Listen to Him!

Today’s Gospel event on the Transfiguration of Christ is very timely indeed (Mk. 9:2-10). It is the vision of His victory – beyond the Passion of the Christ. And so will it be for each one of us personally, and all of us as a nation, as God’s people, but on one condition: "LISTEN TO HIM" (v. 7). Follow Him. Love as He loved. This is God’s greatest commandment.

"You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt. 22: 37-39; Mk. 12: 30-31; Lk. 10: 27-28).

In other words, love of God and neighbor involves both the Passion and the Resurrection. Not just one or the other. How are we to live this out as God’s people, during these times of economic and political crisis?

Our very own 1986 Constitution, Article XII, states: "The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of goods and services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged." In Article XIII, moreover, the opening statement on social justice is equally clear: "The Congress shall give the highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good."

That’s the State. What about the Church? In its encyclical, On Social Concern (1987), the Church is equally clear: "True development cannot consist in the simple accumulation of wealth and in the greater availability of goods and services, if this is gained at the expense of the development of the masses, and without due consideration for the social, cultural and spiritual dimensions of the human being" (#9). The encyclical explicitly condemns the abuses of both liberal capitalism and Marxist collectivism. "Each of the two blocs harbors in its own way a tendency toward imperialism, as it is usually called, or towards forms of neo-colonialism: an easy temptation to which they frequently succumb, as history, including recent history, teaches" (#22). "One of the greatest injustices in the contemporary world consists precisely in this: that the ones who possess much are relatively few and those who possess almost nothing are many. It is the injustice of the poor distribution of goods and services originally intended for all" (#28)

And this is precisely what is still existing in our country today, after all the past decades of democracy. Social injustice caused by liberal capitalism on the one hand, and threats of Marxist collectivism on the other hand. Our two, most recent tragedies at the Ultra and in Southern Leyte can be ultimately traced to the poverty of so many of our people. The hope of getting monetary and other prizes, all the way to the inability to live on safer, more expensive grounds.

To break through all this and fight the social injustices against the poor and the oppressed — this is the national Cross and Passion that we must carry, if we are to experience the Lord’s Resurrection in our country. One such movement I want to single out here is the Partido Demokratiko - Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP). What are the principles, vision, and societal model of PDSP?

Foundational principles: "authentic humanism, the common good, and nationalism." It’s guiding vision: "democratic socialism." This is based on the principle that the economy, along with other aspects of social life such as politics and culture, should be run democratically to meet the needs of the whole community and not to make profits for a few."

Its societal model: social democracy. Let me single out some policies among others, due to lack of space.

• "Positive action to allow weaker members or sectors of society to attain equal economic, political, and cultural power with other citizens.

• "Social ownership and control of certain strategic sectors of the economy.

• "Appropriate government regulation of the market to defend and promote equitable income of workers, safety and health of workers, social security, the health of the natural environment." (From the Basic Orientation document of the PDSP, Towards An Equitable Philippine Society.)