Since
Independence Day is upcoming, we
ask and review our history: Who is the first president of the
Philippine Republic? Emilio
Aguinaldo! We think of him of course as
an ESTEEMED hero of the country. Is he ... really? Digging into our history books
however would tell us that he had a serious political skirmish with Andres
Bonifacio, the later apparently was ordered killed by Aguinaldo. After the Philippine-American war, Aguinaldo
sought exile in Guam. He returned to
the country, run in an election but lost his presidential bid to Manuel L.
Quezon. When World War II came,
Aguinaldo reportedly collaborated with the Japanese and in a radio broadcast
asked Gen. Douglas McArthur to surrender his troops to save the Filipino youth
from war. He married twice (some guys
have all the luck). He was for a time on
our P5 bill. His mansion in Kawit, Cavite
is now a tourist place.
Unlike
the other national heroes however (i.e, Rizal who died in front of a firing
squad, Bonifacio and General Luna who
were assassinated by political foes, Gregorio del Pilar who was killed in battle
with the Americans, Quezon who died during the war) Aguinaldo, historians say not only found himself always
on the WRONG side of the political fence ...
HE ALSO LIVED TOO LONG. Some thought that he had compromised a lot to
lived a very comfortable and convenient life.
He lived very long and died in 1964 at the age of 94 years. He lived to see President Diosdado Macapagal
restoring the date of Philippine Independence to June 12 from the US declared
fourth of JULY.
Heroes, we would like to believe LIVED lives of sacrifice. In the case of our Bible heroes for instance, we have Paul who was placed under house
arrest. He was still meeting friends but
was obviously distraught by the fact that his very own people were against him. I suffer, he said ... ON ACCOUNT OF THE HOPE
OF ISRAEL. Similarly, we have the character of Peter who asked: “Master, who is the one who will
betray you?” Both Peter and Paul will
eventually die violent deaths during the time of Christian persecution in Rome
by the Emperor Nero.
We
note Peter’s question about JOHN – the beloved apostle: “Lord, what about him?” Yes ... what about JOHN THE BELOVED
APOSTLES: the one who reclined upon the
Lord’s chest during the supper. Apparently
John escaped a violent death. He also
lived very long. It is he who testifies
to the writing of our Gospel today.
Just like Aguinaldo, he lived
long and DIED PEACEFULLY of old age in Ephesus.
John
and Emilio Aguinaldo lived somewhat "EASY LIVES" compared to their contemporaries
who were perhaps tortured, beheaded and killed.
We
can get caught with the dilemma of Peter in the Gospel. “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” What about this person John?
Our
Lord’s reply is his reply to us as well:
“What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of
yours? What is important is that YOU ARE FOLLOWING ME!
If
you notice the lives that we live, we recognize that our roles and tasks are different. We can however get caught up with
asking WHY this task for him and this work for me?
What
is important for the Lord, I guess is not whether we live long and short WE ARE FOLLOWING HIM.
