A difficult task: Realigning focus from Cha-cha to the Passion

After writing his scathing pastoral letter denouncing the administration’s "people’s initiative" last weekend, Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra was having a difficult time trying to rechannel the faithful’s focus to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Not only that. There were a lot of other problems that tended to divert people from mediating on the mystery of Salvation. These ranged from concerns over the ballyhooed New People’s Army hit list of local officials and businessmen and the more alluring call for a long holiday in such tourism centers as Boracay and Sipalay.

And then there are two focal points of discussion — the gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci Code. The latter, the work of Dan Brown, seemed to have beguiled more of the faithful whose "shallow faith seems to have been eroded by a work of fiction."

Television stations have presented theologians and their assessment of the gospel of Judas. But there were only a handful who spent time on the more readable and distracting Da Vinci Code.

Despite the advances of secularism and the political, pastors spent their time ministering to the remaining handful who are still rooted on the traditional religious practices of the Catholic faith insofar as the Bacolod Diocese is concerned. In a surprising sidelight, in the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Frs. Edwin Cadena and Angel Mojica distributed the "palm of victory and martyrdom" to several people last Palm Sunday. This commemorated Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the Jews greeted him singing "Hosannah to the Son of David" and other similar praises. Just a few days after, they demanded his blood.

Burials

Life and death remain the continuing feature of life. And this was accented by the interment of sportsmen Alex Montelibano in Hacienda Binitin in Murcia town and of broadcaster Rudy Bantug, one of the popular radiomen of Negros Occidental, in Bacolod.

The eve of the Holy Week celebration did not deter hundreds who motored to Murcia to join the Montelibano interment. He was a famed sportsman, known for his outstanding feats in golf and especially the promotion of junior golf, which has become a major tourney as it prepares young golf enthusiasts for the senior league.

Bantug’s funeral was more subdued. Most of those present were mediamen and close relatives.

Both events, however, testify to the fact that life is too short to be spent on the frivolous but must be lived to the hilt. This is a timely reminder to all during the Holy Week, which highlights the meaning of life and the mystery of Salvation.

Da Vinci Code

Two major topics tended to assail the faith of the Christian faithful – the gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci Code.

Both works highlighted the failure of Catholic authorities to instill among the laity a well-rounded awareness of the Gospels and their history as well as their failure to more fully explain the nuances of the faith and the Creed.

The irrelevant questions shot at theologians by some of their TV interviewers also served to further highlight the lack of information and educational service by the clergy. Even the most learned theologians seemed to have contented themselves with the depth of their learning but failed to share this with the majority of the believers in a meaningful way. Thus, because of seeming ignorance, many have found themselves besieged by doubts, their faith shaken upon reading or hearing about both books.

The gospel of Judas, however, may easily be dismissed by theologians with a simple answer — it ostensibly was the product of "Gnostics" whom Church leaders have declared "anathema" during the early years of the Church. And the date of the gospel immediately undercuts its version of Judas’ role in the history of Salvation, having been more than a hundred years after the other canonical Gospels of Luke, Mark, Matthew, and John.

The lure of fiction

The more dangerous, however, is Da Vinci Code. Although Dan Brown stressed that the book was a work of fiction, it was written so tantalizingly that many of its readers hardly put it down after one setting. And they ended up half-believing the hodgepodge of esoteric lore passed off as the product of research and surprising discoveries.

I mentioned one author who had devoted time to demolish the Da Vinci Code. But perhaps, something that deserves to be thoroughly perused is the Secrets of the Code edited by David Burnstein.

Amid the furor over the book that earned for Brown an acquittal on having plagiarized Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baignet, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. The Burnstein opus deserves careful reading.

Anyway, Burnstein pointed out that the Da Vinci Code remains a fascinating story as it becomes further and further uncoupled from serious scholarship. And he points out that the book is a novel. It is an entertainment. It is something to enjoy.

Unfortunately, a lot tended to consider it a scholarly discovery of the esoteric — the very thesis of the Gnostics — that attainment of secret knowledge is the salvation.

NPA denial

Although the military and the police maintained their red alert status during the Holy Week in the face of alleged threats against prominent personalities in the province, the Communist Party/New People’s Army came out a press release Monday that dismissed as "untrue" reports that it has deployed hit men in Bacolod City, targeting certain personalities, mostly government officials.

The statement said the military and the police are once again fabricating wild stories to create an atmosphere of fear among Negrenses.

Well, that, to a certain extent, defuses the tense situation in Negros Occidental where among the targets mentioned by the Army and the PNP were former Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco and Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon, among other prominent personalities.

But while majority of the faithful devote themselves to observing the Lenten traditions, thousands joined the exodus to Boracay Island. And, yes, barely noticed by many were the hundreds of local and foreign tourists who have made a beeline to the beautiful beaches and scenic spots of southern Negros, especially Sipalay, Cauayan, and Hinobaan.

What is barely known though is that new investors have bought many beach areas in Sipalay and Hinobaan, lured by the beautiful spots. Well, that’s Holy Week here.