Reflection

What is love? If we look at popular culture we will find different answers to that question. Movies, books and love songs have tried to paint a portrait of what it is. “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” They are the famous lines from the book The Love Story by Eric Segal that was made into movie. Or the song of the Beatles that says “All you need is love.” There is no arguing that our world needs love. But what kind? Jesus agrees that we all do need love in our lives. But not only the love stories written and love songs sung kind of love. We hear in the Gospel today Jesus give his disciples a new commandment, different from the commandments they have been used to. His new commandment said: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Three things make Jesus’ kind of love new and different. First, he says don’t love the way the world loves. Let your kind of love not be what is popular and the fad. Jesus is saying do not love only with human love. Mind you, not everything about human love is wrong though. But many times it does not always work. But love the way Jesus loves. And how did Jesus love? He gave this commandment of love at a time when he was about to suffer on the cross and be put to death. It would show the ultimate sacrifice: offering one’s life out love for the heavenly Father and the people given to Jesus. His was a love empty of self-concern, conditions and expectations. Second, this is a new kind of love because he makes it an imperative, not just a request, for his disciples to follow. It is not a multiple choice kind of thing. It is not a cafeteria or turo-turo situation where you pick and point only what you want. It is a clear command of Jesus: “Love one another as I have loved you!” Even if it is a command, we are still free to reject it, be indifferent to it or respond and obey it. Third, if we do take seriously his imperative of love, it becomes the proof we are his disciples. It is the badge by which we are recognized as faithful to Jesus. It would be helpful to describe more in detail what this command of love that Jesus gives entail. In the Greek language, four words are used to describe it: Storges, philia, eros and agape. Storges is love for family members. Philia is love for friends. Eros is between a man and a woman. Agape is love not based on feelings or emotions but on willing what is best for the other. This is the love Jesus wants us to have that should guide thenother loves we have. That is why he can say “love your enemies” and “forgive seventy-times seven times.”

Response

As the command to love is the greatest commandment of Jesus, it also is the hardest and most difficult. It is a mandate that is now and forever, in season and out of season. It is the highest duty of any Christian faithful. The obligation of love seems contradictory because many believe you cannot force love. But love is also a decision that requires discipline and dedication. It needs to say I’m sorry.

A hero is well loved by many. People adore heroes. We have a strong attraction for them, giving them our applause and adulation. I’m sure you have your own personal heroes in your lives. They may be popular personalities like actors, politicians or other celebrities.  But I suspect for many of us, we just are admiring them from a distance and we would not be willing to put out our lives on the chopping board for them.

Isaiah, in the first reading, describes the true servant of God. He remains faithful to his mission even when persecuted. For he relies on God. The second reading is a hymn of the early church. Jesus humbles himself and becomes one among us to serve us even unto death. But God glorifies Him for His faithfulness. The gospel is the passion of Jesus. In His suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus overcomes death and sin and brings us fullness of life in God. He enters Jerusalem with the adulation of the people. They were waving their palm branches and shouting their Hosannas to him because they thought he would be their liberator from the occupying Roman forces. But he was not who they wanted and expected him to be. In the end, they abandoned and even wanted their supposed hero dead.

Is Jesus your hero? If so, how far are you willing follow Jesus? This is the challenged posed to us today as we recall the glorious entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. People were acclaiming Him as God’s messenger: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” A few days from now, on Good Friday, people will change their mind and stop following Jesus and even shout: “Crucify Him.” We can understand this better if we reflect on our own lives. We have some days of glorious happiness, of success and joy, but also sad days of contradiction and failure. Today we look at them in the light of the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. With Him we live happy days, with Him we experience sad days, but whether sad or joyful, in all of them we remain with the Lord and follow Him till the end. Let us be one with Jesus in His suffering, that, we may share in His glorious victory.

Response

Place a crucifix or a cross in a visible place today, perhaps somewhere at work where you can easily see it. Each time you look at it, ask yourself: What kind of follower am I? How willing am I to walk behind Jesus and everything He stood for?

Remember. Memory. Reminder. All these words suggest recalling something that has been forgotten. They are asking to bring to mind again something important.  When we remember, we become aware of what has been forgotten. When we recall, we make present what is absent.  Good memories we want to remember. Bad memories we want to forget. I remember counseling someone who had painful memories of the past. It made her feel bad about herself because of the neglect she felt from her parents. On the other hand, if our memory of our past is about how much love and care we received, it’s a memory worth remembering and thinking about.

The Gospel story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is about remembering a particular memory. It is an event that will serve as a reminder for the disciples of Jesus – a reminder to them that when Jesus would be condemned to death, new life awaited; when he is crucified on the cross, victory is waiting; when he was buried in the tomb, it will become empty on the third day.

Jesus is a good student of human nature. He knew his disciples would become weak in faith once they see him suffer, be crucified and die on the cross. So he made sure they will remember him with a glorious event like the Transfiguration. He shows himself to them transfigured and even together with Moses and Elijah, two great figures of the Old Testament.

A remembered moment is a source of strength in times of weakness; a river of courage when overpowered by fear; a mountain of certainty when besieged by doubts. The Transfiguration of Jesus is their remembered moment that Jesus wanted them to recall time and time again.

In truth, Jesus gives us the same remembered moment. The Transfiguration of Jesus is not only for the apostles Peter, James and John but for all of us. We can easily complain that we don’t have many moments to recall the presence of Jesus. But in truth, we do. We simply fail to recognize such moments. It is just a matter of seeing and looking more intently.  It’s like having a third eye as it were, seeing with the soul. What we see influences and even changes our behavior.  We see something, which at first glance, we judge as unacceptable actions. But when we get to know the deeper reason for such actions, and realize the pain behind it, we change our way of seeing and judging events and people. It changes us and our behavior as well.  We do have our transfiguration moments with Jesus. We simply fail to see them.

Response

We must remember what this gospel is telling us. If God reveals Himself in the human face of Jesus, Jesus is also revealed in the human faces of those who touch us in love and we touch with love as well. WE need only to see in a new way, we need to remember the transfigured face of Jesus and we will be reminded of his presence in our life.

Reflection

If you’re new and you want to be accepted, they say you should seriously take the following advice. First, make a good first impression. Look rich, play the role of one who is successful and powerful. Second, never start in a place where people know you already. Being unknown and anonymous as you begin helps you create a good image. Third, try not to upset people. Refrain from making your opinions known. Just tell people what they want to hear. Lastly, do not put yourself out on the line. Don’t volunteer for any task or responsibility. Don’t be involved unless you’ll get something in return. Follow these pieces of advice and you will be assured of welcome and acceptance.

How about Jesus? How was he welcomed when he had his homecoming in Nazareth? How was he accepted by those who knew his background? There is one word to describe it: rejection. Jesus was not accepted by his own people. Why? Not only because He was known to them but more so because He did not measure up to their expectations. For them, t

Reflection

The picture of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is very familiar to many Filipino Catholic families. When we look at their stampitas or images, they seem to be so perfect and holy. Yet such depictions are far-off from how the gospel of St. Matthew pictures the birth of Jesus.

Joseph plays a central role in the story of the birth of Jesus. He was a man of action and humility. He takes Mary to be his wife although she was already with child. And when Jesus was born and his entire family was threatened by King Herod, he leads his family away from harm’s way going as far as Egypt. Even today if you go to a pilgrimage to Cairo in Egypt, the tradition of the place where the Holy Family lived as refugees is still there. After the threat to their life is over, they go back to Judea and to Nazareth.

Part of the Holy Family is their relatives on Mary’s side like Elizabeth, Zechariah and John. They all appear and reappear in the life of Jesus. His other relatives even thought Jesus was out of his mind so they came to take him away!

The point of this feast of the Holy Family is not about extolling families and family life only. It is more so to remind us that Jesus was part of a human family like most of us. Added to that, he was deeply affected and shaped by his family. This shows to us the importance of our family background. This is also a reminder for us how high a calling family life is. Those of you who are parents should check what kind of formative experiences you are providing in your own families. It is not enough to provide food on the table and roof over their heads although those are truly important. We must also, as a family, nurture their minds, hearts and souls. Lest we forget, it is in our families that children first discover who they are. To guide them in this discovery is holy work.

Today’s celebration invites us to appreciate and recognize the treasure which is the family. Perhaps this is a good time to see how well we are supporting and taking care of the treasure of being in a family. Even though not all our experiences of family are good and fulfilling, most of us see its importance and essential role in our community and the church. Unfortunately, many Filipino families today are broken families either by choice or painful circumstances. Some have either one or both parents working abroad, far from the children. The social impact of such arrangement is devastating. We are in fact already feeling and seeing its effects. Cases of teenage pregnancies, drug use, materialism, lack of focus, misplaced values and priorities, even suicides, are just some to name a few.

Response

We are challenged to care for the treasure we call the family. The message of Christmas is that we are given a savior who was born in a family. The family is the important place where real change, whether for good or bad, can take place. A Catholic family is called to create holy families. Because it is in the family that the gospel of Jesus begins.

Reflection

We live in a world where competition, not cooperation, seems to be the rule of thumb. From an early age, we have been subconsciously indoctrinated with the idea that we have to outdo, defeat and demolish the competition. Whether that be in school academics, sports or ordinary play, our stance is to compete and win. No wonder we see each other first as competitors rather than partners. Sadly, even in not a few Catholic universities & schools such an outlook of being competitors rather than cooperators has been unwittingly promoted. Case in point: the UAAP basketball. They say it’s the school spirit. I say it’s foolish and pathetic, to say the least.

We see the same in our readings today. People who should know better were not exempt from seeing those who were not part of their group as competitors, therefore, a threat. In the 1st reading, a young man ran to Moses and reports how two men, Eldad and Medad, unofficial prophets, were prophesying in God’s name. The response of Moses to the “sumbungero” shows he is not insecure or feels threatened but sees those preaching God’s word as partners. Moses says, “If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!” The situation in the gospel reading is an exact parallel, and Jesus’ response is just like that of Moses. “Anyone who is not against us is for us.”

It becomes clear for all of us who at times become rigid in the ways God reveals Himself that we cannot restrict him according to our expectations alone. Listening to other Christian sects and religious groups, there is a tendency to compete and put down other denominations in the most vile and despicable language possible. The claim that they are the truest church and non-membership with them means eternal damnation runs contrary to the gospel message of Jesus. Indeed, there was a time in our church history as Catholics that we acted in the same manner, maybe even worse. But we have learned since then. We need not compete, put down and demolish each other for we bring the same message from the same Lord and savior who said that “anyone who is not against us is for us.” Every time we say we preach the good news of Jesus yet continue to denigrate and despise each other we lessen the power of the message of Jesus. Every time we keep putting down those whose set of beliefs are different from ours, we become a stumbling block towards fast-forwarding the establishment of God’s kingdom in our midst. We lessen the power of God’s word because of our over-competitiveness and malicious intent. Proving the truth we claim we possess by destroying the good name of another betrays one’s ignorance of the mind and heart of Jesus. Only a truth that is very unsure of itself feels compelled to make an enemy of the other.

Response

The official teaching of the Catholic faith with regards other religions is clearly stated in the document of the Second Vatican Council: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these [non-Christian] religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all people” (Nostra Aetate). This is not watering down or discarding the fullness of our Catholic faith founded on the apostles. But it is faithfulness to the spirit of Jesus who embraced everyone, sinners and saints alike, even the pagan centurion who, in the end, acknowledge that he is not worthy to received Jesus “but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection

Scarcity creates insecurity. Our own human experiences prove that point. Go back to the times you felt very little was left in your pocket or in your food cabinet. Did we not feel insecure and worried that nothing will be left for us? Did we not feel insecure about giving because we felt we need it more than anyone else? Scarcity not only creates insecurity. It can also serve as the seedbed for selfishness.

A different altitude is displayed in our gospel reading for this Sunday. We find many people are hungry. There is very scarce supply of food to feed the hundreds of people who have been following and listening to Jesus and his preaching. Jesus feels compassion for them. He tells his disciples to feed them. But his disciples were so overwhelmed by the multitude of people to be fed. The enormity of their needs was so tremendous. They only saw how little they have. What was available were only two pieces of fish and five loaves of bread. So little for so many. Clearly, the scarcity mentality was at work. But Jesus tells them to give to him the little food that was from the boy and commands his disciples to tell the people to sit on the grass. We are told that Jesus took the two fish and five loaves. He blessed it and broke the little amount of food available and gave it to the hungry multitudes.  It echoes the Eucharist.  Not only were they satisfied but there were some leftovers even.

On many levels we can bring this gospel lesson in our world, country and personal situation. We see much hunger in the world. Some see it and say there is very little food available so we should reduce the population. Or could it be there is more than enough food but the distribution and sharing are absent? We look at our country and see many have no means of livelihood and opportunities. Many don’t have decent houses to live in, the roads are bad, medicines are so expensive and services are appalling. Or is it because a few are hoarding great amounts of money, wealth and profit for themselves and are stuck in mediocrity and self-serving concerns? And what about the feeling that we have very little to give, a few talents to offer and a lack of time to share? Clear signs of a scarcity mentality.

Clearly, when Jesus said “Give them to me,” referring to the scarce supplies of food that was available, he still needed the two pieces of fish and loaves of bread of the boy to perform a miracle. He needs the little that we think we have so he can make something marvelous and abundant. When we give to Jesus the little time we have, the under-appreciated talent we possess, he turns them into blessings that would benefit many.

Response

Every time we come to celebrate the Eucharist, we are being called to commit our human resources for the benefit of others. He challenges us to make his word the food that will satisfy the deeper needs of our and each others’ hearts. Give to the hands of Jesus the little you think you have. Only then can scarcity mentality be replaced with the attitude of abundance.

There are three great celebrations in the calendar of the church: Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. Christmas is the celebration of the Son, Jesus, the Word made flesh. Easter is the celebration of the Father calling the Son back to life. Pentecost is the celebration of the Holy Spirit poured upon the church.

And today that is the feast we celebrate, the feasts of the Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is important that we ask ourselves as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday the question, “Are you a spiritual person?” Different answers can be given to that question; “Yes, I am. I go to mass everyday and I do works of charity for the needy.” Others might say “No. I’m not. I don’t regularly attend Sunday mass. Only when I feel the need for it.” Still, there are those who might say, “I’m not sure or I don’t know.”

The answer we give to that question has a great deal to do with the solemnity we are celebrating today: Pentecost. Fifty days after the resurrection of the Lord, the promise of Jesus, the word he gave to his disciples, and kept, was he would never abandon them. On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes and remains with them in order to be the abiding presence of Jesus.

To answer whether we are a spiritual person, we go back to St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles where he asks the question, “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” Right away we can answer this question with a simple ‘yes’. For does not the Church teaches that in baptism we are renewed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.? And does she not also teach that in the sacrament of confirmation we are strengthened in our faith by the same Spirit? Indeed, to the question “have we received the Holy Spirit?” we can and should in fact answer yes.

When St. Paul asked the disciples in Ephesus whether they have received the Holy Spirit and found out they had not, he baptized them and laid his hands on them. Thereafter, the Holy Spirit came down upon them and immediately they began to speak in tongues and prophesy in God’s name. With sensitivity they listened to God’s word and with courage and boldness, they proclaimed the works of the Lord. They were empowered to do all these because they have received the Holy Spirit. Not only did they receive the Holy Spirit into their lives but they responded to the Spirit’s many gifts.

Have we received the Holy Spirit? Yes, we have. But that does not make us automatically a spiritual person. There is a more important question we need to ask: “Have we responded to the Holy Spirit?” It is a response where we not only believe in the truth about the third person of the Trinity, but a response wherein our way of seeing events, our manner of relating with people and our method of living our lives is constantly challenged, radically rooted and deeply inspired by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We have to remind ourselves that we can only be in touch with Christ if we have been in touch with the Holy Spirit. And we can only respond to the Holy Spirit in faith if we allow her to be who she is: the Parakletos, which literally means ‘he who is called to one’s side.’ A paraclete is an advocate, a mediator, a comforter, an intercessor.

Responding to the Holy Spirit means allowing her to be the Paraclete. It means a life where one’s relationships are animated by the urgings of the Spirit; where one’s actions are led by her inspiration and where one’s way of thinking is enlightened by her wisdom. Simply said, it is docility of our entire life to the directions of the Holy Spirit. To live under the direction, urging and enlightenment of the Spirit must not be interpreted as mere exterior agreement of our actions to a set of rules given by God for us to follow. Rather, it is a gradual growth of our inner eye to see with growing clarity and listen with greater sensitivity to the will of God. It is not an anxious attitude of trying to do everything with righteous perfection. But it is a strong, sound and serene certainty that what our mind and heart desires to do is the desire and delight of God’s heart.

Life led by the Spirit, characterized by docility to God’s will, becomes a reality if we stop relating to God only in terms fear or too much dependency on doing this or not doing that. They are helpful. And at times they are the only practical and sensible way especially during moments of dryness and aridity in our spiritual life. But to remain there would be infantile spirituality. At one point in our spiritual life, we have to respond to God’s call through the Spirit in our own free and personal way as the wind blows freely where it wills. This is the person directed, urged and led by the Spirit. He is a person uninhibited and unbounded in exploring God’s presence in his life and constantly attuning his ways to God’s ways, his eyes to God’s face and his heart to God’s voice. He not only has received the Spirit but has maturely responded to the Spirit.

Thus, the spiritual person not only prays, “Come, Holy Spirit” but cans also proclaim, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to bring the good news to others!”

If you watch the late night news on TV, you probably have seen the one on Channel 7 called “Saksi.” It has an American counterpart called “Eyewitness News.” Maybe that’s where the local station copied the idea. But whether it is “Saksi” or “Eyewitness News” the message and the meaning remains the same: they claim that they have seen the events they report on the news with their own eyes, or to be more precise, through the lens of their very own cameras.

At the end of the Gospel this 3rd Sunday of the Easter season, we hear Jesus say to his apostles who see his risen person, “You are my witnesses to these things.” That means they have seen the risen Christ with their own eyes. They are eyewitnesses of Jesus. Sila’y mga saksi ni Hesus na muling nabuhay dahil nakita ng sarili nilang mga mata ang lahat ng mga pangyayari. But is that really what being a witness to the risen Jesus is all about, seeing Him with their own eyes as he suffered, died and rose?

It’s very easy to limit the meaning of that statement of Jesus about being his witnesses to the events that happened to the Lord in his suffering, death and rising. Indeed, it includes all those events that happened during the last moments of the earthly life of Jesus. But if we be very precise about it, there were really no witnesses to the very moment when Jesus resurrected. Yes, they saw Jesus treated with much violence. They saw him nailed to the cross. They saw the blood flowing out from his body and witnessed the excruciating pain of his crucifixion and death on the cross. But the very moment of His resurrection, none saw it. They only saw the proof of it as Jesus showed himself to them alive again! In fact, only one of his apostles was an eyewitness to his death on the cross because they all ran away!

A second look at the entire statement of Jesus reveals why he suffered, died and is raised so that “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name.” Only then did he say “you are witnesses to these things.” It becomes clear that witnessing to Jesus is not just seeing him with one’s own eyes. If that were so many of us his modern day disciples will never qualify as his followers. Many of us will never have faith in him because we are not eyewitnesses to what happened to him. Thankfully, being a witness to him is not about that at all. In his own words, Jesus says we are witnesses because we believe in the forgiveness of our sins through repentance. And that we are to make it known to all we meet. Thus, faith does not come from seeing him but from believing in him even if we have not seen him. We believe, therefore, we see who Jesus truly is. The more we believe, the more we see Him clearly!

Response

Why is it when it comes to modern technology we believe it right away? Take for example, cellphone text messaging. When we receive a text message through the cellphone, we right away believe that the person who sent the text message is the person he or she claims to be. We don’t completely know how that technology works and is able to send that message nor do our eyes see that it really is that person who texted us, yet we believe it is so. Yet, if we replace the word “technology” with God, we do not right away believe nor accept: we don’t believe right away God loves us so much, He forgives the sins of a repentant sinner. We don’t accept right away he is a mighty and powerful God. But that is what it means that we are witnesses of the risen Jesus. We believe, therefore, we see and understand better. Because we have faith, we are witnesses even if we have not seen him with our eyes. That’s what our Easter faith is all about.

Today, February 25, 2009, is Ash Wednesday. Today, also, the EDSA People Power of 1986 is 23 years old. Of the 23 anniversaries of EDSA several have fallen within the Lenten season. I find it meaningful that these two important events would take place and converge at this particular season of the liturgical year. Every Lenten season, we remember the great event of the passion and death of Christ on the cross to free us from our slavery to sin. Every 25th of February, we remember the great event of a people freeing themselves from slavery to their own fears, apathy and indifference. Let me share with you some reflections on the Lenten season and the EDSA People Power Revolution.

Lenten Season

Traditionally, the Lenten season is likened to a temple that stands on three pillars. Christ Himself recommended these three pillars of Lent in his Sermon on the Mount. The three pillars are no other prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Fasting is a tradition that we share with many other world religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and the Jewish religion give importance to fasting. Christian fasting takes a deeper meaning than those held by other religions because has a meaning Christ himself assigned to it.

Christian fasting is something we inherited from the Jewish tradition. Fasting was seen as an attitude of dependence and total abandonment on God. Before a great undertaking, during times of danger and calamities, to show repentance for sins, they did one thing: they fasted. But Jesus saw something lacking in their fasting. For fasting to be pleasing to God, it must be united with love of neighbor and should show itself in acts of justice. Almsgiving is an act of justice. It is giving to others what truly belongs to them. We share because when we look at the eyes of another person we do not see an enemy or a stranger but a brother and a sister.

But all these have to be done for one reason: because one loves God. Loving God begins with talking to him in prayer. That is why for Jesus, the fasting of the Pharisees was empty. Jesus denounced their fasting because it was a fasting directed for their self-glorification and self-righteousness. When we fast, we tell God that we are totally for Him, not only our spirit but our body as well. We are willing to delay the gratification of our senses in order to dedicate our whole self, body and spirit, to Him.

Here we see the pillars of Lent standing together: Prayer, (the love for God) fasting, (delaying the gratification of our bodily wants and humbly acknowledging dependence on God) and almsgiving (prayer and fasting bearing fruit in acts of charity). These three pillars are not only for Lent but for the whole of our Christian life. But during Lent, we are asked to intensify our prayer, our fasting and our almsgiving. They have to be together, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. According to St. John Chrysostom fasting without almsgiving is not fasting at all. And as St. Augustine said: If you want your prayer to fly to God, give it two wings: fasting and almsgiving.

EDSA People Power Revolution

We ask: Is not the EDSA revolution an expression of this triad of the spiritual life? Is not EDSA the embodiment of the three pillars of Lent intensified?

In EDSA of 1986 there was prayer. The lips of people moved together storming heaven with prayer. Like the people of the O.T. when in the midst of danger and calamity, or when faced with a great undertaking, they offered fasting as their prayer, in EDSA we offered our prayers to Him. At the streets surrounding EDSA, the Eucharist was celebrated, the rosary recited. Indeed, People Power was possible because of prayer power.

In EDSA of 1986 there was fasting. Not in the sense that people did not eat. On the contrary, everyone ate, and reminiscent of the feeding of the multitudes, there were more than 12 basket-full of left-over. How was this possible? Because people fasted. Yes, we fasted from our selfishness and shared the little that we had. We fasted from our indifference and apathy and joined together in solidarity. We fasted from our divisive attitudes and allowed our faith to bring us together as one people of God. In EDSA 1986 there was also almsgiving. The almsgiving was not in terms of money being doled-out but in varied yet meaningful forms: the willingness to give one’s life as alms; people standing in front of tanks having nothing in their hands except flowers and rosaries but with hearts full of love to give. Big or small, in EDSA 1986, almsgiving was overflowing.

If there is one, single symbol that can bring Lent and EDSA together, it would be the symbol of the cross. During Lent, it is not so much the washing of the feet that people identify with, nor is it the palms that are waved during Palm Sunday. But it is the passion and death of Christ symbolized by his cross that touches them deeply. In EDSA of 1986, Col. Sotelo was ordered to bomb the old Santolan Road to scare the people. But when he and his co-pilot looked out the window of the helicopter, it was not the sea of people they saw but the figure of the cross in EDSA and Santolan. They could not bomb a cross. They defected. During Lent, most people see the cross as the source of suffering. In EDSA, the cross became a source of blessing. And indeed what a blessing it was!

This year, Lent begins on the very same day of the EDSA People Power anniversary. At the corner of EDSA and Ortigas Avenue now stands the Our Lady of Peace EDSA Shrine to remembering what the Filipino people did 23 years ago. Ash Wednesday will be celebrated there, the very streets where we fasted, prayed and offered alms for each other because of our common faith in Christ. But wherever we might be, let the ash and its mark on our forehead remind us we are called to begin a change of heart, followed by intense prayer, deeper fasting, and greater care for the less fortunate.