No other gift

Sixteen-year-old Lisa had a weird Christmas. There she was, with her family gathered around their Christmas tree. Her siblings were shouting excitedly as they opened their gifts. She was surrounded by her many gifts, but inside her, Lisa felt so alone, depressed, desperate.

Days before, she was asking for some private, quiet time with her mother, but the latter was too busy with her Christmas shopping. "Just one hour, Mom. Please." "Wait until after Christmas, ok?" the mother responded. Her father was equally busy and unavailable, with all his Christmas activities in the office and what-have-you. Lisa badly needed to unburden herself – for she and her boyfriend had sex, and this was disturbing her to no end. She needed none of those material gifts all around her. All she needed was a compassionate, listening heart, and no one had the time for her. Her parents missed the golden opportunity of giving her the most important gift – the gift of one’s person. The gift of one’s self.

This was what Mary did. The gift of herself, her person. In fact, as recorded in today’s Gospel reading, she hastened to travel through the hill country, even though she was already pregnant – to visit and attend to her aging and weak cousin Elizabeth, who was six-months pregnant. We can visualize Mary staying there for weeks or months, just to give Elizabeth her physical and moral support and presence.

No other gift than the gift of one’s self, one’s person. This is the real meaning of Christmas. Mary’s gift of herself to Jesus, and Jesus’ gift of himself to us. And this is now what we are called to do. Let us not miss the real meaning of Christmas, both in the micro-and-macro levels.

In this connection, last Sunday’s "Watch-and-Pray" rally organized by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference was not in vain. Both Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales emphasized the need for individual and national character change as more imperative before Charter change. "There must be reform in many of us – in all of us," said Cardinal Rosales.

During the presidency of Fidel Ramos, the "Moral Recovery Program" was initiated, but only passive support from the people resulted. Today, we in the institution of the Church must work more toward this character change of our people. It is not the "what" nor the "why" but the HOW to effect character change that we are not yet succeeding in. There may be exceptions here and there, but in general, the formation programs of our parishes, dioceses, and Catholic schools need more creative and pastorally effective ways. The traditional ways have not done much, considering the fact that we have been a Christian country for centuries. Yes, centuries!

Moreover, the strict separation of Church and State will never work in our country. If by "Church" we mean religious denomination, then of course I agree that the State should not favor, much less adopt, any particular denomination, be it Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, or some-other. But the secular must integrate itself within the sacred; otherwise, it will become its own god. This is the area where our religious leaders thru interfaith collaboration must be actively involved, especially in issues that affect the common good of God’s people. This is political spirituality, and last Sunday’s rally was an example of this.

We must take the very Preamble of our 1987 Constitution seriously: "We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, etc." This is followed by the "Declaration of Principles and State Policies" which are clearly God-inspired. Let us be united as a people in discerning God’s will for any Charter change in the future. Our gift of self for one another.

Our interfaith denominations and churches are the primary guardians of God’s moral and religious values of love, justice, and peace for our people. Our one and only Creator and God is the common Supreme Power of both our various churches and the State.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat!