THIS is an attempt to describe what proper Christian behavior should be during elections. However, this is not meant to articulate an exclusively Christian behavior, since there’s no such thing, given our complex human condition.
I’m sure many of us will have our ideas and opinions on how this Christian behavior should be, all of them with their valid points. My hope, in fact, is that everyone starts to express his views in this matter in public.
The idea is to increase our level of literacy regarding how a Christian citizen should behave in our political exercises. We need to know what attitudes, dispositions and virtues are needed, since we have to liberate ourselves from the inhuman morass our political activities have sunk into.
So far, we have been exposed to the ridiculous ways the political campaigns have been done. There’s so much mudslinging, negativism, hatred-peddling. Polluting noises emit unabatedly from self-righteous ideologues, poisoned partisans and screaming faggots.
Reason, sobriety, objective discussions of issues, not to mention the requirements of charity and understanding in tackling matters open to several valid and moral opinions, are thrown overboard.
Things are made worse when opinions are converted into dogmas, while articles of faith and matters of conscience are held simply as opinions. Some people manipulate truths, facts, data to suit their purpose. Freedom is twisted.
The distinction between the person of the candidates and politicians in general, and the views they hold and the actions they do, is recklessly blurred, leading to serious offenses against charity and freedom. Rash judgments explode in profusion.
Many politicians seem to metamorphose into monsters during the election season, using sly tricks and games, following the unscrupulous logic of greed and disordered ambitions. Conceit spins its own deadly yarn of creativity.
And a big part of the electorate, due to poverty, ignorance, apathy, etc., practically invites political abuses. Often complacent and remiss, they fail to see through many of the hidden selfish agenda of politicians. What a nightmare!
I think it’s really up to us, citizens, to tolerate this state of affairs or not. I think we have the power to set the proper tone of our politics. Yes, we are part of the problem, but we also hold the key to its solution.
But for this to happen, we have to take our social and political commitment more seriously. We have to get our act together. We need to understand that for our social and political commitment to prosper, we need to follow what
the Church teaches.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read this relevant point:
“It is necessary to appeal to the spiritual and moral capacities of the human person and to the permanent need for his inner conversion, so as to obtain social changes that will really serve him.” (1888)
Then to reassure us that this teaching is not ineffective as many people feel religious doctrines to be, the same point continues:
“The acknowledged priority of the conversion of the heart in no way eliminates but on the contrary imposes the obligation of bringing the appropriate remedies to institutions and living conditions when they are an inducement to sin, so that they conform to the norms of justice and advance the good rather than hinder it.”
We have to understand that only in God can we learn to be truly concerned about the common good. Apart from him we simply are at the mercy of our subjective, whimsical ideas.
Our social and political commitment necessarily calls us to action, first with our own selves, and then, among ourselves. Many initiatives can come to mind.
Like, having an independent body that systematically gives a thorough backgrounder of the candidates, providing personal, family and professional information, citing their pluses and minuses.
This is to help voters have an idea of the candidates’ integrity and competence. Simply depending on the data given by partisans will take us nowhere.
And an ongoing formation for all citizens should be undertaken, especially
explaining the finer points of prudence in politics, respect for freedom, and the like.
Then to reassure us that this teaching is not ineffective as many people feel religious doctrines to be, the same point continues:
“The acknowledged priority of the conversion of the heart in no way eliminates but on the contrary imposes the obligation of bringing the appropriate remedies to institutions and living conditions when they are an inducement to sin, so that they conform to the norms of justice and advance the good rather than hinder it.â€
We have to understand that only in God can we learn to be truly concerned about the common good. Apart from him we simply are at the mercy of our subjective, whimsical ideas.
Our social and political commitment necessarily calls us to action, first with our own selves, and then, among ourselves. Many initiatives can come to mind.
Like, having an independent body that systematically gives a thorough backgrounder of the candidates, providing personal, family and professional information, citing their pluses and minuses.
This is to help voters have an idea of the candidates’ integrity and competence. Simply depending on the data given by partisans will take us nowhere.
And an ongoing formation for all citizens should be undertaken, especially
explaining the finer points of prudence in politics, respect for freedom, and the like.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Challenge to business
THOUGH with priesthood I have left behind active involvement in business, I continue to monitor developments in this area, insofar as they are relevant to my ministry. They too need evangelization, you know.
The newspapers sometimes make good report on these matters. There are of
course some business journals around. And my friends and former colleagues continue to fill me in with data. These are how I update myself.
Right now, I am happy that certain economic indicators are showing good
signs. It seems that the fundamentals are in place.
Inflation and interest rates are low. The peso is gaining strength, many thanks to our OFWs. “Hot money” from foreign investors are pouring in. Price of gas has gone down. Our budget is getting balanced.
There appears to be a surge of activity in the construction industry. Banks
look like they are super-liquid. Treasury bills are selling low. And over-all, I hear more often now that business in almost any field is picking up.
The picture looks good. I would advise our sour-graping ideologues and politicians to be more constructive in their interventions. Of course, not all is perfect, but we cannot deny that there are clear improvements taking place now.
I hope and pray that this present economic upswing continues and its effects trickle down to our people. This is a big challenge to meet. The faces of poverty and misery are still around us.
It’s truly a grating scandal to have these forms of poverty still blighting a good number of our people. Of course, our Lord said that we will always have the poor, but this doesn’t mean we should be complacent with our poverty problem.
I pray that the gains we enjoy now are not wasted because of mismanagement, and things like dirty politics and corruption, not negligible at all in our country, to say the least.
While we hope that the numbers will be always right, we have to remember
that our economic concerns go far beyond figures, and even beyond the best entrepreneurial criteria. They involve our total development as persons and as children of God. This is the real challenge.
This means that while business and economic activities cause many good things like generation of jobs and income, development of many projects, they should be conducted in such a way that we become more human and Christian.
They should foster integral development in the personal, family, social aspects. Not only our material and temporal dimensions should be taken care of. Our spiritual development is even more important.
All players in business and economics should be imbued with such sensitivity that their actions and decisions impact not only on the temporal common good, but also on the eternal common good.
In short, they have to realize that their activities, while obviously enjoying a certain autonomy, are an integral part of their relationship with God. They are a significant element in their virtue of religion. They are never foreign to religion.
They have to be driven by an operative and clearly-defined spirituality that knows how to deal with temporal and mundane affairs. Such spirituality therefore has to be versed with the Church’s social doctrine, especially that of stewardship and solidarity.
Those involved in business should be skilled in dealing with money, power,
fame, temptations, and other worldly perks. More than that, they have to know how to purify the structures to make them conducive to proper human growth.
Good intentions are not enough. There should have real, solid competence.
And with the mentality of a servant, eager to help, humble, passing unnoticed, etc. They should know how to work with anyone and in any situation, without getting lost and without entering into sinful compromises.
To them, the pursuit for money and power should not be a corrupting influence, but rather should always spur their great desires—both practical and prudent—to help the people and to contribute to the common good.
These are not pipe dreams. These are necessary ideals and standards waiting for us to translate into reality. This is the challenge to business.
The newspapers sometimes make good report on these matters. There are of
course some business journals around. And my friends and former colleagues continue to fill me in with data. These are how I update myself.
Right now, I am happy that certain economic indicators are showing good
signs. It seems that the fundamentals are in place.
Inflation and interest rates are low. The peso is gaining strength, many thanks to our OFWs. “Hot money” from foreign investors are pouring in. Price of gas has gone down. Our budget is getting balanced.
There appears to be a surge of activity in the construction industry. Banks
look like they are super-liquid. Treasury bills are selling low. And over-all, I hear more often now that business in almost any field is picking up.
The picture looks good. I would advise our sour-graping ideologues and politicians to be more constructive in their interventions. Of course, not all is perfect, but we cannot deny that there are clear improvements taking place now.
I hope and pray that this present economic upswing continues and its effects trickle down to our people. This is a big challenge to meet. The faces of poverty and misery are still around us.
It’s truly a grating scandal to have these forms of poverty still blighting a good number of our people. Of course, our Lord said that we will always have the poor, but this doesn’t mean we should be complacent with our poverty problem.
I pray that the gains we enjoy now are not wasted because of mismanagement, and things like dirty politics and corruption, not negligible at all in our country, to say the least.
While we hope that the numbers will be always right, we have to remember
that our economic concerns go far beyond figures, and even beyond the best entrepreneurial criteria. They involve our total development as persons and as children of God. This is the real challenge.
This means that while business and economic activities cause many good things like generation of jobs and income, development of many projects, they should be conducted in such a way that we become more human and Christian.
They should foster integral development in the personal, family, social aspects. Not only our material and temporal dimensions should be taken care of. Our spiritual development is even more important.
All players in business and economics should be imbued with such sensitivity that their actions and decisions impact not only on the temporal common good, but also on the eternal common good.
In short, they have to realize that their activities, while obviously enjoying a certain autonomy, are an integral part of their relationship with God. They are a significant element in their virtue of religion. They are never foreign to religion.
They have to be driven by an operative and clearly-defined spirituality that knows how to deal with temporal and mundane affairs. Such spirituality therefore has to be versed with the Church’s social doctrine, especially that of stewardship and solidarity.
Those involved in business should be skilled in dealing with money, power,
fame, temptations, and other worldly perks. More than that, they have to know how to purify the structures to make them conducive to proper human growth.
Good intentions are not enough. There should have real, solid competence.
And with the mentality of a servant, eager to help, humble, passing unnoticed, etc. They should know how to work with anyone and in any situation, without getting lost and without entering into sinful compromises.
To them, the pursuit for money and power should not be a corrupting influence, but rather should always spur their great desires—both practical and prudent—to help the people and to contribute to the common good.
These are not pipe dreams. These are necessary ideals and standards waiting for us to translate into reality. This is the challenge to business.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
We need mortification
SOME years ago, I had an amusing albeit humiliating experience when I gave a meditation to a group I considered to be educated and familiar with religious terms. I was talking about mortification.
With due preparation and using all sorts of arguments, examples, anecdotes, etc., I tried to effect some sound and fury to stir the audience to appreciate the value of mortification.
I thought I gave a good meditation, until someone approached me and asked what ‘mortification’ meant. The question jolted me back to reality. Our Lord
sometimes plays this kind of game on us.
Of course, Filipinos have a general idea of the spirit of sacrifice. We see this spirit lived in very dramatic ways in many places of the country, a part of our Christian culture in spite of its imperfections. But many may not be familiar with the term, ‘mortification.’
Actually, they both mean the same thing. Mortification has death as its root word, and that’s what is central in the concept of sacrifice. It involves a certain kind of dying, of the flesh so the spirit may live, to oneself so Christ may live in us, of the old man in ourselves so the new man emerges.
Now that we are in Lent again, it’s good that we remind ourselves strongly about this very important aspect of our Christian life, a true necessity and an indispensable stimulus to our spiritual growth.
In a nutshell, we have to understand that we cannot go on with our life without developing a spirit of mortification. Failure in this area certainly leads us to the road of our own perdition. It separates us from the very lifeblood of our Christianity.
Especially now that the pace of development is fast and is producing a dizzying variety of things, unfamiliar to many of us, the objective need for mortification should be more deeply felt.
It should bother us to see that there appears an indifference to this Christian need. But this disturbance should also spur us to seek ways, practical and attuned to the mentality of today’s youth especially, of how to instill this thing in the minds of all.
The spirit of mortification gives us endless and tremendous benefits. It helps us keep a spiritual and supernatural tone to our life, removing us from a purely mundane, temporal and materialistic outlook. In a way, it brings us to our senses.
It unites us more tightly with our Lord, and identifies us with him in his supreme act of love. Our true Christian identity is proven when we go all the way to identify ourselves with Christ on the Cross. A true Christian is when he loves to make sacrifices. Otherwise, he is fake—it’s as simple as that.
It would not be enough to conform ourselves to Christ through the sacraments. Our incorporation into him through baptism necessarily leads us to the cross, no two ways about it.
The spirit of mortification strengthens us against temptations, purifying and healing our wounded powers and faculties. It helps us to stay away from spiritual complacency and lukewarmness, intensifying our love for God and others.
It helps to conform our senses, emotions and feelings to the dynamics of our faith and charity. It’s the discipline that gives them direction, and that leads us to our true joy.
With it, our dreams and exuberance are properly grounded. We need it for atoning and making up for sins, ours and those of others.
It also makes our conscience more delicate and sensitive, and yet also more strong and resistant to temptations and sins. It checks on our pride that works in us 24/7, and only leaves 24 hours after our death.
In short, not only should we welcome opportunities to make sacrifices and
mortifications, but also we should look for them. Avoiding them, to Christian believers, is actually an anomaly.
Thus, we have to understand that in everything that we do, whether we are
working, resting, having a nice, shopping, etc., an element of mortification should be included. Forgetting to mortify definitely spoils our life.
With due preparation and using all sorts of arguments, examples, anecdotes, etc., I tried to effect some sound and fury to stir the audience to appreciate the value of mortification.
I thought I gave a good meditation, until someone approached me and asked what ‘mortification’ meant. The question jolted me back to reality. Our Lord
sometimes plays this kind of game on us.
Of course, Filipinos have a general idea of the spirit of sacrifice. We see this spirit lived in very dramatic ways in many places of the country, a part of our Christian culture in spite of its imperfections. But many may not be familiar with the term, ‘mortification.’
Actually, they both mean the same thing. Mortification has death as its root word, and that’s what is central in the concept of sacrifice. It involves a certain kind of dying, of the flesh so the spirit may live, to oneself so Christ may live in us, of the old man in ourselves so the new man emerges.
Now that we are in Lent again, it’s good that we remind ourselves strongly about this very important aspect of our Christian life, a true necessity and an indispensable stimulus to our spiritual growth.
In a nutshell, we have to understand that we cannot go on with our life without developing a spirit of mortification. Failure in this area certainly leads us to the road of our own perdition. It separates us from the very lifeblood of our Christianity.
Especially now that the pace of development is fast and is producing a dizzying variety of things, unfamiliar to many of us, the objective need for mortification should be more deeply felt.
It should bother us to see that there appears an indifference to this Christian need. But this disturbance should also spur us to seek ways, practical and attuned to the mentality of today’s youth especially, of how to instill this thing in the minds of all.
The spirit of mortification gives us endless and tremendous benefits. It helps us keep a spiritual and supernatural tone to our life, removing us from a purely mundane, temporal and materialistic outlook. In a way, it brings us to our senses.
It unites us more tightly with our Lord, and identifies us with him in his supreme act of love. Our true Christian identity is proven when we go all the way to identify ourselves with Christ on the Cross. A true Christian is when he loves to make sacrifices. Otherwise, he is fake—it’s as simple as that.
It would not be enough to conform ourselves to Christ through the sacraments. Our incorporation into him through baptism necessarily leads us to the cross, no two ways about it.
The spirit of mortification strengthens us against temptations, purifying and healing our wounded powers and faculties. It helps us to stay away from spiritual complacency and lukewarmness, intensifying our love for God and others.
It helps to conform our senses, emotions and feelings to the dynamics of our faith and charity. It’s the discipline that gives them direction, and that leads us to our true joy.
With it, our dreams and exuberance are properly grounded. We need it for atoning and making up for sins, ours and those of others.
It also makes our conscience more delicate and sensitive, and yet also more strong and resistant to temptations and sins. It checks on our pride that works in us 24/7, and only leaves 24 hours after our death.
In short, not only should we welcome opportunities to make sacrifices and
mortifications, but also we should look for them. Avoiding them, to Christian believers, is actually an anomaly.
Thus, we have to understand that in everything that we do, whether we are
working, resting, having a nice, shopping, etc., an element of mortification should be included. Forgetting to mortify definitely spoils our life.
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