiousness, in the end, the best judge of character, good works and clean heart will never be those religious bigwigs and the spiritual trying hards who talk and act as though they are the most learned (pronounce: ler-ned) where spirituality and religion are concerned, but the God of Fairness, Justice and Love.

I am not religious…never have been, never will be. But I can boast of my faith. Being religious doesn’t necessarily mean faithfulness anyway and faithfulness can’t also be manifested by being religious….

Spiritual Recharging: How Do You Do It? December 10, 2008

So, how does one undergo spiritual recharge?

The question is plainly crazy but for me, it is something I have though about ever since that fateful day when I realized that evil attacks are everywhere. For some, they find comfort in attending religious congregations and gatherings. Still for others, they find reading religious materials and the Bible spiritually uplifting. Others find it best to lend a helping hand to the needy…to be of service to their fellow human beings who are in need. Lately, I have found that the best way for me to recharge my spirit is to sing praises to God. Once I start hitting note after note, it feels as though an invisible hand touches my heart and make s me feel invincible and strong beyond my imagination.

The paranormal situation I have witnessed might have been too frightening to contemplate, but spiritually, it enabled me to really assess just how much I am worth when placed at the foot of my Creator’s altar. I find myself still lacking in too many things. I have always known I have great faith. In fact, I have been healed by God through my unwavering faith, but sometimes, God sends in something out of the ordinary to test just how much of a hypocrite a person has been. And perhaps, I just might have been a hypocrite trying to pretend to be a Christian. If I wasn’t shaken to the core, I wouldn’t have known the real score. Despite the horror of that day, I still find myself thanking God for choosing me as one of the witnesses of that occurrence because I was able to see myself and with seeing myself came the acceptance that I am but a flawed sinner who needs my Creator, who needs the guidance of my God to lead me towards where He rightfully wants me to be.

I feel there’s more to this than what meets the eye. I mean something I can see with my mind’s eye…. I wish some people would understand that I do see things that some people would regard as funny and unbelievable. But I experience what I experience and I see visual results of what I see in my mind, but there are times when I wish I couldn’t foresee what is bound to happen because I am frightened to see them really happening. I feel there’s more to me than just the mother, wife, teacher, friend, daughter… because I see myself amidst people and I see myself using my voice to glorify my Maker. I am more confused than ever, but I am also confident that God, in His perfect time, will show me how to use this gift of foresight so I can be of help to His people.

Oh… before I get even more confused, am going to wrap this blog up so I can have my spiritual recharge….. SINGING PRAISES!

Is It Really About God or About Pride? December 10, 2008

I remember having listened to various religious debates while growing up in Ozamiz City. Sometimes I would hear it in OsRox Park or in front of the old public market. Two or more local religious leaders would argue about certain verses and would try to point out proofs of those verses and it appeared to me that they really wanted to glorify God — but why did they have to do it by making each other appear insignificant or lacking in knowledge or seemingly ignorant of the written texts in the Bible. Looking back into what I witnessed more than twenty years before, what I used to consider faithful service to God by preaching the gospel to a throng of undiscerning passers by who are too busy pursuing their own personal businesses than to listen heartily to the arguing religious leaders now appears to be arrogance. They used to appear saintly to me for having memorized almost every written verse in the Bible, but if I look at them now, the picture of godliness has turned sour and dour. Faith can not be preached by word of mouth alone. It must be made credible and alive through visible works of the hand, cleanliness and purity of heart and one’s relationship with a fellow Christian regardless of religious affiliation.

Let’s face it folks, too many religious congregations have been sprouting here and there. Well and good. If the primary motive is to spread the word of God and promote peace, understanding and harmony within the human race, then everything would have been for the glorification of God. But if a congregation does it by badmouthing another religious group and claiming to be the only group to have known the meaning of salvation and the only group who can ascertain salvation at judgment day to the point of treating other people like they have communicable diseases, I am not sold out to it. Why? Because no matter how any religious leader would phrase it, I am certain of only one thing: No matter how diverse the ways each and every religious congregation has of glorifying, worshipping and praising God, it doesn’t change the fact that we are all Christians and we are glorifying the same God. If we can not unite ourselves in faith despite the fact that we claim allegiance and dependence on the Christ who has saved us on the Cross, perhaps, it’s high time that we reassess our faith, our religious affiliations and most importantly, our own selves. For the problem, if there is any, might not have lain on the texts we read on the Bible nor the church we have run to as refuge against the snares of the world, but on the motives we hold within our hearts. We might have unknowingly let the seed of pride grow big and mighty inside our hearts until it  outshadowed the radiance of godliness and goodness that lies in each and every one of us sans the stain of PRIDE that the devil has planted within us.

I don’t claim to be too pure of heart either, because just over a month ago, I have had plans of joining another religious affiliation claiming that the Catholic Church could no longer satisfy my spiritual hunger. Well, I used to say these things with an arrogant sneer towards my very religious colleagues who never missed a Wednesday or Sunday mass and who never even bothered to answer my insulting statements. Pride? I should be ashamed to admit it, but I am not. I took pride in the gift of intelligence my Creator has had endowed in me and I forgot the fact that if there is anyone who should be glorified for my intelligence, it should be HIM and not me. I failed to even think that no matter how vast the gift of intellect is, there will always be things that must be left to faith… things that can never be fully comprehended through human understanding alone. I claimed to have disintegrated myself from the Church that has embraced me since birth; further claimed that religious people have caused me to act like this — to feel like this when in fact, if only I had been honest enough, it was but a camouflage of the confusion I suffered deep within. My chosen self alienation from my Church, the Roman Catholic Church, was not anybody’s fault contrary to what I made myself believe. It was my own making… it was a choice I freely made and one which I selfishly blamed on some people. But then, perhaps, it’s human nature after all for everyone would certainly agree that it’s easier to point a finger at someone than to try looking within himself and at himself and see that the fault might really have been lying deeply seated within himself. Well, majority of us has felt that hunch — that gnaw of conscience especially when we are left with no one but our own self for company — but we choose to ignore it because we are afraid to confront the monster that lie within ourselves.

It took a scary event to turn my faith upside down and inside out. I am ashamed to say that I might have provoked my God to show me His presence in some things that I used not to believe in. The evil possessions that happened to my students on August 8, 2008 had been an eye opening and spiritually enhancing experience to me. It was nightmarish, it was scary, I even wished it were all a dream, but I experienced what I experienced and I saw what I saw and with the experience came the realization that despite my claim of great faith and utmost dependence on my Creator, when faced with difficult situations, I still found myself lacking spiritually. If the problem had been financial, it would have been easier to remedy because I could always run to loan sharks for immediate reprieve from financial needs. But when you are faced with an opponent you do not see and one you haven’t fought before, how do you fight it? Are you even sure you could outwit and outsmart it? Some of you might read me with a smirk on the face… or simply close the page vowing never to read me again, but then, it’s your choice and it isn’t my loss if you do. I am only sharing my experience in the hope that you can learn from my mistake.

I used not to believe in the rosary thinking that the mysteries are simply taken by the Catholic Church too literally. I used not to have that much faith in the holy water nor in the holy salt because I thought they are but feeble protections from evil entities. But I believed in the cross as most Christians regardless of religious affiliation believe in it. During that scary event, I was proven wrong over and over again. The possessed students screamed for the rosaries to be taken off because they burned on them. They spit the holy water that the priest made them drink because it was very hot. They couldn’t grasp the holy salt because of its heat. If you think I am making this all up, I tell you I wish I am. I wish I did not have to sit a mere 2 meters from the church altar watching the exorcism going on. I wish I did not have to go through the fear and the nightmare, but God had greater plans for me, perhaps. He loved me enough to scare me so I will see just how strong the church he built is. He loved me enough to humble me and make me accept my frailty and confess my shortcomings. When I got home that afternoon, for the first time in my 35 years of existence, I prayed the rosary. The following day, I got an appointment with my parish priest and confessed my shortcomings and reconciled with the Catholic Church.

I am but a humbled Christian who couldn’t claim to be perfect in faith and character. In fact, I find myself lacking in a lot of things, but who isn’t? I am still a toddler in faith and desperately in need of my Father’s protection and guidance so I wouldn’t stumble and backslide again.

I remember what I have read in a gospel booklet I had the read:

As the time of Christ’s second coming draws near, we should put aside all religious biases and work together as united children of God who are worthy to be called “CHRISTIANS.

So, why aren’t we united in Christ? Why do we bad mouth another religious congregation so we can uphold our own affiliation? Why do we need to sever our ties with the other people in the belief that they are inferior to us? If our religious affiliation isolates us from other Christians, does it make it superior … does it make us superior and nearer to the Christ? If we had been a loyal follower but a foul neighbor; a diligent religious worker who can’t lend a hand to a relative in need, an active preacher but a monstrous and selfish master, can the Christ whom we so shamelessly pledge our faith to really take joy in what we do? I don’t think so because He doesn’t look at the work of the hand… God looks at the motive that has driven us to do what we have done.

Having graduated in a secular institution, I remember my teacher saying that the real church of God isn’t a building. The real house of God is within each and every one of us … it is within our hearts. And for us to really house Christ within our hearts, we need to let go of our extra baggages of pride, prejudices and hypocrisy.

You think your religion is superior and its followers the only people eligible for Christ’s salvation? Well, that’s your belief, brother and sister. But before you drown yourself in such self righteousness, could you please spare a few moments to ponder and ask yourself if what you believe in is for the ultimate glory of God … or simply for feeding your hungry pride…..