Into The Mind of God

Into The Mind of God

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

September 28, 2019

I

One of my greatest heroes is the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., the beloved political leader whose assassination on August 21, 1983 had triggered a nationwide outrage. This led to the historic February 1986 People Power Revolution that brought down the twenty-year one-man rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Ninoy's widow, Cory, was the unifying force of the opposition groups, and she ran and won against Marcos in a snap election. But it was rigged, and the people rose up in a peaceful revolt and recognized her as the rightful President. Ninoy is the soul of People Power that inspired the bloodless revolutions in Europe that ended communism and tore down the Berlin Wall.

II

Ninoy's life is unprecedented. In the history of the Philippines, he was the youngest war correspondent at 17, the youngest mayor at 23, the youngest vice governor at 25, the youngest governor at 27, and the youngest Senator at 35. He would have been the youngest President at 40 because he was the shoo-in for the 1973 elections. But martial law was declared before that, on September 21, 1972, and Ninoy was thrown in jail for false charges because he was the greatest threat with his popularity and brilliant mind. Ninoy was in prison for seven years and seven months, and five years of those was in solitary confinement. There was nothing he could do and nowhere to go, so he turned within.

III

Many years later, in 1982, he talked about his ordeals and his spiritual transformation at "The 700 Club" with Pat Robertson. Pat knew that one of the thousands of books that Ninoy read in prison was "The Imitation of Christ," the 15th century Latin devotional attibuted to the theologian Thomas a Kempis. Here is one of my favorite passages: "If thou wert good and pure within, then wouldst thou look upon all things without hurt and understand them aright. A pure heart seeth the very depths of heaven and hell. Such as each one is inwardly, so he judgeth he outwardly. If there is any joy in the world, surely the man of pure heart possesseth it, and if there is anywhere tribulation and anguish the evil conscience knowth it best. As iron cast into the fire losesth rust and is made altogether glowing, so the man who turneth himself altogether unto God is freed from slothfulness and changed into a new man."

IV

Ninoy became a better man precisely because of his sufferings, and I find it so inspiring. In solitude and loneliness, he found God and became a true Christian, one who would gladly carry the burden for His glory. In the book, a Kempis wrote "Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross. He hath many seekers of comfort, but few of trubulations. He findeth many companions of His table, but few of His fasting. All desire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to undergo anything for His sake. Many follow Jesus that they may eat of His loaves, but few that they may drink of the cup of His passion. Many are astonished at His miracles, few follow after the shame of His cross. Many love Jesus so long as no adversities happen to them. Many praise Him and bless Him, so long as they receive any comforts from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and withdraw from them a little while, they fall either into complaining or into too great dejection of mind."

Photo courtesy of Christian Book Distributors

Jumper

Jumper

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

September 21, 2019

I

There is a small one-way street between the building where I work and the next building. The side of the other building has landscaped grass behind a stretch of concrete that acts as a long bench. I was sitting there the other night before going up, having iced tea from the nearby Jollibee. I had made a request to be in the night shift so that was around eleven, an hour before midnight. When I'm alone and it's quiet like that moment, my mind is at peace. I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just enjoying the moment. 

II

Earlier that night I've been reading the novel "Jumper" by Steven Gould, where they based the movie. Then I thought how it would be nice to just teleport upstairs, but if someone sees me appear literally out of thin air, he or she will definitely spread it, so I should to land in the stairwell instead. If I'm a teleport, I could literally go anywhere, but if I go to a mall, where would I appear without causing a commotion? It's always easier to teleport back to my house coming from anywhere, but, hey, like they said, there ain't no place like home. 

III

In the movie version, David Rice, a.k.a. Anakin Skywalker, is a jumper, a teleporter. He can go anywhere in an instant, and all he has to do is to visualize that place. He first knew about his power when he fell into a frozen lake and reappeared in a library, soaking wet. When he needs money, he just goes directly inside bank vaults and take what he needs. But jumpers are being hunted and killed by a fanatical group called the Paladins, led by Jedi Master Mace Windu. Anakin first encountered them at the Colosseum in Rome where he had taken his girlfriend Millie. That's where he also met the jumper Griffin who became an ally.

IV

I like the movie and I'm waiting for the sequel, but I like the book better because it is so human. Griffin and the Paladins are not here. David did not fell into the lake: the first time he jumped was when he was being beaten by his father. David's mother had left when he was five because David's father also beat her, and the reunion between mother and son was very moving. There were some very vivid characters in the book who are not in the movie, like the magician Bob The Magnificent, the trucker Topper Robbins who tried to rape David, the cop Sergeant Washburn who beat his wife every night, the terrorist Rashid Matar who killed David's mother. I guess that sometimes, even if you can anywhere, there are some things you cannot escape from. 

Photo courtesy of Libros Gratis

The Last Word

The Last Word
By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

September 14, 2019

I

There was a time some time ago, when I still in Manila, that a friend was telling me about Freemasonry. But he was not a member, and what he said about the group sounded really sinister. I asked him how he knew those things, and he said that someone told him. He then realized that he had readily believed what he had heard even though he didn't really know the truth. For all he knew, the person who told him probably got it from someone else who also knew nothing. I also realized there had been times when I too had been gullible and naive. It was an a-ha moment for both of us.

II

Yet I have another friend who is very familiar with secret societies and esoteric knowledge. He knows many things about Freemasonry, The Knights Templar, the Illuminati, the Rosicrucians. He knew about Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the bloodline years before Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code." It was from him that I learned that the Founding Fathers of the United States were Freemasons. Perhaps it simply means that they knew things that the masses don't, and they used that knowledge to build a government that is still growing strong even after two centuries, so I think that's a good thing.

III

Personally, I deeply admire how every American President since George Washington has upheld and protected their Constitution. It is still the same Constitution drafted on July 4, 1776, to which they just add amendments to fit the changing times. To put it in perspective, here in the Philippines, various elements have tried to void the entire Constitution to create their own. I think there is something to be said that the United States never had martial law, and her Presidents would always step down after their term of office.

IV

As I read "The Lost Symbol," also by Dan Brown, I was intrigued even more about the Freemasons, about how they built the city of Washington and founded a nation that respects individual freedom above all else. There is a legend that the Masons hold the key to infinite power, but the symbologist Robert Langdon is skeptical. He thought: "I wasn't a member of Odysseus' crew, but I'm certain the Cyclops is a myth." I love the books of Dan Brown, with their meticulous research and surprising plot twists. The treasure is hidden in ancient symbols, and naturally, if there is someone who can crack the code, it would be Langdon. (Here is the "cast" of the movie on my mind as I read it):

Robert Langdon – Joe Mantegna

Peter Solomon – Michael Douglas

Katherine Solomon – Sigourney Weaver

Inoue Sato – Michelle Yeo

Warren Bellamy – James Earl Jones

Mal'akh – Ralph Fiennes

Colin Galloway – Max Von Sydow

Trent Anderson – Neil McDonough

Turner Simkins – Holt McCallany

Trish Dunne – Kirsten Vangsness

Nola Kaye – Mayim Bialik

Jonas Faukman – Danny De Vito

Officer Nunez – Michael Peña

Omar Amirana – Riz Ahmed

Mark Zoubianis – Jesse Eisenberg

Rick Parrish – Rami Malik

Photo courtesy of Amazon

Smaller and Smaller Circles

Smaller and Smaller Circles

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

September 7, 2019

I

I have never been to Payatas, the 13-hectare dumpsite in Quezon City, but I heard that mountains of garbage stood high above hundreds of shanties. Many people make their living there – picking though the endless piles and selling anything they find that could be sold. But there have been a lot of landslides. The most recent was on July 2000, and 218 people died.

II

In 1997, Payatas became the scene of a series of murders. Director Francisco Lastimosa of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) has requested the help of Father Gus Saenz and Father Jerome Lucero, Jesuit priests who were also trained forensics experts. This is the story of "Smaller and Smaller Circles" by F.H. Batacan, published by Soho Crime in New York in 2002 – winner of the Palanca Award, the National Book Award and the Madrigal-Gonzalez Award.

III

The victims were all young boys, their ages ranging from eleven to fifteen. Their bodies would be found mutilated and in an advanced state of decay. They were eviscerated – the hearts were taken out. The genitals were cut off. And their faces – surgically peeled off the skulls – were gone. It was ghastly, but Saenz and Lucero have allies like Lastimosa, veteran crime scene investigator Ading Rustia, NBI Deputy Director Jake Valdez, even the reporter Joanna Bonifacio.

IV

But Lastimosa had a heart attack on live TV, and he had to go the U.S. for an emergency operation. Then their adversaries, the lawyer Benjamin Arcinas and the political appointee Philip Mapa, began to grab power at the NBI. Saenz was being stonewalled, but he has other enemies. He had been pursuing a priest named Ramirez, who he accused of being a pedophile, but no less than a Cardinal, Rafael Meneses, was the protector. Then, one day, he got a call, but all he heard was someone breathing. While reading the book, I was also the "director" of my imaginary movie, like David Fincher, and here is my cast:

Father Gus Saenz – Alvin Anson

Father Jerome Lucero – Epy Quizon

Joanna Bonifacio – Mylene Dizon

Francisco Lastimosa – Ronaldo Valdez

Benjamin Arcinas – Tirso Cruz III

Ading Rustia – Dante Rivero

Jake Valdez – Raymond Bagatsing

Philip Mapa – Albert Martinez

Councilor Mariano – Tonton Gutierrez

Father Emil – Bodjie Pascua

Monsignor Ramirez – Michael De Mesa 

Cardinal Rafael Meneses – E.A. Rocha

Alice Panganiban – Nova Villa

Gino Sta. Romana – Manilyn Reynes

Mrs. Salustiano – Irma Adlawan

Arcinas' secretary – Luz Valdez

Sister Miriam Taguibao – Laurice Guillien 

Flora Carlos – Gina Alajar 

Mr. Carlos – Joel Torre

Carding Navato – Alex Medina

Rommel Salustiano – Vandolf

Isabelo Gorospe – Allan Paule 

Tato Ampil – Ketchup Eusebio

Emong Ricafrente – Jhong Hilario

Photo courtesy of IMDb