Human nature has not changed in thousands of years

Isn’t history repeating itself? If you watch the Passion of Christ during the Holy Week break, you would have seen a parallelism of Jesus’ time to our time. There seems to be no difference at all.

In fact, didn’t you see a resemblance of the characters from the Bible Story to the characters in our nation today. Our Holy Week or Semana Santa trivia was to identify the fellas like Solmon, Barabbas, Pilate, Judas, the High Priests, Simon-Peter and the rest of Jesus disciples and list down who their counterparts are both in the Philippine government and those running this May. We were actually able to name many Peter-Simons, Pilates and High Priests. Try it, you will have fun.

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We still see governors like Pontius Pilate of Rome saying, "I find no fault in this man", then having him flogged with a lead-tipped whip. After having Jesus cruelly scourged, hoping he has appeased the mob, the governor brings Him out to the loudly-tumultuous mob, declaring "I find Him not guilty." Ecce homo – here’s the man, Pilate asserts. The people cry out: "Crucify him!" Pilate offers to free the prisoner, in honor of the Jewish feast of the Passover, asking the crowd to choose between Christ and a notorious murderer, Barabbas, who has been violently involved in a revolt. The crowd chooses Barabbas for release. In our polls, we still tend to choose guys and gals (candidates) like Barabbas.

What about Herod. Who does he remind you of? Actually, he reminds me of a politician who has been in jail for quite some time now.

We also have so many Peter-Simons who are cowards. Remember Peter-Simon was one of the disciples of Jesus who denied Jesus three times to the High Priests.

Think about it, we have so many so-called High Priests in the Philippines – all preaching to the masa and taking advantage of the poor. It is good if they live simple lives. After preaching for so many hours talking about the evils that lurk in our society today, they go home to their luxurious homes. How ironic. They make the people believe that they are simpletons but actually they are just deceiving us. It would also be good if they just stay as preachers and not meddle in politics. They should not even allow politicians to participate in their religious or spiritual activities – why do they? The sad part is that their sons and daughters have also joined the bandwagon of politics. Now doesn’t this just mess up their work as "High Priests"?

I don’t even have to ask about the Judases out there? Yikes! It gives me goose bumps just to think about it. There are a lot.

What about Alan Peter Cayetano being crucified for telling the "truth"?

Politics in this land is like "Jerusalem Redux" as my father always quipped. Watch the Passion of Christ by Mel Gibson and you will see the greatest story ever told. You will also be able to relate – to the THEN and NOW.

Every year we remember how Christ died on the Cross to save humanity. Every year we go through spiritual cleansing to remove our sins. Every year we are reminded how to act like Jesus and Mother Mary. After a week from today, I am sure the Holy Week fever will be forgotten and will be taken over by the election fever. The only assurance I remind myself after all these chaos and dirt is knowing that God is there. And He will take care of us.

"Fear not, for I have overcome the world!" These remain words to ponder, and uplift our hearts, in a world full of misery, uncertainty, spreading epidemic, disappointment and war. This is the week God has given us in which to search in our hearts for the inner strength to face the challenges of the present, fears of the future and promise of eternity.

The Passion of Christ should help people recognize the power of His Love and help us realize how God help us save our own lives.

Every year on Easter, we who claim to be Christians renew ourselves, putting aside our fears, and hailing the glory of the Resurrection of our risen Lord. Once more He has overcome the darkness of death, doubt and despair, and vanquished the forces of evil and hate.

Happy Easter! The Easter candle of hope reborn is lit. We will rise again.

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The Traffic Management Group tried their very best to ease and manage the terrible traffic last week; however, nothing and no one can ever resolve our traffic problem except for the President through the LTO. They have to decide once and for all to restrict the old "jalopies" (dilapidated cars, jeeps, buses, trucks) on the road. Not only are they smoke belching (adding pollution to our already sick earth), they also cause traffic due to their slow moving capacity and break downs.

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Anyway, life goes on… Let’s see what will happen this week. I hope no ridiculous drama just to get the public’s attention will happen again… if you get my drift.