FAITH, LOVE, TIME

AND DR. LAZARO

By: Gregorio C. Brillantes
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TEXT
 A story about a father who wants his son to
be a doctor like him. But Ben (his son) wants
to serve God. He wants to be a priest
someday. In his profession Dr. lazaro lose his
faith to God. And by the time he sees his son
baptizing the weak year old baby, the faith
of Ben open his faith to God again.
 won 2nd place in Carlos Palanca Memorial
Awards
AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND
a Palanca Award Hall of Famer
 a multi-awarded fiction wirter
is one of the Philippines’ most
popular writers in English
 he obtained his Litt. B. degree
in Ateneo de Manila University
 he also published a short story
entitled “The Distance to
Andromeda”
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
 an endeavor
 an ongoing endeavor
 its goal is growth in our relationship with God
DIFFERENCE OF SPIRITUALITY
FROM RELIGION
 Religion
 commitment or devotion to religious faith or
observance
 a personal set or institutionalized system of
religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
 a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to
with ardor and faith
 Spirituality
 sensitivityor attachment to religious values
 the quality or state of being spiritual
SPIRITUALITY AND THE
FILIPINO
 Our thoughts and actions, the way we look at
things, and how we deal with fellow human
beings are somehow influenced by our belief
in a supernatural being called God.
 Our faith in God gives us the ability to
weather any storm in our lives.
 As people, it is quite easy for us to accept
life’s many uncertainties.
 Filipinos can be too dependent on faith.
 Filipinos can also have a very limited concept
of spirituality.
EXISTENTIALISM
 J.P. Sartre defines as “the categorical denial
of the existence of God and of all spiritual
reality.”
 Two Kinds of Existentialsim:
 Theists
 Atheists
 Simple distinction between the two is that the former
accepts the idea that there is God, and the latter does
not.
 It became quite the rage after World War II
but it was eventually eclipsed by
structuralism in later years.
EXISTENTIALISM
 It subscribes to the idea that life is
meaningless.
 Existentialists also believe that we are the
masters of our own fate and that there is no
other world; everything is of the moment.
 The pessimism of Existentialism was
counterpoised by Catholic Existentialism
which posits that is only when we go through
hell that we are able to find God.
SYNOPSIS
 An aging medical doctor and his son are called in
the middle of the night to minister to a poor family
whose newborn baby has a terminal case of
tetanus. The journey towards the family's home,
however, seems to take on a different level when
it also becomes a spiritual journey, most especially
for Dr. Lazaro, whose beliefs about and disbelief in
God, faith, love, and time seem to taunt him with
a pressurized intensity-and all because he sees a
wide chasm between him and Ben, his son, in
terms of how they see life: He has lost so much
faith in God and life, while Ben-intent on becoming
a priest-seems so infuriatingly fresh and positive.