Montalban in Quezon City is a dumpsite where those who used to live in the slums in Manila were relocated (dumped, more like). When you enter into the area you are struck by the constant traffic of lumbering garbage trucks transporting trash to be sorted out. Trash shops line the streets, buying the recyclables from scavengers. It is hot, dusty and the air is heavy with pollutants, by-products of the burning trash. Off in the distance you see emerald green hills, but the immediate terrain is arid grey, the roads are bumpy and potholed.
When you enter Harangan, you step into a wasteland of trash piled high everywhere. As you walk around the mounds of garbage, stepping mostly on discarded plastic wrappers and receptacles your senses are assailed by the heat and the stench of decomposing matter mingled with acrid smoke of burning plastic. Amidst the filth squat crowded, flimsy hovels cobbled from cardboard, corrugated zinc and canvas, often laid on top of rubbish.
This place is a death trap, and yet, here is where many young families live. Children throng the playground of discarded glass bottles, plastic containers, computer parts and rubber gloves. Mothers with infants are a common sight, as are pregnant women. Despite the relative youth of the population, everyone looks at you with dead, hopeless eyes.
As I stand, perspiring profusely in the oppressive heat, I can barely breathe, and not just because it stinks, but I am afraid of the swarming flies, afraid that I may inhale one or eat one accidentally as I sing. Singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas jars my sensibilities. I do not feel joyful being in extreme physical discomfort, neither can I be bringing joy to the families I visit. Who am I kidding? It's ludicrous to expect anyone to be glad in such circumstances, even for a while. And if they are, so what? Life does not change appreciably after we leave.
But hardened as they are by poverty, they are happy to see us, and they welcome us. Many weep when we pray for them. All are grateful that they are not forgotten, that someone thinks them important enough to call them by name, to hear their stories and pray with them. They hold the little blessed photo of the Holy Family with reverent hands. With lighter hearts and radiant smiles they bid us goodbye.
Reverse carolling in Montalban is always a stretch, both physically and mentally. Such places should not exist on our planet, it's depressing that they do. And yet, there are many graces, one of which is the Balikatan Ministry. I am always awed and inspired by their faith, their compassion for others and how empowered they are, although they themselves are not much better off then those we visit. I love visiting with them to catch up on life.
Joecellan, Maricor and Noralyn are the hardworking leaders who live in nearby Suburban and do all the initial tedious legwork weeks before we descend on them, sussing out who are the poorer families in the areas we visit and could do with some extra food. And finally, together, we go out as a cohesive team over one and a half days, united in the spirit of giving, bringing the message of Christ's preferential love to the families.
As I finally entered Christmas this year, all that I did over the days of reverse carolling came flooding back. The message of the readings I heard and the carols I sang echoed what we proclaimed during reverse carolling, that Jesus was born to be with us (God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son and if we believe this, we will not perish and we will have eternal life, John 3:16), and he chose a particular manner to come into the world: He was born poor to be with the poor. He does not forget or neglect any of us in our poverty, He brings light to our darkness; joy to our suffering.
This message of Christmas is the Christian vocation. If I love God, I must love others especially my brothers and sisters in need. I must not, cannot, forget them. And so I prayed especially for those in Mindoro who suffered the recent typhoon. I prayed for single women parents like Ate Laling who have no means of income. I prayed for toddler Mark Jacob's family, who lost him a day before we held our outreach in Kavisayaan. I wondered if Rona's 21 year old nephew will get the necessary medical assistance* soon so he can see (he has cataracts) or whether the little boy with the broken jaw is better? Then there is the little girl who has a protrusion from her chest.
Pope Francis in his Christmas Urbi et Orbi message said:
He alone, he alone can save us. Only God’s mercy can free humanity from the many forms of evil, at times monstrous evil, which selfishness spawns in our midst. The grace of God can convert hearts and offer mankind a way out of humanly insoluble situations.
Where God is born, hope is born. Where God is born, peace is born. And where peace is born, there is no longer room for hatred and for war. Yet precisely where the incarnate Son of God came into the world, tensions and violence persist, and peace remains a gift to be implored and built.
The Pope went on to pray for peace in the world; for the end to violence, terrorism, countries at war, people persecuted for various reasons and for people deprived of their human dignity and, like the child Jesus, suffer cold, poverty, and rejection. May our closeness today be felt by those who are most vulnerable, especially child soldiers, women who suffer violence, and the victims of human trafficking and the drug trade. Neither did he forget the poor or the unemployed.
Pope Francis ended with this encouragement:
Where God is born, mercy flourishes. Mercy is the most precious gift which God gives us, especially during this Jubilee year in which we are called to discover that tender love of our heavenly Father for each of us. May the Lord enable prisoners in particular to experience his merciful love, which heals wounds and triumphs over evil.
The world we live in needs a lot of work. We must, each one, continue to work towards peace, justice and equality in our spheres of influence through mercy. May our hearts be moved by the Christmas message of inclusive, selfless love and may we live out Christmas every day. Peace out.
* Those we meet who require medical attention get referred to relevant groups that can offer them the necessary assistance.
This place is a death trap, and yet, here is where many young families live. Children throng the playground of discarded glass bottles, plastic containers, computer parts and rubber gloves. Mothers with infants are a common sight, as are pregnant women. Despite the relative youth of the population, everyone looks at you with dead, hopeless eyes.
As I stand, perspiring profusely in the oppressive heat, I can barely breathe, and not just because it stinks, but I am afraid of the swarming flies, afraid that I may inhale one or eat one accidentally as I sing. Singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas jars my sensibilities. I do not feel joyful being in extreme physical discomfort, neither can I be bringing joy to the families I visit. Who am I kidding? It's ludicrous to expect anyone to be glad in such circumstances, even for a while. And if they are, so what? Life does not change appreciably after we leave.
But hardened as they are by poverty, they are happy to see us, and they welcome us. Many weep when we pray for them. All are grateful that they are not forgotten, that someone thinks them important enough to call them by name, to hear their stories and pray with them. They hold the little blessed photo of the Holy Family with reverent hands. With lighter hearts and radiant smiles they bid us goodbye.
Reverse carolling in Montalban is always a stretch, both physically and mentally. Such places should not exist on our planet, it's depressing that they do. And yet, there are many graces, one of which is the Balikatan Ministry. I am always awed and inspired by their faith, their compassion for others and how empowered they are, although they themselves are not much better off then those we visit. I love visiting with them to catch up on life.
As I finally entered Christmas this year, all that I did over the days of reverse carolling came flooding back. The message of the readings I heard and the carols I sang echoed what we proclaimed during reverse carolling, that Jesus was born to be with us (God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son and if we believe this, we will not perish and we will have eternal life, John 3:16), and he chose a particular manner to come into the world: He was born poor to be with the poor. He does not forget or neglect any of us in our poverty, He brings light to our darkness; joy to our suffering.
This message of Christmas is the Christian vocation. If I love God, I must love others especially my brothers and sisters in need. I must not, cannot, forget them. And so I prayed especially for those in Mindoro who suffered the recent typhoon. I prayed for single women parents like Ate Laling who have no means of income. I prayed for toddler Mark Jacob's family, who lost him a day before we held our outreach in Kavisayaan. I wondered if Rona's 21 year old nephew will get the necessary medical assistance* soon so he can see (he has cataracts) or whether the little boy with the broken jaw is better? Then there is the little girl who has a protrusion from her chest.
Pope Francis in his Christmas Urbi et Orbi message said:
He alone, he alone can save us. Only God’s mercy can free humanity from the many forms of evil, at times monstrous evil, which selfishness spawns in our midst. The grace of God can convert hearts and offer mankind a way out of humanly insoluble situations.
Where God is born, hope is born. Where God is born, peace is born. And where peace is born, there is no longer room for hatred and for war. Yet precisely where the incarnate Son of God came into the world, tensions and violence persist, and peace remains a gift to be implored and built.
The Pope went on to pray for peace in the world; for the end to violence, terrorism, countries at war, people persecuted for various reasons and for people deprived of their human dignity and, like the child Jesus, suffer cold, poverty, and rejection. May our closeness today be felt by those who are most vulnerable, especially child soldiers, women who suffer violence, and the victims of human trafficking and the drug trade. Neither did he forget the poor or the unemployed.
Pope Francis ended with this encouragement:
Where God is born, mercy flourishes. Mercy is the most precious gift which God gives us, especially during this Jubilee year in which we are called to discover that tender love of our heavenly Father for each of us. May the Lord enable prisoners in particular to experience his merciful love, which heals wounds and triumphs over evil.
The world we live in needs a lot of work. We must, each one, continue to work towards peace, justice and equality in our spheres of influence through mercy. May our hearts be moved by the Christmas message of inclusive, selfless love and may we live out Christmas every day. Peace out.
* Those we meet who require medical attention get referred to relevant groups that can offer them the necessary assistance.
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