Post-election Pentecost

There were two types of national and local leaders who won in the recent elections. Those who ran for office to selflessly serve the common-good with moral integrity and dedication; and those who ran for office primarily for their own personal interests and hunger for power. Motivated by a genuine love for God and neighbor, our leaders of the first kind will be receiving the Holy Spirit as they take their oath of office, and start reaching out to anyone and everyone speaking, as it were, in different tongues, as our First Reading today tells us. (Acts 2: 1-11).

What about those leaders of the second kind? In God’s mercy and compassion, they will still be given the opportunity to turn back to God, be converted, and inevitably receive the Holy Spirit, as the others did. But those who remain stubbornly unconverted will ultimately be recognized as such by God’s people, and will face God’s justice, in His own time, in His own way. Our faith tells us this.

Security in uncertainty. This is the meaning of the Holy Spirit coming down upon us and among us for as long as we surrender in faith to His Presence. Our post-election Pentecost leads us to unity, especially between those who won and those who lost. All of us, both winners and losers, belong to the one and the same Body of Christ. This is the message of our Second Reading for today. (1 Cor. 12: 3-7, 12-13). Moreover, “God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joys.” (vv. 24-26).

This last message was lived by the apostles and disciples of Christ, in community with the early Christians. In the very same chapter from where our First Reading of today was taken, we read: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s needs.” (Acts 2: 44-45).

Close to such a situation was the dream of our late national hero, Ninoy Aquino, while he was in prison, before his tragic assassination. Let me quote once again some of his most striking convictions:

“Capitalism must be corrected by vigorous anti-monopoly legislation, supplemented more positively by social welfare and security measures than now exist. Basic economic decisions must be made by the community, the government, and not by private owners of the means of production. More efficient national economic planning must be adopted to husband our meager resources and bring the greatest good to the greatest number…. I believe in a Christian Democratic Socialist ideology that will harmonize political freedom with social and economic equality, taking and merging the best of the primary conflicting systems — communism and capitalism…. I believe in the Christian Socialist ideology that seeks to establish a set of rational, pragmatic, empirically viable criteria that qualify an industry for nationalization. I agree that monopolies in private hands must never be allowed. I also believe that basic and strategic industries must be nationalized, because it is too dangerous to leave the determination of national needs and priorities in the hands of a few. My primary concern is national interest and the general welfare, not nationalization…. My ideology flows from the mainstream of Christian Democratic Socialism as practiced in Austria, West Germany and the Scandinavian countries.” (From Testament From A Prison Cell)

Now, we have Ninoy’s very own son as our newly-elected President, and he faces the same two major crises in our country since his father’s death: poverty and graft and corruption. During her time as President, Noynoy’s own mother Cory did her moral best, but the forces of Godless resistance have held on to the status quo.

To carry on with the legacy of his father and mother, and fearlessly move on to its fruition, is President-elect Noynoy’s greatest task. As Filipino citizens, our post-election Pentecost mission is to give our best to support President-elect Noynoy in carrying on with God’s will for our nation.

The unity and mutual cooperation of our three branches of government are of crucial importance: executive, legislative, and judicial. Breaking through the lines of partisan, political divisions is what will unite our efforts as God’s people. This is the meaning of our national Pentecost. To understand one another according to each one’s language is no less than God’s universal language: the language of the heart. The language of LOVE.