Disclaimer: this essay is about the Filipino brand of Christianity and no other.
Widespread corruption and poverty have made me grapple with the question: why is the only Christian country in this part of the world also the most corrupt and has the highest percentage of poor people among its population.
To be very blunt about it, it is because our brand of Christianity is not Christianity at all. One doesn’t get God’s mercy or favor by going to Mass or approaching the sacraments, much less dancing as many do in the Sinulog or joining processions and touching the scarf of the Black Nazarene. Christ didn’t say come into my kingdom because you never missed a Sunday Mass. He said, “Come into my kingdom because I was hungry and you fed me...”
Christianity is about loving God back by loving, doing justice and being compassionate to man and nature in whom he resides.
Since after Vatican II, sacraments have been defined as encounters with God. By coming into the world and residing as Sipirt in fellow humans and in nature, he is telling us that the best way to encounter him and be in a good relationship with him is to relate to others and to the rest of creation in love, justice and compassion.
The Philippine Catholic Church takes pride in seeing a “sea of faith” in the millions that joined the processions of the Holy Child and the Black Nazarene. Through a sociological lens I see a “sea of victims” of neglect and even exploitation by fellow Filipinos, especially by political and economic leaders.
It would be good to find out, for instance, how many of those who walked on their knees to the altar and how many of those who walked barefoot in the Black Nazarene procession actually despaired of any help from a corrupt government and from a Church that cares only for souls and are not so eager to help the suffering bodies of the faithful. No Mass, no sacrament, no procession or any religious ritual can substitute for a relationship of love, justice and compassion to suffering humanity and exploited mother nature.
I am not saying we should not go to Mass any more or approach the sacraments. I am only saying we should prioritize doing those things that make us true followers of Christ. It is precisely our failure to perform these essential Christian acts that explains to a great extent the fact that we are the most corrupt nation and as a consequence we have the most number of poor and suffering people.
So, why are we the most corrupt and why do we have the most number of poor people? I don’t know about you but my answer is that we like peripheral ritual practices but fail in the essential acts of love, justice and compassion to fellow humans and to nature or the environment. Our brand of Christianity is not Christianity at all.