Sizing up the challenges

EVERY new year poses new challenges. We’ve been through this routine for quite some time now. But I must say that this new year presents to us challenges that are more complex and complicated, more tricky and deadly.

This must be due, at least in part, to the accelerated pace of technological development, as well as a population that is growing not only in number but also in both sophistication, on the one hand, and ignorance, confusion and error, on the other.

Both contrasts and conflicts that are getting sharper, on the one hand, and the subtle process of homogeneizing and uniforming people mindlessly, on the other, are taking place.

I find this combination of factors very intriguing, indeed. Some people can know a lot yet miss the point. Others can know little yet continue to be wise. And now, at the back of our minds, we ask, and who is going to judge who is right and is who is wrong?

There now on seems to be a crisis on what norms and standards to follow these days, what values and in what order they have to be upheld and defended. Many people seem to be guided solely by purely subjective criteria.

Which reminds me of what St. Paul once said: “The spiritual man judges all things, and he himself is judged by no man.” (1 Cor 2,13) It’s an intriguing affirmation that for sure will be questioned, if not rejected, by sceptics, agnostics and atheists.

But I believe in it—it’s the spiritual man, the one vitally connected with God, who knows things objectively. In the end, it’s the kind of spirit one submits himself to that would guide him in his decisions. So I always bat for spiritual formation and development more than anything else, without disparaging the other requirements.

The virtues of prudence and discretion have never been so needed as during these times. The demands of charity have become more nuanced. We have to careful with our rash judgments and our reckless speech.

So many things are just happening in the micro and macro levels of our life, in the personal and social aspects, in the spiritual and moral and the material worlds. Today’s ballistic development in technology actually requires a corresponding radical maturation of our spiritual life. But we can observe hardly any correspondence between the two.

We have to learn how to distinguish and integrate things properly, putting them in their right places, order and hierarchy. This is not going to be an easy task, but neither is it impossible.

We need to learn how to hold our horses and restrain our emotions, moderate our urges, and how to think, judge and reason properly, as well as how to speak and express ourselves with tact and courtesy in spite of our differences.

We have to learn how to dialogue with the different parties on different issues. The more interaction, the better. The more linkages we have among ourselves, the better for us. We have to foster the culture of dialogue.

We need to know more the range and intricacies of the now in-thing of tolerance—in the fields of culture, law, religion, politics, etc., without falling into chaos and disorder, and without forgetting that there are certain things that remain absolute and unchangeable in spite of the constant flux in life.

We need to know more about the scope and limits of our rights—to expression, to privacy, personal and social development, etc. We have to be more sensitive to the fine lines involved in the discretionary part of our laws. This appears to be abused quite openly lately.

As we can see, challenges that pose problems to us are actually opportunities, chances and windows for us to develop the appropriate virtues, attitudes and skills. They provide us with the occasion and the spur to bring our knowledge, wisdom and maturity to the next level. We should never say enough.

Our life here is always on the go. We should never think we know enough, or that our formation has already reached its maximum level. We have to remember that with our spiritual nature, we are oriented toward the infinite. Our capacity to know and to learn, to exercise our freedom, knows no limits, though a certain law governs it.

Let’s always remember that our freedom can go in two ways—either for good or evil, for greater freedom or deeper slavery as when we sink in the world of different addictions which are also noticing these days.

If only

ENDING a year and beginning a new one usually elicits fond wishes among us. For me, I think I have many, but for now, I simply wish our media people become more human and Christian in our work. At least, that they—we, I include myself—have a deeper sense of ethics, and that we realize we need continuing formation, just like everybody else.

That might be too blunt to say, but that can actually be applied to everybody else, be he in media or not, and of course, myself included. Our humanity and Christianity are always a work in progress.

I just hope that we can be more serious and specific as to how that transformation, that humanization and Christianization can take place. In this task, I think everyone can and should help, can and should contribute whatever he can.

I was thinking that a more feasible and sustainable program of formation for media people that includes not only the technical aspects but also and more so on the ethical aspect, should be put in place. It’s a pity that with all the advances in technology and the profession, we remain largely puerile in our spiritual and ethical life.

You see, casual and random occasions lately provoked in me some intriguing if disturbing thoughts. While having a haircut the other day, for example, I overheard on TV (the set was at my back and above; I could hear it but not see it) things that made me immediately ask myself: Have we gone this far and this low already?

It was what I later learned to be one of our local reality shows. It was kind of investigative and confrontational in format. And I was shocked by what were exposed by a string of gays who openly said they were into regular sex with a young man who was living-in with a girl.

Lurid, almost pornographic details in foul language were mentioned, all impertinent to any ethical goal the show might be presumed to pursue. The interrogations were gossipy in character, creating a voyeuristic atmosphere, personal privacy violated with impunity. Many in the barber shop dropped our jaws in disbelief.

I could not help but suspect that money must be the reason those characters dared to present themselves and tell their stories there. Most likely, the poverty of people is again exploited to satisfy a big untapped market of misplaced curiosity that many people have, all for the sake of ratings.

Mischievous social observers might dismiss the parties involved as our low-lifers who should just be given their fifteen minutes of fame, since, anyway, that would be unavoidable.

But to me that would be inhuman and unchristian. Everyone is a child of God regardless of his defects and sins, and should be loved and helped. We should try our best not to expose to the public things that are not supposed to be known by others, especially if they are scandalous.

The hostess of the show pressured the poor fellow to admit what were claimed by both the gays and the girl, and even by some neighbours. I found it very disgusting, and wondered if anything can be done to police this kind of shows.

Also, while riding in a taxi recently, I heard over the radio the driver was listening to, some running commentaries of the recent floods in Cebu and the unavoidable references to Typhoon Sendong in Mindanao.

When there was a lull because no new data came in or the information were not clear, the commentators tried to fill up their time by dishing out some trivia, like cows can swim for an hour in the sea, being dragged by a pump boat.

No problem, there. But I was just thinking that with the gravity of the situation, could these media men not come out with more meaningful commentaries? I then realized that, of course, these men are lacking in formation. They could not talk about the spiritual and religious significance of the event.

This is a big challenge, since a lot of bias and prejudice prevent many people, including those in media, to see the importance and relevance of spiritual and religious formation in their work. They get contented with the technical and the professional aspects, not knowing that these need to be animated more deeply in one’s spiritual life.

Of course, things cannot be worse than in the political commentaries where a lot of bullying, insulting, all sorts of non-sequiturs are standard fare.

If only we, media people, get serious with our continuing formation...

Keeping the Christmas spirit alive always

“SHE will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” The Christmas message.

With these few words, the gospel tells us the core reason for our joy in spite of whatever may be our condition and situation in life. Christian life is always a happy life. We should be wary when we find ourselves in the clutches of sadness for a variety of reasons.

We are meant to be happy, because no matter how we may be at any given moment, our Lord is always there to save us. He is bent to bring to completion the wonderful thing God has started in us.

We can, of course, abuse his goodness, his eternal mercy, as many times we have done in the past and for sure will do in the future, but Christ never changes his mind about us. His love is eternal. It’s unshakeable.

We have to learn to love him in return. Love is always repaid with love. This is what Christmas is trying elicit in us. Every time we see the Son of God turn into a baby, defenceless and in total need of our care, let’s bring it to our mind that he’s inviting us to the marvellous, if tortuous, road to love.

It’s love that is meant for us. Everything else is subordinated to it—our pursuit for justice and peace and truth, our concern for development and progress, our interest in the enrichment of our culture, etc.

May we know how to relate everything to love, or to charity, which is another name for love, the very essence of God, whose image and likeness we are. May we know how to inspire and lead everything to love, to God.

This would mean that we have to make an effort. In fact, an effort that should be with us till the end of our life, and till the end of time. Love without effort, without sacrifice, is fake. It would just be for show. A bubble that cannot last.

We have to learn how to engage our mind and heart with Christ. He is never just an idea, nor a historical figure who lived in the past but is only made present in our memory. He is truly alive, here and now. Through faith, hope and charity, we can see and hear him at every moment. This is no fiction. This is real, not virtual.

This is the challenge we have to face—how to keep ourselves alive to Christ, since as far as he is concerned, he is already alive in us. In this, we have to help one another.

We are actually given all the means for this purpose. We have the Church, established by Christ so that his presence and work of redemption and perfection of our creation can continue throughout time.

In the Church, we have the salvific doctrine of our faith, the truths that include mysteries that bring us to him. We have the sacraments that, regardless of their human and natural elements, convey grace if not the very Christ, in body and blood, to us.

We have the living witnesses of holiness through the myriads of saints and holy men and women who have identified themselves unsparingly with Christ. Through them, we get a good idea of how it is to be a true child of God. We will never lack inspiration to give us the needed impulses to go on in spite of whatever.

Yes, we just have to train our mind and heart to focus on our Lord and to beat in synch with the heart of Christ. That is always possible. If it can be done in our human love affairs where we depend more on human means, this definitely can be done in our love affair with Christ who gives us much more powerful means.

How important it is that we know how to develop a lifestyle and culture that spring vitally from this Christmas message and spirit! In our journey of life, we face tremendous trials and challenges. Temptations from within and without abound, and they can truly darken and spoil our outlook.

We cannot underestimate the dangers that lurk at every moment and in every corner of our earthly pilgrimage. We truly need Christ. He is our strength, our light, our cure, our salvation and perfection. Let’s never think we are ok without him.

Again, let’s help one another. We have to keep the Christmas spirit alive always.