THROUGH UNTRUE

Many people today think that heroes are fictional and mythological movie characters endowed with superpowers. These are often hailed as models of bravery.

However, superheroes are not truly brave. How can you be brave if you are invincible or indestructible? True bravery is shown when, despite knowing you can be injured, defeated, or even killed, you still strive to overcome your fears and make every effort to do what is right.

Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us that superhuman abilities are not necessary to be heroes. He said: "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move" (Matthew 17:20-21). Sadly, many of us equate faith with blind belief or wishful thinking, failing to recognize it as a dynamic, powerful gift from God. We tend to rely more on reason, science, and personal effort than on divine help. The stories of real-life heroes belie this.

In 1958, Archbishop Dominic Tang of Canton, Guangzhou, China, was arrested like a common criminal and branded "the most faithful running dog of the reactionary Vatican." During his 22-year imprisonment, he endured seven years in solitary confinement, starved and deprived of basic necessities. He was only released in 1981 and allowed to leave mainland China for cancer treatment in Hong Kong.

Before his death in 1995, he shared with a fellow priest: "During my long imprisonment, the Chinese government took everything from me. But I realized that what truly mattered was not what I lost, but what remained. And what remained with me during those long years in prison? My faith. I continued to believe in God's boundless mercy. I prayed the Rosary countless times each day for 22 years, using my fingers as beads. This sustained me."

His experience echoes that of Benigno Aquino, who was also kept in solitary confinement in Fort Bonifacio on charges of treason and subversion. He wrote:

"In that prison where my sole companions were darkness and grief, I desperately searched for something to relieve my despair. I began to pray daily the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary. Suddenly, Jesus felt so close; I could almost touch Him. In the Rosary, I saw Jesus as the God-man who preached nothing but love and was rewarded with suffering and death by the very people He loved." In 1983, just minutes before his assassination, Aquino clutched a Rosary in his hands.

His heroic death triggered what is now known as the EDSA Revolution. Perhaps it is more accurate to call it a "revelation." During those crucial days in 1986, we revealed to the world that, as Filipinos, faith is one of our most precious resources. Unforgettable pictures of people waving their rosaries, raising the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and offering flowers and food to soldiers poised to fire at them spoke volumes about how our faith in God, when brought to bear on the realities of our daily lives, can become a powerful instrument of change and social transformation.

If ever today, EDSA has deteriorated into an empty slogan, a political propaganda, and an unpleasant reminder of our ningas kugon mentality, it might be because we have conveniently forgotten that what brought about the EDSA phenomenon was our faith in God which impels us to adhere to the basic virtues of integrity and honesty. 

The late Jaime Cardinal Sin once wrote: "I dread the day when our faith would drift towards irrelevance. I dread the day when government leaders would need it only for ceremonies, rituals, and to legitimize their crackpot policies."

Today, all roads lead to Santo Domingo Church, the shrine of the miraculous image of Our Lady of the Rosary (La Naval de Manila). May God ignite within us the spark of heroism, turning it into a nationwide flame that will burn to ashes our tendency to privatize our faith, often expressed as "Ako'y Kristiyanong sarado, may kandado pa 'ka mo" ("I am a Christian, and I keep my faith locked up inside me.").