‘We are finally confronted with the genuinely spiritual way to commemorate Christmas…’
PEOPLE see the stark and gloom this coming Christmas as quarantine protocols remain enforced, such as the ban on public gatherings, parties and reunions. The spirit of the holiday season was not supposed to be thrown away in favor of social and personal indulgence that has since enveloped the otherwise yearly pagan celebration.
The sacredness of the birth of Christ should be restored in every home of the only Christian county in the Far East. Holding Him in awe should bring calm and peace in our hearts and soul, away from the laughter, merrymaking, drunken carousing and feasting.
We are finally confronted with the genuinely spiritual way to commemorate Christmas making us realize that our jubilation and celebration are reserved for Christianity’s huge triumphant moment which is Easter Sunday marking the resurrection of our Lord.
The following from C.S. Lewis should always bring awe and reverence every the birth of Jesus comes to mind: “In the Christian story, God descends to re-ascend. He comes down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity, down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life, down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created.” Erwin W. Lutzer writes in his book, Seven Convincing Miracles, “This is why the Incarnation is the greatest of all miracles. Here is God in human form; God becoming one of us to show His love, to communicate, and to redeem us. In Christ as we see the attributes of God displayed: power, love, humility, and even the suffering of God.”
President Duterte may yet try to follow the example of the legendary Lee Kwan Yu of Singapore in dealing with the leftist and communist movement. He did not hunt down the leaders, their followers and lawyers to slaughter them, but rounded them up to be imprisoned. Sympathizers were also jailed.
There were several bloody encounters between security forces and the insurgents, but there was no record of any rebel executed or salvaged. Lee had promptly cut the cycle of vicious social, criminal and personal reprisals that had otherwise deeply intensified our government and the communists’ demonic regard for each other. Even if Singapore was just a city-state, the strategy worked well as it also fed on Lee’s remarkable initiatives for his country’s economic, political and human development.
