Goodbye, JPII

Allow me to digress a bit from talking about me and my son...well sort of...
Today, Pope John Paul II was buried inside St Peter's Basilica, where he joined most of his predecessors. It is a sad day. We have said goodbye to the man who, for me, was one of the live pillars of true goodness in this world. This was the man who, even if I only saw him on television, lightened the way I'm feeling. Such was his power, I guess. This humble man, who somehow made me smile whenever I saw him on television. I think he really was a good man, one of the few truly good men (and women) that lived today. He had his faults, surely, but on the whole, he was one worthy of being called a truly truly good man.
In the past few days, I have seen various people sing praises and express sorrow and regret over losing such a man. Nothing bad about that, but watching some of the people (a few considered VIPs in their own circles), say his or her piece, remembering what this man had stood for, and honoring him with carefully chosen words, I have to admit that I felt some of them really didn't mean what they were saying, or that they were just saying things that they believed was being expected from them. Are we reallly doing him good remembrance by simply saying words that in a few days would likely be forgotten? And it made me think of how best to remember this man. Then a few days ago, I came across a column by Philippine Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros that kind of echoed what I had been thinking (I so wish I could express myself as well as this man expresses himself), and I'm sharing it with you here:

Catholic
By Conrado De Quiros

THERE used to be a foreigner who complained regularly, and rather vociferously, in the Letters section of this newspaper about the plague of religion in this country. That was the one thing to blame for this country's ills, he said. Not the least of those ills was a flood of people, which he personally was alarmed at. Common sense said an impoverished country could not afford a huge population, yet Catholicism seemed resolutely opposed to common sense. The Catholic Church's opposition to family planning, he said, was the one biggest obstacle to progress in this country.
I can't say I blame him. The point has been made by other people, not least by Filipinos, in a variety of contexts. Indeed, true enough, if you look at the history of Catholicism in this country (a good time to do so in light of the stocktaking that's happening in Christendom today), you'll see that it has been, to put it charitably, a mixed blessing.
The downside is far more patent than the upside. Catholicism in the first place was a colonial tool, used for pacifying the natives. That was so notwithstanding that the first wave of friars in this country consisted of true missionaries who wished to bring light, as they understood it, to other peoples. The next waves ushered in adventurers and carpetbaggers, the Church in Spain running out of decent volunteers to bring God's work to the ends of the earth. Over time, the friars became more powerful than the governors-general, helped in no small way by the fact that governors-general had short tenures while the heads of religious orders had protracted ones. Jose Rizal's diatribes against the friars hit the nail on the head. They were the real problem; only less so were the civilian authorities who now and then, depending on the political fortunes of the liberals in Spain, showed some progressive tendencies.
It's been said that this country has lived for 300 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood, in reference to the Spanish and American occupations. One may, of course, always argue that our sojourn in Hollywood has been considerably longer than 50 years, and that we are still living in it, as witness the way we eagerly patronize the BCR (Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld) production of the action movie called "The War in Iraq." One may further argue that we did live in a convent for 300 years and in Hollywood for more than a hundred, only to get the worst of both worlds.
We're still benumbed by the effects of the convent. What I personally mind is the schizophrenia Catholicism has wrought on our psyche. The fetish for form rather than substance, ritual rather than practice, lip service rather than lifework. That's seen not least in the practice of the friars of old of terrorizing dying landlords to give up their lands to buy a bunk in heaven. A practice that has by no means entirely died: its modern-day equivalent is donations that ease the passage of the donor into the afterlife. You do not have to live a virtuous life to get in the company of John Paul II, you only have to be generous to your favorite parish.
The poor are not entirely devoid of remedy for an ungodly life. They can always go to confession or flagellate themselves on Good Friday to expunge rape and murder. And be free to commit them again afterward in the knowledge instant contrition can always replenish the soul like instant "mami" noodles the body. Form is all, ritual is all, token is all.
We have something like that going on in our midst as we speak, an outpouring of grief at the death of the Pope, church and state officials outdoing themselves to express the greater sense of loss. No one seems to think just living the Pope's teachings, foremost about war and peace, does the trick.
One is tempted to use the word hypocrisy to describe this behavior, but it really goes beyond it. Hypocrisy presumes that the hypocrite knows that he is saying the right thing while doing the wrong thing. Most of us are completely unaware of it. Going to Mass is not unlike getting a license at the Land Transportation Office. It is not an encouragement to live better lives, any more than a driver's license is an encouragement to drive considerately. It is, as the word "license" suggests, an entitlement to live, or drive, recklessly. But it goes without a thought about the gap between theory and practice, it is assumed to be the natural order of things.
Go through the many things you do in a day, and you'll be astounded to see how much of them yawns with that gap.
Well, this Pope at least has shown the best that Catholicism can be. Though I have to apologize to the women's groups, for truly this Pope too obstructed their cause by adopting the most conservative policies on enlarging the scope of women's rights, particularly on women's priests and divorce. But he has been an awesome force for the good on balance, something both the pious and impious can agree on, who now mourn him with equal passion. He leaves us a special challenge-us being the Filipino Church in particular and the Filipino faithful in general-of examining our consciences to see how far we've really earned the right to call ourselves faithful.
More than any other Pope within our lifetime, he has taught us that being a Catholic is more than praying and fasting, it is doing the right thing in everything we do. More than any other Pope, he has shown us that the spark of the divine is not shown in our fondness of him, it is shown in our kindness to each other. More than any other Pope, he has shown us that being a Catholic is not saying you are one, it is living like one.
Indeed, more than any Pope within our lifetime, he has reminded us of what the word "catholic" means. You can always look that up in the dictionary. But better still, you can look that up in your heart.
©2005 www.inq7.net all rights reserved, Posted 01:10am (Mla time) April 06, 2005, By Conrado de Quiros, Inquirer News Service

Now, I sit here thinking about the Pope and what I can do to remember him. I know that I can never be as good a man as he was, but maybe if I can be just a fraction as good as he had been, I would be giving him a good remembrance. Maybe if each one of us try to live the way he did, and follow what he preached, then this world would be a much better place to live in.
In a world where sacrifice somehow seems to have become passe, where "me" has become the focus of many, Pope John Paul II challenged us to live differently. I wonder if we'll ever be able to meet his challenge.