"Mapangasi so Dios tan maabagey!" It was a statement of faith shared by those who were in the prayer meeting. God is so merciful. God is so good.
"When we prayed for the rains that we truly need, God answered our prayers!"
"Mapangasi so Dios tan maabagey!" The group again nodded in faith.
"But it seems, God overdid it!" One of them said in jest. "Adelap-delap met iray arum a pasen. Tan wala ni ra so inatey!"
The others laughed with him in agreement as they listened to him enumerate the places which were flooded, the dikes breached, and human lives and crops destroyed.
"Why?" The old man in the circle asked the group, to no one in particular. "Why would people die and suffer because of the rains we asked from God? The rains are blessings from God. They are sent by God for our good. Our lands are blessed too by the rains. Now we can plant."
"God gives us what we need. Always."
"I've been asking for money, why have I not received one yet? "
Everybody laughed at that statement.
Silence.
"It's because that is not what you need. You only like it. But not what you truly need", the old man said again.
"Then why are their floods because of the rains we asked from God?"
Silence.
The old man: "God gives us what we need. God always gives us just enough rain for us to plant and for our plants to grow and nourish us."
Silence.
The old man, again: "The floods came because of man's misuse of nature."
Somebody quipped, "Our canals are already clogged by plastic and garbage."
Another: "The money that is to be used for the dikes is diverted to the pockets of our politicians! That is why, every time typhoons and storms come, the dikes collapse".
Still another: "Greed. This is the cause of the floods. And the death of innocent people."
"Lack of concern for the others."God gives us everything we need. But we have lost almost everything because we believe we are not accountable. We are not responsible.
