The Filipino piety

We should be most thankful to God for the tremendous piety we, as a people, have. If we just look at the very impressive pictures of the people who joined the “Traslacion” of Hesus Nazareno in Manila recently, we cannot help but feel breathless at the amazing display of religious fervor. The crowd was so thick and solid that not even a needle could pass through them. The threat of terror could not throw a wet blanket on such fervor.

In Cebu recently, the same observation can be made. The people’s devotion to the Child Jesus (Sto. Niño) is so palpable and mesmerizing that the heavy rains and the floods, not to mention, the fear of terroristic violence, could not dampen. Just by being there in one of the Masses or in the processions, you cannot help but be swept away by the intensity of the people’s piety.

But for all this blessing and privilege we enjoy, we should not forget to acknowledge the great responsibility of managing our popular piety well. We cannot deny that there are things that need to be clarified, purified, re-grounded and refocused, or that simply have to be enriched since the fertile conditions for enrichment are already there.

We have to understand that this is a continuing task. We can never rest in this. We have to be wary of our tendency to be taken in by a sense of euphoria that can deaden our sense of duty.

We have to make sure that the religious dimension is always preserved as the main animating element of the celebration. We need to strengthen it, and equip it with the appropriate “antidote” against foreign elements that can also be expected to come.

That’s because popular piety can attract all sorts of things. It’s like a pie in the open air. Politicians, for example, will take advantage of it. For good or evil, we cannot determine for now. So, some regulating indications have to be made.

Business people, the big ones and the small ones, obviously will also do some milking and killing of the big event. This is all very understandable. Again, some effective regulating provisions have to be made.

Different people from different fields will use it for their respective interests. There has to be a way of determining which is compatible with the over-all celebration and which is not. People from the fields of culture, education, sports and entertainment, etc. will all have a field day.

The Church leaders have to be most active and persistent in stressing the spiritual and supernatural dimension without detracting from the legitimate human dimension. This is not an easy task.

The clergy should take the lead in undertaking a most active and effective evangelization with respect to popular piety. Of course, the laity too should do their part. The whole Church should be involved in some organic fashion in this duty.

The aim to reach is to make everyone closer to God, with faith strengthened and alive, producing fruits of sanctity and apostolate and not just something professed and bandied about. In short, everyone should grow in his spiritual life, with a spirituality that is abiding and properly adapted to one’s personal and social circumstances.

This will involve a whole range of details that embrace the entire gamut of Christian and human life. Catechesis has to be done always, with the appropriate plan to cover the Creed, the Sacraments, the Commandments and morality, and Prayer.

It cannot be denied that popular piety can highlight one aspect of Christian life at the expense of the other aspects. For example, people can get very hot about lighting votive candles before their favorite saint, but fail to appreciate the need for going to Mass and to confession. They can look fervent in churches, but are little devils or even horrible monsters at home or in their work places.

Of course, our popular piety should bear fruit in our spiritual and moral lives. It just cannot be an emotional or psychological affair, a matter of merely following social fads and trends, something that is showy on the outside but quite empty inside. It has to be rooted on genuine relationship of love with God and everybody else. Otherwise, it would just be a sham, perhaps making a lot of noise but having no effect.

In this regard, again the clergy should be on the frontline. Let’s pray that the bishops and priests realize this duty more deeply and act on it. This should be given more priority over some administrative or bureaucratic tasks that often take their-our-time.