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Topic: TEARS - (as in crying) (10/04/04)
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TITLE: Sight Beyond Tears By Erwin Robledo 10/11/04 |
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“Look here, o! My arthritis disappeared! The Lady heals the faithful!” one said.
“The Lady is weeping because evil is spreading in the world. It’s the media’s fault! Take a look at the things you show on TV!” another exclaimed.
“I’m happy to be here. Oy Joey, Emma, Vida, you’re corny not to be here!” that one might be edited out.
Manuel was engrossed listening to the interviews that he didn’t notice the crew closing up on him. It was his turn, and there was no escape, not with a thick crowd around him.
“I’m just waiting for my mother. She’s inside the church,” he said.
“Aww, how sweet. What do you think about all this, sir?” the reporter asked.
“I, I dunno. This isn’t real.”
“Why do you say that?”
Manuel didn’t have any answers, except that feeling that all this was wrong. Crying statues wasn’t a topic in the New Believer’s Class. “It’s not Christ-centered,” he started. “Everybody’s talking about the Lady did this and that. It’s wrong. The glory should be Christ’s.”
“I see. Thanks.” The reporter smiled and went on to the next person. Reporters. They don’t care about your beliefs as long as you gave them something to report. Manuel looked back at the sun, hoping he said the right thing, or better yet, that his interview wouldn’t go on air.
“Not Christ-centered? What the hell were you talking about?” Manuel’s mother confronted him in his room after seeing what he said on the news. “Why didn’t you just shut your mouth? You had to make an enemy out of everyone in town with your stupidity!”
“But ma! I told them what was true. You know it. Listen…”
“No, you listen! Your father didn’t work himself to death so you could study in Manila and fill your head with this nonsense! For crying out loud, the Lady of Lubuang wept. Wasn’t that proof enough that she was real?”
“Ma, I didn’t say it was a hoax. What I said was Christ should be glorified instead of the Lady.”
“Why? Isn’t the Lady the Mother of God! God is glorified, Christ is glorified, the Lady is glorified! What’s the problem with that?”
“Ma, only Christ should be glorified! What we hear is the Lady did this. The Lady did that. It’s all wrong. Why doesn’t somebody say, ‘Glory to Christ?’”
“Because it was the Lady of Lubuang that wept and not Christ on the crucifix! That’s why!”
Manuel paused. There was a gigantic statue of Jesus hanging over the Lady. Why didn’t he weep? Of course, that wasn’t the point! It wasn’t Christ! God said do not make images of God, the second commandment! That’s what’s wrong! Manuel sighed. Why didn’t he think of that before? He wished he weren’t such a newbie; a crying statue and a devotee mother was too much to handle.
Her mother spoke. “Now go apologize to the Lady of Lubang in front of our family altar. Then tomorrow we will go to the church and I will offer incense to her. Perhaps she will be merciful and forgive you, and all will be well again.”
It was time to take sides. Manuel stood straight. “No ma, I will not.”
“Heretic!”
“I have stated what I believe to be true, and I will stick to it. I will not glorify an image of wood. I will only glorify Christ!”
Manuel’s mother was horrified. “Get out of this house!”
“Mother!”
“Don’t call me mother! I have no heretic son! Pack up! Get out now!” she slammed the door and went to her room. There was a momentary silence, then sobs. Silent and motherly, a sound the wooden walls could not hush.
Shaking, Manuel began to pack. There was no point arguing with his mother. The Bible did say that these things were supposed to happen to those who believed. Besides, there was a home waiting for him, his church in the city, where Christ was worshipped, no matter who cried, or how the sun moved.