Modern Resurrection

It is at the start of what we call the Holy Week that summer is made official in this part of the world. In the tropics, people like us gingerly wait for lower temperatures that never come or are never low enough, long enough all through November to February. And then temperatures rise again — and there’s no stopping it. For most kids, summer equates to vacation. For most parents, summer means headache with the children around and not knowing what to do with them. While the more affluent or the more creative find ways to enjoy the sunshine while having an airconditioned refuge to go back to, not everyone equates summer with tanning in Boracay, shopping in Hong Kong or rediscovering the Banaue Rice Terraces. Seventy percent of Filipino families are alien to the idea of "vacation" and to some, by choice, the be all and end all of summer is having an extra hand for work and income — and pondering on the Word of God.

You might have noticed yourself that summer, as you knew it way back in your childhood, is not quite the summer you have reinvented for yourself and your family today. I come from a middle class family where education and hard work are partners in affording most of — not all — the best things in life. Having come from a generation that had not enough ideas to spend the summer, my parents generally left summer to my and my siblings’ own creative imaginations. How many of us still see it clearly in our heads and remember the feelings and the images of so many summers ago? Time was when all we kids had to put up with were the reruns of Father Peyton’s The Rosary documentary and old movies of the Ten Commandments. And then the Betamax was invented, the forefather of today’s DVD. And along with this, everything else that was identified with the "conventional" idea that was summer — changed.

And summer, with all of the piety it can hold of my earliest awareness, time and again, brings me back to a concept that would intrigue me most — the Resurrection. For isn’t it so that on this biblical claim rests the faith that empowers even the dead? It would inspire me to later devour everything in sight on the subject. Electromagnetic charges that can rekindle lifeless nerves — yes, something like Frankenstein’s monster. Or a movie called Flatliners that dealt with crossing, at will with the help of science, from life to death consciousness and back. Or stories I’ve followed and researched to tell who holds the record for having "officially died" the longest and had come back to life. The concept of resurrection, of course, hails from two clear, landmark accounts in the Bible. Unless the newly discovered Gospel of Judas reveals more of it, resurrection is mostly identified with Jesus summoning the dead Lazarus back to life and then Christ Himself resurrecting three days after dying and being buried.

The more evolved interpretations today of the written Word go beyond the limitations of what is literal. And this creates a whole new school of thought about what and how a resurrection might be construed. "Living" today does not necessarily mean "walking, talking, sleeping and eating." "Dying" does not all the time mean being six feet under. You could be perfectly functional — but "lifeless." And in the course of one lifetime, as they ask, "how many times can you die?" The "good news" that we celebrate this time of year does not only mean sweet fruit and beautiful flowers abound. Resurrection from death of most types besides the obvious physical is possible.

I have seen death in my own life and I have experienced death in other ways than the obvious. I have also seen resurrection as I have myself benefited from what I know now exists — the modern day resurrection. My work has brought me far and wide and, again as it never fails, the formerly narrow definition of terms has become an endless glossary of how you can appreciate life and death in its most basic to its most ethereal form. And the definitions and instances are as numerous and varied as there are people who have fallen and risen up again.

I recently met a man named Ramon Manahan. Eroded early in life with pornographic materials available to him at 11 years of age, Ramon grew up with an addiction to women. Ramon’s addictiveness was without bounds. Later in life and even with a wife and three children, his addiction to women, alcohol and gambling was incorrigible. As a Customs man, he dealt illegally every chance he got. His wife left him and the children. To cope, Ramon surrendered to what momentarily gave him his life back. He once broke into the savings box of his son so that the gambling could continue. The children went without money for even transportation to school because he chose to gamble. Pushed to the wall and on the verge of suicide, Ramon Manahan saw a small beat-up billboard that said "Kaya mo ‘yan" ("You can do it") and it had a telephone number. He called that number. It’s been 14 years since. Ramon Manahan was recently awarded "Customs Most Honest Public Servant" for having returned millions of pesos to a balikbayan who left a jacket with money in the conveyor belt. He beat his addictions, finally. He is alive again.

Another story is Noel’s. He was a fake healer — someone who advertised himself as a faith healer but actually used pig and chicken entrails from the local market to use in his "faith healing" sessions with the gullible. Known as a "psychic surgeon," Noel was pursued by many in his hometown for which he earned more than his keep. This trade went on for many years. Even Noel could not fully explain how and when his dreams began. According to him, his dreams were about God breathing down his conscience. Possibly, it was really just his guilt. Dramatically, Noel has now turned to teaching Bible studies while driving his own passenger jeepney. Life.

Donita Rose — yes, the MTV Asia veejay — does have the face of an angel. But an angel she certainly wasn’t by her own admission. Rebellious and arrogant, knowing too well she was beautiful and smart, Donita went against her parents’ wishes every which way. She lived the life of the "walking dead," she called it. Drugs, parties, drinking sprees... until she landed in a scandalous situation even she couldn’t handle. Holding out in a room, crying herself to near death for days, she came out finding a dear friend who camped outside her room waiting for her while praying for her. And it was this sight that jolted her to the reality that her "life was actually death." She packed up and left for Singapore and resurrected a new Donita, the international celebrity, now the wife and mother, that we know.

Is it by design that while we are witness to the flowers blooming and the crops readied for harvest, life is reborn all around us as we commemorate the gift that is resurrection? If it hasn’t come to you yet, I assure you it most probably will sooner or later. As you realize there is not a limitless number of summers you might enjoy in your lifetime — the sunshine, the waters, the breeze, the harvest and the blooms will mean much differently. I let the heat of this summer in turn dispel all mirages and make me see more clearly that while I mourn death that comes to me in the choices I make every so often, there is a succeeding opportunity to will my own resurrections — guided by the Light that is above me and which chooses no season.

(E-mail the author at korina_abs@yahoo.com)