Soldier's Pen
By BGen. Alexander Cabales (Ret.)
Of Sounding Brasses
and
Tingling Cymbals
An old soldier had a weird dream. He dreamed that he died and went to
heaven. It was a mistake he thought, but
he didn't bother to immediately inform Saint Peter about it for fear that he
would be transferred to where he thought he rightfully belonged which was
either in purgatory or in hell. He
wanted to behold the beauty of heaven first.
Happy over Saint Peter's mistake, this old soldier went on to
relish the blessings - at least just before Saint Peter finds out. He observed that heaven was not exactly what
many on earth said it was but it was beautiful just the same. After some time when he thought he had
finally seen enough he was ready to confront Saint Peter.
"Saint Peter", he said, "There must be some
mistake in me landing in heaven. I was a
soldier and killed a few people.
Although I am a Catholic, I seldom even go to church. Besides, there are
so many people whom I know more deserved to be here. Some of those who strongly preach God's word
are nowhere to be seen."
"Ah, Mr. General," Saint Peter replied, "you
almost didn't make it but you see, we need to have a few soldiers in heaven,
too, in the same manner that we bring in one or two lawyers as well. As to the many people who preach the word of
God, we can't bring them all to heaven, otherwise we will become
overcrowded. But we do gather their
tongues and store them in a special room in the celestial abode while their
bodies remain in purgatory. You see,
most of them do not go beyond preaching the word of God. They say that they were Christians but were
not Christians enough in their actions.
Hence, it is only their tongues that deserve to be in heaven!"
In making up that story, I recall an article of the
"Friendly Observer" published shortly after the February 2012
earthquake. In that article, the
"Friendly Observer" lauded the many 'Christian' deeds of a lot of
people who went out of their way and rushed to the aid of the many distressed
victims of that disaster bringing with them food, potable water and clothes for
people they hardly even know.
Many of them were just young students and ordinary citizens who
seldom even go to church much more read the Bible. (My atheist friend, the "Friendly
Observer", even donated some amount for the Christian endeavors of a group
of young boys involved in the aid operations).
Indeed those were Christian actions more golden that the
verbatim perambulation of certain passages of the scriptures. Christianity begins within one's heart
translated into good deeds symbolic of God's love for his creations.
We may speak with the tongues of men and of angels but if we
don't have charity we are just like a sounding brass or a tingling cymbal
(borrowed from 1st Corinthian, Chapter 13), so the Bible says.
The homily of one Father P one Sunday mass revealed his
observation as to how some of us can be very un-Christian even in the house of
God. He observed that during communion,
many rush ahead and sometimes even overtake the slow footed elderly and
handicapped so that they can get the 'body of Christ' ahead of the other as if
wanting to get to heaven ahead of everyone else.
I get to observe this phenomenon many times in the case of an
elderly woman who always sits in the same area of the church as me during
Sunday masses.
During communion time, she painfully hobbles towards the
communion line. While already in the
cue, the more healthy Christians insert themselves in front of her each time a
gap is created between her and the next person, instead of helping move up the
line.
That observation was a clear but simple illustration of how
un-Christian we can be while supposedly engaged in the most Christian of all
the sacraments.
As of late, there was massive noise from different sectors that
aired their strong opposition to the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH)
Bill now pending in Congress. In the
halls of Congress, debates echoed with emotion and sometimes even nasty words
were spoken against each other.
Elsewhere, hordes of people were mustered to dramatize the opposition to
the RH Bill. Those were words of men and
of angels.
Two weeks later, floods inundated Metro Manila and its
neighboring provinces. Worst that were
affected were the poor families that live in makeshift shelters they call homes
and who had more children than they can sustain. Of course the response of many people to help
their brother Filipinos was abundant.
Christian deeds were noted even from the most unlikely sectors - people
from the movie industry, a sector full of vice and worldly pleasures as many
would say. Yet, they performed the most
Christian of acts at the time when they mattered most.
How about the people who objected to the passage of the RH Bill
because accordingly it is against the word of God?
They were nowhere to be found and must have retreated to the
comforts of their homes in those calamitous times.
Were they just sounding brasses or tingling cymbals then? I bet that when they die their tongues would
surely go to heaven!
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