Popular piety should bear fruit

OF course, for popular piety to bear fruit, it has to be
properly founded and oriented. It just cannot be an emotional or
psychological affair, a matter of merely following social fads and
trends, something that is showy on the outside but quite empty inside.
It has to be rooted on genuine relationship of love with God and
everybody else. Otherwise, it would just be a sham, perhaps making a
lot of noise but having no effect.

            Once again, I was very impressed with the immense turn-out
of people during the Easter Triduum services. Wherever I went, I saw
practically a deluge of people from all walks of life. There were
organized groups of families, parochial associations and barangays
trooping to the churches, as well as individuals.

            There were those who look pious enough and those who look
like they just happened to drift into the churches. There were those
who look rich, educated and sophisticated, and also those who look
like with modest means only, perhaps deficient in schooling and quite
simple.

            Many of them sat in some mode of meditation and
contemplation. Others were doing group rosaries and ways of the cross.
During the Masses and other liturgical services, everyone participated
as best as he could. Of course, all these would not be complete
without babies crying, children running around, and some dogs climbing
to the sanctuary.

            This is real-life popular piety in our country. We indeed
have good reason to be truly thankful, and also hopeful that things
would go on improving. But we also have to acknowledge the concrete
things that need to be fixed, improved, polished, and made fruitful

            What cannot be denied is that while the churches may be
full and vibrant during Masses and other liturgical services in the
Easter Triduum, we can still see outside many people who for one
reason or another are not in the churches.

            Some have valid reasons. They may be sick or too old or
they could not leave their work or the house. I saw “habal-habal”
drivers who were happy to see me pass by. They were not in the church.
I surmised they had to earn for what they and their families had to
eat that day.

            But many others look like they need to be helped to
realize the importance of these liturgical services. There could be
ignorance and confusion involved that, to a certain extent, are
excusable. But we cannot discount the possibility of people
compromising their faith and have become thoroughly secularized or
paganised for one reason or another.

            I worry especially about those young people, mostly
working in the call centers. They are many, and I suspect their work
conditions are such that tend to deaden their spiritual life and
longings. Many of them work at night shifts, and I often see them
drinking away in roadside cafes once they get out of the office in the
early morning.

            The contrast between the people in the churches and those
outside is quite sharp and most intriguing. What could be done to
close the gap somehow? How could we address the issue of religious
ignorance and confusion, and the more challenging issue of religious
indifference, apathy if not hostility?

            This is where those who already have a working and vibrant
piety should reach out to those who have little or no piety at all.
They should feel addressed by the same words Christ told his apostles:
“Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so do I send you.” (Jn
20,21) They need to sharpen their apostolic concern.

            But wait. Even those who appear to have piety do need a
lot of support to make their piety gain certain solidity and thus
overflow into some apostolic action and become fruitful. It cannot be
denied that many only have a shallow kind of piety, often lacking in
doctrinal formation, not to mention, still suffering from some
spiritual and moral inconsistencies.

            I suppose this is where the clergy should go to the
frontline to directly care and form those who are open to receiving
spiritual, moral and doctrinal formation. In this regard, let’s pray
that the bishops and priests realize this duty more deeply and act on
it. This should be given more priority over some administrative or
bureaucratic tasks that often take their—our—time.

            It is sometimes painful to see some clerics entangled with
work that takes them away from their primary and more important
duties. And the result often is that their own spiritual life suffers,
and this predicament can be shown in the public sooner or later.