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.

Creating memories

I recently joined a group of families on a two-day outing at a hot springs resort in Pansol at Calamba, Laguna. Normally it would have taken me just an hour to drive to Calamba from where I live in Makati. But April and May being school vacation time, family outings are commonplace during weekends, and Pansol is a popular destination. Heavy traffic along the main toll road added 30 minutes to the travel time. Anyway, the resort and the traffic are not what I wish to talk about now.

One family in the group simply amazed me, as the outing was not their first, nor would it be their last this summer. Jeffrey and his wife Sheila are in their late 3o’s and they have one child, pretty 8-year old Trisha, a Barbie doll nut. Jeffrey’s work with the marketing division of a pharmaceutical company, which requires regular visits to out-of-town distributors and retailers, has made him a travel bug. He would bring along his wife and daughter either during official trips or when the travel itch became plain irresistible, which was often. Jeffrey has brought his family to Baguio, Vigan, Cagayan, Bicol, to name only a few. Last Holy Week, they drove all the way from their home in Bulacan to Bacolod City to visit relatives, taking the “nautical highway” starting at Batangas City, crossing the seas by “roro” (roll-on, roll-off) ferries at 3 points (Batangas City-Calapan, Roxas-Caticlan and Iloilo City-Bacolod City), with a layover at Boracay Island to enjoy its powdery white sands. The leisurely land-sea cruise took 7 days.

The video and still photos of their many trips showed the family’s experiences. It’s not difficult to imagine the impact of the travels upon young Trisha’s developing mind. She’s learning a lot from seeing other places, meeting new people, hearing varied dialects, tasting local food and facing different cultures. And the most important of all is experiencing all these together with her Dad and Mom. Her storehouse of childhood memories must surely be filling up to the brim.

Robin Sharma’s book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari has this wonderful advice to parents. Enjoy the gift of your family. Live your children’s childhood. Be a part of the joys of their young years, so that when they shall have grown up, you are part of their childhood memories. Watch them grow up. The best gift you could give to your children is your love, expressed not in words or material things but in concrete deeds of your presence, time, attention and example. Next to God, you family is your life’s purpose and priority.

Jeffrey and Sheila have chosen a distinctive way of bonding with Trisha and adding to her education, not to mention the joyful closeness of the couple I’ve been observing.

I’d very much recommend this to my daughter Anna and her husband Pius once their son Aidan gets to walking age.

Passing on kindness

I once attended an orientation meeting for parents in my daughter’s school. While waiting for the meeting to start, a quotation posted at the back of a classroom caught my interest: “Real generosity is doing something nice . . . for someone who will never find out.” It echoed a similar passage in a book I read before that says, “True kindness is doing something for someone who is not in a position to repay you.”

These days what seem to hug the news more are kidnappings, corruption, thievery and other sordid displays of human malice. Isn’t it about time each of us does something to let goodness take its rightful prominence in our country, starting in our community? Opportunities abound to spread goodness, if one just dares to be more caring. One very simple way is to express kindness to another. No heroic stuff, but simple words or acts that mean we love our neighbor in a real, concrete sense. They could be little acts for someone who can’t return your favor, like giving a hitch to a pregnant woman, or treating some streetchildren to free burger and fries, and so many other examples. Or, you can be more adventurous, say, by paying the ticket of the car following you at the expressway tollgate. Such acts of kindness won’t cost much really, yet they’d surely make a big impact in your giver’s heart first of all. One finds true happiness in the very act of genuine giving.

And what should you do if you have been touched by a stranger’s act of kindness? If you can’t pay it back, pay it forward then, to borrow the title of a movie. Show your “utang na loob” (gratefulness) by doing an act of kindness to somebody else.

To be kind and to do kindness to one another are what we are on earth for. We lose nothing by sharing, for life’s miracle is the more we give the more we have. Let’s not then delay doing an act of kindness to someone. Pass it on forward, please.

Some Lessons

Two books worth reading are Mitch Albom’s bestsellers, Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I read them a long while back so I can’t recall their details. But I had made some notes of the lessons the author offers and I would like to share them.

Tuesdays with Morrie

1. The most important thing in life is how to give love & to let it come in.
2. When you feel sad or sorry, give yourself a good cry if you have to, but then move on. Focus on the good things still in your life.
3. Stand back from time to time & look at your life. Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?
4. Be prepared to die anytime. Ask yourself everyday- Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?
5. Love your family.
6. Embrace & revel in aging.
7. Money cannot buy you true love & tenderness.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

1. There are no random acts in life. All of us are interconnected. Strangers are family we have yet to know.
2. Sacrifice is part of life. Something to embrace, not avoid. You don't lose from sacrifice but gain something or for someone else.
3. Be loyal to each other. Forgive.
4. Life has to end. Love doesn't. Lost love is still love. It only takes a different form.
5. Every life has a value. By living we have already accomplished something. By loving we have done more. The grandness of our living is in our loving. Everything else is grace.

More better leaders

Our country has a host of problems. One of them is the ethical quality of our public leaders.

You must surely know of a person who covets an elective public office, or tries to wangle some government post not so much for altruistic or patriotic reasons but more for the opportunity to make money through the influence and authority the position wields. Many are of this stripe. Like the policeman or traffic aide who extorts from the driver; or a judiciary official who solicits favors from litigants; or certain functionaries at the tax, customs or immigration agencies whose consciences have long been deadened by the pervasive culture of graft. (The U.S. State Department recently voiced concern over the rampant corruption at the Bureaus of Customs and Immigration which could compromise the country's anti-terror campaign and render it vulnerable to terrorist attacks.)

Our leaders pay lip service to morality and integrity. These values are the first to be thrown out of the window when the slightest temptation of grease money enters the heart -- quick riches without sweat. Welfare of the country? Well, yes, no doubt, of course! Self-interest? Bull's-eye.

What our country needs now more than ever is a larger breed of better leaders. Men and women who are uncompromisingly honest, hardworking, value-driven and sacrificing. Men and women who love their family, yet put their public duties at a higher premium. This is not to say we don’t have them around, but we do need more of them, from the barangay level up to the very top.

We cannot hope for much national progress if the people who lead us do not have superior moral gravitas.