CORRUPT leaders, officials, business people and other schemers fleecing hundreds of millions of pesos by casino-laundered, van-delivered maletas must think there is no God of righteous retribution, at least not the Almighty revealed in Sacred Scriptures.
The Maleta Gang surely haven’t read and taken to heart the Aug. 19 readings for Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time from the Prophet Ezekiel (Ez 24:1-11), warning the leaders of Israel:
“Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? You have fed off their milk, worn their wool and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured....
“Thus says the Lord God: I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep so that they may no longer pasture themselves. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep.”
Hear and heed heaven
If that doesn’t scare suitcased scammers, the Aug. 23 Mass readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time is more pointed about what awaits potentates violating God’s precepts for rulers. The first reading from the Prophet Isaiah (Is 22:19–23) warns of the proud, extravagant palace administrator Shebna, who presumptuously built a luxurious tomb on a mountain reserved for rulers, losing his post to the official right below him.
The other Aug. 23 readings tell of the paramount value of heeding the Word of God, not only as contained in the Bible, but even more so as Jesus Christ himself. The second reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (Rom 11:33–36): “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?” The answer: Christ.
The same message comes across even more powerfully in the Mass Gospel passage from Saint Matthew (Mt 16:13–20):
“He (Jesus) said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.’”
In short, Jesus Christ is Supreme Lord, and his Church — the people who believe in him and follow his commands in life and society — shall overcome the powers of evil.
Will Christ rule our land?
One can imagine the scammers chuckling at that last statement, and sadly, many Filipinos, even devout believers, probably joined in.
The undeniable truth is that corruption has weathered cycle after cycle of scandal, protests, crackdown and even ouster and jail, including the fall of two presidents over graft-ridden regimes. And the current unprecedented sleaze over flood control projects looks set to merely usher in a future cabal of grafters once public outrage subsides.
In fact, Filipinos have already begun easing off the anti-corruption fire. Mass protests have dwindled even after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Independent Commission for Infrastructure, tasked with uncovering public works graft since 2015, collapsed after two of its three commissioners quit early this year.
In his latest State of the Nation Address, Marcos turned over the flood control scam investigation and prosecution to the dismally understaffed Office of the Ombudsman, with just several dozen lawyers and 1,200 staff looking for and chasing crooks among 4 million public sector people.
And as the Catholic Church prayer for national renewal declares, we, the Filipino people, are also gravely at fault and need divine transformation:
“Forgive us for closing our eyes to what is right, for accepting excuses in place of accountability, for allowing despair and division to weaken our hope for our people. We confess the many times we remained silent in the face of wrongdoing, when we choose convenience over conscience, fear over courage and apathy over responsibility.
“O Holy Spirit, renew our hearts and enlighten our minds. Turn us from indifference to compassion, from silence to faithful action, from division to unity and from despair to hope. Teach us to defend truth with charity, to pursue justice with mercy and to become instruments of peace and reconciliation.”
Of late, the challenge of evil has infected even the youth with school shootings by teenage assailants bloodying Tacloban and Zamboanga, the latter at the leading Catholic university in the region.
Even our nation’s chosen leaders are brazenly violating moral tenets against dishonesty and theft, and tens of millions of citizens collectively shrugging shoulders and even electing and reelecting grafters, is it any wonder that the children we are duty-bound to bring up in righteous conduct learn to do otherwise?
What’s the way forward in our despicable moral morass?
First, prayers, prayers, prayers. Then, national admission of guilt and common commitment to change, first ourselves, then our families, communities, institutions and nation, in that order. We will explore the various ways ahead in future columns.
Can we as a broken nation do it?
We must do it. So help us God.