The power of faith, religion and God's presence

“The eyes of love had seen you as persons, as of infinite beauty, as of eternal value.  When love chooses, it chooses with perfect sensitivity for the unique beauty of the chosen one, and it chooses without making anyone feel excluded….It is not competitive, but a compassionate choice.  To live a spiritual life, we have to claim for ourselves that we are taken or 'chosen.'" -  Henri Nouwen

Fr. Rodel was beaming with joy, as he lead the first night of Simbang Gabi at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (IHMC).

On a very cold morning at 5am, the church was overflowing with more than 600 parishioners -- shoulder to shoulder on the pews, filling up the balcony, spilling to the sidewalks. Filipino parishioners joined the IHMC choir in singing Halina Jesus Halina, Gumising and Ang Pasko ay Sumapit. Their resonant voices filled the Gothic-inspired church’s chambers. Pete Avendano is the musical director, along with Mike Zuniga and 22 other members who sing with such gusto. A live band accompanies the choir with an amazing repertoire for the nine dawn masses.

With Fr. Rodel Balagtas, pastor of IHMC, four other priests concelebrate the mass: Fr. John Era, Fr. Kenneth Masong, Fr. Anthony Carreon and Fr. Camilo Pacanza.  

During the homily, Fr. Rodel asked each of the four to talk about themselves and how they find God’s presence in their lives. The question called for an affirmation of one’s faith and required reflective thinking. It seemed risky to let five people speak on one microphone and to prolong the mass, when most attendees were rushing to go to work. Yet, each consciously made time to speak and listen.

The Filipina Virgin Mary and the Mexican Joseph in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church's Belen - a blending of the dominant cultures worshipping in this 100 year old Gothic church.

Each dawn of 9 novena masses, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church was full.  Rain or shine, folks showed up as early as 4am at the church gates, an hour before mass started.

The six priests who concelebrated Simbang Gabi at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church

God’s presence in their lives

Fr. Meloy, the oldest among these young-looking priests, said it best: "I saw God among the poor fishermen and farmers, where my parish was situated -- sa gitna ng karagatan at kabundukan." It was a lyrical description of how poor his parish was.  

During his first Christmas as their parish priest, he was faced with the challenge of decorating the church.  While meager in financial resources, the church was surrounded by an abundance of talahib. He and his assistants harvested the blooming talahib and applied their abundant creativity and imagination.  

The next day, the fishermen and farmers saw how the church became vibrant and colorfully decorated and with that, acquired fresh perspectives about God’s presence. 

God’s bounty was no longer measured in material wealth. Fr. Rodel said that God is alive when we feel the joy of life in serving -- sa pagsisilbi sa kapwa -- in priceless relations with folks, in service to community and family.

Fr. John Era, a psychologist and mental health practitioner said that he feels God’s presence when he shares his talents with others and sees them happy.

Fr. Kenneth Masong has a doctorate in philosophy and is assigned to the Church of Mother of Good Counsel in Pampanga.  He is, at times, called the terror or verdugo because he is strict in preparing the priests-in-training for theology and in guiding them to their own path of spirituality. He feels God’s presence when he becomes a source of guidance in their process of discernment.  He learns from them, as much as they learn from him.

Fr. Anthony Carreon is on the road from June to November, driving his way from Visayas to Mindanao, recruiting priests. He feels God’s presence in the life of the congregation, a Claretian community, and in the quality of recruits he gets for their congregation.  

In his travels, God is always with him and solves his predicaments. One time, he locked himself out of his car, with no cellphone or monies.  He commissioned a tricycle driver to get him to the next town, 5 to 7 kilometers away, where they found a deaf and mute car mechanic.  He communicated with the mechanic through sign language. The mechanic drove him to the next town, in time for Fr. Carreon's mass.   

Is religion a force of good?

On December 10, Human Rights Day, I was listening to a debate on religion between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens on BBC.   Hitchens attributed the oppression of women to religion, including many wars. One current example is the Iraq war which Tony Blair supports.   Hitchens summed it up on a church poster he saw: "AIDS is wicked, but condoms are more."  He argued that women are consigned to servitude and the deaths of their children whom they are unable to raise.

Tony Blair, a very polished statesman, did not lose his bearing. He asserted that the churches in Africa formed a campaign for cancellation of national debt.  They succeeded, and the payment for interest on loans was redirected to primary education for girls.  He said that deep faith inspires the religious to deliver half of the health care services and one-fourth of the AIDs care to Africa.  He acknowledged that horrific acts of evil have been committed in the name of religion.  Hitchens quickly asserted the Iraq war that Tony supported.

An atheist, Hitchens believes that the cure to poverty is women empowerment. While they had opposing views, both emphasized the value of empowering women and educating girls at an early age.  Their exchanges got so spirited, that one of the Toronto students attending the Munk Lectures, asked: “Which of your opponent's arguments is most convincing? ”

To which Blair responded: “Religion can be a force for evil, when it is a perversion of faith, and when religion is used as a badge of identity.” He must be referring to evangelicals and Catholics pastors, 1,200 of them who came together to declare that gays have no rights to be married and to campaign for the passage of Proposition 8 in California, based on their prejudicial scriptural interpretations.

Blair asserted that some people of faith are grounded in the scripture of religion -- that the scripture is abstracted from time to justify what is bad, and the essence of scripture is lost.  That, he said, is not deep faith or faith inspired, he alluded to it as man-made.  He could not be more right!

Hitchens responded that if religion vanished, the social ills of the world would not disappear.  He profoundly challenged the crowd: “Are we willing to have a permanent, perpetual supervisor to determine what is morally right or wrong, when we as human beings are equipped with the power of reason, Socrates, science and logic?"

I thought about what Blair and Hitchens said and what the five priests asserted as examples of feeling the presence of God.  

Here is my take. God’s presence is like magic. He makes things possible, when all things seem impossible, he opens the doors of possibilities and more capacities, as Fr. Camilo said. 

For me, God does not make wars, nor does He create mountains of bones.  Men do that in God’s name and bastardize the Good embodied in God.  Blair and Hitchens are both are half-right -- the good done in God’s name is God’s presence in men.

I once had felt my world coming to an end when I experienced three consecutive deaths of loved ones. 

One was NVM Gonzales who, on his final year, sustained an email exchange with me, one of which I distinctly remember. I was expecting to go on a road trip with my husband to Hawaii. Instead, my husband took his laptop, I told NVM.  NVM responded, “He took his laptop, to converse and dialogue with his inner child and regain his center."

I did not think of it that way. Instead of feeling resentment, I let my husband have his own space to go on his private trips to commune with nature -- his private spiritual retreats to be with his own God.  I am not sure which God, but I know God is present with him because after he gets back, he is filled with joy, sharing the nature-inspired photographs he took of the turquoise blue ocean, the waves and the cream-colored beach shore.

For me, I feel God’s presence almost daily: in the unsolicited cups of coffee from La Maison du Pain, the organic meals lovingly prepared by the chefs at Visayas State University, the suman from Carigara that Joey lovingly ordered for us to eat with folks at Leyte Normal University, the brunch get-together with friends, an unexpected visit from a friend and her children with a gift of queso de bola, the Christmas dinner prepared by Rocio, the front row jazz tickets for Jazz-Phil-USA from Asian Journal, each morning’s green veggie smoothies that my husband prepares, unexpected sundo from my publisher in Manila, the rigorous coaching on kettle bells that I get from my trainer, Quoc, and the inspiring homilies and singing from IHMC’s overflowing church that renews my wellspring.  

I feel God in my relationships with my editor and publisher who bring out the best in my works and from readers who give me their feedback.  Merry Christmas all, you bring God into my life!