Happy Easter!

I will choose to ignore the senseless and insensitive ranting of a tail-ending senator named Honasan, and the vain and blasphemous claims of Renato Corona who dared likened himself to our Lord when he is more like Barabbas or the unrepentant thief on the cross. I would like instead to impart an Easter message of hope to all the Filipinos who are actively monitoring the Impeachment Trial. You may be toiling in other lands, or chose to slug it out in this country, but your collective yearning for truth, for decency, for integrity and for honesty in government have made you more Filipino than anyone in the halls of Congress or in the august chambers of the Supreme Court.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He chose to show Himself not to His disciples – not even to Peter or to His most beloved, John. Instead, he showed Himself to Mary the Magdalene. This is significant because historically, women are not on the same level of status in society as men in the time of Jesus. Thus, it can be said that Jesus exalted the lowly with a first glimpse of His glorious resurrection.

Yes, the Lord is risen! And He chose to reveal Himself first to a lowly maiden, not to the apostles who will lead His flocks, not to the High Priests who claims to be the keepers and defenders of the Law of Moses, not to the Roman Governor who holds the power over the land. It is to a woman, who was among the nameless and faceless throng who toiled in fields, who worked in households, who laboured in the market – who left everything to follow the Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ.

As in the glorious story of our Lord’s resurrection, the Truth that will set us free and redeem us from our bondage to patronage politics, sense of entitlement and impunity is not revealed to those who falsely claim to have the sole authority to discern it. The Truth that do justice is not revealed to the Senator-Judges who chose to see and hear only the parts of it that will benefit their re-election, or the election of their relatives. The Truth that liberates is not revealed to the Prosecutors-Congressmen who fear that it will mirror their own sins and shortcomings. The Truth that will separate the sheep from the wolves is not revealed to Corona and the defense team as they would do anything and everything imaginable to twist and bend it until the wolves become sheep and the real sheep are sent to the slaughterhouse instead.

In God’s infinite wisdom, the Truth is revealed to the people themselves. It comes in different forms, on different times, through different channels – not in legal terms that can only confuse, but in concrete situations that every Juan Dela Cruz can understand and relate to. It is the Truth that Sister Flory longs for, the truth that the PAL labor union seeks, the truth that has eluded the family of Navy Ensign Pestano, the truth that Corona’s SALN so blatantly tried to hide and distort, and the truth that Corona’s lawyers want us to see as lies.

Social media and other public forums, including the surveys, are the new Galilee, the new Mount of Beatitudes, and the new Temple of Jerusalem where the Truth is proclaimed - not to the high and mighty, but to the lowly so that they may realize that the power of salvation lies in their own hearts. The Lord died and rose again to show us that there is a higher Truth that only faith can comprehend, one that transcends all laws and logic, but lies in the very heart of each man, that which compels us to do good to every man.

To all Filipinos to whom Truth is being revealed – keep the faith! Let Easter’s message of hope and redemption be an inspiration for us to carry on our search for the Truth that will liberate our country from the destructive clutches of self-serving politics.