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IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN
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PREPARED BY: JOHN

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

IN ONE OF THE ARTICLES WRITTEN PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER COLUMNIST, ADRIAN
CRISTOBAL, HE ASKED, IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN? CRISTOBALS DISCOURSE IS
UNUSUALTHE FATE OF RIZALS IMMORTAL SOUL AND HOW HIS JESUIT MENTOR
TRIED TO SAVE IT.

MORE

THAN A HUNDRED YEARS AFTER HIS BULLET-RIDDEN BODY FELL IN

BAGUMBAYAN FIELD, THE FATE OF JOSE RIZALS IMMORTAL SOUL HAS YET TO BE
DETERMINED. HE WAS NOT GIVEN A CHRISTIAN BURIAL, ALTHOUGH LEGEND HAS IT
THAT HE KISSED THE CRUCIFIX
BEFORE HE MARCHED TO HIS DOOM. HE
RETRACTED ALL HIS WRITINGS ACCORDING TO SOME CHRONICLERS WHICH WAS
THE REASON WHY HE WAS ALLOWED TO MARRY JOSEPHINE BRACKEN. ALL THE
SAME, HE WAS NOT BURIED AS A CHRISTIAN, MUCH LESS AS A CATHOLIC. THIS
LEAVES SOME DOUBT ABOUT THE FINAL DESTINATION OF HIS SOUL.

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

THE QUESTION OF JOSE RIZALS IMMORTAL SOUL IS A SERIOUS ONE. IT IS
SOMETHING THAT NOT YET BEEN TOUCHED UPON IN INNUMERABLE
LECTURES AND READING MATERIALS, MOST PROBABLY BECAUSE WE JUST
ASSUMED THAT RIZALS SOUL ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND YET THE
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT SOMEWHERE ALONG HIS HEROIC
LIFE, HE HAD COMPLETELY LOST HIS FAITH. THIS MADE CLEAR IN RIZALS
CORRESPONDENCE WITH FATHER PABLO PASTELLS, HIS JESUIT MENTOR.

JOSE RIZALS LETTER TO FR. PASTELLS

DEAR JOSE,
I WISH TO EXTORT BY WAY OF BEING STUBBORN AND TO GIVE UP THIS DESIRE
OF EMANCIPATING THE FILIPINOS FROM THE GENTLE YOKE OF THE CATHOLIC
RELIGION AND THE SPANISH NATION BY SUPPORTING AND PROPAGATING AMONG
THEM DOCTRINES OF REFORMISM AND SEPARATION, WHICH ONLY A WOUNDED
SELF-LOVE CAN SUGGEST TO YOU BY WARPING YOUR JUDGMENT.
TO PURSUE THIS LAUDIBLE PROJECT, FR. PASTELLS ENGAGED RIZAL IN A
SPIRITED DISCUSSION OF CHRISTIANITY, USING HIS VAST ERUDITION AND
THEOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN AN ATTEMPT TO SAVE RIZALS DOUBTS AND LOST
FAITH. BRIEFLY, RIZAL DID NOT BELIEVE IN HEAVEN AND HELL, THE DIVINITY OF
JESUS CHRIST, MIRACLES AND REVELATIONS. FR. PASTELLS ARGUED STRONGLY
AND PASSIONATELY, BUT IN THE END, JOSE RIZAL DECIDED TO PUT AN END TO
THEIR CORRESPONDENCE.

JOSE RIZALS LETTER TO FR. PASTELLS

WITH EXTREME POLITENESS, BUT NOT WITHOUT A TINGE OF IRONY, RIZAL
WROTE:
FR. PASTELLS,
IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, I THINK I DETECT IN YOUR LETTERS WHICH I EVER
ESTEEM AND IN THE DIGNIFIED TONE TO WHICH YOU WRITE, A CERTAIN
IMPATIENCE CAUSED PERHAPS BY THE SHORTNESS OF MY MIND, WHICH IS
RATHER SLOW IN ATTAINING ITSELF TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING, OR PERHAPS
BY THE PITY WHICH MY RELIGIOUS SITUATION, VIEWED FROM YOUR VANTAGE
POINT, ARISES IN YOU
JOSE RIZAL

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

IN PLAIN WORDS, THE PRIEST WAS DISTRESSED BY RIZALS ERRORS, AND
WAS CERTAINLY WORRIED FOR HIS SOUL. RIZAL CONTINUED
YOUR REVERENCE SAYS THAT WE OUGHT TO HOPE THAT GOD WILL
RESTORE THE FAITH IN WHICH I LACK. LET US THEN HOPE THAT HE WILL DO
SO, FOR THIS MATTER SEEMS TO ME TO BE BEYOND OUR NATURAL
CAPABILITIES. I AM NO LONGER ABLE TO COMPREHEND ANY OF YOUR
ARGUMENTS AND APPRECIATE THEIR MERITS.

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

CAN WE IMAGINE AN UNCOMPREHENDING RIZAL? HE KNEW HIS PHILOSOPHY AND
THEOLOGY, YET HE TOLD HIS SPIRITUAL MENTOR THAT HE COULD NOT
COMPREHEND WHAT HE HAD CERTAINLY HEARD BEFORE. THAT HE NO LONGER
APPRECIATED THEM IS MORE LIKELY.

ABOUT THE ONLY THING THE CORRESPONDENCES COULD AGREE ON IS THE

EXISTENCE OF GOD. HOWEVER, RIZAL COULD NEITHER BELIEVE NOR
DISBELIEVE IN THE QUALITIES MANY ATTRIBUTE TO GOD, AND I CAN ONLY SMILE
AT THE DEFINITIONS AND ELUCUBRATIONS OF THEOLOGIANS AND
PHILOSOPHERS CONCERNING THIS INEFFABLE AND INSCRUTABLE BEING.

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

THERE WERE ATTEMPTS TO SAVE RIZALS SOUL. THE FIRST ATTEMPT WAS ON RIZALS
FIRST RETURN TO THE COUNTRY IN 1887 WHEN THE JESUITS RAISED THE QUESTION OF
HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. RIZAL SAID THAT IT WAS USELESS SINCE HE HAD LONG AGO
LOST HIS FAITH, THE THIRD ATTEMPT WAS IN HIS PRISON CELL IN FORT SANTIAGO. IT
WAS ALSO A FAILURE, IF WE CONSIDER THAT RIZAL DID NOT RETRACT HIS WRITINGS,
OR WHATEVER IT WAS THE AUTHORITIES WANTED HIM TO RETRACT

ALL THIS LEAVES IN DOUBT, RIZALS SPIRITUAL STATE AT THE TIME OF HIS EXECUTION.
HE DIED A DEIST, A BELIEVER IF ONE COULD CALL IT THAT, IN NATURES GOD, WHICH
WAS THE FASHION IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTMENT.

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

HOWEVER, THERE WAS A FOURTH ATTEMPT. IT IS IN FR. BONOANS THEOLOGICAL
CRITIQUE. HE WANTED TO SAVE RIZALS SOUL BY SHOWING THAT IF RIZAL HAD ERRED,
HE DID OUT OF A SINCERE HEART. IN OTHER WORDS, THE HERO IS SAVED FROM THE
POINT OF VIEW OF OUR TIME. FATHER PASTELLS COULD NOT HELP BELIEVING THE WAY
HE DID BECAUSE OF THE DOCTRINE THEN PREVALENT, AND JOSE RIZAL COULD NOT
HELP BELIEVING THE WAY HE DID BECAUSE OF HIS CIRCUMSTANCES.

THIS IS HISTORICISM, THAT IS, JUDGING THE PAST BY THE STANDARDS OF THE
PRESENT. HOWEVER, IN CHRISTIAN VIEW OF HISTORY, THE METHOD IS NOT
HISTORICIST, FOR IT SPEAKS OF GODS TIME AND NOT MANS TIME. IN OTHER WORDS,
A REVIEW OF THE CASE SHOWS RIZAL TO HAVE DIED A CHRISTIA, EVEN A CATHOLIC,
EVEN IF HIS FAITH WAS NOT A CATHOLIC.

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

FATHER BONOAN GIVE FULL CREDENCE RIZALS EXPLANATION OF HIS ATTACK ON

RELIGION. I WAS AIMING AT THE FRIARS, RIZAL WROTE, BUT SINCE THE FRIARS
WERE USING RELIGION NOT ONLY AS A SHIELD, BUT ALSO AS A WEAPON,
PROTECTION, CITADEL, ARMOR, ETC., I FELT OBLIGED TO ATTACK THEIR FALSE
AND SUPERSTITIOUS RELIGION IN ORDER TO DO BATTLE WITH THE ENEMY.

OUR SHORT EXCURSION INTO RIZALS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR UNBELIEF BRINGS

HOME TO US THE QUALITY OF PERSONAL CONVICTION, PARTICULARLY WHEN IT
RUNS AGAINST THE MAINSTREAM OR MAJORITY OPINION. IT IS NOT THAT THE
FEW ARE ALWAYS RIGHT AND THE MANY ALWAYS WRONG, EXCEPT THAT THE
MANY ARE STRONGER. BUT THE HONOR, IN THE LONG RUN, SOMETIMES BELONGS
TO THOSE WHO DARE TO STAND UP AGAINST THE MAINSTREAMPROVIDED THEY
HAVE LONG SINCE DIED AND THEIR MARTYRDOM BENEFITED THE MANY.

IS RIZALS SOUL IN HEAVEN?

IN OUR WALKING WITH HEROES, OR IN EXAMINING THEIR LIVES, IT IS PRUDENT
TO LEAVE OUT CERTAIN AREAS OF THEIR INNERMOST LIVES. LET US
CONCENTRATE ON THEIR GREAT DEEDS AND LEAVE OUT THE REST. BY OUR
DIFFERENT LIGHTS, RELIGIOUS OR OTHERWISE, OUR HEROES ARE NOT PERFECT.
THEY ARE ONLY GREAT. THAT IS GOOD ENOUGH

LET US LEAVE, IN FAITH, AS RIZAL TOLD PASTELS, CERTAIN THINGS TO GOD.

RIZALS SOUL COULD NOT HAVE BEEN SAVED, IN THE CONTEXT OF HIS TIMES. WE
DOO NOT KNOW ABOUT GODS TIME. DO NOT BE DISMAYED, ALTHOUGH HE DID
NOT DIE CHRISTIAN, RIZALS SOUL IS IN HEAVEN, IF THERE IS HEAVEN.