Cops and soldiers
on Holy Week vigil

A pity. Our policemen and soldiers are spending most of their time this Holy Week keeping watch on possible attacks by insurgents. This, despite the claim of Gregorio Rosal that the mainstream communist army will not attack either civilians or military and police outposts.

In the insurgency war, however, one cannot take the word of the other for all it is worth.

Thus, instead of setting aside part of their time to meditate on the meaning of Christ's crucifixion and his salvific message, our soldiers instead will be spending part of their time keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding areas against the possibility of an attack.

That's the tragedy of our country. We spend more time fighting against one another than against the evil that pulls us down.

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What seems funny is that we have the Gospel of Judas foisted on TV viewers. This actually is not part of the canonical gospels. In short, if one were to study the Church history, that retrieved manuscript is the Gnostic version of the gospel. In short, it is the product of a heretical sect during the early years of Christianity. But it must be admitted that those who have little knowledge of the faith, can easily be beguiled that they are the holders of esoteric knowledge, i.e. "secret" are withheld from the uninitiated.

In the past, I had already mentioned Kazanstakis story of Judas role in the history of Salvation. It was the basis for the Broadway musical-Jesus Christ, Superstar.

It projected Jesus as tempted by his vision of being married to Mary Magdalene, the last temptation of Christ while having on the cross. That, according to Kazanstakis, was what drove Judas to commit suicide so that Christ would go through with his crucifixion.

Yes, he also reportedly betrayed Christ because he wanted Him to go through with his mission of dying on the Cross.

The projection of the Gospel of Judas was a heaven-sent opportunity for Church leaders to start educating the faithful on the gospels and how they came about to know the process of seduction, the apocrypha and other works.

And the distinctions between the Gnostics and the Catholic Christians is that Gnostics do not subscribe to the incarnation of the Son of God into Jesus Christ. For them He was an ephemeral presence. And the people were just treated to a phantasmic drama of the crucifixion, i.e. that Christ never really suffered as Catholic Christians believed.

Then, there is the clear-cut difference. Salvation is earned by grace through Jesus Christ. In short, we don't earn it ourselves. For the Gnostics, it is attaining the esoteric knowledge that will gain one his salvation.

As I had mentioned, that provides our clergy and the other enlightened Christians the chance to educate the faithful more steeply on both the Gospel and the creed.

And, if we have to be honest about it, not too many of us have undergone tutelage in our faith. Thus, the panic reaction by Catholic leaders about the gospel of Judas.

But the more insidious book is the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. In fairness to the author, he took pains to explain that this was a work of fiction. But, precisely because of that, his craftsmanship has convinced many of the truth of Brown's thesis about Mary Magdalene being the wife of Jesus and the couple as the origin of the Merovingian line of French Kings.

The story draws heavily on the Holy Blood, Holy Grail. This was another work by authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Hentry Lincol. The authors claimed to have stumbled into the "meticulously research" that again highlight May Magdalene's relationship with Christ.

The former best-selling book was billed as so revolutionary, so original, so convincing that it would move faithful Christians.

If only to set things right, it is best for Christians to read the book, Secrets of Code, the "unauthorized guide to the Mysteries behind the Da Vinci Code."

This was edited by Dan Burstein. And he points out, confirming what Brown had originally warned the reader about Da Vinci Code that it is an entertainment…something to enjoy.

Unfortunately, most of us end up racing through the book without analyzing it. In short, we started reading an entertaining novel and end up disbelieving our own faith. The reason: because we have not studied the faith as it should be.

That, I think, is the primary message for the Holy Week. For the intelligent Christians, at least.*

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