Less lights in the streets, and in the hearts

It's only 27 days before Christmas, yet the prevailing mood seems wanting in light-heartedness and excitement. Series lights which used to blaze along residential areas can still be seen but only in few houses. And if you look at the faces of the crowd along Colon street, for one, these look glum and unfeeling, even anxiety laden.

The exception is the scenario in the malls where as usual the season is proclaimed in a blaze of carols and blatant display of colors and lights. Getting in there, one cannot help but be amazed by the abundance of goodies and gifts and unless he has the nonchalance of a monk, he cannot help but get carried away by the exuberance of it all. Ah, but this is what happens when commerce and Christmas jell together. Be happy, be happy, and part with your money, the message seems to say.

Money of course is a rare commodity these days. Already some establishments are downsizing their work force. Despite cheaper oil price, the cost of prime commodities is still beyond the pocket of many Filipinos. With the peso-dollar rate rising, the situation is expected to get worse. And yet, the fall-out of the global recession is still half-way felt in this country. What will life be like once we get the full impact of it?

 Even without this world wide economic dislocation life is already hard for many in this country, what with a third of our people subsisting below poverty level. But what is the current leadership doing? What are our power-brokers, senators and congressmen among them, doing? As always they have not stopped barking at Malacañang and at each other. May 2010 is still more than a year away but the skirmishes have begun.

So there will be less lights in the streets this Christmas, and there will be less lights in the hearts of many Filipinos. Joy to the world would still resound, but this would sound hallow and meaningless. For what is Christmas without its goodies? And yet our state is not completely hopeless. For when there's nobody to turn to Somebody steps in and makes his presence felt.

In his time Jesus circulated among the very poor whose day-to-day survival was an over-riding concern. Whenever he talked about the kingdom of God he must have noticed the blank faces of his listeners. So at one time he told them: " I tell you not to worry about your life: What are we to eat? Or about your body: What are we to wear? For your life is more than food and your body more than clothing."

To drive home his point; the Son of Man explains; " Look at the crows; they neither sow nor reap; they have no storehouse and no barns; yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!"

What a comforting word! But toward the end of his discourse Jesus says that God's help does not come by itself unbidden. There is a condition: Seek first the Kingdom and those things will be given to you as well.

As the Filipinos reel in their collective privation, these words of Jesus serve as their wake-up call. Are they where they are because they have forgotten to seek the Kingdom of heaven? Have they been bereft of good leaders because they have forgotten to pray? Are they shooting each other because the peace of God is no longer in their hearts?

As the Nativity nears there are the usual calls to prepare the way. But as usual too these will fall on deaf ears for most Filipinos. Churches will be full when the Misa de Gallo sways in. But how many are the worshippers compared to the nay-sayers? And even those who seem to hear the call, how many are sincere in their piety? Look, those who have crafted the bill with sugar-coated abortifacients are avowedly Catholics, and Catholic women ( about 70 percent, the report says ) have been using artificial methods of controlling birth. Is this the vaunted bastion of Catholic faith? If the women are no longer practicing their faith, what kind of kids are they raising?

G.K. Chesterton says that our troubles and disappointments in life are but the shades of God's hands extended caressingly. Yes, God's loving hands I'm sure are stretched towards his Filipino children. But it seems only few want to be caressed. By their hardness of hearts and unbridled self-concern they have distanced themselves from His loving care.

 Bleak Christmas? No joy to the world? Perhaps we deserve it all.

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