Eternity-ready

THE other day, a very accomplished businessman talked to

me about preparing the students of CITE to be future-ready. I was

intrigued by that expression, though I immediately got what he meant.

And a thought started to stir my mind.

  

            Indeed, we have to prepare the young ones for the many

exciting developments, challenges and opportunities that we can expect

in the future. At the rate things are going now, the future should be

very exciting! Thanks to God, we already have a good glimpse of how

things will be a few years from now.

   

            We need to equip the young ones with the proper training

and the relevant skills which should not be in the technical level

alone. At the moment, we can expect the future to be more complex,

requiring a greater maturity in the people, greater grasp of

interdisciplinary sciences, etc.

  

            It’s amazing that many of the youngsters, especially those

coming from the low-income families, actually carry a heavy baggage of

problems, emotional, psychological, social. They appear to be victims

of all kinds of unresolved problems in the family and society in

general.

  

            Many find it hard, for example, to relate with others in a

meaningful and stable way. They tend to revolve around the superficial

level. It’s quite obvious that many do not have the basic virtues of

hope and patience, fortitude and prudence, temperance and order. It’s

indeed a tall order to tackle all these challenges, given the limited

time we can spend with them.

  

            But these issues just have to be faced. They need to be

resolved properly because these will just clamp these young people

down in their pursuit for a successful and happy life. These

youngsters really need to be accompanied and mentored, their talents

and potentials identified and developed. They need to be stably

motivated, until they can become self-propelled.

  

            It’s very moving to note that many of these students

actually have great hidden talents that need to be developed. They are

actually a rich ore that need to be refined and polished. But they

often have very low self-esteem precisely because of the load of

problems they carry. This is where the concern for motivating them has

to begin.

  

            That is why I often tell them to strengthen their belief

in God as the common father of all of us, irrespective of whether one

is rich or poor. Once they get it, then they can start discovering the

many other wonderful truths about themselves that are useful for their

own development. They would know which things to pay attention to and

which to ignore.

  

            They would know what is of absolute value and what only

has relative value. They would have a more global picture of life in

general, aware always of the ever-abiding providence of God. This

would inject in them a lot of optimism in spite of the difficulties,

challenges and possible mistakes of the present.

   

            In this regard, it is important that these youngsters know

how to pray, how to strengthen their faith, hope and charity, how to

relate everything in their earthly life to the ultimate eternal life.

They have to be eternity-ready, not just future-ready, with the

figurative go-bag always by their side.

  

            This is not going to be an easy job. But it can be done.

In fact, it has to be done, no matter what the cost!

No rights, just duties

A PERSON who is truly in love with his beloved will

happily invoke his right to reject all his rights and just assume all

the duties toward his beloved. This is the ultimate language of love

where one just gives himself completely to his beloved without

expecting any return.

   

            We have to aim at that kind of love because that is the

love that Christ himself has shown and has given to us. In fact, he

commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. And we

know that his love for us goes all the way to giving up his life on

the cross, assuming all our sins and giving us a way to extricate

ourselves from the grip of our sinfulness.

  

            It is a completely gratuitous love, a love given without

measure and calculation. And the curious thing about this love is that

what seems to get lost by living it or what we give up by loving, will

actually gain for us a lot more than what is lost or given up.

  

            Christ reassured us of this when he said that when we give

up even the most precious things in our life, we would actually regain

them a hundredfold. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but

whoever loses his life more me will find it.” (Mt 16,25) And he walked

his talk precisely by resurrecting three days after his most

ignominious death.

  

            We have to feel reassured of the effectiveness of this

kind of love. We have to convince ourselves that it is all worthwhile

to discard our rights and just think of duties with respect to loving.

In this way, we live in ourselves what Christ said of his own self:

“The Son of Man came to serve and not to be served.”

  

            A strong faith, of course, is needed here. And we just

have to make that faith filter down to our heart and emotions so that

we can get excited with the self-surrender involved in loving and that

we find meaning in it.

  

            Let’s find ways everyday to serve. Perhaps one good way is

to start the day, as we wake up, by saying, “Serviam,” I will serve,

addressing it to God and to everyone, whoever he may be. We should try

not to make distinctions as to whom to serve.

   

            Obviously, our serving others, which is the reason for

discarding all our rights and just assuming duties, should be done in

the context of God’s law of love, that can lend itself in different

ways to the needs of all kinds of people, whether they deserve it or

not, etc.

  

            Sooner or later, we will notice that instead of depleting

ourselves of energy, we will find ourselves filled with an unspeakable

kind of satisfaction. Indeed, Christ’s words about losing in order to

gain, really works.

  

            In a sense, we live out the following words of Christ:

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just

a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn 12,24)

We should not be afraid to lose our rights. Just fulfill the duty to

love everyone as Christ has loved and continues to love us!

Building a healthy self-esteem

WE should be concerned also about this matter. We cannot

and should not take this for granted. Many are now the problems

arising from this area of concern, and they are getting worse by the

day. We need to act!

            I notice that even among young people today, the lack of a

healthy self-esteem is growing. Many of them are already experiencing

depression and extreme forms of discouragement. Some of them have gone

to the extent of inflicting self-harm and becoming suicidal even.

Others react the other way by becoming wild and violent.

  

            Still many others get imprisoned in their own shells due

to forms of shyness, fear, shame, and a very low regard of their own

selves. It is really a pity because if we get to know them better, we

also get convinced that they actually possess good potentials for

greatness. Something is keeping them enchained. We need to free them.

  

            It’s good that young people are really attended to very

closely. We need to get to know them and nourish their spiritual,

mental and emotional life properly. Everyone, of course, has his own

share of defects and weaknesses. But these are no reasons at all to

lose confidence in oneself. If anything at all, these can be used as

an occasion to build a healthy self-esteem.

  

            A healthy self-esteem is not simply a function of good

things in life. It’s not just a matter of having the good fortune of

being rich, talented, intelligent, famous, etc. It’s not even a matter

of temperament. A self-esteem based on these foundations is deceptive,

will not last long and cannot cope with all the challenges of life.

              A healthy self-esteem is simply a matter of being

invincibly aware that no matter what human condition we may be in, we

are all children of God, object of his unfailing love, for whom God

became man to save us by dying on the cross.

             This is the very core of a healthy self-esteem. We need to

embed this truth deeply in the mind and heart of the people,

especially the young ones. This may not be very easy to do, since for

many reason, people can resist this truth. But if we are persistent,

patient and inventive, I am sure we can make it.

  

            The important thing to do is to really reach out to

everyone, get to know them well, accompanying them spiritually,

intellectually and emotionally. We need to reassure them always,

motivating them to do what they are supposed to do, helping them to

cope with their difficulties, defects and mistakes.

             We have to reassure them of the effectiveness of all the

basic and indispensable spiritual and supernatural means, as well as

help them acquire the appropriate attitudes, skills, virtues that go

into the making of a healthy self-esteem.

  

            Once they get it, they will exude a stable self-confidence

that would enable them do their responsibilities whatever the

conditions may be. There will be poise, optimism and realism, joy and

peace, fruitfulness and productivity in their lives.

             Ultimately, they will manage to relate themselves properly

to God and to others, always thankful for everything! We have to

devise strategies to build a healthy self-esteem in everyone, starting

with those by our side.

Focused, engaging, agile

IN all our dealings with the others, which one way or

another should never lose the apostolic dimension, we should try our

best to be laser-focused, very engaging and agile in handling any

situation those dealings might produce.

   

            We have to remember that since we are Christians, we

cannot but be apostles also—with eagerness always to do apostolate.

Apostolate for us should not just be an intermittent concern. It is a

permanent activity we do, an inherent part of our Christian identity.

We just don’t do apostolate. We are apostles, first and last.

  

            Toward this end, we need to be truly identified with

Christ, well-versed in his teaching, and willing to follow Christ

irrespective of how our life and concerns turn. We should be willing

to follow him till the end, till death, willing to deny ourselves and

carry the cross, as he himself said.

   

            That should be our main focus, and everything else will

just follow as a consequence. If we have him in our mind and heart, we

cannot but have a universal love for everybody, irrespective of how

they are toward us, whether they are friendly or unfriendly, etc.

Christ commanded us to love everybody, including our enemies.

  

            We should try to do everything for us to be able to engage

ourselves with everybody else. To be sure, it would greatly help if we

develop our social skills, if we keep an open-minded outlook, if we

show warmth towards all, with a smiling friendliness to boot.

  

            For this to happen, I imagine that what we need to do also

is to forget ourselves and to adapt the mind and heart of Christ

instead. That way we can be full of mercy and compassion, patience and

understanding. We don’t waste time getting entangled in our

unavoidable differences and conflicts among ourselves as well as in

our own personal problems.

  

            That was what St. Paul said of Christ himself. “He emptied

himself, taking the form of a servant…” (Phil 2,7) We have to

understand that by emptying ourselves like Christ, we put ourselves in

condition to serve the others.

  

            We have to find ways to foster interaction among

ourselves. We don’t wait for these opportunities to interact with

others to come. We look for them. We create them. That is why we need

to be inventive and creative also. We should not allow ourselves to be

fully at the mercy of events. We should try to create, shape and

direct the events of our life.

  

            And when unexpected things come, let’s be agile to handle

them. Somehow, we should expect the unexpected and the surprises. They

are part of our life. We cannot avoid them, and so we just have to be

prepared for them as much as we can.

  

            The important thing, as mentioned before, is to be

laser-focused on Christ. He will provide us with everything we need in

making ourselves a true apostle of his. Whatever the circumstance,

whether it is favorable or not, we somehow would be able to do

apostolate if we have Christ in our mind and heart. We avoid getting

lost or confused in maze of things.

The best security

WE worry about all kinds of security. And it’s all

understandable. We need them for some peace of mind. We want to have

security from physical harm, security in our job so that we can have

steady source of income, security in some unavoidable conditions like

old age, sickness, etc.

  

            We cannot overemphasize the effort we exert to attain as

much security as possible. And it’s good that we already some

significant structures to provide all these kinds of security.

  

            But we have to remember that the most fundamental and

indispensable security we can and should have is that of maximizing as

much as we can our faith, hope and charity in God and in others. This

is the kind of security that underwrites all the others. Whatever

happens, it’s in our faith, hope and charity that will bring us afloat

to our final and definitive destination.

  

            As St. Paul would put it, “I have learned, in whatever

state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to

abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of

facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in

him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4,11-13)

   

            Of course, this fundamental spiritual and supernatural

sense of security should never be made to undermine all the effort we

need to attain the necessary security in the temporal and worldly

sense.

  

            We have to guard ourselves from lapsing into some kind of

superstitious and fideist attitude that precisely relies exclusively

on one’s so-called faith without the corresponding human effort to put

that faith into practice. We qualify the word, faith, with

“so-called,” because a faith treated that way is no faith at all.

  

            This anomaly can happen just as much as that of the other

extreme, when we would just rely solely on our human powers without

any recourse to faith, hope and charity. Yes, it’s true that we should

try our best to be self-reliant, but our self-reliance should not come

at the expense of our absolute dependence on God.

  

            We need both. The perfect balance is when we can truly say

that we depend on God 100% and also depend on ourselves 100%. It’s not

a 50%-50% proposition, nor any combination that divides the 100%

ideal.

  

            Thus, both our spiritual and supernatural life, on one

hand, and our natural life of work and human ingenuity, on the other,

should be at their best state. Everything has to be done to achieve

that ideal.

  

            In the school where I work, this is the thrust I am

pushing with the help of all the other teachers and mentors. The

students have to be trained to be both spiritual and practical. And so

far, my experience has been that the students have a deep stock of

potentials in both the spiritual and the practical.

  

            If dealt with properly, the students correspond well to

the challenges not only in the school but most especially all the

challenges in life in general. They possess a deep sense of security

that is above the ups and downs of earthly life. No matter what

happens, they can afford to be at peace and to be certain of where

they are going.

Contented with what we have

WHILE we are always a work in progress, always moving on

and pursuing our dreams and aspirations, we should not forget that we

have to be contented and thankful with what we already have and

accomplished. Let’s count our blessings, and avoiding complacency,

let’s make use of what we have to get to our dreams and aspirations.

  

            Somehow this is the message of the gospel of the 25th

Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, which is about the parable of the

landowner hiring workers at different hours for the usual daily wage.

(Mt 20,1-16)

   

            The worker hired at the first hour compared himself with

the one hired at the last hour and thought that he would be given more

than what the last worker received, since he obviously worked longer

than the other.

  

            But the thing was that the wage was fixed and agreed upon

before the first-hour worker was taken in. He ended up complaining

against the magnanimity and generosity of the landowner who just

wanted to give the same amount to the workers who only worked for one

hour.

  

            We should refrain from comparing ourselves with others to

the point that we fall into envy and later fault God himself for not

giving us what we want. That would be a disaster!

  

            God has his reasons to apportion his graces and blessings

in different ways and amount to each one of us. Ours is simply to ask

for these graces and to make use of them as best as we can. We should

not waste time comparing what we have with what the others have

received from God.

  

            If ever we have to consider what the others have, it is

for the purpose of establishing how what we have can work in tandem

with what the others have. Since we always live in some form of

communion, we cannot help but work together with others, harmonizing

our different gifts for the good of all.

  

            And so, we have to slay envy everytime it makes us its

port of call. We have to let it know immediately that it is unwelcome.

And the way to do it is to go to Christ immediately, praying,

sacrificing, and reminding ourselves of Christ’s example and teaching.

  

            We need to remember that we are all brothers and sisters

in Christ, however we are placed and situated in life. Not everyone

can be bright, talented, successful, etc. Some have to do the menial

job, take care of the little things, be at the background.

  

            We should not feel inferior to anyone because we are all

children of God, equally loved by him although shown in different

ways. Everyone has the same dignity and vocation, though lived and

pursued in different ways.

  

            We have to love everyone as Christ has loved all of us,

without exception. He even told us to love our enemies. But given our

human weakness, we need to be more pro-active in living out what St.

Paul once advised: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but

with humility of mind regard one another as more important than

yourselves.” (Phil 2,3)

  

            It’s important that we understand this piece of Pauline

advice well and let’s be comforted by these words of his:

              “God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the

wise,” he says. “God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the

strong.” (1 Cor 1,27)

  

            In this regard, we have to be most careful in handling our

intentions. They play a strategic role in our life, for how and where

we direct them would determine whether we want to be with God and

simply be with our own selves.

  

        Our intentions express who and where in the end we want to

be. Do we choose God, or do we simply choose ourselves, or the world

in general? It’s actually a choice between good and evil.

           Even if we are not aware, or refuse to be aware, of this

choice, which is usually the case, the choice between God and us,

between good and evil, is always made with every human act we do.

   

            We need to realize then that we have to take utmost care

of our intention, making it as explicit as possible, and honing it to

get engaged with its proper and ultimate object who is God.

             We should try our best to shun being simply casual or

cavalier about this responsibility. We can easily play around with it,

since intentions are almost invariably hidden from public knowledge.

Trivializing the sacred

WE have to be most careful with this possibility which,

sad to say, is becoming a common occurrence. We have to distinguish

between the sacred and the mundane, and even if both categories come

from God, there however are distinctive qualities of each one that

should be respected and never confused.

   

            The sacred are those things that are related directly to

God—his words, his sacraments, his Church. We cannot treat them as if

we are simply handling ordinary, worldly things like our work, our

business, our politics, etc.

  

            With the sacred, all we have to do is utmost reverence,

putting all our faith in them, knowing that through natural and human

elements, we are touching the supernatural dimension of our life, we

are touching the very life of God.

  

            This reality should never be lost in our consciousness.

Whenever we get involved in the sacred, as when we attend Mass or go

to confession, or read the gospel, etc., we need to make many acts of

faith, hope and charity to be able to capture the wonderful reality of

being intimate with God.

  

            We have to be careful because nowadays, with all the

galloping pace of our earthly concerns and developments, we can easily

end up treating the sacred things as one more item to be attended to,

often with a cursory attitude.

  

            We need to put all our mind and heart, all our senses and

faculties into the celebration of these sacred things. Our whole

selves should be involved there. We have to be aware with the reality

of who we are dealing with in these sacred acts. We are not dealing

with people only, much less with things only. We are directly dealing

with God!

  

            It therefore stands to reason that before we get involved

in these sacred activities, we prepare ourselves properly. We have to

stir up our faith and devotion, priming our heart and mind to attune

themselves with the reality involved.

  

            That is why we need to spend time preparing ourselves

before the celebration of the liturgy, especially the Holy Mass. This

is especially so with priests. We, priests, have to spend some time in

prayer before celebrating the Mass to see to it that we are assuming

the very name and person of Christ who is both priest and victim, the

one who both offers and is offered.

            It raises some concern to note that some people have

complained about priests treating the Mass as if it’s just one more

item in their daily routine. They seem to see the Mass as one

bureaucratic activity of the priest. They even go to the extent of

saying that some priests have converted the Mass more into a show

rather than the sacrament of the passion and death of Christ.

  

            Of course, it goes without saying that many people have

also lost the sense of the sacred when they go to Mass. They go there

more to meet some social obligation and expectations. There’s

definitely a need for more catechesis regarding the Mass and the whole

issue about how to handle the sacred.

   

            Do we know how to make the sign of the cross, or a most

reverent genuflection before the Blessed Sacrament, for example?

The fullness of our brotherhood

WE are all brothers and sisters for the simple reason that

we are all children of God. Unless we relate our relationship with one

another with our relationship with God can we come to that conclusion

that we indeed form one family, committed to love one another

irrespective of whatever.

  

            Otherwise, our attitude and behavior toward all the others

would simply be constrained by the many conditionings here on

earth—biological, cultural, historical, social, political, etc. These

factors, while having their legitimate value and role in our life, do

not capture the whole truth about our relationship with one another.

  

            Of course, to be aware of this wonderful, fundamental

truth about ourselves, we need to stir ourselves constantly by the

impulses of our faith. We need to do this to ward off the danger of

getting so familiar with the others as to fail to recognize the

fullness of our brotherhood and to behave accordingly.

  

            We need to see others the way Christ sees all of us. It is

he who shows us how to treat one another. He commanded us to love one

another as he himself has loved us. And his love that went all the way

to offering his life for all of us.

  

            We have to be most wary of our tendency to take the others

for granted, considering them only physically or socially or

politically, etc.  Let’s remember what happened to Christ when he

visited his own people in the synagogue. (cfr. Mt 13,54-58)

  

            They did not realize that Christ was the very Son of God

who came to save all of us. They were scandalized by the many good

things that he did and said, since they considered him only too

humanly. “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named

Mary…”  They could not consider him beyond those human categories.

This is a classic example of the saying, “Familiarity breeds

contempt.”

  

            This can happen to us in our relationship with the others.

We can look at them only too humanly that we fail to realize that each

one of us, no matter what human condition one is in, is a child of

God, an image and likeness of God, who may have sinned, but who is

also redeemed by Christ. Christ died for each one of us!

  

            We need to train ourselves to consider the others beyond

our human categories and natural conditionings. And, of course, the

model for this is none other than Christ himself.

  

            We have to train ourselves to consider the others beyond

our unavoidable differences, let alone, the mistakes and offenses that

we can commit among ourselves. Each one of us has an intrinsic dignity

that is above the sum of all our thoughts, words and deeds.

            Even if a person is completely dumb or is a criminal, he

is still a child of God unless that person himself knowingly,

willingly and therefore culpably disowns God. Otherwise, he is still

our brother whom we have to love with the love of Christ. It’s a love

that understands everyone, is willing to bear all the weaknesses and

sins of men, is eager to offer forgiveness, etc.

  

            This is the fullness of brotherhood that we are supposed

to live among ourselves!

Keeping pace

SENIOR citizens like myself may start feeling that our

lives are already made and that there is not much more that can be

done in this life. In a sense, we have reason to think and feel that

way. But in another sense, we should be careful of being trapped by

that attitude, because whether we like it or not, there is actually

still a lot more to be done and should be done.

  

            We just have to keep on moving, keeping pace with today’s

developments that definitely are galloping like mad. It may not be

easy, but we all know that one important law of our life is that not

all things are easy, and the difficult ones are actually the ones that

usually matter. We should be game enough to play and dance the many

twists and turns of life.

            The other day, I was in the company of young men, usually

labeled as yuppies, who in their young age appear to have already

achieved a lot. They were talking about things that sounded too

technical to me.

  

            I was very impressed, and I suddenly remembered those

words from the song, “What a wonderful world”: I see babies cry / and

I watched them grow / They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know…

   

            Just the same, we have to try to keep pace with the new

developments without forgetting to impart the many precious lessons we

have also learned in our own time. The inter-generational relation

should be kept alive and vibrant. A lot of good for all parties

involved can be derived from such effort.

  

            In this regard, I guess the initiative should come from

us, the elderly ones. Instead of distancing ourselves from the young

ones, we should approach them and ask them to teach us the new

technologies. I suppose they would feel good to do that favor to their

elders.

  

            It’s in this kind of situation that while the young ones

can teach us the modern technologies, we can also show them in

different ways the more important values that should guide the young

ones in their life.

   

            In that way, the journey of life becomes more meaningful

and fruitful. We avoid that some people get behind in the real march

of progress, which is not simply toward more earthly welfare, wealth

and power but more toward our heavenly goal.

   

            This will require openness of mind and heart among us, the

seniors, continuing to humble ourselves so as to be of service to the

young ones. We need to try to learn their language and ways, even if

we ourselves have our own. We should try to avoid getting siloed in

the culture of our own generation. We have to learn to reach out, to

network with them.

  

            We should be thrilled when they show us the many

possibilities of the digital world, but let’s also thrill them with

the real challenges and adventure of the spiritual and moral life. I

am sure they will appreciate that if we know how to do our part.

  

            That’s why we should make sure that our own personal life

is in order, one that is solidly built upon the foundations of the

essential values and virtues in life.

With the gentleness and patience of Christ

THOSE are words of St. Paul who expressed the ideal way of how he

should preach. (2 Cor 10,1) He was aware that with his strong

character, he tended to preach like a bully.

  

“I beg you,” he said, “that when I come I may not have to be as bold

as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the

standards of this world.” He had to struggle with that personal

predicament of his. And, boy, what effort he made to tackle that

problem of his!

  

We obviously have a lot of differences—in temperament, in speaking

style, in opinions, in personal tastes, in cultures, etc. This is a

fact of life which we have to know how to live with.

  

Like Christ and with his grace, we have to learn how to adapt

ourselves to the others without getting lost in the essential by

getting entangled in the incidentals. Like St. Paul, we should try our

best to be “all things to all men” for the sake of human redemption.

That is really what matters.

  

In a seminar that I attended sometime ago, one of the speakers had a

style that I considered as that of a bully. The softest tone of his

voice sounded like a thunderbolt to me. It was strident and irritating

to the ears.

  

Worse, his discussion was more argumentative than encouraging and

constructive. And I felt that he tended to be finding fault in other

people or some events, and rather self-praising, putting himself often

as an example of something. At least to me, he gave the impression he

was know-it-all guy, and his words sounded so final that left no room

for other and even contrary opinions.

  

How uncomfortable I felt, at first. But later on, I reminded myself

that something good can still be learned from a speaker who can be

considered as bad, ill-prepared or ill-mannered. God is always behind

everything. We just have to find out what God is trying to tell us in

this kind of situation.

  

Just the same, I think it helps a lot if all of us who have to discuss

something in public, and especially us, priests, who have to preach,

would meditate often on these Pauline words that would remind us of

the ideal we ought to aim at when speaking in public.

  

We should try to give concrete expressions of how this “gentleness and

patience of Christ” can also be lived by us. We will obviously have

different ideas and interpretations of these words, but at least there

would be effort to relate our style with that of Christ.

  

Let’s remember that Christ said, “Learn from me for I am meek and

humble of heart.” (Mt 11,29) He had his moments of anger, but his

anger was righteous and constructive. Most of the time, his preaching

was characterized by clarity and simplicity.

He was always appealing to people’s faith rather than to their

emotions. But he also tried his best to attune himself to the

mentality of the people despite the tremendous mysteries that he had

to convey.

  

In the end, he bore all the weaknesses of men by dying on the cross.

That’s how far Christ’s gentleness and patience went! Are we willing

to also go the distance?

Collegiality and consensus-making

IN any governing body, the spirit of collegiality is

highly recommended. No leader should just rule by himself without

consulting with some people whom he trusts and who have the competence

to take part in the decision-making. No matter how confident one is in

governance, he should realize that he cannot know everything that

needs to be considered. He has to consult with the others.

             It may not be a perfect system, but at least the

requirements of prudence and effectiveness would somehow be better

served that way. Everyone in that governing body, both the head and

the members, should know how to express their views without fear, as

well as listen to each other. They have to learn how to dialogue and

ultimately make some kind of consensus.

            Collegiality is an art that cannot be improvised. It has

to be studied and acquired little by little. Perhaps the first thing

that we have to do is to kill the tyrant or dictator that is usually

inside each one of us. Even if one is the leader, he has to consult

with others. In fact, it is more so when one is the leader.

  

            I imagine that everyone in that governing body has to

study the issues well before taking them up in a meeting or session.

As much as possible, the head and the members have to study those

issues from as many angles as possible, coming up possible scenarios

and recommendations and alternatives.

  

            In this regard, it would be good if everyone approaches

the issues with an interdisciplinary tack. Yes, it’s true that

everyone may have his own specialization and preferences which, of

course, have their legitimate value. But care should be made that such

specialization and preferences do not lead them to have a silo

mentality.

  

            There should be mutual sharing of relevant information and

data. Constant interaction among the members should be facilitated.

For this to happen, appropriate attitudes and dispositions should be

cultivated—like openness and friendliness. Petty or serious envies

should be eliminated, and especially so with one-upmanship.

   

            In fact, the more one feels to be superior to others

because of training or experience, the more he should humble himself

to be more receptive to the views of the others. It would not be a

sign of weakness in one’s leadership to act that way. In fact, it

would show his strength, for the strong can bear the weak but not

vice-versa.

  

            St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans said as much: “We who

are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to

please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to

edify him.” (15,1-2)

              The decisions arising from any consensus made by the

governing body should be such that while they may favor the majority

of the people concerned, they should not put the minority in some

unbearable situation. We obviously cannot please everyone, no matter

how well we try to resolve things.

  

            As much as possible, the decisions should reflect what St.

Paul once said: “He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who

gathered little had no lack.” (2 Cor 8,15)

The phoenix and the turnaround artist

MIGHT be good to be familiar with these terms or

phenomena. They can be useful and relevant to us, especially because

in our life we would always be in need of renewal, of having to move

on in spite of setbacks and other forms of contradictions.

            The phoenix is a bird in classical mythology that lived

for centuries in the Arabian desert. And after that time, it burns

itself but rises again from the ashes with renewed youth to live

through another cycle.

            A turnaround artist is someone who takes an organization,

event or something large that is broken and repairs it and makes it

work again, and in many cases, profitable and beyond successful.

            Yes, we somehow have to have the qualities of the phoenix

and the turnaround artist. And the secret again is to be vitally

united with Christ who, as the gospel says, will make everything new.

(cfr. Rev 21,5) Obviously, this will require nothing less than full

faith in Christ, and everything that that faith would demand from us.

            Let’s foster our need for renewal. Let’s not take it for

granted. Nor should we just mindlessly hitch it to some automatic

mechanism brought about by social or economic forces, or by some

cultural, fashion or temporal trends.

            Let’s do it intentionally, making use of both human and

supernatural means, because this is what is proper to us as persons

and as children of God. We have to realize that this need is constant

and will last till the end of life.

            In this regard, we need to know how to blend the

traditional and the innovative, the old and the new, the absolute and

the relative, the more or less stable culture and the appropriate

passing fads.

            In a higher level, we need to know how to put into an

organic whole the sacred and the mundane, the faith and the sciences,

arts and the technologies, the eternal and the temporal aspects of our

life, etc.

            Given the naked reality on the ground, we need to examine

and question the status quo of our life many times, since we tend to

do well at the beginning of any endeavor, then start to deteriorate as

we go along, until we end up badly.

            This has always been our lot and we should not be

surprised by it anymore. And much less should we feel helpless about

it, since there are many things we can do to renew ourselves

continually, neutralizing the bad effects of our complacency, if not

taking advantage of it to produce a greater virtue.

            Among the things that we can do to counter our tendency to

get accustomed to things and to fall victim to the desensitizing

effect of complacency, routine and lukewarmness are the daily effort

to make a good examination of conscience, a monthly recourse to a day

of recollection, and a yearly spiritual exercise called a closed

retreat.

            These are good occasions to look more closely into how our

spiritual and moral life has been faring, and to see, in a manner of

speaking, what parts of our spiritual and moral life need to be

cleaned up, oiled, or perhaps changed, revised or reengineered to

adapt to changing circumstances.

            We need to hone up our desire to do these things because,

given again our weaknesses, we usually do not like to them. We should

not forget that we like to enjoy more than to exert effort. Laziness

and comfort-seeking is a legacy of our fallen nature.

            These exercises can actually bring us to an indescribable

sense of adventure, since we will realize sooner or later that there

are many new things that are truly helpful to us and are waiting for

us to discover. These new things would give us the sensation that we

are flowing with the times, not stuck at a certain corner of time or a

certain mould of culture.

            We will soon discover that we have many more potentials

that are just waiting to be tapped. These exercises help us in

unleashing these potentials and putting them to optimal use and

effectiveness for our own good and the good of all, and all for the

glory of God.

            Let’s hope that these considerations would help us acquire

the qualities of a phoenix and a turnaround artist.

God always offers us forgiveness

THAT’S true. Whatever situation or predicament we are in,

even if we find ourselves in the worst possible scenario, morally

speaking, God is always willing to forgive us. It’s just for us to ask

for it.

            We should not delay in asking for that forgiveness. If God

is quick to forgive, let us also be quick to ask for forgiveness. And

then focus again on what we are supposed to be doing, as God and

everybody else want it.

            We should not waste time feeling sad and depressed, or

complaining and reacting in some wild, irrational way because of our

sins and mistakes. Time, we have to remember, is a very precious

resource given to us. Every minute and second should be used to be

productive and fruitful.

            That God is always willing to forgive us no matter what,

is beyond doubt. His mercy is abiding and is forever. There is nothing

that can’t be tackled by it. He is not scandalized by anything. His

mercy can take on anything. Not even our most grievous mistakes and

most stupid blunders can frustrate it.

            Let’s remember that God in Christ and now in the Holy

Spirit not only preached what is right and wrong, what is good and

evil, but also assumed all the sinfulness of man by offering his life

on the cross. He came to save, not to condemn. He was slow to anger,

quick to forgive. We should be happy and feel reassured with this

wonderful truth of our faith.

            Let’s remember that Christ was open to everyone, even to

the most vile men who repented. He only had hard words on those who

refused to acknowledge his divinity in spite of all the evidence

shown. In short, on those who refused to live by faith which is a gift

given to all of us. Or on those who are self-righteous.

            In one episode, he clearly spelled out his attitude of

mercy by saying that it is the sick, meaning the sinner, who needs the

doctor. That’s why he went with those who were generally considered

then as public sinners, a fact that elicited criticism from the

leading men of that time.

            Let’s follow the observation of St. Paul who once said

that where sin has abounded, the grace of God has abounded even more.

Paraphrasing that statement, we can say that no matter how miserable

we may be in our weaknesses and sinfulness, the mercy of God will

always be available and in abundance.

            In one juncture, Christ was asked how many times should a

person be forgiven, seven times? Seven times in the culture of that

time meant many times. Christ replied, not only seven times, but

seventy times seven. Meaning, again in the culture of that time,

always or as often as needed. There’s no limit to divine mercy.

          It might be good to call to mind the example of the

repentant thief who managed to be forgiven just before passing away.

And most especially, those famous words of Christ, “Forgive them,

Father, for they know not what they do.”

            We need to reassure everyone, especially those penitents

in the throes of despair, that there is always hope, because God

always forgives and that it is not yet the end of the world.

Seat of wisdom

IT’S a title applied to Mary, the mother of God because

she is the mother of Christ. She also is our mother, because Christ

himself gave her to us through St. John. “Behold your mother,” Christ

told the youthful apostle just before dying on the cross.

            Mary is the seat of wisdom simply for being the mother of

Christ himself, who is wisdom himself, who has all the truth in its

immediate and ultimate dimensions. Christ is the very personification

of all the truth and love that there is in the whole world.

            And Mary was not the mother of Christ in name alone. She

did not only conceive him in her womb, and give birth to him. She took

care of him, and knowing who he really was, continued to identify

herself with him. Her ‘fiat,’ her willingness to obey God’s will, was

a continuing affair all the way to the cross and all throughout her

lifetime.

We cannot overemphasize the strategic role of Mary in our search for

truth and ultimately for wisdom which is “a gift which perfects the

virtue of charity by enabling us to discern God and divine things in

their ultimate principles, and by giving us a relish for them.”

In the Book of Revelation, wisdom is the light that abides in a

person, such that “night shall be no more, and they shall not need the

light of the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God

shall enlighten them.” (22,5)

Wisdom can be had by anyone, anytime, anywhere. Everything can be made

use of to find, develop and exercise wisdom. The poet and the farmer,

with God’s grace received with the proper disposition, can have it.

They can arrive at the same truth even if pursued through different

ways.

Our predicament is that our natural tendency for truth, and everything

that truth stands for—joy, peace, beauty, harmony, etc.—is almost

always abducted and frustrated by an endless number of causes and

factors.

We tend to get stuck at a certain point, or at a certain level. We

don’t want to go on, since we tend to be held captive perhaps by

comfort, laziness, ignorance, lack of faith, pride, greed, attachments

to worldly things, anger and the unruly movements of our passions,

etc.

In short, we use our powerful faculties not to seek and love God, who

is the ultimate and constant truth for all of us, but to seek and love

ourselves.

And so we fall into the predicament spelled out in the Letter of St.

James: “Who is wise and instructed among you? Let him by his good

behavior show his work in the meekness of wisdom.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and contentions in your hearts, do

not glory and be liars against the truth. This is not the wisdom that

descends from above. It is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where there

is envy and contentiousness, there is instability and every wicked

deed.

“But the wisdom that is from above is first of all chaste, then

peaceable, moderate, docile, in harmony with good things, full of

mercy and good fruits, without judging, without dissimulation.”

(3,13-18)

Mary, by always pondering the things she observed in Christ and

completely identifying herself with her son, earned that title of Seat

of Wisdom.

The crosses in our life

WE should be quick to relate all the crosses we can

encounter in this life to the Cross of Christ whose feast of its

exaltation we celebrate on September 14. That way, we infuse these

crosses with a lot of meaning and with redemptive value. We convert

them into a means of our victory, and not just a state of suffering

and defeat.

  

            To be sure, all our earthly crosses have already been

subsumed by Christ’s Cross. There is no negative event in our life

that is not taken care of by Christ’s redemptive death on the Cross.

This truth of our faith should sink deep in our consciousness so we

don’t waste time feeling bad and sad because of our crosses.

  

            In other words, we should make these crosses lead us to

Christ, because Christ can surely be found in his Cross where he

showed his supreme act of love for us. That’s because by dying on the

cross, Christ showed his tremendous generosity and love for everyone.

  

            We should frequently meditate on the Passion and Death of

Christ so as to correspond generously to the gift of his own self to

us. And such correspondence actually does us a lot of good.

  

          By meditating on the Passion and Death of Christ, we are

shown how to handle our suffering and ultimately death. The Son of God

has to become man to assume all the sins of men and with his passion

and death and later his resurrection, convert those sins into the

basis for a new creature, the new, re-created man in Christ.

  

            We have to understand this very well. Unless we love the

cross, we can never say that we are loving enough. Of course, we have

to qualify that assertion. It’s when we love the cross the way God

wills it—the way Christ loves it—that we can really say that we are

loving as we should, or loving with the fullness of love.

  

            We have to be wary of our tendency to limit our loving to

ways and forms that give us some benefits alone, be it material, moral

or spiritual. While they are also a form of love, they are not yet the

fullness of love.

  

            The cross, which is the symbol of all our sinfulness and

the death that is the consequence of our sin, has not led God to hate

us and to condemn us forever. Rather, it has moved God to love us with

a love greater than that of creating us to be his image and likeness.

   

            Yes, there is justice also involved, and there is

punishment, divine anger and retribution always in play. But in the

end, God is always moved to mercy and compassion for us, and this is

actualized and personalized in God becoming man, Jesus Christ, who in

the end offered his life on the cross as a supreme act of love for us.

  

            We need to make some drastic adjustments in our

understanding of love, in our attitudes, and the relevant practices

and skills involved in this divine love. We should not be afraid of

the cross. On the contrary, we have to look for it, in all its forms

and expressions, with eagerness.

  

            Loving with the cross of Christ makes our love spiritual

and supernatural, a love that leads us to our eternal destination. It

extricates our loving from the mere play of our passions and urges. It

purifies and elevates our love without annulling its human, natural,

physical and emotional dimensions.

The “etiam pro ignotis”

 IT means, “also the things that we are not aware of,” or

words to that effect. It refers to both the good things, like the

blessings and opportunities given to us that we may not be aware of,

as well as the bad things, like the mistakes, harm and damage we may

have caused on others without our realizing it.

  

            Life is so complex and complicated, and wrapped in

mysterious laws and ways, that there can be many blessings we have

received that have escaped our notice. Also, there can be many things

we have done, even with our best efforts and with the best of

intentions, that actually caused harm on others.

  

            We need to somehow thank God for the many blessings we can

always presume to be given to us without realizing them, and apologize

and atone for the unintended errors and damage we have done.

  

            This should be part of our daily prayers. In this way, we

can be in a better relation with God, and we would put ourselves in a

better position to know more about him and his will and ways

especially in very tricky situations.

  

            This is how we can be more intimate with God. We have to

be more conscious of this phenomenon for that can only attract more

blessings from God. To pray for the “etiam pro ignotis” would enable

us to be more keen in discerning God’s will and ways, and to carry

them out. It would sustain a supernatural tone of our life.

   

            For sure, it will contribute to make our spiritual life

more vibrant, more generous and creative. It will help us to cooperate

more closely with God’s providence which is how all our activities

should aim at. We then can play in God’s game, and not just our own

game.

  

            All we have to do is to try our best to do things with

God, in spite of our weaknesses and mistakes. We know that he reveals

himself to the weak and simple, and so whatever claim of weakness and

inadequacy we have can actually be our passport to be intimate with

him. With him, everything will always work for the good, in spite of

our mistakes.

  

            He even goes to the extent, as in the case of St. Paul, to

reveal himself to one who was hostile to him. We just have to be quick

in thanking God for whatever grace and blessing he has given us

without realizing it, and in apologizing for whatever evil we may have

committed without intending it.

  

            I lately have been reading books and viewing documentaries

of massive programs undertaken by governments and other groups to help

those in need. And yet, despite all the good intentions of these

programs, many of them actually caused more harm than help on the

people they tried to aid.

  

            We should not anymore be surprised by these developments.

They are part of our weakened human condition. But we can always do

something about them. By atoning for the mistakes “etiam pro ignotis”

we can somehow turn them into something good, if not now then later.

Leveling up

THERE’S no other way but to level up. With all the new

developments exploding in the world today, we are faced with new

challenges as well as opportunities, and we just have to be properly

equipped to tackle them.

  

            The technical aspects alone of these developments are

formidable enough. They require nothing less than tremendous energy

from us. But the fundamental spiritual requirements are even more

formidable. We should not only worry about the software. We need to

give due attention to the hardware.

  

            We can never outgrow what Christ said: “Seek first the

kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be

added to you.” (Mt 6,33) This gives us the proper sense of priority,

otherwise we would just get lost.

  

            Remember what Christ again said: “For what shall it profit

a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk

8,36) We need to be firmly convinced that with God first, all the

other things in the world would come in their proper order.

  

            Of course, there is a learning curve involved here. We

just have to be game enough to go through it, like having an

adventure. We should not mind so much the effort to be exerted, and

the ups and downs, the trials and errors we can expect. We just have

to remain focused on what we are supposed to do in the face of all

these new developments.

              For one thing, we have to learn how to discipline

ourselves and deepen our virtue of order. It cannot be denied that we

can easily get distracted, overdo certain things at the expense of

more important duties we have. We can get carried away by the

excitement of the moment and forget the bigger picture of things.

  

            For example, we now have a lot of people plunged in social

media, spending hours and hours there, even forgetting their meals.

While the social media definitely serve a good purpose, it should not

undermine the need for us to have direct personal contact with people.

We have to learn how to properly blend personal contact with

automation.

  

            Our cellphones, if not used prudently, can harm family

life and other relations we have. Imagine a family dinner with all the

members quiet because everyone is tinkering with his cellphone. This

unfortunately is becoming a common sight.

  

            And the idea of rest is fast getting distorted. For many

people now, rest simply means to do nothing, to be idle and to go into

some man cave to indulge oneself in purely selfish pleasures.

  

            Rest is not meant to cut us off from God and from others.

It simply means a change of place, of activity, of pace and rhythm,

where we can recover our energies and reignite our passion for God and

for others. Remember Christ saying, “Come to me and I will give you

rest.” It’s like a farmland that is not for a while planted with

things so as to allow it to fallow and recover its natural elements.

  

            We can read books to expand our knowledge of things, study

the new techniques offered by the new technologies, and go to deeper

meditations to get to know and love God and others better. This is how

we ought to level up. The secret, I think, is to leverage the new

things while keeping tab on the limits we have to respect. This is

prudence.