Popular spirituality of the Filipinos - in various structures

1. The starting point

Looking back on the past centuries of the Philippine situation, the influences of Spain and the United States of America have become clear to some extend that the self-awareness of Filipinos is still in the process of being born.Faced with the idea of the West towards colonization and acculturation, things have reached into the ways of disequilibrium.This imbalance, in turn, has induced social change, that is to say, a troubled period of transition from a culturally indigenous way of life to one that has been greatly influenced by the West.[1]This constitutes a widespread cultural phenomenon that has a strong impact on Filipino consciousness.

The country experiences a dilemma.The compass of two colonial regimes points to the importance of national identity.A Filipino may be happy and grateful for his colonial master for such a tremendous contribution to faith and civilization.However, his appreciation for the benefits of western thought, science and technology, notwithstanding, he is driven by nostalgia to revisit the ancestral home of the spirit and to re-discover his real identity.[2]It is in this consequence that begins the long process of painful integration, assimilation, insertion that he finds the cultural equilibrium his national identity.

It is true that reading Philippine history shows that the pre-Spanish society did not possess any national consciousness.[3]Whilst there are certain new things introduced into the indigenous culture, Spanish and American influences did not simply supplant native practices.They were assimilated and transformed them.The indigenous people received these foreign elements and did something to modify them into the native interpretation.The degree and the rate of assimilation varied from place to place and from group to group, but there is no doubt whatsoever about the assimilation taking place.[4]And in this process, the indigenous Malay cultural stratum not only survived the damaging effects of the two acculturation processes, but also benefited from the enriching aspects of these dual cultural contacts.[5]

Here it emerges that it is still in the process of re-discovering the richness of Filipino identity which is culturally conditioned and rooted in time and space.The Filipino, indeed, needs to re-enforce the importance of continuity with his/her own history and culture, gain confidence in expressing his own background, and strive to deepen more his understanding of what it means to be a Filipino.

Within this perspective, the growing awareness of "identity" becomes a commitment to renewal, freedom, and re-construction of the history of the Filipinos.

1. The Mission in the Philippines

There have been far-reaching changes in the Catholic Church in the Philippines since the turn of the century.Christianity was brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards.But while Spain truly had the sincere desire to share with pagan peoples the natural and supernatural benefits of the Christian faith, she also had her eye on economic profit and prestige.[6]With the spiritual aim going hand in hand with the other temporal goals, it was inevitable that ambiguity would surround the evangelization of the Philippines.[7]

The road from Madrid to Asia went via México and Philippines.Manila was founded in 1571; in 1583 the Audiencia Manila was made subject to the viceroy of New Spain (México).

Twenty-four Augustinian Hermits landed on Luzon in 1575 and were followed by the first Franciscans in 1577.Manila was made a see in 1579 and the first bishop, the Dominican Dominic de Salazar, played the major role in evangelizing the natives.Of the twenty friars whom he brought along, eighteen died along the way.Only fifteen of thirty-two Dominicans who sailed from Spain in 1586 reached Manila.Still the upsurge of new missionaries did not stop.Into the beginning of the seventeenth century 450 religious are said to have embarked for the Philippines; these included Jesuits (1581) and Augustinian Recollects (1606).The Franciscan province of St Gregory arose in 1586, the Dominican province of the Holy Rosary in 1592, the Jesuit province in 1606.

From the islanders, who practiced a primitive animism, the evangelists encountered almost no resistance.Only Jolo and Mindanao in the southern island remained a barrier to evangelization.The number of Christians was 400,000 as early as 1585, and it increased to almost 700,000 in 1595 and to more than 2 million in 1620.After more than a half-century the indigenous people had become Christian.The Philippines obtained its own hierarchy in 1595, the sees of Cebu, Nueva Segovia,and Nueva Caceres being suffragans of Manila.[8]

The educational system became widely spread with schools and colleges everywhere.In 1611 the Dominicans established the Colegio de Santo Tomas[9] which became a university in 1645.[10]A direct result of this intensive educational activity was that soon there were native priests, who in the course of time took charge of almost half the parishes.[11]

"Spirituality is the experience of consciously striving to integrate one's life in terms not of isolation and self-absorption but of self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives."[17]

It refers to our on-going effort to bring our lives, and the lives of those we minister to, to wholeness, and integrity within the horizon of God's love, offered to us in Christ and poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

For us Christians though our primordial concern is God manifested in Jesus Christ and experienced through the gift of the Pentecost and within the sitz 'im leben of the Church.We seek to interpret our individual and collective human experience as centred in Jesus Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit, and orientated to God.It is incarnational and trinitarian.It concerns how we live our life in our concrete historical situation, how we are aware of and respond to God and how we transcend ourselves to relate more deeply with others and with our world.

Our religious traditions relate a variety of religious spirituality.But deep within each of us radiates the kind of spirituality that is ours because we are human beings.These include images, symbols, stories, metaphors, allegories, and rituals through which we encounter God in our own cultural context.

1. Towards Catholic Spirituality from the Filipino Eyes

As part of a distinct faith tradition, we bring a peculiar tone to the genuine pressure we call spirituality.We are different people, with very different historical backgrounds.Our Catholic identity and spirituality are, virtually, shaped by culture which has broader application in our contemporary key principles in various contexts.

A much more profound notion of spirituality has been espoused by the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.At their first plenary assembly (Taipei, 1974) they called for a threefold dialogue - with cultures, with religious and with the poor.[18]This is really a way of explaining three aspects of a single dialogue, since most Asian people are poor (despite, and partly because of, the recent much publicized economic boom in several Asian countries).

Amongst the few things known as characteristics of Filipinos are their being festive and family oriented. They are drawn to nourish many forms and variations of life through relationships.They link themselves with the celebrations and the wealth that relationships and their experiences have to offer them.Too often, they celebrate every significant moment of their life such as birthdays, anniversaries, feasts of their saints particularly in the rural areas where families strive their best to prepare something for their friends and family relations.There is always a festive mood especially when the time comes to celebrate their favourite saints such as Santo Niño (Infant Jesus) on the third Sunday of January, the Blessed Mother in most months particularly in May.They consider these occasions as opportunities for developing those habits of the heart and mind intrinsic to deeper relationships and traditional shared belongingness.They ensure the ethical treatment of those who are part of their invited guests.They prepare the food.They pray, sing, light the candles or make promises.Their prayerful experiences through the very act of sharing in the meals or religious practices bring them into this context with a real hope that they will get some help or protection.

In many houses of the Filipinos, there are small altars usually adorned with images of their favourite saints.The images of Sto Niño or Black Nazarene are the popular ones which are not just found in houses but also in many business establishments, cars, buses, jeepneys and even in sex trade places.

This is some kind of personalism amongst Filipinos which also extends to how they relate with the images of the saints.They generously walk alongside bringing the spirit of their saints in their families who must perform a particular role like a source of protection for the whole family.They also provide new clothes or set of gems for these images whenever their petitions are granted.

The Filipinos are in a continuing search for religious meanings.They long for the religious revelries that bring together their families, friends and relatives.They are in search for religious expressions that will touch their cultural fabric which is mainly family centred and not just church centred.Their novenas, fiestas, nine (9) consecutive dawn masses before Christmas just like the Mexican Posada (traditional holiday journey), who like the holy family on Christmas Eve, walks from door to door seeking lodging for the night in nine (9) consecutive days or the Colombian novena masses too.Then, groups of Christmas singers would come round to different houses to carol the families.Holy services like the Seven Last Words, flagellation, 'moriones' (re-enactment of the passion of Christ on the streets), singing of the passion narratives are slowly being brought by migrant Filipinos to other countries of immigration in order to fill that gap of their search for religious meaning.

For Filipinos, however, the church is considered as a sanctuary, a sense of rooted-ness, a place of refuge, a yearning.It speaks so much to the heart of things, to the innermost core of one's life and it touches them so deeply.They go to churches to experience a vivid taste of what it means to worship God, to dialogue with God about their problems.Some of them are like walking wounds in need of spiritual stitching.In the Philippines, the people have associated particular churches with their specific needs and devotions like the Mother of Perpetual Succour which is enshrined in Baclaran, Metro Manila, St Jude (Manila), Blessed Sacrament Church (Manila), and the Black Nazarene and the Child Jesus in Quiapo, Manila.People go to these places with great devotions and with hope that their prayers would be granted.

1. Conclusion

Having seen certain aspects of spirituality from the Filipino context, an understanding of Church involvements may grow.The Church, which is itself a culture, must be open and prepared to change and ameliorate new insights into how the gospel values are to be preached in our lived-experience.This is with reference to the continuous dialogue of cultures and the incarnation of the message of Christ in a particular cultural milieu like.Although there are some dissonances in looking at realities expressed through our cultural orientations and values, but these are also opportunities for us to establish links and enrich our commitment to collective effort as a basic component of our well-participated creative liturgies in particular.

In our journey as members of the community, it is our task though to articulate and foster both in public and private, in parishes even in conversations, a spirituality that involves integration. Developing our community of faith demands an on-going transformation of our awareness, understanding, and ability to perceive and interpret reality.

We need to articulate a praxis that can contribute to new theological and pastoral horizons from which contemporary pastoral care draws for inspiration.Our vision of liturgy and sacrament and the call to holiness in the world must inspire and strengthen our people to live out their evangelical commitment.We need to listen to their faith experience more closely and with a more open mind.It is through this manner that we make a difference in their lives but this requires conversion of heart and mind to Jesus Christ.

[1] For information on the more important effects of the colonial rule on the Philippines and Southeast Asia,

see H. de La Costa, Asia and the Philippines (Manila: Solidaridad Publishing House, 1967), pp. 158-158.

He also asserts that some new principles of equilibrium have to be found to achieve a new synthesis.

Cf. H. de la Costa, S.J., The Background of Nationalism and Other Essays (Manila: Solidaridad Publishing

House, 1965).

[2] Salvador P. López, "The Colonial Relationship in the Philippine-American Relations, ed., by Frank

Golay (Manila: Solidaridad Publishing House, 1966), p. 29.

[3] José M. de Mesa, "And God said, "Bahala !" The Theme of Providence in the Lowland Filipino Context

(Manila:Maryhill School of Theology, 1979), p. 2.

[4] See de la Costa, The Background of Nationalism, pp. 25-26.

[5] The flexibility of the Filipinos has enabled them to be selective concerning cultural influences.Hence,

they have never lost the Malaysian stratum which to this day remains the foundation of their culture.See

John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses 1565-

1700 (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1959, p. 26. cf also Teodoro A. Agoncillo and

Milagros A. Guerrero, History of the Filipino People (4th ed., Quezon City. R.P. Garcia Publishing

Co., 1973), pp. 111-112, and Jose Vicente Braganza, S.V.D.; The Encounter: The Epic Story of

the Philippines (Manila: Catholic Trade School, 1965), p. 185.

[6] Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited (Quezon City: Tala Publishing Service, 1975),

pp. 14-17; cf. also Agoncillo and Guerrero, History of the Filipino People, pp. 74-75.

[7] See "Statement of the Ecumenical Dialogue of Third World Theologians, Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania,

5-12 August, 1976", Idoc Bulletin 46 (August, 1976), 2-9, pp. 6-7.

[8] Streit IV, 1315, 1318 ff; on the whole question cf. Historia de la Religion en Canarias (Santa Cruz de

Tenerife 1957); J. Zunzunegui, "Las origines de las misiones en las Islas Canarias", RET 1 (Madrid

1940), 361-408; I. Ormaecheverria, "En torno a las misiones del archipelago Canario," Missionalia

Hispanica 14 (Madrid 1957), 539-560.

[9] Algunos documentos relativos a la Univesidad de Manila (Madrid 1892), pp. 5-20.

[10] Bull "In Supereminenti" of Innocent X (20 November 1645) in Streit, V, 863.

[11] A. Huonder, Der einheimische Klerus in den Heidenlandern (Freiburg 1909), pp. 47-56

[12] St Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 8, 2: Apostolic Fathers, II/2, 311.

[13] UR 3; AGG; Eph 1:22-23.

[14] Cf. AG 4.

[15] Cf. Mt 28:19.

[16] Lumen Gentium 13. 1-2; cf. Jn 11:52.

[17] Sandra M. Schneiders, "Spirituality in the Academy," Theological Studies 50 (1989): 681-683; Joanna

Wolski Com. Spirituality and Personal Maturity (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1989) p. 684.

[18] G. Rosales and C.G. Arevalo (3ds), For All the Peoples of Asia: Federation of Asian Bishops Confe-

rences Documents from 1970 to 1991, Maryknoll, NY, 1992, 14-16.