EDSA 1, 2, 3

In today’s Gospel reading (Mk. 2: 1-12), we see how faith heals both body and spirit. This was how Jesus responded to the faith of the paralytic. “My son, your sins are forgiven….Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home” (vv. 5, 11). And he did! But faith involves a conversion of the heart, and it is faith-in-action. “Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying” (v. 4).

This was how the Lord healed us as a nation at Edsa 1, back in February of 1986. As a people of faith, through active non-violence, we ended a regime of moral corruption and went back to the ways of God. The ever-compassionate Lord healed us in body and spirit. But weak humans that we are, we succumbed once again to moral corruption in the course of time. Again, the ever-forgiving God intervened, and we courageously succeeded in driving away another corrupt regime. That was Edsa 2 in 2001.

It is now 2009, and where are we as a nation? Almighty God, why are we so stubborn as a people? How shallow is the Christianity that we claim to embrace. We need no less than another moral-spiritual revolution. This time, it will have to be an on-going, prolonged, lifelong effort on the part of each one of us to do our utmost within our sphere of moral influence toward moral integrity that will stay and last and be an intrinsic part of our national lifestyle. This is Edsa 3.

Let us first focus on our families, for everything in human life starts there. Forms of cheating are still done in many families. You have this gradeschool son who cheats by having his homework done by his mother, who consents to save time, instead of tutoring the child. What about this husband-and-father who womanizes behind his wife’s back, and even denies it when confronted with evidence? And this wife-and-mother, who overspends beyond her budget, and keeps borrowing money from friends without the intention of paying them back. We can go on and on to show that cheating, the seed of big-time corruption, starts in the family. How, then, can we expect the children from such families to grow up with moral integrity as second nature to them? The children and youth of today will be our public leaders of tomorrow. What will they do for our one and only country, the Philippines?

Our challenge and mission today is to be the role models of our Filipino children and youth, the only hope of our tomorrows. Yes, Edsa 3 as our ongoing, lifelong moral revolution. More and more religious institutions, as well as NGOs and coalitions of organizations, are dedicating their efforts on this.

The Marriage Encounter Foundation of the Philippines regularly conducts renewal seminars for couples and families, including the Christian Parenting for Peace and Justice. The latter focuses on challenging issues like moral integrity and non-violence in the family; an alternative lifestyle of Stewardship, Simplicity, and Sharing; reaching out to the poor and victims of social injustice; and ends with Christian nationalism and love of country.

The Center for Family Ministries (CEFAM) offers professional programs in pastoral care for persons engaged or to be engaged in the pastoral care of individuals, couples, and families. It likewise offers counseling services and growth and healing seminar-workshops. All of these are centered on psycho-moral-spiritual formation.

Just yesterday, the Simbahang Lingkod Ng Bayan (SLB), a socio-political ministry of the Jesuits, launched the Citizenship by Good Example (Cge!) Movement. This will create ways to foster participation and vigilance among Filipino citizens in the socio-political and economic affairs of the state. It has a special focus on our Filipino youth, and one of its very challenging programs is to be part of the National Secretariat of Task Force 2010 for clean, honest and peaceful elections.

A most heroic, single-handed effort in this moral revolution is that of Gov. Ed Panlilio of Pampanga. His courageous efforts in fighting moral corruption are no less than God-inspired. Through our prayers and in whatever ways we can, let us support him all the way.

All this is part of Edsa 3, and God calls all of us to be actively and courageously involved. No Filipino can be truly a man or woman of God without loving our country. To love God is to love our country, for this is God’s country. To love our country and our people with deep passion and compassion — to the marrow of our bones — this is what can make our nation great. To live with the unshakable conviction that the Filipino and the Filipino nation are worth living for, and dying for.

 Mga kapwa ko Pilipino: Sa harap ng Panginoong Diyos at sa harap ng buong mundo MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS!