AS chaplain of a number of schools, l can’t help but get involved in the preparation and celebration of the graduation of students. I consider it a very rewarding privilege, especially when I finally get to celebrate the Holy Mass for them and to say my little piece of reflections.
Graduations are blessed occasions to give thanks to God and to many others—parents, teachers, students, etc. They also allow us to consider again certain basic truths that we tend to take for granted.
In my view, graduations remind us that our life here on earth is made of parts and stages. Graduations, among other things, precisely mark these points of transition. But they actually point to a very important truth.
And this is none other than that our life, though made of different parts and stages, is actually one, the very one created by God though procreated by parents, and meant to participate in the very life of God.
It is a life that comes from God and belongs to God. Given our nature and the way we are, it is a life meant to be knowingly and lovingly offered to God. Man is meaningless without God.
The basic structure of our life can readily validate this truth. The different parts of our being—our intelligence, our will, our emotions and bodily aspects, even our social life—find their proper objects in God.
But these truths are often taken for granted. And sometimes from this indifference and complacency, a more serious attitude of disbelief can develop with a matching moral life that can not rid itself from sin and evil.
The problem that we often have is to consider education independently of God. The problem comes when we pursue our idea of human development and maturity outside of the forces of religion and faith.
The problem develops when we simply depend and rely on our own powers, often forgetting that these powers—our intelligence and will, especially—come from God, and have to be used according to God’s laws, not simply to our own will.
This problem can become so widespread that we can talk about a certain secularization, that is, a systematic removal of God from all human affairs, replacing him with our own ideas of what is good and bad. We develop a secularized world.
We now make ourselves our own God, the ultimate creator and designer of the world, of what is right and wrong, etc. And thus, everything now depends on us. What we cannot cope, we simply dismiss, and we don’t seem to care about what would happen. This is the ultimate expression of self-deification.
The task of education is precisely to form men and women into real persons aware of who they really are and what they ought to be and do. This is when we realize that we need to pray to be in constant contact with God.
Education develops the different aspects of our life with God as the ultimate and constant principle, goal, pattern and driving source of energy. The challenge is how we can make this truth a living reality in all of us.
Only in this way can we, for example, pursue our physical development that would feel the need for modesty and chastity. The pursuit for beauty and strength would be cleared of vanity and arrogance.
Our intellectual development would always follow the objective standards of truth and recognize the role of faith. It would always be exercised in humility.
Only in this way can we use our freedom properly, vitally linking it to truth, and thus making it compatible always with responsibility and obedience. Freedom would never be a capricious, licentious freedom.
Graduations make us realize all these, and many, many more. Remember, they mark those points of transition that connect us to other stages until we reach our proper end, and that’s God, our Creator, Father and Savior.
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Summer fun and decency
MODESTY and decency are virtues we need to live always. That’s because we are not pure spirits, like angels. We also have bodies, like the animals. But as persons, we need to blend these two elements properly. Modesty and decency have to do with this human concern.
Especially now when we are entering summer and the idea of vacation, fun,
sports and entertainment very much in our mind, it is good that we have clear criteria to guide us on how to treat and “carry” our body.
Fact is there are shameless excesses in this regard provoking both confusion and controversy. The body many times has been used as tool for sheer vanity if not for fostering a sexuality detached from its proper purpose and context.
A neighborhood billboard, for example, showing a bikinied girl inviting all
to some Jamaican Nights is one such provocative issue. We need to clarify matters.
The human body can be looked at from different angles. It’s good that we know how to integrate them into one united view that would ultimately uphold, defend and enhance our dignity as persons and as children of God.
From the physical point of view, we can readily distinguish which parts of the body can be shown and which parts should be hidden. Only those not in their proper mind can commit mistakes at this instance.
From the point of view of purpose and functions, we don’t have to be told to know which parts have to be given as much space and freedom as possible, and which parts have to be restricted.
We can go on with other considerations, and we always get an idea of what to show and what to hide in our body. But the ultimate consideration that gives order to the others, in my view, is that of our faith and religion.
Here we consider the human body according to the will and plan of God. We thus realize that the body is not just a material object. And more than being inseparably united to our soul, we know that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It should be treated with utmost reverence and care.
The human body is not to be played around with total disregard to morality.
And morality is not just a matter of what we like or what we find convenient, etc. Morality is referring all our actions to God as their proper end.
This is where some people flunk, often rationalizing their actuations as the exercise of their artistic rights and their freedom of expression, blah, blah, blah.
As if there are people who find joy and ecstasy in restricting the rights and freedoms of others. It has to be told and told again that rights and freedoms are not just a matter of choice. They are ultimately and constantly a matter of upholding who we really are.
Are we just objects and animals that can be played around without relating us to a spiritual end, and to Christian believers, that would be a supernatural end—a life in participation in the life of God?
Or are we persons whose very nature involving body and soul demand a measure of privacy and intimacy that should always be protected? To Christian believers, are we not only persons but also children of God who use the body according to God’s will and not just our own will?
It’s when the exercise of rights and freedom is not referred to God, when one refers them simply to his individualistic idea of what’s good and bad that we get into some trouble with respect to the use of the human body.
It would be good that the effort to know who we really are could be pursued calmly and relentlessly so that we would know and get convinced about the importance and constant relevance of modesty and decency in our lives.
This is also how we can recognize the false values cleverly embedded in many commercial gimmicks that use our body for immodesty and indecency.
Especially now when we are entering summer and the idea of vacation, fun,
sports and entertainment very much in our mind, it is good that we have clear criteria to guide us on how to treat and “carry” our body.
Fact is there are shameless excesses in this regard provoking both confusion and controversy. The body many times has been used as tool for sheer vanity if not for fostering a sexuality detached from its proper purpose and context.
A neighborhood billboard, for example, showing a bikinied girl inviting all
to some Jamaican Nights is one such provocative issue. We need to clarify matters.
The human body can be looked at from different angles. It’s good that we know how to integrate them into one united view that would ultimately uphold, defend and enhance our dignity as persons and as children of God.
From the physical point of view, we can readily distinguish which parts of the body can be shown and which parts should be hidden. Only those not in their proper mind can commit mistakes at this instance.
From the point of view of purpose and functions, we don’t have to be told to know which parts have to be given as much space and freedom as possible, and which parts have to be restricted.
We can go on with other considerations, and we always get an idea of what to show and what to hide in our body. But the ultimate consideration that gives order to the others, in my view, is that of our faith and religion.
Here we consider the human body according to the will and plan of God. We thus realize that the body is not just a material object. And more than being inseparably united to our soul, we know that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It should be treated with utmost reverence and care.
The human body is not to be played around with total disregard to morality.
And morality is not just a matter of what we like or what we find convenient, etc. Morality is referring all our actions to God as their proper end.
This is where some people flunk, often rationalizing their actuations as the exercise of their artistic rights and their freedom of expression, blah, blah, blah.
As if there are people who find joy and ecstasy in restricting the rights and freedoms of others. It has to be told and told again that rights and freedoms are not just a matter of choice. They are ultimately and constantly a matter of upholding who we really are.
Are we just objects and animals that can be played around without relating us to a spiritual end, and to Christian believers, that would be a supernatural end—a life in participation in the life of God?
Or are we persons whose very nature involving body and soul demand a measure of privacy and intimacy that should always be protected? To Christian believers, are we not only persons but also children of God who use the body according to God’s will and not just our own will?
It’s when the exercise of rights and freedom is not referred to God, when one refers them simply to his individualistic idea of what’s good and bad that we get into some trouble with respect to the use of the human body.
It would be good that the effort to know who we really are could be pursued calmly and relentlessly so that we would know and get convinced about the importance and constant relevance of modesty and decency in our lives.
This is also how we can recognize the false values cleverly embedded in many commercial gimmicks that use our body for immodesty and indecency.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
In Joseph’s footsteps
BECAUSE March 19 this year fell on a Lenten Sunday, the solemnity of St. Joseph was celebrated last March 20. Just the same, the occasion offers us a timely reminder of this great man whose life gives us precious lessons. He has not become passé at all.
These are lessons of how one’s simple station in life can be made a vehicle to carry out God’s sublime designs for all of us. What is needed is simply to have faith in God and to live it consistently in one’s life. Ideally, there should be no gaps.
Yes, dear, one of the basic things we need to be clear about is that our life is never just our own. It by definition, by our condition, is a life to be spent and developed always with God. We would be in some void if we were to live without God.
Thus, everything in our life, even the apparently insignificant, needs a divine dimension for it to be meaningful and helpful to us. This is the mentality that we should cultivate. Religion is never just a niche in our life. It has to be our life’s soul, affecting everything we are and do.
The problem we have at present is that we often find ourselves just doing things on our own, pursuing our own goals, bloated with our own idea of self-importance. God is literally set aside, ignored and resorted to only as a matter of formality. We can only reap trouble from this.
This is, of course, a funny situation, but we succumb to it effortlessly. We may not openly profess atheism or agnosticism, but our mentality and behavior just betray such anomaly.
St. Joseph led a very fulfilling life even if spent in quiet and hidden service to God in pursuit of the divine plan of our redemption. There was hardly anything extraordinary in his life.
He just made himself available for whatever task was needed to advance God’s work for and with men. It did not matter to him if the task was big or small. It was the same for him whether he had to stay in a certain place or go to some foreign land.
He highlighted the importance of the “supporting role” that is always needed in any human endeavor. And because of this, he accomplished a very important task in the whole economy of human salvation.
The problem we have is that many of us are just infatuated with taking the “leading role,” no matter what it takes. This is truly shameless, when the indispensable attitudes of humility and meekness are simply ignored.
This can be clearly seen in the world of entertainment and politics. Perhaps because of the nature of such activities, there is a certain susceptibility of the characters involved to fill themselves with self-importance, grabbing attention whenever possible.
This is truly lamentable. While politics and entertainment are always necessary because of our human condition, they now seem less and less meant for the pursuit of the common good. They have simply become the arena for lust of power and for vanity.
The worlds of politics and entertainment now seem to have lost their proper
sense of purpose. Their actors are now engaging in fierce, brutal battles, inhuman and degrading, often using a language full of poison and deception.
Conflicts and division are generated. There’s a lot of intrigue-making, bickering, gossiping, raising tension everywhere.
There is a need to learn the example of St. Joseph. This is the only way to at least recover our sanity and to have a good measure of peace in our human affairs. We have to learn how to be simple and calm as we go about our business and politics.
It is an example that is articulated in the Church’s social doctrine, where the ways of prudence and dialogue are spelled out. If only we could just take the bother to study it…we can be spared many of the useless troubles exploding in many places today.
These are lessons of how one’s simple station in life can be made a vehicle to carry out God’s sublime designs for all of us. What is needed is simply to have faith in God and to live it consistently in one’s life. Ideally, there should be no gaps.
Yes, dear, one of the basic things we need to be clear about is that our life is never just our own. It by definition, by our condition, is a life to be spent and developed always with God. We would be in some void if we were to live without God.
Thus, everything in our life, even the apparently insignificant, needs a divine dimension for it to be meaningful and helpful to us. This is the mentality that we should cultivate. Religion is never just a niche in our life. It has to be our life’s soul, affecting everything we are and do.
The problem we have at present is that we often find ourselves just doing things on our own, pursuing our own goals, bloated with our own idea of self-importance. God is literally set aside, ignored and resorted to only as a matter of formality. We can only reap trouble from this.
This is, of course, a funny situation, but we succumb to it effortlessly. We may not openly profess atheism or agnosticism, but our mentality and behavior just betray such anomaly.
St. Joseph led a very fulfilling life even if spent in quiet and hidden service to God in pursuit of the divine plan of our redemption. There was hardly anything extraordinary in his life.
He just made himself available for whatever task was needed to advance God’s work for and with men. It did not matter to him if the task was big or small. It was the same for him whether he had to stay in a certain place or go to some foreign land.
He highlighted the importance of the “supporting role” that is always needed in any human endeavor. And because of this, he accomplished a very important task in the whole economy of human salvation.
The problem we have is that many of us are just infatuated with taking the “leading role,” no matter what it takes. This is truly shameless, when the indispensable attitudes of humility and meekness are simply ignored.
This can be clearly seen in the world of entertainment and politics. Perhaps because of the nature of such activities, there is a certain susceptibility of the characters involved to fill themselves with self-importance, grabbing attention whenever possible.
This is truly lamentable. While politics and entertainment are always necessary because of our human condition, they now seem less and less meant for the pursuit of the common good. They have simply become the arena for lust of power and for vanity.
The worlds of politics and entertainment now seem to have lost their proper
sense of purpose. Their actors are now engaging in fierce, brutal battles, inhuman and degrading, often using a language full of poison and deception.
Conflicts and division are generated. There’s a lot of intrigue-making, bickering, gossiping, raising tension everywhere.
There is a need to learn the example of St. Joseph. This is the only way to at least recover our sanity and to have a good measure of peace in our human affairs. We have to learn how to be simple and calm as we go about our business and politics.
It is an example that is articulated in the Church’s social doctrine, where the ways of prudence and dialogue are spelled out. If only we could just take the bother to study it…we can be spared many of the useless troubles exploding in many places today.
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