Beware of media conditioning

          There seems to be a concerted effort nowadays to discredit the Catholic Church in the Philippines by conditioning the mind of the people to doubt Her integrity and credibility. In the past week, there was the SWS survey saying that “Catholics are less religious and attend church less frequently than those of other religions”. The same survey found that “one in every ten (or eleven) Catholics sometimes think of leaving the Church”. The pollster also noted that “Of the 1,200 respondents who answered the survey, 81 percent were Catholic, six percent were Protestant, six percent were Muslim, three percent are members of the Iglesia ni Cristo sect, and three percent belong to other Christian denominations”.

          It’s not that I suffer a scarcity of trust in the Science of Statistics, but can the 81% of 1,200 respondents be enough to represent the over 70 million Filipino Catholics? And from the point of view of responsible journalism, would the “one-out-of-eleven” ratio constitute a news story? GMA news online is even more detailed. It says, “Pollster Social Weather Stations’ February survey has found that 9.2 percent, or nearly one out of every 10 Catholics who are registered voters, ‘sometimes think of leaving the Church’”. You see, not even one, but only “nearly one” – it could be a “half-ling Catholic” – who is “sometimes thinking” of leaving the Church!

          And they are making a sensational news out of it!

          Sensationalism is the media’s cup of tea, bread and butter, and Deus ex machina especially when what is behind its stories is the malicious intention to malign the credibility and integrity of the ecclesial institution. We call this strategy, “mind conditioning”. Whether it is true or not that “nearly one out of every 10 Catholics” is contemplating of leaving the Church is not really what interests the promoter of the survey and the media; rather, its effect in the society as a whole. Sensationalism is always like that: it is more interested in what is “sensational” rather than in what is true!

          But a wise and analytic person is never persuaded by sensationalism. The truth is the only thing that convinces him. I don’t mean to deny that there are really some Catholics who, because they misunderstood their faith or lack sufficient and deep appreciation of it, would rather embrace another religion or denomination. But that is not news! That is merely sensationalism! What is news is that over 1.2 billion Catholics in the world and nearly 90% of the 90 million Filipinos are Catholics who are trying to live and understand deeply their faith. That is news!

          By sensationalizing that a very few Catholics are leaving the Church, the media is implying that something is wrong with the Catholic Church. But that is a fallacious conclusion. Something must be wrong with these Catholics who are leaving the Church! If the majority of Filipino Catholics are staying and a very small minority is leaving, why imply that something is wrong with the majority? The truth is that “something must be seriously wrong with the minority that leaves or thinking of leaving the Church”.

Perhaps, they don’t understand the Catholic Church. But if you don’t understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, you don’t conclude that something is wrong with the theory. Yet, why would one think that something is wrong with the Catholic Church simply because we cannot understand or agree with Her teachings?

          If the media and the survey are not merely sensationalizing, they could have presented a more interesting story: why the majority Filipino Catholics are staying. This could have been more of news – truthful news! Sensationalizing is when you focus your attention to the diminutive and insignificant; while you intentionally neglect the informative and important. One sensationalizes especially when one aims to condition the mentality of the people. Sensationalism is the tool for mind conditioning.

Hence, let us be very wary and vigilant with the media’s sensationalism and mind-conditioning!

Christian joy is compatible with pain

         “Whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty”.

           The initial difficulty in comprehending these words of our Lord comes from the fact that our experience tells us otherwise. We eat, become full and get hungry again. We quench our thirst with ice-cold drinks but we get thirsty again. To say that Jesus is simply speaking metaphorically would not help a lot. For then, we shall ask: “What kind of hunger or thirst is He talking about?”

 

         

  One immediate reply is the spiritual hunger and thirst that the modern man is experiencing. But what exactly does it mean to each of us? Elections are fast approaching. Yet, people today are lamenting over their difficulty to choose their candidates. They are confused. They don’t know whom to vote for. Spiritual hunger or thirst could take the form of “not knowing what one wants”. What do I want in life? Happiness? How do I distinguish the real from the false one? How do I get real happiness?

           Do you know what you want and what it is that you want to do in life? Do you think it is also what God wants you to do? Does our knowledge and friendship with Jesus help us to know what we want and what God wants of us? The answer is a big YES!

            A guy, for instance, who seems to find no direction in his life, no meaning in all that he does, suddenly becomes alive when he falls in love with a girl. Everything changes. All his energy is now focused on one thing. He suddenly knows what he wants: to please his girlfriend.

            The same is true with our relationship with Jesus. Once we fall in love with Him, our life becomes colorful. Suddenly, we know what we want: to please Jesus. In the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that “many people who were paralyzed and crippled were healed”. Truly, all types of paralysis and laziness are gone once one is in love. Have you noticed that when one is in love, he or she becomes creative?

             But does it mean no more hunger, thirst or suffering? No. Christian joy is not incompatible with pain and suffering. In fact, they contribute to it by making it more profound. Sorrows in life make Christian joy deep and lasting. It becomes salvific. Once suffering is united with the cross of Christ, it ceases to be suffering. As St. Josemaría said:

            “Is it not true that as soon as you cease to be afraid of the cross, of what people call the cross, when you set your will to accept the will of God, then you find happiness, and all your worries, all your sufferings, physical or moral, pass away?

“Truly the cross of Jesus is gentle and lovable. There, sorrows cease to count; there is only the joy of knowing that we are co-redeemers with Him”.

               Only when we learn to unite our sorrows with the cross of Christ can we truly comprehend the words of Jesus: “Whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty”.

Resurrection: Searching, Finding, Loving

What was just a simple attempt to do a corporal act of mercy turned out to be the source of great joy!

When Mary Magdalene and other women went to Jesus’ tomb early Sunday morning (in our calendar) to finish what they had left undone the Friday before, they were heading for the great surprise of their lives. They could not find Jesus inside the tomb. Weeping bitterly, they wondered why Jesus’ torment was not yet over that even His torturers would still desecrate His dead body.

They searched for Jesus but they could not find Him. Is it because their search was not really that exhaustive? They immediately informed the disciples, especially Peter whom they now deem as the new leader of the group, they called the New Way. The disciples too searched for Jesus in the empty tomb.

We search for a lot of things in life: money, power, fame, work, human esteem, love, ambitions, etc. But in the wide array of things that we look for in life, can we find Jesus in the list? Many people could not find the true meaning and the authentic joy in their life simply because, in the first place, they didn’t include Jesus in their bucket list or wish list.

Magdalene wept bitterly upon losing sight of Jesus’ dead body. But what worries us more is the loss of our cellphones, iPad or other things that we consider so valuable. Do we also weep bitterly when we lose Jesus through mortal sin? “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you”.

When Magdalene found Jesus, she could not recognize Him at first. Has Jesus’ face changed? Has death modified His appearance? Oftentimes, it is our grief that obscures our vision from perceiving clearly the face of Jesus amidst our suffering. It hinders us from recognizing the hands of God amidst our storms. Hence, in our incapacity to recognize the face of Jesus, we must listen to His voice as it is proclaimed in the Church.

When finally Magdalene recognized our Lord, He said, “Noli me tangere” (Do not touch me). How privileged are we today, for not only we can touch Jesus, we actually eat His Body in the Holy Communion! Our encounter with the Risen Lord is deeper. It is Eucharistic. And being Eucharistic, it is transformative not because it transforms the Body and Blood of Jesus into our own self, but because as St. Therese of the Child Jesus said, “We are transformed into Jesus Himself as a drop of rainwater falls into the vast ocean”.

Peter encountered the Risen Christ upon seeing the empty tomb. John saw it also and believed. In order to encounter the Risen Lord, we must empty our hearts which have become like “tombs” to a lot of filthy things – our selfishness, pride and sensuality.

After confirming that, indeed, Christ has risen, Peter spoke boldly to the Chief Priests and the leaders of the people. He was not afraid anymore, unlike last Friday when he was asked by that powerless slave, “Are you one of the disciples of this Nazarene?” and he denied it. Now, Peter has become courageous, unafraid, but at the same time, loving and patient with the defects of others. It is because he too recognized his own defects. We can love better when we know how much we are loved. “He who has been forgiven much of his sins will love more”.

Hence, no one who truly encounters the Risen Lord could just stand there without doing anything. Authentic encounter with the Risen Christ naturally leads us to love and to serve others. This encounter spurs us into action: we will never be afraid of negative criticisms anymore for the sake of Christ’s Kingdom; we will never get tired of getting involved in the GKK or parish activities, in committing ourselves to the service of the Church. St. Augustine used to pray: “Lord, give me the love that you ask of me, and later, ask me whatever you want”. True encounter with the Risen Lord would make one more loving. And he who loves truly is willing to do whatever it is that the Beloved asks of him.

Let us, therefore, join the women – Mary Magdalene, Salome, Mary, the wife of Cleofas – who went to the tomb in order to search for Jesus, to encounter Jesus, and to love Him more. With the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, I wish all of us: “May we search for Christ. May we encounter Christ. May we love Christ”. Amen. HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OF YOU!

Let’s defend traditional marriage

A “Dump Starbucks” campaign is circulating in the World Wide Web. The reason? Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, in an annual shareholders’ meeting, allegedly “sent a clear message to anyone who supports traditional message over gay marriage: we don’t want your business”. Reports say that he told a shareholder who supports traditional marriage to sell his shares and invest in some other company.

If this is true (and I think the news reporter has no reason to be inventing), then we should also say to Starbucks here in Davao: “we don’t want your coffee”.

In the US Supreme Court this week, the legal battle over gay marriage reached its height as the highest court deliberated on two cases that – the Boston Globe says – “could dramatically reshape the debate”. The same source also noted that public support for gay marriage is “at an all-time high” with 58% of Americans favoring gay marriage while only 36% opposing it.

If the truth could be determined by statistics, then, the true meaning of marriage would eventually be modified.

But no statistics or Supreme Court pronouncement could change the objective truth on marriage. Since time immemorial, civil and religious laws alike are unanimous in holding that marriage, by nature, is between man and woman, even though, at times both laws do not agree on whether marriage should be monogamous or not. In maintaining this truth, these positive laws simply echo the truth on marriage contained in the natural law, which, in turn, is a reflection of the divine law. This is why, man, in trying to modify these positive laws, is simply going against nature, and eventually, is going against the will of God.

“Without the Creator the creature would disappear… When God is forgotten…, the creature itself grows unintelligible” (Gaudium et spes, 36).

Gaudium et spes, in this sense, is prophetic. When reference to God and to God’s design for marriage and family is taken away, naturally, human family would become unintelligible. It would very soon disappear. Everybody recognizes the morally, emotionally and psychologically harmful effects of divorce, parents’ separation and single parenthood to the growth of children. Can we afford to add the same-sex marriage to this list?

In the Philippines, we must sound the alarm! Not a few senatorial candidates maintain an explicit positive stand on same-sex marriage. Others, while not explicit in their opposition, are not really against it.

Advocates of gay marriage insist on their rights to marry and form a family. But is it also their rights to modify the long and widely held definition of marriage and deprive others, especially the young generation, of this truth? Our freedom (rights) ends where the freedom (rights) of others begins!

In his opposition to the Argentinian government’s support for a gay marriage bill, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) said: “Let's not be naive: this isn’t a simple political fight, it’s an attempt to destroy God’s plan”.

In defending traditional marriage from wicked attacks like that of Starbucks, we are actually defending God’s plan!

"There is no true peace without truth"

(The speech by Pope Francis to the ambassadors and to the world, including "those few countries that do not yet have diplomatic relations with the Holy See," like China)

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Heartfelt thanks to your Dean, Ambassador Jean-Claude Michel, for the kind words that he has addressed to me in the name of everyone present. It gives me joy to welcome you for this exchange of greetings: a simple yet deeply felt ceremony, that somehow seeks to express the Pope’s embrace of the world. Through you, indeed, I encounter your peoples, and thus in a sense I can reach out to every one of your fellow citizens, with their joys, their troubles, their expectations, their desires.

Your presence here in such numbers is a sign that the relations between your countries and the Holy See are fruitful, that they are truly a source of benefit to mankind. That, indeed, is what matters to the Holy See: the good of every person upon this earth! And it is with this understanding that the Bishop of Rome embarks upon his ministry, in the knowledge that he can count on the friendship and affection of the countries you represent, and in the certainty that you share this objective.

At the same time, I hope that it will also be an opportunity to begin a journey with those few countries that do not yet have diplomatic relations with the Holy See, some of which were present at the Mass for the beginning of my ministry, or sent messages as a sign of their closeness – for which I am truly grateful.

As you know, there are various reasons why I chose the name of Francis of Assisi, a familiar figure far beyond the borders of Italy and Europe, even among those who do not profess the Catholic faith.

One of the first reasons was Francis’ love for the poor. How many poor people there still are in the world! And what great suffering they have to endure! After the example of Francis of Assisi, the Church in every corner of the globe has always tried to care for and look after those who suffer from want, and I think that in many of your countries you can attest to the generous activity of Christians who dedicate themselves to helping the sick, orphans, the homeless and all the marginalized, thus striving to make society more humane and more just.

But there is another form of poverty! It is the spiritual poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries particularly seriously. It is what my much-loved predecessor, Benedict XVI, called the "tyranny of relativism", which makes everyone his own criterion and endangers the coexistence of peoples.

And that brings me to a second reason for my name. Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.

One of the titles of the Bishop of Rome is Pontiff, that is, a builder of bridges with God and between people. My wish is that the dialogue between us should help to build bridges connecting all people, in such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister to be welcomed and embraced! My own origins impel me to work for the building of bridges. As you know, my family is of Italian origin; and so this dialogue between places and cultures a great distance apart matters greatly to me, this dialogue between one end of the world and the other, which today are growing ever closer, more interdependent, more in need of opportunities to meet and to create real spaces of authentic fraternity.

In this work, the role of religion is fundamental. It is not possible to build bridges between people while forgetting God. But the converse is also true: it is not possible to establish true links with God, while ignoring other people.

Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam. At the Mass marking the beginning of my ministry, I greatly appreciated the presence of so many civil and religious leaders from the Islamic world.

And it is also important to intensify outreach to non-believers, so that the differences which divide and hurt us may never prevail, but rather the desire to build true links of friendship between all peoples, despite their diversity.

Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points for a journey that I want to invite each of the countries here represented to take up. But it is a difficult journey, if we do not learn to grow in love for this world of ours. Here too, it helps me to think of the name of Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another’s detriment.

Dear Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you again for all the work that you do, alongside the Secretariat of State, to build peace and construct bridges of friendship and fraternity. Through you, I would like to renew to your Governments my thanks for their participation in the celebrations on the occasion of my election, and my heartfelt desire for a fruitful common endeavour. May Almighty God pour out his gifts on each one of you, on your families and on the peoples that you represent. Thank you!