The Greenwich Meridian

I thought of beginning the year with considerations of the Prime Meridian, the meridian in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. In as much as this is the point where geographical numberings begin, we begin the year anew. My short visit to London in 2019 has also allowed me to step on an imaginary line in Greenwich and scratch this off my bucket list. And writing makes one remember and be more grateful.

Geographically, the Philippines lies within 116°40′ and 126°34′ east of the Prime Meridian, and physically located within the UTC+08:00 time zone. According to the online Britannica Encyclopedia, “Standard Time is the time of a region or country established by law or general usage as civil time. Its concept was adopted in the late nineteenth century to end the confusion caused by each community’s use of its own solar time.”

The present system employs 24 standard meridians of longitude 15° apart, starting with the prime meridian through Greenwich, England. Theoretically, these meridians are the centers of 24 Standard Time zones, although, in practice, the zones often are subdivided or altered in shape for the convenience of inhabitants. A notable example of such alteration is the Daylight Saving Time, by which time is advanced one hour from Standard Time, typically to extend daylight hours during the conventional waking time and in most cases for part of the year.

If time adjustment is allowed to address mundane concerns, extending a year for the celebration of the Philippine quincentenary due to the event cuts caused by the Covid Pandemic is then most valid. Providence itself must have found a way to provide more time for Filipinos to contemplate the implication of five hundred years of Christian Faith.

It is a miracle for seeds of Faith to survive and await germination in a country abandoned by Spain until 1565. It is a miracle that numerous conversions eventually resulted in a country not justly administered for centuries due to distance. As a whole, it must have been one broad stroke in history performed by a God who wanted to leave the mark of his Providence in a country that has suffered much from war, colonization, and disaster.

In the narrative of the economy of Salvation, God shows His Hand at the time when the world needs it most. We witness this in Egypt where Joseph was crudely banished to save the people of Israel and, at the Red Sea, with a simple raising of an arm. We witness this in Rome when an already beleaguered Christian blood-thirsty emperor wins a battle at the Milvian Bridge with an image of the cross on his hand and finally ends centuries of Christian persecution. We observe this in the zeal of the Apostle James who first brings the Christian faith out of the Holy Land and eventually Christianize Spain. Likewise, we observe this in the number of Catholic converts in Mexico when a Lady appeared on the Hill of Tepeyac, which paralleled the number of souls lost due to the traumatic wound of Protestantism. We observe this too when the Philippines was administered better via Mexico through the Galleon Trade. And that the Philippines now holds the third-largest Catholic population in the world after Brazil and Mexico.

Indeed, the added year in the quincentennial celebration of Christianity in the Philippines is an acknowledgment of and a show of immense gratitude for God’s Providence and love for us Filipinos. Let us begin the year with gratitude and joy in our hearts. (Honey Libertine Achanzar-Labor, PhD)

“Joy is the serious business of heaven.” – CS Lewis