Of Christmas Cadence and Catastrophe

It’s the time when nostalgia sets in. Those Jose Mari Chan moments “looking through some old photographs, faces and friends we’ll always remember ♫ ♫”

It’s the time when Catholics and other Christian families make sure they have heartwarming and mouthwatering food on the table which they will partake after the night or dawn mass “Simbang Gabi” or after prayers of gratitude.

image from Yahoo

Yet for most of us Filipinos, different warmth embraces our hearts. Different lilt scores our prayers. Different lump in the throat throbs our being. 

We are moved by the recent tragedy that was Sendong.

Gone are the days when we can only settle for “tayo na giliw magsalo na tayo, meron na tayong tinapay at keso ♫ ♫” celebration. We are living in different times - so different that we shift lifestyles as we shift work schedules; so different that we easily cheat to our values as we hurriedly click to new contents and feeds. 

We should have posted the usual preparations. 

The lechon, the queso de bola, the wines. 

We should have accentuated the merriments, 

the laughters, 

the cheers. 

We should have posted the prices of market goods

and how jammed terminals are right now.

 

Lola Ocampo of Buting, Pasig  flashes smile while 

busy in yearly tradition of loot bag giving for street 

children.

Yet in the recesses of our hearts, 

we search for the priceless and 

wonder how to clear the spaces 

of our lives that have been clogged 

with greed and gluttony.

More than ever we long for 

silence and tranquility - 

our soul's birthright.

 

 

What we get reminded from time to time during challenging times like this is to go back to basic.

Like going to ancestral homes, we can also stop and listen to what was bequeathed to us by the baby in Bethlehem - 

H. O. P. E.

  

We are called now. 

To go home, to hope.

YOU, 

how do you pay homage?