The fallen angel takes on a face

SATURDAY was a very busy day because there were groups of students scheduled to get their orientation on how their internships or on-the-job trainings will push through in the coming weeks. That means, the whole morning will be spent talking to students instead of attacking the computer to write all the articles that need to be written, and edit the even more articles that needed to be edited.

Thus, the night before, even as I was not in the mood to write anything in advance (I sometimes do that to free my Saturdays, but I was simply darn sleepy Saturday night, my brain refused to write), I did concede to making mental drafts of what I will be writing, while playing Candy Crush Saga no my mobile phone. That is tamad mode for me, when I simply let hours pass by unnoticed doing something as useless and time-consuming as playing Candy Crush Saga.

Thus, after finishing up the mental drafts for the main story, the food story, and the Pullout story, I was at a loss on what to write for my column. In situations like that, I need to stimulate the brain by doing something more important like arranging the vegetables in the refrigerator’s crisper.

That’s when I thought of friends as angels in disguise and how angelic faces are nothing close to the beautiful faces we believe them to be. Like seraphims and cherubims that we were made to believe are cute little babies fluttering here and there in heaven, singing praises to the Mother and the Son. The singing part, we got correct about Seraphs, but that’s all.
Isaiah 6:2-4 records, “Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” (Isaiah 6:2-4)

How are cherubims, those cute little angels we love to adorn our altars with, described in the Bible? Cherubs have four faces – that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.

“Her smile is so cherubic,” we’d say of a baby. Yeahrrright.

Apparently likening my friends to angels was not meant to be as in the email, is a report about Malacanang ordering the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to immediately release the needed permits to the giant mining company SMI, who has long been lusting to dig up the mountains of South Cotabato and Davao del Sur, to the consternation of the people who do not want their mountains flattened by anyone.

WTF! I shouted. That means, where’s the fund, folks.

We don’t need to look any deeper, the proponents may deny this to high heavens and even seek out the intercession of an angel or two. But every stakeholder in Mindanao will always believe that the disregard by which Malacanang treats the people’s stand is because someone has more money than the ordinary people. Deny it, you may. But may the blood of all those who were killed, will be killed, and will die once all those mountains are flattened bring you to eternal perdition where the only cherub you will ever meet is the cherub named Satan.

“Her smile is so cherubic,” we’d complement a proud mom, when what we are actually saying is, “Mukhang Satanas ang anak mo.”

Lucifer, the light bringer before he fell off from the grace of God, now has a face as the Satan that he is now; and that face is the one who ordered the death of our collective future in Southern Mindanao… San Pedro, San Pablo, ipanalangin niyo po kami.

saestremera@yahoo.com