Like Pedro…. (Part 2, continued from last Dec. 8) Defying defiance

So man, having had his fill of the fruit, has become intelligent, aware, “enlightened” if you will. He knows now that he is naked and needs to be clothed. All this is a result of his defiance of God’s will.

The story from the Book of Genesis may very well be the story of our creation; but something tells me it isn’t just that. To me, the Book of Genesis, the Bible’s first book, is a prophetic book—one that’s directly linked to the Bible’s last book, the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse)—together, both books complete the circle, it’s where the story begins and ends and the ending is linked to the beginning. You want to know why the events of the Revelation—the ‘End Times,’ this era we live in—take place? Genesis provides a compelling backstory.

But God himself defied our defiance; he gave up his life as ransom for our souls, but our counterpart, our fair share in this continuing saga that is our salvation, is what’s up for grabs. Nailed to the cross, He had faith in us, in our ability to defy our penchant for defiance and embrace him.

Now, more than ever, we ought to ask ourselves this: Which is stronger, my faith in God or my faith in myself and the wisdom of this world?

Martyrdom in smaller doses

I am a sinner, and I am sure that in many ways, ways big or small, day in and day out, through my words and actions, I offend God. Maybe it will never be enough to compensate for my many failings, but choosing him where it counts the most, where it probably hurts the most for me, is the best sacrifice I can think of.

And where does it count the most for me? Same-sex marriage and the RH Bill.

There was a time that I was pro- same sex marriage; heck, I even wanted to avail of it in Vermont or Spain where it’s legal. But through the last three years—incidentally the span of time I’ve been hearing Mass each Sunday at the Shrine of San Pedro Calungsod at the Archbishop’s Palace—I’ve become less and less enthusiastic about the whole idea of same-sex marriage. Ultimately, I’ve abandoned the idea completely.

Of course, I’m still gay and I do respect my friends in the LGBT community who dream of it for themselves and their partners; but for me, using the same “right to choose” argument, I’ve made a choice.  

In my life, my faith has been my most enduring relationship, and the most faithful man, Christ. So I choose faith.

“But it’s who you are, it’s part of who you are,” my close friends would often argue. While that may be true, so is being a Catholic Christian. And so, in a sense, that part of me, not everything, but that small yet important part of me “has to die.” Martyrdom in smaller doses.   

The same goes for the RH Bill. I used to serve as supervising commissioner of the UN Population Fund’s adolescent reproductive health (ARH) program for young peoples, and so I was probably among the early advocates of RH. But again, throughout those three years hearing mass in San Pedro Calungsod’s Shrine, each Sunday praying for a miracle, for just about any miracle—the miracle I got was something more profound—especially if you know how stubborn and unyielding I can be—I had a change of heart.

At first it was just a matter of faith, my opposition to RH. And I prayed for reasons, gripping reasons why I ought to be against it, since I could not fight it with only faith as an excuse (although faith fuels the cause more than anything). The reasons against the RH Bill, compelling and undeniable, soon followed suit. God had His way of backing up my faith with facts, irrefutable facts, truths that zeroed in on how the RH Bill, for economic, health (especially health), sociological, political, and even religious reasons, should be opposed with every strength and every fiber of every muscle of our physical and spiritual selves!   

A good Christian is an obedient adolescent

Be an obedient adolescent. Note that when we were younger, when our hormones were raging and we had every yearning to be independent from our parents, to bulakbol, to rebel and make it on our own, when we thought we knew better, our parents would give orders we never fully understood, advice or rules that didn’t seem to make sense. Some of us would follow, the rest of us would rebel.

One way to be like Pedro is something we’re all familiar with: to be like an obedient adolescent, trusting that our parents, much older and wiser than we are, know better, that all will be for our own good. I’m sure most of us, growing up into the harsh realities of the world have come to realize that our parents did, in fact, know best!

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