Father, Barya lang po sa Umaga

Priests are a different breed of people. Either they're really holy messengers of goodness or bags of shit. As for the one I'm going to describe in this post, well, I'll let you decide for yourself.

Hay nako, im back to blogging! After my "cryptic" post last time, I decided to write about more mundane things now. Besides, who reads poems?...

We went to Manaoag last Sunday. Very religious kasi mom ko, so syempre dapat kasama rin kasi. Well, okay na sana lahat e, kaso Buddhist ako.. :D

Syempre, the trip was very, very, very flabbergastingly long. Kung exhausted na ako from the trip mula Tarlac hanggang Manaoag, I could hardly imagine the poor souls na nagtratravel from Manila to Manaoag. Well, sigurado namang mapera yung mga yon, kaya no problem talaga.

So yun, nasa Manaoag na kami. Syempre, pumunta kami sa favorite spot ng mom ko dun sa may left-wing ng church. At dahil it was a sunday, walang vacant seats.. which was good for me kasi kung nakaupo ako, hindi ako makakatakas every now and then..

Tapos, nung nasa likod ako habang nagma-mass, biglang may dumaan na lalaking nakagreen na polo sa may harapan ko. Eh mukhang familiar.. it turns out, si Kuya Milfen--AKA the newly elected AB Student Council president!--pala yung nakita kong yun.. And I totally agree with what he said: "small world!"

Kaya yon, umeskapo muna ako at pumunta sa may van upang humithit ng isa at uminom ng Pop. Tapos, balik uli ako. Homily. Dun ako biglang nawindang...

Si Father Suny Ramirez (i don't care if in case I spelled his name wrong; who is he anyway?) ang celebrant. At nainis ako ng maulinigan ko ang kanyang homily na bumabatikos sa mga taong nakaangat na raw pero barya parin ang binibigay sa simbahan.

I hate to be rude, but you are one hypocritical priest! Lumalabas ang tunay mong kulay! I know Im not under you, since im not Catholic, but you should be ashamed.

What is the essence of the offertory in the Catholic ritual? It is through this phase that the worshipers offer what they want to offer. The offertory is not compulsary. Rather, it is an act which should be done with one's own will.

Priests have no right to judge people by what they offer. So what if they offer coin? Is that offering lesser than those which are of paper? Of course not! If that is what you want to offer, that's totally up to you! It is your own decision! You offer not for the value of the offering but the value of the act of offering!

So why are some fucking priests trying to get people to offer more? Well, have you ever considered where monetary offerings go? Surely the Messiah doesn't have a savings account, nor does Yahweh have a large, holy piggy bank in the vatican.

Money from collections go to the Church and the Priest. That's why many priests are rich (filthy rich)--the money people think they're offering to some un-accessible God actually goes into these priests' pockets. Of course, some of it will actually go to the church to be used to buy supplies and stuff, as well as for renovations. But the large part goes to feeding the priesthood (remember, priesthood is not a paying job...)

This incident showed me that for over a hundred years, the Church in the Philippines is still dominated with the prayles of Rizal's time. The fat hypocrites from Spain still have their descendants here, and their reign is far from over. I'm sure that if Rizal heard Ramirez's speech, he would not have thought twice of writing a third installment of his novel.

Why am I affected by all of this? Im not Christian. Shouldn't I just ignore this and just try to see how I can follow Dukkhanirodhagaminipratipat? (enroll at Dr. Co's class, you'll get the idea...)

Im affected because I can see how many people are still not capable of finding their own paths. They still cling on to the teachings which are now very frail and easy to break. I can just imagine how many people actually believed in that sermon, and how many people will actually give more to priests when they themselves have little money to spend for themselves. Poverty generated by Spirituality--that's an irony...

In the end, there's nothing I can do more than to write this blog. The damage has been done, and I hate to admit that such people exist. But I hope that those who read this will be able to examine what it is in the offertory that really counts.

PS: Sorry for the flaming language I used. This is not a direct attack to the Church--only towards Fr. Ramirez... And oh, did you know he once sweared while giving his homily?... Now that's a priest!

February 17, 2006

I stand.
The other dream was shattered,
The other dream still waits..

I cannot think clearly.
I cannot see cleary.

The soft sound softens even more,
The light once bright now dims.

I see no other standing beside me;
I am all alone.

The lights now darken.
The sound now fades.

The stage is bare.
The beat is bare.
I am bare.

The lights are fading.
The sound turns into a whisper.

I close my eyes.

The stage is almost dark.
The stage is almost silent.

Fade out.

A sketch is all I hold.