To our valued guests and MABIKAs constituents, family and friends, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!

We are very happy and thankful to have you all today to celebrate Christmas with us and experience the vibrant culture of the indigenous people from the Philippine Cordillera Region! Thank you for coming.

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year that almost everyone loves to celebrate for many different reasons. For instance:

Who among you enjoy celebrating Christmas season because of gifts-giving?

… because it’s feast time with family and friends?

… because you can have holidays from work or school?

… because it’s shopping time?

… because of Christmas trees and Christmas decors?

… because your Filipino spouse force you to celebrate it?

At this moment, however, I would like us to briefly reflect on what is it really that we are celebrating today. Have you ever wondered why love and giving are associated to this time of the year? What is so special about Christmas that more than 80% of the world’s population celebrates this special season?

Why is Christmas the so-called season of love and giving?

Have you ever thought of wrapping a gift to someone you find unlovable for some reasons? Or considered to give that person you dislike a Christmas present this year? Or perhaps send a card to that workmate, classmate or neighbor of yours whom you know but often ignore because you have nothing in common? Has it also ever crossed your mind do something different this time and give a present to that person who did you wrong? That’s a tough call, isn’t it?

My point is: it is easy to love and to give to someone you find lovable or likeable. But to care for the people you dislike? Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you? Bless those who curse you? And pray for those who spitefully use you (as the Bible says on Luke 6:28)? Unthinkable, we might all say.

Who does that anyway in these days of selfies? And why would someone do that? Why would you? Why would I?

The answer to that WHY is what makes Christmas truly special and extraordinary. Christmas is not just all about gifts-giving, Christmas trees, parties and holidays. From the word itself, coming from the Old English Cristes Maesse, Christmas is when we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ, God’s gift of love to everyone!

What does that have to do with love and giving?

For us parents… or imagine you are a parent and your own children rebels against you. They intentionally disobey you to simply show they can decide for themselves. Imagine when your own kids simply don’t listen to everything you say even if it’s for their own sake. Imagine your own children ignoring you in every possible way. It hurts, doesn’t it?

In the same way, we too have rebelled against our Heavenly Father since the beginning to now. We have done Him wrong. Some of us dislike Him or even hate Him for some reasons. We’ve done things that are not pleasing in His eyes… but despite all these, God do love us very much that He still thought of giving us a precious gift—Christ Jesus into our lives.

“For God so loved the world- you and me- that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

~John 3:16.

Therefore, we are celebrating the birthday of Jesus, whom God sent here on earth to live like us human being, to understand what we are going through, and to show us the way to live a fulfilling life amidst all the chaos and madness that surround us.

The only question left is: will we accept this gift? Will you accept this precious gift?

As we all reflect on the real essence of what we are doing now, let me close my message with 3 practical points in the aspect of love and giving, and in relation to what and why MABIKAs Foundation is here.

POINT #1: It’s easy to mock and criticize something that you don’t understand.

Just as how easy to mock someone’s faith due to lack of understanding, so is the case of us, the Igorots or the indigenous people from the Philippine Cordillera Region. Throughout history, the Igorot people have experienced all sorts of mockery and disrespect even to date just because of how indigenous we are. There are many stories and experiences told that when a fellow Filipino is asked of what an Igorot look like, the common answer is that an Igorot is someone short, dark-skinned, have a tail and are incapable of adapting themselves to civilization! These are certainly all false- a very misguided concept of who the Igorots really are. Simply put, it’s easy to mock something we don’t understand; that goes the same way when criticizing other people and their work.

On a side note, so for the Igorot community here in the Netherlands, our respond to that is MABIKAs Foundation. We are here to keep raising awareness and fight ignorance, so we can be free from prejudice especially towards the indigenous people whom we really don’t know unless we care to integrate and get to know them more as equally like us.

BOTTOM LINE: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

POINT #2: You can’t give what you don’t have.

Earlier we’ve been asking ourselves whether or not we can give a present to someone we find unlikable. The answer to that depends on what we have to give. The thing with giving though is that it typically requires forgiveness and acceptance just as how God has forgiven and accepted us when he decided to send Jesus Christ as a gift to us all.

We can’t love and show love through giving if there’s no love in our hearts. It’s the same way many of us can’t be happy for others because we are not happy ourselves. It is difficult to forgive others if we can’t forgive ourselves first. If what we have in our hearts are pure hatred, anger, insecurities, fault-finding, complaining and the rest, then no doubt that’s all we have to give. Needless to say, that’s not what the world needs, and am sure that’s not what you want your life to be filled with either.

We, Igorots, may have suffered from the pains of exploitations, mockery and contempt both in the hands of our fellow Filipinos and foreign invaders. But if we keep carrying these pains with us by not forgiving, then our loads moving forward as we aim to soar higher will be heavy to bear.

Hence, I urge us all to find in our hearts the will to forgive, also allowing our negative selves to be transformed into a loving, positive and inspiring being. Let’s find a way to heal wounds and set our minds free from worries and insecurities. Let’s do these so we can easily move forward and be able to give back to our community, our families and our selves.

BOTTOM LINE: To be able to give, we need to forgive.

POINT #3: Sometimes in life, all there is to truly enjoy an exceptionally free and joyous life is LOVE.

Understand to be understood. Forgive to be able to give. And above all, LOVE!

But what does that really mean? 1 Corinthians 13 perfectly describes what love is.

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

It does not envy.

It does not boast.

It is not proud.

It does not dishonor others.

It is not self-seeking.

It is not easily angered.

It keeps records of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects.

It always trusts.

It always hopes.

It always perseveres.

Love never fails.

BOTTOM LINE: So if God is love, then God never fails.

Have a merry Christmas to one and all… greetings and message brought to you by MABIKAs Foundation. Thank you very much for listening, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon!”

 

Written and delivered by Myra Colis, Founding Chairperson of MABIKAs Foundation, on December 9, 2017 during the organization’s celebration of Christmas at Dorpskerk in Leusden, The Netherlands.