Great Mother blesses all

This is the last image I took Wednesday afternoon before leaving Manila: the Virgin Mary at EDSA. It was a profound moment to stand at that corner on my last day. So much has happened here. And this large golden goddess like figure reminds me that all great things can be done with collective persistence of soul and spirit. Perhaps-even with all the contradictions- that is why you can find the great mother everywhere here in the Philippines.

From images on concrete walls to statues with hands extended, she is here blessing every mall, airport, and hotel. While I know there is something about the unity of the sacred and the profane, I still can't get over the fact that mass is conducted in centers of commerce right next to large displays of shoes and espresso stands. How would you like your Ave Maria? With or without caffeine?

When I was at the Green Hills Tiangge, I stumbled into the mall chapel where I caught bits of the homily on the prodigal son. Blasting over loudspeakers onto the courtyard, the message of repentance and return, showered shoppers and vendors alike who thought they were there to only find a good deal or make a quick peso off of balikbayans.

This was a better deal: salvation on the cheap while you consume, consume, consume.

While I've been an "un"churched pagan/Buddhist/spiritual tourist/new age seeker, for some time, the homily gave me pause to reflect on the irony of my own straying: my straying from organized religion, my straying from institutionalized and hegemonic norms of being a woman, my straying from a conventional job for this time being to take time for myself and reconnect with family. It also made me think about the country's straying and striving to return to its ideals as it was on the verge of EDSA 3.

I came to the conclusion-that my/our "return" to wholeness involved coming back to the places and people where I/we felt the deepest contradictions and tension. Whether individuals or a country, I believe we will seek to re- stage original wounds, revisit hurts until the lesson is learned. For me, how better to find these lessons again, as a Fil-Am adult child by coming back to the Philippines with one's aging parents?

How better for a country to find itself again than in a crisis of leadership?

In the context of my trip with mom and dad, I had to re-learn again, creative resolution comes from being with it all-good and bad, accepting it- instead of making it wrong or having to change it. It meant creating holiness when there are gaps of meaning, confusion, and chaos. And thus- maybe it makes sense that the goddess in the form of the Virgin, is everywhere amidst this mess-my mess-our mess. She makes it all good-somehow a promise that everything will be alright if you, soften and just stay with it.

This trip "home" has been important in this way--and I have found Mother Mary's wisdom of letting things be and trusting the greater goodness that emerges.

So may the great mother continue to bless this wandering daughter as I find my way back. May she bless my loved ones who grace and accompany me on the path, and all our relations in the Pilipinas and through the globe during this time of turning.