Love-in-action

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. God, the Incarnate Lover of all His creation. Out of this love, God created each one of us to be like Him.

“Then God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….’ God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:26-27).

To clearly understand this in the New Testament, Jesus fully supported what one of his followers described as the one and only divine law that would lead him to eternal life: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk. 10: 27).

All the above and more is what we find in today’s Gospel reading for the 3rd Sunday of Easter. For fear of his own life, Peter had previously denied knowing Jesus, not once, not twice, but three times. Although before that, he had left everything to be a close follower of Christ. But human as he was, he failed at the height of human weakness. Each one of us can identify with Peter, in one way or another.

But again, the Incarnate Lover that He was, and is, Jesus lovingly gave Peter the opportunity to wake up and be his true self. Three times, Peter insisted in assuring Christ, “Lord, you know that I love you.” But it does not end there. Each time that Peter expressed his love for Him, Jesus followed it up with: “Feed my lambs….Tend my sheep…. Feed my sheep” (Jn. 21: 15-17).

Yes, love in action, in service and self-sacrifice, and not just in words and prayers. Peter experienced this in the person of Christ, and he was finally able to live it himself. According to records, Peter was arrested and imprisoned several times, but was freed through miraculous means. Tradition tells us that he was martyred during the reign of Nero (c. 54 ‑68).

You and I may not be literally called to be martyrs like Jesus and Peter, but there are certainly many ways of feeding Jesus’ lambs and tending his sheep.

Our most serious national problem today is social and economic injustice. The giant gap between the tiny minority super-rich and the great majority poor is definitely not God’s law of loving. The other interconnected issue here is the widespread corruption among political and economic leaders. Not all, but many. Our President Aquino, who is known for his moral integrity and honesty as a leader, finds it extremely difficult to deal with this issue that has practically become a part of our national culture.

Regarding the first issue of social and economic injustice, the latest research reports that 40 families own 76% of our growing Philippine economy. This definitely is not God’s plan for humanity. And even if another report claims that 81% of Filipinos are satisfied with their lives, this does not justify the ruthless injustice in the distribution of God’s resources. Over the past many decades and even centuries, most poor Filipinos have learned to be resigned to their socio-economic situation, without realizing that this is not the will of our ever-loving and just God, but the result of human sinfulness. Many poor Filipinos are drawn to what we call popular religiosity, and simply accept the situation as it is and take it as God’s will and providence.

The official teaching of the Church on social justice is definitely not being followed by our so-called Christian Philippines. It is here that I want to quote our recent hero, the late Benigno Aquino Jr., from his Testament From A Prison Cell, which he wrote while imprisoned for years by the Marcos dictatorship, and then martyred later on.

Aquino was convinced that neither capitalism nor communism would work for the good of our country. I agree with this completely. Instead, we must work toward a Christian socialist system for a more equitable distribution of God’s resources.

As Ninoy wrote: “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 and conflicting systems  — communism and capitalism.”

“Capitalism must be corrected by a 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 the 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.”

Let us pray unceasingly that Ninoy’s own son, our current President Noynoy, will take his father’s legacy seriously, seek the active cooperation of more and more like-minded leaders, both national and local, and move toward a democratic socialist system, which is God-inspired as well as God’s will. This will take a long time, many decades perhaps, but it will be worth all the efforts and time that will be needed. This will be our journey with God, and not the ego-centered system that we are suffering from right now.