it's all yolanda! - christmas message to bishop

For two months now, Yolanda, it seems, is directing and even determining most of our decisions and actions.   We have to postpone this because of Yolanda, we will put this off because of Yolanda, we are going to halve what we will spend in this affair because of Yolanda, instead of doing this we will do this because of Yolanda.  It’s all Yolanda, Yolanda, Yolanda.

In fact, if I consider all the Christmases I celebrated in this life – all these 40 Christmases, I cannot remember the first 6 years, in all these 40 Christmases at least half of these have reasons to tone down, to taper down, to cancel this and that – may bagyo, may patay, in sympathy; and since we are living in the Philippines, may economic crisis, may political crisis, pigado, wala bonus, etc., etc.

In all these, one gets to wonder what Christmas is to us and why is it determined by all these external factors.

Probably this is God’s way of telling us to rethink how we celebrate Christmas and how we define the joy that the incarnate brings into our life, so that it can still be Christmas even with Yolanda around.

Mamangkot pa ako tani, ano tani haw, galing daw ka sobra na ina nga sulit-sulit pamangkot, basi ma-ugis na.  But dear bishop, we come here today because we will not permit Yolanda to define our joy in the incarnate word, in Jesus, we are here because we are defying Yolanda to express our wish - may you have a joyful Christmas and may we be joyful too in the Word made flesh.