Merry Christmas
MAY we wish everyone and all: A Merry Christmas celebration!
Yes, in a weeks’time, on December 25, our Lord and Savior Jesus was born. Let’s celebrate in worship in the sanctity of our hearts. Let’s venerate Him with family members, relatives and fr i ends.
But let us not forget to protect ourselves from the deadly Miss Coronavirus. There is no need to attend religious and church activities if these will endanger us and members of the family. U-tube images of people in Metro Manila churches showed violations of protective protocols: no face masks and no social distancing. Hence, the immense upsurge in number of those positive for cor onavi r us.
Miss Coronavirus sneaked into the country some ten months ago and is hovering over the country and the world. This uninvited lady guest may tone down earthly celebrations. Yet, I envision her as a test of our Christians’ reverence and adulation to the Lord and Savior.
Restriction of movement and quarantine protocols has cut family budgets, which lead to moderate feasting on food and display of colorful home decorations. Miss Covid-19 surely has weighed down the mood of the season.
We heard of family reunion cancellations. It is the proper thing to do. Yet, as they say in Tagalog, there are still "pasaways" who defy medical advisories on Covid-19 protection and insist on holding family reunions during the season. In Benguet, provincial and town officials issued an advisory for residents to cancel all family reunions this season.
We agree, family reunions are best held during the Christmas season, where blessings and gifts are shared among clan members. But not this time when love ones are end an ger ed .
In confession, I must admit I hated the Christmas season for decades for the simple reason that I did not adhere to the church teaching of gift-giving. I preferred to celebrate it the whole year round by following His teachings to the best of my human abilities. Sharing our blessings is not scheduled. The Good Samaritan saw an opportunity to remind us of His doctrine.
Employees in the government as well as private corporations are the luckiest. They are practically on vacation with declared and undeclared holidays during the season. Besides, they are also recipients of 13 up to 16 months in bonuses. This is never heard of in advanced and economically stable countries. Only in the Philippines.
I empathize with the majority of the citizenry who, for medical protection imposed by the government, had to forgo working hours and receiving no income for several months. The funds or "ayuda" provided by the government were not sufficient to sustain families for long.
The so-called “BER” months from September to December 2020 may be remembered as “belt-tightening” season. I can go with that so long as we do not forget Christ in the celebration of Chr i st m as.
--- HILARION PAWID