EDITORIAL - Christian words unmatched by Christian deeds

That Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama should take a selfie during Mass is no doubt inappropriate, regardless of whether it was at a regular Sunday Mass or at the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress. An inability to restrain himself from doing inappropriate things has always been the bane of Rama. But as the selfie took place in a religious rite where inappropriateness sends no one to jail, Rama will have to deal with the consequences of inappropriateness elsewhere.

Unfortunately for him, elsewhere in this day and age is nowhere else but the Internet, where hardly any rules apply and govern. Those who felt offended by his actions and felt like shaming him had a field day doing so. Worse, somewhere in the inscrutable vastness of cyberspace, someone saw what was going on and decided to profit from it all.

That someone was Tomas Osmeña, the former mayor, who is angling to retake his old seat at City Hall away from Rama. Osmeña and Rama were actually old friends and allies, until politics drove a wedge between them. Had they remained friends, it is doubtful if Osmeña would have given a hoot about Rama's selfie. But as enemies, the Rama selfie during Mass would appear to be a godsend.

Osmeña must have promptly dropped to his knees in prayerful thanksgiving. Here was something he did not bargain for. If only Osmeña remained sincerely thankful and understood what divine intervention truly meant, he would now be simply sitting, enjoying the sight of Rama twisting in the wind. Instead he had to jump and rub it in. Some people just do not know when they have been truly blessed.

And so Osmeña rushed into the picture, waving photocopies of the Rama selfie, not only to criticize the mayor for it but more importantly to call attention to his own self, about how great a Christian he was, and that as a great Christian how he was greatly offended by the actions of Rama. Any true Christian, however, is promptly reminded of the admonition about those who profess themselves to be Christians but who by their own actions are revealed to be wolves in sheep's clothing.

Had Osmeña not entered the picture, Rama would have been skewered of his own accord, defenseless against the righteous wrath of those truly offended in their hearts by what he had done. Even if Rama did what he did in all innocence, even without any thought of offending anyone, he would still have a tough time explaining an act that people with enough self-respect would always be consciously aware of not doing. He is the mayor, for God's sake, not a selfie-crazed teenager.

But Osmeña just had to spoil his own fun. He just cannot appreciate the gift he was given. By joining the bandwagon of bashers, Osmeña introduced the political color that was not there but which Rama can now use to deflect some of the punches. Not only that, by invoking the depth of his Christianity, he only called attention to how hollow that claim seems to be, especially when it brings to mind what he once did at the gates of the Basilica del Santo Niño during his incumbency.