“The Filipinos have a split level Christianity.” Over the decades this claim has been repeated so loudly and so often that its message now seems taken for granted. Briefly, it means Filipino Christians wear one mask inside the church and another outside of it, exhibit one type of behavior on Sunday and a different one from Monday to Saturday.Now, the month of May and traditionally of Mary, another facet of our split-level Christianity surfaces: our irrespressible veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, back to back with our appalling disregard of the virtues she embodies.
It behooves me to think there must be thousands of Marian organizations in the Philippines and yet… how authentically “Marian” have we become? We remember her every six hours in the Angelus or Regina Coeli, every day in the rosary, every week in novenas, every month in her myriad manifestations. And every year over the centuries we have celebrated countless fiestas, held congresses, dedicated shrines, and organized jubilees—all for Mary. We release balloons on her birthday, and in Intramuros we hold processions of favorite and cherished Marian images every year.
This month, in churches all over the country—up to the humblest kapilya in far flung barangays—w
e honor Mary with flowers offered each day, culminating in two popular events in our calendar: the Santacruzan and the Flores de Mayo. After more than 400 years of all that show of love and devotion for our Blessed Mother, one would imagine the Filipinos to be by now a shining model of Christian discipleship. But are we?How attentive have we grown to the writing on the wall, to the warning signs enveloped in images we are exposed to daily? Do we remember Mary when we watch those scantily clad “bombs” and “babes” gyrating on noontime TV shows? (Mary who?) Do we care that advertising billboards studding our highways reduce women to the level of sex objects? (Aw, come on!) Are we aware of the standards some of our magazines are setting to determine the value of a woman? (Yes, now you may text your votes for the sexiest cover girl in XXX Men’s Magazine). How are the women in these media clad? (Definitely not Mary-like!) What are they selling? (Worldly goodies.) What thoughts, desires, and emotions do they spawn in us? (The stuff of which confessions are made.)
Are we concerned about the values our showbiz “goddesses” are transmitting to our young women by their example? How do we reconcile these images (of Filipino women) with our fervor for Mary? How does this nonstop image-barrage by media affect our devotion to Mary? Shouldn’t our devotion to Mary somehow influence the public depiction of women in our midst?
Sometimes it’s embarrassing to realize that “non-Marian” countries or cultures are even more Marian in their regard for certain virtues we Catholics are supposed to uphold, such as modesty, for one. Buddhist temples in Thailand, for example, do not let in women visitors wearing shorts, sleeveless dresses or plunging necklines. Temple guards at the Islamic al-Aqsa shrine or Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem cover such improperly dressed tourists with gowns made for the purpose. (In contrast, note what some of our women wear to Mass in this “only Catholic nation in Asia.”) Newspapers and magazines in Islamic countries—even the more “liberal” or “progressive” ones like Egypt—do not carry photos of women exposing their bodies, such as fashion models in revealing clothes and beauty contestants in swimsuits. Here in our Mary-loving land, those beauties always get front page exposure in print media, and certainly, even jeepney-riding Filipinas are getting bolder and bolder in fashion, flaunting their navels and tattooed hips for all the world to see.
What ought to concern us is the effect of this “split-level Marianity” on young girls today—who will be tomorrow’s women and mothers. Show two images of woman to your 5-year old daughter—one of Our Lady and the other of a noontime TV dancer—and see which of the two will put a sparkle in her eye. Your guess is as good as mine. Attend a fiesta night in a remote barrio and you’ll find that live entertainment will most likely be
provided by young girls dancing “Itaktak mo!”We hope this split-level Marianity is but a passing thing, and that there are more true-blue Marian devotees than are apparent among us. It is laudable to give Mary a special place in our celebrations, but we also wish for everyone to savor the company of Mary in contemplation. With the Filipinos’ penchant for celebrations we sometimes forget about the long-range effects of our actions, like when we release balloons on Mother Mary’s birthday and choke Mother Earth in the process. With child-like and typical ningas-cogon glee we watch the balloons fly to the skies, not knowing that next day the deflated balloons could land in the ocean and cause death to marine creatures that ingest them.
We know that the imitation of Mary could provide the solution to our many ills. We fully trust that we shall one day be granted the grace to be “other Marys”—the soul of humility, modesty and compassion—remaining docile to God’s will while defying the judgment of men. Until that day comes we will in good faith just close an eye to our split-level Marianity. We carry on with our processions in her name, flaunting our fantabulous carrozas of her images while overlooking the probability that because we cannot imitate her, we make her imitate us: we can not be poor and simple like Mary, so we dress her up in gold and diamonds like us. The picture borders on the ridiculous, but our sense of humor will see us through. And that’s the truth.
