Against diseases and disasters, who's our help?

Trying times, ours are. With the threat of global warming and its menu of disasters poised above us our sense of security is thrown off balance. Rocks of ice are melting and the sea is rising. Soon islands would lie under water. The rain would fail, crops would be stunted, and famine would rage in many lands. How many millions would get sent to kingdom-come?

Yet even as we worry about climate change the tsunami of global economic meltdown struck. Our trading partners got smothered. Export firms lost their markets and Pinoys by the thousands lost their jobs. Local economy is now in a doldrum, and will chalk just a fraction of growth this year. Hunger will stalk the doorsteps of millions and more people will suffer.

Climactic disasters, economic distress – what else are in store for us? What else but something more deadly, like the swine flu? To date more than a thousand people have been infected worldwide. The virus has spread to 18 countries, including South Korea and Hong Kong. Will the Philippines soon get its share of the bug?

With hundreds, even thousands, of people coming in and out of the country every day there’s a likelihood that a few of these will be harbingers of A-H1N1. And once this happens its spread nationwide would be only a matter of days. With millions of people unable to provide themselves with adequate medication the call is for the government to come to the rescue. But the government’s response will be limited by its tight financial status, so health initiatives will be limited too. What will happen to infected Filipinos? Will the casualties be alarming? In 1968 the “Hong Kong” flu killed 1 million people globally. Will there be a repeat performance? Only God knows.

In fact, only God can protect this country from the triad of disasters that now threatens it. But divine intervention is conditioned by faith. If you have faith as big as a mustard seed, says Jesus, you can do even that which seems impossible. Yet faith is not easy to come by. Even if most Filipinos are baptized Christians the inroads of secular influences have so tarnished their spiritually that now they are turning away from the moral precepts of their Church. Proof? Sixty-one percent of Filipinos women use artificial contraceptions to control birth. These methods are abortifacients because they terminate the life of a human being in the womb. But our health officials say it’s ok and many legislators believe them, that’s why they came up with the RH bill. How can God protect a people who murder their young?

“I am the good shepherd”, Jesus says, “I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. Because of this I give my life for my sheep… my sheep hear my voice and I know them; they follow me and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish and no one will ever steal them from me…”

Like a good shepherd the Lord takes care of us, his flock. As his sheep we are supposed to know him and to follow him when he calls. But do we do this? Do we take extra efforts to know Jesus and his teachings? Do we listen to him and follow his footsteps? Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart, he pleads. Our hearts, however, are hardened. Our ears are open only to what the world tells us, and our footsteps point towards the ways of the world. How can we claim that the Lord is our shepherd?

Centuries before the Nativity, a psalmist sang: “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He guides me through the path of righteousness for his name’s sake…” The rest of the psalm tells of the believer’s trust in the Lord, that he fears no evil because his God walks beside him, and feeds him even in the presence of his enemies, and that goodness and kindness will mark his life, he who dwells in the house of the Lord forever.

This psalm (it’s number 23 in the Bible) is a powerful prayer. Recited heartily it could protect us from dangers. At one time years ago while motoring from Baguio city to Manila at midnight with two other school officials, I suddenly remembered this prayer and began to say it quietly but soulfully. My companions had fallen asleep but a sense of fear was keeping me awake, so I tried to comfort myself with this psalm. Shortly after I finished the prayer I felt drowsy and would have fallen asleep were it not for a loud bang that jolted all of us. Then our car swerved to the left, having been hit by a cargo truck which passed us at the right. Luckily our driver was able to maneuver the vehicle from falling into a ravine to our left. It was a close call and somebody said we were lucky. But deep inside me I knew it was the Shepherd who saved us.

Recalling that incident, I believe that against the catastrophes that threaten us our help is in the Lord, our good Shepherd.

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