The resurrection of good Filipino values
The core message of the Roman Catholic faith is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the resurrection, the promises in the old and new testaments would not have been fulfilled. That is why the deeply religious Catholics do believe that Easter Sunday should be celebrated with even greater joy than Christmas itself.
Easter Sunday is one of the most important, if not the one most important day of the Roman Liturgical Calendar. It brings the messages of salvation, renewal, hope, and reconciliation between the Savior and the saved, the linking back between God and man, whose relationship had been broken by sin.
Today, I wish to link the religious sense of resurrection with the nobler values of man, especially the Filipino as a human person, the integrative values that make the Filipino one person of God, of his nation, of his community and of his family. I propose the resurrection of such positive Filipino values, as "palabra de honor,""the sense of delicadeza," the sense of "hiya," the positive sides of "pakikisama" and "utang na loob," the spirit of the "bayanihan." These values which are embedded in our culture should be integrated with our deep religious faith, life, and relationship with each other. These positive values must be operationalized into positive human acts, interactions and transactions in the family, in the workplace, in our transactions and relationships here and abroad.
"Palabra de honor" demands in every Filipino a sense of truthfulness and reliability. When we give our words, we have to honor them by fulfilling our commitments even without any legal document. Our words are most important than a notarized contract.
A sense of "delicadeza" means that we are conscious that our acts and words affect others, thus we exercise utmost caution and prudence, avoiding any compromising situations and circumstances. Like Caesar's wife, it is not enough that we are honest. We should live a life beyond reproach.
"Hiya" means a sense of awareness of the sensitivity of others, always remembering that the family honor and our individual honor are at stake.
"Pakikisama" is the spontaneous adjustments in our own conveniences just to go along with our families, relatives and friends. We join them in bonding moments and in team building, friendship-building activities. But we should draw the line between what is good and what is bad, between right and wrong.
"Utangnaloob" means an abiding even a lifetime sense of gratitude. We should never bite the hands that feed us, never gossip, malign or talk at the back of people who care for us, love us and did great things to support us.
"Bayanihan" is our innate sense of community, our natural impulse to help others in distress, and our intrinsic propensity to join our community in the pursuit of common goals.
Instead of limiting the meaning of this day to the religious sense, we should integrate our lives by resurrecting all facets and all dimensions of the human being by reviving and practicing again these positive values and behavior that make us good Christians, good Filipinos, good family persons, and good human beings, the image of God who created and saved us.
Happy Easter to all!
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