Sinulog

Pit Senyor Santo Nino!

So goes the loud cry from Cebu. This third Sunday of January, the annual Sinulog celebrations takes place in my beloved island. There would be revelry and fun, dancing and festivities. Vibrant colors and sounds saturate the streets in honor of the Holy Child.

This morning, I asked the young people of Majada, "who is more powerful the Poong Nazareno, whose feast we celebrated last Monday, or the Sto. Nino, whose feast we celebrate today?" They paused in silence for a few moments. Their eyes wide with innocent confusion over the riddle. A little hand shoot up in the air followed by a triumphant answer, "the Poong Nazareno!" The little girl was so sure of the answer, her eyes were gleaming with victory. I chuckled at the innocent blunder.

Jesus who is truly God and truly man shared humanity with us in its fullness. He was a child once and lived as a child indeed. I explained to the little girl how much Jesus would understand her childhood as he also had the chance to play with friends, run up and down the road in Nazareth, and explored the hills and holes like any child would do. The Almighty God took upon himself the humble humanity of little boy.

And so we celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Nino in the Philippines. It is a feast we Cebuanos hold very dearly. Thanks to the modern means of communication, events happening in the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino in Cebu is streamed live right through our screens here miles away in Canlubang. I surely miss the activities and festivities the second time around. In this feast, we celebrate more the closeness of Jesus to us as he shares our own nature. We believe he understands us because he experienced what we are experiencing now.

But more than this, we look to him as a model of obedience and simplicity. In the same way that he put upon himself our humanity, we are invited to put on the godly virtues that the Holy Child possesses. Because of this child we have become children of God, and so in Him we also see how it is to be a child of God.

It's wonderful to reflect on how the Catholic Faith has come to the Philippines. Just as God came to be with Israel 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas eve, he came to our islands in the form of the Sto. Nino handed on Queen Juana of Cebu. It is then with gratitude that we celebrate this wonderful feast as a thanksgiving for the gift of Faith and the powerful protection of the Little Child himself. Sinulog is that very oblation of dance that springs forth from our culture seeking to express the wonders that God has done for our people.

Garage War

In a sudden turn of events, I was reassigned from my much loved garden assignment to our garage which is the point and summit of all confusion. I had a heavy heart saying goodbye to the plants that I cared for for the past two months. Good thing the rains are still at it these weeks and they could survive. But, according to St. Thomas of Aquinas, "obedience is the surest way to moral perfection", so I have to follow the new assignments that got posted out at the beginning of the year.

This afternoon was the first battle with the garage room. Spider webs were roundabout and dust particles fight their way through my nostrils. The musky smell tell me that this room has been left untouched for a long time. This fight is not for the faint of heart. This fight is a fight to the finish.

All the things that lay there remind me of how much content our lives has. We think that our own experiences arrange themselves nicely in our subconscious. I believe the subconscious is much like the garage room. It just receives and receives and receives until the time when you would access a memory, all other things pour in and heap on top of you.

What I am saying is that we need to have a habit of processing our experiences: keep the junk out and keep the tools in. Each human life is a long story in the process of writing. Not all chapters are feel good but it doesn't mean they don't have value. Healing memories and facing truths are the most useful ways we can straighten up and clarify that wonderful novel that we are still writing everyday.

As for me, I am still writing the story of Keith versus the garage. Fight to the finish!

Christmas Season Still

The rain caught us off guard this morning. We forgot to bring umbrellas today. It seems the season of cold and chills is still hanging around. It is still Christmas!

Filipinos often mistake the start as the end. Just when Christmas begins on the birth of Christ, most of us end the yuletide season. Our culture has shifted the calendar a few clicks back. Advent for us is Christmas and Christmas week has become ordinary.

In today's feast of the Epiphany, we are reminded that God has just begun. Let us not put off our lights for God has just begun lighting His. He begins with the star of Bethlehem, and now sheds His light on the whole world through his manifestation to the wise men. The dawn of Christ is still breaking out. There is much more promise to unfold.

As I sit here watching our barrio chapel's Christmas decorations, my mind wanders to how we could easily shelve the spirit of Christmas together with our Christmas decors. If Christmas was truly life changing with its loving and sharing, then it would live on throughout the year.