WHEN he visited the survivors and families of the victims who perished in the capsized ferry in Ormoc City in Leyte last July 2, Vice President Jejomar Binay has no qualms in distributing rosary bracelets with a letter “B” printed on the center of the cross.
He admitted he gave a handful of rosary bracelets as a way of sending his prayers and condolences to them. Besides, he knows the power of prayers to comfort in times of trouble.
Of course, the Vice President has committed no crime for propagating the Catholic devotion to the Holy Rosary. In fact, he should be commended for being a practising Catholic. But come on, let’s not kid ourselves.
Here is the second highest official of the country who would not stop at anything but promote himself and his presidential ambition in next year’s elections. Now, he is using the Catholic sacramental as a prop to his campaign.
There should be no debate what the letter “B” stands for. Plain and simple, the “B” stands for Binay to remind us that it was him who gave it to us, just like how he has engraved the “B” insignia in almost every projects he and his family have in Makati City.
The Filipino Catholic faithful should not just be disappointed at how callous and distasteful what the Vice President did in giving out these rosary bracelets but should put him to task for disrespecting the Rosary as part of his campaign propaganda.
The Canon Law maintains that sacred objects, such as the Rosary, are to be “treated reverently and are not to be employed for profane or inappropriate use even if they are owned by private persons.”
When boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, before he converted to protestantism, wore the Rosary before his every fight, some good people I know got turned off at how he could conveniently regard it as some sort of an amulet to bring him special or magic power.
It is hard to argue that it is wrong to wear the Rosary around your neck – or in the case of rosary bracelets, around your wrist. But what Binay did was just wrong. It was irreverent and profane.
The Vice President should be reminded that the Rosary is not a piece of jewelry or a pendant where your initials can be inscribed. It is a religious object to inspire the Catholic faithful to pray and not a propaganda collateral.
So, the next time we recite the Rosary, we pause when we say that God deliver us from evil. GLOCAL PINOY/FJ MAGLALANG
