Happy Independence Day!

Imagine my shock today when I found myself singing the Philippine national anthem, "Bayang Magiliw" in church!

In lieu of the recessional hymn, our congregation found itself joining in on a solemn rendition of the national anthem. During the homily, the priest had already tied in the Independence Day theme with the Gospel. He asked us to envision a world where we are truly independent - free of corruption, free of jueteng, free of contested electoral results.

But the ending song was still a shocker... although somehere during the paragraph "Sa dagat at bundok", I realized how the lyrics were acknowledging the beauty of God's creation. And as we got to the end "ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo", the pledge before God to defend one's country to the death took on a different, transcendent dimension.

My feeling about June 12 though, is that we are celebrating a negative declaration, i.e. "we are no longer enslaved!" Do you know that even in those days of yore, some felt that the declaration was unnecessary, i.e. that we were already independent to begin with?

As a Strong Republic, perhaps we should instead celebrate Republic Day - the day on which the First Philippine Republic was born: January 23, 1899. The day the Philippines became Asia's first republic!

What about you, do you feel as I do that Republic Day is what we should really be celebrating? And how do you feel about singing the national anthem in church? Share your thoughts with me below!