Sanchez: See no evil, hear no evil

I’M NO monkey, who sees no evil, hear no evil. And yet I see evil everywhere. I’m a renewed Catholic Christian, a charismatic. And a human rights advocate, an environmentalist, and a peacemaker as a mediator.

Where do I put myself amid the extra-judicial killings, the latest of which claimed the life of Kian de los Santos? Turn the other cheek? Practice the silence of Mary as she saw her Son nailed to the cross?

I’m a Christian disciple, a student of Jesus who is striving to open myself to God’s Word so that I become more like Jesus every day.

And my faith teaches me to speak out, be a witness against evil. I read, meditate and reflect on the Bible every morning. James 4:17 put it well: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

St. Paul also taught us not to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:11

I read papal encyclicals such as Mit brennender Sorge (With burning concern), an encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the relationship of the Church and the German Reich during the Nazi era.

I read Evangelium Vitae which touched on the death penalty. The encyclical noted that “modern society…has the means of effectively suppressing crime by rendering criminals harmless without definitively denying them the chance to reform.”

That’s why I feel it’s my Christian duty to oppose President Duterte’s call to overseas Filipino workers to help him kill addicts. “Let’s kill addicts everyday.”

No I won’t have any of that. St Paul teaches, “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.” 1 Timothy 5:20 Yes, I have to be vocal when I rebuke evil.

I stand by Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon who recently issued the call to respect of the sacredness of human lives amid the recent spate of killings in the name of the drug war. “I am one with them in their outrage and cry for justice.”

My Christian response is to be a Prayer and Life Workshop prayer guide among inmate participants at the Metro Bacolod District Jail-Special Intensive Care Area. I enjoin the inmates to read selected Bible verses, reflect, meditate and apply the Word of God in their weekly lives.

I serve with the He Cares Mission working with street children. Together with other servants, I want to shower them God’s abundant love, may they grow up loving God, loving one another. I pray that the kids steer clear of the life that inmates experienced in their formative years.

Father, forgive certain political leaders who call for the brutal extermination of what the Nazis judged Leben sunwertes Leben (life unworthy life). They know not what they do. But I will rebuke them.

(bqsanc@yahoo.com)

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