TWO PARADES

 

Each year, on the last Monday of July, the President of the Philippines delivers a SONA (State of the Nation Address) before a joint session of Congress and the Senate.

Many among us have been part of the SONA--but on the streets, the PEOPLE'S SONA outside Congress, where the true state of the nation address is articulated by farmers, fisherfolk, laborers, migrants, Indigenous Peoples, and other marginalized sectors of society.

Historians tell us that each year during Passover, the Roman Occupation Forces in Palestine led by Pontius Pilate held a parade that featured
cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. It was a show of force, a reminder to everyone about the breadth and depth of Pax Romana, a threat to anyone who dreamed of liberation.

On one particular year--historians tell us--during Passover, another parade was held at the same time as Pilate's and his Legion. There, the true state of the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace was articulated by farmers, fisherfolk, laborers, migrants, Indigenous Peoples, and other marginalized sectors of society. This parade was led by a carpenter from Nazareth.

My friends, the world is full of parades, then and now. Many times, we are so easily seduced by parades that proclaim "Peace and Order" when our calling is to follow just one: the parade led by the carpenter from Nazareth; the one that is dedicated to "Peace based on Justice."

*art, "Entry into the City," John August Swanson (1990), from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.