Class Reunions

Our law school batch is celebrating its 30th anniversary and we will be among those to be honored in the law alumni homecoming slated before year-end. We had one get-together organized in the previous October, but we met again just recently to attend a thanksgiving dinner hosted by a classmate who was appointed as Court Administrator of the Philippine Supreme Court.

Reunions are experiences of true joy. Seeing again our classmates, especially those with whom we had no contact anymore after our oath-taking as lawyers, simply expands the heart. Around twenty-three out of forty plus total from our class were present, which was a good show-up. The youthful faces from many of us are gone, quite obviously, the inexorable toll of aging now more prominent from the receding hairlines, craggy faces and larger girths. But others have somehow managed admirably to retain their vigour.

Beyond the external looks, the passing years had not erased the trademark characters, the humorous memories, the pompous boasts. One classmate we always called by his moniker “plantsado” (perfect like well-pressed clothes) which was his ready reply whenever asked how he did in class exams. One law professor predicted that another classmate could make it as a good actor with his looks but never as a lawyer with his consistently bungling answers in class recitation (he passed the Bar in one take). Recycled old jokes still sparked laughter, nuggets of anecdotes shared, drinking escapades relived, and ribbings mercilessly exchanged.

The get-together transported us back to the old days, and we became thirty years younger, full of life, still dreaming big dreams. Our group broke up late at night, long after many of our host classmate’s other guests had left. A few regrouped at another place, wanting to stretch the fun some more. The following morning I woke up feeling light and great. What a feeling, the upbeat lyrics of a song flashed back to me.

Class reunions should beat some of the medicines we are taking to slow down the effects of aging.

The "Da Vinci" noises

I haven’t read Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code. But from a lot of the stuff said in the media about it, I’ve gotten some idea of its controversial part. Jesus Christ had a child with Mary Magdalene, and their bloodline is extant. The Church in Rome has been keeping this a secret, and the Opus Dei “cult” has been tasked to keep it so, to the point of its “monks” doing crimes to protect the faith. The book’s movie adaptation is due to hit the screens in Manila on May 18.

First, some clarifications about Opus Dei. It is not a “cult” or “sect” but is very much a part of the Catholic Church. “Its aim is to promote among Catholics of all social classes a life fully consistent with their faith. It helps its members and other people to turn their work and other activities that make up their day-to-day lives into occasions of loving God and serving their fellow men and women, reminding them that all baptized are called to seek sanctity and spread the Gospel” (John F. Coverdale, Uncommon Faith, 9). It was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá, who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002. Opus Dei has spread throughout the world and now has approximately 86,000 members (as of 2005) from 88 countries (Coverdale, The Vocation to Opus Dei). It is a personal prelature (a recognized Church structure), not a monastic order, so it doesn't have monks as members. (For more information about Opus Dei and its founder, please visit http://www.opusdei.org/, http://www.josemariaescriva.info/ or www.escrivaworks.org/.)

Archbishop Angelo Amato from the Vatican has called for a boycot of the film. An anti-smut group in Manila is urging a ban of the “most pornographic and blasphemous film in history.” A priest from the Archdiocese of Manila said that the book and the movie would be seen as a “test of faith” for Catholics, probably winnowing the “nominal” ones whose faith is shallow (Phil. Daily Inquirer, May 9, 2006, A9).

Concerns being raised about the film's bad impact on the faithful might all turn out to be just fleeting noises. Remember the worldwide agog about the Y2K bug before 2000? The feared massive computer glitches did not happen. Remember also Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, condemned by many Jewish sectors afraid of the anti-Semitic backlash it could fan? The media reported nothing of the sort after the film started showing.

There’s a passage in the Acts of the Apostles that comes to my mind. When Peter and the other apostles started preaching about the resurrected Christ, converting listeners, many of the Sanhedrin members were infuriated and wanted the apostles put to death. One member, Gamaliel, stood up and cautioned the others. “Have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them" (5:35-39).

Sony Pictures which produced the movie says it's only a fictional thriller. If there’s no historical truth to the portrayal in the book or film about Jesus Christ, then all these noises will harmlessly fade away. Christianity has been on our planet for two millennia and will stay here long after every one of us now living is gone.

My view is let all those interested go and read the book or see the film. Whether their faith gets unswayed or rattled is up to them.

As for me, I’m no Dan Brown fan. More hooked on Tom Clancy’s techno-thrillers. I like Tom Hanks though, especially in Sleepless in Seattle and Saving Private Ryan, both of which I've watched over and over (they never fail to give me a good cry each time). Still, I don't watch all his films.