Prayer for Manny

Our present national icon will be going for another highly anticipated super bout this coming Sunday and safe to say, millions upon millions of Filipinos will be glued once again to their television sets to watch and cheer for him.

Boxing has been one of the most liked sports in our poverty-stricken nation and Manny's life and success story of rags to punching riches has served as an inspiration for a lot of youngsters and old folks alike.

But not for me (and a few others as well) and for one good reason.

Any sport that involves deliberate and intentional infliction of bodily harm to an opponent in order to be viewed as a winner is not a "right" sport to neither get involved with nor give support to. Most people only always pay attention to those lifting of golden title belts at the end of the game, the humongous cash rewards that came along with it, and the fame with lavish victory parades, yet nobody dares accept the fact that more than 1,000 annual deaths happen around the world during actual ring fights. And we are only speaking about recorded fights and casualties but a lot lot more happens in obscurity. And what about the undocumented long-term after-effects of those grueling fights. Casius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali) now has Parkinson's disease, which is medically viewed and accepted as mainly caused and induced early due to the many head injuries he sustained during his heydays.

So when the fight starts (even though I will not watch it), I will offer a prayer for both Manny and his opponent for their safety more than for their victory because both the winner and loser are fellow human beings who are endangering their lives by methodically beating each other black and blue, amidst the chants and cheers of an "entertained" crowd. My Filipino pride will be there if Manny wins but I wish for his safety foremost.

In summary, I support Manny but I have stopped supporting boxing (it's an unpopular choice for a few) or any other physically violent sports. It only brings out a certain dark side of our humanity.

On the other hand, this coming Sunday also, Manny will wear a yellow set of gloves which is a first for the boxing world. He dedicates this fight with yellow gloves to his life-time advocacy to alleviate poverty in our motherland.

Now this is Manny's fight that I hope every single Filipinos will really get into the ring for, to cheer and support and eventually to be champion themselves in their own noble and humble ways.

God bless.



(Below is an portion from an Phil. Daily Inquirer article by Philip Tubeza on the day of fight)

MANILA, Philippines—Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao’s bishop thinks boxing is un-Christian and has long advised him to retire from the ring. Punching another person, even for sport, is like “boxing the Holy Spirit,” according to Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez whose diocese includes Pacquiao’s Sarangani province whose lone district the boxing legend represents in Congress.

“It is un-Christian to hurt others,” according to the bishop who said Pacquiao is a friend.

According to Gutierrez, the Church considers a person’s body as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” which should not be abused or harmed.
“I don’t approve of boxing because you are hurting the other. Every person is a temple of the Holy Spirit. If you box someone and punch him, it’s like you’ve also punched the Holy Spirit, the temple,” Gutierrez said in an interview.
“What did the Lord say? Love your neighbor. That’s why I’ve never approved of boxing,” he said.

Many Catholic theologians share Gutierrez’s negative view of the sport. In 2005, “Civilta Cattolica,” a leading Jesuit journal in Rome that reflects the official view of the Vatican, said that boxing and the business interests around it was immoral.
Boxing is based on violence and run by business interests interested in making money out of the suffering boxers inflict on each other, the journal said.

For complete article, please click this link http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20110508-335233/Bishop-Youre-boxing-the-Holy-Spirit