IT’S traditional in Catholic schools
and other schools
inspired by Christian faith to start the school year with a Mass of
the Holy Spirit. I suppose the idea is to entrust the whole
educational effort to the Holy Spirit who will guide us to the whole
truth.
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed
Trinity, the subsistent bond of love between the Father and Son, and
whose mission it is to be with us always, since man, according to
Christian faith, lives a shared life with God always.
The Holy Spirit therefore is the ultimate principle of
life and love and everything else—knowledge, wisdom, understanding,
counsel, piety, fortitude, fear of the Lord—proper to human and
Christian life.
We just cannot live by bread alone, nor by some brilliant
ideas alone, things that derive from us or from something else, but
not from God. We have to live in the Holy Spirit.
This is a truth that needs to be spread around quite
vigorously. There is a steady trend to remove religion from life, from
one’s work, business and politics, and even from education.
In its place, some ideology is used to inspire these human
activities. If not that, then some crude but generalized attitude of
practical atheism, agnosticism, relativism, naturalism, rationalism,
etc. This phenomenon, I’m afraid, is heading to disaster.
So, I had my share of saying these Masses in some schools.
In each of them, I tried to encourage everyone to be aware of the Holy
Spirit not only in their studies, but in fact in their whole life, in
every aspect, situation, circumstance, state of life, etc.
The Holy Spirit is actually everywhere. In the Gospel, we
are told that the “Spirit breaths where he will, and you hear his
voice but you know not where he comes, and where he goes.” (Jn 3,8) He
is everywhere—in one’s conscience, in the Church, sacraments, doctrine
of Christian faith, signs of the times, etc.
Of course, in the school setting, this awareness and
ability to deal with the Holy Spirit would have its basic foundation
in the study and mastery of the doctrine of the Christian faith. And
so, everyone in the school, staff, teachers and students, should try
his best to take his doctrinal studies seriously.
We need to understand that the Christian faith is always
relevant in all aspects of life. If we still do not see the connection
and the relation between our faith and our concerns, for example, then
we have a problem to solve. The Christian faith is not just a written
word. It is the living word of God as well as a life-giving word.
The task, of course, is not easy. It will involve a
continuing effort, ever deepening and extending in depth and scope. It
will ask for an increasingly concerted effort as well, since this
thing just cannot be done alone or by a few. Indeed, the faith is not
just a personal, private affair. It needs to be made a culture.
We should try to avoid getting stuck at the kindergarten
level, just memorizing and mouthing things we hardly understand, much
less, use in real-life situations. We need to know how the faith
figures prominently in our daily affairs.
Every situation in life carries with it a divine message
which we should try to discern and act upon. We just cannot approach
these situations purely from the point of view of economics, sociology
or politics alone. God is always in the middle of things.
One of the tragedies of our times is to witness alumni of
Catholic schools involved in campaigns that go against Christian faith
and morals. Nowadays, for example, we have groups like Catholics for
RH, Catholics for Free Choice.
It would not be farfetched to expect groups like Catholics
for divorce, or for abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, etc.
These are clear indications that the Christian faith was not properly
taught, studied and assimilated in the schools.
It’s not that the schools should manufacture Christian
robots. Nothing can be further than what Christian faith demands. But
things should be done in such a way that Christian faith is learned
and lived freely and lovingly.
The challenge, problems and difficulties will be enormous.
But if we humble ourselves and beg our Lord for help, we know nothing
is impossible. We need to work on our humility to keep our learning
and living of our faith going. The Holy Spirit comes to us to the
extent that we humble ourselves.
inspired by Christian faith to start the school year with a Mass of
the Holy Spirit. I suppose the idea is to entrust the whole
educational effort to the Holy Spirit who will guide us to the whole
truth.
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed
Trinity, the subsistent bond of love between the Father and Son, and
whose mission it is to be with us always, since man, according to
Christian faith, lives a shared life with God always.
The Holy Spirit therefore is the ultimate principle of
life and love and everything else—knowledge, wisdom, understanding,
counsel, piety, fortitude, fear of the Lord—proper to human and
Christian life.
We just cannot live by bread alone, nor by some brilliant
ideas alone, things that derive from us or from something else, but
not from God. We have to live in the Holy Spirit.
This is a truth that needs to be spread around quite
vigorously. There is a steady trend to remove religion from life, from
one’s work, business and politics, and even from education.
In its place, some ideology is used to inspire these human
activities. If not that, then some crude but generalized attitude of
practical atheism, agnosticism, relativism, naturalism, rationalism,
etc. This phenomenon, I’m afraid, is heading to disaster.
So, I had my share of saying these Masses in some schools.
In each of them, I tried to encourage everyone to be aware of the Holy
Spirit not only in their studies, but in fact in their whole life, in
every aspect, situation, circumstance, state of life, etc.
The Holy Spirit is actually everywhere. In the Gospel, we
are told that the “Spirit breaths where he will, and you hear his
voice but you know not where he comes, and where he goes.” (Jn 3,8) He
is everywhere—in one’s conscience, in the Church, sacraments, doctrine
of Christian faith, signs of the times, etc.
Of course, in the school setting, this awareness and
ability to deal with the Holy Spirit would have its basic foundation
in the study and mastery of the doctrine of the Christian faith. And
so, everyone in the school, staff, teachers and students, should try
his best to take his doctrinal studies seriously.
We need to understand that the Christian faith is always
relevant in all aspects of life. If we still do not see the connection
and the relation between our faith and our concerns, for example, then
we have a problem to solve. The Christian faith is not just a written
word. It is the living word of God as well as a life-giving word.
The task, of course, is not easy. It will involve a
continuing effort, ever deepening and extending in depth and scope. It
will ask for an increasingly concerted effort as well, since this
thing just cannot be done alone or by a few. Indeed, the faith is not
just a personal, private affair. It needs to be made a culture.
We should try to avoid getting stuck at the kindergarten
level, just memorizing and mouthing things we hardly understand, much
less, use in real-life situations. We need to know how the faith
figures prominently in our daily affairs.
Every situation in life carries with it a divine message
which we should try to discern and act upon. We just cannot approach
these situations purely from the point of view of economics, sociology
or politics alone. God is always in the middle of things.
One of the tragedies of our times is to witness alumni of
Catholic schools involved in campaigns that go against Christian faith
and morals. Nowadays, for example, we have groups like Catholics for
RH, Catholics for Free Choice.
It would not be farfetched to expect groups like Catholics
for divorce, or for abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, etc.
These are clear indications that the Christian faith was not properly
taught, studied and assimilated in the schools.
It’s not that the schools should manufacture Christian
robots. Nothing can be further than what Christian faith demands. But
things should be done in such a way that Christian faith is learned
and lived freely and lovingly.
The challenge, problems and difficulties will be enormous.
But if we humble ourselves and beg our Lord for help, we know nothing
is impossible. We need to work on our humility to keep our learning
and living of our faith going. The Holy Spirit comes to us to the
extent that we humble ourselves.
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