Time of grace

A Bible reading this week referred to some early Christian community as blessed with an exceptional time if grace. There was much sharing throughout the community. Those who had gifts and talents shared these with those who had less or none at all. Those with land, food, labor, or whatever other resources or skills shared these with all else in the community. Their motto: all for one and one for all. The prevailing norm in this early community was to share care with all, just as the Lord Jesus Christ, cares for all. Then, it was easy to spot and identify the followers and communities that believed in God and His Beloved Son. Love and care shone through these communities.

These types of communities are rare and exceptional these days. While God continues to shower all with His abundant grace, sadly, the practice of sharing care and love, through sharing of whatever gifts, resources, talents or skills one has, is now lost among the many. Caring and sharing have become exceptional while selfishness and private possession appear to have clearly taken over.

This is sad and ironic for a people and a country like ours that claim proudly to be followers of God and His Beloved Son. Will we ever regain the exceptional period of grace that marked communities that truly followed the Lord?

In the news lately were two obviously contrasting information. On the one hand, it was reported that billions of pesos were ready for release to senators and representatives. In contrast, another news reported possible wage or bonus announcements for workers. How much would the bonuses be? How much wage hike could millions of workers expect?

A few hundred senators and representatives will get undeserved billions of people's funds; in contrast, the deserving millions of Filipino workers will be blessed with some less than P100 worth of wage hike or some hundreds or thousands of bonuses, if at all! Millions and billions for a few in Congress, hundreds or thousands of pesos for millions of Filipinos! And we proudly claim we are followers of God and His Son Jesus Christ?

There must be more serious and truly effective ways to restore these public funds directly to benefit our truly deserving needy people. The pork barrel should not be given anymore to those in Congress, many of whom are there to channel the public funds for personal, for family interests. As a people, we need to devise effective ways to retrieve and restore these public funds for truly welfare and productive purposes that will benefit all, especially the poor and the most needy.

The practice of privately owning resources, the so- called mining mentality (this is mine, that is mine) should have no space to be allowed to continue in a country and among people who claim to follow Christ. Inequality has no place among those who truly believe in God and His love.

The BUB (bottom-up budgeting) approach being implemented by the PNoy administration has the intention of making the budget process more transparent and accountable. However, safeguards have to be done to ensure clear and objective ways of truly ascertaining honest transactions. Given continuing patronage and domination, there must also be effective mechanisms to ensure that truly elected and genuine and honest civil society participants are empowered to successfully monitor the whole budget planning, implementation and accounting process and system.

So much more to be done, so many more called to do their part and truly share for the good of all.

Who does not want to be blessed with periods of grace? Everyone, for sure, will want to have, not only exceptional, but continuing periods of grace. Those times can come when all are ready to share what they have, when all are ready to show, in practice, that they care for all, that they, that we love our neighbors as we love our own selves.  

Will those periods of grace come soon?

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